Page 256 - Coincidences in the Bible and in Biblical Hebrew

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CHAPTER 17 BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE, GOOD AND BAD
CHAPTER 17 BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE, GOOD AND BAD 235

thence, refers to the other kind of divine requirements, those not reflected in

the world’s perceived specifications (laws of nature), but rather those awaiting us,

humans, to be fulfilled on earth.

As a final comment, it is important to note that although, according to all
monotheistic faiths, God has laid down “ordinances of heaven and earth” (Jer.

33:25), he is still capable of generating departures from the world’s specifications
(laws of nature). Not all is predetermined by these laws alone. The Bible repeat-
edly warns of the punishments awaiting violations of the divine moral require-
ments, either when these punishments can be traced to the moral transgressions
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that have brought them about, or otherwise (haster astir panai, “I will hide my
hiding”).

17.3 Biblical Knowledge

The biblical reference to knowledge is bizarre. Usages of the concept of knowledge,
or “knowing,” appear in so disparate allusions that one struggles to identify the
underlying concept that binds together words that convey such unrelated meanings
while carrying the same Hebrew root.
Some examples:

• “Tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen. 2:9).
• “And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain”
(Gen. 4:1).
• “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses , whom the
Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10).

• “For they proceed from evil to evil, and they know me not, says the
Lord” (Jer. 9:2).

Two meanings are apparent: knowing in the sense of acquaintance (with God’s
requirements, with people, with certain bits of information), and knowing in the
sense of a sexual encounter between man and woman.
How can these possibly be combined by a shared logic?
One can only make sense of this marriage of such disparate senses by recalling
how the Hebrew language generates epitomes to demonstrate a concept. We have
already encountered two such examples: that of the concept of “there” (realized by
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shamayim, “sky”), and that of the concept of compassion or mercy (refer to sec-
tions 5.2 and 2.1.1, respectively).