In our study of this weeks Torah reading, the fifth parsha of Torah – Chayei Sarah (Sarahs Life) – the Torah reading is taken from Genesis 23:1–25:18. In the course of our habitual reading of the parsha we encounter a short verse in chapter 24 which normally does not receive the attention it well deserves. This week is therefore probably a good time to stop and consider the significance of the impact that not only this verse, but also the following verses, should have on our life. In fact, before we continue, this might be the opportune moment to ask Yehovah to uncover our eyes, that we may behold the wonderful things from his Torah (Ps 119:18). Lets continue! So what is this verse that made me stop? In verse 26 we read, “ וַיִּקֹּד הָאִישׁ וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לַיהוָה – vaiyikod haish vaiyishtachu laYehovah” [remember we read from right to left] “And the man bowed, and he worshipped to Yehovah.” Why, we may ask, does the writer of Torah see fit to include in this narrative the seemingly minor detail of what the servant said to himself at the well after Rivkah gave him a drink of water? This verse brings us to a crossroad in regard to how we are going to deal with Torah. If, on the one hand, we are just interested in studying Torah for historical purposes, or merely to look for ‘types and shadows’ of things to come, we will want to slide right by what we just read in the text and move on to the fascinating bride-price negotiations between Avraham’s servant and Rivkah’s family. But, if, on the other hand we are interested in mining the deeper treasures of Torah; those precious pearls on how to relate to and interact with Yehovah, which are hidden by Torah in plain view in the midst of the narratives of what took place in the lives of the ancients and the patriarchs, we will upon encountering a passage like this stop, perk our spiritual ears, open wide our spiritual eyes, and look closely at the text searching for something much deeper than what appears at first glance. Torah is usually very concise. Words in Torah are divinely inspired, and are for that reason generally used sparingly. Sometimes the course of events of whole generations receive only a sentence or two of Torah’s attention. Usually we are left wanting much, much more detail than we are given. Hence, when without warning, as here, Torah suddenly turns verbose, and we encounter long narratives with what seems like unnecessary detail, we owe it to ourselves to ask ‘Why?’ Could this be one of those places in the text of Torah where what looks like unnecessary detail actually contains a treasure hidden by Yehovah in plain view for those with eyes to see and ears to sh’ma (hear)? Consider that in last week’s parsha, Vayera, in the course of a similar detailed narrative centred on the journey Avraham took with Yitzchak to Moriyah, we encountered, without even noticing it, the first scriptural usage of the verb root which is most frequently translated into English as “worship” [Hebrew שׁחה shachah, shin, chet, hey, pronounced shaw-khaw]. In Genesis 22:5 we were told that shortly after arriving at Moriyah Avraham told his servants: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. V’nishtachaveh [וְנִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה - we will worship], and come back to you.” This is the same Hebrew verb translated as ‘worship’ in such passages as Psalm 22:27 [“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn back to Yehovah; and all the families of the nations shall worship before you”], and in Psalm 29:2 [ “ . . . worship Yehovah in the beauty of holiness], and Psalm 95:6 [“O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before Yehovah our maker.”], among many others. The closest Greek verb is προσκυνέω [proskuneo, pronounced pros-koo-neh-o], which is used twice in John 4:24 [“God is spirit, and the ones worshipping him must worship in spirit and truth”]. Since our attention was riveted upon the binding of Yitzchak, and the miraculous following events, most of us probably just passed by this statement of Avraham without even giving it a thought. Who considered that in that seemingly superfluous little detail Yehovah might be ‘tossing in,’ for those with eyes to see and ears to sh’ma, the first scriptural reference to anyone engaging in an act of ‘worship.’ If you think about it however this ‘v’nishtachaveh’ [i.e. we will worship] statement of Avraham was a potentially very significant statement. The ‘law of first reference,’ a familiar principle of interpretation of Hebrew scripture, tells us that the first mention of, or reference to, a spiritual matter is very important in understanding the true, pure interpretation and meaning of that spiritual matter. In this case the spiritual matter in question is ‘worship.’ This ‘law of first reference’ basically means that in this first reference to, and description of, ‘worship’ lies the secret to both the heart of what it means to ‘worship,’ and the essence for all truth about what ‘worship’ is.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 07:45:00 +0000