BEMA 10: Walking the Blood Path
Transcription Status
14 Apr 22 — Initial public release
15 Mar 22 — Transcript approved for release
Walking the Blood Path
Brent Billings: Welcome to The BEMA Podcast, Episode 10, with Marty Solomon. I am his co-host, Brent Billings. Today, we’re covering Genesis 15 through 17, continuing our look at the evolving partnership between God and Avram. Marty, we’re pretty deep into this at this point. Why don’t you give me just a little bit of a review, to catch us up, make sure we have the picture, the foundation in mind that we’ve established so far, before we move into this next phase of Avram’s partnership with God?
Marty Solomon: Yes, absolutely. And this is important; we’re going to do this on a pretty regular basis. Sometimes we’ll do it in the discussion groups, sometimes we’ll do it on the podcast, but making sure that we go back and we review increases our familiarity with this larger narrative. So it’s a good time to do that and it’s good that you bring that up. But we have Genesis 1 through 11, and we talked about it being the preface a few podcasts back. What you really had was the author or authors of Genesis, setting up a narrative that begins with this preface about origins. It wants to tell us who this God is and who we are as mankind and what the core struggle is that we struggle with.
It went through these two rounds of creation myth narratives that had been recaptured, retold, subversively retold from folklore that they were used to. Essentially, the author of Genesis is making this case that God isn’t who you think he is, creation is not what you think it is. This God is crazy about creation. He loves it. He thinks creation is good and this God isn’t out to destroy creation. This God is out to restore it, redeem it, save it, and invites us, as these partners made in His image, to join Him. But that means we’re going to need to be like God. The thing that we’ve run into in the preface, the thing that God has shown us in the stories, as the Genesis account tells us, He’s a God that knows when to say enough. He’s a God that knows when to stop creating. He’s a God that knows when to stop destroying, and we are invited to join Him in that.
That is the piece of the divine we carry with us. We know how to stop, we know how to say enough; we can be like God in that regard. We are not gods, but we can be like God, made in His image by being people that know when to turn our creativity off, and when to set it aside, and just appreciate and rest in the goodness. Or know where our creative powers can be destructive and know how we can destroy relationships and to know how to stop that cycle as well.
We know how to say enough, but that’s going to require trust because we can’t get addicted to productivity, we can’t get addicted to creation. We have to know that who we are and what we’ve created, what God has created, and the things we’re doing in partnership with him is enough, it’s okay. We don’t have to keep producing, we don’t have to keep creating, we don’t have to keep impressing, we don’t have to keep going. We can stop and we can’t let our fears and our insecurities drive the conversation because if they do, it’s going to really get in the way of our relationships.
We saw that with Cain and Abel, we even saw it with Adam and Eve. We definitely see it with Noah, and the cycle of vengeance between him and Ham, and you got to know where to turn that God-like part of us, the image-of-God-ness in us. We need to know how to turn that off, and when to use it appropriately and when to let it be. That’s what we’ve learned. Right in the point of the story, at the end of the preface where you’re beginning to think this is just hopeless, this is who man is, and it’s who God is, and it’s never going to get any better, we get introduced to Avram.
We get introduced to a guy who’s willing to put his legacy and his own name aside, unlike the people of Babel, in the story that preceded it who were out trying to make a name for themself, really worried about legacy, really worried about having to be scattered, the Text said, and having to wander, and so they were trying to settle. They’re trying to build a tower and make a name for themselves. Instead, we met Avram, a guy that says, “No, my name isn’t that important. It’s not as important as another person’s dignity, and another person’s provision.”
“We’re going to take care of Sarai, and we’re going to marry this barren woman.” This is who Avram is, somebody who sees the world differently, and is like God in his ability to put himself to the side and see and notice other people. God comes immediately in the story and partners without Avram, and says, “Avram, if you’d be willing to partner with me, I’ve got a job for you, because I’m trying to put the world back together, I’m looking for partners. I’m going to lead you to a land that you don’t know anything about, and we're just going to get this thing started.” Avram says, “Great, I’m in.”
Then God responds with, “I’m going to give you this whole land,” Genesis 12. Anybody reading the Genesis account is thinking, just having read the Tower of Babel story, this is not going to be good because of Avram’s going to settle. God promised him the land, Avram’s going to settle, he’s going to build a tower, and he’s going to make a city and he’s going to make a name for himself, but instead, he doesn’t do that. He built a different kind of tower, a tower to God. We call them altars, and he pitches his tents.
