Month: <span>January 2016</span>

Within the narrative of Genesis to this point, the land of Canaan was a fulcrum for understanding the development of the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:1-3; 15:1-21). Abraham was staunchly opposed to Isaac leaving the land of Canaan when the time came for Isaac to take a wife (Gen 24:6-7). As a grown man, Isaac received the promise that his descendants would inherit the Promised Land (Gen 26:1-3). Jacob received multiple manifestations of God—in each, God promised him an allotment in the land of Canaan (Gen 28:10-22; 31:1-3; 35:1).

God’s word to Jacob at the beginning of Genesis 46 thus met the patriarch in a crisis. Even though the famine was severe—and Joseph had a position of prominence in prosperous Egypt—Jacob was concerned about leaving Canaan. The text emphasizes that God would take Jacob down to Egypt, cause him to prosper, and bring him back—for His own interests (Gen 46:3-4). By His word of promise, God emphatically bolstered Jacob’s faith, stating His personal stake in the events of the patriarchal family.

The bulk of Genesis 46-47 details the degree to which God’s word reassured Jacob in a time of crisis. Jacob and his family stepped out in faith away from Canaan. Genesis 46:8-27 is the record of the faithful ones who trusted that God would bless them outside of the covenant land as they headed to Egypt. The genealogy in Numbers 26 compliments this list, recording those who left Egypt to take back the land. Genesis 47 presents contrasting portraits of Jacob’s descendants and all other people experiencing famine. God was faithful to His word and the patriarchal family prospered in Goshen. They “acquired property in it and became fruitful and very numerous” (Gen 47:27), while even the natives of Egypt placed themselves in servitude to Pharaoh.

God’s promise to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants shapes the storyline of Old Testament Scripture. The Jewish leadership in Jesus’ day sought to maintain their control of the land originally promised to Canaan even as their control was mediated by the Roman authorities. This is one of the reasons they opposed Jesus. He came to solidify God’s promises to all nations, not maintain Jewish distinction within Rome at all costs. After Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead—which increased Jesus’ popularity among the nations—John records that “The chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, ‘What are we going to do since this man does many signs? If we let Him continue in this way, everybody will believe in Him! Then the Romans will come and remove both our place and our nation’” (John 11:47-48). The paradigm of Judaism cannot be separated from the inheritance of Canaan. How different is this focus on the land from Jesus’ post-resurrection words to His disciples when He commissioned them to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20).

Joseph had a position of influence in Egypt because the Lord revealed to him that a famine would come upon the land and Pharaoh needed to prepare rations. The famine was not bound to Egypt but affected life in Canaan too. The patriarchal family was forced to look to Egypt for food (Genesis 42). God thus placed Joseph in a vocational position to provide for the needs of his family (Gen 41:5-6). From Gen 42:7 onward, Joseph was comforted with the reality that his family (especially Benjamin and Jacob) were alive. From his position of prominence in Egypt, Joseph wished to find out the details of his missing family members and what he could do to provide for them.

Upon recognizing that his family was still alive, Joseph desired to see Benjamin and Jacob and provide for them through the famine. In the first phase of Joseph’s plan, he arranged a security deposit to make sure that his brothers would in fact come back to him—as opposed to just leaving with the grain. But God had a further purpose in Joseph’s scheme with Simeon; it began to work conviction in the heart of his brothers (Gen 42:21-22).

Ultimately the famine became so severe that it broke Jacob’s clutch on even his beloved Benjamin. As the eleven brothers returned to Egypt, in tears Joseph prepared a feast (Gen 42:14), released Simeon (Gen 43:23), inquired about Jacob (Gen 43:27-28), and blessed Benjamin (Gen 43:29, 34). In Genesis 45, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, weeping at God’s providence over both his station in Egypt and the famine God used to re-unite him with his family. Joseph’s brothers returned to Canaan and told their father the news of God’s blessing upon them all. When Jacob heard the news about Joseph’s position in Egypt and saw the provisions Joseph had sent with his brothers, his spirit was revived, and he made plans to go to Joseph in Egypt (Gen 45:25-28).

In Scripture’s storyline, God used famine to direct His people and advance His redemptive plans. The theme of famine shapes the narrative of Genesis. Abraham went to Egypt because of a famine in Canaan (Gen 12:10-20) and Isaac was forced to go to the land of the Philistines because of a famine in Canaan (Gen 26:1-11). In Deut 28:48, Moses warned the people that if they were unfaithful to God in the Promised Land, God would bring famine upon the land. Ruth, the Moabite who would become the grandmother of King David, came into the line of Abraham’s descendants because Elimelech’s family came to Edom for food when there was a famine in Canaan (Ruth 1:1; 4:17). God used famine in the Promised Land during the ministries of Elijah (1 Kings 18:2) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:38) to display His power of provision through them, beckoning Israel to return and be faithful. Early in the ministry of Paul—while he was ministering in Antioch—a prophet named Agabus came from Jerusalem and prophesied by the Spirit that a great famine would come upon the Roman world (Acts 11:28). The church in Antioch (comprised predominantly of Gentiles) took up a collection for the saints in Judea and commissioned Barnabas and Paul to take the contribution to Jerusalem (Acts 11:30; see Acts 12:25; Gal 2:10). In Paul’s second and third missionary journeys, he employed the Gentiles in famine relief, receiving gifts from them and taking those gifts to Jerusalem to meet the needs of Jewish Christians there. Paul hoped that gifts from the Gentiles would demonstrate to the Jews that these Gentiles, like Paul himself, were truly people of God. Paul’s travel plans and administration of famine relief are a fitting conclusion to the book of Romans, his most thorough reflection on the storyline of Scripture:

I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints; for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution to the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased, and they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual benefits, then they are obligated to minister to Jews in material needs…. Now I implore you, brothers, through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to agonize together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf: that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints (Rom 15:25-27, 30-31; see 1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8:1-9:15).

Genesis is a story of generations, especially the lives of Abraham’s lineage. The first book of the Bible colorfully recounts the endurance of the covenant-heirs. To this point in the narrative they have survived threats from within and without, and at each step God’s redemptive plan worked through both the faithfulness and failure of His covenant partners.

At the beginning of Genesis 37, the text portrays the same kind of internal strife that characterized the covenant family since the early days of Jacob and Esau (25:27-34; 27:1-46), noted most recently in Jacob’s fragile relationship with his sons (34:30-31). But Joseph’s brothers went farther, selling their brother into slavery. While the perceived loss of Joseph was not a technical obstruction of the covenant (Jacob yet had eleven other male children), the fact that Jacob lamented so upon hearing that a wild animal had eaten his favorite son displays no small setback for the covenant family (Gen 37:33-35).

Judah’s aggressive personality can be seen in his intercession for Joseph in Gen 37:2-27 and in his immoral behavior in Genesis 38. While Judah’s pursuit of a prostitute in Gen 38:15-18 is repulsive, Judah’s initial sin was his lack of faithfulness as a family leader. He should have disciplined his son Onan for not having children by Tamar following the death of her husband, Er (Gen 38:8-9). Judah should have arranged for Shua to marry Tamar (Gen 38:11-12, 26). Judah was ultimately convicted of his sin and he confessed of Tamar, “She is more in the right than I” (Gen 38:26).

There may be more to the arrangement of Genesis 38-39 than a recounting of the life and times of various members of the covenant family. Judah’s violation of Tamar in Genesis 38 is placed just before Joseph’s ardent moral capacity in Genesis 39 so as to highlight the contrast between the two. While Joseph was unjustly punished, his situation in prison was the same as that in Potiphar’s house: the Lord was with him (Gen 39:2, 21, 23). God ultimately met Joseph’s need there—even causing his work to prosper (Gen 40:23). God enabled Joseph to interpret the dreams of the baker, cupbearer, and Pharaoh (Gen 40:12-41:14).

