THE MAN IN THE MIRROR
by Jeremy Chance Springfield
6/8/19
Shavuot (Pentecost) is the time where we remember the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai to the people of the Most High. It is the time when Heaven’s voice was heard in this world. We recall that He redeemed us from a kingdom of deceit and transferred us into the Kingdom of His truth. No more are we slaves to Pharaoh or the sin that ensnared us, no longer forced to obey the desires of the flesh and its wicked rules. In His Kingdom now we are servants of the Holy Spirit, who was also given to us on a Shavuot many generations later in Acts 2, and through His power we have the strength to hear and obey His rules.
Thus, the Torah and the Spirit go hand-in-hand.
They are inseparable!
We see this in Ezekiel 11:19-20, and repeated almost verbatim in 36:26-27.
Thus, the Torah and the Spirit go hand-in-hand.
They are inseparable!
We see this in Ezekiel 11:19-20, and repeated almost verbatim in 36:26-27.
“And I shall give to them a single heart, and a new Spirit I shall place in your innermost. And I shall remove the stone heart from their flesh, and give to them a heart of flesh, so that in My statutes they shall walk, and My rulings they shall guard, and perform them. And they shall be for Me a people, and I shall be for them a Deity.”
Because of this truth, we are admonished to not only hear the Word, but also, to be diligent that we perform it. The book of James 1:22-25 speaks about this necessity in a beautiful way that is worth us taking the time to look at carefully. This will allow us to appreciate just what the Torah is supposed to ultimately do for us. The following translation is taken from the Aramaic language of the ancient Peshitta text of the New Testament. I have translated it from the Aramaic because it holds key details that are simply not preserved in the Greek text.
22 Yet, you must be performers of the Word, and not hearers only, and not deceiving yourselves.
23 For if a man shall be a hearer of the Word, and not a performer of it, this [one] is likened to him who sees his face in a mirror,
24 for he sees himself, and passes, and forgets that which he was.
25 Yet, all who gaze into the complete Instruction of freedom, and abide in it, he is not a hearer of the hearing of forgetting, but instead, is a performer of deeds, and this [one] shall be blessed by his performance.
James tells us that if we are hearers of the Word only, we are like one who sees ourselves in a mirror, and going away, forgets what we look like. The way he expresses this in the Aramaic text is perfect: He uses the word KHAZE which means “sees,” And then he uses the word MAKHZITHA which means “mirror.” The word MAKHZITHA is just the noun form of KHAZE “sees.” James essentially makes a distorted “mirror” in how he explains himself.
If this is how we treat the Torah, by forgetting to do it, James wants us to know that we have deceived ourselves. He even uses another way to show this in how he writes. The word for “deceiving” is TAT’UN. The word for “forgets” is TAA. Both words come from the same root term that means “to wander off.” James makes his point by writing a second “mirror” in the text itself!
Finally, James tells us that the man who performs the Word is blessed, for he is one who gazes into the Torah of Freedom. In saying this, James chose his words carefully. He picked the word KHAR for “gaze” instead of the word KHAZE “sees” he used previously. For “freedom,” he used the word KHIRUTHA. What he did is create one last “mirror” image in the text, as both words come from a root term meaning “to look with respect.”
The words James chose were intentional, for they created an amazing three-fold mirror in the text. Amazingly, this is only preserved in the Aramaic text of the Peshitta. You can’t find this beautiful play in the Greek manuscripts so widely used by the faithful, which shows us the value of returning to the ancient Semitic texts in order to properly understand the depth of the message of Scripture. The message, then, is clear:
The Torah must be put into practice in the life of the believer!
When we look into it, do we resemble what we see?
Is the reflection accurate?
Or is it distorted?
What kind of man will we see in the mirror of the Word?
The Torah must be put into practice in the life of the believer!
When we look into it, do we resemble what we see?
Is the reflection accurate?
Or is it distorted?
What kind of man will we see in the mirror of the Word?
The reason James wrote about the Torah as a mirror was obvious to his readers, but to us so far removed in time and culture, it is not readily apparent. We have to dig a little bit and see the historical and traditional side of things in order to appreciate why James related the Torah to a mirror. The first step is to note the ancient Jewish perspective of the stone tablets. The rabbis of the Talmud suggested a novel way to read Exodus 32:16, which speaks of the Torah being engraved in the stone tablets. They briefly state this in tractate Eruvin 54a.
Now, Exodus 32:16 seems quite clear in intent.
And the tablets were the working of Elohim, and the writing was the writing of Elohim, engraved upon the tablets.
The rabbis, however, preserved a tradition of understanding leading them to read the word KHARUTH “engraved” instead as the word KHEYRUTH “freedom.” While it may sound strange, such a reading is able to be understood just by the Hebrew text alone. There is no difference between the words KHARUTH “engraved” and KHEYRUTH “freedom” but pronunciation. Since Hebrew is not originally written with vowel marks, the Scriptural text can sometimes be read in multiple ways. Therefore, KHARUTH can equally be understood as KHEYRUTH. This is the identical notion James expressed by calling the Word the “Torah of KHIRUTHA” – using the same word, just in Aramaic, not Hebrew. James used KHIRUTHA to refer to this ancient idea about the stone tablets!
Notice also Exodus 32:16 tells us that the tablets were the “working of Elohim.” In Hebrew this is MA’ASEYH ELOHIM. MA’ASEYH refers to something “constructed,” something made. Therefore, the phrase really is telling us the tablets were specially made by the Holy One.
Exactly what that phrase means we really don’t know for certain, but it seems like it is more than just a stone carving, and soon we shall see why. The ancient tradition about the tablets is also referenced in the text of the Mishnah, Avot 5:6. In that passage, it tells us ten things that the Holy One Himself made specially on the eve of the first Sabbath, after He finished making Adam.
According to the tradition in Judaism, The two stone tablets were fashioned on the sixth day. The letters of the Torah were formed on the sixth day. The very Text itself was also already written on the sixth day.
It might seem strange to think He had the Torah finished before the first Sabbath, but if you give it a little more thought, it really isn’t that strange to consider. He wasn’t just making it up as He went along when the people arrived at Sinai. That is not what the three-day waiting period was before the Ten Commandments were given.
It might seem strange to think He had the Torah finished before the first Sabbath, but if you give it a little more thought, it really isn’t that strange to consider. He wasn’t just making it up as He went along when the people arrived at Sinai. That is not what the three-day waiting period was before the Ten Commandments were given.
The tradition is thus an attempt to show He had already planned this giving of His Word by preparing the Text and the tablets long before needed.
But this still does not yet tell us why James chose a mirror to speak of the Torah. To understand that we have to dig a little more in the tradition of the tablets. Returning to another passage in the Talmud, in Nedarim 38a, we read the detail that Moses was just a poor shepherd until he was given something special.
But this still does not yet tell us why James chose a mirror to speak of the Torah. To understand that we have to dig a little more in the tradition of the tablets. Returning to another passage in the Talmud, in Nedarim 38a, we read the detail that Moses was just a poor shepherd until he was given something special.
The tradition that James originally referred back to about the nature of the Torah leads us to the idea that there was something special about the stone tablets which made the very shards of the matrix from which they were hewn valuable! With this information about the tablets of Torah in hand, let us return to the Scriptural text and see how it starts making sense, and why it is important. We pick back up in Exodus 24:10, when Moses and the elders of Israel are on Mount Sinai.
And they saw the Deity of Yisra’el, and under His feet like a working of a brick of the sapphire, and like the essence of the heavens for purity.
We encounter here the same term used previously about the nature of the two tablets the Holy One made. The text gives the wording plainly: MA’ASEYH LIVNATH HASSAPPIR “a working of a brick of the sapphire.” The Hebrew text is telling us the people saw something that looked like someone had taken a brick of sapphire and then “worked” it. The structure is said to be under the feet of the Holy One.
Paying close attention to every detail, we move on to Exodus 24:12 and are met with another curious wording in the Hebrew.
And YHWH said to Mosheh, “Ascend to Me on the mountain, and be there. And I shall give to you the tablets of the stone, and the Instruction, and the commandment which I have written, for you to instruct them.”
Notice how I have underlined a single word in the English translation. This is entirely on purpose, because the Hebrew actually reads that way. The Hebrew text attaches the definite article “Ha” to the word “stone.” This is not arbitrary, but on purpose. The text is saying that the Holy One was not about to give to Moses tablets of “a” stone of just any type, but tablets of “the stone.” What is “the stone” being spoken of? There is only one stone ever mentioned in the text while the people were on Mount Sinai, a stone we’ve already encountered: HASAPPIR “the sapphire.” Based on this, the tradition is thus that the tablets of Torah were made from HASAPPIR!
Now, although the Hebrew text uses the term SAPPIR, which is traditionally translated as “sapphire,” the historical and archaeological facts actually strongly support that what was being referred to whenever Scripture uses the term SAPPIR was really lapis lazuli, and not the gemstone we know as sapphire. While lapis lazuli was widely known and used in the ancient Middle East for a precious stone, and so was highly valuable to possess, the gemstone sapphire was not known at all in Middle Eastern antiquity, only being introduced to the region from the West much later in time by the coming of the Roman people in their conquest of the region. Unfortunately, the term “sapphire” was used in such a way that it did not precisely designate the correct material. This fact is seen in that even in the third century BCE, Aristotle’s successor, Theophrastus, wrote about “sapphire” in his work De Lapidibus IV-23, and described it as being “speckled with gold,” a detail exclusively describing lapis lazuli, and not the gemstone known today by the term “sapphire.” Therefore, in ancient times, simply referring to something as “sapphire” did not designate precisely which material was being referenced. Further context was needed to determine if the gemstone or the rock was intended. Since the gemstone of sapphire was not known in the Middle East during the time frame of the Exodus events, the only possible identification would then be lapis lazuli.
The identification of SAPPIR as lapis lazuli upholds the actual wording of the Torah of it being called by the word EVEN “stone,” for lapis lazuli is a metamorphic rock – a true stone by definition, whereas the gemstone sapphire is a crystal, and thus, by definition, not a rock. Lapis lazuli fits the description of SAPPIR as the Torah gives it in relation to the look of the heavens, for the stone is not only intensely blue, but is also streaked with wisps of grey and white, as well as scattered flecks of golden hues, thus resembling profoundly a sky with clouds luminously touched by the sun’s rays. Also, when it is polished, it becomes highly reflective, such that it can be used as a mirror! The idea of the stone tablets being made from lapis lazuli definitely presents a different view of how they would have looked than has been traditionally portrayed in art and film, but it is one that is far more biblically sound than the popular muted earthen tones of desert rock.
As we near the end of this study, before we can fully answer the question of why James would connect the Torah to a mirror, let us look one more time at a Scriptural detail concerning the tablets. We read in Exodus 32:15 this little-discussed factor.
And Mosheh turned and descended from the mountain, and the two tablets of the testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides, from this [side] and that [side] they had writing on them.
While we would tend to think that this meant some of the commandments were written on one side of a tablet, and some on the other, this is not how the tablets were historically understood to have been inscribed. Returning once again to the Talmud, in Shabbat 104a, it mentions the tablets and speaks of an amazing detail about them.
The Talmud tells us that the interiors of some of the letters were suspended miraculously in mid-air, for the text was not just engraved, but pierced completely through to the other side of the tablet. This allowed for one to see the writing on the front, and then turn it around, and see the writing in a mirror image from the back! The Talmud suggests that the interiors of two different letters were miraculously suspended within the thickness of the two tablets.
If this script was used, twenty-three pieces would have been floating in mid-air. However, it is likely that a different script was used, known as Paleo-Hebrew, and due to different construction, the suspended parts of the letters would have increased to exactly two-hundred floating pieces!
I have created an image of what the tablets would possibly have looked like if engraved on lapis lazuli, and using the Paleo-Hebrew script, which would have been the likeliest candidate of script used based on archaeological evidences from that time period.
While it seems amazing, this idea of the Torah being pierced through to create a mirror-image on its reverse side leads us to the conclusion of the study. The prophet Ezekiel recorded a vision he was given that directly relates to all that we have seen up to this point. In Ezekiel 1:26, he describes a similar sight to what was seen on Mount Sinai.
Above the expanse which was over their heads was a sight of a sapphire stone, like a throne. And over the likeness of the throne was a likeness of a sight of a man from above it.
This vision is an even clearer version of what was seen in Exodus 24 when the people were on the mountain and saw the working of a sapphire brick over their heads. This vision showed the prophet a heavenly throne and a likeness of a man seated upon it.
We know the Holy One cannot be seen with human eyes. Any semblance of Him is therefore going to be the perfect image of man, who is none other than Yeshua the Messiah. Ezekiel was thus peering into the heavens, beyond the sapphire from whence came the tablets of Torah, and he could perceive above it the image of the Holy One realized in the person of the Messiah who existed at that point outside of time.
Think about the importance of this: A fallen, sin-scarred man was looking through the heavenly working of sapphire brick, which represented the Torah given to us, and in apparent reflection before him was the astounding sight of a man!
He saw beyond the Torah to the end goal and purpose of humanity: to sit in the heavenlies and reign with the Holy One! We have to appreciate the Torah, to perform it at every opportunity, but that means we have to appreciate also the piercings which formed the letters, for those piercings lead us beyond the stone itself, to true humanity: the Word made flesh Himself: Yeshua!
We know the Holy One cannot be seen with human eyes. Any semblance of Him is therefore going to be the perfect image of man, who is none other than Yeshua the Messiah. Ezekiel was thus peering into the heavens, beyond the sapphire from whence came the tablets of Torah, and he could perceive above it the image of the Holy One realized in the person of the Messiah who existed at that point outside of time.
Think about the importance of this: A fallen, sin-scarred man was looking through the heavenly working of sapphire brick, which represented the Torah given to us, and in apparent reflection before him was the astounding sight of a man!
He saw beyond the Torah to the end goal and purpose of humanity: to sit in the heavenlies and reign with the Holy One! We have to appreciate the Torah, to perform it at every opportunity, but that means we have to appreciate also the piercings which formed the letters, for those piercings lead us beyond the stone itself, to true humanity: the Word made flesh Himself: Yeshua!
And so we now know that James linked the Torah to a mirror with absolute intention, for he knew the traditions of his people, he knew the tablets were said to have been specially made by the loving hand of the Holy One on the same day as man was lovingly made. He knew the tablets were said to have been pierced clean through, creating a mirror image of the words on their opposite sides. He knew they were said to be made out of such a material that reflected incoming light so that they can serve as a mirror. He knew that looking at the tablets of Torah in this way would inevitably mean a person was looking at himself in the reflection. And he knew that the person who sees the Torah properly as to be heard as well as done will see reflected back in that obedience the One who performed the Torah completely, and by whose righteousness we can have true freedom.
What James knew of this was not hidden knowledge, as I have attempted to show by quoting the rabbis of old. Even the apostle Paul understood this beautiful truth, having been raised in the intricacies of the rabbinic schools and committing to memory the ancient traditions passed down. His religious education acquainted him in these matters, so that, like his fellow-servant James, he wrote as well concerning the unique nature of the Torah, about the stone tablets, the letters, freedom, and a mirror that ultimately all points us beyond the flesh to the Spirit into whose glory we are progressively being changed. He speaks of the surpassing greatness of the glory of Messiah over the tablets of the Torah in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and sums it all up for us in 3:17-18, using words which we have already become familiar with in this study.
What James knew of this was not hidden knowledge, as I have attempted to show by quoting the rabbis of old. Even the apostle Paul understood this beautiful truth, having been raised in the intricacies of the rabbinic schools and committing to memory the ancient traditions passed down. His religious education acquainted him in these matters, so that, like his fellow-servant James, he wrote as well concerning the unique nature of the Torah, about the stone tablets, the letters, freedom, and a mirror that ultimately all points us beyond the flesh to the Spirit into whose glory we are progressively being changed. He speaks of the surpassing greatness of the glory of Messiah over the tablets of the Torah in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 and sums it all up for us in 3:17-18, using words which we have already become familiar with in this study.
Yet, Marya is that Spirit, and the place of the Spirit of Marya is freedom! Yet, we all, with unveiled faces, as in a mirror, see the glory of Marya, and to that likeness we are changed, from glory to glory, as from Marya the Spirit.
On Shavuot, as we remember the giving of the Torah, of the freedom that comes with living for the Holy One, let us not forget what it means to see beyond it also to the Man in the mirror!
All study contents Copyright Jeremy Chance Springfield, except for graphics and images, which are Copyright their respective creators.