Category Archives: The Fear of the Lord

Fear – Exodus Part 2

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“Why have you done this and let the boys live?”[1] the king of Egypt accused the midwives.  Hebrew women are vigorous, they answered, they give birth before the midwife gets to them![2]  Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “All sons that are born you must throw into the river, but all daughters you may let live.”[3]  But Moses’ mother disobeyed the law.  She hid her baby for three months.  Then she set him adrift in a papyrus basket, where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and raised him as her own.

In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labor, and he saw an Egyptian man attacking a Hebrew man, one of his own people.  He looked this way and that and saw that no one was there, and then he attacked the Egyptian and concealed the body in the sand.[4]  Then he saw two Hebrew men fighting.  When he tried to break it up one of them said, “Who made you a ruler and a judge over us?  Are you planning to kill me like you killed that Egyptian?”  Then Moses was afraid (yârêʼ)[5], thinking, “Surely what I did has become known.”[6]

The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)[7] here.  There are no more occurrences of ἐφοβήθη in the New Testament.  By choosing this word however they have made Moses’ fear equivalent to Sarah’s fear when she lied to God about laughing at him.[8]  It was like Lot’s fear to live in Zoar after witnessing the destruction of the surrounding cities,[9] and Isaac’s fear to acknowledge Rebekah as his wife.[10]  It was like Jacob’s fear of Bethel the morning after his dream,[11] and when he heard that Esau was coming out to meet him on his return to Canaan.[12]

When Pharaoh heard [what Moses did to the Egyptian], he sought to kill Moses.  So Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian…[13]  During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor.  They cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God.[14]  And God responded (Exodus 3:1-5 NET).

Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.  The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush.  He looked – and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!  So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight.  Why does the bush not burn up?”  When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”  And Moses said, “Here I am.”  God said, “Do not approach any closer!  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

God added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid (yârêʼ) to look at God.[15]  In the Septuagint εὐλαβεῖτο (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) was used.  It does not occur in the New Testament but is close to εὐλαβηθεὶς, translated reverent regard in Hebrews: By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard (εὐλαβηθεὶς, another form of εὐλαβέομαι) constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family.  Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.[17]

The Lord said [to Moses], “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt.  I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.  And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them.  So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”[18]

I think the rabbis who translated the Septuagint were wise to choose εὐλαβηθεὶς (a form of εὐλαβέομαι) here rather than φοβέω, a word that connotes flight.  The NET online definition of εὐλαβηθεὶς is a continuum from caution through wariness to reverence.  For Moses was not afraid to stand and argue with God:  “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”[19] And his question prompted a couple of my own about the timing of God’s calling.  Wouldn’t it have been better to call a prince of Egypt for this diplomatic mission than a shepherd from Midian?   And certainly the moralist in me would prefer that God had called Moses before he became a murderer and a fugitive from justice.

To address my first question I turned to Paul:  For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.”[20]  Paul quoted the prophetic word of God through Isaiah as a clear statement of God’s purpose and intent.  This is like an overarching theme with God.  Then Paul elaborated (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NET Table):

Think about the circumstances of your call (κλῆσιν, a form of κλῆσις), brothers and sisters.  Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.  But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong.  God chose what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, so that no one can boast in his presence.  He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Given my upbringing and temperament it probably bears saying that Paul did not invent rules for God to obey.  He revealed what he heard from Christ or observed of God’s behavior in Scripture.  David was the youngest of Jesse’s sons (and a shepherd, by the way), not the eldest.  Jephthah was the illegitimate son of Gilead and a prostitute.  Solomon was apparently not the eldest of David’s sons with Bathsheba,[22] and David’s and Bathsheba’s relationship began as an adulterous affair, yet God called Solomon Jedidiah, beloved of the Lord.

As for Moses being a murderer and a fugitive from justice it is clear that God was working at (what I would call) cross-purposes.  If God sent me to gain the Israelites release from Pharaoh I would hope, and even prayer, that He would grant me favor with Pharaoh.  He told Moses, So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.[23]  But I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.[24]

It occurred to me years ago that one way God might have hardened Pharaoh’s heart was to grant him wealth, position, power and prestige without first humbling him to serve God.  As I imagine the scene now I see Moses, a murderer and fugitive from Egyptian justice, standing before the king of Egypt, saying, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.  So now, let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.[25]  It was almost guaranteed that his heart would be hardened against such a request from such a man.  And if Egyptian justice had become forgetful of Moses’ crime as a prince in Egypt, Moses had become a Midianite shepherd.  Again Pharaoh’s heart was likely to be hardened, for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting (KJV, an abomination) to the Egyptians.[26]

I am in the heart now of the issues that Paul considered important when discussing election:  So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy [Table].  For the scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.[27]

What was God’s response to Moses’ objection?  Surely I will be with you [literally, I AM with you], and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.[28]  God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble,[29] both James and Peter quoted from the Proverbs of Solomon.

Anyone called to the salvation of righteousness in Jesus Christ might feel just like Moses.  Who am I to love [my] enemy and pray for those who persecute [me], so that [I] may be like [my] Father in heaven?[30]  Who am I to Rejoice and be glad[31] when people insult [me] and persecute [me] and say all kinds of evil things about [me] falsely on account of [You]?[32]  I’m not one of the prophets.  Like Peter I might say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”[33]  But as He promised Moses, I AM with you, so He does not intend that I do righteousness on my own, but tapped into that infinite daily living stream of his Holy Spirit, relying on his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his  gentleness, and his self-control.  Against such things there is no law.[34]

Fear – Exodus, Part 3

[1] Exodus 1:18 (NET)

[2] Exodus 1:19 (NET)

[3] Exodus 1:22 (NET)

[4] Exodus 2:11, 12 (NET)

[6] Exodus 2:14 (NET)

[13] Exodus 2:15 (NET)

[14] Exodus 2:23 (NET)

[15] Exodus 3:6 (NET) Table

[17] Hebrews 11:7 (NET)

[18] Exodus 3:7-10 (NET)

[19] Exodus 3:11 (NET)

[20] 1 Corinthians 1:19 (NET)

[23] Exodus 3:10 (NET)

[24] Exodus 4:21b (NET)

[25] Exodus 3:18b (NET)

[26] Genesis 46:34b (NET)

[27] Romans 9:16-18 (NET)

[28] Exodus 3:12 (NET)

[30] Matthew 5:44b-45a (NET)

[31] Matthew 5:12a (NET)

[32] Matthew 5:11 (NET)

[33] Luke 5:8 (NET)

Fear – Exodus, Part 1

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In Egypt the Israelites were fruitful, increased greatly, multiplied, and became extremely strong, so that the land was filled with them.  Then a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power over Egypt.[1]  The new king feared that the Israelite people might join with his enemies in time of war.  So he put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor.[2]

When he was brought before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams Joseph acknowledged, It is not within my power, but God will speak concerning the welfare of Pharaoh.[3]  And it was through God’s Spirit that Joseph interpreted the dreams and warned Pharaoh of seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine.  But I think I’m safe to say that Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh was not of God, because its execution differed so dramatically from the economic system God ordained for Israel in the law.[4]

So now Pharaoh should look for a wise and discerning man and give him authority over all the land of Egypt…he should appoint officials throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.  They should gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming…This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt.[5]

It seemed like a good idea to Pharaoh and his officials, so Joseph was put in charge:  I am Pharaoh, but without your permission no one will move his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt,[6] Pharaoh said to Joseph.  When the seven years of famine came Joseph sold grain back to the people.  Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment for the grain they were buying.[7]  Later Joseph said, “If your money is gone, bring your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.”[8]  When their livestock was gone the Egyptians said, Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become Pharaoh’s slaves.[9]  So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh,[10] and, Joseph made all the people slaves from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end of it.[11]

The land must not be sold without reclaim because the land belongs to me, the Lord said, for you are foreigners and residents with me.  In all your landed property you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.  If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.  If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers and gains enough for its redemption, he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold, refund the balance to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property.  If he has not prospered enough to refund a balance to him, then what he sold will belong to the one who bought it until the jubilee year [every fiftieth year], but it must revert in the jubilee and the original owner may return to his property.[12]

If your brother becomes impoverished and is indebted to you, the Lord continued, you must support him; he must live with you like a foreign resident.  Do not take interest or profit from him, but you must fear your God and your brother must live with you.  You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.  I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan – to be your God.[13]

If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, the Lord added, you must not subject him to slave service.  He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner; he must serve with you until the year of jubilee, but then he may go free, he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.  Since they are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.  You must not rule over him harshly, but you must fear your God.[14]

So when a new king put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor it sounds like karma, what goes around comes around.  Karma is never mentioned by name in the Bible, but one can certainly find it there.  What I recognize as karma is codified in the law: I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me [Table], and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments [Table].[15]  I want to address it directly here because I’ve confused karma for justice, and have thought at times that God was beholden to, rather than the dealer of, karma, whether good or bad.

