Life’s Accidents
How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? Psalm 62:3 ESV
A man – Ah, so we are confronted with the problem of evil. God is in charge, but men suffer horribly. God is sovereign but men still murder. God has control but the world is going to hell. Doesn’t it seem as if God is responsible for it all? If God created us knowing that all of this would come to pass, isn’t He culpable?
“Until where will you, Lord, shatter a man?” We might have expected the psalmist to use the Hebrew term adam (Mankind), but he doesn’t. Instead we find ish, a word usually translated “man” but actually not about what we in the Greek world think of as man. That complication we discussed some time ago. ish is about the relationships that constitute the social entity called “a man.” In other words, it is not a spatial/temporal instantiation. It is about the interactive, dynamic associations. I am a man because I am a husband, a father, a member of my tribe, a child of God, a participant in my community, etc. I am because I am tied to all these others.
With that in mind, perhaps David’s cry of dereliction makes more Hebrew sense. The “attack” and the “batter” is the destruction of relationships and that equals a loss of identity. What the world does to me takes away who I really am. Living deteriorates my connections to others unless I purposely act against this chaotic tendency. Left to itself, the world moves toward identification entropy. Loss of meaning in community means loss of existence. This is the lesson of “the least of these.” What happens to them, happens to me in Hebraic thought because their loss destroys the relationships I could have had that make me who I am. The bloods of Abel cry out from the ground because all of the potential connections that were to be manifested in his progeny are lost for all Mankind.
All of this makes perfect Hebrew sense. The only difficulty is the hu attached to the end of the verb hut (you attack). That little preposition shifts the subject from the obvious horror of the world to the lap of God. And that forces us to deal with the implication that God has something to do with all of this horror.
Here’s what we must face. We are the sum of all the relationships that affect us, past, present and future. We are in no way isolated from everyone else. We exist because of these connections. The world practices genocide against all relationships. It not only destroys the others that we need, it shoves us toward isolation and insulation, thereby destroying who we are. God rescues us from this nightmare by offering a relationship that is not subject to the world’s destructive efforts. But there are times when we simply do not see Him in all this mess. Those times call for vision beyond our horizons – and that’s where the poet must take us.
Topical Index: a man, ish, adam, Psalm 62:3, David Stein
Love and sin. These are the opposites. One is selfless action, the other selfish action. One builds relationships, the other destroys them. One is blessing and life, the other curse and death. The lord gave me a revelation on blood covenant that overwhelms me on a daily basis. Amazingly, no one had researched and written on this until Clay Trumbull did so. The rite of blood covenant goes all the way back to our beginning and it is universal. It is such a powerful concept that we still have many vestiges today that no one recognizes. It involves who you identify with; whose you are. It is an exchange of life and an alteration of your very nature. All that you have and all that you are, you give to the other party. I believe what happened at the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a covenant act. Nakedness, trees, and eating have covenant significance. The results have covenant significance. The choice was between to covenants. Was a pre-incarnate Christ “hanging” in the tree of life? Yes, I believe so. This would make the curse on creation and mankind not directly from God, but something we willingly took on from the serpent. We received his nature and curse, he got our blessing, our dominion over creation. In the idea of covenant, its not so much what you eat, it is who you are eating with. For what you really are consuming is each other. On that day so long ago, all of mankind was snakebit. In the covenant rite two parties walk through torn flesh and swear allegiance. In the broadest sense, we all pass through this existence; we “walk through this flesh” into covenant with one of two choices. It was the same choice in the garden, coming out of egypt, at the cross, and at the end of The Book where you will actually choose between two covenant marks. We willingly took the curse from the serpent. Here’s the really ingenious part. How to crush the head of the serpent? Christ covenants with us and takes on the sin nature and its resultant curse. He “becomes” sin. He identifies with the curse, actually wearing the thorns on his head. He becomes the serpent and goes to judgement and death. He is that bronze serpent on the pole and all who look upon him are healed of the snakebite. We all have the same choice as adam and eve. ” I set before you two choices, life and death, blessing and curse”. Same choice at the beginning, middle, and end. And that is the “amet”.
Oh, how I wish it were this simple. And the idea that we received the nature of the serpent runs contrary to everything about being in God’s image, even after the Tree.
I cannot buy the inherited “sinful nature” of Adam any longer. It just does not align with the reality of mankind.
The yetzer hara/tov explanation makes much more sense to me now.
Solomon said there was “nothing new under the sun.”
Before Christ, he was right.
So thanks, Brett, for your timeless thoughts. When we hear the Gospel
from each other, it’s like being in the throne room together.
And isn’t that what happened 2000 years ago when the temple veil
was torn in two from top to bottom?
Something new. Something new under the SON!
Direct access to the Father’s presence was returned to man.
“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood
He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained
eternal redemption.” Heb 9:12
Paul’s excitement about this revelation caused him to repeat himself:
1 Cor 3:16 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and
that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
1 Cor 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you
are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Nothing like good news!
Keil & Delitzsch has another interesting offering in this regard.
They refer to an Arabic turn of phrase equivalent to “he compromised me,” that is, “he has pulled my veil down.” The idea is that of “dishonoured me before the world by speaking evil concerning me.”
This conveys the notion of one insulting a person in front of others whether he is present or absent at the moment. With the use of a particular form could mean the equivalent of “to rush upon any one, viz., with a shout and raised fist in order to intimidate him.”
This would seem to fit with Skip’s thoughts in terms of breaking relationships or damaging them to the degree that it shatters foundations of our lives. Yet, as these destructive forces and energies constantly flail us, yet is there a sure, strong and stable relationship that we can always rest, relax and take refuge in and on, Elohim.
A year of so ago, I was so distraught in trying to cope and deal with my strong willed, rebellious, and warlike responses of my aging and deteriorating father, that I felt ready to give up to drastic measures. I was so emotionally, physically, and psychologically buffeted by this heinous relationship with taking care of my father that I could see no further than the next disastrous moment. I was at my end.
Or so I thought.
If I was Elohim, I would do the passionate thing, in my estimation. I would relief me of this angst. Somehow, in all the options, I would choose one and execute it post haste, thus, relieving me from this onslaught of pain and suffering in the “care” of my volatile father’s actions. But Elohim, in his wisdom did not. He simply let me suffer through it somehow knowing I would survive and be a better person afterwards. He knew I would be buffeted but not destroyed, shaken but not broken.
He allowed the insanity to rush me with intimidation only to show me that I could still be sure footed in Elohim’s strength and faithfulness to the relationship he has given to me.
Today, looking back, it is easier for me to watch life go by differently than before. I don’t ask for others or myself anymore to have the easy and relieved way out of difficulties. I pray more in line of them learning or me learning to see the intimidation of relationship destructive ways for what they really are and to simply put them in their proper place, as vanity, a breath, of no intrinsic value.
I may be bumped or face intimidation attempts, but I can stand firm and boldly on his strength and chesed.
No doubt.
“Those times call for vision beyond our horizons – and that’s where the poet must take us.”
Hmmm
I was 8 or 9 years old when my Mother took me and my brother Brian (4 or 5) to the Drive-In in Berdoo
To watch Moby Dick
Although I wasn’t sure why, I knew the movie had Biblical and theological implications of enormous significance
With lines like Captain Ahab’s: “Speak not to me of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”
And “Call me Ishmael”
Plot: The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain’s self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
To this day it is not clear to me if Moby Dick is intended to be a manifestation of God’s wrath
But it is clear that relatively innocent men die as a result of Ahab’s obsession with God
And it would have been a horrifying death to say the least
Moby Dick (1956)
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain’s self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
Director: John Huston
Writers: Herman Melville (novel), Ray Bradbury (screenplay)
Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn
Michael C,
We’ve all, no doubt, had some self-centered individual pull our veil down
in front of others to try to hurt, intimidate, or embarrass us. We’ve probably
even had some folks trying to pull the wool over our eyes in an attempt to
fool or misquide us, as well.
That’s what men do to each other.
I was referring to a different veil . . . the one in the Temple in Jerusalem
which was torn in two from top to bottom when Christ died on the cross.
That occurance opened a new door for self-centered men of all descriptions
to not only revolutionize their relationship with God but with their fellow men
as well.
This new door resulted in those who chose to walk through it to become
“in Christ”. Paul states in 2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things
have become new.”
How’s that impacted me? I’m now on the “dying daily” circuit, and I must
say, I feel a definite influence that’s changing and transforming my heart
and mind slowly but surely. Things are becoming newer all the time. As I
practice walking by faith and not by sight, there’s no question I feel
compelled to a “new” behavioral persuasion that’s definitely not the old me.
As I’ve shared on this site some time ago, I was in bondage to drugs and
alcohol for many, many years. Not a pleasant way to enjoy life. My “old”
man was trapped in that addiction. My “new” man has been completely
delivered since April 1, 2000. I won’t bore you with the many other
miraculous things that I’ve seen occur; suffice it to say the “new”
man works. It works real well!
Hi Rich,
I wasn’t necessarily speaking of a particular veil. It was just in the Keil & Delitzsch reference.
But I believe I understand what you are saying.
However, might that choice have begun in the Garden? Choosing life or death began way back then acting on the difference of the yetzer hara and tov, not after the cross. Choosing this day, life or death, has been a choice from the beginning of man’s daily schedule of activities.
Dying daily is everyone’s call to choosing the external guide of the eternal Torah as delineated from Sinai as opposed to the internal instinct, if you will, to express MY desires that immanent, by design, from within.
The control of that choice has been given us as free will, in the image of God, as distinct from the instinctual ways of animals who do what is designed in them and give glory to God thusly by simply following that drive naturally and without discernment. All a dog or cat has to do to give God glory is to do dog and cat things quite naturally. Contrarily, mankind has the choice of acting as animals or as walking, talking representations of the image of God by obeying Elohim’s instructions given externally from us to do in order to experience life itself.
One of the PhD students, Cheryl Durham (who write on the blog occasionally) is completing her dissertation of the use of “in Christ” in the work of Paul. I think you would find it quite illuminating. It’s cultural and technical meanings are often lost in Christian paradigms. I hope she will make it available after her defense.
I hope so too.
Thx.
Rich, I have a passion for hearing personal testimonies! I never tire of hearing the Gospel and the glorious work of it in the life of an individual.
Would you tell us how you met Him?
How you died to self and came alive to Him, and what that day or moment was like when He took the veil away.
I think of how Moses delivered the law –with his face veiled –to a people whose hearts were veiled, but when the most blessed Light comes to knock upon an individual heart, if the door is opened the blindness is removed, and each person’s story is a rare gem of priceless beauty that gives glory to none but the Lord God Almighty.
emanate, not immanent. Auto correct strikes yet again!
I have long thought of the meaning and implications of the phrase “in Christ.” I have somewhat adjusted my understanding from my previous decades of understanding it as a somewhat mystical position.
I see it within the boundaries of talmidim (disciple) references. “In” Yeshua haMessiach connotes walking in the way of the master or rabbi, following his steps, doing as he does. This is reflected in the mindset of making talmidim (disciples, faithful followers that mimic their teachers life in all manners and ways) since the time of Moses, Joshua, the Elders and the Prophets and those afterward in carrying and maintaining the truths and traditions from that great mountain experience at Sinai.
“In Messiah” must contain life evidence that my ways are his ways coming and going each day. Choosing life this day is, in fact, choosing performing and molding my actions such that they imitate, reflect, and mirror whoever my master is. If they look like me, then they reflect my desires. If they look like Messiahs, then my actions reflect his desires and character in any and every way.
I don’t really think ‘dying daily’ is a new concept in the Hebrew worldview, as they did it regularly by taming the yetzer hara and choosing the yetzer tov. They “died” to expressing their inner desires as they wanted and sought to express their desires as those that aligned with Elohim’s word.
This concept, in my estimation, has just been expressed with different words in the renewed testament. Choosing the yetzer tov over the yetzer hara as expressed in Torah obedience IS dying to self, yetzer hara. The ‘evil’ we can choose isn’t necessarily of destructive origin as it is a good drive and desire created in us by the Designer. It’s what makes us more than a robotic blob of animalistic nature doing simply what comes naturally. It is exposed as evil in the real world only as we express it contrary to his Torah. Our internal desires externally expressed willfully in compliance and ordered by Torah, his word, proves out as life in and through us. Obedience to Torah is dying to self as I understand it. Being ‘in Christ’ is Torah obedience. “If you love me (are IN me) obey my commandments (Torah).” Obeying isn’t observed in the mind, it is observed and visible in doing what he says, such that one’s faith can be SEEN.
