Tag: Lot

To Know Us

Posted on by jovial_cynic
“To know” is the way sexual intimacy is described throughout the Bible, but Hebrew word means so much more than that. It also carries the meaning of “experiential knowledge.” It’s not just knowing about something, but it’s also having lived it out.

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Genesis 18:19 (KJV)

‎Here in Genesis 18:19, God says “I know him” about Abraham. It is יָדַע. Yadah.

‎This says so much.

In the previous chapter, where Abraham and God entered a two-way covenant, with God committing himself to Abraham and Abraham going through the commitment of circumcision, we see a change. God is now with Abraham, not merely next to him.

I think “yadah” is the key to understanding what’s happening in Genesis 18. Perhaps the text isn’t showing us three men/angels with one of them being God. I know it appears that way, because only two men show up in the next chapter, but I think something else is being shown to us.

Now the Lord appeared to Abraham by the [b]oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.
Genesis 18:1 (NASB)

Perhaps Abraham sees three men, but he understands that God is there in the midst of them. That’s why Genesis 18:1 is written the way it is. It’s not a chapter heading. It’s a statement of awareness, given the new in-dwelling relationship with God.

The chapter continues with the interactions of Abraham and the men, and then in the middle, God just shows up again in verse 13.

But the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
Genesis 18:13 (NASB)

I think the right reading of the passage is this: when one of the men asked about Sarah, Abraham understood it to be God’s words, and that these three men were messengers of God.

Later, when the men leave to investigate the city, God tells Abraham that He will go to the city, and that if the outcry is not true, He “will know.” It’s that same word: יָדַע. Yadah.

I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely as the outcry, which has come to Me indicates; and if not, I will know.”
Genesis 18:21 (NASB)

‎But also, if it is true, wouldn’t God also certainly know? Either way, He will experience it. But how?

What does it mean to be a messenger of God? We typically think of someone who is God’s spokesperson to humanity, but doesn’t a messenger bring a message back to God as well? Don’t they return with a report of what has happened?

This makes me wonder if the true reason only two angels show up to rescue Lot isn’t because the third one is God, and that God remained behind. Remember, as messengers, they all three represent God.

Perhaps one actually went ahead first before the other two… and suffered violence.

For we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”
Genesis 19:13 (NASB)

The two angels who came to rescue Lot were on a mission to get him out of the city. The text says they were set to destroy the city, not because of the attempted violence against them, but because of the outcry. The cries for help.

And this is what God knew. It’s what God experienced.

A God who knows our suffering is a God who experiences our suffering. When God says He knows Abraham, I think he’s also telling us that He knows us: our wounds, our pain, the violence we have suffered.

And he’s inviting us to know him.

The Gospel

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NIV)

God said “let there be Light,” and there was Light.

God said “enter the Promised Land,” and Abram and the people he brought entered the Promised Land with him.

This sounds like the Gospel. This is very good news, indeed.

Echo of Creation

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NKJV)

The text says that Abram brought with him the “people he had acquired.” It is literally translated “the souls he made.”

The rabbis see this as “converts” in the Midrash. I suspect the Christian might see it that way, too.

But what I see is an echo of God creating.

Perhaps Abram was invited to be a part of the creation process – to breathe spiritual Life into otherwise dead people.

Creating Souls

Posted on by jovial_cynic

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan.
Genesis 12:5 (NKJV)

The translators note the word “people” in Genesis 12:5 is not actually “people. ” Rather it means “souls” or “living beings,” which is a strange way to describe people.

But stranger yet is that the word “acquired” here does not mean “acquired.” The word is עָשָׂה (asah). It means to MAKE.

As in, “and God made,” which points us back to Genesis 1.

Ransom

Posted on by jovial_cynic

They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.
Genesis 14:12 (NASB)

When the kings of Empires captured Lot, the rabbis suggest that they knew exactly who Lot was, and that perhaps they could demand a ransom for him from Abraham.

