genesis

The First Murder – Genesis 4

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“What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!” God’s anguished words of accusation against Cain told a truth that rings out to us throughout history — no secret sin can be hidden from God. We know this truth even in forensic science today: you cannot expunge human blood. The murderous crime leaves a trail that cannot be erased. Others may not find the trail of blood, but the record still remains. Just as the Lady Macbeth ordered the blood stain removed in guilty delirium, cursing it, “Out, out…!” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 1), she could not erase blood from her guilt-ridden hand, even though no blood was physically there. The blood speaks, whether it be found or unfound. In God’s record book, there are no secrets that will not be revealed.

Cain did not seem to bear a conscience or the madness that overcame the Lady Macbeth, yet his guilt rested on him as surely as his brother Abel’s blood was received by the ground, which God used as a testimony against him. A consistent theme in the Bible says, “…be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

“My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.” – Jeremiah 16:17 [The Lord God speaking to His people]

For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. – Ecclesiastes 12:14

God honored Abel’s sacrifice of worship, but did not have regard for Cain’s sacrifice. Abel offered the firstborn of his flocks with the choicest portions of the fat of his livestock. Cain brought some fruit from the ground, as he raised crops for a living. One opinion of scholars supports the idea of Cain’s produce itself being unacceptable, as the ground was under a curse. A similar view expresses his produce as improper or prohibited, as animal sacrifice was assumed to be required. According to either argument, Cain would have needed to buy some type of livestock, whether lambs, goats, bulls, etc., in order to present an acceptable offering on the altar. Nothing is said about whether Cain offered the “firstfruits” of his crops, but something was wrong with it. The firstfruits means that the first crops to ripen are offered as a sacrifice, an act of reverence. Now the scripture supports the offering of both the crops of the ground and livestock as a sacrifice (grain offerings and animal sacrifice in Deuteronomy, depending on the type of sacrifice). Therefore, the substance of Cain’s sacrifice was probably not in itself displeasing to God. No, Cain’s flawed sacrifice came from a heart that did not give the best of his produce. This is interpreted in the New Testament:

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. – Hebrews 11:4

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. – 1 John 3:11-12

Writing about religious violence, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks observed, “The story of Cain and Abel is the most profound commentary I know on the connection between religion and violence.” (Quoted from Jonathan Sacks, Genesis: The Book of Beginnings; New Milford, CT: Maggid Books & The Orthodox Union, First Edition, 2009.) Perhaps Rabbi Sacks’ assessment overstates the case of religious violence, considering the lack of religion in Cain’s heart. He cites the theories of Freud, Rene Girard, and postmodernists as possible explanations for modern religious violence, but in Cain’s case, one simple explanation might be that of telling oneself that he is indeed doing the will of God. Did Cain think that God was wrong about his sacrifice? Another possible explanation for exerting his wrath on the favored one (Abel) would be to assert, like Nietzsche, that there is no God, and his rival did not deserve to live. As Cain was in conversation with God, such a perspective would not be possible. However, if one were to bear contempt toward God while not questioning His existance, it makes sense to likewise bear contempt for God’s creation. Cain cared not for God’s authority, nor for His advice to do the right thing in order to gain acceptance. Neither did he care for the life of his brother. His actions began with his paltry sacrifice to God, then his downcast countenance, and then steadily moved toward the wrathful act itself. Note the progression of Cain’s attitude, his evil deed, and finally his answer to God:

God: “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do 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.”

Cain took his brother into the field and murdered him.

God: “Where is your brother?”

Cain: “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

God: “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse….”

Cain: “My punishment is more than I can bear.”

The fact that one’s gift or sacrifice was not accepted could elicit either a self assessment — what did I do wrong? — or anger over the rejection. The first reaction issues from a humble and caring heart. In the case of a worshipper, such an attitude means one is genuinely trying to worship the Lord. The other reaction — anger, Cain’s reaction — signifies a quid pro quo, or appeasement, or placating God, which is known as the “gift relationship” (Richard Titmuss, The Gift Relationship; New York: Pantheon, 1971). The gift relationship in the ancient tribal world was used as a means of control, whereby the leader would bestow gifts as a means to power; the practice was further exercised to influence the gods for favor, such as a sacrifice to a god in exchange for bounty of rain and harvest, or protection from enemies. Even today, a criminal kingpin fosters dependency and coercion by debt through giving. “You owe me” exerts control over one’s subjects. Insincere worshippers who live a double life, attending church or temple on the holy day but practicing evil during the week, may deceive themselves, thinking God is placated. Does God owe them something? God’s answer emphatically condemns trying to placate Him with meaningless worship, as indicated by 1 Samuel 15:22: “To obey is better than sacrifice.” In Isaiah God proclaimed:

“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me…I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.” – Isaiah 1:13

“When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!” – Isaiah 1:15

We immediately know that Cain’s heart had no humility or concern for pleasing God when he reacted in anger at the rejection of his gift. Cain was not worshipping, not humble, not caring, not in fear of the Lord God. Taken to the extreme, the gift relationship as far as the giver is concerned states: I give, therefore I rule (Sacks, Genesis, 2009). Cain wanted to rule by his own will and acknowledged no master, not even God Himself. With such an attitude, Cain took no responsibility for his actions and showed no remorse. In response to Cain’s fear of being killed, God, out of kindness, placed a mark on Cain as a warning to the rest of mankind. The warning signaled vengeance seven times for anyone who would potentially kill Cain.

Cain’s obvious contempt for God is synonymous to willing God’s nonexistance; in a sense Cain wanted to replace God with his own will to power. Even in this scenario, God was kind to him, offering a way for self-rule first when He said, “…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Following up our quotation of Ephesians 4:26, verse 27 says, “Neither give place to the devil.” The serpent in the garden of Eden tempted Eve with this same argument for being like God. Taking the place of God, or being like God, and exerting one’s own will with contempt for others — the height of arrogance — truly places Satan on the throne of one’s life. However, as the Lord recommended to Cain, self control provides the avenue toward honor and acceptance. In contrast, a Nietzschean will to power denies God and places oneself (rather, the devil) on the throne as the lord of one’s life. It is no wonder that the Bible often refers to God as the Lord God, using God’s own title for Himself, I AM, and translating it to HE IS (Exodus 3:14-15). We call God “Lord” to acknowledge that HE IS and to make the distinction between the Lord God, who is our Creator and Master, and ourselves, His subjects.

