arrogant ones

January 30, 2018

The useless worship of God (Mal 3:14-3:15)

“You have said.

‘It is vain

To serve God.

What do we profit

By keeping his commands?

What do we profit

By walking

As mourning

Before Yahweh of hosts?

Now we count the arrogant

Happy.

Evildoers not only prosper,

But when they put God

To the test,

They escape.’”

The people of Israel were saying that it was useless to worship God.  What did they gain by keeping his commandments?  How did it help them by walking around mourning before Yahweh?  The arrogant ones were the happy ones.  The evildoers not only prospered, but when they defied God, they escaped.  What was the value of their Yahweh worship?

December 11, 2017

The righteous live by their faith (Hab 2:4-2:5)

“Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right

In them.

But the righteous

Live by their faith.

Moreover,

Wealth is treacherous.

The arrogant

Do not endure.

They open

Their throats wide

As in Sheol.

Just like death,

They never have enough.

They gather all nations

For themselves.

They collect

All people

As their own.”

Yahweh warned that these proud people would have a hard time, because their spirit was not right.  The main theme of this simple response was that the righteous live by their faith.  This idea that the righteous live by faith was a strong part of the apostle Paul in his Christian belief.  On the other hand, wealth was treacherous for the greedy.  Thus, the arrogant ones would not endure, because they were more open to the shadowy afterlife of Sheol.  These greedy people never had enough.  Just like death itself, they were always looking for more people.  They had tried to gather all people and countries to themselves as their own, but they were never satisfied.