Tag: image

A Reflection

Posted on by jovial_cynic
We’re told we are made in the image of God and that God calls us to walk before him, to be like him.

Look closely at Genesis 17:1.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1 (NIV)

This is the written name of God: יהוה
This is God’s words to Abram: “and be…:” וֶהְיֵה

It is a reflection: Yod Heh Vav Heh -> Vav Heh Yod Heh

Spiritual Circumcision

Posted on by jovial_cynic
If God calls His people to be like Him, to do what He is doing, and to live out His purpose so the world can see Him through us, it stands to reason that the command for circumcision in Genesis 17 reflects some sort of spiritual truth and description of God.

It’s strange and probably incorrect to say that “God is circumcised,” but there must be something about the act or the state of being circumcised (and thus the spiritual application of being “circumcised of heart”) that is tied to the identity and nature of God.

With your Whole Heart

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1 (NIV)

The phrase “and be blameless” fails to capture the weight of this phrase in Hebrew. Some render it “and be perfect,” which is closer, but it can drift towards an incorrect meaning of “without sin.”

That is not the meaning at all. It means “be whole-hearted.”

It is connected to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart.

The rabbis point out that it’s even more than that. It’s tied to living out being the image-bearers of God, not as a passive state of existance, but as an intentional act of divine movement into the world.

Being an image-bearer doesn’t merely mean looking like God in appearance, but in action. God is Light, and we are the little lights. We’re told to shine in this dark world.

But this can only be done with our whole hearts devoted to God, cut separately for His purpose.

Comments on Commentary

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Some rabbis have suggested that the Genesis 5:3 statement that Seth was in “Adam’s likeness: hints at Genesis 6’s world of weird angel/hybrid creatures.

Adam himself is TECHNICALLY not “just a human,” being born of dirt and spirit.

ויולד בדמותו כצלמו, “he begot a son in his likeness in his image;” the emphasis on this is to show us that anything he begot during the previous 129 years were only creatures that did not reflect his likeness or image, i.e. disembodied spirits, mostly מזיקים, injurious, destructive spirits. (Compare 3,20)
Chizkuni on Genesis 5:3

BUT.

Other rabbis in the Midrash have said that being “in Adam’s likeness” meant that he was… born circumcised.

He was righteous (Gen. 6:9). This suggests that he was one of the seven men born circumcised. Adam and his son Seth were born circumcised, as it is written: He begot a son in his own likeness after his image, and he called him Seth (Gen. 5:3).
Midrash Tanchuma on Genesis 5:3

Which is, by the way, NOT ANY WEIRDER THAN ANGEL/HUMAN MONSTER BABIES.

So, always take commentary with a grain of salt. Even mine.

A Hint of the Nephilim

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Genesis 5:3 (NASB)

Genesis 5 says his image about Seth, and nobody else.

The Rabbis wondered about this and suggest that Adam and Eve may have had other offspring after Cain and Abel, before Seth. These offspring were… different. Not like Adam. Something monstrous.

This points to the Nephilim in Genesis 6.

In His Image

Posted on by jovial_cynic

When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
Genesis 5:3 (NIV)

We are told something specific about Adam and Seth that we aren’t told about the rest of the genealogy.

Before you say that the text “wouldn’t include any unnecessary repetition,” keep in mind that the whole chapter is repetition. The differences are meant to stand out.

Suitable Helper

Posted on by jovial_cynic
God created Eve from Adam, and we’re in the habit of imagining ourselves as Adam; we think God made someone specifically for us and from us.

But maybe Adam isn’t us. Perhaps he represents God in the story, and it’s a story of God making something specifically for Himself.

We are the suitable helper.

It feels like an echo of Genesis 1 when God created humanity. Perhaps Genesis 2 tells us how He felt about us in the words of Adam when he sees the woman.

Sleep and Death

Posted on by jovial_cynic
When we read that God made Adam sleep in Genesis 2:21, the Rabbis tell us that sleep is a microcosm of death. It points to an end.

Perhaps Adam’s waking revelation of another life made from him tells us that in waking from death, we will be joined with another. Complete.

And perhaps the waking tells us another thing: If Adam is like God, his own sleep/death tells us that God will die and rise to be united with his bride, too.