Plants and Rivers

    

     I am not a plant lady much to my chagrin.  I desire to be an avid horticulturist who has flowing green leaves twisting all over her house.  My good friend Tori is said enviable plant-lady.  Her home feels like an Eden oasis as soon as you walk through her doors.  Colorful pots overflow with every shade of green, lush foliage.  Her living, kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, and every window sill boast a beautifully curated set of thriving plants that fill her home with life and clean air. My few plastic pots randomly scattered throughout my home deliver semi-healthy greenery that become wilted frequently until I notice and frantically start the soak of their bone-dry dirt in my sink.  Only now I over-water and watch in dismay as all their leaves turn yellow and fall off.  **sigh**

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1Blessed is the man^a

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

2but his delight is in the law^b of the LORD,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

3He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

4The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

    As I was reading Psalm 1 this morning the image its author paints of a well nourished tree by the river reminded me of my sad attempts at indoor plant life.  And I can't help but wonder how many of us are like that with our spiritual life.  We only start to notice it once it's parched of all living water- dry and withering and then we frantically drown ourselves with an over-zealous attempt to revive our neglected walk only to see all of our leaves turn yellow and drop.  We get discouraged and we put away our bibles wondering what went wrong.  

    But what does the Psalmist say about this tree.  It is planted (a permanent placement) by the river.  The living waters are always there, nourishing and giving life.  It is a steady stream.  There are no extremes of drought and flood.  Just a constant trickling of refreshing water.  

    We see rivers in the perfection of Eden.  

      Gen 2:10  10A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

And we see them again in the New Heavens and Earth.  

        Revelation 22 1Then the angel^a showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life^b with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

  Amy Gannet states it beautifully-  "The person of faith is not just like a tree, but like a tree planted by streams of water. The life of the Ideal Israelite is like the nation of Israel who lived in the presence of God, with a stream running right through the center of town. Abundance was her inheritance and daily experience as she lived her life before her Savior.The Ideal Israelite is the person who is rooted like a tree - they are steadfast and secure. They are like the righteous, trusting man of Jeremiah’s prophecy who puts his trust in God alone. As a result, they are unmovable, unsinkable, unshakable."

    So dear friends, as we end this 2022 year and we look forward into the next let's pray and ask the Lord to empower us and encourage us to be trees planted by the life-giving river.  Let's look at our habits that draw us away from a consistent watering so that we may grow deep roots this next year so that we are steadfast and secure because of the God we serve.  

The Re-Creational Covenant

Photo Credit-https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/noah-flood

    Noah.  His story is familiar to even non-christian believers. The cutesy depictions of the 2x2 animal train, the gray-haired man hammering away on his boat, the brightly colored rainbow splashed across the final two page spread of children's bibles.  All easily recognizable by most of western society. And once these primary, basic images are stamped into our modern brains and then reiterated by Sunday school classes,VBS songs, and countless coloring pages, it's hard to realize there is so much more depth and incredible treasure hidden within this terribly tragic yet redemptive story.  Let's peel away some of those layers now.

    Let me preface by saying, there are way too many amazing points to cover all of them in this single post.  You could spend months fleshing out all of the nuance, typology, prophecy, etc. if you so desired.  My goal today is to hit some high points and hopefully inspire you to do more digging on your own and see how the Spirit will lead you into His truth.  But for now let's start with defining our terms.

    Covenant- (Hebrew bėrit) In its native context it was an agreement enacted between two or more parties in which one or more make promises under oath to perform or refrain from certain actions stipulated in advance.  The ideological foundations for the concept of covenant making in the ancient near east was an idea known as "fictive kinship."  Being a patriarchal society- this was a big deal.  The closer the blood relation the more responsibility you held.  If you needed someone to act like a family member, you would invite that individual, tribe or nation into a covenant which created this fictional kinship.  It was legally binding.  Two common treaties 1) Parity 2) suzerain/vassal (this is what we will focus on)

    Supremacy over the gods (and therefore the created order) was dependent on the defeat of the Sea.  This idea was deeply imbedded in the mind of the ancients.  Examples are woven throughout scripture.

