Chapter 2 - Abraham and Covenant
A famous theologian once said, “God has not given up on [the] plan to bring all creation home to [God]. [God] now stops working with all humanity and instead zeros in on one man and one woman and their offspring, one people through whom God will bless the world and recreate harmony between God and all creation.” And that famous theologian? Rev. Anke Deibler. And she concluded that thought with the following: “That’s next week’s sermon topic.”
Well, it’s next week. So here I am. And here we are, with Sarah and Abraham.
Like any story that’s worth reading, the story of Sarah and Abraham is a complex one. The Bible doesn’t really tell us anything about Abraham, or Abram as he’s known at the beginning of the story. We know that he’s descended from Noah, but then everybody would have been descended from Noah. The last several verses of chapter 11 are devoted to a genealogy, leading from Noah’s son, Shem, to Abram.
The backstory on Abram is brief:
“26 When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
27 Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran. (Genesis 11:26-32)
…aaaand that’s it!
The book of Genesis makes it clear that the only thing special about Abram is that he’s Abram. He is ascribed no characteristics, nor are any deeds attributed to him, which might have set him apart from all the other descendants of Noah. So Abram is, you know… He’s just Abram!
At the beginning of chapter 12 we read: “1 Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3)
The sense of the promise in this passage is incredibly broad. Abraham will become a great nation. He’ll lead a huge clan and he’ll preside over a large territory. Other nations will be subject to this nation’s fortunes so that they will pray for blessing as Abraham had been blessed.
To be fair, the promise is made more specific in later statements by God:
1. Gen 12:7 “To your descendants I will give this land.”
2. Gen 13:15 “All the land which you see I will give to you and your seed forever.”
3. Gen 15:5 “Look at the heavens and count the stars if you can. So shall your descendants be.”
4. Gen 17:4 “You shall be the father of a multitude of nations.”
5. Gen 18:18 “Abraham shall surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.”
All these promises are given to Abraham in theophany, which literally means an “appearance of God,” an overwhelming personal experience of God’s presence that affects the whole direction and quality of a person’s life.
The interesting thing is how many times this covenant is endangered by Abraham and his behavior, and how many times God circles back around to renew the covenant and the promises of blessing that it contains. And it starts off immediately. God has just made this promise to Abraham in verses 1-9, and then immediately Abraham turns around and endangers the covenant while spending time in Egypt during a famine.
“When [Abram] was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know well that you are a woman beautiful in appearance; 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife’; then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared on your account.” (Genesis 12:11-13)
In order to save his own skin, Abram tells people that Sarai is his sister. And because she’s so gorgeous, Pharaoh has to have her in his house, making her one of his wives, and thus putting the whole “Abram the Father of Multitudes” promise at risk! So, it’s clear from the very beginning that, although the promise is made directly to Abram, Sarai’s presence is absolutely vital to the fulfillment of the promises made by God.
Of course, It doesn’t take long for the subterfuge to be discovered: 17 But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 18 So Pharaoh called Abram, and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.” (Genesis 12:17-19)
The promise to Abram is re-affirmed in Chapter 13: 14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. 17 Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord. (Genesis 13:14-18)
The next moment of promise is our reading for today, God renews the divine promises and makes a covenant with Abraham. 5 [God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.
And God seals the covenant with Abram with this strange ceremony that involves splitting animal carcasses. A ceremony which, by the way, the original hearers of these stories would have recognized. God’s presence, represented by the smoking fire-pot and the flaming torch, passes between the animals that have been cut in two. It’s an action by which God declares, “May the fate that has overtaken these animals overtake Me if I break My promise to you”.
But, of course, Sarai and Abram can’t leave good enough alone, and so they seek to manipulate the covenant. Sarai encourages Abram to sleep with her servant, Hagar, and thus produce an heir. The plan works, at least in so far that Hagar Abram and Hagar conceive a child. But then Sarai becomes jealous and abusive towards Hagar, and Hagar runs away, taking her child with her.
Once more, in chapter 17, God renews the covenant with Abram, but this time there’s a twist. This time something is required of Abram in return: the sign of circumcision. Now Abram has some skin in the game. Literally. And it’s a significant moment, because here we see the change of Abram and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah.
In Chapter 18, God once again appears to Sarah and Abraham renews the promise of a son to be born to the two of them.
You would think that Abraham would learn, wouldn’t you? But just as he did when he was in Egypt, when Abraham and Sarah enter the territory of Gerar, Abraham once again claims that Sarah is his sister. King Abimelech takes Sarah as his own, once again God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah is endangered. But before Abimelech can consummate his relationship with Sarah, God speaks to him in a dream, ““You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married woman.” (Genesis 20:3)
Finally, in chapter 21, we get to the moment that everyone has been waiting for:
The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” (Genesis 21:1-7)
But, of course, this is not yet the end of the story. As with any good story, there’s just one more nail-biting, cliff-hanger moment. For only the second time, is something now required of Abraham and Sarah: 1 After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him. (Genesis 22:1-3)
And then comes the pivotal moment: 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. (Genesis 22:10-13)
And then for the fifth and final time, we hear God’s promise to Abraham: 15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, 18 and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:15-18)
OK. So we have the fulfillment of the first half of the promise to Abraham and Sarah. We now have a son who will, in turn, go on to father more children. But what about the promise of “this Land”?
That brings us to chapter 23.
1 Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah’s life. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 Abraham rose up from beside his dead, and said to the Hittites, 4 “I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 He said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, 9 so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying place.” 10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 He said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “If you only will listen to me! I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, passed 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying place. (Genesis 15:1-18)
So, now Abraham is no longer a wealthy, powerful but still officially semi-nomadic tribal leader. Abraham is now a landholder, a property owner. It might not seem like much, but it’s enough. And so, the second half of God’s promise to Abraham? Fulfilled!
With the promises fulfilled, the story of Abraham and Sarah winds down. Their son, Isaac, marries Rebekah. Together, Isaac and Rebekah have two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob, whose name literally means “Deceiver”, who tricks his older brother out of his birth-right. Jacob, whose name is later changed to “Israel”. Jacob, whose son, Joseph, through the intrigue and deceit of his brothers, ends up being an official in Pharaoh’s court, at just the right time, thus ensuring that the promised Line of Abraham’s and Sarah’s descendants will continue. So they end up residing in Egypt permanently, until they become so vast in their number that another Pharaoh decides that they are a threat, and thus forces them into slavery. Pastor Anke will tell you what happens from there, next week.
The story of Sarah and Abraham is the story of how God remains faithful to the promises God makes to us, often times in spite of our own lack of faith in those same promises. God remains faithful to us and honors the promises that God has made to us, regardless of how we might feel about them.
AMEN