Seder 16: Genesis 18:22-33---How Many Are Required to Transform a Culture?

 Abraham's bold intercession in Genesis 18:22-33 is recognized as one of the great prayers of the Bible.  Acting as a counsel for the defense in the trial of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God to consider sparing the cities of the plain if a sufficient number of loyal followers of God were there.  

Walter Kaiser points out that Genesis 18:22 contains one of eighteen places in the Tanakh where scribes deliberately altered the Hebrew text for theological reasons.  The MT says that Abraham "still stood before the Lord," while the original text said that the Lord stood before Abraham.  The original wording may suggest God's openness and willingness to be "put on trial" by Abraham.  Abraham, trusting both in God's justice and God's mercy, asked rhetorically in verse 25, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"  

After God agreed that he would spare the cities if there were as many as ten righteous people there, the defense rested.  Abraham left the matter in the hands of the righteous judge.  

A reason for Abraham to request that the cities be spared is the fact that a righteous remnant can transform a culture.  We see this later in history, when the early Christians, a minority in the pagan Roman Empire, transformed that culture over the course of several centuries.  Peter in 1 Peter 2-3 instructed early Christians in Asia Minor in ways to do that in their circumstances.  

In the case of the cities of the plain, there just weren't enough righteous people present to salvage those towns.  Lot was there, but he doesn't seem to have had any help. 

Seder 16: 1 Peter 3:1-7---Following Sarah's Example

 In his first epistle, Peter writes to Jewish Christians in Asia Minor (1:1), people who may be both literally and spiritually "sojourners and exiles" (2:11).  He counsels them to be willing to suffer for the sake of the Gospel, following in the footsteps of Jesus.  

One group that Peter addresses consists of wives whose husbands "do not obey the word" (3:1).  If they live righteous lives, he says, they may win over their husbands.  

He says that a beautiful character is a better adornment than beautiful clothes or jewelry, and he instructs these women to follow the example of Abraham's wife Sarah.  Sarah, Peter states, "obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.  And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening" (3:6).

In saying that Sarah called Abraham "lord," Peter is referring to Genesis 18:12, which gives Sarah's reaction when she hears that she will be giving birth to a son in a year.  At that point Sarah laughs and says, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?"  This verse gives an indication of Sarah's respect for Abraham, since she referred to him as "my lord."  

Genesis 18 does not give much in the way of examples of Sarah's obedience to Abraham.  (We're not told, for example, what happened with the bread Abraham told her to make in verse 6.) So what might Peter have had in mind when he wrote of her obedience?  

New Testament scholar Troy Martin noted in a 1999 paper that the Testament of Abraham, a Jewish work from either the first century BC or the first century AD, pictures Sarah addressing Abraham as "my lord Abraham" several times.  So apparently by the Second Temple Period, the brief reference in Genesis 18:12 had grown into a tradition about Sarah's respect for Abraham.

Scholar Mark Kiley has argued, in a 1987 paper in the Journal of Biblical Literature, that some relevant examples of Sarah's obedience are to be found in Genesis 12 and 20, where Sarah obeyed Abraham's request that she not reveal she was his wife.

In those situations in Egypt and Gerar, Abraham and Sarah were "sojourners and exiles," people in a vulnerable situation away from home.  Abraham in those cases was, like the husbands in 1 Peter 3:1,  "not obeying the word."  But Sarah chose to honor her husband's misguided request, placing her future in God's hands when she was abducted by foreign rulers.  Those were frightening situations for Sarah, and she needed to trust God to get through them..   

1 Peter 3:1-6 has been misapplied by some who have unbalanced views about submission of wives to husbands.  We should remember that the Bible teaches mutual submission among Christians (Eph 5:21).  Peter goes on in verse 7 to address husbands:  

"Likewise husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."  

Here Peter instructs husbands to honor their wives, and he places men and women on an equal footing, "joint heirs" of eternal life.  In the case of Abraham and Sarah, we know that Abraham often honored Sarah's wishes, as in the case of their parting ways with Hagar and Ishmael (Ge 21:8-14).  Since Abraham loved Hagar and Ishmael, this was not an easy thing for him to do.  We note that Abraham's prayers in Genesis 20 were "not hindered."  

In his epistle, Peter teaches a way of sacrificial love in imitation of Jesus, for men and women in all circumstances in life.  

Seder 32: Psalm 34---Try God's Way: It Works!

 Psalm 34 is an acrostic wisdom psalm traditionally associated with a specific incident in David's life:  At one point when he was fleeing for his life from Saul, David briefly took refuge in Goliath's home town of Gath (1 Sam 21:10-15).  His visit was short because he was quickly recognized.  With his cover blown, David feigned madness in order to escape.  (Commentators often point out an irony here:  David could control his madness, while Saul was controlled by his madness.) 

An imaginative story links Psalm 34 to this incident.  According to this story, David had at one point thanked God for all the wonderful things he had created, especially wisdom.  "But," David asked God, "Why did you create madness?  That seems like such an insane thing to do.  Madness serves no constructive purpose."  God replied, "A day will come when you will have use for madness."  David later remembered what God had said when he was in a tight spot in Gath.  He did indeed have use for madness.  Afterwards he prayed, as in Ps 34:1, "I will bless the Lord at all times"---both in times of sanity and in times of madness. 

In any case, David speaks as one who has put his trust in God and experienced divine deliverance.  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!" he declares in v. 8.  "Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!"  He notes that "the young lions"---representing the wealthy (LXX) or those who do not follow God---are never satisfied, while "those who seek the Lord lack no good thing" (v 10).  

David acknowledges that the righteous endure their share of suffering:  "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (v 19).  But he goes on to affirm that God is watching over his people:  "But the Lord delivers him out of them all," verse 19 concludes.  God protects us "in detail": "He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken (v 20).  

Psalm 34 is referenced in two New Testament books.  Verse 20 is referred to in John 19:33-36 in connection with the fact that the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus' bones on the cross.  "The Lord redeems the life of his servants," Ps 34:22 states, and God indeed raised Jesus from the dead.  

The apostle Peter seems to have had Psalm 34 in mind, along with Isa 53 and other scriptures, when he wrote 1 Peter.  In that epistle, Peter encourages Christians who are suffering.  Some suffering is to be expected, he says, because we are called to follow in Jesus' footsteps (1 Peter 2:18-25).  But it is also the case that, for those who have taken David up on his offer to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (1 Peter 2:3), God watches over those who follow him.  Peter quotes Ps 34:12-16 in 1 Peter 3:10-12 as he urges Christians to turn away from evil and do what is good, heeding David's wise instruction.