Seder 13: Abram's Faithfulness

 Genesis 15 begins with the phrase, "After these things....", a phrase that also appears in Genesis 22:1, 20.  Joseph Soloveitchik suggests that this phrase marks transitions in Abram's life and divides his life into four periods.  The second one is covered in Genesis 15-21, chapters that feature God's covenant with Abram.

At this point God comes to Abram in a vision, as he would later to other prophets.  Commentator John Sailhamer sees Abram portrayed as a forerunner of Jeremiah, who later would be given a message about Judah's exile and return.  God reveals to Abram that his descendants would endure slavery in Egypt before settling in the land promised to them (vv 12-16).  

But before receiving that revelation, Abram asks God about something that is troubling him.  God has promised him numerous descendants (Ge 13:16), but he is still childless.  God assures Abram that the promise will be carried out (Ge 15:2-5).  The narrator then reports in verse 6, "And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness."

Abram's belief was not something that occurred in an instant.  He grew in faith as he walked with God over many years.  James the brother of Jesus saw Genesis 15:6 exemplified by Abram's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. In this case Abram's obedient actions demonstrated his faith (James 2:14-26).  

Language similar to Genesis 15:6 appears in Ps 106:30-31, where it is applied to Phinehas.  When Phinehas took decisive action to stop the apostasy at Baal Peor, "that was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever" (verse 31). 

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on January 27, 2024, Kyle Kettering explored the meaning of Genesis 15:6.  He noted that this verse marks the first appearance in Scripture of tzedakah, the Hebrew word for "righteousness."  Looking at other places where the word is used (Ge 18:19; Dt 6:25; 24:13, e.g.), we can see that the word often designates "right deeds or actions that accord with God's desire and plan."  Psalm 106:3 declares, "Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!"

By Jesus' time, the word had come to be used specifically for deeds of charity.  Jesus uses the word this way in Matthew 6:1-4.  

Kyle observed that righteousness is a goal of man's relationship with God, and that trust is an essential component of biblical righteousness.  As Hebrews 11:6 says, "without faith it is impossible to please him." Habakkuk famously wrote that "the righteous shall live by his faith" (Hab 2:4).  The ESV footnote observes that "faith' In Habakkuk 2:4 means "faithfulness."    

In Romans 4, Paul holds up Abraham as example on one who was deemed righteous based on his faithfulness, not on specific deeds of the Torah.  

In the phrase "he counted it to him as righteousness," there are technically two ways to identify the antecedents of the pronouns "he" and "him."  We almost always think of "he" as God and "him" as Abram, but the other way around makes sense as well.  Certainly Abram deemed God to be righteous as well.

Seder 11: Genesis 12-13---Separating from Lot

 The biblical narrator often reports the actions of the characters without giving explicit moral evaluations of those actions.  That leaves plenty of room for readers to second guess the characters.  

For example, in Genesis 12:1 God instructs Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you."  

Verse 4 reports Abram's response:  "So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him."  Abram was certainly obedient in leaving his country.  But in taking his nephew Lot along, had he really left his kindred and father's house behind?  

Abram and Lot later part ways after disputes between their herdsmen make it advisable for them to separate.  It is after that separation that God affirms the promise of the land to Abram (Ge 13:14-18).  

In a 2011 paper in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament ("Rethinking the Place and Purpose of Genesis 13") scholar Dan Rickett suggests that the timing of this promise is not a coincidence.  After Lot's departure, Abram has complied fully with the directive of Genesis 12:1.

We are not told why Abram brought Lot along in the first place.  By the time that Abram left, we know that Lot's father Haran had died (Ge 11:27-29), and apparently Abram's father Terah had also died (Acts 7:4).  Perhaps Abram felt responsible for Lot.  

One midrash proposes that Lot insisted on going along with Abram, as Lot's descendant Ruth later would with Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17).  At that point, according to this proposal, Lot wanted to be Abram's disciple.  In this scenario Abram was justified in bringing Lot along on his journey.  

