Hebraic Musing - Are
we over or under God?
Contrast Jacob's famous dream with another famous dream in the Bible. When Jacob had his dream about a ladder reaching to heaven, Scripture tells us, “There above it stood the LORD” Genesis 28:13. In Hebrew, the 'above' is על. In Jacob’s dream, the Lord was above him. In Pharaoh’s dream, Pharaoh was above his god. “When two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing by (in Hebrew, the ‘by’ is actually על or above ) the Nile, when out of the river there came up seven cows, sleek and fat, and they grazed among the reeds.” Genesis 41:1–2
Israel has a lot of respect for water; the country is mostly desert climate and conservation is a must in order to "make the desert bloom". Note that the river Nile was one of the important gods of the Egyptians. It is not surprising that Egypt has a lot of respect for water since the Nile supplies them with water for drinking, bathing, transportation and annual floods replenishing soil for farming. The Egyptians cherished the Nile; but took it a little too far. They worshiped it – literally. In Egypt, the Nile became their god.
Genesis 41 tells us that Pharaoh had a dream about cows as “he was standing above (or over) the Nile.” And Genesis 28 tells us that Jacob recognized the Lord God as being above him on the ladder. The difference? While Jacob and his sons served God, Pharaoh believed that his god served him.
We can have two very different relationships with God – either we can serve Him; or we can expect Him to serve us. We all ask God for our wants and needs, but the question is - what do we want those things for? Do we desire health, abundance, and peace so that we can best serve God? Or are the things we ask for completely self-serving? We can be like Pharaoh and use this world and all of God’s gifts in order to give ourselves pleasure and honor. Or, we can be like Jacob and use it all to bring pleasure and honor to Him.[1]
More simply put, we sing Isa 40:31 “…those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” What is the difference between waiting on the Lord vs. expecting the Lord to wait on us?
Points to ponder
How
many of our prayers are asking the Lord to wait on us?
Do
our prayers put us above the Lord? Or are
we looking up to Him?
Shalom February 12 , 2013
Yosef a.k.a. Joe Brusherd
Author “Hebraic Insights – 95 messages exploring the Hebrew Roots of
Christian faith”
Author “Biblical Marriage” (to be published in June 2012)
Weekly e-mails “Hebraic Musings” to be added to distribution -- Yosef1@cox.netwww.InsightsByYosef.com
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