I think this passage really captures the biblical definition of the “fear-of-the-LORD”, particularly the last two lines of verse 12.

2 Chronicles 20:1-12 (ESV):

¹ After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. ² Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). ³ Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵ And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, 6 and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. ⁷ Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? ⁸ And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— ¹¹ behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

From my reading today:

Ps. 19:7-11

7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

What does it mean for the fear of the Lord to be “clean, enduring forever”?

Luke 12

4-8

4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Here Jesus encourages the proper fear of the Lord, while discouraging the fear of all else, especially man. Notice that the fear he describes is not simply based on God’s ability to do us harm, but also on his ability to do us good and to protect us from harm.

In the parable of the rich fool (vs. 13-21) he describes a man who’s fear is not in God but rather in the treasures that the world has to offer, and then he reveals the folly of this man’s fear.

In verses 22-30 he continues to discourage the fear of earthly possessions or the lack thereof, reminding the disciples that God is conscious of and will tend to their physical needs.

In contrast, verses 31-34 tell us what ought to be at the center of our attention:

31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This concept of our “treasure” and the heart’s orientation to it is helpful in furthering our understanding of the concept of fear. As in so many other passages that touch on this topic, fear is described as one’s attitude toward or regard for something as having the potential to bring either great good or great harm. This is the case with treasure. With physical possessions, such as money for instance, if you have a lot of it then it seems that you will be greatly benefited; and if you have little to none, then you are subject or vulnerable to loss and harm (at least according to the way of the world). Because of this, we take great care of and pay a lot of attention to what we treasure most - because of its ability to benefit us if we keep it, as well as its ability to harm us if we lose it.

This is exactly how God addresses Israel in the Old Testament time and again.

John Newton sums up these verses well here.

Ps. 147:10-11

10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,
11 but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

• Fear is characterized here by trusting and hoping in someone or something. Those who trust in the strength of men or their horses are contrasted with those who trust/hope in the strength of the Lord for their deliverance.

Isaiah 57 continues the Lord’s invective against Israel’s flagrant idolatry, which he often describes as adultery. In verse 11 we read,

Whom did you dread and fear,
so that you lied,
and did not remember me,
did not lay it to heart?
Have I not held my peace, even for a long time,
and you do not fear me?

11a implies that their lying and forgetting of the LORD are the result of their “dread and fear” of someone else, as well as a lack of fear of the LORD.

11b implies that the fact that the LORD has withheld his wrath is actually a reason that his people ought to have feared him. This is contrary to the way we normally think about fear, and helps us to align our definition to the Bible. We are to fear Him because of His longsuffering and merciful attributes as well as his power and wrath.

Isaiah 51
7,8

7 “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people in whose heart is my law;
fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool;
but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”

The people are encouraged not to fear human and earthly afflictions. Rather, it is implied that they should fear the LORD, who will deliver them.

12-16

12 “I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
of the son of man who is made like grass,
13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down to the pit,
neither shall his bread be lacking.
15 I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
establishing the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

The LORD contrasts humanity with himself, and asks, “who is more to to be feared, your enemies or me?” In evoking their fear, not only does He point to His awesomely powerful works in creation, He also includes the fact that he has put His words in their mouths and claimed them as His special chosen people. The call is for them to keep their gaze fixed on Him, and not on anything else.

Since I don’t have the time right now to do a systematic exegetical exploration into the Bible’s treatment of the fear of the Lord (which is what I would like to do), what I think I’ll do in the meantime is to point out passages from my devotions that touch on this subject. I’ll just briefly comment on what each passage seems to emphasize in particular.

Job 28

In this chapter, Job compares the search for wisdom with the way mankind is able to uncover and dig up every other kind of treasure. But he says that wisdom cannot be found in this way. He concludes that it is only God himself, who made and knows all things that is able to uncover the source of wisdom.

Verses 23-28 read:

23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Here, as in many places in the Scriptures, the fear of the Lord is equated with wisdom and also contrasted with its opposite - evil. Notice that this passage points out that this wisdom, which is found in the fear of the Lord, can only be obtained directly from Him, and not through the usual methods of human inquiry. Specifically, it is found in what he says to man.

Isaiah 50

This chapter continues the description of the Servant of the LORD, who will deliver Israel. The servant is speaking, comparing the sufferings that he endures from his enemies with the power and sovereignty of the YHWH, who has determined to redeem His people.

