Finally, Isaac is born. The promise is beginning to be fulfilled. God had promised Abraham that his descendants would become a mighty nation. But Abraham had no children, and he wasn't getting any younger at 90 years old when that promise was made. But God made a promise, and God keeps his promises. Most importantly here though is the fact that God's promise to Abraham was also a promise of salvation for all the nations of the earth, and is in fact a Messianic prophecy. God said to Abraham "Through you, all the nations of the world will be blessed." And now, finally, after so many years of waiting, God gives Abraham the child of promise. Isaac.
Of course this doesn't come without it's consequences. Abraham had once tried to fulfill God's plan by his own effort. His wife offered her servant Hagar to serve as a surrogate mother. But once Ishmael was born, Sarah became immediately jealous, and believed that Hagar felt superior to Sarah because Hagar could give birth to children, while Sarah couldn't. But now that Isaac was born, which opens a whole new can of worms.
Sarah begs Abraham to kick Hagar and her son Ishmael out of the house. There is a lot of bitterness in Sarah, and she is having a hard time letting go. Abraham loves Ishmael and is very conflicted over what he should do, but God says to allow Hagar and Ishmael to leave, and promises that he will take care of Ishmael, and make a mighty nation from him as well. So Abraham has Hagar and Ishmael leave, and gives them supplies for their journey.
During their journey, they run out of water. Hagar places Ishmael under a bush, and walks away, becuase she can't bear to see her son die. She weeps, but while she is weeping, God speaks to her. God tells her that He has heard the crying of her son, and that He had promised Abraham that they would be okay.
So God blesses Ishmael, and He becomes a mighty warrior, and a great people come from him. Mohammad claimed to be a descendant of Ishmael, and the Muslim nations are descendants of Ishmael. It's possible that is true, although there is no biblical reference that I know of that proves that the muslim nations descend from Ishmael. Nevertheless, the Biblical text shows that even though God did not choose Ishmael for this purpose, God still blessed him in honor of Abraham, his father.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God had promised Abraham that he would bring him a son, and now, after 90 years, and banishing his other son Ishmael, God wants Abraham to take that sweet baby boy, lay him on a rock, and slice his throat, and burn him as a sacrifice to God. The text is emphatic that God knows how hard this is for him. God specifically says "Take your son, your only son, whom you love." Abraham loved Isaac as if he was an only child. His beloved child. Imagine the pain that Abraham had with just the request. Did he feel betrayed by God? Did he think that God was playing a sick joke?
But Abraham obeys God. He takes him up the mountain top, and on the way, Isaac asks his father where the sacrifice was. Abraham says "God will provide a sacrifice for himself." He trusts God to provide a sacrifice instead of Isaac, and God does. Many Christian scholars through the centuries have compared this to the pain that the Father went through when His only beloved Son was sacrificed.
Shortly after this, Sarah dies. Abraham is so very grieved. It is hard to imagine the grief that one must feel when one's spouse dies after so many years of living life together. Abraham desires to bury Sarah, his beloved wife, and everyone wants to help him so badly during this time of grief. One man even volunteers to give a burial site for Sarah for free, and insists that Abraham take it for free. But Abraham begs to pay for it. The grief that Abraham felt over her death must have been great indeed considering the fact that she was there for his whole life, and she was the one that God used to bring his promise to this world.
While Abraham lay on his death bed, he comissions his servant to find Isaac a wife. What I find inspiring is that on his death bed, Abraham is still trusting God over all these years. He tells his servant to be sure that he does not find a wife from Ur. He wants his son to never go back to his old family, because God had told him that his children would inherit the land of Canaan. Even in his old age, Abraham clings to the promises of God. As a young man, I am inspired by the testimony of Abraham, and the elders around me who have lived their lives in service to God, truly trusting Him at His word.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Genesis 18-20
January 8th, 2013
Sodom and Gomorrah
There is a lot to take away from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This short story in scripture has so many moral lessons attached to it that it may be hard to touch on each one. I will write what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah tells us about the Justice of God, The Mercy of God, and the Wrath of God. It also speaks volumes of our relationship with God, and his relationship with his people.
The story begins with the LORD himself coming with two angels to visit Abraham. Abraham bows to the earth, and pleads that they would stay with him, and the LORD decides that he will eat with Abraham, but also mentions that he cannot stay long. Abraham is portrayed as rushing everywhere getting food ready. He rushes to his wife, and tells her to quickly make bread. He rushes to the calf, and tells the man to quickly butcher it. And after this is all done, he has a conversation with the LORD over his meal. (Which is amazing in and of itself. God actually ate.)
The LORD feels that he must tell Abraham what he is going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He tells him of their sinfulness, and his plans to exercise judgement. And Abraham intercedes with God that he would spare the whole city, if only 50 people are found there. God says that he wont destroy the city for the sake of fifty. Abraham says, okay lord, what if there's only 45? And God says, I won't destroy it for 45. Abraham continues to dwindle God down to 10 people, and God affirms that he would not destroy the city if there are 10 righteous people there.
Now this shows a couple things about our relationship with God. God really hears our prayers, and is legitimately concerned about how His people feel about His plans. Abraham's intercessory prayer is him begging God to be merciful. Abraham also has the ability to ask about God's moral character. "Should not the judge of all the world do right?"
This also shows that God is deeply affected by sin. God does not like when humanity is broken. He promised that he would never destroy the whole world again with the flood, but that does not mean that he will not punish cities, and even nations, who have completely been given over to sin's control. God is willing to exercise his wrath.
Which leads us to an answer to the problem of evil. If God is all loving, and all powerful, why does evil exist in the world? If God is loving but not capable to eliminate sin, then he is a weak God. If he is able but unwilling, then he is an evil God. So says the philosopher. What is God's response to this? "I destroyed the world in a flood, and saved a small group of people to start over again. But you messed it up again. If you really want me to deal with the sin problem, I suppose I could just destroy everybody." Even after the flood we see that human beings are still very sinful creatures who refuse to learn from their past errors, and refuse to submit to God, and we are worthy of God's wrath.
We also learn of the mercy and the justice of God. God refuses to destroy a city if there are 10 righteous people in it. He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So he will not unjustly punish the righteous for the sins that they did not commit, and he will show mercy on the wicked for the sake of the righteous.
After the conversation that the LORD has with Abraham, the two angels go to Sodom and Gomorrah, to find Lot. Lot invites them to his home, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah form a mob and demand to see the men that Lot took in. They desire to rape them. Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead of the angels, but the mob refuses, and pushes up against the door. Lot pleads with them not to "do this wicked thing." But they call him a no good judgmental immigrant and keep pressing on the door. The angels pull Lot inside, and strike the people with blindness, and pull Lot, his wife, and his betrothed daughters out of the city.
Stop.
So Lot is called righteous right? Right.
So Lot tried to throw his virgin daughters out to a mob to be raped, right? Right.
So how is he righteous again? Good question.
Lot was clearly in the wrong, and he was commiting a sin by offering his daughters to a mob. But there is also a cultural element at stake here. In that time and place, a person who had a guest would do whatever he possibly could to keep his guests safe. Some were known to give away all of their food and money to people who would seek to harm their guests. This was part of what it meant to be hospitable in that culture. Also, throughout history, the percieved value of women has gone up and down, and unfortunately for Lot's daughters, this was a time in history that the percieved value of those women was low. Now, Lot was perhaps not the most righteous person in the world, but he was somebody who trusted God, and tried to fumble along in life during the time and place that he existed. Should we look at the actions of Lot to see the value that God places on women? No.
We should look at what God says in Genesis 1:26 to discern what God feels about women. "God said 'Let us make humankind in our image. In the image of God created he them, male and female created he them.'"
Continuing with the story, the Angels tell Lot and his family to run to the hills, but Lot makes a bargain with them that they should go to the nearest town, and the angel replies "Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." God was not willing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of even one, marginally righteous person. This is why when preacher's say things like "Hurricane katrina was the wrath of God against New Orleans" I gawk, because that means that particulat preacher truly does not believe that there was a single, marginally righteous person who trusted God in the entire city.
Now, Lot and his family run away, but his wife looks back at the city, and turns into a pillar of salt. Jesus uses this event as an example of the coming wrath of God. There will come a time when the wrath of God will come again, and those who look back at the sinfulness of the world, either to rejoice over it's fall, or to long to return, will face that same judgement. Jesus uses this metaphor to tell people to be sold out to God, because nobody wants to be in his way when he decides to pour out his wrath.
This is a truly terrifying picture of God, but who says that God is supposed to be safe. To be good and to be safe are two different things. C.S. Lewis writes of Aslan (the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia) thus:
'If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than me or else just silly.'
'Then he isn't safe?' asked Lucy.
'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver. 'Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'
Now what exactly was the wickedness of Sodom? Many people see the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as just a story that condemns homosexuality. Now, I want to be clear in saying this. I am not defending homosexual practices at all, but the fact that the men in the city were homosexuals does not mean that was why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And let's be clear. What the men of Sodom were trying to do was not "consenting sex between two same sex partners." The men of Sodom were trying to gang rape Lot's guests. That means that a huge group of men, got together, and predetermined to gang rape a couple of visitors to their town. That is just sickening.
Now, even though the men of Sodom were planning to gang rape the angels, that still is not the reason that God destroyed Sodom and Gamorrah. In fact, the Bible mentions Sodom and Gamorrah over 40 times, and never once in the context of homsexuality. Ezekiel 16:49-50 says "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it." The wrath of God was not poured out on Sodom and Gamorrah because they abused sex, but because they did not care about the people outside their city gates. This should be a chilling reminder to every American who lives high on the hog, but can never spare to give to those who are in need.
What I find ironic is the fact that Lot offers his daughters to be raped by the mob, but then later in this chapter, Lot's daughters get Lot drunk, and rape him. The reason that Lot's daughters rape Lot is because the men that they were going to marry refused to come with Lot and flee the city. They were destroyed along with the city, so Lot's daughters decide to get pregnant from their father to make sure that he has descendants later in life. It is possible that they did not expect the chance to get married again. Whereas Lot was once a very wealthy man, and could have given both of his daughter's very large dowries, now he was poor, as everything he owned was destroyed in Sodom. The girls' lack of dowries would severely lower their chance of getting married.
In Genesis 20, we find another sexual deboncle, but this one involves Abraham. Abraham goes to another king, of another land, and calls Sarah his sister again. Abimelech calls for her, and plans to have sex with her. But God warns him in a dream that if Abimelech does this, he would kill him. Abimelech defends his integrity and claims innocence. He says that he never intended to sin against God, and that it was Abraham's fault for being misleading concerning his marriage to his half sister Sarah. God says "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me."
This sheds some light on the first time that Abraham did this. Because God warned Abimelech and Abimelech repented, and God knew he would repent, nothing happened. But God did not warn Pharaoh. It's possible that Pharaoh would have killed Abraham and taken Sarah as his own wife, as Abraham had feared, and that is why God did not warn Pharaoh like he did Abimelech.
God: concerned, angry, merciful, wrathful, and loving.
Sodom and Gomorrah
There is a lot to take away from the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. This short story in scripture has so many moral lessons attached to it that it may be hard to touch on each one. I will write what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah tells us about the Justice of God, The Mercy of God, and the Wrath of God. It also speaks volumes of our relationship with God, and his relationship with his people.
The story begins with the LORD himself coming with two angels to visit Abraham. Abraham bows to the earth, and pleads that they would stay with him, and the LORD decides that he will eat with Abraham, but also mentions that he cannot stay long. Abraham is portrayed as rushing everywhere getting food ready. He rushes to his wife, and tells her to quickly make bread. He rushes to the calf, and tells the man to quickly butcher it. And after this is all done, he has a conversation with the LORD over his meal. (Which is amazing in and of itself. God actually ate.)
The LORD feels that he must tell Abraham what he is going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah. He tells him of their sinfulness, and his plans to exercise judgement. And Abraham intercedes with God that he would spare the whole city, if only 50 people are found there. God says that he wont destroy the city for the sake of fifty. Abraham says, okay lord, what if there's only 45? And God says, I won't destroy it for 45. Abraham continues to dwindle God down to 10 people, and God affirms that he would not destroy the city if there are 10 righteous people there.
Now this shows a couple things about our relationship with God. God really hears our prayers, and is legitimately concerned about how His people feel about His plans. Abraham's intercessory prayer is him begging God to be merciful. Abraham also has the ability to ask about God's moral character. "Should not the judge of all the world do right?"
This also shows that God is deeply affected by sin. God does not like when humanity is broken. He promised that he would never destroy the whole world again with the flood, but that does not mean that he will not punish cities, and even nations, who have completely been given over to sin's control. God is willing to exercise his wrath.
Which leads us to an answer to the problem of evil. If God is all loving, and all powerful, why does evil exist in the world? If God is loving but not capable to eliminate sin, then he is a weak God. If he is able but unwilling, then he is an evil God. So says the philosopher. What is God's response to this? "I destroyed the world in a flood, and saved a small group of people to start over again. But you messed it up again. If you really want me to deal with the sin problem, I suppose I could just destroy everybody." Even after the flood we see that human beings are still very sinful creatures who refuse to learn from their past errors, and refuse to submit to God, and we are worthy of God's wrath.
We also learn of the mercy and the justice of God. God refuses to destroy a city if there are 10 righteous people in it. He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So he will not unjustly punish the righteous for the sins that they did not commit, and he will show mercy on the wicked for the sake of the righteous.
After the conversation that the LORD has with Abraham, the two angels go to Sodom and Gomorrah, to find Lot. Lot invites them to his home, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah form a mob and demand to see the men that Lot took in. They desire to rape them. Lot offers his two virgin daughters instead of the angels, but the mob refuses, and pushes up against the door. Lot pleads with them not to "do this wicked thing." But they call him a no good judgmental immigrant and keep pressing on the door. The angels pull Lot inside, and strike the people with blindness, and pull Lot, his wife, and his betrothed daughters out of the city.
Stop.
So Lot is called righteous right? Right.
So Lot tried to throw his virgin daughters out to a mob to be raped, right? Right.
So how is he righteous again? Good question.
Lot was clearly in the wrong, and he was commiting a sin by offering his daughters to a mob. But there is also a cultural element at stake here. In that time and place, a person who had a guest would do whatever he possibly could to keep his guests safe. Some were known to give away all of their food and money to people who would seek to harm their guests. This was part of what it meant to be hospitable in that culture. Also, throughout history, the percieved value of women has gone up and down, and unfortunately for Lot's daughters, this was a time in history that the percieved value of those women was low. Now, Lot was perhaps not the most righteous person in the world, but he was somebody who trusted God, and tried to fumble along in life during the time and place that he existed. Should we look at the actions of Lot to see the value that God places on women? No.
We should look at what God says in Genesis 1:26 to discern what God feels about women. "God said 'Let us make humankind in our image. In the image of God created he them, male and female created he them.'"
Continuing with the story, the Angels tell Lot and his family to run to the hills, but Lot makes a bargain with them that they should go to the nearest town, and the angel replies "Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." God was not willing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of even one, marginally righteous person. This is why when preacher's say things like "Hurricane katrina was the wrath of God against New Orleans" I gawk, because that means that particulat preacher truly does not believe that there was a single, marginally righteous person who trusted God in the entire city.
Now, Lot and his family run away, but his wife looks back at the city, and turns into a pillar of salt. Jesus uses this event as an example of the coming wrath of God. There will come a time when the wrath of God will come again, and those who look back at the sinfulness of the world, either to rejoice over it's fall, or to long to return, will face that same judgement. Jesus uses this metaphor to tell people to be sold out to God, because nobody wants to be in his way when he decides to pour out his wrath.
This is a truly terrifying picture of God, but who says that God is supposed to be safe. To be good and to be safe are two different things. C.S. Lewis writes of Aslan (the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia) thus:
'If there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than me or else just silly.'
'Then he isn't safe?' asked Lucy.
'Safe?' said Mr. Beaver. 'Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.'
Now what exactly was the wickedness of Sodom? Many people see the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as just a story that condemns homosexuality. Now, I want to be clear in saying this. I am not defending homosexual practices at all, but the fact that the men in the city were homosexuals does not mean that was why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And let's be clear. What the men of Sodom were trying to do was not "consenting sex between two same sex partners." The men of Sodom were trying to gang rape Lot's guests. That means that a huge group of men, got together, and predetermined to gang rape a couple of visitors to their town. That is just sickening.
Now, even though the men of Sodom were planning to gang rape the angels, that still is not the reason that God destroyed Sodom and Gamorrah. In fact, the Bible mentions Sodom and Gamorrah over 40 times, and never once in the context of homsexuality. Ezekiel 16:49-50 says "This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it." The wrath of God was not poured out on Sodom and Gamorrah because they abused sex, but because they did not care about the people outside their city gates. This should be a chilling reminder to every American who lives high on the hog, but can never spare to give to those who are in need.
What I find ironic is the fact that Lot offers his daughters to be raped by the mob, but then later in this chapter, Lot's daughters get Lot drunk, and rape him. The reason that Lot's daughters rape Lot is because the men that they were going to marry refused to come with Lot and flee the city. They were destroyed along with the city, so Lot's daughters decide to get pregnant from their father to make sure that he has descendants later in life. It is possible that they did not expect the chance to get married again. Whereas Lot was once a very wealthy man, and could have given both of his daughter's very large dowries, now he was poor, as everything he owned was destroyed in Sodom. The girls' lack of dowries would severely lower their chance of getting married.
In Genesis 20, we find another sexual deboncle, but this one involves Abraham. Abraham goes to another king, of another land, and calls Sarah his sister again. Abimelech calls for her, and plans to have sex with her. But God warns him in a dream that if Abimelech does this, he would kill him. Abimelech defends his integrity and claims innocence. He says that he never intended to sin against God, and that it was Abraham's fault for being misleading concerning his marriage to his half sister Sarah. God says "Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me."
This sheds some light on the first time that Abraham did this. Because God warned Abimelech and Abimelech repented, and God knew he would repent, nothing happened. But God did not warn Pharaoh. It's possible that Pharaoh would have killed Abraham and taken Sarah as his own wife, as Abraham had feared, and that is why God did not warn Pharaoh like he did Abimelech.
God: concerned, angry, merciful, wrathful, and loving.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Genesis 15-17
Covenants.
In Genesis 15-17 we see essentially one story. God promises Abram that he is going to make his descendants plentious, and Abraham initially believes him. Because Abram believes and trusts God to do this impossible thing (for Abraham is about almost 80 at this point) God reckoned Abram's faith as righteousness. But Abram still questions God, and asks him to give him a sign, and God cuts a covenant with him.
Now, when one cuts a covenant, the two partners are to slaughter some animals, and walk in between their bodies. A person who participates in this ceremony is effectively saying, "If I break this covenant, may I become just like these animals." But what is interesting is that God makes Abram fall asleep, and only God passes between the corpses of the animals. In essence, God is saying, "I guarantee you that no matter what happens, you will have descendants." This is known as an unconditional covenant. God is the sole party responsible for seeing their agreement come to pass.
It is during this ceremony that God gives Abram a vision of the future. His descendants will be enslaved for 400 years, but God will deliver them.
After some time though, Abram's wife Sarai is still not pregnant, so Sarai offers Abram to take her slave Hagar and have sex with her and have a child through her. Abram decides to take a shortcut in God's plan and agrees to do so. Of course this leads to disasterous results. Sarai becomes jealous of Hagar's child, and eventually kicks them out of the house. God still blesses Ishmael, Hagar's son, saying that he will become a mighty nation, but he will forever be an angry nation. But Abram continues to love his son.
God appears again later, and promises to make Abram the father of many nations, and changes his name to Abraham, and he changes Abraham's wife's name to Sarah. Abraham is given the sign of the covenant, circumcision, to show that he, and his household belong to God. God then promises specifically, that he is going to give Abraham a son from Sarah. Abraham laughs at the idea of him getting Sarah pregnant because he is 100 years old, and Sarah is 90 years old. Because of this, God says that they shall name their son Isaac. Which means Laughter. Their child's name would forever remind them that God can do whatever he wants to.
In Genesis 15-17 we see essentially one story. God promises Abram that he is going to make his descendants plentious, and Abraham initially believes him. Because Abram believes and trusts God to do this impossible thing (for Abraham is about almost 80 at this point) God reckoned Abram's faith as righteousness. But Abram still questions God, and asks him to give him a sign, and God cuts a covenant with him.
Now, when one cuts a covenant, the two partners are to slaughter some animals, and walk in between their bodies. A person who participates in this ceremony is effectively saying, "If I break this covenant, may I become just like these animals." But what is interesting is that God makes Abram fall asleep, and only God passes between the corpses of the animals. In essence, God is saying, "I guarantee you that no matter what happens, you will have descendants." This is known as an unconditional covenant. God is the sole party responsible for seeing their agreement come to pass.
It is during this ceremony that God gives Abram a vision of the future. His descendants will be enslaved for 400 years, but God will deliver them.
After some time though, Abram's wife Sarai is still not pregnant, so Sarai offers Abram to take her slave Hagar and have sex with her and have a child through her. Abram decides to take a shortcut in God's plan and agrees to do so. Of course this leads to disasterous results. Sarai becomes jealous of Hagar's child, and eventually kicks them out of the house. God still blesses Ishmael, Hagar's son, saying that he will become a mighty nation, but he will forever be an angry nation. But Abram continues to love his son.
God appears again later, and promises to make Abram the father of many nations, and changes his name to Abraham, and he changes Abraham's wife's name to Sarah. Abraham is given the sign of the covenant, circumcision, to show that he, and his household belong to God. God then promises specifically, that he is going to give Abraham a son from Sarah. Abraham laughs at the idea of him getting Sarah pregnant because he is 100 years old, and Sarah is 90 years old. Because of this, God says that they shall name their son Isaac. Which means Laughter. Their child's name would forever remind them that God can do whatever he wants to.
Genesis 12-14
Though one may not realize it, but almost a thousand years have flown by in the last 11 chapters of Genesis. But now, Genesis is going to come to a screeching halt as it follows one man's family for the next 38 chapters.
God is continuing the covenant that he made with the woman, and with Noah, and is now funneling it through a new man. Abram. God says to Abram "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the ones who curse you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." This highlights the purpose of Abram's descendants. Abram's descendants were chosen by God to bless the whole world. Now this is very important to understand. Abram's descendants are not chosen by God for no reason. Rather, Abram was chosen for a very specific purpose. It would be through his descendants that the world would get a chance to know God.
God says that He is going to give Abram's seed the land of Canaan. The issue is that we know that Abram's wife is barren. Yet God is insistent that Abram will have children who will possess the land of Canaan, and that those children will one day grow to bless the whole world. A mighty calling indeed. Because of this promise, Abram build's an altar to the Lord and "invoked the name of the LORD." (12:8.)
The concept of invoking the name of the LORD is something that Pentecostals have a very deep theological conviction of. To invoke the name of the Lord is to bring about his presence. It is not done without care, nor should it be done for no reason. God forbids that anybody take his name in vain, so it is very important that the reasons for invoking the name of the Lord are holy. The invoking of God's name is a sign of a very close and intimate relationship with God. This close and intimate relationship is often called a covenant relationship. The invoking of God's name shows that God is very close to Abram's heart.
Later, there is a famine in the land, and Abram is forced to go to Egypt. Out of fear of death, Abram tells his wife Sarai to pretend to be his sister. She was such a beautiful woman, that Abram believed that if it was known that he was married to her, he would be killed, and his wife would be stolen from him. But God has different plans. Even though Abram fails to trust God in this instance, God still delivers Sarai and Abraham from the Pharaoh.
After this deliverance Abram goes back to the place he offered sacrifice, and calls upon the name of the Lord again. Perhaps this literal turning back to the place of sacrifice was a form of repentance for Abram committing the sin of lying, and putting his wife in danger of rape.
Now, God had originally said to Abram "Go from your country and your kindred...to the land that I will show you." But Abram actually decides to bring his nephew Lot around with him. But after a while, Lot's shepherds and Abram's shepherds start fighting over food and water sources. So Abram seflessly gives his nephew the pick of the land. Lot chooses an area near a city named Sodom. A dark omen in scripture reveals that later, there will be conflict because of Lot's decision. "Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD."
In Chapter 14, Lot begins to live with the consequences of that decision. Some stronger kings come to Sodom and Gomorrah and loot the city, and kidnap Lot. Abraham comes to the rescue and pursues these attackers until he is able to win back the city's loot, and deliver his cousin Lot. After this happens, Abraham meets up with King Melchizedek of Salam. Melchizedek is an interesting character because he only appears one other time in the Old Testament. His name appears in a messianic psalm. Jesus' priesthood is said to come from Melchizedek.
God is continuing the covenant that he made with the woman, and with Noah, and is now funneling it through a new man. Abram. God says to Abram "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the ones who curse you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." This highlights the purpose of Abram's descendants. Abram's descendants were chosen by God to bless the whole world. Now this is very important to understand. Abram's descendants are not chosen by God for no reason. Rather, Abram was chosen for a very specific purpose. It would be through his descendants that the world would get a chance to know God.
God says that He is going to give Abram's seed the land of Canaan. The issue is that we know that Abram's wife is barren. Yet God is insistent that Abram will have children who will possess the land of Canaan, and that those children will one day grow to bless the whole world. A mighty calling indeed. Because of this promise, Abram build's an altar to the Lord and "invoked the name of the LORD." (12:8.)
The concept of invoking the name of the LORD is something that Pentecostals have a very deep theological conviction of. To invoke the name of the Lord is to bring about his presence. It is not done without care, nor should it be done for no reason. God forbids that anybody take his name in vain, so it is very important that the reasons for invoking the name of the Lord are holy. The invoking of God's name is a sign of a very close and intimate relationship with God. This close and intimate relationship is often called a covenant relationship. The invoking of God's name shows that God is very close to Abram's heart.
Later, there is a famine in the land, and Abram is forced to go to Egypt. Out of fear of death, Abram tells his wife Sarai to pretend to be his sister. She was such a beautiful woman, that Abram believed that if it was known that he was married to her, he would be killed, and his wife would be stolen from him. But God has different plans. Even though Abram fails to trust God in this instance, God still delivers Sarai and Abraham from the Pharaoh.
After this deliverance Abram goes back to the place he offered sacrifice, and calls upon the name of the Lord again. Perhaps this literal turning back to the place of sacrifice was a form of repentance for Abram committing the sin of lying, and putting his wife in danger of rape.
Now, God had originally said to Abram "Go from your country and your kindred...to the land that I will show you." But Abram actually decides to bring his nephew Lot around with him. But after a while, Lot's shepherds and Abram's shepherds start fighting over food and water sources. So Abram seflessly gives his nephew the pick of the land. Lot chooses an area near a city named Sodom. A dark omen in scripture reveals that later, there will be conflict because of Lot's decision. "Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD."
In Chapter 14, Lot begins to live with the consequences of that decision. Some stronger kings come to Sodom and Gomorrah and loot the city, and kidnap Lot. Abraham comes to the rescue and pursues these attackers until he is able to win back the city's loot, and deliver his cousin Lot. After this happens, Abraham meets up with King Melchizedek of Salam. Melchizedek is an interesting character because he only appears one other time in the Old Testament. His name appears in a messianic psalm. Jesus' priesthood is said to come from Melchizedek.
Genesis 9-11
January 6th, 2013
Genesis 9-11. Aftermath
Genesis 9 deals with the aftermath of the flood. We see some beautiful things happen, but we also see some terrible things. The first is the prospect of a new start. A fresh start. Humanity has a chance to start over again. God gives the command to be fruitful and multiply. He reestablishes the fact that human beings are created in the image of God, and he reasserts humanity's dominion over the creation. He also makes a covenant with Noah and the rest of humankind.
Genesis 9:13-17 NRSV.
I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”
From this, many commentators have said that the bow is a sign that God will not attack the earth the way he had done so in the flood. The idea is that God has hung up his war bow, and made a peace treaty. Some have even said that the bow being pointed towards the heavens shows that God is saying that if he breaks this covenant, may he suffer the same fate that the world suffered in the flood. Something that he does with Abraham in later chapters.
9:18-27 show a very interesting story of Noah. Noah was one of the first people to harvest wine, and actually became drunk off of it. One day, his son Ham sees him drunk and naked and tells his brothers about it. His brothers cover up their father's nakedness by walking in backwards, and covering him up. Noah, wakes up, and curses Canaan, Ham's son. Noah curses them with slavery. So what is the connection to seeing Noah naked, and Canaan being cursed to slavery. It doesn't seem like there is a correlation.
One thing to take note of is the fact that the Hebrew Bible can tend to be fairly subtle concerning sexual issues. In fact, it can be extremely subtle. Some have wondered whether or not Ham actually raped his father while he was drunk. What makes them think such a thing? Because of this line. " When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him..." Noah wakes up and sees that Ham has actually DONE something to him. And he knew it upon waking up.
To commit rape is a power crime. It is a crime that is meant to display a person's dominance. It would follow then that Noah would curse Ham's descendants with slavery if such is the case. Instead of Ham getting power over Noah, Noah takes power over Ham's descendants, and opens the door for every other nation to do the same.
But what is most significant is this. Even though God destroys the world in a flood, and he shows mercy to a man and his family, sin just keeps popping up. The sin issue has not been dealt with. And Humanity is still under a curse.
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| Nimrod: A Mighty Hunter Against The LORD |
"Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty warrior. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, 'like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.' The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, and Accad, all of them in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city."
Now, the hebrew word "before" can also mean "in opposition to." And the fact that he is connected to cities that later on carry some very deep evil doesn't help Nimrod's case. He is connected to Babel, Assyria, and specifically Nineveh. Jewish tradition states that he was the one who led the people to build the tower of Babel. Josephus writes:
"Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it were through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to reach. And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.
Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, confusion…"
Apparently, the purpose of building the Tower of Babel was to make a tower so big, the people would never have to worry about God destroying them with a flood. Good thing God needs a flood to thwart the plans of wicked men. Oh, that's right. He confused their languages.
The rest of chapter 10 is another Genealogical account. And finally, a woman is mentioned. Sarai. Sarai is the first women mentioned since Ada and Zilla, the wives of Lamech. And we know that she will play a very crucial part. How do we know this? A detail is given of this woman. "Sarai was barren; she had no child." She is married to a man named Abram. The son of Terah.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Genesis 6-8
Genesis 6-8 deal with the flood.
I find it interesting that all over the world there are flood stories that closely resemble the biblical account, and I would consider this evidence for it's validity. The Epic of Gilgamesh being one such story that I have read recently.
Now, as was mentioned in the last chapter, murder seemed to be something that was permeating the post-Edenic societies. Very seldom was something positive said of anyone in the genealogies, except Enoch. Lamech, Noah's Father actually brags about killing a young boy for bruising him. He actually writes a poem about it.
To add to all of this, the "sons of God" actually take "the daughters of humankind" as their wives and make mighty warriors of renown. Now, whatever the "sons of God" were, it's clear that they were not supposed to be with "the daughters of humankind." So what are some of the theories on the "sons of God?" Well, in the book of Enoch, a pseudopigraphical book of Jewish origin, the "sons of God" were fallen angels. So that would mean that these "Nephilim" were half angel, half human creatures. The New Testament author also seems to believe this, but that is also debated.
Others believe that "the Sons of God" refers to the descendants of Seth, while the "daughters of humankind" refers to the female descendants of Cain. In which case, this is a warning against marrying into families of different faith. Of course, this does not explain the appearance of these "Nephilim."
I have personally gone back and forth between the two, though I must admit that there is a possibility that I argue with this so much in my mind because I have a strong bias against the possibility of angels impregnating women, much less desiring to have sex. Upon self-reflection, it's entirely possible that I don't want to believe that the supernatural can be so... dangerous.
In any case, God chooses Noah. Not because Noah was any better than anybody else, but simply because Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. God tasks Noah with preserving all of the animals, and to building the ark, and repopulating the world. His wife, sons, and daughter in laws were all saved in the flood.
It shows a couple of things. God's wrath abides on the wicked, but he allows mercy to those who he loves. To those who find favor in his eyes, he saves. In the story of the flood we see the mercy and the judgement of God.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Genesis 4-5.
In continuing my second entry this year, January 2nd, 2013 I read Genesis 4 and 5. Genesis 4 begins with the birth of Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a gardener. One day, Cain and Abel both offer sacrifices to God. Cain offered vegetables, and Abel offered an animal sacrifice. The Lord prefers Abel's sacrifice and rejects Cain's sacrifice.
God sees that he is angry and says "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it."
Sin here is personified as a force that seeks to rule over mankind, and God tells us that it is our responsibility to know what is right from wrong, and to choose right from wrong. However, Cain is not able to do this, and since then all of humanity has followed the path of Cain.
Cain is unable to handle this kind of rejection, and becomes very angry. He tells his brother to come out to a field with him, and murders him in cold blood. When confronted by God, Cain asks "Am I my brother's keeper?"
I think that this phrase shows how Cain has rejected the importance of family. He speaks of his younger brother with contempt and lack of regard. He does not feel that he should be responsible for his brother's wherabouts. Of course he not only rejects his brother, but he murdered him.
God decides to make him a vagabond. Cain is cursed to always wander. He is sent to the land of Nod that is east of Eden. (Nod in Hebrew means wander.) God actually shows mercy as well. He says that if anyone kills Cain, God would repay his vengence seven times. I think that this may have interesting implications about capital punishment. The first murder in history was forgiven, and anybody who sought to avenge Abel would be punished. Perhaps this is the beginning of Jesus "turn the other cheek" teaching. Perhaps, like divorce, capital punishment was given because of the hardness of the heart's of humankind.
Chapter 5 in essense is a geneology. There are a few notable things though. The first is the obvious. Age. These people lived a very long time. Now, there are some Christians who take this literally, and there are other Christians who think that this is exagerated in order to Honor them, and others think that instead of 900 years, it should be translated 900 seasons. I am not sure at this point, and I do not think that it effects the reading of scripture.
Enoch is said to have walked with God, and God took him. Some believe that means that he died without sinning. Other's believe that means that Enoch did not die, but rather God took him in a similar way that he took Elijah.
There are also a couple of Poems scattered about. One is like an ancient lymerick about Lamech killing a young boy for bruising him, and boasting "If Cain's vengence is 7 fold, then Lamech's is 77 fold. A real vain thing to brag about.
But the stage is set for the flood story. Lamech is Noah's Father. Lamech names his child Noah because he believes that Noah will bring rest to the world. Apparently things had gotten pretty bad. It seems that sin had thouroughly corrupted the world already. The first sin outside of the Garden was murder, and murder was becoming common. Such was not the case in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 1-3
So, I'm doing a bible reading plan. I'm going to try to make it through the year, and I will try to write whatever thoughts that I have in my facebook notes. Now, I am writing these reflections at midnight, but I read the passage earlier today. So this is a reflection for January 1st, 2013.
Book: B'resheet AKA:Genesis Author: Moses. Date: 1400-1200 B.C. Approximately 3,400 years old.
In the Beginning. These words are so iconic. It's amazing that everybody knows what follows these words. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The three building blocks of the universe. Time (beginning) space (heavens) and mass (earth.) It is interesting to me that the bible presents space, time, and mass as coming to existance at the same "time."
Now, today, somebody asked me "what was God doing before he created the world?" and I remembered what St. Augustine said, and quoted it to them, and we all laughed. St. Augustine said in response to this question "preparing hell for those who pry into mysteries." What happened before Genesis 1? Nobody knows
Now, there are some who are disturbed by Genesis 1 because it presents things that as far as we know, are not scientifically true. For example, the earth comes into existence after the moon and the sun. But I would like to introduce a few things about Genesis 1. The first is that it is a poem. It is a wonderful peice of poetry. In the hebrew it rhymes, and follows a poetic structure. Each section is finished with "it was evening, and it was morning, the ___ day." It's interesting that the absence of the moon and the sun do not stop Moses from writing about mornings and evenings. Now, let's pay some close attention to what is being said in the text, and how the text unfolds.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was FORMLESS and VOID." (I just want to point out that in Hebrew "Formless" and "Void" rhyme. "Tohou va bohou.") So, there are two problems. 1) There is no place for things to be. and 2) there is nothing to put in that place, if that place existed.So the first 3 days of creation God creates the FORM first, and then in the next 3 days he fills the VOID. The first three Days, God creates the Sky, the oceans and seas, and the land, over the next three days, God creates the birds (to fill the sky) the fish and the large sea animals (to fill the sea) and then the animals and vegitation. And the last thing that God makes is mankind, but there is something very different about mankind. Then on the seventh day he rests.
From the NRSV "Then God said "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image // In the image of God created he them // Male and Female created he them."
I think that this is perhaps one of the most important scriptures in the bible. It informs us of our duty, our relationship with God, and our relationships with eachother. Environmentally, we should care about the earth. We should not litter or do things that damage our planet. We should try to work with the earth in a symbiotic way, instead of basically raping it for resources the way we do now. We should be concerned about the ethical treatment of animals. We should not endorse dog fighting / cock fighting or any of these cruel things.
Theologically, we need to understand that each and every one of us is created with the express purpose of being a representative of God's nature to the whole creation. When the creation sees us, they are seeing what God is like. So let's try to make sure the universe knows that God is good. Sociologically, we are not meant to be alone. We are most complete in a family unit. The male and the female both represent certain aspects of God's character and attributes, and those charicteristics and attributes are most clearly seen in a good marriage. Concerning this, C.S. Lewis writes;
"There is hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them. It is arrogance in us to call frankness, fairness, and chivalry 'masculine' when we see them in a woman; it is arrogance in them to describe a man's sensitiveness or tact or tenderness as 'feminine.' But also what poor, warped fragments of humanity most mere men and mere women must be to make the implications of that arrogance plausible. Marriage heals this. Jointly the two become fully human. 'In the image of God created he them.' Thus, by a paradox, this carnival of sexuality leads us out beyond our sexes."
Genesis 2 is a "zoomed in" look at day 6. In Genesis 1, the impression is given that man and woman were created at the same punctillar point of time, whereas Genesis 2 shows that Adam (he's given a name) and Eve were created on the same day, but Eve was created with an additional purpose at a later point in the day. In essense, Adam was lonely. Every other creature had a mate, but he didn't. So God makes the woman from Adam's very own flesh. And when Adam sees her, he bursts out with a poem in typical Disney Prince fashion. "This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." (In hebrew there is a word play. Man is Ish (prounounced eesh) and woman is Ishah.) Adam then names the woman. He names her Eve (which in hebrew means Life.) Now the additional purpose that Eve was created for was to be Adam's help. What can I say? I'm incomplete without my wife. And I think most married men would say that as well. There is something about a woman that gives a man a sense of purpose and drive, what a special creation women are!
Also, a stage is set. There is a sense of joy, but also a sense of forboding in the text. There are two trees in the Garden. The tree of life, if it was eaten, it would make the person immortal, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God warns Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One could wish that the text just ended there. "The man said okay, and lived happily ever after with his wife in the garden of eden for all of eternity. The End." But sadly it doesn't.
Genesis 3 follows. "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made." Adam and Eve encounter the serpent. The serpent speaks to them and asks them if the rumors were true. "Did God say that you shall not eat from any tree in the garden?" Of course Eve pipes up and corrects the serpent. No, that's not true. We can eat from all of the trees in the garden, except that one. Even touching it could kill us. But the serpent tells them that they will not die. And in fact tells them that if they eat from the tree, they will be like God, knowing good and evil. Now this is interesting to me, we already read that God had created them in His image. But the serpent is basically calling God's integrity to question. He is in essence, denying that Adam and Eve are like God. In fact, if they trust the serpent, they will be like God. And of course Adam and Eve fall for the lie, and disobey God's only negative commands to them. He then dishes out 3 curses.