    1) Creation

    2) The Flood

    3) The Plagues

    4) The parting of the Red Sea

    5)  Moses in the nile

    6) Sea of Galilee

    7) Revelation 

    Yahweh continues to rescue His people from the sea/waters throughout biblical history until His final act in Revelation when the "sea will be no more."  The evil and corruption of God's good world will meet its ultimate end there for good.  The Noah story is but a shadow of what is to come.  A physical representation of a spiritual truth.  God will cleanse His world of anything that stand against Him and His people.  He will always rescue His remnant- those who endure to the end and remain in relationship to their Creator.  

    Enough time had passed from the initial fall of man that evil had spread into the hearts of nearly every human on earth.  When Adam and Eve left the presence of God and the place of God, bloodshed starts almost immediately to fill the earth.  It doesn't take long for their first son to align with the Nahash.  By killing his brother, Cain's spiritual father has now become the enemy of God due to his flagrant rebellion. 

     Our next character we read about is Lamech, a man who sings songs of murder and builds a city bent on corruption.  Instead of God's people being fruitful and multiplying like God commanded, evil spreads and taints nearly every inch of God's creation and those meant to image Him.  And this deeply grieved our Creator.

   Gen 6:5- "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 favor in the eyes of the Lord."

    Every intent of every thought was evil.     

    We can compare this story to one told to us in Matthew 24:36-

        " 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. "

    Just as the world had corrupted itself so far that judgement was the only option, so will humanity reach that level of deprivation again.  

    The flood was a de-creation event.  It undoes everything set up in the account of creation.  The habitats are wiped out and those that filled them along with it.  The world is now in its original state, "formless and void."  The chaos that God had placed into order has now been unleashed.  This is complete destruction.  God has started again but within a fallen world.

    God reestablishes his relationship and trust that was broken in Eden through His covenant.  This is now with ALL creation and He seals it with a rainbow.

   Genesis 9:20 "Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse[a] the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man.

    “Whoever sheds the blood of man,  by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

7 And you,[a] be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

    God now has to legislate murder because even in their fallen state humanity is made in the image of God and this image cannot be violated without consequences.      

    "for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done." - God knows that even though evil is now a part of fallen creation He has a plan to redeem and save them.  He knows that humanity will fail in their covenant and He is already preparing for that.  He has already committed to His redemption plan within these covenantal terms.  He will not completely destroy His creation again.  He is going to continually step in and reveal Himself to His stubborn people.  He is going to take on humanity's deserved destruction in the form of sending His only Son to die on a cross.  He will take our place and love us through the mess we continually create.  

    

    

Search Me

"Search me Oh God and know my heart."

Photo Credit: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/prayerphoto-1457139621581-298d1801c832

   

 That is a common prayer.  But what does it really mean?!  Do we truly want the Lord of Hosts to dig deep, into those dark and hidden places and to know them?!  It's not just some quick, cute little prayer that we send up to heaven as we run out the door to get to the next important place.  It is a guttural cry to our father, begging Him to know us.  It's desperate and raw and vulnerable.  Or at least it should be.  It should take time because our hearts are full of dross.  Layers that need to be burned away in the refiners fire.

    David prayed it in the caves while he was on the run from Saul, a man who desired to kill him.  David knew that in order to have Lord's protection in battle he would have to be right with his Creator.  Anything that could potentially separate him from the Lord's protective covering of His presence had to be dealt with.  And so, David invited the Lord in.  He cried out with the desperation of his very lifeblood, "Search me, God!"  And the Lord did.  

    Jesus Himself says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..." (Revelation 3:20) Here, Christ makes Himself known by His desire to come in.  And He promises to enter wherever He is not denied admittance.  

    "Prayer is something deeper than words.  It is an attitude of our hearts, an attitude of our mind.  Prayer is present in the soul before it has been formulated in words.  And it abides in the soul long after the last words of prayer have been spoken." (Hallesby) 

    Our helplessness is our best prayer.  Like a mother with a newborn child- whose infant cries of distress are all that are needed for you to know what is required even though not one single word is formulated.  God is like that- tending to our constant heart-cries, knowing that only He can meet our needs.  El Shaddai.  We need to allow this helplessness to become a quiet, sustaining power in our prayer life.

    May this be a motivation and not a discouragement to seek the Lord in honest prayer.  What a gift that we can boldly enter His throne room in supplication and make our requests known!  Our covenantal relationship should drive us to dwell more and more with Him.  Our intimacy with the Creator of all created things should drive us to our knees as the Spirit refines our hearts, our minds, and ultimately our lives.

