20 February 2024
Yesterday, someone noticed that I didn't have a full equivalence between the Bible study of Ephesians 1 and Pageau's discussion of the various levels. Paul's letter had three levels, but Pageau only gave us two -- cosmic and worldwide. The personal level was missing.
Until the next two chapters, which we will examine in this post.
First, I need to quote his tweaked translation of Genesis 2:6-7 -- "A mist went up from the earth and watered [time] the whole surface of the land. God formed [space] the human from the dust of the ground [earth] and blew into its nostrils the wind of life [heaven]." (p. 207) Thus, we see how the passage pulls in both time and space, and above and below.
Here he reminds us that Adam is a microcosm of Creation on the personal level. This is the level on which you and I can see ourselves in the narrative. The blood represents time and the bones space. This is what runs through the minds of an ancient Hebrew who is reading or hearing read this passage. This is a strong connection as to why blood is seen as a cleansing agent in many rituals, but also something damning if it is spilled inappropriately.
He drags in some stuff I regard as impertinent, but makes the point that a healthy individual symbolizes the balance between above/below and time/space. Instead of our modern mechanistic brand of "medicine", the ancients would think first of the moral balance. What heals the individual could also heal the world or even the cosmos.
Thus, Adam was meant to hold in his heart a moral balance as the basis for how he maintained the Garden. He would mediate between his body and soul. God created a "mini-me" in Adam ("in His image") and Adam should create an image of his own balanced health in the Garden. To do this, Adam would need to carry his own image of the proper balance inside his soul, and project it into his work, mediating between the various cosmic forces God created.
Something that western minds would choke on is how the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge were opposites in Adam's life, and yet on the cosmic level were the same thing. Pageau takes us back to the mounts of Gerizim and Ebal. Gerizim represented the nation's life in their new home. Ebal represented failures that led to exile into strange lands. Together, they in turn represent the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
There is no "Tree of Death", only a Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge is both the pillar of solid space and the spinning wheel of chaos. Conceptually, the Tree of Knowledge is both a Tree of Life and a Tree of Death. Both are major branches of that tree. If you take the narrative in baldly literal terms, you miss the whole point. A Hebrew mind would see these connections chiefly because they knew it wasn't literal. Gerizim and Ebal were prefigured in the Tree of Knowledge. Adam and Eve had no direct understanding of death until the Fall, because they had no need to evaluate good and evil. Only when they disobeyed did they experience mortality and the necessity of handling life and death.
Pageau doesn't mention it directly, but there is knowledge that is harmful in itself. One kind of knowledge can displace another. The knowledge of good and evil takes away the knowledge of life. Redemption in Christ allows us to transcend the distinctions between good and evil on the human level and we return to the knowledge of eternal life.
He also notes that much of the Bible is dedicated to helping people transcend the very human tendency to see change as generally a bad thing. Once we get our solid building, we don't want it changed. As mortals, our vision and minds are broken; we cannot see how the change and chaos of time is part of God's good provision. Instead of the balance, humans tend to fall for a false dichotomy of extreme chaos or extreme order.
Humans struggle to understand how the two trees can be the same thing. You must be able to see the answer to the paradox of death and life.
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