johndbrey@gmail.com
©
2008 John D. Brey.
"Lishmah"
is a term used to describe the Jewish doctrine that a thing must be done
"for its [own] sake" . . . rather than through a motive based on
results. ---- Since nothing in the universe produces result like Torah study .
. . Torah study requires that the motivation that causes Torah study have none
of the leaven that is a desire for results. --- The Talmud teaches that bad
things happen (broken necks, etc. . . ) if the doctrine of lishmah is not the
underlying principal of all righteous deeds.
When
the Accuser came to God concerning Job, lishmah was the issue at stake between
God and Job's Accuser. Was Job really a wholly righteous man . . . or was there
some false motivation (some leaven) causing the incomparable rise in Job's
righteousness? ---- The Accuser's entire approach to Job and God concerned the
fact that if "positive results" were not at least a part of Job's
motivation toward righteous acts, then the removal of all "positive
results" could have no effect on Job's righteousness.
The
Accuser --- point blank – asks God to allow him to show that Job has leaven
affecting at least some of the rise in his righteousness. Remove the
"positive results" of walking in righteousness, and Job would begin
to question the very Righteousness of God; Job would use his own righteousness
to accuse God:
As surely
as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste of
bitterness of soul . . . (27:2) . . . I sign now my defense – let the Almighty
answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing. Surely I would wear it
on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown. I would give him account of my
every step; like a prince I would approach him (31:35-37).
Falling
prey to the Accuser’s allegation against him, Job here suggests that his
personal blamelessness is a defense against the Accuser’s indictment. Job
reckons he could wear the Accuser’s indictment against him as something like a
thorny crown! By his own blameless life Job thinks to approach God’s Presence
as a messianic prince; he would stand in the Presence of God based on the
strong arm of his own righteousness.
*
* *
When
God approaches (reproaches) Job, “Who is this who darkens my counsel” .
. . He goes through no small number of examples of His Power and Righteousness.
He establishes that He is omnipotent, and that His omnipotence has never been
set aside, so that every act in human history is watched over by His
omnipotence regardless of whether it concerns Job's personal holocaust . . . or
something on a grander scale. God’s cross-examination of Job has the affect of
making Job aware that nothing which has befallen him is contrary to God’s
Righteousness or His Plan in Creation.
Still
. . . on the surface of things . . . the Job narrative appears to be a complete
repudiation of the Torah’s normative explanation for human suffering? If God’s
Righteousness can suffer a blameless man the same evils that befall a criminal
or a morally questionable individual . . . then there can be no sound motivation
toward a blameless life based on the rewards promised in the letter of the
Torah. The reading of the Torah which suggests that a morally blameless life
leads to all the goods that Job has just had taken away from him, can no longer
stand up to the new reality revealed by God’s cross-examination of Job’s
blamelessness. The characters of the Torah which were sound prior to the
Accuser’s examination now look as rickety and worm-ridden as the character Job.
*
* *
Job's
response to God is the jewel of the whole story: “I know that you can do all
things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, `Who is this that obscures
my counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know. . . My ears had heard of you but now my
eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in the dust and
ashes” (42:2-6).
This
response is either disingenuous genuflecting in the Presence of a force that
cannot be withstood, i.e., Job knows that God has just said "I do
whatever I want and no one need know why I do what I do!" --- Or else
Job has genuinely had a berit milah type theophany. He’s seen God's Plan in the
revelation of His Presence . . . "now my eyes have seen you." ----
This statement solves the conundrum inherent in the whole narrative. It's the
solution to the whole troubled history of those persons seeking God through the
character of righteousness presented in the written characters of the Torah.
Job’s statement concedes that the leaven of "results" was part and
parcel of his motivation. He admits that he took the characters of the Torah
literally, rather than seeing the spiritual intent that crucifies the central
Character of the Torah.