    

Edenic Covenant

Photo Credit: https://pixabay.com/images/search/eden/

     I’d like to begin by thinking about how people approach the whole of scripture.  Specifically the western Church and it’s relationship to the first 2/3rds- also what we know as the OT. 

        Perhaps it’s looked to as a kind of devotional grab bag- pick a verse that sounds good to start our day, say a little prayer and that’s about it.  

Maybe your background lends itself to view the Word as an imposed behavior manual.  A legalistic list of Dos and Don’ts. 

For a lot of people it’s more of a background noise to their life.  A kind of white noise that you sometimes notice but usually tune out unless something catastrophic happens. 

Other, seemingly more intellectual personalities might look to the Bible as literal, scientific proof that they use to support their views of the universe.  

Kind of all over the map- unfortunately, in all of my years of being a christian no one in the church or even the church itself has taught me to do otherwise.  The mentality that I have personally experienced is, “you study the Bible in your own unique way, or a you-do-you approach”. And while that isn’t all that bad in and of itself, it can be very confusing especially when seasoned believers leave new christians on their own and no one shows them how to even begin.  

Now we have churches full of very misguided, biblically illiterate congregations with a vague understanding of what the Bible might say and a world surrounding us shouting that our beliefs don’t make sense, they are incoherent or even hateful and unloving.

My heart is to challenge all of that.  I desire church literacy and devotion because the God that we serve is worth consideration and study.  To know Him is to love Him. His promises for all of His creation stem from a love that would take our breath away if we only knew.  And as we live out His redemption plan in this broken world we will be a light of understanding to a lost people.  A city on a hill.  

I’d like to look at the Bible with a more cohesive approach.  For the next little bit let’s take a bird’s eye view while narrowing in on some key points of focus that will be like mile markers as we travel through the scripture- sound good?  

We must always remember- 

The bible was written “for” is but it wasn’t written “to" us.  (Repeat)

Our relationship to the Word of God is so important b/c the Spirit uses it to speak into our lives.  Therefore, we need to have a consistent and healthy relationship to ALL of it. 

God has chosen to make himself and His will known in the languages, beliefs, practices, and values of particular cultures. He meets us where we are.  The good news of God  communicating within culture is that we human beings, who cannot stand outside of human culture, can understand what God is saying to us. So, it’s good news that God speaks within culture, in order that we might understand Him.  

The tricky part is that we can easily become confused by what God meant to say in a given culture that is not our own- like first century middle east.  We are quite far removed from that time and place and I think that when we read God’s Word we can sometimes forget that.  But the best news is that we have the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth and we have had brilliant, God-fearing men and women who have done a lot of the leg work for us- we just need to be willing to learn. 

2 Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

What better place to start than at the very beginning.  Genesis 1:1- “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  What does this sound like?  Kind of like the common phrase that we all would recognize, “Once upon a time…”. Or even, “In a galaxy far far away…” When anyone hears these words we all know what’s coming next.  It’s the start of a… story.  An epic narrative.

Okay, Let’s go to the end.  Now as an avid and voracious reader of all the stories this is the only time I would ever condone reading the end before the rest of a story.  

Revelation 21:5b- “for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever…”. What does this sound like?  “And they lived happily ever after.”  The end of the story.  

The biblical narrative is the greatest story of redemption and love ever told and each of the stages in the story brings humanity one step closer to full deliverance; each covenant serves to re-educate humanity as to who the God of Eden was and is.  

To understand Jesus, we need to understand the story that leads up to him.  Before we deep dive into the story, we need to define our terms to create a kind of first century framework so we have a foundation on which to build on.  Make sure we are all on the same page.  Sound good?  Okay, here is where I get to kind of nerd out for a minute on geeky bible terms.  But stick with me, it will all come full circle- I promise.

Our first term is- Redemption- “to redeem” (Hebrew gā’ al) it actually had nothing to do with theology, but with the laws and social customs of the ancient tribal society of first century middle east.  

Israel was a patriarchal tribal culture.  The patriarch was responsible for:

1. the economic well-being of his family 
2. he enforced law
3. and had a responsibility to care for his own who had become marginalized through poverty, death, or war.  

Our next term to lock away is-

Father’s house (hold) (Hebrew bêt’ āb)- this included the patriarch, his wife (s), unwed children, married sons with their wives and children (as many as 3 generations or about 30 people)  They shared their resources and their fate.  The patriarch once again:

1. bore legal and economic responsibility, 
2. decided who lived and died, 
3. who was sold into indentured servitude 
4. and who was retained into the family unit.  

There was a reason the first-born would receive a double portion and it was bc he would take up the mantle as the next patriarch and be responsible for the tribe and their survival.  

Deuteronomy 10:17-18 “…The God of gods, the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.  He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing…”. God is a bêt’āb for those who find themselves outside of His protection.  

John 14:1-3 “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places…I go to prepare a place for you… where I am, there you may also be.

Jesus is the first born of His Father’s household, and is going to prepare a place for us to dwell together.  This is an intimate and personal reference the people of those times would deeply connect with as it related to their culture.  

In Israel’s tribal society redemption was the act of a patriarch who put his own resources on the line to ransom a family member who had been driven to the margins of society by poverty (Ruth), who had been seized by an enemy whom he had no defense (Lot), or who found themselves enslaved by the consequences of a faithless life (Gomer/Israel).  

Redemption was the means by which a lost family member was restored to a place of security within their kinship circle.  This was all a patriarch’s responsibility.  

As we will see as we walk through the meta-narrative of the Bible, Yahweh is presenting himself throughout history as the patriarch of the clan who has announced His intent to redeem Him lost family members- us. Not only does He agree to pay whatever ransom is required, but He sends His most cherished member of His household to accomplish this intent- His first born Son.  And not only is the first born Son coming to seek and save the lost, but He is coming to share His inheritance with those who have squandered everything they have been given (prodigal son).  

Matthew 20:28 “His life as a ransom for many”

Col 1:13-15 “For He rescued us…we have redemption of sins.”

1 Peter 1:18-19 “ You were redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ.”

Sandra Richter states in her book, The Epic of Eden, 

God’s perfect plan: the people of God, in the place of God, dwelling in the presence of God.  Essentially, Eden.  This will be our first road marker.  

Creation: Days 1-3 God makes places and as a bonus he makes plant life.  On days 4-6 He fills those spaces with inhabitants and as a bonus he makes Adam which is the Hebrew word for all of humanity.  The duality of that humanity is male and female.  Adam and Eve.  

God or Elohim as He is known in the garden is the suzerain Lord, promising to His vassals, Adam and Eve, the land grant of paradise if they will remain loyal to their agreement.

We are divine reflectors, set in the garden to rule over creation as God’s ambassadors and imagers while dwelling in His presence.  Out of disorder and chaos God creates life and order and beauty.  He declares it “good” and “very good”. 

Genesis 2:15 “Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

Then God gives humans a choice in the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

16And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

So here, God also establishes that He is the provider and knower of that is “good.”  

The blessings are many, the stipulations are few- Don’t eat of the one tree.  This reveals the truth that, “God is God and we are not.” 

We are eventually introduced to another “character” that will be woven throughout the narrative up to the very end.  The Nachash. (Na-hash). This character is in rebellion to God.  He wants to undo everything God has put in place.  He is the author of disorder, chaos, and evil.  

Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

“You will be like God….” The serpent says.  Which is ironic b/c they were already made in God’s image.  But we humans decide to take autonomy and live apart from God. Man has chosen a world of our own making.  We now try to define what is “good” or “very good.” And In doing this relationships are the first thing broken.  They can’t even trust each other.  

Genesis 3:8 “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^d 10And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 Intimacy is lost from God as well.  Banishment from the garden, the curse of creation and separation from dwelling in God’s presence removes us from God’s perfect plan.  

The curses that follow the events in the garden bound the fate of humanity together with the seed of the Nachash.  The seed of the Nachash is therefore literal and spiritual.  

This is a familiar story to most of us probably.  If we grew up in Sunday school it was probably one of the first stories we read in our little baby bibles.  But what we miss in the familiarity of these opening scenes of the sweeping redemptive story is God’s plan that is already in place for the humans that have decided to reject Him as their Lord within the first two pages.  

Let’s fast forward to the new testament to paint a clearer picture of how God is already working…

John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.  In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  

1 John 1:1-2 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have gazed upon and touched with our own hands- this is the Word of life.  And this is the life that was revealed; we have seen it and testified to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.”

Life and blessing was Yahweh’s plan from the beginning.  He wants to save us so we could have eternal life with Him. 

