“From the rising of the sun even to its setting, My Name will be great among the Gentiles,” says Yahweh Sabaoth.
(Malachi 1: 11)
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Lesson One: Obey Yahweh’s Voice
Genesis 19: 15-26—Lot’s Wife was told Not to Look Back
When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he hesitated. So the men seized his hand and the hand of his wife and the hands of his two daughters, for the compassion of Yahweh was upon him; and they brought him out, and put him outside the city.
When they had brought them outside, one said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you, and do not stay anywhere in the valley; escape to the mountains, or you will be swept away.”
But Lot said to them, “Oh no, my lords! Now behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your lovingkindness, which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, for the disaster will overtake me and I will die; now behold, this town is near enough to flee to, and it is small. Please, let me escape there (is it not small?) that my life may be saved.”
He said to him, “Behold, I grant you this request also, not to overthrow the town of which you have spoken. Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore, the name of the town was called Zoar.
The sun had risen over the earth when Lot came to Zoar. Then Yahweh rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Yahweh out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
The Lesson
Yahweh’s messengers told Lot to flee Sodom with his family. Yahweh wanted to save all of them, but Lot’s wife longed for the life she lived in Sodom. Even though they told her not to look back, she couldn’t resist the temptation. She looked back to sneak a peek and died instantly.
“Turning into a pillar of salt” is an idiom. It means that she dropped dead on the spot. Another way to say it is that she was scared to death, literally.
Yahweh’s instructions were very simple. All Lot’s wife needed to do was obey. Looking back probably didn’t seem like a big deal to her. She was wrong.
Genesis 22: 1-18—Abraham was told to Sacrifice Isaac
Now it came about after these things, that Elohim tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which Elohim had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham said, “Elohim will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Then they came to the place of which Elohim had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide [Yahweh Yireh], as it is said to this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.”
Then the Angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The Lesson
Yahweh told Abraham what to do, and he obeyed.
Yahweh never intended for Abraham to kill Isaac. It was a test. He wanted to see if Abraham would sacrifice his only son if Yahweh gave the order.
Yahweh was also showing Abraham what He would do. He would sacrifice His only Son on that same mountain—Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Abraham understood the lesson, and he called Elohim “Yahweh Yireh”. The meaning of that Name is Yahweh will see to it or take care of it.
In Abraham’s seed all the nations of the earth have been blessed, because Abraham obeyed Yahweh’s voice.
1 Kings 13: 11-24—The Disobedient Prophet
Now an old prophet was living in Bethel; and his sons came and told him all the deeds which the man of Elohim had done that day in Bethel; the words which he had spoken to the king, these also they related to their father. Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” Now his sons had seen the way which the man of Eohim who came from Judah had gone. Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.”
So they saddled the donkey for him and he rode away on it. So he went after the man of Elohim and found him sitting under an oak; and he said to him, “Are you the man of Elohim who came from Judah?”
And he said, “I am.”
Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
He said, “I cannot return with you, nor go with you, nor will I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. For a command came to me by the word of Yahweh, ‘You shall eat no bread, nor drink water there; do not return by going the way which you came.’”
He said to him, “I also am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of Yahweh, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he lied to him. So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house and drank water.
Now it came about, as they were sitting down at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back; and he cried to the man of Elohim who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you have disobeyed the command of Yahweh, and have not observed the commandment which Yahweh your Elohim commanded you, but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which He said to you, “Eat no bread and drink no water”; your body shall not come to the grave of your fathers.’”
It came about after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back. Now when he had gone, a lion met him on the way and killed him, and his body was thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it; the lion also was standing beside the body.
The Lesson
Obey Yahweh. We aren’t required to understand the whys and wherefores.
1 Samuel 15: 1-23—Saul Disobeys Yahweh and Lies about It
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of Yahweh. Thus says Yahweh Sabaoth, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”
Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah. Saul came to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the valley. Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, so that I do not destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.”
So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.”
And Samuel was distressed and cried out to Yahweh all night. Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.”
Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of Yahweh! I have carried out the command of Yahweh.”
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”
Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Yahweh anointed you king over Israel, and Yahweh sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of Yahweh, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh?”
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of Yahweh, and went on the mission on which Yahweh sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim at Gilgal.”
Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, He has also rejected you from being king.”
The Lesson
You can delude yourself, but you can’t fool Yahweh.
Saul didn’t understand why Yahweh wanted him to kill the Amalekites’ livestock. On his own, Saul decided that Yahweh was wrong, and he saved the animals.
In Saul’s day, herds of animals were signs of wealth. The more livestock you had, the richer you were. Saul was glorifying himself. He even set up a monument for himself at Carmel. In Saul’s eyes, he was somebody.
That was the beginning of Saul’s end.
In Yahweh’s eyes, obedience is essential. To Him, disobedience is like the sin of divination and the sin of idolatry. In other words, disobedience is a big deal.
Saul did what was right in his own eyes. In other words, he put himself above Yahweh. He was not the person to lead Yahweh’s people.
Lesson One: The Big Lesson
The big lesson is simple: Obey Yahweh in all things large and small. Yahweh expects His children to obey Him.
Yahweh knows what He is doing. We can trust Him, and we should obey Him.
If Yahweh gives us specific instructions, we should do exactly what we are told to do even if we don’t understand why. It’s called “faith”.
Failing to obey Yahweh’s specific instructions has serious consequences.
Yahweh came in Person to shed His blood for our forgiveness. He did not shed His blood so that we can disobey Him with impunity.
Yahweh looks at the heart. Nothing is hidden from Him. Yahweh knows our true motives.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
