Genesis 20 – You Are a Dead Man…

This last year I went to a conference in Kentucky called Cross Conference. It was an incredible experience being able to listen to some of the best speakers talk about missions and God’s global plan for the nations. As is typical of a camp-like experience, we reach spiritual mountaintops where God seems to make His promises so clear. When we seek after the will of God, He does not hide it from us. But when we come off the mountaintop (for indeed we must), the promises become murkier and we begin to doubt. It is the age old question, “Did God really say…?” I know, personally, that it took less that a day for this process to begin for me. Imagine how Abraham must feel. God has been promising him a son for years, and not just a son, but through that son, a nation. It may be easy for us to read Abraham’s failure in this chapter and think how foolish he was, and indeed this is the case. But I’d like to argue that the focus of Chapter 20 is not Abraham’s doubt, but God’s faithfulness to fulfill His promise, in spite of even our best efforts to stop Him.

The chronology gets a bit funky here, and it’s difficult to tell when or for how long this story takes place, but we see that Abraham is on the move again. The Bible tells us in verse 1 that he has journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb, living between Kadesh and Shur; and sojourning in Gerar. As always, when visiting a new place, Abraham makes the mistake of thinking that he will be hurt by those in power because of his marriage to Sarah. Once again, he tells everyone that Sarah is his sister. Though he continues to be technically truthful, he is purposefully being misleading. She is much more than just a relative, and this lie almost leads to the death of everyone in a nation. Abimelech, the king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her as his own.

Here is where God steps in. He will not allow His promise to be unfulfilled. He appears to Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he is a dead man because he had taken Sarah, informing him that Sarah was married. This news troubled Abimelech greatly, but he had not yet approached her, or drawn near to her. Because he had not slept with Sarah, he pleads with God, asking how He could kill someone who is innocent. He reminds God that Abraham is the one who lied, and Sarah had agreed. God responds that He is fully aware of what Abraham and Sarah had done (after all, they have done this before), but that God was more interested in fulfilling His promise. Regardless of what Abraham’s sin, God would hold Abimelech responsible if he did not return Sarah to Abraham. He reveals that it was He who had kept Abimelech from touching Sarah because He had only taken her in the integrity of his heart. He is warned that if he does not return her he will surely die, and all who are his (which presumably could mean his whole nation, not just family).

Abimelech’s next steps are predictable, promptly giving Sarah back to Abraham. His outrage at Abraham should not be missed. Abraham is the prophet, but he had deceived them, and that lie had almost led to the destruction of an entire nation. When a pagan tells you that your morality is out of line with God’s expectations, you should take note that you have probably stepped out of line. Abimelech, in fear and confusion, says, “You have done things to me that ought not to be done.” This accusation is completely founded.

Abraham’s defense is weak, arguing that because there was no fear of God in the place that he thought they would kill him because of Sarah. He falls back on his lie being a half-truth, since Sarah is indeed his half-sister. What this should show us is that despite the relationship that God had been forging with Abraham over a long period of years, Abraham had a long way to go. He did not think God would protect him in this land that did not fear God. Once again, Abraham is trying to help God by doing His job. God doesn’t need our help. We are completely reliant on Him, though we are often unaware just how true this is. Abimelech vindicates Sarah with gifts of silver, and gives sheep, oxen, and servants to Abraham. Abimelech’s innocence in this passage is starkly contrasted with Abraham’s disobedience, but it is not Abraham who must pay the price. God is showing mercy to Abraham and Sarah, though they are by far undeserving, in order that He might show them how faithful He is to His children.

Abraham prays and God heals Abimelech and his whole house, which God had caused not to be able to bear children. God’s promise to bring a child had been compromised, unwittingly, by Abimelech, and until Abimelech righted the situation, he and his house would not be able to do the very thing God had promised to Abraham and Sarah. I believe it is important that Abraham had to pray for their healing, as this would be a good lesson for him. God had shown His faithfulness to Abraham, but Abraham probably felt the sting of praying for Abimelech’s healing when it was completely his own fault. God is stretching Abraham to become a man of character, molding him into His image. This is restoration of the imago dei.

In the overarching story of Scripture, this story may seem insignificant, but I believe its proximity to the birth of Isaac and Abraham’s disobedience begin to paint a picture for the reader that God is bigger than just a local deity who has petty disagreements with humans, who is vindictive, who needs something from us. This is a God who demands recognition from multiple nations, who created everything, who has chosen to restore His creation to what He intended it to be, and He has chosen to do this through this man who seems so unlikely to ever achieve faithfulness. How God has not destroyed Abraham at this point in the story is a true miracle. The patience of this God is astounding, and His dedication to fulfill His promise is unmatched.

Genesis 19 – Lest You Be Destroyed…

After Abraham’s feeble attempt to find just ten righteous men in Sodom (though this plea seems to be more for Lot than the city itself), the angels left to go to Sodom. When they arrive there, they find Lot sitting at the gate. What is Lot doing there? It almost seems like he was waiting for them. As soon as he sees these visitors, he rises to greet them, bowing his face toward the ground. Almost immediately, he invites them to spend the night at his place. What is the outrageous hospitality? It seems possible that he might have recognized these men as more than mere men. He addresses them as lords and bows to the ground. But it could be that Lot was aware of the depravity of the city and regularly set a watch by the gate in order to be the first one to greet a stranger and be able to take them into his care to keep them from harm. We don’t know all the details about why Lot was there, but the fact that he was and that he reacted in this way show that he was a man of strong character. The angels say they will spend the night in the open square, but Lot insists and they go with him.

What happens next is somewhat difficult to discuss. The men of the city, both old and young, and all the people from every quarter surrounded Lot’s house. What does this mean? I do not think it means that the whole city, literally every man, woman, and child showed up to Lot’s house. I think it means that the whole city, as represented by these people was guilty of the same sin being committed by those surrounding the house. What is this sin? Most have interpreted this as homosexuality, and I will be the first to say that this does seem to be going on here, maybe even primarily. But I think there is more to it than that. Remember, these are not only men surrounding the house. This is a city that preys on the weak. The men of this city, along with the woman, desired to rape the two visitors. Elsewhere in Scripture, Sodom’s sins are shown in greater detail. In Ezekiel 16:48-50, God is speaking to Judah and He says:

‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty before me and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.'”

So what was the sin of Sodom? It seems there was a long list of sins. First mentioned is pride. Fullness of food and abundance of idleness sounds like gluttony and sloth. Sodom was also greedy, never giving to the poor or helping the needy. Last mentioned is haughtiness and committing abominations before the Lord. When we speak of what sin led God to destroy Sodom, I think it is important that we remember that it was not just one, but many, and that all of these sins which led to Sodom’s destruction were exceeded by Judah. However, the fact remains that Sodom was sinful, and homosexuality does seem to be the abomination that is spoken of here.

