Chapter 3: Time and Space
Section B: The Israelite Conception of Time
Part 2: Psychic Time
Subpart a: The Identity of Consciousness
Western minds think of space as the place we exist. Time plays the same role for the Hebrews. This much is accurate, but I think Boman botches the discussion of this. He wanders around for several pages without coming up with anything meaningful. Only briefly does he approach the idea that Hebrew consciousness is communal against the western individualism, but then doesn’t really do anything with it. It’s very disappointing.
As previously noted, a western mind is location driven. All things are reckoned in terms of place. For a Hebrew, it’s event driven. While there is some overlap between the two, in the long run the difference is so significant that it’s very hard to put into words that westerners will recognize. I’m sure that’s why it appears Boman struggles here.
Toward the end of this blather he finally mentions that a Hebraic sense of identity refers to what role one has played in the nation’s fulfillment of who their patriarchs were supposed to be. A man’s sense of who he is rests on how well he represents a prominent ancestor, for whom his tribe is named. He never stands alone. Ultimately, it rests on the sense of community with those who serve his God.
Subpart b: The Content of Time
Boman reiterates some of this by noting that, while a western mind differentiates between time and events, for a Hebrew it is the events in time to give time meaning. They cannot be separated in Hebrew reckoning. While western minds can blend to two for exceptional events, for a Hebrew it was uniform reckoning.
He takes the time to remind us how significant it is in Hebrew prophecy that a day having darkness symbolizes a day of wrath and doom. Having the sky darken like night in the middle of daytime is high drama, and typically not meant literally.
One of the highest expressions of Hebrew literature was Ecclesiastes, where we find the passage about a time for this and that. Solomon cites the extremes, as if pointing to the boundaries of the human experience of life. Notice that it’s not at all spatially conceived, but event-driven. What Boman fails to mention is that, in a Hebrew mind, life is typically a matter of when the time is ripe for one event or another.
