In the previous iteration of my blog, I often posted my lessons for the life group I teach every other week. They represent my journey, thoughts, and writing, although the passages are largely dictated by the literature choices we are given (the "books" from Lifeway, in this case The Gospel Project). I am notorious for tying in other passages and going off book, as they say. What follows is my lesson for October 6, 2024, Genesis 12. This means I will have to teach my least favorite chapter in the Bible, the (planned) sacrifice of Isaac, in two weeks, which I will probably skirt. And yes, I am using the title of Eugene Peterson's book, as I think it applies.
Abram: “A long obedience in the same direction.”
Theme: Pagan Transformation
I want to start with an important but misunderstood passage: I Corinthians 10.
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under (A)the cloud, all passed through (B)the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same (C)spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same (D)spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies (E)were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as (F)they also lusted. 7 (G)And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, (H)“The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 (I)Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as (J)some of them did, and (K)in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us [a]tempt Christ, as (L)some of them also tempted, and (M)were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as (N)some of them also complained, and (O)were destroyed by (P)the destroyer. 11 Now [b]all these things happened to them as examples, and (Q)they were written for our [c]admonition, (R)upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
12 Therefore (S)let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but (T)God is faithful, (U)who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to [d]bear it.
Paul does not say that these people were role models of how to live. He says they were examples of disobedience and how not to live. I don’t think it’s good Bible study to follow the lives of the people in the Bible, only to the extent they followed Christ. That’s why I don’t do character studies. The character studies are important, but they are not prescriptive.
The book of Genesis now changes the scene and theme to a man named Abram. Not Abraham yet.
Everything about Abram before Genesis 12 said “pagan.” His transformation was slow and rocky, but steady and in the right direction. In that respect, we see our lives in him, if in no other way. We are walking with God, and it’s a long hike.
Abram is first mentioned in 11:27. Read. He is a descendant of Shem, Noah’s son. Semites. Anti-semites means against Arabs as well. At this point the narrative shifts like a funnel to what would be the nation of Israel. From 1-11 all of mankind is in view, more or less, at least in Northern Africa, Western Asia, the middle East, and southern Europe. The telescope is now focused on what we call Iraq to the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.
Terah is Abram’s father. Apparently he is also Sarai’s father. This is just one of the ways we have to get used to the fact that Abram is called out of thorough-going paganism. We don’t have any reason to believe he was anything but that. Abram is going to spend years making mistakes because he is just doing what the world he comes from does. He is always learning that a friend of God does not do what he did in his former life. They don’t lie about who their wife is out of fear, they don’t get their slave girl to have a baby for them. It’s A tribal world, a blood-kin-centric world, a world where women are possessions, a world where child sacrifice is at least not abnormal, a world where lying and cheating to get what you want is ok. This kind of world still exists, although we lived under rule of law, thankfully.
We learn that Abraham had two brothers, one of them died, Haran, leaving Lot, Abram’s nephew, who caused some trouble for the family. We learn Sarai had no children. This is kind of sad that it’s all we know about her. She had not given her husband sons to inherit. We also learn that for some reason this nomadic family that was pretty wealthy for that time in terms of livestock, etc, and perhaps considered a tribal leader, left their home in Southern Iraq near the Persian gulf and more or less followed the Euphrates River up to northern Iraq, to Haran. How long they stayed there, we don’t know. But that land was considered as belonging to Canaanites. We do know that means they were living in one of the most pagan, idolatrous cultures of then or ever, such that it would need to be destroyed later.
What did Abram know about God? How much knowledge had come down to them from centuries before? I have to think a little, stories of the flood and before. But they might have just been stories, not a living reality to them, at least from looking at the way Abraham lived.
Here I can’t help thinking of what we call a post-Christian culture. Many of the things taken for granted from our childhoods can no longer be today. And Abram’s time was even worse in terms of knowledge about God.
Then the LORD God broke into history and Abram’s life. The message is amazing. 1-3. Don’t read it lightly.
