Bible Studies

Hagar’s Plight

Bruce Okkema
Hagar and an angel

by Bruce Okkema

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had
an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to
Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing
children. Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will obtain children
through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
– Genesis 16:1-2

Hagar and an angelThe story of Hagar does not seem so strange to those who live in cultures where polygamy is common. In fact, our friends in Africa have explained the dynamics of this account because they still see it occuring within their present surroundings.

God had promised to make Abram into a great nation, but it wasn’t happening. He had already asked Abram once to do the cultural equivalent of giving up his inheritance by moving away from his country, his relatives, and his father’s house as we read in Genesis 12:

“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; … ” Genesis 12:1-2

There was no greater desire than to have children, yet it had been more than ten years since they had left Abram’s father and Sarai had not become pregnant. She desperately wanted to resolve this situation so she did something which was common, offering her maidservant to her husband for the purpose of bearing children. Abram did not see this as irregular and went ahead with the suggestion.

We could discuss at some length the implications of what can result when we lose our patience with the Lord and take things into our own hands, but you can read the story in the rest of chapter 16. Our friends tell us that there is always inequity, fighting, mistreatment, or at least tension within families with more than one wife, and the children are usually put at odds.

Within our story, this began occurring already when Hagar became pregnant (verse 4). Sadly, the result was Hagar’s banishment to death in the wilderness. Can you imagine how she must have felt? She was a foreigner in a strange land, she had been faithful to Abram, faithful to Sarai, faithful to her yet unborn son, she had been used as a piece of property, and now she had been discarded like a piece of unwanted refuse.

The Lord had not been ignoring her abusive treatment and he sent his angel to her at her lowest moment. Not only did he bring comfort and deliverance, he promised her the greatest blessing she could imagine … that she would become the mother of a great nation as well!

Moreover, the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 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. – Genesis 16:10-11

We must never give up hope! Oh what a faithful, righteous, blessing God we serve!

Photocred: Rama

How Great is Peace

Lois Tverberg
Torah scroll

by Lois Tverberg

So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out
and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Then the
LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, `Will I
really have a child, now that I am old?’ – Genesis 18:12-13

The Jewish sages of Jesus’ time up until now have sought wisdom about how to live by God’s law. In certain situations two biblical commands might contradict each other, and deciding which takes precedence determines what priorities we ought to have. For instance, a principle called Pikuach Nephesh says that any command of the Law (except idolatry, incest, and murder) can be violated if a life is at stake. It shows the preciousness of human life that it should not be lost over ceremonial law.

Torah scrollA question we might ask is how the two commands “Love your neighbor” and “You shall not lie” should be compared. If we are in a situation where telling the truth would hurt a person, should we say it knowing it would hurt them? Or is honesty always the highest value no matter what? The rabbis found an interesting answer in this story from Abraham’s life.

When Sarah heard that she was going to have a baby, she laughed that this could happen when her “master was so old.” God heard her thoughts, but when he quoted her, he didn’t reveal that she was laughing about Abraham’s age. Instead, God left those words out and said only that she was thinking of how old she was. If God would have quoted her exact words, it might have caused hurt between her and Abraham. The rabbi’s comment was, “How great is peace, that for its sake, that God Himself would modify the truth” (Talmud).

This observation in no way suggests that telling an untruth is fine in any situation, but it points out that sometimes brutal honesty just hurts people and is not as good as remaining silent or carefully saying things so as to preserve a person’s feelings. Sometimes we feel that others have a “right to know” about something said about them that would needlessly hurt their feelings.

But as Jesus says, the greater command is “Love your neighbor” and all other values that we have must be weighed against that one.

Photocred: http://jamieshear.com

The God of the Covenant

Lois Tverberg
God's Covenant with Abraham

by Lois Tverberg

So the LORD said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half… When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram. – Genesis 15:9-10,17-18

God's Covenant with AbrahamWhen God reveals Himself to humanity, He uses images and customs that are already known rather than asking people to do something they don’t understand. Here, when God made a covenant with Abram, He asked Abram to bring five animals, sacrifice them and make a path between the halves of their bodies. God was using a method of making (literally “cutting”) a covenant that was well known in the ancient near east. Typically both parties would walk through the path of blood to take the covenant upon themselves. Then part of the sacrifices would be cooked and eaten in a covenantal meal, to celebrate the new bond of friendship between them.

Ancient covenants were not just business arrangements, they were more like marriages, where the lives of both parties are bound together to each other. It is thought that part of the imagery of this ceremony was that they were merging their lives together by walking through the same blood, which represents life. It is also thought that the ceremony is a way of promising that if either party does not fulfill his end of the covenant, that his life would be forfeited, like that of the animals.