I don’t suspect Joseph of any particular malice.  I’m sure he thought he was doing a good job for Pharaoh.  It was just good business.  But I believe now that he was wrong, just like I was wrong to confuse the tit-for-tat of karma for justice.  The law according to Jesus was about justice and mercy and faithfulness[16] and love for God.[17]  And though visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations,[18] sounds like bad karma to me, Yahweh is the One who looked my idea of karma right in the eyes and declared, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.[19]

And so I’ll amend my original statement that Joseph’s advice was not of God.  The Egyptians were not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting to do so.[20]  Perhaps it was part of their karma from the hand of God to be enslaved by a Hebrew slave.  I don’t know.  But it came with a price for Israel, too, or an opportunity to walk a mile in the Egyptians’ shoes.  But clearly God is not beholden to karma.  To break the wheel of karma one need only look to the One who said I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.[21]

The new king of Egypt hoped that hard labor would kill the Israelites off and diminish their population.  But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread.[22]  Instant karma.[23]  So he made their service harder.  And, The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you assist the Hebrew women in childbirth, observe at the delivery: If it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she may live.”  But the midwives feared (yârêʼ) God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.[24]

I was actually surprised that the rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθησαν (a form of φοβέω)[25] here.  I suppose I expected something that was more clearly reverence for God.  The next occurrence of ἐφοβήθησαν in the New Testament was in response to Jesus’ telling the chief priests, elders and Pharisees that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit (καρποὺς, a form of καρπός).[26]

For me that is a sobering statement.  Am I allowing Him to justify his word in me?  Is the fruit (καρπὸς) of [his] Spirit which flows so graciously into me, flowing out in worthy proportion as his love, his joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness, his goodness, his faithfulness, his gentleness, and his self-control?[27]  The chief priests and Pharisees had a different reaction.  They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid (ἐφοβήθησαν, a form of φοβέω) of the crowds, because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.[28]

I doubt they wanted “to reverence, venerate, to treat [the crowds] with deference or reverential obedience.”  I suspect that they feared or hesitated “to do something (for fear of harm).”  That may be what the rabbis had in mind concerning the Hebrew midwives’ motives.  Perhaps they hesitated (or feared) to kill baby boys because they thought that God would, or could, visit them with worse karma than the new king of Egypt.

And because the midwives feared (yârêʼ) God, he made households for them.[29]  Good karma followed upon their fear.  Here the rabbis chose ἐφοβοῦντο.  Jesus said, The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.[30]  His disciples did not understand this statement and were afraid (ἐφοβοῦντο, another form of φοβέω) to ask him.[31]  It was a fear that seemed like respect, but lacked the knowledge or the faith of reverence.  And the Hebrew midwives I think also exhibited that kind of fear.

Fear – Exodus, Part 2

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 6

Back to Jephthah

Back to Romans, Part 41

[1] Exodus 1:7, 8 (NET)

[2] Exodus 1:11 (NET)

[3] Genesis 41:16 (NET)

[5] Genesis 41:33-36 (NET)

[6] Genesis 41:44 (NET)

[7] Genesis 47:14 (NET)

[8] Genesis 47:16 (NET)

[9] Genesis 47:19 (NET)

[10] Genesis 47:20 (NET)

[11] Genesis 47:21 (NET)

[12] Leviticus 25:23-28 (NET)

[13] Leviticus 25:35-38 (NET)

[14] Leviticus 25:39-43 (NET)

[15] Exodus 20:5, 6 (NET)

[18] Exodus 20:5 (NKJV) Table

[19] Exodus 33:19b (NET) Table

[20] Genesis 43:32b (NET)

[21] Matthew 11:28 (NET)

[22] Exodus 1:12 (NET)

[24] Exodus 1:15-17 (NET)

[26] Matthew 21:43 (NET)

[28] Matthew 21:46 (NET)

[29] Exodus 1:21 (NET)

[30] Mark 9:31 (NET)

[31] Mark 9:32 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 8

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So Judah and his brothers came back to Joseph’s house.[1]  Suddenly Judah, though not the eldest, has taken the lead in the narrative.  He and his brothers threw themselves to the ground before[2] Joseph.  We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found,[3] Judah said.  But Joseph refused: The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of you may go back to your father in peace.[4]  Then Judah, the man credited with the plan to profit from Joseph’s sale as a slave,[5] approached Joseph and related the tale of Jacob’s love for Rachel’s sons (Genesis 44:27-34 NET):

“Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife gave me two sons.  The first disappeared and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”  I have not seen him since.  If you take this one from me too and an accident happens to him, then you will bring down my gray hair in tragedy to the grave.’  So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life.  When he sees the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.  Indeed, your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’  So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy.  As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.  For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?  I couldn’t bear to see my father’s pain.”

Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!”[6]  Then he said to his brothers, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.[7]  What follows is one of the most beautiful expressions of forgiveness in the Bible: Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life![8]  I admit, I want to reach back in time and say to Joseph, “Next time?  Lead with that.”  But I can believe that it took some time to come to that conclusion.  Maybe he even needed to hear Judah’s changed heart before he could fully understand that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose…[9]

God sent me ahead of you to preserve you on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance, Joseph continued.  So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God.[10]  As far as Joseph was concerned, Though [his brothers’ sin was] like scarlet, [the Lord had made it] as white as snow; Though [it was] red like crimson, [He had made it] as wool.[11]  Then Joseph sent his brothers home with provisions to bring their father and all their families back to Egypt.  When he heard the news, Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.  But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived.  Then Israel said, “Enough!  My son Joseph is still alive!  I will go and see him before I die.”[12]  Once again the pattern holds: Jacob was unbelieving but Israel was persuaded and ready to go.

On the journey God spoke to Jacob’s unbelief, Jacob, Jacob…I am God, the God of your father.  Do not be afraid (yârêʼ) to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.  I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there.  Joseph will close your eyes.[13]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose φοβοῦ (a form of φοβέω)[14] here.  Now Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing around him to hear the word of God.[15]

There were two boats onshore owned by Peter and his business partners James and John.  Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked him to put out a little way from the shore.  Then Jesus sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.[16]  After He finished teaching He told Peter to put out into deeper water for a catch of fish.  Peter was tired.  He had been up all night and hadn’t caught a thing.  But he did as Jesus said.  He caught so many fish the net was tearing and he needed help from the other boat.  Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”[17]  It is an odd way to react to a benefactor, but I think it illustrates the fearfulness of those born only of the flesh of Adam.

“Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ),” Jesus said to him, “from now on you will be catching people.”  So when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.[18]

Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years.[19]  Then he died there with Joseph as God had promised him.  When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay us in full for all the harm we did to him?”[20]  And so, prompted by this fear, they lied and concocted the following scheme: they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave these instructions before he died: ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’  Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.”  When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.  Then his brothers also came and threw themselves down before him; they said, “Here we are; we are your slaves.”[21]

But Joseph’s forgiveness, offered so many years earlier, was sincere.  “Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ),” he said.  “Am I in the place of God?  As for you, you meant to harm me, but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day.  So now, don’t be afraid (yârêʼ).  I will provide for you and your little children.”  Then he consoled them and spoke kindly to them.[22]  In the Septuagint fear was φοβεῖσθε (another form of φοβέω) again.

In the previous essay I discussed Matthew 10:28-31 (NET).  Here I will simply quote it.

Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.  So do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε); you are more valuable than many sparrows.

And Jesus said to Nicodemus, I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God [Table]…What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must all be born from above.”[23]

Fear – Exodus, Part 1

Back to Jedidiah, Part 4

Back to Jedidiah, Part 5

Back to Romans, Part 43

[1] Genesis 44:14a (NET)

[2] Genesis 44:14b (NET)

[3] Genesis 44:16b (NET)

[4] Genesis 44:17 (NET)

[6] Genesis 45:1a (NET)

[7] Genesis 45:4b

[8] Genesis 45:5 (NET)

[9] Romans 8:28 (NET)

[10] Genesis 45:7, 8a (NET)

[11] Paraphrase of Isaiah 1:18 (NKJV)

[12] Genesis 45:26b-28 (NET)

[13] Genesis 46:2b-4 (NET)

[15] Luke 5:1 (NET)

[16] Luke 5:3 (NET)

[17] Luke 5:8 (NET)

[18] Luke 5:10, 11 (NET)

[19] Genesis 47:28a (NET)

[20] Genesis 50:15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 50:16-18 (NET)

[22] Genesis 50:19-21 (NET)

[23] John 3:3, 6, 7 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 7

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The grain Joseph’s brothers brought back from Egypt didn’t outlast the famine.  “Return, buy us a little more food,” their father said.  But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’  If you send our brother [Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin] with us, we’ll go down and buy food for you.  But if you will not send him, we won’t go down there because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”[1]

At first Jacob (also called Israel by God) remained reluctant.  When Judah reminded him how the Egyptian [their brother Joseph] had questioned them, and promised to be surety for Benjamin, their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.  Take double the money with you; you must take back the money that was returned in the mouths of your sacks – perhaps it was an oversight.”[2]  This reminds me of the strategy Jacob employed when he returned home and met his estranged brother Esau.[3]

But Israel continued, “Take your brother too, and go right away to the man.  May the sovereign God grant you mercy before the man so that he may release your other brother and Benjamin!  As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.”[4]

You are making me childless!  Jacob had complained to his sons.  Joseph is gone.  Simeon is gone.  And now you want to take Benjamin!  Everything is against me.[5]  But Israel was willing to trust the sovereign God with the outcome.  Yes, they are the same man, but it reminds me of those born of the flesh of Adam and born from above of the Spirit of God.  For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, Paul wrote the Galatians, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.[6]

Joseph’s brothers returned with Benjamin to Egypt.  When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house.  Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”  The man did just as Joseph said; he brought the men into Joseph’s house.[7]  Joseph invited his brothers to a meal, but the men were afraid (yârêʼ)[8] when they were brought to Joseph’s house.  They said, “We are being brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks last time.  He wants to capture us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys!”[9] As far as I can tell the rabbis who translated the Septuagint left this particular fear out of their Greek translation.

Joseph’s brothers approached the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.  They said, “My lord, we did indeed come down the first time to buy food.  But when we came to the place where we spent the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his money – the full amount – in the mouth of his sack.  So we have returned it.  We have brought additional money with us to buy food.  We do not know who put the money in our sacks!”[10]

“Everything is fine,” the man in charge of Joseph’s household told them.  “Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ).  Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks.  I had your money.”  Then he brought Simeon out to them.[11]  In Greek in the Septuagint afraid was φοβεῖσθε (a form of φοβέω).[12]  Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε) of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, Jesus told his disciples.  Instead, fear (φοβεῖσθε) the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.[13]  Jesus was sending them to their deaths.  That sounds ominous, but Jesus is sending all of us to our deaths whether we believe Him or not.  One may die a martyr serving the Savior, another may choke out his last breath from advanced emphysema or heart failure or a brain tumor, but (with the possible exception of those alive and trusting Christ at the time of His return) we are all going to die, or sleep as the New Testament writers seemed to prefer to call it.

The one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell is either God the Father, or the Lord Jesus Himself if I take his teaching literally:  For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.  For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.  Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.[14] All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus said.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.[15]

So Matthew 10:28 contains a New Testament occurrence of the fear of the Lord.  It’s also a no-win scenario for Bible translators.  The first part of Jesus’ statement is fairly clear:  Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Jesus doesn’t want his followers to be terrified into fleeing from, or struck with fear by, those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  He doesn’t want that fear to stop one from believing or even professing faith in Him.

Still there are other definitions of φοβεῖσθε listed in the NET online Bible.  There may be plenty of good reason to be “startled by strange sights or occurrences,” “struck with amazement,” even “to fear” or “be afraid of one” posing some irrational threat of violence.  It is wise at times “to fear (i.e. hesitate) to do something (for fear of harm).”  It is necessary for conscience’ sake “to reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience” those in authority, even those who would kill the body for professing faith in Jesus Christ.  And the negation in this quotation is μὴ,[16] the qualified as opposed to the absolute negation according to Strong’s Concordance.

Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell,[17] Jesus continued.  It is fairly obvious that Jesus was not telling his disciples to flee in terror from Him, but to “reverence, venerate, to treat [Him] with deference or reverential obedience.”  Of course if the translators had translated φοβεῖσθε reverence here, I might have complained that they were obscuring the fact that both words were φοβεῖσθε.  Jesus made his point perfectly clear as He continued, Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.  Even all the hairs on your head are numbered.  So do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε); you are more valuable than many sparrows.[18]  And again, the negation is μὴ, the qualified as opposed to the absolute negation so as not to conflict with the command to fear or reverence Him.

Up to this point in the story Joseph’s brothers feared God’s punishment:  Surely we’re being punished because of our brother, they had said to one another, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen.  That is why this distress has come on us![19]  But I think something changed in them after everything they’d been through, when Joseph’s steward said:  Don’t be afraid.  Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks.[20]

So that day they ate and drank with Joseph until they all became drunk.[21]  But Joseph still didn’t reveal his identity.  In fact, he tormented them again.  He had his servant return all their money in their sacks, and hide the cup he used for divination in Benjamin’s sack.  They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once!  When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?’”[22]  This time, however, the brothers were indignant rather than fearful.

“Why does my lord say such things?  Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!  Look, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan.  Why then would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?  If one of us has it, he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves!”[23]

“You have suggested your own punishment!” Joseph’s servant replied.  “The one who has it will become my slave, but the rest of you will go free.”[24]  This, I think, is the tipoff to Joseph’s plan.  His servant knew Joseph wanted Benjamin alive even though he had no suspicion why.  Joseph, after seeing Benjamin, had to leave the room again, for he was overcome by affection for his brother and was at the point of tears.[25]  And Joseph knew the famine would continue, for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting,[26] he said.  By arresting Benjamin Joseph could both spend time with him and guarantee his brothers’ return for more grain.  But his brothers upended his scheme.

When Joseph’s servant found the divination cup exactly where he had placed it in Benjamin’s sack, his brothers did not abandon their younger sibling to his fate.  They all tore their clothes!  [a sign of mourning or repentance]  Then each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.[27]

Fear – Genesis, Part 8

Back to Son of God – John, Part 3

Back to Fear – Numbers, Part 4

[1] Genesis 43:2b-5 (NET)

[2] Genesis 43:11, 12 (NET)

[4] Genesis 43:13, 14 (NET)

[5] Genesis 42:36 (NET)

[6] Galatians 5:17 (NET)

[7] Genesis 43:16, 17 (NET)

[9] Genesis 43:18 (NET)

[10] Genesis 43:19-22 (NET)

[11] Genesis 43:23 (NET)

[13] Matthew 10:28 (NET)

[14] John 5:20-23 (NET)

[15] Matthew 28:18-20 (NET)

[17] Matthew 10:28b (NET)

[18] Matthew 10:29-31 (NET)

[19] Genesis 42:21 (NET)

[20] Genesis 43:23a (NET)

[21] Genesis 43:34b (NET)

[22] Genesis 44:4 (NET)

[23] Genesis 44:7-9 (NET)

[24] Genesis 44:10 (NET)

[25] Genesis 43:30 (NET)

[26] Genesis 45:6 (NET)

[27] Genesis 44:13 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 6

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After Jacob and his family spent some time in Bethel they moved on to Ephrath (Bethlehem).  On the way Rachel went into labor – and her labor was hard.  When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ), for you are having another son.”[1]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint changed the word to θάρσει[2] in Greek.  “Have courage (θάρσει), son!  Jesus said to the paralytic lying on a mat.  Your sins are forgiven.”[3]  With her dying breath, Rachel named him Ben-Oni [“son of my suffering”].  But his father called him Benjamin [“son of the (or “my”) right hand”] instead.[4]

Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife.  Her father had tricked him into marrying her sister Leah as well.  Bilhah and Zilpah, Rachel’s and Leah’s servant girls, were given to Jacob when the sisters vied with each other for their husband’s affection.  Joseph, Rachel’s firstborn, was Jacob’s favorite son.  Joseph’s elder brothers hated him.  On top of that Joseph had a couple of dreams which indicated to his brothers and Jacob that Joseph thought he would rule over them.

Joseph’s brothers decided to kill him.  Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, talked his younger siblings down from murder.  They put Joseph in a dry cistern.  Reuben hoped to return later to rescue him.  Judah—Leah’s fourth born son after Reuben, Simeon and Levi—said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”  His brothers agreed.[5]  The Ishmaelites sold Joseph to Potiphar the Egyptian, and eventually Joseph became a ruler in Egypt because of his ability to interpret prophetic dreams.

There was a famine in the land and Jacob sent ten of Joseph’s brothers to Egypt to buy grain.  Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country.  Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.[6]  Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.  Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!”[7]

Though I have heard it many times I am not persuaded that Joseph had some wise master plan to test his brothers’ repentance.  I think he was the outcast little brother who had his elder brothers right where he wanted them, and he wanted to make them squirm.  Beyond that he wanted to see his younger brother Benjamin.  But when he heard his brothers’ fears, he was moved, perhaps even to a repentance of his own:  They said to one other, “Surely we’re being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen.  That is why this distress has come on us!”  Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen?  So now we must pay for shedding his blood!”[8]

Joseph spoke to them through an interpreter, but understood their language as they whispered among themselves.  He turned away from them and wept.[9]  Here, I can be persuaded that Joseph began to formulate a plan to both save face as a ruler of Egypt who had embarked on a path of revenge, and to share with his brothers some of the mercy the Lord had shown him.  When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes.  Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey.  His orders were carried out.[10]

On their return journey one of the brothers discovered the money in his sack.  They were dismayed; they turned trembling one to another and said, “What in the world has God done to us?”[11]  The brothers were so sure that God was punishing them they misunderstood his mercy.  The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying on the land,[12] they told Jacob their father.  Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, “This is how I will find out if you are honest men.  Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for your hungry households and go.  But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies.  Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.”[13]

When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man’s bag of money in his sack!  When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid (yârêʼ).[14]  In the Septuagint this was translated ἐφοβήθησαν.  Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a mountain.  And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.[15]  Peter, James and John took all this in stride.  They had been with Jesus awhile by then and were becoming somewhat accustomed to the spectacular and miraculous events that accompanied Him.

Peter offered to build three shelters (or, shrines) to honor Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight.  Listen to him!”  When the disciples heard this, they were overwhelmed with fear (ἐφοβήθησαν, a form of φοβέω) and threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.[16]  I don’t know how to write about the relationship of these two passages without first considering the Son of God.

I can’t help but feel a great sympathy for those who pursued a law of righteousness.[17]  About the time they got a really firm grasp on the fact that Yahweh was not like the gods of the nations, He visited them as a pagan myth, a Son of God.  Growing up I would have interpreted the statement, God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him,[18] this way: “Yahweh has sent Jesus into the world so that we may live through Him.”  But the more seriously I take Jesus’ words, before Abraham came into existence, I am![19] the more I am compelled to acknowledge that it was Yahweh (He is; I am was literally the unspeakable name of God) who was sent into the world to be born as a human being named Jesus (the Greek translation of Yahweh saves in Hebrew) so that we may live through Him.  Then Yahweh/Jesus began to speak of another God, his Father, whom no one had known: no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.[20]

The voice that frightened Peter, James and John also spoke after Jesus’ baptism, This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight.[21]  After Jesus walked on the water and calmed the storm, those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”[22]  Peter testified, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus answered him, “You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!”[23]  Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.[24]  And as they came down the mountain after his transfiguration Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”[25]  The reason for this gag order was fairly obvious (Matthew 26:63-66 NET):

The high priest said to [Jesus], “I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself.  But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed!  Why do we still need witnesses?  Now you have heard the blasphemy!  What is your verdict?”  They answered, “He is guilty and deserves death.”

I was curious how the three carried out the Lord’s command to tell about the vision after Jesus’ resurrection.  James, John’s brother, didn’t write any of the New Testament and Herod had him executed with a sword[26] early in the first century.  Peter described Jesus as both Lord and Christ but did not mention the offensive Son of God in any of his recorded sermons in Acts.  In fact, in one sermon it seemed that Peter was still making Jesus equal to Moses: “Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’”[27]  Did Peter not know that Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant…But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house?[28]  Or am I in error when I assume that he was ascribing this prophecy to Christ, the Son of God?  Peter did however recount the story of the transfiguration in his second letter (2 Peter 1:16-18 NET):

For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ; no, we were eyewitnesses of his grandeur.  For he received honor and glory from God the Father, when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory: “This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.”  When this voice was conveyed from heaven, we ourselves heard it, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

John was the one who wrote most forthrightly about Jesus as the Son of God.  In all fairness to Peter, John probably didn’t write any of these things until after 70 A.D. when the ecclesiastical power of those who pursued a law of righteousness was destroyed.  And this is where I began to see the relationship of the two fears (ἐφοβήθησαν).  Both groups of men were eyewitnesses to the mercy of God and both groups feared punishment because God’s mercy did not match their preconceptions (or their rulers’ preconceptions) of “what is,” or “how things should be.”  Despite all of God’s mercy toward him Jacob was most eloquent in his fear when he complained to his sons, You are making me childless!  Joseph is gone.  Simeon is gone.  And now you want to take Benjamin!  Everything is against me.[29]

[1] Genesis 35:16, 17 (NET)

[3] Matthew 9:2 (NET) Table

[4] Genesis 35:18 (NET)

[5] Genesis 37:26, 27 (NET)

[6] Genesis 42:6 (NET)

[7] Genesis 42:8, 9 (NET)

[8] Genesis 42:21, 22 (NET)

[9] Genesis 42:24a (NET)

[10] Genesis 42:24b, 25 (NET)

[11] Genesis 42:28b (NET)

[12] Genesis 42:30 (NET)

[13] Genesis 42:33, 34 (NET)

[14] Genesis 42:35 (NET)

[15] Matthew 17:2, 3 (NET)

[16] Matthew 17:5, 6 (NET)

[17] Romans 9:31 (NET)

[18] 1 John 4:9 (NET)

[19] John 8:58 (NET) Table

[20] Matthew 11:27b (NET)

[21] Matthew 3:17 (NET)

[22] Matthew 14:33 (NET)

[23] Matthew 16:16, 17 (NET)

[24] Matthew 16:20 (NET)

[25] Matthew 17:9 (NET)

[26] Acts 12:2 (NET)

[27] Acts 3:22a (NET)

[28] Hebrews 3:5, 6a (NET)

[29] Genesis 42:36 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 5

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I think I am safe using the word fear to describe Jacob’s prognostication that Simeon and Levi…had brought ruin on him by making him a foul odor among the inhabitants of the land, that the Canaanites and the Perizzites…would join forces against him and attack him, and both he and his family would be destroyed![1]  It was not a prophecy; it did not come to pass.  It was a rational appraisal of the likely response of men born of Adam (then Noah).  And it was a righteous expectation of the law God gave Noah and his sons after the flood (Genesis 9:5, 6 NET).

For your lifeblood I will surely exact punishment, from every living creature I will exact punishment.  From each person I will exact punishment for the life of the individual since the man was his relative.  Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God’s image God has made humankind.

Simeon and Levi had perpetrated the kind of violence that brought the flood in the first place (Genesis 6:11-13 NET).

The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence.[2]  God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.  So God said to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them.  Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.”

It is a fearful thing to contemplate a God with the power and the will for such destruction (Genesis 6:5-7 NET).

But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth.  Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.  The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended.  So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

But if I take the Lord’s reasons and offense seriously, his relative tolerance of human evil after the flood is just as fearful a thing if in a different way (Genesis 8:21, 22 NET).

I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on.  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.  While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.

And thus the law: Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed.[3]

Though Simeon’s and Levi’s die hard antics seem more like justice for Dinah to my religious mind (compared to David’s inaction regarding Tamar, or Jacob’s silence), the most likely outcome for Dinah did not look good.  Both the evil of men and the righteousness of God’s law conspired to catch her up in the violent retribution due Simeon and Levi, or she might have become like one of the slave women her brothers took from Shechem.  But Jacob, Dinah, Simeon, Levi and all of their family found favor (or, grace) in the sight of the Lord.[4]

I have appropriated what the Bible said about Noah to Jacob, Dinah, Simeon, Levi and all of their family.  This would have been unthinkable to my religious mind.  It assumed that Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord because Noah was a godly man; he was blameless among his contemporaries.  He walked with God.[5]  Now I am more and more convinced that my religious mind had the cart before the horse.  Noah was a godly man, blameless among his contemporaries, and walked with God because Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.  In that light it is not much of a stretch to see the similarity here.

Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there.  Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”[6]  This was God’s solution despite the fact that Simeon and Levi at least (and perhaps at most) should have died according to his own law.  I am not accusing God of wrongdoing.  He never bound Himself to law when it came to showing favor or mercy.  I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy,[7] He said to Moses.  And when Paul analyzed the Gospel that my religious mind was so intent on converting to a new law, he reiterated that point and added, So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy.[8]

So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you.  Purify yourselves and change your clothes.  Let us go up at once to Bethel.  Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went.”[9]

When I see it in this context the Gospel of Jesus Christ mitigates my fear concerning God’s “tolerance” of human evil after the flood.  The Gospel does not belong, and is perverted and misunderstood, in the world created by religious minds.  Where it belongs, where it becomes the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe[10] is in the real world of human sin.  I was surprised, given my religious prejudices, that Abel Ferrara and Zoë Lund had walked this ground before me in the movie she wrote and he directed “Bad Lieutenant” (1992), starring Harvey Keitel in the title role.

Bad LT was not merely a bad cop, he was a hardcore sinner, without natural affection.  Bad LT’s decadence was so demoralizing I cried out loud, “Why am I watching this?”  About that time one of the ‘B’ stories came to the forefront when Bad LT overheard a nun’s confession.

The nun had been raped on the altar in her church.  She seemed to react like any other woman might react while being raped.  She was a bit less modest in the examination room than I might have expected, but nothing so extreme that I did anything but note the fact.  Her confession, however, was totally unexpected.  A curious thing happens when someone actually believes she has been forgiven by the Sovereign God and that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.[11]

“Those boys,” she said, “those sad raging boys.  They came to me as the needy do.  And like many of the needy they were rude.  Like all the needy they took.  And like all the needy they needed.  Father, I knew them.  They learn in our school and they play in our school yard and they are good boys….Jesus turned water to wine.  I ought to have turned bitter semen into fertile sperm, hatred to love, and maybe to have saved their souls.  [Bad LT exited then and did not hear the rest of her confession.]  They did not love me, but I ought to have loved them, for Jesus loved those who were vile to Him.  And never again shall I encounter two boys whose prayer was more poignant, more legible, more anguished.”

Later Bad LT came to speak to the nun as she prayed, first prostrate then on her knees, in church.  “Listen to me, Sister,” he said, “listen to me good.  The other cops will just put these guys through the system.  They’re juveniles.  They’ll walk.  But I’ll beat the system and do justice, real justice for you.”

“I have already forgiven them,” she replied.

“Come on, Lady.  These guys put out cigarette butts on your – Get with the program.  How could you—how could you forgive these motherfu—these, these guys?  Excuse me.  How could you?  Deep down inside don’t you want them to pay for what they did to you?  Don’t you want this crime avenged?”

“I’ve forgiven them.”

“But – do you have the right?  You’re not the only woman in the world.  You’re not even the only nun. You’re forgiveness will leave blood in its wake.  What if these guys do this to other nuns?  Other virgins? Old women who’ll die from the shock?  Do you have the right to let these boys go free?  Can you bear the burden, Sister?”

“Talk to Jesus,” she said.  “Pray.  You do believe in God, don’t you? that Jesus Christ died for your sins?”

The nun left Bad LT alone in the church.  He moaned and cried out from the floor.  Then he had a vision of Jesus.  First, he blamed Jesus for His perceived absence in Bad LT’s wretched life.  But eventually he begged for forgiveness and direction.  Suddenly Bad LT became the repentant thief on the cross.  Like the thief he had only hours to live.  Unlike the thief he was free to do one more thing.  His choice, to pass on some of the mercy the Lord and the nun had shown him, was at least as interesting as David’s choices concerning his sons Amnon and Absalom.

Jacob’s household and all who were with him gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears.  Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem and they started on their journey.  The surrounding cities were afraid (chittâh;[12] Septuagint: φόβος[13]) of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.[14]  The note in the NET reads: “Heb ‘and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.’ The expression ‘fear of God’ apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean ‘fear from God,’ that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to ‘tremendous fear’ (cf. NEB ‘were panic-stricken’; NASB ‘a great terror’).”

[1] Genesis 34:30 (NET)

[2] A note in the NET reads: “The Hebrew word translated “violence” refers elsewhere to a broad range of crimes, including unjust treatment (Gen 16:5; Amos 3:10), injurious legal testimony (Deut 19:16), deadly assault (Gen 49:5), murder (Judg 9:24), and rape (Jer 13:22).”

[3] Genesis 9:6 (NET)

[4] A paraphrase of Genesis 6:8 (NET)

[5] Genesis 6:8, 9 (NET)

[6] Genesis 35:1 (NET)

[7] Exodus 33:19b (NET) Table

[8] Romans 9:16 (NET)

[9] Genesis 35:2, 3 (NET)

[10] Romans 3:22 (NET)

[11] Romans 8:28 (NET)

[14] Genesis 35:4, 5 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 4

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God had changed Jacob’s name to Israel.[1]  Jacob kept the oath he made at Bethel[2] that the Lord would become his God.  After he left Paddan Aram, Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, and he camped near the city.  Then he purchased the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent; he bought it from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of money.  There he set up an altar and called it “The God of Israel is God.”[3]  Though the word fear does not occur in Genesis 34, the events described prompted the fear that motivated Jacob in the beginning of chapter 35.

The sons of Israel by his wife Leah were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.  After that she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.[4]  Now Dinah…went to meet the young women of the land.[5]  I assume that some time had passed between the end of Genesis 33 and the beginning of chapter 34, that Dinah was of a marriageable age (perhaps not at an age that we would consider marriageable, but more than seven or eight years old).  When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, who ruled that area, saw her, he grabbed her, forced himself on her, and sexually assaulted her.  Then he became very attached to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter.  He fell in love with the young woman and spoke romantically to her.[6]  Shechem asked his father to get Dinah for him as his wife.

When Jacob heard that Shechem had violated his daughter Dinah, his sons were with the livestock in the field.  So Jacob remained silent until they came in.[7]  “The expected response would be anger or rage; but Jacob remained silent,” the note in the NET begins.  So in my mind the question becomes, what intervened in Jacob to mute the natural human response?  “He appears too indifferent or confused to act decisively,” the note continues.  Having been through this before with David, Amnon and Tamar[8] I wonder whether Jacob’s silence is evidence that his wrestling with God[9] had resulted in his sharing some of the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.[10]

If that were the case I can easily imagine how difficult it would be to communicate that experience to Dinah and her brothers, or to his wives Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, without the lives and words of Jesus and Paul as points of reference.  I can imagine how difficult it would be to communicate that experience even with their lives and words as points of reference to my son, my daughter, and their mother if my daughter had been raped.  And I wonder how often the fruit of the Lord’s Spirit is mistaken for indifference or confusion.

The note in the NET ends with a rule, “When the leader does not act decisively, the younger zealots will, and often with disastrous results.”  The rule may well be true, but the note doesn’t say what decision Jacob should have made.  My son Shechem is in love with your daughter, Hamor said to Jacob and his sons.  Please give her to him as his wife.  Intermarry with us.  Let us marry your daughters, and take our daughters as wives for yourselves.  You may live among us, and the land will be open to you.  Live in it, travel freely in it, and acquire property in it.[11]

Let me find favor in your sight, and whatever you require of me I’ll give, Shechem entreated them.  You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, and I’ll give whatever you ask of me.  Just give me the young woman as my wife![12]

Jacob probably knew that his grandfather Abraham had made his servant solemnly promise by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living.  You must go instead to my country and to my relatives to find a wife for my son Isaac.[13]  He certainly knew that his brother Esau’s marriage to two Hittite women caused his parents Isaac and Rebekah great anxiety.[14]  Perhaps he believed that the Lord would drive the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite[15] out of the land.  He may have grasped that he should not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land…lest it become a snare.[16]

I am not convinced, however, that Jacob knew the full import of the law God would give his descendants: When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful than you – and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them.  Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy!  You must not intermarry with them.  Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.  Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.[17]

Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully when they spoke because Shechem had violated their sister Dinah.[18]  While it may be tempting to read what happened next as a cold-blooded plot to use Dinah’s misfortune as justification for a get rich quick scheme, the point is clearly made that Dinah’s brothers were anything but cold-blooded at the moment they were deceitful.  They were offended and very angry because Shechem had disgraced Israel by sexually assaulting Jacob’s daughter, a crime that should not be committed.[19]

We cannot give our sister to a man who is not circumcised, they said, for it would be a disgrace to us.  We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become like us by circumcising all your males.[20]  This would be a minimum requirement for any covenant between them.  Throughout your generations, God told Abraham, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.  They must indeed be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money.[21]  The brothers’ deceitfulness, I think, is that they never expected Hivites to agree to such drastic measures and hoped to gain Dinah’s release instead.  But if you do not agree to our terms by being circumcised, then we will take our sister and depart.[22]

Their offer pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.[23]  And Hamor and Shechem persuaded all the men of their city to be circumcised.  If we do so, won’t their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours?  So let’s consent to their demand, so they will live among us.[24]

Dinah’s perspective on all this is missing from the narrative.  But if I consider that the Holy Spirit mentioned Tamar’s[25] rather remarkable response despite its relative irrelevance to the story compared to Dinah’s, and that Jacob’s silence was mentioned precisely because it is unexpected, I feel safe assuming that Dinah was not in favor of a marriage to her rapist Shechem.  Dinah was not socialized like Tamar under the law: Suppose a man comes across a virgin who is not engaged and overpowers and rapes her and they are discovered [Table].  The man who has raped her must pay her father fifty shekels of silver and she must become his wife because he has violated her; he may never divorce her as long as he lives [Table].[26]  And that law would not have applied to a Canaanite like Shechem the Hivite anyway.

Dinah’s brothers’ deceitful blunder not only failed to win her release as Shechem’s “love” hostage, it risked involving them in an at least suspect covenant with one of the peoples of the land, the Hivites.  In that light the rest of the story unfolds like an anger-fear-testosterone-adrenaline-fueled nightmare.  I can almost hear them as they stewed about if for three days: What do we do now?  We’ll kill him.  Shechem?  We’ll have to kill his father, too.  Who are you kidding?  We’ll have to kill them all?  What do we do with the women and children?

Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and went to the unsuspecting city and slaughtered every male [Table].  They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and left [Table].  Jacob’s sons killed them and looted the city because their sister had been violated [Table].  They took their flocks, herds, and donkeys, as well as everything in the city and in the surrounding fields [Table].  They captured as plunder all their wealth, all their little ones, and their wives, including everything in the houses [Table].[27]

Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin on me by making me a foul odor among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites.  I am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”  But Simeon and Levi were not about to back down then, “Should he treat our sister like a common prostitute?”[28]

Just as an aside, other Hivites[29] many years later deceived Joshua and saved their own lives by successfully making a covenant with the nation of Israel.[30]

Fear – Genesis, Part 5

Back to Fear – Genesis, Part 8

[3] Genesis 33:18-20 (NET)

[4] Genesis 30:21 (NET)

[5] Genesis 34:1 (NET)

[6] Genesis 34:2, 3 (NET)

[7] Genesis 34:5 (NET)

[10] Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)

[11] Genesis 34:8-10 (NET)

[12] Genesis 34:11, 12 (NET)

[13] Genesis 24:3, 4 (NET)

[14] Genesis 26:35 (NET)

[15] Exodus 34:11 (NET)

[16] Exodus 34:12 (NET)

[17] Deuteronomy 7:1-4 (NET)

[18] Genesis 34:13 (NET)

[19] Genesis 34:7b (NET)

[20] Genesis 34:14, 15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 17:12, 13a (NET)

[22] Genesis 34:17 (NET)

[23] Genesis 34:18 (NET)

[24] Genesis 34:23 (NET)

[26] Deuteronomy 22:28, 29 (NET)

[27] Genesis 34:25-29 (NET)

[28] Genesis 34:30, 31 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 3

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When there was a famine in the land Abraham’s son Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.[1]  The Lord appeared to Isaac and said (Genesis 26:2-5 NET):

Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you.  Stay in this land.  Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham.  I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands.  All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.  All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.”  He was afraid (yârêʼ) to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, “The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”[2]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω)[3] here.

Peter and Jesus’ other disciples were in a boat that was taking a beating from the waves because the wind was against it.  As the night was ending, Jesus came to them walking on the sea.  When the disciples saw him walking on the water they were terrified and said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out with fear (φόβου, a form of φόβος).[4]  But immediately Jesus spoke to them: “Have courage!  It is I.  Do not be afraid (φοβεῖσθε, another form of φοβέω).”[5]  Peter said to him, “Lord, if it is you, order me to come to you on the water.”  So he said, “Come.”  Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus [Table].  But when he saw the strong wind he became afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω).[6]

After Isaac had been in Gerar a long time Abimelech looked out a window and saw him caressing Rebekah in a way that caused him to doubt that she was Isaac’s sister.  So Abimelech summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife!  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”  Isaac replied, “Because I thought someone might kill me to get her.”[7]  Then Abimelech rebuked Isaac, What in the world have you done to us?  One of the men might easily have had sexual relations with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us![8]

As Peter started to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”[9]

Eventually Isaac left Gerar and journeyed to Beer Sheba.  The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham.  Do not be afraid (yârêʼ), for I am with you.  I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”[10] The rabbis chose φοβοῦ (a form of φόβος) here.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy [John the Baptist’s mother], the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!”  But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting.  So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος), Mary, for you have found favor with God![11]

Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord.  He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a well.[12]  So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.”[13]  Both Isaac and Mary responded admirably to the Lord’s encouragement, Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φόβος).

As Isaac’s son Jacob fled (from his elder brother Esau’s threat to kill him) to his mother Rebekah’s brother Laban, he stopped for the night and had a dream (Genesis 28:12-15 NET).

He saw a stairway erected on the earth with its top reaching to the heavens.  The angels of God were going up and coming down it and the Lord stood at its top.  He said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac.  I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south.  All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants.  I am with you!  I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”

Then Jacob woke up and thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, but I did not realize it!”  He was afraid (yârêʼ) and said, “What an awesome (yârêʼ) place this is!  This is nothing else than the house of God!  This is the gate of heaven!”[14]  The word translated afraid above was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.  The next occurrence of ἐφοβήθη (a form of φοβέω) in the New Testament was in John’s Gospel.  When Pilate heard what [the Jewish leaders] said, he was more afraid (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) than ever…[15]

We have a law, the Jewish leaders had said, and according to our law [Jesus] ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God![16]  Pilate went back inside and said to Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.  So Pilate said, “Do you refuse to speak to me?  Don’t you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?”  Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above.  Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”[17]

Pilate’s fear did not prompt him to fall down at Jesus’ feet and plead for mercy.  But, From this point on, Pilate tried to release him.[18]  In a similar way Jacob’s fear prompted him to make a deal (Genesis 28:18-22 NET).

Early in the morning Jacob took the stone he had placed near his head and set it up as a sacred stone.  Then he poured oil on top of it.  He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear, and I return safely to my father’s home, then the Lord will become my God.  Then this stone that I have set up as a sacred stone will be the house of God, and I will surely give you back a tenth of everything you give me.”