The narrative of Genesis 37-41 introduces a geographical framework that provides structure for the metanarrative of the Bible—especially the relationship between the nation of Israel and Christ. Earlier in the narrative of Genesis, the Lord told Abraham, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be strangers in a land that does not belong to them; they will be enslaved and oppressed 400 years. However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterwards they will go out with many possessions” (Gen 15:13-14). Joseph’s slavery and exaltation in Egypt was the initial fulfillment of this prophecy. Later, Jacob and all of his descendants followed Joseph to the land of Egypt (Genesis 46). Initially, their sojourn south was to sustain the patriarchal family during a time of severe famine. Ultimately, however, God sent Jacob and his family to Egypt to enrich them there and then bring them out by His mighty power demonstrated in the exodus (Exodus 5-15). The patriarchal family’s escape to the land of Egypt is mirrored in the initial scenes of the life of Christ recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Though the vast majority of the Bible’s references to Egypt are pejorative (see Isa 19-20; 30:1-17; 31:1-5; Jer 44:1-14; Rev 11:7-10), Egypt was a place of refuge for both the young nation of Israel and the young Son of God. In the storyline of Scripture, the former always points to the latter. When King Herod was planning to eliminate the potential threat of the newborn King of the Jews, Matthew wrote that an angel appeared to Joseph and told him to take his family and escape to Egypt for refuge. This would fulfill the word of the Lord to Moses in Exod 4:12-23 and to the prophet Hosea in Hos 11:1. Out of Egypt, the Lord called His Son (Matt 2:13-15).

Since Genesis 12, the narrative has displayed the endurance of the Abrahamic covenant. Genesis 34-36 traces how the descendants of Abraham would live in the Promised Land. While Jacob and his sons attempted to establish themselves in the land of Canaan, the family of faith capitulated to their pagan neighbors. In the events of Genesis 34-36, God’s purposes are not thwarted by the sin of His people.

Genesis 34 recounts Dinah’s disposition in Shechem. “She went out to see some of the young women of the area” (Gen 34:1). Dinah was fitting in a little too well with pagans. But Shechem’s actions more obviously display moral depravity. While the violation of Dinah is horrific in any culture, Shechem’s proposal of marriage would likewise be disastrous to the covenant family. The intermarriage Shechem proposed would have compromised the covenant God made with Abraham—even if he “loved the young girl and spoke tenderly to her” (Gen 34:3), urging his father to get her for him as a wife (contra Genesis 24, where Abraham renounced a foreign wife for Isaac).

Dinah’s brothers wished to avenge what Shechem had done to their sister. They thus deceitfully agreed to the Hivite proposition of intermarriage between the two clans. While the pain of circumcision would have been crippling to the adult male Hivites, it would prove to be only a foreshadowing of the murder and plunder that would follow (Gen 34:25-29). Jacob finally entered into a dialog with his sons in Gen 34:30-31, recognizing that the actions of his children had caused his situation in the Promised Land to go from bad to worse.

Throughout Genesis, God works through the choices of humanity, causing even the sins of the covenant family to advance His redemptive plan—yet never excusing the wicked moral choices of anyone. This principle is illustrated in Gen 35:1-8. After the failures of the covenant family in the northern part of Canaan, God called Jacob to go south, to the covenant land of Bethel, the place where Jacob had made a vow to God (Gen 28:20-22).

The genealogical records of Genesis 35-36 help trace God’s promises in relation to Abraham’s descendants. Esau’s wives were all Canaanite women, those outside the covenant family (Gen 36:1-3; see Gen 26:34-35; 27:46). Esau’s marital choices reveal that he was not the heir of the promise. Nonetheless, he prospered and enjoyed the prophecy that even kings would arise from his family line (Gen 36:31). The point of Genesis 36 is that Esau settled away from the land of promise (Gen 36:6, 8). The descendants of Esau were known as the Edomites, those who opposed the people of Israel when they were traveling toward the Jordan River and their entrance into Canaan—even threatening them with the sword (Num 20:14-21). All of this is in contrast to Jacob, who had twelve sons (Gen 35:23-26) and “lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan” (Gen 37:1).