In verse 10 he says,

Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys the voice of his servant?
Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.

This passage describes the fear of the Lord as trust and obedience in the face of other threats and dangers. It is not merely a fear that God will punish you if you are disobedient, rather it is itself the trust and reliance upon God that comes from a knowledge of his power, sovereignty, and love for his people.

Verse 11 contrasts this fear of the Lord with those who trust in their own devices and wisdom:

Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.

Finally, an illustration of fear as it is described in the Bible occurred to me the other day. It comes from the M. Night Shyamalan movie Unbreakable. The main character has just figured out that he possesses superhuman strength and is testing it out by doing some bench presses in his basement. His young son is watching him as he adds more and more weight to the bar. The only youtube clip I could find is really bad quality, but I think it still gets the point across. Watch the expression on the boy’s face as he starts to see just how powerful his father is, and watch how he backs away from him a little bit.

src=”http://img.youtube.com/vi/6dKqDevrFF4/0.jpg” alt=”YouTube Preview Image” />

From the rest of the movie it is clear that he is very close to his father. But what he sees puts a proper fear of his father in him, such that he is not afraid of other things in the world. This is the kind of fear that the Bible talks about.

Laura recently read a chapter to me from Jerry Bridges’ recent book Respectable Sins: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. The chapter that she read me was entitled “Ungodliness”. In this chapter Bridges suggests that one of the most basic sins known to man is that of ungodliness, and what he says pretty well describes what I’m talking about when I speak of the “fear of the Lord”, or more precisely, the lack thereof.

Bridges writes,

Contrary to what we normally think, ungodliness and wickedness are not the same. A person may be a nice, respectable citizen and still be an ungodly person. The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.” Note that Paul distinguishes ungodliness from unrighteousness. Ungodliness describes an attitude toward God, while unrighteousness refers to sinful actions in thought, word, or deed. An atheist or avowed secularist is obviously an ungodly person, but so are a lot of morally decent people, even if they say they believe in God.

Ungodliness may be defined as living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God. You can readily see, then, that someone can lead a respectable life and still be ungodly in the sense that God is essentially irrelevant in his or her life. We rub shoulders with such people every day in the course of our ordinary activities. They may be friendly, courteous, and helpful to other people, but God is not at all in their thoughts. They may even attend church for an hour or so each week but then live the remainder of the week as if God doesn’t exist. They are not wicked people, but they are ungodly. (53-54)

Just so I have all of these posts in one place, I’ve copied and pasted what I wrote on Facebook on 8/27/07 below. This is a topic I’m hoping to pick up again and I hope you’ll continue to contribute to the discussion.

So I’m thinking about doing some sort of big paper exploring everything that the Bible has to say about fear - which is a lot. This is something that both Laura and I have been talking about for a long time now, and I’d like to organize my thoughts and get them written down. I would love to have anyone else’s input or thoughts on this, and I’ll try to post again about it from time to time.

One of the main premises that I am trying to support is that all action is motivated by fear (not fear as we typically think of it, but rather fear as the Bible describes it), and that all sin is - at its core - motivated by a fear of someone or something other than the true God.

With that said, here are a couple of good things to chew on from what I’ve been reading lately:

1. Romans 14:23b - “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

2. “Love, fear, trust—these are words of worship. Jesus commands us to love God, fear God, and trust God only (Matt. 22:37; Luke 12:4-5; John 14:1). Anytime we long for something apart from God, fear something more than God, or trust in something other than God to make us happy, fulfilled, or secure, we worship a false god. As a result, we deserve the judgment and wrath of the true God.” (from The Peacemaker by Ken Sande)

Feel free to comment, especially if you have suggestions on where to find more material on this topic.

That’s all for now…

We love flattery, even though we are not deceived by it, because it shows us that we are of enough importance to be courted.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.

- Bertrand Russell

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts…perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

- John Steinbeck

Love is the best casuist, and either resolves or prevents a thousand scruples and questions, which may perplex those who only serve God from principles of constraint and fear.

- John Newton

There is no fool like the sinner, who prefers the toys of earth to the happiness of heaven; who is held in bondage by the foolish customs of the world, and is more afraid of the breath of man, than the wrath of God.

- John Newton