Genesis 35:9–15
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
We live in an age of radical self-definition. Modern man believes that he is the master of his own identity. He thinks he can name himself, define himself, and create his own reality by the sheer force of his will and the vehemence of his pronouns. He is, in short, attempting to be his own god, to speak his own world into existence. But this is nothing more than the ancient lie of the serpent, repackaged for a generation that has forgotten what a serpent is. Into this clamor of self-assertion, the Word of God cuts with the clean, sharp lines of objective reality. In the Scriptures, a name is not something you invent for yourself; it is something that is bestowed upon you. But God retains the ultimate naming rights over all His creation, and particularly over His covenant people.