The people ask Lot to bring out the men so they might get to know them carnally. Notice Lot’s response. He goes out to them and begs them not to do so wickedly. Lot recognizes the evil and stands between the people of the city and the two visitors. What he does next is somewhat confusing. He offers his virgin daughters to the people instead. It is not clear is Lot actually intended to follow through with this offer or whether he was just buying time for his guests, but either way, I think this shows the pervasiveness of sin. Lot was a righteous man, but his close proximity to all the evils occurring in Sodom allowed him to be the kind of man to offer this lesser sin in order to protect the men. This would have been an unacceptable act of sin before God. Mercifully, the people reject his offer, mocking him as a judge of the city. Little did the people know that the true judge of the city was here to collect on the debt that had been building in this city. The people press forward to rape Lot, but the angels pull him inside and strike the men with blindness. This was a blindness of the flesh that reflected the blindness of their spirits.

The angels then tell Lot to get his family out of the city because they are going to destroy it. This raises an interesting question. Why were the angels there in the first place? God already knows what is going on in the city. He already knew there would not be even one righteous man, much less ten. So why send the angels? What was the purpose. I think one reason was because God wanted Lot out of the city for Abraham’s sake. But I think more importantly, it is because God’s knowledge of humanity is not just omniscient, but incredibly personal. God does not observe Creation through a microscope lens while wearing a lab coat, but descends onto the slide, into the muck and grime of our world, and observes events so that His knowledge is not that of a distant witness but an integral participant.This is one of the most exciting things about our God. He is not distant. He prefers to be involved rather than observe. This is not the God of the deists, who wound up the world and let it go, mostly to take care of itself.

It seems Lot took his sweet time getting out. Morning dawns and he still hasn’t left, probably because everything he has is in Sodom, including his family and great wealth. Do not think Lot escaped with everything. I think it is reasonable to expect that Lot escaped with the clothes on his back and little else. Perhaps it was Lot’s great wealth that had protected him from the Sodomites in the past, though this one time he had finally pushed too far. His position in the city has already been destroyed. His wealth will shortly be consumed as well. Lot continues to linger, so the angels literally take him by the hand and bring him and his family out of the city. We are told in verse 16 that this is due to God’s mercy. They are told to escape to the mountains and not look back behind them. Lot, having been shown a great mercy already, begs for one more small mercy. Escaping to the mountains, he claims, could lead to his death. Instead, he asks if he can flee to the nearest city. The angels agree and reveal that that city, named Zoar, had been marked for destruction as well, but that for his sake it would be spared.

Finally, destruction. God rains down brimstone and fire down upon Sodom and Gomorrah, razing all the cities of the plain to the ground. Lot’s wife, who is never given a name, looks behind her and turns into a pillar of salt. The question I’ve been trying to answer is why a pillar of salt. But I honestly can’t figure out an answer for that. What I can say is that she joined the fate of the cities when she disobeyed the angel’s command to not look behind. This was a woman who may have missed her former life of opulence and position in the city she briefly saw being devoured in fire. She might have had some twisted sadistic pleasure watching people she knew be punished while she gleefully rejoiced in her fortune of being married to a man Abraham loved and by proxy was saved for his sake. Or maybe she simply looked behind her as many do when they drive by the scene of an accident, desperately wanting to know exactly what caused traffic for the last mile and a half. Either way, she deliberately disobeyed the command that was given and joined in the fate of the Sodomites.

The next scene is Abraham looking out over the plain in the morning, and all he can see is smoke, like that of a furnace. The pain this sight must have caused him is understandable. He begged and pleaded with the Lord to spare the cities, though in some ways with a selfish motive to save his family, but I believe that Abraham truly wanted these cities and its inhabitants to be spared. There must have been a fear that Lot had not made it out. But God remembered Abraham in the midst of his great wrath and out of the smoke emerged Lot from the midst of the overthrow. One of the perks of being part of God’s family is that He answers your prayers, and in this case, Abraham’s prayer concerning Lot’s safety was answered.

The next story in this bizarre chapter involves Lot’s daughters. After the destruction of the cities, Lot does not return to Zoar as he had planned, but instead flees to the mountains. I really can’t imagine the brazenness of a man who would ask God to spare a whole city from destruction because he was afraid to flee to the mountains to then proceed to flee the city and go to the mountains after God granted his request. Some commentators argue that Lot could have been held responsible for the Sodom’s destruction since he and his family were the only ones spared. Either way, he goes into some caves with his two daughters. Now Lot may have been a righteous man, but his daughters seem to have gone completely off the deep end. There may be good reasons for wanting to give Lot descendants, but the means of achieving this become deplorable acts. What is important to note is that though the daughters committed a sin, it seems that Lot was in no way complicit with the sexual exploitation that took place.

This story could be dismissed as propaganda invented to demean the Moabite/Ammonite people, but this does not seem to be the case. It brings light to one of the major differences between Lot and Abraham. Lot was afraid and decided togo to the mountains to live in a cave, though God had provided him a place to live. Abraham follows God’s commands, making mistakes along the way, but always trusting that God is able. Even the brief incident with Ishmael was what Abram thought would be a fulfillment of God’s promise. Lot has chosen to live in fear and in those caves he encountered his daughters who had grown up in Sodom, leading to the Moabites and the Ammonites. From this point, Lot disappears from the story, but his descendants most certainly do not. Their involvement with God’s chosen people is a bloody history that will be discussed in later posts.

Genesis 18 – The Appointed Time…

Before diving into Chapter 18, let’s consider the life Abraham has had until this point. He was called out from his home, singled out to be blessed by God in a way no man had been blessed before other than perhaps Adam. Certainly, Abraham’s life would have been much different had he not received this blessing. First, his name would still be Abram. Second, he would not have the promise of a son with the woman he truly loved. Third, he would not be the conduit through which God promised to bless all the Earth. But most importantly, he would not have the incredibly close relationship he had with God. Though his encounters with the living God occur infrequently, sometimes decades apart, they are nonetheless powerful meetings which have always grown Abraham in his faith and understanding of God. Most recently, God had given his sign of the covenant, namely circumcision, which was to be carried out by all the males in Abraham’s household. Abraham obeyed immediately.

In this chapter, it says that once again the Lord appears to Abraham. We do not know how long since the previous meeting it has been. The Lord appears to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which we learned in Chapter 13 was where Abram had built an altar to the Lord. In this particular situation, it appears that Abraham was just hanging out by his tent door sometime around noon, probably trying to get a break from the heat. He looks up to see three men,  but it is important to note that Abraham seems to already recognize that these are not mere men. He runs to greet them and displays overwhelming hospitality toward them. This may have been part of the culture, but I think it is an excellent example of what we as Christians should strive to do. Hospitality is a great way to share the love of Christ with others. Some may be more gifted at it than others, but we are called to display hospitality as Christians. Abraham begs them to allow him to serve them. He brings out water that they may wash their feet, some bread, and some meat. He also offers the shade of the tree that they may rest. They ask him where Sarah is, and he replies that she is in the tent.

