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פָּנֶה (Pāneh): Turning Toward the Lord · Reformed Thinking

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Reformed thinking, where we take complex source material and
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extract to the essential insights you need to be well
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informed and hopefully surprised.
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Today we are taking a deep dive into a single Hebrew noun that
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well, it punches far above its weight, or as you usually see it
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in its plural form, ponima. And our source material shows
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this word appearing over 2100 times in the Old Testament.
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I mean, for a single noun, that is just astonishing saturation.
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It really is. And if you just translate pawn
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him with the English word face, you lose almost everything.
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The scope, the context, the theological richness, it's all
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gone. And that's our mission today,
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really, to capture that scope. We see this idea of the face
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expanding from, you know, a physical body part into areas
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like geography, the description of time, emotion.
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And most essentially, for any interested in Reformed thought,
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the very idea of divine presence.
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Exactly. OK, let's unpack this right
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away, starting with the words grammar, because it's a bit
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peculiar. Why is a word describing one
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thing a face almost always plural?
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Pawn him. Well, that plural form is really
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the key to understanding its extensive use.
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Hebrew scholars call it the plural of expansion, or a plural
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of magnitude. OK, what does that mean?
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It signals that we're not just talking about the collection of
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individual features, you know, the eyes, the nose, the mouth,
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but the complete unified front of a thing.
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It represents the entire entity projected forward.
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So it's the totality, the whole self projected.
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Precisely that plural form is what gives the word the the
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semantic range to describe not just a person's features, but
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that person's entire personhood. Or the whole surface of the
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earth. Or the whole surface of the
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earth. Or the immediate,
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all-encompassing presence of God.
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It defines the point of confrontation or attention.
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And if we look at the roots, this idea of front or
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confrontation is baked right in. Absolutely.
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The etymological roots connect directly to concepts meaning
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front or to turn toward. We see cognates in related
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Semitic languages, like the Ugaritic word panu.
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Which also means front or face. Yes, and this concept of turning
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toward is the engine that drives all its relational uses.
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It moves it from just being a description to being about
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active engagement. So to really grasp the Bible's
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vocabulary of relationship, we have to get our heads around
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Panem. Our deep dive today is to track
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that path, how one noun can scale from describing, say, the
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skin of a crocodile all the way to defining the unmediated
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proximity of God himself. That's a serious task.
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It is. So let's begin where the concept
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starts. The concrete and literal, the
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physical face of creatures and objects.
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Right, we need to start with the physical front or the forefront.
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Panem is used pretty neutrally for the face of an animal, like
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with the spotted goats and sheep in Genesis 30, but we also see
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it used for celestial beings like the Seraphim and Isaiah 6
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covering their faces with their wings, or the Cherubim and
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Ezekiel with their multiple faces, lion, ox, eagle, and
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human. You know, that imagery
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immediately sets a relational tone, even for heavenly
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creatures, the seraphim covering their faces, It shows reverence,
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awe before the divine presence. But.
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The term isn't limited to the living or the spiritual, is it?
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No, not at all. It extends to inanimate objects
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that have a front. One of those telling examples is
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the account of Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, falling
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before the Ark of the Covenant in First Samuel.
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Right, the text says Dagon fell flat on its pan and face down,
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and then the next day its head and hands were severed.
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The humiliation is visceral. I mean, even a lifeless idol has
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a front, and that front, it's projected presence, is just
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utterly negated and broken before the actual living
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presence in the Ark. It really sets up this power
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dynamic that we're going to see over and over.
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When 1 presence encounters a greater 1, the lesser one falls
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on its face. And in the human context, that's
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exactly what happens. The physical action of falling
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down on one's face, Nafal Alpane is the ultimate expression of
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submission or worship. It's the body language of
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absolute deference. It is.
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Abraham falls before God in Genesis 17.
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Joshua prostrates himself before the captain of the Lord's army
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in Joshua 5. It's more than just kneeling.
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It's recognizing that the other person's presence, their Panem,
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is so great that you have to completely flatten your own
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presence beneath them. And we also see the opposite
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right turning the face away. Her subpanem.
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Yes. In First Kings 8, for example,
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it signals A deliberate change in attention, a choice to
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disregard someone. It shows that the direction of
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the gaze is inherently relational.
