Genesis 17:15-22

Details, Details, Details –
(Which is Exactly What Abra(ha)m Wants)
Or
Mama’s Got a Brand New Name (Act Three)


“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’” (Genesis 17:15-16, ESV)

And with that proclamation, God modifies his words from verses 5 and 6 of chapter 17 to apply directly to Abraham’s wife. Some commentaries specifically mention that the name change that Abraham and Sarah both experienced was one of God’s ways of solidifying the covenant. (The Jewish Study Bible, p37-38) Granted, in Abraham’s case, the name change reflected his status as the father of many people, where Sarah’s name change wasn’t an adaptation of meaning, since both Sarai and Sarah are both variations of “princess.” (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, p117) However, what is important with these two verses is not that Sarah’s new name wasn’t as revelatory a change as was Abram’s, but that she too was included and deemed equal to Abraham in terms of their roles in creating the Jewish people. (The Jewish Study Bible, p38)

“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Genesis 17:17, ESV)

Yup -- you just read it. Your eyes weren’t deceiving you. Abraham just laughed at God and God called him on it. As I have said to many people in the past month, my affinity for Abraham and Sarah has increased greatly during the course of researching, studying, and writing these lessons. I can relate to the Abraham I am coming to know as I read and study his story, while, in the past, I struggled with any attempt to learn from his life. The Abraham you learn about in Sunday School as a child, especially the version that’s influenced by Chapter 11 of Hebrews and flannel-graphs, was this wonderfully fabulous paragon of faith, virtue, and righteousness after whom I should model my life. However, the problem with such an image of spiritual perfection looming in my vision was that I became convinced that I could never attain that status.

But then I read verses like Genesis 17:17 (and later 18:10) and I am reminded that the Patriarchs were imperfect humans just like myself. They experienced, portrayed, and dealt with deep levels of unbelief on a regular basis. “Some feel that Abraham laughed for joy [i.e. Jamieson, Fausset, and Browne’s Commentary, p28] but verse 18 indicated that it was an expression of doubt as he struggled to match his faith to his circumstances.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p29) Tell me -- who hasn’t been there, right alongside Abraham? If you’ve ever been a human being on this earth, you too have struggled to match your faith with your circumstances.

This is why studying the stories of the Old Testament is so crucial, so important to how we live our lives and interact with the world around us. Each of us is fallen and imperfect; thus, we must remember that exact piece of information so that we can attempt to live a bit more peaceably and see issues from several vantage points. Abraham and Sarah resonate with me as I read their lives – I’ve made those mistakes, you’ve made those mistakes, I’ll make them again, and so will you. By acknowledging, along with Abraham, my lack of faith, we can both have our faith strengthened by listening to God in the subsequent verses.

“And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael may live before you!’ God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.’” (Genesis 17:18-19, ESV) “But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (Genesis 17:21; ESV)

“Isaac means ‘he laughs.’ God specifically designated him, not Ishmael, as heir of the covenant. … Legally, the natural son became the heir, even though born after the son of a slave-wife.” (Ryrie Study Bible: NASB, p 29) “The natural impossibility of her giving birth at 90 (not to mention her life-long infertility) only highlights the supernatural character of Isaac and the nation descended from him (v 17). (The Jewish Study Bible, p38) “By his own sovereign counsel, the Lord elected Isaac, not Ishmael. His [God’s] chosen race would not come by natural selection, but by supernatural grace.” (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible: NIV, p40)

Abraham and Sarah are reminded here that God remembers their antics from chapter 16 where they attempted to circumvent the promises of God by having Abraham take Hagar to be his concubine, conceiving Ishmael. God wants the couple to remember that their plans aren’t nearly as important as they think they are. However, God redeems the potentially tense situation with the specific naming of their child, to be named Isaac. It is Isaac, all along, who has been the child of promise, the child that Sarah would bring into the world, as the fulfillment of everything God had told them would happen.

“As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20, ESV)

“Ishmael, however, is not dispossessed. Whereas only Isaac inherits the covenant (and its attendant promise of land), Ishmael inherits a large measure of the Abrahamic promise. Like his nephew Jacob, he will become the patriarch of a twelve-tribe confederation and thus the father of a great nation.” (The Jewish Study Bible, p 38)

To his credit, Abraham is concerned, as a good father should be, for the welfare of his children, no matter the conditions of the child’s origins. Furthermore, God fulfills the promises he has made to both Abram and Hagar over the past 6 chapters. Ishmael will receive a portion of Abram’s possessions, though it will be nothing compared to what has been promised and is due to Isaac. What should be noted is that the Bible does not mention who the descendents of Ishmael become, outside of the 12-son collective mentioned in Genesis 25:13-18. The Bible places no claim and no blame upon Ishmael and the direction in which his descendents would take. Any and all prophecy about Ishmael is relegated to discussing his temperament and that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation, conditions befitting Ishmael’s status as a child of Abraham’s.


Teachers: What do we have here, with this discussion of covenant and name changes? What are we supposed to learn ourselves so that we can best convey these themes to the children in our classes? Simply put, we should talk about how God keeps any promise made, especially in ways that are beyond what us average humans could ever understand. God uses a scheming, barren woman and her doubting, laughing husband to create the Jewish people and still finds ways to declare that these two are full of faith and credited with righteousness. Moreover, it’s also an example of how, even when we don’t quite believe what God has been telling us, God gives us many chances and opportunities to build or reestablish our faith and trust. Furthermore, the idea of covenant must be stressed in that the covenant was God’s way of leaving proof that the Jews were to be a special people throughout world history, subject to much blessing, much assistance, and much responsibility. Might that we are cognizant of God’s blessing, provision, and protection throughout the whole of Old Testament, due in large part to the terms of the covenant arrangement between Abraham and God.

Genesis 17:1-8

Details, Details, Details – Which is Exactly What Abra(ha)m Wants
Or
Papa’s Got a Brand New Name


“Names had power in the ancient world. By naming the animals, Adam demonstrated his mastery over them. In a similar way, God’s changing Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah signifies both a reiteration of the covenant promise and the designation of these people as God’s chosen servants.” (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; p49)

“There are no parallels in the ancient world to covenants between deity and mortal, though certainly gods are known to make demands and promise favorable treatment. In most of these cases kings report their care of the sanctuaries of the god and then tell how the deity responded with blessing. But these fall short of a covenant relationship initiated by deity for his own purposes.” (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; p49)

“Covenant: a contractual agreement associated in the Bible with the agreement between Yahweh and the Israelites that promises land and children in exchange for exclusive worship and obedience.” (The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament; p813)


For the fourth time in six chapters, God appears before Abram to talk about what he is to do and what God wants to do through him. God reiterates the same promises for Abram and his descendents that had already been communicated, to various levels of belief on Abram’s part. Once again, Abram hears the promise that he and Sarai will be the parents of a great nation whose numbers will grow dramatically and whose influence throughout the world would become quite prodigious.

However, some disparity presents itself; a subtle variation in God’s words becomes rather apparent. The difference between God’s declarations in this chapter compared to the declarations in chapters 11-16 is the specific mention of word “covenant.” This concept is introduced in order to establish something firm and definite between God and Abram, where vague guidelines and promised had previously existed in their relationship. This covenant contains all of the guarantees that Abram has heard before, but, for the first time, there are some ground rules and guidelines by which God asks Abram to live.

Conditionality between deity and mortal had existed before – many gods of the region had set forth agreements between themselves and their adherents. However, most of them centered around kings and rulers making sure their took care of the deity’s temples and paid them whatever money, resources, and sacrifices they demanded. Or, in other terms, these provisional arrangements were typically negative and fear-based in context and focus. The god/deity would declare what was to be done and, if the humans did not fulfill their end of the bargain, there would be destructive consequences. Yes, beneficial treatment was promised if the simple rules were followed and obeyed, but the negative results were outlined just as specifically.

“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.” (Genesis 17:1ff-2, TNIV)

Thus, what God was proposing in order to fulfill the promises given to Abram and Sarai was rather revolutionary for its time and place in world history. God outlined exactly what Abram would experience, what his descendents would do, and how Abram would be the beginning of it all, except that God didn’t include an “or else” clause anywhere. What makes this covenant revolutionary is how God’s purposes were intent upon blessing Abram and having Abram see all of the promises finally set into motion. God had been making promises for 6 chapters, and, with each set of promises, Abram initially expressed doubt and then finally believing after God reiterated the assurances. But when push came to shove, God displayed to Abram just how important he was in God’s eyes – God desired Abram’s obedience and that obedience would be honored with the implementation of all God had set forth.

(Side note: The only exception to this concerns the issue of male circumcision, something that, while physical in nature, is symbolic in context to how it applies to God’s promises. Circumcision will be addressed in the next section of commentary.)

