Forty

Elizabeth traveled with strange companions.

On her arrival home, she brought along with her, sleeplessness. Much as we disapproved of her strange company, we received it just as we have received her. Sleeplessness is now a shameless squatter in our lives.

Truly, receiving a newborn is a life-changing experience; and perhaps I trivialize its significance by calling it a “life-changing experience”.

Forty has a special significance in the bible, and it is instructive to understand pregnancy and parenthood in its light. “Forty” first appeared in Genesis 7 as God decided to “cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights”.

After the 40 day and 40 night deluge, the rain stopped. Although the waters would remain unabated for some more time, something was already different. The world which Noah knew was utterly gone. It was still the same earth, but a brave new world now confronted him.

When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments, he stayed up the mount for 40 days and 40 nights. When Moses returned with the two tablets in his hands, it was not simply a change in lifestyle – it was far more than that – the entire order of things is now different. What was previously permissible, is no longer so. Their conduct used to be regulated by their conscience.  But now, every deed was judged against the Law. It did not merely effect a change of lifestyle – it created a new social order, and their old way of life, was completely no more.

Before the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan, they wandered 40 years in the wilderness, being made ready for the task that was too great for them. When they finally stepped foot into the land of Canaan, it was not a change of abode – it was far more than that. It was not simply changing where they live, but how they live. Where they used to wander nomadically in the wilderness, they are now to stay put, to conquer, and to flourish. It is once again, a new social order. They did not need to fight in the 40 years of wandering, but now they must. Warfare was something they had never known, but they are to become warriors and conquerors. The lives they once knew – was no longer.

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights before he commenced his public ministry. For Jesus, it was not just a change of vocation – it was far more than that. It was not about putting down his tools and changing them for “something new”.  After the 40 day and 40 night fast, Jesus’ life was under public scrutiny. Every word he spoke, every deed he did, would be scrutinized by the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Romans, the Gentiles, and every Jew. The countdown to his destiny on Golgotha began. His life was not just changed – it took on a new character. He could no longer act in His private capacity – He is a public figure, He acted with authority. All eyes are on Him now, and He knows, every word He says, and everything He does, will be recorded in Scripture. The Satan will attack Him like never before – and so he did,immediately after the 40 days and 40 nights. His life was no longer His, but it had to be lived for everyone – the nations and the generations. It was not a change of vocation; it was a change of life – so fundamentally changed, they cannot be compared.

So then, 40 weeks of pregnancy and then parenthood. It is not to be a mere change of lifestyle or vocation (although it encompasses that). Just as it was for the children of Israel, Moses and even Jesus, the close of the 40 days/weeks/years ushers in a fundamentally new order.

My life has not been the same. It was not just a change of lifestyle – bathing in five minutes, dinner in three minutes, leaving the house earlier – it was a change in the order of things. When I was single, my world simply revolved around my needs. When I married, I stopped living for myself alone, but it was still possible to negotiate my world. When Elizabeth came, my world can no longer be negotiated. God is teaching me to surrender my life – not to the strong, but to the weak – that I may learn to be great. Where else can you better learn servant leadership, than to serve one who does not even reckon your authority over her?

It was not just a change of vocation – taking on new responsibilities such as changing diapers or calming the infant to sleep – my life took on a new character. What I say, what I do, would influence Elizabeth more than anything else; I must strive to live wisely and godly, for my life is under scrutiny.

Her arrival was quite simply, like Noah’s encounter. It seems almost as if, the heavens have passed away, and a brave new world is come.