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June 8, 2014 |
| Abraham | ||
Abram, who became Abraham, is a central figure in the Bible. It all began, though, back in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Even sinned, mankind was separated from God. Mankind became worse and worse from that point until God said of them "every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time."1 God decided to destroy all life on the planet except for Noah and his family.
God was not done with mankind; he still had a plan to restore mankind to himself. That plan would begin with a man called Abram who lived in a city called Ur which is now in Iraq, near the Persian Gulf
There was a man in the city of Ur called Terah, who was the father of Abram. Terah decided to move part of his family out of Ur with a plan to move to the land of Canaan. The Bible doesn't tell us why he decided to do this. Terah took with him his son Abram, Abram's wife Sarai, and Terah's grandson Lot.
They travelled for about 500 miles, probably following the Euphrates River, until they got to a city called Harran. Harran is in the south of what is now called Turkey, north of Syria. There they stopped and settled down, but they were only two thirds of the way to Canaan. We don't know why they didn't continue on to Canaan. The Bible does tell us that Terah did not have sons until he was 70 years old and that Abram his son did not set out from Harran for Canaan until Abram was 75. Adding those together shows us that Terah would have been 145 years old when Abram left. He was still in the prime of his life because the Bible tells us that Terah lived to be 205 years old. Terah lived the rest of his life in Harran.
While Abram was in Harran, God had spoken to him saying "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you."2 So, leaving Terah behind and taking Sarai and Lot, Abram set off for Canaan. Sarai had not been able to have children so they didn't have any children to take with them.
When they got to a place called Shechem, which is now in northern Israel, God appeared to Abram and told him that one day God would give this land to Abram's children and they would live in this land. God was referring to Israel but this would not happen for about 500 years.
God was also referring to the coming Messiah but in a way that was too subtle for Abram to understand. God will continue to make promises to Abram that hint at the coming Messiah that will bless the world.
Abram continued down into what is now southern Israel, much of which is now desert. He may have settled there for a short while but soon there was a severe famine. A famine occurs when there is a shortage of food. That usually means that there has not been rain for a long time and so the crops have failed to produce any food.
Abram headed south to Egypt to stay there until the famine was over. Along the Nile River in Egypt and especially in the Nile River delta leading into the Mediterranean Sea there was almost always rain and water. The land was very good for growing crops. So they headed there.
As he entered Egypt Abram told Sarai, his wife, to tell everyone that she was his sister. Sarai was very pretty and Abram was afraid that someone would kill him so they could have her for their wife.
What mistake had Abram made here?
He lied and he didn't trust what God had said
and was trying to protect his own life. God had appeared to Abram and promised
him that his children would one day live in that land. Because Abram had no
children, for God's word to become true it would be necessary for Abram to have
children, which he couldn't do if he was dead.
The story of Sarai's great beauty is spread around and the Pharaoh heard about her and made her his wife. Abram's plan to save his life is now a mess. Surely he would not have wanted Pharaoh to take Sarai as his wife, but now he is stuck in a lie.
If he admits that she is his wife and that he is a liar,
what could happen to him?
People will hate him and not trust him anymore
Pharaoh took Sarai as his wife but serious diseases started occurring to him and his family. This was the work of God. The Bible doesn't say it, but it seems Pharaoh suspected that he was being punished by a god for something and he figured out that these diseases started when he took Sarai as his wife. He found out that she was really the wife of Abram, not his sister. The Pharaoh kicked Abram and his family out of Egypt. He was so intent on doing this that he sent some of his men with them to make sure they left.
Abram and his group returned back to Canaan. Pharaoh gave Abram many gifts because of Sarai and although he kicked Abram out of Egypt for what he had done, Pharaoh allowed Abram to keep the gifts. So Abram returned to Canaan as a wealthy man.
Who represented themselves better Pharaoh or Abram, and why?
Abram lied to many people including the Pharaoh
because he didn't trust God and he allowed his wife to be married to another
man. The Pharaoh gave gifts to Abram and did not kill Abram or take back the
gifts for what Abram had done.
The herds of Abram and Lot were too big for the land they were living in and disputes occurred between their herdsmen. It was necessary for them to move away from each other. Lot chose to live in the Jordan River Valley near a town called Sodom. At the time that area was very fertile.
What do we know about what will happen to Sodom?
Destroyed by God for its evils
Then God spoke to Abram making this promise to him:
Genesis 12 14 […] "Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
Abram has not been a good representative of God in Egypt, yet God continues to use him.
