The Abraham Story Part 9: Seed Like Stars

Tenth

Could it have been because Melchizedek is the 10th king and he gives them the 10th? Probably

Tenth rimes with the word for "wealth."

This is what the Israelites will be called to give to honor the priestly staff in the temple.

Royal Priest

But the whole point here is that this is not a priest from the line of Levi, 'cause Levi doesn't exist yet. And so it's a way of acknowledging the whole Israelite priesthood was itself a corrupt image of the ideal priesthood. The only ideal priesthood in the whole Hebrew Bible is this guy, all the other priests are not good people. And the rest, isn't that fascinating to think about? So it's kinda, what's the story doing here? It's an image of the ultimate royal priesthood. as being a source of blessing to the blessed one.

I'm curious, with the mention of bread and wine and you talking about how Jesus himself identified as a Melchizedek figure or as this priest king, and then also this idea of being delivered from your adversaries coming into play with the idea of blessing, how would you speak to that?

How Abraham and Melchizedek Point Forward to Jesus • The Royal Priest Series (Episode 2) - https://youtu.be/KlZjA-3hiys

Seed Like Stars

Design of Genesis 15-17 .

When we look Genesis 15, 16, and 17, there's something here that's actually puzzled Old Testament scholars for a long time. 

There's two covenant making stories chapter 15 and 17. And then in between them is this debacle about the abuse and oppression of Hagar. 

So one classic way when biblical scholarship, when the big fad was to take the books of the Bible apart and imagine how they were put together and reconstruct the process of how they were put together, and maybe the sources that the biblical authors drew from, one way to explain it was, "Oh, Genesis 15 and 17 come from different sources."

Cause of course, God wouldn't make two covenants with the same person, he would just make one promise. 

And so there are two reflections from two different sources about the same event, told from two angles. And they've been brought together here. 

What that approach doesn't ever do is ask, why have they been put together in this order, in this sequence, and is that meaningful? It's sort of like saying, "My wife got one painting from the museum, she got another paint from the art gallery down the street, and another from her time in France and that explains why there's three paintings on the wall." I guess that's kind of an explanation." But it doesn't ask what was she thinking when she arranged them the way that they are. 

So that's a different kind of question which I think is more important. it wasn’t like they were like o I didn’t realize.

Both chapter 15 and 17 begin with a divine word, just right outta the gates, And God's words to Avram in 15 are, "Don't be afraid." You just made a lot of enemies in the previous story, yeah? With the night raid on the kings, "I am your deliverer, I am your very numerous reward." And Avram's gonna struggle to trust. So he'll trust one moment, not trust God the next. And so God's gonna make a covenant to meet Avram in his belief and unbelief.

Matching that, Genesis 17 comes out of the gate and, instead of giving promises, starts giving commands and calls to obey. "Walk before me, walk about before me, be blameless for goodness' sake. And I will make my covenant with you and make you very numerous."

So the question is, how did a promise become a call to behave?

What explains the shift between those? And the key is the story in between them, a story of great failure on the part of Avram and Sarai. And so this is a very meaningful sequence here. And the stories are in the order that they're in for a very particular reason.

God is still going to fulfill his promise, but Avram and Sarai are making it really difficult for God to get along with them as partners. And so that's the sequence. We go from a drama of a couple struggling to believe, failing, and now God having to address the consequences of that failure. That's the sequence sequence right here. 

Genesis 15:1–6 NASB95

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” 2 Abram said, “O Lord God, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.” 4 Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.” 5 And He took him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” 6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

"So after these things ..." After what things, right? So it's a clear little like link back to, you know, just remember everything that just happened, keep that in mind, don't forget it. 

"The word of Yahweh was to Avram in a vision saying, 'Don't be afraid, Avram, I am a delivering shield for you. Your reward is great, very much.'

And Avram said, 'Master Yahweh, what are you going to give to me? Now I am going on naked without any children and a son of Masek of my house.' The narrator says, 'Oh, Masek that's an old way that people used to say the name of the city and the region Damascus.' So the son of Masek, of my house, is Eliezer. a lot of English translations just cut that out and say damascus.

And Avram said, 'Look at me, you've given me no seed. And so, look, this son of my house, he's the one who's gonna inherit everything.' And look, the word of Yahweh was to Avram saying, 'That one will not inherit you. Rather, one who comes from your innards,'" or often translated "loins" in the King James. It's the word for "guts," come from within you. 

