Chapter 2
The Hebrew view of Time
“And God said, Let luminaries be in the expanse of the heavens, to divide between the day and the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.” Gen 1:14
The “luminaries” in the heavens (lit: skies) were to serve as an observable natural chronometer for mankind, showing the division and calculation of the three main units of time: Days, Months, and Years. Now just as we needed to lay a foundation of the natural seasons in order to understand the spiritual seasons, so too we need to follow the same principle in dealing with these three units of time. It wouldn't help at all to begin our study of spiritual cycles (appointed times) by using our western (or Gregorian) calendar in attempting to understand time cycles. We need to identify the way in which the Hebrew mind used calendars, which was based on a lunar cycle and not a solar cycle (as in the Western or Gregorian calendar).
Some background will help here. The Hebrews kept time in a rather unique fashion based upon what God had said to them rather than by man’s ingenuity, science or philosophical thinking. The sacred calendar (Exo12:1-2) was how their relationship with God functioned, and their civil or agricultural calendar was how commercial and daily life operated. It was the sacred calendar that reminded Israel of its great historical events and divine encounters.
In this modern era Judaism still preserves itself through the functioning of festivals and holy-days, even without the presence of a Temple or Priesthood. All that makes historic Judaism tangible can be found in its adherence to the yearly cycle of feasts and fasts prescribed by God Himself. The Jewish faith is kept intact by a regulated, structured and finely-timed set of practices celebrating their history.
Locked into these cycles is a specific way of keeping time. The Hebrew mindset is firmly embedded in “time” and counts it from one specific event - the creation of the universe. Paradoxically this “timing” and all the events of Israel that occurred within it, is regarded as “timeless”. For the Hebrew mind to live in the world, in time and space, is a response to an event or a series of events - namely, God’s dealings with them. All the occasions when God met with Israel, challenged Israel, blessed Israel, and chastised Israel; all these are remembered and even rehearsed in the holy-days of Judaism. It’s like a timeless calendar anchored to time.
Our western mind-set in regard to “time” is based on the idea of linear time. Imagine world history as a horizontal line with the left hand side being the “beginning” and the right hand end of the line representing the “end”. In between we have certain periods and events marked off, such as the age of the dinosaurs, the age of certain empires (like the Roman, Greek, etc), the age of the industrial revolution, the age of the space race, etc.
We’ve all seen these time-lines in school books for example. That’s how we in the west consider time to be: a straight line, beginning at some point and ending at another. Even our own lives are seen in this fashion. Next time you’re at a funeral listen to the eulogy and you can be sure that in people's mind that’s how they’re thinking about the deceased’s life - like a horizontal timeline, from birth through to death.
The person giving the eulogy usually starts with the time and place of “Sam’s” birth. Where he went to school, what his first job was, his favorite holiday spot. We think of the time dear old Sam met his future wife, Mary, and married. Then they moved from one city to start work in another and there they had the good fortune to meet some neighbors who introduced Sam to golf. Sam was so taken with this sport that he won may trophies. This brought more money in, so Sam and Mary bought a bigger house and travelled a lot. In their travels they...etc. You get the story I’m sure.
What’s happening in this type of linear thinking? Life is dictated mainly by outside, and often, impersonal circumstances. Something causes Sam and Mary to embark on another stage of life. Cause and effect. It’s a scientific principle we’re so familiar with we hardly even consciously think about it. All human life is dictated by this “cause-and-effect” principle; it’s inescapable. But this is NOT how the Hebrew mind considers one’s time-line, especially in relation to eternal things.
The Hebrew idea of time (corporate and personal) is linked to how an individual or a group (e.g. the nation of Israel) responds to an event of which they are generally passive recipients. Hence the story of God’s dealings with His chosen people, Israel, were (and still are) associated with a non-human event outside of their control, the “Day” (or “Days”) of Creation.
It’s in the responding to the event that’s important, not the re-acting to its happening. In the west we’re more likely to ask the question “What’s the point of our existence on earth?” (a rather abstract and detached question), whereas the Hebrew mind would ask “What does God want me to do while I’m here on earth?” (a very practical and personal question).
