Genesis 32:24 KJV
24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
We all wrestle with what life/God is trying to teach us until ir “dawns on us” what perhaps we should have seen all along. This will be a sharing that is both very personal and very generalizable. First, I will repeat something I said far in the early parts of the website, I am not out to teach any sort of doctrine. I don’t want anyone to think I am attempting to get you to believe as I do. In the last entry you got some of how I look at things. So, it’s not personal in terms of saying you must believe this or that because that is how I believe. No, it’s more personal in revealing some of the struggles I have had in my walk of faith, my “wrestling” with what life/God is trying to teach me. And maybe some of my struggle will help you.
The second part is that it really is not at all about me. It is about, as indicated from the beginning, helping to give you tools to better understand Scripture, because Scripture will speak to you, individually. All the way back in Post 02 there is a three-minute YouTube video by Francis Chan about the purpose in studying Scripture, to get from it what it is trying to teach you in your life. It is not about digging to prove you are right about something. As he says, you can “proof-text” anything if you dig enough. Do we use Scripture to discern the Speck in the eye of our neighbor or to finally begin to see the Log in our own eye that impedes our vision? I wish I had neatly stored all the Logs I’ve removed from my own eye. I’d have a nice little cabin built by now.
In Blog 3, A Transition, I apologized that I had really spent much of my dissertation “proof texting” my “assumptive reasoning,” based on earlier teaching, about Elijah. I apologize to you, the reader, that I have processed some of my own wrestling/personal faith struggles in a more public forum. It’s a “thinking out loud” sort of process, perhaps. Within the past few months, I’ve come to realize some huge themes in Scripture which were simply blocked from my vision by my own assumptions. Many of you are probably far ahead of me on this. As I’ve said, I am a slow learner.
Somewhere in the past few months, I shared with friends, but apparently it did not make it here on the website (at least, I am unable to find it), the common theme in Scripture of rain (or the flowing of liquids, especially water, but any “flowing,” as symbolism for teaching, how God impacts our lives, that we might understand). I shared a list of verses similar to this, if not this same one:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-rain/%3famp
Deuteronomy 32:2 ESV
2 May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
Again, please understand, I am not trying to get you to believe in any certain way, and definitely not to get you to believe in “my way.” What I am trying to do is open your eyes to the way that Scripture is written from the Hebraic perspective, so you can then read what Scripture says into the everyday workings of your life. Scripture is not all about some strict rules that we must follow. It is about a loving and compassionate Father teaching his children that if they live in certain ways, their lives, and the lives of their loved-ones will be better and more fulfilling. The people we meet in the Hebrew Scriptures were misfits and failures, just like you and I are. The ones who fare well are the ones who humble themselves enough to listen to God’s messengers, those everyday events and/or people that are witnesses to them to consider a change in direction. The ones who do not listen do not fare as well. If we slow down enough, and/or are faced with a big enough crisis, we stop and wrestle with God (and/or ourselves) as did Jacob at the river Jabbok (which is a modified form of Jacob’s name). The Jacob story is very long, and you should make yourself very familiar with it, but cannot easily be summarized here. Notice in Jacob’s story, the place where he encounters in a dream what we have come to know as “Jacob’s Ladder.”
Genesis 28:12
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
The word for angel is the same word as the word for messenger, מלאך. In the Hebraic mind, they ascend and descend, by way of this ladder, connecting Heaven and earth. Note the meaning of the root, to serve; work which completes a goal. This work, emanates from an object or person, to help lead us in a Godly way.
I will give you four other, shorter examples than Jacob, that get across the message, which is teaching for our lives, that (as the sign said in the last Blog entry, 24. God-Incidences) we “Learn from the Mistakes of Others•••” And we can speak a little about our lives and those “God-incidences.” Then next time, perhaps we will be able to tie that to the imagery of the flowing of liquids, especially water.
First, I will refer you to Naaman (see LogAndSpeck Posts 10. Keywords, 32. Other Eliyahu Scriptures, and 35. Chiasm in Elijah/Eliyahu). Naaman is a great, and haughty, commander of the Syrian army who has leprosy (in Hebrew Scripture, an indication of haughtiness). You can read about him in 2 Kings chapter 5, and my discussion about him. The discussion about Naaman and intermediaries is in Post 35. After Naaman listens to those “below him,” he is healed. (Three other pieces of this example to notice, all of this story being important in speaking about one of Scripture’s favorite topics, humility. First is that the healing is by way of water. Second is that it is in the River Jordan. Jordan is derived from the root (p.110) ירד, which means “to descend.” All the stories about the Jordan are episodes that require those encountering it to “descend,” to humble themselves (by the way, it does descend to the lowest place on earth, not counting oceans). Finally, notice that Elisha wants no reward (v.16), being one of the humble messengers in this passage, but Gehazi is greedy (haughty), and as a result receives the leprosy that was upon Naaman.