One thing that is unique about this story is the idea that a god would make a covenant with a person or nation. Many Israelite practices were like those of the neighboring tribes – their sacrifices, the style of their temples, their laws and other customs. But the idea of a god making a promise and binding Himself to a people was unthinkable, and no ancient stories record anything like this outside the Bible. In contrast, the “gods” of the myths of the time were always capricious, unpredictable and frequently unfair. The difference between the true God and other tribal deities is profound, because He is a God who makes a promise and keeps it for eternity.

It is also interesting that this ceremony is modified from its original form to say something else about God. Normally both parties pass through the peices, both committing themselves to the covenant. Here, only God passes through the pieces, as if He is making a unilateral promise to fulfill His covenant, no matter what Abram does. His constancy and faithfulness are unwavering, and thankfully not dependent on the fickleness of humankind.

Photocred: Phillip Medhurst

Protection in Spite of Ourselves

Bruce Okkema
Abraham and Sarah

by Bruce Okkema

There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.” If the Egyptians see you, and think, `She is his wife,’ they will kill me and let you live. Please say that you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.
– Genesis 12:10-13

There are some passages in the Bible that we find hard to deal with, and this would certainly qualify. What good can we learn from a story in which a man asks his wife to sacrifice herself to save himself? Perhaps you are tempted to skip over such stories and jump to the next one, as I was in this case. But when we think about why certain things might be included in the biblical narrative, we have to conclude they are there for a purpose and we should study them too.

Let’s take a look at some of the details of this story to see what conclusions we might draw from it. The reality is that Abraham, like all of us, failed sometimes; he was not always “faithful.” Neither do we read that he prayed about the problem of the famine or his decision to go to Egypt for food. Also, we see the foretelling of another story in which much trouble results when God’s people go to Egypt for food without consulting Him first.

Abraham and SarahAbraham definitely knew of the danger of going there with his beautiful wife because of the licentious culture. In the pagan lands around Canaan, men let their lusts drive their actions and tried to take anything that looked desireable to them. His fears were soon realized when Pharaoh took Sarah into his house as his wife. There are other similar stories in the book of Genesis; one involves Abraham and Sarah again (Genesis 20:1-7), another, their son Isaac and his wife Rebekah (Genesis 26:1-11), and also the theme is repeated in the story from Sodom with Lot (Genesis 19:4-8).

In all of these stories we can see the wonderful hand of God’s blessing in spite of ourselves. Abraham is given much wealth, the potential innocent victims are spared, and God afflicts the guilty parties – Pharaoh, Abimelech, the people of Sodom, with serious plagues.

God is so faithful, even when we are not, Bless His Holy Name!

Photocred: http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=26685&artistlist=1&an=James

Lot’s Choice

Lois Tverberg
Lot leaves Sodom

by Lois Tverberg

Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
– Genesis 13:10-12

Even though the Lord makes Abram wait for years to have the thing he most longs for, a son, God starts to bless Abram materially immediately by multiplying his flocks and Lot’s too. At a certain point, Abram’s and Lot’s families have to part ways because their flocks are too large for the land that they have for them.

In this story, the difference between Abraham and Lot’s character becomes very obvious. Abraham graciously offers Lot first choice of the land, and Lot immediately takes advantage of the offer to choose the best and nicest for himself. In doing so, he abandons Canaan, the land God promised them in order to choose what was, in his opinion, better.

Interestingly, Jewish commentaries point out that the way Sodom is described is a subtle commentary on what it is really like. It looks like the “garden of God,” meaning the garden of Eden. They point out that even though Eden was paradise, it was the place of human disobedience from which humans finally were exiled. Sodom will be the same way – it is a place of great disobedience to God from which Lot will have to leave when God’s judgment comes. Next, Sodom is compared to the land of Egypt in beauty. But the Egyptians were known for their sexual immorality, and Abram feared that they would kill him to get his wife. That is another picture of Sodom, which is known for its sexual perversion. This is a hint, once again, to what Sodom is really like.

Then, Lot gets pulled in entirely into the life of Sodom – when he moves there, he doesn’t just camp away from people where his sheep can graze, he moves close to the city people who are known for their perversity. Lot was even involved in city affairs, “sitting in the gate” (the community center of the city), fully a participant in an evil culture.

