Are Torah abiding believers commanded to pray for their enemies?
Torah is not so much concerned about prayer as it is about good actions...
In that sense, Torah encourages the
Hebrew believer to avoid taking revenge and keeping grudges. In addition, he is to do good, even unto his
own enemies. As is written: “Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but
love your
neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord [who commands it, therefore you must do it]... If you come
across your enemy’s stray ox or donkey, you must return it to him"- Leviticus 19:18, Exodus 23:4 (Christian
Standard Bible).
The Hebrew Bible is true, but not the way you've been told!
The Hebrew Bible is a book of prophecy, as well as moral paradigms intended to cleanse the human soul. But
these paradigms are cleverly summarized as simplified statements and narratives. For example,
the Scripture
tells us that the mouth of those who speak lies, will be shut (“... for the mouths of liars will be shut”- Psalm
63:11).
How can we accept this statement as a fact, when certainly each of us knows more than one liar whose mouth
no man [or god] seems to be able to shut? Again, the former verse wasn't intended to be taken in a literal
sense; it's intention was to convey a moral lesson- that, when a person gets used to repeating a lie concerning
any particular issue, that lie holds such
a strong grip upon him that, if in the future someone else tries to show
him the truth, the former won't be able to “swallow it” [just a if his mouth had been shut!].
Another example could be the fact that, according to Genesis 3:1, the serpent was the shrewdest of all
creatures [so shrewd that he outsmarted Adam and Eve!]. Does this means that the Bible teaches animals can
actually talk? Not at all! It just means that intelligence alone doesn't amount to kindness; it means that
knowledge has little to do with humanity; that a person can have plenty of secular, scientific, or even
religious knowledge, and still be no more than [the moral equivalent of “a talking animal”.
Actually, notice how the serpent's claim was correct (Adam and Eve wouldn't die if they were to eat from the
forbidden fruit). But what Adam and Eve failed to grasp was that their happiness wasn't the result of knowing
the cold
facts of life; it was the product of having a personal relationship with God; one in which they honor
Him as their Creator, and obey Him as their father. In fact, cold facts alone would [in the end] leave them
both feeling “naked” and “shamed”.
As a last example, Scripture says that Israel couldn't defeat it's pagan enemies, as they had “iron chariots”
(“And the Lord was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain, BUT COULD NOT
DRIVE OUT THE INHABITANTS OF THE VALLEY, BECAUSE THEY HAD CHARIOTS OF IRON”-
Judges 1:19).
Does the former verse implies that Israel's God was powerless against the advanced pagan weaponry? Not at
all! It simply means that there were still some righteous men dwelling among those pagan nations [and these
men would prove to be a better security against God's impending judgment than any
iron chariots could ever
be!].
And from whence do we know that righteous men are compared to mighty chariots? We know it from the
verse that goes on to say: «... Behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them
both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. AND ELISHA SAW IT, AND HE CRIED,
“MY FATHER [ELIJAH], MY FATHER [ELIJAH], [YOU ARE LIKE] THE CHARIOT OF ISRAEL, AND
THE HORSEMEN THEREOF”»- 2 Kings 2:11-12.
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And from whence do we know that God will delay a nations judgment until their righteous men are gone
from their midst? We know it from the verse that goes on to say: “Haste thee [oh Lot], ESCAPE THITHER;
FOR I CANNOT DO ANYTHING [CONCERNING SODOM'S DESTRUCTION] TILL THOU BE COME
THITHER [TO ZOAR]... The sun was risen upon the earth WHEN LOT ENTERED INTO ZOAR. THEN
THE LORD RAINED UPON SODOM AND UPON GOMORRAH BRIMSTONE AND FIRE...”- Genesis
19:22-24
Finally, Torah tells us that Israel murmured against both God and Moses (“AND THE PEOPLE SPOKE
AGAINST GOD AND AGAINST MOSES...”- Numbers 21:5). And the punishment for their murmuring was
that poisonous snakes started to bite them (“THEN THE LORD SENT POISONOUS SNAKES AMONG
THE PEOPLE, AND THEY BIT THEM...”- Numbers 21:6).
Is this story intended to be understood in a literal sense? What does murmuring against other persons has to
do with snakes? The answer to these questions is that the former narrative aims at teaching us how
inescapable the law of “measure for measure” (also known as “sowing and reaping”, or “eye for an eye”) is.
In
other words, it tries to remind us that God will force us to “reap” the same “goodness” [or evil] we have
sowed.
In our case, just as the Israelites had injured Moses with “the venom” [or “gossip”] coming out of their
mouths, they too eventually found themselves being injured by the venom coming out of someone else
mouth (that is, the serpent’s mouth).
“How many legs does a dog have if you call his tail a leg? Four. [Why? Simply because...] Saying that a tail
is a leg, doesn't make it a leg”- Abraham Lincoln
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