So this is, you know, in biblical conception, the man's seed comes from within him. The seed is planted in the woman, and then the child comes from within. And there'll be the same word often used, from the innards of the woman, the seed from the man, the child from the planting in between.

But this is the biblical vocabulary and conception of the whole thing. So you can condense the whole process and talk about the seed coming out of the man or the seed coming out of the woman that explains the language here. So "'One who comes forth from your innards, that one will inherit you.' And he," that is Yahweh, "brought Avram outside. 

And he said, 'Please stare up at the skies, count all those stars, that is if you are able to count them.' And he said to him, 'That's how your seed will be.' And Avram trusted in Yahweh."

He trusted in Yahweh and Yahweh looked at that trust and said, "Wow, that is somebody who is in right relationship with me." That's the first, that's the first little scene.

This is a very well-known story.

Paul the apostle, he loved this story. He talks about it in his letter to the Romans, his letter to the Galatians.

This idea of what's the right way to walk with God and to trust God? We know Noah did it, we're told, we know Enoch did it, but what does that mean, actually? And so here comes the definition. 

It's the first time we're getting a word, but we've seen the opposite of it when Avram left the land because there was a famine. When he schemed up his plan 'cause he didn't think that God would protect he and his wife.

It was the opposite of this. But now, it's given a word and a name, it's called faith or trust, belief. This is the first time this word appears in the Bible, and it's a remarkable story. It's about God promising to bring, to bring some thing out of no thing, to bring what is out of what is not.

And it requires radical, radical trust. 

It begins with Yahweh making a promise, then Avram speaks twice. And notice there's two speech introductions to Avram "And Avram said," and then verse 3, "Avram said ..." And you're like, "Yeah, I know. Like, he never stopped talking, did he?" So this is actually very common in biblical narrative, it's a structuring device. So Yahweh speaks, Avram speaks twice. Then look at the next scene. Yahweh speaks to Avram, and then Yahweh speaks twice.

So it's as if Yahweh has the first word in both scenes. Avram's two words are doubt, right, and excuses. And so to Avram's two words of doubt come Yahweh's two words of promise and trust, so it's a- In other words, a literary form is inviting you to see these two little dialogue scenes in parallelism. So what seems like an unnecessary thing to say is actually crucial for the literary design, which is asking you now to compare these two little scenes. So Avram's two excuses and doubts are answered by Yahweh's two affirmations. Which is a really, it portrays Yahweh as really, like, patient and generous, and he just meets Avram where he's at.

If you look at verse 2

And we have a guy who says, our English translations of verse 2 translate the word here, "I remain childless," is the New International Version. It's the Hebrew word "‘ariri" that's from the root word of "naked." And so you're like, "Oh yeah, we have a guy who thinks he's naked."

I have heard that language before. God appearing, to his chosen one. And what he's saying is, "Here, I have no clothes." And that nakedness becomes an image of his vulnerability, which very quickly becomes focused on to have no children and no family is to be naked. That's the imagery here.

And so he says, "Listen, I've got, I've got this okay jacket I can wear." This very nice man, right? Eliezer. Eliezer, okay?

Eliezer is two Hebrew words put together into a name, ’eli means "my God" and ‘ezer means "help." Help.

So I've got no clothes and the only family I do have who's gonna act like a proxy for my seed is a guy named My God Is Delivering Help.

Ezer is that word used to describe woman.

There is a lone human.

It's a lone naked human in a garden and God says, "Oh, that is not good. How can a lone human be fruitful and multiply?" So how did that story go? Well, God is going to put a deep sleep on this guy, and he's gonna divide the human in half and make two out of one.

And so that those two out of one can actually become one again through covenant. And then out of that covenant union of the one that is two will come a whole bunch more seed. 

the title given to the other after the deep sleep and God splits, and so you have the man, and then what the woman is called is an ‘ezer. It's the same exact Hebrew word.

And it gets translated as help. Again, this isn't a class on the Eden narrative. The only other person who's called ‘ezer in the Hebrew Bible is Yahweh when he comes to show up and rescue people when they're about to die. 

The point is deliverance. To be an ‘ezer is to come to someone's aid, and they aren't able of their own resources to do the thing that God has called them to do, and so one needs an ‘ezer. And so Yahweh is the ‘ezer, and in the Eden narrative, he provides an incarnation of the ‘ezer, which is the other half of the 'adam. And so do you see? It's a very similar image here, "I'm naked, I have no future, I have no ‘ezer. Well, except this guy named Ezer."

