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Genesis 2-3: Israelites would have seen their own story here, the story of Genesis-II Kings (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings were written as a direct four-part sequel to the Pentateuch to form a single story ending with Israel and Judah’s exiles but with a note of hope for ultimate restoration). Like Israel, Adam was formed in a deserted place (Genesis 2:4-7), brought into a new, lush land – a garden, where they would be with God and take care of the land (2:8-15). But, like Adam, they disobeyed the commandment given to them directly by God and allow themselves to be led astray by the evil they have allowed to stay in the land and are subsequently cast out of the land, failing to find life and instead bringing on themselves curse and death (Genesis 3).
Israel was to have been the new Adam, God’s “do-over”, the
new representative and embodiment of humanity restored, who were to be the
vessels to bring life and initiate the completion of God’s creation-plan as
Adam should have done. But like Adam
(since they were in Adam themselves and hence suffered also from sin and
death), they failed in their mission. If
Israel was to be restored from its curse, its exile, and if their
mission to fulfill Adam’s mission was to be fulfilled, God would have to
intervene himself. As Adam grasped for
autonomy – to know good and evil through experience of them and doing both
rather than under God’s lordship and through his wise instruction – so Israel
also sought freedom from God, only to end in slavery. So Israel looked to God as Savior to save them from their state
of exile/curse and thus to restore all of creation through this – Israel’s restoration would mean Adam’s! This promise of restoration fills the Old
Testament. For example, Deuteronomy
30:1-10 (all quotes here from NIV):
30When all these blessings and curses I have set before
you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among
the nations, 2 and when you and your children return to
the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all
your soul according to everything I command you today, 3 then the Lord
your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you
again from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Even if you have been banished to the
most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged
to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more
prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. 6 The
Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of
your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all
your soul, and live. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who
hate and persecute you. 8 You
will again obey the Lord and follow all his
commands I am giving you today. 9 Then
the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of
your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the
crops of your land. The Lord will again delight in
you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are
written in this Book of the Law and turn to the Lord
your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The longing for restoration,
for God to act as Savior, comes in many places (it also is partly captured in the first verse of “O Come, O Come,
Emmanuel”).
Here are a few – Ezra 9:6b-9:
6b“I am too ashamed and disgraced, my God, to lift up
my face to you, because our sins are higher than our heads and our guilt has
reached to the heavens. 7 From the days of our ancestors until now, our
guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests
have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at
the hand of foreign kings, as it is today.
8 “But now, for a brief moment, the Lord our God
has been gracious in leaving us a remnant and giving us a firm place[a] in his sanctuary, and so our God gives light
to our eyes and a little relief in our bondage. 9 Though we are slaves,
our God has not forsaken us in our bondage. He has shown us kindness in the
sight of the kings of Persia: He has granted us new life
to rebuild the house of our God and repair its ruins, and he has given us a
wall of protection in Judah and Jerusalem.
Lamentations 5:
5 Remember, Lord, what has happened to us;
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
look, and see our disgrace.
2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
our homes to foreigners.
3 We have become fatherless,
our mothers are widows.
4 We must buy the water we drink;
our wood can be had only at a price.
5 Those who pursue us are at our heels;
we are weary and find no rest.
6 We submitted to Egypt and Assyria
to get enough bread.
7 Our ancestors sinned and are no more,
and we bear their punishment.
8 Slaves rule over us,
and there is no one to free us from their hands.
9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives
because of the sword in the desert.
10 Our skin is hot as an oven,
feverish from hunger.
11 Women have been violated in Zion,
and virgins in the towns of Judah.
12 Princes have been hung up by their hands;
elders are shown no respect.
13 Young men toil at the millstones;
boys stagger under loads of wood.
14 The elders are gone from the city gate;
the young men have stopped their music.
15 Joy is gone from our hearts;
our dancing has turned to mourning.
16 The crown has fallen from our head.
Woe to us, for we have sinned!
17 Because of this our hearts are faint,
because of these things our eyes grow dim
18 for Mount Zion, which lies desolate,
with jackals prowling over it.
19 You, Lord, reign forever;
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.
your throne endures from generation to generation.