Before we move on, the fact that there are three men here should be discussed. One of these men is God. Who are the other two and how does the invisible God who has no form appear to Abraham as a man? Is this a pre-incarnate Christ? I think these are good questions, but I think that they reveal how little we know about God. The concept of the Trinity helps us to understand that God is three persons. But having our tidy package of being able to distinguish them does not always work out. God is three in one. Writing about the Trinity will, I fear, reveal my ignorance of the whole doctrine itself. But ultimately, the doctrine is only an attempt to explain what is only implied throughout the whole of Scripture. The Trinity becomes much clearer in the New Testament, but it is here in the Old as well. Is this Christ or is it the Father or the Holy Spirit? Well…yes. I think the important to say that God is one of these men, in whatever way He chose to accomplish that, whether it be Christ in a body before the actual Incarnation or if the Father has chosen in his power to appear to Abraham. These other two are probably angels, who will be more important in the second half of this chapter.

God responds that Sarah will have a son, knowing that Sarah is listening behind the tent door. Sarah laughs, incredulously, to herself, knowing that she is well beyond the age that a woman can produce a child. She’s heard talk of her bearing this child of promise for years, and with all that talk has come years of heartache and disappointment. Laughing at God’s promise was not wise, but considering the circumstances, it was actually quite a subdued reaction. Sarah’s faith may not have been big enough to believe that God could accomplish what He had promised, but one can hardly blame her. These interactions with God have been with Abraham. This may be the first time Sarah has directly received the promise from God. God, knowing she has overheard, asks why she had laughed, and she denies it. Lying to God is not wise, but God is merciful here and responds by merely restating that she did laugh. God’s compassion here toward Sarah is much the same that He had for Hagar. God knows when people are at the end of their rope, when all hope has vanished. It is this kind of person that God desires to lift up with His mighty arm. God’s timing is one of the most amazing things I’ve come to learn about Him. It is always perfect. Sarah needed this encounter at precisely this moment. But there was another reason for this encounter, and the timing for it was also perfect.

In Chapter 13, we learn that the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked. The time for judgment had come, but more than that, it was time for Abraham to learn what being part of the family of God is all about. After resting, the three “men” rose and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham walked with them. Next comes a discussion that God has with Himself, which is recorded for us here in Scripture. Is God actually debating with Himself? Obviously, the answer is no. The reason this internal conversation was included in the biblical record was in order to teach us about God and His relationship with us. What does it teach us about God? I think it teaches us a lot about what it means to be included in God’s family. With adoption as one of God’s children come certain privileges. One of those is being part of the work that God is doing on the Earth. We will never, no matter how close our relationship with God, be privy to everything that He is doing all over the Earth as that information would be far too much for our minds to contain. But the fact that He ever chooses to clue us in to what He is doing, we who are fallen and finite, is an unfathomable act of love in and of itself.

God’s debate, in this case, is whether or not to tell Abraham about what He is about to do to Sodom and Gomorrah. The interesting thing is that telling Abraham does not accomplish anything for God. Abraham has nothing to offer God that He doesn’t already know. God doesn’t need to know the best way to attack. Abraham’s disagreement with the impending doom would not dissuade God, who only judges rightly. So why the debate? Because Abraham is the conduit through which God will bless the nations. God is building trust. God is teaching. God is doing something more than just sharing His plans for the sake of boasting about what He is about to do. God is giving Abraham a chance to have a seat at this war table and discuss terms that he finds agreeable. And that is what happens. Abraham is told about God’s plans and immediately questions God’s justice.

Justice seems like such a simple concept, but when it comes to God’s justice, His is almost universally questioned. It’s the age-old question of why bad things happen to good people. 9/11 here in the United States caused many to question God’s sovereignty. If God is truly omnipotent, how could he allow those evil men to destroy so many innocent lives? In the end, I think we must always unequivocally uphold that His is the only perfect justice. Yes, there is evil in the world, and yes, the scales of right and wrong in our eyes seem to always be slanted toward injustice, but there are many reasons we should affirm the goodness of God. First and foremost, God is not the author of evil, though I believe He is sovereign over it. Second, I do believe there is such a thing as free will which is intimately entwined with God’s sovereignty in such an indistinguishable way that I doubt I’ll ever have a good grasp of how both things can be true, though I will affirm they must be. Finally, I believe that the scales, if currently out of balance, will one day be so fully righted that we who saw all the evil in this world will weep for joy seeing how all things had been used by God in ways we had never imagined for the good.

But the fact that Abraham questions God’s justice here is not because he doubts God is just. He is calling on God’s character in order to see if he can save his nephew, Lot, from harm. “Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the Earth do right?” This stirring speech given by Abraham does not change God’s mind, but He does agree to spare the city if Abraham can find just fifty righteous men. The reason I say it does not change God’s mind is because God knows that Abraham will not even find one. But Abraham continues to push God, asking to spare the city if he can find just forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally they settle on sparing the city if only ten righteous men are found. Throughout this questioning, Abraham realizes that what he is doing could provoke God to anger, and seems unwilling to push past ten, probably thinking that finding ten righteous men in a city as large as Sodom should be easy. What he didn’t realize was that none are righteous and that all are deserving of the fate given to Sodom and Gomorrah. Only one man has ever in the history of the world been righteous and it is only through His imputed righteousness which covers us that any of us can escape the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

So why does God spare so many other cities which seem even worse than Sodom? I can’t say for sure that God has spared other evil cities. I’m not one to point to a natural disaster and claim that it was God’s justice for x, y, or z sins, but I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility. However, I think it is more likely that God does not destroy cities in the way He did Sodom and Gomorrah today is because He was trying to teach us something about His relationship with sin. God is at war with evil. It provokes Him to anger in terrifying ways. The question we should be asking is why God doesn’t destroy all of the cities of the world for their iniquity. I believe the answer is that ultimately, He will eradicate evil, but for now His patience holds out due to His desire to give grace and allow as many people to come to know Him as possible.

Genesis 17 – Walk Before Me…

When God established His covenant with Abram in chapter 15, it is important to understand that this was only part of the whole deal. Like a wedding ceremony, you must say, “I do”, but then also have a way of showing others publicly that an agreement between you and your spouse has been made. It had been at least thirteen years since Abram had seen the burning torch move through the bloody trench between the animals, but the covenant would not be finalized until this moment. Abram is at this point ninety-nine years old when God once again appears to him.

God tells him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless.” This sentence alone is packed with so much to discuss. But briefly, notice that God says He is almighty. In the previous chapter, Abram’s doubt of this fact led him to sin, sleeping with Hagar, one of his slaves, in order to help God come through on His promise to bless Abram with a son. This was a declaration. God is saying that He knew that Abram doubted His ability and He is also saying that this doubt was unfounded. He then tells Abram to walk before Him and to be blameless. That is a tall order. Abram already has done quite a few things for which he should be blamed. What does it mean to walk before God? God has already proven in his interaction with Hagar that we all universally walk before Him. Nothing escapes His sight. Even a lowly slave in a desert does not slip past His watchful eyes. But I think this has more to do with living your life in a way that acknowledges God’s omnipresence. If you walk as if God is looking over your shoulder, you are at least thinking about God, and more than likely walking more blamelessly. Being blameless is a command. Given our fallen condition, this is a command that we cannot meet on our own, but through Christ, as we conform to His image, God sees Christ’s blamelessness as it covers our pitiful attempts to be perfect.

