It’s the 30th of December 2021. The second last day of the year. A strange year for many reasons for many people. Yet the repetition of this week between Christmas and New Year is striking to me… the week when the days of the week are confused, where time matters little, days stretch long in the heat looking forward to the cool of the night and that strange feeling – that I once would have labelled ‘boredom’ lurks around the edges.
I got a bit bored once on a holiday about 18 years ago. It was when the youngest child at the time was about 3 years old and after all the years of ‘holidaying’ with babies and toddlers, when I’d long ago put aside the idea of reading a book or sitting restfully on a beach – a new thing happened. Away from home and usual jobs or distractions – my baby didn’t need me. She could occupy herself, take care of most of her own needs, and my only real job was preparing meals for the 8 of us! I had time on my hands! And I’d taken nothing to do! The boredom monster lurked over my shoulders circling… so it was on this holiday that I looked in its face and found – it wasn’t boredom, it wasn’t a monster – it was just a new feelings on the heels of 15 years of small people needing the bulk of my time – who now didn’t!
Apart from kids toys, the only things I’d taken were paper, pens, textas, pencils. So I tried sketching one of my boys, designing a house, writing long reflections by hand – and voila. Not bored. New uses for the time I found I had before electronics also had the potential to mask that discovery.
That weird feeling was just a barrier between levels of thought, ideas, creativity and heart wanderings from a place of little time – to richer time.
So this week between Christmas and New Year is welcome for the same reasons.
It’s the time when the record player slows down and the strange sound is at first unwelcome, but then welcome. The needle lifts and quiet is felt and heart wanderings have time to go new places.
Some years ago my friend Sanj posted a video that prompted many ‘wow’s from me both at the time and in the years since.
Watch it here… (Lineage of Majesty by Eric Ludy)
The lineage of Jesus can read like a phone book till we begin to see the connectedness it reveals in so many layers. In that video we see how the meanings of the names in the lineage tell a prophetic story when linked together in the order of their births over thousands of years…
Wow. Wow. Wow.
But also –
This made me wonder if the names in other places or groupings or packages might do the same thing so in the last years I spent time on:
1. What we know of John the Baptists lineage. Shorter than Jesus record but much wowness tucked within. If I write up what I found I’ll link it here.
2. The name meanings in the book of Ruth where every name meaning IS their portion of the story! Wow if it were just Ruth herself, but it is every character in the story! (And if I write up what I found in Ruth I’ll link it here.)
– and this morning, because it’s “Weird Week” I had time to go down another trail in Proverbs 30.
Before I get to that, two more side trails.
Every morning I get a notification on my phone with 5 short prayers to approach reading the Word of God with. (You can see that list/origin here…)
One of those is to ask God to show up something new in His word, never seen before.
One of the things I do most days is read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds to the date so today is Proverbs 30. It’s an odd one to me… It’s a random dude/writer who has no other mentions in the Bible and it’s a bunch of observations that have beauty in them but a lot of strangeness – both of which are to be welcomes as they are clues to hidden treasure but sometimes I don’t understand the clues I’m being shown.
Linked to the reading of Proverbs is a quote chapter 1 contains.
Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour,doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,and let the discerning get guidance— 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools3 despise wisdom and instruction.
“The sayings and riddles of the wise”
Problem.
Typically, I hate riddles.
I love the sound of every other word in that chunk of Scripture – but riddles? No.
They’re either so obvious – they’re unfunny. Or so hidden/cryptic that it hurts my head.
There are three things I hate, nay, four.
– Rhetorical questions
– mulling on things that can’t be different or changed or will never happen
– wasted time
and
– things I can’t figure out.
Yay for the Holy Spirit who waits amused and chuckling with delight in His eyes for long periods of time – to reveal an understanding in a moment that we give Him space to do so.
And now to the third point.
3. So this morning I had my little prayer for new sights in my heart, and the oddness of the first verse catches me.
Proverbs 30:1 The words of [a]Agur the son of Jakeh of Massa: the oracle: The man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal
Questions!
- Who are these people?
- Why are they significant when they have no other context in the Bible?
- Why does one of them get two mentions?
- Where is Massa or is it another person?
- I wonder if their name meanings are relevant?
- I wonder if this is a RIDDLE!?!
- I wonder if there’s something uncoverable?!!!
Excitement tweaked! Name meanings to explore!
The words of Agur Collector, Gatherer
the son of Jakeh Pious, obedient,
of Massa: the oracle: Bearing Patiently.
The man says to Ithiel, God Is With Me
(AGAIN) to Ithiel When Scripture repeats – it’s for EMPHASIS. NOTICE!
Our writer is speaking to someone by name,
asking for the name of the son of the Holy God –
the name of which is the meaning of the name of the one to whom he is speaking!
He later (vs 9) calls him the Jewish name for God, which is singular (Yhovah),
uses another name in vs9 which is plural (Elohiym).
This name Ithiel, which means God is with me – strikingly like the name later prophesied of the coming Messiah Immanuel, Jesus “With us, IS God”!
and to Ucal I Am Consumed, I Will Prevail, I Complete
The website that I sometimes use for Hebrew name meanings sais this in regards to Translating Biblical Names. “Translating Biblical names is an art all by itself. Often Biblical names are like little poems tucked in the narrative, and contain meaning beyond their etymological origins.”
– And sometimes there are poems within poems that enlarge the narrative creating dimension and music and details nested perfectly within each other as only The Master Riddler could devise – for the delight of any who find themselves unhurried enough on an unbusy day to read and go exploring.
Riddles I call revelations waiting to happen. Hiding himself from us for us. For the sheer thrill of the chase. He IS THAT GOOD!
I just need the remember.. the chase is always on!
So love that you never lost your wonder!
It only gets better hey Jenn!!!