Genesis
12
– 15
We start in this chapter with the story of Abraham (Abram
now). In verse 12:3 God gives Abram his first promise of descendants:
I will also bless
those who bless you and further you in your journey, and I’ll trip up
those who try to trip you along the way. Through your descendants,
all of the families of the earth will find their blessing in you.
They key here is an immediate reference to
Jesus with the statement of “all families” since there was other descendants of
Noah who repopulated the earth. We see statements like this all over the Old
Testament that get thrown in as “bread crumbs” so we can see the trail to
Jesus. When this was written Moses probably had no idea what was being reviled
to him, but just wrote it as he was told.
One story to look at in Chapter 12 was his
first entrance into Egypt and how he immediately got God upset not claiming
Sarai as his wife. When you think about it, this is a story of the head of a
nation who is quite flawed. His faith that God will protect him and honor His
promises is weak in many cases, yet God still teaches him.
One can look at stories like this and have
faith that all will be good, no matter how bad we mess up. In verse 13:16 God
reassures Abram with His promise:
I
will make your descendants as many as there are specks of dust on the earth. If
anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count how many
descendants I’m talking about!
Interesting here God uses “specks of dust”
while in another place in the reading He uses stars in the sky, yet the “sands
on the seashore” from verse 22:17 is the most remembered and quoted. Either way
the illustration is he will be the head of many people.
Verses 15:13 & 14 foretell another
event to the people of Israel:
13 I
will tell you this on which you can stake your life: Your descendants will first
be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will be made slaves there and
will be oppressed for 400 years. 14 But then I will judge the
nation that enslaves them. When that time comes, your descendants will emerge
from that land with many possessions.
I know one could argue that this was not told to
Abram, but rather interjected by Moses, but it does show the forethought that
God had in how the people would live. I can only assume this was a recording of
a story that was passed down through the generations, since much of it prior to
Moses has been proven in archeological digs. I think the biggest thing to take
away from today’s reading was how many times God revealed the future.