Shalom!
Let’s all say that together.
“Shalom!”
Shalom is a Hebrew word that you would use
to greet someone.
Now let’s say, “Mazel Tov!”
“Mazel Tov!”
Do you know what we just did? We just congratulated each other for being
able to speak Hebrew! See how easy Hebrew is?
As you probably already know, Hebrew is
not an easy language to learn. For one thing, it is written from right to left
and there are no vowels in the Hebrew alphabet making it difficult to pronounce
the words.
But for just two easy payments of $19.99,
we’re going to learn the meaning of two of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew
alphabet these next two weeks. And those two letters are the letter “Aleph” and
the letter “Hei.” We’ll have to learn the other twenty letters some other time.
The reason we’re going to focus on these
two letters is because they will help us to appreciate Psalm 119 which is the
most important of all the 150 Psalms. It’s the most important Psalm because it
highlights the importance of knowing and obeying God’s Word.
Just to show how important Psalm 119 is,
there are Christians all around the world who follow what is known as “The
Daily Office” reading of the scriptures which can be found in The Book of
Common Prayer and comes to us from the Episcopal Church tradition.
These daily scripture readings include an
Old Testament reading, a New Testament reading, a Gospel reading, and several
Psalms that tie in with the Christian year. If you follow these readings every
day for two years, you will have read through most of the bible.
Since the Psalms are such an important
part of the Bible, this Daily Office approach is designed in such a way that
you read all one hundred fifty Psalms each month during those two years. And
so, the idea is that if you read all of these Psalms every month over a two
year period, the Psalms will become very familiar to you and since the Psalms
are prayers, they will help you to have a deeper prayer life.
Just
to show how important Psalm 119 is in this Daily Office schedule of readings,
it has you read a portion of Psalm 119 every single Wednesday for those two
years. Psalm 119 is a very important Psalm.
If you randomly open your bible to
somewhere near the middle of it, you will probably open it up fairly close to
Psalm 119 which represents the longest chapter of the entire Bible. There are
176 verses in this Psalm. I think there’s something very symbolic that Psalm
119 is in the middle of the bible since Psalm 119 talks about the importance of
God’s Word.
Here is the neat thing about Psalm 119.
It’s an acrostic Psalm which means that this Psalm begins each section of eight
verses with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is something we
don’t notice since we depend on our English translations of the bible. Psalm
119 was organized this way to remind us that God’s Word helps to bring order
and rhythm to our lives.
If you ever feel stressed, out of sorts,
confused, directionless, just read a little of Psalm 119 which reminds us that
God’s Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path which is one of
the verses in this Psalm. God’s Word is what helps us to be the people God has
created us to be.
The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is
Aleph. Say “Aleph” with me. “Aleph.”
See, you’re already getting an A+ in class today. You know the first
letter of the Hebrew alphabet!
This is what the Hebrew letter, “Aleph”
looks like.
Since this is the first letter of the
alphabet, the Jewish people saw this letter as the most important of all of the
Hebrew letters. This letter was seen as the master of all of the other Hebrew
letters.
Let’s listen again to how this Psalm
begins and yes, I’ll read it in English, not in Hebrew!
“Happy
are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord. Happy are
those who keep his decrees who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no
wrong, but walk in his ways.”
“You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. O that my ways
may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an
upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances. I will observe your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.”
There’s the first section of the
twenty-two sections that we find in Psalm 119. And it all begins with the
letter “Aleph.” It’s like the Psalmist is saying to us, “Just like Aleph is the
most important letter of the Hebrew alphabet, obeying God and God’s Word should
be the most important priority in our lives.”
This first Aleph section tells us that if
we make God’s Word a priority in our lives, that we will be happy and we will
not be put to shame. That’s a pretty good deal, isn’t it? That’s what most of
us want, right? We want to be happy and we want to not live in shame.
This doesn’t mean that we will be perfect
because we all make mistakes, but it does meant that putting God first in our
lives will put us on the right path. And when we veer off God’s path, and we
all do from time to time, God offers us grace and helps us to find our way
again.
The Jewish people believe that there are a
total of 613 laws that can be found in the Hebrew scriptures. That’s a lot of
laws! How in the world does God expect us to keep 613 laws?
Maybe you have heard the story about the
time when Moses went up the mountain alone to speak with God while the rest of
the people waited for him below. When Moses finally came down from the
mountain, the people asked him, “Well,
what did God tell you?”
And Moses said, “Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that
we don’t have to obey these hundreds of laws anymore. God has whittled it down
to just Ten Commandments.”
But here’s the bad news. You’re not going to
like these ten!”
During one of our Wednesday Fellowship
Dinners, a church member wore a sweatshirt that had a variation of the Ten
Commandments, but these were called Country Commandments. I thought these were
pretty good.
Here’s the country version of the Ten
Commandments so they are easy for us to understand:
One God, No Gossipn’, Sunday Go to Meetn’,
No Stealn’, No Wantin’ Neighbors Things, No Hanky Panky, Honor Ma & Pa, No
Idols, No Killin’, & No Cussin’.
That kind of simplifies it, don’t you
think?
Sometimes we think of rules and laws only
in a negative way, but that’s not how the Bible views them. God has given us
rules, laws, and commandments to help us stay on the right path. They help us
to be fully human and to be the people that God has created us to be.
Jesus affirmed the importance of following
God’s commandments when he said that he came not to abolish the laws, but to
fulfill them. In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus expands the meaning of
God’s commandments to not murder and commit adultery by including how we
control our anger and lust.
Jesus knew that it wasn’t just our actions
that matter to God. It’s what leads up to our actions that matter. We need
God’s Word and God’s law to help us see who we are and who we are to be.
Arabian Horses go through rigorous training in
the deserts of the Middle East. The trainers require absolute obedience from
the horses, and test them to see if they are completely trained.
The final test is almost beyond the endurance of any living thing. The
trainers force the horses to go without water for many days. Then they turn
them loose.
Of course they start running toward the water, but just as they get to
the edge, ready to plunge in and drink, the trainer blows his whistle. The
horses who have been completely trained and who have learned
perfect obedience, stop. They turn around and come pacing back to the
trainer.
They stand there quivering, wanting water, but they wait in perfect
obedience. When the trainer is sure that he has their obedience, he gives
them a signal to go back to drink. Obedience is what will help these horses and those who
ride them to survive when they are out in the hot and arid desert.
In a similar way, as we obey God’s Word and follow God’s teachings, we
will be able to persevere as we face the challenges of life. This is why Psalm
119 begins with the Hebrew letter, “Aleph,” the master of the Hebrew alphabet.
It reminds us that obeying God is the most important thing we can do in life.
Whenever you are facing a difficult decision and you’re tempted to not
do what God wants you to do, remember this first letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. Seek God with all of your
heart. Obey God’s Word.
And you will be happy.
Shalom!
