Insecurity of Freedom by Abraham Joshua Heschel

Author:Abraham Joshua Heschel [Heschel, Abraham Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 1955-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

IMAGE AND DUST

There are two ways in which the Bible speaks of the creation of man. In the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, which is devoted to the creation of the physical universe, man is described as having been created in the image and likeness of God. In the second chapter, which tells us of the commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, man is described as having been formed out of the dust of the earth. Together, image and dust express the polarity of the nature of man. He is formed of the most inferior stuff in the most superior image. In the language of the second chapter of Genesis, every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, was formed of the ground. Man, however, was made not of the ground, which is the source of all vegetation and animal life, nor out of water, which is a symbol for refreshment, blessing, and wisdom. He was made of arid dust, the stuff of the desert, which is both abundant and worthless.16

That the end of man is dust is an indisputable fact. But so is the end of the beast. And yet, the Bible emphasizes the absolute difference between man and all other creatures. Plants and animals were brought forth by the earth, by the waters (Genesis 1:11; 20:24) ; they emerged from “nature” and became an “organic” part of nature. Man, on the other hand, is an artifact. The Lord both created and formed him (1:26; 2:7). He came into being by a special act of creation. He did not come forth out of dust; he did not grow out of the earth. The Lord both created and formed him (1:26).17

God “blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (2:7). Something of His very self God placed in man, so that he owes his existence not to the forces of nature but to the Creator of all. Man is set apart from both the plants and the beasts by the fact of God being directly involved in his coming into being. It is the knowledge of this fact that inspired the psalmist’s prayer: “Thy hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn Thy commandments” (Psalm 119:73). Thus the statement that man was made out of dust stresses not only his fragility but also his nobility.

The polarity of man may not imply an eternal contradiction. There is dignity to dust which, just as heaven, was created by God. There is, indeed, meaning and blessing in having been formed of the dust of the earth, for it is only because he is formed of the dust of the earth that man can fulfill his destiny to cultivate the earth. Yet while the duality of human nature may not imply an eternal tension, it does imply a duality of grandeur and insignificance, a relatedness to earth and an affinity with God.

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