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It establishes who is engaging. Whom, Which is why the face is
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never just a feature, it's a canvas for communication.
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That's a good way to put. It So let's talk about that
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communication. Pennium so quickly becomes the
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central way to convey a deep personal state, a window to the
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soul showing intent, despair or joy.
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Look at the sheer force of intention captured by that verb
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phrase to set the face Shim pennim.
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This moves the meaning from just a physical location to a firm
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resolve or intention. It's a projection of the will.
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Help me understand the insight here.
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I mean, in English we say we set our mind on something.
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What's different when the Hebrew writer says Jacob set his face
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to go to a destination in Genesis 31?
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The difference is that in Hebrew thought, resolve isn't just a
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mental effort, it is a physical projection of your entire being.
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When you set your face, you're orienting your whole self, your
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presence, your will, your direction toward that goal.
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So there's no turning back. There is no turning back.
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It is an unbending forward motion.
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And that focus can become threatening, can't it,
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Particularly in the context of divine judgement.
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You can, yes. We see this often in the
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prophets when God or the prophet is described as setting the face
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against a nation or a person, like in Ezekiel 6.
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It's a statement of unalterable, immediate and direct judgement.
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It signals the complete opposition of the divine will.
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And moving from resolve to distress, the face communicates
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misery and shame just as clearly.
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Yes, the face is the site of public disgrace.
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Bushet panim, Public disgrace or shame is literally the dishonor
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showing on your face. We see it in Jeremiah and
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Daniel. Shame is inherently public.
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It's the negative self revealed through one's upon him.
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Like the gloomy face the Punnum rum in Genesis 40, which just
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reflects the Baker's internal distress, his face gave away his
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anxiety. Right, and the defiance against
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that shame is captured just as clearly.
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The source mentions as Punim, meaning grim faced or defiant,
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and cache upon him hard faced or obstinate.
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These graces define a moral condition, the refusal to submit
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or feel shame, all reflected in the countenance.
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Yet the most desired state is the opposite of shame, joy, and
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favor, which are almost always described with the imagery of
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light. That's right.
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Whereupon him is the light of the countenance, signifying a
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bright, glad face, like in Proverbs 16?
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It's a. Beautiful image.
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I'm thinking of Ecclesiastes 8 where a wise person's wisdom
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brightens their face. Asha Panar.
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It implies the internal goodness or wisdom physically radiates
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outwards. It makes the presence of that
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person more appealing. It's the visual sign of peace
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and of being in right standing. And this metaphorical link,
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light equals favor, is absolutely critical because it's
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the exact language used later when we discuss the greatest
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divine blessing. So if the face communicates the
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state of the person, then it's a small logical step for upon him
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to become a substitute for the person itself.
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That's the full metaphorical extension that's enabled by that
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plural of expansion. If you attach a predominal
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suffix to Panem, it often signifies the person you
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yourself or himself. Like in Second Samuel 17 where
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panika means you, yourself or. Deuteronomy 7 when God repays
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the wicked El Panet it means he repays them directly in person
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with no go between. So.
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Seeing someone's face, ropanem becomes the technical term for
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meeting them or entering their presence.
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We see this when Joseph's brothers are brought before
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Pharaoh. They aren't just looking at his
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features, they're brought into his royal presence.
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And this immediately brings us to the world of law and justice,
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where the idea of the face determines accountability.
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Right. And this is where we hit a
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fascinating tension. The law condemns several
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practices related to the face hikir Panem or hot arm Panem
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recognizing or showing respect to the face.
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Yes, these phrases, when applied to judges, condemn showing
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partiality or bias. Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 1
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explicitly prohibit this. So if Panem means the person,
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how do we reconcile that? I mean, showing respect is
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generally a good thing, but showing respect to the face is
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condemned. Well, the insight is that in the
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courtroom, the judge must only regard the law and the facts,
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not the social status or wealth of the person before him.
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So when a judge respects the face, they are allowing the
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presence, the social standing, the wealth projected by that
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person's Panem to sway the judgement.
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The righteous judge has to ignore the face, be blind to the
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person's status to uphold justice fairly.
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We also see that legal term lifting the face, not shaman.
