The Four Levels of Disobedience

Level Two – Ma'al (מעל)

by
Jon Thompson

Last time, we looked at the first level of disobedience—sin, the one that most people are familiar with. Chattah (חטאה)— the Hebrew word for the first level means “to miss the mark.” You aim at a target, but you miss. It is unfortunate that some people lump all disobedience into this first category and assume that whatever they do they “just missed the mark.”

It is relatively common to miss the mark. Otherwise we would all hit the bull's-eye every time we shoot, make a home run when we were up to bat, and roll a strike each time we threw a bowling ball. We try to hit the target, but we don't. That is chattah. When we commit a chattah, we bring our sin offering, also called a chattah, to atone for our disobedience.

This time I want to talk about the second level of disobedience—ma'al (מעל), commonly translated into English as “unfaithful, treacherous, or trespass.”

The Webster's dictionary of 1828 defines these terms as:

treacherous – violating allegiance of faith pledge
trespass – to transgress voluntarily any divine law or command
unfaithful – not observant of promises vows allegiance or duty

This is not a matter of missing the mark. When you commit ma'al or trespass, you are aware what Elohim expects of you or what He forbids, and you choose not to be faithful to the covenant you made. It's like standing on the bowling alley lane, walking up to the foul line and intentionally dropping the ball or throwing it into the gutter.

Sometimes we are weak, and even though we know what YHVH commands us to do, we don't do it. Or you know what He forbids you to do, but for whatever reason you choose to do it anyway. Someone challenges you on your belief in keeping the Sabbath holy, and you are afraid of his reaction to your keeping the Sabbath. You don't want a confrontation, so you give in and buy something even though you know it's the Sabbath—ma'al.

You go to a restaurant and while you are sitting at your table, a server brings out a platter of shrimp or other non-food item for the table next to you. Before you knew that Elohim calls such items an abomination to eat, you were a true non-food lover. The sight and smell of the platter is just too much to resist. You decide just this once it should be okay to eat something that's not food to satisfy your craving—ma'al.

Achan in the Bible “saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing fifty shekels, then I coveted them, and took them; and behold, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath . . . And all Israel stoned him with stones.“ (Joshua 7:21,25)

Being stoned to death is a little more serious than just missing the mark. Achan knew he was not to take any of the spoils, but he coveted them and took them—ma'al.

Equating this level of disobedience with its common term, trespass, we can see the issue. If you go onto someone's property without permission when there is a clearly displayed sign warning “No Trespassing,” you are doing something you know you shouldn't do. If you choose to enter the property anyway, you also choose to accept the consequences of doing so.

In the case of Elohim's instructions, that consequence is for some acts, being cut off, sometimes you are unclean for a period of time, sometimes death, and sometimes there is no penalty imposed, He just says don't do it.

There are a few acts in the Torah that fall in this category for which there is a sacrifice given. For other intentional acts of disobedience, there is no animal sacrifice for atonement. The trespass offering for a trespass is an asham (אשם)—a guilt offering, in contrast to the sin offering—chattah (חטאה).

If you were weak, and gave in to a temptation and trespassed, now what do you do? Repent. Turn around. You chose to give in to your fleshly nature rather than obey what Elohim instructed you in a moment of weakness. You knew it was wrong, but sometimes we are weak and do not resist when we are tempted. Recognize you violated your covenant. Ask for forgiveness. Ask for strength that the next time you will be able to resist and cultivate the desire to resist.

Offer the sacrifice Elohim provided Himself that covers intentional disobedience—Yeshua the Messiah our Atonement and Redeemer, and turn away from your trespass to obedience. Then go and sin no more.

Next time I want to talk about the third level of disobedience—avon
(עון)—iniquity. We have already seen that there is more to being disobedient than just “missing the mark.” As we progress through the levels, be aware that not all disobedience is as simple or as innocuous as modern teachers often make it appear.

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“Behold, the days are coming, says YHWH,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah
. . . I will put My law in their minds,
and write it on their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
Jeremiah 31:31,33b