koot van wyk (DLitt et Phil; ThD)

Kyungpook National University

Sangju Campus

South Korea

conjoint lecturer of Avondale College

2 July 2010

Neil Diamond is a great singer in the USA and he was born and raised in the city of New York. In 1971 (see www.youtube.com) he sang a song with very deep implications. It is the cry of all humanity in the city.  Beautiful lyrics, beautiful harmony, very deep content. It is the truth and it is real, for all those who live in the city, the metro-people.

Moses was born in 1530 BCE in the country but at his birth, princess Hatshepsut, the daughter of Thutmosis I found him in the Nile and given back to his mother, he went back to his country living until the year 1518 BCE when he became a metro-person. He grew up in the palace with queen Hatshepsut, her husband Thutmosis II and the younger illegitimate child, Thutmosis III. Moses studied at the University of Egypt and knew a couple of languages besides Hebrew. He was widely read in literature. Then in 1490 BCE one eventful day in his life, he struck and killed an Egyptian official who was hitting a Hebrew slave. He had to flee to Midian, away from the Palace police of Thutmosis III. In the loneliness of Midian, Moses missed his mother. Guilt ridden, lonely, miserable at the age of 40, Moses tried to cope with this loss of the metro-privileges. Just like Neil Diamond, Moses was lost between two shores: Midian was fine but it was not his home and Egypt was his home but it was not his home any more. It was then in the drama of loneliness that Moses sat down in Midian and composed with, what the vellums of literature told him about an earlier ancestor Job who lost everything, an epic called Job. He grabbed these writings the day he ran out of Egypt. His mother may have given it to him when he went to greet her the last time. He would not see his mother again.

Online we found the song of Neil Diamond in youtube. In the Bible we have the epic of Moses written in 1460 BCE, Job 6 and 7. 

Neil Diamond - I Am ... I Said lyrics

L.A.'s fine, the sun shines most the time

And the feeling is 'lay back'

Palm trees grow, and rents are low

But you know I keep thinkin' about

Making my way back

Well I'm New York City born and raised

But nowadays, I'm lost between two shores

L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home

New York's home, but it ain't mine no more

"I am," I said

To no one there

An no one heard at all

Not even the chair

"I am," I cried

"I am," said I

And I am lost, and I can't even say why

Leavin' me lonely still

Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of bein' a king

And then became one

Well except for the names and a few other changes

If you talk about me, the story's the same one

But I got an emptiness deep inside

And I've tried, but it won't let me go

And I'm not a man who likes to swear

But I never cared for the sound of being alone

"I am," I said

To no one there

An no one heard at all

Not even the chair

"I am," I cried

"I am," said I

And I am lost, and I can't even say why

Leavin' me lonely still

(Written by Neil Diamond)

Moses knew about his ancestor's trauma when he lost everything as a rich man and became bankrupt.

Job was himself lonely. When Job talks, we can feel the heartbeat of Moses, the composer of the epic.

Before Job spoke in Job 6 his friend Eliphaz encouraged him to cry out and see if someone will answer him "Call now, is there anyone answering you?" (Job 5:1).

Neil Diamond said in 1971:

"I am," I said

To no one there

An no one heard at all

Not even the chair

It is then that Job answered:

Job 6

1 Then Job replied:

 2 "If really my anguish could be weighed

       and my misery be placed together on balances!

 13 Is it that there is not in me my help? And deliverance driven from me? 

 28 "And now, turn the face [Your face] to me".

Job 7

3 so I have been allotted months of futility,

       and nights of misery have been assigned to me.

 4 When I lie down I say, 'How long before I get up?'

       and the evening continues on, and I am continually tossing until dawn.

 7 Remember, that my life is a breath,

       not again will my eyes see good [days].

 8 The eye that sees me will not see me,

       Your eye for me, but I will be no more.

 10 Not will he come to his house again

       his place will know him no more.

