God's Covenant with Abram (Gen.15)

Backstory: God called Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and set out for his ‘promised land’. God would bless Abram making him into a great nation with a great name. Moreover, God would eventually bless the whole world through Abram (Genesis 12:1-3). Originally God called Adam to multiply God’s images throughout the earth (1:28), and later God restated that responsibility to Noah (9:1-2). Now God calls Abram out of idolatry in Ur and promised him multiple descendants and homeland to bless ‘all peoples or nations of the earth’. However, it’s now a decade or so later and Abram remains childless and he still has no property. 

Genesis 15 (NIV)

^1-6 In a vision the Lord tells Abram not to fear for the Lord was Abram’s shield, and great reward. Abram is elderly and he’s been waiting on God for several years. The Lord had promised Abram would be a ‘great nation’ through whom God would bless the world. But, Abram was childless and his servant was his heir. Now Abram’s in his 80’s having set out for Canaan when he was 75 years old. Abram has no son, no land and now the Lord tells Abram that ‘a son coming from Abram’s own body’ would be his heir. The Lord shows Abram the night sky and says “count the stars if you can—so shall your offspring be.”  Abram sees countless stars; beyond number and he believes the promise and the Lord counts it to Abram as righteousness.

^7-21 The Lord reminds Abram how He brought Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans and having promised him the ‘Land of Canaan’. It’s been a number years now, so Abram wants to know how he can be sure that he would possess the land. So the Lord tells Abram to bring a heifer, a goat, a ram, with a dove and a pigeon.  Without any further instruction, Abram knows to cuts the animals in two and arranges the halves opposite each other. When the ‘birds of prey’ come down on the carcasses, Abram drives them away. Then at sunset Abram falls asleep, and a ‘dreadful darkness’ came over Abram.  The Lord tells Abram how Abram’s descendants would occupy their ‘promised land’ 400 years in the future.

So in this story God formalizes the covenant he initiated with Abram in Genesis 12. The Lord confirms his ‘promises’ to give Abram multiple descendants and a homeland. However, Abram’s descendants would go down to country not their own for 400 years and be enslaved (Gen.15:13-14). Abram would rest with his ancestors and God would judge their oppressors. Abram's descendants would possess Canaan, but the Amorites would face God’s judgment.

Now we know that Isaac, Abraham's promised son, would have a son, Jacob. Jacob would be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob’s gifted son, Joseph, through a series of providential events would become a ruler in Egypt and would preserve the Israelites through a time of famine. However, after Joseph dies the Israelites become enslaved in Egypt. Then God would call Moses to deliver them out of Egypt. Moses aid, Joshua, would lead them in their conquest of Canaan when the sin of the Canaanites tribes was ‘complete’ (after 400 years). So Abram's descendants would possess the ‘Land of Canaan’ after a long delay because the sin of the Amorites was not yet full (Gen.15:16).

The story depicts the long range purposed of God. We see God’s long-suffering as He patiently waits over 400 years before judging the ‘ungodly Canaanite tribes’. The various Canaanite tribes defiled Canaan with their ‘idolatry and sexual deviant behaviors’. Therefore God justly expelled them from Canaan (Leviticus 18, 18:25). Moreover, God gave them ample time to turn from their ‘wicked ways’ but to no avail.  Eventually, God told Joshua to “completely destroy” them (Deuteronomy 20:17, Joshua 24:8). However, we must take note that God said that what applied to the Canaanites would apply to the Israelites as well.

Leviticus 18:24–29 (NIV84) ²⁴ “ ‘Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. ²⁵ Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, ²⁷ for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. ²⁸ And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ “ ‘Everyone who does any of these detestable things—such persons must be cut off from their people.

