Blog
Ha-Adam
Jennifer Schillinger
Adam or “Ha-Adam” is the first human being created in the Bible. The “Adam” part of the name comes from the Hebrew word “Adama” meaning ground, so in essence the name “Ha-Adam” could be translated as “the groundling” or in funny sci-fi terms “the earthling.”
It’s interesting that the first being was names from the stuff it was created with. Which is the first of two things that connect Ha-Adam with the animals that were created. Genesis 1:24-25 says,
“And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.”
It said “let the land produce living creatures.” Animals came from the land just like Ha-Adam like it was stated in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” We are intimately connected with the ground and all other living things that come from the ground. This can be seen even in our scientific understanding of the shared proteins in the DNA structures that we share with other living things. In every dimension God is intentional in showing our interconnectivity. This leads to the second thing that connects Adam to the animals. Both were talked about as being “living beings” or “Nephesh” both containing life as fully living beings.
Though made from the materials and both described as living beings, what distinguished Adam or Ha-Adam from the animals was they bared the image of God, Genesis 1:27, the second distinguishing factor is Ha-Adam had God’s breath of life, intimately breathed into their nostrils, directly from God, as can be seen in Genesis 2:7 above.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27. Ha-Adam was created male and female in perfect union, and in the image of God, containing his life-giving breath and existing both as male and female. It wasn’t until later that Ha-Adam was separated into Man (Esh) and Women (Esha) in Genesis 2:22. Only after God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone,” Genesis 2:18. Yet still showing that in coming together we are made whole, Genesis 2:24.
There is so much dimension to be discovered when studying the first people in Genesis. Male, female, man, women, partnership and oneness, and the connection with all living things.
When have you experienced the wholeness brought forth by partnership with another person or with God’s creation?
Jennifer Schillinger
Moses
Preston Hall
What is in a name?
When I search out the name Moses I find the name comes from a Hebrew verb meaning “to pull/draw out”, which might remind us of Moses being pulled out of the Nile River as a baby. I would be in de-nile (had to) if I knew exactly what it meant as others say it can mean “born of God.” Either way, being pulled from a river reminds me of being born through the river canal of a mother’s passage that guides us into this life. Once the water breaks, the time has come for us to be drawn or pulled out of the safety of our mother’s womb into a deeper reality of life.
Moses’ name and life reads as one who is continually being drawn out by God into places he is reluctant to go. Sound familiar? It seems in birth we had no choice, but outside the womb we’re further drawn into a journey that invites our willingness to participate. Our reluctance is usually us wanting to feel the safety inside the womb again, but what if we found ourselves in another wombing process?
This reminds me of Moses being asked to participate with God in pulling/drawing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. This was no small task when one of the most powerful nations in the world is providing you food and shelter, if only you remain a slave. God, it seems, always has something better, while seeking to draw us out of any kind of slavery to give birth to a better promise.
Moses eventually leads these slaves out of Egypt and into a process that seemed to take much longer than it needed to. Have you ever felt like you were in a process that is taking much longer than needed? Have you ever felt pregnant with a possibility but didn’t know when the delivery will come? Can you see where God is drawing you out of things that seem safe but are enslaving you?
And what happens when you leave the comforts of the familiar and journey into a wilderness of unknowing? Do things from your old way of life follow you?
Like the story of the Red Sea parting, there are moments we are drawn out of something, or called to draw others out of, where we come upon a barrier and see no way to cross it. Yet it’s here where Moses is living into his name as God is allowed to be drawn out from within. That fear and slave mentality that was “driven” into the people, and which Moses also had within himself, was being “drawn out” by a Better Way. At this point, you can either be in de-nile of what God is doing, or you can allow God to draw you out to move through any barrier…one…step...at…a time.
It is no wonder that history records the journey of Moses leading the Exodus through the Red Sea as mirroring that of a birth canal. Once they entered this passage there was no going back. The only way through was forward. These people were continually being given the option of being born again and again, so that when the water breaks or parts in life, they could be ushered into the next phase of the journey “through” this life from within the very life of God.
