I came across this verse yesterday. I have never posted an entire Bible passage before, but I was awestruck at the similarity between this depiction of false wisdom and that which had come to me spontaneously.
Proverbs 9
Wisdom's Invitation
1Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
3She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
4"Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!"
To him who lacks understanding she says,
5"Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6"Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding."
7He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself,
And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself.
8(N)Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
9Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
10The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.
13The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
14She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
15Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
16"Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,"
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
17"Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
18But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
Wednesday 17 March 2010
Monday 15 March 2010
Sheol
Sheol is wilderness and exile: a place of silence that has no character or echo. It is a desert of aimless wandering, within which are pitched 'tents', usually referring to something sub-standard, as if the Blessing has not been accepted - the "dwelling of the wicked". Moreover, I Sheols are rooms or chambers a large complex of atrium. Somewhere in the building is God's throne room, the heart of the system, and these anti-chambers are somehow cut off from the blood supply – they lie on the 'wrong side of the veil', i.e. not in the Holy of Holies but outside of God's sanctuary. Sheol is a type of purgatory, or waiting room, maybe a type of purification as we wait for "God's smoke to fill the temple". In Sheol there is "Gnashing of Teeth" and also plagues of many sorts.
However, it is more complicated than merely a place of punishment. For me, there are two reasons why somebody would be in a Sheol. Although once you are in, you became entrapped as if in a whirlpool, there is also a false lure that keeps you there wittingly, which is also the pull factor that got you there in the first place. This is the idea of a snare – it lures you in with false promise, but does not reveal to you the burdensome conditions until you have already signed the contract. I don't know how this works for other people, but for me, the deepest desire of my heart is to have knowledge. Sheol then seems to offer a type of 'secret, exclusive knowledge' that will make me 'like God' (sound familiar?...Eden...) In reality, the knowledge in Sheol is nothing, counterfeit, and alchemy, and the result is destruction. Interestingly, the recent financial crisis was largely blamed on 'financial alchemy' – self-deception or risk elimination due to incomprehensibly complex instruments and formulae. The result is a prolonged period of readjustment.
Until this point, Africa has been in a Sheol, in that it has not had the ABILITY to develop: a 'bad equilibrium' or 'poverty trap' of no infrastructure, no investment and persistent poverty manifests itself in fertility, subsistence agriculture, corruption, conflict, etc. But I feel that opportunities now exist, not least Chinese investment and micro-finance. There is now no excuse: the door has been opened, and escape is in its grasp. Now it is a matter of attitude and willpower. Hopefully the lure of Sheol will not dominate: although we all feel the bite of sin (not completely, thank God), we still return to it, as a dog to its vomit. And the Word says that to return to the path of destruction after being delivered from it is worse than ever having been delivered.
The opposite of Sheol is Salem, i.e. Jerusalem, or for us, the New Jerusalem. Personally, I have escaped a very significant Sheol in my life, and now feel like I am in God's sanctuary: I have crossed the veil that was torn when Christ died and was raised. And to be honest, I feel that Sheol is the period of time in between Christ's death and his resurrection. Once we enter his dwelling place (the HOUSE of God rather than mere TENTS), we receive divine wisdom.
However, we also then bear the responsibility of Priesthood, as only the High Priests can enter the Holy of Holies. Part of our responsibility as priests is to help other people escape their own Sheols. To do this, we must bring the Light of Christ from the sanctuary, through ourselves, to the anti-chambers. We must unlock the doors, show people the way to the Promised Land. The rest is their choice. But the offshoot is that we must comport ourselves in a way that keeps us from Sheol (or else we will be the ones in need of deliverance). We must steer clear of Babylon, of Egypt; we must never falsely pine for our times in that horrible place, as the Hebrews did when the times got tough. Better is one day in the House of God than thousands elsewhere.
The other side of Sheol, apart from being this 'library' or 'encyclopedia' of false knowledge, is that it is also a false justice. God's house is a courtroom, and all things hang in perfect harmony and balance. For an economist, this represents 'perfect efficiency'. Any attempt to create perfect balance without God's revelation, like false knowledge, leads to destruction. This brings to mind Eudamonia, which Aristotle conceived as a man-made Utopia, reached by living a life of perfect ethical moderation. It was apparently based on the 'Golden ratio', which appears in nature and geometry ubiquitously. So the ideas of justice and knowledge are really one and the same.
