William Andrew Dillard
Often in the ancient languages, new words were coined from sounds. Such are recognized today as onomatopoeic, or mimicking words. This was the case in the naming of the first woman, our mother Eve, whose name in Hebrew was Havvah, coined from the sound of inhaling and exhaling. It is also true in the case of the patriarch, Isaac.
I recently surprised some friends who offered me a Snicker candy bar by stating, “This is a scriptural candy bar.” “What on earth do you mean?” was the reply. I answered, “When the Lord promised Abraham and Sarah a son in their very old age, she snickered.” The comment opened an interesting conversation.
Revisiting the Genesis story, Abraham was approaching 100 years of age; Sarah was approaching eighty-five years of age. Ishmael had already been born years earlier to Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid. Offered to God as Abraham’s heir, he was rejected of the Lord. The heir would be the promised son born to both Abraham and Sarah. Now, at their advanced age, the very idea that the couple should have a conjugal relationship, even more, that conception and birth should occur to one whose cycles of life had long ceased was overwhelming. Sarah snickered! But, not out of unbelief that God could make it happen, but at the very prospect of she and her husband having such pleasure once again, and it resulting in a child.
Consequently, when the male child was born to them, Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was eighty-five years old. They remembered their overwhelming reaction to the prospect, and named him with a new word that mimicked the sound of laughter: “Isac, sac, sac;” hence, Isaac (Laughter).
Today, when we consider the wonder of the myriad promises God has given to us: some fulfilled, others coming soon, we laugh at such blessings: from the provision of the Redeemer, to the wonder of the new birth, to the prospects of resurrection, to living in the millennium in an immortal body; to the sight of universal cataclysm, to witnessing a new universe created; to seeing and enjoying the New Jerusalem, but most of all getting to spend eternity with the altogether Wonderful, Only Begotten Son of God, we laugh! Not a laughter of doubt or skepticism, but a laughter of overwhelming wonder at the prospect of it all happening to us….and…we think of Abraham, and Sarah, and Isaac, their important son of laughter…and we laugh with sheer joy, again, a laughter that reverberates through the ages!
REVIEWING PAST ASSESSMENTS
William Andrew Dillard
Parson to Person
IT’S A COLLECTIVE ANIMAL WORLD
The English language has some wonderfully anthropomorphic collective nouns for the various groups of animals. We are all familiar with a Herd of cattle; a Flock of chickens; a School of fish, and a Gaggle of geese. However, less widely known is a Pride of lions; a Murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens); an Exaltation of doves, and, presumably because they look so wise, a Parliament of owls. Now consider a group of Baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive, and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not ……. a Congress! Is it not weird how their descriptions parallel? I guess that pretty much explains a lot of the things that come out of Washington! It seems more prominent today than it did years ago.
IT’S A FRUITCAKE WORLD
Well, as the clock struck the midnight hour, officially ending the day, it was much as other days except a few times in recent years those days were supposed to be the end of the world, the return of Jesus, etc. Of course those things did not occur, nor were there many who thought they would, but in retrospect I just need to say: so much for the fruitcakes that know more than Jesus knows (according to them). The world has not ended…..the age is not over…..the rapture has not occurred. Did I think it would? Certainly not on the day designated. Has this sort of thing happened before? Yep! Will it happen again? Yep! Why anyone would pay any attention to it at all underscores biblical ignorance. Well, at least the fruitcakes are proving themselves to be false prophets according to Deut. 18:18-22. Maybe that alone is a good thing.
IT’S AN EDUCATED-BEYOND-INTELLIGENCE WORLD
An intellectual scholar was once described in homespun wisdom as being “educated beyond his intelligence.” Of course, there is humor in the description, but beyond that, it seems there is also some sobering truth. It occasionally appears that the more a few folks are educated, the more they appear to be ignorant of what is truly important in life.
On the other hand, those hearing the words of the truly wise man, Solomon, will have their feet firmly established in true wisdom. He said, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7. Doubtless, the wise man had encountered a few fools in his day, but it is also obvious that he had listened well to his father, King David, who described those who deny their maker in favor of preposterous theories in these words, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God…” Psalm 14:1. The practicality of truth over theory shines so brightly that those who turn from it really do give cause to wonder if they have not been educated beyond their intelligence!
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