Seder 42: Gen 47-48---Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

 In the last years of Jacob's life, his thoughts turned to the future of his family, which was in temporary exile in Egypt but would one day return to the Promised Land.  Expressing his faith in God's promises, he arranged to be buried with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah at the cave of Machpelah (Gen 47:29-31).  This scene at the end of Gen 47 reminds us of Abraham's conversation with his servant at the beginning of Gen 24. 

Genesis 48 describes a formal blessing ceremony involving Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh.  It is natural to compare this scene with the one in Gen 27.  This time there was no deception involved.  Jacob, like Isaac, had reduced physical eyesight, but unlike Isaac, he had clear "spiritual eyesight".

Jacob decided to adopt Joseph's two sons as his own sons, in effect giving Joseph's descendants a "double portion" that traditionally went to a firstborn son (see 1 Chron 5:1-2).  Rachel had died prematurely, and this was a way of increasing her "share" of Israel's future (Gen 48:1-7).  

Initiating the blessing ceremony, Jacob asked for his grandsons to be identified by name (v 8).  This is the meaning of his question, "Who are these?"  We can contrast Gen 48:8 with Gen 27:32, where Isaac discovered that he had been deceived.

There is also a midrash suggesting that Jacob, given prophetic insight, looked into the future in wonderment at what he saw about the future of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and that this motivated him to say, "Who are these?"  Certainly he was given some glimpse of  the future, and this motivated his giving a greater blessing to Ephraim, the younger son, than to the older son Manasseh.

The future of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh included leadership in the apostate northern kingdom of Israel, which was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC and went into exile.  In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Jan 30, 2021, David Waddle noted that this exile was not the last word on the descendants of Joseph.  Through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, the good shepherd (Gen 48:15; John 10), sins can be forgiven.

In his blessing of his grandsons, Jacob referred to God as "the angel who has redeemed me from all evil (v 16).  There may be a reference here to the occasions when God manifested himself to Jacob in a physical form.

The final verse of Gen 48 has raised questions.  Jacob mentioned that he was granting to Joseph a particular portion (Heb shekem) of land that he had taken "from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow" (v 22).  One possibility is that Jacob was referring to Shechem. A midrash proposes that Jacob also participated in the slaughter at Shechem, although there is no mention of this in Gen 34.  Certainly Jacob bore responsibility for what happened there, even if he wasn't directly involved.  On the other hand, Jacob may have been referring to a different portion of land not previously mentioned in the narrative.

Seder 16: Genesis 18---Abraham's Mysterious Visitors

Genesis 18 begins by mentioning an appearance of God to Abraham.  Historically there have been two main interpretations of Genesis 18:1.  In one reading, the verse speaks of God coming to see Abraham, perhaps to comfort him after his recent circumcision.  According to this interpretation, three men arrive while Abraham is communing with God.  In verse 3 Abraham says to God, in effect, "Don't go away.  I need to take care of these visitors, but I'll be back."  He treats the men with great respect and rushes to prepare a banquet for them (Gen 18:1-8).

We soon learn that these are not ordinary visitors During the meal God announces again that Abraham and Sarah would soon have a son (vv 10-15), even though Sarah is past menopause.

God has a second momentous announcement to share with Abraham.  It is time to deal with the great evil coming from the nearby towns of Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 16-21).  After this announcement, "the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the LORD" (v 22).

Chapter 19 then begins by noting, "The two angels came to Sodom in the evening."  So two of the men are, in fact, angels.  What about the third?  One possibility is that the third is also an angel but is not needed at Sodom.  Perhaps he goes to Gomorrah instead, or on to whatever his next assignment is.  

Another possibility is that the third is the Lord who had announced the coming birth of Isaac and stayed behind to talk with Abraham.  In this scenario, Genesis 18:1 is saying that the visit of the three men constitutes an appearance of God, and he addresses one of the three men in verse 3.  

In this second reading, the third visitor's coming might have been a Christophany, an advance appearance of the Messiah.  Many Christians through the centuries have affirmed this interpretation, going back at least to Justin Martyr (c. 150 AD), who proposed it in Chapter 56 of his Dialogue with Trypho.

Those who identify the third man as the Messiah often point to Gen 19:24:  "Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven."  This verse seems to mention two "Lords", one presumably on earth and the other one in heaven.

The text does not tell us when Abraham recognized the special nature of his two visitors.  If he did not realize this at first, then his lavish hospitality is all the more remarkable.  Heb 13:2 seems to be a reference to Abraham and his visitors:  "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."

On the other hand, if he quickly picked up on the fact that his visitors were more than human, then he can be credited with excellent powers of spiritual discernment.