I was wondering how Christians can enter this Sheol, which seems to be a lack of salvation. Mom suggested that it was because Sheol is a chamber of the sole, not the redeemed spirit. The sole can go astray and may need correction even when the Holy Spirit is present. In Paul's letters, he often tells his readers that they are 'dead' or 'asleep', and this is what I think he means. This connotes the idea of the seeds being scattered on three types of ground: the hard ground and the fertile ground have clear-cut consequences. But there is also this 'in-between' state, where growth happens but is constrained and strangled out.
Pre-Christ Judaism held that 'Abraham's Bosom' represented a comfortable exit from Sheol, which was a place of purification for the righteous and unrighteous alike. Thanks to God's grace, we are delivered from Sheol.
However, it is more complicated than merely a place of punishment. For me, there are two reasons why somebody would be in a Sheol. Although once you are in, you became entrapped as if in a whirlpool, there is also a false lure that keeps you there wittingly, which is also the pull factor that got you there in the first place. This is the idea of a snare – it lures you in with false promise, but does not reveal to you the burdensome conditions until you have already signed the contract. I don't know how this works for other people, but for me, the deepest desire of my heart is to have knowledge. Sheol then seems to offer a type of 'secret, exclusive knowledge' that will make me 'like God' (sound familiar?...Eden...) In reality, the knowledge in Sheol is nothing, counterfeit, and alchemy, and the result is destruction. Interestingly, the recent financial crisis was largely blamed on 'financial alchemy' – self-deception or risk elimination due to incomprehensibly complex instruments and formulae. The result is a prolonged period of readjustment.
Until this point, Africa has been in a Sheol, in that it has not had the ABILITY to develop: a 'bad equilibrium' or 'poverty trap' of no infrastructure, no investment and persistent poverty manifests itself in fertility, subsistence agriculture, corruption, conflict, etc. But I feel that opportunities now exist, not least Chinese investment and micro-finance. There is now no excuse: the door has been opened, and escape is in its grasp. Now it is a matter of attitude and willpower. Hopefully the lure of Sheol will not dominate: although we all feel the bite of sin (not completely, thank God), we still return to it, as a dog to its vomit. And the Word says that to return to the path of destruction after being delivered from it is worse than ever having been delivered.
The opposite of Sheol is Salem, i.e. Jerusalem, or for us, the New Jerusalem. Personally, I have escaped a very significant Sheol in my life, and now feel like I am in God's sanctuary: I have crossed the veil that was torn when Christ died and was raised. And to be honest, I feel that Sheol is the period of time in between Christ's death and his resurrection. Once we enter his dwelling place (the HOUSE of God rather than mere TENTS), we receive divine wisdom.
However, we also then bear the responsibility of Priesthood, as only the High Priests can enter the Holy of Holies. Part of our responsibility as priests is to help other people escape their own Sheols. To do this, we must bring the Light of Christ from the sanctuary, through ourselves, to the anti-chambers. We must unlock the doors, show people the way to the Promised Land. The rest is their choice. But the offshoot is that we must comport ourselves in a way that keeps us from Sheol (or else we will be the ones in need of deliverance). We must steer clear of Babylon, of Egypt; we must never falsely pine for our times in that horrible place, as the Hebrews did when the times got tough. Better is one day in the House of God than thousands elsewhere.
The other side of Sheol, apart from being this 'library' or 'encyclopedia' of false knowledge, is that it is also a false justice. God's house is a courtroom, and all things hang in perfect harmony and balance. For an economist, this represents 'perfect efficiency'. Any attempt to create perfect balance without God's revelation, like false knowledge, leads to destruction. This brings to mind Eudamonia, which Aristotle conceived as a man-made Utopia, reached by living a life of perfect ethical moderation. It was apparently based on the 'Golden ratio', which appears in nature and geometry ubiquitously. So the ideas of justice and knowledge are really one and the same.
I was wondering how Christians can enter this Sheol, which seems to be a lack of salvation. Mom suggested that it was because Sheol is a chamber of the sole, not the redeemed spirit. The sole can go astray and may need correction even when the Holy Spirit is present. In Paul's letters, he often tells his readers that they are 'dead' or 'asleep', and this is what I think he means. This connotes the idea of the seeds being scattered on three types of ground: the hard ground and the fertile ground have clear-cut consequences. But there is also this 'in-between' state, where growth happens but is constrained and strangled out.
Pre-Christ Judaism held that 'Abraham's Bosom' represented a comfortable exit from Sheol, which was a place of purification for the righteous and unrighteous alike. Thanks to God's grace, we are delivered from Sheol.
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