Adam and Eve had now lost their second-born son, righteous Abel, who was murdered by his wicked brother, Cain. Their third son, Seth, came and issued forth a more righteous lineage. As we follow the line of both Cain and Seth, we see some similarities in names, such as two Lamechs and two Enochs. Seth’s Enoch walked with God and was taken to heaven without dying. Nothing noteworthy of Cain’s Enoch may be determined, except for Cain’s naming a city after him. As for Cain’s Lamech, he was evil, establishing polygamy and killing two people. Seth’s Lamech fathered Noah and prophesied that Noah would be a comfort to the people after the struggle of working the ground that God had cursed. “Noah” means “comfort” or “rest.”

Genesis chapter 4 ends with some hope with the life of Seth. People began calling on the name of the Lord. This worship likely issued from the progression of righteousness from the line of Seth that culminated in Noah’s life as the ray of hope in God’s upcoming judgment on mankind, the Great Flood.

Noah – Genesis 6 through 9

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Noah is renowned for building the ark and surviving the Great Flood that covered the earth. He is less well known for what occurred when he and his family came out of the ark and reestablished the human race on planet earth. We shall explore Noah’s legacy for humanity, and especially discuss both the judgment of God and the kindness of God.

The Great Flood was told in different but similar versions in many ancient cultures. From early Mesopotamian times, we have the epic of Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk in southern Mesopotamia who found the patriarch, Utnapishtim, a figure similar to Noah as survivor of a destructive flood. This tale and other adventures of Gilgamesh were found on a series of clay tablets and fragments written in the Akkadian language. Cultures in Africa and the Americas also have their own versions of a Great Flood that inundated the earth. Genesis says that the Flood covered the mountaintops and implies that it was worldwide, not a localized flood. The history in Genesis says that God was grieved that He had made mankind, because the mind of humanity was turned toward evil all the time (Genesis 6:5). Human violence filled the earth. God saw that only Noah was righteous; in fact, Noah walked with God. Therefore, God decided to destroy the earth but save Noah and his family, his sons, and their wives.

God told Noah to make an ark of gopher wood (Genesis 6:14). Gopher is the pronunciation of a Hebrew word of uncertain meaning, but it is often interpreted as the type of wood, such as cypress. Others think gopher referred to the type of cut used in construction. Noah at least knew exactly what God meant and obeyed God’s instructions, building his ark to the prescribed dimensions estimated to be at least 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet from top to bottom. God stated that a flood would come, and it appears the intended destruction would occur in 120 years (Genesis 6:3). Every creature with the breath of life in its nostrils but not aboard the ark would be destroyed in the Flood, including humans. At the appropriate time God would bring pairs of animals, male and female, to Noah for gathering into the ark’s three stories. Animals were subdivided into clean animals and unclean animals (Jewish kosher and non-kosher). Leviticus 11 gives the details for discerning between clean and unclean animals. For example, a dove was clean, while a raven was unclean; a cow was clean, and a horse unclean. The clean animals were taken in seven pairs of male and female, while the unclean animals were taken in single pairs of male and female. Clean animals could be used on the newly-dried earth after the Flood for two purposes: food and sacrifices to God.

Now righteous Noah obeyed God in completing all the instructions. It is commonly believed by the faithful that Noah preached the repentance of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) during the long building of the ark, but nobody listened! Only Noah and his family were saved. The animals came into the ark along with Noah and family, and God closed up and sealed the door of the ark. Some believe this shows the cooperation between God’s planning and provision and man’s responsibility. The rains came as the earth’s underground reserves welled up, and the rain lasted 40 days and 40 nights as the ark rose on the surface above the destruction. After the rain stopped the surge lasted for 150 days. Eventually, the ark came to rest on a mountain of Ararat. The family and the animals had stores of food in the ark and survived. Noah sent out a raven and then a dove. The dove came back with an olive leaf, and on the third release of the dove it did not return. God finally told Noah to come out of the ark onto dry land.

Noah immediately built an altar and offered a burnt animal sacrifice to God. Then God established His covenant with Noah, commonly called the Rainbow Covenant. The Rainbow Covenant consists of God’s unilateral promises, along with instructions (commands) that mankind may or may not choose to obey! No matter what, God promised never again to destroy the earth and its inhabitants by a worldwide flood. This promise was sealed by God’s setting His rainbow in the sky when it rains. His other promises included the seasons and the movements of the earth, sun, and stars to mark the calendar, as well as days and nights, seedtime and harvest. The earth would always be well regulated, and humans could mark time and calendars by the reliable movements of nature. God also promised to remove the curse on the ground that had plagued mankind since Adam and Eve left the garden of Eden. The ground would now more easily produce crops and vegetation for the growing of food. Also with regard to food, animals could be eaten as food, and no longer just vegetation, but with the stipulation that humans abstain from the eating of blood.

Some instructions or commands to mankind included not only abstention from blood, but capital punishment for murder.

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” – Genesis 9:6

God renewed His blessing on humanity to be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth and all creatures; the fear and dread of humanity would come over all creatures.

Now we come to the role of Noah as the new patriarch over humanity, which we could judge to be a checkered history. Noah had three sons who had been in the ark, along with their wives. The sons were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah became a man of the soil and cultivated a vineyard. Thus begins a sad story of Noah’s debasement in the eyes of his sons. Noah, the hero of righteousness to his sons, basically got drunk and fell into a stupor, naked. We may recall that with Adam and Eve, their nakedness became the first thing for which they felt shame after they sinned and disobeyed God. Nakedness is almost synonymous with shame when seen in the context of vulnerability to sin. In fact, in Hebrew the word for naked sounds very similar to the word used to describe the serpent (Satan) in the garden of Eden. The adjective for the serpent (Satan) was crafty. Crafty Satan knew this, so what crafty device led Noah to his drunken condition when he was discovered by his son, Ham? We do not know whether he became innocently drunk, although this seems unlikely, or whether he was tempted to drown his sorrows in alcohol. As obedient to God as Noah had been to date, he alone had survived with his family, of all the human race. Had he succumbed to survivor’s guilt or survivor’s syndrome? Genesis is tacit on this topic of motive or emotional response by Noah.

