Torah Trails
Rabbi Yehudah “Tochukwu” ben Shomeyr
Kristopher Shoemaker
#6 Toldot
Gen. 25:19-28:9
Mal. 1:1-2-7
Romans
9:6-11, Heb. 12:14-17
Memory
Verses: Gen. 26:12-13, Mal. 2:2, Rom. 9:8
Gen.25:9,
21-23, 28:1-2, 7-9
Isaac and
Ishmael, Jacob and Esau represent what is called in Hebrew the Yetzar Tov (the
Good Inclination) and the Yetzar Hara (the Bad or Evil Inclination). Just as we
read that Isaac and Ishmael were subject to and obeyed Abraham their father and
Jacob and Esau likewise obeyed Isaac their father and thus the in same way, the
Good and the Bad inclination are subject to God. I say Bad because such
Inclination isn’t innately evil because it is from God. The Inclination is not
evil, it just has the potential, if we let it to make evil decisions. For
example, hunger becomes gluttony or starvation becomes theft.
Isaac and
Jacob are like the Good Inclination. Ishmael and Esau are like the Band Inclination.
Ishmael and Esau were not bad guys necessarily, just cantankerous and stubborn
and learned things the hard way, usually putting self before God.
Isaac and
Jacob ultimately wanted to please and obey their father, Ishmael and Esau did
also, but reluctantly, they seemed to want to do what they wanted to do, but
never the less conceded to obey their father but in an indirect, minimal or
less than perfect way, or even after the fact. The Bad Inclination is the
desire to fill a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. The Bad Inclination
wants to put our ways first and God’s ways second.
The Good
Inclination is there to help us please Our Father YHWH and the Bad Inclination
does tend to appeal to our flesh, while the whole time still desires, though
reluctantly, to do God’s will, or find alternative or indirect ways to do God’s
will that is permissible but not perfect or beneficial. The Bad Inclination
allows us, if we let it, to see and envision the negative, less than perfect
and or troubled and complicated outcome of a decision aimed at satisfying self
and so in its own way prods us back to the ways of God. The Good Inclination is
like the school of discipline and the Bad Inclination is like the school of
Hard Knocks. Both end up learning the same lesson; one is by positive reinforcement,
and the other by negative reinforcement. The problem lies in the self-deception
in thinking we can get away with pleasing ourselves without entangling consequences
and blame the Bad Inclination when one gets in trouble. So the Bad Inclination
is employed by God in order to make us stronger if we allow it, by practicing
restraint and resistance.
In a way, we
are like little children who want candy, (nothing wrong with candy in and of
itself) but our parents want us to eat our vegetables. The Good inclination promptly
acknowledges that our parents love us and have our best interests in mind, and
we find when we willingly and joyfully obey we get the candy afterwards, making
Godly and fleshly satisfaction unified and complete and kosher. The Bad Inclination
on the other hand, desires the candy, thinking of immediate self-gratification
and is willing to reluctantly eat he least amount of vegetables necessary, but won’t
like it, in order to get the candy. Our free will is like a judge, weighing he
pros and cons of the Good and Bad and acting on it. If we choose Bad, we may decide
to forgo the vegetables all together, even though the Bad would say, do it
anyway, even though you won’t like it, and gorge on the candy and then get sick
and say, “I should have ate the vegetables.” Hence, satisfying a sweet tooth
becomes gluttony. Lesson learned the hard way, so the next time we’d eat the
vegetables and then get the candy; bypassing the nasty stomach ache of the last
time.
The Bad Inclination,
if we allow it, causes us strengthen our self-control, resolve and will to do
what is right.
Mal. 1:2-3,
Romans 9:6-16
Continuing
the theme of the Good and Bad Inclination, we can see this verse from the
standpoint that God didn’t literally “hate” Esau, but if we read carefully and
take Genesis and Malachi in proper context, we see that God loved the ways of
Jacob and hated the ways of Esau. I can have two sons and love them both
equally, but I can love or approve of how one does things over the other. One
can be straight and the other a homosexual. I still love them both but could
only love the ways of one and hate the ways of the other. Because Esau’s ways
were not godly but fleshly and thus not perfect, we see him and his descendants
suffer the consequences of poor decision making.
Heb.
12:14-17
Esau representing
the Bad Inclination; puts self before God, only later to weigh and regret the consequences
of such actions.
“Abba YHWH Elohim,
train us to use the Bad Inclination and or temptations when they come along to
cause us to look at the consequences instead of focusing on self-gratification
so that we can end up making good choices that please You and better ourselves.
And remind us that poor decisions lies souly on us. You never accept the
excuse, “The Devil made me do it.”
In Yeshua’s
Name, Amen!”
