Reading Genesis 12-19 in Family Worship

by Peter Wallace | Feb 3, 2017 | Family Worship, Genesis

Reading Genesis 12-19 in Family Worship

We are back to our regular family worship with Genesis 12-19 this week. With all the things happening over the last couple weeks (band concert, congregational meeting, etc. — along with sickness) we didn’t do much family worship.

On the one hand, this happens. Life happens. Don’t beat yourself up over it! If you think ‘we have to have family worship every night’ — then you will be overwhelmed by “failure.” On the other hand, watch yourself. It is really easy to fall prey to the “life happens” excuse! And the next thing you know, you have a pattern of doing everything else. But hopefully we are now back on track.

Genesis 11:27-25:18

The “generations” of Terah tells the story of the sons of Terah (Abram, Nahor, and Haran), focusing particularly on the story of Abraham. When reading the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob we should keep in mind the refrain from Hebrews 11 — “By faith…”

Genesis 12-13

God calls Abram to leave his father’s house to go to the land that God will show him. In this way God calls Abram to be his son — to exchange the inheritance of Terah for the inheritance of the Promised Land.

And right up front we see the three parts of the promise to Abraham: Land, Seed, and the Blessing to the Nations. These three things will continue to take center stage throughout the book of Genesis (and the whole Pentateuch). And these three things come to fruition through the presence and action of God: “Go…to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will become a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:1-3)

So what does Abram do? He went — and wherever he went he built altars: first at Shechem (12:7), second at Bethel (12:8), and third at Hebron (13:18). The location of the altars (in the north, center, and south of the land) mark the core of the Promised Land. I suggest having a map handy so that you can see the locations and see the relationship between people and places. Why is it important that Abram built altars? Because while he lived in the midst of Canaanite wickedness (13:13), he worshiped the LORD.

And immediately after hearing God’s promise, we encounter the first of many threats to the Holy Seed. At the end of chapter 12, Abram goes down to Egypt to avoid a famine (sound familiar? The same thing will happen to Jacob). In the ancient world, Egypt was the best place to go to avoid famine — because while there is very little rain in Egypt, the Nile River always floods in the spring. There will be water in Egypt — and therefore, there will be food in Egypt.

Also, while Abram sojourns in Egypt, the LORD strikes Egypt with plagues because of the way that Pharaoh treats the son of God (in this case, because Pharaoh takes Sarai into his harem). While some have criticized Abram for telling Sarai “Say you are my sister” — the text doesn’t worry about bestowing judgment or praise. Instead, the text tells us that when Pharaoh curses the Seed of Abraham (by stealing his wife), he invokes the Blessing of Abraham, and therefore Pharaoh’s house is cursed. And Pharaoh recognizes that the way to end the curse will only come through atonement — so he blesses the Seed of Abraham and sends him on his way with great gifts (again, you are supposed to see lots of parallels to the Exodus).

When they return to the Promised Land, Abraham and Lot have become so wealthy that they cannot continue together. So Abraham gives Lot the choice of where to settle, and Lot chooses the lush Jordan Valley (“like the garden of the LORD” — which sounds great, until you read the next line: “like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar” — which means that it is very fertile land, but also “like Egypt” — which generally has a negative tone in scripture). But then we hear that Lot has pitched his tent “as far as Sodom” — and then the author adds a rare aside (which says a lot!) “Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.” (13:13)

But then, after Lot leaves, God reminds Abram of his promise.

Songs: Psalm 47, TH 34 “The God of Abraham Praise”, PHSS 155 “My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord”

Genesis 14

And not only that, but in chapter 14, we hear that Lot gets into trouble in Sodom almost immediately. In a detailed account of some otherwise-forgotten war, we see four kings from Shinar (Babylon area) attack a coalition of five kings around Sodom. Some have wondered if Amraphel is Hammurabi (the names are similar enough and the timeline could work). But if so, then it would be better to describe this as a raiding party — since the ‘five kings’ around Sodom would rule an area roughly the size of St. Joseph County (king here really just means a warlord who rules a city or a village).

