Genesis 28:13-15

2008.Oct.24 03:00

Reiterate the Promise, Again

The LORD was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you–I will do all I have promised.
(Genesis 28:13-15, CEV)

The narrative of the Jacob’s Ladder story notes first the angels and the stairway, and then, almost as an aside (certainly in the way I remember it from various “kid’s church” lessons as a child), notes that Yahweh is standing beside the ladder!!! “Oh, yes, I had this nice dream, angels, stairway, lots of stuff interpret. Oh, yeah, and the creator of the universe was standing there, wanting to talk to me.”

We do, as humans, get blinded by the flair.

Yahweh is here to reiterate a promise, that the descendents of Abraham, now through Isaac and then Jacob, will possess Canaan. They will be many, they will be watched over by Yahweh, and (this is important) they will be a blessing to others. God will not leave Jacob or his descendants. His promise is certain, but it is not accomplished yet. Nor does Yahweh specify the timing. It is includes in this version, an acknowledgment that Jacob’s descendants will go out from the land (not noting for what reasons), but that God will bring them back together.

Yahweh seems to do this a lot, making a promise, reiterating it, only fulfilling it in his time, which may be a long way off. This is only a problem if I do not believe his promises. Yes, I must be patient, but I can be relieved completely of worry. And, very cool, he encourages us with reminders of his promises, throughout the Bible, and often in other ways.

Genesis 27:26-29

2008.Sep.05 18:00

The Blessing on Jacob

Read Genesis 27:26-29 | Full Chapter

Then Isaac said, "Son, come over here and kiss me." While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said: "The smell of my son is like a field the LORD has blessed. God will bless you, my son, with dew from heaven and with fertile fields, rich with grain and grapes. Nations will be your servants and bow down to you. You will rule over your brothers, and they will kneel at your feet. Anyone who curses you will be cursed; anyone who blesses you will be blessed."
(Genesis 27:26-29, CEV)

The blessing itself, having finally come to it, is not terribly interesting, at least to me. It’s a basic “Things will go well for you,” with an added, “you will rule over others.” As a major point, that others includes Esau (intended apparently to be instead Esau ruling over Jacob).

From a wider outlook, this may be seen as a blessing on the forthcoming nation of Israel. And the Biblical history of that nation sees this blessing fulfilled. But…

As with Jacob, for the nation Israel, the blessing doesn’t apparently preclude suffering and times when pretty much the opposite of the blessing happens. Solomon’s reign or the Babylon captivity. Jacob’s success or his struggles with Laban. Jacob’s joy in his children, or the apparent loss of Joseph. Indeed, it’s rare to see a blessing that doesn’t occassionally feel like a curse–and the bad times may or may not be do to failures on the part of recipient–or a curse that doesn’t sometimes look a blessing.

Promises are good, especially from Yahweh, and it’s wonderful to read through the Bible, seeing his promises for me. But what I need to receive from those promises is encouragement and perspective, not a feeling of invincibility, certainly not pride in myself.

Genesis 26:23-25

2008.Jul.19 15:20

”I Will Bless You”

Read Genesis 26:23-25 | Full Chapter

Isaac went on to Beersheba, where the LORD appeared to him that night and told him, "Don't be afraid! I am the God who was worshiped by your father Abraham, my servant. I will be with you and bless you, and because of Abraham I will give you many descendants." Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the LORD. Then he set up camp, and his servants started digging a well.
(Genesis 26:23-25, CEV)

God reiterates his promise to Abraham, that his descendants will be blessed, and that Yahweh will be with them. That’s not something I should just read past. I’m accustomed to discussion of generational curses, but here is something that is so wonderful: a generational promise. Yahweh often extends his promises to a family or group, for a long period of time. And, isn’t this nice, he is actually able to keep those promises.

The flip side, of course, is that we may not come into possession of a promise within our lifetime. A promise that I may think I will receive, may actually be received by my descendants several generations down the line. That’s okay, but it’s important to be aware that I may not fully understand the details of a specific promise from God. Not so that I can play the Nostradamus game of trying to make anything that happens fit with a given promise, but so that I can check my own expectations. Often, of course, the fulfillment of a promise blessing from God can be better than what I had imagined.

And one more aspect of this generational promise is that Isaac is receiving a portion of that promise, not because of himself, but because of his father. Likewise, I receive the promise of salvation in Christ, not because of me, but because of Christ.

And, of course, Isaac’s servants dig another well.

Genesis 21:22-34

2007.Nov.28 15:13

Covenant between Humans

Read Genesis 21:22-23 | Full Chapter

About this time Abimelech and his army commander Phicol said to Abraham, “God blesses everything you do! Now I want you to promise in the name of God that you will always be loyal to me and my descendants, just as I have always been loyal to you in this land where you have lived as a foreigner.” And so, Abraham promised.
(Genesis 21:22-24, CEV)

Abimelech and Abraham promise to be nice to each other. Wow, isn’t that sweet. But this promise seems to be more of a promise in passing. So far, it seems to lack depth. But that will change.