We think of King David as the man after God’s own heart (Ac13:22; Ps89:20; 1S13:14), but he had many serious faults. We recently discussed the incident with David and Uriah and his wife Bathsheba, where David committed mortal sins, but quickly repented when confronted by Nathan. Though clearly not getting off without repercussions, David continued to receive God’s blessings and a long-term covenant, that there would continue to be someone of his lineage upon the throne. Rapid repentance, a changing of direction, is a mark of the humble spirit so desired by God.
Another good example from David’s life to discuss is his need of “anger management,” in the incident of Nabal and Abigail in 1S chapter 25. It was when Abigail, in a humble way, came to David, that he is prevented from widespread slaughter of the innocent. It is an incident partially covered in Post 10. Keywords and Post 14. Synthetic Grasp of Life. David is prevented from “bloodguilt” by receiving a message brought in humility. We can pause for a moment to say this is likely one of the referent passages to which Yeshua/Jesus refers in the Sermon on the Mount when he speaks of addressing the intents in our hearts, not simply our actions (Mt5:21-48).
There are many other examples we could discuss, but I’m going to speak just a bit more about Elijah, as that fourth example, since I have begun to understand better the teaching of his life. First, we read about Elijah’s life primarily in 1K17-21 and in 2K1-3 and 9-10. There is no question that he was a very powerful man of God, a prophet, who proclaims that he is very zealous for God (1K19:10 & 14). Indeed, his power and his zealousness lead him to proclaim (thinking he is doing it on God’s behalf) a drought in the land because the people are not following God’s commands. He does this, not at God’s instruction to do so, but because of his zealousness, his personal interpretation of the punishment that is spelled out in Scripture (see Dt11:16-17), to be just recompense for their behavior. But he forgets that, though God gives instruction as to what leads to a good life, God is also compassionate, especially for those that are most afflicted.
There are “messengers” in Elijah’s life; first the ravens that come to feed him, to show him God’s compassion. And the other big messenger is the widow of Zarephath (to whom Jesus/Yeshua refers in Luke 4)
Zarephath is a “conjoined word,” like many names in Scripture. Perhaps looking at the makeup of this conjoined word with help with understanding. There would be two, two-letter words, each having a family of three-letter roots to consider, in meaning: צר + פת –
• צַר-adversary, afflicted(-tion), anguish, close, distress, enemy, flint, foe, narrow, small, sorrow, strait, tribulation, trouble.
GV p.222 צרר compress [combine]; p.222 צרה squeeze; p.215 צור compress [press from all sides]; p.108 יצר [compress] form; p.160 נצר protect [preserve; save]
DV צהר – p.222 צרר compress [combine]; p.222 צרה squeeze; p.215 צור compress [press from all sides] > p.213 צהר illuminate; create a circle of light
CM צרר apply/withhold pressure (E34); צרה project outward (E30); צור unify/separate (E14); יצר expand/limit (C22); נצר preserve/separate (D85); צהר limit/complete (E10)
+
• פַּת-meat, morsel, piece.
GV p.210 פתת break [into pieces]; p.209 פתה open [be receptive to new ideas]; p.209 surprise [be unprepared]; p.199 פות swivel [hinge]; p.107 יפת wonder [be open and receptive]; p.160 נפת flow [honey-like]
CM פתת isolate components (B6); פתה and פתא react to externals (B5); (פות none listed); יפת be open and receptive (C17); נפת move/separate (D64)
Elijah was to see first-hand the effects of his self-imposed “Godly wrath” on this widow and this orphan. They were messengers to him. The events that took place during the drought/famine brought messages to Elijah. Jezebel is also a messenger, a fearsome one. And his fear of the oath that Jezebel made against him, like the oath that Esau had made against Jacob, had brought him to a point of his own “wrestling with God,” wrestling with his own understanding of just who this God is. On the mountain, by way of demonstration, the Lord יהוה shows Elijah his true nature. Yes, he is powerful, and can bring wind, earthquakes, and fire:
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before יהוה. And, behold, יהוה passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before יהוה; but יהוה was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; butיהוה was not in the earthquake: 12 And after the earthquake a fire; but יהוה was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
After this, he was told to begin wrapping up his ministry••• time to “hang up the spurs.” Elijah is not representing well to the world God’s nature.
Earthquakes, wind, and fire are not the nature of יהוה. His nature is of a still, small voice. He speaks to us through small events and people in our lives. They are the messengers. And we, we need to be focusing on what those still, small voices are saying.
One of my daughters asked me recently how to be able to discern between the “messengers” out there, the true witnesses of God, and the “false witnesses,” that Scripture and I have referred to before.
My answer is that it is only in getting to know God through his Word, his teaching, the Living Bible, that we will ever be able to recognize God’s true messengers. Developing a relationship with God, by spending time, is our clarity, our discernment, our faith. I have had many struggles, many repeated errors and failures in my life. I guess I wasn’t good with that old adage “Once burned, twice shy.” I have repeated mistakes many times over. Probably related to haughtiness. I am so very thankful that our God is gentle and compassionate or I would have been consumed by earthquake, wind, or fire long ago.
May you be as blessed as am I.
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