The word translated awesome in Genesis 28:17 (NET) was φοβερὸς[19] in the Septuagint.  It does not occur in this form in the New Testament.  It was only used three times by the writer of Hebrews (10:26, 27, 28-31; 12:18-21) :

1) For if we deliberately keep on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins is left for us, but only a certain fearful (φοβερὰ, a form of φοβερός) expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume God’s enemies.

2) Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace?  For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a terrifying (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

3) For you have not come to something that can be touched, to a burning fire and darkness and gloom and a whirlwind and the blast of a trumpet and a voice uttering words such that those who heard begged to hear no more.  For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”  In fact, the scene was so terrifying (φοβερὸν, another form of φοβερός) that Moses said, “I shudder with fear (ἔκφοβος).”[20]

Twenty years later, when Jacob fled from Laban with his wives, his children, his flocks, herds, and camels, he explained, “I left secretly because I was afraid (yârêʼ)!” Jacob replied to Laban.  “I thought you might take your daughters away from me by force.[21]  The phrase because I was afraid was not translated in the Septuagint.  But later as he approached his former home and learned that his brother Esau was coming out to meet him with four hundred men, Jacob was very afraid (yârêʼ) and upset.  So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, as well as the flocks, herds, and camels.  “If Esau attacks one camp,” he thought, “then the other camp will be able to escape.”[22]

After he made these rudimentary preparations he prayed:  “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, you said to me, ‘Return to your land and to your relatives and I will make you prosper.’”[23]   He did not yet claim God as his own, but that is the only reference I see to his former oath.  Gone is the pride that made that oath.  In its place was an humble acknowledgement and request, “I am not worthy of all the faithful love you have shown your servant.  With only my walking stick I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two camps.  Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid (yârêʼ) he will come and attack me, as well as the mothers with their children.”[24]

Twenty years on his own with God taught Jacob something about dealing with fear.  Faithfully, he reminded God (and perhaps himself) of God’s own words, “But you said, ‘I will certainly make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand on the seashore, too numerous to count.’”[25]

Jacob’s fear of Esau’s approach was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.  The fifth and final occurrence of ἐφοβήθη was in Luke’s account of Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem.  The Roman commander probably saved Paul’s life but was about to have him interrogated with torture.  Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened (ἐφοβήθη, a form of φοβέω) when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up.[26]  The Roman commander feared retribution for his own violation of Roman law.  It makes me wonder if Jacob did not sense something of the justice of Esau’s cause despite the overbearing nature of the imagined reprisal.  As it turned out Esau had forgotten or forgiven his grievance against Jacob.  He welcomed his brother’s homecoming.[27]

[1] Genesis 26:1 (NET)

[2] Genesis 26:7 (NET)

[6] Matthew 14:24-30a (NET)

[7] Genesis 26:9 (NET)

[8] Genesis 26:10 (NET)

[9] Matthew 14:30, 31 (NET)

[10] Genesis 26:24 (NET)

[11] Luke 1:26-30 (NET)

[12] Genesis 26:25 (NET)

[13] Luke 1:38 (NET)

[14] Genesis 28:16, 17 (NET)

[15] John 19:8 (NET)

[16] John 19:7 (NET)

[17] John 19:9-11 (NET)

[18] John 19:12 (NET)

[21] Genesis 31:31 (NET)

[22] Genesis 32:7, 8 (NET)

[23] Genesis 32:9 (NET)

[24] Genesis 32:10, 11 (NET)

[25] Genesis 32:12 (NET)

[26] Acts 22:29 (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 2

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I’m studying fear in the Old Testament to better understand how fear has ended in Christ yet the concept of fearing God continued in the New Testament.  Peter wrote, Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear (φοβεῖσθε, a form of φόβος)[1] God, honor the king.[2]  And in Revelation an angel with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth[3] said, Fear (φοβήθητε, a form of φοβέω) God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water![5]

Abraham moved to Gerar and continued to pass off his beautiful wife Sarah as his sister.  So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her.[6]  But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him (Genesis 20:3-7 NET):

“You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife [Table].”  Now Abimelech had not gone near her.  He said, “Lord, would you really slaughter an innocent nation?  Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’?  And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’  I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!”  Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience.  That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.  But now give back the man’s wife.  Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live.  But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.”

Early in the morning Abimelech summoned all his servants.  When he told them about all these things, they were terrified (yârêʼ).[7]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθησαν (plus σφόδρα,[8] very) here, the third person plural of φέβομαι.[9]  The first occurrence of this form in the New Testament is in Matthew’s account of the healing of the paralytic (Matthew 9:2–8 NET).

Just then some people brought to him a paralytic lying on a stretcher.  When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Have courage, son!  Your sins are forgiven.”  Then some of the experts in the law said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming!”  When Jesus saw their reaction he said, “Why do you respond with evil in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’?  But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority (ἐξουσίαν, a form of ἐξουσία) on earth to forgive sins” – then he said to the paralytic – “Stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.”  And he stood up and went home.  When the crowd saw this, they were afraid (ἐφοβήθησαν, another form of φοβέω) and honored (ἐδόξασαν, a form of δοξάζω) God who had given such authority (ἐξουσίαν, a form of ἐξουσία) to men.

I have already written[12] that I think the repetition of ἐξουσίαν (a form of ἐξουσία) indicates that it was the authority to forgive sins that caused the crowd to fear and to honor God.  The word translated honored above is the same glory that those under God’s wrath in Romans 1:21 withheld from God when they did not glorify him.[13]  And this connection of fear and honor gives me a clue to better understanding, especially when I return to Abimelech’s rebuke of Abraham (Genesis 20:9, 10 NET).

Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us?  What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom?  You have done things to me that should not be done!”  Then Abimelech asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?”

Abraham replied, “Because I thought, ‘Surely no one fears (yirʼâh) God in this place.  They will kill me because of my wife.’”[15]  Here, the rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose a different word entirely, θεοσέβεια.  It is a compound of θεός and σέβομαι.  Negated as ἀσέβεια this is the ungodliness that prompted the revelation of God’s wrath.[19]  In Abimelech and his people, then, I find a fear of punishment that led to obedience and more.  Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham untouched.  He also gave him sheep, cattle, and male and female servants [Table], and said, “Look, my land is before you; live wherever you please[Table].”[20]

Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, as well as his wife and female slaves so that they were able to have children.  For the Lord had caused infertility to strike every woman in the household of Abimelech because he took Sarah, Abraham’s wife.[21]  And here I think I see the beginning of the fear of punishment that played such a major, albeit imperfect, role in the keeping of the law.

When Ishmael mocked Isaac, Sarah said to Abraham, “Banish that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”[22]  Abraham wasn’t happy about this at all, but complied when God said to him, “Do not be upset about the boy or your slave wife.  Do all that Sarah is telling you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.  But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”[23]

Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness.  When the water Abraham gave her was gone she shoved the child under one of the shrubs,[24] his body apparently limp and lethargic from dehydration.  She walked some distance away not wanting to watch her child die.  But God heard the boy’s voice.  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, Hagar?  Don’t be afraid (yârêʼ), for God has heard the boy’s voice right where he is crying.[25]  This was φοβοῦ (another form of φοβέω) in Greek in the Septuagint.

The second occurrence of this form in the New Testament was found in the story of Zechariah and the angelic announcement of his son’s birth, John the Baptist.  Zechariah, a priest, was chosen by lot to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense.[26]

An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him.  And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear (φόβος).  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, another form of φοβέω), Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.  Joy and gladness will come to you, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.  He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.  He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”[27]

Zechariah didn’t believe the angel’s message and was struck mute.  The text doesn’t say whether or not Hagar believed.  But God was with the boy [Ishamael] as he grew,[28] as surely as John was born to Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:57-64 NET):

Now the time came for Elizabeth to have her baby, and she gave birth to a son.  Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.  On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name him Zechariah after his father.  But his mother replied, “No! He must be named John.”  They said to her, “But none of your relatives bears this name.”  So they made signs to the baby’s father, inquiring what he wanted to name his son.  He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.”  And they were all amazed.  Immediately Zechariah’s mouth was opened and his tongue released, and he spoke, blessing God.