This also helps us understand how it is that Abram with 318 men can defeat the combined armies of four kings! Certainly the LORD is with him (and this is main point of Genesis 14). A wandering nomad has a much smaller army than the five kings of southeast Canaan — and yet he defeats the armies of the four Mesopotamian kings and rescues Lot and the rest of the prisoners. [Young children can often get into the story by acting it out…]

Oh, and it’s worth pointing out that Abram has some Canaanite friends: Mamre the Amorite and his brothers Eshcol and Aner. Yes, Abram’s descendants will inherit the land — but that does not prevent Abram from befriending the current inhabitants. And since these brothers bless the seed of Abraham in their actions, I can only presume that they too will be blessed.

Enter Melchizedek. Who is he? Where does he come from? It is worth noting that Melchizedek is portrayed as a true worshiper of God even though he is not part of the Holy Seed. Why is this important? Because it shows us that the line of Abraham is not the only saved people — but the only people through whom salvation will come! Melchizedek in Genesis and Jethro in Exodus (though as a Midianite, Jethro is still descended from Abraham) are examples of those who retained the true knowledge of God outside of the line of the Holy Seed.

Indeed, Hebrews 7 will point out that unlike the rest of the main characters in Genesis (and most of the bit parts) Melchizedek is not connected to anyone else in the story. Melchizedek is both a king and a priest — which takes on new meaning when Psalm 110 declares God’s promise that the Davidic king will become a priest forever. And Abraham gives a tenth of the spoils to Melchizedek — which Hebrews uses to show that the priesthood of Melchizedek is greater than the Levitical priesthood, because Levi in effect pays tithes to Melchizedek.

Songs: Psalm 24, Psalm 110, TH 160 “Shepherd of Tender Youth”, PHSS 196 “King of Glory”

Genesis 15

Here Abram recognizes the fundamental problem with God’s promises. He has no child. So when the word of the LORD comes to him in a vision, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield, your very great reward,” Abram properly replies, “you have given me no seed.” How can the promise be fulfilled if there is no heir?

And so when God promises him a son, Abram believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. It’s worth pointing out that Abram had believed God before (when he left Haran and went to the Promised Land), so Abram had been justified prior to Genesis 15. Indeed, there are at least three moments that scripture will use to speak of the justification of Abraham — when he first believed God and went to the Promised Land, here when he believes that God will give him a son, and in Gen 22 at the offering of Isaac (see Hebrews 11, Romans 4, Galatians 3, and James 2 for the various ways that the NT will apply this verse).

This reminds us that while from God’s perspective justification is a once-for-all act, it is proper to say that God continues to apply that once-for-all act of justification throughout our lives (which is why our confession will talk about the “state” of justification). Think about it this way: every time you confess your sins, God applies your justification to you (forgiveness); every time you believe God, God applies your justification to you (imputation of righteousness). It is not that there are multiple justifications, but rather the one act of justification is applied to you continually.

The covenant-cutting ceremony in verses 7-21 then shows us how God alone will fulfill this covenant. We know of many such covenant-cutting ceremonies in the ancient world, so Abram would have expected that he would walk between the pieces of the animals with God. But the LORD puts Abram to sleep and the LORD himself passes alone between the pieces of the animals, thereby signifying that God alone takes responsibility for keeping this covenant.

At the same time, God tells Abram that his descendants will spend 400 years in bondage and affliction in a foreign land. From this point in the book of Genesis, Abraham and his descendants know that they will not personally receive the Land. All they have is the promise that their descendants will receive the Land. Talk with each other about what that would mean if you knew that all your hopes and dreams would only come to pass in 400 years — and that you and your children would have to endure suffering and affliction for the next four centuries before it would happen. Because Hebrews 11 says that this is how we should live.

Songs: Psalm 105, TH 521/522 “My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”, PHSS 201 “We Believe”

Genesis 16

We need to understand the ancient context of this chapter. In Babylonian society (see the Code of Hammurabi — which comes from around the time and place of Abraham’s upbringing) men could take a concubine to have more children. But if the man did it, then the children were his. If his wife gave her servant to her husband, then the children legally belonged to the wife. Therefore, according to Babylonian law, Hagar’s son would be counted the son of Abram and Sarai. So Abram and Sarai act according to the custom of their time in attempting to bring about the promises of God (the modern equivalent would be using in vitro or other artificial techniques to get pregnant).

We should note that God does not condemn them for doing this. Indeed, the angel of the LORD promises Hagar, “I will surely multiply your offspring,” even saying in verse 12, “he shall dwell in the tents of his kinsmen” [the ESV translates this in a negative fashion — “over against all his kinsmen” — but that translation is not at all what the text is saying].

Hagar certainly seems to think that the LORD is blessing her son — not cursing him. And if you watch the Ishmaelites throughout Genesis and Exodus an interesting picture unfolds. Ishmael is not the son of promise. He is the son born according to the flesh — using ordinary human ways of trying have children (Galatians 4). He is not the son born according to the Spirit. But that does not mean that he is cursed — it simply means that the son of promise will come only through the direct action of God.

Certainly Genesis 16 shows us a picture of the challenges of home life when the home includes slaves and concubines. The angel of the LORD rebukes Hagar for her failure to submit to Sarai (and I’m sure that Sarai was particularly sensitive to the fact that Hagar seems to have conceived so easily), but he also promises to look after Hagar and her son because he is the God-who-sees.

Songs: PHSS 161 “Song of Hannah”

Genesis 17-18

Here we have the third statement of God’s blessing (Genesis 12, 15, 17). In chapter 15 the focus was on how God will fulfill the covenant. Abram does not walk between the pieces of the animals. But now in chapter 17 God says to Abram, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” In one sense the covenant is unilateral — God alone fulfills his word. But in another sense the covenant is bilateral — God requires Abram’s obedience. The unilateral aspect of the covenant is seen in the cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15. The bilateral aspect of the covenant is seen in the cutting off of the foreskin in circumcision, as the covenant is “in your flesh.”

And the covenant of circumcision is not just about biological descent. All those who are brought into your house (both children and slaves) shall be circumcised. (Later, in the Law, this will be applied to sojourners who wish to become part of Israel).

While baptism has a lot of other connections (the Flood, the Red Sea, the priestly washings), you should talk with your children about the connection between circumcision and baptism. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant — and a seal of the righteousness that comes by faith (see Paul’s comments in Romans 4). But which comes first, faith or the sign/seal? For Abraham it was faith. For Isaac it was circumcision.

But what about Ishmael? When God says that Sarah will have a son, Abraham laughs and asks God to allow Ishmael to be the promised heir. And the LORD says that he has heard Abraham’s prayer, and will make Ishmael into a great nation — but that he will make his covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear next year.

Once again we are reminded that God is the one who will fulfill his word and his oath. He hears the prayers of his people — but when it comes to how the promised salvation will come about, no one else has a say in how this works.

This is why I have included Genesis 18 in the same reading. Partly because we have Sarah’s laughter parallel to Abraham’s laughter in Genesis 17 — but also because we see Abraham in a new light.

First, Abraham offers hospitality to the three strangers who appear before him. (Think about how much time it would take to slaughter and prepare the meat — not to mention bake the bread — this is impressive hospitality!). Then you hear God’s promise of the son, Sarah’s laughter, and the LORD’s rebuke. And then you have the conversation about Sodom.

The conversation about Sodom sets the tone for all of Israel’s history. God invites Abraham into the divine council, to participate in his deliberations over what to do about the wickedness of Sodom. In doing this, God tests Abraham to discover how Abraham will teach his children “to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” While the two terms are largely synonymous, when used together, righteousness refers to how you order your community, and justice refers to how you handle particular cases.

God will judge his descendants based on how Abraham handles himself here (because Abraham will teach his descendants how to think about such cases — and how you judge others is how God will judge you!). Abraham shows great concern for the righteous in Sodom — even challenging God, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?” In other words, Abraham does not accept the verdict of condemning 50 righteous to death for the sins of a city. Abraham even talks God down to ten. And God agrees: “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

What will God find in Sodom? Will he find ten righteous men?

Songs: PHSS 162 “The Tender Love”, PHSS 167 “The Holy City”

Genesis 19

Here we come to one of the most debated texts in Genesis. We first see Lot sitting in the city gate (suggesting that he has risen to the status of one of the elders of the city). And Lot alone welcomes the two angels — showing the same hospitality as Abraham. Righteousness means showing hospitality. And hospitality includes protecting guests at any cost to yourself. Lot even offers his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom rather than allow the men of Sodom to rape the visitors. While this is unthinkable to us, we need to understand it in terms of ancient hospitality in which you must do anything to protect your guests. Of course, the angels do not permit such an act — and they strike the mob with blindness to protect their host and his daughters.

(Note: the sin of Sodom is not homosexuality. The sin of Sodom is oppressing the weak and helpless in every form, including sexually. This will become clear in Ezekiel 16 — when God compares Judah with Sodom.)

The angels then persuade Lot to leave the city — but even the young men who were engaged to his daughters laugh him off — so the angels seize Lot and his wife and two daughters by the hand and compel them to leave the city, saying, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley.” So they flee to Zoar — and as they arrive there, the LORD rained fire from heaven on Sodom and Gomorrah. And Lot’s wife looks back — and becomes a pillar of salt — a warning to all generations not to look back with longing at our old life, our old identity.

And then we are told that Abraham saw the smoke of the land rising up like the smoke of a furnace. Here we begin to see a pattern which will continue throughout the scriptures: water then fire. If water doesn’t work, try fire. This will be the pattern of Levitical laws regarding cleansing mold (if water doesn’t work burn it). It will also be the pattern of divine judgment (if water doesn’t work burn it). God destroyed the world through water in the Flood. The final judgment will be a judgment by fire — and at Sodom he gives a brief picture of what that looks like.

The last scene in chapter 19 shows us Lot with his daughters in a cave in the hills. Rather than go in search of his uncle Abraham, Lot lives in fear in the hills. His daughters get tired of this life and realize that they have only one way of getting children. And thus we hear how the Ammonites and Moabites are related to Israel.

How do you read this text to young children? Children have a capacity for understanding the point even when they don’t quite get all the details (which is good!). They can understand very easily: “That was bad” — and “They shouldn’t have done that.” But ask them this, who was the most famous Moabite? Or perhaps, “What book of the Bible was named after a Moabite?” In Ruth we see how God takes the refugees from Sodom and brings them into the Holy Line. As we will see many times in the scriptures, when God curses a people and declares that he will utterly destroy them, odds are that they will wind up in the Holy Line (Rahab the Canaanite, Ruth the Moabite, and Joash the grandson of Ahab and Jezebel). What happens when God’s blessing meets God’s curse? Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Songs: PHSS 152 “To Jordan Came Our Lord, the Christ”, PHSS 166 “O Christ, You Are the Light and Day”

Reading Genesis 6-11 in Family Worship

by Peter Wallace | Jan 13, 2017 | Family Worship, Genesis

Reading Genesis 6-11 in Family Worship

At some point in these early chapters, I call attention to the literary structure of the book of Genesis. The phrase “These are the generations of…” signals a new section of the book. And as the phrase suggests, the following story is about the descendants — the generations — of the person named.

• Genesis 2:4 — These are the generations of the heavens and the earth
• Genesis 5:1 — This is the book of the generations of Adam
• Genesis 6:9 — These are the generations of Noah
• Genesis 10:1 — These are the generations of the sons of Noah
• Genesis 11:10 — These are the generations of Shem
• Genesis 11:27 — These are the generations of Terah
• Genesis 25:12 — These are the generations of Ishmael
• Genesis 25:19 — These are the generations of Isaac
• Genesis 36:1 — These are the generations of Esau
• Genesis 37:2 — These are the generations of Jacob

So, for instance, the whole story of Abraham is told under the heading “these are the generations of Terah.” The effect of this story-telling device is that the book of Genesis is constantly reinforcing the theme of the seed. “I have told you about so-and-so. Let me tell you about his children.”

Genesis 6

If you look back at chapter 5, verse 1-3, you can see how Adam having Seth in his own image and likeness parallels God’s creation of Adam in his own image and likeness. It is worth noting that chapter 4 did not speak in this way of Cain or Abel. There is something unique and important about Seth. So the sons of God (in 6:2) would appear to be the line of Seth — whereas the daughters of men are the line of Cain. In other words, the holy line is becoming corrupt. So corrupt that God decides to bring judgment on all the earth.

Why does God say that he will destroy ‘man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heaven’? After all, it was only man that sinned. Why does everything else get judged with him? The answer is simple: God had given man dominion over the earth — and so man’s sin affected the whole earth: “the earth is filled with violence through them.”

But God establishes his covenant with Noah — because Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (6:8-9) Noah reminds us of Enoch — who also “walked with God.” But Enoch was taken up by God. Noah will serve a different purpose. Noah will be the one through whom salvation will come to humanity.

What do our children need to understand about the Flood? Two things: first, this is what sin deserves. If God dealt with us according to strict justice, he would wipe out the earth completely. But second, when God brings judgment, he always provides a way of salvation. Noah is a picture of Jesus — the one righteous man through whom God saved the earth. That’s why 1 Peter 3 will use the Flood as a picture of baptism — the waters of judgment through which God saves us by the resurrection of Jesus.

Psalm 29, Psalm 14, PHSS 174, PHSS 180

Genesis 7-8

What happens in the flood? In the beginning God created the three realms of the heavens, the earth, and the seas. In the beginning God gave Adam and Eve the command to be fruitful and multiply — and to have dominion over the earth. But in the Flood the waters have dominion over the earth (when it says that the waters “prevailed” — that’s the same word as “dominion”). The picture in Genesis is of the creation returned to a watery chaotic state. Everything under the heavens is effectively unmade — all that is left of creation is found on the ark.

At the end of chapter 8, Noah builds an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings of every clean animal on the altar. And God said, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (8:21) In other words, the Flood didn’t work. In chapter 6 we were told that the intention of man’s heart was only evil continually (6:5). So God got rid of all the bad people — leaving only righteous Noah and his family. And yet God says of righteous Noah and his family — “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” If God keeps destroying the earth because of man’s sin, then God will constantly have to destroy the earth. Here God teaches us that there must be another way.

And we see a hint of that way in the covenant of chapter 9.

Genesis 9

God starts by blessing Noah with an echo of his blessing to Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (9:1) But the central theme of the Noahic covenant is the theme of blood: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (9:6) When you strike a man, you strike the image of God — and thus, you strike God.

And the sign of the Noahic covenant also teaches us something important about salvation. The bow in the sky points upward. Every time you see a rainbow, remember that God has promised that he will not destroy the world by Flood. God is saying, “May I be shot with my own bow before I break my promise.”

But then we hear the story of the disrespect of Ham for his father — and the curse of Canaan. Why does Canaan get cursed? Because Canaan was the guilty one. (Note verse 24 — “when he knew what his youngest son had done to him” — whose youngest son? Not Noah’s — since Ham is the middle son. Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, is the guilty one — therefore Canaan is cursed.) And this begins to prepare us for the later story of the Canaanites.

Psalm 8, PHSS 219

Genesis 10

This is where you can have some fun. Little kids particularly enjoy repeating funny-sounding names. (Honestly, you don’t have to be good at Hebrew pronunciation — these are strange-sounding names, and any way you say it, the kids will enjoy saying it after you!) But in between all the funny-sounding names, there is a story unfolding. There are 70 nations here. Humanity is multiplying — but humanity is also dividing. The table of the nations shows us how the story of the Bible connects to us. We are here in the table of the nations — as our ancestors spread out across the lands. (Isaiah will use the table of the nations to speak of God’s coming blessing upon the nations — a blessing that will be fulfilled at Pentecost!).

Genesis 11

But how did the nations get so divided? Chapter 11 explains the division of language in the Tower of Babel. Even as humanity multiplies, the problem of sin and rebellion does not diminish. Man wants to build a tower in order to make a name for themselves — so that they may not be dispersed across the face of the earth.

But because of sin, division is good for us! (Do you realize that the doctrine of total depravity played a key role in shaping our political institutions? Separation of powers is a crucial component in Christian political thought because we know that too much power in any one hand is not good.) God divided the languages of the earth in order to prevent us from uniting and destroying everything!

It is interesting to watch the generations shorten in the genealogy at the end of chapter 11. It drops abruptly in the days of Peleg (during whose days the earth was divided — as we were told in 10:25 — probably a reference to the Tower of Babel). How did they live so long? I don’t know. Numbers frequently have symbolic value in the Bible, but sometimes the exact meaning is lost. At the very least we should understand that sin and rebellion has taken its toll on humanity. Division and rebellion lead to death and misery. Lord, have mercy!

PHSS 167