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Out of the Garden

Monday, June 04th, 2012 | Author:

“The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners; . . .”   Isaiah 61:1 (and Luke 4:18 with modifications)  NASB

Sent – The first Adam was sent out.  So was the second Adam.  In fact, Yeshua’s citation of Isaiah 61:1, even in its altered form in Luke, uses the same Hebrew verb, shalah, found in Genesis 3:23.  Do you suppose that is a linguistic accident?  Do you think that sending Adam from the Garden is in any way connected to sending the Deliverer into the world?  Can the motif of Adam’s expulsion help us understand the kenosis[1] of the Christ?

Why is Adam sent from the Garden?  The text tells us that he is expelled because of the possibility of eating of the Tree of Life and living le-olam (usually translated “forever”). What this means and why it is a threat is not explained.  olam is itself a mysterious word.  While it usually means some sort of indefinite continuance (but not necessarily some kind of existence “outside” of time), there are many occasions where the word refers to the past, not the future.  This is further complicated by the fact that olam is never used by itself (independently).  It is always used in connection with some preposition (as it is here with the preposition le) or as an adverb or a modifier of a noun.  This is how the word is connected to later Jewish expressions like olam habba’ (the world to come).  Why was Adam’s eating a threat?  Actually, we don’t know.  Adam lives a very long time even without eating, but how he might have been a threat by eating is simply not clear.  All we know is that he was sent out.  God determined that sending him out was the way to fulfill God’s planned redemption.  And that is the precursor to sending out someone else.  The goal is the same – the redemption of the world.  But the sending is different.  In the case of the second Adam, God does not expel.  The second Adam volunteers to go.

Nevertheless, He is still sent.

This suggests that being sent is not entirely punishment.  There is divine purpose in being sent, even for the first Adam.  What must be accomplished cannot be accomplished if the first Adam remains in the Garden.  What must be transformed is the motivation for being sent, not the sending itself.  Until the second Adam relinquishes His right to remain in the Garden, salvation cannot come to the earth.  But when He empties Himself of that right, He goes out just as the first Adam went out – empty-handed.  He is sent out just as the first Adam was sent out – with the directive to take dominion, to rule, to be fruitful, to restore God’s creation to its proper order.  The first Adam will now be required to fulfill this directive with the sweat of his brow in a world of ‘atsav (sorrow), but he is still required to serve (‘avad) the earth.  The second Adam will face exactly the same circumstances.  He too will find sorrow.  He too will serve the earth.  He too will be tasked with bringing God’s order to a world in chaos.  The consequences of the choice of the first Adam will be foisted upon the second Adam.  But the second Adam will accept this role voluntarily.  He willingly leaves the Garden.

It seems to me that most of us are doing everything we can to get back into the Garden.  It seems to me that we are still fighting God’s plan of shalah.  We have not yet determined to volunteer to leave.  So we resist the direction of the second Adam.  We think it isn’t fair that we must suffer and toil and strain to bring about the purposes of God.  We are still standing with the first Adam, head down in mourning as we are told to go out, rather than striding into the chaos with the second Adam, looking toward the glory of bringing God’s will to earth as it is in heaven.

Topical Index:  send out, shalah, second Adam, kenosis, Isaiah 61:1, Philippians 2:7

 

[1] The Greek word kenosis is found in Philippians 2:6-8 (“emptied”) and is the theological expression of Yeshua’s voluntary renunciation of His divinity in the incarnation.

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What Word Would You Choose?

Sunday, June 03rd, 2012 | Author:

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.  Genesis 3:23  NIV

Banished – Most of us develop our theology from visual imagery like this.  We think of the Garden as an idyllic place and the expulsion from the Garden as something utterly tragic.  Notice in this painting, outside the Garden is a world of destruction as if bombs had fallen on the earth.  But there is no biblical justification for such imagery.  Where do you suppose all of this comes from?

We imagine the emotional trauma and mourning that accompanied this event in scenes like this.

But when the Hebrew is translated with words like “banished,” we miss much of the underlying implications that could paint a different picture.  The Hebrew verb here is shalah.  Notice the range of its derivatives:  weapon (shelah), sending away (shilluhim), shoot or branch (sheluha), undertaking (mishlah), pasture land (mishlah), outstretching (mishloah) and discharge or deputation (mishlahat).  In fact, in addition to the action of expulsion, this verb also means “to send on an official mission,” “to send a Savior,” “to let loose, set free,” and “to spread or stretch out.”  The idea of “banishing” is derived from the context, especially the next verse that uses the verb garash (to drive out or away).

There is no doubt that something tragic is happening in this event.  But the entire situation is very, very strange.  What are we to make of the preceding verse that suggests the man and the woman might eat of the Tree of Life and live eternally?  What in the world can that mean?  And what if the overtones of shalah suggest that God sends the couple from the Garden in order to also accomplish the prime directive – to take dominion over the earth?  Did we imagine that Adam and Havvah were intended to stay in the Garden forever?  How would that work if they are to be fruitful and multiply and rule?  And doesn’t God clothe them as priest and priestess (v. 21)?  What does this imply for their roles after the Fall?

Finally, let’s add one more complication.  Did you notice that the paintings (and our usual assumption) portray both Adam and Havvah being expelled?  But the text doesn’t actually say this.  Read it again.  It says that God sent out the man!  The entire scene from verse 22 to 24 involves God and Adam (the man).  There is not a single mention of the woman.  Do you find that odd?  Did you recognize that anomaly before?  How would your theology change if Adam is the only one sent out?

