GENb
This second clarification regarding the land appears to add one more significant piece of information: “all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever” (repeated in Gen 13:15 and 17; cf. 17:8). For the first time, Abram should understand that not only will he “see” the land, he will also receive it. Later, in a third clarification Yahweh repeats this aspect of the promise in Gen 15:7 and specifies further that he “gives” Abram “this land to possess.” Abram is listening carefully to this new emphasis on possession, so he asks, “how am I to know that I shall possess it?” It is Abram’s question that brings Yahweh to formalize his earlier promises (Gen 12:1-3) in the form of a covenant-contract ceremony (Gen 15:18).
Within this ceremony Yahweh’s fourth clarification about the land is both reassuring and disturbing, as hinted by the “deep and terrifying darkness” that “descended upon him” during his dream-vision (Gen 15:1, 12). First the bad news: “your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there.” Several generations after Abram will not possess any land at all. As for Abram himself, Yahweh promises only that “you shall go to your ancestors in peace.” Yahweh says nothing specific about Abram’s stake in the land. Apparently, Abram’s share is with his ancestors, not with his descendants in the land! Next the good news: the fourth generation of Abram’s descendants will return to take possession of the land.
At this point Yahweh expands the boundaries of Abram’s real estate considerably: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates” (Gen 15:18), a distance of roughly 475 miles as the crow flies. Yahweh also spells out that they will possess the land that currently belongs to various peoples (the ten “-ites” listed in Gen 15:19-21). Again, a significant event has transpired in the meantime. Prior to this disclosure Abram has had to lay his life on the line and battle kings to rescue Lot (Gen 14). So Yahweh reassures him that his descendants will secure a place among the peoples and nations. It would seem that Yahweh unfolds his will and promises on a “need-to-know basis.” Yahweh’s earlier promise, “all the land that you see to you will I give it, and/even to your seed forever” (Gen 13:15, literal translation), might sound like Abram himself is to receive the land. But Yahweh later makes it clear that he meant, “to you will I give it, that is, to your seed forever.” In the context of the promise, “the land of Abram” actually means the land that Abram’s progeny will “inherit” (cf. Exod 32:13). As it turns out, Yahweh’s promises may not unfold as the recipient had hoped.
There is another feature of the narrative that illustrates the interplay between Yahweh’s revealed will and Abram’s decision-making. In Gen 12:7, while Abram is at Shechem, Yahweh promises, “To your offspring I will give this land.” One might expect Abram now to settle down, but instead he moves his tent to the south between Bethel and Ai (Gen 12:8). And then, he “journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb” (Gen 12:9). Next, because of famine he travels further south to Egypt (Gen 12:10). After departing Egypt, he journeys through the Negeb to his former tent site between Bethel and Ai (Gen 13:1, 3). Why does Abram keep traveling after Yahweh had just promised him the land around Shechem? It is not until Gen 13:17 that Yahweh explicitly commands Abram, “Rise up, walk (הלך, Hith.) through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (Gen 13:17). Afterwards, he moves his tent near Hebron (Gen 13:18). It would seem that Abram has been doing what Yahweh wanted all along, aside perhaps from the sojourn in Egypt. Apparently, he has been doing God’s will without being aware of it—only to recognize it later.
There are details in this Abrahamic narrative that are very telling about events and their interpretation, especially in terms of the relationship between God’s will and human decision. We live in the midst of a myriad of circumstances; sometimes they arise because of our own decisions, sometimes because of others’ decisions, and sometimes because of coincidence. Who is making the decisions: people or God? Yet the biblical narrative reveals that sometimes Providence is working through such seemingly random events.
At the beginning of the story the narrator tells us, “Terah took Abram his son … and he brought them out (יצא) from Ur of the Chaldeans to go toward the land of Canaan” (Gen 11:31, my translation). But later Yahweh claims, “I am the LORD who brought you out (יצא) from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it” (Gen 15:7).
The Bible presents us with both perspectives: the ambiguous present and a retrospective where we see God's hand.
These claims are identical (bringing Abram from Ur to the land of Canaan), except for the agent who performed them. What may have appeared to be simply human decision turns out to be divine providence.
