The Father of Nations (Genesis 12 - 15)

The Story of Abraham

This section starts the new era of going through the lives of the patriarchs. The first one that the Bible introduces is Abram. 

Abram came from the land of Ur with his wife Sarai. The Bible says that God spoke to Abram and told him to move to another land. He takes his wife, his cousin Lot, and everything he owned. 

There isn't anything listed here about Abram that indicates why God chose him. God spoke to him and Abram listened. We don't know if Abram was an idol worshiper or was he the only one that believed in God or did he start to believe in God when God spoke to him. 

God reminds Abram of His promises several times in these chapters. One example is when Abram gets to the land of Canaan, God gives him several promises. God will give him all this land, he will multiply his descendants, he will bless him, and those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse Abraham God will curse. 

Abram travels and settles between two cities; Ai and Bethel. Abram finds this big tree and that is where he pitches his tents and settled down. This big tree is near Sheckem. I have seen reference to this tree in several places in the Bible; especially around the time of the different kings of Israel and Judah. Perhaps there may be more than one big tree but I believe Saul, for example, sits under the shade of a big tree.

Bending the Truth

There is a famine in the land. Abram moves to Egypt and tells the people that his wife is his sister. She is very beautiful and he is afraid that they might kill him to get her. So Pharaoh hears about his wife and places her in his palace.  

Then diseases fall on the Egyptians and then Pharaoh asks Abram why did he do this thing? Take all your belongings, your wife and leave so Abraham leaves. 

I never understood why God punished the Egyptians because of Abrams choice of not telling the full truth. Perhaps, since Abram came from a society filled with idolatry, his idea of right and wrong may not have been fully developed. But I think that is a weak argument. Perhaps it was a customary practice for men to do this with their beautiful wives. Who knows? I wonder if Sarai protest this arrangement or did she just obey her master. 

Solving Land Problems

Now that Abram gets kicked out of Egypt, he goes back to the Negev where he built an altar. He called on God. At this time Abram and Lot were very wealthy. They had precious metals, sheep and goats, and so on. The servants of both men started to argue and fight over water and land; so and Abram said to Lot let's not fight. Abram told Lot to pick whatever choice land he wanted. If he goes east then Abram will go west. Lot decided to move near Sodom and Gomorrah out on the plains. 

After he left God told him to look all around and all the land he saw, God was going to give it to him. Abram and his descendents could live there forever. God told him that his offspring would be like the dust and he told him to walk the land and look at it. 


Battle

Abram moved to the great trees of Mamre at Hebron. Once Abram was settled the Kings in the region decided to fight. There were four kings who went against five Kings. These five kings included the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The kings who were oppressing them fought and won against them and took their possessions. Since Lot lived nearby they took him, his possessions, and his family with them. Abram heard about it and went and got 318 men who were trained for war that were born on his property. He and his men rescued Lot and got back all of Lot's possessions. 

The king of Sodom was happy and told Abram he could have some of the possessions that were retuned to him from war. Abram told him he did not want any of it just in case he would say, "I made Abram rich.

There's something here that is very important and is a foreshadow of the coming Messiah.

Melchizedek

When Abram came back from war with the spoils, there was a king by the name of Melchizedek from Salem who came out to meet him. He was also priest of God most high and he blessed Abram. Then Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. Much is said about this priest and king. He comes from nowhere and he disappears. No references to him are made after this. Some folks believe that it was God who appeared as Melchizedek. He is talked about in the book of Hebrews, I believe. Perhaps I will write about a little later when I get to the book of Hebrews.

Then, God comes to Abram in a dream and tells him not to be afraid. I am your shield and you're very great reward, he tells Abram. Abram asks God for a child, otherwise he will have to give his estate to his servant. God promises him that he will have a son from his own flesh so there would be no need to give his wealth to his servant.

The Covenant

God takes him outside and tells him to look at the stars. If you can count them, he says then you will be able to count your descendants. Abram believed God and asked him, how can I know that all of what you say will come true about giving the land to Abram. Then God said bring me a 3-yo heifer, a 3yo goat, and a 3yo ram; And a dove and a young pigeon. Abram cut the animals in half and leaves the birds whole. He arranged them as God wanted him. He had to keep the vultures and animals from stealing the meat.

After the sun set, Abram fell into a deep sleep and thick darkness came over him. God tells him that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country that is not theirs. They will be slaves and mistreated but when they come out, they will leave with great possessions. But you will go to the grave at a ripe old age.

Then a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. A covenant was made and God promised the land to Abram.

My thoughts

This is the story of the man who is the father of many nations and three major religions. He sits at the beginning of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each of these groups treasure Abram as their forefather . I bet that he had no idea of the amount of people that he would influence or what they would be like. He also did not know that so many hairs would be split trying to figure out who he is and what he wants. He also may not have known how they would fight.

Here is something that I observed. I can now see better the story of Jesus Christ in the making in the Old Testament. These stories cradle a scarlet thread throughout history that preserves the bloodline of Jesus Christ. I never saw it before like I see it now. I bet that there were a lot of barriers established in these stories that were supposed to destroy the bloodline of Jesus but God used all kinds of people and all sorts of circumstances to preserve the path that made the way for Jesus to be born.

The Biblical stories are sort of like a necklace. A necklace is filled with a variety of beads or stories but there is only one string that connects them all. Jesus Christ is like that string that connects all of the events. The Bible stories are a collection of all the beads and if we look carefully we will see that string of Jesus Christ passing through each bead. And this story is just the beginning.

That's it for today.