1Corinthians and the Counting of the Omer
Part 2: The Mind of Elohim
By James Trimm
The Upper Triad: The Mind of Elohim
The gifts of the upper triad relate to the mind of Elohim. These relate to the Wisdom, Knowledge and Understanding of Elohim. The Torah tells us that YHWH used these gifts to reveal to B’tzal’el (Bezalel) just exactly how each of the furnishings of the Tabernacle was to be made:
and I have filled him with the spirit of Elohim, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,
(Ex. 31:3; 35:31 HRV)
Since the Upper triad corresponds with the Mind of Elohim, it is also therefore closely associated with the SOD level of understanding. Paul describes this “Mind of Messiah this way:
1 My brothers, when I came to you, I declared to you the mystery of Eloah, not with great words or with wisdom….
4 And my words and my proclaiming was not by persuasion of words of wisdom, but by demonstration of the spirit and of power,
5 That your faith would not be by the wisdom of the sons of men, but by the power of Eloah.
6 Now we speak wisdom among the mature, not the wisdom of this world nor of the authorities of this world who come to naught,
7 but we speak the wisdom of Eloah in a mystery that was hidden and [that] Eloah had before separated from before the ages for our glory,…
9 But as it is written, The eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and into the heart of a son of man has not entered that which Eloah has prepared for those who love him.
10 But Eloah has revealed [it] to us by his spirit, for the spirit searches into everything, even the deep things of Eloah.
11 For who is the son of man who knows what is in a son of man except the spirit of the son of man that [is] in him? So also, that which is in Eloah, no man knows except the Spirit of Eloah.
12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit that is from Eloah, so that we might know the gifts that were given to us from Eloah;
13 Which also we speak, not in the teaching of words of the wisdom of sons of men, but in the teaching of the spirit, and to spiritual men we compare spiritual things.
14 For the son of man who is in the nefesh does not receive spiritual things, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to know that which is judged spiritually.
15 Now the spiritual man judges all things, and is not judged from man.
16 For who knows the mind of YHWH that he might instruct him? But we have the mind of the Messiah.
(1Cor. 2:1-16)
Compare this with the words of the Zohar:
Behold, these are three names, how can they be one?
Is it because we call them one? (Literally: And also
concerning the proclamation that we call them one?).
How these are one can only through the vision of the Holy Sprit be known? And these are through the vision of the closed eye (or the hidden eye) To make known that these three are one (i.e. a Tri-Unity).
(Zohar 2:43b)
Note also that Paul quotes Isaiah 64:3 (4):
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O Elohim, beside you, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.
(Is. 64:3 (4)) (See 1Cor. 2:9)
According to the Talmud this refers to the yayin ha-meshummar, the wine kept from the creation:
What is the meaning of ‘Eye hath not seen’? (Is. 64:3(4))
R. Joshua b. Levi said:
This is the wine, which has been preserved in its grapes from the six days of Creation.
(b.Ber. 34b)
What does ‘the eye hath not seen’ (Is. 64:3(4)) refer to? —
R. Joshua b. Levi said:
To the wine that has been kept [maturing] with its grapes since the six days of Creation.
(b.San. 99a)
The Hebrew word for “wine” is YAYIN which has a gematria of 70, which is also the gematria of SOD (mystery, secret, hidden)
The Word of Wisdom
Paul writes:
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each man, as it is profitable for him.
There is a word of wisdom that is given for it by the Spirit: and for another, a word of
knowledge by the same Spirit.
(1Cor. 12:7-8 HRV)
Now this term “Word of Wisdom” appears only here is the Scriptures and in no other passage. Neither does the term appear in the Talmud or Midrashim. The phrase “Word of Wisdom” does however appear in the Zohar on several occasions. Just as Paul tells us that the “Word of Wisdom” is a “manifestation of the Spirit”, the Zohar tells us that the “Word of Wisdom” is a “manifestation of the Shekinah”:
Said R. Jose to R. Hiya: ‘Did I not say, perhaps he is a great man?’ Then he applied to him the words, “Blessed be the man that finds wisdom and the man that gets understanding” (Prov. 3:13), saying: ‘Such are we who found you and acquired from you a Word of Wisdom and were inspired with understanding to wait for you! We are of those for whom the Holy One prepares a present when they are journeying, to wit, the manifestation of the Shekinah, as it says: “The path of the righteous is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4:18).’
