Wisdom of the World
and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate Genesis 3:6
To Make One Wise – I hope you aren’t getting tired of this story. We have just scratched the surface, but this will be our last look for awhile. Have you learned something about the nature (and appeal) of sin? Have you discovered the necessity of borders? Were your eyes opened to the way we “see” what we already want?
When I was a boy, I picked fruit in a commercial apple orchard. It was hard work. By the end of the day, my shoulders ached from the weight of thousands of apples put into the boxes. As the sun grew hotter, I would stop for rest, sit under a Red Delicious apple tree and pick one of the biggest apples I could find to eat. They were particularly good right off the branch. But I never saw a single apple that would make me wise.
Think about it. Does this fruit have “wisdom” written on it? How does Eve know that it is desirable to make her wise? Even if it looks different than all other fruit, how can she understand that eating it will make her like the gods? The answer, of course, has nothing to do with the appearance of the fruit. The answer is about her thinking.
The Hebrew word here is le-haskil. It is derived from the verbal stem S-K-L, which means “to see, to contemplate.” The pictograph reveals the deeper meaning – control of that hand that consumes. In other words, she sees that the fruit will enable her to see something she does not see at the moment, namely, how to control her destiny. When she saw (ra) with her eyes, she realized that she could see (sakal) with her desire. She traded what was there in the real world for what she could have according to her inner vision. But this is a complete reversal of the true meaning of sakal. Sakal is primarily about acting prudently. It is about considering and understanding what God desires and allowing Him to control our passion. It is about insight into the mind of the Lord. Eve blindly sees what the Tree offers. It offers the chance to be her own god. Sarna says, “What the serpent is saying is that the woman and the man will have the capacity to make judgments as to their own welfare independently of God. The insidious nature of its discourse lies in the implication that defiance of God’s law constitutes the indispensible precondition for human freedom” (JPS Commentary, p. 25). The serpent sells the promise of freedom on the back of slavery. Eve sees only the promise and, as a result, is blind to the reality of the slavery behind the veil. She forgets what she is supposed to remember – that God knows the orderly arrangement of good and evil.
This is the essential difference between God’s wisdom and the “wisdom” of the world. If wisdom is about prudent behavior that leads to life, then there is only one kind of wisdom – God’s wisdom. Everything else, no matter how clever, savvy or intelligent, is foolishness because everything else leads away from life. The world suggests that wisdom is about personal freedom – the ability to make up your own mind about how you will respond, react and reason. But God is quite a bit smarter than His human creations, and He knows that we need a great deal of help that comes from beyond our horizons. So, He provides it. All we have to do is act prudently on His advice. Of course, that is at the heart of the issue, isn’t it? We are equipped with a will of our own. The question is not about freedom but about domesticating the power we are given. A wild horse has freedom, but is useless when it comes to accomplishing the owner’s purposes. Power domesticated is the pathway toward being human.
That Tree in the Garden is all about the power that we have to decide. It is a power that is far beyond our abilities to control. It is a power very close to the heart of God’s creative ability. So, God offers us a way to domesticate it – sakal – to see as God sees. That is wisdom. Trade your apple for Torah – and live.
Topical Index: wise, wisdom, sakal, Genesis 3:6
Your last statement, Skip – “trade your apple for Torah – and live.”
If Torah pursuant is our most obedient and fulfilled life by God’s design for the benefit of others in this life (but not the means of our salvation, i.e. perfectly keeping it which we cannot which is why we need and needed Jesus)…and if the Torah expresses the very heart, character and purposes of God for both biological and spiritual life for us (life to the full)….will we all be finally Torah observant in heaven? If we are to be “glorified” in perfection does that perfection mean Torah obedient eternal beings? Or is “Torah” obedience just for this side of eternity? Or is this just a silly question….
P.S. Little aside here. I am still munching on this Torah observant or Torah pursuant concept. This against the backdrop of my wife informing me – as she was reading a portion of George Mueller’s biography or autobiography, not sure which – that Mueller had prayed in faith for some food and then an anonymous delivery came which if memory serves me was some form of pork product (ham or something). So here I am trying to process a God (assuming story true and that Mueller was a godly man of faith etc which seems to be a given) who would cause circumstances to occur where a pork product would be delivered in answer to Mueller’s prayers and contrary to God’s own “Torah” (dietary restrictions being God’s fullest life for Mueller)? Anyhoooo….Just like God to keep us all just a little uncomfortable with ourselves, assuming this story is true.
