JOURNEYS, SINAI 6000

Revisit: “And just like that, he is no longer alive . . .”

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Image from quotesideas.com

Image from quotesideas.com

[First posted January 23, 2016. Written by Sinaite NSB, a commemorative repost paying tribute to a co-founder of Sinai 6000.—Admin1]

————

 

It has taken time for me to write a farewell tribute to Sinaite VAN.   On January 23, 2016, at age 87, he left our Sinai 6000 original core community to . . .(or so we imagine) . . . finally  meet YHWH our Creator, Source of Life, proclaimed ‘One True God’ by the Hebrew Scriptures which is our chosen source of Divine Revelation.

 

Sinaite LSS had wanted to write her own homage and a sufficient one it is:  Mourning Significant Others

 

So what is this follow-up about?

 

An occasion to address lingering questions about ‘end of life’ and specific concerns of Christian colleagues regarding—

  • the eternal destiny of any individual born into life
  • who does not avail of the saving grace offered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
  • by getting under the wide-covering salvation umbrella of Christianity
  • to avoid eternal damnation in a place called hell,
  • where the doomed company of the rebellious/fallen angels, the devil (Satan!) and his cohorts,
  • are condemned to burn together in eternal fire.

 

Alas, for ex-Christians such as we Sinaites who have left the fold, what is our lot?

 

Well, according to the author of the NT book of Hebrews 10:26:

 

[ASV]  For if we sin wilfully

after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,

there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins.

 

Add to that the expanded dire warnings in the concise commentary of Matthew Henry:

 

10:26-31 The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ’s sacrifice, who are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in no wise cast out.

 

(Shiver).  Now before reflecting on a Sinaite’s reaction to threats quoted in no less than NT scripture which is accepted by its adherents as “the very words of God,”  let us first get back to our dearly departed Sinaites and ponder their exit from our midst, as well as imagine the reaction of our Christian colleagues to these so-called “deaths.” Because in the case of those among us who have ‘moved on’,  supposedly it is ‘too late’ . . . so where might they be now?  In our case, we still can ‘repent’ and do the 180-degree-turnabout back to our Christian roots . . . that is, get off the pathway to Sinai and get back to the fork on the road and take the one leading to Calvary.

 

Will we . . . after reaching the point of no return?  Speaking only for myself, I say “hell no!”

 

Seven years ago,  Sinai 6000 unofficially entered the constantly growing number of ‘alternative faith communities’ which do not necessarily fall under the three major world religions that trace their roots to Abraham; namely, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Within a month of our organizing efforts as a recognizable core community with a specific creed different from all others in existence,  our oldest but newest recruit ‘Ciso’ joyfully danced his last hours celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles on to his Eternal Rest (“And He Called” 2 – Ciso’s Season of Joy).  There was insinuation from our former messianic teacher/leader that Ciso’s ‘death’ might have been  a result of Divine Judgment.  

 

 

In 2013 at the turn of the year,  Sinaite ‘Lorna’ texted her new year message to all her female friends,  a day after celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary . . . then succumbed to a stroke.  Because she was only in her 60’s, again Christian eyebrows raised in wonder why a  vibrant, very fruitful Sinaite who not only contributed many articles to this website but also taught Christian seminarians to reread and restudy their “Old Testament,” would be untimely plucked from her service dedicated to HASHEM [THE NAME, Jewish circumlocution for] YHWH,  her so-recently-rediscovered God.  She even wrote a short post correcting the use of “hallelujah” which should be “hallelu YAH.”  (God is near, do not fear . . . Friend, Sinaite, goodnight)

 

 

Now two years hence, Sinaite VAN inhaled and exhaled his last breath. He had been announcing for six years his desire to exit from this life exactly like his dear friend ‘Ciso’,  on the 7th of  “My (YHWH’s) feasts” commanded in Leviticus 23.    Rather than granting VAN’s oft-expressed wish, the LORD OF THE SABBATH not surprisingly chose a more appropriate day—His declared Day of Rest as early as Creation Week, a weekly occurrence rather than a once-a-year celebration.  Indeed, what grand finale could better signify the LORD of LIFE’s approval of a loyal servant’s finished work than a quiet private departure from this side of eternity to his well deserved Sabbath Rest ?  

 

 

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Thus the dust returns to the ground,

as it was,

and the spirit returns to God

Who gave it.

 

 

To their credit—concerned friends who are leaders/founders of a huge successful evangelical church with ever multiplying membership—attempted a well-intentioned last ditch effort to ‘rescue’ VAN and BAN from their ‘unbelief’:

 

 

From the time of our breakaway from Christ-centered faith, there have been unspoken speculations (we’re merely guessing, knowing how we used to think as former Christians) that the deaths among our very small core community are indicators of Divine Judgment upon the ‘already-saved’ who turn their backs on the Savior.

 

Now think about it:

  • would the God of Righteousness, Justice and Mercy
  • really ‘punish by death’
  • those whom He did not choose (like the Israelites),
  • but who chose Him as LORD (like Sinaites),
  • no matter how late they showed their recognition of YHWH as the One True God
  •  in their non-stop quest to ‘Know God’,
  • a pilgrimage that has taken a lifetime,
  • holding on to Divine declarations in—-
    • [EF] Deuteronomy 4:29  

But when you seek YHWH your God

from there you will find (him),

if you search for him with all your heart

and all your being.

 

  • and [AS] Jeremiah 29:14:

 “You will seek Me and you will find [Me],

if you search for Me with all your hearts;

I will make Myself available to you,

the word of HASHEM [YHWH].

 

The character of the God of Israel whom Sinaites have come to know is defined through His actions as well as His Self-declarations recorded in the Torah, His Book of Life:

 

 

6 And YHWH passed before his face

and called out:

YHWH YHWH 

God, 

showing-mercy, showing-favor,

long-suffering in anger,

abundant in loyalty and faithfulness,

7  keeping loyalty to the thousandth (generation),

bearing iniquity, rebellion and sin, 

yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty),

calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers

upon the sons and upon sons’ sons,

to the third and fourth (generation)!

 

 

So what has YHWH (“his Lord” as our former messianic pastor referred to VAN’s God ) declared about the destiny of the likes of us or, for that matter, the life of all?

 

 

Here is the developing Sinaite’s view of ‘end of life’ lingering questions.  The reason for bringing this up now is because we have been constantly asked:  “What do Sinaites believe happens after death?”  Specifically, where does one go if he does not embrace the Christian Savior?

 

Sinaites can only go by what is on record as “the very words of God” and we do not speculate beyond what is written.  We have explained in many posts what we consider “Divine Revelation” and that is limited to the Torah which is not word-for-word attributed to the God of Israel, but a book that contains or records the words of the God of Israel. . . and His instructions for living, for Jew and Gentile.

 

Image from quotesgram.com

Image from quotesgram.com

That oft-repeated question of “what next” after “this life”?  Death is the inevitable destiny everyone alive faces, ready or not.  Some religions are quite preoccupied with the subject, particularly those that claim specific revelation about what lies beyond.  Myths and legends abound regarding ghosts and spirits that linger; some advocate that the dead believer is ‘instantly’ with their ‘Lord’ and that non-believers are  condemned for eternal suffering in the fires of hell.

 

Sinaites have struggled with explaining our view of what happens in the “afterlife.”   If we don’t believe in the devil and a place called hell where non-believers in the Christian Savior are supposedly destined to go, then where is  the non-Christian’s ‘eternal destination’?

 

Where do we think that intangible immaterial part of us —

  • we might call “soul” or “spirit”
  • that leaves our physical body
  • . . . goes . . .
  • when the inevitable separation
  • of our essence from the body it inhabits
  • happens at the crucial ‘end of life’?

 

Our simple and candid answer?  We do not know.

 

We do not ‘worry’ about that particular ‘unknown’.  Why not?

 

If the Revelator on Sinai emphasized LIFE in all of His declarations,  then who is man to speculate and imagine what happens beyond the boundaries of what is divinely revealed to venture into the unknown?  YHWH the Creator of Life is Life-focused, emphasizing what each human can do during his life span which is about the only time he can exercise his God-given free will, to choose–

  • how to live his life,
  • to do or not to do . . .
  • his will or God’s Will . . .
  • to be the ‘I’ in the Idol
  • or the ‘I’ in God’s Image.

 

The Revelator’s mouthpiece, Moses,  urges “choose life” to the second generation issuing from the original mixed multitude who were freed from bondage to Egypt 40 years before;  born in the wilderness, children of freemen, who were all still alive and breathing as they were about to enter the Land of promise.

 

What does “choose life” mean to generations who are still alive? We have articles explaining “choose life” so we won’t go into that here, please scroll through our SITEMAP for those posts.

 

Not so strangely, the Torah is silent about what happens beyond life on this earth.  Except for some phrases about how each of Israel’s patriarchs “went the way of his fathers” the generational narratives move on.

 

Why so?

 

We can only know the Mind and Will of God according to what He chooses to reveal, right?

 

So we figure that YHWH,

  • the Revelator on Sinai,
  • Creator of humanity,
  • Source of life and breath,
  • the God Who revealed Himself and His Way to Israel,
  • chooses to emphasize in His Manual for Living, His TORAH—
    • what each individual can do
    • while he has breath
    • for each moment-by-moment
    • constantly time-passing ‘present’—-the PRESENT —- which is the only real-time one has or actually possesses;  which is ever fleeting second per second,
  • to choose to do or not to do,  to act or not act,
  • in accordance with one’s own inclination
    • whether knowingly
    • or ignorantly (uneducated by Divine Revelation)
  • or in accordance with God’s revealed and known Will, all contained in the Torah.

In short, if God doesn’t say so, neither do we.  Leave that part to the Lord of Life!

 

We do know the consequence of ‘choose life’ and that is ‘blessing’.  Can we leave it at that?

 

The title of this post is the opening line of a quote from a Jewess author Aviya Kushner in the last chapter titled “Memory” of  THE GRAMMAR OF GOD:  

 

“And just like that, my grandfather is no longer alive.

I write no longer alive, 

not dead, 

not gone,

 because neither of those has really been true.”

 

 

 

NSB@S6K

 

logo

Sig-4_16colors

 

P.S.  Please click the link below and read through the liturgy that reflects the faith of a Sinaite; then make your own conclusions about ‘life’ and ‘end of life’ and the Lord of Life:

JOURNEYS, SINAI 6000

"And just like that, he is no longer alive . . ."

Leave a Comment
Image from quotesideas.com

Image from quotesideas.com

[First posted January 23, 2016. Written by Sinaite NSB, a commemorative repost paying tribute to a co-founder of Sinai 6000.—Admin1]

————

 

It has taken time for me to write a farewell tribute to Sinaite VAN.   On January 23, 2016, at age 87, he left our Sinai 6000 original core community to . . .(or so we imagine) . . . finally  meet YHWH our Creator, Source of Life, proclaimed ‘One True God’ by the Hebrew Scriptures which is our chosen source of Divine Revelation.

 

Sinaite LSS had wanted to write her own homage and a sufficient one it is:  Mourning Significant Others

 

So what is this follow-up about?

 

An occasion to address lingering questions about ‘end of life’ and specific concerns of Christian colleagues regarding—

  • the eternal destiny of any individual born into life
  • who does not avail of the saving grace offered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ
  • by getting under the wide-covering salvation umbrella of Christianity
  • to avoid eternal damnation in a place called hell,
  • where the doomed company of the rebellious/fallen angels, the devil (Satan!) and his cohorts,
  • are condemned to burn together in eternal fire.

 

Alas, for ex-Christians such as we Sinaites who have left the fold, what is our lot?

 

Well, according to the author of the NT book of Hebrews 10:26:

 

[ASV]  For if we sin wilfully

after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,

there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins.

 

Add to that the expanded dire warnings in the concise commentary of Matthew Henry:

 

10:26-31 The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ’s sacrifice, who are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in no wise cast out.

 

(Shiver).  Now before reflecting on a Sinaite’s reaction to threats quoted in no less than NT scripture which is accepted by its adherents as “the very words of God,”  let us first get back to our dearly departed Sinaites and ponder their exit from our midst, as well as imagine the reaction of our Christian colleagues to these so-called “deaths.” Because in the case of those among us who have ‘moved on’,  supposedly it is ‘too late’ . . . so where might they be now?  In our case, we still can ‘repent’ and do the 180-degree-turnabout back to our Christian roots . . . that is, get off the pathway to Sinai and get back to the fork on the road and take the one leading to Calvary.

 

Will we . . . after reaching the point of no return?  Speaking only for myself, I say “hell no!”

 

Seven years ago,  Sinai 6000 unofficially entered the constantly growing number of ‘alternative faith communities’ which do not necessarily fall under the three major world religions that trace their roots to Abraham; namely, Judaism, Christianity, Islam. Within a month of our organizing efforts as a recognizable core community with a specific creed different from all others in existence,  our oldest but newest recruit ‘Ciso’ joyfully danced his last hours celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles on to his Eternal Rest (“And He Called” 2 – Ciso’s Season of Joy).  There was insinuation from our former messianic teacher/leader that Ciso’s ‘death’ might have been  a result of Divine Judgment.  

 

 

In 2013 at the turn of the year,  Sinaite ‘Lorna’ texted her new year message to all her female friends,  a day after celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary . . . then succumbed to a stroke.  Because she was only in her 60’s, again Christian eyebrows raised in wonder why a  vibrant, very fruitful Sinaite who not only contributed many articles to this website but also taught Christian seminarians to reread and restudy their “Old Testament,” would be untimely plucked from her service dedicated to HASHEM [THE NAME, Jewish circumlocution for] YHWH,  her so-recently-rediscovered God.  She even wrote a short post correcting the use of “hallelujah” which should be “hallelu YAH.”  (God is near, do not fear . . . Friend, Sinaite, goodnight)

 

 

Now two years hence, Sinaite VAN inhaled and exhaled his last breath. He had been announcing for six years his desire to exit from this life exactly like his dear friend ‘Ciso’,  on the 7th of  “My (YHWH’s) feasts” commanded in Leviticus 23.    Rather than granting VAN’s oft-expressed wish, the LORD OF THE SABBATH not surprisingly chose a more appropriate day—His declared Day of Rest as early as Creation Week, a weekly occurrence rather than a once-a-year celebration.  Indeed, what grand finale could better signify the LORD of LIFE’s approval of a loyal servant’s finished work than a quiet private departure from this side of eternity to his well deserved Sabbath Rest ?  

 

 

Ecclesiastes 12:7

Thus the dust returns to the ground,

as it was,

and the spirit returns to God

Who gave it.

 

 

To their credit—concerned friends who are leaders/founders of a huge successful evangelical church with ever multiplying membership—attempted a well-intentioned last ditch effort to ‘rescue’ VAN and BAN from their ‘unbelief’:

 

 

From the time of our breakaway from Christ-centered faith, there have been unspoken speculations (we’re merely guessing, knowing how we used to think as former Christians) that the deaths among our very small core community are indicators of Divine Judgment upon the ‘already-saved’ who turn their backs on the Savior.