But those who adopt this scenario then have to explain the later parting of the ways between Abram and Lot.  For example, Joseph Soloveitchik proposes that something changed during their time in Egypt.  When they came out of Egypt with greater wealth, Lot may have become more interested in growing his fortune than in blessing the nations, leading to his separation from Abram.  

Seder 120: Numbers 23----Balaam's First Two Oracles: No Curses Against Israel

Balak, the leader of the Moabites, had summoned Balaam from his home near the Euphrates to come and curse the children of Israel, who were camped near his border.  Balaam hoped to carry out Balak's wishes but had to admit that he could only say what Yahweh, the God of Israel, allowed him to say.  

Balaam delivered four oracles, recorded in Numbers 23 and 24.  In the first he affirmed the promises that God had made to Abraham.  "Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel?" he asked (Num 23:10), echoing the promise made in Gen 13:16.  

He described Israel as a holy people, set apart from other nations.  "Behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!" he declared (v 9).  Kevin Chen points out that the words for "dwell" and "alone" in verse appear together in only one other place in the Torah, in Moses' blessing of Israel in Deut 33:28: "So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew."  Balaam, like Moses in Deut 33, was describing an ideal, eschatological Israel.

Balak was upset that Balaam had blessed the Israelites instead of cursing them.  He decided that a change of venue might help.  Perhaps Balaam's "reception" would improve if they moved to a different hill.  

However, Balaam's message from Pisgah was consistent with his oracle from Bamoth-Baal.  "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind," he began, affirming that Yahweh keeps his promises (v 19).  

Again, Balaam reported God's long-term goal for Israel:  "He has not beheld misfortune in Jacob, nor has he seen trouble in Israel" (Num 23:21).  The Hebrew words for "misfortune" and "trouble" are often used for wickedness and perversion.  The Israelites had at times exhibited those things during their journey, even recently, but Balaam was looking beyond the present to what ultimately would be true.  

Balaam had to acknowledge, "For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel" (v 23).  The word for "enchantment", nachash, is related to the word for "serpent" in Gen 3.  Chen suggests a connection here with Gen 3:15.  The serpent would not be able to defeat Israel.  Instead, the seed of the woman would defeat the seed of the serpent.  

Balak's anger at Balaam grew.  He said to Balaam, in effect, "If you can't say anything bad about the Israelites, don't say anything at all!" (v 25).  Still, he took Balaam to a third location, hoping for a different result.  Balak in Jewish tradition has been compared to Pharaoh.  Pharaoh tried in three ways to reduce the population of Israel (through enslavement, threatening the Hebrew midwives, and ordering that babies be drowned), and Balak tried three times to have Israel cursed.

Seder 33: Gen 36---Esau's Family

 After the tearful reunion between Jacob and Esau upon Jacob's return to Canaan (Gen 33:4), we do not know much about the relationship of the two brothers. We do know that 

1. Jacob and Esau were together to bury their father Isaac (Gen 35:27-29).
2. Esau settled in the mountainous region of Seir, and Jacob turned down an invitation to accompany him there when he returned to Canaan. 
3. As with Abraham and Lot (Gen 13), Jacob and Esau lived in separate areas so that the land could support the livestock of both (Gen 36:6-8).

When Esau settled in Seir, he displaced the Horites (literally "cave dwellers") who were already living there (Deut 2:22).  A Horite genealogy is given in Gen 36:20-30.  

Some details about the early history of the Edomites, the nation that descended from Esau, are given in Gen 36.  The blessing Isaac pronounced upon Esau in Gen 27:39-40 does not sound too promising, but like other descendants of Abraham, the Edomites were greatly blessed.  

A number of Edomite kings are listed in Gen 36:31-40.  Verse 31 notes that there were "kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites."  (This note apparently was written after Israel began to have kings.)  The kings listed in verses 31-40 are associated with particular towns, so the picture we get is not one of a highly centralized government.  The king at a given time would have been the leader among Edom's local chieftains at that time. 

