19 January 2024
As a teenager, I spent time with a lay minister in local missions. One of his signature statements was that the pages of the Bible are nine feet thick. He didn't know the half of it.
Someone sent me a book: The Language of Creation: Cosmic Symbolism in Genesis by Matthieu Pageau. It is not very accessible to the typical reader. You would need to be familiar with advanced philosophy topics. I believe the author did his best to put it within reach, but I've heard a lot of people can't get it. This is a book you read after you've got a solid background already in just how radically different Hebrew thinking is from western.
This is one of those Hebrew thinking books that I wish everyone could read and understand. I'm going to offer a sample.
A basic thesis of the book is that Hebrew epistemology rests on how the Hebrews used their language. As I've often said, Hebrew is an indicative language. It points the way, but does not deliver the content. Unless your heart is already committed to God, it won't help you nearly as much as it could. There are multiple layers of meaning at the same time. Were you able to ask an ancient Hebrew, they would have told you that the other layers are included in the thinking behind the narrative.
We are familiar with how Jesus taught, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That's a particularly Hebrew way of thinking. For Jehovah to say His name is "I am that I am" invites you to add meaning, but not to foul it. What He is in Heaven, He is on earth. What He says is true, is true everywhere.
And when you read the Decalogue, a spiritual mind turns the "do not" into "do this". For example, "Do not lie" means "you should be true to My Word" or "your words must agree with reality". All of that is included, and much more. If you explore the character of your Heavenly Father, you will realize that it's a vast territory to explore. Short phrases simply point the way.
The Covenant is His identity. He offers hints to get us started on the path of exploration. Right behind "don't kill" God provides a bunch of typical elaborations on this basic admonition. It's not law in terms of legislation, but an expression of His character. So you can kill some people for fairly obvious reasons, and sometimes you'll kill without meaning to, and sometimes you simply better not do it. Moses splashed out a lot on the subject of killing, including compensation for accidental deaths.
The idea rests on recognizing the implications of the image that God is the sky and we are the earth. We are meant to manifest to His character on earth. The metaphors spill out from the simplest to the most complex, and the Hebrew Scripture means for you to explore beyond the limits of what is explicitly said. We are making Him real to a watching world.
This concretization is essentially what it means for God to "blow into Adam's nostrils the breath of life." It refers to a process of materialization in which a purely spiritual identity is "fleshed out" into its practical ramifications.
In the context of biblical cosmology, it is always important to remember that 'earth' is not just a storehouse of matter but of enigmatic 'darkness,' to be answered by the 'light' of the higher identity. In this manner, specific laws are formed by the descent of a metaphysical principle into the details of corporeal reality. This material obscurity is necessary to reveal the identity of God to humanity. Otherwise, the highest principles would be too abstract and simple to know. (pp. 82-83)
He goes on to note that a seed symbolizes a thing that is not yet what it shall become. It must first be planted in the earth to become in fact what it is in theory (nearly an exact quote from the book). All of this is inherent in the way Hebrew language works. This is a sample of how you read the first few chapters of Genesis, for example, the essential subject of this book.
I'm probably only a quarter of the way through this thing, and I have to stop after just a few pages at a time to digest it. And that's coming from someone who has already had a good look at how Hebrew language works. I'll do what I can to distill lessons from this book, but I sincerely wish you could read it for yourself.
This is self published on Amazon, ISBN 9781981549337.
Comments
Robust1
Hah! I bought in 2020 but stopped reading it when my copy started falling apart. Maybe I'll dig it out and read it if you are going to do some comments on the content. The ANE mindset wasn't really on my radar back then like it is now.
Jay DiNitto
That book feels right up my alley. Added to my list.
I'm not understanding the 9 ft thick language. Maybe I'm the thick one?
CatRez
It refers to the depth of what you can find there.
This document is public domain; spread the message.