To be continued...

Well, after a couple years of writing this blog, it's time to retire it. Honestly, it's mostly just the name--seems very few people can understand (much less spell) "ruach." Makes the website a bit harder to find. Anyway, I'll be continuing over at www.thehopefulheretic.com

You can read more about the change here.

Growing with God

I think maybe our relationship with God goes through stages, much like life.

As children, God teaches us complete dependence on Him, that we may learn to fear and trust Him always.

As we grow older, we gain responsibilities and freedoms. The rules that we once followed blindly, we learn have purpose behind them.

Follow this track onward, you might think God is leading us to a place of independence. Indeed, that's how our culture portrays the stages of life. But, God designed something different. He leads us to a sort of interdependence. A partnership. A marriage. And this is far more beautiful than anything that man could contrive.

What I Don't Know

"We act like we have to get it all figured out before we can make a difference; like we have to have achieved "perfect" observance before we can fulfill our life mission. We feel like we are given a short period of learning/training before life really begins, and if we don't get our lives straight soon, we will be wasting time. "

There's soooo much I don't know...things that seem like they should be basic and foundational. Things like our identity in relation to Israel, or to what extant we're supposed to keep the commandments, or how to keep Sabbath. Oral Torah, Karaitism, Noachide, Covenantalism, Dispensationalism, Two House, One House, One Law, Traditional, non-traditional, and dozen other labels and non-labels. I would love so much to know where I stand so that I can teach my family and teach others, but the truth is so often I don't know.

Sometimes I think I know. But there's always a hole, always a contradiction, always a difficulty. I've changed my mind many times in the last several years. I want to go into ministry--that's where my heart is at--but sometimes I'm afraid that what I teach today won't be what I believe tomorrow. Words have power and I'm responsible for what I put forward.

Sometimes I have to fall back to the few things I know:
Adonai is the Creator of the universe.
He is my Father and my King.
He created man in His own image, inscribing His signature on every human soul.
He has promised us the Hope of a future Sabbath rest--of freedom, restoration, healing, and redemption. A place to call home.

Sometimes I just have to admit I don't know.

Broken Tablets and the Heart of the Torah

Leviticus 19 is arguably one of these most perplexing chapters in Torah. It seems to be simply a list of various unrelated laws. But, it's placement in Torah, right between 18 and 20, seems to suggest purpose. Chapters 18 and 20 have everything to do with each other--it doesn't make sense to divide them without some purpose.

Moshe Kline thought so too, so he set out to study the structure of Leviticus 19. His results were quite revealing. He found that Leviticus 19 is actually arranged according to a complex structure that points back to the ten commandments. You can find more details on his study here. Chapter 3 discusses the literary structure of Leviticus as a whole, while chapters 5 and 6 focus in on Leviticus 19 specifically.

Here, I want to build on the results of that study a bit. First a quick summary:

Moshe Kline puts forward the idea that Leviticus is arranged according to the Tabernacle. For the first 18 chapters, one is walking inward, progressing into the more intimate areas of God's holy place. From 20 onward, one is progressing outward back toward the people. Chapter 19 stands in the middle as the turning point where the Ark of the Covenant stands.

According to Moshe Kline, Leviticus 19 is arranged something like the following table (where each block represents a paragraph ending in "I am the LORD" and the numbers are verses):

1-2	11-12
3	13-14
4	15-16
5-10	17-18
19-25
26-28	32
29-30	33-34
31	35-36

As you can see, it is arranged into two columns, much like the ten commandments. If you examine the contents of each column, you will see that there is another similarity here. The first column focuses mainly on God-oriented commands (like the first 5 of the ten commandments) while the second column focuses mainly on neighbor-oriented commands. In fact, the majority of the ten commandments are referenced at some point in Leviticus 19, more than any other chapter of Torah. It's not a perfect fit, but then I don't think it was meant to be either (as will be explained further). The division of the first half of the columns is indicated by a shift from "I am the LORD your God" to "I am the LORD." In the second half, this distinction becomes meaningless--instead we see that there are word parallels between the second half of the columns and their respective columns in the first half. In the middle of these columns are verses 19-25--a seeming anomaly amongst the order we have just defined. Again, for more details on how this structure is formed, I recommend taking a look at Moshe Kline's articles above.

So, what is the author of Leviticus trying to do here? I see an obvious connection to the stone tablets in this passage. If we follow Moshe Kline's line of thinking and see Leviticus 19 as representing the Ark of the Covenant, this would make perfect sense--the ten commandments were contained within the ark. On the other hand, we don't see a literal repetition of the ten here, or even a one-to-one correlation. Just a strong reference. It's as if the commandments were--broken. Secondly, not all of the rules here reflect the general all-encompassing nature of the ten. Many of these commandments take a much more specific, practical role. If we go back to when the ten commandments were given, I think we'll find two key events that help explain what's happening here.