1 John 3:11 “This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

From the moment that Yahweh created the heavens and the earth, He had a plan for His creation.  He wanted to save them bc He loves them.  The story of creation is a love story.  The end result is always at the initial thought.  Let me show you:

In Genesis 1:1 the verse reads in Hebrew as this:
בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃
Bereshit bara Elohim ‘et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz

Upon meditating on the hidden words within the first hebrew word recorded in Scriptures, “Bereshit”, (‘in the beginning’) many truths are discovered and we see God’s whole plan of Salvation is laid out in this one word.

The Word Bereshit (בראשׁית) in Hebrew letters is: Tav, Yud, Shin, Alef, Resh, Beit (Hebrew is read right to left.)

The very first letter beit – ב is a picture of a house in the Hebrew picture language. Notice how in the Torah the first letter is enlarged, showing the foundation of the world is focused on God’s house… and first two letters spell “bar” בר meaning “son” shows the focus is on the kingdom of the Son!
We know that Messiah Yeshua is the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world” – Rev. 13:8 and we see this in the other words that make up the first foundational word in the Bible as shown below:

בר Bar means “son” as seen in Strong’s H1247, H1248 (primarily in Aramaic, but also in Hebrew, see Mishlei 31:2 saying, “What, my son? and what, the son (bar) of my womb? and what, the son (bar) of my vows?”) This is the language of the time in which the “son” would be born and also means “grain” and “pure” and “possessor of” as “bar-samkha” means “possessor of authority”.
א Aleph, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet and represents Elohim as seen in Strong’s H430 starting with the aleph אֱלהִים.  The word Elohim is the plural of El (or possibly of Eloah) and is the first name for God given in the Torah.
שׁית Shayit has many meanings.  Shayit can mean “thorns” as seen in Strong’s H7898; meaning a wild growth of briers (as if put on the field): — “thorns” as used also in Isaiah 5:6.  Shayit is also used to mean “appointed” as the Son is “appointed” for this purpose (see Gen. 41:33).  As well as “to lay down” as used in Ruth 4:16 (And Naomi took the child, and laid ^H7896 it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it.)
ראשׁ Rosh means “head” as seen in Strong’s H7218 and used in Genesis 40:16
ברש Brosh בְּרוֹשׁ means “tree” or “timber” as seen in Strong’s H1265 and refrenced as big timber (either fir or cyress) as mentioned in 1Ki 5:10  (5:24 in the Jewish Tanakh) “So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress according to all his desire.”

So here in one word, we see multiple words saying,

“ The son of God, crowned with thorns upon His head, on a tree” …

Then…

שי Shay means a “gift” (offered as homage) as seen in Strong’s H7862 and used in Isaiah 18:7
ת The letter “Tav” represents covenant and originally looked like a small “t” or a cross
So here in sequence we see in the first word “bereshit” that,

“The son of God, crowned with thorns upon His head, on a tree, a gift of the covenant”…

This is a very apt description of the “lamb that was slain from the foundation of the word” indeed!

God longs to be gracious to his people and waits on high to have compassion, but they are not willing.  (Isa 30:18,15)

In a great act of mercy, God chooses redemption even though humanity deserved annihilation.  God spares the life of humanity by redirecting the fury of the curse towards another- His Son.  The Last Adam.  

True love requires freedom to chose otherwise and God desires genuine love relationships with His people.  We love because He first loved us.  All the way back in the beginning of creation He starts with blessing and covenantal love (hesed). When we deserved death and destruction, God chose instead to bind himself to us by entering into covenant with us.  God cannot lie or act contrary to any agreement He is a part of.  And now even “creation waits with eager longing…to be set free from its bondage to corruption.  The whole of creation and we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the complete redemption. (Romans 8:19-23) And like Richter says, “Redemption is a cosmic plan of cosmic proportions.”  

As we read on in the story we will see that In contrast Jesus chooses what Adam did not.  He resists temptation (Matt4:1-11) put before Him by the Enemy and takes the penalty of our broken covenant upon Himself.

For further reading: 

The Epic of Eden

The Bible Project

Unseen Realm

Theodicy of Love

Deconstruction, Suffering & Lament

Photo Credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/photos-images/construction.html

    People young and old are leaving the Christian church at historic rates.  Formally committed singers, teachers, authors, and even preachers are finding themselves discouraged with the Church, with their understanding of who God is and with their personal faith.  