Hostility between Israel and Edom would come later, starting near the end of Israel's 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (Num 20:14-21).  But we do not have evidence of hostility between Israel and Edom between the time of Israel's return to Canaan and the Exodus.  

Seder 17: Gen 18-19---The Trial of Sodom and Gomorrah

One biblical passage that may puzzle readers at first is Gen 18:20-21, where God says, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin!  I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know."

At this point in the narrative, God has just demonstrated his omniscience by reading Sarah's mind (vv 12-15), so there is no question that he knows what is going on in Sodom and Gomorrah.  But it seems that he wants to model, for Abraham and all his descendants (vv 17-19), how to conduct a proper judicial proceeding, with a public trial based on the eyewitness testimony of multiple witnesses.  (One scholar who has explored this approach to Gen 18-19 is James Bruckner.)  Conducting such a trial also gives the people of Sodom and Gomorrah one more opportunity to repent.

The evidence is presented in Gen 19, when two angels arrive in Sodom.  The first person to be examined is Lot, who shows great hospitality to his guests (vv 1-3), much as Abraham had in Gen 18.

However, that night an angry mob came to Lot's house, demanding that Lot surrender his guests to them.  Lot could not dissuade the mob from its evil intentions, and the angels finally immobilized them by striking them blind.(vv 4-11).

At this point the evidence was in, and the cities of the plain were destroyed after Lot and his two daughters escaped to safety.

As readers we struggle to make a fair evaluation of Lot.  Lot initially settled at Sodom because of the wealth in that region (Gen 13:10-13).  Was he wrongly valuing wealth and ignoring the spiritual problems there?  The fact that he offers his virgin daughters to the mob (Gen 19:8) suggests that his own morality has been compromised by his time in Sodom.

The Genesis narrative implicitly compares Lot to Abraham in a number of places, and the comparisons tend to be unfavorable to Lot.  For example, while Abraham is a father of many nations (Gen 17:4-6), Lot is the father of two, and they both begin with acts of incest (Gen 19:30-38).  Lot is saved from the cataclysm partly for Abraham's sake (v 29). He seems to be an example of 1 Cor 3:15, someone who is saved but whose work does not survive the fire.

On the other hand, Lot can be seen as a kind of Noah figure, maintaining a righteous witness before a corrupt society.  The apostle Peter later described Lot as "a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless" (2 Peter 2:7).

Rob Wilson shared further reflections on Lot, Christian witness, and "radical hospitality" in a sermon on Seder 17 given on July 11, 2020.

Seder 12: Gen 14---Abram Rescues Lot

In Gen 13:14-18, God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abram and his descendants.  But no one had yet informed the four Mesopotamian rulers who would invade sometime later (Gen 14:1-12).

Those rulers had been requiring the five cities of the plain (Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar) to pay them an annual tribute.  When those five towns decided they were tired of paying, their overlords determined to make the trip of several hundred miles and collect the tribute personally.

The invaders came south through what is now Jordan on the road called the King's Highway, subduing all the peoples they passed on the way (and perhaps collecting additional tribute).  Later, in the fortieth year of the Exodus, the Israelites would come north on that road and claim these areas for Israel (Num 21).  Perhaps those Israelites were encouraged by the exploits of Abram recorded in Gen 14. 

After trouncing the cities of the plain in a one-sided battle, the army from Mesopotamia left with a substantial amount of booty, including Abram's nephew Lot.  Taking someone from Abram's family proved to be a crucial error on their part.  When Abram heard what had happened, he set out in pursuit with "his trained men, born in his house, 318 of them" (v 14).

The size of Abram's party is the only such figure given in the chapter, so it is not so easy to put into historical context.  What we know about populations at that time suggests that 318 was a pretty respectable number, showing how much Abram had been blessed.  Abram's army was probably comparable in size to those of the five cities of the plain, so Abram was in some sense a "king" himself.

