Adult Bible Study – Abraham
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
We will be embarking for the next two weeks to cover the material in Genesis on Abraham and Sarah as this material forms the foundation of faith that has governed both Judaism of the Old Testament and the Christian faith of the New Testament.
This is where the story begins. Abram and Sarai his wife are Chaldean from a place called Ur. The Lord speaks to Abram and makes him a two-part promise if Abram will pick up, lock, stock and barrel and follow God to a place to be named later. The two prongs of the promise that God makes is for a great progeny – Abram is to be the father of a great nation. The second prong is land – Abram and his descendents after him are to have a home land.
There is a point to this “chosen” one. God is to bless Abram and that Abram can be a blessing to all the nations of the earth. God’s blessing is to travel through Abram to the entire world. Those who bless Abram will be blessed. Those who curse Abram will be cursed by God.
The promise came unsolicited. God made the first entry.
The first incident comes when there is a famine in the land and Abram and Sarai and all their herds with their nephew Lot enter Egypt. Abram is afraid because his wife is beautiful and he figures that Pharaoh will want to take her into his harem. So the way he decides to handle the situation is to lie and get Sarai on board with the lie. She is to be represented as his sister. Pharaoh sees her, wants her, takes her into his harem and becomes sick. Pharaoh is plagued by God for taking her and the jig is up. Abram has become rich off of this lie. He’s given many cattle and his herd multiplies, but he is extracted under armed God.
What was the problem? Abram’s conduct is the problem. Rather than to trust God – rather than to appeal to God for help, Abram takes matters into his own hands and deals with the problem using lies and deceit. The behavior is met with disaster.
We enter the second incident – a dispute between Abram and Lot. The problem was the size of the herds that they had acquired. They were bumping into each other. Abram’s solution, this time was far different. First, Abram “called on the name of the Lord.” Second, when the problem presented itself Abram did not try to manage the problem, but gave Lot his choice. Lot chose what seemed best and Abram took what was left.
Following Lot’s departure, the Lord took Abram aside and showed him all the land in every direction. “It’s all yours,” said the Lord. I will give it all to you and to your descendents. Once again the two-pronged promise is made – the land is promised again and then a descendancy as vast as the “dust of the earth.”
The land becomes embroiled in war as the kings of that area rise up against each other – five armies against four. Lot and his entire family and goods is taken captive in the battle. Abram hears of it and gathers an army of his own, then through pursuit regains Lot, his family and all of his goods.
What happens then is the interesting part. We are told that King Melchizedek of Salem, “a priest of the Most High God” comes out to meet Abram and blesses Abram. Abram returns with an offering of one tenth of all his goods. This is the only time that King Melchizedek enters the picture. There is only a New Testament reference to him in the book of the Hebrews. Melchizedek is a name that means “King of Righteousness”. His blessing of Abram underscores two important things: first, that God has intervened on Abram’s and Lot’s behalf; and second, has validated the blessings that were made by God in the beginning. Abram is a blessed man.
This chapter highlights the important issues of Abram’s faith issues and God’s faithfulness. At the start Abram is questioning God on how he will become the father of a great nation when to their old age Sarai has not become pregnant. His only heir is a slave from Damascus. God’s word to Abram is that his heir will not be a slave, but will be issue of Abram and Sarai; and further more; his descendents will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens.
What follows is the image of an ancient covenant tradition. It entails the sacrifice and bisection of animals lain on the ground against each other. Traditionally the parties to the treaty or covenant would then pass through the middle of the animals. The implication is that what happened to these animals should happen to any party that breaks the covenant. What happens in Abram’s dream is highly significant. He sees a fire pot and torch pass between the animals. In this covenant only God makes the covenant. At this point this is a one-sided agreement with God being the responsible party.
Note: there is a prediction in the Lord’s words to Abram about the years of servitude and slavery for four hundred years; yet following their servitude they will come out with great possessions and they will possess the land.
In the last chapter, Abram had his doubts about the promise and went to God with them. In this chapter Abram and Sarai doubt the promise of a child given their age and the duration of time; only this time they once again resort to taking the matter into their own hands. Sarai given Abram her slave girl as a wife so that she might have children through Hagar. In fact, Hagar gets pregnant and turns against the childless Sarai. Sarai in turn turns to Abram with her anger and frustration who tells her to handle it herself. Sarai is so abusive that Hagar takes off into the wilderness and places her life in jeopardy.
God blesses even this situation. Hagar is given the promise of Abram. Her child will become a great nation and he will be great. His name is to be Ishmael. Once again, Abram is faced with disaster when he and Sarai take matters into their own hands; yet, God is faithful to Abram even in the bad decisions. God faithfully works with Abram in every incident and situation to bring about the desired and promised end.
Abram’s age is significant. We’re told that he is ninety-nine years old. We’re also told that Abram is commanded to “walk with” God and to be “blameless.” As the covenant expands a bit, God gives Abram (a word that means father) a new name, Abraham (a word that means the father of a people). Sarai is also renamed Sarah. The generation of a great nation is promised again. The giving of a land is promised again. But God is now holding out a relationship – a covenant relationship – they are to be “God’s people” and God is to be “their God”. The nature of this promise is to be perpetual.
Abraham is given a part to play in the covenant. There is to be a sign of this covenant for all time. The males are all to be circumcised on the 8th day. Everyone in the household including the slaves is to be circumcised. This is to be the sign of the covenant.
The heir of Abraham is announced. Sarah, now eighty-six, is to have a son. Abraham laughed. Their child bearing years were long past. But God’s faithfulness would be even thwarted by human age. They were promised to have an issue – a son – and his name was Isaac (a name that means laughter).
© Copy write held by The Rev. Dr. Kipp W. Zimmermann
Wednesday, February 18, 2004