He knows that God and his promises are the things that are permanent. They’re the things that we stake a claim on; but we, we are mobile, and we are flexible, and we move in order to respond to the call that God puts on our life. He pitches his tents, and everywhere he goes, he builds altars — a different kind of tower — to God. Now, that doesn’t mean that Avram’s perfect, because we see him struggle with trust. He’s just like you and I. As he’s trying to figure out how to trust the story, and how to trust that God’s got his back and that he doesn’t have to worry, and he doesn’t have to be driven by fear, he struggles with what that looks like.
What does it mean when there’s a famine in the land? Do you put your trust in Egypt? Is that the responsible thing to do? Is that the stewardship thing to do or do you sit and wait? What does that discernment process look like? He goes down to Egypt, with this plan of how he’s going to take care of himself and it backfires. Instead of being able to get a bunch of blessings and take off under the cover of nightfall, he ends up, for a moment, losing his wife to Pharaoh. He learns a big lesson and he takes that lesson with him and through that, decides that he is going to go back to this idea of God being the thing that’s permanent and him being the thing that’s mobile.
As he stands in a field, arguing with Lot, arguing with his “brother,” he realizes “I don’t know how God’s going to fulfill his promises. I think it’s going to have to come through this brother of mine, this nephew of mine, Lot. But the one thing I’ve learned is that there’s a lot of things I don’t understand.” Avram takes this newfound humility that he discovered through his mistakes, and he lets Lot go. He lets him go twice because he lets him go in the very next chapter because he realizes that the one thing he can stand for is the things and the character and the nature of God. Wherever he knows what he’s supposed to do, he does that, and then he lets God figure out the details.
Avram’s really showing us in this story — he’s showing us what it means to trust. He’s not perfect; he struggles as much as any of us do, and he gets it wrong, but he does not let the end of Genesis 12 define his story, which is what I love. Avram’s worst chapters are not what we know Avram by. He has them, he has some really ugly chapters in his story, but Avram’s is going to keep moving. He’s going to let his mistakes teach him humility, and he’s going to continue to walk with this God. That’s what we’re going to see there.
Brent: Even when he makes the good choices, he’s steadfast in that. Like you said, he let Lot go twice.
Marty: Correct.
Brent: He makes a good choice, and then he has another opportunity where he could say, “No, now that I think about it…” but he lets him go again.
Marty: Yes, this guy’s made of some stuff — I don’t know what I’m grasping for here — but Avram’s made of some really stout goods, because he’s got this prophetic, push-the-envelope, go against the flow, part of his makeup and his design. He’s also a person of conviction, and that really helps him follow God, because following God’s going to go contrary, going to be counterintuitive. It’s going to go against the flow, and you’re going to have to be pretty resolute if you’re going to be faithful in that, and we see that in our Avram.
We don’t see perfection, we don’t even see a cape and a giant A on his chest. We just see a guy who’s got what it takes to follow God down the path that he’s calling him down.
Brent: Are you sure the cape is not in the Midrash?
Marty: Maybe? Maybe we can make one.
Brent: As Avram tries to learn what it means to trust, we’re going to go with him on that journey, right?
Marty: Correct.
Brent: Let’s get started here, at Genesis 15.
Marty: Yes, we’re going to pick up where we left off, and we’re going to start moving a little faster. We’re going to get through 16 today, we’re going to… We need to start high stepping it through Genesis a little bit if we’re going to make it through the Bible by the time I die. We’re going to need to pick up the pace. We’re going to start in Genesis 15 where we left off.
Brent: Before we get started, I should probably mention that we do have a presentation that goes along with this. We’ve got a little chunk of Genesis 15 here and we’ve got a couple pieces that we want to be able to show you what that looks like in the text. Check out bemadiscipleship.com or scroll down in your podcast app that you’re listening to and check out the presentation. Follow along with us.
Marty: Yes, absolutely yes. We’re going to have the first little bit of Genesis 15 in that presentation that Brent talked about because I want to be able to show you one of the principles that we’ve mentioned before. I’m just going to start reading there. After this, the word of the Lord came to Avram in a vision. “Do not be afraid Avram, I am your shield, I am your very great reward.”
Now, if we remember where the story is taking place, Avram has just let Lot go for the second time. I suggested that Lot is his one resource that he thinks his family line is going to come through. God promised him descendants. He’s married to a barren wife. It’s got to come through Lot. Some people have always pushed back on that when I’ve taught this class in the past but we see this. Look what Avram says. Look at his response.
