Tag: life

Ransom

Posted on by jovial_cynic

“My lord, listen to me: a plot of land worth four hundred shekels of silver — what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”
Genesis 23:15 (NASB)

Ephron charged Abraham 400 shekels of silver (~12.5lbs) after offering the land and the cave to bury his wife Sarah for free.

The rabbinical understanding is that 400 shekels isn’t an arbitrary price. It’s stated as an objective value of the land, suggesting this is what Ephron paid for it. The price is set.

There is sharp contrast shown here between Abraham, who offered “a morsel of bread and water” (Gen 18:4-5) to his guests and then prepared a massive feast for them, and Ephron who offered the land for free, and then charged the full exact price for it.

Perhaps this is a picture.

Abraham is shown to us like the promise of Life, where blessings overflow. It offers more than you ever dreamed, and brings joy and laughter.

But Death is a liar. It tells you that there is no cost, and then it demands an exact price: the high cost of Life itself. It whispers, “you will not surely die,” when it knows full well that you will.

But hope is found here: a price was paid by Abraham, and the Cave of Hebron becomes a sacred place for the Patriarchs, even to this day.

When Abraham insists on paying the case, we are shown the symbol of Life pahing the price for Death, like a ransom, to preserve the one he loved.

***

I have a hunch is that this is what C.S. Lewis was talking about when Aslan says “Do not cite the Deep Magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written,” to the Queen.

Death is the curse established in Genesis 2 and 3. There is a price that must be paid. The cost is not zero.

At the Time of Life

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
Genesis 18:10 (NIV)

Most english Bibles apply an idiomatic expression to transate Genesis 18:10 to come up with the phrase “I will surely return to you about this time next year.”

However, the Hebrew words are actually more interesting than that.

First, whenever you see the word “surely” or “certainly” in the English, you should know that the ancient Hebrew way of expressing emphasis was to say the word in question twice: שׁוֹב אָשׁוּב. This is “shuv, ashuv.” Or “return, I will return.”

“I will REALLY return.”

Next, we have the word אֵלֶ֙יךָ֙. “Elekha,” which means “to you,” so a normal read would be “I will surely return to you (in the future).”

But the rabbis say this can also convey the sense of “I will surely bring you (into the future).”

The idea the rabbis present is that God is making TWO promises here, and it’s tied to how old Abraham is. He’s 99 years old, remember? Verse 11 emphasizes this.

Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.
Genesis 18:11 (NIV)

Who knows if Abraham will be alive when the son is born? There’s nothing to say he couldn’t die first.

So God isn’t just saying “I’ll be back next year.” He is also saying “You’ll be around next year, because I’m bringing you forward into it.”

Promise #1: A son will be turn to you and Sarah.
Promise #2: You’ll be alive to enjoy it when it happens.

The words that follow help seal this understanding. God doesn’t actually say “… about this time next year.”

God says כָּעֵת חַיָּה. ka’et chayah. “… at the time of life.”

While this can signify the time of birth, it also points to Abraham being alive when it happens.

Separating

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 1 and 2 show us God creating through a process of separating: light from dark, land from water, Isha from Ish. I think the pattern here in Genesis 15 is related.

Here, it’s Abram who cleaves the animals. We might agree that this is a destructive act, rather than a creative one. However, we see that God dwells even in those separations, shown as a torch that passes between them. It’s quite powerful imagery: God in the spaces between.

I like to think that God healed those animals that were cleaved, and He brought them back to life so Abram could see that God is Lord over death and life as well.

Echo of Creation

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NKJV)

The text says that Abram brought with him the “people he had acquired.” It is literally translated “the souls he made.”

The rabbis see this as “converts” in the Midrash. I suspect the Christian might see it that way, too.

But what I see is an echo of God creating.

Perhaps Abram was invited to be a part of the creation process – to breathe spiritual Life into otherwise dead people.

Pitch and Atonement

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Genesis 6:14 (KJV)

I don’t normally quote the KJV, but it’s one of the few translations that follow the Hebrew’s weird phrasing of “pitch it… with pitch.” You might think that is odd, but the Hebrew language has some meaning buried in it that is extremely important.

This word “pitch” is used firstly as a verb and then as a noun here, and while that doesn’t seem to make much difference, look closely at the Hebrew meanings of these words.

to cover, purge, make an atonement, make reconciliation, cover over with pitch
H3722: כָּפַר (kāp̄ar)

price of a life, ransom, bribe
H3724: כֹּפֶר (kōp̄er)

These are theological words.

The imagery we see is God’s destructive flood that covers the earth, but the boat, inside and out, is going to be covered with PITCH.

With atonement.
With reconciliation.
With the price of a life.
With a ransom.

Everything we hold dear in our faith lives inside Genesis.

Separated from Life

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 2 and 3 mention a Tree of Life.

Adam calls his wife the “Mother of Life.”

Genesis 3 seems to separate the man and his wife and put them at odds with each other, right after God brought the together in the previous chapter.

We read that Adam is cursed to die, and that a flaming sword blocks Adam from the Tree of Life.

From Eve? Is Adam separated from both Life and from his wife?

There is so much being said here.

Wrestling with God

Posted on by jovial_cynic
In Genesis 32, we read a story of Jacob wrestling with God, refusing to let go until he receives a blessing. This is not bad. It’s a defiant and hopeful tenacity that God honors.

After God pronounces death on Adam, perhaps Adam “wrestles” with God as well, defiantly naming his wife Eve… which means “Life.”