Genesis 12:11-20

2007.Jan.14 15:53

Abusing the Blessing

Now comes the story that makes me question the faith, common sense and human decency of Abram.

It came about when he came near to Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman; and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say that you are my sister so that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may live on account of you.”
(Genesis 12:11-13, NASB)

The story is told matter-of-factly and pretty quick, but I’ll summarize anyways. Abram, Sarai, Lot, and slaves made it to Canaan. Then, poof, hey, what’s up, there’s a famine in the land. So, they go to Egypt. Abram then has an idea. His wife is beautiful and he’s afraid the Egyptians will kill him and take Sarai as a wife or concubine for some fine, upstanding Egyptian. Or, whatever. Anyway, he asks her to say that they’re siblings. She agrees. Sarai is "taken into Pharaoh’s house" (Genesis 12:15) . God makes stuff bad for Pharoah, whilst Abram enjoys financial blessings. Pharoah figures it out, sends them away, Abram the richer for it.

I’m not a big fan of Abram in this story. The Bible doesn’t seem to offer an judgement on this action, just tells the story as it is. Abram even does this again later. So, I may be completely off on my reaction to this story, but hopefully it’s useful regardless.

Abram is under God’s blessing. Even when he decieves the Pharoah and puts his wife in danger, he is blessed abundantly. But instead of letting the blessings of God strengthen his faith, at this point, he takes those blessings and does things his own way, anyway. I contend that he gains nothing from his deception, and indeed subjects his wife to a bad situation. After all, because Abram is letting his fear control him, he puts Sarai into a situation in which, had Jehovah not intervened, she would likely be given the choice between being raped (even if she consents for her husband’s sake, is that not rape, and her husband responsible?) or her husband being killed (or, most likely, both). Added to that, Abram has been promised blessing and protection by Jehovah; he has no reason to fear!

God’s blessings are not just a ‘yay for me’ gift. They are part of Jehovah’s developing my faith and relationship with him, as well as teaching me the value of obedience. Abram, in this story, has accepted the blessing but does not exhibit any faith from it. Indeed, God desired to bless others through Abram, but Abram instead brings a curse against the Egyptians who blessed him.

Like I said, the Biblical account does not explicitly comment on the morality of Abram and Sarai’s actions. Obviously, I feel comfortable applying other Biblical principals to Abram’s activities (to which I should probably have added some references). Sarai is more difficult. To simply say she should have beat sense into her husband would be blaming one of the victims of this charade; it is after all clear that the idea is Abram’s. But I have to wonder about the connection between this lack of faith and Sarai’s later lack of faith regarding the child God had promised them?

How a leader can cause pain when he or she does not walk in faith and obedience to Jehovah.

Genesis 12:10

2007.Jan.11 22:28

Egypt on the Way - Meme Introduction

Read Genesis 12:10 | Full Chapter

Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
(Genesis 12:10, NASB)

Let’s introduce a Biblical meme, shall we? Going to Eqypt. Abraham does it, Joseph does it (with his father Jacob and the rest of the family joining) (Genesis 37:28, Genesis 46), hence Israel as a nation takes a stop there, and later Jesus and his parents spend a few years there (Matthew 2:13-15).

Of course, there’s a multitude of other interactions between Israel and Egypt, as can be expected considering their proximity. I hope to delve into those as well in time. But for this entry, I just want to ponder this issue of going to Egypt.

In the case of Abraham and Jacob, they travel to Egypt to escape famine. Joseph travels unwillingly, sold into slavery, and Jesus’ family takes refuge there from Herod. In these instances, Egypt is a place of refuge. It also seems to be a place of maturing, at least for the nation of Israel. Abraham spends an early part of his personal time as a Canaan-dweller (sorry, needed to make up a term here) in Egypt; Israel as a nation spends an early part of her life in Egypt; Jesus, the savior, born into God’s chosen people, spends an early part of his life in Egypt.

What’s up with that? Beats me. It’s fascinating to me though, and I look forward to finding out more.

Genesis 12:4-9

2007.Jan.06 19:45

First Excursions

Read Genesis 12:4-9 | Full Chapter

Abram was seventy-five years old when the LORD told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had gotten while in Haran.
(Genesis 12:4-5, CEV)

So, Abram sets out as his father had begun, to Canaan. There’s not much discussion of the trip itself. The family’s stay in Haran had been profitable, but God told Abram to set off for Canaan, and so he and his wife, Sarai, with Lot and a number of slaves in tow, head off. I’d find it interesting to know more of the reactions of Sarai, Lot and the slaves to this journey. In any event, gold stars for the lot for obedience to Jehovah.

When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, but the LORD appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family forever.” Abram then built an altar there for the LORD.
(Genesis 12:6-7, CEV)

For the record, I don’t know why the tree of Moreh is sacred, and I’m not going to try to find out. Jehovah appears to Abram again at this point and promises that he will give this land to Abram’s family. The note that the Canaanites were still living in the land may be a bit of humor, seeing as I’m not sure there ever was a time since Abram showed up that there weren’t Canaanites in Canaan. But I could be wrong there.

In either event, Abram builds an altar before Jehovah. This is an act of worship. And I like that Abram obeys first before building the altar. It’s easy but incorrect to thing that worshipping God is more important than obedience. Indeed, I feel that worship that is not grounded in obedience is inherently rude to God.

