Skip Moen’s post this morning was about time. It’s one of those Hebrew concepts that is especially difficult to capture, especially since we’re so used to living in a Greek system where time is measurable and linear. The Hebrew concept of time is more like a cycle or a wheel that’s continually rolling down a hill (at least, that’s how Skip describes it). That means certain events repeat themselves, or could repeat themselves, becoming patterns. It also means that our idea of eternity is different from theirs. Their holidays were based on God’s timing – like when the barley first sprouted from the ground (that would vary depending on the rains that year) – instead of a clock broken into measurable minutes and seconds. Somehow, I think that when God comes back our thinking will be reordered and everything will be much clearer because we won’t be thinking with fuzzy logic. It’s fuzzy because it’s different from the original thought patterns. It’s like looking through a dirty windshield. Sure, I can drive, but it’s much nicer when it’s clean. I don’t really know what my point was with this. Probably just rambling. I’ve been learning about Hermeneutics, which is a lot of philosophy right now, and I think my brain might be leaking out my ears. But it’s good stuff. And it’s fascinating.
Conversion Monday, May 17th, 2010 | Author: Skip Moen The young lions have lacked and been hungry, but those who seek YHWH shall not lack any good thing. Psalm 34:11 Those Who Seek – The Hebrew word vedorshei might be translated “but those who seek” but such a translation converts the Hebrew grammar into English grammar. You see, vedorshei is the combination of a conjunctive (ve) “but” with a verb, not a noun. This verb, darash, is a plural participle in the active tense. That means it is an on-going action of many. We might think of it like this: “but seeking (ones).” In other words, the Hebrew construction doesn’t describe people who happen to be seeking God. In Hebrew, the action of seeking is the essence of who these people are. Without seeking, they just don’t exist. The our language base we see the world as component parts strung together by actions. John hit the ball. John is one component; the ball is another. These two components are connected by the action of hitting. One component hits the other. But Hebrew is a world comprised of actions. John hitting is the action, not the subject and the action. Without the hitting, there is no purpose for John to be connected to the ball. Since all action have a purpose, John exists in the active purpose of hitting. Similarly, seeking is the action purpose of followers of YHWH. Without the active purpose of seeking, there is no follower. Stop for a moment and consider what this means for our Greek-based understanding of Christian terms. What is the purposeful action of faith, justification, trust, salvation, the community, confession, forgiveness, etc.? How does our understanding of these terms change when we do not apply them as descriptions of “believers” but rather see them as constituting what a believer is. Without actions, there is no faith. Without works, faith is dead. Followers are seeking ones, trusting ones, praising ones, praying ones, studying ones, hoping ones, waiting ones, walking ones, obeying ones. Without the actions, there are no followers. They do not exist except in the actions themselves. Darash is their verb of being. They seek, inquire, examine and require. Oh, yes, by the way, God is the speaking One, creating One, sustaining One, delivering One, forgiving One, redeeming One. Are you beginning to see that being human is not a biological state but rather an active purpose to model the Creative One? What actions bring about your purpose for being today? This was a post today by Dr. Skip Moen. It’s a radically different way of thinking – that your life is your action. It makes sense though if I think about the fact that if I don’t actively breathe, I’m dead. The Hebrews believe that for something to be alive it has to change – an action. (That includes God, by the way. But that’s in a different post by Skip.) So the premise of it all is, if seeking God isn’t something I do in an ongoing and consistant way, am I really a follower of Him? You can’t follow something you don’t seek. To the Hebrews seeking has to be part of what makes me alive, if I claim to be a follower. That puts a pretty different spin on having quiet time with God in the morning. So am I saying that if a person doesn’t seek God, then he or she isn’t in relationship with God. I don’t think that’s the proper interpetation. After all, Jesus died to restore that relationship – He did the work and continues to intercede for me before the throne of God (restoration and intersession is part of the essense of who He is, perhaps?). I can be part of that relationship, even if I don’t seek and follow. It’s like having a friend. I can be friends with someone, or rather I can have a relationship with someone, but if I’m not actively seeking time with him or her it won’t be a very deep friendship. It’s not an easy statement. And trying to step out of my very Greek way of thinking to image how the Hebrew mind worked/works, it quite difficult. It’s worth it though, if it helps me to grow in my understanding of who God is.
2 Corinthians 2:12 And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. I was reading a book by Skip Moen last night where he explains parts of the Bible in the context of the Hebrew world instead of the Greek. The Bible was written from a Hebrew context but translated into Greek later (I think). The problem arises when we try to understand the Bible from a Greek point of view because, as Skip points out, the Greek and Hebrew points of view are fundamentally different. The Greek point of view revolves around man and man’s ability to think and reason. The Hebrew point of view revolves around God and His ability to reason and do. Skip makes a chart for comparison purposes of some of the different ways this is shown in scripture and in the choice of words. It’s really interesting, because it’s something I hadn’t thought of before. I mention all this now because my first reaction when I read this verse was to focus on the last part where it mentions the wonderful things God has freely given us. Cool! Free stuff! And then I thought, I’ll bet that verse isn’t talking about stuff. At least, it’s not stuff in the sense of something I can touch. I think that free stuff is more like the Holy Spirit. It’s love and salvation, spiritual gifts, fruit of the spirit, etc. Sure, there might be some other, more tangible, stuff mixed in, but that’s not the whole point of the verse. I know I get so focused on material needs and wants that I forget that in the Hebrew world view, it was about God and the Spirit and His gifts – material and immaterial. We think Greek. The Bible thinks Hebrew. It’s a miracle we understand it at all. Although, I guess that’s why we have the Holy Spirit. When He speaks to us and moves in us, it’s like a translator shifting our minds from one way of thinking to another. That way we can shift our focus from ourselves and our lofty opinions of what we can do to God and how little we can do without Him.