The number of Jacob’s sons provided a structure that Jesus and the New Testament authors employed in various ways. Their use of the number twelve demonstrated that they were fulfilling the promises made to Jacob and Israel. Jesus chose twelve disciples (Matt 10:2-4//Mark 3:13-19//Luke 6:14-16) and after Judas’s departure, the eleven were inclined to find a replacement so that their numbering of twelve would be maintained (Acts 1:15-26). Fulfillment—how the new relates to the old without setting it aside—will be forever observable in heaven. In the Revelation, John saw both Jacob’s sons and Jesus’ disciples as significant for God’s heavenly habitation with His people:

Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He then carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a very precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal. The city had a massive high wall, with 12 gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; on the gates, names were inscribed, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the Lamb’s 12 apostles (Rev 21:9-14).

Genesis 30-33 portrays the initial fulfillment of the ‘lineage’ promise in the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:1-3; 15:1-6)—despite continued challenges against the covenant family. Jacob had to endure the perils of both Laban and Esau. Yet, by the conclusion of Genesis 33, Jacob enjoyed a parcel of land in Canaan.

The latter portion of Genesis 29 and the initial developments of Genesis 30 provide a picture of the expansive covenant family. But Genesis 30 relates more than an increase in lineage among the descendants of Abraham. Under Jacob’s care, even Laban’s livestock prospered (Gen 30:27). The balance of Genesis 30 and the preliminary scene of Genesis 31 explain how God worked through Laban’s greed to provide Jacob and his clan with enough plunder to live and thrive as an independent family. After Jacob had grown wealthy and Laban’s sons began to view the patriarch as a threat, God called him and his family to return to the Promised Land (Gen 31:1-3). Despite confessing God’s providence over Jacob’s increasing fortune, his wife Rachel faltered in allegiance to the God of the covenant. Rachel choose to adopt her father Laban’s family idols into her religious practices (Gen 31:19). When Laban set out after his son-in-law Jacob, God warned Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob, the heir of promise (Gen 31:22-24).

Genesis 30-32 details how the covenant survived—even thrived—in the midst of threats and family strain. While this had been the case even in Jacob’s servitude of Laban, Jacob had yet to face what may have been considered the greatest obstacle to God’s promises, his brother Esau. The previous encounter between the brothers was so severe that Jacob’s parents sent him away simply to ensure his survival (Gen 27:41-28:9). Though blind and aged and deceived, in Gen 27:29 Isaac spoke prophetic words to Jacob that he would be master over his older brother and in time Isaac’s words were coming true.

God, ever quick to remind His people of covenant faithfulness, met with Jacob at the ford of Jabbok (Gen 32:24-32). There God rewarded Jacob’s persistence by touching his thigh and disabling the patriarch. Weakened, Jacob was made stronger in faith and God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. The threat of Esau proved to be no real cause for alarm. Genesis 33 records that Esau departed to the mountains of Seir (see Genesis 36) and Jacob purchased a section of land for his family, “And he set up an altar there and called it ‘God, the God of Israel’” (Gen 33:20).

Jesus and the author of Hebrews saw the faithful acts of Isaac and Jacob as illustrative for teaching their audiences to respond faithfully to Jesus as the Messiah.

(1) According to the author of Hebrews, Isaac’s trust in God is a model for all Christians. The author of Hebrews wrote that by faith Isaac prophesied that Jacob, the younger, would be favored over Esau. “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come” (Heb 11:20), he observed. Even though Isaac was blind, he acted in a faithful manner and ultimately trusted God to fulfill His earlier word to Rebekah, “Two nations are in your womb; two people will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (Gen 25:23). For the author of Hebrews, the point of the Genesis narrative was that if blind Isaac could act in a faithful manner and trust God in the blessing of Jacob and Esau, his audience—who lived with the profound insight of God’s faithfulness in Christ—should trust God to work out the details of life as they walk by faith in Christ even during persecution.