“No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations." (Genesis 17:5, TNIV)

And how did God express concretely how Abram see the promises realized – by changing Abram’s name to Abraham. This was not merely a matter of semantics; it was the definitive means by which God was proving to Abraham how sincere and serious the terms of the covenant would be. In Hebrew, Abram means “exalted father,” which, in itself, isn’t a bad title or descriptor, especially since God had notified Abram several times that he would be a father to a great nation. However, Abraham, in Hebrew, means “father of many or a multitude,” an entirely different and much more expansive way of describing the man who would be the Patriarch of the entire Jewish race.

What is God announcing to Abraham, Sarai, and those who would read and hear these words throughout the rest of history? I would like to proffer forth the opinion that this name change that God wrought in Abraham’s life (and Sarai’s later in the chapter) was God’s means of proclaiming to all present and future generations exactly how important the covenant would be in the lives of the Hebrew people and how committed God is to seeing through to completion and execution the promises laid out to Abram in the covenant. Abraham’s new name, in and of itself, is a promise and assertion that the covenant is real, alive, and an act of love, flowing from God to Abraham and to Jews throughout time immemorial.

“I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendents after you for generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendents after you." (Genesis 17:7, TNIV)


Teachers: I feel that we must approach this chapter in terms of emphasizing how much God loved Abraham, Sarai, and the Jews. Abraham and Sarai had been struggling mightily with truly believing the promises of God (remember the episode with Hagar in last chapter), so God finalizing and codifying the covenant in this way only further displays how much God cares for them and how greatly God wants them to believe in the promises they’ve heard. God has yet to punish them for their unbelief up to this point and at no point during the creation of the covenant does God imply and punishment for unbelief. Blameless and faithful obedience is what God is asking of Abraham in order to see the covenant brought to fruition in his and Sarah’s life. The kids must see and understand this – to underscore God’s love throughout this section is to miss the point of the covenant. God’s expectations for obedience through the implementation of the circumcision ritual will be discussed in another section (and most likely NOT discussed in a classroom in a specific sense).

Genesis 16

Haven’t I Seen This on “The Jerry Springer Show”??
Or
Hagar’s Bogus Journey


I read through this chapter and simply had to feel sorry for Abram and Hagar. I don’t mean to blame Sarai for everything that happens here, but it really is hard not to look at the events of this chapter and wonder what Sarai was thinking throughout all of this. Both Abram and Hagar did exactly what they were told and suffered for it – Sarai blamed Abram for the problems of the household and Hagar ran away, out into the wilderness. Now, I’m not letting Abram slip off the hook here, since he should have been wary of what Sarai proposed and how it didn’t quite match up with the promises of God that Abram had heard so far (as recent as last chapter). But I do question Sarai’s motives and actions throughout this chapter.

The chapter begins with Sarai being rather impatient with God and the fulfillment of what she and Abram had been promised. She felt that, since she can’t bear children, there had to be some way that she could start a family. So, in order to be a mother and begin populating the world according to God’s promises, Sarai offered up her Egyptian servant Hagar (possibly comparable to Eliezer’s standing with Abram) to become Abram’s second wife and bear his children. This was a common arrangement during the patriarchal and monarchical periods of biblical history, both within Hebrew culture and within other cultures as well. Specific examples include Hammurabi’s Code mentioning this type of arrangement, as well as Rachel and Leah giving their maidservants to Jacob (Israel) for procreation purposes in Genesis 30.

But no matter how “legal” the agreement might have been between Sarai, Hagar, and Abram, once again, personal pride entered into humanity’s relationship with God. Sarai had to do things on her terms, ignoring what God might have wanted to do in her & Abram’s lives. And Abram agreed to the proposal. Yup, he did. Thus, no matter how ridiculous Sarai’s request seems to us as readers, Abram himself has to bear a great deal of responsibility for the problems that are soon to come by acquiescing to Sarai’s idea. It is as if Abram said, “OK dear! I’ll sleep with your servant so we can have a family. What you’re asking me to do isn’t faithless and prideful at all. Of course God would want me to sleep with Hagar. Why haven’t we thought of this before?” I just can’t begin to comprehend why Abram would proceed with this course of action without any discussion or hesitation.

What happened next shouldn’t have really surprised Abram and Sarai, unless they were in total denial of human nature. Abram took Hagar to be his second wife, they conceived a child, and Hagar began to resent her status as servant to Sarai. What was she supposed to do – just give over her child to Abram and Sarai when the baby is finally born? Well, technically, yes, she was supposed to do so. She was the legal representative of Sarai in Abram’s bed, and so any child that she bore was to be Abram and Sarai’s.

