April 27, 2009

• Embarassing or Profound?

  One of my first assigned translation passages for my Hebrew class was Genesis 22.  Genesis 22 had previously always been the passage that I was most embarrassed about when I talked to skeptics about the Bible.  I mean…why in the world would a loving God tell a man of faith to sacrifice his own son?  It seemed so cruel and so pagan, I always wished it weren’t in the Bible.  But perhaps that is precisely why it has become one of the most significant passages in the Bible for me.  In my heart of hearts, I just can’t picture a deeper anguish than a parent having to offer up their child — and as I’m caught up in this heartaching empathy, I realize that whereas God provided a ram in Isaac’s place so that Abraham didn’t end up having to lose Isaac, God did not provide a substitution when His own son was up on the chopping block.  For our sakes, this Parent gave up His son.  What love is this — I will never understand.

  When I was translating this passage for the first time last quarter, I was very struck by Gen 22:8.  The phrase that is usually translated “God will provide” in English comes from the Hebrew word “yereh-lo.”   This word comes from the root word “raah”, which means “sees”.  The phrase could be translated “God will see to it”.  In other words, God sees.  He will see to it, because He sees Abraham.  He will see to it, because He *sees* you and He *sees* me.  In a world where we often feel very much so on our own, often as if we are always fighting as hard as we can in order to simply make it; it is truly breathtaking and heartstopping to me to have such an immense truth break through — a devoted Father and friend, who happens to be the King of the universe, right by our sides, seeing, knowing and fighting for us.  [selah]

  • 7:02 pm
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