What Did Evil Mean to Jesus?

In my last email, What Did Good Mean to Jesus, I used Psalm 34:13-14 as a context to understand what “good” meant. In the Psalm below, I use transliterations of three key Hebrew words that are very important in the teachings of Jesus. Their English translations are in ^superscript.

Keep your tongue from RAH ^evil,

and your lips from speaking deceit ^MIRMAH.

Depart from RAH ^evil and do TOV ^good;

seek SHALOM ^peace and pursue it.

In order to accurately understand the movement and teachings of the Jewish Jesus of history (Yeshua), a “Kingdom of Heaven Vocabulary” is a prerequisite. It gives you not only “meanings of words;” it also gives you the ability to “recognize actions that reflect them” in the teachings of Jesus. Below is what “good” (TOV) to Jesus:

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that protect lives, preserve lives, make lives more functional,

and increase the quality of life.

In my previous email I pointed out that “good” is part of a standard we are taught as young children – “good / bad.” The meaning of “bad” is dependent upon the meaning of “good.” In the ancient Hebrew language of the Jewish Scriptures and the teachings of Jesus, the opposite of TOV (good) is RAH which is translated “evil.” Therefore, for Jesus, this is the meaning of “evil” (RAH):

Thinking about, talking about, and doing things

that destroy lives, harm lives, make lives less functional,

and decrease the quality of life.

Now let’s use this information to update our translation of Psalm 34:13-14.

Keep your tongue from talking about things that destroy lives,

harm lives, make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life,

and your lips from speaking deceit.

Depart from things that destroy lives, harm lives,

make lives less functional, and decrease the quality of life.

Do things that protect lives, preserve lives,

make lives more functional, and increase the quality of life.

Seek SHALOM ^peace and pursue it.

I will discuss the meaning of “SHALOM” in my next email.

Thank you for Exploring with me,

Jim Myers

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