At the time of this promise Abram was a few miles north of the city that would become Jerusalem. After walking around the land Abram chooses to live in an area south of Jerusalem.
Some kings from smaller cities banded together to raid the area of Sodom. These kind of raids were not that uncommon. They were essentially theft by one king of another king's people and property. In this case they captured the town of Sodom and Lot and his family and took all the people and valuables.
Abram banded together with some other people and attacked the raiders and got back all the people and property. As he returned he was met by a priest of God, the true God. This priest brought him a gift of bread and wine and Abram tithed him one tenth of his possessions.
Almost nothing is said about Melchizedek here or anyplace else in the Bible, but he is an important figure in the Book of Hebrews. Other than here in Genesis and in Hebrews the only other reference to him comes in Psalm 110
Psalm 110 4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
In the Book of Hebrews the author shows that the Messiah was a priest of God, but not a priest in the line of Aaron, a line of priests who were ordinary men. The Messiah was a priest in the same order of priests that Melchizedek was a priest, an order of priests that existed long before Aaron. It was also a priesthood that was greater than Aaron's priesthood.
There are many thoughts on who Melchizedek was. He is sometimes seen as a type or shadow of the Messiah who was to come. There are also reasons to believe that he was not a man at all, but in fact was the Son of God in the form of man. There is no escaping notice that, in bringing wine and bread to Abram, he was bringing the elements (the blood and body) of the covenant that the Messiah would bring.
God makes more covenants with Abram. Abram who still does not have a son to be his heir is promised
Genesis 15 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: "[…] a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir." 5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
Verse six is a very important verse. It also shows up in the Romans 4 and Hebrews 11 both of which make the point that righteousness has always been by faith even before Israel existed. Abram was found righteous because he believed God in faith.
God also tells Abram the future of his offspring.
Genesis 15 13 Then the Lord said to him, "Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. 14But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
God makes another covenant with Abram
Genesis 15 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates
This is an area of land that Israel controlled for only a very short time during King David and Solomon. It goes north of Syria to the Euphrates River where Abram had lived with his father and it goes south up to the River of Egypt.
Abram now believes that God will provide him with children as God promised but he starts to think that he needs to do something to make it happen. Instead of trusting that God will provide in God's own time, Abram and Sarai decide they need to make things happen. Perhaps they think that they will soon be too old to raise children.
Genesis 16 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her."
An angel makes a promise to Hagar that her son will also be
the father of a great people. But this turns out to be a punishment that will
fall on Abram's children. Why is that?
Ishmael will be the father of the Arab people
who will be a thorn to Israel for all time. Even now most of Israel's
neighboring countries are Arabs
who make her life miserable and fight against her very existence.
God makes another covenant with Abram. In this covenant Abram is promised that he will be the father of many nations and many kings and that this covenant would not end. Abram is also promised that the land of Canaan will be given to his children. Abram's part of the covenant and the part of his offspring is that there is a sign that must be kept in all generations - circumcision.
God also changes Abram's and Sarai's names. "Abram (Noble Father) becomes Abraham (Father of many) and Sarai, (Princess) becomes Sarah (Mother of Nations)."3
Abraham is also promised that Sarah will bear a son for him in about one year.
Even though it had been a disaster the first time he tried it, Abraham once again tries the "she's my sister" lie.
Genesis 20 1 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
God appears to Abimelek in a dream and tells him that Sarah is actually married. He also warns Abimelek that Abraham is a prophet. Abimelek is furious with Abraham but also afraid because he is a prophet. Abimelek gives Abraham gifts and allows him to stay in his land.
Abraham was not so different from ourselves. He had weaknesses and sometimes failed. Yet God was able to use him to create a people for himself and to bring the Messiah into the world.
It's obvious why Jews would be interested in Abraham. He was
their father, the beginning of their history and the source of the promises God
made with Abraham and them. But why is Abraham also important to Christians?
The Messiah was the promise to Abraham and by him we have salvation
Paul explains this in Galatians 3 beginning with verse 16 and 17, where he explains that the Messiah is the seed of Abraham to whom the promises were made. Then in verse 29 he summarizes what that means for us.
Galatians 4 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
1 Genesis 6:5
2 Genesis 12:1
3 http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/15116/what-is-the-significance-of-changing-the-names-of-abram-to-abraham-and-sarai-to