To the serpent: he lost his legs, and will forever eat dust. Also, the day would come, when a woman will have a child, and that child will crush the head of the serpent. (This is believed to be the fist prophecy of the coming Messiah by Jews and Christians alike.) To the woman: She would have pain in childbirth, and there would be a battle between the sexes starting here. The woman would seek to control her husband, and the man would rule over her. To the man: The earth itself was cursed, and he would toil trying to make things grow, but to no avail. It would become hard to get food from the ground. God kicks them out of the garden to keep them from eating of the tree of life. For if they were to eat from the tree of life, they would live forever. Paradise Lost.
Book: B'resheet AKA:Genesis Author: Moses. Date: 1400-1200 B.C. Approximately 3,400 years old.
In the Beginning. These words are so iconic. It's amazing that everybody knows what follows these words. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The three building blocks of the universe. Time (beginning) space (heavens) and mass (earth.) It is interesting to me that the bible presents space, time, and mass as coming to existance at the same "time."
Now, today, somebody asked me "what was God doing before he created the world?" and I remembered what St. Augustine said, and quoted it to them, and we all laughed. St. Augustine said in response to this question "preparing hell for those who pry into mysteries." What happened before Genesis 1? Nobody knows
Now, there are some who are disturbed by Genesis 1 because it presents things that as far as we know, are not scientifically true. For example, the earth comes into existence after the moon and the sun. But I would like to introduce a few things about Genesis 1. The first is that it is a poem. It is a wonderful peice of poetry. In the hebrew it rhymes, and follows a poetic structure. Each section is finished with "it was evening, and it was morning, the ___ day." It's interesting that the absence of the moon and the sun do not stop Moses from writing about mornings and evenings. Now, let's pay some close attention to what is being said in the text, and how the text unfolds.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was FORMLESS and VOID." (I just want to point out that in Hebrew "Formless" and "Void" rhyme. "Tohou va bohou.") So, there are two problems. 1) There is no place for things to be. and 2) there is nothing to put in that place, if that place existed.So the first 3 days of creation God creates the FORM first, and then in the next 3 days he fills the VOID. The first three Days, God creates the Sky, the oceans and seas, and the land, over the next three days, God creates the birds (to fill the sky) the fish and the large sea animals (to fill the sea) and then the animals and vegitation. And the last thing that God makes is mankind, but there is something very different about mankind. Then on the seventh day he rests.
From the NRSV "Then God said "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created humankind in his image // In the image of God created he them // Male and Female created he them."
I think that this is perhaps one of the most important scriptures in the bible. It informs us of our duty, our relationship with God, and our relationships with eachother. Environmentally, we should care about the earth. We should not litter or do things that damage our planet. We should try to work with the earth in a symbiotic way, instead of basically raping it for resources the way we do now. We should be concerned about the ethical treatment of animals. We should not endorse dog fighting / cock fighting or any of these cruel things.
Theologically, we need to understand that each and every one of us is created with the express purpose of being a representative of God's nature to the whole creation. When the creation sees us, they are seeing what God is like. So let's try to make sure the universe knows that God is good. Sociologically, we are not meant to be alone. We are most complete in a family unit. The male and the female both represent certain aspects of God's character and attributes, and those charicteristics and attributes are most clearly seen in a good marriage. Concerning this, C.S. Lewis writes;
"There is hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them. It is arrogance in us to call frankness, fairness, and chivalry 'masculine' when we see them in a woman; it is arrogance in them to describe a man's sensitiveness or tact or tenderness as 'feminine.' But also what poor, warped fragments of humanity most mere men and mere women must be to make the implications of that arrogance plausible. Marriage heals this. Jointly the two become fully human. 'In the image of God created he them.' Thus, by a paradox, this carnival of sexuality leads us out beyond our sexes."
Genesis 2 is a "zoomed in" look at day 6. In Genesis 1, the impression is given that man and woman were created at the same punctillar point of time, whereas Genesis 2 shows that Adam (he's given a name) and Eve were created on the same day, but Eve was created with an additional purpose at a later point in the day. In essense, Adam was lonely. Every other creature had a mate, but he didn't. So God makes the woman from Adam's very own flesh. And when Adam sees her, he bursts out with a poem in typical Disney Prince fashion. "This at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken." (In hebrew there is a word play. Man is Ish (prounounced eesh) and woman is Ishah.) Adam then names the woman. He names her Eve (which in hebrew means Life.) Now the additional purpose that Eve was created for was to be Adam's help. What can I say? I'm incomplete without my wife. And I think most married men would say that as well. There is something about a woman that gives a man a sense of purpose and drive, what a special creation women are!
Also, a stage is set. There is a sense of joy, but also a sense of forboding in the text. There are two trees in the Garden. The tree of life, if it was eaten, it would make the person immortal, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God warns Adam to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. One could wish that the text just ended there. "The man said okay, and lived happily ever after with his wife in the garden of eden for all of eternity. The End." But sadly it doesn't.
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| Destruction from disobedience |
To the serpent: he lost his legs, and will forever eat dust. Also, the day would come, when a woman will have a child, and that child will crush the head of the serpent. (This is believed to be the fist prophecy of the coming Messiah by Jews and Christians alike.) To the woman: She would have pain in childbirth, and there would be a battle between the sexes starting here. The woman would seek to control her husband, and the man would rule over her. To the man: The earth itself was cursed, and he would toil trying to make things grow, but to no avail. It would become hard to get food from the ground. God kicks them out of the garden to keep them from eating of the tree of life. For if they were to eat from the tree of life, they would live forever. Paradise Lost.
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