A man wrestles with the Creator, and the man prevails...
Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them.”
There is irony in mankind requiring a “heart of flesh” from a spiritual God. And it speaks to the masks that are in Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters and
Thomas Merton’s “false selves”.
We hide our true self behind a “heart of stone”; a heart that feels no…
-
pain, shame, compassion, love, empathy, sympathy, & mercy
But, it rather feels far too much…
- self-pride, self-righteousness, sanctimony, arrogance, hatred, rage, contempt, derision,
Do you remember that Old Testament story of Jacob receiving his “new name”?
Genesis 32:24-30 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. When the man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is dawn.” But Jacob panted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “It is now Israel (he, who struggles with God), because you have struggled with both God and men and have won.” “What is your name?” Jacob asked him. “Why do you ask?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel—“face of God”—for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”
I know, that you know what it means to struggle with God. I think also that you have been knocked “out-of-joint” as well.
This passage is, again, another nuance and paradox.
Why is this story in the bible?
Why does it say that Jacob struggled with God?
Why does it say that God couldn’t win the match against Jacob?
Why does God bless Jacob, as a reward for the wrestling match?
These are profound questions to a confusing paradox.
I will admit that for many years I have hated this passage, with painful contempt. It flies in the face of everything in my carnal being. It is simply not logical.
Jacob should not wrestle with God!
God should not wrestle with a man!
God should punish Jacob for impudence and audacity!
God should flip him over and pin his shoulders to the ground with a mere wink!
Jacob should fall flat on his stomach and worship God and beg for pardon!
Israel? Your name will be “Israel,” because “you have struggled with both God and men and have won.” Maybe he won against “man”, but there’s no way he could win against God.
Right?
How, God?
How am I supposed to cope with this story in the bible?
Please, tell me that there was a transcription error, something is wrong. Right?
Well, I have come to a point in my life, where I am beginning to accept more of the paradoxes of God. I am not a shill for a fraudulent snake oil salesman. I am simply beginning to understand that God’s grace is far greater than my jaded experience (a.k.a carnal nature) will allow.
This is what I see from the event with Jacob and God.
- 1. God does not punish us for struggling with Him
2. God expects the struggle.
3. God cherishes the struggle.
4. God respects our struggle.
5. God understands our struggle.
6. God freely grants us the opportunity to struggle.
7. God’s only requirement is that we not “give-up” our struggle.
I know that God can pin my ears back. But, God doesn’t want to do that. The same is true with Jacob.
This exact event occurs in my house every week. My son and daughter love to “get me down.” And we wrestle around in the floor until I am out of breath or until it’s time for a bath. (Which tends to coincide with regularity.) I struggle with my kids and enjoy the struggle, because I love them.
Yes, I am sometimes hurt by our struggles and sometimes they are hurt by our struggles.
But, so long as they are willing to come back and not give-up, our wrestling will build strength, character, love and trust.
- What happens if I pin my son or daughter on the ground with no effort and no struggle?
- Will they trust me more?
- Will they respect me more?
- Will they love me more?
- What happens if God pins Jacob to the ground?
- What happens if God pins me to the ground?
- What happens if God pins you to the ground?
I don’t think that I am taking this too far. God could beat us if that were his purpose.
But, we know what his purpose is now. Don’t we?
Through Jesus Christ, the Father’s purpose is to “seek and save” John 3:17 “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”
Jesus could have pinned our ears back. But, the goal was more in line with a 41 year-old dad wrestling with his 3 and 7 year-old on the living room floor.
Finally, the issue of the mask and the name, Jacob was the name that he was given at birth. He moved around behind it, and operated with it as a defense to protect him from the world. But, it was replaced with God’s name.
I know the purpose of the name in this context.
When one “knows” our name, it will allow them to control us. This was an important point to the people of Jacob’s day. And it even continues in the modern day as well.
It is not thought of in these terms anymore. But, less than two generations ago, children were taught that it was disrespectful to use an elder’s “Christian name.” We should instead use the proper title with their surname. Remember?
This “name issue” gives control to a person.
When Jacob told God his carnal name, he granted authority to God. God subsequently changes his name, to “Israel.”
Revelation 2:17
“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Emphasis added)
The new name was “a blessing” to Jacob, it is a blessing to all who give God authority. Israel was blessed to not have to hide behind the mask of Jacob. Jacob treated people with contempt, just as “Borat” does.
God bless,
DSM
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6 users responded in this post
Perhaps that is the truth of it. The less I try to fit in to what the world wants me to be the more I discover both God and myself.
great thoughts.
I enjoyed reading your article. That story about Jacob wrestling with the angel has always been a favorite of mine.
But as far as God being of a paradoxical nature, that only occurs in one’s mind, if one starts at the wrong place. An error in the premise will cause an error in the conclusion. The paradox arises from trying to reconcile Jehovah (Yahweh, Yhovah), who was the tribal deity of the ancient Israelites, with Elohiym, who created heaven, earth, and all that dwells therein, with a word, a thought.
The first chapter of Genesis introduces us to Elohiym. It is a great place to find your premise for who God truly is. Read it carefully. Read what God says about his creation. Read carefully what he created, and what he didn’t.
Then go to the new testament. There you will be hard pressed to find Yahweh mentioned. The Greek word theos is used when mentioning God. It has the same definition as Elohiym. (Check Strong’s concordance).
Now let’s take the words of Jesus himself. He was the perfect reflection of the Father. In fact, he either called him Father (abba) or God (theos), never Yahweh. Curious fact that is.
To understand our Father, Jesus said, if you have seen me you have seen the Father, i.e, he demonstrated the nature of God in his life. Jesus said, I leave you with a new commandment, that you love one another. Love God with all your heart, et cetera. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love your enemies. That is God and there is no paradox in that. Love forgives sin, heals the sick and destroys death, all for our sake, because he loves us. For God so loved the world.
Everything in between is the history of the ancient Israelite search for the truth about God, and the building and security of their nation. Glimpses of that truth can be found if one keeps to the premise. The error lies in the story of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Everything based on that premise leads to error in the conclusion. Think about that tree and what it truly means. When one has an understanding of it, one can eliminate it from one’s life and know the truth of God’s character, in which there is no paradox.
I guess I’m challenging you to eliminate the paradox. If you enjoy endless wrestling with God, then you may want to ignore me and my words. I wrestled with the paradox for nearly 20 years. I was weary of it, when the light of day dawned and I released the angel of God from my grasp and finally understood.
I’ve given you the starting points. I perceive that you’re a man of intelligence and humor. Good traits in this day and age.
If you eat of the tree, you shall surely die, so why eat of it?
I am pretty sure I understand what Anon is saying here. I generally agree that the paradoxes we wrestle with are not from God but man…the World.
Thanks anonymous, for stopping by, for taking the time to read, but even more for taking the time to respond to my post.
[Let me say something, generally, that I will probably need to find a way to include in the main page of my blogs.]
I write my posts in an almost fluid fashion. Most of these things that turn into posts, have been brewing in my mind for years. The Symbolgoy Two part post, for example started, in my mind’s eye, in 1988 while taking a Linguistics course, for my Degree.
So, you understand that these things simply needed a forum to finally exit my mind and to be presented for others to ponder.
I need to think and consider ideas for a little bit of time. I don’t like “firing from the hip”, at peoples philosophies.
Therefore, I tend to read and think many times over the relative issues, when new perspectives are offered.
That is why I don’t immediately write in response, when someone posts a comment for me.
Nevertheless, the issues that you’ve brought to bear on my theology and discussion of our Creator’s nature, is important. I will presently respond to these things that you have written about. I am thinking still and I’m pulling from my knowledge, scriptures that address these issues. I hope to have the complete follow-up by the weeks end. Come back and see if our minds meet. And don’t be surprized if I post your response with my answer on the main page, just as I did with Starrider’s observations.
