Naked Deception, part 2.

A Light to the Nations

Naked Deception! part 2:

Nothing New Under The Sun.

Recently my son, who is 10, was asking about God - does he love us and does he punish us? I said yes, both of those are true. I reminded him of the story of Noah and the flood. Then he asked, how could God love us if he wanted to wipe us out from the face of the earth? But son, I asked, don’t you see? You and I are still here. Did God send a flood to wipe us out from the face of the earth? Clearly he did not. But precisely because he loves us he gave us instead the story of the flood as an instruction.

That’s how the biblical story works for us. Since the teaching is written and since we are its recipients, whenever we hear the instruction as a punishment, it is still grace. Because we are given yet another opportunity to go forward and correct our behavior.

In part one of this episode, we discussed the functionality of some terms in the original Hebrew of Genesis chapter 3, particularly how the play on arum (naked) and arum (subtil/crafty) literarily underscores the susceptibility of Adam and his wife to the deception of the serpent. In the story, the consequence of that deception was a series of curses issued by the Lord God. In this episode, part 2, we will look at how some of the same terminology re-appears in chapter 27 of Genesis.

Indeed, “that which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Notes
sadeh - field
hereb - sword
Genesis 6:5-6; 27:1-17; 39-40

Decoding Genesis 1-11 by Paul Nadim Tarazi (OCBS, 2020)

Music: “Brand New Orleans” performed by Prince

Artwork: “Isaac Blessing Jacob” by Assereto