Genesis 17:1-8

2007.Apr.21 01:45

A New Name

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.”
(Genesis 17:1-6, NASB)

It can be frustrating to hear Jehovah promise and promise and promise and promise…and where’s the beef? Here is a reiteration of a promise God has given to Abram before (Here, here and here, for example). Twenty-four years after setting out to Canaan, God is once again promising Abram that he will have many, and successful, descendants. This passage doesn’t tell me what Abram was thinking, but if he was thinking “Yeah, right”, I can sympathize. But that’s not faith. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 1:20, NIV) . We can have utter confidence in Jehovah’s promises, and sometimes we must remind ourselves that those promises will be fulfilled not in our timing nor according to our planning, but according to God’s plan.

Abram’s faith has not been perfect, but he has had faith despite his sins. He has gotten up after each fall, "for the righteous falls seven times and rises again" (Proverbs 24:16a, ESV) . Now, Jehovah adds to the promise. First, he makes explicit that he is establishing a covenant with Abram. And in doing so, God gives Abram a new name: Abraham. Our birth name can seem like one of the few permanent, established things in life. That’s probably often a good thing, but it can lead us to forget how completely God can work changes in us. When you are tempted to say “I can’t change, that’s just the way I am”, remember that God can change your name, can change your “stuff”. He can change your DNA, and I am not saying that metaphorically. When Jehovah changes Abram’s name to Abraham, it’s a statement that this man is no longer the mostly faith-filled, but still doubting, still trying to make it happen on his own, not there yet guy we’ve so far met. He is no longer a man who’s been promised something, but he is named the promise, and he is in it. Saying God is creator of the Universe is a nice way to talk about his power, but it may not mean much in everyday life. But see this power, to change the destiny of a person, of a “me”.

As if that were not enough, Jehovah continues, now extending the covenant to Abraham’s descendants:

“I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
(Genesis 17:7-8, NASB)

God is God of the present–which is something I sometimes find myself forgetting–but he is also God of the future. When he does us a good turn on this earth, he often does it not just for now, but for our, well, legacy, since I can’t think of a better word. Jehovah makes promises that are forever. And–and this is the huge thing to me–he means it. Wow. What an awesome God he is.

Genesis 16:6-16

2007.Apr.20 02:53

Hagar’s Child

Read Genesis 16:6-16 | Full Chapter

Abram said, “All right! She’s your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her.” But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. Hagar stopped to rest at a spring in the desert on the road to Shur. While she was there, the angel of the LORD came to her and asked, “Hagar, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She answered, “I’m running away from Sarai, my owner.”
(Genesis 16:6-8, CEV)

As I said last entry, I have a lot more sympathy for Hagar than Sarai or Abram in this situation. However, Hagar’s pride comes back to her. We are, after all, responsible for our own sin, regardless of the mitigating circumstances. That Jehovah gives us grace is a gift rather than a right. Abram, who–I assume–had been keeping Sarai from treating Hagar badly, gives in to the pressure from his wife. Sarai and/or Abram could have reprimanded Hagar for her attitude in an appropriate way. Instead, Sarai treats her so harshly that Hagar runs away. Error compounds error, sin compounds sin. Sarai’s desire for a child turned into a lust, which caused her to abandon faith, which led to jealousy, to hatred, to cruelty. Which is to say nothing of Abram’s sins and follies here.

God’s having nothing of this mess though. He has an angel visit Hagar as she’s running away. Hagar makes a first move in getting this whole deal sorted out. When the angel asks her what she’s doing, she responds honestly. God makes himself known through his messenger, and Hagar does not run from him or start throwing out excuses. And suddenly, things start to change. Now, this soap opera is not going to suddenly go happy for everyone, and there’s much more to play out in it, but responding honestly to Jehovah changes the situation from an ever-sliding disaster to one in which appropriate steps can be taken. Now that someone’s listening to God, it turns out he has things to say.

The angel said, “Go back to Sarai and be her slave. I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all. But your son will live far from his relatives; he will be like a wild donkey, fighting everyone, and everyone fighting him.” Hagar thought, “Have I really seen God and lived to tell about it?” So from then on she called him, “The God Who Sees Me.” That’s why people call the well between Kadesh and Bered, “The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.” Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to their son, and he named him Ishmael.
(Genesis 16:9-16, CEV)

Jehovah instructs Hagar to submit to Sarai. This now becomes a choice on Hagar’s part; she has run away, and does not have to go back, but she can honor God by doing so. That is to pointedly say, this is not a affirmation of human slavery, but rather a reminder that God may call us to submit to inhumane conditions because of a greater purpose. Jehovah does not leave Hagar to imagine what her carrot might be here. The angel tells her one of the blessings Jehovah has in store. Hagar’s child will be born, and while his life will have plenty of difficulties, Hagar’s descendants, like Sarai’s, will be numerous.