And God says, "No, no, no. The guy named Ezer, he's cool, but he's not your real ‘ezer. The real is the one I'm going to give for you. And by the way, it's about time that you take a nap." Is what's gonna happen in the next scene.

So this is such a great example of we're in the Eden melody of the moment here, and God is going to provide seed and delivering help for the one who is helpless.

And so we're back to this image of trust.

Of trust. This is, God's promise is you have no seed and so, oh actually, think of the Genesis 1 imagery of all the stars above and that's what your seed will, that's what your seed will be like. Like the stars.

The focus here in the immediate foreground is on the numbers, like the numerous number of the stars, but it also kind of leads you to imagine, "Well, like, what else, what else going on with those stars? Why would the future seed of Avram be likened to the stars?"

Well, what's the biblical conception of stars? They've only come up once so far.

And in the cosmology, the view of the world, in Genesis 1, you have the images of God who are rulers below and then the stars and sun and moon are called rulers. But the rulers above, in Genesis 1:14 he appoints them as, "to rule the day and the night." And so God is talking to a terrestrial ruler saying, "your seed will become like the celestial rulers."

Daniel 12:2–3 LEB

2 And many from those sleeping in the dusty ground will awake, some to everlasting life and some to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3 But the ones having insight will shine like the brightness of the expanse, and the ones providing justice for the many will be like the stars forever and ever.

You know, it's interesting, the book of Daniel has this fascinating way of ending where there's gonna be this great time of flood and tribulation and terrible violence in the world, and what he's told is that a lot of people are gonna die. But when God brings about new creation, "Many of those who are sleeping in the dust, sleeping in the dust, they're gonna wake up, some to eternal life," it's the only other time the word "eternal life" is used in the Bible, except for the garden of Eden narrative. "Others to shame and everlasting contempt." And you know, "Those who have wisdom," it's the same exact word used for what Eve saw in the tree of knowing good and bad, was good for gaining wisdom. "Those who have real wisdom will shine like the brightness of the skies." So in this passage, resurrection, the resurrection of, to new creation life where there was non-life, asleep in the dust is the image of the new creation hope of a form of life that transcends the boundaries of our current existence.

And notice that they're human rulers, but they shine like the heavenly rulers. Isn't that interesting? 

So a lot of people have wondered that the seeds, I guess pun intended, of this image of the earthy rulers taking on the glory and authority of the heavenly rulers is actually part of what's being alluded to in Genesis 15. "Your seed ... Look at the stars and count them if you're able to." And he said, "That's what your seed will be like." And that's a very open-ended thing to say like, "What does that mean?" To say that you'll be like them? And so think of all the shining people in the Bible, Moses when he shines, Jesus when he's glowing, glowing, shining people.

So this is the thing. So the stars become a really important image of human existence 2.0, and it's right here. Jesus on MT of Transfiguration

So on one level, it's a story about a guy who thinks he has no family and what future is there for me. And that's, God answers him on that level. But when you hold these words and then think through the promise of new humanity throughout the storyline of the Bible, you realize there's a whole new creation buried in those words, "That's what your seed will be like." Really remarkable.

And then again, to bring it back around, the thing that should surprise us is that for the first time in the story, Avram just says, "I trust you." And that is considered right relation, righteousness is our standard English translation, but it just means to be in right relationship with somebody. And so God declares that the one, not the one who can conquer armies, not the one who can build cities in their own name, but the one who just stops their schemes and trusts in the impossible, that's the person who's in right relationship with God.

Trust and Right Relationship With God

Trust

Trust Hebrew ’amen (ןמא) or ne’eman (ןמאנ) = “to be true, trustworthy”

“their water will be trustworthy” (i.e., reliable and continuous, Isa. 33:16)

“let your words be proven trustworthy” (i.e., true and reliable, Gen. 42:20)

“your house and your throne will be trustworthy” (i.e., enduring and reliable, 2 Sam. 7:16)

Hebrew he’emin (ןימאה) = “to consider someone trustworthy, to trust/believe”

“The gullible consider anything believable/trustworthy” (Prov. 14:15)

“Jacob did not consider their words trustworthy/true” (Gen. 45:26)

In this moment, Avram considers God’s promise of a huge family with innumerable descendants to be a reliable, trustworthy promise. Notice he doesn’t just “trust in” the word; he trusts in Elohim himself.

