Barrenness
O my Lord, please let the man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born. (Judges 13:8)
This is the prayer of Manoah, the husband who is waiting for the child, Samson. One of the major subjects in the whole Bible is the subject of the promised child, promised children. There are several promised children of the Bible. All of them, they are preparing the way of the Messiah. All of them, they are preparing in a very miraculous way. "Make straight the way of the Lord," John the Baptist said. He is the last promised child before the Son of Man. The promised children, all of them, are pre-figurations of the Messiah, pre-figurations of the Savior.
Let us now put the question: in what circumstances did God promise a child? The answer to this question is in the first verse of chapter 13. "Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them to the hands of the Philistines for forty years." Forty years. Forty years of pilgrimage in the wilderness. Forty days of testing in the wilderness. Forty years - the whole lifetime of a man. And forty years here means the total depravity, a continuous captivity in the hands of the Philistines. In that situation, in that condition, God promised to us a child.
Let us focus now our attention on another question. What condition must I be in to have a promised child? What condition must I be in to receive the promised child? To answer this question, it is good to remind ourselves of some of the promised children of the Bible. Isaac, the son of Sarah. Jacob or Israel, the son of Rebecca. Joseph, the son of Rachel. Samson, the son of Manoah. Samuel, the son of Hannah. The son of the Shunammite woman promised by the prophet Elisha. John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth. What do the mothers have in common? What is the common factor among the mothers? For Sarah, for Rebecca, for Rachel, for the wife of Manoah, for Hannah, for this unnamed woman in the book of Kings, and for Elizabeth? All of them were barren. All of them, they were barren. To be barren, it is a sign of the total depravity. They are like the wilderness. They are the symbol of sterility in the Bible, of the sterility of the chosen people of God.
So then, what is the condition to have a promised child? It is a very dramatic condition. To be barren. In the kingdom of God, all things are upside down. Or, it's better to say that in our lives all things are upside down compared with the kingdom of God.
[AV, (c)1998]
This is the prayer of Manoah, the husband who is waiting for the child, Samson. One of the major subjects in the whole Bible is the subject of the promised child, promised children. There are several promised children of the Bible. All of them, they are preparing the way of the Messiah. All of them, they are preparing in a very miraculous way. "Make straight the way of the Lord," John the Baptist said. He is the last promised child before the Son of Man. The promised children, all of them, are pre-figurations of the Messiah, pre-figurations of the Savior.
Let us now put the question: in what circumstances did God promise a child? The answer to this question is in the first verse of chapter 13. "Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them to the hands of the Philistines for forty years." Forty years. Forty years of pilgrimage in the wilderness. Forty days of testing in the wilderness. Forty years - the whole lifetime of a man. And forty years here means the total depravity, a continuous captivity in the hands of the Philistines. In that situation, in that condition, God promised to us a child.
Let us focus now our attention on another question. What condition must I be in to have a promised child? What condition must I be in to receive the promised child? To answer this question, it is good to remind ourselves of some of the promised children of the Bible. Isaac, the son of Sarah. Jacob or Israel, the son of Rebecca. Joseph, the son of Rachel. Samson, the son of Manoah. Samuel, the son of Hannah. The son of the Shunammite woman promised by the prophet Elisha. John the Baptist, the son of Elizabeth. What do the mothers have in common? What is the common factor among the mothers? For Sarah, for Rebecca, for Rachel, for the wife of Manoah, for Hannah, for this unnamed woman in the book of Kings, and for Elizabeth? All of them were barren. All of them, they were barren. To be barren, it is a sign of the total depravity. They are like the wilderness. They are the symbol of sterility in the Bible, of the sterility of the chosen people of God.
So then, what is the condition to have a promised child? It is a very dramatic condition. To be barren. In the kingdom of God, all things are upside down. Or, it's better to say that in our lives all things are upside down compared with the kingdom of God.
[AV, (c)1998]
posted by CS at 9:19 PM
1 Comments:
It's hard to accept that being dry, being barren can be a good thing, or a state of pre-blessing as it were. All things are upside down. I can't dispute what the author says here about the connection between barrenness and promised children - but it's so weird, so not how I would have done it. I kind of like it but am kind of wary of it. Help.
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