Hebrew Mathematics
For you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light Ephesians 5:8
Darkness – In Greek, Paul writes gar pote skotos, nun de phos en Kyrio (literally, “for then darkness, and now light in Lord”). Even though his words are certainly Greek, did you notice that the syntax is Hebrew? Did you notice that the imagery doesn’t say, “you were like darkness” or “you were caught in darkness” or “you were found in darkness”? No, Paul makes a Hebrew equivalence. You were darkness. Darkness wasn’t merely a description of your state. It was the essence of your being. Remove the darkness and there would be nothing left. Before we were rescued, we were black holes in the world, pulling creation into the emptiness within us.
This equivalence is typically Hebrew. When you read this verse, your mind probably rearranged the sentence so that you thought skotos was a description (an adjective) of those who are lost. You probably imagined some lost person described as alone, without direction, feeling empty, acting immorally, disobedient to God. You imagined that Paul had these ideas in mind and simply used the summary term skotos. But that is our Greek paradigm affecting the way you read this. What Paul is really suggesting is this: you and darkness were the same thing. It’s not you, the person, who had a characteristic called “darkness.” You were darkness. You existed as shadow, as action without light, as disordered in the universe.
Now that we see Paul’s Hebrew-thinking, we can ask one more question. What does “darkness” mean in the Hebrew worldview? Since Hebrew constructs the universe in terms of purposeful actions, we discover that darkness is active emptiness. It is flow without purpose. It is movement, but movement away from the light, movement toward chaos. Darkness is the power of disintegration, disorder and death. Darkness is movement to destroy. It is motion without life-giving purpose. In spite of all the activity that occupied our former lives, we were vessels of destruction. We were power that undid God’s creation by bringing disorder into being. How did we accomplish such terrible purposes? Ah, by living without light.
Remember! Remember when darkness spoke to you? Remember when you could hear the whisper behind those “natural” choices? Remember when life seemed so clear until you acted, and you were suddenly entombed with consequences? Remember when you were propelled forward as if you were pushed by a spindly hand in the back? Remember when every direction was down? Remember when you could close your eyes and still see the terrors of the night? “You were formerly darkness.” Pote is the word of hope here. It describes both a time in the past and a time in the future. Today, darkness is in the past. Let it remain there with all the other shadows that used to haunt you.
Topical Index: darkness, skotos, Ephesians 5:8
That’s very powerful (haunting) imagery! I’m imagining what it’s like to not only be IN darkness, but more significantly to actually BE the darkness. It’s a little like one of the horror movies that I refuse to go watch because I do want to actually be able to sleep at night. Shadows rushing towards chaos.
But aren’t there times, even after we are light, that we hurry back towards the dark? I know I went through a stage in my life (After I had “been saved” – missionary kid – although know that I know more fully about the things of which Paul talked, much of my knowing was all head knowledge, and not much doing) where some things happened to me and my response was to recoil from God and what I had known before and seek comfort in people of the world. Unfortunately, I got stuck because I knew that the way I was living wasn’t right but I made another bad decision to try and fix the former bad decision which resulted in even more chaos. Entombed in consequences.
Ultimately, God broke through my confusion, fear, and mess (he wasn’t there physically, but I’ve never felt His presence so clearly – I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t talk, I could hardly breath… All I could do was cry on my knees before His holiness as He healed the wounds that had been gaping and bleeding in my life – sounds weird maybe, but it’s true). Today He has restored much that was lost, but I think there are times that even after knowing the truth of Yeshua when we walk the wrong way.
Or it could just be that I was so stuck in my Greek mindset that the foundations of Yeshua weren’t able to sink deeply enough into my soul to give me something more firm to stand on. Either way, I’m SO thankful not to be walking that direction any more. And the path I walk now may be overwhelming and sometimes scary, but it’s beautiful to see light. It’s beautiful to be light.
Now to live it in such a way that others seek to leave the shadows behind and be light, too.
