Theological Implications

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, YHWH appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am El Shadai; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous (Gen 17:1,2)."

Then Abram fell on his face; and Elohim said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations (17:3).…This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised (17:10)."

The Two-Name Theology of the Torah

The Torah is a double book. It contains one set of meanings accessible from a linear, verse-by-verse reading, and another set of meanings only accessible through a reading that pays close attention to its form. One reading is accessible to all, and one is only accessible to those who follow the hints of the literary structure. The two readings seamlessly overlap with each other. M (used as the label for the author) brilliantly wrote two books in one; every word of the Torah belongs in both the linear reading and the reading that accounts for its formal structure.

While these essays are dependent on the research presented in previous publications, I will try my best to make each essay comprehensible on its own. For the current essay, we will need to know part of the conclusion of Part Five of Before Chapter And Verse: Reading the Woven Torah (BC&V). The literary coherence of the Torah indicates Elohim and YHWH are not just different, equivalent, names of the deity. For M, they are presented as distinct characters, and the differences between them are built into the structure of Genesis. YHWH is associated with the above, transcendent, and supernatural, and requires offerings, and has emotions. Elohim created the natural world and is associated with it: the below, and immanent, apparently lacks emotions and requires no altars to him.

If we were reading the Torah like a novel, there would be no difficulty identifying Elohim and YHWH as two distinct characters in the story. However, the Torah is also associated with multiple belief systems; for some the hint of dualism in this reading of the names is anathema. So, since we will be discussing the theology of the Torah, I need to clarify the perspective.

In BC&V I respectfully requested that the reader bracket out one's beliefs to allow the Torah to speak directly. But this does place a burden on the reader, especially since I see a clear literary distinction between the two named divine characters who are active participants in the narrative. How is one to resolve the apparent dualism in the source text of monotheism? The most common resolution is terminological—call the names "aspects" or "revelations" of the deity. The deity is unitary but different "aspects" are "revealed" by different names.

It makes more sense to me to change the perspective and discuss the perception of deity rather than its nature. The deity of the Torah is perceived through dyads such as "natural—supernatural" and "holy—profane." Just as we need two eyes to perceive depth, M indicates we need the two names to perceive theological depth. The deity is not limited to the holy and supernatural but is also the author of the natural and mundane. Broadly, the name YHWH applies to the supernatural and holy while Elohim applies to the natural and mundane.

When we perceive the unity of the two names, YHWH Elohim, we are like HaAdam and Eve in the Garden, for the combined name is used throughout the Garden narrative, "the Lord (YHWH) God (Elohim)." Outside the Garden the names separate, and we find ourselves in a world of dualism; we distinguish between natural and supernatural, good and bad. What has changed, human perception, or the nature of "reality?"

By separating the names outside the Garden, M seems to imply that it is more than human perception that has changed. Otherwise, M could have indicated that the unitary deity was perceived in different ways. Instead, the narrative treats Elohim and YHWH as distinct from each other. The use of the phrase translated "As for me" (in the opening quotation above) when Elohim presents his covenant in contradistinction to the covenant YHWH has just proposed is indicative. The distinction is substantive and underlies the story of Israel.

In BC&V I demonstrated that Genesis was carefully constructed to distinguish between the two divine characters. This essay extends the purview and explains why the distinction between them is essential to the theology of the Torah. The primary source for this explanation is the discovery of a previously unidentified composition within the Torah. Details of the discovery are complex and demand an understanding of the principles of organization of the Torah detailed in BC&V.

For clarity and simplicity, here are explanations of a few terms I use in the theological section that will be expanded in the structural section. The entire Torah is composed of units of "woven" text. It can be presented in print in a two-dimensional table-like format, as explained at length in BC&V. Three units or blocks of woven text form the theological foundation of the Torah, the creation weave, the decreation weave, and the re-creation weave. Firstly, the creation weave unit consists of the six days of Elohim's creation of the natural world. Secondly, the decreation weave unit refers to the signs, or plagues, in Egypt. Through them, YHWH clarifies how he is distinguished from Elohim. Specifically, he is supernatural. Thirdly, the re-creation weave is the discovery detailed in Part 2 of this series. It shows how YHWH, the supernatural, enters Elohim's natural world.