*
* *
The
great Rabbis of mystical Judaism play on the seeing of God's Presence with ones
own eyes. They teach that the seeing of the Presence of God's Sign/Name occurs
simultaneous to the seeing that occurs at berit milah. At berit milah, Abraham
saw the organ representative of the Tsaddik, The Righteous One of God (Yesod),
cut off from the results of his righteous life. Job saw that – per Abraham’s
circumcision --- the Tsaddik would receive the death-blow of a criminal in
response to a blameless life. . . But, unlike Job . . . The Righteous One of
God would endure the holocaust without confusing the mere characters of the Law
with the true Spirit of the Law. ----- In the true Spirit of the Law, the
Tsaddik could slough off the mere characters that veiled the Spirit beneath.
*
* *
The
Tsaddik would endure infinitely more than Job when he triumphed over Satan by
allowing Satan to take away what was given him in the characters of the Torah.
The Tsaddik endures the loss of what is characteristically his without
flinching as Job had done. He’s unmoved by his personal holocaust since he is
the Character loosely represented by the characters portrayed by and in the
Torah. As the Redeemer of all mankind the Tsaddik needn’t flinch when the
spirit of the characters betray the Spirit of the Torah, since, unlike postlapsarian
creation, the Redeemer understands the difference between the character of a
good deed and the Spirit of a good deed.
As
a member in good standing of postlapsarian creation, Job was in fact not
forsaken by God; and Satan triumphed over Job by reason of Job’s equating the
righteousness of a lapsed creature with the eternal Righteousness of God.
Emblematic of those persons seeking relationship with God through human
righteousness, Job fancied the character of his blameless life evidence of his
personal relationship with God. Job imagined that his blameless character could
stand up well in the Presence of the Spirit of the Torah. . . Only after Job
was put in the Presence of the Redeemer did he see that his personal character
. . . irregardless of its manifest blamelessness . . . was as filthy rags in
the Presence of the blood of God’s Lamb.
*
* *
Satan
triumphed over Job by showing that any postlapsarian righteousness that rises
in the Presence of God is seasoned with leaven. When Job came to his senses he
felt like a loaf . . . so that when the leaven was removed his whole life fell
flat.
*
* *
Job
saw that God's Righteous One would triumph over Satan by reaching the end of a
blameless life only to have God Himself forsake the Righteous One for that Plan
that can never be thwarted.
*
* *
As
the throne angel protecting the Righteousness of God, Satan’s authority rises
in proportion to the unrighteousness of man. Therefore a postlapsarian Law with
the power to increase man’s unrighteousness (in the name of righteousness)
would act to amplify Satan’s authority. ---- But viewed from the Spirit of the
New Testament Scripture, Ezekiel 28:15 implies that God found leaven in the motivation
of the very creature stationed to judge the motivation of all other creatures!
--- God’s dilemma becomes how He can deal with creature unrighteousness in the
creature created to deal with unrighteousness in creatures?
*
* *
If
God needs a “creature” to protect His Righteousness (i.e. He does nothing in
Creation without creature mediation), then He would seem to be at the mercy of
that creature who mediates between Him and all Creation? --- In other words, if
God addresses creature unrighteousness Himself, then He needn’t appoint the
highest creature in creation as the authority protecting what He could
otherwise protect Himself. Since God does nothing arbitrarily, the appointment
of the angel of the Presence (to protect God’s Righteousness from
unrighteousness) cannot be arbitrary: it must be a necessary predicate of the
act of Creation.
Consequently,
if it’s a necessary predicate of the act of Creation that God must subject
Himself to creation (ergo the need to appoint a creature as His protector) . .
. then there is some sense in which God’s Righteousness will be threatened by
the very act of Creation. Accordingly . . . if the act of creation can threaten
God’s very Righteousness (and thus God Himself), then by appointing a creature
as His protector, God is wholly subjecting Himself to the act of Creation: He
is saying that the end result of Creation is in fact Righteous despite any
element that might rise and fall and Rise Again in the duration of Creation.
