By Roy B. Blizzard
There have been times in the past when our passage was taken from the Mishnah rather than from the Biblical text. Today I want to use a passage found in the Mishnah in Order Nezikin, Tractate or Chapter Pirkei Avot.
These words were spoken by a well-known contemporary of Jesus, Rabbi Hillel, into which Jesus often engaged in discussion or controversy. However, on this particular subject, I am assuming that there would have been none. The statement is found in Chapter 2, Mishnah 5 when he said that an ignoramus or an uneducated person cannot be righteous. Nor can the bashful person learn (he is too shy to ask questions). Nor can the hot-tempered man teach. Nor can one who occupies himself over much in business grow wise (as he would have no time to study). And, in a place where there are no competent men strive to be a competent person.
A boor cannot be sin-fearing, an ignoramus cannot be pious, a bashful one cannot learn, a short-tempered person cannot teach, nor does anyone who does much business grow wise. In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.
So why would Hillel, some two thousand years ago, declare that an uneducated person cannot be a righteous person?
The answer is that Hillel did not mean that the uneducated lack the desire to do good. It’s just that right actions require knowledge and people lacking knowledge will often not know the proper way to behave. Perhaps that is the reason why the apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:15:
"study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed because he knows how to rightly interpret the word of truth."
The point is that study is the key. And, basically, it has been and is being neglected in Christendom. The great Jewish scholar Maimonides taught in the Mishneh Torah written in the 12th century, until what period in life ought one to study Torah? His answer was "until the day of one’s death."
God’s people should never use the feeble excuse, well, we just don’t have time. If God is the most important thing in your life and the Bible is His Word, one can only conclude that you need to make time!