The Ladder Between Elohim and YHWH

Elohim created the physical world and is associated with it. "YHWH" appears for the first time as YHWH Elohim, in the Garden narrative. The names separate in the narrative, when Eve and HaAdam are sent out of the Garden. From then on, the separate names, "Elohim" and "YHWH" are used. Apparently, the separation of YHWH from Elohim was the result of HaAdam and Eve eating from the forbidden tree. The reunion of the two is the goal of the Torah as a whole, and specifically, in what I will explain as "the re-creation weave." The relationship between human events and the revelation of the godhead is a central component of the re-creation weave.

The Torah presents a correlation between human events and changes in the way the deity is revealed. M tells his audience to see the appearances of deity outside the Garden as in some substantive way different from the appearances in the Garden. From Exodus onward, the Torah deals with YHWH's reuniting with Elohim by establishing a revealed presence on earth, first through the tabernacle and then through the nation of Israel. This reunion is prefigured in Jacob's oath after the ladder dream, when he declares that YHWH will become Elohim for him.

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of Elohim were ascending and descending on it. And YHWH stood upon it and said, "I am YHWH, the deity of Abraham your father and the deity of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely YHWH is in this place—and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of Elohim, and this is the gate of heaven." So, Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called that place Bethel; but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If Elohim will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then YHWH shall be Elohim for me, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be Elohim's house; and of all that you give me I will surely give one-tenth to you." (Gen 28:10-22)

This section is a micro version of M's plan for the Torah. The vision in the dream is crucial for understanding the plan. The ladder is between Elohim on earth and YHWH in heaven. We know that Elohim is below, at the bottom of the "ladder set up on the earth" because his messengers (angels) start from the bottom "ascending and descending." YHWH is at the top. This is a single vision of the dialectic created in detail by the book of Genesis, as demonstrated in BC&V.

The vision itself verifies that Jacob was aware of this distinction between Elohim, the earthly, immanent, and the heavenly transcendent YHWH. It is reinforced by Jacob's apparent surprise when waking and learning that the transcendent can be revealed below, "Surely YHWH is in this place—and I did not know it!" This is important because it was YHWH, in the dream, who promised to care for Jacob during his sojourning. Jacob is perplexed by the implication of YHWH's promise: can the transcendent manage events normally considered part of the everyday immanent world? Can he take care of me? At this point, we may find the dyad "natural and supernatural" clearer than "immanent and transcendent."

(Through the signs in Egypt YHWH presents himself as revealed through the supernatural, capable of reversing elements of the natural world created by Elohim. Properly speaking, Elohim and YHWH are both supernatural and distinguished by their modus operandi, Elohim "operating in the natural" and YHWH "in the supernatural.")

Jacob's doubt is expressed through the conditions of his vow. YHWH, apparently associated with the supernatural (atop the ladder in heaven), has promised Jacob "I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land." In his dream, the supernatural YHWH, proposes to take on a role that Jacob assumed was associated with the natural, and so with Elohim. Jacob replies that he has a test to see if YHWH is capable of close management of earthly matters, such as providing food and clothing. This test is not unlike the way his descendants are to test YHWH after leaving Egypt, but with a different nuance. The Israelites will be fed manna in a supernatural way by YHWH. Jacob expects to be cared for in a natural way—by Elohim: "If Elohim will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, … so that I come again to my father's house in peace." If YHWH wants to make an impression on earthly creatures, he must do it in a natural way normally associated with Elohim, rather than in the supernatural manner of YHWH in the wilderness. Furthermore, YHWH, taking the role of Elohim, must provide for Jacob's physical needs by providing "bread to eat and clothing to wear." If YHWH is indeed capable of doing these "Elohim-like" things for the entire period of Jacob's sojourning, and brings him home safely, then Jacob will acknowledge that the supernatural can affect the natural world—"then YHWH shall be Elohim for me."

Jacob's vow has added details of his own to YHWH's promise. Not only will YHWH care for Jacob, but according to Jacob, YHWH will be revealed with Elohim. Figuratively, YHWH will descend the ladder, possibly representing Jacob himself, to be manifest again with Elohim. But Jacob's acknowledgment of this does not return them to the Edenic state of YHWH Elohim.