Leave your home. What? Family is everything in this world. Go somewhere you’ve never been and is probably enemy territory? There will be no easy way to communicate with his family after this. The more I think about this command the more it boggles my mind. He would have to stand alone, no longer be part of his tribe. He is called to be an individual in a collectivist culture. He is going to start a new family, tribe, nation, culture, world. That is what Abram must do for God’s will to be done through Abraham, which will be ultimately the salvation of the world through his descendants, and he doesn’t even have children at this point. And it will belong to his descendants, and you will (a command) be a blessing to the world, and his descendants will be such as well. The Jews and Christ. (seed)
Chapter 12 then is a turning point and really a new section of the Bible. Up to this point it’s been about all of humanity, and now it’s about one man’s descendants. There are three religions of the world called Abrahamic religions. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Judaism and Islam for two reasons: his descendants genetically are the original believers in it: Jews and Arabs, and second, both believe as their core belief, the most important thing, in only one supreme God, not multitude of gods over nature and aspects of human life. No god of the sun, water, air, fire, the home, crops, weather, wind, etc. A God who created nature but is not part of it, is separate from it. That is what Abram’s people were, or at least everyone around him, and he is called out of that, dramatically. If Abraham’s family was unique in worshiping the only God at that time, it is not clear from this chapter but it is clarified later in Joshua 24:1-3. I think the point of the narrative is that in grace the Lord God, later to be known fully as Yahweh, a name I do not like to use much, called him out of his world to another one.
But is Christianity an Abrahamic religion? Yes and no. To the extent we depend on the Jewish narrative and Scriptures, yes. But we are of Christ, not Abraham. Abraham was a mess, BUT.
BUT is a great word in the Bible. It is the wonderful transition word. It is like a dawning sunrise.
Ephesians 2
And (A)you He made alive, (B)who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 (C)in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to (D)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in (E)the sons of disobedience, 3 (F)among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in (G)the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and (H)were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. BAD.
4 But God, (I)who is rich in mercy, because of His (J)great love with which He loved us, 5 (K)even when we were dead in trespasses, (L)made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together (M)in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in (N)His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 (O)For by grace you have been saved (P)through faith, and that not of yourselves; (Q)it is the gift of God, 9 not of (R)works, lest anyone should (S)boast. 10 For we are (T)His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Already in Genesis we have seen the word but a lot
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Genesis 2:20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.
Genesis 3:3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
Genesis 4:2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
Genesis 4:5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.
Genesis 6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Genesis 6:18 But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive
Joshua 24:15 Roman 5:6-8 are two other famous "but" passages.
I think the word but is important because we use it for excuses (defending ourselves) and God uses it in scripture to say “there is another way.” God constantly asks us, commands us, to see the “way things are” a different way from how the world around us does. We read that Enoch and Noah walked with God, and one of the main parts of that is that they did not walk with the world.
Some Christian people over the years have taken that to mean that we don’t do anything like the world. The Amish are the extreme example of it. Some people decide not to expose themselves to certain media, for example. We call it legalism but I am not sure that is what it is. It might be wise at times. But I think we are supposed to walk with God first by examining our hearts.
What does the world believe and then practice that is opposed to faith. Because faith is really what this is about. In the New Testament, we find several references to Abraham, and none of them are about his bravery or generosity or leadership.
Romans 4 What then shall we say that (B)Abraham our (C)father[a] has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was (D)justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? (E)“Abraham believed God, and it was [b]accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now (F)to him who works, the wages are not counted [c]as grace but as debt.
As such, he is not just the father of the Jews, Paul says, but he is father of all of us because he is the example of being justified, saved, a friend of God, by faith, not by great acts, not by giving money, not by doing rituals, not by getting educated, but by believing God and just acting on that.
Hebrews 11: 8 By faith (K)Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, (L)dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, (M)the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for (N)the city which has foundations, (O)whose builder and maker is God.
Faith is the only way. Believing God. Believing what he reveals no matter what. Believing he loves us even when our emotions say he doesn’t, or couldn’t. The odd thing is that Abraham does some awful stuff after this, but he also does some obedient things out of faith. He is consistently inconsistent. Like everyone.
So, what do we believe about God? And how does that make us trust Him more? That is something to ponder. Often when we are asked to describe God, we give lists of adjectives. He is wise, loving, caring, gracious, powerful, etc. But I’d like to brainstorm nouns: God is a God is an….. God is the ….. These can put us in a different sense or position about God. One I heard this week was God is a poet. He put a lot of poetry in the Bible, a lot, all through, esp. in prophecy. A lot of people don’t like poetry. They think it’s fruh fruh, unnecessary, just playing with words. Too much like a puzzle and too hard to say, why doesn’t the person just say it. If you don’t understand God as a poet and a producer of poetry, understanding the Bible will be difficult.
God is an artist.
God is a …..
Abraham is starting his journey to find out a whole new set of words about God that he didn’t before. And the one that sticks with me “friend.” Isaiah 41:8 and James 2:23.
Jesus called us his friends. John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Do you have a best friend? Most women do, or think so. Our best friend is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s hold on to that this week.
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