“When the Wicked Rise, Men Hide Themselves”

I began writing this the last day of July, the last Shabbat of the month, only a few more weeks until fall feast time, and here it is the 6th of August and it is time to get on with it and post this thing! It is also drawing steadily closer to the time our son Micah and family leave for Australia. Your prayers are appreciated for them and for us!


A couple of days ago, Steve and I were reading in the Proverbs and this verse caught my attention; Proverbs 28:12 – “When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.” We have read this verse before as it has become our custom to read through the Proverbs every month, taking up Wisdom’s invitation to sit at her table nourishing ourselves at her bountiful feast, but until this particular reading I had no revelation understanding of this verse. The version Steve was reading used the word “diminish” where my version used “hide”. What a difference a word makes! In that second of hearing a wave of understanding flooded my mind. 1Kings 17-19 tells the story of Elijah, a perfect example of our Proverbs 28 verse. Always before when I had read Proverbs 28:12 my thoughts had been, “what does it mean to “hide”? Do you say nothing, do nothing, tuck yourself away in some secluded corner and wait for the winds to change? How does “hiding” work with Light overcoming darkness?”

Ahab was certainly a wicked king, yet YHVH sent Elijah to Ahab with a message that would have gotten him killed in its delivery if he had not been under YHVH's protection. Then for the prophetic duration of the message YHVH hid Elijah. At the end of this prophetic sentence Elijah has a powerful encounter with YHVH; miracles, victory, deliverance, vindication, only to be followed by him succumbing to a great depression of spirit. 1Kings 19:14, “And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

How did YHVH answer Elijah? He told him to go and anoint and appoint and then said, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.”

The story of the children of Israel is one of doing righteously when a righteous king is on the throne and doing wickedly when a wicked king is ruling. This is the “diminishing” aspect of Proverbs 28:12. The nature of humanity is to go with the flow, not make waves, to be as “sheep led to the slaughter.” It takes courage and conviction and commitment to remain true to “revelation wisdom, knowledge and understanding”. As followers of the Way, the Truth and the Life, we are experiencing the “rise of wickedness” in our day; so the question for us becomes, “do I go with the flow, don’t make waves, or be one of the seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal?” Elijah, because he allowed himself to be led of YHVH, was used as Daniel 11:32b describes; “but the people who know their Elohim will display strength and take action.”

Remember to remember Psalm 121:7-8; “YHVH will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. YHVH will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.”
Blessings!