One day, Abraham told Abimelech, “Some of your servants have taken over one of my wells.” “This is the first I’ve heard about it,” Abimelech replied. “Why haven’t you said something before? I don’t have any idea who did it.” Abraham gave Abimelech some sheep and cattle, and then the two men made a peace treaty. Abraham separated seven female lambs from his flock of sheep, and Abimelech asked, “Why have you done this?” Abraham told him, “I want you to accept these seven lambs as proof that I dug this well.” So they called the place Beersheba, because they made a treaty there. When the treaty was completed, Abimelech and his army commander Phicol went back to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and worshiped the eternal LORD God. Then Abraham lived a long time as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines.
(Genesis 21:25-34, CEV)

Now, Abraham and Abimelech have gone through a situation that has promoted their mutual promise into a covenant. You can divide the covenants in the Bible into groups based on the participants in those covenants: God with group of humans, God with single human, single human with single human, and so on. Something I’ve noticed throughout the Bible is a difference between promises and covenants within all these groups.

Now God’s promises are secure, but even in his case, covenants seem to be, if you will, a higher order of promise. They involve some sort of “signing” activity. So the promise that Abimelech and Abraham make is not backed by any marker to which they can point; that promise comes under fire over the issue of one of Abraham’s wells, which some of Abimelech’s servants take over. (Unless, that is, verses 22-24 are meant as a summary rather than a separate event; but I’m going to persist with my current point in either case). The two “A” guys sort it out, but Abraham adds something to this.

Abe presents Abimelech with seven lambs, to be proof that Abimelech has accepted this particular well as belonging to Abraham. They also make a treaty (written?). So, now there’s an evidence of the promise, which I think is a significant part of a covenant. But Abraham actually adds an additional marker, a tamarisk tree. My guess is this tree is a marker of Abraham’s thanks to Yahweh for whatever part he played in working this out (I imagine including given wisdom to Abraham).

So, in summary, it seems a covenant needs (at least benefits from) a marker of some sort. Markers are generally used in covenants anyway; maybe more important is to recognize that the addition of a marker ought to bring the promise to a higher level, ought to be accompanied by a deliberate decision to count the cost of the covenant before entering.

Genesis 21:11-13

2007.Nov.18 23:37

Distressing Decisions

Read Genesis 21:11-13 | Full Chapter

The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”
(Genesis 21:11-13, NASB)

Abraham is in a difficult situation. I imagine this makes splitting up with Lot and such seem easy to the man from Chaldea. As I discussed regarding Sarah in my last entry, he made a bad decision that got him into this mess. I’ll grant that decision (to have sex with Hagar based on Sarah’s suggestion) involved some difficulties, but I still think the wise decision (“no”) was obvious. Now he faces another distressing decision.

Here’s the two major options, now:

Keep Hagar and Ishmael in the family; piss off Sarah.
Do as Sarah requests; send Hagar and Ishmael (his (mistress?) and son) off, quite possibly to die.

What the f— do you do in a situation like that? Seriously. I want to say #1, but how would he? Granted, I’m not too concerned with figuring it out. I can’t conceive of getting into this situation in the first place. But, then, I suppose it’s pretty normal, predicted or not, to end oneself up in a situation simply with no good solution, by the slow accretion of foolish decisions.

I guess I could quote most of Proverbs here, about wisdom and such. But when I’m thinking of distressing decisions, what comes to my mind is Paul talking himself and others going out and sharing about Jesus.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
(2 Corinthians 4:1-10, NASB)

I’m not sure why that passage is so precisely my response to this situation. In part, because if Abraham and Sarah had taken on this mindset that Paul is talking about, they might have faced perplexing decisions, but not ones causing despair. They forgot at times–as we all do–that our bodies are earthen vessels. If we fall of the table, we’re gonna bust. There’s just no way around it. We might land a little better or a little worse–Abraham might have made a more or less wise decision here–but (unless God intervenes, which I think he generally doesn’t at that point) we’re gonna break into pieces.

Yahweh makes beautiful things out of shards of pottery. But he didn’t say we had to have all that pain.

He steps in here and tells Abraham to go ahead and send off Hagar and Ishmael. Ishmael was not going to be the heir to all the promises God had given Abraham, but that had already been established. But, also, God has plans of wonderful blessing for Ishmael. He is going to be the heir to a promise, but a different one from Isaac. There really ought to have been no solution to this, but God, even though it’s come about because of sinful attitudes, makes a way. For one thing, he’s not going to punish Ishmael for the sins of his parents (and psuedo-parents). More generally, he’s got a beautiful plan.

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