 11 "Also, I will not keep silent my mouth,

       I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,

       I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

 16 I despise.  Not unto eternity would I live.

       Is it not to depart from me? For empty [hebel] is  my days.

 17 "What is man [Egyptianism = s.3.n.s = man of good birth in Late Egyptian] that You magnify him?

       and that You set/placed [tashit] unto him his heart?

 18 And that You examine him to the mornings?

       And You test him to the moments?

 19 According to what do You not turn from me?

       Not do You let me unto my loneliness a moment [ruqi]?

 20  I have sinned. What have I done to You?

       O watcher of men?

      And why I was placed unto a target to You?

      And I am [waeheyeh] upon myself [aly] unto a burden [lemassah].

 21  And why do You not lift my transgressions

       and pass over my innate evil [awony]?

       For soon unto dust I will lie down.

       And You will search for me, but I will be no more."

Wrap it up

1. Neil Diamond and Moses (or his epic ancestor Job), all three (Jews) suffered from loneliness.

2. Neil Diamond describes his emptiness with painful accuracy and so did Moses in Job's anguish.

3. Neil Diamond is left lonely still and Job/Moses at this particular point was rolling the same issues as Neil Diamond: Who is out there hearing me?

4. Neil Diamond says that he is not a man that likes to swear but by the thought of loneliness he does. Job says that (Job 7:11)

11 "Also, I will not keep silent my mouth,

       I will speak in the anguish of my spirit,

       I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

5. Neil Diamond is lost between two shores. LA is fine but it is not his home and New York is home but it is not his any more. Job or Moses said that (Job 7:10)

10 Not will he come to his house again

       his place will know him no more.

Moses is also lost between two shores. Murderer with blood on his hands and guilt in his heart and a police force looking for him, a pharaoh Thutmosis III (campaigning 16 times to Palestine) prevented him from returning. Midian is fine but it isn't home and Egypt is home but it isn't his any more.

6. Neil Diamond felt that he is in 1971 still lonely. In 2008 he visited New York where he grew up and the online video (www.Youtube.com) shows him saying to the few around his street "God bless". It is not known what Neil Diamond thinks or believe but Moses' mother gave him the Word of God she had: Book of Adam (Genesis 5:1 "This is the book of the generations of Adam").  This is a very important verse since the word book (spr) is used here. You can assume, every time Moses refers in the book of Genesis or elsewhere of the "generations of Noah" (Genesis 6:9; 10:1) that it is meant to read [book of] generations of Noah. From 1530-1518 BCE Moses received early childhood education at the knees of his mother and father. Instilled in his character and person were all these historical events of his ancestors and very important, God's dealing with them. It is God's Record of their interactions. Moses felt lonely, Job felt lonely and Job knew of another party present: God.

The God Job and Moses knew did not leave them alone and this is also a reality to Neil Diamond and all of us.

(Job 7:19)

19 According to what do You not turn from me?

       Not do You let me unto my loneliness a moment [ruqi]?

7. Everyone suffers loneliness and emptiness inside that will not let us go. But there is another unseen party next to us and in us pleading with us.

Job 7:17

17 "What is man [Egyptianism = s.3.n.s = man of good  birth in Late Egyptian] that You magnify him?

       and that You set/placed [tashit] unto him his heart?

 18 And that You examine him to the mornings?

       And You test him to the moments?

8. And when Moses was called by God in 1450 BCE (Genesis 3:16) to return to his place of birth, God appeared to Moses and said:

"I am". I am what I am; I will be what I will be.

Dear God

Lost are we between two shores.

Lonely are we inside.

Emptiness haunts us day by day

and won't let us go.

But I have a God in heaven,

a Jesus as my Advocate

and a Spirit in me

who won't let me go.

And the sound of loneliness

and emptiness

disappear, 

when You are by my side.

Amen

Source:

1. http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/n/neil_diamond/i_am_i_said.html

2. Bible. Job 6 and 7.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfbOHebiBgw&feature=related