God then repeats His promise to bless Abram. Abram falls to his face. This ought to always be our reaction in our interactions with God. Whenever we encounter Him, we will always be in a state of disgrace based on our own merit, and His grace will always seek to shower us in His grace. Ultimately, this should lead us to worship. This great paradox, that a perfect God with every right to destroy all the evil in the world (you and me) who decides He will patiently work to cover us with His own perfection that we might live is so encouraging. Our outrage when we are wronged ought to drive us to understand just how strange it is that God hasn’t destroyed us. No one has been more wronged than God. But He is patient, desiring that none should perish, though the whole world has shaken our collective fist at God and tried at every turn to steal His throne.

Abram then receives a new name. The New Testament tells us that every Christian will eventually receive a new name. Here, Abram becomes Abraham. “Exalted father” becomes “Father of many nations”. We ought to be aware of how significant the changing of a name can be as this is exactly what happens at a wedding. This is yet another component to a covenant. The changing of the name is another outward sign of a significant life change, and in this case, represents the terms of the covenant. ‘Almighty God’ will make him the ‘Father of many nations’. And in case any of this was unclear to Abraham, God goes on to say that this covenant is not only to be established with him, or even his son, but with all of his descendants forever, and that they will receive the land of Canaan as an inheritance as an everlasting possession. God is creating a family, inexorably tying Himself with Abraham’s descendants in such a close way that people would know this God by Abraham and his descendants (God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob).

The terms of the covenant for Abraham? Well, like a wedding ceremony, this covenant will involve an outward sign like the swapping of rings. But for Abraham and his people, God demanded that every male child be circumcised. They are to have this done when they are eight days  (I originally wrote years due to lack of sleep) old. Anyone who wishes to be a part of the people of God must have this done. Anyone who does not must be considered cut off from God’s people, having broken the covenant.

But what is this really all about? This seems a bit trivial. Why would God demand something as barbaric as this? It seems so base and insignificant to a modern reader. Perhaps we have not considered that it would have seemed the same to Abraham. But why circumcision? At this point, I’m going to go ahead and admit that in many ways this puzzles me as well. But there do seem to be a few explanations. First, the covenant demanded an outward sign. While circumcision may not seem like the most likely candidate for this sign, it was the one that was chosen. While circumcision is not in any way unique to the Hebrews, it did come to identify them and set them apart. Another reason circumcision was chosen was because it symbolized part of a man being stripped away. Circumcision is a part of a man dying. In the New Testament, flesh comes to symbolize much more than the skin on our bones. Flesh also means our sinful nature. The circumcision God demanded on the outside represented a future circumcision of the heart that would be performed on the inside. None of this would have been apparent to Abraham and his extended family as they obeyed God in this command. They did all of this on the basis of faith.

And Abraham obeyed without delay. The very same day, Abraham took Ishmael and all who were born in his house and circumcised them. Obedience is something we do immediately, especially when God is the one who is asking something.

Genesis 16 – God Who Sees…

After the incredible experience Abram recently had with God, this next chapter shows just how quickly our mountaintop experiences can end. God’s unfathomable display of grace by establishing His covenant with Abram and passing through the pieces Himself is perfectly juxtaposed with Abram’s faithlessness in this chapter. How ungrateful we truly are! God gives us everything and we ask for His throne as well. That is essentially what Abram is doing in this chapter. He has doubted, if only for just a moment, that God could accomplish His promise of a son, and Abram thinks he can do a better job. Abram will try to do what He thinks God cannot.

It starts with Sarai, who at this point must feel brokenhearted by Abram’s constant chatter about a son promised to come. She knows that she cannot provide this son. It is likely that she never heard from God directly, as Abram had. Customs of the day, and even the law, demanded that a woman who could not provide an heir to her husband offer up her slave. The child produced would not belong to the slave but to the wife. Perhaps Sarai had been suggesting this for some time to Abram, and Abram’s faith had deterred him from relenting to the customs that demanded this action. For some reason, however, it is soon after God’s covenant that Abram’s faith slackens and he gives in to Sarai’s suggestion. By almost all accounts, this must have seemed the wise and rational thing to do. It was demanded by law and God had never specifically said that Sarai was the one through whom the son would be born. But this decision Abram made was a sin because it showed a lack of faith in God delivering on His promise. Abram had done well in the past by not choosing to do God’s job for Him, but this one failure was an usurpation of God’s role in providing an heir. This is human effort, which in the history of the world, has never come close to achieving what God is able to do.

Abram listened to Sarai and went in to Hagar and she conceived. I imagine this might have been a slight shock to Abram. Maybe for a moment he might have felt like this was finally the fulfillment to the promised heir. But I think fairly quickly, Abram would have known that he had sinned and that this son could never live up to all the things God had in store for his true heir, not because there was anything wrong with him, but because he was not the miraculous provision that would spring from God’s plans instead of a man’s.

Soon after this, Hagar began to despise Sarai. The reasons for this are not clear, but we can make some guesses. Hagar has seen Sarai and Abram at some pretty low moments. In foreign lands, Abram has been willing to drop Sarai as his wife, calling her his sister in order to protect himself. Sarai has been unable to produce a child for her husband and is at an age advanced enough that this is beginning to seem impossible. Sarai’s inability was Hagar’s strength. She would have felt a certain amount of pride at being able to produce this son for Abram, possibly even being aware that he might be the promised heir of God. She saw a window of opportunity and decided to take it. Unfortunately for Hagar, she underestimated Abram’s love and devotion to his wife, as well as Sarai’s anger.

Sarai approaches Abram with her plea for help. She now regrets having asked Abram to be with Hagar, having seen how she became despised. Abram gives Sarai the ability to do what she pleases in this situation. Sarai dealt harshly with Hagar, and Hagar fled from Sarai. This was probably one of the lowest points in the story of Abram’s journey of faith. Sending away a slave who had borne you a son was against the law. This act would have sparked gossip which probably spread like wildfire throughout the land. It was truly a scandal on par with Abram’s previous blunder in Egypt, which he had to flee in dishonor.

Up until this point, God has been silent, watching and waiting. Abram might have expected God to step in and stop him if this was not His plan. But God did not intervene. Instead, He allows this act of rebellion to occur so He can use it for His own purposes. Hagar has fled, probably quite a far distance, and an Angel of the Lord finds her by a spring in the wilderness. The angel speaks directly to her, asking her where she has been and where she is going. I don’t think this is exactly something that Scripture is directly trying to say, but something that I drew from this is that sometimes God can intervene simply by making us realize the trajectory of our lives. I think Hagar needed to be asked this question. Perhaps before she was a slave with Abram, who undoubtedly treated her well before this incident, Hagar could have been a slave elsewhere, maybe even Egypt. The path she was on right now led to extreme poverty or possibly death. Where she came from might not have been her idea of an ideal situation, but there was life there. This question would have made Hagar pause from her flight from Sarai to consider her life to this point and what her future might hold.