(2) Jesus claimed superiority over Jacob and his well. God’s faithfulness to Jacob at the end of Genesis 33 elevated Jacob’s status in the history of Israel. Esau did not take revenge on his brother and Jacob was able to build a house for himself in the Promised Land (Gen 33:16-20). Jacob purchased land and built stalls for his cattle. Wells provided for his needs and Jacob built an altar to God and called it “God, the god of Israel” (Gen 33:20). The Samaritan woman Jesus met in John 4 questioned Jesus’ claim that He could provide her with living water. “You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock” (John 4:12), she quipped. Jesus replied “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up within him for eternal life” (John 4:13-14). Jesus claimed not only superiority over Jacob but deity. Jacob built an altar to the Lord because the Lord had faithfully provided even the wells that nourished his herds. Jesus said that He could give the water of eternal life.

Jacob and Esau struggled to live in covenant faithfulness just as their father Isaac (Gen 26:7-11) and grandfather Abraham (Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). However, God’s redemptive plan was never stifled. Genesis 27-29 is framed by literary bookends: Jacob, at the prompting of his mother, played the role of trickster and supplanted Esau of the birthright (Gen 27:5-40). Later Laban, Jacob’s father-in-law, played a trick on Jacob and gave him Leah instead of Rachel (Gen 29:13-30). Nonetheless, Jacob showed the persevering spirit of those called to inherit the promise (Gen 25:23) and worked seven more years for Rachel. God’s appearance to Jacob at Bethel in Genesis 28:10-22 is the center point of these chapters. After Jacob saw the stairway extending to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it, he confessed his faith and built an altar of worship to God.

Jacob’s confession in Genesis 28:10-22 introduces a theme that can be followed throughout Scripture’s storyline. At Bethel, Jacob set up a marker-stone that he hoped would be God’s house (Gen 28:22). Later Jacob did return to Bethel, where the Lord reaffirmed His promise saying, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed, an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you. And I will give the land to your descendants after you” (Gen 35:11-12). Throughout the Old Testament, the place of God’s dwelling was no small matter. The Lord resided in a special way in the tabernacle (Exodus 40) and Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 8-9//2 Chronicles 6-7). But with the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh, there is a shift in the locus of God’s house. No longer is the place of God’s dwelling identified with a geographical locale, but it is identified with the Person of Jesus Christ and His followers:

(1) God’s dwelling in Christ. John records that when Jesus told Nathaniel, Philip’s brother, that He knew him under the fig tree even before Philip called Nathaniel to come and see Jesus, Nathan exclaimed, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). Jesus’ response demonstrates a point of fulfillment for Jacob’s experience in Gen 28:10-22. “‘Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.’ Then He said, ‘I assure you: You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’” (John 1:50-51). Jesus’ interaction with Nathaniel at the end of John 1 reinforces John’s statements earlier in the chapter. John introduced Jesus by stating: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1, 14). In John 2, John wrote that during a certain Jewish Passover celebration Jesus drove the moneychangers out of the court of Gentiles in the temple and said: “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!” (John 2:16). When asked for a sign of His authority to say and do such things, Jesus said that if His opponents destroyed the sanctuary, He would raise it up in three days. John recorded that Jesus was speaking about the sanctuary of His body” (John 2:21).

(2) God’s dwelling with the people of Christ. To the Corinthians Paul wrote: “We are the sanctuary of the living God, as God said: ‘I will dwell among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (2 Cor 6:16). Paul told the Ephesians, “You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit” (Eph 3:19-22). In the vision of the new creation, John “heard a loud voice from the throne (saying): ‘Look! God’s dwelling is with men, and he will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Rev 21:3).

These chapters portray the covenant family in transition. Ever since God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15, obstacles had arisen and threatened the fulfillment of God’s word. Although at each occasion God superintended to prevent His plans from being thwarted, the question remained as to how Abraham’s descendants would respond to the promises God had made to Abraham.

Sarah’s passing in Genesis 23—though marked by sadness and remorse—shows the progress of God’s promises to Abraham. In purchasing a burial plot for Sarah, Abraham came to have a stake in the land God had promised him (Gen 23:14-20). In the flow of the narrative, the author initially dealt with how Sarah’s death would affect her son, Isaac. Genesis 24 is the lengthy and detailed account of Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah. Abraham was steadfast in his requirement that Isaac enjoy a bride from within the covenant family (Gen 24:1-9). Abraham’s servant was prayerfully dependent upon God to display His providence in connecting the relationship of Isaac and the woman who greeted him at the well in Canaan (Gen 24:12-30). The literary structure of the text is an inclusio, pointing the reader back to Sarah’s passing in Genesis 23. Through his relationship with Rebekah, Isaac was “comforted after his mother’s death” (Gen 24:67).