Granted, in many respects, Hagar could have become an official second wife, earning her the same rights and privileges as Sarai. But regardless of the official implications of the letter of the law, human nature took hold fairly quickly. Both began to resent the status of the other – Sarai was probably resentful towards Hagar over her being able to actually reproduce and Hagar began to despise Sarai for treating her as merely a servant when it was she who was bringing Abram and Sarai their promised child. Thus, while this set-up might be anathema to us, to act in this manner has been standard operating procedure in many cultures for many centuries.

“Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong that I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.’” (Genesis 16:5, TNIV)

I read this verse and can’t decide whether to be shocked by her audacity or laugh at the surrealism of her chutzpah. Sarai had the gall to complain to Abram about Hagar’s attitude when it was Sarai who suggested their coupling. More than just complaining, Sarai blamed Abram for causing the domestic conflict. Yes, Abram should have accepted some of the blame, since he could/should have rejected Sarai’s idea, and, according to the commentaries I read, he was the person legally responsible for enforcing compliance with the marriage contract. However, it is Sarai’s total reluctance to take upon herself any responsibility for this situation that strikes me as rather ridiculous. (But, maybe that’s my cultural baggage seeping in…)

Upon hearing this, Abram did stand up for himself, deflected the guilt that Sarai was attempting to place upon him, and told her that, since Hagar was her servant, it was Sarai who must resolve this domestic squabble. On one hand, this seems like an appropriate response, since it was Sarai’s attempt to play God that created this situation. However, with Abram rejecting any responsibility in this matter (even though he is the father of Hagar’s child), he allowed Sarai a chance to exercise some of the baser aspects of human nature.

“… Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” (Genesis 16:6ff, TNIV) And I don’t blame Hagar for this reaction whatsoever. Judging from all of the evidence at her fingertips, she probably felt that her status and standing in Abram & Sarai’s family was either tenuous at best or, at worst, any child she bore will be yanked out of her arms immediately after the baby’s birth, even though according to similar arrangements of the time, the child she was carrying was legally Abram and Sarai’s. But even possessing such knowledge, Hagar chose to flee the tents of Abram and Sarai to seek refuge in the desert, which, unless she knew someone else in another family or was trying to thumb a ride back home to Egypt, was a rather ill-advised idea. The desert is a dangerous place for anyone to be without water, supplies, or a plan of any kind, much less for a pregnant woman.

Nevertheless, as she rested at an oasis located upon the road to Shur (most likely a desert area in the Negev, between Palestine and Egypt), an angel, most likely a theophany approached her. This messenger from God questioned Hagar as to where she had come from, and where she was going – 2 questions that are quite appropriate to ask anyone (much less a pregnant woman) traveling alone in the desert. Hagar responded that she was running away from Sarai, which technically answered neither of the angel’s questions. The angel then told her to return to Sarai and submit herself to her, which Hagar probably didn’t want to hear, since to obey this command would mean that she would have to bear the consequences of showing contempt towards and despising Sarai’s status.

I can see Hagar’s face contort into an ugly grimace as she listened to the angel’s words. Questions probably flooded through her. “Why should I go back? What would I be going back for? What could this angel say that would make me even consider obeying him? He’s never lived with and worked for that woman. He can’t be serious!” However, the angel’s response, in the form of promise, prophecy, and prediction, probably allayed many of those fears and concerns. He declared that God will increase the number of her children until they became too numerous to count, a direct parallel to the promise that God gave to Abram about his descendents. Did this promise come to Hagar because she was to bear Abram’s child, as part of the fulfillment of God’s earlier promise to Abram? Quite possibly…

“The angel of the Lord also said to her: ‘You too now are pregnant and you will give birth to a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.’” (Genesis 16:11-12, TNIV)

What did all that mean? Does any of that mean anything in terms of world history? Many people directly correlate these predictions to be a reference to either contemporary Arabic peoples or Arabs in general throughout history. Conversely, many people feel that the descendents of Ishmael would form many of the tribes that would harass the Hebrews for centuries. However, one of the best descriptions of this prediction reads, “The fearless and fleet-footed Syrian onager [wild donkey] is a metaphor for an individualistic lifestyle unrestrained by social convention (Job 24:5-8, 39:5-8, Jer 2:24, Hos 8:9). Ishmael’s blessing would occur away from the land of promise; he would live by his own resources. The fierce, aggressive ways [hostility] of the Ishmaelites are contrasted with nomadic lifestyle of the patriarchs.” (Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible – NIV, p39)