ויקחו את לוט בן אחי אברם, they made a special effort to capture Lot because he was Avram’s nephew. They were aware of his wealth. They were expecting that Avram would pay a heavy ransom for the release of his nephew.
Sfnorno on Genesis 14:12:1

One Body

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The Hebrew idiom used in this verse is much sweeter than the English translations.“Left” and “right” are actually “left hand” and “right hand.” Abram isn’t telling Lot to go far away from him. These aren’t opposites. He’s indicating nearness, as they are still one body.

Is the entire land not before you? Please separate from me; if you choose the left, then I will go to the right; or if you choose the right, then I will go to the left.
Genesis 13:9 (NASB)

אם השמאל ואימינה IF THOU WILT TAKE THE LEFT HAND, THAN I WILL GO TO THE RIGHT —Wherever you settle down I will not go far from you and I will stand by you as a shield and as a helper. Ultimately, indeed, he (Lot) was really in need of him, as it is said, (Genesis 14:14) “And Abram heard that his brother was taken captive etc.”
Rashi Genesis 13:9:1

Remember

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The story of Abram in Egypt is book-ended with the same specific altar on both sides, sitting between Bethel and Ai.In both cases, the text says he “called upon the name of the Lord.”

There are two lessons that jump out.

Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Genesis 12:8 (NASB)

And he went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place of the altar which he had made there previously; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Genesis 13:3-4 (NASB)

First, repeating things is a way to highlight the story. It’s underlined, bolded, italicized and blinking: REMEMBER THIS! A great famine will drive the people of God into Egypt, where a Pharaoh will take what is not his. But remember God’s mighty hand; you will be rescued. Remember!

Second, the rabbis say that “called upon the name of the Lord” can mean that Abram preached. He told people who God was.

But imagine how different his preaching was before and after being in Egypt. What lessons has Abram learned? Experience, suffering, seeing God rescue… these things change a person. They grow a person.

After the first altar, Abram is still willing to let his barren wife be taken away, fearing for his own life.

After the second altar, he is willing to accept a barren land, allowing Lot to take the fertile plain of the Jordan, trusting that God can turn barrenness into fruitfulness.

Strife and Wisdom

Posted on by jovial_cynic
The rabbis suggest that the conflict in Genesis 13:7 is a story about the wickedness of Lot’s herdsmen who hoped to gain in Abram’s blessing. With no natural heirs of his own, Abram’s possessions might go to his nephew; the greed of his herdsmen caused them to harass Abram’s herdsmen.

Some suggest that Abram’s herdsmen were the instigators, believing themselves entitled to Abram’s blessing, to the exclusion of Lot’s family and herdsmen.

Perhaps they’re all to blame.

And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.
Genesis 13:7 (NASB)

But this is also a story about “strife.” In Hebrew, this is “reeb,” and means “contention,” or “debate.” It’s often used to describe the kind of dispute that requires an impartial judge to step in and give wisdom.

Sometimes there is no “right” answer. There is only God’s wisdom.

Burdened with Riches

Posted on by jovial_cynic
Genesis 13 tells us that Abram was “very rich” in material possessions, but remember where he got those possessions: from Egypt. Empire.

Look:

Therefore [Pharaoh] treated Abram well for her sake; and he gave him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male servants and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.
Genesis 12:16 (NASB)

The Hebrew writers want you to know something. This word “rich” in v2 is “kabad.” It can mean “rich,” but it also carries the connotation of “heavy.” Burdened. Slowed. It’s not entirely good.

Now Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
Genesis 13:2 (NASB)

Later, we’ll read about Hagar, who is one of those possessions. I think we’d agree that a concubine leads to trouble.

But also, this passage in Genesis 13 is almost immediately followed by the land being unable to “bear the weight” of Lot and Abe’s posessions. Again – “heavy.” Burdened. This leads to another problem in the story.

And yet… it seems that God blesses, despite our possessions.