Genesis 11:10-13:4
Dear RTB’ers,
Today we meet Abram, whose name is later changed to Abraham. Immediately we encounter confusions – confusions, at least, in our own way of thinking. My first confusion comes with Abram’s brother, Nahor, marrying his brother Haran’s daughter, Milcah. That is, Nahor married his niece. Strange to us, but that’s how it was back then. My second confusion was why Terah uprooted his family, taking one son and leaving the other behind with his other relatives and moving to a strange country. With Canaan as a destination, he stopped and settled at Haran and died there. What prompts these sorts of movements, away from home and family? Strange. Finally, we have Abram moving on, but this time it’s because the LORD called him. That I can understand.
Sadly, when God calls us, confusions don’t end. When I saw what we were reading today, my first thought was, “Oh yeah, this is the story where Abram lies to Pharoah.” That was confusing in itself. But then, Abram being a brother to Sarai saved him, while being a husband to Sarai would have had him killed. Strange! First, how did Abram know that, to contrive that lie? And second, how does that make sense? The brother Abram lives and the husband Abram would have died. Strange? So Abram gets exposed in his lie and leaves Egypt richer than when he came! Very strange!
What’s not strange is Abram’s faith. When he arrives at Shechem, he builds an altar (Genesis 12:7). Then he moves on to Bethel and builds another altar (Genesis 12:8). Then when he returns from Egypt, he settles at that second location, Bethel. Both times when he came to Bethel, Abram … called on the name of the LORD. (Genesis 12:8b, 13:4b) Abram knew God personally and (presumably) called on Him regularly. He is presented to us as a model of faith. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
God spoke to Adam and Eve. He spoke to Noah. And now he speaks to Abram. But He’s not through speaking. All through the Old Testament and continuing into the New Testament, God is speaking to His chosen people. And He is still speaking today. Are we listening?
Blessings!
What seems strange to me is your statement, “What’s not strange is Abram’s faith.” Abram’s faith is, in fact, the strangest thing! It is clear that virtually everyone else continues down the path of unbelief, worshiping idols, rebelling against God (as with the Tower of Babel), but God calls Abram out to walk a different path. And He calls us to walk that different path, too, which most definitely will mark us as strange in the eyes of the world.
Good call, John! I actually agree with both of you.
Abram’s faith IS very strange for that time. How did he learn to call on God? It seems he had no one around him whose faith he could model. But he trusted the one true God.
Yet his faith is NOT strange in that we can look at him and model our lives after his faith. He listened to God, made radical changes in his life to honor God, and worshipped him at major events in his life. This should not be strange to us.
In fact, his faith awes me, but I’m getting ahead of the story…
But his seeming mistakes are also comforting to me. God had told him that the land where he was led would be his inheritance. When famine came, wouldn’t God have provided for him, had he stayed there? But he went to Egypt. And then he lied about his wife. Would the truth have served him better? Where was his faith in God’s protection and provision?
Which leads me to the question, where is mine? Because I also lack faith in these areas, and I need to trust God’s promises.
I have a lot to learn from Abram’s story.