On the other hand, Gen 14:1-12 emphasizes the strength of the invading force, which was probably substantially larger than Abram's forces.

The 318 is also an unusually precise figure, so there has been some speculation about its significance.  An article published in 1969  (S. Gevirtz, "Abram's 318", Israel Exploration Journal, Vol 19, No. 2, pp 110-113) points out that 318 is the sum of all the prime numbers between seven and seven times seven (7+11+13+17+19+23+29+31+37+41+43+47 = 318).  This is a fun fact but probably not relevant.

One midrash observes that 318 is the total of the numbers associated with the Hebrew letters in the name of Abram's chief servant, Eliezer (Gen 15:2) and suggests that Abram and Eliezer pursued Lot's abductors all by themselves, just the two of them.    There is no hint of this in Gen 14, but the midrash does underline an important truth:  It does not matter how small Abram's army is.  What  matters is that God is with Abram.

Abram and his trained group of 318 caught the Mesopotamians by surprise and recovered what the invaders had seized, including Lot.  When Abram returned victorious, he established himself as a regional power.  Would be now require tribute from the cities of the plain?  No, he decided that he would steer clear of local power politics and make clear that he placed all his trust in the true God to provide for him (vv 21-24).

In his EBC commentary on Genesis, John Sailhamer notes that Abram could be said to have followed the principles for warfare against distant nations later laid out in Deut 20.  He had

• not been afraid of a larger army (Deut 20:1).
• taken only trained men ready for battle (Deut 20:5-9)
• taken spoil from the distant nations (Deut 20:14).
• not taken spoil from peoples in the promised land and stayed separate from them (20:16).

Sailhamer suggests that Abram in some sense had the Torah written on his heart, providing a possible explanation for Gen 26:5.

Seder 11: Gen 12-13--The Promise in Peril

At some point after Abram and Sarai arrived in the land of Canaan, they left during a time of severe famine and sought refuge in Egypt.  Fearing that the Pharaoh would have him killed in order to add Sarai to the royal harem, Abram pretended that Sarai was just his sister, not his wife.  Pharaoh then proceeded to add Sarai to his harem (Gen 12:10-16)

Abram's deception put his wife in great danger and jeopardized the future of his family.  But God intervened, striking Pharaoh with plagues because he had abducted Sarai.  Pharaoh then reprimanded Abram and threw them out of Egypt (vv 17-20).

In this episode we see an example of how God would deal with people according to their treatment of Abram's family.  Pharaoh threatened that family and suffered as a result.  We also see that God's promise to Abram depends upon his grace, not upon Abram's goodness.

This passage in Gen 12-13 also foreshadows the later Exodus.  Abram and Sarai travel to Egypt during a time of famine, as Jacob would later.  They are in danger there, as the Israelites would later be enslaved.  Pharaoh suffers plagues, as Egypt would later.  Abram and his family are thrown out of Egypt with great wealth (12:16; 13:2), as the Israelites would be later.  And Abram then journeys by stages (13:3), as the Israelites would on the Exodus (Num 33:1).  The repetition of exodus themes in the Bible sends the message that God is consistent.  As he has acted in the past, so he will act again in the future.

Back in the land of Canaan with increased wealth, Abram and Lot needed to spread out to provide more room for their flocks.  The strife among their herdsmen (13:7) foreshadowed later strife between Israelites and Moabites.  Lot chose to go east to a fertile area near Sodom and Gomorrah, a move that looked good at the time.  But as has been the case so far in the book of Genesis, people run into trouble when they head east in a direction away from the Promised Land. 

Here some have seen an analogy between Gen 13:10 and Gen 3:6.  In Genesis 3:6, Eve saw that the forbidden fruit looked good and gave it a try.  In Genesis 13:10, Lot saw that the Jordan Valley looked good and decided to go there.

Abram acts as peacemaker, reminding us of Matt 5:9.

After Abram and Lot parted ways, God reaffirmed the promise of the land (13:14-17).