Throughout the history of Judaism and Christianity there have been those who have exercised their freedom to mock the word of God. Mocking has several forms, i.e. from actually scoffing at Old Testament prophecies to just not taking the Bible seriously. In the Old Testament writings the same Hebrew word is used interchangeably for mock and scoff. Synonyms for mock and scoff in both testaments include scorn and ridicule.
In the Old Testament the greatest offenders were God’s chosen people themselves, the Israelites.
“And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people…But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chronicles 36:15-16
It is very interesting to note that the first reference to mockery is found in the book of Genesis relative to Isaac and Ishmael.
“So the child (Isaac) grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar (Ishmael) …scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.’” Genesis 21:8-10
Of course this battle between the scoffing Ishmael and Isaac rages on even to this day.
The current prevailing form of mockery is to claim to be a Christian but then not take God’s word seriously. This is also a form of hypocrisy but it is so prevalent in America today that it is hardly recognized as such. For example, only three of the original Ten Commandments are considered laws in our present judicial system. That means that we can break seven of the original commandments with no legal recourse. Do we think that those seven are not as important to the author of those original ten as the three that we have adopted into our legal system?
The truth is that not taking those other seven seriously is the primary cause of this country’s present problems. For example ask nearly any politician what they consider to be this nation’s number one problem and the answer will most likely be the status of our economy. We are considered to be the leader of the free world not only because of our military strength but also because of our financial strength and the size of our economy. Remember within a week of 9-11 former President Bush said that America would show the world how powerful and resilient we were by how quickly the stock market would be up and running. It was as if we were ignoring commandment number one.
“I am the LORD your God…You shall have no other gods before Me.”
Exodus 20:2-3
Have we not made our financial strength our god?
Our present economy is in fact tottering and the root cause can be attributed to excessive debt which resulted in over valued paper assets which in turn can be traced back to ignoring commandment number ten.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house…nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:17
The present administration is not faring any better with the issue of not taking the Bible seriously than the previous administration. President Obama believes that we can negotiate with Iran, the country whose leader wants to annihilate Israel. He also believes that the solution to the Palestinian issue is to allow them sovereign nation status within Israel’s existing borders. In addition this administration thinks that the way to solve this country’s economic woes is to add more debt. Such strategies are all counter Biblical.
America and the rest of the world appear to be perfectly content to continue with this silent mockery of the word of God as if things will continue indefinitely as they are.
“Beloved, I now write to you…that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, that scoffers will come in the last days…and saying…all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the earth…perished, being flooded…and the earth which is now preserved by the same word, is reserved for fire…” 2 Peter 3:1-4
It appears that we have forgotten the history of the flood which was caused by ignoring God’s authority.
The advantages of avoiding mockery, scoffing, and scorning God’s word is addressed by King David in the very first Psalm.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly…nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD…” Psalm 1:1-2
And once again, the handbook for success is available and free.