20 Why do you always forget us?
Why do you forsake us so long?
21 Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return;
renew our days as of old
22 unless you have utterly rejected us
and are angry with us beyond measure.
Daniel 9:1-19:
9 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a
Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom— 2 in the
first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according
to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of
Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and
pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and
ashes.
4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed:
“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his
covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we
have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have
turned away from your commands and laws. 6 We have not listened to your
servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our
ancestors, and to all the people of the land.
7 “Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are
covered with shame—the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all
Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us
because of our unfaithfulness to you. 8 We and our kings, our princes and
our ancestors are covered with shame, Lord, because we have sinned against you.
9 The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled
against him; 10 we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he
gave us through his servants the prophets. 11 All Israel has transgressed your law
and turned away, refusing to obey you.
“Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in
the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we
have sinned against you. 12 You have fulfilled the words spoken against us
and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven
nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. 13 Just as it is
written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not
sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving
attention to your truth. 14 The Lord did not hesitate to bring the
disaster on us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we
have not obeyed him.
15 “Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out
of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to
this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 Lord, in keeping with all
your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill.
Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of
scorn to all those around us.
17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions
of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate
sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the
desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you
because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord,
listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay,
because your city and your people bear your Name.”
In 3:15, there doesn’t seem to be any direct reference to Christ and Satan. Direct reference is to the serpent, its
children, Eve, and her children (the word used is zara‘, which is a collective noun referring to a group of
offspring, whether human, animal, or plant (seed)), but there is further,
general symbolic reference as well, since the serpent would also seem to
symbolize what is anti-God and anti-God’s-creation-purposes. The enmity described thus also describes that
between those with God’s mission – especially God’s people – and those who
oppose that mission and seek to sway others from it. The former will win in the end, but not
without struggle and wounding. In Israel’s own case, the anti-God forces came originally in
the form of the Canaanites who led them astray from God’s Law. Indeed, this is what we see in Genesis 9,
where Noah is portrayed as Adam (a man of the soil, who consumes a form of
fruit in a bad way, has his nakedness covered, etc.) and the descendants of the
villain of the story, Ham, are cursed in a similar fashion to the serpent
(referred to explicitly as Canaan). Canaan
was to function as Israel’s serpent.
This pattern, however, is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus’
victory over Satan – in Jesus, Adam and Israel’s missions are finally fulfilled
and the pinnacle of evil and temptation is defeated though Jesus is struck (and
precisely because he is struck). This is the culmination of the principle of 3:15 – the ironic victory of God’s people over evil (as in
Romans 16:20). As the
representative of God’s people, Jesus is Israel, he is the seed, who crushes
the head of evil and takes on the identity and mission of God’s people and
succeeds where they have failed (cf. Galatians where Paul identifies Jesus with
the promised seed of Abraham (God’s people) and then calls Christians the seed
– the former is head, representative, and completer of the latter). The defeat of God’s enemies – the enemies of
his people – means the removal of the obstacle to restoration and the
fulfillment of God’s creation-purposes.
In this light, Genesis 3-11
presents a long description of the continuation of humanity’s Fall that begun
in chapter 3. The solution – what I
would call the real protoevangelium of Genesis – is in 12:2-3. Blessing in Genesis represents the
fulfillment of creation-purposes – this passage outlines God’s plan in choosing
Israel and their mission as part of this, to undo chapters
3-11. But first, Israel itself would have to be restored since it too
suffered the consequences of those chapters
(Paul has a lot to say about this!).
The one who would do this – who would restore Israel and all of
creation, fulfilling Adam’s and Israel’s missions as the new Adam, the true
Israel – was, of course, God – specifically, God come in human flesh as the
promised king of Israel to usher in this restoration – Jesus Christ our Lord!
Quick note on the etymology
of “Immanuel” (“Emmanuel”, from the song, is how it was transliterated into
Latin): ‘im is the preposition
meaning “with”; with the added first person plural pronominal suffix (i.e.,
“us”), it has the form ‘immanu
meaning “with us”; ’el is the generic
word for “god”; so ’Immanuel
literally means “with us God” – that is, “with us is God”.
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