The Faith of Abraham

Written for Principles of Biblical Theology, Dr. Joshua Madden, September 18, 2019

Abraham is a well-known prophet, whose faith in God sometimes falters, but never fails. We read of him in Genesis and again in Sirach, where we are told “Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and no one has been found like him in glory….”[1] He is mentioned multiple times in the New Testament, including the first verse, as part of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.[2] Mary names him in her Canticle.[3] Jesus mentions Abraham in a parable. [4] Stephen tells of Abraham, his life and descendants.[5]

When we first meet him in Genesis, he is Abram, descendent of Noah.[6] Abram marries Sar’ai, who “was barren; she had no child.”[7] The Lord speaks to Abram, telling him to leave his country, family, and father’s house to a new place the Lord will show him.[8] The Lord says “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.”[9] Abram doesn’t know what the Lord has in store for him. He may expect fertile land and plenty of livestock, but the Lord is actually offering him much more. Abram has been called by God, and our salvation history has begun.

Abram, Sar’ai, his nephew Lot, and the household set forth and pass through Canaan, to She’chem. The Lord again appears to Abram, saying “to your descendants I will give this land,” and Abram builds an altar to the Lord. The journey continues, past Bethel, and on toward Meg’eb. Abram pauses on this journey to build another altar and call on the name of the Lord.[10] Abram is listening to God, and worshipping Him by building multiple altars to Him.

Famine causes Abram to moves on to Egypt, where he tells Sar’ai to say she is his sister. This is due to his fear that the Egyptians will want Sar’ai, and so will kill him, and take her. But God has already told him that he will make him a great nation and a blessing.[11] He has also said “to your descendants I will give this land.”[12] Abram acts without faith. If the Egyptians kill him, how would he be a blessing, or have descendants? Abram lets Sar’ai be taken by Pharaoh, which may please Pharaoh, but it doesn’t please God, who sends “great plagues” on Pharaoh’s house. Because of this, Pharaoh (justly angry with Abram for his part in causing these plagues) returns Sar’ai to Abram, and tells him to “be gone.”[13] Abram has shown his lack of faith in God. He has also shown a lack of understanding of God’s law. Since Abram and Sar’ai are married, they are one flesh. Yet Abram is willing to toss aside Sar’ai to potentially save his own flesh, and incidentally imperils Pharaoh, who has displeased God because of the lie of Abram and Sar’ai.

Abram and his family leave Egypt and return to Bethel. Abram and Lot separate into two camps, so as to have enough land to support each. Abram stays in the land of Canaan; Lot chooses the Jordan valley, and sets his tent in Sodom, which is known for its wickedness.[14]

God again speaks to Abram, giving him all the land that Abram could see in every direction, and telling him that his descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth. At the direction of the Lord, Abram again moves his tent, and builds another altar.[15] Although Abram has acted against God’s wishes in essentially giving Sar’ai to Pharaoh, God has not broken His word to Abram, and has again reiterated His promises to Abram of land and descendants.

Genesis 14 shifts the focus outward. It lists surrounding areas, and talks of war among them. During that war, there comes a time when Sodom and Gomor’rah are sacked, and their goods and provisions taken – including Lot, his goods and his household. When Abram learns of this, he takes his own trained men, and rescues Lot, his goods, and household. This story of war leads to an unusual meeting. Melchizedek, the King of Salem, and other of the kings come out to meet Abram. Melchizedek, a “priest of God Most High.”[16] He brings out bread and wine, and blesses Abram, saying “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”[17] Melchizedek’s specific reference to “God Most High, maker of heaven and earth,” tells us, and Abram, that it is the same Lord God that Abram knows and has built altars to. Immediately after the meeting with Melchizedek, the Lord again appears to Abram.