God jumps in and starts cheering, encouraging Avram. Cheering him on saying, “I am your shield, I am your great reward. Don’t be afraid. Yes, go, Avram! You’re getting it, you’re doing it!” Avram responds like this. Avram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus.” Avram’s response to God is that he’s a little frustrated. He’s a little cranky. He’s had enough. He’s like, “I’m not having this great reward thing. Tell me again how you’re going to be my great reward now that I’ve just given up my promise. I’ve let my promise go.”
Now the thing on his mind is his descendants because Lot was the way that he saw his family; his descendants, and the line that God promised him were coming through Lot. In his mind and in his eyes, the only thing that he can imagine, the only place his imagination can take him is his servant. The next in line would be Eliezer, who’s not even a blood relative. It’s the head of the household. The chief servant of Avram’s beit av. That’s the next guy in line and he’s like, “This is a lousy story, God. How do you tell me about a great reward?”
Avram said, “You have given me no children so a servant in my household will be my heir. The word of the Lord came to him, “This man will not be your heir but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” Now, probably worth stopping here and noticing in that second paragraph there something happened that we talked about before and we didn’t have a presentation when we talked about it before, so I want to be able to show it to us.
We mentioned that when you have a conversation in the Hebrew and it talks about one of the characters saying something and then they say the line, then the Text will say, “And they said,” and there’s nothing in between them, it’s a Hebraic way of saying these are two separate conversations. If it’s all one conversation, you don’t repeat the phrase “and Avram said.” If you actually go to the next slide there, you’ll see these two — the next slide in your PDF shows you these two phrases. God says… Let’s go back up to the top and follow this conversation one more time.
God says, “Do not be afraid Avram. I am your shield. I am your great reward.” Avram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Avram said — Now what did we — can you remember, Brent, what we talked about when this phrasing happens like this? These are two separate conversations. What conclusion can we draw after that first phrase?
Brent: The Lord had no response to his initial question.
Marty: Right, God was silent. God said nothing. We saw this in the Tower of Babel. They say, “Hey let’s go make bricks,” and God is like, “Cool. I got no problem with that.” Then they use the bricks to make a name for themselves and that’s when God steps into the story. We have this here again, God says, “I’m your shield. I’m your great reward.” Avram says, “How can that be a good thing because my descendants are coming through my servant?” God’s response is, “I don’t want to tell you Avram. I know how this is going to work out and you don’t need to know.” Avram comes back in and he demands an answer.
It would be like saying, “I said, I don’t know if you heard me, God, but I’ll say it again.” This time it’s even more curt. You have given me no children so a servant in my household will be my heir. The second time he says it even has more spit, more frustration, more fire. The first one was a little bit more formal. “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer?”
The second time it’s just like, “Hey you haven’t given me any kids and this is coming through my servant. He doesn’t even include his name. “My servant is who’s going to have my descendants.” Avram is struggling here. Again, he’s like you and me and he’s struggling with the promise of God.
Brent: Can we make any assumptions about the amount of time that has passed between these two statements?
Marty: We can’t make any assumptions but it’s a wonderful question because you wonder if Avram asked the question the first time, how long did he sit on that question without hearing from the Lord? Minutes, days, years? We really don’t know, but God never responded the first time. By the time he asked the question a second time, he’s now got some spit and some fire in there. This time God responds. I love that because it shows a God that’s in relationship. Apparently God doesn’t want to tell Avram. He doesn’t want to tell him and we’ll look at why here in just a moment. He doesn’t want to give him the information but Avram is pleading for it, demanding it, wanting it.
God says, “Well I’m going to give you a little insight but this insight is going to screw the story up, but here we go.” The word of the Lord came to him. “This man will not be your heir. He says, “Avram, you’ve got it wrong. Your imagination is not big enough.” “A son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars, if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, and again you have that phrase right there by the way. God says, “Go out and count the stars.” Avram apparently goes out and says nothing and he just stands there. Maybe in whatever, we don’t have those pieces.
Then God says, “That’s how your offspring will be, so will your offspring be, Avram.” And here he is, in the midst of his struggle, Avram believes the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness. In the midst of this whole conversation and the struggle he’s having with God, Avram chooses to lean into the story and trust God’s promises.