The
implication of this truism is that there is no consequent difference between
God subjecting His Righteousness to creatures (not withstanding the stationing
of a creature to guard His Righteousness) and God in fact becoming a creature
(with all the danger that such a thing could entail for His Righteousness).
The
Plan that can never be thwarted is that Plan whereby God veils the fact that He
will become a creature. He covers His creature-hood with a manhood of
manifestly good character, in that it’s thought to protect the organ of divine
seminality from the ravages of postlapsarian contamination. --- Abraham
revealed that the manhood covering the Throne of God must be cut off to reveal
the Man covered by a veil manifestly good and blameless but not in fact rising
to the level of the Righteousness beneath.
*
* *
Ironically,
God tells Moses that His Name is in the angel of His Presence. The
creature-hood of God is protected by the covering aspect of the throne angel.
Cut off the veil protecting the throne of God and despite the pain and the
blood and such . . . apparently . . . the Man beneath the manhood will be
revealed.
As
for those who think to protect their own righteousness in like manner to Job’s
pre-theophany bravado . . . it should be reiterated that their opposition to
incarnation negates the need for an angel of the Presence. Those who fancy
their protective services as righteousness toward God should understand that
the very thought of “protecting” God from anything . . . even the profanity of
incarnation, supposes that God needs, or can use, the services of creatures.
But this use of the services of creatures --- particularly to protect His
Righteousness --- makes opposition to incarnation superfluous! --- If God is
willing to subject His Righteousness to the protection of a creature (and He
would not if it were not a necessary predicate of His Plan), then that creature
might as well be God Himself since God incurs absolutely no more danger through
incarnation than He does through handing His Righteousness over to the
protection of a creature.
*
* *
In
point of fact, God gains through incarnation, so long as He carefully veils the
Plan of His incarnation! If all creatures think that the angel of the Presence
is the closest thing to incarnate power that God will ever allow . . . then God
can test the true motivation of creatures in their relationship to God by
placing in the position of greatest power a creature with leaven in his own
heart.
*
* *
If
the angel of the Presence is more careful about reasoning out the Plan of God
than those human beings at his service, then he knows that God would not need
his protection unless His Righteousness was subject to the Creation. The angel
of the Presence would understand that if his appointment as protector of the
Throne of Righteousness in fact takes place, it takes place as a necessary
predicate of Creation itself.
The
throne angel understands that his appointment both elevates him to the highest
place in all Creation, and that it also indemnifies him against anything the
Righteousness of God might imposes against Creation since his appointment as
the protector of the Throne makes his indemnification (against unrighteousness)
a necessary predicate of his very appointment. His appointment literally makes
him the incarnate Righteousness of God: he is in every way characteristic of
God’s very Righteousness.
*
* *
God
stakes His existence in this plan. ---- Not only must He veil His incarnation
from Creation (keeping the Plan hidden in a Secret formulated before the
foundations of the world), but He must also incriminate the angel of the
Presence who has been given the sole power of incrimination over Creation.
God’s Plan must contain a means to incriminate the Incriminator! God’s Plan
must somehow accuse the Accuser without the accusation being blasphemous like
Job’s blasphemous desire to wear the crown of righteousness as a prince in the
Presence of God.
*
* *
Job
saw that the one who would wear the crown of righteousness in the presence of God’s
angel of Presence --- without blaspheming the angel of God’s Presence --- would
of necessity possess a righteousness superior to the righteousness of the angel
of the Presence. But since the angel of the Presence is the very measure of
God’s Righteousness the task appears impossible!
Job’s
genuflection in the Presence of the Redeemer reflects the fact that Job saw
that his own blameless life was not only “not” Righteous (by reason of his
postlapsarian existence under the very author of the lapse), but that his
blameless life and his holocaust would play an important role in the ouster of
the author of the lapse which led to his condemnation.