The Lord has appeared to Abram multiple times. Abram continues to prosper, but he is not fully committed to God. He has doubts; he only sees what is in front of him. When God tells him that he will have a great reward, Abram doesn’t thank Him; rather, he complains that he is childless and that one of his slaves will be his only heir. God again tells him that he shall have “his own son” and that his descendants will be as plentiful as the stars, and reminds Abram that God has given him this land. But Abram wants proof. He asks “how do I know that I shall possess it?[18] God is patient, and makes a formal covenant with Abram. He has Abram bring him certain animals to be offered to God. Abram kills them and places them on the altar, and “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” passed between the pieces of animals being sacrificed.[19] God makes a covenant with Abram, giving the land to his descendants.[20] But Abram and Sar’ai still have not learned to fully trust God. In the next chapter, Sar’ai implores Abram to have a child with her maid, Hagar. While this was permissible from a legal standpoint, it was against God’s law, and shows lack of faith in God’s promise of many descendants. Of course, things turn out badly. Sar’ai becomes jealous of Hagar, and sends her away, but God sends her back. Hagar has the child, who is named Ishmael.[21] When Ishmael is about 13, God again appears to Abram. It is at this time that God renames Abram and Sar’ai as Abraham and Sarah, and again reiterates the promise of land, of descendants, and promising a covenant to be everlasting. The symbol of this covenant is circumcision, and all the males of Abraham’s household, including Ishmael, are circumcised in accordance with the covenant. God also specifically promises that Sarah will bear a son.[22] After this, Abraham and Sarah have three visitors, whom they treat as honored guests. The text refers to them as three men, suddenly shifts to calling them “the Lord”, and then shifts back again to the three men. While this is somewhat explained in a later passage where two are referred to as angels, it may also be read as foreshadowing the Trinity. During this visit, there is a discussion of how the Lord means to punish Sodom. Abraham bargains with God, asking if God will destroy the city if He finds fifty righteous people there, and continues to bargain down to forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally just ten righteous people. I think this passage is to show us two things: first, that Abraham is a caring person. He doesn’t ask the Lord to simply spare Lot and his family; he speaks for the entire city. It also shows us that the Lord does not wish to punish the good as well as the wicked. Of course, as we know, it is to no avail: there are not ten righteous people in Sodom. The city is destroyed, although Lot and his two daughters are saved. But it turns out that perhaps we ought not count them as righteous: the two daughters conspire to lure Lot into drunkenness, and lie with him, and each have a son by him.[23]

Abraham, meanwhile, has still not learned to trust God. When he and Sarah go to live in Gerar, Abraham again has Sarah say she is his sister. God comes to the King of Gerar in a dream, and tells him the truth. Although the King of Gerar is innocent of knowingly sinning by taking Sarah, God still considers his actions sinful.[24] Abraham has sinned by having Sarah claim to be his sister, since by doing so, he caused others to sin, and also clarifies why having a child with Hagar, while married to Sarah, was lawful, but sinful in the sight of God.

God keeps his promises, and even though Abraham does not always keep to his part of the covenant as well as he should, God sends Sarah her longed-for son, Isaac. Sarah still has her jealousy of Hagar and Ishmael, though, and causes Abraham to send them off. This time, God permits them to be sent off, but stays with them, and promises to also raise a nation through Ishmael. God also tells Abraham that it is through Isaac that descendants will bear his name.[25]

The story of Abraham and Isaac is likely one of the best known stories in the Old Testament. God calls upon Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Perhaps Abraham has finally learned to fully trust God, because he neither argues nor tries to bargain. Abraham tells Isaac that “the Lord will provide the offering.” It is unclear whether Abraham is saying this to spare Isaac, for a time at least, from knowing that he is the planned sacrifice, or if Abraham is saying this in deep faith, foreseeing that God’s mercy will bring them through this trial. What we do know is that Abraham prepares Isaac as the sacrifice, and it is at the last moment that God stays Abraham’s hand; Isaac is not sacrificed, and a ram is sacrificed in his place.[26] Once again, Abraham is blessed by God, whose angel says “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only-begotten son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all of the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.[27]

Abraham has faced multiple trials: he had a child with Hagar, rather than awaiting fulfillment of the promise of a child for him and Sarah. He has twice had Sarah claim to be his sister, not for her safety but his own, and in doing so took the risk that another might claim her as a wife; thus, he caused discord in his own family unit as well as causing another to inadvertently sin. When he is visited by the three men, he negotiates with God for the salvation of Sodom; while his negotiating saves Lot and his daughters, Lot later gets drunk and impregnates each of his daughters, which is against God’s law and causes discord in Lot’s family unit. Finally, Abraham is told by God to offer his own son as a burnt offering. This is troublesome for us, God asking for human sacrifice of Abraham’s own child. Dauphinais and Levering tell us “Fidelity to the Creator must trump every created allegiance; one must be willing to give up all created goods in favor of union with God.”[28] Just as God provides a lamb to sacrifice in the place of Isaac, God will later give up his own son as the true Lamb to “establish perfect justice.”[29]

Abraham is important in salvation history because he shows us how to follow God. Salvation history shows us how God keeps his promises through Abraham’s descendants. Although Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph all make mistakes, all sin, and fail to live in complete faith and trust in God, God still works through them to bring about His salvation of all mankind. While you could say that all men are descended from Adam, or from Noah, in terms of our salvation, Abraham truly lives up to his title of Father Abraham.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dauphinais, Michael and Levering, Matthew: Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible Brazos Press, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2005

[1] Sir. 44:19 (Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition)

[2] Matt. 1:1

[3] Luke 1:55

[4] Luke 16:19-31

[5] Acts 7, especially Acts 7:1-16

[6] Gen. 10:1-32; 11:10-26

[7] Gen. 11:30

[8] Gen. 11:31

[9] Gen. 12:1-2

[10] Gen. 12:6-9

[11] Gen. 12:2

[12] Gen. 12:7