In Exodus 20, immediately after God finishes giving the ten commandments, the people cry out for an intermediary. They don't want to hear God's voice anymore. So, Moses takes the position of intermediary and relates the commands of God to the people. It's at this point that the commandments begin to take a very down to earth nature (slavery, social justice, etc.), quite a jump from the loftiness of the ten. The people of Israel had just admitted they were human. Therefore they needed a law for humans. Not angels.

Jump forward a bit to Exodus 32, and the people of Israel take another fall--the golden calf. Idolatry destroys the relationship Israel had just formed with their Redeemer. Moses comes down from the mountain and shatters the stone tablets. Unlike the divinely carved tablets Moses just broke, the next pair would have to be carved out by human hands. Tradition has it that the golden calf was also the reason for the necessity of the Tabernacle. At the very least, we see a change in the way the Tabernacle is described. Before 32, God starts with the Ark and the Table and the Menorah before discussing the outer layers. But, after 32, this order is reversed. The outside is placed before the heart.

When we come to Leviticus, this pattern shows itself again. Here we have the ten commandments, but not the lofty ones that God spoke from the mountain. No, these are the down to earth commands that we humans need with only a spark of the original glory left intact. We also see that the commandments are broken. Right across the middle of the columns, a totally unrelated piece of text is inserted, breaking the flow, creating a picture of broken tablets. Why is this done here? Because this is Leviticus, the book about how to approach God in all His holiness. About the Tabernacle, something that came about as a direct result of the golden calf. You see, the Tabernacle became an intermediary, an encasing around the holiness of God. Similarly, Leviticus is structured as an encasing around the ten commandments spoken by the voice of God. Only after you peel back layers of clean/unclean and holiness codes can you come to the heart of the matter. A broken set of tablets.

We still have one more question to answer, and I believe it will tie the rest of this together and answer the problem of a broken relationship. What is this passage that breaks up the two tablets in Leviticus 19?

In this one section we have three separate commandments. One is about not mixing various things (distinguishing or "judging"). Two is about a specific case of broken relationship, atonement, and forgiveness. Three is about something forbidden becoming holy and then fruitful.

Justice.

Mercy.

Redemption.

These are at the heart of the ten commandments.

You see, the book of Leviticus is not just some set of random archaic rules. It is a system put in place because of our sin to bring us back into relationship with God. It is a schoolmaster set out to teach us to distinguish clean and unclean, right and wrong, leading us toward the heart of the ten commandments--the heart of the Father. It teaches us to crucify our own sinful desire, our animal nature, in favor of a higher standard. 

But it also teaches us about God's mercy, His forgiveness, His patience. We broke faith, but rather than giving up on us, God came down to our level and gave us what we needed as human beings. He taught us righteousness on our level and provided atonement.

Together, mercy and justice intertwine to bring us to redemption. This is the intersection between heaven and earth, between the holy and the profane. It is where the world is renewed and darkness becomes light. Our broken relationship is restored completely as we are transformed into the image of our Creator, so that one day holiness will not be something we strive to do but who we are.

Horizons

It's been a year and a half since I moved out on my own and started my job with the weather service (see Chapter the Next). Most everything is unpacked by now. A lot has happened in the last year in a half. Doors have been opened. Seeds have begun to sprout.

--Kingdom
During the Days of Awe just over a year ago, God finally gave me words to a vision that had been churning in my mind for some time. He touched my heart during an Air1 concert as I was reminded that all God's children are made for dancing. This is the Hope of the Kingdom.

--What we were created for
As we entered last spring, I shared some of my piano playing and expressed how much God's gift of writing means to me. These are some of the talents God has given me. By summer, God had opened up the door for me to write for a Messianic youth magazine called HarvestMag. It is so amazing to be a part of something bigger than myself.

--Israel
Meanwhile, God planted a seed in my heart, a desire to visit Israel. To step out and walk on water, not knowing what I would find there, but trusting Him to show me. And He did. It was in the Promised Land that my Father shared His heart with me for His people and His land. I grew in my relationship with Him as I learned just a little bit about what it means to be a man after God's own heart.

--Family
I came back home in time for Sukkot. And there I met a girl. Long story short, she swept me off my feet and I asked her to marry me. She said yes.

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Horizons

So much has unfolded in the last year and a half. The beginnings of dreams being fulfilled. A deepening relationship with my heavenly Father in ways I could never have imagined. Meeting my bride to be, Brittany.

Coming to the top of the horizon, I stand. Beyond this veil lie adventures known only to God. It's a new journey as I take the vision that God has put in my heart and walk forward with it hand in hand with my beloved. I don't know what lies ahead, but I look forward full of hope, knowing Who is leading us and with whom I am blessed to share this life.

Thank you, Father, for all you have done for me. So much more than I have ever deserved. Thank you for blessing me in my desires and dreams. Thank you for sharing your heart with me. And thank you for bringing to me a friend and companion with whom to share this unfolding story you are writing on our hearts.