What About Sarai? 

     Abraham is getting all the attention. What about his wife, Sarai?

     The Lord said, "She will be Sarah (princess) and I will give you a son by her. She will be a mother of nations...this time next year."

     That's 12 months away. Hmmm.

     Abraham "...fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, 'Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?'" Sarah laughed also. 

     Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing." 

     God tolerated this moment of unbelief - it was reasonable. "Sarah will bear you a son and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him." 

     "As for Ishmael (God hears)," Abraham's son by Sarai's maid, "I will surely bless him... He will be the father of twelve rulers and I will make him into a great nation."    

     More delay. Abraham and his nephew Lot had separated because their flocks grew too large. That led to Sodom (where Lot then lived among those with "grievous sin.") Lot reluctantly evacuated before God destroyed both Sodom and Gomorrah (with burning sulfur).

     Abraham, yet untested, moved into the region of the Negev where he almost wrecked God's plan. He said Sarah was his sister, because Abimelech liked her looks (age 90 !!!), and the king would kill him if he knew the truth.     

Next: How will Abraham get out of his (and her) predicament?

Exalted Father to Father of Many

     Abram may have been a normal person, but his name meant "exalted father." 

     Since we last saw him at the covenant - we're not sure what he saw given the "dreadful darkness" - Abram lived in Canaan 10 years, to age 86. Then at 99 (Genesis 17) he still hadn't faced his ultimate test. Will he die before God gets around to it?

     Not a chance. The Lord said, I am God Almighty (El Shaddai, all powerful). Walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.

     Your name will be Abraham (father of many), for I have made you a father of many nations. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 

     As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants. Then God added a sign of the covenant, circumcision. 

     The Lord's promise to be their God was a promise on which all other promises rest. God unreservedly binds himself to his faithful people...to be their God, shield, reward, with grace, pardon, promises, protection, guidance, goodness, help and blessing...in love. 

     Fair enough?  

  Next: They laughed? Seriously? 

Dreadful Darkness Over Abram

     Abram "cut the animals in two and arranged the halves opposite each other..." Ready for the covenant. 

     Wait. Who is going to pass between the halves? Sun was setting. "Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him." 

     If that wasn't scary enough, the Lord said, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years" (it was 430). 

     "But I will punish the nation...and they (Abram's descendants) will come out with great possessions. You however will be...buried at a good old age" (it was 175)   

     "Darkness fell. A smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces."

     "The Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, 'To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates - the land of the..."  (all the -ites).  

Next: One Exalted Father

Note: In Jeremiah 34:17-18, the Lord was angry with those "who have violated my covenant." He will treat them "like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces...the leaders, court officials, priests, and all the people who walked between the pieces of the calf." 

God's passage between the halves, Genesis 15: He considers all Abraham's descendants as having passed through the covenant procedure with himself. 

 Will Abraham Pass the Test?

     Yesterday > the plan. We miserable creatures hope for mercy and grace. One man will be tested. If he passes, "the way" will come to pass...eventually. And after "the way" comes, each of us must pass our own test. 

     Genesis 14:13: Abram the Hebrew. Hebrew may have referred to people who wondered as nomads. Later, it came to refer specifically to Abraham and his descendants. 

     Genesis 15: After Abram's battle with the kings, God spoke to him in a vision: Do not be afraid. I am your shield, your very great reward.

     That was okay...apparently, but "O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless? You have given me no children."  

     The word of the Lord: ...a son coming from your own body will be your heir. He told him to count the stars, if he could. So shall your offspring be. "Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness." So far so good. 

     Then God said he would give Abram possession of the land he was in. Puzzled again, "O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?" 

     "So, the Lord said, 'Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram...'" A covenant meant taking slaughtered animals, cutting them in half, and the halves placed opposite each other. The two parties would walk between the halves. If they didn't keep the covenant, they would perish like the slain animals.   

 Next: Who will walk between the carcasses? 

It's a New Day 

     Now begins the Word of God...again. Former years were mostly trouble, with no one seemingly in charge. 

     Following Noah, new settlements...Nimrod...a tower in Babel. Still there was hope! 

     A normal man...God will test, and if he passes the test, a blessing offered to people (made of dust, living on cursed ground) the world over. 

     God wants to redeem and save humanity. If the man he chooses serves him faithfully, a family will follow, ultimately a chosen nation of people separated from ungodly ways of other nations. And from this nation will come the Messiah, Savior, the promised offspring of the woman (see yesterday's blog, Genesis 3:15.) 

1. Abraham's call began with separation from his people. He became an alien and stranger on earth (Hebrews 11:13). A principle for all time.

2. His blessing would affect all nations (missionary efforts).  

3. His call included a heavenly home, where he would live forever in a city built by God. (No more dust or pain.)  

4. Obligations: God required obedience and commitment from Abraham. This included trust in God's Word, and a sincere endeavor to live a righteous life. 

5. God's promise and blessing extended to believing Jews and all who in true faith follow the "seed" of Abraham, as his heirs (Galatians 3:14, 16).

6. Abraham is declared a foremost example of true saving faith. Any profession of faith that does not involve obedience to the Lord is not Abraham's faith.

Next: Will he pass the test? 

  

Why Not Noah?  

     Let's back up!

     Maybe we left the Garden of Eden too soon. Does the original sin really matter? 

     The serpent, "craftier than the other wild animals," entered the garden before Adam and Eve conceived their first child. Creation was complete. This was the second beginning...the gift of human life.

     Genesis 3:15: Following their trip-up - believing the serpent rather than God - God lowered the hammer. He told the serpent he would put "enmity (hostility) between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers. He (the Messiah) will crush your head and you will strike his heal." 

     Women would have "pain in childbearing." As for Adam, "cursed is the ground," it will require "painful toil..." If that wasn't rough enough, God added: "...until you return to the ground since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

     And so here we are, friends, on cursed ground, in January 2024. 

     Abram was a routine man for 75 years, without hearing from God that we know of. Why didn't God choose righteous Enoch to be father of the nations? Why not Noah, the only father alive, true to God, after all the hard work he did building God's ark?  

     What we know: God chose one of us, Abram, gave him an awesome promise, and obligations, and waited to see if he would obey.

Next: What Abraham's call meant 

     

Japhethites, Hamites and Semites 

     These are the clans of Noah's sons. 

     Everyone spoke the same language, convenient for... "building ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves..." Does that inclination sound familiar? It should.

     The Lord confused their language so they ... stopped building the city. 

     Genesis chapter 11 includes more genealogy. Life expectancy had lowered to between 200 and 500 years. 

     A man named Terah lived 205 years. One of his sons was named Abram, who married Sarai, his half-sister. They had no children. 

     Does the name Abram sound familiar? Of course. 

     This is all we know about him, in chapter 11. If there is a divide in scripture, we have come to it. Men...not God...divided God's Word into two "testaments." In Genesis chapter 12, verses 1-3...

     The Lord said to Abram......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 .......and all people on earth will be blessed through you. 

      Imagine being the human, at that moment. I can't. But can we somehow relate to Abraham as his story unfolds? 

      Abram was 75 years old when God spoke. He, his wife and his nephew Lot set out for a land occupied by Canaanites. God told Abram, "To your offspring, I will give this land." What's he to do in the meantime? A severe famine is in the land. 

 Next: Why Not Noah?