(Zohar 2:50a)
The Zohar also gives a good definition of the “Word of Wisdom”:
IN THE BEGINNING. R. Simeon opened his discourse with the text: And I put my words in your mouth (Isaiah 51:16). He said: ‘How greatly is it incumbent on a man to study the Torah day and night! For the Holy One, blessed be He, is attentive to the voice of those who occupy themselves with the Torah, and through each fresh discovery made by them in the Torah a new heaven is created. Our teachers have told us that at the moment when a man expounds something new in the Torah, his utterance ascends before the Holy One, blessed be He, and He takes it up and kisses it and crowns it with seventy crowns of graven and inscribed letters. When a new idea is formulated in the field of the esoteric wisdom, it ascends and rests on the head of the “Tzaddik, the life of the universe”, and then it flies off and traverses seventy thousand worlds until it ascends to the “Ancient of Days”. And inasmuch as all the words of the “Ancient of Days” are Words of Wisdom comprising sublime and hidden mysteries, that hidden Word of Wisdom that was discovered here when it ascends is joined to the words of the “Ancient of Days”, and becomes an integral part of them, and enters into the eighteen mystical worlds, concerning which we read “No eye has seen beside You, O Elohim” (Isaiah 64:3). From there they issue and fly to and fro, until finally arriving, perfected and completed, before the “Ancient of Days”. At that moment the “Ancient of Days” savors that Word of Wisdom, and finds satisfaction therein above all else. He takes that word and crowns it with three hundred and seventy thousand crowns, and it flies up and down until it is made into a sky. And so each word of wisdom is made into a sky, which presents itself fully formed before the “Ancient of Days”, who calls them “new heavens”, that is, heavens created out of the mystic ideas of the sublime wisdom.
(Zohar 1:4b)
This manifestation corresponds to the sefirah of Wisdom. The term “Word of Wisdom” is a Semitic idiom for a “matter of wisdom”. This wisdom consists of revelation and flashes of insight or intuition. Unlike Knowledge, Wisdom is not analytical; it does not classify and divide. It is instead total unity of thought without any division whatsoever. Wisdom cannot be put into words, it is beyond words and its idea cannot be divided up into words. The Word of Wisdom is direct access to the Wisdom of YHWH.
An example of the Word of Wisdom can be found in the Torah in Exodus 18. In this section of Torah, Yitro (Jethro) comes to Moshe with the advice to create the Council of Elders to hear cases and sit in Moshe’s seat. This advice did not really come from Yitro, but it came through Yitro from YHWH. Yitro received it as a “flash of insight”, a Word of Wisdom. Moshe subjected this Word of Wisdom to Spiritual Discernment (the next gift we will discuss).
Discerning of the Spirit
Many translated this “discerning of spirits” because “spirits” is plural in the Greek, but in the original; Aramaic itr is singular, which is the Aramaic grammar for “Spiritual Discernment”. This manifestation corresponds to the sefirah of Understanding. Understanding is analytical. It divides and classifies and discerns. The Aramaic term for “discerning here comes from the root P-R-SH meaning “to divide”. This manifestation is a manifestation of the Understanding and discernment of YHWH.
This gift of the Spirit is mentioned in the Tanak in the Book of Job:
But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of Shaddai, that gives them understanding.
It is not the great that are wise, nor the aged that discern judgment.
(Job 32:8-9 HRV)
There is an excellent example of this gift in the Tanak in 1Kings 3:5-15. Here Shlomo (Solomon) asks YHWH for “an understanding heart … that I may discern between good and evil…” (1Kn. 3:9) and YHWH gave him this gift as well as the additional gift of the Word of Wisdom (1Kn. 3:10-13).
The Word of Knowledge
This manifestation corresponds to the sefirah of Knowledge (which is the flip side of the Sifira known as KETER or “crown”). The term “Word of Knowledge” is a Semitic idiom for a “matter of knowledge”. The Word of Knowledge occurs when the Word of Wisdom is subjected to the Discerning of the Spirit, thus harmonizing the two opposing pillars.
Knowledge naturally fills the structure created by the gifts of Wisdom and Understanding (Discernment) as the Psalmist writes:
Through wisdom is a house built; and by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge are the chambers filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
(Prov. 24:3-4 HRV)
A good example of this gift is found in the Tanak when Natan (Nathan) comes to Daniel with a parable expressing his knowledge of David’s sin (2Samual 12:1-12). Natan had received a Word of Knowledge concerning David’s actions that allowed him to approach David on the matter.
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