“Guardian Angel” - Part 2
25 April 2015
~ 6 L=Iyyar 5775
Torah Parashah - Tazria/Metzora Vayiqra (Leviticus)
12:1-15:33
More on “woman” from Skip Moen’s “Guardian Angel”
Review from last time - on handout...
B’re’shiyt 1:26-27
“And
Elohiym said, Let Us make man in Our image,
after Our likeness:
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creeps upon the earth.
27 So the Word of Elohiym created ma in His own
image, in the image of Elohiym He created him; male
and female
He created them.”
Tselem - “image”
- is a masculine noun
transferred authority and order over what
destroys.
To be created in YHWH’s image is to reflect divine
action.
Demut - “likeness” -
is a feminine noun.
“Being human is ACTING according to YHWH’s path
to life.
It means
standing against chaos.
.. It also means knowing what is permitted and
what is not and acting accordingly.
To be human is to ACT LIKE YHWH ACTS... to
reflect His choices... It is not to BE YHWH... but to reflect Him.
“Male”
in Hebrew = zakar.
“to be sharp pointed”
“To remember who YHWH is and what He said and
to act accordingly”
Man =“Ish” = to show oneself to be strong and
to fix in mind (remember)
Female
in Hebrew = neqevah.
“to pierce”
“To single out” and “appoint as a leader”
“A prepared setting for precious stones” =
“boundary setter”
Ishshah = woman
**
** ** **
** ** **
Today - we are going to start with...
Moen writes:
The Bible wasn’t written with verses and
chapters and numbers!
Seriously - this is news to people!
They were actually added thousands of years
later!
So what happens is ... “Their addition often
breaks our thinking about the text so we don’t see the continuation of one thought into another.
Once these artificial stops are removed, the
context of our interpretation often changes.
Such is the case with the introduction of the
creation of Woman.
We think that the story of Adam and Chava begins
with YHWH’s announcement that Adam needs a helper!”
“In the Hebrew text we find deliberate
interconnections from one passage to another, reminding us that all the parts
of the story are TIED TOGETHER.”
“So if we want to understand why YHWH created woman....
we have to start with the prologue of the
story.”
Think about how you thought this story
began.....
I am pretty sure - what I am going to teach is
not what you’ve understood before... because it isn’t what I thought either...
*
B’re’shiyt 2:5
“And
every plant of the field before it grew:
for YHWH Elohiym had not caused it to
rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.”
“This story doesn’t start with Adam being
alone.
It doesn’t even start with Adam being in the
Garden... or with the creation of Adam.
It begins before YHWH sent the rain.”
Moen goes on to say....
“In the prologue, the Tanakh connects Adam and Ha’adamah with a verb that sets the stage for all that follows.”
That verb is avad.
In our Bibles it is translated as “till” the
ground.
But AVAD does NOT mean “to cultivate”!!
“to cultivate” is suggested by the context...
but AVAD doesn’t mean “to cultivate”
AVAD means = “to work” or “to serve”
Moen says.. “Of course we think of working the
earth as cultivating, but this translation leaves out the important Hebrew
connection to -- SERVING the earth.” !!
~
There are 2 reasons why the earth is not
fruitful yet:
1.
YHWH has not sent rain yet
2.
There is no adam to serve it
“The first obligation of Man is to minister to
YHWH’s creation on YHWH’s behalf”
“In other words - the fulfillment of the
purpose of the earth depends on the fulfillment of the divine call to Man.”
~
Moen says - “There is another connection here
that is obscured in the translation.”
“In the Hebrew text, there are two
distinct words for “earth”... and
Making these distinctions clear - alters
the meaning of the text.” !!
-
“For YHWH has not sent rain upon the
earth (‘erets) and there was not an adam to serve (avad) the ground (adamah).”
“Now we see that that the Man (adam) serves his
own source of being, the dust from which he came (adamah).
In other words in some sense serving the
earth nourishes us.”
Moen says - and I paraphrase...
When we serve the earth... take care of it... we actually “replenish ourselves.”
Using the Hebrew word AVAD here shows us that
‘the work and service is an act of worship.”
“From the very beginning, YHWH fused work,
service and worship as an act of self-nourishment.”