This is an answer to an anonymous response I received a couple of weeks ago to my essay “And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name…”. The issues that the writer raised are very important, dealing with the identity of Yahweh and Jesus. I will be publishing this treatise in two separate posts because the information is extensive.
First, let me say that I am not disturbed by what I am characterizing as “God’s Paradoxical Nature.”
I don’t really believe that God is a paradox or that He contradicts Himself in any way or at any time.
I am quite happy with the nuance of God. This really gets to the “nitty-gritty” of my theses in this web log “Theology of Nuance.”
And it is my contention that God does not teach or demand issues of “black or white”, “right or wrong”, “good or bad” per se. If this sounds shocking or too much like heresy, then you should probably read on, because you will likely find that I am not really saying anything outside the bounds of what holy scriptures tell us. Don’t stop reading because you are offended, please.
In other words “good deeds”, done with wrong motives are not “good.”
Remember 1 Corinthians 13:1ff
“If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal.”
So, “right and wrong” are not just personal actions, but they are a matter of intent as much as deeds. Human or carnal wisdom tells me that ‘If one does such and such, then he is GOOD. But, if one does the antitheses of such and such, then he is BAD.’
God’s wisdom is therefore, different than carnal wisdom. It is “Nuanced” and appears, to humans, to be a paradox.
This issue is similar to a debate that I am having with a good friend on another of my essays. What is the value of a soul? My point to my friend is that the Creator of the soul is the only one who has the authority to determine the value of a soul.
Here, in this discussion, humans should not use the term “paradox”, with respect to the modus operandi of our Creator. Ultimately we are the “paradox” to God, because He is the standard.
But, for the purposes of our carnal nature, I am using and embracing the “paradoxes/paradice of our Creator” knowing that this is in-fact a paradox ‘in and of itself’.
Look at Luke 12:51-53, because this speaks to the purpose of Jesus and it is a paradox, that cannot be denied or ignored.
Can we say that there is no paradox between (Galatians 5:22-23)‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ and the following verses?
(Luke 12:51-53)51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or the other way around. 53 There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.”
Therefore, it is certainly a paradox to my carnal nature that Jesus/God was willing to give up His position as the creator of all things (Colossians 1:15-23) and lay down His life for us His creation. Read this passage and you too shall see the paradox to the wisdom of humankind.
15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. * (Greek He is the firstborn of all creation.)16 Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. 17 He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.
18 Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead,*(Greek He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.) so he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.
I have a feeling from the that explanation that you gave for the distinction between Eloahim and Yahweh, that you believe that these are either two disparate entities or that Yahweh was no different than the idol/gods of the many other Neareast city-states. The city-states possessed gods as their patron. (Incidently, I believe that this was Jacob’s plan in that wrestling match with the angel. Genesis 32:24-30 Jacob requests the name of God, so that he may possess God as his patron, just as all other families did, look at Gen 31:19 as Rachel stole her father’s household gods. I did not highlight this point in that essay, however one should take note; that God DID NOT tell Jacob His name, when asked. God’s name is not revealed until Moses asks, out of pure motives, at the bush that appears to burn. Why do you suppose God made the commandment about “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain…”? God is warning the Hebrew people about assuming that they have power to “invoke” the name Yahweh to do their personal bidding. Yahweh does serve man…, but never for useless carnal pleasures as humans might be tempted to call on, for selfish desires.)
I do not believe that this can be supported by a biblical or an extra-biblical study of the several factors involved in your thesis.
Some of these critical factors are:
Knowledge of the culture for each of the writers of biblical text.
Knowledge of, or at a minimum, a familiarity with, the distinct languages that the biblical text was written in, as well as knowledge of the spoken languages of the individuals that are written about.
Knowledge of language translation processes.
Knowledge of literature types that are used by the human agents.
Look for the continuation in Part 2.
God Bless,
DSM
Conclusion Response; PART 2 Answer to anonymous post. I am blessed by the opportunity to address this issue. I hope & pray that this is a blessing to him and to all who read it. It is my purpose, to glorify Jesus the Messiah.
