Genesis 13-16

The first thing that strikes me about Abraham, or Abram as he is called at first, is how the Israelites who are telling this story do not make their forefather into a hero. They reveal Abram to the reader “warts and all”. Yes, Abram does a great thing by listening to the call of God, leaving his home, and going out to a place that he does not know, which God says he is going to give to him. That is great and reveals something of what C. S. Lewis calls Abram’s “right relationship” with God. However, no sooner has Abram done this, but he is presenting his wife Sarai as his half-sister so that a foreign king will not kill him to get her. Could Abram not trust the God who had called him to work things out without resorting to this ruse? I guess not. Here we see both great faith and great doubt. Abram is very human indeed.

However, again, we see in chapter 13 that the key thing is not Abram’s doubt, but the fact that he “calls on the name of the Lord,” he keeps coming back to God. Soon we see how this affects Abram’s character. He has experienced the grace of God, and so he becomes a gracious man. When it comes to dividing territory between himself and his nephew Lot, he gives Lot first pick. Here we also get a foreshadowing of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The writer of Genesis 13 assumes that his readers know that story and the territory he is describing so he is quick to say in verse 10: “this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.” The only thing our author tells us about these people is that they “were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.” He does not tell us what their sins were.

Chapter 14 actually shows us Abram rescuing his nephew Lot and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah when they are taken captive by some neighboring kings. In the midst of this we have the strange story of Melchizedek, king of Salem, who brings out bread and wine; he is not only a king but a priest of God Most High. (Melchizedek is mentioned in Hebrews 7:1-19 and I have actually given a sermon about him that you can listen to here: http://willvaus.com/hebrews.) After Abram rescues Lot and the other people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the king of Sodom offers Abram the spoils of battle; all the king wants is his people back. Abram refuses this kind offer and thus, again, we see a sign of the graciousness of God in the life of Abram.

Genesis 15 contains one of my favorite passages in the book. I love Abram’s encounter here with God, how Abram asks for a son and God promises to give to Abram many descendants. “He brought him 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.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” This statement becomes an important one to Paul who writes about Abraham in Romans 4. (I have a sermon on that chapter here: http://willvaus.com/romans.)

Despite this wonderful promise, Abram basically says to God: “Prove it! Prove to me that you are going to give me a son.” Amazingly, God condescends to comfort Abram in his doubts and gives him a further vision and promise.

However, the doubts obviously linger. In chapter 16, Sarai is getting impatient about God giving her a child. Therefore, she gives her servant Hagar to Abram so that he can have a child by her. Abram consents to this crazy idea. Of course, we all know the story of how Hagar does have a child by Abram; his name is Ishmael and he becomes the father of all the Arab peoples. The children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac have been battling against each other ever since, and down to this day. I think it just shows how we get ourselves into trouble when we, like Sarai and Abram, try to help God out. Our hardest job sometimes is simply to be still and let God be God (Psalm 46:10).

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