By Ray Roennfeldt
A Comment on the Sabbath School Lesson for January 18–24, 2003, on Genesis 12–18
Most of us know the seriousness of entering into a contract of covenant. When two parties make a promise—whether by verbal or written agreement—we expect them to keep their word. And we feel "ripped off" when things don’t work out as they should. A couple of years ago I bought a computer from a discount retailer. Well, I didn’t really buy a computer! I bought a promise of a computer with a $1,000 deposit. Then, when I went to collect the computer on the agreed date, I found that the businessman had "closed" his store.
A thousand dollars seemed like a heavy loss at the time, but it wasn’t a life-and-death matter. As a minister of religion, I often listen to young couples optimistically covenanting with each other to love and cherish "until death do us part." Yet, in most Western countries the divorce rate approaches 50 percent, with little difference in the statistics for Christians and non-Christians. It makes one wonder at the value of covenants and contracts.
God’s covenant with Abram (later Abraham) appears to have evolved as their relationship grew. In Genesis 12, at the time God calls Abraham to leave Ur for a country that he will show him, God promises him that he will be "a great nation," that his name will be great, and that "all peoples on earth will be blessed" through him (1–3). The succeeding narratives that tell of Abraham’s failure in Egypt, his separation from nephew Lot, and his rescue of Lot illustrate a mixed picture in regard to Abraham’s response to God’s covenant promises.
Then, in Genesis 15 God "cuts" (quite literally) an even more formal deal with Abraham. "He took him outside and said, ’Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ’So shall your offspring be’" (5). Even though the narrator notes that "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness" (6), Abram asks God for a sign that the agreement was sure. In response, God appears as a smoking torch that passes between the carcasses of sacrificed animals (10, 17). Along with many descendants, God also promises enslavement in "a country not their own" for four hundred years (12–16). Again, the succeeding narrative illustrates little progress toward the fulfillment of the promises. In fact, the opposite appears to be the case, with Abraham and Sarai (later Sarah) attempting to turn God’s covenant promises into a self-fulfilling prophecy through Hagar and Ishmael (Gen. 16).
Again in Genesis 17, the divine covenant is renewed: "I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God" (7–8). At this point, God commands circumcision of all males in Abraham’s camp as "the sign of the covenant between me and you" (11). The following narrative confirms this reaffirmation of the agreement between God and Abraham. The LORD appeared to Abraham, again promising a son to the aged Abraham and Sarah (much to Sarah’s mirth), while foretelling imminent destruction for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham responds with repeated pleas for God to spare the cities (Gen. 18).
Questions for reflection or discussion: What connections can be made between the covenant promises of Genesis 12–18 and the narratives interspersed between the covenant passages? Why did God choose such "barbaric" symbols of covenant faithfulness as animal sacrifice and circumcision? Why the emphasis on names and name changes (both divine and human) in the narratives of Genesis 12–18? What does an "everlasting" covenant mean, and did God impose covenant conditions? Reflect on Psalm 105 as a hymn of praise to God for his everlasting covenant faithfulness.
The Old Testament announces that God desires to make a new agreement with Israel and Judah "because they broke my covenant" (Jer. 31:31–32). This new covenant involved a wholehearted response to God, the covenant initiator: "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people" (33). Hebrews 8 declares Jesus Christ to be the high priest of that new covenant.
What, then, was the nature of the everlasting covenant that God made with Abraham, and later with Isaac, Jacob, and Israel (see Ps. 105:8–11)? Was it an agreement based on the obedience of his followers? Or was it a covenant of grace? Paul, in Galatians 4, uses the Abraham/Sarah/Isaac and Abraham/Hagar/Ishmael narratives of Genesis to illustrate the difference between the Old and New Covenants. He observes that "These things may be taken figuratively, for the two women represent two covenants" (24). The following table illustrates the differences between the two:
Old Covenant
Mount Sinai
Hagar = "slave woman"
[Ishmael] = "born in the ordinary way"
"The present city of Jerusalem"
New Covenant
[Calvary]
[Sarah] = "free woman"
[Isaac] = "born as the result of a promise"
"The Jerusalem that is above"
"We are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free" (Gal. 4:31–5:1)
It appears that when Abraham was trying to fulfill God’s promises through his own efforts, he was living an Old Covenant experience. In contrast, when trusting God to fulfil his promises in his own time, Abraham was living a New Covenant experience. Likewise, our relationship with God is not based in law, but in promise. We are free indeed! Grace, which was the sole basis for God’s covenant with Abraham, is the motivating force that prompts our service, growth, and obedience.
Questions for reflection or discussion: What is the biblical evidence that God’s covenant with Abraham was based in grace? How can an understanding of God’s covenant with Abraham—made millennia ago—have relevance for life in the twenty-first century?
Joyce G. Baldwin. The Message of Genesis 12–50: From Abraham to Joseph, The Bible Speaks Today Series. Leicester: IVP, 1986.
Laurence A. Turner. Genesis, Readings: A New Biblical Commentary Series. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000.
Gordon J. Wenham. "Genesis 16–50," in Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 2. Dallas, Texas: Word, 1994.
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