Jacob, in effect, veils YHWH and incorporates him within "Elohim." It makes sense to think that the supernatural will no longer appear supernatural when carrying out natural acts. This apparent truism is at the heart of our subject. It points to the philosophical/theological question addressed by the re-creation weave. In philosophic terms, the question is: how is the transcendent (YHWH) to be perceived within the world of immanence (Elohim)?

YHWH appears to Jacob just once more in his lifetime, to tell him to return home from his sojourn with Laban. As predicated in his vow, from the time Jacob enters Canaan, he never again mentions or interacts with YHWH, only with Elohim. YHWH has become Elohim for Jacob. It also appears Jacob transfers this idea of the deity to his favorite son, Joseph, who never once interacts with or even mentions YHWH. Even when the Egyptians note that they have benefitted from YHWH's caring for Joseph: "His master saw that YHWH was with him, and that YHWH caused all that he did to prosper in his hands (Gen 39:3)." For his part Joseph only recognizes Elohim.

And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for Elohim sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. Elohim sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but Elohim; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, "Thus says your son Joseph, Elohim has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. (Gen 45:5-9)

Jacob's dream and his response is indeed a precursor to YHWH's descent on the ladder, but it is missing the central condition, that YHWH be revealed together with Elohim, as it was in Eden, YHWH Elohim.

YHWH Dresses Up

Jacob's understanding that YHWH must "dress up" as Elohim comes just after he himself has dressed up as Esau, and in the same literary unit in which Leah replaces Rachel. It is unlikely that M has made these connections by chance. The differences between Esau and Jacob resonate with differences between Elohim and YHWH. "When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents (Gen 25:27)." Esau "a man of the field" focused his life outside, and Jacob inside "in tents." Consequently, when Isaac said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau" (Gen 27:22), he correctly described the integration of characteristics of his twin sons. The "outer" part pertained to Esau and the inner to Jacob.

In the same context Isaac makes a similar distinction between YHWH and Elohim in the blessing of Jacob, "Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that YHWH has blessed. May Elohim give you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine" (Gen 27: 27, 28). He associates Elohim with the substantial, "grain and wine" and YHWH with the insubstantial, "smell." The Hebrew ריח (re'ach) translated smell, is related to ru'ach, "spirit" or "wind." Elohim, like the hands of Esau, is connected to the physical world, while YHWH like the voice of Jacob is associated with the incorporeal. Consequently, Jacob thought that YHWH would have to "dress up" and merge with Elohim to affect the physical world. Jacob's error is fully elucidated when YHWH dramatically demonstrates he differs from Elohim through the decreation weave, the signs in Egypt. Each sign demonstrates YHWH's supernatural ability to negate, to some degree, an aspect of Elohim's creation. As YHWH himself states in the locust sign, the function of the multiple signs is to define YHWH—as distinct from Elohim.

Holiness

In contrast to the identification through negation in the signs, the most significant positive characteristic of YHWH is holiness, first mentioned in the context of Elohim's sabbath. This is the element that was lacking from Jacob's experience, preventing him from fully witnessing YHWH's revelation in the world. Holiness is like the clue planted unobtrusively in the beginning of a detective novel that will prove to be central to solving the mystery. In all of Genesis, after the creation, it is never again mentioned. Only in Exodus does it begin to play a role in the descent of YHWH. The tabernacle provided a holy vehicle for YHWH to "dwell" in the midst of Israel.

"And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them (Exod 25:8)." It is significant here that in the very first time YHWH commands the building of a tabernacle, he does not use the word "tabernacle." The Hebrew translated "a sanctuary" is מקדש, meq'dash. This is a noun form of the root "k–d–s." holy, a holy place. The implications of the command are enormous—Jacob's descendants are to be empowered, through YHWH's blueprints, to utilize elements of the natural world to enable the supernatural to "dwell among them."

The Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give, you shall receive the offering for me. This is the offering that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue, purple, and crimson yarns and fine linen, goats' hair, tanned rams' skins, fine leather, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and for the breastpiece. And have them make me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them. In accordance with all that I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. (Exod 25:1-9)

This is the crux of the re-creation weave. When the tabernacle is completed, M uses the same terms for its completion as were used for the completion of Elohim's creation (Exod 39:32, 40:33). But there is a huge difference between the creation and the re-creation. Elohim created the world by himself. YHWH commanded Moses and the Israelites to manufacture the vehicle through which the world was re-created to include the indwelling of the holy. Still, the indwelling of the holy is, at first, limited to the environs of the tabernacle. One more step is required to fulfill YHWH's plan to expand the revelation of the holy in the world and to reproduce the Edenic manifestation with Elohim.

The opening of Leviticus Unit 13, ch. 19, provides the necessary additional step for the revelation of the holy: "The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I YHWH, your Elohim, am holy (Lev 19:1,2)." YHWH's holiness is to be revealed to the world through Israel. This is the heart of the Torah. Israel is to embody YHWH's holiness to reveal it in the world.

Furthermore, there is to be a land that will be run according to holy law. That land and the Israelites, together, are to provide the vehicle for cosmic healing. Holiness will have a place in the natural world and united YHWH Elohim will be revealed. Israel is to embody the supernatural, transcendent, holy in the world of natural, immanent, mundane, nations. As YHWH says in his last speech at the close of the forty-years trek "And thou shalt not defile the land which ye inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I YHWH dwell in the midst of the children of Israel (Num 35:34)." A new epoch is about to begin. The holiness of Israel will reflect the holiness of YHWH, when they observe his laws. Israel is to be the link connecting YHWH's holiness to Elohim's creation. According to this view, when Israel observes YHWH's holy laws, its land should resemble the Garden of Eden, as a place where YHWH and Elohim are united.

M's theology presented above is the product of a close reading of the Torah including consideration of the additional meanings embedded in its structure. In Part 2 of this series, we will explore in detail the specific structural mechanisms through which M reveals this profound theological vision. We will examine how YHWH, who is essentially invisible, acquires a "cloak of visibility" through Israel. This remarkable literary construction enables the supernatural to be manifested within the natural world.

A compelling example of this concept appears in the structural arrangement of the book of Numbers, which will be explored in detail in Part 2. There, we will see how the book's organization as a literary representation of the four-sided Israelite encampment reveals Israel functioning as YHWH's garment. For now, let us introduce the fundamental concept that will prepare us for that analysis.

The Image of Israel as YHWH's Garment

The imagery of Israel as YHWH's garment may seem excessively bold, but I assure you it is not my own creation. This concept, which will be demonstrated in detail through structural analysis in Part 2, represents one of the most profound theological insights embedded in the Torah's literary design. Understanding this idea requires familiarity with a fundamental concept of the Woven Torah approach: the literary unit or "Unit."

The common division of the books of the Torah into chapters is recent (13th century!). These divisions should not be taken as much more than a convenience for locating parts of the text, not the work of M. One of the goals of the research that led to the discoveries detailed in BC&V was to determine whether the Torah contained internal indicators of how the books should be divided into parts. Was there a "chapter system" that did originate from the biblical author(s)? One of the prime criteria employed to discern "natural" divisions within the books was lexical. For example, the Torah repeats the word "create" at three significant points across the "primeval" history in the beginning of Genesis (ch. 1-11). These repetitions lead to the identification of three "creation" narratives, as shown in the following table, leading to Units 1-3 of Genesis.

This table displays two distinct, but interconnected, elements that indicate we are looking at three planned Units. As noted, the repeated use of "create" in apparent headings indicates that the primeval history—without Babel—was planned in the three "creation" blocks. The second element is a literary device that verifies the division into three Units. Once the three creation Units are identified by the repetition of "create," a set of linguistic hooks appears and locks them together. Specifically, the middle Unit, 2, displays lexical links to both 1 and 3 in the same openings that include "create." It shares "the heavens and the earth" with 1 and "generations" with 3. This ostensibly lexical link points to the relationship between the three creation Units. Unit 1 is all about Elohim and his acts of creating "heaven and earth." The framework of Unit 3, the flood narrative, deals with human reproduction, "generations." Unit 2, the Garden of Eden, details the interactions between deity and people. These are three of the Torah's eighty-six Units.