After considerable discussion of Shaddai lately on Better Bibles, I thought I’d do a little Friday night free association and see what comes out. I will apologize in advance if the threads are tenuous and if there isn’t a perfectly tidy conclusion.
Psalm 91:1 includes the phrase “the shadow of the Almighty” as part of an opening parallelism with “the shelter of the Most High.” I love this poetical use of two high names of God, Shaddai and Elohim, and have written on this verse before (start here).
In addition, I’ve been looking at Genesis 1:26-28 recently, the first account of the creation of humans:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in his image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’” (NRSV)
I wanted to take a closer look at the Hebrew underlying “our/his image”. The Hebrew for “image” is tselem; the word for “likeness” is dĕmuwth. One of the meanings of tselem is “a shadow”. Men and women are created according to the image of God, that is, as the shadow of God the Almighty. Ring any bells? Try this one:
“These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things [...]” (Hebrews 8:5a, HCSB)
“A copy and shadow of the heavenly things”, an imperfect copy of the original perfect form. What are qualities of a shadow? It has the shape and form of the original object, but none of the texture or detail. It is flat and monotone. Shadows change shape and distort based on the lighting conditions, but the original object is consistent and unchanged. God is perfect, we are imperfect and distorted.
Earlier today I was reading the blog of a recent commenter and she had posted on these verses from Genesis, asking, “if man is created in the image of God, then in whose image is woman created?” One responder said that “woman is created in the image of man” — hmm….
My answer would be that woman is a shadow of God, just as man is! Both male and female forms are imperfect copies of God. When we are yoked together, we may come closer in fidelity to the qualities of our original than we do separately. If the etymological roots of Shaddai can have connotations of breasts and blessings of fertility and the womb, as well as mountains and sufficiency, than why not see all of those qualities reflected in humankind, just as God created us.
The NET Bible has the following in the footnotes of the Genesis passage:
“In the Book of Genesis the two terms [tselem and dĕmuwth] describe human beings who in some way reflect the form and the function of the creator. The form is more likely stressing the spiritual rather than the physical. The “image of God” would be the God-given mental and spiritual capacities that enable people to relate to God and to serve him by ruling over the created order as his earthly vice-regents.”
If “the image of God” is of our spiritual nature, then how are we shadows of the original? God addresses this later in Genesis after the Flood:
“the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, for the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth; nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done.’” (Genesis 8:21, NRSV, emphasis mine)
Humans are inclined to evil from the first. This is not a corruption of the flesh or a curse as a result of sin. Adam and Eve’s sin choice in the Garden was a result of their natural inclination to evil. It was a result of how they were created. God created us as sinners. It only took action to enact our nature and fulfill our capacity to separate ourselves from God.
The kicker is that God created us. He created us in His shadow with full awareness of the distortions, inclinations and limitations of our spiritual nature. He created us so that He could reclaim us. So that He could redeem us. So that He could love us. As His Spirit fills and works in our lives, our shadows take on detail and form and “attain [...] the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13, ESV) It is only as the Spirit fills in the details of our form and restores our spiritual likeness to Him that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:43, ESV) What a promise!
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P.S. I have no idea of the theological implications of this ramble. If I need a corrective, rebuke or challenge, please jump in.
My posts on Shaddai are quite a ramble as well. I had no idea it would be so complex. See my latest post. I once did a study of “in the image of” but have forgotten it all. Don’t forget Seth however. He was in the image of his father.
Don’t forget Seth however. He was in the image of his father.
Genesis 5:1b-3 — “On the day when God created human beings he made them in his own likeness. He created them male and female, and on the day when he created them, he blessed them and called them man. Adam was one hundred and thirty years old when he begot a son in his likeness and image, and named him Seth.” (REB)
A shadow of a shadow… I read that as affirming that the descendants of Adam were made of the same flawed substance [flesh + spirit] as the original copy, not a different copy of the original, e.g. a different image of God.
My answer would be that woman is a shadow of God, just as man is! Both male and female forms are imperfect copies of God. When we are yoked together, we may come closer in fidelity to the qualities of our original than we do separately….why not see all of those qualities reflected in humankind, just as God created us.
Elshaddai, thanks for a really good post. I have feeling that you are right on there. Even though man was created in God’s image, who are we to say that woman was also not created in God’s image? If the OT writer of Genesis could have used today’s rendering of “humankind”, maybe he would have.
Thanks for the note, Kevin. Somewhere in Suzanne’s voluminous posting this summer, she (or one of her commenters) had some notes on the context of the Hebrew adam and whether it was specifically male or actually did denote “humankind” as rendered by many modern Bibles. I’ll see if I can find the reference…
Numbers 31, all the people listed as Adam are women, 32,000. Doesn’t Alter use “humankind” for Adam? He calls Adam a generic term for the human race.
Hi ElShaddai, and thanks for a thoughtful post. If you want to pursue the subject od “image of God” further, check out the posts listed under Genesis 1:26-28 and 1:27 in the text index of my blog. The essay I link to, by David Clines, contains much food for thought.
Thanks, John. I’ve printed David Clines’ essay and look forward to reading it.
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[...] 15, 2007 genesis 1 Tags: david clines, image of god, spirit, word In the aftermath of my ruminations on the nature of humankind vis-a-vis Genesis 1:27, John Hobbins kindly pointed me to an essay by [...]