Introduction
In our last lesson, we left Noah and his family on dry land, populating and filling the earth, yet the fallenness of humans remained. Still, God had accepted this. His rainbow was the enduring sign of his commitment to seek an alternative method for removing the dirt and filth which despoiled his ‘very good’ creation. The next couple chapters rather dryly detail the generations of Noah and his children, punctuated by the narrative of the Tower of Babel. This narrative looks back to Genesis 3 as humanity seeks to place itself on equal terms with God. Nothing has changed.
From this universal perspective, Genesis applies a microscope and focuses in on a single clan, migrating northward from the city of Ur in Sumer (modern southern Iraq). Apparently they are headed to the land of Canaan, but settle in Haran, on the modern Turkish-Syrian border. Perhaps the comforts of city life are preferable than a difficult migration to a land further away. God, however, interrupts the affairs of this small family by visiting the eldest son. It was through this eldest son that the fortunes of the world would be transformed.
Lesson
Let us begin by reading the backgrounds and interactions in Genesis 11.27-12.7, paying close attention to our principal characters and their situations.
Abram (his name will be changed to Abraham in a few chapters) and Sarai (her name will likewise be altered to Sarah) have been married, but, importantly, lack children. This would have been a significant burden to the couple, stripped of the joys of having children and the consequent fears of instability in their later years. But this also presented an incapacity to fulfill the divine commands in the garden, the repeated vocation of God’s creation to be fruitful and multiply — to have children and spread across the world. There were cultural alternatives as presented in Genesis 16 (with disastrous consequences for Abram and Sarai), but it is into this despairing situation that God began to make promises.
God commanded Abram to leave Haran and his family that had settled there. God would direct him to a new land where he would become the ancestor of a great nation. His descendants would be blessed by God, and God would bring about blessings to the entire world because of them.
We are not told of Abram’s thoughts at this, nor of his wife’s, but they were obedient. They took with them Abram’s nephew, Lot, and traveled to Canaan. Here, at the now hallowed grove at Moreh, near Shechem, God would declare this to be the land. It is no wonder the city retained its significance when the Israelites would enter the land after their departure from slavery in Egypt (see, e.g., Joshua 20, 24, 1 Kings 12).
We will skip over the sojournings of Abram and Sarai, which includes a number of their own moral failings — a common practice of the Old Testament. Rather than exalting their heroes as super-human, the cracks in the characters of Abram, Moses, Aaron, Saul, David, Solomon, and many others are displayed for all to see. And yet, we can turn to God’s interaction with Abram in Genesis 15.1-6, listening attentively for God’s promise and Abram’s response.
Genesis 14 tells of Abram’s military triumph, and the many blessings he was showered with by the kings of the land. Now, God appears to Abram in a vision and declares how blessed he is! All that God had promised was happening. Wait, says Abram, what about my children? I am older and no closer to having offspring. In fact, my estate will pass to someone else entirely — a steward of my house. God then shows Abram the stars — your offspring will be as many as the stars. We can picture this elderly gentleman, with his elderly wife half-asleep nearby, disturbed by her husband’s being roused, venturing out into the evening and being told to expect a child. A child which still has not come and which defies human expectations about how the world operates. How does Abram respond? He trusted God. He believed God. He had faith in God. And God ‘counted it to him as righteousness’ (a phrase later picked up by Paul).
This is, unfortunately, not language we are accustomed to, so let’s tease it apart. ‘Righteousness’ means ‘being in the right’ — as in a law court, being determined by the judge to not be guilty (i.e., ‘in the right’). It is not an aspect of Abram’s character or virtue. Despite his moral failings and weaknesses, Abram is considered acceptable or approved by God. Through Abram’s trust in God and God’s promises (i.e., for children), God is counting Abram as a member of God’s family, as a participant in God’s promises of blessings (cf. Galatians 3). God had made a covenant with Abram, and Abram had accepted it — chosen to participate.
With this context, we can read the remainder of the chapter, Genesis 15.7-21, which seems to describe a covenant ritual.
Once again, we find Abram concerned. As comfort, God does not explain his plans or provide a timeline for the arrival of children. Instead, he follows a formal procedure for making (literally, ‘cutting’, in the Hebrew) a covenant. (We can see a similar procedure referenced in Jeremiah 34.) The splitting of the animals (v.10) and passing through them (v.17) perhaps says something like ‘let this happen to me if I break this agreement’.
God then provides a vague timeline for his plans of making Abram’s descendants into a great nation, and it involves four hundred years of affliction prior to receiving their inheritance. (We will consider these events more fully in a later lesson.) For those who have watched The Chosen series, distant echoes of Jesus’ disciples joking about Jesus’ promise of ‘soon’ may come to mind. And, in reading the following chapter of Genesis, the anguished waiting for a child is not satisfied until chapter 21, when Abram (now, Abraham) was 100 years old.
Reflection
In visiting Abram (renamed Abraham in chapter 17), God repeatedly unveils his plans to Abram and gives an opportunity for Abram to respond. Would he accept the promises, or reject them? Abram accepts God’s promises and is therefore considered a member of this agreement and of a relationship with God. Abram is trusting God in contrast to Adam, Eve, and Cain, but in line with Noah who was commanded to construct an ark. God chose both Noah and Abram to accomplish his purposes.
But why them? What had they done? As previously discussed in Genesis 6, there is nothing that Noah did to merit God’s selection or approval. Similarly, we see no such indication in Genesis 11. In fact, we find Abram a character who can be honorable, but also deceitful and plotting. Both Abram and Noah became part of God’s work not because of who they were or what they had done, but how they responded to God’s call: to leave their land or to build a boat. As we continue our study, God repeatedly summons weak and uninspiring individuals (like you and me) to accomplish his work.
Considering the New Testament fulfillment of these ancient promises, we see the blessings to the entire world accomplished in the work of Jesus. Through his death, Jesus defeated the powers of sin and death, blessing all people by setting them free and giving them his spirit as a foretaste of their future inheritance. Abram’s importance is such that he is repeated throughout Paul’s letters (and implicitly in, e.g., Ephesians 1) and prominent in both of Jesus’ genealogies (Matthew 1, Luke 3). Paul’s references often help shape the way in which Abraham’s descendants are not necessarily those of physical descent, for membership is offered to any who do what Abraham did: trusting in God and God’s plan. We will maintain our focus on what it means to trust God and be part of his family and we continue the narrative in the next lesson.
With God’s promises to Abram (and their extended time until completion), we begin seeing separation between the current experiences of people (esp. God’s people) and the promises he has made to them. We can update our Bible’s Story diagram accordingly.