In time Isaac also had to deal with the loss of his father (Gen 25:1-10). While Isaac was the child of promise—the one through whom both lineage and land would be realized—the text does not turn directly to a restatement of God’s promises to him. Rather, the text records the birth of Isaac’s sons (Gen 25:19-34). The surety of God’s promises to Abraham can be seen in the account of Isaac’s sons, Abraham’s grandchildren. The promises to Abraham would carry on through Isaac, the child of promise. The word of the Lord then came to Rebekah concerning the future of Isaac’s line. Jacob, the younger of Rebekah’s twin boys was favored of God even from the womb (Gen 25:19-23). In due time the Lord turned directly to Isaac, promising him land and lineage just as He had Abraham (Gen 26:3-4).

Jacob and Esau are foundational in the development of the storyline of Scripture.

(1) In Rom 9:6-13, Paul deduced from the birth account of Jacob and Esau, that there the children of promise are a distinct subset of Abraham’s descendants. In Paul’s day, many wondered why so many Jews—the physical descendants of Jacob—were rejecting the Messiah. The Gentile population was more numerous in the church. In Romans 9, Paul looked back to the events of Genesis 25 to provide an answer. Paul stated in Rom 9:7 that the Lord’s word to Abraham in Gen 21:12, “Your offspring will be traced through Isaac,” established God’s elective purposes in the patriarchal family. God chose Isaac and not Ishmael to inherit His promises to Abraham. In the same way, God chose Jacob and not Esau (Gen 25:19-23). Based upon the Lord’s word to Rebekah in Gen 25:23, “The older will serve the younger,” Paul noted that the prophet Malachi understood God to have loved Jacob and hated Esau (Mal 1:2-3). In Paul’s view, God’s elective purposes in Christ could be traced to God’s elective purposes in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

(2) In Heb 12:15-16, the author of Hebrews cited Esau’s lack of perseverance as a negative example for his audience. In Gen 25:27-34, Esau’s failing, near-sighted hunger prompted him to forgo his birthright for a meal. Esau’s character was consistent with God’s rejection of him. The author of Hebrews saw in Esau’s lack of endurance a lesson for his audience. But the author of Hebrews broadened the lesson of Esau and applied it to the community of the church. According to Hebrews, mutual edification in the church can prevent believers from acting like Esau. The author encouraged his listeners to look out for those in need of grace among them, and supply words of grace and encouragement so that none in their number fall away from faith in Christ (Heb 12:15-16).

Abraham’s faithfulness in Genesis 22 is remarkable in that he not only willingly followed God’s plan to sacrifice his son, but in this act of obedience the patriarch was offering up the child of promise. The sacrifice of Isaac is profound not only because of what God called Abraham to do, but because the birth—and life—of Isaac had been the focus of Abraham’s life for more than three decades. God’s initial promises to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3 and 15:1-6 were now in question.

Genesis 22 is a drama of faithfulness. When Abraham heard the word of the Lord, he did not delay. “Early in the morning Abraham got up, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac” (Gen 22:3). For Abraham, the sacrifice of Isaac was an act of worship. Fearing God and obeying His word took precedence over any other commitment—even to his family (Gen 22:5, 12). Abraham’s courage in Genesis 22 contrasts his cowardliness in Genesis 16 when he esteemed Sarah more than God and conceived a child with Hagar. Abraham’s actions provided Isaac with a living illustration of Prov 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and he will guide you on the right paths.” Ultimately, Abraham trusted in God’s ability to provide. In Gen 22:8, Abraham spoke to his son’s searching heart and said, “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

Abraham’s faith and faithfulness in Genesis 22 established a grid for New Testament authors to help their audiences understand God’s work in Christ and how to respond to it.

(1) In Heb 11:19, the author of Hebrews commented that when Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham was expressing confidence that God could raise Isaac back to life.. Abraham’s reliance on God was a mode he wished for his audience to follow as they persevered in the new covenant. He reminded His audience that after Abraham offered Isaac, the Lord promised to bless and multiply him abundantly (Heb 6:14).

(2) In Romans 4 and Galatians 3-4, Paul cited Abraham’s declaration of trust in God as the basis on which we believe that faith, and not works, justify us in Christ. For Paul, the timeline of Abraham’s life was all important. Abraham made his confession of belief in Genesis 15 and received the covenant of circumcision in Genesis 17. Abraham was thus justified by faith and not circumcision, Paul told the Romans and Galatians.

(3) In Jas 2:15-17, James cited Abraham’s work of faith as an example for his audience. James noted—with Paul—that Abraham was justified by faith in Genesis 15. And James saw in Abraham the kind of behavior he desired for his readers. James urged his audience toward Christian maturity, faith that works itself out in loving service toward those in need. James questioned: “If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it? In the same way faith, if it doesn’t have works, is dead by itself” (Jas 2:15-17). James presented Abraham’s faithfulness in Genesis 22 as the example of Christian works, the fulfillment of Abraham’s faith commitment in Genesis 15. In Jas 2:22-23, James wrote, “You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected. So the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.” James understood that Abraham’s confession of faith in Genesis 15 was worked out in his obedience with Isaac in Genesis 22. Abraham’s justification was not on the basis of works, such as offering up his son Isaac, but his faith was not lacking in works.

Throughout Genesis, the God of promise is portrayed as stronger than the obstacles that arise through the unfaithful actions of His people. In Genesis 18-21, the primary obstacle to God’s promise is the sin of unbelief. When the three heavenly visitors came to Abraham in Genesis 18 to affirm the Lord’s promise that Abraham and Sarah would conceive—despite their advanced years—Sarah responded with sarcastic laughter (Gen 18:12). But God was not joking. The Lord’s response set forth the theme of salvation for all who look beyond their total inability to a God who is faithful to His word. The Lord asked Abraham, “Is anything impossible for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14; see Luke 1:37).

Finally, after 25 years of waiting, Abraham and Sarah were biological parents of a son, confirming God’s word in Gen 12:1-3 and 15:1-6. Sarah’s response represents the joy of all who experience God’s faithfulness despite seasons of unbelief: “God has made me laugh,” she exclaimed, “and everyone who hears will laugh with me” (Gen 21:6). But the arrival of the child of promise sparked tension in Abraham’s family. Sarah recognized that Ishmael, the son born of natural means through Hagar, was a threat to Isaac (Gen 21:8-21). The work of God and the work of man would have to be separated.

God’s faithfulness to His words of judgement and promise in Gen 18-21 established a framework for New Testament authors to help their audiences understand God’s acts in the new covenant.

(1) In Galatians 4 Paul employed episodes from the life of Abraham in Genesis 16-21 to help the churches of Galatia understand Christian freedom from the Mosaic law. Paul argued that Abraham’s first two children were representative of the old and new covenants. Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, conceived through the natural laws of procreation (Genesis 16). Hagar corresponded to Mount Sinai and the Mosaic law (Gal 4:24-25). But Sarah, who conceived in her old age, received her child by promise and faith (Genesis 21). In this way, Paul argued, while Ishmael was the child of slavery to the law, Isaac was the child of freedom and promise (Gal 4:26-30). Isaac’s birth was the work of God and not man. Paul proposed that believers—born by the supernatural work of the Spirit—are children of promise, corresponding to the child of promise, Isaac (see Rom 9:7), while those desiring to be under the Mosaic law are slaves, corresponding to Hagar’s child Ishmael. Abraham’s fleshly act with Hagar represented a lack of faithful living. By submitting to the Mosaic law and circumcision, the Galatians were in danger of succumbing to a life of slavery. Those attempting to display their faith in Christ through the Mosaic law had no hope of eternal inheritance. Paul admonished them quoting from Gen 21:10, “Throw out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never inherit with the son of the free woman” (Gal 4:29). For Paul, religious practice was an expression of identity—and he reminded the Galatians: “Brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman” (Gal 4:31).

