The Sound of a Shaken Leaf Shall Cause Them to Flee

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Keraza Magazine issue 19-20, May 19, 2017

When God gave Moses the prophet the Law, He listed to him the blessings that come upon those who would obey the commandments, and also the curses that come upon those who disobey them. Among those curses, was the death of the Law opponents by their enemy's sword. Nevertheless, not all of them would die, but some of them would escape the enemy's sword to fall prey to another sword described by the Lord saying, "And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues" (Leviticus 26:36). This means that the sound of a shaken leaf would engender within them the same horror of a sword! This would lead them to flee as if they were fleeing from death.

Also, Solomon described eloquently in the book of Wisdom the state of the Egyptians when the strike of darkness came upon them saying, "(They) were themselves languishing in fear. And, even if nothing unnatural disturbed them, yet being agitated by the passing of animals and the hissing of snakes, they died of fear, denying what they themselves saw even in the air, which no one thinks to be able to escape. For, while there may be apprehension with wickedness, it gives testimony to condemnation, for a troubled conscience always forecasts harshness. For fear is nothing else but unfaithfulness to thinking helpful things. And, while expectation is driven from within, the cause of this is supposing that one is great in knowledge, and as a result, conflict excels" (Wisdom 17:8-12).

The first Biblical passage shows the close connection between fear and disobeying commandments, while the second passage shows how connected is fear with strike of darkness which represents the absence of illumination. Both passages show clearly the miserable state man experienced after fall. After being created in God's image and according to His likeness, and after getting authority over the entire creature, Adam ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and consequently he became aware of many evils among them was fear. This is the reason why the divine revelation in the Book of Revelation put the cowardly on top of the list of those who would be deprived of entering the heavenly kingdom, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). Fear is then a genuine part of the corruption that affected man's nature after his fall and gave the second death authority over him.

Nowadays, contemporary psychologists emphasize in the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy what Solomon declared a long time ago saying, "For fear is nothing else but unfaithfulness to thinking helpful things". Fear is nothing but an erroneous subjective thought that controls someone ruining his life. It is written, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). The words when no one pursues shows clearly that the real source of fear lies within man, precisely within his thoughts, and not outside him. Therefore, whoever wants to free himself of his fears, he must confine all his battle and struggle to the thought field resisting thought by thought. As he acquires the mind of Christ, he lives resurrection which is free of fear.

Bishop Youssef
Bishop, Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States