Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 Commentary

A Tribal Leader without a Tribe

This text invites us to enter into Abram’s story between promise and fulfillment.  Genesis 12 lays out God’s plan: to take Abram and make a great nation and a great name by which all people will be blessed. However, a lot of life has been lived between chapter 12 and chapter 15 with, as yet, no sign of that promise’s fulfillment. Bill Arnold points out “As a childless, semi nomadic tribesman, Abram’s lack of an heir and inheritance necessarily remains the fulcrum point of this narrative.” Abram is, as yet, a tribal leader without a tribe.

Considering the disappointment and discouragement of that state of affairs, Robert Alter points to the significance of the perfect tense of verse 18 “To your seed I have given.”  This is the first time this tense — indicating “an action that can be considered already completed” — is used in God’s promise to Abram.  It is as though, the more far-fetched the idea becomes over time, especially over time without indication of fulfillment, the greater God’s assurance to Abram.  As Alter puts it: “This small grammatical maneuver catches up a large narrative pattern in the Abraham stories: the promise becomes more and more definite as it seems progressively more implausible to the aged patriarch, until Isaac is born.”

Talking Back and Righteous Believing

Whereas in God’s first promise to Abram, in which the recipient simply listened and obeyed, Abram’s had some time to think this all over and he has a few follow-up questions this time. In verse 2, Abram expresses his discontent and confusion. Robert Alter comments on this “Until this point, all of Abram’s responses to God have been silent obedience.” But now Abram “expressed doubt that God’s promise can be realized.”  This indicates for us the very human frailty of our “hero,” God’s chosen.  But it also indicates for us, God’s great kindness since “God remains impassively silent in the face of Abram’s brief initial complaint, forcing him to continue and spell out the reason for his skepticism about the divine promise.” Whereas an insecure leader would immediately tamp down pushback, God gives Abram room to bring his frailty to God.

Only after offering Abram a full hearing does God kindly take Abram to “look up to the heavens and count the stars, if you can count them.” While this dialogue ends in a pronouncement of Abram’s reassurance and faith, “Abram believed God and he credited it to him as righteousness,” the back and forth continues. Perhaps this is instructive to modern believers who judge themselves according to binary categories: belief/unbelief, faith/doubt, righteousness/unrighteousness.  In fact, the story of Abraham is a little of each most of the time. Robert Alter instructs us that each interaction (v.1-6 and 7-21) offer “complementary covenantal themes.  In the first, God grandly promises and Abram trusts; in the second, the two enter into a mutually binding pact, cast in terms of a legal ritual.” The first covenant is the promise of “seed,” of a child.  The second is the promise of land.  Alter characterizes each interaction: “the first scene highlights dialogue and the rhetorical power of the divine assurance; the second scene evokes mystery, magic and the troubling enigma of the future.” We do well to let the strange symbolism of verses 17-18 remain enigmatic even as we tie them in with other symbols.  Whereas smoke and fire often appear when a diety of the Ancient Near-East is invoked, as in the pillar of smoke and fire that guide the people of God through their Exodus, Alter tells us that the torch and furnace “are wonderfully peculiar to this scene.” Strange though it may be, it certainly has its desired effect on Abram. According to Bill Arnold, “There being no further questions or objections, Abram seems content now to live in the covenant assurances of God.”

Looking Back in Order to Look Forward

Unless it is your first read through Scripture from start to finish, most of us will have no choice but to read this interaction between God and Abram with later events in mind.  Taking the whole text, without omitting verses 13-16, we see many hints foreshadowing the unfolding of Abraham and, ultimately, of Israel’s story. Bill Arnold suggests that “This chapter may also be viewed as a ‘theological compendium,’ in which major themes of the Pentateuch are drawn together and interpreted theologically.”  Israel’s sojourn to and slavery in Egypt feature in verses 13-14. The supernatural features of the Sinai covenant show up in verse 17. And a reminder of God’s original promise that all this will lead to blessing that reaches all the nations is rehearsed in verses 18-19.

The symbolism extends beyond the Pentateuch as the exilic community of Nehemiah rely on verse 6 to define their own participation in the unfolding story of God’s people, as they confess in chapter 9: “You are the Lord God, who chose Abram…You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him…You have kept your promise because you are righteous.” And verse 6 is picked up in the New Testament, quoted in Galatians 3:6 and James 2:23 and three times in Romans 4. These references in Romans and Galatians are intent to prove that salvation is a matter of grace rather than works.  James’ seeming contradiction that Abram’s faith was “active along with his works” is, rather, according to Bill Arnold, “a point about the evidence of justification,  not its means.”

[Note: In addition to these weekly sermon commentaries on the CEP website, we also have a resource page for Lent and Easter with more preaching and worship ideas as well as sample sermons on the Year C Lectionary texts.]

Illustration

The two-step interaction between God and Abram draws out an opportunity for the pastor to talk about the distinct gifts of baptism and profession of faith (or confirmation)/adult membership in the church.  The first interaction is a throwback to the unmerited, gracious promise of God in Abram’s calling, depicted in chapter 12.  It is all grace, grace, God’s grace that plucks Abram from obscurity and gives him a purpose, a promise and a people.  Similarly, baptism places infants in the covenant God makes with God’s people.  As we grow in faith, we — like Abram — might kick against that promise and wonder about its implications for our lives.  We may have some follow-up questions for God.  And God is gracious to hear us and turn us again to the faithfulness of God’s promises rather than our own.  But then there is also a mutuality in the relationship, one that comes with some expectation as we live into what we believe, the evidence of justification, though never the means.