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Right. While it can mean showing
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clemency or consideration, like when God grants clemency to Lot
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in Genesis 19, in a strictly legal or prophetic context it
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implies the forbidden act of favoritism.
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The prophet Malachi uses it that way.
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The judge must not lift the face of the wealthy over the poor.
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But on the other hand, Anosha upon him can also describe
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someone who is honored and respected socially, right?
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Someone with an elevated countenance like Naman and two
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kings. Exactly.
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The word truly captures the entire spectrum of human
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relational dynamics. It's defining status, intention,
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and accountability all at once. We've established that the face
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is the center of personhood. Now let's take that idea of the
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plural of expansion and transition.
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Pawn him out of the realm of the living and into the physical
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world to its spatial and dimensional uses.
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Right. If the human face is the front
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of the person, it makes perfect sense that Pawnem also describes
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the front of an object, or even the vast front, the surface of
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creation itself. It's all about orientation.
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In architecture, it's the facade.
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We see Panem defining the front of the Tabernacle curtains in
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Exodus, or the detailed description of the Temple's
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facade in Ezekiel. It's the foremost forward facing
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part of a structure. And in a military context, it's
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the frontline, the point of confrontation.
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Pine Hamaloma is the battlefront.
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The vanguard of an army. The vanguard of an army, or
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terrifyingly, the front of that locust swarm.
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In Joel, the military analogy uses the face to describe the
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point of thrust in action, which is a sharp contrast to the rear
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anger. And that sense of front is even
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extended to sharp tools defining the cutting surface.
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That's a fantastic visceral image, isn't it?
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The front of a sword is its sharp edge in Ezekiel, and the
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front of an axe pawn him is its sharp edge in Ecclesiastes.
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Wait, hold on. So when a prophet says God has
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sharpened his sword, that sharpness, the act of cutting
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edge, is literally defined by the face.
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That's incredible imagery. It transforms A passive object
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into an agent of confrontation. It does.
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It defines the point where the object confronts the world and
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acts upon it. And this takes us to the most
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expansive non personal usage, Pawnem as surface.
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This is so key to the language of creation.
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We see the face of the ground, Tania, Dhamma, and the face of
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the world, say Itola. It is the skin, the outward
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boundary of physical space. And the most significant example
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from the very beginning of the creation narrative is Genesis
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1.2. Cranny Tolm, the Face of the
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Deep. The face of the ocean.
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The face of the ocean. Why use face to describe the
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vast chaotic primordial waters? Well, the insight has to be that
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using Pawnem immediately domesticates the chaos.
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It gives it a definable boundary, a surface.
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Exactly before the Spirit hovers, the deep is formless.
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But by calling it the face of the Deep, the text gives it
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orientation, a boundary, A definable surface upon which
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order can be imposed. It's the skin, the front, the
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outward manifestation of the deep.
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I mean even that unusual example of the crocodile skin and job is
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called the face of his garment, referring to its exterior
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surface. Right.
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It is truly remarkable that the term for a human face is also
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the term for the flat surface of the primordial waters.
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The language establishes this continuity between the micro,
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the person, and the macro, the cosmos.
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And then the concept breaks free of spatial limits entirely and
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enters the temporal realm. Yes, the use of lampanum
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formerly, previously or in times past.
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This one always gets me. If Punnum is front, what does
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that word refer to? The past.
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Well, this often requires a quick shift in perspective.
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For the modern listener, we tend to visualize the future as being
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in front of us, something unknown, while the past is
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behind us, right? For the Hebrew writers, it's the
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other way around. The past is what you have
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already encountered. It's what you know, what's
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visible and established. So it is in front of you as a
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known body of evidence and experience.
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The future, which is unseen and unknown, is conceptually behind
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you. That reframes how we think about
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history entirely. The past isn't forgotten, it's
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the evidence that is always confronting you.
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That's why we also see malefinim meaning from before time or
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anciently. This ties past events directly
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to the present orientation of the people.
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It stresses that historical experience is always present and
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bearing down on the current generation.
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OK, we've tracked Panem from a body part to a geographical
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surface, to an emotional state, and even to time.
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Now we arrive at the theological apex, the source of light,
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judgement and relationship, the face of God.