Hagar’s response to all this really encourages me. She doesn’t even get caught up in the descendants bit, as Abram sometimes seems to do. She is pleased to know that God has heard her and responded to her. She calls him “The God Who Sees Me”, from then on. She rejoices in the presence of God, makes a personal connection with him, and obeys him. And a situation that had multiple people competing for the dumb—- in the Bible award turns around by the power of God and the willingness of one person. Everything perfect? No, but things are looking up, as Hagar returns, gives birth and has Abram name his first-born Ishmael, in obedience to Jehovah’s instruction to Hagar.

Genesis 16:1-5

2007.Apr.16 02:46

Dumb—-s in the Bible: Let the Contest Begin!

Read Genesis 16:1-5 | Full Chapter

Abram’s wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, “The LORD has not given me any children. Sleep with my slave, and if she has a child, it will be mine.” Abram agreed, and Sarai gave him Hagar to be his wife. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years.
(Genesis 16:1-3, CEV)

Let’s get some timing set here. This event happens after Abram and Sarai have been in Canaan for ten years. "Abram was seventy-five years old when the LORD told him to leave the city of Haran" (Genesis 12:4, CEV) , so he’s probably a few years beyond 85. Sarai is about nine years younger than her husband (Genesis 17:17), so she’s around 75. Hagar is “young”; she may have become Sarai’s slave when she and Abram stopped in Egypt during the famine, probably a few years back.

Sarai is barren to this point, which is apparently looked down upon by this culture. The appropriate and correct thing to do, I think, would have been for Sarai and Abram to discuss the issue (Abram, likewise, is concerned about not having children). They ought to have then (or whilst discussing it together) prayed to Jehovah that they might have children together (as God has directly promised descendants to Abram), and had faith that the God who had so protected and blessed them would work this out.

Nope. Sarai and Abram try to “fix it” on their own, by Abram having sex with Sarai’s slave, Hagar. Gosh, let’s see how this turns out.

Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai. Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s all your fault! I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the LORD for this.”
(Genesis 16:4-5, CEV)

Both Hagar and Sarai may feel that Hagar has succeeded where Sarai has failed. Despite being a foolish attitude to begin with–in my opinion–this leads to dissension between the two, Hagar being “proud and hateful to Sarai”, Sarai being jealous and hateful to Hagar. I’ve heard discussion tracing Arab-Jewish violence in the Middle East to this situation, which assumes the Ishmael, Hagar and Abram’s son, is an ancestor of some Arabs; I don’t know–beyond a quick glance through Wikipedia–whether there’s any true to this ancestry, and if there is, if that line of discussion has any value anyway. I mention it only because I like to mention random things.

Hagar and Sarai, who may or may not have been close, now despise each other and the household is full of anger. Sarai, who proposed this mess, now places the full blame on Abram. And he does deserve much of the blame. But so does Sarai. I have a hard time much blaming Hagar in this, since she may have had zero choice in the matter, and, although still wrong, her becoming prideful is certainly understandable. But Sarai and Abram both chose to try to fix what they considered a problem on their own without seeking God.

As a man, I want to focus a particular moment on Abram. Sinning as a husband because your wife asked you too or did something that resulted in your action is still sin of which you bear the full responsibility. Blaming is a cop out, and God calls everyone to responsibility for their own sin (Ezekiel 18:30, Deuteronomy 24:16). Pleasing someone else, even your spouse, is never a justification for sinning.

In Abram and Sarai’s lives, we see a lot of faith, but we also see several situations, such as this, wherein they reject faith, and they and others suffer because of it. But I think it’s worth pointing out that ultimately we consider their lives successful. Yep, we all fall short of the glory of God, but he redeems us if we let him. (Romans 3:21-26–and guess who Romans 4 talks about).

Genesis 15:13-20

2007.Mar.31 19:09

That’s a Promise? Part 2

Read Genesis 15:13-20 | Full Chapter

Quick review from last week. Abram has asked God for a bit of evidence that his descendants will possess Canaan. God has Abram bring some animals (assumedly as sacrifices), which he does. Then Abram falls asleep and "a terror and great darkness descended on him" (Genesis 15:12, holman) . So now Jehovah’s going to talk:

God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
(Genesis 15:13-16, NASB)

This may be one of the strangest promises in the Bible. In short, Abram’s descendants will live in Canaan, but only after being oppressed slaves for four centuries (and/or generations). As a consolation prize, Jehovah will judge said nation (Egypt, as we will later discover) and Abram’s family will leave, and leave rich. After that, they will take possession. In Abram’s shoes, I would have an “um…what?” response. Jehovah does provide an explanation: the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” A footnote from the CEV notes that “Amorite”, here, may be a generic reference for all the inhabitants of Canaan.

