Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sorry for the Sag in Posts, Check this Out, Never Knew God had a right Hand

We apologize for the lack of posts. You probably haven't checked in a while. Once the semester concludes we'll get you some of our insights.

Here's an expert from a paper I'm working on:

"Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy." Ex. 15:6

There is much insight to be found within the canon with regard to the phrase “right hand.” In the Psalms it seems to connote military might. Ps. 20:7 “Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand” (Ps. 20:7); and “For not by sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm give them victory; but your right hand, and your arm … For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. But you have saved us from our foes, and have put to confusion those who hate us” (Ps 44:4,6 ); and also “O sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him victory” (Ps 98:1). The right hand of God seems to exact precision blows that afford Israel victory over its enemies. It seems to have the same connotation in Isaiah, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off;’ fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand” (Is 41:10). The use, then, fits perfectly within the victory song.

Christ, as he tends to do, gives the phrase new meaning by connecting to Himself. “And Jesus said, ‘I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (Mk 14:62). He retains the military connotation with the qualifier ‘of Power,’ but by connecting the phrase to Himself he unites that power to his humiliation on the cross, the greatest of all the victories of the right hand of God. In this victory he not only destroys the enemy of Israel but of all mankind, namely death. All mankind enters into this victory by means of baptism, which finds its main type in the destruction of Pharaoh and his picked officers in the Red Sea.