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Pardes: Jewish Exegesis Pt 4 ‘Sod’

by | Fri, Mar 11 2022

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We’ve spent that past three programs learning about the different levels of Jewish interpretation of the Bible. They’re incredibly fascinating and interesting, but the thing that comes through to me the most, is the absolute necessity and importance of maintaining and protecting the plain, obvious meaning of the text as it was originally written. All other levels of interpretation are never, ever allowed to compromise or diminish the Peshat – the plain, obvious, surface meaning of the text.

There are four levels of Jewish interpretation of the Bible and they are:

Pardes is a Hebrew word that is really an acronym.

P             – Peshat – this is the plain, literal or ‘simple’ meaning of the text

R             – Remez – this is a ‘hint’ that there’s an allegorical or symbolic meaning of the text, often

prophetic in nature

D             – Derash – this is to interpret or discover an ethical or moral lesson in the meaning of the text

S              – Sod – this is a secret or esoteric, mystical meaning of the text, usually by Kabbalists

We’ve looked at the first three, we won’t go over them again here, we’ll just move straight on to the last level of interpretation which is Sod, and it’s the most controversial and even dangerous or problematic level which we would be better to avoid completely.

Sod is the secret or esoteric, mystical interpretation of the Biblical text and all religions have an arm or division that seeks to discover the ‘mystical’ realms.

Buddhism has a mystical arm that uses Yoga, meditation, mantras, and the point of Buddhism is that the world is an illusion and the goal is to reach Nirvana and this is often done through mystical practices, and living many life cycles in a bid to get there.

Hindu mysticism is similar to Buddhist mysticism are similar with a few differences, there’s Shamanism and New Age Mysticism. Islam has a mystical arm called Sufism and of course, Christendom has a long history of mysticism as well, the Christian mystics and their practices that are engaged in so the devotee can reach a spiritual plain to be closer to the divine.

None of these practices are encouraged in the Bible.

Mysticism is defined as being the ‘belief that union with or absorption into the deity or the absolute, or the spiritual apprehension of knowledge inaccessible to the intellect, may be attained through contemplation and self-surrender.’ It’s also defined as ‘vague or ill-defined religious or spiritual belief, especially as associated with a belief in the occult.

The word occult is Latin and it means, ‘hidden’ or ‘secret’. “It’s a collection of beliefs and practices founded on the premise that humans can tap into a supernatural world. Once connected to this other realm, various rituals and special knowledge are used to allow a person to gain abilities and power they would otherwise not possess…”*

Now the reason I put the definition of mysticism right beside the definition of occult is obvious; their definitions are almost the same. They both seek the supernatural realm to gain knowledge that is otherwise unknowable and they seek this knowledge for power and or influence.

Are there Biblical examples of Sod? Yes there are, and in their Biblical context, they’re absolutely safe and correct.

John 1:1-10, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness didn’t comprehend it. Then came a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world and the world was made through Him, and the world didn’t know Him.’

Actually, a great deal of the book of John reveals the divine nature and character of Jesus, so Sod is seen often in this Gospel, the mystical fulfillment of the unprecedented and powerful evidence that God became a man and yet, God – the Son – the Word made flesh – was at the very beginning of creation and was in fact the Creator. John reveals this mystery and makes it plain.

Does John’s use of Sod undermine or compromise the plain, literal, surface meaning of the text in the Old Covenant? Not in the least.

The first chapter of Genesis God – Elohim – is revealed as a plural entity (Gen 1:1); it uses the words “Let us make man in Our image” to demonstrate that there was a plural entity in the creation of human beings, in fact in their image and that the creation came about through God’s spoken Word. Jesus is the Word. (Gen 1:26)

John described Jesus as the “Light” that came into the world and Isaiah actually prophesied that a “great light” would go to the “Land of Zebulun and Naphtali” to the people living in anguish and darkness, in the “Galilee of the Gentiles” where the people “walk in darkness.” (Isaiah 9:1-2) This of course is a Messianic prophesy about Jesus, the “great Light”.

So John’s revelation of Jesus being the Word of God made flesh, of being the Light of the world is completely harmonious with the original text.

Where Sod becomes extremely problematic is when people seek to learn the secret, hidden, mystical supernatural things that God hasn’t revealed and then claim ‘special or divine revelation’ that cannot be confirmed or validated by Scripture, without twisting, diminishing or ignoring Peshat.

The practitioners of Sod are primarily those who embrace Kabbalah, Mystical Judaism. Again, mysticism is prohibited in the Bible and it doesn’t matter what form it takes, we need to avoid it. The information and knowledge that God has revealed, is what He wants us to know. What He hasn’t revealed to us, He doesn’t want us to know about and we should trust Him, and stay well away from it, even if it seems shiny and exciting. If you’re bored with the Word, you have bigger issues to be concerned about.

The practice of mysticism is so close to the practice of the occult that it should be warning enough to us to stay well away from it.

 

Shalom

Mandy