Then Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied (Luke 1:67-79 NET):

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he has come to help and has redeemed his people.  For he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago, that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all who hate us.  He has done this to show mercy to our ancestors, and to remember his holy covenant – the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham.  This oath grants that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies, may serve him without fear (ἀφόβως), in holiness and righteousness before him for as long as we live.  And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High.  For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.  Because of our God’s tender mercy the dawn will break upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

[2] 1 Peter 2:17 (NET)

[5] Revelation 14:7 (NET)

[6] Genesis 20:2b (NET)

[7] Genesis 20:8 (NET)

[15] Genesis 20:11 (NET) Table

[20] Genesis 20:14, 15 (NET)

[21] Genesis 20:17, 18 (NET)

[22] Genesis 21:10 (NET)

[23] Genesis 21:12, 13 (NET)

[24] Genesis 21:15 (NET)

[25] Genesis 21:17 (NET)

[26] Luke 1:9 (NET)

[27] Luke 1:11-17 (NET)

[28] Genesis 21:20a (NET)

Fear – Genesis, Part 1

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Paul was not the only one to write about the end of fear.  John also wrote, There is no fear (φόβος) in love, but perfect love drives out fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος), because fear (φόβος) has to do with punishment (κόλασιν, a form of κόλασις).  The one who fears (φοβούμενος, a form of φοβέω) punishment has not been perfected in love.1  This is as good to hear as Paul’s statement, For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος).2  But I wonder about the fear of the Lord since the concept continued into the New Testament.

Therefore, because we know the fear (φόβον, a form of φόβος) of the Lord, Paul wrote the Corinthians, we try to persuade people…3  And to slaves in Colossae he wrote, obey your earthly masters in every respect, not only when they are watching4 – like those who are strictly people-pleasers – but with a sincere heart, fearing (φοβούμενοι, a form of φοβέω) the Lord.5  I have begun to track fear through the Old Testament to attempt to understand this better.

The first occurrence was from the mouth of Adam after he ate the forbidden fruit, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid (yārē’, וָֽאִירָ֛א) because I was naked, so I hid,”6 he said to the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day.7  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint used the Greek word ἐφοβήθην for the Hebrew word, the passive form of φοβέω the root of φόβος.8  This form does not occur in the New Testament but is close to, For I was afraid (ἐφοβούμην, a form of φοβέω) of you, because you are a severe man.9  This is apparently the middle voice of φέβομαι.

Next God spoke what would become the most common divine greeting to those born of Adam, “Fear (yârêʼ, תִּירָ֣א) not, Abram!  I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”10  In the Septuagint the rabbis chose the Greek word φοβοῦ.  The first usage of this form in the New Testament was in Mark’s account of the synagogue ruler Jairus.  He fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “My little daughter is near death.  Come and lay your hands on her so that11 she may be healed and live.”12  But, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter has died.  Why trouble the teacher any longer?”  But Jesus, paying no attention13 to what was said, told the synagogue ruler, “Do not be afraid (φοβοῦ, a form of φοβέω); just believe (πίστευε, a form of πιστεύω).”14

And here by faith in the revelation of Scripture I can begin to analyze the beginning of fear from its end.  Jesus offered faith to Jairus as an antidote, or a preoccupation, to his fear of the revealed facts.  (Jesus apparently raised his daughter from death.)  This is the faith Adam lacked.   Though he had unimaginable experience of God’s generous provision, Adam’s faith was in his own efforts to keep God’s commandment.  Once that commandment was broken he feared punishment.  Whatever sonship he experienced was forfeit and he was given over to a spirit of slavery leading to fear.

Sarah didn’t believe the word of the Lord when it was said, I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son,15 but trusted in her long experience of barrenness.  She laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”16  The Lord confronted Abraham about her.  Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid (yârêʼ, יָרֵ֑אָה).  But the Lord said, “No! You did laugh.”17  While Adam’s fear prompted him to hide from the all-seeing God, Sarah’s fear persuaded her to lie to the all-knowing God.

The Hebrew word translated afraid above was the Greek word ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.  This form of φοβέω was first used in Matthew’s narrative of Joseph’s, Mary’s and Jesus’ return from Egypt.  After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”  So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned18 to the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over19 Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid (ἐφοβήθη, another form of φοβέω) to go there.  After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.20  Joseph’s fear of Archelaus was apparently warranted since God warned him in a dream.

I get an image of the nature of Lot’s faith in the Lord from the next occurrence of fear (Genesis 19:15-17).

At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going!  Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!”  When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them.  They led them away and placed them outside the city [Table].  When they had brought them outside, they said, “Run for your lives!  Don’t look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley!  Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!” [Table]

Lot apparently sensed the anxiousness in the angels’ tone of voice, but misunderstood its significance.  “No, please, Lord!” [Table] he said.  Your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life.  But I am not able to escape to the mountains because this disaster will overtake me and I’ll die” [Table].21  Lot assumed that the angels’ anxiety was provoked by Lot’s relative slowness.  He reasoned that he should seek closer shelter.  “Look, this town over here is close enough to escape to, and it’s just a little one.  Let me go there.  It’s just a little place, isn’t it?  Then I’ll survive.”[23]

“Very well,” he replied, “I will grant this request too and will not overthrow the town you mentioned.”[24]  Then the angel revealed that he was anxious to fulfill the will of the Lord.  “Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”[25]  Lot made it safely to Zoar, and Zoar was spared from destruction when the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah.[26]  But, Lot went up from Zoar with his two daughters and settled in the mountains because he was afraid (yârêʼ) to live in Zoar.  So he lived in a cave with his two daughters.[27]  This, too, was ἐφοβήθη in the Septuagint.

The second usage of this form in the New Testament was, Although Herod wanted to kill John [because John had repeatedly told him, “It is not lawful for you to have {Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife}[28].”],[29] he feared (ἐφοβήθη) the crowd because they accepted John as a prophet.[30]  In other words, Herod did not believe the Lord that he should not have taken his brother’s wife.  He feared the wrath of his people if he killed one they considered a prophet.  Similarly, Lot did not believe that he would make it safely to the mountains and asked for Zoar to be spared as a place of refuge.  When that request was granted he did not believe that Zoar would continue to be spared from destruction and fled to the mountains.

There is a pattern of sorts here.  Those born of Adam fear God, but not in a good way.  It is not a fear that leads to faith in Him.  It prompts them to hide or lie or flee from his protection.  It is a fear of punishment.  They are not perfected in love.  And I take this to mean they are not led by the Spirit, they do not experience that continuous stream of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control[31] that flows from Him.

1 1 John 4:18 (NET)

2 Romans 8:15a (NET)

3 2 Corinthians 5:11a (NET)

5 Colossians 3:22 (NET) The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had κύριον here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had θεον (KJV: God).

6 Genesis 3:10 (NET) Table

7 Genesis 3:8 (NET) Table

8 Addendum 11/03/2024: In Strong’s Concordance online φέβομαι is listed as the root of φόβος. The Koine Greek Lexicon online doesn’t have a listing for φέβομαι.

9 Luke 19:21a (NET)

10 Genesis 15:1 (NET) Table

11 The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ἵνα here, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had οπως (KJV: that).

12 Mark 5:23 (NET) The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 had ζήσῃ here, a form of ζάω in the aorist tense, where the Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had ζησεται (KJV: she shall live), in the future tense.

14 Mark 5:35, 36 (NET)

15 Genesis 18:10 (NET)

16 Genesis 18:12 (NET)

17 Genesis 18:15 (NET)

19 The Stephanus Textus Receptus and Byzantine Majority Text had επι (KJV: in) here. The NET parallel Greek text and NA28 did not.

20 Matthew 2:19-22 (NET)

21 Genesis 19:18, 19 (NET)

[23] Genesis 19:20 (NET)

[24] Genesis 19:21 (NET)

[25] Genesis 19:22a (NET)

[26] Genesis 19:24a (NET)

[27] Genesis 19:30 (NET)

[28] Matthew 14:3 (NET)

[29] Matthew 14:4 (NET)

[30] Matthew 14:5 (NET)