Genesis Chapters 12-29

Stories of Israel's Ancestors  --  Part 2 of Genesis (Chapters 12-29)

The second part of Genesis focuses on God's series of promises to four men: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.  This period is known as the period of the patriarchs.  Patriarchs literally means "first fathers."

Divine Appearances

The biblical narrator typically expresses God's interaction with humanity by describing a theophany.  Theophany is a visible or otherwise perceptible appearance of the Deity to human beings.  In Genesis, God appears more frequently, to more individuals, and over a longer span of time, than in any other book of the Bible.

Abraham, the First of the "First' Fathers

The Abrahamic Covenant is the covenant or promise between God and Abraham.

Four different versions of the Abrahamic Covenant are included in Genesis:

1)12:2 to 3

2)15:1 to 21

3)17:1 to 22;

4) 22:15 to 18.

It is a solemn contractual agreement by which Yahweh pledges

1). to make Abraham the progenitor of nations (particularly Israel)

2). to give his innumerable descendants the entire territory of Canaan

3). to be their God forever.

The Covenant and Circumcision (Genesis 17)

First, another name for God is used.  He is El Shaddai, "God Almighty" (17:1).  Then, Abram is renamed Abraham, "the father of a multitude" (17:4).  In addition, circumcision is described as the sign of the covenant with God.  Circumcision is the cutting off of the male foreskin.  Circumcision is now a ritual requirement for Abraham and all his male offspring.  This was a physical "sign" of an Israelite's Abrahamic descent.  (Genesis 17:11)  Sarai is then renamed Sarah.  Assurance was once more given that she would be the mother of Abraham’s heir and successor as patriarch.

The Story of Abraham and Sarah

At age eighty-six, eleven years after first receiving Yahweh's promise to give him a son, Abraham finally has a son.  His name is Ishmael.  But Sarah is not the mother.  Hagar, Sarah's slave, is the mother of this first son.  Hagar and Ishmael are driven away.

Another thirteen years pass, and Abraham is ninety-nine.  Yahweh now appears again.  Abraham is informed that within a year he and his wife will have a son.  Overhearing the prophecy, Sarah laughs because both she and Abraham are long past the age of procreation (18:1-15).  By the next year, Sarah and Abraham indeed have an heir of their "own flesh and blood".  His name is Isaac, whose name literally means "laughter".  This name echoes his mother's mirth at hearing an "impossible" prediction.

 The Story of Lot (Abraham's nephew)

Before fire from heaven consumes Sodom and its sister cities, Yahweh, out of regard for Abraham, rescues Lot and his two daughters.  Lot becomes drunk after his wife is changed into a pillar of salt. While drunk, Lot commits incest with his two daughters.  The sons of this illicit union are Moab and Ammon.  They become the two small states that bordered ancient Israel.  According to these legendary etiologies, Israel receives its name from God signifying its chosen status, whereas neighboring countries such as Moab and Ammon are the products of unspeakable sin.

 The Test (Gen. 22)

 The high point of the Abraham drama was played out on a mountain, "in the land of Moriah."  God orders Abraham to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice.  With his knife raised to cut his son's throat, Abraham is stopped by the intervention of an angel who directs him to spare Isaac and offer instead a ram caught in a nearby thorn bush.  Yahweh then reaffirms his covenant vows, reiterating that Abraham will be the source of universal blessing.  Abraham dies at age 175.  He and Sarah were buried in the cave of Macpelah.

 Isaac and Rebekah

 We don't see much in Bible with regard to Isaac.  What we do know is that a servant of Abraham returns to the Mesopotamian homeland to find Isaac a mate from among Abraham's kin.  The servant finds Rebekkah.  Rebekkah shows hospitality to the servant.  She also shows courage by choosing to go back and marry Isaac who is unknown to her.  What makes Isaac unique is that Isaac has no other wives or concubines; making him the only truly monogamous patriarch.

 After marrying Isaac, Rebekkah gives birth to twin sons: Esau, the firstborn, and Jacob the younger one.  She plays a major part shaping Israel's destiny.  She is privately informed that Yahweh prefers Jacob, the younger son.  Jacob is also her personal favorite.  She not only initiates the plot to deceive Isaac into blessing Jacob rather than Esau, the firstborn, but also arranges for Jacob to escape his brother's vengeance by sending him from Canaan back to her relatives in Mesopotamia.

 Jacob

 As a young man, he shrewdly exploits his older brother's demand for instant gratification.  Read Genesis 25:29-31.  He persuades Esau to sell him his birthright for a pot of stew The birthright or inheritance was his legal rights as the firstborn son.  Jacob then completes the theft of Esau's inheritance, by assuming his brother's identity, lying to his nearly blind father, and deceiving Isaac into conferring the paternal blessing on him (See chapter 27).

 Jacob on the Run (Gen. 27:46-28:22)

 Rebekah, having overheard Esau's threats to kill Jacob, immediately persuaded Isaac to send Jacob to her brother Laban's house in Haran to escape the wrath of Esau.  God then begins a series of encounters with Jacob that culminates in His bestowing a significant new identity upon Jacob.

 The First Theophany of Jacob

 The first theophany occurs at Bethel.  This is where Jacob stops overnight on his way to Haran.  Sleeping outdoors with a stone for his pillow, he dreams of a "ladder," a ramp reaching from earth to heaven on which angels ascend and descend.  Yahweh also appears in the dream and restates the familiar promise to Abraham, adding a vow to accompany Jacob on his journey.  On awakening, Jacob behaves in characteristic fashion, combining reverence for the divine presence and a pragmatic concern for his personal welfare.  He is impressed by the sanctity of the place, and he renames it Bethel (literally, the "house of El").  Jacob is unwilling to commit himself totally to Yahweh on the basis of a mere dream.  He anoints a stone pillar with oil to commemorate his unexpected contact with divinity.  But then he boldly adds his own terms to the covenant promises Yahweh had just enunciated:  "If God goes with me and keeps me safe on this journey . . . if he gives me bread to eat and clothes to wear, and if I return home safely to my father, then Yahweh shall be my God."  Jacob informs the Deity that allegiance to him will depend on how effectively divine promises are translated into the realities of food and security.