A Brother’s Keeper
Notes
Transcript
A Brother’s Keeper
A Brother’s Keeper
God asked Cain a question:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!
And Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” [Cain] said, “I do not know! Is the one guarding my brother me?” And [Yahweh] said, “What did you do? The sound of the blood of your brother is the one shouting out to me from the ground!”
There was a great debate, for centuries, millennia perhaps, that asked if God could hear the voices of the dead from Sheol.
It would seem…yes.
The question is answered right here.
The concept of ‘guard’ or ‘keep’ comes from a particular Hebrew term…
שׁמר
You have already seen the term used twice before the incident with Cain
First
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
I am not particularly fond of this translation…
Yahweh God took the adam and caused him to rest (noah) in a garden of eden to serve her and to guard (shamar) her.
Second…
He drove out the humans, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.
Again, here is how I translate it…
[Yahweh] cast away the human. He caused the cherubim with the turning sword of flame to dwell east of eden’s garden, to guard (shamar) the way of the tree of life.
As an aside, this idea of divine beings (yes, plural), guarding ‘the way to the tree of life’ is going to be addressed in Zechariah 3:7, where the Angel of the LORD tells Joshua (Yeshua) the high priest that he will give him ‘the way’
Zechariah 3:7, Thus says Yahweh of Armies, “If in my way you will walk, and if my guarded (shamar) you will guard (shamar), then also you will cause justice in my house, then also you will guard (shuard) my courtyards. I will give to you the ways between these who are standing at attention.”
When Jesus says he is the ‘way, the truth, and the life’ he is saying, “I am that Joshua, the High Priest, who was clothed in filth, but now owns the way to the tree of life.”
He is the way, the pathway
He is trustworthy and faithful (truth)
He is the life, because he will open the way past the cherubim and flaming, turning sword.
What is this way?
Gen 18:19, Yahweh says of Abraham’s children, “…and they will guard (shamar) the way of Yahweh, which is to do righteousness and justice…”
Notice… ‘guard the way’ like a cherubim
Ex 23:20, Yahweh tells Moses how he will bring Israel to the land, “Behold, I am the one sending an angel before you to guard (shamar) you on the way…”
One angel is guarding the garden, now one is guarding Israel (all the people)
Deut 8:6, “You will guard the commands of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways and to fear him.”
Now, we don’t want to get too far off track.
Cain asked, ‘Am I the one to guard my brother?’
We have heard much about ‘guarding God’s ways’
What about guarding people?
Cain specifically asked, ‘Am I my brother’s guard?’
Jer 31:30, “Hear the word of Yahweh, O nations, and cause to be made known in the distant islands, saying, ‘The one who scattered Israel like seed, [Yahweh] will gather him, and [Yahweh] will guard him like a shepherd of his flock.’”
Ps 146:9, “Yahweh guards resident foreigners. An orphan and widow he will surround. And he will bend the way of the wicked”
So I will ask…
Are you your brother’s guard?
There is no HB command to ‘guard’ your brother
There are HB commands to ‘love’ your neighbor, who is your brother
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
We are entering that time of year, every two years, where political issues and parties will start going after each other.
The primaries are months away, so the ads and messaging is going to ramp up
We will hear news of this and that, and politicians outside our state are going to appear in our feeds
You will be tempted to hunker down, and decide what platform you will support.
I am here to remind us, all of us, myself included…
We have the right of our nation to support whatever platform you want
But we do not have the right to choose what commands we will follow
You and I are bound serve and guard the WAYs of our God, above all else
You may be inclined to think I am supporting one party above another
I am not…
As for me and my house, we shall serve Yahweh. Period.
My Brother’s Keeper
My Brother’s Keeper
