CHAPTER 1
“I gave you,” he said, “directions in the first commandment to attend to faith, and fear, and self-restraint.”
Faith:
The biggest part about faith that the malach (angel) of repentance mentioned was believing that ELOHIM is ONE! If you have not read the “The Shepherd of Hermas command #1”, I would recommend reading that message when you can.
Habakkuk 2:4
“For his soul does not delight in iniquity, but the righteous man shall live by faith.’
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith, a man cannot please ELOHIM. For he that draws near to ELOHIM must believe His existence and that He will recompense those who seek Him.”
Fear:
Proverbs 9:10
“The FEAR of YAHWEH is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the righteous understanding.”
Psalms 111:10
“The FEAR of YAHWEH is the beginning of wisdom; and good understanding have all they that do His commandments; His praise endures forever.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13 (Aramaic)
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; FEAR YAHWEH and keep His commandments; this is given by ONE MASTER to EVERY MAN (Now just Jews).”
Sirach 2:15-16
“Those who FEAR YAHWEH will not disobey His word; and those who love Him will keep His ways. Those who FEAR YAHWEH will seek that which is good and pleasing to Him; and those who love Him shall be filled with the Torah.” Those who FEAR YAHWEH will prepare their hearts and humble their souls in his sight, saying, we will fall into the hands of YAHWEH and not into the hands of men; for as His greatness IS, His mercy is the same.”
Self-restraint:
2 Timothy 1:7 (CJB)
“For ELOHIM gave us a Spirit who produces not timidity, but power, love and SELF-DISCIPLINE.”
Sirach 18:30-31
“Do not go after your lusts, but refrain yourself from your appetites. If you give your soul the desires that pleases her, she will make you a laughingstock to your enemies that malign you.”
2 Esdras 7:125-126
“Or that the faces of those who practiced SELF-CONTROL shall shine more than the stars, but our faces shall be blacker than darkness. For while we lived and committed iniquity, we did not consider what we should suffer after our death.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “Even so, sir,” said I. And he said, “Now I wish to show you the powers of these, that you may know what power each possesses. For their powers are double, and have relation alike to the righteous and the unrighteous. Trust you, therefore, the righteous, but put no trust in the unrighteous. For the PATH of righteousness is STRAIGHT…”
What is righteousness?
Deuteronomy 6:25
“And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe and do all these commandments before YAHWEH our ELOHIM as He commanded us.”
Psalms 119:142
“Your righteousness is righteousness forever and Your Torah is the truth.”
So, the straight PATH of righteousness means to walk in the commandments of the Torah!
Psalms 119:1
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who WALK in the Torah of YAHWEH.”
In scripture the WAY and the PATH are similar and used interchangeably to represent walking in the Torah or walking in wickedness.
Proverbs 2:20
“Therefore you must walk in the WAY of good men and keep the PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS.”
Jeremiah 6:16
“Thus says YAHWEH, stand in the WAYS and see, and ask for the OLD PATHS and see where is the good way and WALK IN IT and find rest for your souls…”
Mathew 7:13-14 (Hebrew)
“YESHUA MASHIACH said unto His disciples, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the way that leads man to destruction, and many are entering into it. But the gate and the WAY that leads to life, it is exceedingly narrow; and few are they who find it.”
2 Esdras 7:6-13 (Parenthesis mine)
“Another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; but the entrance is narrow, and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left; and there is only ONE PATH lying between them, that is, between the fire and the water, so that only ONE man can walk upon that PATH. (Notice how narrow this path is? Only one man can walk on it at a time). If now that city is given to a man for an inheritance, how will the heir receive his inheritance unless he passes through the narrow place? I said, “He cannot, master.” And he said to me, “So also is Yisra’els portion.” For I made the world for their sake, and when Adam transgressed my statues, what had been made was judged. And so the entrances of this world were made narrow and sorrowful and toilsome; they are few and evil, full of dangers and involved in great hardships. But the entrances of that coming world are broad and safe and yield the fruit of immortality.”
Now that we have defined what the way and path is, we must walk on the narrow straight path of righteousness which is the Torah and do not turn aside from the Torah neither to the left hand or right hand.
Jubilees 23:16-17 (Parenthesis mine)
“And in that generation the sons will convict their fathers and their elders of sin and unrighteousness (opposite of Deuteronomy 6:25), and of the words of their mouth and the great wickedness which they perpetrate, and concerning their forsaking the covenant which YAHWEH cut between them and Him, that they should guard and do all His commands and His judgments and all His Torot (plural form of Torah), without departing either to the right hand or left hand.”