 

Now think about it:

  • would the God of Righteousness, Justice and Mercy
  • really ‘punish by death’
  • those whom He did not choose (like the Israelites),
  • but who chose Him as LORD (like Sinaites),
  • no matter how late they showed their recognition of YHWH as the One True God
  •  in their non-stop quest to ‘Know God’,
  • a pilgrimage that has taken a lifetime,
  • holding on to Divine declarations in—-
    • [EF] Deuteronomy 4:29  

But when you seek YHWH your God

from there you will find (him),

if you search for him with all your heart

and all your being.

 

  • and [AS] Jeremiah 29:14:

 “You will seek Me and you will find [Me],

if you search for Me with all your hearts;

I will make Myself available to you,

the word of HASHEM [YHWH].

 

The character of the God of Israel whom Sinaites have come to know is defined through His actions as well as His Self-declarations recorded in the Torah, His Book of Life:

 

 

6 And YHWH passed before his face

and called out:

YHWH YHWH 

God, 

showing-mercy, showing-favor,

long-suffering in anger,

abundant in loyalty and faithfulness,

7  keeping loyalty to the thousandth (generation),

bearing iniquity, rebellion and sin, 

yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty),

calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers

upon the sons and upon sons’ sons,

to the third and fourth (generation)!

 

 

So what has YHWH (“his Lord” as our former messianic pastor referred to VAN’s God ) declared about the destiny of the likes of us or, for that matter, the life of all?

 

 

Here is the developing Sinaite’s view of ‘end of life’ lingering questions.  The reason for bringing this up now is because we have been constantly asked:  “What do Sinaites believe happens after death?”  Specifically, where does one go if he does not embrace the Christian Savior?

 

Sinaites can only go by what is on record as “the very words of God” and we do not speculate beyond what is written.  We have explained in many posts what we consider “Divine Revelation” and that is limited to the Torah which is not word-for-word attributed to the God of Israel, but a book that contains or records the words of the God of Israel. . . and His instructions for living, for Jew and Gentile.

 

Image from quotesgram.com

Image from quotesgram.com

That oft-repeated question of “what next” after “this life”?  Death is the inevitable destiny everyone alive faces, ready or not.  Some religions are quite preoccupied with the subject, particularly those that claim specific revelation about what lies beyond.  Myths and legends abound regarding ghosts and spirits that linger; some advocate that the dead believer is ‘instantly’ with their ‘Lord’ and that non-believers are  condemned for eternal suffering in the fires of hell.

 

Sinaites have struggled with explaining our view of what happens in the “afterlife.”   If we don’t believe in the devil and a place called hell where non-believers in the Christian Savior are supposedly destined to go, then where is  the non-Christian’s ‘eternal destination’?

 

Where do we think that intangible immaterial part of us —

  • we might call “soul” or “spirit”
  • that leaves our physical body
  • . . . goes . . .
  • when the inevitable separation
  • of our essence from the body it inhabits
  • happens at the crucial ‘end of life’?

 

Our simple and candid answer?  We do not know.

 

We do not ‘worry’ about that particular ‘unknown’.  Why not?

 

If the Revelator on Sinai emphasized LIFE in all of His declarations,  then who is man to speculate and imagine what happens beyond the boundaries of what is divinely revealed to venture into the unknown?  YHWH the Creator of Life is Life-focused, emphasizing what each human can do during his life span which is about the only time he can exercise his God-given free will, to choose–

  • how to live his life,
  • to do or not to do . . .
  • his will or God’s Will . . .
  • to be the ‘I’ in the Idol
  • or the ‘I’ in God’s Image.

 

The Revelator’s mouthpiece, Moses,  urges “choose life” to the second generation issuing from the original mixed multitude who were freed from bondage to Egypt 40 years before;  born in the wilderness, children of freemen, who were all still alive and breathing as they were about to enter the Land of promise.

 

What does “choose life” mean to generations who are still alive? We have articles explaining “choose life” so we won’t go into that here, please scroll through our SITEMAP for those posts.

 

Not so strangely, the Torah is silent about what happens beyond life on this earth.  Except for some phrases about how each of Israel’s patriarchs “went the way of his fathers” the generational narratives move on.

 

Why so?

 

We can only know the Mind and Will of God according to what He chooses to reveal, right?

 

So we figure that YHWH,

  • the Revelator on Sinai,
  • Creator of humanity,
  • Source of life and breath,
  • the God Who revealed Himself and His Way to Israel,
  • chooses to emphasize in His Manual for Living, His TORAH—
    • what each individual can do
    • while he has breath
    • for each moment-by-moment
    • constantly time-passing ‘present’—-the PRESENT —- which is the only real-time one has or actually possesses;  which is ever fleeting second per second,
  • to choose to do or not to do,  to act or not act,
  • in accordance with one’s own inclination
    • whether knowingly
    • or ignorantly (uneducated by Divine Revelation)
  • or in accordance with God’s revealed and known Will, all contained in the Torah.

In short, if God doesn’t say so, neither do we.  Leave that part to the Lord of Life!

 

We do know the consequence of ‘choose life’ and that is ‘blessing’.  Can we leave it at that?

 

The title of this post is the opening line of a quote from a Jewess author Aviya Kushner in the last chapter titled “Memory” of  THE GRAMMAR OF GOD:  

 

“And just like that, my grandfather is no longer alive.

I write no longer alive, 

not dead, 

not gone,

 because neither of those has really been true.”

 

 

 

NSB@S6K

 

logo

Sig-4_16colors

 

P.S.  Please click the link below and read through the liturgy that reflects the faith of a Sinaite; then make your own conclusions about ‘life’ and ‘end of life’ and the Lord of Life:

SINAI 6000

Revisit: What’s good and bad about religion?

Leave a Comment

[First posted in 2012.   Sinaites are not ‘down’ on religion as some of our critics mistakenly think; this post explains our position:  we are not a religion;  we are a way of thinking which leads to a way of life based on what we have accepted as YHWH’s guidelines for living for all humanity, not just for Israel, and that is the TORAH life.  This adds to the many articles we have written about our perspective.—Admin1]

 

Image from www.comparativereligion.com

Image from www.comparativereligion.com

 

Sinaites define “religion” as a man-initiated attempt to relate to an unknown supernatural power.   Religion is human-sourced, based on man’s philosophical musings, speculations, logic, conclusions leading to beliefs and convictions about a supernatural entity whom man wants to know but cannot see or prove, but feel a spiritual link with.

 

This man-initiated attempt might begin with—

  • simply recognizing that there is a higher power,  
  • then move on to seeking to know him,  
  • and further to defining and naming him;   
  • and determining ways to please, placate, worship him;   
  • and finally to living according to how man thinks this god requires him to live.  

All beliefs in a deity might loosely fall under “religion.”  In this sense, religion is good, because at least there is an acknowledgment of God’s existence followed by accountability to God.  It should make a difference in how a believer in a god lives his life on earth, how he uses his time, opportunities, giftings, etc. 

 

[AST] Proverbs 9:10-11  

“The beginning of wisdom is fear of  HASHEM [YHWH]

and [the beginning of] understanding is knowledge of the sacred.  

For through me your days will be increased,

and they will increase years of life for you.

 If you have become wise,

you have become wise for your own good,

and if you have scoffed,

you alone will bear [responsibility].”

 

Some people end their speculation with an awareness of God and go no further.  Others progress to the next step—how do I get to know this Being, this Entity?  

 

Image from Pinterest

Image from Pinterest

The normal route resorted to is—they turn to existing religious sects, small groupings or communities, persuaded that the leaders know more than they do about “the way” to God. There are many institutionalized religions that have world-wide reach and influence, one doesn’t have to stick his neck out to join any of them; they’re out to go after any seeker. 

 

The goal of a God-seeker is simply to know God if that is at all possible.  It starts as a personal quest but as one starts relating to others with the same objective, they start connecting with other seekers. Before you know it, they form fellowships, religious communities, then institutionalize into churches.  Each tends to have an exclusive claim to truth and to being in the right religion as the only way to God. 

 

Image from www.ghanacelebrities.com

Image from www.ghanacelebrities.com

History has a sad record of the evils of religion, so that’s the BAD part of religion. It tends to promote self-righteousness, intolerance, exclusivism, bias towards others of different faiths, tunnel vision, persecution, fanaticism, to name a few.

 

The Crusades and the Inquisition all but eliminated any opposition or challenge to the beliefs espoused by Catholicism.  Cultic leaders are able to influence their flock to practice polygamy, isolate themselves in communities to wait for the end of the world and worse, cultic leaders like Jim Jones was able to delude his flock towards mass suicide. Religious fanatics go so far as burning themselves in public for a cause and in the case of terrorists, suicide bombers are able to cause as much death and destruction to others.  

 

If there is a sure turnoff for the agnostics and atheists of the world, that would be religion and all the bad it does, ironically and unfortunately,  “in the Name of God.”

 

So where does a sincere God-seeker/Truth-seeker turn to, if not religion?  

 

There IS another way:  try the original revelation of God . . . that would be the Sinai revelation recorded in the five books attributed to Moses—the Torah.   Get to know the  God Who revealed Himself, His Name, and His will for all humanity.

 

The goal is relationship with the One True God, not religion. With this relationship is a bonus, a way of life, Torah, “instructions” on how to live in community, whether Jew or Gentile.   Pore through the Scriptures, both the “Old” and the “New” and look for any commandment that says “join a religion”, or even “join MY religion” . . . you will not find it.  What you will find is “obey my commandments”.  

 

And now, Israel 

[Mixed Multitude, Gentiles among you]

what does YHVH your God require of you,

but to fear YHVH your God,

to walk in all His WAYS,

and to love Him,

to serve YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

and to keep the commandments of YHVH and His statutes

which I command you today

for your good? 

(Deuteronomy 19:12-13)

For YHVH your God

is the God of gods

and the Lord of lords,

the great, the mighty,

and the awesome God!

(Deuteronomy 10:17)

NSB@S6K
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Sig-4_16colors

 

CHRISTIANITY

Revisit: Christ-Worshippers are beginning to see the ‘light’ in the ‘OT Law’ – Really?

Leave a Comment

[First posted in 2017.—Admin1[

——————

We had to think about how to title this post without offending the ‘sender’.   Who?

 

The initials “RW” would be familiar to readers of ‘Discourse’, specifically the email exchanges between him (our former Christian-turned-Messianic pastor-bible-teacher) and individual Sinaites (namely VAN, BAN, and NSB).

 

He titled his email:  “To help you understand”.  Understand what?    Ah, the attached file which is posted at the end of this commentary, titled:  Love and the Law – Jewish Commentary .  (Click the article and it will bring you to the website that originally published it and many more articles).

 

The article was puzzling to us.  ‘RW’ to whom we first confessed our individual and collective decision to leave Christianity —to “help him understand” —had branded us “apostates” among other denigrating labels and rightly so, he’s simply using the term applicable to the likes of us,  used by the real founder of Christianity, Paul of Tarsus.

 

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

So what’s so puzzling?  The very choice of the name we decided to call our movement well indicates what we had understood way back in 2010,  when we veered off from the Christian path to join Torah-observant Israel on the pathway toward Spiritual Sinai,  the symbolic site of the Self-revelation of the One True God Who revealed His Name as YHWH,  and prescribed His Way of Life.  Not coincidentally,  that biblical historical event is about to be commemorated by Torah-observant Jewry on the commanded feast of Shavuot, the giving of the Law—May 30-June 1, 2017.

 

As we have repeatedly explained in many articles since 2010, the Torah life is what we now live, in obedience to YHWH, the God we now worship and embrace as our LORD.

 

In our view, Torah is all about law and grace!   The Law-Giver by His Grace, did not leave humanity ignorant of what He requires from those who agree to live under His Kingship.  He gave instructions, precepts, commandments, etc. to regulate human relationships in all social contexts — family, friendship, work, society,  nations, etc.  And when there is not one other human being to relate to, Torah contains as well, regulations relating to ‘tending the garden’, taking care of the one planet designed to nurture and sustain life in all forms, but particularly human life. With no other human around, there are instructions on how to respect, regard, and replenish nature, including what to eat, how to live hygienically, etc.  The Designer of the human body left a manual for living, for the one and only creature made in His Image, endowed with the gift of free will to obey His Law which promises blessing, or disobey, the consequence of which is warned as ‘curse’.

 

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Please understand:  Living by God’s ‘Grace’ is living according to the Law of God.  Law IS Grace!  He has never abrogated his Torah, at least not in the original Hebrew Scriptures.  His Torah is NOT impossible to obey, even if the NT apostle Paul claims so (might have been difficult for him?); and obedience to His Torah is not legalism, even if Christianity labels it so.  We have many posts explaining this but for now, this post is specifically about  . . . well . . . read the title again!

 

 

‘RW’ typifies the Christian reaction to Sinai 6000, namely —

  • first, genuine concern for our eternal destination, damnation in hell predicted for all unbelievers or worse, apostates;
  • second, debate with us why we’re wrong;
  • third,  warn others about us;
  • and finally, if at all possible, get us back to returning to salvation through belief in and acceptance of the Jesus Christ,
  • part of which means believing the Christian gospel that we are under “grace” and not “law”.

 

Groan.

 

Now, get to know ‘RW’ in the posts below;  the listing is random, not chronological:

 

If you managed to get this far, for the article that’s supposed to ‘help’ us ‘understand’ . . . . here it is.  There is a wonderful prayer at the end of our post to make your effort/patience/perseverance all worthwhile, don’t miss it!

 

————————

 

Love and the Law – Jewish Commentary

Image result for TORAH SCROLLS
One evening in 1663, the London socialite Samuel Pepys decided to check out London’s latest attraction: Jews, who had just been allowed back into England. Pepys sought out a typical synagogue service in order to get a sense of what was for him a foreign faith.  Unbeknownst to Pepys, the evening he had selected to visit was Simhat Torah, when Jews celebrate completing the annual reading of the Mosaic Law with raucous dancing.

 

Pepys was bewildered by what he saw.
“But, Lord!” he wrote in his diary, “to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this.”

 

Pepys’s visit may have been ill-timed, but he did witness the soul of Judaism.  For Jews, the law is the source of our most profound joy. And while Simchat Torah is a venerable tradition, the true celebration of the law is the holiday of Shavuot, marked by Jews this month as zeman matan torateinu, the time of the giving of the law. The Torah—a rigorous and complex code containing 613 commandments, to which the rabbis later added a myriad of further prohibitions and obligations—is for Jews an exquisite source of happiness, the ultimate embodiment of the Almighty’s love, and God’s greatest gift.

 

This may seem counterintuitive. Indeed, Christian thinkers have been startled by the fact that law—in all its multifarious details—can be a source of delight.  In his Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis admits he was confounded by the Psalmist’s description of the Torah as sweeter than honey.
“One can easily understand,” Lewis asserts, how laws may be important, even critical, but “it is very hard to find how they could be, so to speak, delicious, how they exhilarate.”
Indeed, for one who overcomes his own desires in obedience to God’s commands, the law, Lewis write,

 

“could be more aptly compared to the dentist’s forceps or the front line than to anything enjoyable or sweet.”

