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A22. Allowing Worldly Attractions to Ensnare Us.    [Make a Comment]

We are not to allow worldly attractions to ensnare us.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scriptures

Proverbs 6:23-25
For the mitzvah is a lamp, Torah is light, and reproofs that discipline are the way to life. They keep you from an evil woman, from a loose woman's seductive tongue. Don't let your heart lust after her beauty or allow her glance to captivate you.

Matthew 18:7-9
Woe to the world because of snares! For there must be snares, but woe to the person who sets the snare! So if your hand or foot becomes a snare for you, cut it off and throw it away! Better that you should be maimed or crippled and obtain eternal life than keep both hands or both feet and be thrown into everlasting fire! And if your eye is a snare for you, gouge it out and fling it away! Better that you should be one-eyed and obtain eternal life than keep both eyes and be thrown into the fire of Gei-Hinnom.

Mark 9:43-47
If your hand makes you sin, cut it off! Better that you should be maimed but obtain eternal life, rather than keep both hands and go to Gei-Hinnom, to unquenchable fire! And if your foot makes you sin, cut it off! Better that you should be lame but obtain eternal life, rather than keep both feet and be thrown into Gei-Hinnom! And if your eye makes you sin, pluck it out! Better that you should be one-eyed but enter the Kingdom of God, rather than keep both eyes and be thrown into Gei-Hinnom ...

1 John 2:15-16
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world - the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life - are not from the Father but from the world.

Supportive Scriptures

Exodus 23:32-33
You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. They are not to live in your land; otherwise they will make you sin against me by ensnaring you to serve their gods.

Exodus 34:12
Be careful not to make a covenant with the people living in the land where you are going, so that they won't become a snare within your own borders.

Deuteronomy 7:25
You are to burn up completely the carved statues of their gods. Don't be greedy for the silver or gold on them; don't take it with you, or you will be trapped by it; for it is abhorrent to ADONAI your God.

Joshua 23:13
... know for certain that ADONAI your God will stop driving out these nations from your sight. Instead, they will become a snare and a trap for you, whipping your sides and pricking your eyes, until you perish from this good land which ADONAI your God has given you.

Judges 2:3
This is why I also said, 'I will not drive them out before you; but they will be on your flanks, and their gods will become a snare for you.'

Isaiah 8:14-15
He is there to be a sanctuary. But for both the houses of Isra'el he will be a stone to stumble over, a rock obstructing their way; a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Yerushalayim. Many of them will stumble and fall, be broken and trapped and captured.

Psalm 106:36
They went on to serve their idols, which became a snare for them.

Psalm 119:110
The wicked have set a trap for me, yet I haven't strayed from your precepts.

Psalm 140:6(5)
The arrogant hide snares for me; they spread nets by the side of the road, hoping to trap me there.

Psalm 141:9
Keep me from the trap they have set for me, from the snares of evildoers.

Proverbs 7:25-26
Don't let your heart turn to her [a prostitute's] ways; don't stray onto her paths. For many are those she has struck down dead, numerous those she has killed.

Proverbs 13:14
The teaching of a wise man is a fountain of life, enabling one to avoid deadly traps.

Proverbs 22:24-25
Don't associate with an angry man; make no hot-tempered man your companion. If you do, you may learn his ways and find yourself caught in a trap.

Ecclesiastes 7:26
I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is a snare and whose hands are like prison chains. The man who pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be caught by her.

1 Corinthians 6:18
Run from sexual immorality! Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against his own body.

1 Timothy 6:9-10
Furthermore, those whose goal is to be rich fall into temptation; they get trapped in many foolish and hurtful ambitions which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all the evils; because of this craving, some people have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves to the heart with many pains.

James 1:14-15
Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire. Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world - the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life - are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God's will remains forever.

Commentary

Yeshua prayed to his father in heaven:

But now, I am coming to you; and I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world - just as I myself do not belong to the world. I don't ask you to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart for holiness by means of the truth - your word is truth. (John 17:13-17)

It is God's will that we remain in the world so that we can bear witness to the lost - those who do not know God, and are in need of Messiah. We are nevertheless warned of a danger to us, which is that if we are not on our guard, we can allow ourselves to be ensnared by the things of the world that appeal to our flesh, and backslide into sin. The things of which we must beware are numerous - money, power, possessions, and illicit sex are but examples. We are not, however, left to fend for ourselves, for the Holy Spirit is with us, and we assured that:

No temptation has seized you [us] beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you [us] to be tempted beyond what you [we] can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you [we] will be able to endure. (1 Corinthians 10:13-13)

Classical Commentators

This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the Jewish classical commentators.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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