Genesis Chapter 12

Read verses 1 - 3

This is the passage that begins everything for the Jewish people (and Christians, too!).  Up till now, God spoke to individuals, but solely in terms of their own obedience to God.  Adam, Cain, and Noah had personal conversations with God, about doing his will.  But only in terms of them and their immediate life.  At this point in chapter 12, God is "choosing up sides," in that he's deciding that one specific lineage will be his particular way of exhibiting his grace to the human race.

It reminds me of Tevye's lines in Fiddler On The Roof, to the effect of "O Lord, thank you for blessing us as your chosen people.  But every once in a while, couldn't you choose somebody else?"  Likewise, George Bernard Shaw, a prominent atheist, coined the phrase "how odd of God, to choose the Jews."

It raises a couple of questions for us.  Obviously, ancient peoples like the Jews (or the Egyptians, the Jebusites, the Perezites, the Hivites, the Hittites, etc., ad nauseum) believed themselves to be special and all of their neighbors to be under a curse by their deity or deities.  So how is Abraham any different?  Is the belief of Abraham and his later descendants, anything more than simple chauvinism?  Why would God, or why did God, choose the Jews????

I've come up with a couple of answers in my own mind.  One is, God acting in history has offered salvation under a variety of terms to the human race.  And every time, (with a final exception) humans have not lived up to their side of the bargain.  First, God offered Adam and Eve a life in paradise, which they despoiled and lost.

Then God offered the whole human race the chance to live in unity over the face of the globe.  People chose sin, and God flooded the earth.  Even  after the flood, God offered people a new dispensation, but again we refused, and instead built thetower of Babel, a monument to human pride in the face of God's commandments.

Since humans as a species had refused to live in covenant with God, he is here (Genesis 12) offering to work with a fragment of humanity, a single nation, if they will obey him.  Of course, they won't be able or willing to; and thus we have the Old Testament, playing out even God's specially chosen nation's refusal to follow his commands.

Eventually, God will choose a particular bloodline (the line of David) to live out his covenant; but again, that line of men will fail.  But God eventually sends a single person (Jesus of Nazareth) to fulfill the covenant, and restore the balance in the relationship for God and man by representing both in one person.  Even though we don't fulfill the law, we participate in Christ's fulfillment of the law through baptism and the Lord's supper.  Well, that's how I make sense of it anyhow.  At least this week . . .

Notice also, that the language here is "The LORD," which is the translation of the Hebrew name YHVH.  As we've discussed before, "the LORD" is often the term used for the Deity when he appears to individuals, and when he is willing to strike a bargain, or when he appears to change his mind or welcome human input in the divine plan.  For instance, it is YHVH who will bargain with Abram about whether or not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.   Elsewhere, the Hebrew text uses the world "God" (Elohim) to portray the Creator and the transcendent, all-knowing judge whose nature does not change and who is not willing to compromise with humans.  But more on that later.

Read verses 4 - 9

Note that Abram is 75 years old here.  The geography listed doesn't matter much to us, but the names were of tremendous importance to the ancient Hebrews, who would argue that they didn't need to worship at the temple in Jerusalem because their ancestor Abram had instituted worship elsewhere?the oaks of Mamre, or Schechem where the Ark of the Covenant would be stored for generations.

Read verses 10 - 17

This story of Abram lying about his relationship to Sarai will come up again in Genesis.  His fear that Pharaoh would kill him in order to obtain a wife was a reasonable fear in those lawless times; whereas an older brother would be entertained, and even bribed, to encourage his sister's romantic interest in the king.

A couple of immediate questions arise.  For instance, how does Pharaoh know that Sarai is the cause of the plagues?   And why is God so upset at this particular tale of attempted impropriety, when he will suffer so much wickedness done to and by Abram's descendents?  The text portrays Sarai as being overwhelmingly beautiful; she must have been, to have caused pharaoh to swoon when she was 65 years old.

There's a deeper ethical question here, as well.  When is it acceptable to tell a lie, for the sake of a good cause?  Did Abraham sin by lying, or was he doing God's will by a seemingly wrong act?  When is it ever acceptable for Christians to tell a lie? 

With all the moral ambiguity here, it's hardly surprising we don't hear many sermons on this topic. . . .