    What are we missing in the Western Church that opens the doors for followers to walk out and never look back?  

    As I study the stories woven throughout the Bible and especially in the Old Testament I find I am drawn to the ones of suffering and pain.  Mostly because in my own life, particularly for the past six years, I have experienced deep suffering and pain that has caused me to cry out in desperation, "Why?"

    My journey of navigating this suffering in what feels like a contrast to a good God has caused me to dive deeper into biblical understanding because in my mind there has to be something there.  Even in my suffering I have refused to accept that God wasn't good because of the pain.  In my journey I have found that the Lord doesn't always give exact answers or specific reasonings for every pain but He does give His people something beautiful to wrestle with Him. Something to show us how to cling to Him in the storms of life.  Some way to vent in unbridled frustration even while upholding His place as Creator of the universe.  And that is the beautiful prayer language of lament.  

    Most western church-goers have probably never heard the term, lament.  Others may have a vague understanding or recognize it from the under-read book of Lamentations in the Old Testament.  But I believe that unless we as a Church relearn this prayer, we will continue to see our numbers dwindle.  We are coming to a time in our Western culture where genuine, non-compromising faith is no longer going to be trendy or popular and we will be met with extreme persecution and scorn.  

    Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we must learn now how to suffer well.  We must teach our young people to turn to God in the pain.  We must re-learn the language of lament laid out so clearly in the Word so that when the trials increase- which they will- we will be ready. Not just individually but corporately.  The consequence if we do not learn to wrestle with God in the pain of our lives will embitter our hearts and discourage our minds to silence.  Instead we have to press into the uncomfortable unknown knowing that it will produce and refine our characters and our spirits.  In the end we will grown and deepen our relationship with our Father instead of wandering far away in hopelessness.  This is covenant relationship.

    Dear friends, the enemy wants us silent in our suffering.  He wants us to distance ourselves from the only One who can save us and redeem that which we lose.  He wants us to stay mad at God in our anger, to turn others around us away from the truth and to be overwhelmed with no way to stay afloat. 

     But God says, come to me all who are weary.  He desires us to walk boldly into His throne room with our prayer, petitions and frustrations.  He wants us to wrestle with Him in Spirit and in Truth.  It is part of our worship.  It is a crucial element to our covenantal relationship with the faithful Creator.  He waits for us to cry out, knowing He's our only hope.  Our eternal promises wrapped in the Spirit's comforting as we navigate this broken world on our way to a renewed creation.  The very fiber of our being quakes with a knowing- this world is not how it should be.  And we lament that truth while praising the God who is making all things right again.  The tension between the already, but not yet grieving our hearts, yet delighting in a good God who is seeing all justice served through His unyielding love.  And until that hope is fully realized, we lament.  We stay engaged.  And we endure to the end.

Photo Credit: https://www.123rf.com/photo_75780408_jacob-wrestling-with-the-angel-of-god-graphic-collage-from-engraving-of-nazareene-school-published-i.html

A Tribal Culture pt1. Kinsman Redeemer

Photo credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/rugged-cross

"To understand Jesus, you need to understand the story that leads up to Him."

      First century Israel was a patriarchal tribal culture.  The patriarch was responsible for the economic well-being of his family, he enforced laws, and had a responsibility to care for his own who became marginalized through poverty, death and war.  

   Deuteronomy 10:17-18 " 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing."

    In Israel's tribal system, an individual would identify their place in society through the lens of their patriarch's household first, then their clan/lineage, then their tribe, and finally their nation.  

Let's define some words before we move forward:

Redemption- "To redeem" (Hebrew gā' al) had nothing to do with theology, but with the laws and social customs of the ancient tribal society.

Father's house (hold)- (Hebrew bêt' āb) this included the patriarch, his wife(s), unwed children, married sons with their wives and children (as many as 3 generations/30 people).  They shared their resources and their fate.  The patriarch bore legal and economic responsibility, decided who lived and died, who was sold into indentured servitude, and who was retained into the family unit.

Patrilineal- The term has to do with tracing ancestral descent (and therefore tribal affiliation and inheritance) through the male line.  When women are named, something unusual is here and we should ask why.  There was a reason the first-born would receive a double portion and it was because he would take up the mantle as the next patriarch and be responsible for the tribe and their survival.  The primary goal of the economy was ensuring the survival of the family unit. 

