TRIBAL THINKING - Skip Moen “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’” Deuteronomy 30:11-13 NASB The sea – The difficulty with understanding Scripture is encapsulated in the amount of effort it takes to reconstruct the environment of the author and the original audience. Unless we know what the author intended his audience to understand, we will not know what the text says. And we cannot know what the author intended unless we know as much as possible about the circumstances, thought patterns, assumptions, culture and language of the author. This is just as true for Shakespeare and Dickens as it is for Moses. The only real difference is that Moses speaks for God so his words are far more important than the words of Othello or Madame Defarge. Let’s take a simple example. In Moses’ final address to the children of Israel, he claims that the commandments of God (the Torah way of life) are not impossible to achieve. Contrary to Augustine, Luther and Calvin, men are not mortally flawed so that obedience is impossible. It is actually possible to keep God’s word in deeds. This idea alone undercuts all sinful nature philosophy. But that’s not the end of Moses’ claims. He mentions that these commandments are not distant. Contemporary Judaism emphasizes the present-world active nature of restoration rather than other-worldly mystical contemplation. The commandments are “not in heaven,” an astounding claim that the Torah is clothed in human garb. It is not intended for angels but rather for humans. It has immediate practical application, manifested here on this earth. A Torah in heaven is useless to men who walk dusty paths. Finally, Moses says that it is not “beyond the sea.” Why would he say this? The children of Israel stand on the edge of the Jordan River. The sea is nowhere to be seen. In fact, they haven’t seen the sea in forty years. Most of the people standing before him have never seen the sea. But that isn’t Moses’ point. His comment has little to do with the salty water of the Mediterranean, somewhere behind the mountains. The “sea” is an Egyptian concept for primal chaos. God’s Torah is not to be found in the sphere of the celestial “gods” above the earth nor does it reside in the chthonic belly of creation, both places where no man may go. It isn’t the sea of water that Moses recalls. It is the sea of chaos, the sacred element of Egyptian thinking about the structure of the world. Egypt lay between the forces of the deep and the limit of the sky. The gods of those spheres provided no instruction about life on this earth. YHVH does, contrary to all prior cultic experience. Therefore, says Moses, do not look to the past—the figures of Nut or Nun (you can look up this Egyptian goddess and god)—look to YHVH, the God who gives instruction here where you must live. Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop in Moses’ thought. Topical Index: Egyptian gods, sea, Deuteronomy 30:13, commandments Yetzer ha’ra is NOT “sin within.” that is a Platonic and Christian concept, not a Jewish one. Man was created with CHOICE, therefore with both yetzer ha’ra and yetzer ha’tov, so yetzer ha’ra cannot be sin or the implications would be that Man was CREATED sinful, and even Christian Calvinism doesn’t teach that. Yetzer ha’ra is the inclination, NOT action) toward personal gain and fulfillment. It is the motive power that makes me want the world my way. It is not evil itself. But when I exercise that choice, I can act according to MY wishes rather than God’s. Then it produces evil. The rabbis taught that without yetzer ha’ra a man would never be motivated to do anything. The motivation it produces is the reason that I choose. But that is definitely not the same as saying that I have “sin within.” Peace and Blessings Michael :)
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 00:57:30 +0000
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