The Divine Day-planner
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— Ecclesiastes 3:1 NASB
Time – Do you remember how Moses Luzzatto defined mercy? Mercy is God giving us more time. Mercy is delay of judgment. Mercy is God waking us up the next morning and saying, “OK, now you have one more day to make things right?” This is precisely the statement God made to Cain when his sacrifice was not accepted. “I’m going to give you more time. Just go fix this and then come back.” Time. Time to repent. Time to return. Time to restore.
Interestingly, the Hebrew word translated “time” is ‘et, but it doesn’t mean the same thing that we think of as time and it doesn’t come from a root that we would expect in our Greek world. For us time is a measure of change, the recognition that one thing becomes another. We quantify this change, attach some kind of mathematics to it and call it “time.” This concept views time as if it were a line. We are on the line moving in one direction. The past is behind us; the future in front of us and where we are right now on the line is the present. This concept has been so internalized in our culture that it provides the foundation for the belief that the events on the line are fixed. Whatever is up there ahead of us in the future is just waiting to become “present” to us. Time travel, that great science fiction thrill, is based on this idea.
But the Hebrew root of ‘et is not about mathematics or topography. It is the real experience of fulfilled possibilities. So Hebrew time is understood as appointed days, regular seasons, fulfilled processes. Rain, harvest, birth, death, the exodus and judgment are just a few examples. These events happen when they happen. They are part of the flow of life, not fixed dates on the calendar. In fact, they are completely under the sovereign control of YHVH. In many cases, these opportunities are repetitive. But they are not merely circular. God’s creation is going somewhere and only He knows its direction and its sequence.
In the Greek world, time is abstract and static. The idea that time is like a line or a river is a spatialization fallacy. It treats time as if it were space. It thinks of events as if they were points on the line or positions in the river. This kind of thinking sees world in terms of discrete entities—boxes filled with things that are connected by movement—like clocks. It is basically a reduction of the complexities of reality to a single analog.
But in Hebrew the “events” of life are dynamic. What matters is the relationship created by the intersection of these events. Reality is a complex organism of relationships–growing more and more complex in its interconnected fabric every day. Nothing is really spatially or temporally discreet. Ideally the creation is the harmony of all relationships under the holiness of God. Therefore, spatial markers like “in front,” “back,” “ahead,” “behind,” etc. are inappropriate and misleading. What really matters, and it matters “forever,” are the relationships that are created by the connections of all these filled opportunities. But until the opportunities are filled, the relationships don’t exist in the real, complex world. In other words, tomorrow doesn’t really exist because the nexus of relationships that will bring about whatever tomorrow will be are not present yet.
How does this affect our vision of God and His interaction in the world? How does this affect who we are now, in the only “time” that is real?
Topical Index: time, ‘et, Ecclesiastes 3:1
Skip, are you able to think in the Hebrew concepts or do you have to go back and forth in your mind with definitions and work it out? Is all of this what the word talks about in Ephesians; to be renewed in the spirit of our mind and to no longer walk in the futility and darkened understanding from having been estranged from Yaweh?
The influence of my own cultural heritage often prevents me from seeing what I later see to be true. But the key is to keep asking, “What would this have meant to the first audience?” and never give up trying to understand the world from that paradigm. It is both an academic exercise and a leaning on the Spirit of the Lord. How else can I “time” travel to that ancient past?
It has always been interesting to me that, in terms of prophetic projection, many ‘times’ (LOL!) it seems that we on this end; the recipients and the experiencers of those prophecies, could influence them, or even negate or change them. In fact, it seems that G-d is prone to doing the classic parental maneuver of “If you don’t straighten up, I am going to do this”. Thus, we get Jonah whining about the promised destruction of Ninevah, and Josiah’s reform being met with with the limited assurance that he had only stalled the inevitable until after his death because the sins of Manasseh (WHO HAD REPENTED!), were still in the docket.
Everyone is holding their breath over the date of the promised return of Yeshua now. “What is the DATE?” Yeshua said He Himself did not know, but “only the Father”, when He was here. (I presume They have discussed it since.) But when I read Revelation, and other places too, I get the sense that the promised return is being delayed, and we are the ones doing the stalling. We are resisting the unity that the number of 144,000 represents, for sure; the perfection of direction where we have thrown down fully on the choice of the “commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus”. Instead, it seems, we are getting consumed in COUNTING things in reference to this date: blood moons, eons, the number of mythical horses – anything we can get our hands on, in fact, but the only thing I can find that we have been given to count this ‘time’ around is ourselves; as in, am I in that number? More specifically, “hey, are we all here yet?” The boat of time DOES wait, and it is waiting for ALL men, for “He is not willing that any should perish”. We hold the other end of that rope called time; it is the very end of that eon that we were given to hold, in fact, and we STILL apparently have not figured out that we are even holding it, much less what we should be doing with it! Sigh.
I have sometimes wondered if His return might occur ‘when’ the phrase “in the fullness of time” becomes a reality. I could envision it as filled with righteous acts, rather than cycles of light and dark. I wonder what the Creator sees when He looks down on earth, does He see righteous acts that have brought more into relationship with Him? What would that look like? When we praise Him with our mouths, does He see the music coming up to Heaven? Surely our universe is meant to be filled with all we are capable of doing, as we walk in His image, the way our Savior did. I hope we doing our part to fill up the time. 🙂
Laurita, For the longest ‘time’ I thought that rope was given to me to use as a tool to scourge others and to bind them so they would do as I willed and not run away, but it turned out I did that to myself as well. They still ran away, only faster and further away, with wounds and will that have not yet healed. As for me, I was mortally wounded and so bound by my own rope that I could only free enough of it to attempt to hang myself with it. I am glad He intervened and sent Mashiach Yeshua to cut that rope off my neck, away from my wrists and ankles and off my chest. Now, as they say, I have ‘time’ on my hands…and rope enough to remind me of my past. What to do and where to go are now free to discover. Hallelujah!
