The Five Root Values and the Torah
When Kevin first shared with me the five root values he had distilled from the Decalogue (see article here), I was instantly intrigued. Having spent years in conversation with him, I am increasingly convinced the Torah carries the five root values in a variety of ways.
The best place to begin to see the root values would be where Kevin first did in the article above. The Ten Commandments in its two tablet format lays out the root values as the Other, Commitment, Autonomy, Truth, and Legacy. Once we discover the five, can we discover them it in the Torah in a variety of ways?
For example, I can see the five root values introduced in the first five chapters of Genesis. The Other is revealed in the creation of man in Genesis 1, "male and female he cerated them." Human beings exist always and only in relation to "the Other," to God in the vertical relation and to one another in the horozontal. We see Commitment in Genesis 2 in the "leave and cleave" language of the woman's creation out of the man's side. Autonomy comes into play in the failure of the man and woman to exercise their autonomy in relation to God in a right way in Genesis 3. In Cain of Genesis 4 we see the violation of Truth as Cain attempts to hide his murder of Abel. Genesis 5 transitions to Noah with Adam's genealogy introduced by Seth's birth "in the image of" Adam giving us our first picture of Legacy.
But there may be more in Genesis. I can see the five primary characters of the Gensis narative representing each of the five root values. Adam represents the Other in his creation befor God and the woman. Noah carries commitment in the mutuality of the first explicit covenant God makes in the Scripture. Abraham models autonomy in Genesis 15:6 where "he beleived the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness." In the narrative, Isaac is a minor character compared to Jacob who discovers the value of Truth when he wrestles the angel at the ford of the Jabbok in Geneses 32. Joseph, of course, saves the family through the famine as the prime minister of Egypt thereby preserving Abraham's Legacy.
Finally, what if the five scrolls of the Torah also represent the root values? Can we see Genesis as Other in the close interactions of the LORD with the patriarchs, Exodus as Commitment both the LORD to Israel and Israel in it's commitment to the LORD, Leviticus as Autonomy in the Law and the sacrifices, Numbers as Truth in the consequences of disobedience, and Dueteronomy, of course, as Legacy in the review of God's mighty acts on behalf of his people?
Thoughts to explore, or just one more example of seeing what isn't there?
Kyle Phillips