Nonetheless, no matter what the means and ends could be for deciphering these statements from the angel, it is Hagar’s response that should receive the most notoriety and attention. She reacted to all that the angel told her with the reverence, respect, and awe that any deity would ever desire. In fact, Hagar even fashioned a specific name for God to commemorate and memorialize her conversation with the angel – “… ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” (Genesis 16:13ff, TNIV) Thus, Hagar returned to Abram and Sarai, gave birth to a boy, and Abram, now 86 years old, named his son Ishmael.


Teachers: Read through this whole chapter. Present Hagar here as the key figure from whom we can learn a specific lesson, as she is the central figure of the story in these verses. 1) She fulfills Sarai’s request to become Abram’s wife. 2) She resents and looks down upon Sarai, because she is the one who is bearing the child and not Sarai. 2a) Yes, she did despise Sarai, but maybe that was because she felt that she should have been treated as a wife and not a servant after conceiving a child with Abram. 3) She is abused and mistreated by Sarai. 4) She runs away into the desert to escape the hostile environment. 5) An angel from God visits her, tells her to return to Sarai, and that the son she bears will be the beginning of a numerous people. 6) She returns and bears Abram a son, who is named Ishmael.

Maybe I’m wrong here. Maybe I should have skipped this chapter, deeming it too uncomfortable and too strange to present to kids. However, I think that, as adults, we don’t give children enough credit in terms of their comprehension and understanding. I feel that we can present this story as more than some tragic set of events or wrong choices made by Abram and Sarai (which they were), but as a story about God’s blessing, protection, and love for all people.

So, if you’re not sure how to talk about the above 6 points, here are 2 points to focus upon: 1) Talk about how God took care of Hagar, after Sarai had mistreated her, even though she had treated Sarai rudely herself; and 2) Possibly discuss how Abram and Sarai were wrong in their attempt to play God. They tried to fulfill God’s promises through their means and not God’s. Their efforts to have a child without God’s help or direction only resulted in heartache, hurt feelings, and a disruption of God’s original plans.

Genesis 15

"It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"
Or
God’s Covenant with Abram


There are many reasons that I feel that I can relate to Abram, just as there are many aspects of Abram’s life that make absolutely no sense to me. That Abram simply packed up the life that he and Sarai created in Ur and Harran without complaining or asking questions of God seems completely out of my realm of understanding. But when Abram asked God how he and Sarai were going to be the progenitors of the great nation that God promised even though Sarai is barren, I can make a connection to something similar in my life. This is what makes the story of Abram and Sarai so compelling – we’ve all been there and we’ve all been them. We’ve all had conversations and interactions with God like the one Abram had in Genesis 15, except that most of us haven’t been made mother and father of a whole nationality, lasting throughout history and extending around the globe. And if you have, let me know because I want to meet you.

God meets Abram in a dream, with God immediately telling him, “Hey! Don’t be afraid! It’s me, God, your shield and the one Who is and give you your great rewards.” What initially is most noticeable here is that God realizes what Abram’s reaction will be upon seeing God in a vision – Abram will be freaked out. God knows that Abram will be scared, so God makes sure that Abram’s fears are allayed.

But surprisingly enough, to me at least, is that Abram doesn’t appear to be scared by God coming to him in a vision. Abram automatically knows what the “reward” is that God is probably talking about – the peopling of Canaan by Abram, Sarai, and their descendents. I would imagine that this specific set of promises of God’s is at the forefront of Abram and Sarai’s minds – they can’t have kids, yet God keeps saying that, somehow, they’ll be the parents of a large number of people.

And of course, with this being on his mind, Abram feels compelled to tell God that, unless God starts fulfilling these promises, Abram’s wealth, property, and influence in the region will pass to his chief servant Eliezer of Damascus. This would be a fairly standard thing to worry about – kings & rulers of various types have worried about who will inherit their stuff for centuries. Someone as wealthy as Abram would want to know exactly what’s going to happen when they pass away, simply because, in most (if not all cultures) of nearly any era throughout world history, people with lots of stuff have lots of influence. Just ask Julius Caesar what happens when you die and your friends have to divide up your empire because they can’t get along and you don’t have any direct descendents to whom you can pass your stuff along.

