"Then God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man; and while he was sleeping, he took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he took it with flesh. And the Lord God made the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman and he brought her to the man. Then the man said: 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This one shall be called Woman for from Man she was taken.'"
Take it from me and a lot of other people, it is painful to have an operation even when they put you under. An operation is an operation. Adam suffered. But after this painful experience Adam comes nearer to praising God than he ever has. Let's look back over chapter 2, Adam did not praise the beautiful garden that God had made for him, he did not comment on the variety of plants, he did not start in wonder when he saw the giraffe, he did not praise God for the elephant, he did remark on how cute the wee mousies were ala Robbie Burns, but when he saw the woman, then a song of praise and thanks came out of his mouth for the first time.
Israel was in pain during their bondage in Egypt, for four hundred years that were in Egypt. But when they came out of that bondage when they saw the bodies of the dead Egyptians wash up on shore, they believed in God and in his servant Moses, and then their belief blossomed into song, "I will sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and rider he has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation."
Some ask, "Would it have been better if God had just created Eve from the dust with no operation and no pain?" No, because Adam would not have had joy then, he would not have given thanks. Some say,"It would have been better if Israel had not suffered for four hundred years. Why couldn't God just transport them on a magic carpet to the promised land?" Had this happened Israel would never have believed, Israel would never have sung out in joy.
Some ask, "Why did Anointed Jesus, God's only begotten son have to die on a cross? Why couldn't he have just said the word and we would have been saved?" This is not how God works as we see from the very beginning. Through his own suffering and pain, the Lord now brings belief, eternal joy, life, righteousness, "all things excellent", to Israel and to all the nations, "for God so loved the world."
1 comment:
Now we're getting into the good stuff! Woman as the redemptive pain of Man.
Question: In jew school they taught us that the song the Israelis sang was:
Mi chamocha ba’elim, Adonai?Mi kamocha, nedar bakodesh?Nora tehilot, oseh feleh?Who is like You, Eternal One, among the gods that are worshipped? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
I remember it because it's an incredibly catchy tune - one of your better sung prayers.
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