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Genesis 12-23

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Genesis 12-23: This session tracks the life of Abraham and the Abrahamic covenant.

Notes Outline

CHAPTER 12 - THE CALL OF ABRAM FROM AMONG THE NATIONS

CHAPTER 13 - LAND PROMISE REITERATED

CHAPTER 14 - WAR OF KINGS / MELCHIZEDEK ENCOUNTER

CHAPTER 15 - GOD CUTS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

CHAPTER 16 - THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL

CHAPTER 17 - EVERLASTING COVENANT, CIRCUMCISION, ABRAM'S NAME

CHAPTER 18 - THE LORD VISITS ABRAHAM

CHAPTER 19 - DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

CHAPTER 21 - THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 22 - THE OFFERING OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 23 - DEATH OF SARAH

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Notes Outline

CHAPTER 12 - THE CALL OF ABRAM FROM AMONG THE NATIONS

CHAPTER 13 - LAND PROMISE REITERATED

CHAPTER 14 - WAR OF KINGS / MELCHIZEDEK ENCOUNTER

CHAPTER 15 - GOD CUTS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

CHAPTER 16 - THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL

CHAPTER 17 - EVERLASTING COVENANT, CIRCUMCISION, ABRAM'S NAME

CHAPTER 18 - THE LORD VISITS ABRAHAM

CHAPTER 19 - DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

CHAPTER 21 - THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 22 - THE OFFERING OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 23 - DEATH OF SARAH

CHAPTER 12 - THE CALL OF ABRAM FROM AMONG THE NATIONS

1. Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” Genesis 12:1–3 (NAS)
  1. As the storyline continues, God continues his plan of restoration by calling a man out from among the nations that he had scattered at Bible, this man’s name is Abram. God tells him to leave his land and his family, a significant action in the ancient world. Then God begins to make promises to Abraham. This is the first set of promises that make up the Abrahamic covenant.
2. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 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 12:7–8 (NAS)
  1. Here we see God promising Abraham a particular land that will be his and will be the land of his descendants. This becomes a central theme and promise throughout the rest of the Bible. God promises to give Abraham’s descendants the land that he promised to Abraham.
  2. Also, we will see later, Abraham’s grandson Jacob having an experience in the same area that Abraham is calling upon the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 13 - LAND PROMISE REITERATED

1. Abram leaves Egypt
2. 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 formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. Genesis 13:3–4 (NAS)
  1. As we look at the pattern of Abraham, he continues to journey to a certain location, and their calls upon Yahweh, the God of that land!
3. Abram and Lot separate
4. The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered. “Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.” Genesis 13:14–17 (NAS)
  1. God speaks in no uncertain terms when he makes the land covenant with Abraham. God is committed to giving Abraham and his descendants this land in which Abram is currently sojourning. History has proven that some of the greatest attacks on the people of God, Israel, have been those that have attacked their right to the land that God has promised them.

CHAPTER 14 - WAR OF KINGS / MELCHIZEDEK ENCOUNTER

1. In chapter 14, we see a battle between some of the kings in the region near where Abram and his nephew, Lot have settled. The result is that lot is captured when the city of Sodom is overcome by their enemy. Abram responds by taking 300 of his choice men to rescue Lot. Abram defeats the kings that took Lot with just 300 men, and rescues his nephew and many other captives. Then a unique figure in the Biblical narrative appears.
  1. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” He gave him a tenth of all. Genesis 14:18–20 (NAS)
    1. Melchizedek appears in the narrative with no genealogy, and we never hear of him again until the Psalms. Melchizedek is the king of Salem, and a priest to God Most High (El Elyon) being Yahweh. He brings out bread and wine to Abram and blesses him in the name of God Most High. Abram then gives a tithe to Melchizedek at the close of their interaction.
    2. In the Psalm 110:4, we read a messianic psalm that proclaims of the coming Messiah of Israel, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” This is unique because Melchizedek is a priest to God long before the Levitical priests of Israel are established.
    3. Hebrews 6-7 is the next place that we find mention of Melchizedek where the author is explaining Jesus as being within the priestly order of Melchizedek.
  2. Who was this figure named Melchizedek?