The angel tells her to return to Sarai and submit herself under her hand. This would have been an incredibly hard thing to do. It would mean an extreme humiliation. The issues between her and Sarai would have to be addressed, and the healing process for these kinds of things is often painful. But the angel goes on to reassure her that God will multiply her descendants exceedingly. This is not the blessing she had been hoping for. I’m sure she wished her son could be the one God had been promising to bless Abram with, but since this blessing was being reserved for Sarai, Hagar must have been humbled to know that God cared about her too. The angel goes on to proclaim that the child shall be named Ishmael because the Lord has heard her affliction. How comforting this is to have a God who hears our affliction. God is compassionate. This sole fact ought to humble us to worship. The angel continues by describing the relationship the child’s descendants will have with others. While I don’t pretend to know all the details, the Ishmaelites would later become enemies of the people of God, and thousands of years later would adopt a new religion, Islam. The family feud between Isaac and Ishmael’s descendants rages on to this very day.

This promise to give a blessing to Ishmael answered the prayer in Hagar’s heart. This is the story of the gospel. God hears the prayer of a runaway slave who had nowhere to run to and had no hope of redemption. God steps in and not only meets her basic needs, but then blesses her beyond anything she ever deserved. This point is not lost on Hagar. She gives a name to God: You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees. This might seem like a lame name, but in a world full of gods like Ra, Zeus, and Baal, a god who can see must truly be God, and much more wonderful than anything humans have ever invented to worship. This God does not only have sight, He uses it to search the Earth for those who are suffering in order to comfort them.

Hagar returns to Abram and Sarai, and bore Ishmael when Abram was eighty-six years old. Ishmael may not have been the son Abram had been waiting for, but he would be blessed nonetheless due to the overflow of God’s immeasurable grace.

Genesis 15 – Count the Stars…

In the last chapter, Abram had just won a major military victory and displayed faith that God would deliver on His promise instead of trying to accomplish it for himself. Following this high note, however, it must have been quite frustrating for Abram, who at this point has been away from home for nearly a decade following the voice that has spoken to him only twice. Abram and Sarai are getting older, and the promise of a son must  have seemed like a dream that was slowly slipping away. Remember that God has already promised an heir and land, but the details on exactly how He will achieve this are still fuzzy. Doubts must have undoubtedly been creeping up in Abram’s mind. These doubts are only sinful when we act on them, but if they are left unchecked they can overwhelm us and cause us to become bitter toward God.

God shows up at exactly the right time, as always, and decides to make His covenant with Abram more clear. The method He chooses to do this, I must confess, brought me close to tears while I was studying for what I would write here. While the story of what occurs in this chapter is not something I am unfamiliar with, the fact is that this ceremony that takes place is nothing less than shocking. From Genesis 1-14, we learn a lot about God, but I would say this chapter is when God begins to come out of hiding, revealing His true character. What we find is something so surprising it seems to defy all reason.

First, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Before saying anything else, God tells him not to be afraid. This is something God, as well as angels, often tell humans. But this is the first time we have recorded where God has said this. What does Abram have to be afraid of? There are two options here, both of which I see as viable. First, it is possible that God is appearing to Abram in a way that reveals more of His glory, and people who see God like this often fall prostrate in fear. The other option is that Abram was fearing God might not deliver on His promise to deliver him an heir. This second option seems more likely to me. Though Abram has briefly displayed glimpses of strong faith, he must have been doubting after a decade of waiting that God would ever give him a son. That fear must have been palpable. If Abram had wasted the last decade of his life wandering through the Middle East because of a voice in his head that he wasn’t sure he could trust and it all turned out to be for naught, he would probably feel humiliated. This fear is something that God intended to quell in this meeting.

God goes on to say that He is Abram’s shield and his exceedingly great reward. How comforting it is to have the omnipotent Creator of the universe declare Himself to be your shield! Beyond everything God has promised to Abram thus far, He claims that He is his exceedingly great reward. Descendants and a nation are great gifts, but they pale in comparison to being in a relationship with God. Abram’s response shows just how wavering his faith really was at this point. It seems understandable that Abram would want to get right to the point. This is only the third time God has spoken to Abram and he intended to get a few things cleared up and off his chest. He asks what God intends to give him since he does not have a son to inherit. Eliezer of Damascus was Abram’s heir at this point, but ideally, Abram would like his own son to receive this great blessing from God. Fortunately for Abram, God does not seem to be bothered by his doubts. God reassures him that he will have an heir that will come from his own body.

Next, God takes Abram outside. Abram is told to look toward heaven and count the stars (if he is able). He is told that just as the stars are, so shall his descendants be. Imagine looking up into the night sky, which for the ancients must have been much brighter (no light pollution), and being told your descendants would be like the stars. The stars had incredible value in the ancient world, often being deities or in the very least exerting great influence over events that occurred on the Earth. To be told that your descendants would be as numerous, but more importantly as valuable as these stars would have done much to quell Abram’s doubts. We are told in verse 6 that this is indeed the case and that Abram’s belief in the Lord was accounted to him for righteousness.

I would like to camp out on verse 6 and discuss faith and righteousness. We know from chapter 16 that Abram’s faith was not large enough to keep him from trying to help God again by sleeping with Hagar. I’ll leave that for the next post, but why would God account it as righteousness if we know that he didn’t fully believe God? Secondly, there is that word ‘accounted’. Why was Abram’s faith not simply a righteous act? I think it is because believing God will do what He said He will do is not something that should be considered difficult. In fact, it seems utterly unreasonable that God could lie. Abram’s belief was accounted to him as righteousness not because it was something that should be difficult to do, but because God simply chose to do it. God is overflowing with grace. This righteousness that was accounted to Abram was a grace that God chose to give to him simply because He wanted to bless him.

Moving beyond Abram’s doubts about his heir, God moves on to his next doubt: the land. God reminds Abram that He brought him out of Ur to bless him and give him the land. Abram asks for more details: ‘How shall I know that I will inherit it?’ This is the part that nearly brought me to tears. Before we get there, let’s discuss covenants of the ancient world. A covenant is always an agreement made by two parties. A marriage is a type of covenant made by two equals. Another type was a political covenant, in which the two parties are not equals. This was usually performed after one king conquered another king, such as what happened in the previous chapter. The defeated kings in chapter 14 probably had to perform a covenant ceremony agreeing to pay their yearly tribute to the kings which had defeated them. Now to the details of the ceremony. It usually involved the two parties splitting apart animals as a sacrifice, placing them on opposite sides of a ditch so the blood would flow down. The animals were sacrificed in place of the defeated king. After agreeing to the terms, the defeated king would pass through the bloody ditch, essentially saying that should he fail to hold up his end of the covenant, he should die in the same way as the animals. Afterwards, there is usually an outward sign of the covenant (think rings at a wedding), followed by a name change (“I now present to you Mr. and Mrs. Jones”).