Maybe you are ready to meet the obstacles of life with a new perspective awaiting to see how the waters will part? Then you too can do your part as you live into the name God has given you. That name will continually be drawn out of you as it is realized from within.
So what is in a name?
So much, but I’m curious what YOU see in the name Moses?
Drawing it out,
Preston Hall
Ruth
Pastor Jennifer Schillinger
The book of Ruth begins with Naomi, her husband Elimelek, and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion. This family had chosen to leave their homeland of Bethlehem because of a famine. Shortly after settling in Moab, Elimelek dies leaving Naomi with her two sons who then married women from the land of Moab. We aren’t given many details, but sometime in the 10 years they were in Moab, Naomi’s two sons also die, leaving Naomi with her two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth.
Bitter and heartbroken, Naomi turns to go back to her home country and urges her daughters-in-law to return to their mother’s house. After some persistence, Orpah agrees to go home, but Ruth refuses to leave Naomi’s side, saying in Ruth 1: 16-18:
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
What courage it must have taken for Ruth to choose to go with her mother-in-law to a strange land, humbled, of low standing as widows, with minimal prospects for their future. Imagine the relationship they must have formed during their time together in Moab. There must have been something pretty amazing in Naomi that drew Ruth to her; something in Naomi that caused Ruth to cling to her, regardless of their circumstances.
Naomi, which means pleasant in Hebrew, may have been living into her name well in Moab, but she certainly wasn’t pleasant upon her return to Bethlehem. In fact, she told those who greeted her, “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” (Ruth 1: 20-21) Mara means bitter. She was so changed by her circumstance that she took on a new name, a new identity of bitterness, and even still Ruth stayed with her.
In Hebrew, Ruth means friend. She faithfully stood by Naomi, even when Naomi’s bitterness caused her to be dismissive of the gift Ruth was being to her. Ruth loved and listened to the counsel of Naomi, and in doing so brought about restoration. By the end of the story the women in the town rejoiced with Naomi saying in Ruth 4: 14-17:
“Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
What an amazing come-back story. From widowed and destitute to giving birth to the grandfather of King David! It’s a beautiful picture of what true loving friendship can do.
Have you ever loved someone like Ruth loved Naomi? Ruth must have also been experiencing grief at the loss of her husband. Was it love and grief that knit Naomi and Ruth together? Naomi’s grief drove her to bitterness, yet Ruth journeyed with her and gave up every hope of security to walk that path with Naomi. Can we say we would do the same? Ruth challenges us to consider the power of sacrificial friendship. How can we love with greater abandon? How do we walk another’s path with them? What kind of restorative work can God do through our love and presence?
Sarah
Leah Schoepp
Sarah or Sarai, whatever you may call her, is one of the matriarchs of the Old Testament. She was the wife of Abram or Abraham and bore him one son named Isaac.
In Genesis 11:30 it is stated, “Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.” A big part of Sarah’s story in the Bible is that she was barren, had no children, was unable to conceive, and so on and so forth but that is also one of the most hopeful parts of her story. Now, one might be thinking how on earth is a lady not being able to have kids a hopeful part of a story? Well, I am about to tell you.
If one is able to look across the Bible, New Testament and Old, there are miracles scattered throughout. One of the more important ones being the conception of Isaac. When Abraham was about 99 years old he had 3 visitors come to his camp and they proclaimed that by that time next year Sarah shall have a son. I bet you can guess what happened next. It is a year later, Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah has born a son and named him Isaac.
During that same visit even Sarah thought that it would be impossible for her to give birth to a son. In Genesis 18:13-15 “The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”” These verses point out that regardless if you think that God cannot use you anymore because you feel too messed up or too old or you never do anything right; He can, He will, and He does use you whether you see it or not. This passage also shows that you can’t hide anything from God inside or out. These verses help spread a word of hope to all who hear them because it lets people know that if they come as they are battered, broken, hurt, they can still be used by God in their situation.
