The Teaching Tools of Scripture
PaRDeS is an acronym for “pashat, remez, drash, sod,” the four levels of Scriptural interpretation according to the Hebrew scholars. P or pashat (“simple”) refers to the plain or direct meaning of the text; R or remez (“hint”) refers to the implied meaning of the text; D or drash (“search”) refers to the allegorical, typological, or thematic meaning of the text, not readily apparent from its direct or pashat meaning; and S or sod (“hidden”) refers to the hidden meaning of the text, usually only understood through knowledge of Hebrew or by revelation.
The foundational rule in applying this teaching tool, is that none of the higher levels of interpretation, to be correct, can ever violate or contradict the pashat or direct meaning of the text. The idea is that all the passages of Scripture can be understood at each of these four levels, so at any one time there will be four interpretations of the same text.
The four gospel writers expounded Yeshua this way.
Mark is the pashat gospel; he described Yeshua in the most simple and direct way. When you read Mark, you learn what happened: what Yeshua said and did.
Luke is the remez gospel; he described Yeshua in a “narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us” (Luk 1:1); he applies what Yeshua said and did to the prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Matthew is the drash gospel; he constructed his gospel, not chronologically, as Luke did, but thematically, and then related those themes to their Torah and Hebrew Testament counterparts. This is not readily apparent on the surface reading of Matthew, just as the drash meaning of the text is not readily apparent on the surface reading of the text; but as someone begins to learn the Hebraic structure of Torah and the Hebrew Testament, and its major themes and how they are presented, you find that Matthew parallels that structure and those themes.
John is the sod gospel; this is why his gospel is so drastically different from the other gospels. He presents the hidden or revealed Yeshua. John’s gospel is the home of all the major “I AM” statements concerning Yeshua: I am the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the way, the truth, and the life; the resurrection and the life, and the bread from heaven. John’s Yeshua can only be known through the revelation of the Spirit.
The PaRDeS Teaching Tool is one I haven’t used very much, so there are not many examples; but we will add to the list as we are able.
Examples:
Genesis 1:1-2:3, And the Teaching Tools of Scripture, part two
Deuteronomy 21:10-22:7, Chiastic Structure and PaRDeS
Deuteronomy 22:8-12, Fencing your Roof
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