| View Blog
|
|
|
|
| The Stiller of Storms |
We read in Job 38:1 ‘Then the LORD answered Job from the storm’. In the original Hebrew text it reads as follows (read from right)
וַיַּעַן־יְהוָה אֶת־אִיּוֹב מִן הַסְּעָרָה The LORD answered Job from out of the whirlwind
The word used for storm is סְּעָרָה pronounced “s‘arah” a noun meaning tempest, whirlwind or storm.
It’s the same word used in Isaiah 29:6 to denote an instrument of the wrath of God against ‘Ariel’, a metaphor for the city of Jerusalem, where the LORD visits Jerusalem ‘with great noise, with storm and tempest’. It is also the word that Ezekiel uses to describe the opening scene from the vision of God he received in the land of Israel’s exile. Ezekiel 1:4 ‘And I looked and behold a storm came out of the north..’
God is manifest in the ferocious storm. But turn now from the drama of the devastating whirlwind to the other end of the vocal spectrum, the ‘still small voice’. In 1 Kings 19:12 we read:
וְאַחַר הָרַעַשׁ אֵשׁ לֹא בָאֵשׁ יְהוָה וְאַחַר הָאֵשׁ קוֹל דְּמָמָה דַקָּה׃
gentle a-whisper a-voice-of the-fire and-after, the-LORD in-the-fire not, a-fire the-earthquake and after
The Lord reveals Himself to Elijah – ‘And after the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came the voice of a gentle whisper’
In the Hebrew the word used for whisper is דְּמָמָה pronounced “d‘mamah” a noun with the meaning of a barely audible whisper. Note it is also described in the same passage as דַקָּה ‘daq’qah’ meaning gentle or non threatening so unlike the onslaught of the whirlwind.
In these two passages God reveals Himself through the complete vocal spectrum of the decibel intense, terrifying roars of the tempest through to the gentle, barely audible whisper.
But turn now to Psalm 107:29 for something even more striking. Both words are combined in the single phrase יָקֵם סְעָרָה לִדְמָמָה ‘He stills the storm to a whisper’
The following is a paraphrased extract of the same passage from the Psalm:
“Others went out to sea in ships..he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted the waves high.. in their peril their courage melted away..they were at their wit’s end ..then they cried to the LORD in their trouble and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm and he guided them to their desired haven”
Now check out the following passage from Matthew 8:23. I have paraphrased this so you can see the remarkable similarity with the extract from the Psalm.
“They entered into a boat..there arose a great tempest..the boat was covered with waves..they came to him and awoke him saying ‘Save Lord we are perishing’..he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm..they arrived at the other side”
Note carefully the phrase in the Greek καὶ ἐγένετο γαλήνη μεγάλη And there came about a calm, a great (one)
The calm must have been in contrast to the storm so dramatic, so intense it could almost be felt. The similarity between the two passages is remarkable and not easily ignored. The disciples afterwards remarked ‘What manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?”. The Lord Jesus had clearly demonstrated his ability to ‘still the storm to a whisper’.
In describing Himself as one with the Father the Lord Jesus makes an incredibly profound statement that simply cannot be ignored. On the sea of Galilee He calms and pacifies the rage and terrifying anger of the tempest and fury of the storm and there comes as a consequence a deep, profound peace.
When I read this I cannot help but see a metaphor here in this incident on a lake in Galilee with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross at calvary where “He ..reconciles .. them both (Jew and Gentile) in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And he came and preached peace to you that were far off, and peace to them that were near: for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father” – Ephesians 2:16-18
He is the storm stiller and the one who ‘stills the tempest to the voice of a gentle whisper’. He is the peacemaker between God and man.
The Scribbling Scribe
1st August 2009
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| Views: 12
Email This to a Friend 