Pageau covers the Nephilim, but I was disappointed by what he left out. Maybe he wasn’t familiar with Heiser’s work, but this would have been a very good opportunity to discuss how the Nephilim came to be on the cosmic level, and why. The takeaway is that they represent a very forceful destructive presence of…
Tag: above and below
Family Affairs
We’ve talked quite a bit about the Two Witnesses: king and priest. Pageau points out that Cain and Abel were portrayed as a mirror of that distinction. Cain worked the ground and supported his brother, while Abel provided wool for Cain’s covering. The symbolism should be obvious. It was initially a peaceful coexistence, rather like…
Fire and Water
Surely by now the Flood in Genesis has obvious symbolism of the ravages of time and chaos. The dry land was covered and all life was drowned and washed away. God would start fresh with what Noah had in his boat. Noah found God’s grace. While Pageau notes that Noah thus represented the proper balance…
Covering and Seeing
Pageau doesn’t say it clearly enough: Clothing is required by the Covenant because our fallen sensibilities cannot handle nudity without sin. Flaunting it is simply evil. If you’ve seen so much nudity that you are jaded, that is actually worse. We are supposed to be sensitive to it. If we cannot sense the urgency of…
Tools of the Trade
Still working from The Language of Creation, we learn that Moses’ staff represents the pillar of space. It was a talisman of sorts God used to make people aware of His Presence and power. Thus, it could turn into a snake, which symbolizes time and chaos. But as a staff, it could quite literally separate…
Games and Divination
Pageau sometimes uses terminology that makes me uncomfortable. He talks about the stability of the pillar and trees and mountains as “reason”, but includes divine revelation in that. Meanwhile, he then raises up the image of divination as games of risk and chaos. On the one hand, he views Covenant Law as “rational” and doesn’t…
You Must Be Dreaming
We are reminded that the typical skilled trades of the Old Testament had a lot in common, each being seen as expressions of building and creating space. In my opinion, Pageau probably belabors the point a bit much, so I won’t recount all the details. The idea is that purposeful labor was seen as joining…
Sleep and Work
Pageau reiterates the concept of a work/sleep cycle imposed on the flesh after the Fall. He also builds on the concept of how clothing became a necessity because mortal flesh is just a part of the natural world and requires protection. This is on the personal level. On a community level, the “covering” is a…
Living Under Space-Time
It’s a common doctrine in many churches and denominations that sin can be defined as arguing with God. This can be stated in many different ways to get the same basic concept. It’s anything except the one thing God said. Pageau’s definition is consistent with this. However, he uses the terminology and concepts he’s already…
Left and Right
On the one hand, the Bible clearly accepts that left-handed people are normal and okay; the Benjamites included a lot of lefty warriors. However that does not take away from the mythology about the left being awkward compared to the right in most of the human race. Nobody took it personally; it was just the…