This is the penultimate article on the Fear of the Lord. There are a few verses that I missed in the other posts, but I didn’t want to ignore them, so I’m gathering them up here under various headings.
Obedience to God
Genesis 22:12 (ESV) He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
This verse is from the story of Abraham being ready to sacrifice his son Isaac. God tested Abraham to see if he still feared God after he got everything his heart desired. Once God saw that Abraham still feared God, even though he had everything else he wanted, God blessed Abraham with a son and with the promise of countless offspring to come.
A sign of trustworthiness
Genesis 42:18 (ESV) On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
This verse if from the story of Joseph testing his brothers on their first trip to Egypt.
He tells them to leave one of their brothers in custody while the rest of them return to get their other brother (Benjamin) and bring him to Egypt.
He tells them that he fears God as a sign that they can trust him not to betray them.
Exodus 18:21 (ESV) Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.
This passage is from the story of Exodus when Moses’ father-in-law is instructing him on how to delegate authority to others so that he is not constantly overwhelmed with judging disputes between all the people of Israel. He tells Moses to find men who fear God because they will be trustworthy and not corrupt.
Promises
1 Samuel 12:14 (ESV) If you will fear the LORD and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, it will be well.
This passage is from the prophet Samuel’s farewell address to Israel. He is reminding them that they asked to have a human king placed over them when God was supposed to be their king. He tells them that if they fear God, and their king fears God, then everything will be well with them, but if not then the hand of God will be against them.
They have sinned against God by asking for a human king to stand in His place, but God promises to still have mercy on them as long as they fear Him. Of course, they don’t, and we know how the story goes…
Wisdom, knowledge, and a good life
Psalm 19:9 (ESV) the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
Psalm 19 lays out many praises for the law of God. It says that the fear of the Lord is clean.
If you look up the word clean in the lexicon it means morally or ethically clean or pure. So to fear the Lord is to be morally pure.
Ecclesiastes 7:18 (ESV) It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.
This verse from Ecclesiastes is part of a section where the author is saying not to go to one extreme or the other - do not be too wise or too foolish, etc… He says that there will be people from both ends of the spectrum who fear God. God is the God of all people, not just the ones who fit one kind of mold.
Generational Mercy
Luke 1:50 (ESV) And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
This verse is from the song of Mary that she sang when she visited her cousin Elizabeth.
God’s mercy is for those who fear Him.
με αγαπη,
BJ