Hi Amanda,
Speaking of “darkness” and noticing your last name makes me think of a song from 1973 by the Youngbloods called Darkness, Darkness. It seems to have captured the “spirit of the age” pretty well:
Darkness, Darkness
Be my pillow
Take my head
And let me sleep
In the coolness of your shadow
In the silence of your deep
Darkness, Darkness
Hide my yearning
For the things I cannot be
Keep my mind from constant turning
Toward the things I cannot see now
Things I cannot see now
Things I cannot see
Darkness, darkness,
Long and lonesome,
Ease the day that brings me pain.
I have felt the edge of sadness,
I have known the depth of fear.
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night,
Take away, take away the pain of knowing,
Fill the emptiness of right now,
Emptiness of right now, now, now
Emptiness of ri-ight now.
Darkness, darkness, be my pillow,
Take my hand, and let me sleep.
In the coolness of your shadow,
In the silence, the silence of your deep.
Darkness, darkness, be my blanket,
Cover me with the endless night,
Take away, take away the pain of knowing
Fill the emptiness of right now,
Emptiness of right now now now
Emptiness of right….
Oh yeah Oh yeah
Emptiness, emptiness
Oh yeah
This is great! There is a vivid sense of who we are is what we do. Even though we emotionally try to disconnect our behavior from who we are (Greek), reality says, that what we do is who we are. The really neat thing about this too is that we have a choice. If my behavior, which I can change, is the problem, then I have a responsibility as well as the power to do something about it. If I what I am is divorced from what I do, then I have no power to change; and therefore no responsibility. If I have no responsibility, then God really just has to understand that I am a victim, not a perpetrator; BIG HUGE difference.
And (then) G-d said- “let there be light”- and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)
You’re absolutely right brother Skip- everything we need to know is found in the “book of beginnings” Genesis. We (all) must “begin again” or be “born again”.
In order of appearance- the first thing that “occurred”- YHWH spoke. G-d said. From the mouth of the LORD- He spoke this world into existence. “Let there be”-..(and it came to pass!)- there was- or it was so. The first thing (very important in Hebrew thought?)- the law of first mention- the “first thing”- G-d spoke.
Now to personalize this “event.” -How many times have we heard someone speak without our listening to them? (I’m doing some “confessing” here..). “You didn’t hear a single word I said, did you?” Uh,uh..- no, I was not listening. “Faith” comes by Hearing, and hearing by the word of G-d. How many times do we need (and boy do we need it) does this have to be repeated before it “sinks in!”. – For Mr. Hard-head (me), dozens. And then- one day- after repeated attempts “to be heard”, the light comes on and I have (Hallelujah!)- the “aha moment!” – Are you with me? Are you “just like me?”. Are you like the Ethiopian eunuch (a seeker) who needs someone to help you to understand the words contained in this holy book? (Check yes, or no..).
Once again.. I thank you Dr. Moen- for your efforts and your labors,-they are NOT in vain (in the LORD.) We (all) need to know this book and the words contained within it. – (Why?)- It’s okay- we’re allowed to ask why. Why is it important (such a lame word), to know the words contained in G-d’s book?
What did Y’shua (the G-d/man) say concerning His words? (John 10:10) -These words penetrate my soul- and stick to my ribs- and feed me when I’m hungry and slake my thirst for what is real and lasting and permanent. These words give me life and show me the pathway I must walk. This, (as we all know), is no ordinary book. Sometimes we read the book- sometimes the book reads us.
Contained and revealed within G-d’s book is G-d’s will. Also G-d’s wisdom. Also G-d’s ways. Also our wealth. Inside the book we find life, and true liberty. Let these words become ingrained within your brain as they have stuck like an arrow in mine): “Jesus answered and said to them, You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22.29) (-My toes!, my toes!- ouch!)
If Y’shua (the G-d/man) said- “the words I speak unto you- they are breath and they are life”- and we (wandering sheep) do not “know” His words (that bring healing to the nations and liberty to the captive soul)-are we not “darkness?” – lost as a ping-pong ball in a tornado? Where would we be without the word of G-d? What value, worth or place does G-d’s book have in our lives? Or have we been distracted by our HD t.v.’s (a vast desert wasteland of empty drivel) and one-hundred ninety nine other “distractions” that daily bombard us to “look away” from Jesus- (the author and finisher of our faith?)
