Abraham reasons with God

Genesis 18

We leave Abraham’s quest to have a son, and God’s promise that a boy he commands to be named Isaac will be born in one year’s time. Instead, Genesis 18 brings the focus back on that damnable city, Sodom.

This is another strange chapter. God visits Abraham in the presence of two others--angels, other gods, divine beings—we never find out exactly who his companions are. They are all in physical form, since Abraham rushes to find them water to wash their feet, and demands Sarah make loaves and loaves of bread for them to eat.

Genesis 18: 20-21, NIV Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

Why must he go down and see it for himself? I thought God was supposed to be omniscient? Later on in the Bible, there are many proclamations about how it is impossible to hide from God. Why does he have to go to Sodom himself to see if the allegations were true? He should just know.

Abraham bargains with God to spare the city, and leads his argument with this zinger: Will you sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Abraham, that is a great question. Abraham takes on a higher moral stance in this chapter, challenging God—the Almighty Creator!—to do what is right. But the question remains—why does God need to be reminded to do what is right? And what is with all this collective punishment? First the Flood, then the Tower of Babel, now Sodom and Gomorrah-since most of us know what happens next. Collective punishment, in my mind, is not a loving and merciful act.

An alternative viewing of this chapter is the religious belief (shared by both Jews and Christians) that God does not make mistakes. Ever. Even when it appears that he does. And when you lack all the answers, you choose to live by faith. To me, faith in action is often pretending to know something you do not or cannot know. I’ll save the discussion on faith for another day.

The Covenant of Circumcision

Genesis 17

This chapter continues the story of Abram, whose name has now been changed to Abraham. Sarai is changed to Sarah, and Jewish men are doomed to circumcision.

God once again reiterates the “father of nations” covenant, he’s starting to sound like a trickster full of empty promises. This time, he asks something in return:

Genesis 17:10-14, NIV “This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep; Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

God does not condone slavery in this passage, instead he goes one step further. He instructs Abraham to circumcise not only himself and his son Ishmael, but the male slaves in his household as well. If this is divinely inspired by God, not only was he cool with slaves, but he wanted to enforce painful body modification on them as well. OR…..the original authors were not divinely inspired, but lived in a society where slavery was A-OK, and you could do whatever you wanted to your slaves without a second thought.

The last line of that verse also stands out. Why the harshness, casting out uncircumcised men from his tribe? Why is he asking every.single.Jewish.male to go through something traumatic to prove his love to God? God seems very much like a bully in this chapter.

Rendering of an ancient Egyptian carved
scene of circumcision from the tomb
of Ank-Mahor at Saqqara, Sixth Dynasty,Teti,
c. 2340 BC.

According to the archaeological record, circumcision did not originate with the ancient Israelites. The first recorded evidence of circumcision is actually in Egypt. The earliest mummies were circumcised (circa 1300 BCE), but wall paintings in Egypt show that it was customary several thousand years prior to that, going back to the Sixth Dynasty (2345-2181 BCE).

Circumcision in boys on the 8^th day after birth is an ongoing tradition in Jewish families, known as the Brit milah, or bris. Both Muslims and Jews still participate in the covenant of circumcision, Christianity is the only Abrahamic religion that doesn’t. I couldn’t find a definitive answer why, but I believe it has something to with Paul, who postulated that faith in Jesus was the only requirement for salvation, and circumcision wasn’t necessary. Paul also seems to be the one responsible for early Christians to stop following the 613 Commandments, or mitzvot, from the Old Testament. For a time in the 4^th Century, circumcision actually became illegal for Christians in the Roman Empire.

Commandment 2/613 Laws in the Torah: To circumcise all males on the 8^th day after their birth.