Now, what’s interesting about this story is I feel like there’s a huge life lesson for me personally. I’ve carried this around. I think it’s useful for others, but I’ll let you guys be the jury on that one. I love this portion of the story because it reminds me that sometimes I think I want answers, but God knows I don’t need them because if I had the answers, I would screw my story up. What happens is Avram is going to take this little bit of information that God gives him and he and Sarah are going to screw the story up.
“Well, if it’s going to come through our descendants, my seed, my loins. Well, it’s going to come through me, well, then it’s not going to come through you, so we must need to sleep with somebody else, so go sleep with Hagar and have children.” That must be, and again, they’re going to because they don’t have God’s perspective. Because they don’t have God’s plan, because they have limited foresight, they’re going to screw this story up. I’m always reminded by this portion of the story: sometimes God is silent because that’s exactly what I need, because if I knew what God was going to do, I would mess my story up. I wouldn’t walk through the next door. I wouldn’t head around the next corner.
We see that here with Avram. Avram demands answers. God gives him a little bit of information. I know that our gut wants to say, “Well, why didn’t he just tell him all the information, so he didn’t screw up his story?” That’s not how life works, and every single one of us knows that. It’s not how our journey with God works. It’s not how our faith works and that’s not what faith looks like. The story is trying to teach us something bigger. Then we’re going to read the rest of the story here because something interesting happens. Genesis 15, Avram believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out of the Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it,” but Avram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” Again, Avram’s in this cranky mood. Avram’s demanding some collateral here. He’s like, “This is hard. This is getting hard for me to just keep putting my faith in this story.”
I do believe it was credited to him as righteousness, but he’s still human. He’s still just like you and me. Avram says, “How can I know? I need some kind of collateral.” Here’s what God says, God says, “Bring to me a heifer, a goat, a ram, each three years old, along with a dove, and a young pigeon.” Avram brought all of these to Him, cut them in two, and arranged the halves opposite each other, but the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then the birds of prey came down.
What strikes you about that last verse there that we read, Brent?
Brent: That’s weird.
Marty: What’s interesting about what God says and what Avram does?
Brent: Well, God said, “Bring me these things.” Avram brings them and cuts them in half.
Marty: Right, and God didn’t tell him to.
Brent: God didn’t say anything about that.
Marty: Yes, God didn’t say anything about what to do with them. He just said, “Bring me these.” Apparently, Avram knows exactly what God’s asking because he just immediately knows upon the request what he’s supposed to do with these animals. In fact, some cultural background will tell us that Avram does know exactly what to do because it says, God is asking him to set up a covenant. This was actually a betrothal covenant in the ancient Eastern world. It was a covenant that you made upon becoming engaged and betrothed to somebody.
On the next slide, in your presentation, you’ll actually see a picture, you’ll see a picture there of a depiction, an artist’s rendition of what this kind of covenant would look like. What you do is you take these five animals, you cut them in half, and you arrange them where there’s going to be a natural crevice or a divot and it’ll form this ditch where the blood will drain. It’s going to form what’s called a blood path.
Oftentimes, you’ll hear people reference this as a blood path covenant. This is something that Avram would have been familiar with in a Sumerian, Middle Eastern culture. This is why when God says, “Bring me a heifer, a goat, a ram, and these two birds,” he knows immediately what to do with them, and so he immediately arranges a covenant because he just demanded collateral from God, some kind of guarantee, some kind of receipt for the promise.
God says, “Well, go set up a covenant, let’s go set up a betrothal covenant, an engagement covenant.” Avram sets up this covenant, cuts the animals in half, the blood drains to the middle, and forms what’s called the blood path.
Brent: The three animals are cut in half, the birds are not, but the birds are arranged opposite each other?
Marty: Right. Most people think that’s because the birds are so small that in order to drain their blood, you can’t cut them in half, you’re going to drain their blood by beheading them and draining their blood that way. It takes these clean, sacred animals and forms a covenant or blood path. Now, how this blood path works in Middle Eastern culture… in the ancient world, and there are even a couple of cultures, by the way, that still hold on to this practice.
It’s slightly different in its form, but it’s the same general idea and it’s even practiced to this day in some of those more ancient, more Bedouin cultures. You form this blood path and then there are two parties in the covenant. Like we mentioned, this is usually an engagement covenant and so there’s a greater party and a lesser party, and this covenant is being made between the father of the bride and the groom-to-be. The greater party in this covenant is going to be who, Brent?
Brent: The father of the bride.