“When we are doing what YHWH designed us
to do, we minister to our own source of being and at the same time act as His
agents to bring about His fruitful purpose.”
(Think about that - not just based on
gardening!)
“Before the fall, YHWH had designed an
interconnection between our spiritual self and physical nourishment.”
Moen says:
“The assignment to bless the earth in work,
service and worship is a critical element in understanding the role of Chava.”
This reminds me of Chariots of Fire....
Eric Liddell’s sister asks him... “Eric, why do
you run?”
and Eric responds with...
“God made me fast and when I run fast, I feel
His pleasure!”
We know this place when we get in the
“flow”.... we call it in athletics...
but maybe you know it... when you come up to
something and you realize as you do it... “I was born for this!”
~~
Oh but wait... there is more to the prologue of
Adam and Chavah...
EDEN = a very unusual word...
Most nouns in Hebrew have gender...
But EDEN is both masculine and feminine.
EDEN actually connects - “delight and
fecundity.”
Fecundity = abundant production / fruitful
Moen says....
“Eden is about to give birth to wonder and
awe...”
“It was designed that way - this same “hidden”
potential is found in man. We were
designed to give birth to His glory.”
We also need to notice here.... that we don’t
determine what will be pleasure in life....
“YHWH tells man what pleasure is and what
it is not.”
Moen asks:
“What happens when we decide to define pleasure
in our own terms?
=We usurp the prerogative of YHWH’s role.
We act as though we are the source of
life.
We determine what is GOOD!!!”
(And clearly then, we are in the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil and not the tree of chayim!)
**
Moen says about Eden:
“What YHWH had provided inside his walled
preserve is life - delightful, abundant, pregnant life.
He has invited us to consume; to use the
strength to control what is allowed under his Seal and sign.
What is pleasant from a biblical
perspective?
== “Opening the door that leads to life. “
“It is to be in Abba YHWH’s will!!”
“It is to know His blessings and His
goodness!”
No wonder the world is starving... they don’t even know He gave us instructions
that are still to be followed!!
So from this we should see that YHWH
“establishes the meaning of pleasure and ties it to work and to worship.”
“Man’s responsibility is not only to serve the
ground from which He came, He is also to worship the Elohiym of creation.”
“To do that he must be obedient.”
“This element derived from the image and
likeness of YHWH is summarized in a single command, a command that is given
just before the rest of the story about Chavah.”
~~
Then right before YHWH’s statement about the
need for a “helper” in B’re’shiyt 2:18 ...
in B’re’shiyt 2:
16-17
“And
YHWH Elohiym commanded the man, saying ‘Of every eytz of Gan Eden you may feely
eat: 17 But of the eytz of the da’at of
tov and ra, you shall not eat of it: for in the yom that you eat from it you
shall surely die.”
Was this command only about eating??....
The text reads...
“achol tochel”
but it is REALLY - “achol achol”...
“It’s as if YHWH repeated Himself in order to
underline the idea...”
--And we know that is how it works... when a
word is repeated - it says it double strength.!
ACHAL = Aleph-Kaf-Lamed
= “the strength to control what is allowed”....
“In other words, this verb for consumption already incorporates the
concept of control.”
“The act of consuming acknowledges our
responsibility to control what YHWH allows.”
Moen says...
“We can feast because He gives us permission,
but we are still responsible for HOW we consume.”
This picture changes a few things...
== ACHAL is no longer just about food!
“This is about EVERYTHING YHWH gives in His
place of delight!”
So Moen says...
It turns out...
“Eden is YHWH’s pleasure palace”
Moen says...
“here’s the best part. Eden is located where YHWH delights to
provide pleasure. Eden marks the spot
wherever YHWH puts the earth- creature in circumstances that encourage delighting
in HIs gifts.
ACHAL is about consumption, ---not just about eating food.”
Achal is the picture of “strength to control
what is allowed.”
Moen goes on to say...
“What sets Adam apart from the rest of a
creation is Adam’s willingness to allow YHWH to determine what he will eat and
what he won’t eat.
Adam is not to be driven by his desires.
He is to be guided by YHWH’s word.
He is to remember what YHWH said and to
act accordingly.”
No comments:
Post a Comment