ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Sapate Fepueli 12, 2023

God's Place Name מקום 

‘OTUA KO E POTU TAPU

GENESIS 28:10-11

JACOB LEFT BEERSHEBA AND WENT TOWARD HARAN. AND HE CAME TO A CERTAIN PLACE AND STAYED THERE THAT NIGHT, BECAUSE THE SUN HAD SET. TAKING ONE OF THE STONES OF THE PLACE, HE PUT IT UNDER HIS HEAD AND LAY DOWN IN THAT PLACE TO SLEEP.

SENESI 28:10-11

Pea na‘e ‘alu atu ‘a Sēkope mei Peasipa, ‘o ne fononga ki Kālana. 11 Pea ne hoko fāinoa ki ha feitu‘u, pea ne nofo ai ‘i he pō ko ia, he kuo tō ‘a e la‘a; pea ne to‘o ha taha ‘o e ngaahi maka ‘o e feitu‘u, ‘o ne fokotu‘u mōno ‘olunga, pea ne tokoto ai ‘i he potu ko ia ke mohe.

Although he didn't know it at the time, Jacob was beginning a twenty-year exile. He says he left with only his staff in his hand (Gen. 32:10), but he left with something much more important: the promise of God in his pocket. That promise came to him not at a random place, but a very "certain place." In Hebrew, "place" is maqom, but this is hamaqom ("the place"). A special place, indeed. The Lord operates with geographical specificity. This maqom Jacob will name Bethel ("House of God"), for here God welcomed Jacob into his home and bound himself to live and dwell with him over the next two decades, and beyond.

Later Jewish tradition, reflecting on Genesis 28, sometimes called God Maqom or Hamaqom. He is The Place, the ever-present, all - encompassing one. He is also the God who comes to us in specified places: Bethel, the temple, and finally the flesh-and-blood man who "is the radiance of his glory" and "the exact imprint of his nature" (Heb. 1:3). Jesus is Hamaqom of God, the human temple in which all divine glory dwells.

"O Lord, we love the habitation of your house and the place where you glory dwells" (Ps. 26:8).