Marty: The father of the bride in the cultural illustration. The father of the bride has the upper hand. He has the daughter that the groom wants and so he is the lesser party. In this blood path covenant, the lesser party has to go first. They usually put on these white robes and they walk through the blood path stomping their feet, and as the blood splashes up onto their robes, it’s a symbolic, Eastern way of saying, “If I don’t take care of your daughter, you may do this in my blood. I’ll put my life on it.”
Then the greater party, which is, as you mentioned, the bride’s father — he’s going to walk through on the second one, and he’s going to say, “Okay, if I don’t give you a worthy virgin as a bride, my daughter, you may do this in my blood.” It’s a covenantal agreement that if we don’t deliver, we’ll put our life on it. We’re putting our life on the fact that I’m going to keep my end of the bargain.
Now, here’s what’s interesting. In the covenant that we’re talking about in Genesis 15, you are already going there, who’s the greater party?
Brent: God.
Marty: That means that who should be walking through the blood path first?
Brent: Avram.
Marty: Avram is most definitely the lesser party.
Brent: He definitely knows what’s going on.
Marty: He definitely knows how this works. He’s set up the covenant all on his own. He’s totally aware of what’s happening. Now, that verse I almost read was verse 11, of chapter 15 and it says this, “The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.” Now, what does that tell you, Brent?
Brent: They’ve been sitting there a while.
Marty: Right. If I got birds of prey gathering, this wasn’t just a couple of minutes later. Avram set up this covenant and did nothing and it’s his turn to go through the covenant. It’s when you’re reading this with the cultural background, you realize, Avram just got stuck in a corner of his own making. He’s in this cranky mood. He’s demanding all this collateral and now he remembers who he’s dealing with.
“Oh, yes, I remember I’m dealing with the creator of the universe here. I can’t enter into a covenant; not this kind of intimate, relational covenant. I can’t deliver on my end of the bargain. I’m going to screw this up. The moment my pinky toe steps in this blood path, I’m a dead man.” We’ll keep reading. As the sun was setting, Avram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick, dreadful darkness came over him. And the LORD — That phrase in the Hebrew means a terrifying, depressing darkness.
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for 400 years, your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there, but I will punish the nation they serve as slaves and afterward, they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go out to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set, and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pop, with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Avram and said, “To your descendants, I give this land. From the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, this land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
Avram falls into this sleep, he gets this little mini-lecture from God, which we’ll unpack here in a moment. Then what he sees is, what, Brent?
Brent: Well, does he see this?
Marty: Yes. I would say the story implies that.
Brent: When the sun had set and darkness had fallen. Does he wake up? Is that what we’re thinking?
Marty: Either that or a vision, or however we want to parse that.
Brent: He sees this smoking firepot with a blazing torch go up here and pass between the pieces.
Marty: All right. We’ve got smoke and fire. Can you think of anything in the Bible that’s always represented by smoke and fire?
Brent: Well, the presence of the Lord.
Marty: Always symbolized by…
Brent: As after they leave Egypt, you see the cloud and the fire.
Marty: A pillar of cloud of smoke and then fire by night. When He dwells in the tabernacle, we’re told there’s a pillar of cloud over the Holy of Holies. Then fire by night. Fire and smoke symbolize the presence of God, but there are how many presences walking between the halves?
Brent: That would be two.
Marty: That would be two. Avram gets this. God comes to Avram and says, “Avram, I know you can’t walk between the halves, so I’ll tell you what, I’ll walk through on both of our parts. I’ll walk through on your behalf and I’ll walk through on my behalf,” which, in this blood path covenant would be God saying, “I know you’re going to screw this up, but even when you screw this up, I will be the one to pay the price. I’ll be the one that will offer the sacrifice. I’ll be the one.”
Again, we see the same God showing up that’s shown up all throughout Genesis 1 through 11. If you’re like, “I don’t know about all this blood path stuff,” you can research that and look that up on your own, but it’s going to be the same principle that we learned with Abraham and Isaac, where at the end the Isaac story. We haven’t studied it yet, but at the end of the Isaac story, most of us are familiar with it, God provides. We say on the mountain of the LORD, it will be provided. God’s going to tell this message to Avram over and over and over again.
It’s going to be the message that we say looks a whole lot like Jesus and I would agree. This God that comes and says, “I know you’re going to make a mistake, but when you make a mistake, I’ll be the one to pay the price. I’ll be the one to up the ante. I’ll be the one to take care of and pay the bill.” That’s this incredible lesson that Avram learnt in an incredibly vulnerable moment because he’s pushing the envelope a little bit.