And throughout the generations, every male among you shall be circumcised at the age of eight days. (Gen 17:12, JPS)

New words:

El Shaddai (Gen 17:1, JPS I am El Shaddai) – one of the Judaic names of God. Its etymology comes from the influence of the Ugaritic religion upon modern Judaism. Shaddai was one of the many Gods in Canaanite religion, the God of the Mountain. Shaddai was worshipped in the Amorite city of Shaddai in northern Syria. In the Bible, it is conventionally translated as God Almighty. Just another tidbit that lends credence to the idea that ancient Israelites were polytheistic.

Hagar is abused

Genesis 16

Genesis 16:3-4, NIV So after Abram had been living in Canaan for 10 years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. (emphasis added)

It seems to be a reflection of the culture of the times that the women in the Bible were always barren, never the men. Of course, ancient Israelites had little knowledge of the scientific aspects of reproduction!

Now, along with the fact that I don’t like Abram, I’m not really a big fan of Sarai either. She seems like a spoiled elite. Since Hagar was a slave, there is a good chance she had no choice in the matter of suddenly becoming Abram’s wife. Of course she is going to be disgruntled about it. What does Sarai do? She “mistreats” a pregnant women, forcing her to flee into the desert. God comes upon her, and strikes up a bargain. Not only does he command her to go back to Sarai and submit to her, God apparently curses her unborn child by setting “everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers”. What did Hagar and her unborn son do to deserve that?

This chapter makes it very difficult to find a moral lesson, and is another example of God’s fickleness in the early chapters of the Old Testament. His actions in Genesis 16 do not show God’s supposed almighty power and goodness. A just God would not send a pregnant slave back to an abusive household.

Genesis 16 is a disturbing story that reeks of “hysterical woman” syndrome, gives us our first detailed biblical perspective of slavery—which is very a much a product of the time it was written—and is an interesting lesson in ancient Israelite fertility treatments. It was a custom in the ancient Near East for a woman to give her husband her maidservant if they were unsuccessful with conceiving children. In fact, it wasn’t considered adultery!

New words:

Shur (The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur) – a wall or place, likely in the Arabian desert, on the northeastern border of Egypt. The Egyptians built walls to defend their kingdom on the northeast from desert tribes.

Genesis 15

Genesis 15

Genesis 15:1-2, NIV After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”

One of the biggest disappoints in my reading of the Bible is my surprise to find that I thoroughly do not like Abram. Over and over, his greed seems to shine through, yet I have never, ever seen him portrayed in a negative light in Christian or Jewish doctrine. To me, it seems as if becoming God’s Chosen One and the father of a future great nation has gone to his head.

There is also a difference in translation in the first verse between the JPS Torah and the NIV Bible. In the Torah, Genesis 15 starts off “Some time later”; in the NIV it is “After this”. In the Torah, a much bigger stretch of time could have compared to how it is stated in the NIV.

Abram’s request for children is repeated twice, which also lends credence to the Documentary Hypothesis. Under the Documentary Hypothesis, Gen 15: 1-2, 3b-4, 6-12, and 17-21 is claimed to be written by J. Author J focuses on humanity, uses YHWH as God’s name, lived in the southern kingdom of Judah during an early period in Israel’s history, likely written sometime between 848 BCE and 722 BCE. Gen 15:3a, 5, and 13-16 is believed to have been written by E. Author E uses Elohim as God’s name, lived in the Northern kingdom of Israel, probably wrote between 922 and 722 BCE, and primarily wrote about religious and moralistic concerns.

Genesis 15:7-8, NIV He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

Abram was obviously not required to have the blind faith that is expected of Christians today. He had the nerve to ask God to prove himself, and God complied—in a roundabout sort of way that sets the scene for the opening chapters of Exodus. Once again, God makes a covenant, but is more specific this time, identifying the boundaries of Abram’s future nation as the land of Canaan from the Nile to the Euphrates, and who exactly his descendants will be taking the land from.

In company with shamans and other spiritual folks, Abram goes into a trance to receive this most recent message from God.

The moral of this chapter is quite loud and clear: be patient.