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Wednesday, 11 November 2015

In the Ark

Torah and Canon: 2nd Edition,
James A. Sanders, Cascade Books, 2005, page 135

Having swept through the Writings section and examined some of the wisdom of Job and Ecclesiastes, James Sanders returns to G-d's "freedom from and sovereignty over any creed or doctrine". He produces this lovely text, so remeniscient of Eliezer Bekovitz:

They make you recall abruptly that the ark of the covenant did not contain God; nor for that matter can we be absolutely sure that it contained a ten-point distillation of God's will for all time. What we can be sure of from the old story is that the ark was often a three-day journay out ahead of Israel: the symbol of God's presence could not be sought totally in her past but in such periods of change of self-understanding and identity. That presence had to be boldly affirmed in the terrain of an unknown future. The Bible has to be read and re-read in ever-changing contexts to probe its wisdom and plumb its depths in a new day.

I like that. G-d is always leading His people from the front. He is always waiting where the people next need to be and, particularly at times of uncertainty and instability, He is calling the people forward to where He is already present.

Posted By Jonathan, 9:00am Comment Comments: 0