This is the Way
I love discovering the little linguistic quirks of the Bible that we can miss or that get lost in its translation into English. What can I say, I’m a geek and these sorts of things make me happy!! One linguistic quirk I’ve been mulling over for a while now has to do with the continual use of subtle directional language which, it turns out, is all over the canon. But this is often subtle and so not always linked up and fully appreciated. Yet, the more I’ve followed this grammatical thread through the scriptures the more intriguing, pervasive and profound it has become. So I thought I’d share this little linguistic gem with you in the hopes that it increases your awareness of the Bible’s beautiful cleverness, quirkiness and interconnectedness and raises your expectation of finding other little nuggets of linguistic genius in your own reading…
- Directional Language -
My exposé of the directional language of the Bible actually begins with ‘the law’. A couple of years ago I discovered that the word ‘Torah’ is better understood in directional terms. It comes from the Hebrew root ירה (pronounced ‘yara’) which means to flow or throw something in a certain direction. In literal terms people yara an arrow with a bow with the intent of hitting a target. In figurative terms someone might aim or point a finger towards something. Essentially, Torah is less about legal or judicial ‘law’ and more about teaching or instructions that map out a direction of travel - a way - one that leads those who follow it towards Yahweh. A Yah-way if you will (terrible pun, sorry not sorry).
This, of course, means that it is also possible to head in other directions - ones that lead away from Yahweh. It might interest you to know therefore that one of the main Hebrew words for ‘sin’ is חָטָא (pronounced ‘kha-ta’) and literally means to ‘go wrong’ or ‘miss the way’. Again, this is a directional term. Further, the fact that it is possible to miss the way - to sin - leads us onto the idea of repentance. This is also a directional concept. The primary Hebrew word for repentance is שׁוּב (pronounced shüv) which literally means ‘return’ or ‘turn back’.
So, the language of Torah, sin and repentance is based on the imagery of a journey. Sinning is literally walking in the opposite direction from Torah, away from Yahweh. Repenting is literally turning around, heading back in ‘the way’ of Torah again, back towards Yahweh.
- Directional Stories -
This notion of moving towards or away from Yahweh is actually cleverly embedded in many biblical narratives. God calls Abraham to go to a place that He would show him (Genesis 12:1). He literally sends Abraham in a certain direction towards a land of promise. But when Abraham arrives there he decides that God must have made a mistake because there was a famine going on and that didn’t feel very promising at all! So Abraham decides to move against God’s direction and goes instead to Egypt where he almost immediately lands himself in all kinds of mess and ends up selling his wife to Pharaoh… what a fail!
The early stories of the patriarchs are full of this kind of physical movement towards and away from the promised land and towards and away from Yahweh and His blessing. Interestingly, if you get a map out and chart the land they’re meant to reside in, and the places they go to instead, you will discover that their movements away from Yahweh often seem to involve moving east. Adam and Eve are cast out to the east of Eden, Cain, after killing Able heads east to Nod. Lot, departs from Abraham and decides to head away from the promised land going east towards Sodom and Gomorrah.
This association of the East being a direction that leads away from Yahweh is not accidental. It actually has to do with the geography of the Israelite camp in the wilderness. The 12 tribes pitched their tents around the tabernacle which was kept at the centre of the community facing towards the rising sun (see Num 2). The entrance to the tabernacle itself was on the eastern side of its courtyard (just like the entrance to Eden was on the eastern side of the garden - FYI). So those who entered the tabernacle or the tent of meeting, or Eden - those who wanted to move towards Yahweh and his presence and life - did so by moving in a westerly direction. By contrast, to move east was to move out of and away from Yahweh and his presence.
What the biblical writers were trying to do with all this movement and east-west language is subtly embed the idea of following the Yah-way (again, not sorry) in narrative stories. As readers we are reminded again and again to move towards Yahweh, to follow His direction - literally His Torah - because that will lead us to the place of His presence, promise and blessing.
But, if you’re familiar with the Old Testament at all, you will know that time and time again, God’s people have an almost remarkable ability to forget, ignore, or misconstrue God’s Torah. They consistently and continuously lose sight of the way. Which led to the ultimate heading in the wrong direction… heading away from God’s presence, promise and blessing, and into exile.
- Directional Jesus -
Enter Jesus, our favourite obscure Galilean rabbi, who refers to himself as “The Way” - in so doing practically calling himself “The Torah”! To back this emphatic statement up he also declares to his Jewish audience that he is ‘The Truth’ - essentially saying that his halakhah (his particular interpretation and application of the Torah) is the perfect embodiment of the route to Yahweh. As such, he is also “The Life”; following him is the only legitimate path back to Yahweh’s presence, promise and blessing.
Jesus spends his ministry pointing out the various misdirections his people have taken, and seeks to help them ‘repent’ (Mark 1:15) by reorienting them back onto the original Torah path: “you have heard that it has been said… but I tell you…” (see Matt 5-7). This reorientation comes with a health warning… the ‘gate’ and path into Yahweh’s life giving presence is a narrow one that few find (Mat 7:14). The beautiful thing though is that finding that path is made a little easier by the fact that Jesus, Yahweh’s incarnate presence, came as a living tabernacle (John 1:14) in order that anyone who sees and comes to him, enters through his gate (John 10:) sees and comes to the Father and enters His presence (John 14:9). You might even say that ‘The Way became flesh so that he might be a lamp to the feet of those who had gotten lost, and a light that illuminated the correct path that would lead them back to Yahweh again (John 1:14 ft. Psalm 119:105).
(OK, at this point I’m aware that I’m riffing all over the place, reappropriating verses into this directional scheme… but I’m doing it to make a point: once you start tugging on this thread you realise how long, and embedded and significant it really is!)
- Directional Church -
Given all we’ve said to this point, it is probably no surprise that the earliest Christian communities refer to themselves as ‘Followers of the Way’ (Acts 9:2, 24:14). I wonder whether this was, in part, in order to express what they were about to the wider Jewish community - an attempt to point out that they continued to be committed to the Torah, and continued to be faithful worshippers of Yahweh, just in a slightly different, Jesus-shaped Yah-way (OK, fine, the point has bee made and I’ll stop it with that pun now).
So what do we take from all this… a few thoughts:
Yahweh has always been in the business of guiding people towards Himself. He wants to be found by us.
The Torah teachings are about orienting us towards God. Knowing this should change the way relate to ‘the law’.
Jesus life and teaching truly is, as he says, about fulfilling the law - it is utterly consistent with the teachings and narratives of the Old Testament and ultimately concerned with putting God’s people back on course, in order that they might find Yahweh in and through him.
Jesus’ claim that he is “The Way, the Truth and the Life” is loaded with Jewish political, historical, and religious meaning. It was an extremely bold and controversial claim to make.
The Way is a cool, cliché but ultimately excellent name for a Christian community.
English translations can be frustrating. Partly because they can sometimes disguise the beautiful intricacy of the Bible and the clever riffing on one another that the authors do. Partly because it enables terrible puns like “Yah-way” to be made.
As I said at the beginning, I’m a geek and I love discovering these little quirks. But to make a serious point at the end, these sorts of clever threads are everywhere in scripture, and its well worth looking for and expecting to find them in your reading. Hopefully when you do you will fall more in love with the beautiful architecture of the Bible as well as more engaged and inspired by its words. As and when you find them, do let me know… I’d love to geek out with you again!
