LYRICS FOR TODAY'S SONGS
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January 7 | Genesis 11:27-12-9 | ISG
Leaving things behind to start The Year Right

Genesis 11:27 - 12:9 (ESV)

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country 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. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Original Meaning. After we are introduced to the family of Terah, including his destiny-laden son, Abram, the text begins laying the important groundwork for the developments yet to come. We find out that Abram’s wife, Sarai, is barren, leaving the uninformed reader every reason to dismiss that line of the family. Moses’ audience, however, is far from uninformed, so such a comment would result in a sly, knowing smile. We receive a report on the first leg of the journey that will eventually bring Abram to Canaan. With family and land, the stage is set.
The promise to Abraham that lies at the heart of the story of the Pentateuch first appears in Genesis 12.2–3. This is not the first time in Genesis that we have encountered the idea of divine blessing on humanity, which is already an important idea in Genesis 1—11. Genesis 12 describes only the latest in a series of such blessings, which itself indicates that the purpose of God in calling Abraham out of Haran to travel into Canaan and settle there is tied up intrinsically with the overall purpose of God in creation. Other details of the promise in Genesis 12 confirm this. In verse 2, Abraham will be made into ‘a great nation’, in a world that is now inhabited by ‘nations’ (Hb. goyim, Gen. 10.5, 20, 31, 32), and his ‘name’ will be made great (which is what the nations were looking for at Babel). “In these words, the divine focus lies on one person and on one nation. However, Abraham will also be a blessing to others (also Gen. 12.2) – a source of blessing to others, perhaps, or a name invoked by others who are looking for God’s blessing.
One of the ways in which this will work out is that those who bless Abraham will be blessed by God (12.3). Ultimately, all the peoples on “earth will find blessing through him (12.3). Gordon Wenham plausibly suggests that we have a particular progression of thought in this passage: Abram is blessed; Abram’s name is used as a blessing; Abram’s blessers are blessed; all families find blessing in Abraham. So this one family stands now at the center of God’s intention to bless his creation; and if this family is cursed, this is at the same time an attack on God and God’s plans for the world, so that person doing the cursing will also be cursed. Those who are well disposed to Abraham and his descendants will do well, while those who oppose them will not.
Bound up with the promise just described is a particular land in which Abraham’s family will live – a land that God will ‘show’ him (Gen. 12.1). This land is quickly identified in Genesis 12.7 and 13.14–17 as Canaan. The latter passage also provides further details about the descendants who will make up the ‘great nation’ mentioned in Genesis 12; they will form a large multitude, ‘like the dust of the earth’ (13.16). Genesis 15 further describes them as being as many as the stars in the heavens (15.5). It is in this context that we first read of a ‘covenant’ (Hb. berit) being made between God and Abraham that is designed to undergird the promise (15.8–19, confirmed in 17.1–8) – a solemn agreement between the two parties concerned (cf. Gen. 21.25–34; 1 Sam. 18.3; 20.8; 23.18; 2 Sam. 3.12–21; 5.1–5; Ezek. 17.11–16). We encountered this idea already in Genesis 9, where God’s response to the disaster that has just befallen the earth is to make a covenant with the whole created order (Gen. 9.1–17): with all of Noah’s descendants (i.e. all people), and all living creatures with him (i.e. all other creatures “with him (i.e. all other creatures). This Noah covenant is the necessary foundation upon which all the later biblical covenants are built, for it establishes that God will never give up on his ‘creation project’. The covenant with Abraham comes next in line. If the Noah covenant is about salvation after judgement for the whole of creation, then the Abraham covenant is about salvation after judgement for one people, and therefore for all peoples. The judgement of God falls on all people at Babel; God’s response is to bring one family out of Babylonia, so that ultimately all the families of the earth may be blessed, as God originally intended.

Financial Report for the month of November.

Giving: $ 8,980.00
Expenses: $ 8,187.50
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Surplus: $ 792.50

Discussion Questions
1. Read 11:27-32, what stood out in your reading? What information sounds odd?
2. Read 12:1-3 slowly and make a mental link of the blessing and curse God gave to Adam (Genesis 1:28), to Noah (Genesis 9:1-2). What comes to mind about blessings?
3. Read 12:1-3 in the context of Genesis 3:15, what can you come up with? Does that help understand the context of why nations were outraged against Israel?
4. What are the implications of Abram’s obedience to his security and welfare?
5. What are we giving up when we trust God for our security and welfare?

Prayer
Heavenly Father open our eyes, allow us to see your glory. Help us to trust you fully in everything. May you grant us the courage to step up in faith, leave the past behind and face the future knowing that you are already there for us. Amen.