Genesis 12-50 - The Patriarchal History
Abraham and his son Isaac are covered in Genesis 12-25. As important as Abraham is we know very little about the first 75 years of his life. The Bible is less concerned about his history than it is with his obedience to God’s call on his life. This call on Abram, as he was known before chapter 17, held three promises: land, descendents, and the blessing His presence Abram was called out of Ur in southern Babylonia to travel to Canaan to reestablish his family there. Having no children and no family in the area, this was an extremely risky move that required a lot of faith on his part. This section recounts the story of Abram’s failures but also of his recurring success in God’s eyes by believing in the promises that God was making to him. This faith is foundational for Christians and is referenced by Paul in Romans 4 as a perfect example of saving faith. Genesis 15 also holds a key event that shows God’s commitment to His promises. God performs a covenant ritual with Abram, in effect invoking a curse on Himself if He should fail to keep the promises He has made to Abram. This section also includes the story Sarai’s failure in giving Hagar to Abram thus producing Ishmael. Though Abram and Sarai attempt to help God by providing Hagar as a surrogate mother, Ishmael would not be the son spoken of by God in His promises to Abram. While God established His covenant with Abram in Genesis 15 He actually brings that covenant to life in Genesis 17 where He reiterates the importance of the faith that Abram has and that it is the basis for the covenant relationship that they have. The covenant ritual of circumcision is also introduced as a physical sign of this special relationship. Additionally, in this same section Abram and Sarai both are renamed to the more familiar names Abraham and Sarah. This section also chronicles the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the moral decay of Lot, Abraham’s nephew, and his family. Eventually God miraculously gives Abraham and Sarah the child He promised, Isaac, who grows to manhood in Canaan. Surprisingly in chapter 22 God tests Abraham’s faith by calling him unambiguously to sacrifice Isaac to Him. Isaac was not a child at this time but rather a young adult. By faith Abraham passes this test, trusting that God would bring him back from the dead (Heb 11:19). God eventually “provided for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering” (Gen 22:8), Isaac is spared and Abrahams faith is proven. At every turn Abraham quickly and quietly obeyed the word of God, first giving up his past by leaving his home and lastly by giving up his future by willingly offering Isaac up in sacrifice. Abraham’s servant (most likely Eliazar) is sent to Mesopotamia to get a wife from his own peoples where he providentially encounters Rebekah, a not too distant relative of Abraham.
Although Isaac is a Patriarch and the son of the covenant he soon fades from view after his twin sons, Jacob and Esau, are born. Despite the fact that Esau is the firstborn, Jacob supplants his position. This is a seemingly common occurrence in the OT. Privilege position by birth has little to do with our standing before God. Chapters 25-36 chronicle the story of Jacob. Isaac’s wife Rebekah has twins, Esau and Jacob. Esau is the elder but God tells Rebekah that Jacob will be the one to inherit the promise and blessing from God. In a very deceptive set of circumstances Jacob purchases Esau’s birthright for a bowl of stew and steals the paternal blessing from Jacob by pretending to be Esau. For this reason Jacob flees for his life to Padan Aram to hide out and seek a wife from the relatives of his mother Rebekah. The question of the Jacob stories is “what will become of God’s covenant promises?” God answers that question unequivocally in a dream that He gives to Jacob while he is fleeing from his bother Esau. On his way to Haran God confirms in a dream that He is with Jacob and that the covenant promises He made to Abraham and Isaac, He would continue to keep through Jacob. After many years of service to his deceitful relative Laban, Jacob returns to Canaan a wealthy man with two wives and two concubines: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah. After one of the most enigmatic sections of Scripture within the Bible wherein Jacob wrestles with God, most likely a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus (also known as a christophony). In this encounter Jacob fights hard to recieve the blessing from God and as a result not only was he permanently crippledbut his name is changed to Israel,marking a significant change in his character. He was no longer “cheater” and “heel catcher” but now he was one who “strives with God” or another translation “soldier (or prince) with God.” Once back in Canaan, Jacob is reconciled with Esau. Jacob has 13 offspring by these women: From Leah there were Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon; from Rachel there were Joseph and Benjamin; from Bilhah there were Dan and Naphtali; from Zilpah there where Gad and Asher. Leah also bore Jacob a daughter, Dinah.
