The Tola worm was mentioned during last Sunday's sermon. As an aside, the Tola worm brings to mind the scarlet thread that runs throughout the Bible, a subject for another time.
But I digress; the Tola worm. Psalm 22 reads like it was dictated by Jesus from the cross and includes “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.” Psalm 22:6
On the cross Jesus gave His life as a propitiation to bridge the gap between a righteous God and fallen man, something of a similitude to the Tola, the scarlet worm, who gives her life so that her young may have life.
When the Tola, the scarlet worm. reproduces, the female attaches herself permanently to a tree and covers her eggs with her body. The worm gives her life to feed her baby worms resulting in a crimson liquid that after three days leaves a red stain on the tree and a white shell.
Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Perhaps there is a deeper meaning in the use of the word worm and the expression son of man in Job. “How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. 6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?” Job 25:4-6.
Our righteous God could not look at Jesus on the cross as Jesus represented our sin.
Matthew 27:46, “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
In fulfillment of another prophecy prophecy.
Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”
Worm - H8438 - tôlâ‛ - a maggot, the crimson grub, in this connection of the color from it, and cloths dyed therewith: - crimson, scarlet, worm. [Strong’s]
The phrase, 'In the beginning, God', is not the Inspired perfect first complete thought in the Bible. The Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 is the Inspired first complete thought in the Bible. One preacher is right to state that 'we must ponder the amazing truths implied by' the 'phrase, in the beginning God.' But if that statement is right, then so much more it is right regarding the *Hebrew* word order of v. 1.
ReplyDeleteThat preacher notes, and I quote:
We must stand in awe of this incomprehensible, infinite, eternal and unchangeable God, who created all things out of nothing. As we have seen, we can infer from these four words that God is eternal, independent, multi-personal, powerful, wise, and sovereign. And Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:4 that God “chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” In other words, in the beginning we were already loved and chosen by God and our salvation was certain. And, as a result, we must love him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. We must strive to understand and obey his Word. We must work hard to put our sinful nature to death and serve him in the obedience of faith. We must long for his appearing. Fix your eyes on Jesus Christ and your eternal home, not on this earth. God is the source of all true joy and strength.
End Quote. ( https://gracevalley.org/sermon/in-the-beginning-god/ gvcc@gracevalley.org )
That quote is implied even more in the Hebrew:
'In the beginning created God the.... '
The English grammatically presents the word 'God' prior to presenting the word 'created'. The Hebrew, by presenting the word 'created' prior to presenting the word 'God', far better implies that God not only is prior the objects that God created, but that God is a relational being in regard to what He created.
The English, in fact, more suggests an aloofness on the part of God. For, in that it presents the word 'God' prior to presenting the word 'created', it confirms any bias we may have that favors any notion, on our parts, that God is aloof. This is because there is a kind of complete thought thereunto in the phrase, 'In the beginning, God'.
God does not need anything. Nevertheless, God is not the 'Divine Autistic'. We are. And we are not divine. Just autistic. Just in need of retreating.
If God is a Trinity of Persons, then He logically cannot be autistic. He cannot be aloof.
God may 'hide' Himself from the rebel. But that does not mean that God, in Himself, needs to retreat. Genesis 1:1 is not any kind of act of God to retreat from anything. It is an act of generosity. The Hebrew word-order shows this.
We may feel a need to be aloof. We may feel a need to remove ourselves from a debate. We even may actually need to 'retreat into ourselves' sometimes. But God never feels any need, in Himself, for Himself to retreat.
So the English word-order of v. 1 is not what is inspired about the English translation. Rather, what is inspired about that translation is its explicit full meaning: 'In the beginning God CREATED....
The Hebrew, by presenting the word 'created' prior to presenting the word 'God', implies that God is a God of action. And it begs us to anticipate the subject, 'God', in His acting.
ReplyDeleteFirst, it begs our anticipation of the subject. Then, by begging this, it also begs our anticipation of the objects and the fact that God takes actions in relation to them: first by designing and creating them. Finally, in our being in mind of His designing them, it begs our attention to the relation between the various objects. Thus:
1. The general, (or 'masculine') cosmos and the special (or 'feminine') Earth (Genesis 1:1).
2. The Earth, as its own general subject, implying that which we all intuit is most valuable about the Earth unto itself in all the cosmos: its abiding maximal abundance of open liquid water (Genesis 1:2).
3. that water and its special relation to the Sun's light, hence the water cycle (vs. 3-10);
4. The water cycle and its special beneficiary and member, biology (vs. 11-12);
5. biology and its special category, animal biology (plant/animal/mineral = animal) (vs. 20-22, 24-25);
6. Animal biology and its special category, human (vs. 26-28);
7. The general man and the special woman (Genesis 2:21-23).