From Bethel to Peniel: An Introduction

Greetings to you all, and welcome. You’ve arrived at my first web log, which is to be primarily an extended travelogue. My intention is to allow you all to stay abreast of my adventures in South Dakota this summer, and, next year, my wanderings through Europe. I’m hoping that this will be good fun, and that it will keep us all a bit more connected whilst I am away. Of course, I will certainly be doing more here than simply recounting my travels. Indeed, this first post is to be an introduction to my blog and an explanation of its theme, and will only be connected to my journey indirectly. So, here goes:

As you’ve noticed, the blog is called “From Bethel to Peniel.” Now, I know that you all know exactly what this title means and that you are all fully aware of the connotations it bears. Indeed, any explanation I offer will probably be completely superfluous, but please indulge me while I refresh my own memory on the subject. Bethel is Hebrew for “The House of God.” More pertinently, Bethel was the place where the Jewish Patriarch Jacob had his famous “Jacob’s Ladder” vision, in Genesis 28. Through this vision, God extends to Jacob the covenant that He made with Jacob’s grandfather Abraham. More on this later.

Peniel is another place important to Jacob’s story, although the name of the place is far less well known than what transpired there. At Peniel, Jacob wrestled with Yahweh’s proxy (the Angel of the LORD), resulting in a nice limp and his name being changed to Israel. If you want more detail, it’s in Genesis 32, starting in verse 22. This, too, will be expanded upon later.

Now, note the subtitle to the blog: “an account the awful thrill of finding my Way on the road.” I dearly hope that this title will be earned, as finding my Way is precisely what I hope to accomplish abroad. I very much want my journeying in the wider world to show me something of the God I’m trying to serve, and to give me some idea of how exactly I may go about performing this service. While in South Dakota, the United Kingdom, and wherever else I can manage to end up, I’m going to be seeking out a worthwhile life pursuit, primarily in the form of a professional career. However, that is not the only thing I mean by “my Way.” Enter double meaning. If I manage to find some career, but discover nothing more of God in the process, I’ll consider the whole business wasted time. Christ Jesus is my Way, and I’ll be searching for Him in the midst of all this. Pray that I’m successful.

I’m calling the process an “awful thrill” because that’s exactly what I expect it to be. Awful has many different denotations and connotations, from terrifying to somberly inspiring to extreme to unpleasant, and I’m sure that the thrill of this sojourn will be all of these things at times. While I do hope it will be more of some than of others, I most want it to be thrilling. We shall see.

So, now let’s explore my choice of Bethel and Peniel. It starts with the fact of my traveling. The Patriarch Jacob, founder and namer of these two sites, was a wanderer above all else, and his wanderings bore much of the character that I hope mine will bear. Unlike Moses, Jacob’s travels were not focused on his ultimate destination, but rather what he might find when he arrived. Unlike the nation of Israel, Jacob was not seeking a home in which to establish himself. He already had all the homes he needed. Instead, Jacob traveled to find a life of greatness, and to better himself. More importantly, Jacob met God while on the road, and continually came to grips with the God he knew, sometimes quite literally, while traveling. Travel was a means to an end for Jacob, but it also had a great deal of value in itself. Since these are things that I hope will be true of my travels, I’ve taken Jacob as a sort of Patron Saint for my adventures.

Now to the specific sites of Bethel and Peniel. As the first place where Jacob encounters God, Bethel seemed an appropriate starting point for my journey. It is at Bethel that Jacob begins to experience God for himself, and essentially comes into his own as a spiritual leader. Before this, he is a deceitful trickster, and a man totally unfit to lead God’s chosen family. However, at Bethel, Jacob is transformed; it would even be appropriate to call this his conversion. He has an encounter with God in which Yahweh renews His covenant with Jacob’s family, directly bringing Jacob into this powerful heritage. After this encounter, Jacob is a much changed man. When his uncle Laban double-crosses him by giving him Leah instead of Rachel as his wife, Jacob doesn’t retaliate with the vengeance and trickery we might expect prior to his vision at Bethel. Instead, he works faithfully and honestly to earn Rachel as well. Of course, he doesn’t always manage either his home or his business affairs well, but he does work with a new integrity and appreciation of the God he met at Bethel.

I consider my own Bethel to have been my life before college. I became a Christian very young, and therefore have been experiencing God nearly all my life. However, I have rarely had a chance to venture out into the wider world and put my conversion into practice. It is fitting for a student that my life has been largely preparation until now, but as my academic career draws to a close for a time, and I look to what lies beyond, I feel that I am beginning an altogether new journey. Like Jacob at Bethel, I am traveling to an entirely new place, and I hope that I may, in Jacobean fashion, see God on the road.