God Calls Abram (Genesis 12:1-9)

Backstory: God called Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and to go to a land the Lord would show him. God would bless Abram making him into a great nation and making his name great. Moreover, God would bless the all people through Abram and those who blessed Abram would be blessed and those who cursed Abram God would curse (12:1-3). Originally God had called Adam to multiply God’s images throughout the earth (1:28), but Adam opposed God’s will and they were expelled from God’s presence. Man deteriorated outside the Garden, and God judged the world by a flood. The responsibility to fill the world with ‘images of God’ was restated to Noah (9:1-2). Again, man opposed God’s will and sought to build and city and a tower to the Heavens to ‘make a name for themselves’. In contrast to this God calls Abram out of a culture that worshiped the moon in Ur and promised to Abram multiple descendants and ‘all peoples or nations of the earth should be blessed through Abram. God chose Abram to be means through which God would fulfill His kingdom expanding purpose.

Genesis 12:1–9: ¹ The Lord calls Abram out of Paganism in Ur. He tells Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household. Abram is to leave and go, though the Lord doesn’t tell where. But Abram goes with some ‘big promises’. The Lord tells Abram that the Lord will make Abram into a ‘great nation’ and bless Abram. The Lord will make Abram’s name great and the Lord will be a blessing. It is the Lord, the alternative God to the ‘moon god’ of the Chaldeans, who ‘will make’ Abram into a great nation, who will bless Abram, who will make Abram’s name great, who will make Abram a blessing. In addition, the Lord will bless those who bless Abram, and  curse those who curse Abram. As a result, these promises culminate in the grand promise or ‘end’ that ‘all people or nations’ on earth would be blessed through Abram. In the New Testament Paul tells us that this was the gospel announced in advance to Abram: “All nations will be blessed through you.” (Gal. 3:8).

The Lord didn’t suggest, rather He commanded Abram  ‘leave’ where he was  and ‘go’ to a place the Lord would show him  (Gen 12:1). Originally Adam was to exercise his God-given authority to create a world wholly consecrated to God. Adam was to fill the world with ‘images of God’ and create a God-glorifying culture but Adam aligned himself with the ‘Serpent’ and choice to rebel against God’s purpose. In a sense God is starting over with Abram; who was to leave Ur and go to his ‘promised land’. The Lord speaks of the blessing he would give to Abram of a ‘great nation’ and ‘great name’. Then we are told of the God’s blessings through so that those who bless Abram would blessed and those who curse Abram would be cursed. All this would be to the end that ‘all people or all nations’ would be blessed through Abram.

⁴ Abram at the age of 75 years old sets out from Haran with his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, their possessions and the followers he accumulated in Haran for the land. They arrive in the land, which we are told is Canaan, ⁶ and they travel through the land until they come to the ‘great tree of Moreh at Shechem’. The Canaanites were in the land at that time, and yet the Lord appears to Abram and promises to give this land to Abram’s offspring (12:7). So builds an altar to the Lord there where the Lord had appeared to Abram.  ⁸ Then made proceeded toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel and Ai. There Abram builds an altar to the Lord where Abram called on the ‘name of the Lord’. We find Abram beginning to stake out the land the Lord would give him with the altars he builds to the Lord.

'The Tower' (Genesis 11:1-9)

Backstory: As God’s images, Adam and Eve were to be God's representatives on the earth. They were to extend God’s reign on earth by filling the earth with images of God. However, Adam and Eve rebelled against God and were expelled from Eden. Eve gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel. Yet, Cain murdered Abel and the descendants of Cain built cultures that stood in opposition to God. The record shows that mankind opposed God’s reign and the world was full of violence. As a result, God judged the world by means of a universal flood. All mankind had become corrupt but Noah found favor with God. God warned Noah of the flood and Noah built an Ark to preserve Noah, his family and two of every animal. God made a covenant with Noah to preserve mankind and the earth in order to redeem it. God also promised a stable environment in order for His image to do God’s will on the earth. God blessed Noah and his sons telling them to multiply and fill the earth.

 Genesis 11:1–9: Man moved eastward and sought to build a city on the plain of Shinar with a tower reaching to the heavens. They sought to ‘make a name for themselves’ and not be scattered over the whole earth as God intended. They failed to submit their gifts, talents and abilities before God in submission to God’s purposes and instead they worked together in opposition to God’s will. They used their God-given ingenuity to glorify themselves and so God confused their common language and scattered over the face of the whole earth.

