One Torah for All

back

The Blind Men and the Elephant
Do we see the whole or only a part?

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant was. They decided, "Even though we will not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." And since all these blind men were seekers of knowledge, they set off to discover what an elephant was. So they set off to where the elephant was. Each one of them touched the elephant.

"Hey, the elephant is like a tree," said the first man who touched his leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a snake," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.

"It is like a big fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.

"It is like a spear," said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.

They began to argue about the elephant and every one of them insisted that he was right and the others were wrong. They were becoming quite agitated towards one another. Then a wise man was passing by and he saw the blind men arguing. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?"

They said, "We cannot agree what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like as the wise man listened.

The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason each one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched a different part of the elephant. Actually the elephant has all the features that each one of you have said."

Let us ponder this carefully. How many times do we argue about our faith with another when the truth is that perhaps, just perhaps, the other person is as right as we are? Is YHWH's truth so limited that one person can see the whole thing all by himself? Is our sight so good that we can see the whole of YHWH's truth and we need no one else?

I suspect that each one of us is a lot closer to one of the blind men in this story than we are to the wise man.

Let us give grace to one another as we seek to understand the immensity of His truth, for we are like unto the blind men seeking to understand an elephant!

All that being said, let us also be careful when discussing YHWH’s truth that another “blind man” does not enter into the discussion with thoughts about something other than an “elephant” like a “crocodile”. Let us keep our discussions focused upon Mashiach Yeshua and His word and not dally off on other sources which have no true authority. Let us be diligent to test the spirits as we are commanded to, to make sure that the source of what is being put forth is from YHWH!

Amein and amein!

Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com

© All material is copyrighted and no part may be changed, added to, shortened or edited; however, the entirety of the article may be reproduced as long as the author’s name remains attached to the article.  It is encouraged and a blessing for others to forward these teachings to others, and permission is hereby granted for this as long as the teaching is kept wholly intact, which includes the author’s name and contact information, the “One Torah For All” header, and this copyright paragraph.  Furthermore, it must be passed on without any cost whatsoever to those who receive it.  The act of forwarding or sharing this teaching in any way constitutes agreement by the party forwarding it that he agrees to the terms and conditions of this paragraph.

back