September 22nd, 2020

Thinking is an important part of being human. People did a lot of thinking in the Old Testament; sometimes that is not so obvious.

Sometimes a biblical text can have a form of the verb ‘to think’, but it is hidden within the translation. In the Old Testament text for last Sunday, Joseph literally said to his brothers, ‘And you, you thought evil against me …’ There the word ‘thought’ is often translated as ‘meant’ or ‘intended’ (Genesis 50:20; see ESV and NIV).’

There is also a time in Genesis when the verb ‘to think’ is used to describe the thinking of God. When the LORD promises that he will have as many descendants as the stars in the sky, the text says that Abraham ‘believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; ESV).’ The word ‘counted’ is also the verb ‘to think’.

Thinking is an important part of many Old Testament activities, and thoughts are often closely connected to actions. Sometimes it has been said that ‘actions speak louder than words’. I would not say that this is always true. But what is true is that actions speak louder than thoughts. The evil brothers thought to do evil to Joseph, and they tried to kill him. And a gracious LORD thinks to do good to Abraham, and the LORD abundantly blessed him in many ways.

The great contrast between the thoughts of man and the thoughts of the LORD is made quite clear in the Old Testament text for this Sunday, from Isaiah 55[:6-9]. In that text, thoughts are mentioned several times. Here is the text in a somewhat literal translation (verses 8 & 9):

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways, saying of Yahweh. For the heavens are higher from the earth, so my ways are higher from your ways and my thoughts from your thoughts.’

This text, by itself, may make us feel isolated and alone, as if God were far off. While that is the message that is conveyed within this text, that is certainly not the message of the context, and of most of the Old Testament; and God is certainly not far off in the New Testament.

In Exodus, for example, there is a progression from the glory being on Mt. Sinai, and Moses having to go up into that, and the glory eventually rests on the tabernacle, and it goes along with the people. That is God getting CLOSER.

Before we get to the New Testament, it might be important to note that this word, in the language of the Old Testament, is a very special word. Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament, is a very unique language. It is a very concrete language. There are no Hebrew words for ‘principles’ and ‘concepts’. The Hebrew language often takes things that are somewhat invisible and defines them in a very visible way. And that sort of thing happens with the verb, ‘to think’.

In the Hebrew language, the verb ‘to think’ is also the verb ‘to weave’. Weaving is to many a lost art. But the idea of having threads go in different directions, with the end result of making something beautiful and/or useful, that sounds a lot like how thoughts go sometimes.

Although the way God would ‘weave’ something and the way we would weave something would be quite different and would obviously result in different levels of perfection, the LORD did not stay far away. Jesus ‘weaved’ in and out among the people of his day. He also said things that had people going in different directions. Most importantly, it all culminated for Jesus on the cross.

The people who were nearby had a different picture in their minds. ‘Come down from the cross,’ they said, ‘and we will believe in you.’ Some said, ‘He saved others, but he cannot save himself (Matthew 27:42).’ Those thoughts are attached to the idea of power. Lots of OUR thoughts are connected to power! But something different comes from the LORD’s thoughts, with the LORD’s gentle thoughts.

God IS love. What a thought!