Ropes and cords were usually made of bark strips such as from the cedar or from the sinew (tendon) of an animal. The rope is made by twisting two fibers together. A single fiber is attached to a fixed point (top), and the two ends of the fiber are brought together. One fiber is twisted in a clockwise direction and wrapped over the other fiber in counter clockwise direction. The second fiber is then twisted in clockwise direction then wrapped around the first fiber in a counter clockwise direction. The process is repeated through the length of the rope. The twisting of the fibers in opposite directions causes the fibers to lock (press) onto each other making a stronger rope. The rope is used to tightly secure or support something, such as a load to a cart or the poles of the tent.

This image of a rope or cord can help us understand the abstract idea of righteousness. Think of the practical nature of strong rope and the hundreds of ways people would use ropes to secure things that were important to them. The twisting of the fibers produces something that has strength. Something that you can rely upon to hold in the midst of wind or motion. How is that like our life? We need something to bring stability and security to our turbulent lives. A cord represents this. When the Hebrew people said something was right they meant that it was functional. It worked, it made sense, it was wise. Right and wrong was extremely practical to them in that it could be measured. Cords were not only used for stability and measurement but they could be laid out straight or crooked just like a person’s life and character. In the book of proverbs this Hebrew word idea is expressed in the following verse. “Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 AMPC)

This making straight means that the course of one’s life will take a straight direction as opposed to being crooked. When we seek God’s perspective on right and wrong and stop defining good and evil on our own, our lives resemble the straightness of a tight rope or cord. In the book of Judges, it says that the generation that followed Joshua were gathered to their fathers.

“…and there arose another generation after them who did not know (recognize, or understand) the Lord, or even the work which He had done for Israel.

(Judges 2:10 AMPC)

In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

(Judges 17:6 AMPC)