To wear, or not to wear?

What’s in a name? If you understand that in Hebrew culture, a name expresses one’s character and calling, you will appreciate why Jabez wanted so desperately to be blessed by the God of Israel. The name Jabez sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘pain’. Jabez must have caused his mother such excruciating labour pains at his birth, that she deemed it fit to remind her son that he is a ‘pain’ for the rest of his life. Jabez, however, did not have to live up to his name for God granted his request to undo the curse implied in his name.

If you could choose, what name would you want to be applied to you? If you are anything like me, you would have probably tried to live out many names – masks to hide the real you, your innermost being. How would you feel if every time your name is called, your character is revealed? “Coward! It’s time to go!” Greedy, come eat!” The distance between who we would like to be and who we really are is often cause for guilt and despair. My Malay teacher used to irritate me by mispronouncing my name Lai Yuee to sound like “layu”, which means death or dying in Bahasa Melayu. In protest, I gave myself a new name, “Chris”, only to discover to my chagrin that this name is also associated with death for it is often misspelt with a t added to Chris! Now, of course, after having become a Christian, to be called Chris-t makes me tremble! Perhaps I should change my name to Christian, instead!

Psalm 8 opens up a new window on who we really are. The nocturnal sense of reverie under the vast magnificent night sky decorated with myriad points of light so dwarfed the psalmist into obscurity that prompted him to ask, “what’s so exceptional about man [enosh] that God takes him into account and the son of man [bin adam] that God cares for him?” The Hebrew word enosh often emphasizes human frailty and mortality whereas bin adam highlights his insignificance. Further, the phrases “you made him” and “a little lower than angels” bespeak of a humanity that straddles between two realms, the earthly and the heavenly. Having created humans as powerless creatures with one foot firmly planted in the creaturely world which they share with other animated beasts, God goes on to plant the other human foot squarely and uniquely in the divine realm, both by the unique gift of the divine image and by the role of responsibility and authority given only to humans [Genesis 1:24-31].

Although we see ourselves as weak and insignificant, God sees us as “a little lower than elohim”. Whilst the Hebrew word elohim is often used to refer to the Almighty God, it is also used to refer to other pagan gods. Although elohim is translated as ‘heavenly beings’ in the NIV and as ‘angels’ in some other translations, a few commentators literally translate elohim as the Almighty God, that is, “But you made him little less than God …”

The theological reason for such a bold translation may not be obvious at first sight. God in Christ has provided a way for rebellious sinners like you and me to change our earthly surnames from bin adam [son of adam] to a heavenly bin Elohim [son of God]! Is it not glorious that my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life as Chris Wong binti Elohim? Indeed, if our status has been elevated to that of ‘sons of God’ so that we too can partake in the divine nature, are we not ‘puny gods’ albeit in a limited sense? However, if Loki could be so terribly bashed up by The Incredible Hulk and be given the moniker ‘puny god’ in the aftermath, we must bear in mind that we are much lesser creatures than these pagan gods of The Avengers fame and certainly can never or ever be in the same league as the Creator-God!

Of course, God does not need to conjure up incredible displays of hulk-like strength or anger, or thunder around Thor-rifically to show his greatness; his name alone bodes majesty and might. Psalm 8 begins and ends with the astonished exclamation, “O LORD [Yahweh], our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” The ‘name’ of God is not just a ‘title’ to distinguish the creator from his creatures but is an extension of God himself. Where God chooses to place his name, there God is also. The presence of his name lays claim to divine authority wherever it dwells. So, all that God has created – from “all the earth” to “the heavens above” – are declared to be permeated with the majestic name of God!

Whilst God’s name is ‘God on public display’ and such majesty impresses and awe-inspires the psalmist to rejoice, the same cannot be said of God’s glory. The Hebrew word kavod [glory] describes the more inward, defining essence of an individual, whether human or divine. To see God’s glory is to know him as he really is at the core of his being. To do so is fraught with much danger, because for sinful humans to know the holy God in this way is to risk the destruction of their very being that stands in such contradiction to the divine essence. That is why God sets his glory “above the heavens” Psalm 8:1b way beyond the reach of humans, in contrast to his name which is “in all the earth”. Similarly, God would not grant Moses’ his request to “show me your glory”. Imagine, Moses might well have melted away in the presence of God’s overwhelming glory, like the bad guys in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Although God’s glory is not open for inspection, God is not hideous, nor does he wear masks like we do. What God says is who God is. So, whilst there are many epithets combining the more generic el with designations that talk about how God is known, e.g. El Shaddai [God who appears in the mountain regions] or El Seva’ot [God of hosts], his divine name YHWH [“Yahweh” if you want to pronounce it] is the gift of God to Israel in the Exodus event and an act of radical self-revelation by which God made himself known and accessible to the people he had taken as his own. Although the gift of the name is an incredible opportunity for access to God, God nevertheless remains free from human manipulation and abuse. The very name YHWH an abbreviation of ehyeh asher ehyeh means that God is what he is, not what humans desire or seek to manipulate him to be. This rejection of human abuse may well lie behind the prohibition against misuse of the divine name in The Ten Commandments. The name Yahweh, translated LORD in some versions, is seldom uttered by the Jews for fear of flouting this commandment.

Yahweh’s creative power and ‘handi-art’ of the universe is but a child’s play, spun off the tips of his fingers without breaking a sweat. Isaiah 40:12-17 gives an insight into the ease with which God does great things like marking off the heavens with the breadth of his hands or weighing the mountains in scales. Or, as Mr Darby puts it “taketh up the isles as an atom”. In Psalm 8:2, there is another hint of child’s play in the sense that God uses ‘the lips of helpless babies and infants’ to silence his enemies. The “lips” in verse 2 is better translated “mouth”. The mouth is the source of nourishment as nursing children are particularly dependent on others for food and protective care. The psalmist uses this image of vulnerability to create a dramatic contrast with the presumed power of those who oppose God and his faithful ones. Mighty Yahweh, whose majestic power and glory are displayed through creation is able to transform the innocent weakness of these dependent babes into a powerful opposition to his enemies. Hence, some translate verse 2b as “from the mouths of babes …. you have established strength…” instead of “…. you have established praise …” Further, the verb ‘silence’ shares the same root with the word “sabbath” Thus, to ‘silence’ is to ‘stop’ God’s foes and to bring them to an end so that they will be no more.

In conclusion, Psalm 8 impresses me most in 2 ways:

[a] True biblical humility lies not in thinking little thoughts of oneself but in thinking great thoughts about the greatness of God: “how majestic is your name”

[b] The image of God after which humankind is created is so marred by the Fall that the man who fails to trust in Christ’s redemptive work will be given over to a depraved mind, to partake in the brutish nature, and consequently become less a human and more a savage man. If the great isles in Isaiah 40:16 are to God only a weightless atom, then these savage men “have together become worthless” [Romans 3:12], akin to an insignificant atom in God’s eyes. On the other hand, ‘to partake in the divine nature’ is to have God transforming sinful humanity into glorified humanity, making us become Christ-like saints who will eventually judge angels [1 Corinthians 6:3].

Atoms or angels? Who are you? What will you become?