Westerners aren’t connected to the greater picture as much as those with a Hebrew mind-set. The Hebrew or Biblical view of time is to do with God’s acts in history and our response to them. The Biblical texts are predominately to show forth the rhythms of God’s redemptive purpose and their transforming power when we respond to them. The Hebrew mind-set sees a God who is able to transform both humanity and the world, actions that He performed and which require us to either respond to or react against them. In other words, God acts and this action requires us to think through what it means to us, not in a remote philosophical way, but through us engaging with it in intimacy and trust.
Biblical thinking requires us to fix our life to what the Creator and Finisher of all life has purposed. This is why in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, we’re encouraged to be mindful of our beginning and our end.
“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies with Christ, even as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will…” Eph 1:3-5
“If, then, you were raised with Christ, seek the things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right of God.” Col 3:1
“I am pressing on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.” Phlp 3:12
Hebrew (and therefore Biblical) thought anchors itself in experiences (natural and spiritual) that are accepted as realities. It’s by responding to these realities that one comes to truly “know” - through experience, not through the acquisition of facts and information. To “know” in Hebrew is associated with the words “to listen” (Shama = is a verb meaning “to listen,” but can also mean “to obey,” or more correctly “to respond”. In responding correctly there is true knowledge and practical wisdom).
Interestingly, in some ancient Hebrew thought the seat of intelligence was regarded as residing in the ears, not the brain! For the Hebrew it’s the ability to properly listen that comes first, not intelligence. That’s why they believed anyone could hear from God as long as they were open to the spiritual experience first, rather than analyze the experience.
Intelligence was believed to be a gift from God to be used wisely, not the ability of the mind to simply gather information and digest it. Knowing something wasn't just the ability to observe and make deductions from that observation, it was by experiencing what you were observing that imparted correct understanding.
For example, in the Hebrew way of understanding, to simply observe a person’s behavior wouldn’t give you an accurate understanding of them, their beliefs or values. You had to walk with them, experience them, listen to them, live with them, and out of those experiences make a correct deduction about them as a person. Hence Jesus said, “Follow me”; and Paul wrote “Be imitators of me as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Cor 11:1)
Knowing someone in ancient Hebrew thought involved having an intimate attachment with, and commitment to, that person. So true knowing is a direct result of first-hand experience. This discerning knowledge is therefore more to do with revelation than with analyzing facts. That revelation to rightly hear from God is a gift, which when responded to, brings blessing.
“The LORD has opened my ear and I did not rebel; I did not turn away.” (Isa 50:5)
The above verse highlights the importance of having a “listening ear” first, which is only then followed by “obedience” to the given word. So for the Hebrew mind, attentive listening comes prior to doing. Note how the following text illustrates this way of thinking. “And Moses took the book of the covenant, and read in the ears of the people. And they said, All that the LORD has said, we will do, and be obedient.” (Exo 24:7)
It’s like saying; “We will do, THEN we will obey”. To our western way of thinking this seems back-to-front. We generally learn something and then act based on the accumulated knowledge. Western thought processes aren’t wrong, just different. However when attempting to understand biblical concepts related to Times and Seasons we need to focus more on the Hebraic way of thinking. And as we’ve seen such thinking relates to a personal encounter with God at a time appointed by Him.
At an appointed time God created the world, at an appointed time He chose Israel, He made known His will at an appointed time, He guided and instructed in appointed seasons. Israel’s part in this was to respond by trusting that the One who had spoken was true, faithful and reliable. So that even though “time” is connected initially with a “past” creative act it’s also very practical as it unfolds through the events of history “now”. For the Hebrew mind, the world is connected to creation, and history is man’s experience of this unfolding.
The dimensions of “time” and “space” are not theories to the Hebrew mind, but realities of which they partake and experience. “Time” for the Hebrew mind is definitely not an abstract notion but a reality connected to each individual’s life. Hence when celebrating the Passover for example (an event we would called “in the past”) the Hebrew mind rehearses the going-forth from Egypt in such a way as to infer that they are personally enacting it “now”. The feasts and holy-days are a re-entering of the event, not in “the past” but as a kind of actual event for each succeeding generation.