Similarly, Soren Kierkegaard, reflecting Paul’s description of the Law as a “curse,” sees in the Torah an infinitude of obligations that can never be fulfilled:
“A human being groans under the Law.  Wherever he looks, he sees only requirement but never the boundary, alas, like someone who looks out over the ocean and sees wave after wave but never the boundary.”

In the past two decades, however, a stunning new genre of religious writing has appeared: Christian appreciation of the Jewish love of the law. These sensitive reflections are instructive not only to Christians but also, in certain ways, very interesting to Jews, as we can learn a great deal when we see ourselves through an outsider’s insightful eyes.

 

One such appreciation was written by Maria Johnson, a Catholic theologian at the University of Scranton. In her 2006 book, Strangers and Neighbors, Johnson describes visiting an Orthodox Jewish home on a Shabbat afternoon. Superficially, the Jewish Sabbath presents us with Judaism at its most didactic—a collection of melakhot, forbidden forms of work that cannot be performed—and Johnson had assumed that it was, for her friends, “a 25-hour prison of petty regulation.” Then, Johnson experiences the peace that pervades the Jewish home on this day, and in a jolt of realization understands “why my friends spoke of it with such love, why they thought of the day not as a prison but as a queen.” Johnson muses that in an age of almost infinite distractions, the rigidity of the laws actually frees families to focus on what is most important:

 

“All the laws, the 39 acts that generations of rabbis have multiplied into hundreds of prohibitions on the most trivial everyday activities, are an adamantine edge to chisel holiness into the week in a way that cannot be ignored or evaded by distraction and must therefore be welcomed and embraced and celebrated.”

Rather than an encumbrance, the law liberates by ensuring that there is no way to do anything except, as Johnson writes,
“experience time as creatures whom God has made in his own image and blessed and chosen and called.”

Johnson here emphasizes the external impact of the law on the Jewish experience.

 

Another Christian intellectual has written insightfully on how a lifetime of obedience to the Torah transforms Jews internally.  In an essay titled “Loving the Law,” the Catholic theologian R.R. Reno meditates on the writings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. He reflects that while Christianity has given in all too often to the Gnostic temptation to reject this world, Jewish law insists that the soul is formed in the real world through habit-forming activity. The logic, Reno writes, is straightforward:

 

“When our imperatives become the intentions and actions of those whom we command, then we begin to enter into communion with them.”

Reno compares this to a child who obeys his father’s command to do his homework and ultimately comes to value education.

 

“Soloveichik has helped me,” Reno writes, in seeing how law is a precious gift. While Kierkegaard describes the Torah as a burdensome endless obligation, Reno argues that Jewish laws “are as countless arrows of love shot downward and into human life,” so that the more expansive and detailed the law, the more completely is one’s life “penetrated by the divine.”

Christians, then, describe how the Torah sanctifies the external and molds the internal; it makes the Jewish home holy while creating the Jewish character.  Both themes are combined in another remarkable example of a Christian appreciation of the law.

 

In 2012, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput visited the beit midrash, or study hall, of Yeshiva University, where he encountered hundreds of young men engaged in Talmud study. Then, in a Church homily, he delivered a paean to what he had witnessed. He was struck, Chaput told those assembled in Church that Sunday, by the passion the students had for the Torah:

 

“They didn’t merely study it; they consumed it. Or maybe it would be better to say that God’s Word consumed them,”
—-forming friendship between themselves, and beyond themselves, with God. Chaput then reflected how the Torah was the source of Jewish immortality:

 

I saw in the lives of those Jewish students the incredible durability of God’s promises and God’s Word. Despite centuries of persecution, exile, dispersion, and even apostasy, the Jewish people continue to exist because their covenant with God is alive and permanent. God’s Word is the organizing principle of their identity. It’s the foundation and glue of their relationship with one another, with their past, and with their future. And the more faithful they are to God’s Word, the more certain they can be of their survival.

 

With words that one once could never have imagined being uttered in a homily in a Roman Catholic Church, Chaput then adds:

 

“What I saw at Yeshiva should also apply to every Christian believer, but especially to those of us who are priests and bishops.”

His reflections may reveal one reason why this new genre of Christian writing, unlike any other in two millennia, has suddenly emerged.

 

In an age of libertinism, Christians are coming to appreciate the role rigorous adherence to law plays in Jewish character formation—and in an age when Christians are now cultural outsiders, Christians are beginning to seek the secret of Jewish survival through the centuries, and are discovering it in the Jewish love of the law.

 

————————–

 

In keeping with celebration of Shavuot (Pentecost to Christians), we end this with a touching image of “the Jewish love of the law” :  Prayer: The Rabbis’ Blessing for the Torah.  Sinaites now feel the same love toward the Torah, but more so toward the Giver of the Torah: YHWH, God of Israel, God of the Nations, the God that Sinaites have chosen, embrace, love, and worship as the One and Only God!

 

Image from My Morning Meditations

Image from My Morning Meditations

Blessed are You

YHWH, our God,

King of the universe,

Who gives us

the Torah of Truth

so that we may study,

live, learn,

and be changed by it,

so that we may have righteous judgment

and Your spirit of love,

so that we may keep Your commandments,

do them, and live in them,

and teach them to our children

and our children’s children forever.  

Amain!

 

 

 

 

In behalf of Sinai 6000
Core Community,
      NSB@S6K
logo-e1422801044622Sig-4_16colors
CHRISTIANITY

Christ-Worshippers are beginning to see the ‘light’ in the ‘OT Law’ – Really?

Leave a Comment

[First posted in 2017.—Admin1[

——————

We had to think about how to title this post without offending the ‘sender’.   Who?

 

The initials “RW” would be familiar to readers of ‘Discourse’, specifically the email exchanges between him (our former Christian-turned-Messianic pastor-bible-teacher) and individual Sinaites (namely VAN, BAN, and NSB).

 

He titled his email:  “To help you understand”.  Understand what?    Ah, the attached file which is posted at the end of this commentary, titled:  Love and the Law – Jewish Commentary .  (Click the article and it will bring you to the website that originally published it and many more articles).

 

The article was puzzling to us.  ‘RW’ to whom we first confessed our individual and collective decision to leave Christianity —to “help him understand” —had branded us “apostates” among other denigrating labels and rightly so, he’s simply using the term applicable to the likes of us,  used by the real founder of Christianity, Paul of Tarsus.

 

image from Pinterest

image from Pinterest

So what’s so puzzling?  The very choice of the name we decided to call our movement well indicates what we had understood way back in 2010,  when we veered off from the Christian path to join Torah-observant Israel on the pathway toward Spiritual Sinai,  the symbolic site of the Self-revelation of the One True God Who revealed His Name as YHWH,  and prescribed His Way of Life.  Not coincidentally,  that biblical historical event is about to be commemorated by Torah-observant Jewry on the commanded feast of Shavuot, the giving of the Law—May 30-June 1, 2017.

 

As we have repeatedly explained in many articles since 2010, the Torah life is what we now live, in obedience to YHWH, the God we now worship and embrace as our LORD.

 

In our view, Torah is all about law and grace!   The Law-Giver by His Grace, did not leave humanity ignorant of what He requires from those who agree to live under His Kingship.  He gave instructions, precepts, commandments, etc. to regulate human relationships in all social contexts — family, friendship, work, society,  nations, etc.  And when there is not one other human being to relate to, Torah contains as well, regulations relating to ‘tending the garden’, taking care of the one planet designed to nurture and sustain life in all forms, but particularly human life. With no other human around, there are instructions on how to respect, regard, and replenish nature, including what to eat, how to live hygienically, etc.  The Designer of the human body left a manual for living, for the one and only creature made in His Image, endowed with the gift of free will to obey His Law which promises blessing, or disobey, the consequence of which is warned as ‘curse’.

 

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Please understand:  Living by God’s ‘Grace’ is living according to the Law of God.  Law IS Grace!  He has never abrogated his Torah, at least not in the original Hebrew Scriptures.  His Torah is NOT impossible to obey, even if the NT apostle Paul claims so (might have been difficult for him?); and obedience to His Torah is not legalism, even if Christianity labels it so.  We have many posts explaining this but for now, this post is specifically about  . . . well . . . read the title again!

 

 

‘RW’ typifies the Christian reaction to Sinai 6000, namely —

  • first, genuine concern for our eternal destination, damnation in hell predicted for all unbelievers or worse, apostates;
  • second, debate with us why we’re wrong;
  • third,  warn others about us;
  • and finally, if at all possible, get us back to returning to salvation through belief in and acceptance of the Jesus Christ,
  • part of which means believing the Christian gospel that we are under “grace” and not “law”.

 

Groan.

 

Now, get to know ‘RW’ in the posts below;  the listing is random, not chronological:

 

If you managed to get this far, for the article that’s supposed to ‘help’ us ‘understand’ . . . . here it is.  There is a wonderful prayer at the end of our post to make your effort/patience/perseverance all worthwhile, don’t miss it!

 

————————

 

Love and the Law – Jewish Commentary

Image result for TORAH SCROLLS
One evening in 1663, the London socialite Samuel Pepys decided to check out London’s latest attraction: Jews, who had just been allowed back into England. Pepys sought out a typical synagogue service in order to get a sense of what was for him a foreign faith.  Unbeknownst to Pepys, the evening he had selected to visit was Simhat Torah, when Jews celebrate completing the annual reading of the Mosaic Law with raucous dancing.

 

Pepys was bewildered by what he saw.
“But, Lord!” he wrote in his diary, “to see the disorder, laughing, sporting, and no attention, but confusion in all their service, more like brutes than people knowing the true God, would make a man forswear ever seeing them more and indeed I never did see so much, or could have imagined there had been any religion in the whole world so absurdly performed as this.”

 

Pepys’s visit may have been ill-timed, but he did witness the soul of Judaism.  For Jews, the law is the source of our most profound joy. And while Simchat Torah is a venerable tradition, the true celebration of the law is the holiday of Shavuot, marked by Jews this month as zeman matan torateinu, the time of the giving of the law. The Torah—a rigorous and complex code containing 613 commandments, to which the rabbis later added a myriad of further prohibitions and obligations—is for Jews an exquisite source of happiness, the ultimate embodiment of the Almighty’s love, and God’s greatest gift.

 

This may seem counterintuitive. Indeed, Christian thinkers have been startled by the fact that law—in all its multifarious details—can be a source of delight.  In his Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis admits he was confounded by the Psalmist’s description of the Torah as sweeter than honey.
“One can easily understand,” Lewis asserts, how laws may be important, even critical, but “it is very hard to find how they could be, so to speak, delicious, how they exhilarate.”
Indeed, for one who overcomes his own desires in obedience to God’s commands, the law, Lewis write,

 

“could be more aptly compared to the dentist’s forceps or the front line than to anything enjoyable or sweet.”

Similarly, Soren Kierkegaard, reflecting Paul’s description of the Law as a “curse,” sees in the Torah an infinitude of obligations that can never be fulfilled:
“A human being groans under the Law.  Wherever he looks, he sees only requirement but never the boundary, alas, like someone who looks out over the ocean and sees wave after wave but never the boundary.”

In the past two decades, however, a stunning new genre of religious writing has appeared: Christian appreciation of the Jewish love of the law. These sensitive reflections are instructive not only to Christians but also, in certain ways, very interesting to Jews, as we can learn a great deal when we see ourselves through an outsider’s insightful eyes.

 

One such appreciation was written by Maria Johnson, a Catholic theologian at the University of Scranton. In her 2006 book, Strangers and Neighbors, Johnson describes visiting an Orthodox Jewish home on a Shabbat afternoon. Superficially, the Jewish Sabbath presents us with Judaism at its most didactic—a collection of melakhot, forbidden forms of work that cannot be performed—and Johnson had assumed that it was, for her friends, “a 25-hour prison of petty regulation.” Then, Johnson experiences the peace that pervades the Jewish home on this day, and in a jolt of realization understands “why my friends spoke of it with such love, why they thought of the day not as a prison but as a queen.” Johnson muses that in an age of almost infinite distractions, the rigidity of the laws actually frees families to focus on what is most important:

 

“All the laws, the 39 acts that generations of rabbis have multiplied into hundreds of prohibitions on the most trivial everyday activities, are an adamantine edge to chisel holiness into the week in a way that cannot be ignored or evaded by distraction and must therefore be welcomed and embraced and celebrated.”

Rather than an encumbrance, the law liberates by ensuring that there is no way to do anything except, as Johnson writes,
“experience time as creatures whom God has made in his own image and blessed and chosen and called.”

Johnson here emphasizes the external impact of the law on the Jewish experience.

 

Another Christian intellectual has written insightfully on how a lifetime of obedience to the Torah transforms Jews internally.  In an essay titled “Loving the Law,” the Catholic theologian R.R. Reno meditates on the writings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. He reflects that while Christianity has given in all too often to the Gnostic temptation to reject this world, Jewish law insists that the soul is formed in the real world through habit-forming activity. The logic, Reno writes, is straightforward:

 

“When our imperatives become the intentions and actions of those whom we command, then we begin to enter into communion with them.”

Reno compares this to a child who obeys his father’s command to do his homework and ultimately comes to value education.

 

“Soloveichik has helped me,” Reno writes, in seeing how law is a precious gift. While Kierkegaard describes the Torah as a burdensome endless obligation, Reno argues that Jewish laws “are as countless arrows of love shot downward and into human life,” so that the more expansive and detailed the law, the more completely is one’s life “penetrated by the divine.”

Christians, then, describe how the Torah sanctifies the external and molds the internal; it makes the Jewish home holy while creating the Jewish character.  Both themes are combined in another remarkable example of a Christian appreciation of the law.

 

In 2012, Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput visited the beit midrash, or study hall, of Yeshiva University, where he encountered hundreds of young men engaged in Talmud study. Then, in a Church homily, he delivered a paean to what he had witnessed. He was struck, Chaput told those assembled in Church that Sunday, by the passion the students had for the Torah:

 

“They didn’t merely study it; they consumed it. Or maybe it would be better to say that God’s Word consumed them,”
—-forming friendship between themselves, and beyond themselves, with God. Chaput then reflected how the Torah was the source of Jewish immortality:

 

I saw in the lives of those Jewish students the incredible durability of God’s promises and God’s Word. Despite centuries of persecution, exile, dispersion, and even apostasy, the Jewish people continue to exist because their covenant with God is alive and permanent. God’s Word is the organizing principle of their identity. It’s the foundation and glue of their relationship with one another, with their past, and with their future. And the more faithful they are to God’s Word, the more certain they can be of their survival.

 

With words that one once could never have imagined being uttered in a homily in a Roman Catholic Church, Chaput then adds:

 

“What I saw at Yeshiva should also apply to every Christian believer, but especially to those of us who are priests and bishops.”

His reflections may reveal one reason why this new genre of Christian writing, unlike any other in two millennia, has suddenly emerged.

 

In an age of libertinism, Christians are coming to appreciate the role rigorous adherence to law plays in Jewish character formation—and in an age when Christians are now cultural outsiders, Christians are beginning to seek the secret of Jewish survival through the centuries, and are discovering it in the Jewish love of the law.

 

————————–

 

In keeping with celebration of Shavuot (Pentecost to Christians), we end this with a touching image of “the Jewish love of the law” :  Prayer: The Rabbis’ Blessing for the Torah.  Sinaites now feel the same love toward the Torah, but more so toward the Giver of the Torah: YHWH, God of Israel, God of the Nations, the God that Sinaites have chosen, embrace, love, and worship as the One and Only God!

 

Image from My Morning Meditations

Image from My Morning Meditations

Blessed are You

YHWH, our God,

King of the universe,

Who gives us

the Torah of Truth

so that we may study,

live, learn,

and be changed by it,

so that we may have righteous judgment

and Your spirit of love,

so that we may keep Your commandments,

do them, and live in them,

and teach them to our children

and our children’s children forever.  

Amain!

 

 

 

 

In behalf of Sinai 6000
Core Community,
      NSB@S6K
logo-e1422801044622Sig-4_16colors
Exodus/Shemoth

Revisit: Exodus/Shemoth 23 – The God of Grace and Law

Leave a Comment
Image from Life, Hope & Truth

Image from Life, Hope & Truth

[First posted in 2014, part of the series discussing the five books of Moses, chapter by chapter. —Admin1].

—————

Continuing the listing of do’s and don’ts of behavior toward God’s creation — man, beast and land — take notice of specific instructions regarding —

  • giving the land time to replenish itself (vs. 11),
  • and the beasts of burden rest from their labors (vs. 12)
  • and the special regard for classes of people who are usually neglected—the poor and the ‘sojourner among you’.

 

The very fact that these are stressed in YHWH’s guidelines for living is evidence enough that then as it is now, there is the tendency to neglect or ignore the universal and practical value of ‘sabbaticals’ as well as the equal status of all individuals in the eyes of their Creator. 

 

The New Testament teaches that the ” OT Law” is no longer operative because after Jesus’s sacrifice, it has been done away with and NT is all about ‘GRACE.’  It calls obedience to Torah as “legalism”,  casting negative implications to obedience to law, and specifically God’s Law, and more specifically Law as given on Sinai in the retitled “Old” testament which was originally the TNK.  What is the word for a situation where nobody minds the law because it is obsolete. . . “lawlessness”? Is that the right way to live? 

 

Think about this as you continue reading through the 613 (the number of do’s and don’ts in Torah)—  what is it in these rules that say they are anything but the GRACE of YHWH the Law-Giver?  Is not YHWH full of GRACE, making sure that humans in community learn to treat each other graciously, with mutual respect, with regard for the other’s dignity whatever his stature is in life?  He does not require this at the cost of selflessness or giving up one’s own rights to make room for the other; it is ultimately all about what is JUST, as well as what is RIGHT for all parties.  Is that not GRACE?

 

Why would Christian teaching say we are under GRACE and not LAW?  By the grace of Divine Providence, He gave laws to regulate every aspect of human life; without Torah encapsulated in the 10 Declarations, look at Torah-ignorant or Torah-disobedient humanity and its dismal behavioral track record!

 

What would have worked in the wilderness community should work in every society, then as now.  These are universal and timeless teachings about interrelationships, a result of YHWH’s GRACE, who in His providence and wisdom, carefully and explicitly instructs all of humanity—- through this mixed multitude within Israel— what works best to the benefit of all.

 

Other-centeredness, that’s the greatest Torah instruction that every human should learn and apply.  That’s grace and law! Instead of claiming “we are under grace, not law”, Christians should praise the God of Grace and Law, YHWH,  for instructing all humanity how best to live with one another in His world.  

 

YHWH’s TORAH is GRACE and LAW!  

 

 

Sig-4_16colors

AIbEiAIAAABDCNPkvrXuucmdeSILdmNhcmRfcGhvdG8qKGJkZTc0YTk3NmUxMGM4OTAzZjk5MDhkMjdkZDI2ODQ3OTliYmQ2MDkwAe5UdNp0lvYvCf8bjAFEJOY_fdsj

 

 

 

 

————————-

 

[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.  Commentary are by S6K and  from AST/ArtScroll Tanach.—Admin1]

 

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Exodus/Shemoth 23

 

1 You are not to take up an empty rumor.

1. You shall not bear a false rumor. This injunction begins a group of laws intended to enforce the concept of equality before the law and equity in social behavior, regardless of social standing or condition of enmity or amity. The prohibition on bearing false rumor is reminiscent in formulation of the third of the Ten Commandments, but instead of pertaining to solemn oaths, it addresses the capacity of ordinary speech to do harm.

 Do not put your hand (in) with a guilty person, to become a witness for wrongdoing.

You shall not put your hand with the guilty. The Hebrew idiom, here literally translated, transparently means to be in league with someone. This injunction stands in a relation of intensifying parallelism (a typical pattern in biblical poetry) with the immediately preceding one. Distortion of the truth is involved in both, but there is an intensification from rumor mongering to perjury.

 

2 You are not to go after many (people) to do evil. 

2. You shall not follow the many for evil. The last word here could also be rendered “harm”. The most straightforward way to construe this verse is as an injunction to cling to one’s own sense of what is right despite the temptation to follow popular opinion, including when popular opinion is bent on the perversion of justice.

 

To go askew, to skew it in support of the many. The Hebrew, as the translation may suggest, seems a little awkward because “to go askew” (lintot) appears to be unnecessary and perhaps a little confusing when followed by the same verb in the causative form, lehatot, “to skew”. It is conceivable that the repetition was introduced to underline formally the notion of skewing or tilting justice, which every person is enjoined to avoid.

 And you are not to testify in a quarrel so as to turn aside toward many-(and thus) turn away.
3 Even a poor-man you are not to respect as regards his quarrel. [AST: Do not glorify a destitute person in his grievance.]

3. Nor a poor person shall you favor in his dispute. Throughout these laws, “dispute” (riv) refers to contention in a court of law. The principle of equality before the law requires the avoidance of any juridical “affirmative action”—one must give no preferential treatment in court either to the poor man because of his afflictions or to the rich man because of his power.

 

 4 (Now) when you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey straying, return it, return it to him.
5 (And) when you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him- 
 unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

5.your adversary’s donkey sprawling under its load. This is the first, but by no means the only, expression of humanitarian concern for animals in the Torah. The suffering of the beast must take precedence over a person’s hostility toward the beast’s owner.

 

You shall surely assist him. The rare Hebrew verb ‘-z-b is the homonym of a common verb that means “to abandon”. It occurs twice elsewhere in the Bible in the sense of “to perform”, “to arrange”, “to assist”, and it has cognates with this meaning in both Ugaritic and Arabic. The object of the verb (“him”) could be either the master or the donkey, but the former seems more likely: a heavily loaded donkey would not be wandering around by itself; the person would know to whom it belongs by seeing the owner; and the moral imperative would be all the more pressing because he is enjoined to give a hand to a man he hates.

6 You are not to turn aside the rights of your needy as regards his quarrel.

6-9. Whereas verses 1-3 address the obligation of adherence to justice for all citizens, this related subgroup of injunctions is directed to judges.

6. You shall not skew the case of your indigent in his dispute. This formulation is the complement of verse 3. No one should grant preferential treatment to the poor man in justice, but here the judge is reminded that the poor should not be prejudicially mistreated in court. “Case”, mishpat, can also mean “justice”.

7 From a false matter, you are to keep far!

 And (one) clear and innocent, do not kill,
 for I do not acquit a guilty-person.

7. I will not acquit the guilty. The judge is implicitly thought of as a surrogate of God, obliged to enact only what is right, as God does.

 

 [AST: Distance yourself from a false word; do not execute the innocent or the righteous, for I shall not exonerate the wicked.]

 

8 A bribe you are not to take,
for a bribe blinds the open-eyed, 
and twists the words of the righteous.

8. blinds. . .perverts. The aphoristic parallelism sounds rather like the Book of Proverbs. The sighted. The Hebrew adjective designates both those who have the faculty of sight and, by metaphorical extension, those  who are keen-sighted. As a kind of gloss on the term, a parallel law in Deuteronomy substitutes for “sighted” the explicit “wise” (the sense of the term in modern Hebrew).

 

9 A sojourner, you are not to oppress: 

you yourselves know (well) the feelings of the sojourner,
for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt.

9. the sojourner’s heart. The Hebrew is nefesh, “life” “inner nature”, “essential being”, “breath”.

10 For six years you are to sow your land and to gather in its produce,
11 but in the seventh, you are to let it go and to let it be, 

11. let it go. The Hebrew verb shamat means “to release”, “to allow to slip out of one’s grip.” The noun derived from this verb, shemitah, is the general term for sabbatical year.

 

that the needy of your people may eat, 

And your people’s indigent may eat of it. The motive for the sabbatical year is a partial redressing of social inequity, thus linking it with the immediately preceding laws. The ecological advantage of allowing fields to lie fallow is not mentioned.

 

and what they (allow to) remain, the wildlife of the field may eat.
Do thus with your vineyard, with your olive-grove.

12. so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and your bondman and the sojourner catch their breath. Unlike the Decalogue, but entirely in keeping with the context of the present code of laws, the rationale for the Sabbath offered here is neither theological (God’s resting after creation) nor historical (the liberation from Egyptian slavery) but humanitarian. “Catch their breath” (wayinafesh)is represented in most translations as “be refreshed.” It is cognate with nefesh, most probably in the sense of “breath”, and is related to the verb nashaf, “to breathe hard or pant”. The idea of catching one’s breath is consonant with the representation in Job and elsewhere in the Bible of the laborer panting from his work and longing to draw a long breath of relief after labor.

12 For six days you are to make your labor, 
but on the seventh day, you are to cease, 
in order that your ox and your donkey may rest 
and the son of your handmaid and the sojourner may pause-for-breath.
13 In all that I say to you, take care! 
The name of other gods, you are not to mention, 
it is not to be heard in your mouth.

13. And in all that I have said to you, you shall watch yourselves. This summarizing command reintroduces, in the next clause, the obligation of loyalty to the single God and thus serves as a transition from the group of laws bearing on justice and social equity to the laws of the pilgrim festivals, which are national, seasonal expressions of fealty to God.

14 Three times you are to hold pilgrimage for me, every year.

14. Three times. The word for “times” here, regalim, is diffirent from pe’amim, the word used at the beginning of verse 17. Both terms mean “foot”, the apparent connection with “time” being the counting of times with the tap of a foot.

15 The Pilgrimage-Festival of matzot you are to keep:
for seven days you are to eat matzot, as I commanded you, 
at the appointed-time of the New-moon of Ripe-grain- 
for in it you went out of Egypt, 
and no one is to be seen before my presence empty-handed;

15. appear in My presence. The original form of the Hebrew indicated “see My face [or presence],” but the Masoretes revocalized the verb as a passive, “to be seen” or “to appear”, in order to avoid what looked like excessive anthropomorphism.

16 and the Pilgrimage-festival of the Cutting, of the firstlings of your labor, of what you sow in the field;
and the Pilgrimage-festival of Ingathering, at the going-out of the year, 
when you gather in your labor’s (harvest) from the field.

16. Harvest…Ingathering. The Festival of Flatbread (“Passover” is not used here) would be in April. The harvest (Shavuoth) of first fruits would occur in late May or early June, and Ingathering (Succoth) the harvest of most later crops, in late September or early October.

17 At three points in the year 
are all your males to be seen
before the presence of the Lord, YHVH.
18 You are not to slaughter my blood offering with anything fermented. 
The fat of my festive-offering is not to remain overnight, until morning.
19 The choicest firstlings of your soil, you are to bring to the house of YHVH your God.
You are not to boil a kid in the milk of its mother.

19. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. This famous prohibition would  become the basis in rabbinic dietary regulations for the absolute separation of meat and dairy foods. Two different kinds of justification have been proposed for the prohibition. Maimonides and many after him suggest that the law is a response to a pagan cultic practice know to the ancients of eating a kid prepared in its mother’s milk. There is no clear-cut archaeological evidence of such a practice—Maimonides merely inferred it interpretively. One fragmentary mythological text in Ugaritic may in fact refer to this culinary item, though that reconstruction of the text has been disputed. The other approach, espoused by Abraham ibn Ezra (a little tentatively) and many others, is to explain the prohibition on humanitarian grounds. The sensitivity toward animals previously evinced in this group of laws gives some plausibility to the humanitarian possibility. Since no actual aggravation of the animals’ suffering is involved, the recoil from this commingling would be on the symbolic level; the mixture of the  mother animal’s nurturing milk with the slaughtered flesh of her offspring, a promiscuous joining of life and death.

 

AST Notes: 

  • The commandment of the first fruits applies to the seven species for which the Land of Israel is known:  wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates.  Because bikkurim symbolize the Jew’s devotion of the first fruits of his labors to the service of God, the trip to Jerusalem was celebrated in every town along the way with music and parades.
  • The prohibition against cooking meat and milk applies to all ages and species of sheep (and cattle); Rabbinic law extended it to all kosher meat and fowl. the Torah mentions this prohibition three times, from which the Sages derive that there are three elements of the prohibition. It is forbidden to cook the mixture, to eat it, and even to benefit from it (Rashi).
  • The concepts symbolized by these festivals—freedom, the seasons, and prosperity—are at the root of human existence and happiness.  By celebrating them in Jerusalem at the resting place of God’s Presence and by bringing offerings to mark the occasions, we acknowledge Him as the Lord Who controls all aspects of life.

 

S6K:  A new reader of TORAH once wrote us, exasperated with all these rules he could not understand: “what has this not boiling of a kid in its mother’s milk got to do with us today?”

 

Frankly, we’re clueless ourselves, except to connect it with compassion for a young animal being prepared for human food, to at least respect the mother of the kid by not using her milk.  Still, it doesn’t make sense since neither the kid nor the mother goat is conscious of that artificial compassion, since the kid would be eaten after being cooked!  

 

Vegans, vegetarians claim that aside from the health benefits of eating no meat, there is that conscious respect for life that we can never replicate, that only the Creator can give, including animal life; why indeed should an animal be slaughtered to satisfy human appetite for meat? 

 

20 Here, I am sending a messenger before you
to care for you on the way, 
to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

20. I am about to send messenger before you. Although modern rationalist commentators have sought to explain this as a metaphor for providential guidance, the frankly mythological terms of the preceding narrative—the pillars of cloud and fire, the Destroyer in Egypt—invite us to imagine the messenger as a fearsome agent of God, perhaps human in form like the divine messengers in Genesis, leading the people through the wilderness.

21 Take-you-care in his presence, 
and hearken to his voice, 
do not be rebellious against him,
for he is not able to bear your transgressing, 
for my name is with him.

21. he will not pardon your trespass, for My name is within him. The messenger is not only a guide for the Wilderness wanderings but an unblinking executor of divine surveillance. The mention of the divine name is the earliest of a scattering of biblical references to a quasi-mythological notion of God’s name as a potent agency in its own right. This idea would be elaborately developed in later Jewish mysticism.

 

AST: Behold! I send an angel before you to protect you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.  Beware of him—hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your willful sin—for My Name is within him.

 

22 So then, hearken, hearken to his voice, 
and do all that I speak, 
and I will be-an-enemy to your enemies, 
and I will be-an-adversary to your adversaries.