Abram traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and camped between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and worshiped the LORD. Later, Abram started out toward the Southern Desert.
(Genesis 12:8-9, CEV)

And then Abram and company travel around some more. He continues to worship, and I’d like to assume that the rest of the group also worships Jehovah, although it’s not recorded here. I do want to note that the family spends time that doesn’t seem “world-changing”. But in those times that aren’t full of “events” can be times of growing closer to God. Just stuff to ponder.

Genesis 12:2-3

2006.Dec.31 12:24

More Blessings, Curses, Etc.

Read Genesis 12:2-3 | Full Chapter

Jehovah continues speaking to Abram:

I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.
(Genesis 12:2-3, CEV)

The last sentence in the above verses is one of the things I would really like to be said about me. Maybe everybody wants this said of them, that everybody would be blessed because they lived. Then again, maybe for some people, that’s not a big deal. At the end of my life, I’d like to know that I was a good husband, a good father (assuming I have kids, which I hope to), and a good neighbor (which, with my inclination to be a loner, may prove more difficult than being a blessing to the world. I barely know most of my neighbors). And those things would be to a certain extent satisfying. With those, I would consider that my live was well-lived, but I don’t think I’d be totally satisfied unless I thought I’d made a positive difference also in a wider arena. Say, the world. So, I welcome reading that it is possible to live a life through which everyone will be blessed. Even more impressive is that God made it a promise to Abram, if only he would go.

Actually, it’s something that rather amazes me throughout the Bible, that time and again, the Word of God shows the decisions and actions of one person having these huge effects. I tend to see more the "nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiates 1:9) side of this world. It’s a viewpoint that my natural cynicism exaggerates. But it is part of Jehovah’s plan for this world that what we as individuals do does affect the lives of other humans. And the truth that our actions can bless or curse others does not change under this sun. Even if those effects constitute a small subset of what is conceivable, the very reality of the effects should not be ignored.

Jehovah goes into some detail in Abram’s case. He will be famous and his descendents will become a great nation. Jehovah then asserts that he will return in kind any blessings or curses on Abram. That’s a promise I believe for all those walking in God’s will (I emphasize this is a personal opinion. I don’t have a supporting verse). There’s the selfish and vengeful part of me that’s pleased to know that God will give those who curse me their comeuppance, but there’s also this amazing wonderful feeling to know that the lady who changed lanes so that I could merge easier is going to be blessed for that, even though I will never know who she was.

I don’t like to make a “currency” metaphor–after all, I’ve heard the line about faith being the spiritual currency more times than I can remember, regardless of its accuracy–but I’m going to. Hah! There’s this exchange of blessings and curses that goes on in all societal interactions. They act like well-planned investments, producing a return in kind. And so, the more I bless others, the more I receive. Which brings me to the coolest point: the more I receive because I’ve blessed others, the more I can increase in blessing others. And that seems to be how Abram (and his descendents, over time) got around to blessing everybody. They blessed a little, and received more, then blessed more and so on. And when that people, at various times, turned from God and began walking in curses, the nation suffered. But because of Jehovah’s promise to Abram, eventually one of his descendents gave the greatest blessing to all humanity.

Genesis 12:1

2006.Dec.23 17:59

Read Genesis 12

My apologies. This is going to one of those cheesy have-faith just because, yadda, yadda articles.

The LORD said to Abram: Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.
(Genesis 12:1, NASB)

Yes, this verse and it alone is going to be the subject of this entry. Here goes.

I’m a security and stability kind of guy. I know some folks (yes, I’m from Oklahoma, and I actually use the word “folks”) who at least don’t act security-and-stability. They’re out looking for changes in their lives. The thing they most don’t want to hear from God is “Stay.” I like the word stay, to an extent. That is, if I more or less like where I’m at, I’m okay with staying. Now, since I tend to stay, my feelings reagarding a bad situation are exaggerated somewhat. That is, I then have an inner struggle between my desire for stability and the present dissatisfaction.

I don’t have a real good idea for which way Abraham leans. I tend to find myself identifying with Lot more than with Abraham (and I will probably spend a good deal of time discussing Lot). That’s not meant to imply I have many good things to say about Lot. Hopefully, as I blog through Abraham’s life over the next, oh, six months if I have to guess, I’ll get a better feel for his personality, but I’m not ready to hazard a guess as to his emotional reaction to God’s saying, “Leave what you know and go.” I know my reaction:

“Please no.”

So, when I see later how Abraham is blessed, and how God uses him, and I want to be blessed and used like that, I have to confront my natural reaction. There’s two issues here, personality and faith. I must confront both. My personality doesn’t want to go, and my faith can be weakened by those emotions. The first is okay. Emotions are okay. Letting those emotions dictate my faith is another story. And this goes both ways. What if God tells me to stay? Okay, good, my emotions may be good with that–depending on the situation. But that’s not faith. That’s relief. If I only listen to my emotions response, my action of staying is without faith, and thus is not imbdued with God’s blessing and power. I can have the emotion, but then the decision must be one of God has told me to do this and I choose to have faith and follow him.

Oh, yeah, this entry was rambling to.

Some thoughts, anyway.

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