One thing we do know from the account of Noah: his words are not recorded throughout the anti-deluvian period and during the Flood. Repeatedly the scripture says he obeyed God just as he had been instructed, yet no words are recorded. Now we know in the case of several biblical men and women of God that they contended with God. Abraham reasoned with God in Genesis 18 and said, “Far be it from you…to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike,” and “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” And he pleaded with God, if only ten are righteous in the city, will you spare it? In Genesis 14 he fought a righteous battle, apparently without direct instructions from God, to save his nephew, Lot. There seemed to be an initiative toward righteousness in Abraham’s heart that did not wait for instructions or ask permission. One theory proposes that the scripture makes a subtle difference in Noah’s relationship with God and Abraham’s that seems to support Noah’s passivity and Abraham’s proactive righteousness. “Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9), but speaking to Abraham, God said, “Because you are wholehearted, walk before Me” (Genesis 17:1). In the Midrash on Genesis, the Bereshit Rabbah 30:10, Rabbi Yehudah gives an analogy of this distinction with a parable of a king with two sons, one fully grown, and the other still a boy. The grown son would walk before the king, while the boy son would be taken by the hand and walk with the king. I do not know whether this should be so interpreted in gauging the spiritual maturity of Noah (the “boy son”) and Abraham (the “grown son”), but perhaps we can understand Noah’s vulnerability.

We do, at least, know that blind obedience to God may be acceptable — after all, Abraham tried to sacrifice his son, Isaac, under God’s orders, yet against Abraham’s whole being. (God’s angel stopped Abraham from going through with sacrificing Isaac.) Nevertheless, God did not intend for us to be robots of righteousness; otherwise, there would be no choice of righteousness rather than wickedness in the first place. We know furthermore that Noah reacted with his first and only speech in the scriptures (Genesis 9:25-27). The speech was not pretty and spewed out curses on Ham’s son, Canaan, but with blessings for Japheth and Shem. We know from biblical history that the curse and the blessings of Noah came to pass. Ham’s son, Canaan, established the tribes and nations of the land of Canaan, which became an ungodly place judged by God and conquered by the descendants of Shem, the Israelites. The Israelites became especially favored as the people of God’s covenant promises, including the Messiah, the anointed one: that is, Jesus. The Japhethites became many successful nations that allied with the descendants of Shem. The fateful pronouncements of Noah in Genesis 9 could suggest prophecy given to him by God, although spoken in anger in the case of Ham’s son, Canaan. The other possibility is that Noah’s forecast issued from his own heart but came to pass anyway, whether by God’s will or (very unlikely) coincidence. We are not certain.

Noah’s legacy appears to be that of the flawed hero of faith. We cannot read of any concern for the future of his descendants, for the account in Genesis does not suggest Noah’s concern, nor his prayers, nor any pleadings for his descendants’ walk with God. Without such a record and, in fact, no mention of it, we do not know what went on in Noah’s heart. As we are reading the inspired Scripture, I think not knowing in this case is best for us; we know enough. We do see later in the biblical history how heroes of faith such as Abraham and Jacob and Joseph, Gideon and Elijah and Jeremiah would contend with God — question Him, reason with Him, wrestle with Him, but also obey Him.

This brings us to the account of God’s words in the narrative of Noah. God was the only recorded speaker until Noah gave his curses and blessings on his descendants; God had much to say! God’s first speech in the account of Noah appears in Genesis 6:3. He said, “My spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal — his days will be 120 years.” Two phrases in this sentence have obscure meaning from the ancient Hebrew: “My spirit will not contend” and “he is mortal.” Since humans continued to have lifespans over 200 years for several generations after Noah, rather than lifespan, scholars mostly believe that God was referring to the time remaining between God’s pronouncement of judgment and when judgment came by the Great Flood. The 120 years would give Noah time to build the ark, as well as time for people to repent. This interpretation is consistent with God’s kindness and patience, as we see from 2 Peter 3:9:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

The Torah also refers to the patience of the Lord God in Exodus 34:6. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord God said He was “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness.” Apparently, in regard to Noah’s generation, even given 120 years, no repentance occurred, for only Noah and his family and his sons’ wives entered the ark. From the brief sentence by God in Genesis 6:3, “My spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal — his days will be 120 years,” we may surmise that Noah set the example for humanity, and even preached repentance, as mentioned by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:19-20 and 2 Peter 2:5.

God was upset with the continual evil of humans, as shown by Genesis 6:4. The Nephilim, interpreted as either giants or fallen ones, were the offspring of the union of “the sons of God” with the “daughters of men.” This is a controversial verse that raises the theory of fallen angels (demons) mating with humans. However, the created order states each type or species of creature mated after its kind (Genesis chapter one), while angels are spirits and not human. Although some biblical passages refer to angels as sons of God, other passages refer to humans as sons or children of God. Calling humans “sons of God,” interchangeable with “children of God” in both Greek and Hebrew, applies to the righteous in passages such as Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:5; Psalm 73:15; Isaiah 43:6; 1 John 3:1-2, 10; etc. Another interpretation says that descendants of Cain (daughters) mated with descendants of Seth (sons of God), so that the daughters of Cain’s wicked legacy married the sons of Seth’s righteous legacy. Yet another theory refers to Bible passages (and Near Eastern literature) naming kings and powerful men as “sons of God.” In such a context, Lamech, the descendant of Cain, was a powerful, evil influence, yet a kingly “son” of God, broadcasting his boast to his two wives about killing men, in a poetical verse (Genesis 4:23). Regardless of any theory’s accuracy about sons of God and Nephilim, the point being made was that all humanity, even the descendants of Seth, had become corrupted by evil.

In the context of the Nephilim, probably the best interpretation of Nephilim would be demonized humans. The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Nashville: Holman, 2019) agrees with this interpretation. At a minimum, humans were influenced by evil powers and were themselves evil. In keeping with their glorification of violence (Genesis 6:13), the Nephilim were mighty men (even giants), admired by men in spite of their wickedness, but fallen in God’s eyes. They were human, as seen from the context of Genesis 6:1-7, and God regretted having created them, and therefore decided to destroy them. We see that God decided to exercise His judgment on humanity for the continual propagation of evil. The mind of man had turned toward only evil all the time (Genesis 6:5), and only Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8).

God’s next speech included instructions to Noah to build the ark and prepare for housing and feeding the animals, and He began by saying that the earth was filled with violence because of all people (Genesis 6:13). As much wickedness as we find on earth today, we cannot say that the earth is filled with violence 100%, because of all people, 100%. But such was the case before the Flood, with the exception of Noah! To Noah God said to take seven pairs of every clean animal, male and female, and one pair of every unclean animal, male and female, and in seven days He would bring rain upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, “and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature that I have made” (Genesis 7:4). The animals came to Noah, obviously by God’s direction, and entered the ark (Genesis 7:8-9). The flood waters came and wiped out all breathing animals (Genesis 7:22), yet the ark floated.