He’s cranky. He’s stepping out a line and God could really throttle him and let him have it. But instead, God says, “I’m going to teach you something about who I am. I am compassionate and I’m gracious. I’m going to take care of you even when you struggle, even when you screw it up, even when you make mistakes, but there’s also consequences.” Is there anything in that part we read there that seemed really odd or off or unnecessary to you, Brent, as we read that story?
Brent: Well, it seems strange that God is saying, “I’m going to give you this land. I’m going to make a great nation of you. By the way, they’re going to be slaves for 400 years.”
Marty: That seems a really weird place to give him a little mini-lecture about what’s coming. What does that have to do with anything? It’s the weirdest place for God to be like, “Oh, and here I’m going to foretell the slavery in Egypt.” Why here? Why in the middle of this story?
The answer is because we just got done in Genesis 12, 13, and 14, learning that Avram was struggling to trust the story and he went down to Egypt. Even when we make mistakes, God’s going to take care of us and God’s going to forgive us. Even though that’s absolutely true without any exception, God’s always going to love us and forgive us through those things, there are always going to be consequences. Trusting the story is an urgent matter because there’s consequences. Avram went down and put his trust in Egypt, and what happened is Avram brought Egypt with him. Avram brought Egypt with him in his heart, metaphorically — but Avram has also brought Egypt with him literally.
What else did he get from Pharaoh? He got goods, he got wealth. He got camels. He got slaves. He gets menservants and maidservants, we were told in Genesis 12. Who is it that Avram’s going to sleep with, with this newfound information from God? God told him it was going to come from his own descendants, not his servant. Obviously, he and his wife think, “Well, it’s obviously not coming from us. You know you got to sleep with Hagar.” Who is Hagar?
Brent: Sarai’s Egyptian slave.
Marty: See, he’s brought Egypt with him literally and metaphorically. It’s going to be this Egypt that he’s brought with him. These consequences of him struggling to trust the story, and the consequences of his mistake are going to shape him for the stories to come. The very next chapter in Genesis 16, is going to be the story of how Avram and Sarah come up with this great idea, they’re going to have children through Hagar, but that’s going to backfire really poorly.
Here, I always like to pause and make one of those lesson moments where it’s not that God has to get us out of Egypt. That’s not going to be God’s greatest challenge. This is something I picked up from my rabbi, Ray — Ray Vander Laan — when we studied this in Israel. It’s easy for God to get us out of Egypt. That’s really no challenge for God. It’s easy to get his people out of Egypt. What’s going to be a whole lot harder is for God to get Egypt out of his people. It’s really easy to get his people out of Egypt. It’s not as easy to get Egypt out of his people.
Because Avram has struggled and brought all of this Egyptian wealth out with him and put his trust in that provision — put his trust in Egypt, in some sense — God now tells him in the middle of this struggle that he’s going to take care of him. But the problem is that his descendants are going to carry the seed of Egypt in them, and he’s going to have to get that Egypt out of them.
We all know that’s where the story’s headed, but it’s always interesting to find that entering the story here. Maybe later, maybe when we study Galatians in the New Testament, we’ll come back to this because the rabbis notice that and do some pretty interesting things that Paul then references in the book of Galatians, but we’ll leave this hanging for that one. We get into Genesis chapter 16 and we’re just going to fly through this. I would recommend Rabbi David Fohrman. He’s got some great material on just the entire story of Hagar and Ishmael and he’s at Aleph Beta online, their Aleph Beta academy.
He’s done a lot of incredible study here, but one of the things he pointed out as we passed through this story if you remember that principle we looked at earlier about, “and Avram said, yada, yada, yada. Then Avram said, yada, yada, yada…” That same principle’s going to show up again here in the Hagar story. Hagar’s being abused and mistreated. She’s on the run. She runs away from Sarah and Avram’s household. An angel comes to her and the angel says, “You need to go back.”
Then the angel says — you realize that “the angel says, you got to go back” and Hagar says nothing. I picture her with her hands crossed, her arms folded, defiantly standing there saying nothing. The angel says, “Listen, we’ll take care of you. You’ll have lots of descendants. It’ll be alright,” and Hagar says nothing. The angel has to add… and then the angel finally gives this big blessing about Ishmael and who he’ll be. He’ll have this great name and he’ll have this wonderful nation and people following after him. Then she finally says, “Okay. Now God has seen me,” which is going to become a theme in the next few chapters, by the way. “Now God has seen me. God understands what I really want.”