CHAPTER 15 - GOD CUTS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

1. In this chapter, God proclaims a blessing over Abraham, to which Abraham questions God concerning his descendants; Abraham is childless, and it seems that one of his household servants will be his heir. God responds with the following promise:
  1. one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:4–6 (NAS)
  2. God promises to give Abram descendants as numerous as the stars. Abram looks out at the night sky and faith rises in his heart at what God promised. He believed in the Lord to fulfill his promise.
  3. Abram’s faith in the Lord was reckoned to him as righteousness.
    1. Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness. Romans 4:19–22 (NAS)
  4. Next God again Reaffirms his land promise to Abram. Abram’s response is to ask the Lord how he can be sure that he will do this thing for him.
    1. I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.” 8 He said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” Genesis 15:7–8 (NAS)
  5. Then the Lord did something truly incredible! To confirm his promise to Abram, God cut a covenant with him, using the model for covenant making found in the ancient world that Abram would have been familiar with.
    1. So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. Genesis 15:9–10 (NAS)
    2. In the ancient world, covenants were a binding contract that tied the lives of the two parties together like nothing else. For God to cut a covenant with Abram in this way would have been highly impactful on him. God actually binds his life to his promises to Abram.
    3. When making a covenant, the two parties would cut various animals in half and lay the two haves side-by-side, digging a trench between them and allowing the blood to flow between the haves into the trench. The parties would then walk between the haves in the blood, stating that they would keep their part of the covenant or be like these animals. It is significant that God caused Abram to fall into a deep sleep and that God alone walked between the halves.
      1. It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates Genesis 15:17–18 (NAS)
    4. God again reiterates the land covenant, this time giving actual boundary lines to the description.

CHAPTER 16 - THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL

1. In this chapter we come across a significant event, the birth of Ishmael. Sarai and Abram are very old, and Sarai has never been with child. To bring about the promise of God, the two take it upon themselves and use a common cultural means of their day to produce an offspring to Abram. Sarai and Abram take Sarai’s maiden, Hagar, and wed her to Abram. The text clearly portrays this as a wrongdoing, as they mistreat this woman to bring about something supposed to occur by God’s own doing.
2. Hagar conceives, and the result is greater animosity among them. By the end, Hagar is sent away into the wilderness, a treacherous place, where she encounters the God who sees (Elroi)!
  1. Now the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority.” 10 Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall call his name Ishmael, Because the Lord has given heed to your affliction. 12 “He will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.” 13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God who sees”; for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?” Genesis 16:7, 9–13 (NAS)

CHAPTER 17 - EVERLASTING COVENANT, CIRCUMCISION, ABRAM'S NAME

1. Here we see God appearing again to reiterate his covenant. This time, God promises that his covenant will be an everlasting covenant with the descendants of Abram. Abram will be a father of a multitude of nations so God changes his name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. Abraham’s responsibility in the covenant is the sign of circumcision. Circumcision becomes the designator for the people of Israel, and signifies that they are a member of the covenant. If they are not circumcised, they are cut off from the people and the covenant with God.
  1. I have made you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. “I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” Genesis 17:6–8 (NAS)
  2. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. Genesis 17:10 (NAS)
  3. What did God mean when he said that he would give Abraham’s descendants the land for an everlasting possession?

CHAPTER 18 - THE LORD VISITS ABRAHAM

1. Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth Genesis 18:1–2 (NAS)
  1. In this chapter we encounter three figures coming to visit Abraham. As the story unfolds, we find that one of these figures is the Lord himself, in bodily form, while the other two figures are angels. The Lord and these two angels have come to speak with Abraham about his promised son, but they also have another task at hand; to visit Sodom and Gomorrah.
  2. Abraham sets out a meal for the Lord, after which the Lord says these words.
    1. Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed? “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” Genesis 18:17–19 (NAS)
      1. Abraham was called out to guide his family is the ways of the Lord. The Lord continues…
    2. The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. “I will go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.” Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. Genesis 18:20–22 (NAS)
      1. As the angles depart for Sodom, Abraham pleads for the city the his nephew dwells in. In this chapter we get a glimpse of God’s mercy as he would spare the city for the sake of just a few!

