“At the end of forty years, Avshalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hevron and fulfill the vow I made to Adonai.”-2 Samuel 15:7
I wanna point out something interesting.
In verse 15:7, Avshalom says to his father, “Please let me go to Hevron and fulfill the vow I made to Adonai.”
That translation is not correct.
What it really says is…
“Please let me go to YAHWEH in Hebron and fulfill the vow I made.”
That phrase “Yahweh in Hebron” stands alone.
It pops up all over the place in Scripture.
In the original Biblical Hebrew, we’ll encounter phrases such as:
“Yahweh in Shiloh”
Or
“Yahweh in Samaria.”
We see a similar phrasal structure in the pagan world as well.
Such as with the deity of the Philistines:
“Dagon in Ashdod.”
This goes back to the ancient belief that the power of God or the gods was restricted to certain physical locations.
So when you hear “YHWH in Hebron,” that phrase reflects the people’s inaccurate belief system at the time.
Folks didn’t believe God was everywhere all at once like we do now.
Instead, they believed the Lord was only in places where there were special buildings and priests to take care of Him.
And Hebron was considered one of those places.
Ya feel me?
So here’s the takeaway for today.
We can see that at that time, the people held an incorrect belief about the nature of God.
And that the Lord wouldn’t correct them until much later.
Now, my question to you is, how are we any different?
Ya feel me?
I betcha we also hold a ton of beliefs about the nature of God that are inaccurate.
And that won’t be corrected until later…
Or maybe not even in our lifetimes.
For example, I believe the Trinitarians are gonna have a helluva rude awakening when the one true Creator of the universe calls them on the carpet for their three gods in one idea.
See, the thing is, we call ourselves “modern” simply because we’re comparing ourselves to folks hundreds or even thousands of years ago.
But it’s all relative.
We don’t know when the Messiah is coming back.
Even though I doubt it, it could be another thousand years from now
But again, I could be wrong.
Didn’t the apostles, including Paul, think Yeshua was returning in their time?
Ya see what I mean?
So let’s say, civilization goes on for another one thousand years.
The theological beliefs we hold today may be viewed by others in the future as backwards as hell.
Ya feel me?
They might look at us, and while snickering, say:
“Can you believe believers back then believed that God consisted of three beings and that each one was called God?
What were they smoking back then?”
Anyway, I think I made my point.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face.
Now I know in part;
then I shall know fully,
even as I have been fully know.”
-1 Corinthians 13:12
I just published a message about how, in the Book of Job, one of the lessons we learn is that people want to make God what they want him to be.
When we can’t understand something, we fear it (not “fear” as in worship, but as in being afraid) and when we can’t do anything about it, we begin to redefine it into what we want it to be, something that we are more comfortable with.
Human beings NEED to understand, which is a good thing because it leads to experimentation, improvement, and productivity.
The downside is that we can’t stand it when we don’t understand something, or can’t control it, so in our fear and frustration, we redefine what it is.
That is (I believe) the main reason there are so many different religions, with so many different ways of worshiping God: it is the result of people trying to pigeon-hole God into something they feel better about.
We will never be able to understand or control God, who can (as much as we hate the idea) do whatever the heck he wants to, and we never have (what the military calls) the “Need to Know” why he does it.
When it comes to God, we have one choice- humble obedience. And, to tell the truth (which I always try to do), if we submit to his authority, it makes life go so much easier, and results in so many more blessings.
great comment which would make a great article in itself