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This is the most critical application for us, and it
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appears so frequently. Pana Yahweh is not understood as
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a literal physical face, but as the primary linguistic tool to
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express the personal, active and immediate proximity of the God
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who is Spirit. So when we read the face of God,
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we should be thinking of it conceptually as God's personal
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presence. Or God himself acting in person.
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That theological distinction is paramount, especially given the
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constraints of the covenant. When Deuteronomy 4 says God
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brought Israel out of Egypt bapon with his own presence, it
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stresses non delegation. This was an action executed by
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Yahweh in person, not outsourced to someone else, and the highest
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expression of this proximity is that phrase panim alpenim.
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Face to face it signifies immediate non mediated
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interaction. You think of Jacob at Peniel
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wrestling and proclaiming I have seen God face to face, or Moses
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communicating with the Lord face to face as a man speaks to his
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friend. But this introduces a major
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theological friction, doesn't it?
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The law says you can't see God's face and survive.
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Yet Moses and Jacob achieved this ultimate level of intimacy.
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The tension is purposeful. It affirms that the highest form
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of covenant relationship is indeed direct personal
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proximity, the face to face encounter.
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But it's a grace granted exception.
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It's not a literal visual sighting.
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So it's a unique relational privilege.
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Reserved only for the most unique covenant figures who are
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uniquely prepared to handle that presence without being consumed,
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is an immediate, unfiltered relationship.
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And we also see the face of God acting as the means of his
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action. I'm thinking of the Angel of his
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presence, Mal Panoy and Isaiah 60.
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Three, that phrase suggests that God's presence is embodied in
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the messenger, the Angel who accomplishes the work of
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salvation and deliverance. It links the theological concept
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of God's immediate action directly to the physical
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delivery of his salvific plan. Now, when we look at the
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relationship between God and humanity, God's disposition,
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whether it's blessing or cursing, is expressed through 2
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profound contrasting actions related to His Panem hiding and
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shining. Let's start with the terror.
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Hiding the face history upon him.
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This is perhaps one of the most terrifying concepts in the
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entire Old Testament. It is a sign of covenant
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rupture, of withdrawal, of utter displeasure.
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When a human turns their face away, it just means avoidance.
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When God hides his face, it's an existential crisis.
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Absolutely. The psalmist cries out in agony
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when God hides his face because it means the immediate absence
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of deliverance, of favor of life.
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Someone afford describes the cosmic consequences.
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When you hide your face, they are dismayed.
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When you take away their breath, they die and return to their
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dust. God's presence, his face, his
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life itself, and its withdrawal brings universal death and
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disarray. And in addition to hiding it,
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God can also actively set his face against someone not on
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Panimbo. That is the more proactive
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judgement. When God sets his face against
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the disobedient, as in Leviticus 17, it's a statement of direct,
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terrifying personal judgement. It means he has oriented his
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entire being, his panim, toward their destruction.
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There is no appeal when the divine face is set against you.
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And the opposite, the greatest blessing we could aspire to,
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shining or brightening the face higher, Panim.
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This is the positive, visible indication of favor, of positive
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regard, and of rescue. It's the manifestation of God's
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grace and His positive disposition toward his covenant
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people. And it's captured perfectly in
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the ironic blessing which is still recited all over the world
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today. The Lord make His face shine
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upon you and be gracious to you. That simple prayer is asking for
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full restoration and intimacy. When God's face shines, we
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receive light and lice, deliverance from trouble and
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grace in our hearts. It's a repeated prayer in the
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Psalms. Make your face shine upon your
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servant. Save me for your steadfast
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Love's sake. And that links the physical
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imagery of light directly to the theological truth that all
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blessedness flows from God's open, positive regard toward us.
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It does. That link is so central to
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Reformed piety, isn't it? The desire to see God's favor
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expressed is what drives the pursuit of righteousness.
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It is, and that desire drives human aspiration, the desire to
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see, to seek, and to pacify this presence.
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So let's discuss the human quest for this relationship.
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We start with seeing the face RA or Azer.
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As we said, technically forbidden for survival, yet
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ritualistically required. Yes, while no one could
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physically see God's face and live, Rob Panem became the
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technical term for appearing before God ritually at the
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Central Sanctuary during the annual festivals.
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Right. In Exodus, all Israelite males
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were required to come and see the face of the Lord.