Chapter 8 begins, “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock” aboard the ark. The phrase “God remembered” repeats through the Scriptures when God honored His promise or covenant with humans. God does not forget and is always faithful. The hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness,” quotes Lamentations 3:22-23, which is assumed written by the prophet Jeremiah in one of the darkest times in Jewish history, the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and the exile of the people of Judah. Even when things appear to be worst of all, God remembers His promises and His covenants with His people! So God “remembered” Noah and even the animals and began the retreat of the waters. The ark came to rest on the mountain of Ararat. When Noah and his family and the animals emerged, God made His covenant with Noah and spoke to Noah and his three sons. As mentioned, God said the calendar of the earth and the heavens would be reliable as long as the earth endured, and of course, no flood would ever again destroy all of humanity. Greater than this promise, God allowed for a rebirth of humanity’s right standing by giving us a second chance on earth. Humanity has failed again and again, and we still live on a fallen planet and are still subject to the wages of sin, our eventual death (Romans 6:23). Even so, we can turn to God and are given new opportunities, first through the covenants with Abraham and Moses and the children of Israel, and ultimately through the New Covenant in which God’s law is written on our hearts (Ezekiel 11:19; Romans 2:15) — the new covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ (Jeremiah 31:31; Luke 22:20).

God chose a flood to destroy humanity and every creature that had the breath of life in its nostrils. You may ask, why all the animals? Reading the creation history in Genesis chapter one, we see that God created the earth first, and then the universe around it. This contradicts the suppositions of modern science, but the creation history emphasizes that our planet was made to house God’s major creature in all creation, humans, who were made in God’s image. Animals support humanity for food, clothing, companionship in some cases, labor, and for centuries, transportation. They even provided the sin offering by their innocent blood sacrificed for the forgiveness of sins. Thus the sins of mankind brought destruction and suffering on nature, too. However, the symbol and the substance of a new beginning, the ark and its creatures aboard, ushered in a brand new start. The saved ones came forth from the watery grave of all humanity, a figurative baptism as described by the Apostle Peter (1 Peter 3:20-21). They emerged from the ark to a new life, a new beginning in which, for a while, God would be honored. Later, God’s redemptive plan through Christ, not for a while but for all time, would be eventually fulfilled, and is fulfilled in the lives of believing Christians. I close this article with a quotation of the Apostle Paul, writing of the symbolic baptism into the death of Christ:

6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. -Romans 6:6-11

What’s in a name? – Shem’s Legacy for the Messiah

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After the Great Flood, Noah and his family began their new life on an unpopulated planet earth. Noah planted a vineyard and got drunk tasting his wine. We can make special note of the aftermath of Noah’s drunken nakedness after he and his family exited the ark and settled down. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham revealed Noah’s nakedness by telling his brothers, Shem and Japheth. Then good Shem and Japheth walked backwards into Noah’s chamber with a blanket, averting their eyes and covering their father. Now Shem was not only his name, but actually was the Hebrew word for name. There is more to a name than its pronunciation. In the Old Testament, which mirrored much of ancient Hebrew culture, the naming of the newborn would at times attempt to capture the person’s anticipated character, or the circumstances of his birth. Today we say that we want to honor a person’s good name. In this sense, the Old Testament referred to the good name of a person, and even his renown or fame. We could say that Shem meant not only “name” but also “fame” or “renown.”

The use of the word shem for fame may be found in examples such as this one, which addresses Solomon’s fame for his wisdom:

We know so little of Shem from the Flood account and thereafter, but we do read of the blessing that Noah pronounced after he woke up from his drunken state. Noah blessed Shem and Japheth, and especially noted the future of Shem’s descendants. There developed a Semitic group (“Shemites”) that resided in Ur of southern Mesopotamia – Ur being a Chaldean city. Abram, later named Abraham, came from Ur as the tenth generation from Noah after the Great Flood. Now Abram’s family had moved northward to the Mesopotamian city of Haran, and from there God spoke to him. We make note of the commissioning of Abram to leave his home and family and travel to an unknown country, Canaan (Genesis 12:1-5). The blessing of Shem given by Noah was realized through Abraham’s descendants, who became the Hebrew people. The promise God gave Abraham through a sacred covenant pledged that all nations would be blessed through Abraham. Most of Genesis tells the beginnings of the redemptive story that began with Abraham and his descendants and ultimately resulted in the life of the Messiah, the anointed kingly One who would save all people of all nations who place their faith in Him.

As an aside to our theme and complementary to it, consider Solomon, whose name became synonymous with wisdom:

For he [Solomon] was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Carcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame [shem] was in all the nations round about. – 1 Kings 4:31

How much more does the name of the Messiah, Jesus, apply for all humanity! The theme of the entire Bible focuses on how we find eternal life through this Messiah, this Anointed One, who in Greek of the New Testament is known by the word for Messiah, which is Christ. This may be a lot to digest if you are new to the Bible, but the history and prophecy gradually becomes manifest through the entire Bible as we proceed.

What’s in a name? The name of the Holy One gives His character of faithfulness, holiness, mercy, and grace. God’s name (Exodus 3:14-15) represents Himself, and His Son, Messiah, also holds the essence of His greatness. We first begin at the beginning by acknowledging that the promised offspring who would drive back the devil was mentioned in Genesis 3:15, as the One who would destroy the devil’s head. As mentioned in “The First Sin,” a previous article on this site, Genesis 3:15 is known as the first citing of the gospel of the Savior of mankind. The verse is therefore called the protoevangelium. By this kernel of the gospel imbedded at the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 3:15, we understand that God’s gospel is for each of us. In fact, He knows each of us by name. How can we assert this? We know from the pronouncements of God and His servants in Scripture:

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. -Psalm 139:16

Thus wrote David, the Psalmist, of his own beginning in the womb as God formed his body. The Lord Himself affirmed this when He commissioned Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations in the book of Jeremiah:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” -Jeremiah 1:5

The Lord Himself looks into our hearts and deeds; He cares about what we think and do!

“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” -Jeremiah 17:10

We know the Lord is watching each of us:

13 The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; 15 He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. -Psalm 33:13-15

David wrote of a relationship with the Holy God in Psalm 23:

You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. -Psalm 23:5

We have a similar Scripture in the New Testament, in Revelation 3, by the voice of Christ:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.” -Revelation 3:20

God watches you; God knows you. His knowledge is infinite (Psalm 147:5); how much more may He know about each and every one of His image bearers, human beings (Genesis 1:27)! Whoever calls on God will be saved (Acts 2:21), and the Lord even calls you to bring you unto Himself (Acts 2:39). By these personal details ordained between God and people, we know that He knows you by name! What’s in a name? It is your personal invitation to trust the Lord in faith and call on the name of the Lord.

Abraham – A Blessing to All Humanity

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Genesis chapter 12 sets the stage for God’s plan to restore all humanity through a man, through his descendants, through a nation coming from that man, and through an eternal kingdom out of an Anointed One from that nation, the Messiah. It begins with the blessing given to Abram (Abraham) in Genesis 12:1-3.

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

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.”

Abram came from Semitic lineage, the 10th generation after Noah of the Great Flood and descended from Shem. His hometown was Ur, a Chaldean city of southern Mesopotamia, but his father and his clan moved to Haran in northern Mesopotamia. There in Haran God spoke to Abram, telling him to go to a strange land. He left his clan behind with the exception of his wife and servants, and Lot, his nephew.

We may ask, why did God choose Abram? He most assuredly was a righteous man, but were there not others of righteous stature? The Hebrew written code of law did not yet exist, although Abram was likely to have known of Chaldean or even Babylonian law codes. One way or other, Abram was influenced more by the tradition of Noah and Shem than that of the non-Semitic peoples of Babylon and the descendants of Ham. Abram already knew of God, and he knew something about right versus wrong. And then God made Himself known to him.

We may ask, why must Abram go to a new land? What significance did this targeted land have? It was already occupied by the descendants of Canaan along the Mediterranean coast and extended parallel to the Jordan River. Several people groups lived there, including the Amorite tribes common to the Fertile Crescent, a swath of property shaped like a sickle or crescent that stretched around the northern and western borders of today’s Arabian Desert. Canaan, as the land was called (alternately Palestine, after the Philistine people), included an area from just south of Damascus to the southern desert, just north of the Sinai peninsula. The Old Testament histories cited Israel’s presence in Canaan as running north to south from Dan to Beersheba, and east to west from the Jordan River to the coast. The land could also be regarded as extending east of the Jordan by the Israelite-occupied territories of Reuben, East Manasseh, and Gad.

Canaan was becoming a major corridor for trade and communication between the northern sections of the Near East, as well as the land of modern-day Turkey and Europe, and Egypt. If God wanted to establish an influential nation for exercising His divine plan for humanity, perhaps this was why He chose Canaan. If God were to choose neutral ground, could this have been a reason for selecting Canaan, at the crossroads of three continents? Today we cannot say that Christianity and Judaism are Western, Eastern, or African. We might also include the third Abrahamic religion from the descendants of his second wife Hagar’s son, Ishmael. No, these monotheistic faiths are not truly confined to one continental locale, but central to the major population expansions in world history. More specifically to God’s redemptive plan, we may affirm that Messiah, as Savior of mankind, relates to all nations. With his blood he “purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

A further answer to our question may perhaps be found in Genesis where God spoke to Abram again:

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.” -Genesis 15:13-16

The Lord was speaking to Abram in greater detail about the birth of the nation coming out of Abram, the nation whereby all the nations of the earth would be blesssed. Specifically, He was speaking of the Hebrew people’s captivity in Egypt, where they indeed would become enslaved, but rescued and brought out of that place under God’s “mighty hand and outstretched arm.” The conquest of Canaan would not happen according to the passage above, verse 16, until the sin of the Amorites had reached its full measure. What sins would justify the wrath of God and the conquest of the land? The seven tribes of Canaan eventually engaged in every form of wickedness imaginable: idolatry, human sacrifice to false gods, sorcery, bestiality, and every kind of sexual perversion imaginable, to name a few.

We could next ask, if there were seven nations of Canaan, why did the Lord specifically mention the Amorites? Abram settled in Canaan near the town of Hebron, south of Salem (Jerusalem), and near Mount Hebron, the highest peak in Canaan. His settlement for his extensive flocks, herds, and employees came about from a treaty with three Amorite brothers, and he dwelt near the oaks of one brother, Mamre the Amorite. Abram had not yet purchased property of his own in Canaan, so the treaty was helpful for both Abram and the Amorites. They in fact fought together against some marauding kings who had kidnapped his nephew, Lot, successfully rescuing Lot and family and returning them home. Although God had special regard for Abram, the man was human and had to avoid entangling himself in compromising situations, a circumstance that his nephew had not avoided. Of all the tribes and nations of Canaan, Abram probably knew the Amorites the best.

Abram became the patriarch by whom the whole world would be blessed, but the germination of such a Divine plan came about through the trials that tested his faith. He was tested as he agreed to leave his home and go to the unknown land of Canaan. By faith he fought against the kingly alliance that had captured Lot, his nephew, and prevailed. By faith he gave a tenth of the booty from that battle to King Melchizedech, the priest of Salem. By faith he believed God’s promise that he would have a son and a multitude of descendants and several nations from him, even though he and his wife were childless and advanced in years. See a summary of his life in Hebrews11:8-12. “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

This next test of faith was the hardest of all: By faith Abraham (his new name) listened to God’s instructions to offer his beloved son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on the altar; and God rewarded him by staying his hand and providing a ram as the sacrifice instead.

The standard for righteousness, in fact, is faith in God: belief that He will honor His promises and provide for our needs. We may not be perfect, but God’s promise is forgiveness as we turn in faith to His Son, Jesus the Messiah.

If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. -1 John 1:9

Abraham Pleads for the Righteous – Genesis 18

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In Genesis chapter 18, God comes to earth to visit with His chosen prophet, Abraham. He appears in the form of a man, accompanied by two angels. Such a rare event is known as a Theophany, and some scholars view this moment as the appearance of the Son of God, Jesus. In the Genesis account, Abraham addressed Him as Lord – Adonai – and he addressed the angels using the same word. Yet the author, Moses, wrote of the person as Yahweh – the Lord – even though He appeared as a man.

The Theophany must have been prompted by a major impending event to warrant such an unusual encounter. Two things come to mind. The first is the revelation of God’s salvational plan for mankind through the offspring of Abraham. Now Abraham was 99 years old, and his wife, Sarah, was 90, well past childbearing age. The child of the promise would be their only son born to both of them, not the elder child born to a slave. Naturally, both Abraham (in Genesis 17:17) and Sarah (in Genesis 18:12) could not stifle a laugh at the announcement that she would bear a son to Abraham. But God had the last laugh, naming their future son Isaac, meaning He laughs. Through Isaac’s descendants came the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1).

The second major impending event was judgment on Sodom, Gomorrah, and the pervasively wicked cities of the plain of Siddim to the east. The Lord rose from His meal with Abraham, and His angels departed in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham stood alone before the Lord, and the Lord said that the outcry was very great against the sins of the cities of the plain. They looked eastward, down the mountain in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain. In the distance lay Sodom on the verdant, lush land of great wealth that had lured Lot, Abraham’s nephew, to stake his fortune and his life amidst so much depravity. The Lord then said to Abraham, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Genesis 18:17) God was speaking of impending destruction. In essence, the Lord gave Abraham permission and the opportunity to discuss and question the Lord on this severely important matter that touched the lives of Lot and his family.

Abraham pleaded for the lives of the righteous. “Surely the Lord will not sweep away the righteous with the wicked.” Humbly he begged, would you spare the city if there were 50 righteous? Yes, the Lord, said, He would spare the city if there were fifty righteous. Now Abraham repeatedly asked the same question as he whittled the number down to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten righteous souls. When the Lord gave affirmation to spare Sodom at ten souls, He departed from Abraham. The promise did not stop the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, for only Lot and his immediate family were righteous. Lot would indeed be rescued by the two angels (chapter 19), but then total destruction would come.

Abraham’s pleading, however, set a precedent for later prophets to plead with the Lord for the clemency of God on their people, who were far from perfect. In the Bible, Moses, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk also pleaded for sinful Israel and Judah. Habakkuk asked why the Lord would crush the people who were seemingly less sinful than their tormentors (Habakkuk 1:13). Judgment from God comes after warnings and a hearing, as in a court of law, and the Lord wants His righteous ones to plead for people. In the end, judgment will be meted out after due process and the fulness of time, by which the mercies of God have been exhausted, so that no one has an excuse. Looking at nature as the general revelation of the sovereign power of God the Creator, mankind has no excuse. As the Apostle Paul wrote,

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. -Romans 1:20

The Lord’s angels rained down fire and sulfur on the cities of the plain in a unique and unprecedented fashion. To this day the destruction is visible in the wasteland that remains, as explorers may yet see and touch the white sulfur rock, the purest brimstone in the world that may be torched into a bright blue flame by simply striking a match. The one small town that God spared, Zoar, where Lot fled for refuge, has no such sulfur residue, a testament to the targeted destruction narrated in Holy Scripture. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah reminds the world of the inevitable judgment of God against abject, unrepentant wickedness in the face of all the evidence that pleads His case against them. In His mercy, He is telling us, repent! Do not be like Sodom and Gomorrah. Do not defy the Living God and sin as though there were no coming judgment. In the fulness of time, all will give an accounting before the throne of God. Each of us is a heartbeat away from eternity, and your personal “fulness of time” may be here already.

God spoke of entering His rest, in which the Promised Land for the Israelites of old serves as a mataphor for heaven itself:

Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” –Hebrews 4:3 (quoting Psalm 95:11)

And further from the same passage,

God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” –Hebrews 4:7 (quoting Psalm 95:7-8)

Christians are privileged to enter God’s eternal rest, where there is no sorrow or pain, but not so for the wicked. Even in this painful world before we are carried into the joys of eternity, Christians may experience the riches of Jesus through our friendship with the Savior, but not so for the wicked. God is patient, but only to a point. Do not be deceived by the lure of this world. Here is God’s attitude:

9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. –2 Peter 3:9-10a

Approach this topic with a sense of urgency, especially if you waver in your faith walk or compromise you faith before the watching eyes of the Lord of Creation. Have you defied or mocked God or refused to believe? He looks down on the thoughts and deeds of humanity to see who obeys Him, and who willfully sins. He sees all we do. God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it be good or evil (Jeremiah 20:23-24; Ecclesiastes 12:14). Therefore, repent to the Holy God and receive His salvation freely offered.

The good news for the waiting and repentant heart may be found in these gospel verses:

  • Genesis 3:15 (From the beginning, Christ was prepared to come and destroy the works of Satan.)
  • Isaiah chapter 53, along with Acts 8:26-34 (Christ would lay down His life for the transgressors.)
  • Daniel 7:13-14 and Matthew 17:9 (Christ the Son of Man is king of His eternal kingdom.)
  • John 3:16; 6:29; 11:25 (Christ is God’s gift to us, and the resurrection and the life for believers.)
  • Ephesians 2:8-10 (We are saved by God’s grace through our faith, not of works; but we are created in Christ to do His good works.)
  • 1 John 1:9 (Christians may sometimes err in their faith walk, but have the assurance of restoration through confession to the God of mercy.)
  • Romans 3:23; 5:8; 6:23; 10:9-10; 8:1; 12:1-2 (The “Roman Way” gives the simple steps to eternal salvation and our new life in Christ.)

These verses, and many more, lay out the gospel from ancient times through the life of Christ, and into the current age. May the Lord richly bless you.

The Book of Genesis – The Masterful Beginning

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Genesis begins with this seminal, authoritative statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” It is arguably the most famous, all-encompassing opening sentence in all of literature. It establishes God as the Creator, eternal and almighty, yet caring. He established the earth first, before the vast universe, which came later in the six days of creation. God built the universe around the earth, which is the focus of His creative power, the place where His ultimate creation, man, would reside. Much later, King David of Israel asked, “What is man that You [God] are mindful of Him?” (Psalm 8:4) The answer rests on God’s loving care for that part of His living creation that He deliberately made in His image, after His likeness: human beings.

The history presented in Genesis accounts for Adam, the first man, all the way to Jacob’s sons settling in Egypt, around 1,866 B.C., a span of about 2,100 years. Some of this history, including customs such as contracts, the Great Flood, and the names of the patriarchs, are corroborated by ancient clay tablets of Mesopotamia and Syria. The Great Flood in particular is the theme of the legend of Gilgamesh, a Mesopotamian account as told in a pantheistic culture. But Genesis is more than a dry history. It is divided into ten memorable accounts, each beginning with the word “account.” The accounts tell of people and events that are best described as fascinating stories of human nature as people struggle with obstacles and opposition, even as God plays a sovereign role of guiding them, answering prayers, giving visions, and making promises to a the patriarchs. Ultimately God makes covenant promises to Noah, then Abraham, and then reaffirms the covenant to Abraham’s son, grandson, and great grandson.

Genesis runs a long narrative of God’s creation of the world and all life, assesses the nature of mankind, and relates the history of a family which God calls into a special relationship for the purpose of founding a holy nation. His plan alludes to the possibility of a Messiah, a specially anointed One to bring us back from the abyss of sin and conflict against God. The subtle assumptions within single words of Genesis point to the promise of the concept of the Trinity, God as One, yet comprised of three perfectly united persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is suggested by Elohim, plural yet meaning God. God created, ba-ra Elohim, uses the plural noun with ba-ra, a singular verb. Furthermore, God’s Spirit hovered over the waters of earth, in Genesis 1:2. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man….” By “us” God did not mean God and angels, but God Himself with Himself.

This statement, “Let us make man in our image,” establishes mankind as the image bearers of God on God’s nascent earth. The full meaning of image bearers becomes inextricably intertwined in the Genesis narrative history as characters attempt to honor God, while others do not. The imperfections of human beings – their sins – call into question good versus evil, why God allows evil, and whether this state of affairs is a permanent problem. Is the world to be forever tainted? Genesis raises such questions and more, and has therefore been labeled a narrative text on philosophy.

Humans are unique in creation, possessing superior intelligence, a sense of what eternity means, self awareness, and the capacity to reason, create tools and subdue the earth to their purposes. Even further, humans have a moral conscience, a will to choose either good or evil, and the capacity to worship God and choose the attributes of their holy God. Such attributes include the fruit of God’s Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, which include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In Genesis we read of such marvelous attributes and their opposite, the capacity for evil, and we discover God’s dealings with both good and evil. We learn that there exists a representive of evil, Satan, who tempted the first man and woman to sin and fall.

As mentioned, Genesis has been called a book of philosophy in literary form as the book weaves stories of families and generations. The reader asks, will Noah and family survive the Great Flood? Will Lot, Abraham’s nephew, survive the wickedness of Sodom and the judgment that would rain down on that city with fire and sulphur? How can Abraham save his precious son, Isaac, the child of God’s promise, and still obey God’s demand to sacrifice the boy? Will Jacob overcome his brother Esau’s determination to kill him for tricking him out of his birthright and stealing his blessing, and how can Jacob ever repay Esau his debt to his brother? In the next generation, how may Joseph survive slavery and prison, and ultimately, how will he find a way to forgive his brothers, especially his worst betrayer, Judah? From the answers to these questions we find dysfunctional families whom God blesses and teaches and accompanies (e.g., God was “with” Joseph and blessed everything he did). The philosophical questions are answered by the presence of God and the faith of the people whom He blesses. The people of truth and faithfulness receive honor, at times in spite of their imperfect demonstration of honor: e.g., righteous Noah got drunk and naked; faithful Abraham lied about his wife, Sarah; and persevering Jacob began as a deceiver who learned the better way, even wrestling with an angel to receive a blessing.

The longest account in Genesis (Gen. 37:2-50:26) focuses on Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob and favored above the others by his father. Joseph the Dreamer had God-inspired visions of grandeur about himself, which he naively shared with his jealous brothers, resulting in Judah and the others selling him into slavery in Egypt. God was with Joseph as he rose from slave and prisoner to ruler of all Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh. Now Joseph had a chance to seek vengeance on his brothers, but he chose to forgive them! The word forgive is not even found in Genesis and seems to be a new principle. However, in order to forgive, Joseph felt compelled to exact a price: Judah’s offer to sacrifice himself – to voluntarily become a slave at Joseph’s mercy (Genesis 44:33). This is the turning point of the saga of Joseph and his brothers, the exact moment when Joseph revealed his identity and offered forgiveness.

Today we have two opposing perspectives of culture: the culture of shame and the culture of guilt. With shame there is no remedy, no remediation, no atonement; it perpetuates a permanent fallen condition that cannot be resolved. Hence a violator against correctness is “canceled” – relegated to the fixed status of outcast for his sin. The other cultural perspective is guilt for which a remedy may be obtained by repentance and the forgiving act of the offended party. Joseph, having God with him, chose this second alternative, the better way. For this reason, as well as the compelling story in itself, Joseph’s forgiving act makes his life the most prominent of the Genesis accounts. Therefore, Genesis establishes the precedent for grace: the unmerited restoration of the offender by reason of his repentance and faith. The climax of Joseph’s story provides a kind of reverse type for our restoration under the grace of Jesus. Joseph’s brother, Judah, guilty of selling Joseph into slavery, offered himself as a slave to save his innocent brother, Benjamin. In contrast, Jesus, innocent of all charges, Judah’s descendant, gave His life as a ransom for guilty souls.

Almost unwritten in the Genesis history, a moral code seems woven into the fabric of the riveting narrative long before the code is written in the Ten Commandments and the religious and ethical mandates of Exodus and Leviticus. Before Moses and the priests and the written law, Abraham tithed his booty from a righteous battle, giving it to the kingly priest, Melchizedek. Joseph answered the sexual temptress, Potiphar’s wife, “How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Human beings even then had what the forbidden tree foreshadowed before the fall of Adam and Eve – the knowledge of good and evil. Yet characters in Genesis did not have a written Law from God. The Mosaic Law would eventually come, when sin and righteousness would be spelled out vividly to Jacob’s untrained and pagan-influenced descendants: righteousness including “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor,” and sanctions against wickedness in X-rated explicitness.

More than philosophy, and more than a moral code, Genesis is the forerunner of the Messiah as Savior of mankind. Early in the Genesis narrative, after the fall of Adam and Eve, God predicted that Eve’s descendant would crush Satan’s head, and the devil would bruise his heel. The outcome alluded to in Genesis 3:15 gives the answer to the age-old problem of humanity’s finding redemption and restoration. The works of the devil, the heel bruising, put Jesus on the cross; the work of Jesus, the bruising of Satan’s head, was finished on the cross and by His resurrection! Redemption, the answer, came by God’s grace announced at the outbreak of the First Sin, in Genesis 3:15. Genesis became, therefore, the beginning history of God’s redemption of mankind. First, God’s plan provided for a people from Abraham, then a culture by Abraham’s descendants, then the God-ordained moral code, then a land for the people (the Promised Land), and then a kingly lineage leading to the Messiah as predicted in the prophets. Genesis laid the groundwork. The reshith, the beginning, already prepared the way for the King of Kings. Malachi, the last book of the Tanakh, the Jewish Bible and our Old Testament, concludes with a prediction of what Genesis began. Malachi ends the Old Testament saying Elijah would come before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord.” Jesus interpreted Malachi’s closing sentences, saying that the Elijah who was to come was John the Baptizer, who came to prepare the way for Jesus. As John said, this One (Jesus) would baptize the people “with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” As early as Genesis, God’s Spirit and fire, representing grace and judgment, counterbalance each other as God showed two sides of humanity’s ultimate fate: grace for the faithful, and judgment for the unfaithful.