What word would you choose to translate all of these nuances present in this text?

Topical Index:  banished, send out, shalah, Garden, Genesis 3:23

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Giving Up, Getting Back

Sunday, December 04th, 2011 | Author:

Cast your bread on the surface of the waters, for you will find it after many days.  Ecclesiastes 11:1 NASB

Cast -  When was the last time you threw away something important?  Hopefully, you can’t think of such a foolish act.  No one throws away what is valuable.  If that’s the case, then why does Qohelet seem to advocate such stupidity?  The answer is found in an examination of the Hebrew verb shalah which the NASB translates “cast.”  Its primary meaning is “to send forth, to send away.”  While it could be translated “cast,” doing so makes the action seem as if it is simply throwing something away rather than deliberately sending it forth.

Now that we realize Qohelet is advocating a deliberate and purposeful act, we can understand that idiom “send forth your bread.”  Qohelet is exhorting us to perform charitable acts without expectation of return.  There are many parallels to his appeal in other ancient Near-Eastern literature.  For example, the Egyptian instruction of Ancksheshonq reads, “Sow a good deed and throw it in the water; when it dries up you will find it.”  The idea behind this idiom is the paradoxical nature of blessing someone else.  Performing an act of charity means that I do not expect to be compensated.  I give because it is the right thing to do, not because I think I will be rewarded for my giving.  But Qohelet and Ancksheshonq observe that when I give without expectation I can expect to be blessed later in some unexpected way.  Rabbi Ben Sira says, “Lose your money for the sake of a brother or friend, and don’t let it rust under a stone.”  Acts of righteousness find ways of coming back to you.  We have a popular colloquialism that captures this idea:  “what goes around comes around.”

In the Hebrew idiom, “bread” means the sustaining elements of life.  This is not charity from abundance.  If I give from my resources in ways that have no real impact on my lifestyle, I have not experienced an act of charity.  I have done something good, no doubt, but biblical charity is exemplified in the widow’s two copper coins.  To send forth my bread is to give when it hurts (just a bit).  That act of kindness results in a return even when we didn’t give in order to get.  That act of kindness exemplifies the charity God demonstrated in sending forth His Son.  It hurt, but it had untold blessings.

Qohelet’s one sentence proverb also reminds us that the prosperity gospel view of giving is a sham.  If I give in order to get, I have done nothing worthy of blessing.  All I have done is make an investment.  I would be better off to put that kind of giving in the bank and hope for reward.  Blessing comes from sacrifice.  It was true for our Savior.  It is no less true for us.

Topical Index:  cast, shalah, send forth, bread, blessing, charity, Ecclesiastes 11:1

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The Cut

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 | Author:

THANK YOU ALL.  The Israel DVD sets are sold out.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Genesis 22:10

Stretched Out – Structure, structure, structure.  The Hebrew verse begins with the verb.  Of course it does.  The verb is the reality of the story.  This verb is shalah.  Like other Hebrew verbs, it is a verb of motion.  “To send forth, to let go, to put, to put forth, to reach out;” we might consider the way these actions are related.  They are actions of separating.  I send someone away.  I let go of something.  I put something somewhere.  I thrust something away from me.  And, on the continuum, I reach for something already separated from me.  When Abraham stretches forth his hand, he separates himself from his son.  This is the real story.  The rest is commentary.

But the commentary is very important, for buried in the commentary is the knife – the ma’akelet – that cuts away what cannot stand between Abraham and God.  This is the instrument of sacrifice.  Not an ordinary blade, it is used to slaughter what must be offered to God.  The ma’akelet is a physical manifestation of the action shalah. How could it be otherwise?  The homophone of shalah is shelah the word for “weapon.”  What separates is a weapon.  It cuts the ties that bind.

Everything about this verse focuses on the action, not the people or the things.  Of course, we read it from a different worldview.  In our worldview, the things are most important.  So we think that what matters here is Abraham, Isaac, the altar and the sacrifice.  We do not see that this verse is about cutting bonds.  The test that God presents to Abraham isn’t about a sacrifice at all.  It is about cutting the bonds to those things that would tie Abraham to another destiny.  God gives Abraham a choice.  It is the same choice that we face, especially those of us who are saturated with Greek thinking.  God’s choice is this:  bind yourself to the things of your life – to your child – or cut those bonds and serve Me, the God who acts.  Trust that your destiny is found in My actions, not in your attachments.

Abraham stretched forth his hand.  That very act exhibited his trust in God.  The verb is purposeful for in it is the weapon of separation.  God stretches forth His hand in our lives.  When He does, He cuts with a weapon of separation.  He may use your failure, your loss, your distress, your despair, your anger, your envy, your fear or your anxiety.  He will use whatever is required to cut you free from the bondage to things.  He is the Hebrew God and the Hebrew God is the God of mighty deeds, gracious acts and merciful intervention.  He is revealed in His acts.  We are called to attach ourselves to those same actions – and send away what binds us to anything but him.

Stretch forth your hand.  What does it hold?  Does it hold the ma’akelet of separation?

Topical Index:  stretch forth, shalah, knife, ma’akelet, separation, Genesis 22:10

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