To real Judaism, there is no distinction between faith and works as I can tell. They are both sides of the same coin. Either can’t exist without the other.
“Dying daily” and “in Christ”, quite simply, in my understanding at this point, is obedience to Torah. NOT to gain life which is given by him to us when we turn to him, but in order to live and experience the life that our Father wants for us, that which is full, of value, and eternally meaningful.
Just some thoughts and observations.
“in Christ”, quite simply, in my understanding at this point, is obedience to Torah.
Hi Michael C,
It seems to me that Jesus sometimes exaggerates to make his point
But his point is clear and simple
And I think his point in Mark 11:22 is “my power comes from faith in God”
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered
Sound thoughts and observations, Michael C.
Thanks, Ester.
So many loose and dangling ends have begun to come together beautifully thanks to people like Skip and all the others I’ve been delving in to over the past several years.
It just connects and is actually, rather simple and straight forward as things begin to mold together, huh?
Previously, I had felt like a simpleton who had all those extra weights and loads being hung on me by the misguided Pharisees. They were heavy and burdensome yet I did all I could to bear them, whether they made sense or not.
Now the load is a lot easier and the burden much lighter.
Keep showing up, please, Ester.
Hi Michael,
I have a long ways to go but I have found, like you, that there are quite a few things that are rather simple when looked at apart from all the extra burdens that “religion” hangs on one no matter the denomination.
Some of the so-called great theological debates leave me wondering if the debators even knew what they were talking about!
I grew up completely unaware of Torah. This has made it very challenging to put aside certain things. I love Y-H with my whole being and want to do that which pleases Him. I have so much garbage from worldly living and the contemporary “christian” movement did not help that much. Amazes me how much of it is really about having your cake and eating it too.
The load is a lot easier and the burden much lighter but I still am pretty simple. 🙂
Michael C, I do show up, 🙂 it is the time factor, it’s day and night. 🙂 When I am up and about, you guys would be asleep, mostly. Thank you for your encouragement. Love your posts too.
And the site here seems strange too, at times when I thought I was the first to comment, it goes way down the line. I go back to check on new comments on precious TW, then you will find my ‘late’ comments. 🙂
It is a joy to grow in truths learning to draw closer to YHWH, rather than to be stagnant, like the Dead Sea in Israel, but they were re-naming it Life Sea, or something as it’s full of rich minerals that folks with skin diseases, go to soak themselves to find healing.
Shalom!
Dorothy,
Nobody was more surpised than me!
I wasn’t a persurer of God as a young man. But I did always sense
and hope that He was possibly “knowable”.
When He finally revealed Himself to me at age 37, I was startled,
transcended and overwhelmed by a peace and presence I would
never have imagined possible.
My marriage was dying and “something” within me started pushing
and cajoling me to study every religion I could. One day two years later,
and untold numbers of books consumed, I was alone in my living room.
Out of no where a literal “voice” spoke to me. There was no doubt
whose voice it was. “Are you finished searching?” He asked.
“Yes”, I remember stammering.
“Good”, He said. “Here I am.”
Nothing’s been quite the same since!
JN 15:16 puts everything into perspective.
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you . . .”
Like I said, nobody was more surprised, or greatly humbled,
than me.
“The “attack” and the “batter” is the destruction of relationships and that equals a loss of identity. What the world does to me takes away who I really am. Living deteriorates my connections to others unless I purposely act against this chaotic tendency”
The effects of the above, come so often from the storms of life. It isolates us from who we really are, it robs us of our identity, reputation, that disconnects us to our family members, friends, and community. At times we question ourselves whenever we are battered, if we deserved it, or is there any value to be gained by it?
At times we are so baffled, perhaps we have been wronged? So what? Do I simply sit and moan?
Or do I trust YHWH Tzuri/my Rock, that He will justify.
I then live in that expectancy and wait for His deliverance. I hear His Voice saying to the storm, “Be STILL!”
YHWH is Avinu Malkeinu!
Skip,
When given the time, could you please expound on verse 12 of this same chapter. Seems to confound our present (American church culture) ideas of God’s mercy.
This has been an incredible journey through this Psalm.
Thank you!
Just hold on.. We are a long way from being done with this psalm.
God is not responsible for sin and death – that was Adam and Eve’s choice.