Lot leaves SodomLot was truly foolish. He abandoned the good things God had offered to choose something that at first glance seemed better. But while it was attractive on the surface, underneath its appearances, it was a place of sin and rebellion. Not only did he choose it, he sank deeper and deeper into sin once he had moved there. Because of Lot’s foolish choices, he lost all of his inheritance, all of his wealth, and he even lost his wife when he had to flee. Unlike Abraham who lived not by sight, but by clinging to God’s promises, Lot ran after what looked good on the surface, even though it would later cost him dearly.

Aren’t our own choices too much like that sometimes?

photocred:  Wellcome Images

True Sons of Abraham

Lois Tverberg

by Lois Tverberg

Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up sons to Abraham. – Luke 3:8

The quote above is from John the Baptist. Understanding it depends on catching the meaning of the phrase “sons of Abraham,” which actually is important several places in the New Testament. A cultural perspective can clarify its meaning.

Abraham was of course the father of the Jewish people. He was a Gentile himself until he and his family took on God’s covenant by being circumcised, the covenantal sign for him and all his descendants. In one sense, the term “son of Abraham” means to be a decendant who shares in Abraham’s covenant, in effect to be a circumcised Jew. By the time of Jesus, the idea had arisen that a person’s salvation was based on his or her being a “son of Abraham” in terms of being part of the family covenant. However, in John’s words above, he is disagreeing with this and says not to claim that their national covenant made them right with God. Rather, they needed to be true “sons of Abraham” – people who inwardly have the faith that Abraham did. They expected that a son would tend to have his father’s personality, so to be a “son of Abraham” was to have the character of Abraham, meaning to have faith and commitment to God. Jesus says this in John 8:39.

Interestingly, Paul stretches the definition farther to even include the Gentiles, the very group not included in the first definition of a “son of Abraham”! He says,

Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations (Gentiles) will be blessed through you.” (Galatians 3:7)

Paul is reading the words of God’s promise to Abraham to say that He would bless the goyim, (meaning both “nations” and “Gentiles”) through him. He is pointing out that God’s blessings are not just for the Jews, those who become circumcised and obey the Torah, but also for the Gentiles of the world. Interestingly, when God told Abraham this, he was still a Gentile himself! From this fact, Paul can conclude that Gentile believers in God are true sons of Abraham. He says,

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galations. 3:29).

Abraham, Our Father

Bruce Okkema
Bosom of Abraham

by Bruce Okkema

“The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Matthew 1:1-2

Bosom of AbrahamAbraham is mentioned more than 200 times in the scriptures throughout both the Old and New Testaments. There are a full thirteen chapters dedicated to the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis alone, which make it one of the largest segments of the Biblical narrative. All this should tell us that the story of Abraham is very important to interpreting God’s plan for history as it applies to us. In the very first verse of the New Testament, the Gospel writer, Matthew, begins the lineage of Jesus with Abraham, and he is the first person in the Bible to be called a Hebrew (Genesis 14:13). And the prophet Isaiah tells us,

Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many. (Isaiah 51:1-2)

What was it about this man that was so important for us to study? It will be a fascinating journey as we walk through the life of this great man. Certainly we will see his trust, his faithfulness, his chutzpah, and his courage. We will also see that he was human, he had shortcomings, and he failed on some occasions.

Abraham did not have the benefit of hindsight as he obediently followed God’s leading; he did not know when he was being tested. But we can see how the Lord fulfilled every promise that He had made. It is almost as if God is saying to us, “Do you see how I tested this man, how he obeyed me in blind faith, and how I was faithful to him?” “Why would it be any different for you?”

James writes of Abraham, “You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend (chapter 2:22-23).

I hope that one day, when my time is over, I too can be called God’s friend.

Photocred: Herrad von Landsberg

Faithful Abram

Lois Tverberg
Stars

by Lois Tverberg

The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
– Genesis 12:1-3

StarsGod chose Abram to begin His great plan to redeem the world. His fame comes from his faith in God, which we will see most strongly when he is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac and willingly does everything God asks until God tells him not to follow through.

If we read the story of Abram’s call knowing its cultural context, we see his faithfulness even in the beginning of his story. God’s first words to him were to leave his country, his people and his family. In that day, that would have been almost as difficult of a test as the sacrifice of Isaac. In his time, every kind of security that a person had was bound up in their clan and their land. There were no such thing as police, so if a person was robbed or assaulted, the only protection they had was in their clan. Without children, Abram also would have no security in old age that anyone would take care of him. Abram’s extended family would have been his only place to go for help. So God was asking Abram a huge thing in asking him to leave his people, because his identity in that culture, his family, his protection and his future security would all be left behind.

On the other hand, God’s promise to Abram would have meant much more in ancient times than it did today. We think of success as becoming very wealthy, or having power in government. But in Abram’s time success was tied to family– the greatest hope a person could have would be that he or she would become the mother or father of many descendants. By offering to make of him a great nation, God promises him a huge prize in return for th huge risk that he is taking.

Old Jewish ManAbraham and Sarai and their little group were taking a huge risk when they left all for the Lord. The fact that they were childless at 75 when they heard the call may have made them wonder if a God who didn’t wouldn’t give them children up until now would do so now. And then 25 more years of childlessness didn’t do anything to make them feel more confident that God would fufill His promises.

Through all the doubts, Abram remained faithful. And because of his faithfulness, he is not only father of all the Jews, but all the faithful who come to believe in his descendant, Jesus. Because of his faithfulness, he became the father of a family that numbers more than the sands of the sea.

Photocred: Michael J. Bennett and Movieevery

Cain’s Crime, God’s Response

Lois Tverberg
Cain Cries

by Lois Tverberg

“And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Gen. 4:8-9

When we read this story, it isn’t clear to us why God chooses to accept Abel’s sacrifice over Cain’s. The text says that Abel brought some of the fat portions of the first born animals of his flock, and to an ancient Israelite, that would have meant the absolute best of the absolute most precious animals that he had.

Cain brought some of the produce of his field, but no mention is made of it being the first or best, suggesting that Abel offered his sacrifice with enthusiasm, but Cain offered it out of a sense of social obligation, with an eye toward what he would get in return, in comparison to his brother. It appears that God knew their hearts and responded accordingly, but in Cain’s eyes, it looked as if God had arbitrarily favored his brother over himself. God chooses whom he will bless, and sometimes that is a mystery to us. We sometime see God’s kindness toward others as favoritism and it makes us angry.

Cain CriesThis story has a great irony, however, because in punishment, God’s grace extends to Cain too. Cain has taken his brother’s life and certainly merits death for his actions. But not only does God spare Cain from the fate that he gave his brother, he promises to protect Cain from harm and repay anyone who tries to harm him. God is being amazingly merciful to a man who was forewarned about the evil that he was about to do, does it anyway, and then brazenly answers God’s question about his brother with, “Why should I care?”

The irony is that Abel appears to merit God’s favor, but because Cain had the slightest doubt of God’s choice of favoring him, he is angered. But Cain, who has no merit of all, receives even greater grace from God. How unfathomable is God’s kindness!

We should learn that while we all can compare how God has blessed others in comparison to ourselves, to do so only leads to jealousy and hatred. God sometimes chooses and we can’t see why. But we also know that God’s choosing extends to the most unworthy, and extends even to the one who merits least of all, which is often ourselves.

Photocred: Jastrow

My Brother’s Keeper

Lois Tverberg
Abel is Dead

y Lois Tverberg

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. – Genesis 4:9-10

We often miss the major point of biblical texts if we don’t take into account the wording and poetry of the story. Often, a word is repeated over and over in the story to make a point in a subtle way. The first time we read the word “brother” in the bible (ach, in Hebrew) is when Eve gave birth to Abel after first having Cain. It says, “Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel,” (Genesis 4:2) showing that the first person in all of the Bible to be a brother to someone else is Abel, and the first person to have a brother is Cain.

Interestingly, in the next several verses, the word brother is repeated seven times, and the middle time is in God’s question, “Where is Abel your brother?” The writers were very sensitive to word repetition and pattern, and to repeat a word seven times emphasizes its centrality to the story. Abel is DeadThe unspoken message is that God’s question, “Where is Abel your brother?” is central and very important – Abel is the first brother, and the only brother to Cain, and he is responsible for him. Cain’s response, the first words after Abel’s murder, shows that he has rejected his responsibility to his one and only brother.

The Bible often uses the first of a kind to represent all of that kind, as Adam is the first and representative man. So the take-home message of this story is that all who are human are our brothers, and we are our brother’s keepers. The minute we forget that, sin starts to crouch at our door and we start moving down a path toward evil that may even lead toward murder.

We might think that this is self-evident and not something to be reminded of. But modern culture today emphasizes our individuality to the point of amazing self-centeredness. Materialism and consumerism prey on answering every need of ours, and pornography feeds the desire to use others’ bodies for our own pleasure. Every possible convenience is available to us, showing us that the world will obey our every whim. As a result we become self-centered and short-tempered in our relationships with others, expecting everything to go our way at all times. Only when we are reminded that other humans are our brothers, and that we must love our brothers as ourselves, will we begin to live as God wants us to.

Photocred: Art Renewal Center