CHAPTER 19 - DESTRUCTION OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

1. Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. Genesis 19:1 (NAS)
  1. Lot received the two angels into his home, but there’s a problem, all the men of Sodom, both young and old, come to take these two angelic visitors to have sexual relations with them. Again, we see glimpses of Genesis six occurring in the city. To try and stay them off, Lot offers them his two virgin daughters instead of his visitors. The men of Sodom rejected his offer, and as they press in hard to try and take them by force, these two angels strike the crowd with blindness.
  2. These angels have seen enough, and it’s time for judgment to fall. They urge Lot to flee the city with his family, 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 (NAS)
  3. Lot fled with his wife to a nearby city after the angles urge, “Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Genesis 19:22 (NAS)
  4. Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:24–26 (NAS)
  5. As this chapter closes, we get a glimpse of how strong the debased influence of Sodom was upon Lot’s family.
    1. Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” Genesis 19:31–32 (NAS)
    2. The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day. Genesis 19:37-38 (NAS)

CHAPTER 21 - THE BIRTH OF ISAAC

1. Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
  1. The promised son of Abraham is finally born, and as God had commanded, Abraham circumcise his son into the covenant.
  2. After the birth of Isaac, Sarah notices the other son of Abraham, Ishmael, scoffing at the new child. Sarah becomes angry, stating that Ishmael will not have any inheritance alongside Isaac, a true statement but with wrong motivations. She wants for Abraham to drive Ishmael and Hagar away. Abraham consents according to the command of the Lord, and Hagar and Ishmael are driven away. In the wilderness, on the brink of death, God again comes near to answer the cry of Hagar. God saves their lives, then He promises her that the lad will become a great nation! However, the promised seed will come through Isaac.

CHAPTER 22 - THE OFFERING OF ISAAC

1. Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Genesis 22:1–2 (NAS)
  1. At this point in the text we reach a peak moment in the narrative. Abraham has at last had the promise child, Isaac, the one through whom God would fulfill his promises. But God then comes to test Abraham by commanding him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, his, “only son” (an interesting title since Abraham had another son). Abraham obeys, and begins the journey towards the mountain where the sacrifice of Isaac will take place.
2. As they journey, there are interesting interactions between the characters present as well as several typological references to the future Christ..
  1. Reference to Isaac as Abraham’s, “only son”.
  2. Upon arrival, Abraham says to the men with him and Isaac, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” Genesis 22:5 (NAS)
  3. As they begin the journey up the mountain, “Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.” Genesis 22:6 (NAS)
    1. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross John 19:17 (NAS)
  4. When asked by Isaac where the sacrifice would come from, Abraham responded, “God will provide for Himself the lamb.” Genesis 22:8 (NAS)
    1. This is significant because later tradition developed around the idea of, “the lamb of God” that would be provided. Indeed, when God does provide a sacrifice for Abraham, it is not a, “lamb,” but instead a, “ram.” Some believe that it is in this vary spot that Jesus was later sacrificed. Verse 14 further emphasis this point, “Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:14 (NAS)
3. Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Genesis 22:9–12 (NAS)
  1. The NT speaks to this section of scriptures several ways.
    1. While Paul emphasizes Abraham’s faith in God after the promise of God in chapter 15, that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, James makes a different emphasis. Paul says that Abraham’s faith in chapter 15 resulted in righteousness, James says that this faith without works would be dead and could not save. Thus James points to the offering of Isaac as the moment that we really get to see Abraham’s faith. What was Abraham believing? Hebrews 11 explains…
      1. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. Hebrews 11:17–19 (NAS)
      2. For God to be faithful to all his promises he would have had to have raised Isaac from the dead, otherwise Abraham’s descendants would not come, they would not be a blessing to all the nations, and Abraham would not enjoy the Eden reality either.
      3. Indeed, all of us have to depend on the same thing from God. We all rely on God to raise the dead at his coming for us to experience the promises that he has made. If God does not do this, then we are of all people most to be pitied.
4. Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:15–18 (NAS)
  1. We end this section with one last reiteration of the covenant from the Lord to Abraham. The Lord has sworn these thing by himself, as we saw also in chapter 15 after he walked through the haves of the animals alone. The Abrahamic covenant is an everlasting, bilateral covenant that includes the following:
    1. Yahweh will be Abraham and his descendant’s God
    2. The promised Land
    3. Many descendants
    4. Make you a great nation
    5. Seed shall possess the gates of their enemy
    6. God will make nations out of Abraham
    7. Kings will come from you
    8. God will bless Abraham and make his name great
    9. Bless those that bless you/curse those that curse you
    10. Through you and your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed

CHAPTER 23 - DEATH OF SARAH

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