The Unnamed
Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” Genesis 41:51 NASB
Forget– Do you appreciate how self-contradictory Joseph’s action is? Joseph wants to forget all the troubles of his past, particularly those troubles with his family (including his father) that led to his slavery in Egypt. So what does he do? He gives his first son a name that means, “God has made me forget.” It is a Hebrew name even though Joseph is in Egypt and married to an Egyptian. The name is derived from a Hebrew word (nāšâ) meaning “cause to forget.” It is perhaps important that the verb is also used for “forgive, i.e., to carry away sin”. But here’s the contradiction. Every time Joseph sees this son or calls his name, he will remember what the name means and recall all the troubles that he wants to forget. It’s like telling you not to think of a pink elephant, and, of course, as soon as I tell you not to, you do. Joseph creates a name that actually does exactly the opposite of his stated intention. Perhaps he doesn’t really want to forget. He just wishes he could.
That would be like most of us. We have things in our past that we would rather forget, but they are associated with our names, and every time the name is used, we are prodded to remember what we want to forget. This inevitable consequence of bearing a name forces us to confront certain foundational questions:
“When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore?
If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?
Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?
Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?
If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?”[1]
Oswald Chambers once remarked, “Unless we look the darkest, blackest fact in the face without damaging God’s character, we do not yet know Him.”[2] I don’t think he meant those horrible facts of world history. I think Chambers is much more concerned with the darkest, blackest facts of our personal history, those times when we were thrown into the pit, abused, traumatized, or when we did all this to someone else, on purpose. I think he has in mind all the “family history” we want to forget, to obliterate with a new name. But it doesn’t work, does it? The name is just a reminder of the road we have traveled. The questions remain. And we must face them head on before they can be unnamed.
Topical Index: Manasseh, nāšâ, forget, name, Genesis 41:51
[1]Frederick Buechner, Listening to Your Life(HarperOne, 1992), p. 56.
The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) aka The End of the Community Comment Platform (TEOTCCP) did NOT occur on September 1, 2019 as previously announced. Hallelujah. I’m born again or is it just a reprieve?
You might be the last to make a comment. IT will be shut off today.
Michael, perhaps because you had faced that problem head on and committed to doing something about it (and hey, you even NAMED IT?), well………
I think what we fear we do not face and what we face we do not fear. Which is the chicken and which is the egg? Perhaps its a little like the nephesh: it just comes all bundled up together in packages: you never find one part without the other(s).
Names give us power over what we name. I think naming what we fear is the start of taking back our power from that fear. Likewise, the first step in taking the responsibility that got dropped is to acknowledge what got dropped: fractured: abandoned. Death is the essence of the abyss: the fracture that occurs between life and the other life it is totally dependent upon. To face the abyss is the first step to mending it: to face death dead-on is the first step in conquering it. Death (fracture from all around us) is our biggest fear (sorry, spiders) because it spells the annihilation of our identity – our essential self – which, of course, is supplied by our relationship with all around us. We are dead when our supply lines get cut. All that we fear is found in those cuts.
Joseph named his wound when he named his firstborn. He was ALREADY ‘forgotten’ (out of sight, out of mind): to his family, he was already a dead man. So, he started another family and, of all things, he named that start his wound (“Forgotten”). I think it was the first step back across the abyss of no family. He was not alone any more.
I find this thread so pertinent (personally), because I was trying to explain The Observer Effect to my granddaughter last night. And now, this happens. Interesting, for sure.
I was also surprised to see the comment link. It is a bit like that last wave through the car window as you drive away after having said your official goodbyes. Au revoir Skip!
The scripture came to mind which tells me, and me and looks in the mirror and quickly forgets what he sees God is not like that. God wants us to remember him and his word for they endure forever. His word is alive in a bites forever and that lives in US can we. Do anything but move forward into the life that God wants. When the format changes we will be ready. Patiently waiting. B. B. Remember to be praying for Israel please
Again, thank you for the time that the comments link has been open to us Skip.
See you in Italy.
The first question about the face in the mirror seems somewhat revealing. It certainly was revealing to me. You didn’t say “what do you like/dislike or what do you absolutely love/deplore; you said like/deplore. I feel it. Like vs deplore. Hmmmm…. Very different levels of measurement.