Stephen
Terry, Director
An Everlasting Covenant
Commentary
for the April 24, 2021 Sabbath School Lesson
"and through your
offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." Genesis
22:18, NIV
Since the distant
past, the Jews have been referred to as a chosen people. This derives from the
Abrahamic Covenant, brought into being when God called Abram, whom he renamed
Abraham, to leave the city state, Ur of the Chaldees, and travel to a new country.
That new country has been known by several names, Canaan, Judea, Palestine, and
Israel, among others. Terah was Abram's father, and though their family were
worshipping other gods,[i] God saw something in Abram
that caused him to choose the man for a blessing. But even though God called
him while in Ur, he continued to remain with his father, moving to Harran,
until Terah died. Lot's father had also died, so both men eventually traveled
to Canaan with all their possessions. Abram to follow God's call and Lot, to
follow Abram. Once arriving there, the two households began to quarrel and decided
to separate. Based on God's continuing interaction with Abram, now christened
Abraham by God, his calling is affirmed, but Lot experiences no such calling. Instead,
he chose to associate with those who were in rebellion against God rather than
working things out with Abraham. As a result, he barely escapes the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah, losing his wife in the process. Preserving his family
line through incest with his daughters, their descendants were the Moabites and
Ammonites, people who lived in opposition to the descendants of Abraham, perhaps
continuing the opposition that originally separated Lot and Abraham. The names
of the two tribes carried the literal acknowledgment that these children, Moab
and Ben-Ammi were conceived by the two girls' father, Lot.[ii]
The uniqueness of Abraham's
calling is further shown when after he fathers Isaac, and Isaac fathers Jacob,
Jacob travels back to family in Mesopotamia to seek a wife, even though those
family members have continued worshipping idols as household gods.[iii] Jacob's wives continued to
carry the household gods with them until he rededicated himself to God at
Bethel, where he had his vision of the stairway to heaven after leaving home to
seek his fortune. At that point, he buried those household gods along with some
of his wives' jewelry. Perhaps it is this history of polytheism that caused the
Jews to struggle with idol worship for a millennium until they were taken
captive by the Babylonian Empire. Those who returned from that captivity seem
to have become solidly monotheistic, a belief system that sparked the Maccabean
revolt against certain sacrileges practiced by their Seleucid overlords, who
worshipped a pantheon of idols. Despite all external influences, it is the
persistent monotheism of the Jews that has singled them out as a chosen people.
As boiling water distills it, removing its impurities, so the challenges the
Jews have faced for millennia has arguably distilled a purer form of worship
with a focused dogma uncluttered by the competing claims of a diverse family of
gods.
Abraham was a part of
what is often referred to as the Patriarchal Period, where heads of households
spoke or interacted directly with God and then relayed his will to their
extended families. It was, in a sense. a romanticized period of altruistic nomadic
shepherds guiding their people to set up a kingdom for God on earth. It does
not question God or demand any sort of accountability for divine actions.
Although the book of Genesis is traditionally attributed to Moses, it differs
from his relationship to God significantly, except in one marked instance where
Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom if enough righteous people can be found
there. But in the end, this negotiation is less about dissuading God than it is
context for showing how bad things really have gotten there. Two similar events
that stand out from this period are the Noahic flood, and the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah. In both instances, God has called an individual to preserve
the godly line. Evil had become universal in the earth of Noah's day and in Sodom
in Abraham's day. A flood is the solution God enacts for Noah, and fire is the
solution for Sodom and Gomorrah. In both instances, the patriarchs appear to be
fine with that, not arguing against these actions on the merits. In effect,
they are saying, "What the world does is between them and God. I am glad I am
not on the receiving end." This contrasts sharply with Moses, who when faced
with a similar experience where God was going to wipe out the Israelites and
start over again with Moses and his descendants. Instead of being thankful for
being singled out to be spared, Moses said, "No!"[iv] God responded to that positively
and instead returned to getting the people to the promised land, Canaan.