Yet again, God reaffirms the promises given to Abram, reassuring him that the promises will come to pass. The words God uses to do so are remarkably similar to the ones Abram heard back in Chapters 12 and 13. “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:4-6, TNIV)

Yeah, I guess I would believe the Lord at this point along with Abram – God has spoken to me three times about how my wife and I would be the parents of a brand-new nation, regardless of her medical condition. Then, Abram did exactly what I would have done: he moved onto a question that he could wrap his mind around. “But Abram said, ‘Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?’” (Genesis 15:8, TNIV) He went beyond asking about how these children will be born to him and Sarai to ask God how their kids will actually inhabit this so-called “Promise Land” – a land currently filled with a wide variety of tribes and nations. He has the chutzpah (and this was before Yiddish was even a language!) to ask God how he and his descendents were going to take possession of this land being promised to them.

What else should he have done – continue believing in blind faith? Maybe, but again, I would have had the same issues and asked the same questions. My conversation with God would just have sounded a bit more like this: “OK God, I do believe You when you say that You’re going to heal my wife’s womb and bless us with at least one child so we can start this great people You’ve promised that we’ll start. I do believe that, mostly because that’s a miracle of healing that is truly beyond my human abilities. But this business of taking over a country already filled with people who don’t like me – are You serious about that? How would my family, workers, descendents, and I even begin to attempt that? Do You realize what You’re asking?”

Yeah, that’s what it would sound like. It’s also an introduction to my regular crisis of faith. I can believe God for things beyond my control, but, when God allows me the slightest bit of input and involvement in the events, I just tend to doubt anything and everything. And as great of a man of faith as Genesis, the book of Hebrews, and church history describes Abram/Abraham to have been, I feel that he was a man just like me, a human just like anyone of us. And that’s what is so amazing about the story of Abram, Sarai, and the other patriarchs throughout Genesis.

So, what is God’s response to Abram, yet again, not believing what he’s heard? “So the Lord said to him [Abram], ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’” (Genesis 15:9, TNIV) Abram does this, sacrifices them all by cutting them in two pieces (except for the birds), and sits down to wait. Abram falls asleep after defending the sacrifice from the attacks of the birds of prey (why is this mentioned anyway?).

During this deep and troubled sleep, God goes into great detail concerning the future of Abram’s descendents. Specifically, God talks to Aaron about the 400 years that his people will spend as oppressed foreigners, serving as mistreated slaves in a strange land. We now know this to be the 400 years that the 12 Tribes of Israel lived in Egypt in between the time of Joseph and Moses, between Genesis Chapter 50 and Exodus Chapter 1. But I would imagine that Abram would have been rather saddened upon hearing this.

However, God follows up this negative news by declaring that, even though Abram will not experience the hard life his descendents would, they will still come up out of their oppression to fully take the land that Abram, his immediate family, and his workers never could. This is God’s answer to Abram’s concerns on how the land will be possessed – God will be sending these people through a long bit of suffering and hardship in order to best prepare them spiritually, emotionally, physically, and numerically to conquer and fill the Promised Land. Thus, “On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendents I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.’” (Genesis 15:18-21, TNIV)

Now, leaving all politics aside regarding the contemporary state of Israel and the Palestinians, this is a large swathe of land God is promising to Abram, Sarai, and their progeny. Israel as a nation does come to occupy all of this land during the reigns of David and Solomon, but after the Kingdom was divided between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Israel was destined to see its borders shrunken, cities assailed, and the both kingdoms occupied, the inhabitants either killed or carted off to Babylon and Assyria. But to Abram, this land and this vision was God’s answer to his doubting and his questions. God knew exactly what Abram would need to see and hear to have faith in God, not that Abram had to know everything, but that God wanted to honor the faith that Abram had already exhibited through his actions so far.

Is it OK to ask questions and display your not-quite-so steady faith to the God you love and believe in? I’d say yes – Abram did.


Teachers: Focus on reading the first 6 verses. These talk specifically about 1) how God came to Abram to talk more about the promises that had already been given, 2) how Abram questioned God about the promises, 3) how God gave answers, 4) the content of those answers, and 5) how Abram came to believe and be praised for his belief. The kids need to understand that God appreciates people coming with their questions – God seeks out people willing to communicate honestly and openly about their unbelief. We see several shining examples throughout the stories, tales, and trials of the patriarchs in Genesis and throughout David’s’ psalms. God does want us to believe and have faith, but God also wants us to talk when we don’t. It’s often in those times that the greatest instruction and discernment comes to us.