Having reviewed the parts of a political covenant, let’s discuss why it was chosen. The most obvious reason is because Abram and God are not on an equal playing field. I think the marriage covenant imagery is not here because Abram was not quite ready for that kind of commitment. This covenant is more about God than it is about Abram. God is making a deal with not only Abram, but all of his descendants. Now let’s discuss what happened.

Abram brings the animals God asks him to bring and cuts them in two. After waiting quite a while, long enough that Abram had to drive vultures away from the carcasses, the sun finally began to go down and Abram fell asleep. Abram would have been quite familiar with the idea of a covenant even if he had never been involved in one. He would likely have thought that God would require him to walk through the middle of the carcasses as he promised to fulfill some duties so that God would deliver on His promise. This was to be expected in the ancient world. However, Abram waits for instruction, waiting patiently on the Lord. After falling asleep, God lays out the details of the covenant, finally giving some details about Abram’s descendants. They will be strangers in a strange land (Egypt) where they will be afflicted and serve for four hundred years. That nation will be judged, and his descendants would come out with great possessions. Abram was to go to be with his fathers in peach and buried at an old age. Finally, the iniquity of the Amorites would be judged in the fourth generation.

After this, the unimaginable happened. A smoke and burning torch passed between the two pieces. God has done what Abraham was expected to do in this story but never could. If this does not scream the Gospel to you, I do not know what will. The King of Kings has humbled Himself, passing through the animals which ought to have symbolized death to Abram should he fail to obey. Instead, God takes the burden on Himself, requiring nothing of Abram, and everything of Himself. What an incredible God who has just started to reveal how different He is from the other ‘gods’.

Genesis 14 – Four Kings Against Five…

This is an incredibly interesting chapter. The faith that Abram displays shows that he is a true worshiper of the Lord. We also see our first biblical battle. In the Ancient Near East, there would often be city-states that would be vassals of some other greater city-state. These vassals would be required to pay tribute in exchange for protection and to remain in control of their own lands. Failure to pay this tribute was equivalent to rebellion and usually resulted in military action. That is exactly what happens in chapter 14.

There were four kings, Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal who joined together to make war on five kings who had rebelled against Chedorlaomer. They were vassals for twelve years, but rebelled on the thirteenth refusing to pay their tribute. These kings who rebelled were Bera (king of Sodom), Birsha (Gomorrah), Shinab, Semeber, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar). The next year, Chedorlaomer and his allies attack in retribution for failure to pay the tribute. The five kings banded together but were defeated. The four kings took possession of all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and then began making their way home. Unfortunately, Lot and his his goods were also taken.

Someone escapes the devastation and tells Abram “the Hebrew”. Let’s stop here. This is the first mention of Hebrew in the Bible. What does it mean? It refers to descendants of Eber. Turn back to chapter 11 and check out verse 16. Eber is a descendant of Shem. For some reason, of the long line of descendants, Eber is the one Abram’s descendants are identified with. This does show that the genealogies presented earlier were of some special significance not only to those particular families, but others identified Abram ad his descendants as Hebrews as well. This news Abram hears about the capture of his nephew sets off some intriguing events. First, we learn that Abram has allies. Remember, Abram is a herdsman. He does have some power and seems to be quite well-off, but he is not the king of any nation. He lives off the land. Secondly, these allies are Amorites, a people group who would become the enemies of the people of God.  We also learn that Abram has three hundred and eighteen trained servants who are essentially soldiers.

Abram sends these servants in pursuit of Lot. They catch up to the four kings, and Abram divides his forces by night. Abram along with his servants attack them and pursued them. We do not know the exact details of the battle other than the fact that Abram and his servants seem to have won not only the battle, but have repossessed all the possessions and people who were taken by the five kings. Most importantly, Abram has rescued Lot. It seems that this was the main purpose of this mission. The incredible part is that 318 men and Abram were able to defeat four kings. This was truly a miracle directed by the hand of God.

The king of Sodom went out to meet him. I’m imagining a rather meek king who realizes he has lost everything and is trying to find some way to get back in control. How could this king of so decadent of a city be so humiliated? A simple herdsman from the hill country was able to defeat the four kings who had plundered his great city. This king of Sodom is insignificant in comparison with Abram. We are then introduced to a king who is not insignificant: Melchizedek.

It is important to know that there are many things we do not know about Melchizedek. This can make him seem to be more allegorical or mythical. However, I would argue this was a real person. His role takes on a whole new meaning in the New Testament as a sort of proto-Christ. However, let’s look at what we do know. Melchizedek means “righteous king”. Salem means “peace”. Salem would later be called Jeru[S]alem. He is also a true worshiper of “God Most High”. Melchizedek is also a priest. In almost every nation at that time, the role of king and priest and two separate and distinct roles. However, in Salem, they are intricately wrapped up in one person. This is unique. This is one way in which he is a proto-Christ. In Jesus, we have a great High Priest, who just so happens to also be the King of Kings. The Old Testament has a way of foreshadowing events that will take place in the New Testament, but often in surprising and extraordinary ways. Christ is not just a priest and a king. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father constantly mediating on our behalf. He is not king of just one nation, or even just the Earth, but he is sovereign over every atom of the universe, which he created and sustains by his absolute power. His sovereignty is unquestionable.

This Melchizedek brings an offering of bread and wine. Christians know the significance of this, though I would imagine the theological truths we see in Communion were not known to Abram or Melchizedek. Revelation is progressive, but as I said, the Old Testament foreshadows events in the New Testament, often without the audience knowing that events they are living through foreshadow anything. I would imagine that Abram and and Melchizedek would have been surprised to learn just what that bread and wine would come to symbolize. However, this offering distinguishes God from other gods of the time. Melchizedek blesses Abram and gives credit for his victory to God.

We do not know of the relationship between Abram and Melchizedek before this time, which could have been nonexistent, but Abram recognizes a true worshiper of God and gives him a tithe of all the spoils he has received from the five kings. Things are going quite well, and then the king of Sodom decides he doesn’t like seeing his stuff given away. He requests that Abram give him his people back and keep his possessions, presumably so he can keep something (his rule) and be rid of Abram who is clearly the big dog in town now. Abram’s response shows that his faith has been growing when he rejects the king’s offer. This is a pivotal event in the life of Abram. Why? Because though he has been wealthy and powerful within his own circle pretty much since he has left Ur, this is the first time Abram has any geopolitical significance apart from his brief encounter and unceremonious departure from Pharaoh. He has just defeated four very powerful kings who had already shamed five others. Now he is being blessed by yet another king, giving away spoil, and kings are grovelling at his feet begging for their possessions back. At this point, it seems God has already delivered on his promise by making him the most powerful man around. He could easily take possession of these lands and that would be that. But that is not what Abram does, lest kings should say, “I have made Abram rich”. Abram wants to make sure that God gets the credit.

So instead of taking the possessions, Abram returns them to their former owners. The only thing he takes is food to feed his men, having successfully rescued Lot and his possessions. Furthermore, he slights the king of Sodom by telling him that he would not accept even a thread or sandal strap from him. The wickedness of Sodom demanded that Abram not treat with this king as an equal. He returns the wicked king’s possessions and will wait for God’s timing to deliver on His promise. Abram, though still quite flawed, is beginning to learn that God’s glory is not something he can help God earn; God will accomplish it Himself. Abram will become impatient in the future as he waits on God for an heir, but at least at this time, he allows God to receive the glory and takes a backseat.