(2) Peter and Jude noted that just as God was faithful to His word of judgement against Sodom and Gomorrah, He would be to His word of judgement against those who opposed the message of Jesus. In 2 Pet 2:5-7, Peter wrote that though the Lord saved Lot from destruction, He destroyed the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah. Peter wanted his readers to understand that the Lord would destroy in like manner those who blasphemed God and prophesied lies concerning the day of Jesus’ return. In Jude 7, Jude cited God’s judgement of Sodom and Gomorrah as an example of how God treats those who persist in sin and deny the Master, Jesus Christ.

Genesis 15-17 further establishes Abraham’s role in the metanarrative of Scripture. Paul employed the real-life events of Abraham to illustrate the blessings and allegiance that correspond to faith in Jesus Christ. By the time of Genesis 15, Abraham did not yet have a single blood-line heir—let alone enough posterity to be called a great nation as God had promised in Gen 12:2. Then the word of the Lord came to Abraham saying: “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them…Your offspring will be that numerous” (Gen 15:5). Abraham responded with courageous faith and the Lord credited Abraham’s response as righteousness (Gen 15:6), establishing Abraham as the model of faith. God affirmed Abraham’s faith through the smoking fire pot and flaming torch—reminding the patriarch that he would not only become a great nation, but that his descendants would also dwell in the Promised Land (Gen 15:9-21).

Nevertheless, the first words of Genesis 16 reveal that Abraham was yet waiting on the fulfillment of God’s promise: “Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne him children” (Gen 16:1). Sarah interpreted God’s delay as a definitive act, saying, “Since the LORD has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps I can have children by her” (Gen 16:2). Abraham failed to respond appropriately in this crisis of faith and the result was not what Sarah had intended; rather than fulfilled, her life was made bitter by the birth of Ishmael to Hagar (Gen 16:4-7).

Genesis 17 records God’s covenant affirmation to Abraham, given years after Abraham’s unfaithful act with Hagar. God promised that He would bring many descendants from Abraham and Sarah’s union. To give Abraham a constant reminder of this promise, God changed his name from Abram to Abraham (“father of nations”) and promised again that Abraham’s descendants would have their own territory (Gen 17:1-8). God commanded Abraham to circumcise both of his sons (Gen 17:9-14). Thus, the anatomical locale of procreation was marked for God’s special purpose, reminding future generations that only by God’s help could their nation increase in number and carry on. The sign of circumcision reminded Abraham’s descendants that they were a special people, heirs of promise and faith. In Gen 17:15-22, God affirmed that the child of promise would be born to Abraham through Sarah—stating the exact time the child would be born.

The events in Genesis 15-17 provide the blueprint for understanding God’s redemptive plans. Paul saw in God’s promise to Abraham and the patriarch’s faith a framework for how sinful humans could be made right with God.

(1) In Romans 4, Paul wrote that sinful humanity’s inability to be right with God apart from divine intervention reflects Abraham and Sarah’s inability to conceive. In Rom 4:4-8, Paul wed the concept of faith expressed by Abraham (Genesis 15) with the theme of forgiveness in Psalm 32. Paul wrote that if someone works, payment is not a gift but what is owed to them. In Gen 15:6, however, God bestowed righteousness to Abraham on the basis of Abraham’s faith, before giving Abraham the covenant of circumcision in Gen 17:1-14. Paul saw in God’s kindness to Abraham a link with David’s description of the joy that comes upon those whose sins are covered (Ps 32:1-2).

(2) The bulk of Paul’s argument to the Galatians was based upon the record of Abraham in Genesis 15-17. In Gal 3:6-18, Paul set forth the faith (and justification) of Abraham to help the Galatians understand that they needed faith and the Spirit, not circumcision or obedience to the law, to be justified. Paul said the purpose of Christ’s work was “that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:14). The chronological flow of the Scripture storyline was fundamental to Paul’s argument: since Abraham received the promise of justification by faith more than 400 years before the law was given on Mount Sinai, all who had faith like Abraham became heirs apart from the law.