Sunday, May 8
Read Genesis 15:1-21 and Romans 4:3, 4, 9, 22. How does Abram reveal what it means to live by faith? What is the meaning of the sacrifice that God had Abram perform?
God’s first response to Abram’s concern about an heir (Genesis 15:1-3) is that he will have a son from his “own bowels” (Genesis 15:4). The same language is used by the prophet Nathan to refer to the seed of the future Messianic king (2 Samuel 7:12). Abram was reassured and “believed in the LORD” (Genesis 15:6), because he understood that the fulfillment of God’s promise depended not on his own righteousness but on God’s (Genesis 15:6; compare with Romans 4:5, 6).
This notion is extraordinary, especially in that culture. In the religion of the ancient Egyptians, for instance, judgment was evaluated on the basis of counting one’s human works of righteousness against the righteousness of the goddess Maat, who represented divine righteousness. In short, you had to earn “salvation.”
God then sets up a sacrificial ceremony for Abram to perform. Basically, the sacrifice points to Christ’s death for our sins. Humans are saved by grace, the gift of God’s righteousness, symbolized by these sacrifices. But this particular ceremony conveys specific messages for Abram. The preying of the vultures on the sacrificial animals (Genesis 15:9-11) means that Abram’s descendants will suffer slavery for a period of “four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13), or four generations (Genesis 15:16). Then in the fourth generation, Abram’s descendants “shall come hither again” (Genesis 15:16).
The last scene of the sacrificial ceremony is dramatic: “a burning lamp that passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:17). This extraordinary wonder signifies God’s commitment to fulfill His covenant promise of giving land to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 15:18).
The boundaries of this Promised Land, “from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18) remind us of the boundaries of the Garden of Eden (compare with Genesis 2:13, 14). This prophecy has, therefore, more in view than just the Exodus and a homeland for Israel. On the distant horizon of this prophecy, in Abraham’s descendants taking the country of Canaan, looms the idea of the end-time salvation of God’s people, who will return to the Garden of Eden.
How can we learn to keep focused on Christ and His righteousness as our only hope of salvation? What happens if we try to start counting up our good works?
Monday, May 9
Read Genesis 16:1-16. What is the significance of Abram’s decision to go with Hagar, even despite God’s promise to him? How do the two women represent two attitudes of faith (Galatians 4:21-31)?
When Abram doubted (Genesis 15:2), God unambiguously reassured him that He will have a son. Years later, Abram is still without a son. Even after God’s last powerful prophecy, Abram seems to have lost his faith: he does not believe anymore that it will be possible for him to have a son with Sarai. Sarai, feeling hopeless, takes the initiative and urges him to resort to a common practice of that time in the ancient Near East: take a surrogate. Hagar, Sarai’s servant, is appointed for this service. The system works. Ironically, this human strategy seemed more efficient than did faith in God’s promises.
The passage describing Sarai’s relation to Abram echoes the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The two texts share a number of common motifs (Sarai, like Eve, is active; Abram, like Adam, is passive) and share common verbs and phrases (“heed the voice,” “take” and “give”). This parallel between the two stories implies God’s disapproval of this course of action.
The apostle Paul refers to this story to make his point about works versus grace (Galatians 4:23-26). In both accounts, the result is the same: the immediate reward of human work outside the will of God leads to future troubles. Note that God is absent during the whole course of action. Sarai speaks about God but never speaks to Him; nor does God speak to either of them. This absence of God is striking, especially after the intense presence of God in the previous chapter.
God then appears to Hagar but only after she has left the house of Abram. This unexpected appearance discloses God’s presence in spite of human effort to work without Him. The reference to “the angel of the Lord” (Genesis 16:7) is a title that is often identified with the LORD, YHWH (see Genesis 18:1, 13, 22). This time it is God who takes the initiative and announces to Hagar that she will give birth to a son, Ishmael, whose name means God hears (Genesis 16:11). Ironically, the story, which ends with the idea of hearing (shama‘), echoes the hearing of the beginning of the story, when Abram who “heeded” (shama‘) the voice of Sarai (Genesis 16:2).
Why is it so easy for us to have the same lack of faith that Abram had here?
Tuesday, May 10
Read Genesis 17:1-19 and Romans 4:11. What is the spiritual and prophetic significance of the circumcision rite?
Abram’s lack of faith, as seen in the preceding story (Genesis 16), broke the flow of Abram’s spiritual journey with God. During that time God was silent. For the first time now, God speaks again to Abram. God reconnects with Abram and brings him back to the point when He made a covenant with him (Genesis 15:18).
Now, though, God gives him the sign of that covenant. The meaning of circumcision has been long discussed by scholars, but because the rite of circumcision involves the shedding of blood (see Exodus 4:25), it could be understood in the context of sacrifice, signifying that righteousness was imputed to him (compare with Romans 4:11).
It is also significant that this covenant, signified by circumcision, is described in terms that point back to the first Messianic prophecy (compare Genesis 17:7 with Genesis 3:15). The parallel between the two texts suggests that God’s promise to Abram concerns more than just the physical birth of a people; it contains the spiritual promise of salvation for all the peoples of the earth. And the promise of the “everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7) refers to the work of the Messianic seed, the sacrifice of Christ that ensures eternal life to all who claim it by faith and all that faith entails (compare with Romans 6:23 and Titus 1:2).
Interestingly, this promise of an eternal future is contained in the change of the name of Abram and Sarai. The names of Abram and Sarai referred just to their present status: Abram means “exalted father” and Sarai means “my princess” (the princess of Abram). The change of their names into “Abraham” and “Sarah” referred to the future: Abraham means “father of many nations” and Sarah means “the princess” (for everyone). In parallel, but not without some irony, the name of Isaac (“he will laugh”) is a reminder of Abraham’s laughter (the first laughter recorded in the Scriptures, Genesis 17:17); it is a laughter of skepticism or, maybe, of wonder. Either way, though he believed in what the Lord had clearly promised him, Abraham still struggled with living it out in faith and trust.
How can we learn to keep on believing even when, at times, we struggle with that belief, as did Abraham? Why is it important that we not give up, despite times of doubt?
