King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
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Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of my hands
Yes, I acknowledge that the commentators all say about the same thing: that it alludes to a custom of making a mark or wearing a mark on the hands to signify something.
Such is scholarship. Sometimes, we hold God’s love hostage to our understanding or comprehension of it.
What if we take Isaiah 49:16 at face value?
The human palm is etched with lines. These lines, according to some cultures, have meaning too. Palmistry (disapproved of by scripture, or our interpretation of it) maintains that the lines change every 6 months. Astute practitioners of palmistry bring a variety of learning to bear on reading these lines.
Maybe God is paying us a fabulous compliment: that you and I are individually ETCHED on His hands as His destiny! Ooooooooh. Awesome!
Excuse me, but God fashioned us with His own hands. His hands made our hands. His palms shaped us. Pray tell me where is the scripture that His palms are smooth and blank? Yes, I know about anthropomorphism, so lets not twist ourselves in a distracted argument…
I have no problem with the romantic notion that you and I were etched on the man Jesus’ palms too. That He would erase our sins and free us for all time was ETCHED on him.
your walls are continually before me.
I love the reassurance that He knows my limitations, and He keeps them in mind all the time. It tells me that when I fail, or fall short, He knows what I can do and cannot. He is perfectly aware of it ALL. I don’t have to swan around frantically meeting some ethereal moral standard. When the moment comes, I am required to confess and I can get up and go on.
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Pictured below, my palms ….
I hope He finds Himself etched on my palms ...
CROSS your hands and look at your own palms .... your lifelines suddenly become the pointed arch of the A in Alpha and the circular arch of the O in Omega. We really have been 'fearfully and wonderfully' made.
Hey, check it out ….