While we may not know “what a Day may bring forth..,” – we do know Who brings forth the Day!
…so Hebrew time sounds like a Rubik’s cube with more than 43 quintillion possibilities (effectively infinite) that we can “play with” every day. All the pieces are intersecting and relational and when we get it all “right” we are left with just One result. Could it be that we all have been given a cube and can (may) all find the right solution but some of us are going to take longer than others to find it. A lot longer, maybe never?
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven— Ecclesiastes 3:1 NASB
Having been in the medical field most of my working career, I have seen and experienced a wide variety of Mercy given by Yah in very real situations. From the ability to ventilate premature babies to be able to breath on their own and continue to grow, some with no apparent problems, some with very acute physical and psychological problems and others a mix. Seeing children born with ‘S’ shaped backbones, who within the time the surgical team places special rods to allow the spine the support, stand tall and gain several inches of height. Experience the teenage girl so mangled in a car wreck that only a miracle would allow the child to walk away from the special rehab unit to carry on with life! And to, also, experience in so many times, life snuffed out of the young and old even in the controlled environment of the ER, ICU or patient floor of the hospital. We (I) question why some received more time on this earth than others. It certainly seems to be answered by the Preacher who wrote the verse Skip quotes in this Word of the Day.
Being somewhat semi-retired, I do have a part time job as a professional drug runner! Legal, too! To save lots of money, people who need IV medications can get them at home if the family or home care nursing helps to make sure the patient is connected to the device delivering the medication. Patients don’t have to spend their days in the hospital out patient departments receiving the doses of IV’s that can take 8 to 12 hours to dispense.
Yesterday, I delivered a specialty medication (9 doses-1 dose per day) to a gentleman. He received the medication, signed off the paperwork as we were chatting about the weather, etc. The medication needed to be placed in the refrigerator. I asked him if I could do that for him and he said no and took the medication and placed it in the refrigerator. His apartment was quite small and the front room housed the kitchen and small living room in one open space.
As he turned from the refrigerator, he began to show signs of weakness and confusion. I asked him if I could assist him in sitting down. At that same moment he grabbed his head in both hands and screamed very loudly caused by the pain he was feeling. At this point his knees buckled and I did the best I could to break his fall. Well the next few minutes were very stressful, as you can imagine, as I began CPR with my right arm and called 911 with my left hand. After getting 911 on the line, I continued CPR with both arms while continuing to give information through the speaker configuration. It took about 5 minutes for the 1st officer to arrive and another 5 for the ambulance with EMT gentlemen to arrive. They took over the CPR and used a defibrillator on three occasions, all to no avail. It was just too late for anything to work at that point.
Today’s word really rings loudly as I still hear his scream of pain; but thankfully, it was only for a second of time!
Truett,
Chilling story.
I have never actually witness someone die. That is, to be in observance of that last second or moment or whatever it is when a person is now more.
But, I have thought about it many times. It boggles my mind that one moment they are here and the very next moment, no matter how small we break down the perception in some measurable units, they aren’t there anymore. Incredible.
What a mystery and event that generates such awe in me.
I want to think I have a grip on things pretty well. How wrong I am. In that one second of time when someone goes from here to not here lies such a deep and profound mystery. It makes my wonder meter soar as I think of the control, energy, authority and action of YHVH at such a time. It certainly makes me feel much smaller in the scheme of things. He manages the transfer of someone being in our world to the next, a place(?) I cannot fathom or even begin to. Every time I start I simply have to begin again, usually with my jaw hanging open in amazement.
I can’t reconcile the sovereignty of God with the sovereignty of free will. For many believers, they both seem to be a given but ultimately, one has to submit to the other. As such, they can’t both be sovereign.
Skip says, “Hebrew time is understood as appointed days . . . birth, death . . . are just a few examples. . . . They are . . . not fixed dates on the calendar . . . they are completely under the sovereign control of YHVH.”
Does this not seem to be a contradiction?
But in defense of this position, I am told that God can pull a million strings a day to shape events to conform to His plan, – but how does God pull strings on everyone’s free will? For example, I am thinking of someone who commits suicide.
If the date is “appointed” but not “fixed”, how does YHWH control it? Was the suicide under the control of YHWH or under the free will of the man? Did the man’s free will succumb to the will of YHWH’s plan or did YHWH just help accommodate the man’s free will?
Somethings got to give. Do we want to make YHWH responsible for the man’s suicide? I think not. Will God allow the man to subvert His appointed dying day by overriding God’s will? I think not.
Somehow I think we have to reconsider our definition of “free” will. Nothing is free. Every decision we make comes with a cost. Our “will” will either lead us to be a slave to sin or a servant of righteousness. Slave or Servant? Neither are free but one leads to life and the other to death. I don’t know what explains the dichotomy but I’m betting God’s sovereignty trumps man’s free will, (if such a thing exists.)
Maybe we are equating our Greek concept of free will with the yetzer hara and yetzer ha’tov. I’m not certain they are at all the same. The man who jumps from a bridge still has a choice to submit his yetzer hara to the ha’tov. Greek free will seems to imply always being able to choose what we want to do. The Hebraic view seems more about choosing what God has said to do, even when we don’t necessarily “want” to do it. We reign in our will to match His. I don’t think that’s the way free will is generally perceived in the world.
Sorry – that was supposed to post as reply to Dan.