This sight of God is the other major symbolic meaning of Bethel. At Bethel, Jacob receives his vision of God, in which he sees that God is sovereign over all the earth, as the angels go up and down the famous ladder, doing His bidding throughout the world. Along with this vision of Yahweh as the supreme lord, Jacob receives a personal inclusion into the covenant that was first given to Abraham. God promises prosperity to Jacob’s family, and He promises a blessing for all the people of the earth which will come through this holy family. This is the Old Covenant of the Jewish people, and it is powerfully fulfilled and expanded in the New Covenant given to Christ’s church. Like Jacob, each Christian is directly included in the prosperity which is the ultimate triumph of the saints, and each is a part of the blessing for the earth, which is the salvation and eternal kingdom of Christ. Thus, in my ongoing conversion, I have received a sort of vision which is the direct heir of the covenant that Jacob was brought into at Bethel. Moreover, I have for myself a sort of vision which I hope now to go and act upon. It is nothing so defined, nor so sudden an epiphany, as that of Jacob; rather, I have a vague notion that God’s greatness can mean a grand adventure for me. Monday, I’ll be heading out to see if I can’t get hold of this adventure, and it seems to me that I am quite like Jacob leaving Bethel with God’s covenant firmly fixed in his mind.

That is why I consider this a movement “from Bethel.” But why “to Peniel”? The events of Peniel are the point at which the symbolism of my choice intensifies. As I noted, Peniel is the place where Jacob spends a night essentially wrestling with God. If Bethel is the point at which my journey starts, I see Peniel as the substance of this journey, and my ultimate goal is the dawn of the next day. At Peniel, Jacob saw God’s face, which is why he named the place “Peniel,” a Hebrew word meaning “the face of God.” Jacob called the place this because he realized that he had seen the face of God and lived, a task not easily accomplished. God’s face is exactly what I’m looking for in my travels.

Jacob’s seeing the face of God comes in the midst of his famous wrestling match. The symbolism of Jacob’s wrestling has often been noted, but it’s a struggle that I feel keenly. Jacob grapples with an unknown figure of divine authority. It is apparent from his reaction to living after seeing God’s face that he knows the incredible danger involved in this act, but he is determined, beyond even regard for his own life, to receive some blessing. It’s very much an exercise of faith, in which he is wholly dependent on God’s mercy to not strike him dead for his audacity. He wagers everything he has on the chance that his struggle will gain for him God’s blessing, and he wins the jackpot.

I especially like the image because it’s so concrete. For Jacob, there is no high-minded spiritual reality or miraculous occurrence, at least not until after he wins. There isn’t even a clarity of circumstances: the whole business is confusing, with an unknown figure appearing out of nowhere when Jacob thinks he is alone, and the whole event happens at night, in an age before electricity when nighttime meant nearly tangible darkness and shadowy moonscapes. In the midst of this confusion, Jacob clings doggedly to his opponent, demanding a blessing even if it kills him. Jacob is brutally physical, perhaps because he has no other way of engaging in such a struggle.

This raw confrontation in a shadow world is an image that I appreciate very much. In our modern time and place, where love is an over-sentimentalized feeling and faith is a charismatic Sunday morning shiver, the incredibly definite struggle that Jacob fights, and the triumph it brings him, is so refreshing. Being a rational-minded professional scholar, spiritual reality is something that I rarely understand, and attempting to pursue it often leaves me terribly befuddled. As Chris Rice sang, sometimes finding God is like “trying to smell the color nine.” However, it doesn’t follow that this difficulty should bring about a surrender of hope or effort. Rather, like Jacob, I must grapple with the realities which are apparent and which I know are true, and beg God to allow my tenacity to pass for devotion, and to not strike me down for my incredibly presumptuous demand of something greater. Even when the whole world is dark and the very figure I’m holding on to seems to fight against me, I must endeavor not to let go. This is crucial to Jacob’s wrestling match: it isn’t about pinning his opponent, it’s about not letting go. Jacob realizes that he has no chance of winning through his strength, but he can simply refuse to loosen his grip. Of course, there is incredible risk involved. Jacob’s victory costs him his hip. The man is crippled for the rest of his life, but Yahweh’s summation is that he has “struggled with God and with men and [has] overcome” (Genesis 32:28). He wins, despite the cost.

So that’s my struggle, the substance of my journey: to not let go, and to risk everything in a brutal confrontation, knowing I’ll probably suffer at least a disjointed hip, in the hope that I can make it to the dawn. If I can, then I get to become Israel. I get the ultimate certainty that I have prevailed, and I get one heck of a story to tell, the story of my journey From Bethel to Peniel.

I think that pretty well explains everything. Now, we wait and see. I’m leaving Monday morning, around 6:00 AM, for Custer State Park, near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. There, I’ll be working with an organization called A Christian Ministry to the National Parks (www.ACMNP.com). Ten other volunteers and I, supported by a group of local Christians, will be putting on worship services for the staff, rangers, and park visitors on Sunday mornings. Also, we hope to organize some small groups for Bible studies, as well as anything else we can manage. While doing this, we’ll all be employed at Custer and Rushmore as seasonal employees for the parks, living and working with the rest of the staff. I’d be insane not to be a bit apprehensive about the coming months, but my excitement greatly overwhelms my trepidation. If possible, I’ll try to find a hotspot or two somewhere along the way to update you all on my travels. When I get to Custer, I’ll find some way to hook up and let you know what has transpired in the meantime.

Grace, Peace, and Love to You All.