Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?Consider these two starkly different depictions of the Grand Mystery. On one side, we have an angry god demanding obedience and threatening his followers with bloodcurdling vengeance for not living up to his expectations.
~ King James version ~
Returning is the motion of the Tao.
Yielding is the way of the Tao.
~ from Verse 40 of the Tao Te Ching ~
On the other side, we have an essence that demands nothing and threatens no one because there were no expectations to begin with. One is about trying to force things to go a certain way, while the other emphasizes yielding, flexibility and balance.
If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
Well, in context, it is rather a threat, But in a way, God could be saying, "be in awe of this, who created such a balance of waves and sand." The language is legalistic (perpetual decree), but the whole "fear me" thing seems more about reverence and wonder at such an awesome thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's also rather Taoist: the waves crash with force and power, but this soft sand is not overcome.
Also, a few lines back, there's this:
Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD's.
that's pretty mystical, if you read it esoterically, as an inner teaching. Tearing away the ten thousand things (the many gods, the material things people lust after), leaving the pure awareness, the atman, consciouness, Christ-in-me, etc. Much more can be gained from the Bible this way, than by reading it exoterically, that is, the outer teaching.
I know I'm constantly being argumentative on this point in this series, and I know you're mainly trying to argue against the literalist reading... I just feel it needs to be said.
And thank you for saying it!
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