There are things that we see and things that we hear that sometimes cause us to turn away in disgust. It is difficult to watch a replay of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. Also, we tend to stay out of earshot of others who occasionally use the Lord's name in vain. But we also have another sense that God has given us that may cause us to recoil from something before we ever see or hear it: the sense of smell. Some odors are so repugnant, that we can still remember the experience forty years later. Our noses can help us avoid certain situations, and they can even cause us to look in the mirror, so to speak, and see if smell is coming from us.
In the Bible, there is the account of two brothers, Simeon and Levi, who take revenge on a whole town because one of its inhabitants abused their sister. Dinah was raped by a man who later wanted to make her his wife. Her family was naturally incensed, but the man pleaded with Jacob and his sons to be able to marry her. The sons then came up with a deceptive plan and proposed that all the males in the town had to be circumcised, and only then would they allow their sister to marry him. The man jumped at the idea and persuaded all the men in the town to comply. A few days afterward, when all were recovering from the surgery, Simeon and Levi took the opportunity to murder them all. Here is Jacob's response in the King James Version: And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house (Genesis 34:30).
I understand the anger of Dinah's brothers, but what they did was wrong, and Jacob let them know it. Their wicked actions would cause the other inhabitants of the land to recoil and might motivate them to bring the perpetrators to justice. Therefore the family left that area before someone decided to do something about the foul smell of murder. By the grace of God, no one pursued them. More than forty years later, the father of Simeon and Levi recalled their "cruelty" and their "anger," and did not bless them, but rather, cursed them (Genesis 49:5-7).
This biblical account should prompt us to examine ourselves to see if we sometimes behave in such a way that we stink before others. We can exhibit righteous anger and be in harmony with the will of God (Ephesians 4:26). But if a man is "known by his temper," he probably stinks. The Bible says, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly (Proverbs 14:29 NKJV). So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:19,20). But it is not only one's anger that might cause him to stink, but all sin will produce an odor of disgust, especially in the nostrils of God (Isaiah 59:1,2). We need to see sin and smell sin as God does. The apostle Peter described it like vomit: But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,” and “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire” (2 Peter 2:22).
Thankfully, God was gracious to us when we stunk: But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). As Christians, we are to give off the aroma of Christ. When we spread the knowledge of Christ by holy living and teaching, we smell good to our heavenly Father, and to others (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
Brotherly, Jamie
