Covenant Relationships

The Christian West has a concept of privacy that does
not exist in Israel. In order for the Torah to work, people
have to hold each other accountable; and in order for
people to hold each other accountable, we all need to
take responsibility for what others do. The “polite”
English saying, “That is none of your business!” does
not apply in Israel, because people understand that a
little bit of leaven leavens the whole lump, and what
one man does affects everyone else in the nation. That
is why, in Israel, people make no apologies about
sticking their noses deeply into everyone else’s affairs.
It is understood that the purpose of being aware of
others is not to be malicious or to gossip, but to see to
it that if an injustice is done, it is promptly addressed.
This is also why Shaul named names when it came not
just to giving compliments, but also in pointing out
those who were not being brotherly.
TimaTheus Bet (2 nd Timothy) 4:14-16
14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much
harm. May Yahweh repay him according to his
works.
15 You also must beware of him, for he has
greatly resisted our words.
16 At my first defense no one stood with me,
but all forsook me. May it not be charged
against them.
[For more information, please see the study, “Lashon
Hara: The Evil Tongue.”]
It is ironic that the idea of corporate responsibility is
ridiculed in the Messianic movement, because it is part
of the Torah. When even just one man sins, Yahweh
holds our whole nation accountable, and He punishes
all of us. For example, consider what happened at Ai.
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Yehoshua (Joshua) 7:1-5
1 But the children of Israel committed a
trespass regarding the accursed things, for
Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the
son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the
accursed things; so the anger of Yahweh
burned against the children of Israel.
2 Now Yehoshua sent men from Jericho to Ai,
which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of
Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, "Go up and
spy out the country." So the men went up and
spied out Ai.
3 And they returned to Yehoshua and said to
him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let
about two or three thousand men go up and
attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there,
for the people of Ai are few."
4 So about three thousand men went up there
from the people, but they fled before the men
of Ai.
5 And the men of Ai struck down about thirtysix
men, for they chased them from before the
gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them
down on the descent; therefore the hearts of
the people melted and became like water.
Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all subject to
collective punishment, and we are all paying a price for
others’ sins. There is little we can do about this while
we are still in the dispersion. However, when we return
back home to the land and we establish a Torah
government, we will once again have Yahweh’s Torah
as the supreme law of the courts (and the schools and
media). At that time we will once again be able to
establish a sense of corporate responsibility, so that
women and children are no longer abandoned.