Monday, August 20, 2007

On the beauty of 5

Let me introduce you to the beauty of 5 x 5 x 5. The cube is a perfect structure. Here 5 x 5 x 5 (being of course related to 2+3) represents the completeness of the Law.

You will remember that the Law is holy (Romans) . Three books in the canon have five parts: the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel of Matthew. Jewish sages have competing ways of reading the Psalms (see Uriel Simon, Four Approaches to the Book of Psalms). One approach is to see the Psalter as a new Torah, not replacing, but reframing the perfection of Torah. Matthew's Gospel completes that reframing, not by removing anything from the holiness of the Law but by showing it.

Three times also, making a fourth, we have the Habbakuk statement in the canon of the New Testament (Romans, Galatians, Hebrews) - I speak as a human. The complete will live by faith. And as a bracket to make the number of lines 6, a number of a human, we have the instruction Walk before me and be perfect (Genesis) and the theological statement by faith we establish the Law (Romans) .

One more thing - the whole of the Oral Law and all rabbinic tradition without exception is included. Not that Jew should become Christian or Christian become Jew, but that all may be acceptable before God through the offering of the created order through the fleshly body of Jesus whereby the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh giving life in a New Creation. All flesh without exception - all the produce of the earth. Fire on the earth. The two citations of this promise in Joel and Acts bring the number to 8. It is enough.

You can't build a temple cubic-city without 3 dimensions, 6 surfaces, and 12 sides. The ninth connection of the cube can be adorned with the first quotation above - that the Law is holy.

I didn't expect 5 to bring me so quickly to 12. If I was to draw this now, I would add fire on the earth, it is not in heaven, and you shall be holy as additional carbuncles. (But no image today - I must work!)

Let the people praise you, O God
Let all the people praise you

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