Patrilocal- The living space of the family unit which was built around the oldest living male.  This "compound" was where the nuclear families were housed in individual units which were clustered together within a larger walled enclosure and this living space was also known as the bêt'āb.  Living together as a tribe allowed for unity where they found capacity to prosper under harsh conditions, surrounded by pagan nations.

Photo credit: https://womeninthebible.net/bible-archaeology/ancient_houses/

John 14:1-3 "In My Father's house there are many dwelling places...I go to prepare a place for you... where I am, there you may be also."  

    Jesus is the firstborn of His Father's household, and is going back to heaven to prepare a place for us to dwell together.  (intimate/personal)

    So how do these insights into Israelite culture help us to understand the term redemption?

    The first story we will look at is the one of Ruth and Boaz.  This is probably one of my personal favorites because of how beautifully it points to Christ our Redeemer.  I suggest reading it here for complete context as will will only touch on certain ideas. 

 Let's dive in.

    Naomi loses all of the men in her life and therefore she has to go back to Bethlehem with the hope that a family member will take her in.

    Ruth 1:11-13 "But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? 12 Turn back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say I have hope, even if I should have a husband this night and should bear sons, 13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”" (emphasis mine)

    Naomi is talking about patrilinealism here and the Levirate law of Deuteronomy 25:5-10.  She has no way to provide for her daughters (in-law) and she no longer has any sons.  She needs a bêt āb.  

    Ruth 1:16-17 16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” (foreshadowing here, emphasis mine)

    Ruth announces her tribal solidarity to Naomi.  Ruth has chosen Naomi as her kin.  

    The women travel to Bethlehem and Ruth starts to glean the leftovers of the fields of Boaz.  

Ruth 2 "Now Naomi had a relative of her husband's, a worthy man of the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor.”

    Ruth finds great favor with Boaz and is given special privileges to glean, eat and be filled.  

    Ruth 2:20b  Naomi also said to her, “The man is a close relative of ours, one of our redeemers.”

    We all know what happens next- quite risqué- in the plot. 

    Ruth uses this moment late in the night to ask Boaz to "redeem" her.  Not only does Boaz generously agree to do all that she asks concerning her safety and reputation, he also sends her home with a wealth of grain for Naomi.  Boaz:

        * buys back the patrimony of her deceased husband (Leviticus 25)

        * Takes Ruth and Naomi into his household and fathers a child in the Mahlon name, thereby

        * giving Elimelech an heir to whom the family inheritance will pass (Deut.  25)

Ruth 4:1-6 Now Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there. And behold, the redeemer, of whom Boaz had spoken, came by. So Boaz said, “Turn aside, friend; sit down here.” And he turned aside and sat down. 2 And he took ten men of the elders of the city and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down.3 Then he said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from the country of Moab, is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 So I thought I would tell you of it and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if you[a] will not, tell me, that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” And he said, “I will redeem it.” 5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth[b] the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.” 6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

    This section of the story reveals that a closer relative wouldn't do this for the women "because I would jeopardize my own inheritance."  This exchange makes it obvious that what Boaz was asked to do was costly.  His generous actions put his own resources on the line.  But in his integrity Boaz chose to embrace the responsibility of a patriarch and become Ruth's kinsman redeemer (gō' ēl).

    In summation, we learn that the tribal law of redemption had to do with the patriarch rescuing a family member who, due to crippling life circumstances, had been lost to the kinship circle to protect their legal rights.  The law demanded that the patriarch protect the individual's legal rights and resolve their debts.  The reconciliation of family ties costs the redeemer.  And it is the oldest, closest male relative to whom one looks for help and hope.  

(Some other examples we can read about in the Old Testament:  Lot and Abraham, Gomer and Hosea)

    Yahweh is presenting Himself through history as the patriarch of the clan who has announced His intent to redeem his lost family.  Not only has He agreed to pay whatever ransom is required, but He has sent the most cherished member of His household to accomplish this intent- His firstborn Son.  And not only is the Son coming to seek and save the lost, but He is coming to share His inheritance with those who have, like the prodigal son, squandered everything we have been given.

Colossians 1:13-15  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1 Peter 1:18-19  knowing that you were ransomed...with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

**For Continued detailed reading : Epic of Eden