As a side note, I found some out some interesting things while researching for this post. The first thing that I found out was that Shem was still alive during the events described above. I’ll post a picture below to help visualize the timeline. This is much like Adam being around during Noah’s father’s lifetime (Lamech). The second thing I learned is less of a fact and more a conjecture. Some people speculate that Melchizedek may have in fact been Shem. Shem lives in the same area Melchizedek lives. He would clearly be the wisest and oldest person around those parts. As such, he would likely have leadership (if he wanted it). We also know that Shem was a worshiper of God, like Melchizedek. I would not claim that I hold to this theory, but I would definitely say it seems plausible. How much more interesting this meeting of Melchizedek and Abram becomes if it is a meeting of the same family many generations apart. Either way, people in the ancient world would have been able to meet those who had seen the pre-flood world firsthand. 

Genesis 13 – I Give It to You…

After Pharaoh ordered Abram to leave Egypt, he returned to where he had been before the drought, in a place between Bethel and Ai where he had built an altar. In this place, the Bible tells us that he called on the name of the Lord. To set up this chapter, remember that there is probably still little food to go around. Lands do not recover from droughts overnight. We have already learned that Abram is a rich man, having a large herd of animals that help to feed many families that are likely employed under him. His nephew, Lot, is also quite wealthy and has many livestock. Their separation in this chapter does not seem to be due to a falling out, but out of necessity. To support all of these animals in a land that is going through a drought, the two of them, who have been inseparable so far, will be forced to separate.

Though conflict did not seem to be between uncle and nephew, those employed by them begin to strive for the dwindled grazing lands. Abram seems to be a sensible man and makes the hard decision to separate. What Abram says to Lot is interesting because it reveals that his character is growing, though we will see he still has a long way to go. Instead of asserting his seniority, Abram forgoes the right to choose the land he will dwell in and leaves the choice with Lot. In Egypt, Abram sought to help God’s blessing come true and the results were not so good. In Canaan, Abram realizes that God will bless him in whichever land he chooses to give him and that God doesn’t need his help choosing the best land. He is being selfless in this situation.

Lot makes what seems to be the right choice. By almost all standards, the land in the plain of Jordan to the east seemed perfect. In those days, river valleys were the cradle of civilizations, and this appeared to be much the same. Perhaps it was because of this that large cities sprung up in the plain of Jordan, cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. I do not think that the choice Lot made was an immoral one simply because the land included these cities. It does seem, however, that Lot is choosing the best land for himself for selfish motives. Abram accepts the decision without question and dwells in the west in the land of Canaan, while Lot travels east to the plain. Abram’s trust that God would do what He promised will be rewarded. The country he finds himself is not the choicest place in worldly terms, but he will still be able to care for his livestock in this hill country. We are given a description of the kinds of places Lot has chosen for his dwelling place, most specifically, Sodom, which is exceedingly wicked and sinful.

It is after this separation that God speaks with Abram again. This is when God reveals the land that will be given to Abram, and a further promise that everything God promised to Abram will be applied to his descendants as well, who will be numerous as the dust of the earth. I think at this point it is important to discuss adoption. This is basically what God has done. God has adopted Abram. There are some important things that this reveals to us. First, Abram is given preferential treatment. Abram, through no merit of his own, is given special blessings by his Father. Remember when Abram was in Egypt and made poor decisions concerning his relationship with his wife, calling her his sister, which resulted in a plague on Pharaoh’s house. Why was Abram not punished? Part of the answer is because even though Abram made a mistake, God was protecting ‘one of His own’. Pharaoh did not turn out to be the bad guy that Abram thought he would, but God was going to keep his promise to Abram, preserving his wife so he could bless the nations through his heir. Think of Lot here as well. Lot has been with Abram on this whole journey, but he is not being given the blessings. He is receiving them through his close proximity to Abram. God does not hate Lot or Pharaoh. In fact, he loves them both. But in a special and familial way, he loves Abram even more. Another part of this adoption is being given an inheritance. God wants to give his son things. All parents love to shower gifts on their children. This is not to spoil them, but just because we love them. Abram is promised heirs as numerous as the dust of the earth. He is also promised a land and a nation. Being adopted is a wonderful thing. Being adopted by God is the most wonderful thing.

After being given this blessing, Abram moves to “the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron”, and builds yet another altar to the Lord there. This is the third altar Abram has built by my count. Abram seems truly devout and is proving it through acts of faith in the Lord.

Genesis 12 – I Will Bless You…

In Chapter 11, we are introduced to Abram and his wife Sarai. We learned of their lineage and how they came to live in Haran. Now we will get to see Abram’s character. But first, we get to learn more about the character of God. Through no merit of his own, God chooses to speak directly to Abram. I’m going to paste the whole conversation below and we’ll discuss each of the things God tells Abram:

Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Imagine you are living your life and all of a sudden you are given a promise of this magnitude. This is an introduction to what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. It will be officially made in chapter 15, and reaffirmed several times throughout Scripture, and referred to for the rest of the Old Testament, as well as in the New Testament, where the promise seems to envelop something even larger. We’ll discuss that well in the future. For now, let us focus on what the covenant actually says.

First, Abram is told to leave Haran for a new land. That is really the extent of what God is asking for the covenant. The rest of the covenant is what God will do. God promises to make him into a great nation. This is referring to the nation of Israel. God promises to bless Abram, making Abram’s name great. He will be so blessed that those who know him will be blessed, but those who disregard him or curse him will be cursed. All of the families of the earth shall be blessed through Abram. I want to focus on this point here. In what way will the families of the earth, or later in Genesis 18, the nations of the earth, be blessed through Abraham? Let’s look at what Paul has to say in Galatians 3:5-9.

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?–just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

What I think Paul is saying here is significant for a couple of reasons. First, it shows that the Gospel is not something restricted to the New Testament. Notice that the Gospel was preached to Abraham, when God said that through him all the nations shall be blessed. The second thing I see as significant about this quote is that we who are believers have been blessed by the hearing of faith just like Abraham. This is how God is blessing all the families of the earth through Abraham. We are still taking part in the Abrahamic Covenant today We are being blessed with believing Abraham.

Well, we’ve made it to verse 4. Notice that the distance between when the Covenant is spoken and when Abram leaves Haran is not told, but it seems to be immediate. This is one of the most striking features of Abram’s character. He will be flawed, making many mistakes along the way, but when God tells him to do something, Abram seems to obey without hesitation. Imagine the faith it would require to pack up everything and leave a land you are familiar with to go to a completely new place, as yet unknown to Abram, which could be hostile toward him. This is one of the reasons he will later be referred to as a hero of the faith, having done things by faith. Abram is 75 at this time, and apparently Lot goes with him. Lot will become more important in chapter 13.

