Thirsty Ground

blogging business

2011-10-11T10:22:00.002+01:00

I am currently trying to track back and change all links to my main blog as it has moved to wordpress.com. Hence, a post here as well. I'm now at http://lucymillsonlife.wordpress.com.

There are two main reasons for this move - 1) Some people have enormous problems commenting on my Blogger blog and I want to be user friendly and 2) I intend eventually to self-host using wordpress.org and this seemed a step in the right direction (it's not something I can justify doing yet).

What does this mean for Thirsty Ground? Not much at the moment; I'll be keeping this blog here (although I can't guarantee regular updates) and will review it if and when I have my own domain name. I'm hoping to have a website where I can publicise my book (in the making) with my blog incorporated - which may mean I move this one too at that time.

If you find a link I need to change somewhere, please let me know!

a new name

2011-09-05T19:20:00.001+01:00

Genesis 17

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

***

I AM GOD ALMIGHTY. Here Yahweh speaks to Abram with an affirmation of his identity, his authority and a sense of command: walk before me and be blameless.

The weighty announcement of Yahweh, God Almighty provokes a response from Abram that emphasises the authority of the speaker - Abram falls facedown.

This is apparently 13 years after Ishmael's birth, when Abram is 99. Yahweh, it appears, will not be rushed.

Yahweh speaks the words of his covenant, the Great Promise Maker renewing what has been said previously. His covenant remains the same - Abram's descendants will be many. There are extra details here - kings will come from you, a royal history to unfold. It is a grand promise, and as a symbol of Abram's future God gives him a new name: Abraham. The covenant is not just with Abraham, father of many, but with all his offspring in all generations. The covenant is everlasting.

The promise of land is also reiterated - Abraham is currently a foreigner in Canaan but it shall belong to his family. Yahweh will be their God.

coming up...

2011-08-23T16:08:00.001+01:00

I HAVE JUST signed up to be a #digidisciple over at http://bigbible.org.uk - my first post should appear there on September 9th.

I have a few ideas, so that should be fun - hopefully inspiring discussion about what it means to be a disciple in a digital world. I'll link to it from one of my blogs - perhaps both, assuming I have some different readers!

the hearing, seeing God

2011-08-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

Genesis 16

⁷ The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. ⁸ And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹ Then the angel of the LORD told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹ The angel of the LORD also said to her:

   “You are now pregnant
   and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,
   for the LORD has heard of your misery.
¹² He will be a wild donkey of a man;
   his hand will be against everyone
   and everyone’s hand against him,
and he will live in hostility
   toward all his brothers.”

¹³ She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” ¹⁴ That is why the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; it is still there, between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. ¹⁶ Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

***

IN THE FACE of Sarai's rough treatment, pregnant Hagar runs away. She is found by the 'angel of Yahweh', by a spring of water in the wilderness - was she heading for Egypt, her homeland?

Yahweh knows who Hagar is, and engages her in conversation. Where have you come from, and where are you going?

The questions evoke a simple response: I'm running away from Sarai.

And the reaction? Go back. And even harder for proud Hagar: Go back and submit.

But he does not leave her merely with this command, but gives her a promise of her own - she too will have numerous descendants; God will multiply her offspring. He gives her unborn the name 'Ishmael' - God hears. The child will not have an easy life; he will be a misfit among his family. An odd kind of reassurance, this, but it shows one thing: God knows. God knows who this son will be, and what he will be like. Her son will live and grow and become a man.

After being told the name of her son, Hagar gives Yahweh a name from her own lips: El-roi - the God who sees. God has seen her, and she him. She was alone in the wilderness but Yahweh, who she names El-roi. (Remember this is before Moses' encounter with the burning bush, where El-roi declares himself Yahweh, the great I AM.)

Abram is 86 years old when Ishmael is born.

it's your fault

2011-08-13T18:04:00.001+01:00

Genesis 16

When [Hagar] knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.”

⁶ “Your slave is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

***

INITIALLY, Sarai's plan seems successful - at least, it achieves the aim of Hagar getting pregnant. Alas, it also has a result Sarai does not expect. Hagar now looks at Sarai with contempt, despising her mistress. Has her pregnancy given her a superiority complex, because she could conceive where Sarai couldn't? Does she dislike Sarai for using her as a vessel for childbearing (although as noted previously, this was not uncommon practice)? The former seems more likely in the cultural context. (The understanding was that the male seed was inside the woman, who acted as an incubator for it. Fertilisation was not a known concept!)

Typically human, typically flawed, Sarai goes to Abram and says: this is your fault. You are responsible for what I'm going through. She calls on Yahweh himself to underline her point: may Yahweh judge between you and me. Yahweh, the judge, the one who knows.

In reality Sarai and Abram cannot individualise the blame for the situation - Sarai suggested it, Abram agreed and then acted upon it. Hagar's attitude is also her own.

Abram reacts in a not dissimilar way, giving full responsibility to Sarai to deal with Hagar. He gives her complete power over Hagar, offering Hagar no protection from Sarai's treatment.

An awkward triangle instead of fulfilled hope.

taking matters into their own hands...

2011-08-08T17:30:00.000+01:00

Genesis 16

¹ Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

***

APPARENTLY it was not uncommon in this culture for a wife to find a 'surrogate' to carry a child and have authority over them. So perhaps Sarai's action was not as outlandish as it may seem to us. She suggests that Abram sleeps with slave girl Hagar, so that through Hagar they may have children.

In spite of the statement in the previous chapter where 'Abram' believed Yahweh's promise of land and descendants, here Abram and Sarai attempt some D.I.Y. Upon Sarai's request, Abram does what was culturally unremarkable - and sleeps with the appointed surrogate.

But the plan had never been meant to be unremarkable. God was planning a remarkable thing. But in the face of their circumstances, they try and do things their way, not God's way. Sarai places the blame for her barrenness at Yahweh's door (v2) but seemingly does not expect him to change this. God has made her barren, hence barren she will always be, and another woman is needed in order for a child to be born to them.

And so the plan is put into action, and Hagar conceives a child.

visual aids and vivid ritual

2011-07-25T12:09:00.001+01:00

^{Genesis 15}

7 He also said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

⁹ So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the LORD said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

¹⁷ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— ¹⁹ the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, ²⁰ Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, ²¹ Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

***

HERE God makes a covenant with Abram, using symbolism and ritual - visual aids, although somewhat bloodier than we are used to in our culture. After assuring Abram over the promise of children God reiterates his promise regarding the land - something that will assume huge importance in Israel's later identity. Abram again responds with a question - how will I know?

God responds with covenant, in a ritual enacted out partly in 'deep and dreadful darkness'. This is no airy fairy light in the sky but a profoundly serious experience involving fire and blood. Fire of holiness, perhaps, symbolising Yahweh; the carcasses lying bloodied either side. Death and life - elemental things, things real and distressing, things showing how serious all this is.

God speaks.

Know this for certain.

Yahweh specifies what will happen - including the sojourn and the slavery that is to come and their escape from it. Exodus, another key feature of Israel's identity in her God, is still to come. But all this would be a long time coming; the timing had to be right; waiting was inevitable. It would not be an easy wait. But, know for certain, says YHWH, it will happen.

But not in Abram's lifetime. He shall live long, he shall die in peace - to his descendants YHWH gives the land, and even specifies who the current inhabitants are. The mention of the 'sin of the Amorites' hints at the evil will later be said to have polluted the land...

God takes the long view, and it's not an easy one for us to cope with. It is hard for us to see beyond ourselves, to balance the value God places on us with the perspective of history and the millions of others that come and go over the ages. But God sees all of it, knows all of it. In the end, we can only trust, on the basis of the one who guides us, the one who makes the promise.

the seen and the unseen

2011-07-20T11:31:00.001+01:00

Genesis 15

¹ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:

   “Do not be afraid, Abram.
   I am your shield,
   your very great reward.”

² But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

***

YHWH again appears to Abram, encouraging not to be afraid. God is his shield, his protector, and he is his reward (or, Abram's reward will be very great, depending on how it is translated).

Abram takes this opportunity to voice his doubt - he cannot understand how he will be rewarded as he has no child of his own - his current heir is Eliezer - his slave. He has no blood descendants. Sarah is still barren.

The situation has not changed, but Abram is still called to believe.

God responds to Abram's questioning with the statement that this should not be so - no one but Abram's own flesh and blood will be his heir. God does not adapt or change his plan. It remains, bold and unyielding, in spite of the fact it seems contrary to circumstance. YHWH uses the visual aids of the stars to show how numerous Abram's descendants shall be. What a contrast - Abram stands before God childless and confused - and yet YHWH promises him such abundance.

All this in spite of Abram's current circumstances. But God will not be changed by these circumstances, rather it is the circumstances that will change. God's promise flies in the face of what Abram knows, and holds out an entirely different ending to the story.

Abram's response is faith. In spite of appearances, Abram believed what God had said to be true, and was given 'righteousness' as credit. A link appears between faith and righteousness, one that is given great significance in the New Covenant.

Abram is faced with two things - his childless circumstances and the promises of God. To his credit, he fixes his gaze on the latter.

another giveaway

2011-06-22T09:00:00.002+01:00

I'M CURRENTLY hosting another (unexpected) giveaway over at my main blog - this time it's In Constant Prayer, by Robert Benson. To enter, please leave a comment on this post at my main blog (click link). I'll choose the winner next week.