22. I shall be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. The perfect parallelism of this statement recalls the symmetry of a line of biblical poetry, and several verses in this concluding section of the Book of the Covenant approximate the formal balance and high solemnity of poetry.

23 When my messenger goes before you a
nd brings you 
to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivvite and the Yevusite,
and I cause them to perish:
24 you are not to bow down to their gods, you are not to serve them, 
you are not to do according to what they do,
but: you are to tear, yes, tear them down, 
and are to smash, yes, smash their standing-stones.

24. tear them down. The verb here, haras, indicates that the object is the idols, not the idolators.Pillars. The reference is to cultic pillars, or steles.

S6K: “mal’ak” for “angel” or “messenger”, those created spirit beings who carry out divine errands; that would include the ‘adversary’ or ‘ha satan’ who, as we have repeatedly explained, is an obedient mal’ak carrying out his assigned adversarial role in connection with humankind.  Notice the instructions to listen to the voice of this mal’ak, why? . .  for My Name is in him.. 

 

25 You are to serve YHVH your God! 
and he will give-blessing to your food and your water;
I will remove sickness from amongst you,
26 there will be no miscarrier or barren-one in your land,
(and) the number of your days I will make full.
27 My terror I will send on before you, 
I will panic all the peoples among whom you come, 
I will give all your enemies to you by the neck.

27. turn tail. The Hebrew refers to the nape of the neck, which the fleeing enemy shows to his pursuer.

28 I will send Despair on before you 
so that it drives out the Hivvite, the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you.

28. I shall send the hornet before you. There is some question about what is sent: the noun tsir’ahappears in the Bible only three times, all in the context of the conquest of Canaan. The strong consensus of later Hebrew tradition—there is some dissent—is that it refers to a noxious stinging insect. In that case, the word functions here as a collective noun (rather common biblical usage for animals) and refers to dense swarms of hornets. An alternative I would like to propose is that the root is related (with consonants reversed) to the verb ra’ats, “to smash”, and that this is a mythological rather than a zoological entity, the Smasher (or Smashing), which would be strictly parallel or equivalent to “My terror” at the beginning of verse 27.

29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year,
lest the land become desolate 
and the wildlife of the field become-many against you.

29. lest the land become desolate. The Hebrew writer, faced with the discomfiting report of the tradition available to him that the conquest of the land, underwritten by solemn divine promise, took more than two centuries, is driven to find some explanation for the delay. (The Book of Judges will propose three rather different explanations). The prospect sketched here of a suddenly depopulated land overrun by wild beasts and too big for the Hebrews seems intrinsically implausible, and it is hard to square the notion of Israel awaiting its own natural increase (“until you are fruitful”) with the figure offered earlier of 6000,000 adult males, which implied a total population of well over two million.

30 Little by little will I drive them out from before you,
until you have borne-fruit and possessed the land.
31 And I will make your territory
from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines,

The Red Sea. In this context, this is the more plausible geographical reference of yam suf, rather than Sea of Reeds, which would probably be a marshland in northeastern Egypt.

from the Wilderness to the River. 
For I give into your hand the settled-folk of the land, that you may drive them
out from before you.

29. lest the land become desolate. The Hebrew writer, faced with the discomfiting report of the tradition available to him that the conquest of the land, underwritten by solemn divine promise, took more than two centuries, is driven to find some explanation for the delay. (The Book of Judges will propose three rather different explanations). The prospect sketched here of a suddenly depopulated land overrun by wild beasts and too big for the Hebrews seems intrinsically implausible, and it is hard to square the notion of Israel awaiting its own natural increase (“until you are fruitful”) with the figure offered earlier of 6000,000 adult males, which implied a total population of well over two million.

32 You are not to cut with them or with their gods any covenant,

32. You shall not make a pact with them or with their gods. Ibn Ezra, with his keen eye for connections, relates the previous verse to this one: even though God will give Israel this vast expanse of territory (presumably, filled with subject peoples), the temptation of embracing the gods of the native population must be resisted.

33 they are not to stay in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me, 
indeed, you would serve their gods-
indeed, that would be a snare to you.
 
Exodus/Shemoth

Exodus/Shemoth 23 – The God of Grace and Law

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Image from Life, Hope & Truth

Image from Life, Hope & Truth

[First posted in 2014, part of the series discussing the five books of Moses, chapter by chapter. —Admin1].

—————

Continuing the listing of do’s and don’ts of behavior toward God’s creation — man, beast and land — take notice of specific instructions regarding —

  • giving the land time to replenish itself (vs. 11),
  • and the beasts of burden rest from their labors (vs. 12)
  • and the special regard for classes of people who are usually neglected—the poor and the ‘sojourner among you’.

 

The very fact that these are stressed in YHWH’s guidelines for living is evidence enough that then as it is now, there is the tendency to neglect or ignore the universal and practical value of ‘sabbaticals’ as well as the equal status of all individuals in the eyes of their Creator. 

 

The New Testament teaches that the ” OT Law” is no longer operative because after Jesus’s sacrifice, it has been done away with and NT is all about ‘GRACE.’  It calls obedience to Torah as “legalism”,  casting negative implications to obedience to law, and specifically God’s Law, and more specifically Law as given on Sinai in the retitled “Old” testament which was originally the TNK.  What is the word for a situation where nobody minds the law because it is obsolete. . . “lawlessness”? Is that the right way to live? 

 

Think about this as you continue reading through the 613 (the number of do’s and don’ts in Torah)—  what is it in these rules that say they are anything but the GRACE of YHWH the Law-Giver?  Is not YHWH full of GRACE, making sure that humans in community learn to treat each other graciously, with mutual respect, with regard for the other’s dignity whatever his stature is in life?  He does not require this at the cost of selflessness or giving up one’s own rights to make room for the other; it is ultimately all about what is JUST, as well as what is RIGHT for all parties.  Is that not GRACE?

 

Why would Christian teaching say we are under GRACE and not LAW?  By the grace of Divine Providence, He gave laws to regulate every aspect of human life; without Torah encapsulated in the 10 Declarations, look at Torah-ignorant or Torah-disobedient humanity and its dismal behavioral track record!

 

What would have worked in the wilderness community should work in every society, then as now.  These are universal and timeless teachings about interrelationships, a result of YHWH’s GRACE, who in His providence and wisdom, carefully and explicitly instructs all of humanity—- through this mixed multitude within Israel— what works best to the benefit of all.

 

Other-centeredness, that’s the greatest Torah instruction that every human should learn and apply.  That’s grace and law! Instead of claiming “we are under grace, not law”, Christians should praise the God of Grace and Law, YHWH,  for instructing all humanity how best to live with one another in His world.  

 

YHWH’s TORAH is GRACE and LAW!  

 

 

Sig-4_16colors

AIbEiAIAAABDCNPkvrXuucmdeSILdmNhcmRfcGhvdG8qKGJkZTc0YTk3NmUxMGM4OTAzZjk5MDhkMjdkZDI2ODQ3OTliYmQ2MDkwAe5UdNp0lvYvCf8bjAFEJOY_fdsj

 

 

 

 

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[Translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.  Commentary are by S6K and  from AST/ArtScroll Tanach.—Admin1]

 

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Image from The Grace Life Blog

Exodus/Shemoth 23

 

1 You are not to take up an empty rumor.

1. You shall not bear a false rumor. This injunction begins a group of laws intended to enforce the concept of equality before the law and equity in social behavior, regardless of social standing or condition of enmity or amity. The prohibition on bearing false rumor is reminiscent in formulation of the third of the Ten Commandments, but instead of pertaining to solemn oaths, it addresses the capacity of ordinary speech to do harm.

 Do not put your hand (in) with a guilty person, to become a witness for wrongdoing.

You shall not put your hand with the guilty. The Hebrew idiom, here literally translated, transparently means to be in league with someone. This injunction stands in a relation of intensifying parallelism (a typical pattern in biblical poetry) with the immediately preceding one. Distortion of the truth is involved in both, but there is an intensification from rumor mongering to perjury.

 

2 You are not to go after many (people) to do evil. 

2. You shall not follow the many for evil. The last word here could also be rendered “harm”. The most straightforward way to construe this verse is as an injunction to cling to one’s own sense of what is right despite the temptation to follow popular opinion, including when popular opinion is bent on the perversion of justice.

 

To go askew, to skew it in support of the many. The Hebrew, as the translation may suggest, seems a little awkward because “to go askew” (lintot) appears to be unnecessary and perhaps a little confusing when followed by the same verb in the causative form, lehatot, “to skew”. It is conceivable that the repetition was introduced to underline formally the notion of skewing or tilting justice, which every person is enjoined to avoid.

 And you are not to testify in a quarrel so as to turn aside toward many-(and thus) turn away.
3 Even a poor-man you are not to respect as regards his quarrel. [AST: Do not glorify a destitute person in his grievance.]

3. Nor a poor person shall you favor in his dispute. Throughout these laws, “dispute” (riv) refers to contention in a court of law. The principle of equality before the law requires the avoidance of any juridical “affirmative action”—one must give no preferential treatment in court either to the poor man because of his afflictions or to the rich man because of his power.

 

 4 (Now) when you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey straying, return it, return it to him.
5 (And) when you see the donkey of one who hates you crouching under its burden, restrain from abandoning it to him- 
 unbind, yes, unbind it together with him.

5.your adversary’s donkey sprawling under its load. This is the first, but by no means the only, expression of humanitarian concern for animals in the Torah. The suffering of the beast must take precedence over a person’s hostility toward the beast’s owner.

 

You shall surely assist him. The rare Hebrew verb ‘-z-b is the homonym of a common verb that means “to abandon”. It occurs twice elsewhere in the Bible in the sense of “to perform”, “to arrange”, “to assist”, and it has cognates with this meaning in both Ugaritic and Arabic. The object of the verb (“him”) could be either the master or the donkey, but the former seems more likely: a heavily loaded donkey would not be wandering around by itself; the person would know to whom it belongs by seeing the owner; and the moral imperative would be all the more pressing because he is enjoined to give a hand to a man he hates.

6 You are not to turn aside the rights of your needy as regards his quarrel.

6-9. Whereas verses 1-3 address the obligation of adherence to justice for all citizens, this related subgroup of injunctions is directed to judges.

6. You shall not skew the case of your indigent in his dispute. This formulation is the complement of verse 3. No one should grant preferential treatment to the poor man in justice, but here the judge is reminded that the poor should not be prejudicially mistreated in court. “Case”, mishpat, can also mean “justice”.

7 From a false matter, you are to keep far!

 And (one) clear and innocent, do not kill,
 for I do not acquit a guilty-person.

7. I will not acquit the guilty. The judge is implicitly thought of as a surrogate of God, obliged to enact only what is right, as God does.

 

 [AST: Distance yourself from a false word; do not execute the innocent or the righteous, for I shall not exonerate the wicked.]

 

8 A bribe you are not to take,
for a bribe blinds the open-eyed, 
and twists the words of the righteous.

8. blinds. . .perverts. The aphoristic parallelism sounds rather like the Book of Proverbs. The sighted. The Hebrew adjective designates both those who have the faculty of sight and, by metaphorical extension, those  who are keen-sighted. As a kind of gloss on the term, a parallel law in Deuteronomy substitutes for “sighted” the explicit “wise” (the sense of the term in modern Hebrew).

 

9 A sojourner, you are not to oppress: 

you yourselves know (well) the feelings of the sojourner,
for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt.

9. the sojourner’s heart. The Hebrew is nefesh, “life” “inner nature”, “essential being”, “breath”.

10 For six years you are to sow your land and to gather in its produce,
11 but in the seventh, you are to let it go and to let it be, 

11. let it go. The Hebrew verb shamat means “to release”, “to allow to slip out of one’s grip.” The noun derived from this verb, shemitah, is the general term for sabbatical year.

 

that the needy of your people may eat, 

And your people’s indigent may eat of it. The motive for the sabbatical year is a partial redressing of social inequity, thus linking it with the immediately preceding laws. The ecological advantage of allowing fields to lie fallow is not mentioned.

 

and what they (allow to) remain, the wildlife of the field may eat.
Do thus with your vineyard, with your olive-grove.

12. so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and your bondman and the sojourner catch their breath. Unlike the Decalogue, but entirely in keeping with the context of the present code of laws, the rationale for the Sabbath offered here is neither theological (God’s resting after creation) nor historical (the liberation from Egyptian slavery) but humanitarian. “Catch their breath” (wayinafesh)is represented in most translations as “be refreshed.” It is cognate with nefesh, most probably in the sense of “breath”, and is related to the verb nashaf, “to breathe hard or pant”. The idea of catching one’s breath is consonant with the representation in Job and elsewhere in the Bible of the laborer panting from his work and longing to draw a long breath of relief after labor.

12 For six days you are to make your labor, 
but on the seventh day, you are to cease, 
in order that your ox and your donkey may rest 
and the son of your handmaid and the sojourner may pause-for-breath.
13 In all that I say to you, take care! 
The name of other gods, you are not to mention, 
it is not to be heard in your mouth.

13. And in all that I have said to you, you shall watch yourselves. This summarizing command reintroduces, in the next clause, the obligation of loyalty to the single God and thus serves as a transition from the group of laws bearing on justice and social equity to the laws of the pilgrim festivals, which are national, seasonal expressions of fealty to God.

14 Three times you are to hold pilgrimage for me, every year.

14. Three times. The word for “times” here, regalim, is diffirent from pe’amim, the word used at the beginning of verse 17. Both terms mean “foot”, the apparent connection with “time” being the counting of times with the tap of a foot.

15 The Pilgrimage-Festival of matzot you are to keep:
for seven days you are to eat matzot, as I commanded you, 
at the appointed-time of the New-moon of Ripe-grain- 
for in it you went out of Egypt, 
and no one is to be seen before my presence empty-handed;

15. appear in My presence. The original form of the Hebrew indicated “see My face [or presence],” but the Masoretes revocalized the verb as a passive, “to be seen” or “to appear”, in order to avoid what looked like excessive anthropomorphism.

16 and the Pilgrimage-festival of the Cutting, of the firstlings of your labor, of what you sow in the field;
and the Pilgrimage-festival of Ingathering, at the going-out of the year, 
when you gather in your labor’s (harvest) from the field.

16. Harvest…Ingathering. The Festival of Flatbread (“Passover” is not used here) would be in April. The harvest (Shavuoth) of first fruits would occur in late May or early June, and Ingathering (Succoth) the harvest of most later crops, in late September or early October.

17 At three points in the year 
are all your males to be seen
before the presence of the Lord, YHVH.
18 You are not to slaughter my blood offering with anything fermented. 
The fat of my festive-offering is not to remain overnight, until morning.
19 The choicest firstlings of your soil, you are to bring to the house of YHVH your God.
You are not to boil a kid in the milk of its mother.

19. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. This famous prohibition would  become the basis in rabbinic dietary regulations for the absolute separation of meat and dairy foods. Two different kinds of justification have been proposed for the prohibition. Maimonides and many after him suggest that the law is a response to a pagan cultic practice know to the ancients of eating a kid prepared in its mother’s milk. There is no clear-cut archaeological evidence of such a practice—Maimonides merely inferred it interpretively. One fragmentary mythological text in Ugaritic may in fact refer to this culinary item, though that reconstruction of the text has been disputed. The other approach, espoused by Abraham ibn Ezra (a little tentatively) and many others, is to explain the prohibition on humanitarian grounds. The sensitivity toward animals previously evinced in this group of laws gives some plausibility to the humanitarian possibility. Since no actual aggravation of the animals’ suffering is involved, the recoil from this commingling would be on the symbolic level; the mixture of the  mother animal’s nurturing milk with the slaughtered flesh of her offspring, a promiscuous joining of life and death.

 

AST Notes: 

  • The commandment of the first fruits applies to the seven species for which the Land of Israel is known:  wheat, barley, figs, grapes, pomegranates, olives, and dates.  Because bikkurim symbolize the Jew’s devotion of the first fruits of his labors to the service of God, the trip to Jerusalem was celebrated in every town along the way with music and parades.
  • The prohibition against cooking meat and milk applies to all ages and species of sheep (and cattle); Rabbinic law extended it to all kosher meat and fowl. the Torah mentions this prohibition three times, from which the Sages derive that there are three elements of the prohibition. It is forbidden to cook the mixture, to eat it, and even to benefit from it (Rashi).
  • The concepts symbolized by these festivals—freedom, the seasons, and prosperity—are at the root of human existence and happiness.  By celebrating them in Jerusalem at the resting place of God’s Presence and by bringing offerings to mark the occasions, we acknowledge Him as the Lord Who controls all aspects of life.

 

S6K:  A new reader of TORAH once wrote us, exasperated with all these rules he could not understand: “what has this not boiling of a kid in its mother’s milk got to do with us today?”

 

Frankly, we’re clueless ourselves, except to connect it with compassion for a young animal being prepared for human food, to at least respect the mother of the kid by not using her milk.  Still, it doesn’t make sense since neither the kid nor the mother goat is conscious of that artificial compassion, since the kid would be eaten after being cooked!  

 

Vegans, vegetarians claim that aside from the health benefits of eating no meat, there is that conscious respect for life that we can never replicate, that only the Creator can give, including animal life; why indeed should an animal be slaughtered to satisfy human appetite for meat? 

 

20 Here, I am sending a messenger before you
to care for you on the way, 
to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

20. I am about to send messenger before you. Although modern rationalist commentators have sought to explain this as a metaphor for providential guidance, the frankly mythological terms of the preceding narrative—the pillars of cloud and fire, the Destroyer in Egypt—invite us to imagine the messenger as a fearsome agent of God, perhaps human in form like the divine messengers in Genesis, leading the people through the wilderness.

21 Take-you-care in his presence, 
and hearken to his voice, 
do not be rebellious against him,
for he is not able to bear your transgressing, 
for my name is with him.

21. he will not pardon your trespass, for My name is within him. The messenger is not only a guide for the Wilderness wanderings but an unblinking executor of divine surveillance. The mention of the divine name is the earliest of a scattering of biblical references to a quasi-mythological notion of God’s name as a potent agency in its own right. This idea would be elaborately developed in later Jewish mysticism.

 

AST: Behold! I send an angel before you to protect you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have made ready.  Beware of him—hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your willful sin—for My Name is within him.

 

22 So then, hearken, hearken to his voice, 
and do all that I speak, 
and I will be-an-enemy to your enemies, 
and I will be-an-adversary to your adversaries.

22. I shall be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. The perfect parallelism of this statement recalls the symmetry of a line of biblical poetry, and several verses in this concluding section of the Book of the Covenant approximate the formal balance and high solemnity of poetry.

23 When my messenger goes before you a
nd brings you 
to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivvite and the Yevusite,
and I cause them to perish:
24 you are not to bow down to their gods, you are not to serve them, 
you are not to do according to what they do,
but: you are to tear, yes, tear them down, 
and are to smash, yes, smash their standing-stones.

24. tear them down. The verb here, haras, indicates that the object is the idols, not the idolators.Pillars. The reference is to cultic pillars, or steles.

S6K: “mal’ak” for “angel” or “messenger”, those created spirit beings who carry out divine errands; that would include the ‘adversary’ or ‘ha satan’ who, as we have repeatedly explained, is an obedient mal’ak carrying out his assigned adversarial role in connection with humankind.  Notice the instructions to listen to the voice of this mal’ak, why? . .  for My Name is in him.. 

 

25 You are to serve YHVH your God! 
and he will give-blessing to your food and your water;
I will remove sickness from amongst you,
26 there will be no miscarrier or barren-one in your land,
(and) the number of your days I will make full.
27 My terror I will send on before you, 
I will panic all the peoples among whom you come, 
I will give all your enemies to you by the neck.

27. turn tail. The Hebrew refers to the nape of the neck, which the fleeing enemy shows to his pursuer.

28 I will send Despair on before you 
so that it drives out the Hivvite, the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you.

28. I shall send the hornet before you. There is some question about what is sent: the noun tsir’ahappears in the Bible only three times, all in the context of the conquest of Canaan. The strong consensus of later Hebrew tradition—there is some dissent—is that it refers to a noxious stinging insect. In that case, the word functions here as a collective noun (rather common biblical usage for animals) and refers to dense swarms of hornets. An alternative I would like to propose is that the root is related (with consonants reversed) to the verb ra’ats, “to smash”, and that this is a mythological rather than a zoological entity, the Smasher (or Smashing), which would be strictly parallel or equivalent to “My terror” at the beginning of verse 27.

29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year,
lest the land become desolate 
and the wildlife of the field become-many against you.

29. lest the land become desolate. The Hebrew writer, faced with the discomfiting report of the tradition available to him that the conquest of the land, underwritten by solemn divine promise, took more than two centuries, is driven to find some explanation for the delay. (The Book of Judges will propose three rather different explanations). The prospect sketched here of a suddenly depopulated land overrun by wild beasts and too big for the Hebrews seems intrinsically implausible, and it is hard to square the notion of Israel awaiting its own natural increase (“until you are fruitful”) with the figure offered earlier of 6000,000 adult males, which implied a total population of well over two million.

30 Little by little will I drive them out from before you,
until you have borne-fruit and possessed the land.
31 And I will make your territory
from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines,

The Red Sea. In this context, this is the more plausible geographical reference of yam suf, rather than Sea of Reeds, which would probably be a marshland in northeastern Egypt.

from the Wilderness to the River. 
For I give into your hand the settled-folk of the land, that you may drive them
out from before you.

29. lest the land become desolate. The Hebrew writer, faced with the discomfiting report of the tradition available to him that the conquest of the land, underwritten by solemn divine promise, took more than two centuries, is driven to find some explanation for the delay. (The Book of Judges will propose three rather different explanations). The prospect sketched here of a suddenly depopulated land overrun by wild beasts and too big for the Hebrews seems intrinsically implausible, and it is hard to square the notion of Israel awaiting its own natural increase (“until you are fruitful”) with the figure offered earlier of 6000,000 adult males, which implied a total population of well over two million.

32 You are not to cut with them or with their gods any covenant,

32. You shall not make a pact with them or with their gods. Ibn Ezra, with his keen eye for connections, relates the previous verse to this one: even though God will give Israel this vast expanse of territory (presumably, filled with subject peoples), the temptation of embracing the gods of the native population must be resisted.

33 they are not to stay in your land, lest they cause you to sin against me, 
indeed, you would serve their gods-
indeed, that would be a snare to you.
 
Genesis/Bereshith

Revisit: So what’s wrong with building a high tower?

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[First posted in 2012.  Commentary by S6K; translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses—Admin 1.]

 

 

If we’re thinking post 9/11, any edifice that is touted to be the “tallest building in the world” probably obsesses some fanatic or lunatic to reduce it to smithereens. History is replete with examples of ambitious man-made projects that meet up with some counter-force that brings them to ruin or disaster, if not by simple neglect for lack of resources to sustain them:  Titanic, Hindenberg, Chernobyl, natural tsunamis that wipe out whole cities, hurricanes, flash floods, killer tornadoes, earthquakes, uncontrollable forest fires, volcanic eruptions that bury whole cities.

 

Does the tower of Babel belong to this list?

 

Strangely, for the first tower ever to be built with an important enough lesson to merit inclusion in the book of beginnings, it is neither nature nor humans that are involved in its downfall; rather Elohiym Himself frustrates the first united human effort to ‘elevate’ themselves and attempt to reach the heavenly heights. Why should God frustrate such a plan? What is wrong with it?

 

[EF] Genesis/Bereshith 11:1-8

 

Now all the earth was of one language and one set-of-words.
And it was when they migrated to the east that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.  
They said, each man to his neighbor:  
Come-now!  Let us bake bricks and let us burn them well-burnt!  
So for them brick-stone was like building stone, and raw-bitumen was for them like red-mortar.  
And they said:  
Come-now! Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, its top in the heavens,
and let us make ourselves a name,
lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth!  
But YHWH came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.  
YHWH said:
Here, (they are) one people with one language for them all, and this is merely the first of their doings—
now there will be no barrier for them in all that they scheme to do!  
Come now!  Let us go down and there left us baffle their language,
so that no man will understand the language of his neighbor.  
So YHWH scattered them from there over the face of all the earth,
and they ha to stop building the city.

 

First, some preliminary notes on the text’s placement or the literary context:

 

  • These 8 lines about the first tower are sandwiched between two genealogies recording the repopulation of the earth from Noah’s family of 8;
    • Preceding: the genealogies of Noah’s three sons, Japheth, Ham, and Shem;
    • Following: the genealogy of Shem is repeated and further elaborated on.
  • In the preceding genealogy, one particular descendant from Ham (Cush) gets special mention:
5 From these the seacoast nations were divided by their lands,
each one after its own tongue: according to their clans, by their nations.
6 The Sons of Ham are Cush and Mitzrayim, Put and Canaan.
7 The Sons of Cush are Seva and Havila, Savta, Ra’ma, and Savtekha;
the Sons of Ra’ma-Sheva and Dedan.
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he was the first mighty man on earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before YHVH, therefore the saying is
Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before YHVH.
10 His kingdom, at the beginning, was Bavel,
and Erekh, Accad and
11 Calne, in the land of Shinar; from this land Ashur went forth and built Nineveh-along with
12 the city squares and Calah,/and Resen between Nineveh and Calah-that is the great city.
13 Mitzrayim begot the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehavites,
14 the Naftuhites,/the Patrusites, and the Casluhites,
from where the Philistines come, and the Caftorites.
15 /16 Canaan begot Tzidon his firstborn and Het,/along with the
17 Yevusite, the Amorite and the Girgashite,/ the Hivvite,
18 the Arkite and the Sinite,/the Arvadite, the Tzemarite and the Hamatite.
Afterward the Canaanite clans were scattered abroad.
19 And the Canaanite territory went from Tzidon,
then as you come toward Gerar, as far as Gaza,
then as you come toward Sedom and Amora, Adma, and Tzevoyim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the Sons of Ham after their clans,
after their tongues, by their lands, by their nations.

 

Just so the discussion doesn’t get derailed by the “let us” in the statement of Elohiym which Trinitarians jump on as a prooftext, please read  “Let US make man in OUR image”  for those who continue to have a problem with the recurrence of “us” in TNK. 

 

More than the “us,” the questions that need to be asked are:

  • what is wrong with unity, harmony, working together, making a name for a people-group who want to build a tower?  
  • Isn’t that what Elohiym required of the people he formed for generations out of three Patriarchs?  
  • Did He not want them to be unified, harmoniously working with each other, to establish themselves in a land He had chosen for them?
  •  If that divine agenda was alright for Israel, why the divine displeasure with the tower builders? 

Two perspectives:

 

  •  [Christian] NASB Study Bible /Notes on Genesis 11:1-9:

 Chronologically earlier than ch. 10, this section provides the main reason for the scattering of the peoples listed there.  . . . The people’s plans were egotistical and proud.  The typical Mesopotamian temple-tower, known as a ziggurat, was square at the base and had sloping stepped sides that led upward to a small shrine at the top. . . meant to serve as staircases from earth to heaven . . . at Babel rebellious man undertook a united and godless effort to establish for himself by a titanic human enterprise, world renown by which he would dominate God’s creation. . .  If the whole human race remained united in the proud attempt to take its destiny into its own hands and, by its man-centered efforts, to seize the reins of history, there would be no limit to its unrestrained rebellion against God.  The kingdom of man would displace and exclude the kingdom of God. . . God dispersed the people because of their rebellious pride. Even the greatest of human powers cannot defy God and long survive.  Babel. That is Babylon. The word is of Akkadian origin and means “gateway to a god”.

 

  • [Jewish}  The ArtScroll Tanach/Notes:

 The Tower of Babel and the Dispersion.  Ramban in Moreh Nevuchim states that a fundamental principle of the Torah is that the universe was created ex nihilo, and Adam was the forerunner of all people.  Since the human race was later dispersed over all the earth, and divided into different families speaking dissimilar languages, people might come to doubt that they could all have originated from one person.  Therefore the Torah records the genealogy of the nations, and explains why they were dispersed, and the reason God gave them different languages. . . . According to the Sages, Nimrod was the primary force behind this rebellion  The Midrashim explain his sinister motive.  He planned to build a tower ascending to Heaven and from it wage war against God.  

 

Perhaps the answer is the same as that reached in the previous articles about the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the bronze serpent; the problem is not the building of towers but the motives in men’s hearts. Israel built structures according to divine specifications: the tabernacle, the temple in Jerusalem symbolizing YHWH’s Presence among His people.  All other people-groups build structures according to their own agenda.  In the case of the tower, the post-flood generation wanted to remain in one place, build their city and make a name for themselves. This much we can deduce from the text and context.  And yet, to Noah and his sons, among other DOs:

 

[AST/Genesis 9:7] 

And you, be fruitful and multiply; teem on the earth and multiply on it.”

 

 “Teem on the earth,” not only on the plain of Shinar where the Babel population wanted to stay.  This is similar to our overcrowded urban centers where people flock, while there are vast uninhabited areas needing development.  Too many people in too little space cause problems.

 

The placement of the text right after tracing the line of Cush and introducing the presumptuous Nimrod—connects the Tower of Babel with his ambition to equal himself to God.   And so the self-serving plan of post-flood humankind was frustrated by God Himself.