All kinds of commentary, I’ll let Rabbi Fohrman do that, but we need to keep moving. I want to end today with Genesis 17. You’ll find that in your presentation. You’ll find Genesis 17, a screenshot of it sitting there so that we can look at it and you’ll understand why here in just a moment, but let’s go ahead and — in fact, do you want to read, Brent? How about you read Genesis 17 and we’re just going to read, say, through verse 20. Let’s just read what’s on that screenshot through verse 21.
Brent: When Avram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I want to make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” Avram fell facedown. God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Avram. Your name will be Avraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful. I will make nations of you and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, for the generations to come.
To be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you and I will be their God.” Then God said to Avraham,” As for you, you must keep my covenant. You and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old, must be circumcised, including those born in your household, or bought with money from a foreigner, those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who has not and circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.” God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai, her name will be Sarah.
I will bless her, and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” Abraham fell facedown. He laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man 100 years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90?” Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing.” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son and you’ll call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase numbers. He will be the father of 12 rulers and I’ll make him into a great nation, but my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Marty: Now, as you read that, did anything jump out at you?
Brent: I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again.
Marty: Have we run into that before?
Brent: [chuckles] Yes. I think so.
Marty: Can you remember where we ran into that before?
Brent: That was Noah right after they got out of the ark.
Marty: Right after they got out of the ark and there was that second chiasm that talked about his covenant and the covenant I was going to make with him and all the earth and the covenant. Then I remember the covenant and there’d be a covenant and then there’d be a rainbow with a rainbow and the clouds and the covenant that he’d remember the covenant and then remember the covenant and the rainbow, and all the earth and descendants. There was that repetition. There were seven covenants, there were seven earth, ha-aretz. There were five hanans, the clouds, and there were three rainbows. There was all this repetition and the same thing kind of ends up showing here.
And it’s really deliberate and some of the same kind of repetition. If you remember, Noah’s covenant was made with Noah and the earth and everything on the earth, this is made with Avraham and his descendants and all those that come after him. There’s some real things that tie. These two stories are probably going to be tied by the time we’re done, but what other thing might you look for?
Brent: We’ve got to figure out if this is another chiasm we got to figure out what the center of it is.
Marty: If we got something similar to the end of Noah, I would want to know. In fact, to just not waste any more time, it is. If you go to your next slide on your presentation, you’ll see I’ve taken some different colors and brought the chiasm out for you. I always love to start from the outside. You’ll notice those red marks on your presentation. The phrase Avraham fell facedown in verse three and verse 17. If we were to go into the next one, notice what he says about the name change. You will no longer be called Avram. This was your old name. This is your new name, and many kings will come from you.
Then at the end of the story, this was Sarah’s name, but this is her new name, and many peoples will come from her. You’ll notice the next level in that the phrase “everlasting covenant” shows up. You’ll notice the next level and “foreigner” shows up right where you’d expect it to, the next level “and for the generations to come” leading us all to the middle. The center of the chiasm ends up becoming, “Every male among you shall be circumcised.” This story ends up becoming a mark of the covenant that they take with them and they wear. It’s also interesting as we just look at this story.
This is where Avraham finally gets more of the story, where God explains exactly how it’s going to come from his descendants and God gets to say, “It’s going to come through Sarah.” He finally is starting to get all the pieces of the picture, all the pieces of the puzzle, and realizes how he perhaps maybe has blown it in the story prior that we just looked at with Hagar and Ishmael
The center of this chiasm ends up becoming about circumcision. Why is that the center? What’s the big takeaway from that? Obviously, this ends up being a really important story and really defining for the Jewish people. Circumcision is going to be a huge deal all the way through the New Testament and everything that circumcision represents. This story is going to be really important, but you already pointed out this story is deliberately and obviously connected to which other story?
Brent: The Noah story as they come out of the ark.
Marty: If you can remember, what was kind of our big takeaway about the covenant and God and the Noah story? What were the standout things about what God was saying there at the end with the repetition?
Brent: All of the responsibility fell on God's side of the covenant.
Marty: We talked about the suzerain and vassal covenants. Who is it that usually had to keep the side of the covenant?
Brent: The vassal.