"IN THIS BOOK, Robert Benson introduces the discipline of the Daily Office, also known as the liturgy of the hours, among other names. It is part of the Ancient Practices series. In a humble and engaging way, Benson presents a truly ancient practice - a way of praying at fixed times and entering into the great river of prayer that runs through the church over the ages."

from my review.

Update: Winner announced here

the meeting in the valley

2011-06-14T13:19:00.010+01:00

Genesis 14

17After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹⁸ Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, ¹⁹ and he blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth.
²⁰ And praise be to God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and keep the goods for yourself.”

²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “With raised hand I have sworn an oath to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³ that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ ²⁴ I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share that belongs to the men who went with me—to Aner, Eshkol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”

***

On his return, Abram is met by the (rather surly) King of Sodom and also Melchizedek, King of Salem (Jerusalem, perhaps?). Melchizedek is given the title of priest, the first direct mention we've had of such a role. He brings not bread and water but bread and wine to honour Abram. He blesses him by God Most High -
El-Elyon. (El was the 'top' Canaanite god but also a way that Yahweh is referred to in the Old Testament.)

Abram's actions are already being accompanied by blessing.

Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything as a response; does this feel like a tithe? Another trackback?

Abram rejects the offer of the King of Sodom and swears by Yahweh, El-Elyon (more specific) that he would not accept anything from this king's hand. The King of Sodom will never be the source of any prosperity for Abram. He will only accept the food that the men have eaten, and asks that his allies (apparently present with him in the attack) should have their share.

Does Abram's rejection of the King of Sodom's offer signify that he disapproves of Sodom and is aware of its reputation? Or does he not want to receive anything from an enemy, instead relying on blessing from God (which is what Melchizedek offers)?

the ears of Abram

2011-06-07T19:40:00.000+01:00

^{Genesis 14}
¹³ A man who had escaped came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the great trees of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshkol and Aner, all of whom were allied with Abram. ¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he called out the 318 trained men born in his household and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵ During the night Abram divided his men to attack them and he routed them, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶ He recovered all the goods and brought back his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the other people.

***

AND so Lot's capture came to the ears of Abram. Abram here described as 'the Hebrew' - is this story coming from an external source? Has this how Abram has become known?
One thing is clear - Abram is not alone. He has allies. And he is known enough for an escapee to come and let him know what has happened.

Suddenly Abram doesn't seem like a lone wanderer any more. He has made agreements with others. He has 318 trained men. Abram has an army.

And when the news of his nephew reaches the ears of Abram, he calls the army into action. The bond between Lot and Abram has not been broken - Lot still has importance in Abram's eyes. The uncle comes to the rescue, pulling out all the stops, gathering all his forces and hounding Lot's captors all the way to Hobar.

His rescue is a thorough one. He does not sneak in and get Lot out some subtle and sly way. Oh no; he recovers everything - Lot and everything that belongs to him, the women and the 'other people'.

Abram is not one you would want to anger, it seems...

someone's in trouble

2011-05-29T19:19:00.000+01:00

^{Genesis 14}

¹ At the time when Amraphel was king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim, ² these kings went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³ All these latter kings joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea Valley). ⁴ For twelve years they had been subject to Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵ In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim ⁶ and the Horites in the hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran near the desert. ⁷ Then they turned back and went to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazezon Tamar.

⁸ Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Siddim ⁹ against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. ¹¹ The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food; then they went away. ¹² They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since he was living in Sodom.

***

Whoosh.

Sometimes passages like this can funnel through my brain and out the other side. All those names! Those kings! A war which happened thousands of years ago in which it can be hard to summon genuine interest. I have to read it carefully - skim reading won't aid understanding!

It's a military campaign being described here. The five defending kings are defeated by the four who go to war against them. The additional information about the tar pits evokes an unpleasant image. In a way, it helps ground the narrative, make it more 'real' - appealing to our senses.

Among those who are defeated are the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. We've already been warned about these cities. We know that Lot was near ('as far as') Sodom - now we're told he's living in Sodom. And he is not immune to what has happened - his lot (groan) has fallen in with the people he is living with, and he is in a lot (groan again) of trouble.

He's identified here by his family connections. This is no random Lot. He's not even simply called 'Lot'. No, this is Abram's nephew Lot who has been carried off as a result of this victory. Their parting does not get rid of this tie, does not break this bond.

The kings have carried off one of Abram's kin.

This mini-story connects to the wider story of Abram, as well as to references of Sodom and Gomorrah, which are littered in various places in scripture. (I talk about the interest of finding connections here).

look and see

2011-05-22T19:38:00.000+01:00

^{Genesis 13}

¹⁴ The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west.

¹⁵ All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. ¹⁶ I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. ¹⁷ Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the LORD.

***

Once Lot has separated from Abram and the tie between them broken (for now), Yahweh speaks again to Abram and reaffirms the promise - both of land and of offspring.

This time the emphasis is on the entire land belonging to Abram's descendants - so numerous will they be that they cannot be counted. This from a man who has no children at all!

The land, so visible and tangible - Abram can walk it's length and breadth - is one part of the promise - the two halves hinged together, reliant on each other. The land will be filled by Abram's descendants there will be enough descendants to fill the land. The promise filled out - it becomes a promise made for perpetuity - forever; it is personal - God gives it to Abram himself as well as his offspring.

A promise that is personal, powerful, and apparently impossible. But it is God who gives the land. The God of the improbable and the impossible. In fact, he specialises in just such cases!

Image: stock.xchng

dreaming of the future

2011-05-17T16:24:00.002+01:00

Today I'm featured over at The Whole Dang Thing - getting slightly ahead of myself with some reflections on Genesis 41. Since I'm only just about to hit Genesis 14, this is still some time in the future over here at Thirsty Ground! Ben asked me if I'd like to do a guest post - I hope it's up to scratch (cows and all)!

I'm aware that I'm not blogging here as frequently as I was during Lent - I have various writing projects vying for my attention and blogging every day can get difficult - especially as I already have a personal blog! (I talk a little about this dilemma here).

So if you want to hop ahead, hop over to my Genesis 41 post - which will probably appear in instalments here later - much later!

(If you want to read another related guest post, I explained more about this blogging the bible endeavour at the Big Bible project).

parting ways

2011-05-16T10:15:00.001+01:00

Genesis 13

⁵ Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. ⁶But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. ⁷ And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.

⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. ⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

¹⁰ Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) ¹¹ So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: ¹² Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. ¹³ Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

***

Trouble in the ranks. Squeezed in and squabbling. Lot's accompanying of Abram has implied a strong bond between them, and because they are family Abram does not want any disunity or quarrelling between them. The fact that they are close relatives is important - and their relationship to each other matters. In order to soothe the squabbling, Abram suggests an allocation of space. Let's part ways.

The choice of left and right is placed in Lot's hands. Abram's willingness to put Lot first in this matter seems again to imply that Lot is valued highly by his uncle.

Lot chooses the lush plain of the Jordan - compared to the garden of the LORD - a beautiful fertile land. Like the land of Egypt - a river plain less reliant on rainfall as other areas.

So Lot heads East, like Adam and Eve, like Cain,like the settlers of Babel, but Abram settles in Canaan.

Sodom and Gomorrah - their reputation precedes them - we are told here of their future destruction. Here and now we are told unequivocally that the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against Yahweh. They have set themselves in enmity with Yahweh, and it is ominous that Lot should choose this place to pitch his tents. Does Lot know of this reputation before he makes his choice? Or is it something he discovers later?

retracing his steps

2011-05-09T08:00:00.001+01:00

^{Genesis 13}

¹ So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. ² Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.

³ From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier ⁴ and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

***

On travelling back up from Egypt, Abram eventually returns to the place where he had built an altar to Yahweh. After the faithlessness witnessed in chapter 12, he returns to the place of commitment. It in this place that Abram again calls on Yahweh's name.

Is this an act of penitence or a request for guidance? Is Abram trying to repeat his experience - the appearance, the revelation from God? Does God respond or is it a one way thing?

In the face of his mistake and his humiliating retreat from Egypt, Abram returns to the place he has known before. Retracing his steps, reforming his starting point. Reminding himself of the place of his encounter after his unfortunate detour into Egypt. Last time he'd been here, he'd just come from a meeting with God where he was shown the land he has been promised.

Perhaps he needs to revisit such things, to be reminded of his purpose.

why didn't you tell me?

2011-05-05T12:30:00.000+01:00

Genesis 12

¹⁷ But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. ¹⁸ So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? ¹⁹ Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!” ²⁰ Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

***

Oh dear.

It appears that Sarai's inclusion at the palace has had some nasty consequences. Pharaoh is justifiably annoyed.

Why didn't you tell me?

Telling lies just dug the hole deeper for Abram. By pretending that he was not married to Sarai he started a lie that he believed he needed to maintain (presumably because of his fear for his own safety). The longer a lie lasts, the harder it is to tell the truth. Pharaoh has short shrift for Abram and his dishonesty.

Take your wife - and be off with you!

Abram is shooed out of Egypt. He went there to preserve himself - initially for relief from the famine. Then he deliberately disowns Sarai - demoting her to his sister. It does no good. It's 'fortunate' for Abram that Pharaoh doesn't respond more angrily than he does - off with his head?! But Abram obviously has some kind of divine help on his side (though he hardly seems to deserve it).

Sarai is rescued - by God, not by Abram - and the whole lot of them are seen off, out of Pharaoh's sight.

Abram trusts in his own methods and deceit instead of relying on Yahweh who has called him to follow.

Not the wisest of moves.

In this story, Pharaoh shows more concern for morality than Abram does. Abram is not being a 'blessing' to other nations but here brings curse upon another. His behaviour does not reflect his calling. Are there times in our lives when we try and rely on our wits and cunning instead of witnessing to God's truth? When we compromise the message and give a bad impression, a murky reflection of a beautiful reality?

every man for himself...

2011-05-03T19:15:00.001+01:00

Genesis 12

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. ¹¹ As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. ¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

¹⁴ When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. ¹⁶ He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.

***

Why did Abram go to Egypt? Well, the text gives the answer - because of the severity of the famine in the land. Those of us familiar with Egypt references will feel inclined to disapprove, but the Israelite's oppression by Egypt, and later warnings not to rely on Egypt's help have not occurred yet. The narrator makes no comment or judgement. Was it weakness or necessity? We're not told.

The following events are rather ironic. Abram, fretting over his own safety - a selfish motive - decides that Sarai should act as his sister. (She was, in fact, closely related - but this is not what motivates Abram here. There is no doubt he is in fear for his own life and acts accordingly.) She is beautiful. What this would mean for us today I cannot say. She's not young. Different cultures value different things, see beauty in different ways. But there is no doubt that Sarah was incredibly attractive - a fact that sent Pharaoh's officials running to their king, eager to describe this gorgeous woman.

Abram's pretending that Sarai was not his wife led to her being taken from him and into Pharoah's palace. Oh dear. The mother of the promise in a harem - it doesn't look good. Here is another threat to the promised blessing, a compromising situation if ever there was one.

Abram didn't seem to complain! He did well out of it - treated well as Sarai's family and not only does he preserve his life but he gets a load of other benefits - marks of wealth and status. At what point did Abram intend to intervene? Was he too cowardly? Or did he rather like the perks of the situation? Had he dug himself a hole and couldn't work out how to get of it? Did care for his own wellbeing outweigh his care for his wife? It certainly seems that way.

It's not Abram that comes to Sarai's rescue. He is no white knight; no protector. It is Yahweh himself who intervenes.

setting out

2011-05-02T08:00:00.008+01:00

Genesis 12

⁴ So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring [seed] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

***

So Abram went.

There's no comeback from Abram, no details of his departure. No grand farewells or descriptions of their packing (a mammoth task, by the sound of it). The verse portrays simple, uncluttered obedience, a bit like Noah.

God's call demanded a response, and Abram obeyed, just as Yahweh had told him.

Although Terah's death has been recorded in 11:32, it doesn't necessarily mean that Abram's story did not begin until after his father's death. In other OT narratives and genealogies one person's story is often told and 'completed' before starting another. Events may still have overlapped.

Abram is not alone - he is accompanied by Sarai, whom we know to be barren, and his nephew Lot. Did Lot go of his own volition or because Abram asked it of him? There seems to be a close relationship between the two - a tight family bond.

And they arrived there. An uneventful journey - at least, any eventfulness is unrecorded. But although they reach the land, it does not belong to Abram yet. It is still a far off promise. A promise of offspring - but Sarah is barren. Still that huge obstacle. But Abram responds in faith, building altars to Yahweh, who has 'appeared' to him.

The fact that Sarai is barren doesn't trouble Yahweh, God over all. He can do all things.

Further reflections on my main blog: the impossible child

promise of blessing

2011-04-23T08:00:00.009+01:00

Genesis 12

² “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
   and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
   and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
   will be blessed through you.”

***

Yahweh's call to Abram is accompanied by a promise - a promise of blessing.

A promise that means:

Abram will be a great nation
Abram is to be blessed and his name made great
Abram will be a blessing
people's response to Abram will affect God's response to them, be it blessing or curse
Abram (and the nation that he becomes) will be a channel of blessing through which all peoples will be blessed

Quite a thorough promise! And how many times can you say 'bless'? Blessing is the primary theme, a blessing that surrounds Abram, his name (and reputation), and the nation that he will become.

All this is from God - Yahweh being the activator, the initiator, the giver of the promise. Quite a contrast to the events in Babel - they sought to make their name great and their self-made plans were scuppered. Here, God chooses to make Abram's name great.

And what a far reaching consequence this promise is designed to have! Through him all peoples on earth will be blessed.

This is no mere blip. This is the beginning of something, the hint of a master plan in the making.

the call to go

2011-04-22T08:00:00.001+01:00

Genesis 12

¹ The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you."

***

Where Terah had previously set out towards Canaan apparently on his own initiative, Abram received a direct call from God. This time it is Yahweh behind the movement.

It is YHWH - the LORD - who calls to Abram,calling him away from his identity - his father's house, his country, and his people. (This would also mean a switching of allegiance from the territorial gods whom Abram was familiar with.) This is a calling from YHWH himself - to a new land, one which will be revealed to Abram when he reaches it. Abram is called to set out on a journey that is unmapped - a journey relying on the guiding hand of God.

***

On this Good Friday we reflect on how God sent his Son to a land in need of him, away from his heavenly dwelling, his father's house. How Jesus died on a 'cursed' cross, in order to bring others blessing and salvation. The movement of God here is a deliberate act - intervening in a unique and powerful way to achieve a once-for-all sacrifice, bringing hope to all the world.

half of a journey

2011-04-21T08:00:00.006+01:00

^{Genesis 11}

²⁷ This is the account of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. ²⁸ While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

³² Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

***

Abram is one of the most familiar names here, often considered the main actor in the stories that follow. But he is introduced not as a father but as a son. Abram's story is introduced by his father's story.

Verse 30 introduces a huge obstacle - Sarai's inability to conceive. Abram would be unable to continue his father's line; at least, not through Sarai. This obstacle is to provide the backdrop for what follows, and it is introduced early.

We're given a general description of Terah's family. Some will continue to become main players in the story, others are simply mentioned and passed over. Their individual lives are not the point of the narrative.

Terah takes three of these main players: Abram, Lot and Sarai, and sets off for Canaan. We're not told why. What we are told is that the journey is never completed. They stop and they settle in Haran. We're not told why they do that, either.

It's said that Ur and Haran were both centres for moon worship - perhaps this was a common ground, a familiar setup for Terah. Tracking forward we're told that

"...Long ago your ancestors - Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor - lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods." - Joshua 24:2 emphasis mine

Their religious heritage was not one of following Yahweh, at least not by name and not exclusively. And since Yahweh is described repeatedly as a 'jealous God', true worship of Yahweh demands exclusivity.

They stop in Haran. They settle in Haran. For Terah, this is the end of the journey.

He never makes it to Canaan - the journey is incomplete, the story stops moving.

Personal reflection:

Sometimes it is easy to set out towards a goal and then settle for a half way point. Nothing particularly eventful is noted about Terah except this stalled journey. How easy is it to give up, especially when it is easy to remain in what feels familiar? Will the definition of our lives be one of half-finished goals? Or do we strike out for the finish, not allowing ourselves to settle for anything less?

In a way, this reflection links with my post about good intentions over at looking deeper. We can start so well, and neglect to finish. All that we meant to do turns into what we actually got round to doing...

bridging to another story

2011-04-20T09:35:00.041+01:00

Genesis 11
¹⁰ This is the account of Shem’s family line.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. ¹¹ And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. ¹³ And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. ¹⁵ And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. ¹⁷ And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. ¹⁹ And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. ²¹ And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. ²³ And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. ²⁵ And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

***

Here, we get a focus on Shem's family line, but instead of following Joktan after Eber, we get the focus on Peleg and his descendants.

This genealogy differs from the one in chapter ten as it is concerned with tracing a certain line - and thus only names one son, mentioning 'other sons and daughters' but not focusing on them. In this way, it's similar to the genealogy of chapter 5, which traces the line from Adam to Noah.

This is not a genealogy for the sake of it - it is a joining of dots, a line from A to B. It's a bridging of stories, of generations. It looks to show how this person is related to that person.

When it reaches Terah, it changes form, naming three of his sons. Something about Terah, then, is about to be said. Some new story is about to begin. It's both a link and an introduction, an end and a beginning.

The beginning of a story with a cast of new characters, characters we will get to know more deeply than we did their forebears.

a towering irony

2011-04-19T13:34:00.003+01:00

Genesis 11
¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. ⁶The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

⁸ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. ⁹ That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

***

I'm about to use a big(gish) word: etiology (or aetiology).

Not to be confused with etymology - the study of words and their origin - although that is not entirely off the point!

Definitely not entomology - because that would be talking about the study of insects.

Etiology looks at causation in general, matters of origin.

What we have here, you might say is an etiology of language - at least, the proliferation of different ones.

We start with one reality - one language and a common speech, and we move to a different reality - confused language, confused speech.

Come let us bake bricks. Come let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens.

With their common language, the humans summon one another. They summon one another to build a city. We often forget that a whole city is involved. The focus is on the tower - but it accompanies a city.

Babylonian theology (at least I've scribbled this down from somewhere) was that humanity could reach the gods. This is reflected in the building of the tower -was it, like many suggest, a Ziggurat that the author was talking about? The idea of Ziggurats was to 'bridge' heaven and earth. They were also associated with worship of gods like Marduk - nasty character.

The humans, instead of spreading out to fill the earth, decide they'd prefer to settle down (slightly reminiscent of Cain's wandering-turned-to-city-building perhaps?).They wanted to make a name for themselves, to preserve human autonomy, to stop themselves from being scattered.

It seems to be a story heavy with irony.

Firstly, the very thing they are trying to prevent, they actually cause. They want to stop themselves from being scattered, but the outcome of their project is that is exactly what does happen. The apparent preventative becomes the trigger.

Then - this idea of being able to reach God. God here is pictured as coming down. Yahweh was so high that he had to stoop to see their mighty tower. That idea was a non-starter.

Their 'god' was too small.

God responds with his own summons, echoing the human words of verse 4: Come, let us go down. God intervenes in their building. The power of communication is noted - what they can achieve by working together! Why does Yahweh perceive this as a bad thing? We're not told. Perhaps that's not the narrator's point. Perhaps, knowing as we do that the inclination of the human heart is evil, then human 'plans' are perceived as suspect, corrupt.

However this may be, God decides to scatter them, and he confuses their language.

More dividing lines. This time, not just within certain relationships but in the very act of communicating with each other.

There are lots of words plays, here, apparently. For example, the words for making bricks and confusing language - to 'mix up'. Plus, lots of alliteration we can't see without knowing the Hebrew. Must learn Hebrew. Still trying to re-learn Greek at the moment...

Image: Albrecht Dürer

family history

2011-04-18T20:17:00.002+01:00

Watch out - am about to cut and paste a whole chapter...

Genesis 10

¹ This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth:

Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshek and Tiras.

³ The sons of Gomer:
Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

⁴ The sons of Javan:
Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites and the Rodanites. ⁵ (From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

⁶ The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.

⁷ The sons of Cush:
Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteka.

The sons of Raamah:
Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty warrior on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.” ¹⁰ The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad and Kalneh, in Shinar.¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah ¹² and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah—which is the great city.

¹³ Egypt was the father of
the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, ¹⁴ Pathrusites, Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.

¹⁵ Canaan was the father of
Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, ¹⁶ Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, ¹⁷Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, ¹⁸ Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Later the Canaanite clans scattered ¹⁹ and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.

²⁰ These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

²¹ Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.

²² The sons of Shem:
Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

²³ The sons of Aram:
Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshek.

²⁴ Arphaxad was the father of Shelah,
and Shelah the father of Eber.

²⁵ Two sons were born to Eber:
One was named Peleg,because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan.

²⁶ Joktan was the father of
Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

³⁰ The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.

³¹ These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

³² These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

***

It's genealogy time.

This genealogy shows the result of that command to multiply, to fill the earth. The people are indeed going out and 'multiplying' through Noah's sons. The genealogy also acts as a bridge between Noah and later stories and events, people, nations and cities.

Japheth is dealt with first - passed over quickly and quietly. He is included, but his family line does not seem to be of great significance to the writer / editor.

Ham comes next - within this line we have mention of Nimrod - 'mighty warrior before the LORD' - does this imply that he was in God's favour, or was it simply a turn of phrase?

Tracking forward, again, with names we will come to know:

Babylon. Ninevah. Egypt.

Not mere names but entire stories, full of association and implication.

Canaan.

All these places so mixed up in the future of Israel - herself not mentioned; she has not been born, not been named. Her calling is yet to be made known. This is a map of the world into which she was birthed.

And finally to Shem, ancestor of Eber, who had two sons. One named Peleg, the other Joktan. Here it is Joktan's line which is traced, but we have not heard the last of Peleg...his line leads to the story of one rather special 'wandering Aramean'. A man whose name would echo down the millennia. A man named as father of many, whose descendants could not be counted.

But first, we take a trip to Babylon. Also known as Babel...

For another look at Genesis 10, hop over to the Whole Dang Thing for the award for the Most Difficult Dinner Conversation...

Oh, and spell checking this post is interesting.

Image from Find My Ancestor Blog

tracking back, tracking forward

2011-04-16T12:20:00.002+01:00

Genesis 9

¹⁸ The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) ¹⁹ These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

²⁰ Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. ²¹ When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. ²² Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.

²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said,

   “Cursed be Canaan!
   The lowest of slaves
   will he be to his brothers.”

²⁶ He also said,

   “Praise be to the LORD, the God of Shem!
   May Canaan be the slave of Shem.
²⁷ May God extend Japheth’s territory;
   may Japheth live in the tents of Shem,
   and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”

²⁸ After the flood Noah lived 350 years. ²⁹ Noah lived a total of 950 years, and then he died.

***

I've begun to think of the bible having trackbacks, or backlinks. Of course we would normally say cross-references, but to me that feels like our own connecting of things. Some things, the bible connects for itself. And 'back' is not always helpful...there are forward links (trackforwards?). In a narrative that includes so many different authors and editors, writing about different times, for different times and in different times, this seems hardly surprising.

Echoes of the future here, then. Verse 18 makes it clear that something is about to be said about Canaan. Canaan, the father of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of Canaan, aka the promised land. Aka the Canaanites who were renowned for their latter 'pollution' of the land - their evil deeds in the eyes of Yahweh - their idolatry and the acts that constituted it (fertility rites, sacrificing children to the flames etc., etc). The land 'vomited' them out - but I'm getting beyond Genesis here. (Ever click on a cross reference or backlink and forget to finish the article you were reading?)

And, now another story. Focusing on Noah - but is it really about Noah? Does Noah ever really have a starring role? Or is he the all time Best Supporting Actor? It's the actions of his sons that take centre stage here.

Noah, a man of the soil. Of the the ground (adamah). Like Adam. Like Cain. He plants a vineyard. He gets drunk. He gets naked.

There's no comment from the narrator. No judgement applied, no sermon given. But the story is told.

Story-telling - a most subtle way of making a point. Sometimes so subtle that people spend hundreds of years trying to work out what the story was saying, or even if it was saying anything at all.

Noah's drunkenness and nakedness is the setting of the story, the background of a wider plot.

Ham sees him naked¹. Instead of doing the honourable thing (track forward - honour your father and mother) he goes outside and tells his brothers. Not only does he take no steps to protect his father's dignity, he goes outside and tells the other two. No respect for privacy.

Shem and Japheth don't stand around to gossip about it - instead they take the necessary measures and cover their father up, protecting him from indignity, showing him respect and honour. They don't even look at him - so they cannot see him naked. He's comatose and sprawled out but they take care not to do what they know he would find offensive. They honour their father's body, they also honour his wishes.

Sometimes, we know what someone would wish without them telling us. Do we say something about someone to somebody else, knowing that they would be mortified that we had? That, however unimportant it seems to us, they would be terribly hurt if they knew? Do we lay them bare before others, uncaring, sure they'll never know? How, then, do we honour them?

Noah's reaction when he finds out is clear. Ham's actions are appalling.

And so, he utters a curse and a blessing. He curses Canaan. He curses Ham's son!

I'm aware that this may well be because this story is at least partially acting as a polemic against the inhabitants of Canaan. But in my own mind-meanderings I consider the mirroring of the action - Ham takes away his father's honour. Noah takes away the honour of Ham's son.

Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves...

Slavery. That great thud of implication, that first mention of enslavement. A destiny is carved here, a destiny of oppression. Canaan is still a brother - but he will be a slave to his brothers².

What have we seen in Genesis? Changes of relationships between humanity and God, between man and woman, between siblings, between parent and child, between entire races. The dismantling of that original oneness and unity seems complete.

Humanity is at odds - with God and within itself. On a private scale and a public one. Every relationship is marred by tension, misunderstanding, oppression.

The cursing of Canaan is countered by a blessing for his brothers - those who honoured Noah will in turn be honoured. They are the ones who will rule over Canaan. The curse and the blessing affect each other.

The dividing lines are drawn.

¹ There are disagreements over what this actually means. I tend to take this at face value - as Ham 'sees' Noah's nakedness but does not actually do the uncovering, and the situation seems rectified when the others cover him up again.

² These verses have been used in awful, unjustifiable ways in human history - apartheid comes to mind.

the sign

2011-04-15T08:00:00.001+01:00

Genesis 9

⁸ Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: ⁹ “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you ¹⁰ and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. ¹¹ I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: ¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

¹⁷ So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

***

God speaks here to Noah and his sons, announcing a covenant so universal that it encompasses Noah, his family and all their descendents (i.e. the human race) and every other living creature that came out of the ark with them.

God has the starring role in this story, but what a cast list! Even the birds and animals get a mention in the covenant promise. Humanity has a special role, representing God and having authority over the other creatures yet still these other creatures are given value in the narrative, included as they are not just in the ark but in the following promise.

Never again shall all flesh be destroyed by a flood, never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.

God uses the natural phenomenon of the rainbow, the result of the light and clouds that he created, as a sign for this covenant.

When he sees it, he will remember his covenant with all living creatures. Again - not a distant God or a bit part, but an involved God who sees the rainbow himself and is reminded of his promise. The narrative holds up a picture of a God intimately involved in the natural workings of the earth, so much so that the rainbow is supposedly a sign for him not for creation.

A rainbow - seen through a mixture of sun and of rain, of light and water. God speaks directly to Noah, saying: This is the sign of the covenant.

A signal in the skies.

Image: stock.xchng

be afraid - be very afraid

2011-04-14T20:09:00.001+01:00

Genesis 9

¹ Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. ² The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. ³ Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

⁴ “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. ⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

⁶ “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.

⁷ As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”

***

God reiterates the command of chapter 8 v17 - be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.

A change now takes in the relationship between humans and animals. Now animals will be afraid of humans. Their instinct will be to run from us, to be in 'fear and dread' of us. After being 'saved' together in the ark, humans and animals are now separated. God gives power over the animals into the hand of mankind - and the permission to eat every moving creature (no distinction here of unclean and clean).

The provision is that they will not eat the blood. Blood is the symbol of life. The importance of not eating blood will carry through the laws of the Old Testament (and provoke debate in the New Testament).

Is this implying that God's "good" world was supposedly vegetarian? Didn't Abel keep flocks?

A new moral law is announced - a life for a life. No more mark of Cain or boasting of Lamech. For each human whose life is taken by another human - or by an animal - the life of the perpetrator will be required as a reckoning. Consequences are spelled out in a new way.

The reason given for this harks back again to creation - humans are made in God's image (cf Gen 1:27, 5:1-2). Again this emphasises that it is God who creates and that despite the evil of our hearts, we are still made in the image of God and have been given special responsibility.We are still to be fruitful and to increase. Those prerogatives of Genesis 1 still stand.

The muddiness of evil could not wipe that fact away, nor could the raging waters of the deep.

But creation has become fearful of its appointed masters.

never again

2011-04-13T20:31:00.000+01:00

Genesis 8

¹³ By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

¹⁵ Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶ “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. ¹⁷ Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you—the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground—so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number on it.”

¹⁸ So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. ¹⁹ All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.

²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. ²¹ The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

²² “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

***

The water takes a long time to recede, as well it may. And God once again calls to Noah, saying 'Come out!' Everything waits for God's command.

Remember the power of God's words in Genesis 1 - God spoke and it was so?

There is a reiteration too of God's command to be fruitful and multiply...the events of the flood have not changed this prerogative.

And they all processed out of the ark - each by their kinds. A symphonic, choreographed moment. Or, a whole lot of moo-ing and screeching.

Here Noah takes a decisive action - he responds to God by building an altar, and sacrificing burnt offerings. Yahweh 'smells the pleasing aroma'. Such human language! Are we to imagine that God has a nose? Personally I would take this as an anthropomorphism; I don't envisage God having a nose.¹ It's an interesting one though - if God invented smell, than does this mean he too has a sense of smell? Is it possible to create smell without having the ability to do the smelling?

But I digress.

And Yahweh comes to a decision 'in his heart' - again God is cast as the main character. We are told the thoughts and feelings of Yahweh, not of Noah. He is the subject of the narrative, the one whose thoughts are described to us.

The human heart has not changed, nor its inclination to evil. Nevertheless, God will never again curse the ground - again, the ground - keeps popping up in these chapters. And never again will he destroy all living creatures. Ground and life. Ground and breath. Never again.

That lovely little poem at the end - that reaffirmation of cycle and season, of rhythm and remembrance. As long as the earth endures.

¹ This reminds me a little of what I've been talking about over at my main blog ( here and here) about using human language to talk about the 'feelings' of God. I don't discuss nostrils, however.

beyond the flood

2011-04-12T13:10:00.002+01:00

Genesis 8

⁶ After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.

***

The raven flies, backwards and forwards, not returning to the ark. The dove, however, on finding no place to land, returns to the place of safety. When the seven days lapse are up, Noah sends it out again.

And it returns with an olive branch. An 'olive branch' today is seen as a 'peace offering', a desire for reconciliation, a reaching out in attempt to end hostility.

Here, the olive branch is a sign, showing proof of a future beyond the flood. It shows hope and it shows promise. Somewhere out there is an olive tree.

Seven more days, and the dove does not return at all. Its very absence shows the presence of land, of an ending and a beginning.

Image: He Qi

but God...

2011-04-11T21:00:00.009+01:00

Genesis 8

¹ But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴ and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

***

Some of the most powerful sentences begin with the phrase 'but God'.

Here, in spite of the the devastating flood, God remembers.

But God remembered.

It seems that this is no passing thought, no casual memory but a calling into action. The remembering took place in the wind that was sent over the earth.

Does this wind over the earth echo back to that wind/breath/Spirit that hovered over the formlessness of creation?

God uses the wind to drive back the waters, and stops the rain falling and the 'springs of the deep' rising.

The deep...that deep that the Spirit hovered over in Genesis 1 has now been closed.

The power and force of those waters was vast.

But God remembered.

And the ark came to rest.

***

Personal reflection

In the chaos and drivenness of life, in the floods of hopelessness and despair, in the mountain covering extent of the deep and the dangerous, the words 'but God...' are speech-defyingly wonderful.

the great reversal

2011-04-09T20:35:00.000+01:00

Genesis 7

¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. ²¹Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

***

In a way, it's a reversal. The water that were separated in Genesis 1 are now once again joined - dry land disappears and chaos returns. Water swamps and reduces the landscape once more to a formless, empty mass.

Except for that ark, floating, dwarfed by the sheer extent of the flood waters - even the mountains are covered. Everything outside the floating zoo is destroyed - everything with that life-breath, that thing that makes us alive. That which is living no longer breathes: it is dead, destroyed by the water that re-covers the earth, taking back what it had been denied.

A de-creation of sorts.

A bleak image, but holding a glimmer of hope that the water will not hold sway forever, that the land that was eaten will again be regurgitated, that life will repopulate the land.

and the rain, rain, rain...

2011-04-08T19:49:00.000+01:00

^{Genesis 7}

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD shut him in.

***

Everything happens just as God said it would. Water comes from below and above (v11). Surrounded from all sides.

All enter the ark - Noah and his wife and his sons and his son's wives, all the creatures, domestic and wild, flying or walking, both clean and unclean. Everybody is where they are supposed to be. The creatures 'came to Noah' and entered the ark. They, too, acted in obedience.

And God shut him in.

God does the final closing of the door, a protective touch. (In other flood stories of the surrounding area, the man closes the door to keep the gods' wrath out - this is a touching reversal.) The humans and the animals and the birds and 'everything that crawls on the ground' - is this reptiles? Insects? Everything and anything else?

The floodgates open and the door is closed. Now - to survive.

the clean and the unclean

2011-04-07T22:18:00.001+01:00

Genesis 7

¹ The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.

***

The animals went in two by two…well, yes that’s true. But according to this passage, those animals deemed ‘clean’ had the majority of pairs - each kind having seven pairs while the ‘unclean’ only had the one.

This is interesting, as we don’t get these laws of clean and unclean announced until later in the bible. Certainly not in Genesis. Is this written in deliberate retrospect of this - are we to take some form of symbolism here? Seven once again occurs - seven the number of completeness. Seven pairs of clean animals. Seven days before the flood begins. Is our story teller reaffirming the thoroughness of the plan, the fullness of its intent?

It’s going to rain for forty days and forty nights.

Be ready.

Noah was.

the main character

2011-04-06T19:37:00.002+01:00

Genesis 6

¹⁸ "But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.”

²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

***

And now we begin to use the language of covenant.

Noah and his family, on account of his righteousness, get to enter the ark and escape the flood waters. The destruction will not be absolute, and not just for humanity - each creature in their kinds will also be preserved - ensuring that a male and female will be kept alive. The line is to be continued. God is not wiping the slate clean entirely, and he is certainly not starting from scratch. Instead there is a promise of continuation held in the safety of the ark - and the need for provision with every kind of food. There's a thoroughness even within the limitedness of the ark.

The focus is on Noah's obedience. We do not learn of his emotions. Noah did all that God asked of him - he was instrumental in God's plan. But we do not get a colourful picture of Noah himself - no, God is the main character, the one who guides and leads, who commands and provides. God is the one whose emotions are seen, whose grief is noted.

This is a story of God's pain and of God's plan, his knowledge - seeing into the heart - and his provision, ensuring that life will indeed continue.

book review and giveaway

2011-04-06T19:25:00.001+01:00

Just to say there is a currently a giveaway over at my main blog...

"On a personal level, on finishing this book I feel incredibly encouraged -about being a woman. I've never actually confessed to feeling discouraged, but it is true. Something about this book drove right through that discouragement, knocked it all to pieces and made me feel differently about myself. It's given me the courage to step over something I had been deliberately ignoring and find a sudden sense of freedom and purpose..." from looking deeper: Half the Church by Carolyn Custis James: book review and giveaway

the righteous man

2011-04-05T17:27:00.000+01:00

^{Genesis 6}

⁹ This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

¹¹ Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. ¹² God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. ¹³So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. ¹⁵ This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. ¹⁶ Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks. ¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish."

***

It's now made clear that this is Noah's story. It is set against an unpromising background of violence and corruption, but the contrast is acute - Noah is a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Again that idea of walking with God - first seen in Eden, and then mentioned in relation to Enoch. An intimate picture, a picture of faithfulness.

Verse 11 confirms the extent of earth's corruption and its violence. We've seen this violence on a personal level with Cain and then with the boasting of Lamech. Now, it appears, violence has become the norm - it fills the earth. And the source of the violence is the people who live on the earth. Thus, the corruption is such that it will be destroyed (the two are the same verb, apparently).

God speaks to Noah. The focus in this story is on Noah's obedience and co-operation. In other ANE flood stories, this is different. Atrahasis, one character, hides from the angry, divided gods. The Genesis account is different - the man and Yahweh acting in unison, the former obeying the latter, in order that the latter might save the former.

The breath of life - this essential creative breath (seen in Genesis 1:30) will be extinguished from all creatures. Breath is the sign of life. And in the face of these floodwaters, those that breathe will breathe no more.

the inclinations of the human heart

2011-04-04T20:54:00.001+01:00

Genesis 6

⁵ The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favour in the eyes of the LORD.

***

The picture painted here is an emotive one. Some might focus on talking about anthropomorphism and trying to squeeze the text into a more theologically comfortable frame, but in my blogging the bible I intend to focus on the text itself, as we would read a story. It's a passionate, life-filled story.

It's a story of a feeling God.

Wickedness is everywhere, and where it is found it is total. Every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.  The evil described here is thorough and consuming. Sieving through the hearts of humanity uncovers no goodness. Only evil.

And God sees.

And God is sorry to have made humanity.   Such was the extent of the wickedness and corruption that the maker wishes he had never made. What a contrast to the generous goodness of Genesis 1! In that first chapter God sees that what he has made is good. Here, he sees that it is evil.

And God suffers. His heart is 'deeply troubled'. He does not remain aloof but is focused on the inhabitants of the earth, and is moved by what he sees.

Moved to drastic action. He will wipe from the face of the earth...everything he has made.  The wickedness of humanity has tarnished everything. It should all go. God decides to wipe the slate. He makes an announcement.

But.

There is an exception. Amid all the muddiness of creation someone has found favour, someone stands out as different from the rest.

Noah.

***

For reflections on the 'feelings' of God, find them here:

A feeling God? (part 1)
A feeling God? (part 2)

the heroes of old, and other questions

2011-04-02T18:00:00.019+01:00

Genesis 6
¹ When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, ² the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. ³ Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

⁴ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

***

Not an easy few verses to comment on...more questions than answers.

Questions of identity are most obvious.

Who are the 'Sons of God'? Ransacking a few commentaries in my former studies of Genesis, I've noted down three suggestions:

1) they were angels - or fallen angels / demons / spirits - i.e. not human

2) a reference to kings, pharoahs or rulers, which were, in ANE* culture sometimes referred to as 'son of god' or 'son of the gods'
3) they are godly men, the descendants of Seth rather than murderous Cain

I have to say I don't find the third one particularly convincing. The second one is attractive - although whether it is what is meant here I hardly feel equipped to say. The first may well have been what the author intended; it simply is very alien to our culture and therefore seems a little 'out there' to our understanding.

Mixed marriage, later forbidden for Israel in the Old Testament, takes on the strongest possible form here if we take the first as a possibility - the heavenly mixing with the earthly.

At the same time, the Nephilim were 'on the earth'. Who were the Nephilim? Are they the offspring of these unions? They could be, but the text doesn't make it clear - but it does describe them as 'men', not gods or demi-gods. They feel like legendary figures stepping out of the mist of the text...evocative, powerful...and baffling. (And I did mean 'mist' not 'midst'. A kind of atmospheric fog. Perhaps.)

Numbers 13:33 is the other biblical reference to the Nephilim, when a group of Israelite leaders are given the task of checking out the Promised Land and reporting back to the rest:

³³ "We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

It seems they were tall, overpowering figures...the descendants of Anak, implied the Israelite spies, were huge, making them feel like 'grasshoppers'. It seems from the way the men phrase it that 'Nephilim' is how they refer to those they see as 'giants', a descriptive word. Perhaps.

Again, far more questions than answers.

Why is Yahweh recorded as saying what he does here? His Spirit shall not contend with humans - sometimes translated 'remain in humans' - forever. Again it is underlined that life everlasting is not innate to humanity but dependent on God's Spirit. This is not new, but here a limit is introduced - apparently on lifespan. If this is the case, it does not take immediate effect in the chronology of the story - after all, Noah lived '500 years'.

Questions, questions...

*Ancient Near East

from Adam to Noah

2011-04-01T12:30:00.009+01:00

Genesis 5

¹ This is the written account of Adam’s family line.

When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. ² He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them "Mankind" [Hebrew: adam] when they were created.

³ When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. ⁴After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died.

⁶ When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father [or 'ancestor'] of Enosh. ⁷ After he became the father of Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸Altogether, Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.

⁹ When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan. ¹⁰ After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹Altogether, Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.

¹² When Kenan had lived 70 years, he became the father of Mahalalel. ¹³ After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ Altogether, Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he became the father of Jared. ¹⁶ After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ Altogether, Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸ When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch. ¹⁹ After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰Altogether, Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.

²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. ²² After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

²⁵ When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. ²⁶ After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.

²⁸ When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. ²⁹ He named him Noah and said, “He will comfort us in the labor and painful toil of our hands caused by the ground the LORD has cursed.” ³⁰ After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ Altogether, Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.

³² After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.

***

The first verses of Genesis 5 echo those we saw in Genesis 1 - man (adam) created in God's likeness, male and female together, and blessed.

There is no record of Cain or Abel here. Abel has been violently removed from the genealogy, and Cain's deed of violence has removed him, too. There is no mention of Cain - instead we begin with Seth. Seth, who was in the likeness of Adam. An echo of man formed in God's likeness is found in parenthood. This implies that all generations carry that original likeness - although we might say it is an imperfect version, now.

And the domino effect starts, as those created in God's likeness reproduce, and then their offspring reproduce, and so it continues. It seems to be a list of firstborn sons, as other sons and daughters are mentioned but not named (again, Seth seems to have taken the place of Cain, the original firstborn).

Births and deaths are recorded here (along with very long lives, apparently), although with Enoch we see something somewhat different - he who walked faithfully with God - a hint of intimate relationship, of friendship, reminiscent of Yahweh in the garden. Eventually, 'God took him away' so that he was no more - but this seems somewhat different from the straightforward death of the others. This is shown in the repeated refrain 'then he died', emphasising that death was indeed the fate of humanity. Enoch is a break in the pattern. Enoch's unique relationship with God affected his identity and apparently his destiny.

At the end of this list we come to Noah, over whom his father makes an announcement. In Lamech's words we hear reference to the cursed ground, and that Noah will be a comfort. Is this an affectionate father's joy over his firstborn son - the natural comfort? Or is it prophetic in some way? Whatever, the implication is that Noah's fate is going to be important here - that something more is going to be said.

And indeed, Noah's three sons are listed here: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The stage is set for the next part of the story.

names...

2011-03-31T15:44:00.005+01:00

^{Genesis 4}

²⁵ Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

***

We return to the original pair.

Apparently, this is the first time 'Adam' appears without a definite article in front of it. Previously it could be translated as 'Adam' or 'the man', but now it is more characteristically a proper name.

Seth is born to Adam's wife, and as with her other sons, she does the naming, seeing him as a gift from God in the face of what happened to Abel. The text is unlittered by feeling, with no glimpses of maternal emotion, but something in the phrase suggests to me that there is gladness where formerly there was sadness. Perhaps that's just me. After all, one of her two previous sons was murdered; the other was his murderer.

Seth also produces a child, and he names him Enosh - the first time a father has named a son.

At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

An interesting phrase, and I suspect one that has been discussed at length by various commentators and scholars.

Is this the first reference to worship ritual? Is the distance from God needing something to fill it - are the humans reaching out to their creator? Are they trying to work out to cover the distance, by calling on his name?*

*I find the use of God's name in these passages interesting. God reveals himself as 'YHWH' to Moses in Exodus, but not only does the narrator(s) use it to refer to God in some of these passages, but it's put in the mouths of the humans themselves (see Eve, Genesis 4:1). Is this a suggestion of the previous intimacy in the garden - implying that they know his name?

Is this reference to calling on the name of Yahweh a reference to the divine name being used, or simply a way of saying they were calling on God himself? Is 'calling on the name of Yahweh' synonymous with calling on Yahweh himself - just a particular way of putting it?

city building

2011-03-30T17:00:00.002+01:00

^{Genesis 4}

¹⁷ Cain lay with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

¹⁹

Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. ²² Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

   “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
   wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
   a young man for injuring me.
²⁴ If Cain is avenged seven times,
   then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

***

After all that talk of restless wandering, Cain starts building a city. Was his punishment more of a command - is he being disobedient? As is so often, the bible narrative refrains from commenting. We are left to draw our own conclusions, to play with our own guesses. Part of the challenge of bible reading! But in spite of difficulties, I love the freedom to discuss and think about implications and events as they are recorded.

But back to the text (!).

Now, we are hearing talk of what we might call 'civilisation'. Not only is this a passage about city building, but it makes reference to tools, and musical instruments. Human creativity is emerging.

It's also the first reference to polygamy. Lamech had two wives. Instead of man and woman becoming one flesh, we have man + woman + woman. Not the formula proposed in Genesis 2, before it all goes pear shaped (that feels like a terrible pun on the forbidden fruit).

Lamech doesn't make a good impression. We have gone from Cain's lying to cover up Abel's murder to Lamech's boasting to his wives of another life taken - another killing. Hah! I am better than Cain, stronger than Cain, I will have the same protection as Cain but far better - seventy seven times!! He sounds proud to be a murderer.

Not, I think, a very appealing character.

the restless wanderer

2011-03-29T18:00:00.006+01:00

^{Genesis 4}

¹³ Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

***

Condemned to restless wandering, unfulfilled, purposeless, Cain cries out against his punishment. The snide remarks have become panicked pleas. He identifies four aspects in what God has said:

1) banishment from the land

2) hidden from God's presence

3) condemned to wander the earth

4) his life is in danger

Yahweh responds to the last one only. No one will be allowed to kill him, because Yahweh is putting some kind of mark on Cain. No details are given as to what this mark is, but it seems to have some kind of deterrent quality. Anyone who does make the mistake of taking Cain's life, will suffer vengeance 'seven times over' or 'sevenfold'. Seven is the number of perfection, of fullness, so I'm inclined to think it refers to the thoroughness of the punishment rather than a literal seven - but I'm sure their are many interpretations of this!

So Cain went out from the LORD's presence. The conversation with Yahweh is over, the murderer convicted. And he, too, is banished.

am I my brother's keeper?

2011-03-28T20:09:00.002+01:00

^{Genesis 4}

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

***

Yahweh's instructions for Cain to master the lurking sin at his door are ignored. Cain leads his younger brother out into a field. This is no abrupt explosion of rage resulting in murder - in the field where he can neither be seen nor heard a pre-meditated murder takes place. A life is taken, deliberately. The fractures of the fall result in coldly personal violence, where brother turns against brother. Throughout the incident Abel is spoken of in terms of his relationship to Cain - his brother Abel, your brother Abel, your brother. Not just Abel, an unrelated character, but one who is intimately linked to Cain. He is Cain's brother.

In an echo of Yahweh's call to Adam 'where are you?', the creator now calls to Cain, 'where is your brother?' Yahweh confronts Cain - implying an accountability of relationship, a knowledge of what Cain has done, calling him to confess, to tell the truth.

But Cain will not confess. Where Adam muttered a shame-faced answer, if a limited one, Cain lies. 'I don't know,' he claims, professing ignorance. And then he adds that immortal line: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' You can almost feel the scathing, dismissive tone. Using exaggeration to emphasise his scorn, like we often do when dismissing each other. But Cain is talking to God!

'What have you done?' The seriousness of Cain's crime cannot be overstated. Throughout the bible, blood has heavy significance. It symbolises life. It is described in animated terms here, crying out to Yahweh from the ground. Abel cannot be silenced, his blood speaks for him, screaming from the ground that it has polluted.*

The ground from which mankind was made. The ground mankind was supposed to work. The ground which was painful labour as a result of Adam's eating of the wrong fruit. The ground which now again holds curse - for Cain, it will not yield a thing. The ground which was his job description, grower of crops, tilling the land. Now, it rejects him.

* In Hebrews 12 we hear a reference to the blood of Abel: 'You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.' Jesus' blood also cries out, but on our behalf.

crouching at the door

2011-03-26T20:36:00.000Z

^{Genesis 4}

¹ Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. ⁴ And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

***

Adam and Eve move out of centre stage of the story, making way for their offspring. Cain, the eldest, works the soil, but Abel, his younger brother, keeps flocks - the farmer and the shepherd.

Why is Cain's offering not acceptable? We're not actually told. Perhaps the clues are in his angry reaction - was it something to do with his attitude? Was his offering not of the best quality (Abel gives fat portions from his firstborn, but there is no description of Cain giving the firstfruits - just 'some fruits')?

Or perhaps it is hinted at in verse 7 - had he done wrong? Was the offering empty when contrasted to his actions? Do his actions make a mockery of his sacrifice?

Sin here is personified - crouching at Cain's door, the entrance to his house and life. There were Mesopotamian myths of demons that liked to crouch in doorways - is this drawing on cultural imagery, to aid an explanation of sin? The wild beast waiting at the door?

It's a provocative image. Sin wants to have him, to possess him. It is lying in wait - that is, if he does not do what is right. By not doing what is right, Cain opens the door to sin and thus is not accepted.

Yahweh is pictured as speaking to Cain directly - still personally involved with these fractured image bearers. He intercedes with a warning, and tells Cain he must overcome it - must rule over sin, exercising authority over it.

But this warning goes unheeded...

banished

2011-03-25T20:05:00.001Z

^{Genesis 3}

²⁰ Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹ The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. ²² And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

***

The mother of all living. And yet, life is exactly what they have lost.

In one last intimate act, Yahweh clothes his creatures. It feels like a kind of send off. A provision in the face of the new elements they would be facing. Or, perhaps a reminder of what they once were - naked and unashamed in the presence of God. Now, they hide behind the trees.

Man having eaten from one tree, is now barred from the other. It seems he could not have both. The tree of life, presumably previously open to them, is now guarded and the man driven out.

'He has become like one of us,' in regards to knowing good and evil, an attribute previously confined to God and his angels. But he does not possess what only God has - immortality. This is shown by the 'access denied' sign now nailed to the tree of life.

Something has been lost; he cannot now eat the fruit of this tree, even if he wanted to. This time, the rules are enforced; the freedom is limited. Life - life forever - is no longer for the taking. Now, a deadly weapon stands in the way.

Life is God's provision to his creatures; it is not innately theirs. They cannot reach out to possess it eternally.

They are banished.

judgement

2011-03-24T20:10:00.001Z

Genesis 3

¹⁴ So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

   “Cursed are you above all livestock
   and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
   and you will eat dust
   all the days of your life.
¹⁵ And I will put enmity
   between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
   and you will strike his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
   and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

   “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life.
¹⁸ It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”

***

And so, the consequences are spelled out. Here, we are introduced to the theme of curse as opposed to blessing. The snake becomes a crawling, wriggling thing, condemned to lifelong enmity not only in the case of this snake and this woman, but between their offspring. A pattern has been put in place, the record set to repeat.

If we take this more widely and see the snake as symbolising evil and deception, here is a long struggle indeed.

'Curse', interestingly, is only uttered on the snake and the soil, not the man and the woman themselves. Is there still hope for them, somewhere, somehow?

The judgement on the woman is both concrete and physical (increased labour pains) and more abstract and personal - there is now a struggle between husband and wife. Are they seeking to dominate each other? Whatever this verse means (and I don't have any certainty over it), it seems to imply an unhealthy conflict in a relationship that was meant to be a unity. The relationship is fractured.

And the consequences for the man imply a life of frustration in his work rather than fulfilment. The land that he was called to labour is no longer co-operative, but unproductive. Thorns and thistles - hardly favourable for food or fingers. His life will be one long toil and conflict with the ground until finally it takes him back. He who was moulded from the dust will return to that base element. He will die. A sense of hopelessness shrouds these verses, a pointlessness. (I suppose this would have been particularly striking in an arable culture.)

And these consequences are intertwined - the relationships that have been broken, the effects on each other. The punishments, though pronounced in succession, are not unlinked.They are all affected by one another's pains and frustrations.

And then, they suffer alienation from God himself...

searching for someone to blame

2011-03-23T15:35:00.001Z

^{Genesis 3}

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³ Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

***

Such evocative language here, the intimacy of Yahweh's relationship with the garden he has made is so strong that he is pictured as going for a stroll in it. In the cool of the day, like any of us would, strolling when the temperature was most pleasant.

And the man and his wife hide among the trees. Those trees! A sign of abundant generosity has become a place of fear. They hide behind the trees now, their former confidence broken.

Where are you?

Is God professing ignorance? I doubt it. He is calling for the man to emerge, which he does, with a quick explanation. I heard you, but I was naked so I hid. Nakedness now equals fear in front of his creator, the one who had moulded him from dust. The childlike fearlessness is gone.

Again God draws him out: who told you...? Have you eaten...?

The woman you put here with me...

The man distances himself from the act not just by casting blame on the woman, but actually, more directly onto God himself. The one God had put here with him. There's a defensive, childishness in the retort. If you hadn't done this, it wouldn't have happened. The celebration, the joyful outburst of 'flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone', recedes. What is left is recrimination and blame.

The woman is addressed, next.

The serpent deceived me, and I ate. Interesting. Both the man and the woman, with eyes wide open, know they've done it wrong. The serpent tricked me, says the woman, and certainly it did - but the trickery, apparently, has only just been recognised. Or, perhaps, admitted. Is there regret, even here, before the consequences have been spelt out? Does the eating of the very fruit they were told not to eat give them the knowledge of their own downfall?