Speaking one common language enabled mankind to collaborate together to build a city with a tower reaching to the heavens. We are told that they did this to ‘make a name for themselves’. Adam and Eve were to fill the earth with images of God (Gen.1:28).  After the flood, Noah and his sons were ‘to be fruitful and increase in number, and fill the earth’ (Gen.9:1-2). However, mankind was unified but they were working together in opposition to God’s purpose of filling the earth with ‘images of God’. The question for us today is essentially the same. Will we submit ourselves to God and do His will or will we seek to do our own will in order to make a name for ourselves?

The Lord ‘came down’ just to see the futility of their building a city with a tower to the heavens. They opposed God’s will and sought to do their own will in order to make a name for themselves. The Lord concluded that their common language enabled them to be unified in their opposition to God’s purpose. Moreover, if this is how they were to use their God-given abilities then all manner of evil would be possible for them. Men working together are capable of tremendous achievement, but here the achievement is driven by the desire to exalt their own reputations. Fame, reputation, and selfish-ambition are driving them to use their talents and abilities to glorify themselves and defy God’s will.

They opposed God, so God opposes them. They determined to work against God’s purpose so God determined to work against their purpose. God confused their language so that they couldn’t communicate which stopped the construction. The Lord confused their language and scattered them over the face of the whole earth. God wanted the earth full of images of God doing His will but they settled together to build a city to ‘make a name for themselves’. But, there God stopped them by confusing their language and this is why the city was called Babel.

The Fall of Man (Gen.3; Part 2)

God created mankind to be His ‘representative' and the 'steward’ and  of God’s ‘very good’ creation. The Man was ‘to work and take care’ of the Garden of Eden and fill the world with ‘God’s images’ who would do 'God's will' on the earth. They could eat from any tree in garden except for the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' or they would die. The man and the woman were naked and 'unashamed'.

God warned them if they ate from the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ they would die. But the 'crafty' serpent mocked the prohibition and brought the goodness of God into question. Now they could do ‘God’s will’ and eat from any of the other trees; and live (2:9). Yet, alternatively, they could eat the ‘forbidden fruit’ and die! However, the serpent claimed they wouldn’t die.

They knew that what God said was good and to seek an autonomous source of knowledge contrary to God and God’s word was not good; even ‘evil’! As Adam stood idly by, the woman sees the fruit as a desirable alternative to dependence upon 'God and His Word’ (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10). She aligned herself with the serpent and gave some to her husband. They both ate (3:6), and their eyes were opened to their own guilt before God. They sought to cover themselves and they hide in fear from God in the trees. Aware of all this, God seeks out Adam and his wife, but they fail to take personal responsibility for actions. Rather than confess and seek God’s mercy, Adam blames the woman and the woman blames the serpent. 

God curses the serpent, the agent of Satan (Rev. 12:9), to crawl on its belly and eat dust (Rev. 12:9, 20:10). The Lord God would put enmity (hatred) between the serpent and the woman, and between the serpent’s offspring the woman’s offspring and he (Messiah Jesus) would crush Satan’s head, and Satan would strike his heel. The Lord God, in time, would graciously promises a ‘singular saving seed’ to rescue a people for himself. The woman would give birth to 'images of God’ but now through severe pain. In addition, the ground is ‘cursed’ and will produce ‘thorns and thistles'. Adam’s work would still produce food, but now it would include ‘painful toil’ and the ‘sweat of his brow’ (3:19). Child-bearing, relationships, and work become ‘a struggle’ that ends in all men and women returning to the dust from which we have been made.

The Lord God clothes the couple with animal skins. This seems to point to Israel’s ‘sacrificial system'; a system that would find fulfillment in the ‘crucifixion of Jesus’. Now they are 'like God’, but only in that they put themselves in the place of God. They wanted to determine 'good and evil' without reference to their 'Creator God'. Consequently, God doesn’t want them to reach out in their condition and take from the ‘tree of life’ and live forever. Apparently, this would have sealed them in their 'unhappy state' of independence from and separation from God. They are banished from the Garden of Eden with an angel guarding the way to the tree of life (3:22-23).