Sarah’s story is one of sadness and hope. We have the advantage of being able to look back and read about Sarah and see the miracle that only our God could perform. Sarah is the reason that we can read about Isaac because without her he would not exist. Sarah/Sarai was one of the matriarchs of the line of Jesus and the Old Testament but she can still influence us to this day.
King Solomon
Pastor Jennifer Schillinger
King Solomon was the third king of Israel thought to have reigned from about 970 – 931 BCE. The second son to his mother Bathsheba, who was most remembered as the beautiful wife of Uriah, with whom David had an affair. As you may recall, David tried covering up the indiscretion which had led to Bathsheba becoming pregnant. With no luck, he gave orders to have Uriah killed. David then married Bathsheba but their first son died during childbirth which some attribute as penance for the infidelity.
Solomon was named by his mother. Solomon means shalom or peace, with the root shalaam meaning wholeness. He seemed destined, or at the very least, named in hopes he would lead the people into a season of peace. One that would honor the Lord with the building of the Temple.
Though named by his mother with the hope of future leadership, Solomon was not the natural successor to the throne. In fact, as David’s health began to wane, one of his older brothers, Adonijah, made a move for power and tried to announce himself as king. Instead, David selected Solomon. Though generational succession may have been normal in the surrounding kingdoms, Solomon was the first king in Israel to succeed his father. In contrast, the first transition of leadership in Israel was between Saul and David.
Not only was Solomon the first son to follow his father as king, he was also the first king to lead a unified Israel in the promised land and in a time of peace. A great undertaking for a young boy. Could you imagine being entrusted with the future of a nation at age 12-15? In addition to holding the pressure of a nation, he also had the pressure of legacy.
Solomon didn’t have just any father, his dad was King David; writer of the Psalms, beloved slayer of Goliath, and warrior known as a man after God’s own heart. A relationship of which Solomon was very aware. In 1 Kings 3, known as the wisdom of Solomon passage, he begins his conversation with God saying in verse six through eight:
“You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father, David because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.”
In humility, he recognizes the honor and responsibility of leading Israel as a result of God’s kindness to his father David. Another leader may have taken this opportunity to review their own merits and qualify why they are the best choice to lead but Solomon, already demonstrating wisdom, recognizes his place and limitations. He goes on in response to God’s question, “Ask what I have for you” saying in verse nine:
“So, give your servant a discerning [listening] heart to govern your people and to distinguish good [to] evil. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”
The listening heart Solomon refers to is written in the imperfect verb tense, which has ongoing implications. In essence, when God confirms his request in verses 11-13, God had given, was giving, and would continue to give Solomon a listening heart that would help him discern the spectrum of good to evil. The evidence can be seen in his first ruling as king, between the two prostitutes who were arguing over the baby boy. Though both living a sinful life punishable by stoning, Solomon was able to judge the issue at hand and not be distracted by the gradation of wrongs laid in front of his court.
Though imperfect, under Solomon’s reign, Israel would build God’s Temple and experience a season of wealth and prosperity which they had never experienced before nor have they experienced since.
The Stranger Among Us: Hagar
Pastor Jennifer Schillinger
Abram was 70 when God called him to leave his home with the promise that God would make of him a great nation. Sixteen years after the promise was given there was still no sight of a child. I imagine those to be years of great trial.
Have you ever been given a promise it took years to see fulfilled?
When Sarai realized she had still not borne Abram any children, she offered her maidservant Hagar to Abram, hoping they could make a line through her.
Hagar was an Egyptian maidservant acquired by Abram and Sarai sometime during their early travels; it is uncertain if she was with the family earlier in their journey or if she was picked up when Abram and Sarai went to Egypt during the famine in Genesis 12. Hagar’s name means the foreigner or the stranger. In the biblical text, names are not meaningless identifiers, but rather provide a glimpse into the identity and purpose of a person.