*
* *
Since
Job suffered near death, before showing the leaven in his life, it’s probable
that a man more righteous than Job might come right up against the veil of the
morgue before leaven would show in his motives. Consequently, for God’s Plan to
function, God would need to allow Satan to go further than he went with Job.
But this would require God to negotiate a gambit that would stake His own
Righteousness should death occur to a wholly righteous man!
*
* *
The
only way that God could allow the Tsaddik's Righteousness to triumph over Satan
would be to get Satan to push the Tsaddik through the veil of the morgue! ----
The problem is . . . this Plan would require that God transfer His own
Righteousness to the Tsaddik (since God's own Righteousness would be
compromised by allowing Satan to test the Tsaddik even to the point of death)!
Whereas Satan thought he’d triumphed over God in the case of an extremely
righteous man (Job) . . . by showing that he had leaven in his life . . . God
had deceitfully set the stage for the Tsaddik to bring out the murderous
motivation of the protector of God’s Throne.
*
* *
Satan
was aware of the conundrum facing God in relationship to Satan's own existence.
Only a completely Righteous man could possibly triumph over the angel of
righteousness (and even that would require that unrighteousness be found in the
angel of righteousness). But . . . to know if a man was completely Righteous
would require that he endure even more than Job! ------ Job was brought to the
brink of death before his leaven was shown! ---- So then a truly Righteous man
would perhaps be capable of going to his death without any leaven appearing in
his motivation. . . And . . .consequently . . . (and Satan knew this) . . .
only the death of a Righteous man could show for a certainty that the man had
no leaven in his motivation!
Satan's
authority is secured by the fact that only the death of a perfectly Righteous
man would establish a Righteousness capable of withstanding the prosecution of
the Accuser. ---- And . . . since it's impossible for a Righteous God to
subject a Righteous man to death (since the wage of “sin” is death, death is
admissible for sinners, but not for a non-sinner) . . . Satan knows that if God
allows him to subject a Righteous man to death . . . then that man cannot be
Righteous or else God is staking His own Righteousness in a Gambit of
hyper-biblical proportions!
Should
God ever allow Satan to go further than he did with Job . . . then Satan is
secure in his own mind that God is trying to trick him. Satan imagines that God
would only allow him to torture a Job-like righteous man in the hope that when
that Job-like righteous man got almost to the point of death without failing,
Satan will flinch. But Satan thinks he holds the ace card in his knowledge that
God could not allow him to put a righteous man to death without impugning His own
righteousness.
Should
God allow Satan to put an innocent man to death, then either that man, like
Job, is really really righteous . . . but not Righteous through and through . .
. or else . . . if in fact the man is Righteous (The Righteous One: Tsaddik) .
. . then Satan knows that God would forfeit His own Righteousness by allowing
Satan to put him to death.
*
* *
How
could God stake His own Righteousness? ----- By allowing a Righteous man to be
put to death God is staking His own Righteousness!
*
* *
But
then how could God's Righteousness be kept intact after being made sin by
allowing a Righteous man to be put to death? ---- Only by subjecting His own
Righteousness to the Grace and Mercy of the man He put to death (Matt. 28:18).
Therein, God allows the Righteousness of the Righteous One to trump the
righteousness of the throne angel who conspired with God to put the Tsaddik to
death. By trumping the righteousness of the angel of God’s Presence, the
Righteous One of God becomes the new creature Righteousness of God. The
Tsaddik, possesses a Righteousness tried by fire. Through his tribulation the
Righteous One of God manifested the Spirit of Righteousness which was only an
outward covering of the covering angel. The Righteous One of God becomes the
only creature from the hand of God to have lived completely in the Spirit of
Righteousness rather than acting out the mere letter of the Law. The Righteous
One of God knows that the Spirit of Righteousness is revealed in the Plan of
God which condemns any creature who worships the character of righteousness who
was formerly the letteral covering of the Spirit of the Law.