Then Balaam saw Amalek and spoke his message: "Amalek was first among the nations, but their end will be utter destruction." – Numbers 24:20

Today's Scripture Reading (December 19, 2021): Numbers 25

Christmas is the celebration of something that theology calls "incarnation." God stepped down from heaven and took on our form; he became "like us." God, in his natural state, is not like us. In Jesus's conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, he made this comment; "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Even though the Bible says that we are created in his image, the miracle of Christmas is that God stepped out of heaven, put on our body, and entered our world just like us.

In 1995, Joan Osborne sang "One of Us." For the most part, the Christian Church was unimpressed by the song, especially the chorus.

            What if God was one of us

            Just a slob like one of us

            Just a stranger on the bus

            Trying to make his way home (Eric Bazilian)?

Was she really calling God a slob? Yes, but then that is the basic meaning of the incarnation. In Jesus, God became like us. He lived like one of us. He was tempted like one of us. The only difference between him and us is that he didn't sin. He looked like us and was fully human like us, but in a twist that we sometimes struggle to understand, he was also fully God. What if God was like one of us? The story and the mystery behind this holiday season we call Christmas says that there is no "if" involved. In Jesus, he became just a stranger trying to find his way home.

In some ways, this is a positive example of something science fiction calls "shape-shifting." It happens when an entity leaves behind its natural state to become something else. Except that the shifting involves more than just window dressing or appearance with the incarnation. It involves a fundamental shift of matter, not just looking like something else, but, rather, taking on the characteristics and becoming like something else. And God took on our shape for a positive purpose; so that he could die in our place. The Book of Hebrews makes this assertion of this shape-shifting God.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Admittedly, most of the examples of shape-shifting in fiction are negative. There is a lack of trust between the mono-shapes (you and me) and those that can change shape at will. Fiction's shape-shifters are out to get us, attempting to trick us for their betterment and our deficit.

And other than Jesus, the same holds for the biblical shape-shifters. At least, that is what the people believed that the Amalekites were – shape-shifters. Because of this shape-shifting ability, Israel feared them. It is also why the Israelites often seemed to destroy the plunder of those they fought against because you never knew where an Amalekite might be hiding and disguised as a lamb or a cow.

Balaam says that Amalek was the first of the nations. We are not sure what that means. It might mean that they were the first nation to play a significant role in world affairs, but it has also been argued that Amalek might have been the first of the countries to rise up against Israel. But whatever the meaning of the first clause of Balaam's prophecy, the second part of Balaam's prophecy has come true with a vengeance. The last mention of the Amalekites as a nation seems to be during the reign of King Hezekiah during the eighth-century B.C.E. However, Haman, the villain of the book of Esther, is described as a descendent of Agag, who was a significant king over the Amalekites. Their disappearance was a dramatic fulfillment of the prophecy of Balaam that Amalek would be utterly destroyed. But the nation was so completely destroyed that "the Amalekites are unknown historically and archaeologically outside of the Bible except for traditions which themselves apparently rely on biblical accounts" (The New World Encyclopedia).

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 25