Week Six | The Hovering Spirit

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Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus Online Biblical Study
Reading Assignment – Chapters 11 & 12
Listen to the Audio version | Reading Time: 4 minutes

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My back deck is one of my favorite places to read. I enjoy sitting with my feet propped up on the railing near our bird feeders. If I sit still long enough, I am sure to have a wide variety of beautiful feathered friends stop by for a visit and a quick snack. Cardinals, Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Chickadees, House Sparrows, and even tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbirds like to visit my deck. 

Often, I go out there with the greatest intentions to read but often end up too distracted watching my feathered friends to actually get any significant amount of reading accomplished. The birds are so fun to watch as they flutter around, all trying to eat and work out how to take turns. While most of them get along well, it’s also easy to see which larger birds have more authority and boss the little ones around.

After spending time with my feathered friends, I can’t help but smile in awe and wonder, thinking about God’s Spirit hovering or fluttering.

The Hovering Spirit

In Genesis 1:2, we read about the Spirit [ruach] of God hovering over the face of the waters. Whenever I used to think about what it meant to “hover,” I envisioned a stagnant stillness. I thought of God’s Spirit simply just being there. 

In this week’s reading, Lois explained,

“The verb that is translated “hovered,” merahefet, is somewhat unusual. It means to “flutter” or “hover,” like a bird flapping its wings.”

Lois Tverberg, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus, pg. 213

Deuteronomy 32:11 uses this word to describe how a mother eagle stirs up its nest and flutters over its young. 

like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft.
Deuteronomy 32:11, NIV

With this new image of the Spirit of God hovering and fluttering like a bird, I have a much more vivid and clear understanding that God’s Spirit was and is still doing so much more than motionlessly observing the formless chaos from a distance. 

Have you ever watched a bird hover? Their wings flap harder and faster in order to stay in one general location for a period of time than they do when they’re flying and soaring across the sky. They zig and zag in every direction, noticing details while calculating their next move. To us, their movements seem to be almost effortless because of their gracefulness. However, we must not be fooled into thinking gracefulness means weakness. 

The strength and power required to hover strategically is enormous. All of the other birds in the area are keenly aware of the presence of the bird hovering nearby. As I said, on my back deck, I’ve watched many times as some smaller birds get scared and fly away when a larger bird hovers close by. It is easy to see the hierarchy and notice which birds carry authority. 

During the Spring, I often see new little fledglings come to the feeder with their parents hovering nearby. Just as we see with humans and all across the animal kingdom, bird parents are much more assertive and aggressive when their young are vulnerable. Everyone quickly learns not to mess with a hovering parent.

Heh, maybe we should consider changing the title from “Momma Bear” to “Momma Bird.”

The Hovering Father

“When you’re aware of the avian imagery, it’s hard not to think of another scene of God’s ruach fluttering over water, when Jesus is baptized in the river Jordan. But now, this time God’s ruach alights on Jesus like a dove. The Holy Spirit that had hovered over creation had now come to rest on Christ, God’s anointed King.”

Lois Tverberg, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus, pg. 214

God chose this moment to brilliantly string together Scriptural pearls. Mark 1:11 tells us that Father God spoke from heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” 

In these few sentences, God pulls from all three sections of the Old Testament: 

1. “You are my Son” is borrowed from Psalm 2:7. 
2. “Whom I love” is from Genesis 22:2 in the Torah. 
3. And “With you, I am well pleased” is from the Prophets in Isaiah 42:1. 

 “By quoting all three, he is proclaiming that the entire Scriptures point to Jesus as their fulfillment.” 

Ann Spangler & Lois Tverberg, Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, pg. 49

Wow! Do you see how monumental this is?

This is also one of the times when God reveals Himself as a triune God, meaning He is three-in-one. The Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In this first chapter of Mark, God the Father speaks from Heaven about His Son Jesus, and the Spirit descends on Jesus like a dove. All three persons are described in one scene.

There has never been a more beautiful example of a strategic Father boldly hovering by His Son. And because of Jesus’s sacrifice, the Spirit of God continues to hover over His creation and His children today.  

Today, we need to remember God is not merely observing, motionless at a distance, the war raging against His people. Father God is a hovering parent. He is not sitting idly by, uninvolved, just watching the chaos. He is still shielding, intercepting, and protecting while aggressively and strategically asserting His presence in this entire situation. 

We can trust God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He was, so He is, and will always be, a loving, hovering Father. 

TODAY WE LEARNED:
1. Merahefet means to “flutter” or “hover,” like a bird flapping its wings.
2. God’s Spirit was and is still doing so much more than motionlessly observing the formless chaos from a distance.
3. Parents are much more assertive and aggressive when their young are vulnerable.
4. God is still shielding, intercepting, and protecting while aggressively and strategically asserting His presence.

ANSWER THIS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW:
How have you seen God ‘hover’ over you like a Father?