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And the tension here is that the people must present their Panem,
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their presence before God's pawn, His presence, even if the
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divine presence is shielded or mediated by the sanctuary.
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It's the ultimate expression of accountability and covenant
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loyalty. They have to present themselves
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to the One whose face is life. Which brings us to Seeking the
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Face be Kushpenning. This is the activity of
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spiritual devotion, of prayer, of repentance.
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It's a quest for relational connection with God himself.
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Consider Psalm 27. My heart says to you, seek his
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face. Your face, Lord, I will seek.
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You know, most of us today don't think of prayer as seeking a
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face. We think of seeking guidance.
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We're seeking provision. This original phrasing forces us
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to prioritize the relationship first.
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Exactly. When the text uses bikerspanim,
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it indicates that the worshipper desires the person, the
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intimacy, the relational bond, not just the benefits from the
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relationship. When seeking provision, the
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Bible often uses terms for seeking God's hand or His law.
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When seeking His face, the search is personal.
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And finally, when that relationship has been strained,
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we have I upon him pacifying or entreating the face.
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This refers to desperate intercessory prayer used to
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entreat God's favor, often to avert judgement or disaster.
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When Moses intercedes for Israel after the golden caffeine in
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Exodus 32, he is actively trying to pacify the face of Yahweh.
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He's trying to turn away divine wrath.
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Through desperate petition and repentance, it's the attempt to
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shift the divine disposition from the set face of judgment to
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the shining face of favor. Before we move on, we have to
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touch on the tangible reminder of this theological centerpiece.
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The bread of the Presence. Lamb happen him.
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It's commonly called showbread, but the literal meaning is
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indeed bread of. The presence from Exodus 25.
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The physical loaf placed permanently in the Tabernacle
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linked the ritual sanctuary practices directly to the
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theological reality of Yahweh's physical or actual presence in
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that covenant worship space. So it's the ritualistic
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affirmation that God's punt, his personal presence, resides with
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his people, even if it's unseen. Exactly, and the table it rested
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on was similarly called the Table of the Actual Presence,
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Shula and Heponym. The ritual object stands as a
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constant, tangible reminder of the invisible relational
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reality. All right, so the vast majority
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of those 2100 occurrences of Panem appear when the noun is
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hooked up to prepositions. This transforms the noun into a
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particle that structures space, morality, and causation.
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It governs daily life and covenant accountability in the
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Old Testament. That's right.
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And we should start with ETH Lithny, the most common usage
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which means before, in the presence of or in the sight.
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Of Lepen fundamentally establishes the environment of
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accountability. It means that all actions are
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conducted openly with the solemn understanding of Yahweh's act of
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awareness. Yes, and this is the Hebrew
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concept that gives us the Latin theological term quorum deal,
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living before the face of God. When a covenant action is framed
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by Lepana Yahweh, it means there is no neutral ground.
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All human action happens under the immediate eye and regard of
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God. The examples are comprehensive.
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In the legal and moral sphere, doing what is good Lepenayawe
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means doing it according to his judgement and his estimation.
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Right. And that phrasing carries a
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greater solemnity than just Benet, which is, in the eyes of
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the poem, carries the weight of God's actual active presence.
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So when David tells Solomon to walk before the Lord Halalpana
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Yahweh, he means leading a life entirely approved and regulated
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by God's standards, lived in full, transparent view.
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This isn't just a suggestion, it's a covenant.
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Requirement. It's a life lived on the record.
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We also see Lopana Yahweh framing acts of worship,
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sacrificing, praying, weeping in the sanctuary, and even in
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settings where laws are laid out.
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Moses sets laws lepenae, the people, propounding them for
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acceptance and choice, making them visible and undeniable.
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And Lepani also governs hierarchy and access right to
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stand Lepani, a king, means to minister to him or to be in
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attendance. It is the terminology of court
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etiquette, the privilege of access to the person's presence,
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and in a slightly weakened sense, it means at the disposal
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of when Abraham is told the whole country is loponica, at
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your disposal or before you. The presence implies readiness
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for use. The land is laid out in front of
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the user, ready to be chosen. Next we move to so of rain mipne
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from the face presence of this preposition often carries a
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powerful causal meaning because of or for fear of.
