"Fear of the LORD"? Or reverence for YHVH.

[Elijah John]

Did the ancient Hebrew authors of the Bible really want us to be afraid of God? Or to love and revere Him.

What is the Hebrew word used when it is rendered in English as "fear"?

Whenever I see the expression "fear of the LORD" I read it as "reverence for YHVH". As in, "reverence for YHVH is the beginning of wisdom".

Is my reading that far off?

Also, does God want us to relate to Him out of fear? Or out of love and reverence.

[tam]

Peace to you,

[Replying to post 10 by Elijah John]

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18


Not sure there is much more to add to that. Just wanted to share the words to help in relation to the topic.



Peace again!

[2timothy316]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

EJ, I think you are right on the money. Jehovah doesn't want us to have a debilitating fear of Him, but for us to love Him. When the scripture says to "fear" God, it means as you inferred, that we should have a healthy fear of making Him sad. It's as simple as that.

Perhaps the Bible usage of the word "fear" encapsulates the concepts of reverence, respect and awe, all in one word.

It is unfortunate that the Bible uses that word. It feeds into the distorted picture that YHVH's detractors like to paint that He is some kind of monster.

“The word of God is alive and exerts power and ...is able to discern thoughts and intentions of the heart�​—HEB. 4:12.

The word is used to expose the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It exposes distorted people's hearts. While I completely am with you that I am saddened that such people paint Jehovah as a monster that should be feared in a bad way. It is not us that the responsibility belongs to clear His name. He will deal with those that profane His name. Those that do are pushing their own harmful agenda, so that they can do as much harm as they wish without feeling judgement. Make God worse than themselves and suddenly they are not so bad. I used to be someone like that. What an idiot I was.

Ezekiel 36:23 says,
"I will certainly sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which you profaned among them; and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah,’ declares the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘when I am sanctified among you before their eyes."

[brianbbs67]

[Replying to post 1 by Elijah John]

EJ, I think you are right on the money. Jehovah doesn't want us to have a debilitating fear of Him, but for us to love Him. When the scripture says to "fear" God, it means as you inferred, that we should have a healthy fear of making Him sad. It's as simple as that.

Perhaps the Bible usage of the word "fear" encapsulates the concepts of reverence, respect and awe, all in one word.

It is unfortunate that the Bible uses that word. It feeds into the distorted picture that YHVH's detractors like to paint that He is some kind of monster.

Here's the definition of yireh by bible hub for this verse. Hebrew words are subjective. Mean one thing one place and another another place.

3 fear of God, reverence, piety יִרְ�ַת �ֱלֹהִי� Genesis 20:11 (E), 2 Samuel 23:3; Nehemiah 5:15; שַ�דַּי ׳יר Job 6:14; �ֱלֹהֵינוּ ׳יר Nehemiah 5:9; יהוה ׳יר2Chronicles 19:9; Isaiah 11:3; Isaiah 33:6; Psalm 34:12; Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:26,27; Proverbs 15:16; Proverbs 19:23; Proverbs 22:4; Proverbs 23:17; "" the knowledge (of God) Proverbs 1:29; Proverbs 2:5; Isaiah 11:2; is the beginning of wisdom Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 9:10, and knowledge Proverbs 1:7; the instruction of wisdom Proverbs 15:33, is to hate evil Proverbs 8:13, and it involves departing from evil Proverbs 16:6; �ֲדֹנָי ׳י is wisdom Job 28:28; יִרְ�ָה is defined by context Job 15:4; with suffixes these are usually object, fear of him Exodus 20:20 (E), of thee Psalm 5:8; Psalm 90:11; Psalm 119:38; Isaiah 63:17, of me Jeremiah 32:40, but subject, thy fear (i.e. thy religion) Job 4:6; Job 22:4.

Just a curious question here, are you not afraid of the unknown superior or that which you know you can't physically overcome? I mean I am not planning on charging any water Buffalo or Hippos.

[onewithhim]

You're correct.

The same form of the word 'to fear' is used in Leviticus 19:3 where it says, "Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am Jehovah your God."

Some Bibles even straight up use the word 'fear' rather than 'reverence' or 'honor'.
https://biblehub.com/leviticus/19-3.htm

Why is not what 2timothy said in his post sufficient to answer the question? He showed that "fear" can be understood to be the same as "reverence." That makes complete sense. We fear Jehovah the same way we may "fear" our parents whom we love and respect and, yes, revere. We would not want to do anything to hurt them or make them feel bad. If we were careful not to do those things, we would have nothing of which to be alarmed.

[marco]

hile I completely am with you that I am saddened that such people paint Jehovah as a monster that should be feared in a bad way. It is not us that the responsibility belongs to clear His name. He will deal with those that profane His name. Those that do are pushing their own harmful agenda, so that they can do as much harm as they wish without feeling judgement. Make God worse than themselves and suddenly they are not so bad. I used to be someone like that. What an idiot I was.

You assume a motive and attack it. Your assumption is wrong. The attacks against Jehovah are just analytic judgments of a character who appears in the OT. Under no judgment is he a nice character. Jehovah is as nasty as a being can be. His act of kindness, taking his chosen humans out of slavery, consumed all of forty years, which smacks of sadism if he had the power to reduce that term.

Fear - as in timor mortis, fear of death - is what it says: people would be terrified of a being who could strike Lot's wife dead or have kids who laughed killed. If there is reverence it is given through fear, not love. I would say it is impossible to love Jehovah, but not impossible to claim one loves him, for safety's sake. In any event Jehovah demands fear, not love.