The Fear of the LORD

It is the Fear of the Lord that keeps us from sin. I love theae notes taken from the NET version of the Bible. Proverbs 1 | NET tn Heb "fear of the Lord." The expression nx?! nịn (yir'at yÿhvah, "fear of Yahweh") is a genitive-construct in which nin' ("the Lord") functions as an objective genitive: He is the object of fear. The term x7; (yara) is the common word for fear in the OT and has a basic three-fold range of meanings: (1) "dread; terror" (Deut 1:29; Jonah 1:10), (2) "to stand in awe" (1 Kgs 3:28), (3) "to revere; to respect" (Lev 19:3). With the Lord as the object, it captures the polar opposites of shrinking back in fear and drawing close in awe and adoration. Both categories of meaning appear in Exod 20:20 (where the Lord descended upon Sinai amidst geophysical convulsions); Moses encouraged the Israelites to not be afraid of God arbitrarily striking them dead for no reason ("Do not fear!") but informed the people that the Lord revealed himself in such a terrifying manner to scare them from sinning ("God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him in you so that you do not sin"). The fear of the Lord is expressed in reverential submission to his will - the characteristic of true worship. The fear of the Lord is the foundation for wisdom (9:10) and the discipline leading to wisdom 1. 33). It is expressed in hatred of evil (8:13) and avoidance of sin 2. 6), and so results in prolonged life (10:27; 19:23).

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