Here was a man who
appeared to understand what God was trying to do. Although God covenanted with
Abraham, he was not able to bring that patriarch to a full understanding of his
purposes. It was not for a lack of trying, however. The scene on Mount Moriah
where Abraham, commanded by God, tries to offer his son, Isaac, in sacrifice
was pregnant with God's intention for mankind. Abraham was able to trust God
and follow him obediently to the mountain, but it is questionable whether he
was able to bridge the gulf of understanding how far God would go to save those
who were destined to die. Did he understand that God would offer up his own
son? If he did, it was apparently lost over time, for the messiah the Jews
eventually got was far removed from what they expected. One might think that if
they understood the importance, it would have been patently clear in the preserved
text. We can perhaps see the connection with our 20/20 hindsight as we peer
back from the future. But even so, possibly due to some opaqueness in the
preserved text, most Jews are unable to see the connection between Mount Moriah
and the suffering and death of Jesus. It apparently is also obscure to them
that Moses, Christlike, stood between the people and God interceding on their
behalf, people who deserved none of the mercy and compassion they were given.
In that, even if he did not fully understand the details of what was to come,
he showed a profound understanding of the character of God. This is the character
that Jesus encourages us to emulate, also, with his Sermon on the Mount.
Perhaps God saw some
of that character in Noah and in each of the Patriarchs, traits that would one
day give us Moses. It may have been a desire to supply a fertile field for the
further development of those traits that produced the Abrahamic Covenant. God saw
not only the good in Abraham, but that he was willing to grow and change over
time under his tutelage. But while these individuals all have something to
teach us in their stories, their stories are only a prequel to the story of
Moses. Just as much of the Old Testament is a story that brings us to the incarnation
of Christ, the Pentateuch is focused on Moses as a type of Christ. Ironically,
he was trained for the first 40 years of his life by the Egyptians,
polytheistic, idol worshippers. Without a doubt the Egyptian priesthood played
a major role in his education. Nonetheless, he decided to identify with the
chosen people, descendants of Abraham. Some believe that this is primarily because
of the influence of his mother prior to his weaning. But racism he experienced may
have played a part as well. His heritage seems to have been widely known. To
preserve his life after killing an Egyptian, he went into exile. He spent the
next 40 years, under the mentorship of Jethro, a monotheistic priest of Midian.
The depth of Jethro's influence may be seen in the fact that Moses married into
his family. Infused with spiritual fervor, He eventually returns to Egypt for a
battle of the gods. Probably appearing as the underdog to the Egyptians with
only one God to challenge their pantheon, he nonetheless prevails and leads a
slave revolt to bring the people of the covenant out of Egypt and back to
Canaan where they belong. Then in an ultimate on-the-job-training program, he
spends the last 40 years of his life under God's direct leading.
So, what does all this
mean to us, who typically were never descendants of the chosen people of the
Abrahamic Covenant? Paul the Apostle tells us in his letter to the Romans, that
we are like children born out of time, and through Christ, we are grafted into
that covenant.[v]
Since we are joined to Christ, and Christ is the true vine, not only born of
God, but descended directly from Abraham our connection is real. That vine
nourishes us makes us part of the entire harvest to be gathered when Christ
returns. God has made us part of the chosen through Christ. However, although
God has chosen us, we can choose otherwise. Like Lot we can choose our own
path. The opportunities he saw in Sodom were real. He saw the dangers,
especially when he was taken captive by an invading army. But he still chose
the temptations of Sodom over the more austere obedience of Abraham's path. We
have the same freedom of choice that Lot had. We are free to choose our own
desires over those of anyone else, even God. On the other hand, such freedom
may leave us adrift in whatever prevailing current pushes us along.
Like Lot, we may find
the direction is not what we had hoped. But God offers to be with us each step
of the way, showing us the way if we are willing to follow his leading. He is
always present to offer his compassionate guidance. As the Psalmist said, "Where
can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to
the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I
rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even
there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, 'Surely
the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,' even the
darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for
darkness is as light to you." (Psalm 139:7-12, NIV) Some may feel, as the devil
did long ago, before he revolted and was cast from heaven with his angels,[vi] that God takes away their freedom,
but there is a great comfort and peace in knowing that God is always present to
guide our steps through the challenges we all face in life. But we are free to
choose. As Joshua said, "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then
choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your
ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose
land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
(Joshua 24:15, NIV) What will you choose?