Marty: The vassal, but this God and the Noah story decides, “I don’t want you to lose it. I don’t want you to forget about it. I don’t want you to do that, so I’m going to be the one that remembers. I’m going to be the one that puts the sign in the sky somewhere you can’t even lose it.” What we see here is we see an evolution in this partnership between God and his people because the sign has now been passed on to his people. God says, “Now I’m going to give you the sign. Now, I’m going to give it to you in a way you can’t lose it.” Circumcision isn’t going to be something you’re going to misplace.
Brent: Question about that.
Marty: Yes.
Brent: Earlier, Avraham, God says, bring these animals and Abraham knows exactly what’s going on. He’s doing a blood path covenant. He just sets it all up. When God says “every male among you shall be circumcised,” does he have any idea what that even means?
Marty: That’s a great question. It’s a very odd practice in Middle Eastern culture. It’ll be a very odd practice for much of human history and very defining for the Jewish people. I’m not sure if he would know what the backstory is there between God explaining exactly what circumcision is and how to do it, because I’m sure he wasn’t equipped with that knowledge, but that’s a wonderful question.
Brent: Do we know of any other cultures that do that?
Marty: That’s a good question too. I’m not aware, but it’s not something I’ve necessarily looked into specifically to answer that question. That’s a really good question.
Brent: We’ll kick that out to the listeners. If anyone knows anything about this, let us know.
Marty: Sure. I’m not aware of any that did. The whole idea behind circumcision was it was such a defining mark on who you were because it was so different and nobody else did that. Who would do that?
Brent: Why would you?
Marty: It’s not something you’re going to look for. We have this sign in the covenant that God is passing on to his people. Unlike the story of Noah, where he kept it, he says, “I’m going to give it to you. Now I’m going to give it to you in a way you can’t lose it. You’re not going to lose this one either, but it is going to be yours to keep and it is going to require a step of obedience.” They still have to actually do the circumcision and they have to keep that commandment with all of their children. What we see here is we see God extending his expectations.
The longer that his people walk with Him and learn who He is and go down the path of this partnership, the more God is handing off more and more expectation, more and more responsibility. He’s expecting more. I don’t like to use the word “demanding more,” but he’s definitely upping the ante of relationship saying, “Now that you’ve learned a little bit more, I expect more out of you. Now that you’ve learned a little bit more, I expect a little more out of you,” which I always love to stop this conversation here.
It’ll be a great place to end our podcast because it causes me to pause and think back, “We’re now 4,000 years, this side of this story, how much should we have learned about the character and the nature of God.” Not only in 4,000 years but we’re 2,000 years this side of Jesus. We’re 2000 years, this side of being empowered with the Holy Spirit in a special way, how much more — little kal va-homer going on there for any of our listeners that know what just happened there — how much more does God expect out of us today?
Understanding through the incarnate Christ, understanding through the resurrected Christ, understanding through the Spirit, what God wants and desires from his children. Understanding about forgiveness, understanding about loving your enemies, understanding about grace, understanding about God’s love in a way that they didn’t understand in Avraham’s day. How much more does God expect from us than he even expected from Abraham? I love this point in this story because it shows me that God walks with us. He always meets us where we’re at and calls us forward. He always meets us exactly where we’re at and calls us forward.
He doesn’t meet us where we’re at and let us stay there. He wants us to move, but nor does He expect us to be somewhere else. He always meets us where we’re at and calls us forward, stands just out in front of us, and says, “Take the next step.” One of the great questions we’ll ask ourselves as listeners, as students of the story here in Genesis 15, 16, 17: what are the things that we are learning in our walk of faith and where are the places that God’s calling us? He’s not just calling us to stay put. He’s calling us, just like Avraham, to chart some new ground and take the next step in the partnership and be able to show God our next step of faith.
I just find the story of Avraham very encouraging and a model for me as I try to walk through my own journey.
Brent: That’s a jam-packed episode, Marty.
Marty: It was, we covered some ground there. We covered a little bit of ground there.
Brent: Yes. If you live on the Palouse, we hope you join us for discussion groups in Moscow on Tuesday and in Pullman on Wednesday. If you don’t live on the Palouse, we hope that you’re making your own discussion groups, getting with a group of people and wrestling through this stuff, and we’ll be here if you have any questions. If you want to get a hold of Marty, you can find him on Twitter at @martysolomon and you can find me on Twitter at @eibcb. You can find more details about the show at bemadiscipleship.com. Thanks again for joining us on the BEMA podcast, and we’ll talk to you soon.