Doug Van Pelt

Stem Cell Research

"Why don't they use umbilical cords for stem cell research? They have the same stem cells as fetuses."

This was an interesting question posed to me last night. It seems there is a growing use of stem cells from umbilical cords, which could lessen the debate about using stem cells from human embryos. Lots of parents are now saving their childrens' cords (and/or blood samples from them). According to the New York Sun, as of October 2006, "there are more than 20 private banks nationwide - Alpha Cord, Via-Cord, and newcomer DomaniCell, among them - and many companies advertise in pregnancy magazines and through direct mailings."

Interesting.

I'm shivering with cold in my office today, as my heater's heating element must've broken again. A lousy way to start a day that began with a cancelled breakfast appointment and deciding to rescue my pets from a cold, wet day. At least I have a convection heater by my desk. But for the first couple of hours, brrrrr.

Okay, we stopped in Genesis 32 last week, because we were coming up to a huge subject near the end of the chapter. Jacob was setting up his meeting with Esau. He'd seen the "angels of God" at the beginning of the chapter, but he still wasn't sure if he wasn't about to meet God face to face after his death at the hand of his brother. The night before he was to meet Esau -- who would meet up with Jacob's servants beforehand, who bore many many gifts -- Jacob moved his wives and family across a river. Once he had them and all of his possessions over the ford at Jabbok, he was left alone.

The next verse is one of the most unusual in all the Bible. It says:

"So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak."

That is weird, huh? But it gets wilder:

"When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, 'Let me go, for it is daybreak.' But Jacob replied, 'I will not let you go unless you bless me.' The man asked him, 'What is your name?'

"'Jacob,' he answered. Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.' Jacob said, 'Please tell me your name.' But he replied, 'Why do you ask my name?' Then he blessed him there.

"So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, 'It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.' The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob's hip was touched near the tendon."

What the?!?

Was this God Himself? Was this a pre-incarnate Jesus? Was it a time-travelling Jesus?

The scholars who wrote the notes in the NIV Study Bible point to this as "'God in the form of an angel,' like in Genesis 16:7. The angel appears to be both distinguished from the Lord (in that he is called 'messenger' -- the Hebrew word for 'angel' means 'messenger') and identified with him. It may be that, as the Lord's personal messenger who represented him and bore his credentials, the angel could speak on behalf of (and so be identified with) the One who sent him." This could be like one of the angels who showed up in Genesis 19 to rescue Lot from Sodom and Gomorrah. It's pretty interesting, though, isn't it -- as the reference is to "God."

I bet if you asked 10 people what "Israel" means, only 2 or 3 of them would say, "wrestles with God."

xxx

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Posted by Doug Van Pelt at February 12, 2007 11:02 AM