Deuteronomy 5:32
“You must observe and do therefore as YAHWEH your ELOHIM has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.”
Deuteronomy 28:14
“And you shall not turn aside from any of the commandments which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, and you shall not go after the gentile elohim, nor serve them.”
Joshua 1:7
“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the laws which Moses my servant has commanded you; turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may succeed wherever you go.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “But that of unrighteousness is crooked. But walk in the straight and even way, and mind not the crooked. For the CROOKED PATH has no roads, but has many pathless places and stumbling-blocks in it, and it is rough and thorny. It is injurious to those who walk therein.”
Proverbs 2:10-15
“When wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, intelligence shall preserve you, and the understanding of the pious men shall deliver you; that you might be delivered from EVIL WAYS, from men who speak perverse things, who forsake the PATH OF UPRIGHTNESS to walk in the WAY OF DARKNESS; who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of evil things; men whose ways are CROOKED AND WHOSE PATHS are perverse, wisdom shall deliver you from a strange woman who flatters with her words, who has forsaken the mother of her youth and forgotten the covenant of her ELOHIM. For she has forgotten the threshold of her house and the way of her PATHS. None who go to her return again, neither do they remember the PATH OF LIFE. Therefore you must WALK in the WAY OF GOOD men and KEEP THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and those who are unblemished shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the unrighteous shall be rooted out of it.”
Jeremiah 18:15
“Yet My people have forsaken Me and have burned incense to vanity and have stumbled in their WAYS, and have departed from the ANCIENT PATHS to walk in a WAY which was not trodden.”
Psalms 17:4-5
“Through the conversation of my lips You have kept me from EVIL WAYS. You have strengthened my goings in Your PATHS, that my footsteps slip not.”
Psalms 36:4
“He devises mischief upon his bed; he WALKS IN A WAY that is not good that he may do evil.”
Proverbs 1:15-16
“My son, do not walk in the WAY with them; but refrain your foot from their PATH; for their feet run to evil, they make haste to shed blood.”
Proverbs 16:25
“There is a WAY that seems right in the eyes of men, but the PATHS thereof are the PATHS OF DEATH.”
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “But they who walk in the straight road walk evenly without stumbling, because it is neither rough nor thorny.”
Why is it that those who walk on the righteous path do not stumble? Because you have the light of the Torah shining on the path so you will know where to go. Without the light of the Torah you stumble in unrighteousness which is the thorny and rough way.
Proverbs 6:23
“For the commandment is a lamp, and the TORAH IS A LIGHT, and the reproofs of instruction are the WAY OF LIFE.”
Psalms 119:105
“Your word is a LAMP to my feet and a LIGHT (TORAH) to MY PATH.”
Baruch 4:1-2
“This is the book of the commandments of ELOHIM and the law that endures forever; all those that keep it shall come to LIFE; but those who leave it shall die. Turn, O Jacob and take hold of it; WALK in the presence of its LIGHT (TORAH), that you may be illuminated.”
John 14:6
“YESHUA said to him. “I AM the WAY, and THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. No man comes to the Father except by Me.”
Tsade in the Otiot is the number 18 and is a picture of a PATH and represents YESHUA Who is the WAY to eternal life and represents righteousness! So as we can see the righteous path is following the way of truth through the written Torah which is YESHUA the written Torah that became living flesh by the leading of the RUACH HA’KODESH!
Acts 24:14 (CJB)
“But this I (Paul) do admit to you: I worship the ELOHIM of our ancestors in accordance with THE WAY (which they call a sect). I continue to believe everything that accords with the Torah and everything written in the Prophets.”
Paul was following the WAY and YESHUA is the WAY, The Truth and the Life, so Paul was walking the narrow PATH of righteousness.
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “You see, then, that it is better to walk in this road.” “I wish to go by this road,” said I. “You will go by it,” said he; “and whoever turns to with all YAHWEH his heart will walk in it.”
CHAPTER 2
This next section reminds me of how the cartoons would always depict this scenario. There would be a good malach (angel) on one shoulder telling the person to do good; and then on the other shoulder would be the devil telling the person to do evil. So obviously in those early cartoons they had an understanding of the spiritual realm or were taking straight from the Shepherd of Hermas.
