DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Genesis 46:1-7
(4/17) 1st
Reading at
Vespers, Thursday of the 6th Week of the Great Fast
The
Improbable God: Genesis 46:1-7, especially vs. 3: “And
He says to him, I Am the God of thy fathers; fear not to go down into Egypt, for I
will make thee there a great nation.” Repeatedly,
Holy Scripture confirms that God’s ways are beyond our comprehension and
prediction. How often the Lord
achieves the unexpected, the unlikely, and the improbable! How improbable that God directed Abraham
to sacrifice his only son, Isaac (Gen. 22). How unlikely that Isaac’s
second-born, Jacob, should come into possession both of his family’s
birthright and of his father’s blessing (Gen. 27). Who would expect Joseph, the lost son of
Jacob, sold into chattel slavery, to become a ruler in Egypt (Gen.
37:28 and 45:8)? God regularly
defies human logic, your planning and mine: “the wisdom of the wise, and
will hide the understanding of the prudent” (Is. 29:14). This present passage reveals again the
improbable, wonderful nature of God: how He changes people by His grace, how He
uses unfavorable circumstances to benefit His People, and how He overcomes
seemingly impossible circumstances.
During a long exile in Mesopotamia,
Jacob matured as a man before God.
Then the Lord directed him to return to the land of Canaan. Along the way, he came to a ford across
the river Jabbok. There he met and
wrestled with God, and prevailed (Gen. 32:22-28)! The Holy Fathers understand that
Jacob’s victory in wrestling was an achievement in prayer. For his victory, God renamed him “Israel,”
which means, “he who wrestles with God.” His new name signaled the change in
Jacob, graces brought about by God.
What was the character of that change?
Scripture reports that when Jacob and Esau were born, Esau was delivered
first. It is also recorded that
Jacob followed so immediately that he was born grasping the heel of his older
brother. That grasping gave him his
name, Jacob, “heel holder” (Gen. 25:26). Idiomatically, “Jacob”
also means “supplanter” or “deceitful,” as Esau
bitterly noted when he was supplanted as the first-born by Jacob and his mother
Rebekah (Gen. 27:36). But God can
change deceivers and manipulators into devout servants. Saul, the persecutor and “chief of
sinners,” became Paul the Apostle.
Simon, who denied the Lord three times, became Peter, chief of the Apostles.
Here’s something valuable in this passage: God transforms
unfavorable conditions into divinely appointed circumstances. Always, the Lord effects changes to
bring about the salvation of His people.
Hence, the Lord told Jacob, “fear not to go down into Egypt”
(vs. 3). Consider Israel’s
quandary: to leave the land and to expect that one's descendants would inherit
the land was contradictory. Of
course, famine pressed him to leave, and the presence of his son Joseph in Egypt drew him
there. Yet, he would be an
alien! God, however, understood his
fear and repeated the promise, “I will make of thee there a great
nation.” Israel, the man
of God, had to accept contradiction before he could receive fulfillment. Death always precedes Resurrection.
This passage also reveals that God overcomes many impossible
things. What chances were there for
a family to migrate to a foreign land and hope to return to their country of
origin as a mighty nation? The
probability is unlikely; but God does amazing things. The Lord goes into life’s Egypts with you and me: “I will go down
with thee into Egypt,
and I will bring thee up at the end” (vs. 4). He overcomes what we cannot defeat,
attains what we cannot achieve, and provides what we lack. The disciples who fled into the night
from the Garden became the victorious Apostles of the good news of the
Resurrection: “...let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has
made this Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts
2:36).
By Thy Cross all gifts have shone forth upon us. Wherefore, we all kneel, saying with
joy, How great are Thy works, O Lord!
Glory to Thee!
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