with (and for)
The idea of God with man is revolutionary.
But I have trouble seeing it like that – because they words are so cliché. But in the Ancient Near East, divine structures were generally closed systems. Just like there is no way to crack into a first generation iPhone, there was no way to enter the divine – and vise-versa.
For Egypt and Mesopotamia, gods and men were not only separate, they were often at odds. (Even the gods were at odds with themselves.)
Often Ancient Near Eastern creation narratives involve the gods making a planet to support themselves.
Then the gods create men to cultivate the planet so they don’t have to. Man’s job is to support the gods.
But the gods were generally angry with men. So, the sacrifice of human life would please the gods’ anger for men.
Then this group of Jews came along telling a story about their God.
He made the Earth as a place to support men.
He gave them food.
He would ultimately sacrifice his life for them. He would pour himself out for the good of men.
It’s subversive. It’s backwards. It is God for the good of man.
And that’s part of what makes the narrative of God
so
powerful.




