In Genesis 17, we have the renewal of God’s call to Abram
despite the fact that Abram had failed to trust God to give him a child through
Sarai. What grace! And to think that God shows us similar grace, and more, is
truly amazing.
Also in this chapter we have the changing of the names of
Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah, as well as the institution of the
covenant sign of circumcision. The Israelites must have wondered where this
custom came from, especially when some of their neighbors were not circumcised.
Thus, this story explains the origin of circumcision just as many other stories
explain the origins of other things in this book about beginnings. What a sign
of commitment to the Lord this showed on Abraham’s part, that he was willing to
have this done to himself! But I think Ishmael had the rawer deal since he was
thirteen and had no choice in the matter. Much better to be circumcised at 8
days old when you don’t know any better.
Amazingly, Abraham argues with God about whether God can
give Sarah a child in her old age. Rather than strike Abraham dead for arguing
with him, God honors Abraham’s request to bless Ishmael as well. As startling
as it is, I like Abraham’s prayer life with God as it is expressed in this
book. It reminds me of Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof”. I wish my prayer life
could, in a way, be more like it, more conversational.
I love God’s response to Sarah’s laughter at the thought of
her conceiving and giving birth to a child in old age. “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” I wonder: what wonderful things the Lord might do in
your life and in mine this year?
At the end of chapter 18, we get into the story of Sodom and
Gomorrah proper. I think it important to note that God does not say what the
sin of these cities is. God only says that the outcry against these cities is
great and that their sin is grave.
God brings Abraham in on his plan to destroy Sodom and
Gomorrah. Abraham continues his conversational tone with God and even bargains
with God over the lives of the citizens of these two cities. The fact that
Abraham bargains God down to sparing the cities if ten righteous people are
found there, shows that Abraham is most interested in protection for Lot and
his family. Though God, apparently, does not find ten righteous people in
Sodom, he does spare the lives of Lot’s immediate family by sending two angels
to rescue them.
I like the Lewis reading at the bottom of page 21 about our
involvement in God’s plans for the world. “The odd thing is that He should let
us influence the course of events at all. But since He lets us do it in one way
I don’t see why He shouldn’t let us do it in the other.” So I guess I will
continue to pray, carry an umbrella when it looks like rain, and ask others to
pass the salt.
There has been much talk, especially in recent years, about
the sin of Sodom, talk which identifies their sin with homosexual practice.
Thus, I think it important to point out that Genesis 19 says no such thing.
Notice that all the men of the city appear at Lot’s door and ask him to produce
his visitors that they may “know” them. It seems quite unlikely to me that all
the men of Sodom were homosexuals. Nor, if they were, would they be much
satisfied with the gift of Lot’s daughters. Would not Lot be aware of some of
the unusual sexual proclivities of his neighbors? It seems far more likely that
these men of Sodom simply wanted to shame Lot’s visitors by anal sex, a
practice commonly used in ancient times to express the dominance of conquerors
over the conquered. The threatened gang rape bears very little, if any
correspondence, to modern sexual practice among the gay people I know,
Christian or not. So perhaps it is time we stop drawing parallels between
ancient texts and modern situations where there is no correspondence.
Lot’s offer of his daughters to these men is, perhaps, the
most shocking and horrifying aspect of the story. What a horrible thing to do!
Yet, perhaps it suggests just how important following the rules of ancient
hospitality really were. Following such rules was apparently more important
than protecting one’s daughters. Personally, I cannot see it. Nor can I see how
Lot was much of a righteous man at all. Yet, as God does with all of us, so he
did with Lot: God shows us grace. Presumably, God had showed grace to the
people of Sodom and gave them time to repent of their various sins, but they
refused. As C. S. Lewis says somewhere, God, like every good teacher, knows
when it is no use to give a student another chance at a particular test.
Then there is the story of Lot’s wife who, despite clear
instructions, looks back to Sodom with longing and thus is turned into a pillar
of salt. I know that I, for one, often look back to certain periods and places
of my life with longing to return. Looking back with gratitude is a good thing,
but looking back with longing to return to a phase or a place that God has
clearly said is part of the past and not the future is dangerous. We probably
all need to have the attitude of Paul who wrote, “forgetting what lies
behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in
Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
Intriguingly, Lot’s daughters appear to be no
more righteous than their father. Thus, we have the shocking story of the daughters
getting their father drunk and having sex with him so that they might bear
children, their fiancés having died in the conflagration of Sodom and Gomorrah.
All I have to say is that they must have plied their father with a lot of wine
if he did not remember anything in the morning. How the whole thing worked out,
I do not know. But it would seem to me that the Israelites told this story in
evidence of how horrible their neighbors, the Moabites and the Ammonites, were, since these people, according to the text, were descendants of Lot.
Abraham, in chapter 20, is not too much better.
Once again he offers his wife Sarah to a foreign king, saying that she is his sister,
so that the king won’t kill him and nab Sarah for his harem. She must have been
stunningly beautiful even in old age! If God could continue to put up with and
use Abraham after all of these shenanigans, then maybe there is hope for us as
well.
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