February 20th, 2021

This year, with almost every Sunday in Lent, the Old Testament reading is from the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. These five books were considered to be the first books translated into Greek, sometime in the third century B.C.

The reason I mention that is because sometimes the Greek brings a new perspective to the English translation. And the Greek was helpful for me with the Old Testament text for this First Sunday in Lent, from Genesis 22:1-18. This is the account of Abraham ALMOST sacrificing his son, Isaac.

Perhaps before this I was being influenced by the contemporary Jewish song, ‘Jehovah Jirah, my Provider….’ Most of the translations I have seen focus on the Lord PROVIDING for Abraham. But that verb, ‘to provide’, never shows up in the original language of the text—or even its Greek translation. The basic verb that appears in the text is ‘to see’.

To see is a very concrete way of choosing or selecting. Ultimately, seeing something (or someone) can lead to providing for something (or someone!). Sometimes for you to see something is important, and I would think you would agree that for someone who is important to see YOU is extremely important! In a very concrete way, the action of seeing leads to some meaningful and wonderful things. [For more details, you may wish to see Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing, 1988; page 328.]

Here is a somewhat-literal translation of the Hebrew and the Greek of two, somewhat obscure (and difficult) verses of the text; these translations use a concrete way of providing or selecting, using the verb ‘to see’:

Genesis 22:8

And Abraham said, “God will see to it for him, the lamb for an offering-up, my son.” And they walked, two of them, together.

Then Abraam said, “The God will see to it for himself, a sheep for the whole flesh-offering, son.” And going, both, at the same time….

Genesis 22:14

And Abraham called a name of that place, Yahweh Yireh (Yahweh will see), which it will be said, the day, ‘On the mountain, Yahweh, it will be seen.

And Abraam called [or ‘began to call’] the name of that place, ‘The Lord has seen,’ that they might say today, ‘In the mount, Lord, it was seen.’

This text does not seem to talk about the Lord being seen, although some translations can give that emphasis. Perhaps that is a good reason for using the word provide.

Like some other texts, this one has, as its main figure, the ‘angel of the Lord’. That type of angel appears in other places, not only in Genesis and the Old Testament, but it has also been seen several times in the New Testament.

The word ‘angel’ means messenger. And what I find very interesting about this text in Genesis 22 is that this angel calls to Abraham from heaven (see verses 11, 15). My question is: If this angel is a messenger, why does he not COME DOWN to deliver the message?

This happens one other place in the book of Genesis, in a very similar account (see Genesis 21). This time though, this messenger is called ‘the angel of God’ (verse 17). Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, were sent away, and the text says that God heard the boy crying, and ‘the angel of God calls to Hagar from heaven….’ But why does he not show up as well?

Just perhaps those two events were not THAT important. It all worked out, both times in Genesis, for the angel to call from the heavens. With Abraham, the LORD certainly blesses him, and that can be done from a distance. With Hagar, the text even says that ‘God was with the boy, Ishmael (see Genesis 21:20a). God’s presence is so much better than the presence of an angel for just a few minutes.

Things all worked out in the rest of the Old Testament, so that the line of Abraham continued. And it does seem like it also worked out well in the New Testament.

The main messenger in the New Testament who was also God’s Son came down to deliver a very important message. He did not stay in heaven. He did not call down from the heavens. He went ALL the way down, and then, after a little while, he was lifted ALL the way up on an instrument of torture.

Special words about that very special messenger began to spread after that. Acts 5 relates the account of ALL the apostles being jailed, and an angel of the Lord shows up during the night to get them out. He not only leads them out, but he gives them instructions regarding what to do. And the word continues to spread … even today.