When
Yaakov (Jacob), which means ‘the supplanter’, came to the ford of the
Jabbok river, the story says he wrestled with an angel through the night
until shortly before the sun rose. And the last thing this ‘angel’ told
him was, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you
have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Genesis 33:28,
NIV)
Full stop right here, everybody.
The name ‘Yisro-el’, or Israel, apparently means ‘s/he who has struggled with God and other humans, and has prevailed.
Say what?! Someone has striven with God…and prevailed??!!
Anyone can say that the idea of ‘prevailing’ in a struggle with God is like a little boy who imagines he really has knocked down and bested his father in one of those mock-fights good fathers give their sons when they’re small — and they’d be right to say so.
But let those same parties answer this question: how secure does a man’s sense of being a man need to be to let his small son(s) think that he has, or they have, bested Dad in such a fun tussle? Could an adult male insecure in his manhood do that? Allow me to doubt that, and deeply too.
Another aspect of this story is: nowhere in the ancient Middle East, or around the eastern Mediterranean, is there such a god that allows a human being to even imagine that s/he has prevailed in a struggle with the god.
By way of contrast, look at ancient Greece’s stories of the gods: Zeus was so outraged at Prometheus giving fire to humans that he chained him on Mt. Caucasus and had a vulture eat his liver daily. And then the liver grew back to be eaten again the next day. And this happened for a few hundred years, until Prometheus told Zeus something which secured his throne.
Full stop right here, everybody.
The name ‘Yisro-el’, or Israel, apparently means ‘s/he who has struggled with God and other humans, and has prevailed.
Say what?! Someone has striven with God…and prevailed??!!
Anyone can say that the idea of ‘prevailing’ in a struggle with God is like a little boy who imagines he really has knocked down and bested his father in one of those mock-fights good fathers give their sons when they’re small — and they’d be right to say so.
But let those same parties answer this question: how secure does a man’s sense of being a man need to be to let his small son(s) think that he has, or they have, bested Dad in such a fun tussle? Could an adult male insecure in his manhood do that? Allow me to doubt that, and deeply too.
Another aspect of this story is: nowhere in the ancient Middle East, or around the eastern Mediterranean, is there such a god that allows a human being to even imagine that s/he has prevailed in a struggle with the god.
By way of contrast, look at ancient Greece’s stories of the gods: Zeus was so outraged at Prometheus giving fire to humans that he chained him on Mt. Caucasus and had a vulture eat his liver daily. And then the liver grew back to be eaten again the next day. And this happened for a few hundred years, until Prometheus told Zeus something which secured his throne.
And
note further the story of Arachne, in which Arachne thinks she can
weave at least as well as the goddess Athene — who, of course, is there
in no time to prove herself. Athene weaves a tapestry showing all the
mightay-mightay deeds of the gods, while Arachne weaves a pattern
showing all the gods’ abuses of power over mortals. The story relates
that Athene ‘could not forbear to admire, yet her indignation over
Arachne’s insult mastered her’ and she destroyed Arachne’s tapestry and,
in a manner of speaking, turned Arachne into the first spider.
And gods like that were what prevailed all over the ancient eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, except for the God of Israel, who did not (and still does not) destroy those who struggled, and who struggle yet, with Him, but Who, rather, acknowledges those who strive with Him and with other humans by renaming them according to that very struggle!
Again — everybody stop…and just let the implications of this sink in!
And gods like that were what prevailed all over the ancient eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, except for the God of Israel, who did not (and still does not) destroy those who struggled, and who struggle yet, with Him, but Who, rather, acknowledges those who strive with Him and with other humans by renaming them according to that very struggle!
Again — everybody stop…and just let the implications of this sink in!
Most
scholars of the Tanakh (which most of my fellow Christians call the Old
Testament) will agree that the children of Israel as led by Moshe were
almost anything but the best material for making and building a nation.
Hence they roamed for forty years, until a generation with no memory of
Egyptian slavery came of age.
And most of them will (at least the ones I appreciate) follow that observation up with, their being almost anything but ideal material is an important point of the whole story. But there were enough among them willing to first trust, and then to struggle, with YHWH to keep the ball rolling. Sometimes, Scripture tells us, it was only one person as in the time of Elijah.
The only other place I remember hearing about such a god was in a Native American story where humans were endeavoring to climb into Heaven and the Great Spirit was pleased by their spirit. If anyone knows more details (including which nation or nations tell it) about this story, please share them with me.
The basic point here is, such struggling is not only normal but what God Himself wants us to do with Him! He does ask us to trust him, yes, but trust can be conditional and/or wary and God can and does deal with that in such people.
And most of them will (at least the ones I appreciate) follow that observation up with, their being almost anything but ideal material is an important point of the whole story. But there were enough among them willing to first trust, and then to struggle, with YHWH to keep the ball rolling. Sometimes, Scripture tells us, it was only one person as in the time of Elijah.
The only other place I remember hearing about such a god was in a Native American story where humans were endeavoring to climb into Heaven and the Great Spirit was pleased by their spirit. If anyone knows more details (including which nation or nations tell it) about this story, please share them with me.
The basic point here is, such struggling is not only normal but what God Himself wants us to do with Him! He does ask us to trust him, yes, but trust can be conditional and/or wary and God can and does deal with that in such people.
But He doesn’t
ask, indeed might well refuse, the absolute submission which too many
faux-spiritual megaphones claim He requires. Not so; it is they
who demand absolute submission from their ‘sheep’ who they first fleece
and too often, sooner or later, send to slaughter while being quite
safely behind the battle lines themselves!! This goes for any label, be
it ‘Christian’ or ‘Muslim’ or anything else!
I know this firsthand: many was the time I asked God what I should do and heard no answer. It took me years to see that I was being asked to develop my own judgment with God’s help. Can there be a way to incorporate all of any nation who struggle so with God into Israel? Were, or are, Christianity and Islam supposed to be such a way or ways? Think about this and let’s see some serious feedback on that question and others which I hope this post raises.
Finally,
only God can say when all the purposes of His pilot group (aka Am
Yisrael, aka the Jews and other Hebrews) are fulfilled. For Christians,
Muslims or any other mortals to make such a pronouncement is both
ridiculous and sacrilegious — yes, you read that second word quite
rightly!
We can speculate on what God might have in mind for them, but that’s as far as it should go. I personally believe Israel has such glory ahead of it beside which the ancient kingdom of Solomon will be like a flickering single candle beside a thousand-watt floodlight!
So yes, indeed, and in more ways than occur to us at the moment — AM YISRAEL CHAI!