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When Mipne describes literal motion, it denotes running or
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removing oneself away from the presence of another.
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Hagar runs away Mipnae Sorai. In Genesis, God promises to
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expel the inhabitants mipnae Israel, clearing the land for
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them. The core idea is removal due to
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confrontation or fear. But I find the causal use more
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illuminating. Why does the Hebrew use from the
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face of to mean because of? Well, the insight is that the
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cause or the presence of a thing forces the result.
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The effect proceeds directly from the confrontation.
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So the violence that filled the earth in Genesis was Mipnam
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literally from their face, but meaning because of them.
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Precisely their negative if presence on earth forced God's
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reaction. Pharaoh's land was destroyed
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Mipne of the plague of flies. The presence of the flies caused
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the destruction. Even inanimate objects respond
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this way. Trees sway mipne rule because of
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the wind. The word identifies the
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inescapable source of a negative result.
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Finally, let's tackle L from A, which generally means on the
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surface of or in front of. In its most straightforward
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concrete sense, El Forne is strictly spatial.
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It's used for the surface of the Earth, El Forne Helfena, or the
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surface of the waters, El Forne Helmayem.
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It's purely locational. It can also do no position like
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a vestibule standing elfrin the main building, but.
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The critical theological application of Elfrin is in the
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Decalogue Goes from an Elfrinne. You shall have no other gods
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before me. From Exodus 20.
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This is where a simple preposition becomes a
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cornerstone of covenant theology.
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It does. The English translation often
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uses before me or besides me, but the original Hebrew is
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loaded with conflict. Does Alpine mean in front of me,
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in defiance of me, or to my disadvantage?
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The debate hinges on the sense of Al In this context, given the
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exclusive nature of Yahweh's claim, the meaning strongly
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affirms the rejection of any deity existing in parallel, or
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worse, in open contention with Yahweh.
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Which aligns strongly with our tradition.
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We understand this as the prohibition of idolatry in
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general, emphasizing God's utter sovereignty and exclusivity.
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Having other gods, Alpine is not just adding them to a list, it
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is performing an act of hostile confrontation.
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It's doing something directly to the disadvantage of the ever
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present, watchful God. The term reinforces that the
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covenant relationship is absolute.
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All acts of false worship are performed directly in God's
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sight, in defiance of His Person, his Panem.
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This deep dive into Panem has been astonishing in its semantic
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scope. We started with the literal
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features on an animal's head, move through orientation,
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emotion, temporal depth, and arrived at the central matter of
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divine theology and covenant law.
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And the linguistic shift is the key take away here.
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But in begins as a concrete physical body part, then
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describes physical disposition, front edge surface, then it
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shifts to psychological state, joy, anger, resolve, and finally
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it embodies the entire concept of God's personal presence and
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the covenant relationship He initiates.
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The word functions as a bridge. It takes the reality of an
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incorporeal God and makes his proximity and personal
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involvement accessible and understandable to the human
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mind. It grounds these abstract
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concepts like grace and judgement, and relatable imagery
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like the light or the shadow of a face.
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It's the ultimate linguistic tool for stressing proximity and
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accountability. Whether describing Moses
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communicating with the Lord face to face or the requirement to
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act justly, Lepana Yahweh, the Word constantly forces you, the
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listener, to grapple with the immediate involvement of the
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Divine and every sphere of existence.
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So what does this saturation of presence mean for us today?
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We've established that the entirety of life, whether it's
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running from danger mythinae, maintaining an honest life,
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lepuni or seeking reconciliation, eopinem is
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fundamentally conducted in the presence of God.
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Well, our heritage identifies the chief goal of man as
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glorifying God and enjoying him forever.
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If the greatest blessing we can ask for is the light of God's
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countenance, His shining face in number six, and if all we do
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from our private thoughts to our public moral choices is
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occurring, lapana Yahweh, in the sight of God.
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Then what changes? What changes in your approach to
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everyday action when you recall that you were never outside of
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the divine purview? That is the question you are
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left to ponder. How does the perpetual,
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inescapable presence of God's pawn, Him, his person, his full
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attention, and His set intention structure your thoughts and your
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actions from this moment forward?
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into presence.
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Until next time. Time on reformed thinking.