And I ate. There can be no doubt; in spite of all the pointing fingers, there is that lonely 'I'. I ate. The man and the woman, as individuals, both ate. Both are accountable for their own actions, both made a personal decision.

There is always a choice, in spite of all the other voices. And the choices they have made have shattered the unity between humanity and God, between man and woman, between humanity and animals. The consequences are far reaching, changing the very terms of their existence.

There's no voice for serpent now, no excuses to be heard from it. It appears to be silent, or perhaps it is given no chance to reply - God does not ask the serpent for its reasons, merely goes on to pronounce its punishment...

and so they ate it

2011-03-22T20:55:00.004Z

Genesis 3

⁶When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

***

The serpent has persuaded the woman to pay closer attention to the tree and its fruit. She sees that it is 'good for food and pleasing to the eye' which is the same phrase used to describe all the other trees in the garden (2:9). In addition, it is also desirable for wisdom. Why is this particular wisdom off limits? Is humanity still too young for it? Is it the kind of wisdom that belongs to God alone? Whatever it is, she sees it as something to be gained.

So, she took some and ate it.

Such a mundane phrase, for such a profound choice. A choice to believe the serpent rather than God; a choice to do what the humans have been told not to do.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he eats it, too.

The man hasn't been hanging out in another part of the garden; the implication is that he's been there all along. Was he listening in? Was he equally intrigued by the serpent's suggestion? In any case, he puts in no objection at all. He doesn't even question it. He eats it just as his wife did.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened - an interesting phrase - what does this mean? They notice they are naked, implying it had never occurred to them before. Suddenly, after eating the fruit, they feel the need to cover up. Is it shame that drives them to this? Why is the awareness of their nakedness so important? Is this simply a story of the first fashion show?

They are no longer comfortable with themselves as they are. They choose a dependence outside of God. They seek instead to be like him; to go it alone.

Whatever the change is, it is immediate. This is no ordinary fruit.

did God really say?

2011-03-21T19:14:00.001Z

Genesis 3

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

***

The fascinating thing about Genesis 3 is the things it doesn't say. When it comes to the serpent (or snake) we are told no more than it is one of the wild animals that God had made. This can make us feel a bit uncomfortable, shifting in our seats. What? It doesn't say the serpent was actually Satan / the devil / evil?

All we are actually told about the serpent is that he was the craftiest, of all those wild animals that Adam had previously names. Out of that whole procession, he was the smartest and the sneakiest. It's much later when a link to the devil is made - that ancient serpent of Revelation 20, that great deceiver whose destiny is to be eventually thrown down.

There are lots of different ideas about what the serpent /snake symbolises, but I'm not going to go into them all here.

What the serpent does is cast doubt, firstly on what God says: Did God really say? Did God actually say?

Well, actually, Mr Snake, no - he didn't say they couldn't eat from any of the trees. Just one in particular.

The serpent puts God in a negative light from the first, making him out to be one big kill joy. What he says isn't actually true, but it can still plant something, a negative feeling, in the listener.

The woman replies, setting him straight, but she seems to embellish what God said. From 'do not eat' she seems to have added 'do not touch'. Is this an accurate report, intended to qualify God's instructions within this story? Or is the woman really adding an extra command to God's original? Is she over-compensating in front of her questioner, trying to fend him off?

The serpent lashes out by grasping at the last part - you will not certainly die, he tells her. In fact, he implies, it's all a big conspiracy to keep you from knowing what God knows, to stop you being like him.

But, he implies, slyly, if you ate the fruit, you would be like him.

What is the knowledge of good and evil? Is it simply knowing right from wrong? That doesn't seem to make sense; it has to be more than that, surely. Is it some kind of higher wisdom which belongs to God alone? Does it represent a source of knowledge other than God? Is it the 'evil' aspect which is the reason for the prohibition? We're not told this either. But although the Tree of Life is an idea that crosses culture, this other Genesis tree of the knowledge of good and evil is unique in ancient literature, as far as we can tell.

This tree holds something humanity is not qualified to have. What is the qualification? Oh, don't we wish the theology could be spelt out properly!! But remember God's own explanation - if you eat it, you shall die. There seems to be a protective element here, the parental 'don't do that, you'll hurt yourself'.

But the serpent says: 'Pish. He's just saying it so you won't eat it and be like him.' It's God's character, his goodness, that is cast into shadow by the serpent. He undermines God's motives and his concern and makes God out to be the one who is self seeking. The serpent has the audacity to say that he knows what God is thinking.

There are so many tangents that could be taken here; which character to focus on, which attribute to examine? These are just some of my ramblings, but there are many other things that could be discussed...and have been I'm sure, by people much better at it than me (thank goodness!).

bone of bones, flesh of flesh

2011-03-19T18:15:00.001Z

^{Genesis 2}

²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,

   “This is now bone of my bones
   and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
   for she was taken out of man.”

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

²⁵ Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

***

I confess I do not feel particularly adequate for tackling this passage today - it's been a long day; I'm tired and I feel the need to do more reading on it myself. Nonetheless, I'll have a go at reflecting on it, and hope I am not too vague.

Adam's aloneness has only been emphasised by the parade of animals and birds brought before him, presumably both male and female in their kinds. He, however, does not have his 'other', his matching counterpart.

Personally I take these verses as analogy and symbol rather than a literal removing of Adam's rib. So what analogy, what symbol do I see?

Firstly, woman is made of the same stuff as man. They are not opposing in substance; they are complementary. Natural opposites but only within this same substance, what Adam calls bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. Today we might say: my flesh and blood. There is a familial tie here, the establishment of a new relationship which completes the incomplete, while still being formed, ultimately, from the dust of the ground.

Adam reacts in joy - recognising his match, the one he has been lacking. It's a poetic response, one that also involves naming, but this time a name that derives from his own (the Hebrew ishah from the ish).

Here the narrator uses this as a reason for an application - that of marriage. This, he says, is why a man leaves his family - his flesh and blood - for his wife, so together they become flesh and blood. A re-union, if you like.

The two of them - the man and the woman - are relaxed with themselves, unabashed at their nakedness, not even particularly aware of it.

Further reflection:

Is this then, a suggestion that marriage is the ideal state for a person? That if a man or a woman remain unmarried, they are somehow incomplete?

I do not believe this (and find this frustrating when both culture and church imply this). This story may have been told as an analogy and reason for marriage in a certain culture, but even within the words of the text I see Adam, portrayed as without any human company whatsoever, very different from an unmarried man or woman today.

From a Christian perspective, we are all one in Christ Jesus, regardless of gender or social background (Galatians 3:28), and our oneness comes from unity with Christ, not marital union. Marriage certainly carries blessing, but it is not the only blessing in life: Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7 :32-35, writes of the benefits of remaining unmarried, that we are not always trying to please our husband or wife but are able to focus on the Lord himself. Granted he was writing at a time when there were difficulties to be faced, but I think it's a reasonable principle. Jesus has become the focal point of our unity and our community (the body of Christ). This is the case regardless of whether we are married or not.

I am not trying to devalue marriage here, but I do feel that we have undervalued the single people in our churches and often we buy into this idea that we are 'waiting for the right person' to come along, as if this is the only norm and that for those who never marry or never have children, somehow they simply never 'found the right person' and are somehow lacking. This focus feels a bit mixed up, in my opinion. We have been brought into an amazing community made up of men and women, celebrating their new re-unity in Christ. 'Family' within a church context should be all encompassing - young or old, male or female, married or single.

At least, that's my opinion.

not good...

2011-03-18T20:33:00.001Z

Genesis 2

¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

***

And here we have the opposite of that line we heard so often in Genesis 1. Here, God sees and says 'It is not good'. After an array of positive statements, here is a real negative. The creation is made of good stuff, we've been shown this. But it lacks something. Something is missing. The man, the adam that has been made, is alone. And this is a bad thing.

The animals and birds had been made previously and now they are brought to Adam to see what he would name them. God did the naming in Genesis 1, now this new human being is delegated the task of naming the animals. It's a thorough process, including all the livestock, the wild animals and the birds.

But in spite of all the variety, all the creative ingenuity shown in the making of the other creatures, still there is lack. Still, there is no one suitable.

Adam is alone; creation is incomplete.

Thirsty Ground

blogging business

a new name

coming up...

the hearing, seeing God

it's your fault

taking matters into their own hands...

visual aids and vivid ritual

the seen and the unseen

Genesis 15

another giveaway

the meeting in the valley

the ears of Abram

someone's in trouble

look and see

dreaming of the future

parting ways

retracing his steps

why didn't you tell me?

every man for himself...

setting out

promise of blessing

the call to go

half of a journey

bridging to another story

a towering irony

family history

Watch out - am about to cut and paste a whole chapter...

Genesis 10

1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

tracking back, tracking forward

the sign

be afraid - be very afraid

Genesis 9

never again

beyond the flood

but God...

the great reversal

and the rain, rain, rain...

the clean and the unclean

Genesis 7

the main character

book review and giveaway

the righteous man

the inclinations of the human heart

the heroes of old, and other questions

from Adam to Noah

names...

city building

the restless wanderer

am I my brother's keeper?

crouching at the door

banished

judgement

searching for someone to blame

and so they ate it

did God really say?

bone of bones, flesh of flesh

not good...

¹ This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.