Chapter 05: The Wild and Wandering God of the Ancient Texts
“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.”
The ancient scriptures are filled with story after story of people on the move towards God, chasing hope, looking for answers, longing for a depth of sprituality that would satisfy their longing for wholeness.
Cristian Vacaru observes that “The biblical stories about journeys are dominated by the hoping to reach the desired destination, but often also include a request made with the hope to get a spiritual good, an answer, a solving of a problem, or a particular good (a healing).” (1)
Charles Foster, in his beautiful book, The Sacred Journey, describes Yahweh in the Old Testament as The One Who is a Wandering Nomad, a wild presence not tied down to any place or time but always on the move, while Jesus in the New Testament is characterized as The God Who Walks. (2)
Let’s explore some of those interactions and take brief look at a few of these Old Testament stories.
From the very beginning of Creation in Genesis 1, we read about Adam and Eve walking in the Garden of Eden with their Creator, inhabiting the lush spaces with ease and comfort, exploring together with God, all the beauty that this place had to offer.
So when their disobedience ushers them away from paradise into a frightening new world outside of God’s loving protection, they enter into a lifelong journey of hardship and ultimately striving to get back that which they lost. Not only for themselves but all who would follow thereafter.
And we see fairly quickly how their son Cain took disobedience one step further, killing his brother in a jealous rage. In Genesis 4 we see Cain’s desperate plea with God, who cursed the ground and sent Cain even further away.
Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him. Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. (Genesis 4:13-16)
And we have been seeking after God’s presence ever since.
The story of Abram is one journey after another after another. His father Terah, uprooted them all from Ur and while originally planning to go to Canaan, decided to stop and settle down in Haran. Terah got woefully sidetracked from his intended destination (Genesis 11). At 75 years old, however, Abram heeded the call to complete the journey and departed at once, Canaan bound.
And all along this journey, Abram erected altars of remembrance…sacred monuments to mark his passing through.
Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. (Genesis 12: 6-8)
Step by step Abram and his entourage made their way to Canaan, with stops and starts along the way…altars erected, prayers offered up, detours taken, unexpected delays and rash decisions made.
In Genesis 18 we read about Abram’s hosptiality to the three travellers who happen upon his compound. He feeds them and invites them to rest, an act of obedience to the laws of the land and a gesture of humility and kinship.
Interestingly, an interfaith organization in the middle east, The Abraham Path Initiative (API) began as a means to foster friendship, practice hospitality and enlarge sacred and religious understanding through a series of walking trails that follow Abram/ Abraham/ Ibrahim’s journey from womb to tomb. (www.abrahampath.org).
Walking is a tool for deepening understanding of self and other; it allows an experience of culture that is unattainable from the seat of a bus. The simple act of walking has connected people around the world since time immemorial, with the Eastern Medierranean an active crossroad between Africa and Asia. The Abraham Path Initiative (API) has seeded walking trails here in order to reintroduce this storied region as one of irrepressibly hospitable people. By shining light on traditions of hospitality, API evokes the beloved regional origin story that shows up in everyday life: residents welcome strangers in honor of Abraham (Ibrahim, in Arabic), a spiritual ancestor of over half of humanity. https://www.abrahampath.org/about-us/our-story/ (3)
And the cycles of pilgrimage continued for generations to come.
Isaac returned to the land of his father in Genesis 21 & 26.
Jacob is told to make his way back home as well in Genesis 31.
Ishmael and his descendants are scattered in Genesis 25.
In Genesis 37-50 we read the compelling narratives of the life of Joseph, entangled in a series of journeys from his home to Egypt and back again, sprinkled with episodes where his brothers and father also travelled back and forth.
With each dramatic event we encounter in the Old Testament texts, from lands won and entered into, to conquests and defeats, with every new character introduced and every new generation’s struggle to thrive, the one constant thread woven across each narrative is the God who is always present. The God of the luminous cloud, the burning bush, the pillar of fire, gushing waters, the still small whispers, the deafening silence…God was always waiting for their children to come back home.
As I re-surveyed the Old Testament for this project, my “pilgrim” eyes rediscovered a truth I had forgotten…that Yahweh is absolutely wild and untameable, fierce, forgiving and complex, above us and yet all around us all the time.
And God has always been on a journey with humanity. It has never been about the destination but is always about us showing up, ready to be moved.
All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973)