Concerning your contention that the Hebrew personal name for God, i.e. Yahweh, was not used in the New Testament; you have not considered the fact Yahweh was not just a ‘personal name’, but it was also a “statement of being.”
And therefore, with an understood meaning, His name translates as it crosses language & cultural boundaries.
God’s answer is a statement to Moses question.
And it is understood to be God’s “raison d’etre.” God’s very existence is self-sufficient for all matters that Moses can imagine. “I am, that I am!” “That is enough!” by God’s perspective.
Look at Exodus 3:14-15, 14 God replied, “I Am the One Who Always Is.*(Or I Am Who I Am, or I Will Be What I Will Be.) Just tell them, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said, “Tell them, ‘The Lord,*(Hebrew Yahweh; traditionally rendered Jehovah.) the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This will be my name forever; it has always been my name, and it will be used throughout all generations.
Now, if we start with the right premise we may stand a better chance at getting to the right answer, as you, quite appropriately, have stated.
Do we see, in the New Testament, the Hebrew words for “I am”? The answer is obviously “No”, but you wouldn’t logically expect to see the New Testament people speaking Hebrew in conversations, since the Jewish people spoke principally Aramaic in all daily activities.
This is an important issue.
It would be similar to future generations looking at our American language of 2006 and making the claim that “thou” did not exist in America in 2006. We might want to tell them ‘Hey, we use the word “You” in America of 2006, not “thou”.’ Good translation skills are in order. Right?
The Jewish people spoke Aramaic, because Babylonians, Medes, and Persians had ruled them for hundreds of years. Each of these nations spoke Aramaic. However, the Greeks crushed the Persians, Alexander crushed them, to be precise. The Jews had to learn a new language. And they did just that. Greek was the language of “Law and Commerce”, but Aramaic was still the spoken tongue in Judah. Then along came Rome, and you can guess what happens. A new language is introduced to the milieu.
Latin was just beginning to displace the previous two languages, i.e. Aramaic & Greek.
So, obviously, there are factors to the claim that you’ve posed. Is “Yahweh” mentioned in the New Testament or not?
The answer is “Yes”! Emphatically “Yes”!
Where then is Yahweh mentioned?
Well, since we know that the words that were put together by God mean “I am”. Those are the words we should look for.
Right?
God made a statement of His Being.
So, are there any statements of God’s being in the New Testament?
As you mention you should get out your Strong’s Concordance and look up “I am.” You will find it all over the Gospels.
Look at Matthew 22:32 and Mark 12:26-27
Mark 12:26, But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses,* ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’* 27 So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
Look at Mark 14:62-63, 62 Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.” 63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses?
Why do you suppose that the high priest tore his clothing? It is because the high priest heard “Yahweh” from Jesus lips. The high priest knew what it appears that you have misunderstood.
Look at the Gospel of John all through this gospel account we read Jesus telling us and His hearers that “I am.”
John 6: 35, 41, 48, 51, Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst. 41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread from heaven.” 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; this bread is my flesh, offered so the world may live.” 58 I am the true bread from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever and not die as your ancestors did, even though they ate the manna.”
Look at John 8:12, 18, 19, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30 12 Jesus said to the people, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.” 19 “Where is your father?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father, too.” 23 Then he said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins.”
John 8:24 is a perfect Aramaic and Greek translation of the “statement of being” that God made to Moses at the burning bush.
John 8:28, So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do those things that are pleasing to him.” 30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.
They heard Jesus make the claim of “BEING.” And many believed in Him. The I AM keeps telling us that HE IS. I hope that I have spurred you to reexamine what the conjoined Hebrew words Yahweh really means. Because, the New Testament is as full of the I AM (Yahweh) as were the writings tribal Hebrews.
I may continue this latter, but I think that you have enough information.
But, the paradox is undeniable, from a human stand point. Even if, one understands Yahweh to be a different entity than God/Jesus/Eloahim/Holy Spirit/Father/Dios/Theos/Deity/Trinity.
God bless,
DSM
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