“Hear now,” said he, “in regard to faith. There are two malachim (angels) with a man — one of righteousness, and the other of iniquity.” And I said to him, “How, sir, am I to know the powers of these, for both malachim (angels) dwell with me?” “Hear,” said he, and “understand them. The angel of righteousness is gentle and modest, meek and peaceful. When, therefore, he ascends into your heart, forthwith he talks to you of righteousness, purity, chastity, contentment, and of every righteous deed and esteemed virtue. When all these ascend into your heart, know that the angel of righteousness is with you. These are the deeds of the angel of righteousness. Trust him, then, and his works.”
The malach of righteousness is going to speak to you the things that the RUACH HA’KODESH wants to do while dwelling in you which matches Galatians 5 and they are similar.
Shepherd of Hermas continued: “Look now at the works of the angel of iniquity. First, he is wrathful, and bitter, and foolish, and his works are evil, and ruin the servants of ELOHIM. When, then, he ascends into your heart, know him by his works.” And I said to him, “How, sir, I shall perceive him, I do not know.” “Hear and understand” said he. “When anger comes upon you, or harshness, know that he is in you; and you will know this to be the case also, when you are attacked by a longing after many transactions, and the richest delicacies, and drunken revels, and divers luxuries, and things improper, and by a hankering after women, and by overreaching, and pride, and blustering, and by whatever is like to these. When these ascend into your heart, know that the angel of iniquity is in you. Now that you know his works, depart from him, and in no respect trust him, because his deeds are evil, and unprofitable to the servants of ELOHIM.
Colossians 3:4-10
“And when Messiah Who is our life will be manifested, then will you also be manifested with Him in esteem. Make as dead therefore your members that are on the earth; sexual sin, impurity and the passions and evil desire, and insatiable desire for wealth which is idolatry. For on account of these things the wrath of ELOHIM comes on the deeds of disobedience. And in these things you also formerly walked, when you lived in them. But now, put away from you all these: wrath, anger, malice, reviling, filthy talking; and lie not one to another but put off the old man with all his practices; and put you on the new man that is renewed in knowledge, after the likeness of his Creator.”
Galatians 5:16-21 (Complete Jewish Scriptures)
“What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. For the old nature wants what is CONTRARY to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is CONTRARY to the old nature. These OPPOSE each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism (Oral Torah of Pharisees). And it is perfectly evident what the old nature does. It expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity, indecency, involvement with the occult and with drugs; in feuding, fighting, becoming jealous and GETTING ANGRY; in selfish ambition, factionalism, intrigue AND ENVY; in drunkenness, orgies and things like these. I warn you now as I have warned you before: those who do such things will have no share in the Kingdom of ELOHIM!”
1 Peter 4:1-4 (Parenthesis mine)
“If then the Messiah has suffered for you in the flesh, do you also arm yourselves with the same mind; for everyone that is dead in his body (meaning died to self) has ceased from all sins that he may no longer be alive to the lusts of men while he is in the body, but only to do the will of ELOHIM. For the time that is past was enough when you pursued the WAY of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, and in sexual sin, and in drunken parties, and in the worship of demons. And lo, they now wonder and reproach you, because you do not run with them in the same former drunkenness; who must give account to ELOHIM who is to judge the living and the dead.”
1 John 2:15-16
“Love not the world nor anything in it; for whoever loves the world has not the love of The Father in him. For all that is in the world is the lust of the body and the lust of the eyes and the pride of the world, which are not from the Father but from the world itself. And the world is passing away, both it and the lust thereof, but He that does the pleasure of ELOHIM abides forever.”
James 4:4 (Hebrew)
“O adulterer an adulteress, do you not know that whosoever loves this world, he hates YAHWEH? So, whosever wants to be a lover of this world, he himself will be a hater of YAHWEH.”
Mathew 5:28
“But I say to you that all who that looks at a woman as lustfully at once has committed adultery in his heart.”
“These, then, are the actions of both angels. Understand them, and trust the angel of righteousness; but depart from the angel of iniquity, because his instruction is bad in every deed. For though a man be most faithful, and the thought of this angel ascend into his heart, that man or woman must sin. On the other hand, be a man or woman ever so bad, yet, if the works of the angel of righteousness ascend into his or her heart, he or she must do something good. You see, therefore, that it is good to follow the angel of righteousness, but to bid farewell to the angel of iniquity.” “This commandment exhibits the deeds of faith, that you may trust the works of the angel of righteousness and doing them you may live to ELOHIM. But believe the works of the angel of iniquity are hard. If you refuse to do them, you will live to ELOHIM.”
My fellow brothers and sisters walk the narrow path of righteousness and guard your hearts against the unrighteousness that enters through the wrong malach (angel) who wants to lead you astray. As always, may our Father YAHWEH bless you in YESHUA’s Name!