Righteousness

In Hebrew, righteousness (tsedaqah, הקדצ) refers to a standard of right relationship: actions that create and maintain healthy, whole, and equitable relationships between two parties.

For example, when Yaaqov’s (Jacob’s) fair management of Laban’s flocks is to be inspected, he says “my tsedaqah will testify on my behalf, when you check on the flocks” (Gen. 30:33).

Jeremiah 22:3 CSB

3 This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

Do justice and tsedaqah, by rescuing those robbed from the hand of their oppressor.

Genesis 38:26 CSB

26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her intimately again.

[Tamar] has shown more tsadeqah (verb) than I have, because I didn’t give her to my son as a wife

“In order for an individual to be righteous, it means that of necessity he or she must exist and live in a manner which allows him or her to respond correctly in the values of the relationship (spouse, parent, judge, neighbor, etc.) … In essence ‘righteousness’ is not simply an objective norm which is present within a society and which must be kept, but rather it is a concept which derives its meaning from the relationship in which it finds itself. Right judging, right governing, right worshipping, and generosity are all covenantal activities and so righteous, despite their diversity.” Gossai, Hemchand (1993). Justice, Righteousness and the Social Critique of the Eighth-Century Prophets. Peter Lang. 55-56.

Links Between Genesis 14 and 15

While there appears to be little connection between these two chapters, there are in fact many deep links between the stories. Many consist of subtle wordplays and hyperlinks.

The word "reward" is the Hebrew, the same letters as the Hebrew word "possessions" flipped backward.

What was the previous chapter all about? About how Avram got loaded from being victorious over the kings. And he's been loaded before by deceiving and manipulating a king. And that, all those possessions, the rakash, it wreaked havoc in his life. 

So remember Genesis 14 was all about how he takes the rakash and he's like, "I don't want it. You know, you take it back and don't give me your rakash." And then God comes along in the next sentence and says, "Yeah, good job. You know who is the real provider of your possessions, I am your sakar." And so it's a wordplay. 

Remember that number 318 commando warriors? So in Hebrew, the numbering system is the alphabet. So try and imagine a writing system where you don't have a different letters and numbers, the numbers are the letters. And so when you read the name Eliezer, the word Eliezer is the number 318.

And just stop and think about that. What is the meaning of Eliezer's name? God Is My Delivering Help.

And how many people did he defeat a coalition of four kings with? 318. So it's a wonderful, there's all kinds of little wordplays between Genesis 14 and 15 like that.

And so that reward, I think, is both reflecting on God is the one who provides you real possessions. But now in this chapter, it's all about the real reward is a future for his family, the seed. And what he's saying is, "I got that covered.

I am your delivering shield, I am your reward, trust in me." And that's what he does, at least for a minute.

His faith is about to turn into unbelief in like two sentences. But for a moment, let's just pause and bask in this beautiful picture of a feeble, naked human trusting in the impossible promise of the creator. And God says, that's my kind of person. I can relate to a person like that.

God’s Covenant with Abram

Bibliography

https://bibleproject.com/classroom/abraham

Middleton, J. Richard. Abraham’s Silence: The Binding of Isaac, the Suffering of Job, and How to Talk Back to God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021.

Cotter, David W. Genesis. Edited by Jerome T. Walsh, Chris Franke, and David W. Cotter. Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2003.

Josephus, Flavius, and William Whiston. The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987.

Richard N. Longenecker, “The Melchizedek Argument of Hebrews: A Study in the Development and Circumstantial Expression of New Testament Thought,” in Unity and Diversity in New Testament Theology: Essays in Honor of George E. Ladd (ed. Robert Guelich, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 161.

https://bible.org/article/melchizedek-covenantal-figure-biblical-theology-eschatological-royal-priesthood#P8_421

Anders Aschim, “Melchizedek and Jesus: 11QMelchizedek and the Epistle to the Hebrews,” in The Jewish Roots of Christological Monotheism: Papers from the St. Andrews Conferences on the Historical Origins of the Worship of Jesus (eds. Carey Newman, James Davila, and Gladys Lewis, JSJSup. 63; Leiden: Brill, 1999), 130.

Paul J. Kobelski, Melchizedek and Melchiresa (CBQMS 10; Washington DC: Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1981), 126-7.

https://bible.ca/manuscripts/Septuagint-LXX-Shem-was-Melchizedek-Masoretic-chronology-Messiah-Jesus-Christ-priesthood.htm