In a sermon on July 4, 2020, David Waddle reflected on Abraham's example in Genesis 18, both his remarkable hospitality and his faithful intercession for Sodom.

Seder 12: The Mysterious Melchizedek

At Abram's triumphant return from his victory over the eastern invaders, he was met by Melchizedek, who was both king of Salem and "priest of God Most High."  Melchizedek blessed both Abram and God Most High and provided food and drink for Abram's men.  Abram expressed his thanks to God by giving to Melchizedek a tenth of the wealth that he had brought back (Gen 14:18-20).

It is generally agreed that Salem in Gen 14:18 is another name for Jerusalem.  We see this name used, for example, in Ps 76:2.  Also, there was later a ruler of Jerusalem with the name Adoni-zedek, a name very similar to Melchizedek (Joshua 10).

Despite the similarity of their names, Adoni-zedek did not have the connection with God Most High that Melchizedek had had.  In fact, Adoni-Zedek organized a coalition to oppose Israel's ally Gibeon and was later executed by Joshua. 

Adoni-zedek translates to something like "my lord is Zedek" or "my lord is righteous."  Since Adoni-zedek was a king, his lord may well have been a deity.  Scholars believe that there was a Canaanite deity named Zedek who was considered to be a champion of righteousness.  (For further discussion, check out episodes 166-167 of the Naked Bible Podcast).

Melchizedek translates to "my king is Zedek" or "my king is righteous."  In Melchizedek's case, his king was apparently God Most High, and he may have known God as "the righteous one."

Gen 14:18-20 tells us just enough to arouse our curiosity.  Here was an early Canaanite king of Jerusalem who was also acknowledged by Abram as a priest of the true God.  Josephus (at the end of War 6) would later write that Melchizedek was the founder of Jerusalem and served at a temple there.

Melchizedek is mentioned once more in the Old Testament, in Ps 110:4.  In Psalm 110 David records words spoken by God to someone he refers to as "my lord".  Jesus would later identify David's lord as the promised Messiah (Matt 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44) and used Psalm 110 to explain to the sages of his day that the Messiah was much more than just a human descendant of David.  Hebrews 1:13 cites Ps 110:1 as one of a number of instances in the Psalms in which God is addressing Jesus the Messiah.

In Ps 110:4, the LORD, still addressing David's lord, says, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."

It is interesting to consider how David might have thought about Ps 110:4.  It may be that after David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites, he thought of himself as following in the footsteps of Melchizedek.  For example, during the celebration that accompanied the bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, David king of Salem  took on a kind of priestly role and "blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins (1 Chron 16:2-3).

The author of the book of Hebrews builds on Ps 110:4 in Heb 5,7 to bring out what it means for the Messiah to be a priest "according to the order of Melchizedek".  He argues that Melchizedek's priesthood didn't depend on Melchizedek's ancestry. Melchizedek was a priest of God because God said that he was.  The Bible says nothing about his ancestry, or about anyone succeeding him in his priesthood.  So Jesus, even though he was from the tribe of Judah rather than the priestly tribe of Levi, could be this type of priest---again, because God proclaimed him to be in Ps 110:4.

Furthermore, the author of Hebrews argues that Melchizedek comes before Levi, so his priesthood is in fact superior to the Levitical priesthood.  This kind of priesthood is therefore appropriate for the Messiah.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 6, 2020, David Waddle reflected further on this subject.

Seder 10 Sermon----"Go for Yourself"

Abram's calling was a very important one, which has always made readers curious about Abram's background and previous experience with God. 

Joshua 24:2 suggests that one of the things Abram had to leave behind was idolatry. There is a large body of tradition that takes this verse as a jumping-off point.  (A good source on this tradition is David Klinghoffer's book The Discovery of God:  Abraham and the Birth of Monotheism--Doubleday, 2003).  In one such tradition, Abram's father was an idol maker, but Abram, like a philosopher, considered the heavens and reasoned that there must be a single Creator who had made the heavenly bodies and set them in motion.  After coming to this conviction, he tried to convince his family of the truth of monotheism.  At one point he broke all the idols in his father's shop except one and then told his father that the remaining idol had destroyed the others.  His father did not believe this assertion, and Abram asked him to reflect upon why he didn't believe it.

A further tradition has Abram persecuted by Nimrod and placed in a fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. 

In a sermon on Seder 10, David Waddle noted that in effect, Abram in accepting God's call had bought a one-way ticket without a known destination.  He placed his future in God's hands.  He left behind his key attachments, having faith that God would take care of him. 

New Testament descriptions of the Christian calling---e.g. Luke 14:26-33---suggest that those who decide to become disciples of Jesus are making a similar life-changing decision.