God's Beautiful Nahalah; Sermon On Genesis 37:3-8

 

Rev. George Miller

Sept 27, 2020

Genesis 37:3-8

 

Here now these words from the prophet Jeremiah-

 

“How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither?

For the wickedness of those who

live in it, the animals and birds

are swept away…” (12:4)

 

Last week we began a new journey through the Narrative Lectionary by beginning with the creation.

 

We discussed the claim in Genesis 1 that we are made in the image of God.  We discussed our call to have dominion over the land, sea, and sky.

 

Dominion, from a UCC perspective, means that we are called to care for creation, mindful of how we treat our natural resources and interact with the environment.

 

The Old Testament writers make it clear that both God and we have an intimate connection with the land.

 

The Hebrew word for soil is adamah, and it is out of the adamah that God dips God’s hand to lovingly create us.

 

From adamah comes Adam.

 

From a biblical perspective we are not only created from the earth, but the land is God’s nahalah, 

 

Nahalah is the word for inheritance.  It means allotted portion.

 

Nahalah indicates closeness, intimacy, ownership.  Nahalah means belonging to in the most beautiful of ways.

 

For example, after the Hebrews are freed from slavery and led across the Red Sea, Miriam sings to the Lord-

 

“You…planted them on the mountains of your own nahalah, the place, oh God, that you made your home.” (Exodus 15:17)

 

The land is the Lord’s, but God is more than happy to share it with us, to say “Look at what I made for you.”

 

Sadly though, humans polluted God’s beautiful nahalah in many ways.

 

According to Jeremiah there are 3 ways in which we pollute God’s nahalah.

 

There is the religious way.  The shrines constructed that worship false gods; the idols we put up that we give more care to then we are willing to show God.

 

Another form of pollution is injustice.  The landowners who over charge rent, the widows and orphans who are evicted.  Businesses who make it so farmers who cannot afford supplies.

 

A 3^rd biblical form of pollution is political- when leaders partner with foreign powers who seek to enslave, dominate, and pull us away from basic principles.

 

There is another form of pollution that God’s nahalah experiences- relational sin; the harmful ways we treat each other.

 

We first witness this in Genesis 4 when Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy.

 

As scripture tells us, Abel’s blood pours out upon the soil, forcing the earth to swallow it.  Abel’s blood cries out from the ground, and as a result Cain is driven away from the land and the soil becomes difficult to till.

 

Another form of relational pollution is in today’s story, the continuing saga of Rachel and Jacob’s family.

 

Remember Rachel and Jacob? 

 

How Jacob tricked his brother?  How Jacob’s uncle tricked him into marrying the wrong daughter?  How Rachel tricked her dad by sitting on his belongings?

 

Well, the family trickery continues.

 

Jacob is living in the land of Canaan.  He has 12 sons from 4 different women.  Joseph, who he had with Rachel, is his favorite. 

 

Jacob doesn’t even try to hide it. 

 

He gives Joseph a fancy robe with long sleeves, allowing Joseph to relax while everyone else labors.  He uses Joseph as a spy, having him check on his brothers to make sure they’re working in the field.

 

As you can imagine, this angers his siblings, so much so, they come up with a plan- let’s kill the dreamer and tell dad that a wild animal ate him.

 

They strip him of his robe, throw him into a well, sell him into slavery, kill a goat, smear it’s blood upon his coat, and lie to their father about their Joseph’s fate.

 

God’s nahalah is abused and polluted due this family’s sins.

 

By placing Joseph’s body into a well designed for drinking, they make it so the well is unclean, and no longer a source of pure, clean water.

 

By selling him into slavery, they rip him away from the beautiful nahalah he was used to and was a part of.

 

Third, an innocent animal is killed, not for food, shelter, or clothes, but for no other reason than to present a lie.

 

The water, the land, the animal are all affected by this family’s dysfunction.  It’s no surprise when a famine hits the land and the family is forced to fight for their survival.

 

God’s nahalah.  God’s heritage.  Such an important part of our faith.

 

So much so that in Roman’s 8 Paul writes to the early church-

 

“Creation waits with eager longing, for creation has been subjected to futility…

 

Creation has been waiting with hope that it will be set free from its bondage and will be given the freedom of glory…” (8:18-21)

 

Let that soak in and surround you.

 

God’s creation, God’s inheritance, God’s nahalah has been waiting.

 

Waiting with anticipation.  Waiting with expectation.  Waiting with hope.

 

Waiting for us to be mindful of our politics.  How we interact with other nations, who we pledge allegiance too.

 

Waiting for us to embrace justice.  Letting farmers have a fair fight.  Allowing orphans and widows to have a place to call home.

 

Waiting for us to drop the false idols of the world and turn back to God.

 

Waiting for us to restore relationships, mindful of how we treat one another.

 

In Genesis God creates the earth and forms us from the adamah.

 

God grants us dominion over the nahalah asking that we care for the earth, the sky, the sea.

 

Yet Cain kills Abel, Joseph’s brothers bring him harm and not just the family suffers, but so does the land.

 

Human sin hurts the land just as much as it hurts us, just as it hurts God.

 

But because of Jesus, and the lessons he teaches us, the lessons we continue to learn, we are following a different road map, a different way.

 

Abel and Joseph suffered at the hands of their siblings, but in Christ we are learning a new path.

 

In Christ we are discovering that we are truly all brothers, even if we come from different mothers.

 

In Christ we discover that we are all truly sisters, even if we come from different misters.

 

As we continue to follow the ways of Christ, the ways of prophets, the more we do justice, the more we do kindness, the more we walk humbly, the less the earth suffers.

 

The more we embrace our proper dominion, the less the earth cries out.

 

The more we become care takers of Creation, the more God’s beautiful nahalah rejoices and grows in hope.

 

For that we can say “Amen.”

 

Note: today’s message would have been impossible without Norman C. Habel’s The Land Is Mine- Six Biblical Land Ideologies (1995), especially chapter 5 “Land as YHWH’s Personal nahalah: A Prophetic Prophecy”