Sacrifice We ordinarily approach this text as a promise, the start of God’s covenant with Israel. It is not a promise without sharp edges and a demand for sacrifice, even. Jewish scholar, Rashi, notes this with careful comparison between this text (Genesis 12) and a later, obviously sacrificial text (Genesis 22). In Genesis 22, it…
Illustration In chapter 12 of the book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller tells the story of his friend Jason. Jason and his wife had a 13-year-old daughter. And their 13-year-old daughter had pot stashed in her closet. She had a boyfriend too. And she had a father who was terrified of…
Go! Have you ever been struck by the fact that this is God’s very first word to Abram? Go. Leave. Hit the road. Have you ever been struck by how unattractive this must have sounded to Abram at his advanced age? Why would he want to go anywhere? He had his home. He had established…
“Go!” That is God’s first word to Abram. And it sets up what will become a curious dynamic for the people of God forever after. The people of God are a traveling people. Wherever “home” might be for us, it is as often as not something still up ahead of us rather than something we…
The early chapters of Genesis show us the steady downhill slide of humanity beginning with the Fall in Eden, with some terrifying secondary falls along the way—Cain and Abel, the increasing depravity of humans resulting in the massive cleansing of the Flood, the building of Babel resulting in the scattering and confusion of the nations….
The Old Testament lesson the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday reminds us that the God whom we worship in Jesus Christ is a God who calls. Yet it also reminds us that God always calls for a purpose. So we listen, not just for God’s call, but also for what purpose God calls us. At…
Content related to Genesis 12