“Darkness conceals- light reveals”. Y’shua IS the light of the world. And now we have learned -in Hebrew, (hallelujah!), there is no “is!” Y,shua-Light of the World. Today- are we running from the Light, or to the Light?
Light of the World, -You stepped down into darkness. Opened my eyes, let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore you. Hope of a life spent with you.. Here I am to worship.. here I am to bow down.. here I am to say (that) You’re my G-d..You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether Wonderful to me..
“Here you look once more into the hearts of all the saints as into death, indeed as into hell; how dark and gloomy is it there, because of the grievous spectacle of the wrath of God which has to be faced in so many ways.”
On the Psalms
by Martin Luther
From the Preface to his translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into German
Although I have always had mixed feelings about Martin Luther and Protestantism, I find his reference to the Heart of Darkness metaphor very compelling.
The point being that to get to the light, sooner or later you’ve got to go through hell, and “how dark and gloomy it is there.”
According to Luther, that’s what the Psalms tell us and, in my view, that is what most of the great writers in the Western World tell us.
At the same time Luther states:
To sum up: if you want to see the holy Christian Church painted in glowing colors, and in a form which is really alive, … you must get hold of the Psalter, and there you will have in your possession a fine, clear, pure mirror which will show you what Christianity really is.
Very powerful stuff IMO.
That’s very powerful (haunting) imagery! I’m imagining what it’s like to not only be IN darkness, but more significantly to actually BE the darkness. It’s a little like one of the horror movies that I refuse to go watch because I do want to actually be able to sleep at night. Shadows rushing towards chaos.
But aren’t there times, even after we are light, that we hurry back towards the dark? I know I went through a stage in my life (After I had “been saved” – missionary kid – although know that I know more fully about the things of which Paul talked, much of my knowing was all head knowledge, and not much doing) where some things happened to me and my response was to recoil from God and what I had known before and seek comfort in people of the world. Unfortunately, I got stuck because I knew that the way I was living wasn’t right but I made another bad decision to try and fix the former bad decision which resulted in even more chaos. Entombed in consequences.
Ultimately, God broke through my confusion, fear, and mess (he wasn’t there physically, but I’ve never felt His presence so clearly – I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t talk, I could hardly breath… All I could do was cry on my knees before His holiness as He healed the wounds that had been gaping and bleeding in my life – sounds weird maybe, but it’s true). Today He has restored much that was lost, but I think there are times that even after knowing the truth of Yeshua when we walk the wrong way.
Or it could just be that I was so stuck in my Greek mindset that the foundations of Yeshua weren’t able to sink deeply enough into my soul to give me something more firm to stand on. Either way, I’m SO thankful not to be walking that direction any more. And the path I walk now may be overwhelming and sometimes scary, but it’s beautiful to see light. It’s beautiful to be light.
Now to live it in such a way that others seek to leave the shadows behind and be light, too.
“But aren’t there times, even after we are light, that we hurry back towards the dark?”
“I know I went through a stage in my life (After I had “been saved”
“I think there are times that even after knowing the truth of Yeshua when we walk the wrong way.”
Hi Emily, Good points!
If I’m not speaking to friends in a “Bible study class,” I might say that we have of a “death instinct” (desire toward darkness) and a “life instinct” (desire toward the light).
And looking back at my rather long life, I can recall countless times that I rushed headlong into “darkness” only to be saved by the grace of God.
When I was 47, my mother died and then my daughter (1st child) was born and, although I was very close to my mother, both events seemed like “gifts” from God to me.
At that point in my life, it became easier for me to resist the “temptations” of darkness, in no small part because I needed to provide a good role model for my son and daughter.
Sometimes trying to raise children, which is certainly the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, seems like one of those horror movies with the slogan: “if it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger” 🙂
Regarding “knowing the truth of Yeshua,” I think the quotation from The Shocking Results applies:
John 8:31 If you make my word your home you will indeed be my disciples,
John 8:32 you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free.
John 8:33 ……………”You will be made free” Jesus replied:
John 8:34 I tell you most solemnly, everyone who comits sin is a slave.