Identity Theft (5)

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky . . .”  Genesis 1:26 NASB

Likeness – If tselem provides the vital connection between God’s actions and our existence as humans, then why add the second word demuth (likeness)?  What additional images are provided by this second word?

Let’s begin with the pictograph.  Demuth is the letter Daleth-Mem-(Vav)-Taw.  The Vav in this word acts as a vowel rather than a consonant.  That’s why I placed it in parentheses.  The three building blocks of the picture are Daleth (door, pathway, enter), Mem (chaos, massive) and Taw (seal, sign, covenant).  If the Vav is to act as part of the picture, it carries the imagery of a nail (to add, to secure, to conjoin).  What picture can we paint with these elements?  We can suggest the combination of a seal or covenant concerning a pathway through chaos.  Perhaps the “likeness” of God is about His trustworthiness, His promise, His reliability in spite of the apparent disorder in the cosmos.  Perhaps to be in God’s likeness is to exhibit trustworthiness and steadfastness in the midst of turmoil.

If we look at the linguistic umbrella of demuth, we find that it is often used to draw a comparison between two dissimilar things.  For example, demuth relates wickedness to snake venom (Psalm 58:4) and the similarity between angels and humans (Daniel 10:16).  The most frequent use of demuth is in Ezekiel where it is used to compare what is seen in heaven with what is seen on earth.  In other words, demuth acts as a linguistic bridge.  It offers me a way to move from one picture to another by pointing out similar elements.

Applying both the pictographic and linguistic insights to the Genesis passage helps us see that “Our likeness” is a statement about the bridge between God and Man.  That bridge is found in the covenant that exists as soon as God forms Man.  In other words, when God determined to form His representative on earth and to empower this representative with His authority to bring order to creation, God formed a covenant bridge between heaven and earth.  Man is that bridge.  Man participates in both the heavenly directive and the earthy engagement.  To be in God’s likeness is to stand over the gap between heaven and earth, to provide a pathway so that what is true in heaven becomes true on earth.  To be in God’s likeness is to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” and then go about making it happen. (As I have said numerous times, everything you need to know happens in the first three chapters of Genesis.  All the rest is commentary.)

We should notice that tselem (image) and demuth (likeness) do not address the same issue.  God’s image is about the actions of authority, actions that purposefully overcome chaos.  God’s likeness is about the bridge between heaven and earth, the pathway that guides what actions must be taken in order to bring heaven to earth.  To be human is to be both God’s authority in action and God’s bridge between heaven and earth.  That is why the prime directive immediately follows this definition of human being.  Only human beings can fulfill this dual purpose.  And only those who fulfill this dual purpose are human.

Topical Index:  likeness, demuth, bridge, pathway, covenant, Genesis 1:26, human