Binary Sets in the Ancient World

Alice C. Linsley


Ethical concerns of the early Hebrew rulers (4000-2000 BC) involved binary opposites or binary sets such as east-west, male-female, day-night, life-death, and heaven-earth. These sets are universally in the patterns of Nature. The early Hebrew rulers and priests were acute observers of those patterns. They recognized that seasons run in a cycle, the solar arc appears to move from east to west, and people bring forth people, not plants or other animals. In other words, there is a fixed quality to certain natural phenomenon. 

Not every set of opposites is a binary set. Consider that talented-untalented does not represent a binary set because this involves subjective judgement. Tall-short is not a binary set because this is relative to the observer. I am 5 feet 5 inches tall. Standing beside a Watusi warrior, I would appear to be short. However, were I to stand beside a Pygmy, I would appear to be tall.

The binary sets by which the early Hebrew made judgements were used to determine good and evil. Good recognized and honored the fixed boundaries observed in Nature. Evil violated the boundaries observed in Nature. Anomalies were noted, but excluded when forming judgements.

The opposites of Good and evil were not equal as in dualism. One member of the binary set is by its nature superior in some observable way to its partner. The sun as the greater light is superior to the Moon which merely reflected the sun's brightness (refulgence). The male as the larger and stronger member of the human species is superior to the female. Modern values and political correctness are irrelevant here. These distinctions are objective and universally obvious.

Maintaining the hierarchy of the binary opposites permitted the ancient priests to help their rulers make wise God-pleasing decisions. For example, the priests of Israel during Moses' time were to use the Urim and Thummim to receive divine guidance. These represent numerous binary sets. The Urim would have a number of associations which would be assigned the opposite meaning with the Thummim. Using these tools involved more than yes-no questions. It involved deriving meaning from the directional poles, gender, numbers and reversals. The morehs or ancient prophets apparently used the same approach when rendering counsel such as that given to Abraham by the moreh at the Oak of Mamre (Gen. 12:6).

Today astrophysicists study the heavens seeking answers to the origins of the universe. The ancients studied the heavens because they believed that the celestial pattern speaks of the Creator's nature and how we should order our lives on earth. This belief is expressed in the Lord's Prayer that says, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

The binary sets also provide direction and guidance. Lacking a compass, we can watch where the Sun rises to determine east. Knowing east, we can determine the direction of west. Just as the directional poles help us to avoid disorientation, so the binary sets observed universally and objectively in Nature can help us to avoid ethical confusion.

For the ancients they also suggested that there was a center point at the intersection of the perpendicular lines connecting north-south and east-west. One can image the place where these lines intersect as the center of a cross. This is a metaphysical sacred center that took on physical form when Jesus was nailed to the cross at Calvary. The cross is a fundamental symbol in creation.

The world has not changed in any essential way. Nothing ever really changes. That is what Plato understood and why he is still the greatest of the philosophers. There is one reality and all people exist in that one reality. Things can only become more what they were created. They cannot become less what they were created without rebelling against God's design. 

Onanism was also regarded as a violation of the order of creation. The seed that should fall to the earth is the seed of plants, which spring forth from the earth. The seed of man should fall on his own type (the womb), from which man comes forth. Clement of Alexandria wrote, “Because of its divine institution for the propagation of man, the seed is not to be vainly ejaculated, nor is it to be damaged, nor is it to be wasted” (The Instructor of Children 2:10:91:2 A.D. 191).

Likewise, the prohibition against mixing types of seeds and types of fibers is intended that human should observe the order of creation and honor the way it is. The prohibition against mixing seeds, fibers, and blood, is a reminder to not confuse the holy and the unholy, or to blur the distinction between life and death, or between life-nurturing actions and life-destroying actions. This is one of the reasons why the Hebrews were forbidden to boil a baby goat in its mother's milk (Ex. 23:19; Ex. 34:26, Deut. 14:21).

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Related reading: Orthodoxy Requires Binary Reasoning; The Binary Distinctions of the Horites; Binary Distinctions and Kenosis, Blood and Binary Distinctions; Circumcision and Binary Distinctions