In the Beginning: A Study in Genesis 1-14Sýnishorn

How Does God Change a Family?

In human history, some people loom larger than others. One of the most significant men in world history is Abraham whom we meet in Genesis 11. His name appears over three hundred times in the Bible, including eleven books of the New Testament and all four gospels. In the great chapter on faith, Hebrews 11, each of the “heroes'' of our faith is given one verse as a general rule, but six are reserved for Moses and twelve for Abraham. To this day, three major world religions all look to him as the founder and father of their faith (Jews, Christians, Muslims).

God’s answer to the efforts of Babylon seeking to make their name great was the calling of Abram to be the father of a new nation with a name that God would make great. Genesis 11 closes with a continuation of the genealogy from Genesis 5 and 10 in an effort to connect Abram as a descendant of both Adam and Noah through Noah’s son Shem. With the arrival of Abram in Genesis the book shifts from the theme of God calling creation into existence in Genesis 1-11, to God calling people into covenant in 12-50.

God had not spoken since His covenant with Noah until He spoke to Abram, calling him to become the father of a new nation, a prototype of a life of faith, and one of the most important men in the Bible. Abram was simply another sinner living among the scattered nations and in this way he was not unlike Noah had been before God called him into covenant. We know very little about Abram before God called him other than his genealogy, barren wife, and temporary home in Haran after having been born in Ur of the Chaldeans (11:27-32).

Amazingly, Abram was apparently just a regular godless Babylonian when, much like Noah, he too found gracious favor in the eyes of the Lord. Amidst God’s judging of the Babylonians by scattering them into various nations, God raises up one of their own to conversely be the man through whom God’s blessing would be sent forth to the nations.

God told Abram to leave his homeland to journey to a new land that God would show him and promised Abram that though his wife was barren, she would have a child. Abram’s son was promised to be a great nation blessed by God that would be a blessing to the nations of the earth through one of his offspring/seed. Abram was also told that his descendants would receive the Promised Land if he in faith made a radical break with his past leaving his home. This entry into the Promised Land was not fulfilled in Genesis as the book ends with Joseph requesting that his bones be taken from Egypt to the Promised Land on the day that God’s people finally entered that place. Additionally, Exodus also ends with the expectation of one day entering the Promised Land, a longing not realized until after the death of Moses in the opening chapters of Joshua.

In faith Abram believed and obeyed God, doing as God commanded at the age of seventy-five. God then appeared to Abram who responded by worshiping God in faith by building an altar and settling in Bethel just north of Jerusalem which is an important city.

Abram goes on to dominate Genesis until his death in 25:11, somewhere around 2000 B.C. The lens of Genesis focuses in from this point forward on the descendants of Abram as God’s covenant people raised up to be blessed and a blessing to the nations as Abram, like Noah, is a picture of God’s divine election.

Thus far, we have seen God call and bless Adam, Noah, and Abram. And, we have seen each man after their call from God sin against God. Adam ate the forbidden fruit, Noah got drunk, and now Abram who is the man of faith acts without faith in God’s promise to protect him. Thus far, the point being made repeatedly is that there is not a man sufficient to remedy the sin problem which paves the way for God becoming the man Jesus Christ to remedy the sin problem Himself.

Question:

In Genesis chapters 1-11 the word blessing was used five times and in this call of Abram the word is again used five times. What does blessing mean and how does one receive God’s blessing?