The final section of Genesis, chapters 37-50, focuses on the life of the last major character detailed in Genesis, Joseph. Joseph was the eldest son of Rachel, the wife that Jacob oved most. Unlike the Patriarchs, Joseph is not in the direct, Messianic line of the covenant. In a sense he is a peripheral character but his story is important for two reasons: (1) He is a superb example of how to live a life dedicated to God in the face of extreme temptation and persecution; (2) The story of Joseph explains his the Israelites came to be in Egypt instead of Palestine where God had called Abraham to go. God gives Joseph dreams foretelling his eventual position of prominence over the whole family. These prognostications and the favoritism shown by Jacob incite intense jealousy among Jacobs’s brothers who eventually capture him and sell him to Ishmaelite slave traders who take him to Egypt and sell him. Genesis chronicles Josephs patient and humble rise to power in Egypt where he suffers many wrongs only to eventually become the second most powerful many in Egypt. By God blessing Joseph with the ability to interpret dreams and the wisdom to administrate He puts Joseph in a position where he is capable of blessing not only the Egyptians during a severe famine but also his own family. Eventually is able to bring his family down to live in Egypt where a great theological truth about the providence of is revealed in Gen 50:19-20. The book ends with Both Jacob and subsequently Joseph dying. Jacob is carried back up to Canaan for burial but Joseph makes the children of Israel swear an oath to eventually carry his bones back to Canaan for burial.
Genesis 12-50 is the story of the Patriarchs. The term Patriarch refers to the individuals who stand at the “fountainhead” of the faith: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Many biblical scholars cover the Patriarchal History by looking it from four perspectives: the historical background, the date and historicity of the narratives, the literary genre of the text, the religion of the Patriarchs, and finally the theology of the narratives. On the subject of the historical background of the texts there are some scholars that have come to view the Patriarchal narratives as having almost no historical worth. These critics view the Patriarchs as figures of Canaanite deities, heroes drawn from folklore, or personifications of tribes from the area represented in the texts. However, when these critics developed their views, the history and culture of the 3rd and 2nd millennium were virtually unknown. The subsequent discoveries that have been made have transformed the period from a “dark ages” into a period of time that is well known and documented. We can break this time in the Ancient Near East into three distinct time periods: Prehistory (before 3000), Third Millennium (3000-2000), and the Patriarchal Age (2000-1500). The Patriarchal Age is the timeframe that is of primary importance to readers of Genesis 12-50. This timeframe is considered the Middle Bronze Age II (MBII) and includes important figures as Hammurabi (1728-1626) who developed a code of laws very similar to the Law of Moses that was given by God at Sinai somewhere between 15th and 13th century BC. This section of Scripture describes events that occurred over centuries of time but since there is such a lack of references to concurrent historical events in other ancient Near Eastern nations it is difficult at best to date this section. Scholars suggest a date range somewhere between 2200 BC and 1200 BC and the descriptions (archeological, cultural and literary) seem to fit well into the Middle Bronze Age. It is imporant to note, as ridiculous as it is, there are those that deny the very existence of these Patriarchs claiming that they were simply created to explain the Hebrew’s own existence. Despite this skepticism, this does not disprove the existence of the Patriarchs and Christians have every reason to believe the narrative as archeologists and historians have corroborated many of the features and accounts of the text and will undoubtedly continue to make discoveries that back the text up to even greater degrees in the future. On the subject of the date and historicity of the Patriarchal narratives we first see that a literary study of these texts reveals a historical focus even though the message is primarily theological. Many hististonians make the distinction that since these texts have been delivered through a long process of oral and written transmission the resulting narratives are neither basic messaging nor history in the modern sense of the word. We can say with absolute clarity that due to the similarities in the names of biblical character to Amorite names, the descriptions of the stable and peaceful way of life experienced by the Patriarchs, the naems of the cities mentioned within the texts, the nomadic lifestyles of the Patriarchs, and finally the general picture of Patriarchal religion (God being the personal God of the Abraham and his clan) that this places the narratives within the 2nd millennium BC. One point of contention that is often raised is the fact that there is a the lack of evidence that the Negev, an area frequented by Abraham, was occupied in MBII though it is well known that by the Middle Bronze I it was extensively inhabited.
With respect to literary genre in Genesis 12-50, it is important to remember the aims of the biblical authors were primarily theological. For this reason the accounts are of events and incidents showing how God acted to bring about His desires and what God has done to inspire faith in His followers. The narratives in no way falsify history but are highly selective about what they represent because of the purpose of the narratives. Although there are some accounts in Genesis 12-50 that are difficult to harmonize with history, they are only problematic if interpreted as history in the modern sense as opposed to “remembered past”. While there is not enough information to gather a complete picture of the religious life of the Patriarchs, we do have enough information to gain a general knowledge of their religion in its cultural context. It is clear that when Abraham left Haran for Canaan, he left his old religious traditions to follow God with a single-minded devotion. This same god appeared to each of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), choosing them and promising to be with them; thus God was identified in relation to the family, “the God of Abraham”, “the God of Isaac”, and “the God of Jacob”. This important section of Scripture reveals God to be a personal God, one who desires to have a relationship with individuals which is in stark contrast to the Canaanite gods, who were primarily associated with places and uninterested in individuals. This section marks a change in the way that this personal God deals with the problem of His ruined creation. Before the Patriarchs came onto the scene God dealt with the world in a very universal way and scale. However starting in Genesis 12 God begins to deal with the problem of sin by way of the faith of a single man, a very unique and interesting change. A cornerstone truth held in this section is “how the faithful obedience of a single individual has universal significance. The Patriarchal history begins with the call of Abraham (know as Abram at the time). This call represents a demonstration of grace in the face of the disobedience and judgment of the first 11 chapters of Genesis. These chapters theologically answer the question about God’s relationship to fallen and scattered humanity. As mentioned previously, Genesis 12-50 is primarily a theological text and several key points are dealt with within its chapters: Election and the promises of God; Faith and Righteousness; and the concept of Covenant. . The promises of Abraham, while stated in a grandiose fashion in both Gen 13:16 and 15:5, come in conflict with his real life journey: (1) he is to be a great nation but Sarah is barren; (2) the land belongs to his descendents but the Canaanites occupy it. Despite the odds being against him, God comes through and proves His faithfulness; and not just for Abraham but also for all of the Patriarchs, each of which receive the promise that is eventually fulfilled (at least in part) by God’s deliverance of Israel from the Egyptians in the book of Exodus. The story of Joseph is important in this area as we see the first stage in the transition from a patriarchal family to an independent nation upon which God can enact His promises. The theme of salvation in Genesis is a forward looking one, pointing to the book of Exodus and eventually to the ultimate salvation provided by Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Faith and Righteousness is the cornerstone of the Patriarchal stories, especially when having to do with Abraham. As a precedent, at the point of Abrahams’ call, we see the simple and terse response of “So Abraham went, as the Lord told him” (Gen 22:4). This simple verse serves as a paradigm of faith for the rest of the Bible. In fact this faith that Abraham exhibits is so important in the scope of things that God “accounts it to him as righteousness”. This very basically means that God considered Abraham, a sinful man like you or I, righteous due to his unwavering trust in the promises that God made to him. God’s highest test for Abraham culminated in God’s commandment for Abraham to offer up Isaac as a sacrifice. It is important to remember that Isaac represented the fulfillment of the promise and thus this challenge was extremely difficult but Abraham meets it in with the same stoic and unrelenting faith, declaring directly to Isaac himself that “The Lord will provide Himself” a sacrifice (Gen 22:8).
The transition from election to becoming God’s covenant people is not simple, historically nor theologically. Where we see a great man of faith in Abraham, we see a very worldly man, a model of guile and self-reliance, in the person of Jacob/Israel. Eventually we see the work of God in the man’s life culminating in wrestling encounter with God where he is “subdued” and become a true follow of the living God. Theologically there are three main ideas that are key to the Patriarchal stories: (1) Election – God‘s sovereign choosing of man for the purposes of his service; (2) Promise – the sure promises of God are the foundation of the Patriarchal accounts but are only partially fulfilled and are therefore forward looking with a future generation experiencing the ultimate fulfillment of them; (3) Covenant – covenant is related to promise and establishes a theological framework for redemptive relationships throughout the Bible and Christian theology. While the promises told the Patriarchs of the great things they could expect from God, the covenant informed them what was expected from them in their relationship. The covenant promises of God are an element of great importance within the history of the Patriarchs. As mentioned above, Covenant is a central theme of this and all Scripture. In establishing the covenant with Abraham, God lowers Himself to place Himself symbolically under a curse so as to affirm to Abraham the certainty of His promises. It is God alone who takes the oath; nothing is required from Abraham, (except circumcision as a sign of the covenant). This dramatically differs from the Mosaic covenant, which we will see very shortly, because only God alone lays Himself under obligation wherein the covenant given to Moses at Sinai is conditinal based on the response and obedience of the Israelintes. In the Mosaic Covenant Israel takes and oath which places the nation under the stringent stipulations of the covenant. Abraham’s covenant depends solely on the unchanging character of God Almighty, whereas the Mosaic Covenant is clearly linked to the response of the nation of Israel. Despite this difference both have their origin in the sovereinty, grace and overflowing mercy of God who desires nothing more that that we would receive His free gift of salvation and spend eternity with Him.
If you are not “born again”, having actively received the salvation that God has freely given us, than you do not have the hope that these promises from God are for you. However, this is easy to fix. If you desire to have peace with God and peace in your heart the scriptures say that all you must do is believe in what the Bible declares about Jesus the Christ.
Step 1: Understand the problem - you are a sinner like everyone else:
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23)
Step 2: Understand the implication of that problem:
“For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a)
Step 3: Understand the hope that you can have in Christ Jesus:
“but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:23b)
Step 4: Understand the love that God has for you:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)
Step 5: Understand the solution to the problem:
“WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.” (Rom 10:13)
Step 6: Understand the result of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ:
“if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9)
The Bible declares that today is the day of salvation so choose today whom you will serve: He who is able to save you to the uttermost; or he who desires your destruction.
God bless you
Erick