Hosea: 14:10: “He who is wise will consider these words; He who is prudent will take note of them. For the paths of the Lord are smooth; the righteous can walk on them
But the sinners will stumble on them.
There are four words in this verse that really stand out to me. They are the words path (Derek), smooth (ysahar), walk (Halakah), and stumble (kashol).
There are about six different words the writer could have used in the Hebrew for path to express the many different types of paths that exist. There is a path to success, the path to a relationship, the path to knowledge and so forth. The writer, however, chose the word derek which in its Semitic root represents an adventurous path. We often talk of the rough, rocky road we walk. Yet in Jesus, the road is never rocky or rough, it is a smooth path. The word in Hebrew for smooth is ysahar, which literally means a straight and a direct road. However, it is only smooth and straight when you walk or halkah. The word halkah refers to a righteous walk or walking in the path of righteousness. For a Christian that is walking in the steps of Jesus, walking in the center of His will, he has the promise of God to make his way smooth (Isaiah 26:7). As far as the sinner is concerned, well they just go ahead and stumble. The Hebrew word here is for stumble is kashol which means to stagger or grow weary. In other words the sinner will grow weary trying to live a righteous life because his heart is focused on the things of the flesh and he longs for the things of the flesh. However, if ones heart is focused on God and truly loves God, then living a righteous life is no burden, it is a derek, a path of adventure and a ysahar, a smooth, straight and direct walk to the light of God.
Yeah, I know what you are thinking, because I am thinking the same thing. The road I am walking is anything but smooth. I am staggering, stumbling and growing weary. So what gives?
There is an old Rabbinic tale of a man who was in a tavern and gulped down his usual share of wine. Suddenly, he began to scream, “Jews! Save yourselves! Run from this bar to the dining room for the barroom is about to collapse.” Everyone ran to the dining room and then the man again screamed, “We must run out side, for the whole building is about to collapse.” So they all ran outside and again the man screamed, “We are doomed, for the whole world is about to collapse.”
By this time the crowd began to wonder about this guy and a spokesman asked: “Why do you think the world is about to collapse?” The man said: “Every time I take a step, I stagger – sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left. This is a clear indication that the bar, the dinning room and world is unstable and on the verge of collapse…”
With that the crowd broke out laughing: “The spokesman said: “My friend, see for yourself, we are walking straight without stumbling, the reason you stumble is because you are drunk.”
Because of the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, He has made our way ysahar, that is straight and smooth. If we stumble and stagger (kashol) on this road of life, it is not because it is unstable and rocky, it is because we are too full of the wine of this world rather than the Spirit of God.
But does that not contradict Matthew 7:14 which reads, “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” The word narrow in the Greek is thilbo, which means to suffer tribulation. In the Aramaic the word for narrow is qeten which means something that appears to be worthless. So often our thilbo or struggles seems to appear to be qeten worthless or of little value. But Jesus said that this is the way to life. It is interesting that the word for way that is used here in the Aramaic is the word oruka which comes from the Semitic root for the word light. In Aramaic oruka literally means the lighted road or the road that leads to the light.
The ancient sages that lived centuries before Jesus’s time used to teach that the letter Hei represents the presence of God. The Hei (ה) if you will notice has a little break in the left hand corner. The ancient sages taught that this was the narrow gate and the open space at the bottom was the wide gate and few there were that could climb through the narrow gate that leads to the presence of God.
So does this teaching by Jesus indicate a contradiction to Hosea that to follow the path of God through the narrow gate is one of difficulty and tribulation? Not if you consider the Semitic root of the word derek (way),which is a special type of way, it is an adventurous way. An adventure is filled with struggles and trials because that is what makes it an adventure. It is a divine video game so to speak. You are safe and sound as you play at the controls of the game and you navigate through one trial and tribulation after another. At the end of all those trials and difficulties, you reach your goal and you stand up and say: “That was fun.” I remember a father telling the story of how he laid on his back and was throwing his toddler son up in the air and catching him. At one point he misjudged and his son fell on the floor. The father gasped thinking, “What have I done?” He picture the police and child welfare coming to his door to arrest him for child abuse when all of a suddenly his son jumped up and said: “Gee Dad, that was fun, let’s do it again.” Now if this same child so much as trips on the carpet on over his own two feet and falls, he would be crying like the world is about to collapse. When you go through a struggle or trial with God and He sends the cavalry in at the eleventh hour to rescue you what do you do? You stand up in front of your Bible study group or church group give this wonderful testimony, “Gee God, that was fun, let’s do it again.”
When we are in the center of God’s Divine Will, we are never in any danger, so we walk through all life’s trials and difficulties experiencing an adventure (derek) with Jesus, watching him knock off the bad guys. However, step out of the center of God’s will, well then we kashol begin to stumble and grow weary and scream like the world is about to collapse
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