The St. Paul Center presents Journey Through Scripture Week 3: Abraham

Transcription

1 The St. Paul Center presents Journey Through Scripture Week 3: Abraham Our First Parents The author of Genesis shows us how Adam and Eve are linked to Noah, Abraham and the rest of salvation history. This can be seen in the literary structure of Genesis 1-11: Adam 10 Generations Cain Flood judgment Noah Canaan Shem Terah 10 Generations Judgement on the Tower of Babel Shem Japheth Ham Abram Nahor Haran From Adam to Noah there are 10 generations. The wicked of the world trace their lineage back to Cain. At the end of the ten generations God sends judgment on the world in the form of the flood. Noah has three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham. Shem receives the blessing of the firstborn. From Shem to Terah there are 10 generations. The wicked of the world trace their lineage back to Canaan. At the end of the ten generations God sends judgment on the Tower of Babel. Terah has three sons, Abram, Nahor and Haran. Abram receives the blessing of the firstborn. Here we see the literary artistry of the narrative of Genesis. Noah Noah and his family are spared from the flood. God renews with him the covenant of creation (Gen. 9:9). In fact, the 1

2 story of the flood Noah evokes the creation, making Noah a kind of new Adam.! The flood begins after seven days! The ark comes to rest on the 7 th month! God commands Noah to be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 9:1)! Noah is given dominion over the creatures of the earth! As Adam ended up in a garden, naked and ashamed because he had eaten the forbidden fruit, Noah ends up in a vineyard, naked and ashamed because he had drunk of the fruit of the vine Shem receives the firstborn blessing after the sin of Ham, taking Noah s place as man s covenant head. In Hebrew, Shem means name. Genesis 10 ends with Shem s genealogy. Genesis 11 tells the story of the Tower of Babel, in which people wished to make a name [shem] for themselves (Gen. 11:4). They rejected God s covenant representative. To underscore Shem s importance, Genesis 11 ends with another list of Shem s descendants. Genesis 12 opens with God s promise to Abram, a descendant of Shem: I will make your name [shem] great (Gen. 12:2). 3 Promises In Genesis 12 God makes three promises to Abraham: 1) land (Gen. 12:1) 2) kingship (a great name a royal dynasty) (Gen. 12:2) 3) worldwide blessing (Gen. 12:3) These three promises are later strengthened by 3 covenant oaths: 2

3 1) Genesis 15 God promises that Abraham s future descendants will be delivered from bondage in a foreign nation and given the promised land 2) Genesis 17 Kings will come forth from Abraham 3) Genesis 22 All nations shall be blessed through Abraham s descendants These three covenant oaths foreshadow: 1) The Exodus 2) The Davidic kingdom 3) The New Covenant Genesis 12 Land Kingship (name) Worldwide blessing Genesis 15 Genesis 17 Genesis 22 Exodus Davidic kingdom New Covenant God upgrades His promise At 86 years old, God promises Abram a great reward. Abram reminds God that he has no heir. God then makes a covenant with him, which He symbolizes by passing through the pieces of sacrificed animals, swearing to give Abram a son. Furthermore, God swears that Abram will be the father of innumerable descendants who will be delivered from bondage and receive the Promised Land. As said above, this promise foreshadows the Exodus. Abram s other son Abram s wife, Sarai, suggests that he take her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, and have a son through her, after all, she is old and will surely never have children of her own. However, after conceiving a son, Hagar begins to look at Sarai with contempt and the seeds of discord are sown. The child who is born, Ishmael, would later become the father of the Arabs. 3

4 Circumcision God renames Abram Abraham ( father of a vast multitude ). Sarai is also renamed, Sarah. The Lord goes on to make it clear that Ishmael is not the chosen heir Abraham will have a son in one year. God also instructs Abraham to circumcise himself, all the males in his tribe, and all newborn males on the eighth day. At this point Abraham is 99 years old. That gives the elderly Abraham three months to recover and conceive with his wife Sarai. By circumcising himself Abraham shows himself to be a man of great faith. Interestingly, this announcement comes when Ishmael is thirteen years old. He will not be circumcised on the eighth day like the rest of Abraham s descendants but in his thirteenth year, as Egyptians males are. In other words, in God s sight, Ishmael is outside Abraham s covenant family he is like the Egyptians. Isaac and Ishmael One year later Isaac is born as promised. After he is weaned Abraham makes a great feast. During the feast Sarah sees Ishmael playing with Isaac. The Hebrew implies that Ishmael is harassing or persecuting Isaac. Fearful that Ishmael may try to usurp Isaac, Sarah asks Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael once and for all. Abraham is hesitant to do this until the Lord instructs him to do as Sarah requests. God promises that Ishmael shall be the father of a many descendants. The strife that began with Isaac and Ishmael continues today in their descendants the Jews and the Arabs. Abraham Offers Isaac Once Ishmael is banished, Abraham is left with his only beloved son Isaac. God now puts Abraham to the ultimate 4

5 test, asking him to sacrifice his long awaited son on the mountain range known as Mt. Moriah. Abraham obeys and sets off with Isaac on the three-day journey to the appointed place. Once they get there Isaac carries the wood of the sacrifice up the hill. Isaac asks his father, Where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham responds, The Lord will provide himself the Lamb. Just as Abraham is about to plunge the knife into his son, the Lord spares Isaac, and makes a covenant with him, swearing to bless all the nations through his descendants. Abraham spots a ram and offers it to the Lord. Adam refused to offer his life in love and mankind was cursed. Abraham was willing to offer God his very life Isaac and because of this mankind was blessed. In Abraham the curse of the fall is partially reversed. The ancient Rabbis called this story the Aqedah the binding of Isaac. They explained that this story is just as much about Isaac self-offering as it is about Abraham s faithfulness. They pointed out that Isaac was strong enough to carry the wood up the mountain. They concluded that he was a grown youth, easily capable of overcoming his decrepit father. Therefore, Jewish tradition explained that Isaac asked to be bound so that he would not be able to struggle against his father and crawl off the altar. The temple of Jerusalem was later built on Moriah (2 Chron. 3:1). There the people of Israel offered their sacrifices, in effect reminding God of his promise to Abraham. The need for these sacrifices ends once the Lord truly provides Himself as the true sacrificial Lamb. The fathers understood this story as a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the true only beloved Son of the Father. Jesus 5

6 offers Himself to the Father on Calvary, one of the mountain peaks of the range of mountains known as Moriah. Like Isaac, He carries the wood up the mountain, fully submitting to the Father s will. Finally, Jesus rises from the dead on the third day, just as Abraham received his son back from the sentence of death on the third day. Discussion Questions: 1) Discuss Abraham s example of faith? In what ways is he an example to us? 2) When Abraham first heard that he was to have a son, he went into his servant Hagar and conceived a son. After Isaac was born strife ensued between the two sons until one was finally banished. Today their descendants are still at war. What lessons can we learn from all of this? 3) What are the three promises of Genesis 12? How do they relate to the covenant oaths sworn by God in Genesis 15, 17 and 22? How do these covenant promises foreshadow future events in salvation history? For Week IV, Moses, read: Scripture Reading: Exodus 1-4; 12, 19, 24, 32; Deuteronomy Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises, ch