Could you imagine being known as the stranger. Never fully feeling like you belong, not feeling seen or valued, but rather the means of fulfillment for another?
Once pregnant, Hagar despised Sarai and Sarai treated her poorly. As a result, Hagar fled. How frightening must it have been for a female slave on the run? While on her way to Shur, the Lord met her by a spring. He asked her, “where have you come from and where are you going?” He spoke to her, saw her in her struggle, listened, and spoke to her.
Hagar, a female Egyptian maidservant, is the first person God chose to speak to in the wilderness. How comforting to know we do not need to be a person of status, a certain gender, or a person in faith leadership, in order to hear from the Lord. This woman who was a foreigner, who would have been regarded always as the stranger, was also the first to give God a name. She names the Lord “El-roi” the God who sees, and the well where she has this encounter was called “Beer-lahai-roi,” the well of the living one who sees me. God saw the one who was unseen. God sees the stranger.
How do we receive the strangers among us? Do we make them feel as though the things they are not are a greater definer or of greater value than that which they are? God saw Hagar and met her in her hurt. He went to her; can we say we do the same?
When the angel of the Lord spoke to Hagar he said, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.” Not everything the angel said was easy. When God speaks, it’s not always what we want to hear, but it may very well be what we need to hear. Hagar still needed to go back and face the difficult situation from which she was fleeing, but she could return knowing God saw her, and she could hold on to the promise of the future God had made to her, and to her son.
Joshua
Pastor Lora Schoepp
The story of Joshua is one I have had in my mind since this summer. I studied in a group:
Exodus 33:11 New International Version
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Obviously we know Joshua had to leave the tent of meeting but why does the Bible say he doesn’t? Is it a state of mind for Joshua? Was it in his heart? He didn’t go anywhere without the presence of God going with him? This man who led God’s people to the promised land. This man who God told:
Joshua 1:7 New International Version
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
Joshua had been quite successful leading God’s people. He tried hard to keep them worshipping God and had some success in that area.
Joshua 24:31 New International Version
Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.
However, after Joshua and those of his generation died the next generation forgot the Lord.
Judges 2:10 New International Version
After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.
I am a big believer in the importance of legacy. Layer in the importance of leading a life of Tov, seeds for the future who in turn have seeds for the future. I don’t want the knowledge and love of God I have been taught and grown in my lifetime to die with me. I want to share with others what I have learned and the good things, the tov things God has done in my life. Joshua knew the importance of God. He reminded his people of the things God had done but somehow they forgot to pass that onto their children.
Israel
Jennifer Schillinger
Today when I hear the name Israel, my thoughts are drawn to the country in the Middle East which seems to be in a constant state of conflict. A land holding many religiously and historically holy places in what is known to be God’s appointed promised land. As such, it is no surprise that this land, said to be flowing with milk and honey, would be a location of considerable contention. Though Jews and Arabs disagree as to who owns the rights to the land, within the framing of the Bible the promise of the land was born from a covenant between God and Abraham, passed down to his son Isaac, and then Jacob, whom God would later rename Israel.
Names in the bible hold great meaning. They often tell us something about the circumstances in which people were born, and often even more about the person’s calling or identity. Abraham for example means father of many nations, which was part of the promise of God in Genesis 12:1-2. When the Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. Though Abraham only had one son with Sarah, God had promised to bring about a great, big, large nation, something he would have held in faith, but would not see in his lifetime.
It would take generations to see this great, big, large nation fulfilled, a responsibility passed to his son Isaac, and then passed to Abraham’s grandson. Jacob was born the second son in a set of twins. His brother Esau was the first born, which traditionally meant he would inherit a double portion of his father’s wealth, along with the family blessing, and responsibility to care for the entire family following the death of their father. The name Jacob is often mistranslated to mean deceiver, but Jacob’s name literally means heel, so named because he came out of his mother’s womb grasping the heel of his brother Esau. As you can imagine, their relationship was complicated. Not only was Jacob named in relationship to his brother, but also his mother Rebekah had been told by God in Genesis 25:23, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
Tensions rose when Jacob got Esau to sell him his birthright for a bowl of stew and bread, and then peaked when Jacob, at the prompting of his mother, also stole the blessing from their father. In Genesis 27:18-19 [Jacob] went to his father and said, “My father.” “Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.
After Jacob took the blessing, Esau was bent on killing him and was just waiting for the death of his father. In an effort to protect Jacob, Rebekah sent him to her brother Laban. It is easy to see that up to this point Jacob had truly been living out his name, he had been just on the heels of his brother, almost clinging to the promise of the first born, which he ultimately was successful in taking.
Jacob meets God for the first time on the way to Haran and the house of Laban. He had some challenging years working for his uncle and paying for the hand of his two daughters. Finally, the time came when Jacob had increased in favor and Laban’s house and Laban’s sons were growing jealous, so in Genesis 31:3 the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” In true Jacob fashion, Jacob ran away from Laban’s house resulting in Laban’s swift pursuit. He scolded Jacob for sneaking away without allowing him to say goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren, and was also angered by the theft of some false gods someone had stolen from his house. Even in this, it was clear Jacob was still reverting to his old patterns of fleeing versus confrontation.
When Jacob made his way back to Seir he realized he would encounter his past, Esau, and in fact need to find a way through his past if he were ever going to move into his future. He was afraid of the anger of his brother, and in fear he sent all his wealth and belongings, including his family, ahead of him, until he was left alone at the camp on the other side of the Jordan river. Genesis 32:24-28 reads,
“So, Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with man and have prevailed.”
This is the first time since the beginning of the text that Jacob actually says his own name! In past he had lied and said he was Esau, and even in the land of his uncle he refers to himself as a relative of Laban’s and the son of Rebekah. It’s not until this moment that he comes to terms with his own identity, and in that admission, God is able to change his name, and give him the next part of his identity, Israel, which means to wrestle with God, and man, and be able. As Jacob, he was prone to flee, and to grasp at the heel of the firstborn promise, but now as Israel, the future of God’s chosen people, he was invited to wrestle with God, and with man, a far more direct, active, and intimate way of being in ongoing relationship. And if the words weren’t enough, during the wrestling God had touched Jacob’s hip socket, resulting in a limp he would have had the rest of his life. This limp would have caused him to walk on the heel of his foot, a reminder of who he was born, and that which brings forth the blessing in his new name.
Reading on in the text we see that sometimes he is called Israel and other times he is still called Jacob. Sometimes he lives into his past and sometimes he lives into the sacred future.
Questions to consider: What does your name say about your identity and purpose? Like Jacob, and the mislabeling of deceiver, how have people placed identity statements over you that might not be true to who you were created to be? If we are all grafted into the family of God, and therefore also God’s chosen people, then we are all called to be Israelites, those who wrestle with God and man, and are able. In what ways are you currently wrestling with God and man?
By: Kathleen Trana
The featured letter today is “Shin.” It is almost at the end of the Hebrew alef-bet (alphabet). The name of the letter is transliterated just like the English word shin, a part of your leg that helps you walk in a balanced way. However, it is pronounced similar to "Sheen" (Think of God's majestic glory). The letter carries the sound of “SH.”
It has been shown with aerial photos that God has placed his favored city of Jerusalem on mountainous geography that has an underlying pattern of the Hebrew consonant “shin”. Many people refer to God as “HaShem.” Do you see the SH sound in the middle? This word means “The Name” and is considered a reverential way of referring to God. Seeing the connection between the “shin” and the location of Jerusalem on the mountains is one way it appears that God has stamped His name on the city.
The “shin” appears on both ends of the Hebrew word pronounced shoh-resh. You can see the three consonants running through the middle of the word and the dots (except for one) which represent the vowels at the top and the bottom. Unlike English, Hebrew is read from left to right! This word “shoresh” means root. As you undertake to learn Hebrew you will find God’s Word taking root in your life in new ways, helping to create balance.