|
It struck me that Torah’s account of Nod is so lean, and I began looking
at the record as a puzzle. Whether inspired or deluded, I discovered a
path to treasures hidden in the meanings of its names as interpreted
within the context of their times.
This
work is what it is; but studying Nod in this manner, my thoughts became
as heave offerings, in which I considered each letter within names and
timelines as suggesting concepts in the journey of just one man; and I
began looking for triangulations between Nod’s names and times and their
impacts on my own thoughts.
Mild
curiosity at the start was rewarded by much more than I had suspected.
In essence, I was uncovering an archaeological dig; and my job was to
isolate and study its elements as thoughtfully as possible.
This
manner of parsing the individual letters of words isn't a new invention.
The artifice is an adaptation of the discipline known in kabbalah as
eriktology;
and as I proceeded to unearth Nod's story by this method, I was amazed
at its scope and universality. When read and interpreted by means of the
Moses script—the emblems of Mount Sinai—the Nod narrative becomes an
adventure that points more to the future than to the past.
If
this tale of Nod is outrageous, I have no fear that it’s particularly
offensive to the Spirit of Holiness. God does not judge a man by a word,
nor by so many words as these, but by the fruits of his studies, which
bear the imprint of his heart. If the husbandman be true, then those
words that God brings to mind as the man is permitted to have his say
are honorable words that speak of things both old and new. This tale is
offered to HaShem, who will make of it whatsoever pleases him, which is
my pleasure, also, even should I serve as no more than a minor fool.
Both
historically and as concerns this narrative, we’ve been in Nod awhile
now, already; and this text will continue to examine the names and times
of the people of that era, which brought an end on Earth to a number of
the great patriarchs by waters of the Flood. The family of Adam is the
timeline of God's Nod narrative, which includes the son, Cain.
What I learned of Cain by the study of his name is offered in the
narrative of the Garden, in which he may have been conceived. Born in
Nod, as the fable goes, Cain not only embraced the import of his name,
he also sought its perpetual projection into the future on the back of
his first son. He would rule Nod incognito, as it were. "Inflexible," as
the etymology of his name suggests, Cain built a city for his “son”—his
projection, calling it Enoch. |
map