I have read a couple of books on Mueller. I remember a dairy delivery, a bread delivery but not a pork delivery. If you can find the reference, I would be interested.
As for another remark you made (Torah observant vs. Torah pursuant), I am not sure what you mean. It seems to me that Torah observance is the goal – the direction being Torah pursuant. After all, Abraham didn’t get there in a day and neither will we. It is a lifelong occupation, I think.
If we trade in our desire for self-control and the ability to make moral determinations on our own (that isn’t the same as making moral choices), then we trust what God says is true and good – and that means we trust His instructions about life (Torah observant) and that brings full living. It is, of course, independent of His grace. But I want more than rescue. I want to LIVE too.
It is “The Autobiography of George Mueller” (1985 Whitaker House – mass market edition). We got it in paperback and the recounting of this story is on pg. 42-43: “One morning in November I suggested we pray about our temporal needs. Just as we were about to pray, a parcel came from Exmouth. We had asked the Lord for meat for dinner since we had no money to buy any. After prayer, we opened the parcel and found a ham!”
I am not sure what I mean by Torah observant or Torah pursuant either since these weren’t my terms but terms used by folks on this site.
As far as the principles that you are expressing – God on His terms and not God on my terms – you got me at “Hello.” Man-centered or God-centered. The idolatry of self and all its systems or the true worship of the Deut 6:4 God. I am there…and the fact that God operated in and through a Hebraic culture/people group and that Jesus was promised through this culture/people group and that Scriptures were written with this culture/people group in mind and that we must be deeply aware of this heritage and the richness of the revelation in understanding it as much as we can….I am all there. What I am trying to sort out is why do we need to pull in one direction so hard (Hebraic rather than Hellenistic) when we have such statements as “to whom will you compare me?” While the revelation and richness of God is expressed in Hebraic culture and all that this encompasses, is it possible that God is even deeper, and richer, and more complex than simply confining Him to just another but different box, i.e. Hebrew worldview? Was the God of pre-creation Jewish? Is the time-less and eternal God Jewish? Was the God of Genesis 1-2 Jewish? Is and will the God of heaven be Jewish? Is this God’s way (the best and fullest life by being Torah observant) for us all? To become Torah observers now and for eternity? Or is it way more than this really?…And what about those in the far reaches of the world who are oblivious to this Hebraic mindset and worldview. Will they never experience these truths and therefore never experience so much as even the possibility of living Torah observant (fullest life as God intended)? I remain perplexed but still chewing.
You seem to have hit on one of the hidden spiritual principles of life – God operates through mistakes. Maybe that should be the subject of a TW some day – The Mistaken God. What God does certainly looks like mistakes, doesn’t it? I mean, come on now, Israel? A nothing nation. Yeshua, born to nobody special. Dying? That was certainly a mistake. Paul? Never. He would have been rejected by every church I can think of. Too Jewish! 🙂
Skip
Lots of good questions that should keep you busy for the rest of your life. Just a few comments. First, I am quite sure that God exceeds even our most lofty visions. But unless He reveals Himself to us, we have no way of understanding even the simplest of things about Him. And He has revealed Himself to us – in and through the Hebrew culture. That is His choice, not mine. So, what I know about Him comes through this channel for reasons that only He knows. Does that mean He is Jewish? I don’t think so since there is neither Jew nor Greek in His kingdom. Our ethnic perspectives will fall away in the presence of His pure glory. But in the meanwhile, I am stuck with His revelation. My speculation is merely speculation. His revelation carries a different status. And while even Abraham did not come from Jewish stock, I can’t understand anything about Abraham unless I am reading Hebrew.
Thomas Aquinas was one of the world’s great theologians – in spite of his utter dependence on Aristotle. Toward the end of his life, he had a visionary encounter with Yeshua. He never wrote another word and of the 12000 pages he had already written, he said, “It is all straw.” I think the best we can do is accept the fact that God has revealed what He wishes us to know for His purposes and what He wishes us to know comes through the Hebrew worldview.
Finally, the new covenant (Jeremiah 31) suggests that the Torah will be written on the heart and will be obeyed naturally, without teaching or training. So, it is probably justified to assume that we will all be Torah observant in the coming kingdom of the fulfilled new covenant, even those who have not as yet heard a thing about Torah.
Thanks for your input and your continued effort to stretch us all.
Skip
I really appreciate you, my brother. Deut 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” I remain God’s servant and I will simply continue to walk with Him and to listen to His voice.
Great verse. I’ll need to put it on the list. Thanks David for all your contributions and for pushing me along.