Jacob Wrestles with God – Genesis 32

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Moses is credited by most scholars, and Jesus Himself, for the writing of the book of Genesis. The Israelites heard the reading of the Torah in the days of the wilderness wanderings. When Jacob wrestled God in Genesis 32, the hearers were surely able to remember that God wrestled Jacob by the Jabbok River, because the words sounded alike. In English the wordplay might be said as God Jabboked Jacob by the Jabbok.

Jacob had struggled against opposition for most of his life, first with his brother, Esau, and then with his father-in-law and uncle, Laban. Now as he came near Canaan at a tributary to the Jordan River, the Jabbok, about twenty miles north of the Dead Sea, he had an encounter with a “man” who was really God in human form. The wrestling match lasted the evening, and Jacob was successful, for God allowed it. The lengthy wrestling match emphasized the point that Jacob’s real struggle was with God Himself, for the Lord was the true source of Jacob’s destiny. In the struggle Jacob must have realized this, for he sought a blessing. “Let me go, for it is daybreak,” said the “man.”

Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you give me a blessing.” Twenty years earlier he had stolen his brother’s blessing, and Esau threatened to kill him. Listening to his parents, Jacob fled about 500 miles to northwestern Mesopotamia, where his mother’s family lived. Now twenty years later, he wanted a legitimate blessing from the Source of all blessings. His audacity came in desperation as one who had struggled all his life, yet with dubious success, for his reputation as the Heel Grabber – the deceiver – followed him everywhere, even in his very name, Jacob, which meant He Grabs the Heel. The Lord touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched the joint, showing He had control at will. The encounter with God had huge implications for Jacob and for humanity.

We may ask, why did they wrestle? Did God have a motive for appearing in human form? Why did they not strike one another, or box? Athletes are aware of something profoundly intimate about a physical struggle, man to man. If they are not trying to kill each other – and sometimes if they are – there is a certain bond in the common struggle. For example, in boxing, Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, and Mohammed Ali and George Foreman exhibited friendships born of such sports rivalries.

No, Jacob and God in human form – a Theophany – wrestled over an issue that did not involve life or death between the two. Their motives are not discussed in Scripture, but we can look at the circumstances at hand. This could well have been an answer to Jacob’s prayer, when he asked the Lord to protect him from Esau and continue to honor His promise of blessing in the face of apparent, imminent danger.

The danger began in this way. Possibly inspired by angels that appeared to him en route to the Jabbok River, at Mahanaim, Jacob felt the urge to make amends with his brother Esau after twenty years. He sent envoys to the land of Seir, to Edom, his brother Esau’s homeland, saying he was seeking his favor. The messengers told Esau that Jacob had an abundance of flocks and herds. But when the messengers returned, they told Jacob that Esau was coming out to meet him with four hundred men! Now Jacob feared for his life as never before; hence he prayed to the Lord in earnest for protection of his life and his wives and family.

He had sent his family, flocks, herds, possessions, and servants ahead of him across the river. Now alone, Jacob encountered the “man” whom he recognized as more than a man. God showed up. We do not know what they may have said at first, or how they began to wrestle. Simply wrestling without weapons and without blows would probably signify something other than trying to kill. No, Jacob, the heel grabber, did not want to let God slip away. God condescended to show himself in a physical presence.

Now Jacob had struggled with Esau and with Laban. Laban, his father-in-law, had worked him hard for twenty years and tricked him into marrying Leah first, instead of the beloved Rachel. Talk about poetic justice – the deceiver was deceived! Jacob’s struggle with God came at the aftermath of fleeing from Laban. He was fresh from a victory of sorts against Laban, as his wealth grew enormously in spite of Laban’s opposition. For certain Jacob was aware of God’s hand in his wealth and success. He had tried superstitiously rigging the mating of his flocks and herds to maximize their numbers; however, eventually he acknowledged that the Lord had made him successful (Genesis 32:12; 33:11).

God for certain had a point to make, too. Through God alone Jacob had overcome adversity so far, and it was for the reason as big as God’s plan for the redemption of humanity. God chose Jacob to pass on the offspring and the spiritual legacy leading to the nation, the people who would bring the Messiah into the world. It can be no small plot from the mind of God that He now appeared as a man to bring about the resolve in this focal man, Jacob, to carry on God’s mission.

They wrestled; they bonded as two men in competition do, until the sun was about to rise, when the “man” said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” It is now in this fear-induced match that Jacob spoke his mind. He could not let the Lord escape him. “I will not let you go until you bless me” meant more than a perfunctory “Bless you,” and farewell. He wanted yet again to see the working of his God in his life, even as all the signs pointed to death instead. Just as a desperate father pleaded with Jesus for a miracle, he could have been saying, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

God asked him, “What is your name?” It was not a question seeking the answer but to make a change to the One Who Grabs the Heel.

“Jacob,” he replied. Then the “man” made a proclamation. “You will no longer be Jacob but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Now Israel in Hebrew probably means He Struggles with God.

Next Jacob posed the same question to his rival. “What is your name?” The reply came from God as a question, “Why do you ask my name?” The answer needed no clarification; Jacob had been calling Him Yah-weh El-o-he already – The Lord my God. This was further clarified when an angel of the Lord later said His name was wonderful, beyond understanding (Judges 13:18). God now blessed Jacob and departed. We do not know the specific blessing, but can imagine the Lord repeated what He had said twenty years before, when Jacob had his dream of the angels ascending and descending on a staircase that led from earth to heaven. That former blessing said he would produce a multitude of offspring like the dust of the earth, through which all the peoples of the earth would be blessed; that Jacob and his descendants would possess the land of Canaan; and that God would watch over him so that he would return safely from his long journey (Genesis 28:13-15).

Jacob, “in great fear and distress,” apparently needed this reassurance as he prepared to meet his brother Esau for the first time since he had swindled him twenty years before. He named the place Peniel, or Face of God, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared” (Genesis 32:30). With the sun rising in the sky, Jacob continued his journey, now limping from his wounded hip, and rejoined his family and the entourage.