Abram and his wife and Lot’s family arrive in Canaan. Now the Lord appears to Abram and tells him that this is the land that He will give him. In this place, Abram builds an altar to the Lord. Abram keeps journeying, eventually ending up in Egypt,  presumably because of the famine which was fairly severe at the time. Now we are going to see a bit of a conflict here in Abram’s character. Let’s start with the positive. When Abram needs to make a decision about the famine, he could have most easily returned hom to Ur, but he holds to God’s promise and does not return there. This is encouraging news. However, before he enters Egypt, Abram fears for his life. He thinks because Sarai is beautiful and because he is her husband that the Egyptians will be jealous and kill him and take her. So he asks Sarai to say she is his sister, thinking that he can help God achieve His promise.

Sarai’s beauty does draw attention and the plan seems to work, until Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s harem. Because Abram is her “brother”, he is treated well for her sake, being made rich with livestock. But God is still in control. He plagues Pharaoh’s house with great plagues because of Sarai. Abram seemed to have selfish motives (“that I may live”), but God does this for Sarai’s sake. Pharaoh seems to figure out what is going on and realizes he’s been lied to by Abram. He asks why Abram didn’t tell him he was Sarai’s husband and then commands him to leave. Ultimately, I think this ends better than it could have. Pharaoh, it turns out, wasn’t that bad of a guy and Abram’s fear of being killed was unfounded. He should have realized that God’s promise did not depend on his cleverness. Abram’s selfish actions resulted in a plague, and made him look foolish in front of Pharaoh. Abram is forced to leave Egypt.

Genesis 11 – Confuse Their Language…

This iconic chapter is one that many people, even those who do not read the Bible, would probably be able to tell you about. However, the story of the Tower of Babel is only a small part of this chapter. It is a brief story inserted between genealogies. In the previous chapter, we saw how Noah’s sons began to spread out across the Earth, establishing families in differing regions. I must confess that this story puzzles me, mainly because there are so few details which I key in on and really focus on to understand exactly what is happening. This seems more like Genesis 1 than Genesis 2 in that Genesis 2 seems to focus on the details while Genesis 1 paints a broad overview of what God is doing. This is a lot like that. While I do not deny that Genesis 1 or Genesis 11 actually happened, I think the broad nature of the way they are told imply that the significance is not in the details, but in what is actually said.

The Bible tells us that the whole Earth is speaking the same language, which seems to make sense since they all descend from the same family of three brothers. What is interesting is that the language doesn’t break down due to the broad geographic regions of their settling. Imagine traveling back to 16th century England and trying to understand the people there. You would both be speaking the same language and would understand much of what the other said, but many words would be completely foreign, enough of them that speech would be difficult. The exact date of the confusing of language is not something that is available to us, but many of the people in the generations after Noah seem to be living quite long lifespans. Given enough time and isolation, language can evolve quite dramatically. I say all of this to point out that the whole world speaking one language seems pretty significant as it could indicate that their level of technology and means of communication might have been fairly sophisticated. Perhaps this is why God says in verse 6 that “nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them.” In the age we live in today, as scientifically advanced as we are, there are many things that seem just out of our reach.

This brings me to a subject that I’m drawing from the text, but not necessarily out of it, if that makes any sense, and that subject is the idea of progress. In today’s society, but most pointedly in American culture, the idea of progress has been the driving force behind all we do. From the Declaration to Manifest Destiny to Emancipation to Suffrage to Marriage Equality, the idea of progress is what drove all of these major changes. I am not going to attack progress in itself, because progress is not something evil and is indeed something God is actively working toward, however, “progress for progress’ sake” is something that seems to be steering us toward a Babel like society. What I mean by this is that many today believe that science and technology will be able to alleviate all of our problems, “if only those backwoods Christians will stay out of our way”. They dream of a future where man is immortal, needing no body, but living forever in some horrific fusion of man and machine. They see a time coming when we will have conquered nature, and in many ways, this is already coming true. We will eradicate ourselves of all disease, but also be able to one day steer hurricanes, produce children without a father, and genetically alter our DNA to be whatever we want to be. This kind of thinking is exactly what I believe was going on in Genesis 11. While I will not say they had even close to our technology, the idea remains the same: man intended to supplant God from His throne and replace himself as the only authority. Progress can do many wonderful things, but there is a thin line that must be carefully traversed in order to keep our perspective, with God directing the progress.

Man says, “Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves.” If you have not become convinced of any wrongdoing before verse 4, this quote alone should bring things into perspective. This is not a spiteful God who feels threatened by man who He is losing control over as they become too powerful. This is a God who gave man everything man has and they seek to supplant Him. Look at the language. “Let us”…seem familiar? The idea that this tower would reach to heaven is not literal, but figurative. This tower would reach to a new heaven with man as the God who ruled. They do this “lest they be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Next, the Lord comes down to see the city and the tower which they had built. This is an anthropomorphism. In future blogs, we will reach anthropopathisms. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of physical human properties to something other than man, like an animal, inanimate object, or in this case, God. God is not literally unaware of the tower and city until he “came down to see” them. This is a literary device the writer is using to allow us to understand something about God which we would not normally be able to comprehend. Giving God eyes and physical space he occupies is not a theological treatise, but merely helps us understand a God who is made of spirit and is omnipresent and omniscient. God was aware this tower would be built well before the creation of the world. But in order for this story to be a story, certain elements are expected, including God being made aware of the existence of the tower and city.

God then proceeds to pass his judgment. He says, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” When God says “Let Us…” worlds can be created and worlds can be destroyed. In this instance, the world man had built for himself without God would soon be destroyed. Remember that at this point they ought to be filling the world, not settling in one spot. This was done in direct violation of God’s command. God, therefore, confuses their language and forces them to be scattered across the world. The Bible mentions that this is why it was called Babel, which comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to confuse”. Interestingly, I could not find an etymological connection to the English word “babble”, but I did find one in connection with Babylon, which would later become the enemies of God’s people and be used as the instruments of God’s judgment.

In the second part of this chapter, we reach the genealogies. I must be honest that my highlights pretty much disappear altogether here, but what is important to me, at least, is the link between Abram and Shem being firmly established. Terah was Abram’s father, while Nahor and Haran are his brothers. We learn that Abram and Nahor both had wives, Sarai and Milcah respectively. We also learn that Sarai was barren and had no children. Lastly, we learn the Terah takes his son Abram, his grandson Lot (son of Haran), and Sarai from the land of Ur (a populous city in Mesopotamia) to the land of Canaan in the land of Haran. Abram’s father dies in Haran at the age of 205.

Though we know the family history of Abram, we have to ask ourselves at this point, why is he even being discussed? While indeed he is descended from Shem, there are many others who are his descendants as well, but for some reason we are reading about Abram and not them. The reason for God’s choice of Abram and the blessings He would confer upon him are unknown, but it is important to note that God is actively working in history according to His purposes, continuously pursuing the same goal that man thrive on the Earth and bring glory to his Creator. Below is an image showing the genealogy from Shem to Abram which indicates their ages by beard length, which I found especially amusing: