The Promise  

This morning I jumped into what seems like the whole next section of Genesis: Part 7. This is a very long part, the story of Abram, and it's going to take me a few days to get through.

We left off of with a nice descendant list ending with Terah and his three kids (one of them Abram). A literary shift seems to take place as we are introduced to a whole new cast.

Synopsis

The main characters here are Terah, his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (who, it is mentioned, is barren), and his grandson Lot (nephew of the latter two). Although Terah quickly dies so we're left with the "misadventures" of the other three. God shows up and tells Abram to head to Canaan, and the fun starts there.

The events of this part of Genesis are many: They do a lot of traveling to and from Canaan, they head to Egypt during a famine and lie to the Pharaoh, , Abram and Lot go their separate ways, Abram saves Lot from some warring kings, and Abram refuses to take stuff from a king he helped.

And surprisingly, my sense is that all those things are rather peripheral, lacking a need for analysis, compared to the other thing going on in this section: over and over again, we see God making promises to Abram, and also we see Abram calling on God's name and building alters to Him.

Right near the beginning, God talks to Abram and promises to bless him, to make a nation out of him, to make his name great, and to bless all peoples through him. This starts off a relationship, initiated and carried forward by God, that is restated several times throughout a few stories about Abram's life. It continues to build until it reaches a powerful passage as Abram and God discuss the promise:

God says HE is Abram's shield and great reward, but Abram questions how God can fufill these promises since Abram has no kids (remember, Sarai is barren). God says he'll take care of it, and Adam believes him, which God appreciates. Abram asks how he will take the land, and God tells him to put out some sacrifices. Abram is told that his offspring will be slaves for a while and then return to Canaan, and then some smoking firepot thing moves through the sacrifices to seal the deal. It's a powerful passage.

Analysis

This whole section has a whole different feel to it, some sort of literary shift. For one thing,
instead of God simply talking back in forth with people, the mode of God's conversation is always revealed, through "appearing" to people, or coming in a dream, or through a vision, or even using someone else to speak for him. Also, all the explanations of things like why there are rainbows and why snakes don't have legs disappear. Instead we are invited into the life of this man, whose main distinctive trait is that God seems to like him. The overall message, I think, of this section has been, "God's gonna do something special with this guy."

Response

What stands out to me about this whole section is God's pursuit of Abram. Sure we hear lots of interesting stories, but I don't think there's much to learn from them in particular. I think what we learn is that whatever situation this guy is in, God is faithful to him and directing his steps. Abram in turn often calls on God's name and worships him.

God's character is revealed as he goes out of his way for the first time since hanging with Eve and Adam to intimately be involved with a particular human being. His passion for Abram can be felt in this narrative, in my opinion. The last story that I read, in which the firepot passes through the sacrifices, is especially expressive of how intentional and involved God is.

If most of Genesis so far has reminded me how I buy into man being totally corrupt and this world full of problems, these stories of Abram touch something inside me that hopes that our creator wants to act in response and to know people amidst the chaos.

Neat.