 

Did that stop men from being even more ambitious, out-towering every next attempt to land on Guinness World Records? The Twin Towers are gone from the skyline of lower Manhattan but look at the list of 100 tallest structures, courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html 

World’s Tallest Buildings1

 

The following table lists the tallest buildings in the world by height. The Burj Khalifa, completed in January 2010, tops the list.  NOTE: This list includes only buildings.2 For towers, see World’s Tallest Towers. See also Skyscraper History, Skyscraper Facts, and America’s Favorite Structures.
World's Tallest Buildings
 Building, cityYearStoriesHeight
Rankmft
1.Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai), Dubai, The United Arab Emirates20101608282,716
2.Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan20041015081,667
3.World Financial Center, Shanghai, China20081014921,614
4.Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1998884521,483
5.Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1998884521,483
6.Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing, China2009664501,476
7.Sears Tower, Chicago19741104421,451
8.Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou, China20091034381,435
9.Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China1999884211,381
10.Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong2003884151,362
11.Trump International Hotel, Chicago, U.S.2009964151,362
12.CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China1996803911,283
13.Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China1996693841,260
14.Empire State Building, New York19311023811,250
15.Central Plaza, Hong Kong1992783741,227
16.Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong1989703671,205
17.Bank of America Tower, New York City, U.S.2009543661,200
18.Almas Tower, Dubai, United Arab Emirates2009683631,191
19.Emirates Tower One, Dubai, United Arab Emirates1999543551,165
20.Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung, Taiwan1997853481,140
21.Aon Centre, Chicago1973803461,136
22.The Center, Hong Kong1998733461,135
23.John Hancock Center, Chicago19691003441,127
24.Rose Tower, Dubai2007723331,093
25.Shimao International Plaza, Shanghai2006603331,093
26.Minsheng Bank Building, Wuhan, China2007683311,087
27.Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, N. Korea19951053301,083
28.China World Trade Center, Beijing, China2009743301,083
29.The Index, Dubai, United Arab Emirates2009803281,076
30.Q1, Gold Coast, Australia2005783231,058
31.Burj al Arab Hotel, Dubai1999603211,053
32.Chrysler Building, New York1930773191,046
33.Nina Tower I, Hong Kong2006803191,046
34.New York Times Building, New York2007523191,046
35.Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta1993553171,039
36.U.S. Bank Tower, Los Angeles1990733101,018
37.Menara Telekom Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1999553101,017
38.Emirates Tower Two, Dubai2000563091,014
39.AT&T Corporate Center, Chicago1989603071,007
40.The Address Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai, U.A.E.2008633061,004
41.JP Morgan Chase Tower, Houston1982753051,002
42.Baiyoke Tower II, Bangkok199785304997
43.Two Prudential Plaza, Chicago199064303995
44.Wells Fargo Plaza, Houston198371302992
45.Kingdom Centre, Riyadh200241302992
46.Aspire Tower, Doha200636300984
47.Arraya 2, Kuwait City, Kuwait200956300984
48.One Island East Centre, Hong Kong, China200869298979
49.First Bank Tower, Toronto197572298978
50.Shanghai Wheelock Square, Shanghai, China200958298978
51.Eureka Tower, Melbourne200691297975
52.Comcast Center, Philadelphia, U.S.200857297975
53.Landmark Tower, Yokohama, Japan199373296971
54.Emirates Crown, Dubai, U.A.E200863296971
55.311 South Wacker Drive, Chicago199065293961
56.SEG Plaza, Shenzhen, China200071292957
57.American International Building, New York193267290952
58.Key Tower, Cleveland199157289947
59.Plaza 66, Shanghai200166288945
60.One Liberty Place, Philadelphia198761288945
61.Columbia Center, Seattle, U.S.198576285937
62.Millennium Tower, Dubai200659285935
63.Sunjoy Tomorrow Square, Shanghai200355285934
64.Chongqing World Trade Center, Chongqing, China200560283929
65.Cheung Kong Center, Hong Kong199963283929
66.The Trump Building, New York193071283927
67.Bank of America Plaza, Dallas198572281921
68.United Overseas Bank Plaza, Singapore199266280919
69.Republic Plaza, Singapore199566280919
70.Overseas Union Bank Centre, Singapore198663280919
71.Citigroup Center, New York197759279915
72.Hong Kong New World Tower, Shanghai200261278913
73.Diwang International Commerce Center, Nanning, China200654276906
74.Scotia Plaza, Toronto198968275902
75.Williams Tower, Houston198364275901
76.Moscow, Moscow200973274900
77.Wuhan World Trade Tower, Wuhan, China199860273896
78.Cullinan North Tower, Hong Kong200768270886
79.Cullinan South Tower, Hong Kong200768270886
80.Renaissance Tower, Dallas197556270886
81.China International Center Tower B, Guangzhou, China200762270884
82.Dapeng International Plaza, Guangzhou, China200656269883
83.One Luijiazui, Shanghai, China200847269883
84.21st Century Tower, Dubai200355269883
85.Naberezhnaya Tower C, Moscow200761268881
86.Al Faisaliah Center, Riyadh200030267876
87.900 North Michigan Ave., Chicago198966265871
88.Bank of America Corporate Center, Charlotte199260265871
89.SunTrust Plaza, Atlanta199260265871
90.Al Kazim Tower 1, Dubai, U.A.E200853265871
91.Al Kazim Tower 2, Dubai, U.A.E200853265871
92.BOCOM Financial Towers, Shanghai199952265869
93.120 Collins Street, Melbourne199152265869
94.Triumph Palace, Moscow200557264866
95.Tower Palace Three, Tower G, Seoul200473264865
96.Trump World Tower, New York200172262861
97.Shenzhen Special Zone Daily Tower, Shenzhen, China199848262860
98.Water Tower Place, Chicago197674262859
99.Grand Gateway Plaza I, Shanghai200552262859
100.Grand Gateway Plaza II, Shanghai200552262859
NOTE: When a building is “topped out” (the point of construction when the structure has met its proposed structural top), the building is officially ranked and is placed on the list. UC indicates under construction: although the building has been “topped out,” construction has not been completed. Height is measured from sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building. This includes spires but does not include antennas or flagpoles. 
1. The World Trade Center twin towers of New York City ranked fifth and sixth (at 1,368 ft and 1,362 ft) on this list until their destruction on Sept. 11, 2001.
2. A building differs from a tower in that the former is considered to be a structure that is designed for residential, business, or manufacturing purposes. Also, an essential characteristic of a building is that it has floors.
Source: Emporis Buildings, Web: www.emporis.com .
 

NOTES:

Criteria for Inclusion on the List of 100 Tallest Buildings by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

This data was gathered and/or supplied by members and representatives of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat who represent world leaders in the field of the built environment, including research, industry, and education.

 

What defines a building (as opposed to a tower)? A “building” is considered to be a structure that is designed for residential, business, or manufacturing purposes. An essential characteristic of a building is that it has floors. Note that towers are NOT included in the list. Although a number of tall buildings on this list have “Tower” in their name—the famous Petronas Towers, for example—none are technically towers.

 

When does a building appear on the list? When a building is “topped out”—the point of construction when the structure has met its proposed structural top (see height definition below)—the building is officially ranked and is placed on the list.

 

Height The height of a building is measured from the sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building. This includes spires but does not include television antennas, radio antennas, or flag poles. Height is listed in both meters and feet and is rounded to the nearest integer. This is the official criterion used by the Council in determining ranking.

 

In many cases, the height of a building is supplied to the Council using only one unit of measure (either feet or meters). Based on the exact value of the unit supplied, the other unit’s value is mathematically calculated, then rounded to the nearest integer. The final determinant in ranking a building’s height is the footage—not meters—because of footage’s smaller (and therefore more precise) incremental value.

 

Rank Ranking is determined by height to the structural top of the building (see above). If there is a tie, the building with the larger number of stories is ranked higher. If a tie still remains, the building which was completed first is ranked higher. If a tie would still remain, the buildings would be ranked alphabetically.

 

Year The year in which construction of the building was officially completed. “UC” stands for Under Construction. For a building that is currently under construction to appear on the list it must be “topped out.”

 

Read more: World’s Tallest Buildings — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html#ixzz21nTonRuY

 

 

 

 

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Genesis/Bereshith

So what’s wrong with building a high tower?

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[First posted in 2012.  Commentary by S6K; translation: EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses—Admin 1.]

 

 

If we’re thinking post 9/11, any edifice that is touted to be the “tallest building in the world” probably obsesses some fanatic or lunatic to reduce it to smithereens. History is replete with examples of ambitious man-made projects that meet up with some counter-force that brings them to ruin or disaster, if not by simple neglect for lack of resources to sustain them:  Titanic, Hindenberg, Chernobyl, natural tsunamis that wipe out whole cities, hurricanes, flash floods, killer tornadoes, earthquakes, uncontrollable forest fires, volcanic eruptions that bury whole cities.

 

Does the tower of Babel belong to this list?

 

Strangely, for the first tower ever to be built with an important enough lesson to merit inclusion in the book of beginnings, it is neither nature nor humans that are involved in its downfall; rather Elohiym Himself frustrates the first united human effort to ‘elevate’ themselves and attempt to reach the heavenly heights. Why should God frustrate such a plan? What is wrong with it?

 

[EF] Genesis/Bereshith 11:1-8

 

Now all the earth was of one language and one set-of-words.
And it was when they migrated to the east that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.  
They said, each man to his neighbor:  
Come-now!  Let us bake bricks and let us burn them well-burnt!  
So for them brick-stone was like building stone, and raw-bitumen was for them like red-mortar.  
And they said:  
Come-now! Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, its top in the heavens,
and let us make ourselves a name,
lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth!  
But YHWH came down to look over the city and the tower that the humans were building.  
YHWH said:
Here, (they are) one people with one language for them all, and this is merely the first of their doings—
now there will be no barrier for them in all that they scheme to do!  
Come now!  Let us go down and there left us baffle their language,
so that no man will understand the language of his neighbor.  
So YHWH scattered them from there over the face of all the earth,
and they ha to stop building the city.

 

First, some preliminary notes on the text’s placement or the literary context:

 

  • These 8 lines about the first tower are sandwiched between two genealogies recording the repopulation of the earth from Noah’s family of 8;
    • Preceding: the genealogies of Noah’s three sons, Japheth, Ham, and Shem;
    • Following: the genealogy of Shem is repeated and further elaborated on.
  • In the preceding genealogy, one particular descendant from Ham (Cush) gets special mention:
5 From these the seacoast nations were divided by their lands,
each one after its own tongue: according to their clans, by their nations.
6 The Sons of Ham are Cush and Mitzrayim, Put and Canaan.
7 The Sons of Cush are Seva and Havila, Savta, Ra’ma, and Savtekha;
the Sons of Ra’ma-Sheva and Dedan.
8 Cush begot Nimrod; he was the first mighty man on earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before YHVH, therefore the saying is
Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before YHVH.
10 His kingdom, at the beginning, was Bavel,
and Erekh, Accad and
11 Calne, in the land of Shinar; from this land Ashur went forth and built Nineveh-along with
12 the city squares and Calah,/and Resen between Nineveh and Calah-that is the great city.
13 Mitzrayim begot the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehavites,
14 the Naftuhites,/the Patrusites, and the Casluhites,
from where the Philistines come, and the Caftorites.
15 /16 Canaan begot Tzidon his firstborn and Het,/along with the
17 Yevusite, the Amorite and the Girgashite,/ the Hivvite,
18 the Arkite and the Sinite,/the Arvadite, the Tzemarite and the Hamatite.
Afterward the Canaanite clans were scattered abroad.
19 And the Canaanite territory went from Tzidon,
then as you come toward Gerar, as far as Gaza,
then as you come toward Sedom and Amora, Adma, and Tzevoyim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the Sons of Ham after their clans,
after their tongues, by their lands, by their nations.

 

Just so the discussion doesn’t get derailed by the “let us” in the statement of Elohiym which Trinitarians jump on as a prooftext, please read  “Let US make man in OUR image”  for those who continue to have a problem with the recurrence of “us” in TNK. 

 

More than the “us,” the questions that need to be asked are:

  • what is wrong with unity, harmony, working together, making a name for a people-group who want to build a tower?  
  • Isn’t that what Elohiym required of the people he formed for generations out of three Patriarchs?  
  • Did He not want them to be unified, harmoniously working with each other, to establish themselves in a land He had chosen for them?
  •  If that divine agenda was alright for Israel, why the divine displeasure with the tower builders? 

Two perspectives:

 

  •  [Christian] NASB Study Bible /Notes on Genesis 11:1-9:

 Chronologically earlier than ch. 10, this section provides the main reason for the scattering of the peoples listed there.  . . . The people’s plans were egotistical and proud.  The typical Mesopotamian temple-tower, known as a ziggurat, was square at the base and had sloping stepped sides that led upward to a small shrine at the top. . . meant to serve as staircases from earth to heaven . . . at Babel rebellious man undertook a united and godless effort to establish for himself by a titanic human enterprise, world renown by which he would dominate God’s creation. . .  If the whole human race remained united in the proud attempt to take its destiny into its own hands and, by its man-centered efforts, to seize the reins of history, there would be no limit to its unrestrained rebellion against God.  The kingdom of man would displace and exclude the kingdom of God. . . God dispersed the people because of their rebellious pride. Even the greatest of human powers cannot defy God and long survive.  Babel. That is Babylon. The word is of Akkadian origin and means “gateway to a god”.

 

  • [Jewish}  The ArtScroll Tanach/Notes:

 The Tower of Babel and the Dispersion.  Ramban in Moreh Nevuchim states that a fundamental principle of the Torah is that the universe was created ex nihilo, and Adam was the forerunner of all people.  Since the human race was later dispersed over all the earth, and divided into different families speaking dissimilar languages, people might come to doubt that they could all have originated from one person.  Therefore the Torah records the genealogy of the nations, and explains why they were dispersed, and the reason God gave them different languages. . . . According to the Sages, Nimrod was the primary force behind this rebellion  The Midrashim explain his sinister motive.  He planned to build a tower ascending to Heaven and from it wage war against God.  

 

Perhaps the answer is the same as that reached in the previous articles about the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the bronze serpent; the problem is not the building of towers but the motives in men’s hearts. Israel built structures according to divine specifications: the tabernacle, the temple in Jerusalem symbolizing YHWH’s Presence among His people.  All other people-groups build structures according to their own agenda.  In the case of the tower, the post-flood generation wanted to remain in one place, build their city and make a name for themselves. This much we can deduce from the text and context.  And yet, to Noah and his sons, among other DOs:

 

[AST/Genesis 9:7] 

And you, be fruitful and multiply; teem on the earth and multiply on it.”

 

 “Teem on the earth,” not only on the plain of Shinar where the Babel population wanted to stay.  This is similar to our overcrowded urban centers where people flock, while there are vast uninhabited areas needing development.  Too many people in too little space cause problems.

 

The placement of the text right after tracing the line of Cush and introducing the presumptuous Nimrod—connects the Tower of Babel with his ambition to equal himself to God.   And so the self-serving plan of post-flood humankind was frustrated by God Himself.

