In yesterday’s post, we discussed the significance of the Altar of Incense in relation to the Ten Words. The High Heaven is God’s Throne-Room, and the Starry Heaven is an imprint of that Throne-Room which constitutes a meeting place with God. In the tabernacle, this relationship and structure is replicated in the relation between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place- the latter of which was regularly maintained by the Israelite priesthood, who wore bright garments as stars of heaven. The Ten Words which were stored in the Holy of Holies signified God’s word spoken to the world. The Altar of Incense signifies the world in its reply to God. The priesthood gathered up four different spices, signifying the world in its fourfold totality, and joined them in fire on the altar, sending them up to God as prayer. In this relationship, God was linked to the world by the mediation of His priestly people. Today, I want to turn more specifically to the Ten Words and their correspondence to the creative words of God. The Ten Words are, after a fashion, the summation of the whole Torah. The Book of Deuteronomy is thematically structured as an exegesis of the Ten Words, so that the entire law is organized in terms of the Ten Words. And the Ten Words themselves can be understood as being summed up in the two cardinal commands: “Love the Lord your God” (the “first table” of Words 1-5, which deal with our vertical relation to God and parents) and “love your neighbor” (the “second table” of Words 6-10, which deal with the horizontal relation to others in a similar station to ourselves).
The Torah is not a set of arbitrary commands: it rather expresses the mode in which Israel can live in harmony with the world as it is: the principle of the world’s existence is the Word of God, in whose image man is created. That Word descends from Heaven at Sinai and is enthroned in the Tabernacle. The Torah provides instructions for how to live in the presence of that Word who sustains the world and endowed Israel with its life and being. The first three words are 1) the prohibition of rank idolatry- the worshiping of false gods, 2) the prohibition of graven images- worshiping God through something false, and 3) the prohibition on “bearing” or “lifting up” the name of God in emptiness. There is a natural unfolding logic to these three words: one must intend to worship the true God. Then, having formed the appropriate intention, one must approach Him in the manner He has designated- God knows His own character and thus can build a ladder down from heaven. We, however, only know God once He has disclosed Himself to us- we cannot initiate a relationship by building a tower up to heaven. This is why Deuteronomy 12, which instructs Israel to liturgically gather only at the appointed place chosen by God, begins the “Second Word” section of the book. Third, having entered into a relationship with God- having been named with His Name- one must wear that name appropriately in the entirety of one’s life. This is not merely using God’s Name as a curse, but bearing His Name with emptiness or hypocritically. James Jordan has (I think convincingly) argued that these three words thematically sketch out Israel’s history. The first phase of Israel’s story unfolds from the exodus to the Monarchy of Israel. During this era, the principal sin of Israel was their going after false gods- the judges repeatedly deliver Israel from oppressors whose gods Israel had worshiped.
The second phase of Israel’s story progresses from the Monarchy to the exile. During this phase, the principal sin of Israel and Judah is not the worship of false deities- only in extreme circumstances does this occur. Instead, the principal sin is the worship of the true God on high places and in an unauthorized way. This is the sin which Jeroboam promotes in the northern kingdom- the northern Israelites continue to be named with theophorics which mark them out with the Tetragrammaton, but the manner of their worship is through golden calves. Likewise, the two most celebrated kings after David and Solomon are Hezekiah and Josiah, both of whom make war against the high places on which Israel would worship God outside the temple (2 Kings 18:3-27, 23:4-24). The third phase of Israel’s history develops from the exile in Babylon to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. During this phase of Israel’s history, the Jewish people consistently worship the one God at the designated place: but their sin is in bearing the name of God with emptiness or hypocrisy. It is for this sin that Jesus rebukes the nation in the gospels.