The Exodus therefore wasn’t something that simply happened “to them” way back in Moses’ time, but something that keeps on re-happening in this age also. The participant of a Passover celebration is actually re-doing the same thing “now” as it happened “back then”. It’s as if the participant is personally re-living the Exodus and thus identifying with that great God-directed event.
“In every generation each person should feel as if he personally had come out of Egypt, as it is written: And you shall tell your son in that day saying: This is done because of what the LORD did for me when I cam up from Egypt.” This comes from the Passover Seder meal, where a participant at the meal asks the father of the household the question “Why are we doing this?” The father’s response is taken from Exo. 13:8 and corporately personalized for those present.
In the west we’re a little familiar with this kind of thinking, when we remember the crucifixion on Good Friday for example. But we don’t carry the same sense of life-rhythm within us that the Jews do in regard to their festivals.
Our celebrations of events like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, religious observances, etc, are somewhat disjointed from the daily rhythm of life. They are more like events that impinge on our life each year; they are like events we view, rather than events we’re anchored to. For us an anniversary of any sort is a joyous celebration of a good event that crops up annually on a time-line; something in the past that happened and now we remember it by “re-viewing” it.
I don’t know about you, but when there’s a family celebration or a national observance happening, even though I’m partaking of them, I still feel I’m also watching the process from a distance. I look around, take stock of what’s going on, look at people’s faces, watch the cutting of the cake or people sing the national anthem, etc. I “view” the spectacle as much as participate in it. It’s both an involvement in it as well as a viewing of it happening. It might just be me, but I sense this is how westerners generally partake of such celebrations.
We’re even prone to disassociate our minds for a moment while we look lovingly upon Grandma’s face as she open’s her 90th birthday present. We take in how her eyes brighten as she unwraps the gift, the smile on her lips, all the time recalling with fondness something she did for us or said to us way back. In that brief moment we reflect on her, her nature, her character, who she really is. All the while we’re there in the room, packed in with other family members, but a little distant as we mentally draw back and reflect. We’re there participating, but also viewing the scene as if from a short distance. And then someone begins to loudly sing “Happy Birthday” and suddenly we’re back in the room as it were, joining in with the celebrations.
For the Hebrew mind-set an important personal or corporate “life event” is attached to something greater than one’s own life and history. It’s attached to what God has done as far back as the very beginning of time” itself. Paul even says that our personal history is connected to God “before time began” (2 Tim 1:9 and Eph 1:4). What an astonishing thought this is!
So, in this chapter we’ve considering the difference between Greek/western thought and Hebrew/eastern thought. Both cultures view their surroundings, lives and values in ways that are fundamentally different to one another. But this doesn’t mean that one is right, and one is wrong. They are merely “different”, but I would stress that in attempting to understand the appointed Times and Seasons of God we should try to think through the Hebrew mind-set to gain the most accurate understanding of our subject. So it will be very helpful to keep some of these ideas in mind as we continue.
Re-capping some main principles now:
1. Greek (western) thought sees history as linear, like a horizontal time-line. Hebrew (eastern) thought sees history more like a rhythm or as cyclical However this shouldn’t be taken to mean that the Hebrews believed in history constantly repeating itself, or in the erroneous doctrine of re-incarnation.
2. Greek thought sees the world mainly through the intellect, i.e. abstract thought. Hebrew thought sees the world mainly through experiences of the senses, i.e. “concrete” thought.
3. Greek thought tends to describe objects in relation to their appearance. Hebrew thought describes objects in relation to their function and use.
4. God calls us to respond to His encounters, rather than to react against them. We are to engage, rather than remain aloof from, or reject such encounters.
5. To truly know God is to listen attentively first, before any action is taken. Spiritual knowledge is mainly gained through first-hand experience rather than by accumulating information gained from outside sources.
6. For the Hebrew, festivals and celebrations are not something to simply remember and enjoy, but rather something to “rehearse” and re-visit in each succeeding generation as if they were historically and personally present.
7. We best understand a person not by observing them and accumulating facts about them, but by being with them and becoming committed to them.
8. Life, both individual and corporate, is anchored to the great purposes of God, and so can only be truly understood and appreciated when this view is fostered in the daily or annual cycle of historical life-events.