 

Did that stop men from being even more ambitious, out-towering every next attempt to land on Guinness World Records? The Twin Towers are gone from the skyline of lower Manhattan but look at the list of 100 tallest structures, courtesy of http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html 

World’s Tallest Buildings1

 

The following table lists the tallest buildings in the world by height. The Burj Khalifa, completed in January 2010, tops the list.  NOTE: This list includes only buildings.2 For towers, see World’s Tallest Towers. See also Skyscraper History, Skyscraper Facts, and America’s Favorite Structures.
World's Tallest Buildings
 Building, cityYearStoriesHeight
Rankmft
1.Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai), Dubai, The United Arab Emirates20101608282,716
2.Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan20041015081,667
3.World Financial Center, Shanghai, China20081014921,614
4.Petronas Tower 1, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1998884521,483
5.Petronas Tower 2, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1998884521,483
6.Greenland Financial Center, Nanjing, China2009664501,476
7.Sears Tower, Chicago19741104421,451
8.Guangzhou West Tower, Guangzhou, China20091034381,435
9.Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China1999884211,381
10.Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong2003884151,362
11.Trump International Hotel, Chicago, U.S.2009964151,362
12.CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China1996803911,283
13.Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China1996693841,260
14.Empire State Building, New York19311023811,250
15.Central Plaza, Hong Kong1992783741,227
16.Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong1989703671,205
17.Bank of America Tower, New York City, U.S.2009543661,200
18.Almas Tower, Dubai, United Arab Emirates2009683631,191
19.Emirates Tower One, Dubai, United Arab Emirates1999543551,165
20.Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung, Taiwan1997853481,140
21.Aon Centre, Chicago1973803461,136
22.The Center, Hong Kong1998733461,135
23.John Hancock Center, Chicago19691003441,127
24.Rose Tower, Dubai2007723331,093
25.Shimao International Plaza, Shanghai2006603331,093
26.Minsheng Bank Building, Wuhan, China2007683311,087
27.Ryugyong Hotel, Pyongyang, N. Korea19951053301,083
28.China World Trade Center, Beijing, China2009743301,083
29.The Index, Dubai, United Arab Emirates2009803281,076
30.Q1, Gold Coast, Australia2005783231,058
31.Burj al Arab Hotel, Dubai1999603211,053
32.Chrysler Building, New York1930773191,046
33.Nina Tower I, Hong Kong2006803191,046
34.New York Times Building, New York2007523191,046
35.Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta1993553171,039
36.U.S. Bank Tower, Los Angeles1990733101,018
37.Menara Telekom Headquarters, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia1999553101,017
38.Emirates Tower Two, Dubai2000563091,014
39.AT&T Corporate Center, Chicago1989603071,007
40.The Address Downtown Burj Dubai, Dubai, U.A.E.2008633061,004
41.JP Morgan Chase Tower, Houston1982753051,002
42.Baiyoke Tower II, Bangkok199785304997
43.Two Prudential Plaza, Chicago199064303995
44.Wells Fargo Plaza, Houston198371302992
45.Kingdom Centre, Riyadh200241302992
46.Aspire Tower, Doha200636300984
47.Arraya 2, Kuwait City, Kuwait200956300984
48.One Island East Centre, Hong Kong, China200869298979
49.First Bank Tower, Toronto197572298978
50.Shanghai Wheelock Square, Shanghai, China200958298978
51.Eureka Tower, Melbourne200691297975
52.Comcast Center, Philadelphia, U.S.200857297975
53.Landmark Tower, Yokohama, Japan199373296971
54.Emirates Crown, Dubai, U.A.E200863296971
55.311 South Wacker Drive, Chicago199065293961
56.SEG Plaza, Shenzhen, China200071292957
57.American International Building, New York193267290952
58.Key Tower, Cleveland199157289947
59.Plaza 66, Shanghai200166288945
60.One Liberty Place, Philadelphia198761288945
61.Columbia Center, Seattle, U.S.198576285937
62.Millennium Tower, Dubai200659285935
63.Sunjoy Tomorrow Square, Shanghai200355285934
64.Chongqing World Trade Center, Chongqing, China200560283929
65.Cheung Kong Center, Hong Kong199963283929
66.The Trump Building, New York193071283927
67.Bank of America Plaza, Dallas198572281921
68.United Overseas Bank Plaza, Singapore199266280919
69.Republic Plaza, Singapore199566280919
70.Overseas Union Bank Centre, Singapore198663280919
71.Citigroup Center, New York197759279915
72.Hong Kong New World Tower, Shanghai200261278913
73.Diwang International Commerce Center, Nanning, China200654276906
74.Scotia Plaza, Toronto198968275902
75.Williams Tower, Houston198364275901
76.Moscow, Moscow200973274900
77.Wuhan World Trade Tower, Wuhan, China199860273896
78.Cullinan North Tower, Hong Kong200768270886
79.Cullinan South Tower, Hong Kong200768270886
80.Renaissance Tower, Dallas197556270886
81.China International Center Tower B, Guangzhou, China200762270884
82.Dapeng International Plaza, Guangzhou, China200656269883
83.One Luijiazui, Shanghai, China200847269883
84.21st Century Tower, Dubai200355269883
85.Naberezhnaya Tower C, Moscow200761268881
86.Al Faisaliah Center, Riyadh200030267876
87.900 North Michigan Ave., Chicago198966265871
88.Bank of America Corporate Center, Charlotte199260265871
89.SunTrust Plaza, Atlanta199260265871
90.Al Kazim Tower 1, Dubai, U.A.E200853265871
91.Al Kazim Tower 2, Dubai, U.A.E200853265871
92.BOCOM Financial Towers, Shanghai199952265869
93.120 Collins Street, Melbourne199152265869
94.Triumph Palace, Moscow200557264866
95.Tower Palace Three, Tower G, Seoul200473264865
96.Trump World Tower, New York200172262861
97.Shenzhen Special Zone Daily Tower, Shenzhen, China199848262860
98.Water Tower Place, Chicago197674262859
99.Grand Gateway Plaza I, Shanghai200552262859
100.Grand Gateway Plaza II, Shanghai200552262859
NOTE: When a building is “topped out” (the point of construction when the structure has met its proposed structural top), the building is officially ranked and is placed on the list. UC indicates under construction: although the building has been “topped out,” construction has not been completed. Height is measured from sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building. This includes spires but does not include antennas or flagpoles. 
1. The World Trade Center twin towers of New York City ranked fifth and sixth (at 1,368 ft and 1,362 ft) on this list until their destruction on Sept. 11, 2001.
2. A building differs from a tower in that the former is considered to be a structure that is designed for residential, business, or manufacturing purposes. Also, an essential characteristic of a building is that it has floors.
Source: Emporis Buildings, Web: www.emporis.com .
 

NOTES:

Criteria for Inclusion on the List of 100 Tallest Buildings by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat

This data was gathered and/or supplied by members and representatives of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat who represent world leaders in the field of the built environment, including research, industry, and education.

 

What defines a building (as opposed to a tower)? A “building” is considered to be a structure that is designed for residential, business, or manufacturing purposes. An essential characteristic of a building is that it has floors. Note that towers are NOT included in the list. Although a number of tall buildings on this list have “Tower” in their name—the famous Petronas Towers, for example—none are technically towers.

 

When does a building appear on the list? When a building is “topped out”—the point of construction when the structure has met its proposed structural top (see height definition below)—the building is officially ranked and is placed on the list.

 

Height The height of a building is measured from the sidewalk level of the main entrance to the structural top of the building. This includes spires but does not include television antennas, radio antennas, or flag poles. Height is listed in both meters and feet and is rounded to the nearest integer. This is the official criterion used by the Council in determining ranking.

 

In many cases, the height of a building is supplied to the Council using only one unit of measure (either feet or meters). Based on the exact value of the unit supplied, the other unit’s value is mathematically calculated, then rounded to the nearest integer. The final determinant in ranking a building’s height is the footage—not meters—because of footage’s smaller (and therefore more precise) incremental value.

 

Rank Ranking is determined by height to the structural top of the building (see above). If there is a tie, the building with the larger number of stories is ranked higher. If a tie still remains, the building which was completed first is ranked higher. If a tie would still remain, the buildings would be ranked alphabetically.

 

Year The year in which construction of the building was officially completed. “UC” stands for Under Construction. For a building that is currently under construction to appear on the list it must be “topped out.”

 

Read more: World’s Tallest Buildings — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001338.html#ixzz21nTonRuY

 

 

 

 

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Genesis/Bereshith

Revisit: An Inconvenient Truth for Ham

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[First posted in 2012.   For those who can’t remember, who’s ‘Ham’?   Read on and find out.  In looking for images representing this son of Noah, it was surprising to see him portrayed as a black man because of the suggestion that the black race descended from him.  Nah. . . so, sorry, no image of Ham, we don’t want to promote that thinking!–Admi1]

 

———————–

 

In the Genesis narrative about the flood that destroys all living creatures, only Noah’s family of eight and pairs of unclean and seven pairs of clean animals survived . . . a remnant of living creatures that will repopulate the earth.  Noah admirably behaves and obeys every instruction of God until the flood has subsided and life has normalized but then, he slips a little as head of the family.  Nothing wrong with planting a vineyard and fermenting grapes into wine and imbibing the “fruit of the vine” which symbolizes joy and in fact is part of Sabbath celebrations . . . it’s Noah’s lack of moderation in drinking that leads to intoxication and losing control until he passes out, and throws modesty aside.

 

So what? Unfortunately, this one and only father of the two-generation’ start-up’ family provided the occasion for a son to dishonor his parent.  An inebriated unconscious Noah arouses in his son Ham, something this son might have been harboring—or maybe not—he could have simply found amusement at the sight of his father, the text doesn’t say. The sight of his usually-in-charge parent opened for Ham an opportunity to have fun at his father’s expense.  The reaction of his brothers Shem and Japeth indicates to us that in Noah’s family, they have been taught to show respect no matter what. The 5th of the 10 commandments has not been officially given as Law until generations later, but even so, the brothers’ behavior indicates all 3 were aware of “honor thy father.”

 

If Ham did not realize then the gravity and consequence of his filial disrespect, he would realize it when a sober Noah pronounces a curse not on him but on his son Canaan.  

 

Genesis/Bereshith 9:20-27

20 And Noah was the first man of the soil; he planted a vineyard.  
When he drank from the wine, he became drunk and exposed himself in the middle of his tent.  
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.  
Then Shem and Yefet took a cloak, they put it on the shoulder of the two of them,
and walked backward, to cover their father’s nakedness.
—Their faces were turned backward, their father’s nakedness they did not see.  
When Noah awoke from his wine, it beame known (to him) what his littlest son had done to him.  
He said:
Damned be Canaan,
servant of servants may he be to his brothers!  
And he said;  
Blessed be YHWH, God of Shem,
but may Canaan be servant to them!  
May God extend/yaft
Yefet,
let him dwell in the tents of Shem,
but may Canaan be servant to them!

 

Now, this is really baffling to Bible students.  Is it fair for Canaan to reap the consequence of his father’s mistake?

 

Deuteronomy/Debari’ym 24:16.  Fathers are not to be put-to-death for sons, sons are not to be put-to-death for fathers; every-man for his own sin (alone) is to be put-to-death!

 

Doesn’t Ezekiel 18 painstakingly lay out the principle that each is responsible for his and only his own sin, that when the father eats sour grapes, the children’s teeth will not be on edge?

 

And yet other scriptures also seem to refer to inherited sin:

 

 Exodus/Shemot 34:5-9

 YHWH came down in the cloud,
he stationed himself beside him there
and called out the name of YHWH.  
And YHWH passed before his face
and called out:  
YHWH YHWH
God,
showing-mercy, showing-favor,
long-suffering in anger,
abundant in loyalty and faithfulness,
keeping loyalty to the thousandth (generation),
bearing iniquity, rebellion and sin,
yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty),
calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons and upon sons’ sons, to the third and fourth (generations)!  
Quickly Moshe did homage, on the ground, bowing low,
and said:
 Pray if I have found favor in your eyes,
O my Lord,
pray let my Lord go among us!  
Indeed, it is a hard-necked people—
so forgive our iniquity and our sin
and make-us-your-inheritance!

 

Deuteronomy/Debariym 5:8-10
You are not to make yourself a carved-image of any form
that is in the heavens above that is on the earth beneath, that is in the waters beneath the earth.  
You are not to prostrate yourselves to them, you are not to serve them,
for I, YHWH your God, am a jealous God,
calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and to the fourth (generation) of those that hate me,
but showing loyalty to thousands of those that love me, of those that keep my commandments.

 

How to resolve this seeming contradiction?

 

First, get to know the God of the Hebrew Scriptures!  It’s like knowing someone so well that you know that person’s likes, dislikes, what he would do and not do, say or not say . . . so that when you hear about something out of character being attributed to that person or something you just can’t believe he’s capable of doing, apply that to the God we know in the TNK.  It works the same way. If you know the self-revelation of the God Whose Name is YHWH not just through a few verses but the whole of TNK, then you would know He is a just God and will do what is right.  Seeming contradictions like these verses are explainable in context.

 

Second, the immediate context in Exodus and Deuteronomy have to do with warnings against idolatry. 

 

Third, notice the qualifiers and read these verses as a hyperbole [exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally]; a comparison of God’s judgment [3rd and 4th generation who hate Him and turn away from Him] and his mercy and grace [thousands that love Him and keep His commandments].

The placement of the verse in Exodus occurs after the golden calf episode when the Israelites so easily slip back to worshipping a god they can see so they have Aaron make one. After Moses pleads on behalf of the idolaters, LORD YHWH describes Himself to Moses—what a truly rare privilege this great leader had among all mankind! 

 

The placement of the verse in Deuteronomy is the final speech of Moses not to the original multitude that had left Egypt 40 years earlier, [that generation had died] but this time to the 2nd generation born during the 40-year wandering in the wilderness. This generation is being prepared to enter the promised land.  They were not present at the giving of the TORAH on Sinai, so they are reminded of everything their parents had heard and experienced.

 

 Debari’ym 29:13  

Not with you, you-alone
do I cut this covenant and this oath
but with the one that is here, standing with us today
before the presence of YHWH our God,
and (also) with the one that is not here with us today.

 

They have a fresh start, with the same guidelines regarding a lifestyle prescribed by their God whose self-description in Exodus is echoed by Moses here to remind them of generational transition of responsibility to be faithful to the Covenant and YHWH their God.  What each generation choose to do has consequences for later generations but even when they face judgment, still divine grace and mercy flow from the heart of this loving God toward the repentant.

 

The Shema emphasizes the responsibility of fathers to teach their children the Torah. Not nature but nurturance seems to wield a strong influence on young impressionable children. When fathers/parents are amiss in their responsibilities toward their children, there are consequences.  It’s a monkey-see-monkey-do kind of transference of values.  Sociologists/psychologists now see patterns of behavior within families, where battered children tend to become batterers themselves; sexually abused children become sexual deviants; attitudes of parents spilling over to the next generation until the pattern is broken by one who chooses to be different.

 

The context of these verses shows the “addressee” which is the nation of Israel. Israel is dealt with by God as a people, a nation, not individually; the nation as a whole suffers for the wrongdoing of majority, especially when it comes to the sin of idolatry and rebellion.

 

It will turn out that Noah’s curse on Canaan is prophetic; like father like son. The land promised to the nation of Israel is populated by the Canaanites, descendants of Canaan.  They are such an evil people that God commands the Israelites to cleanse the land of these inhabitants totally, but the Israelites failed to obey . . . and so until the exile, their generational sin of idolatry plagued the people.

 

Now back to the inconvenient truth for Ham — he forgot his father would sober up and  be incensed; and,  as biblical fathers usually pronounce blessings upon their children, Ham not only failed to get a blessing for himself but worse, hears a curse pronounced upon his son Canaan. Not fair to poor Canaan . . . but . . . a hard lesson to learn too late, for Ham!

 

[Translation:  EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses]

 

 

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