Pesachim 6b - Wibbley-wobbley, timey-wimey

From http://my-heart-belongs-to-who.tumblr.com/

"Said Rav Menasia bar Tahlifa in Rav's name: This proves that there is no 'earlier' and 'later' in the Torah. Rav Papa observed: This was said only of two subjects; but in the same subject what is earlier is earlier and what is later is later."

The idea that there is no chronological order in the torah is an amazing exegetical tool, allowing you to shift passages from their place and argue that while temporally the event happened at another point, it was placed here to teach a lesson or make a point.

But Rav Papa points out that we can't go crazy with this idea, because taken to an extreme we would not be able to make any sense of the torah at all. Each sentence would have to be read alone, without reference to what came before or afterwards. To take this principle too far would be to deny the possibility of any chronology, or the ability to read anything in context.

I take Rav Papa to be saying that we have to be careful with how we explain the Torah text, not to push any good exegetical method to the point of absurdity, but to consider how we are using our technique and whether it is truly in the spirit of what the text is trying to say.

While God may stand outside of time, we are temporal beings, living time in a straight line from past to future. The torah mediates these two perspectives, but must take both seriously if it is to be able to speak to us at all.