Later, when instructing his servant about finding a wife for his son, Abraham adopts Yahweh’s perspective: “Yahweh, the God of the heavens, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred,” Gen 24:7, my translation; cf. Gen 20:13). It is worth comparing this claim with the narrator’s earlier telling of how events unfolded. Here it was Terah who “took his son Abram … and brought them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go toward the land of Canaan” (Gen 11:31, my translation). Then it was Abram who “took” his family and “set forth (also יצא) to go to the land of Canaan” (Gen 12:5). The beauty of the Bible unfolding the story in this way is that the narrator first tells the story from the perspective contemporary to the events as they unfold. This reflects the present moment in which we live. Only later is it disclosed to Abraham and to us that these events were, in fact, God’s doing. The present moment may seem uncertain, but this uncertainty offers no comment on God’s role: is he actively present or not? Indeed, it may be only in retrospect that we learn that God has been the Director in our script all along. The Bible presents us with both perspectives: the ambiguous present and a retrospective where we see God's hand.
Info Box: When did God first speak to Abram?
One might suppose there was another circumstance whereby Abram is taken from his father’s house, namely Terah’s death (Gen 11:32). The apparent sequence in Gen 11:31-12:4 is that after Terah’s death Yahweh first speaks to Abram, and then Abram departs for Canaan. But the (priestly?) narrator evidently expects us to read carefully and do the math from Gen 11:26 (Terah = 70, Abram = 0), Gen 11:32 (Terah = 205, Abram = 135), and Gen 12:4 (Terah = 145, Abram = 75). Apparently Abram departed from Haran 60 years before Terah’s death.
The bottom line is there is no formula when it comes to the will of God: when he reveals it and how much he discloses, and when humans should make decisions and when they should pray.
The bottom line: there are no patterns or formulas when it comes to discerning the will of God, yet he fulfills his promises.
Complications may arise, some traceable to the individual believer, some to a third-party, and some to natural circumstances (e.g., the famine). But in the end, God’s will succeeds. We should find this reassuring. But we should not reduce this narrative to a story of God’s triumph, though it is, because it also gives space, if not more space, to the human drama—with all its complications. As said before, this assures us of God’s ultimate success, but it also assures us that when life seems confusing and overwhelming, such circumstances are typical of the people of God. God would no sooner abandon us, than Abram.
Another curious feature of this narrative is that at no point does Yahweh give Abram any instructions about spirituality. If we look for patterns when Yahweh speaks and when Abram prays, we can find none. These stories provide no patterns or formulas when we should pray or when God should speak, yet he fulfills his promises. When Yahweh gives direction, he “appears” (Gen 12:7) or just “speaks” (Gen 12:1; 13:14) without any prior prompting from Abram. In one case, “the word of the Lord came to Abram” (Gen 15:1), which is a formula familiar to the Prophets. Here it occurs in “a vision” (Gen 15:1) and a dream (Gen 15:12).
When Yahweh chooses to speak and when he refrains cannot be correlated with any set of circumstances. On several occasions Abram builds an “altar” and “calls on the name of Yahweh.” In some instances, he does so in response to a revelation from Yahweh (Gen 12:7; 13:18; 22:9; and 15:9-10, 17-18, though there is no explicit mention of an altar). In others, he simply does so on his own initiative (Gen 12:8; 13:4; 21:33). Curiously, in each of these three cases there is no immediate response from Yahweh. The only feature that recurs in these contexts is the mention of a specific geographic site (Shechem, Gen 12:6-7; near Bethel, Gen 12:8; 13:3-4; Hebron, Gen 13:18; Beersheba, Gen 21:33; Moriah, Gen 22:2, 9; cf. 2 Chr 3:1), implying these altars and the like are mentioned because they had made these sites sacred.
On the other hand, there are several crises where we would expect Abram to pray or Yahweh to intervene with a promise or directive, but neither do so: when there is famine in Canaan (Gen 12:10), when the ancestral family is threatened in Egypt (Gen 12:10-20), when there is feuding between Abram’s laborers and Lot’s (Gen 13:5-12), when Abram’s nephew chooses to live among the “great sinners” of Sodom (Gen 13:13), when Lot is captured (Gen 14:12), and when the ancestral family is threatened in Gerar (Gen 20:1-18). (For each of these predicaments we can imagine Abram and Sarai setting up a prayer chain!) And there are several moments of good news when we would expect Abram to worship: after receiving Yahweh’s promise of blessing (Gen 12:1-3), and after the ancestral family is miraculously spared in Egypt and later in Gerar (chaps. 12, 20). But in these cases the narrative makes no mention of Abram’s praying or worshipping or of Yahweh’s speaking. And it never faults Abram for making his own decisions, nor for failing to seek God’s will at every step. Yet Yahweh ever remains “the God of Abraham” (Gen 24:12, 27, 42, 48; 26:24, etc.; cf. Gen 17:7). (Ironically, the model for step-by-step prayer and seeking of Yahweh’s directives is Abraham’s servant, who is sent to find a wife for Isaac, as told in the narrative’s longest chapter, chapter 24.)
These stories about Abraham resist providing any formulas. While Yahweh's goals are being realized, the narratives focus on the process—in the day-to-day where God's people live.
The “Will of God” and the Promise of Descendants to Abraham: Complications and Clarifications (Gen 11-15)
Strangely, Yahweh may reveal his will in parts and so allow his people to make their own decisions, which may lead to complications and consternation.
Valuable insights come to the surface when we do a “close reading” of the same chapters but this time examining Yahweh’s promise of descendants to Abraham. Like the promise of land, the promise of descendants is disclosed gradually.
We could make some sense of the gradual unfolding about the land as Yahweh was responding to Abraham’s new experiences and developing circumstances. But in the case of Abram’s descendants, Yahweh’s lack of specificity and clarity opens the door for considerable complications! Strangely, Yahweh may reveal his will in parts and so allow his people to make their own decisions, which may lead totheir consternation.
Yahweh’s initial speech to Abram touches on this issue: “I will make of you a great nation” (Gen 12:2). Not only does the promise imply many descendants, it explicitly indicates they will form a significant political entity, one with its own government and territory. In Yahweh’s next speech he makes specific reference to “your offspring” (lit. “seed,” זרע, Gen 12:7), to whom he promises the territory or “land” of Canaan.
(a) God promises Abraham many descendants (Gen 12-13). (b) God informs Abraham that he will be their father (Gen 15). (c) Sarah provides a surrogate (Gen 16). (d) God informs them that Sarah will be their mother (Gen 17 [P]; 18 [J]).
In his third speech his promise concerns their numbers: “I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth” (Gen 13:16).
Yahweh begins his next dialog: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (or, “I am a shield for you, your very great reward,” Gen 15:1, my translation). Abram’s response is hardly one of docile piety: “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” (Gen 15:2). It is respectful (here and in v. 8 are the only instances where Abram addresses God as “Lord Yahweh”), but it is also forthright. After all, what reward has Yahweh given Abram to this point? Back in Gen 12:1–3 Yahweh had promised Abram (a) land, (b) many descendants, and (c) God’s blessing. According to Abram’s explicit statement, “You have given me no offspring” (lit. “seed,” זרע, v. 3). And he has yet to receive any land. In fact, he as much as admits later that he had to leave “my land” and “my kindred” back in northern Mesopotamia (Gen 24:4). As for blessing, there is little that the narrator has explicitly noted. While he describes Abram as “very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold” (Gen 13:2), he is clear that Abram obtained this wealth by his own conniving (“Say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you,” Gen 12:13, 16).
On the other hand, the narrator is also explicit that Yahweh had protected “Sarai, Abram’s wife” at least (Gen 12:17, and not Abram?). Since Yahweh’s original promise in Gen 12:1-3, the first mention of Abram’s being “blessed” comes from Melchizedek, who “blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High’” (Gen 14:19). While this is formally a wish for blessing, and not a report of God’s blessing, Melchizedek also confesses, “Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” By implication, God has blessed Abram with military deliverance. And also by implication, this time we hear from Abram himself, “God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth” (קנה, my translation) has “made Abram rich” (Gen 14:19, 22-23).
Because of Abram’s direct question in Gen 15:2, Yahweh gets more specific about this promise of descendants: “This man [Eliezer of Damascus] shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir” (Gen 15:4). For the first time it becomes clear that Abram himself will father a descendant and heir. Next, in a boldly intimate scene, Yahweh graphically portrays their future numbers: “He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants (lit. “seed”) be.’” At last Abram knows that his “seed” will be his own child.
Although Yahweh’s promise is more specific, it is not specific enough to prevent the next regrettable development: “Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You see that the LORD has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai” (Gen 16:1-2). As shocking as the proposal is, especially coming from the wife, it appears to reflect customary practice of that culture. While Sarai’s proposal may have offered a utilitarian solution, it brings considerable grief and dysfunction to the ancestral family. After Hagar conceives, she gloats over Sarai, who in turn “dealt harshly” with her so that “she ran away from her” (Gen 16:4-6). This hostility requires two interventions from “the angel the Lord” (Gen 16:7-15; 21:8-21).
Info Box: Semitic Cultural Practice of Providing a Surrogate
Legal texts roughly from Abraham’s time period (the early second millennium BC) reflect the custom of a barren wife providing a surrogate to her husband in order to bear children.
A marriage contract from a 19th century BC Assyrian colony in Anatolia reads, “Laqipum has married Hatala …. If within two years she (i.e., Hatala) does not provide him with offspring, she herself will purchase a slavewoman, and later on, after she will have produced a child by him, he/she may then dispose of her by sale wheresoever he pleases” (ANET, 543, §4; see further K.A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, p. 325).
The Code of Hammurabi (18th century BC) reads, “If a man marries a nadītu [a priestess], and she gives a slave woman to her husband, and she (the slave) then bears children, after which that slave woman aspires to equal status with her mistress — because she bore children, her mistress will not sell her; (but) she may place upon her the slave-hairlock and reckon her with the slave women” (COS, 2.131, §146; see also §§144, 147 and COS, 3.101B).
A text from Nuzi in northern Mesopotamia (15th century BC) reads, “if Kelim-ninu does not bear, Kelim-ninu shall acquire a woman [or “slave girl”] of the land of Lullu as wife for Shennima, and Kelim-ninu may not send the offspring away” (ANET, p. 220). (While Nuzi is geographically remote from Canaan, the city’s population was predominantly Hurrian, a people group who had migrated from the mountains of Armenia southeastward into Mesopotamia and southwestward into Syria-Canaan hundreds of years earlier. We should also recall that Abraham’s homeland of Haran and Aram-naharaim was also in northern Mesopotamia. See Gen 12:4-5; 24:4, 10.)
It is not until 24 years after Yahweh’s initial promise to Abram (Gen 12:4; 17:1) that Yahweh finally identifies both parents of his “seed” (Gen 17:7-10). As wonderful as Yahweh’s promise about Sarah is—”I will give you a son by her”—Abram responds with disbelief: he “fell on his face and laughed (וַיִּצְחַק), and said to himself, ‘Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’” (Gen 17:17). And despite the former grief brought upon his family, he laments, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” At this point Yahweh becomes insistent: “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac (יִצְחָק). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him” (Gen 17:19; cf. 17:21; 21:12). As the Hebrew text makes clear, Yahweh marks Abram’s disbelief by branding his son with a name that means, “he laughs.” Yahweh’s chagrin is also suggested by the narrator’s closing comment: “And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham” (Gen 17:22). At long last Yahweh’s promise regarding Abraham’s “seed” is made clear, and the narrator has made no effort to whitewash the weaknesses of the human actors.
One wonders why Yahweh was not clear from the beginning that both Abraham and Sarah would parent “his seed,” especially considering their being “old, advanced in age” and Sarah being past menopause (Gen 18:11; 24:1). Apart from Yahweh’s explicit disclosure, why should anyone expect they should bear a child themselves? The biblical text does not answer these questions, but it does show us that we should not expect that even when God does reveal his will to us that each decision should be clear and lead to positive consequences.