There’s a genocidal feel related to the Israel’s possession of Canaan. This is one of the things in the Bible that I struggle with, trying to understand what all went on with the occupation of Canaan, and how I feel about it all morally. One of my goals as I make my way from Genesis to Joshua and later books is to examine what exactly Jehovah did/told the Israelites to do and why, and particularly this question of genocide. I’m not going to dwell on it here, but I want to introduce the thought if for no other reason than to say I’m not going to ignore it.

In this passage, Jehovah makes a point of delaying the possession. One interpretation: the people of Canaan have not yet totally rejected him; knowing that they will, God is preparing a people to take their land and purify it; or, take the land and further defile it, thus proving beyond doubt humanity’s need for a savior. Which is all a little crazy to get through the head. And may be an invalid interpretation to boot, although it makes the most sense to me at this point.

It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite" (Genesis 15:17-20, NASB) .

So, after that promise, complicated as it is, Jehovah burns up the offering, giving the sign that Abram had requested, and reiterating his promise. So, Abram got his sign and assurance, but it’s not all as peachy and smooth as he might have hoped for. Which is often true of God’s promises. They are true, but we can sometimes forget that there’s more than one path to the promise, and the one God designs for us may not be the one we want–or the one that we actually go on.

Genesis 15:7-12

2007.Mar.25 04:21

That’s a Promise? Part 1

Read Genesis 15:7-12 | Full Chapter

[Jehovah] also said to [Abram] “I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
(Genesis 15:7-9, holman)

Quoting a new version for me this week, the Holman Christian Standard Bible (Holman_Christian_Standard_Bible). One of many things I’m enjoying about my “FromGenesis” Bible study is that it pushes me to check out more translations, both out of curiosity and the need for clarity. Likewise, I spend a lot of time on Wikipedia looking up more information on…well, all sorts of things. Although it occurs to me, I’ve never perused the entry for Abraham. Maybe next week.

Speaking of next week, it will be a direct continuation of this article, more so than the normal entry. In other words, I’m going to make my comments on the first half of this passage, Genesis 7-20, then stop, because I think this entry will turn into a rambling mess unless I break it up.

Anyway, Jehovah reasserts his promise to Abram that he will possess Canaan. I wonder, but am not at all sure, whether this is in the same conversation as v. 1-6. In either event, Abram asks God for some evidence. Now that he’s decided to have faith about having a child, Abram may be wanting a faith boost. He’s had a lot of success in his life, and Jehovah has abundantly blessed him, but I can’t blame Abram for starting to think maybe this is all a little far-fetched; maybe his mind is going a bit and he’s making up these conversations with God in order to feel good about himself. I feel that way from time to time, and I can imagine that exaggerating with age.

Jehovah responds, “Bring me meat!” Roughly. I’m not knowledgeable on animal-sacrifice symbolism, so, we’ll just go with God’s response is for Abram to bring him some animals, and move on. (No doubt, an OT scholar could make a full entry on that verse alone, and it would probably be pretty cool.) Okay, so Abram gets the animals.

So [Abram] brought all these to [Jehovah], split them down the middle, and laid the pieces opposite each other, but he did not cut up the birds. Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and suddenly a terror and great darkness descended on him.
(Genesis 15:10-12, holman)

Abram does as Jehovah directs. This is an important point. If I ask God to give me a sign of a promise, and he tells me to do something, I should do it. He’s pretty willing to reassure us with what one might call fancy tricks, burning up stuff, sticks into snakes, etc. Now, I don’t mean “fancy tricks” to minimize the amazing things God does in the situations, but rather to say, he’s willing to do things that have no purpose other than proving to some human that either 1) he really is going to do what he says; or 2) it’s really him speaking. I could understand him becoming sick of this. But, "we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15) , and a God who is "compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6, NASB) . But, he’s also a just and righteous God who expects our obedience in turn, as Abram does obey.

Abram shoes away some birds and eventually falls asleep. And then, something happens. In the HCSB, "a terror and great darkness descended on him" (Genesis 15:12, holman) , the NASB "and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him" (Genesis 15:12, NASB) . That’s a powerful description to me, and I’m not really sure how it fits. Terror does not generally follow obedience, so I wonder if there’s something else here, or if Abram was just not really prepared to meet with God this close.

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