Read Genesis 12
Genesis 12 begins a dramatic new portion of the Genesis Narrative. The next twelve (or so) chapters tell us the story of Abraham, the first of Israel’s fathers of faith. In many ways, chapter 12 is another beginning in Genesis. Everything before this has been a prehistory, setting the stage for God’s covenant with Abraham and his revelation of himself to his people.
The first eleven chapters of Genesis have shown us God as Sovereign Creator and Sustainer. By his authority that which has no purpose is given purpose and direction, for the glory of God. All of Creation is his temple. God has no needs. God desires to have mankind cooperate with him in his continued work in the world. Humans are priests of God in Creation. When humans rebel, God acts in judgment, patience, mercy, and redemption. God’s redemptive work in humans comes through God’s promises. God works in humanity in relationship by his own covenant.
The first eleven chapters shows mankind living in relationship to God and each other. When submitted to God, there is harmony between people and Creation. When humans seek independence from God, violence and oppression escalate. The stories of the beginning of Genesis reveal this escalation as sin enters the human heart, the human family, the human society, and finally human’s understanding of God.
The Tower at Babel is the last straw. The story of the tower is the final stage of the fullness of the consequences of the fall. Sin has corrupted mankind utterly, and all of mankind has become perverse. All of creation is bent from God's original plan. Creation needs rescuing by its Creator. This is the turning point of the book. We need a Saviour. We need a covenant. For the rest of the book, God establishes his covenant with his people in order to save his creation.
GOD’S PROMISE TO ABRAHAM
1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
At Babel people wanted to make their name great, and be established in a land by their power.
God promises to make Abram’s name great, and establish him in a land by his power.
In response to the all pervasive sin of all of mankind, God promises a blessing through a seed he plants in the midst of the void. He will direct his own people, and from his people he will give the Earth a new humanity through his own Son.
Jesus is the promise of redemption from sin and its consequences for all the peoples of the earth.
Abrahamic covenant – God’s Covenant with his Chosen People
Abram - go to the land I show you. And I will make you a great nation. Through you all of the nations will be blessed.
Though Jewish oral tradition gives all kinds of reasons why God chose Abram for his piety or faith, the text dies not. Genesis called Noah a righteous man, but Abram doesn't even get that. He is not rich or accomplished. He is not powerful or important. He's not a warrior or a prophet. Abram is ordinary. What makes Abram special is God's choice.
v4 - And Lot went with him ... Was Abram supposed to take Lot, or did God's command in 12:1 mean he should leave him behind?
By leaving his family, Abram is leaving the blessing and inheritance of his father, and accepting God's inheritance instead.
All God's blessing up until now (ch1and9) focus on food and fertility. This one gives a specific promise of both (food through land). Also, every reference to people and their relationship to land until ch12 is that they are wandering, or scattered, or banished. In chapter 12 God is bringing people to a land to settle.
In Babel, they settled and wanted to make a name for themself, and God scatters them. For Abram, God promises to make his name great, give him many descendants, and gather them in one land to settle.
Patron gods were worshipped in different lands. Along with family and inheritance, Abram would also leave his regional gods.
When Sarah is in Pharaoh's harem, we see Abram without his family, away from the land God promised him because of drought, with his barren wife not even with him to miraculously produce a promised offspring. Things are bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment