Abraham I promise too

Intro:

Deconstruction journey

Genesis 12:1–3 CSB

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Grammatical Structure of the promise

Genesis 12:1–3 (CSB) 1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

How many people are involved in the conversation?

God tells Abram “Go” and I will show you!

This is a two person conversation

What pattern do you see emerge after reading this passage several times?

(EXP)(1-3) Please put a square around “I will” , then put a circle around “will be”. Next can you please underline “you” every time you see it. I do this so that pattern stick out clearly. The bible is not a “treasure map” I am not doing this because some secret message is going to be revealed but through grammar and syntax we can detect what the writer is trying to convey.

From the grammatical structure and language Moses the writer under the inspiration of the HS is making it clear what type of interaction is going on.

Saints this passage of scripture has all the characteristics of a covenant.

Lets define a covenant:

 a solemn agreement between two or more parties, particularly between God and humanity, that establishes a binding relationship with defined obligations and promises. These formal relationships often involve oaths, signs, and ceremonies, with God acting as the initiator or guarantor of the promise, as seen in the covenants with Noah, Abraham, and Israel.  

Initiator: “The Lord said to Abram”

Recipient: Abram

Condition: “Go from your land, your relatives and your father’s house to the land that I will show you”

Obligations: “6 obligations from the initiator of the covenant” He says “I will” this is what he said he will go because of what Abraham decided to do!

What does this grouping of passages sound like?

They sound a bit like wedding vows. Pastor where do you see that? Genesis 2:22-24

Genesis 2:22–24 CSB

22 Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. 24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Saints God is asking for Abraham hand in marriage. And Abraham accepted

Question to ask

Is the covenant unilateral or bilateral? unilateral means the fulfillment is the responsibility of one person; Bilateral means the fulfillment is the responsibility of both parties(the law of moses)

Is the covenant perpetual or terminal? is this an eternal covenant(like salvation) or is it for a season.

Is the covenant fully unconditional or both conditional and unconditional?

Who is the recipient of the covenant? a person, a family, or a nation

8x Moses uses the pronoun “you or your”

this pronoun is “second person singular” the hebrew word is “atah”

there is a Hebrew word for second person plural “atem”

If Moses wanted to convey this covenant is for multiple people or groups would have used “atem” our english equivalent is “you all” or in the south “yall”

MacArthur Study Bible NASB Commentary

12:3 the one who curses you I will curse. Those who “curse” Abram and his descendants are those who treat him lightly, despise him, or treat him with contempt. God’s curse for such lack of respect and disdain was to involve the most harsh of divine judgments. The opposite was to be true for those who bless him and his people

Notice Macarthur explanation of this verse. “Those who curse Abram and his descendants”

When I read this text previous my brain naturally eisogeted(read into the text) Abraham and his descendants. But strictly speaking syntactically this was a covenant between God and Abraham.

John’s commentary is assuming “abraham descendants” I believe this is largely driven by his End time beliefs. Let’s take a look at the Lord speaking to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-18

Genesis 15:13–18 CSB

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain: Your offspring will be resident aliens for four hundred years in a land that does not belong to them and will be enslaved and oppressed. 14 However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions. 15 But you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” 17 When the sun had set and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I give this land to your offspring, from the Brook of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River:

Abraham in chapter 15 begins to wonder about being childless. Abraham remebers the previous covenant about being a great nation but wonders who is going to happen since he is childless he assumes its going to happen through Eliezer a servant who had become like a son. The Lord tells him nope you are going to have a biological heir and through him your descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the sea. The text says Abraham believed God and it was credit to his as righteousness.

The text says God made a covenant with Abram. Saying after being enslaved for 400+ years in Eygpt you will leave Eygpt and resettle in the Land you are currently a visitor in.

You will notice the Covenant was between Abraham and his descendants before he had any children. Moses could have used the same verbiage in Genesis 12:1-3 as well but he didn’t he sticks to the “second person singular” “you”

Let’s take a look at the Obligation of the Covenant

Promises#1-Property

Genesis 12:1 CSB

1 The Lord said to Abram: Go from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

(EXP)(1) The Lord told him to leave his land, family, and relatives and go to a land I will show. Leave your inheritance, Leave the familiar, leave safety to live a life a faith. This is a call to faith. The Lord promises “I will show you” the land you will settle in. Genesis 15 tells us a subsequent covenant with Abraham happened whereby which God promised to give Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan after having been enslaved for 425 years in Egypt.

Was this an unconditional covenant with Abraham or conditional?

Help us out Joshua 23:16

Joshua 23:16 CSB

16 If you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow in worship to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land he has given you.”

OT scholar Walter Bruggeman says in his book Chosen? Reading the Bible amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Thus we may conclude that the Land is given to Israel unconditionally, but it is held by Israel conditionally

Explanation: Son inherits paid off home of parents under the auspices that he pays the taxes. The House was unconditional he didn’t pay one house note and he has a free house, but he has to keep up the taxes to keep the home.

Joshua makes it clear the way to hold onto the land is by not serving Idols. If Israel displayed a persistent and rebellious rejection of Yahweh for idols they would be spewed out of the land. Saints this happened multiple times in history.

If loyalty to God is the condition for which the land should remain in the Jews possession and they violated that and were disciplined for it in 722bc, 586bc, 70ad, and 1099Ad how is it that they can make a religious argument for reclaiming that land unless repentance and a return to God happens?

This would totally go against the character of God to reward them with the land again without repentance and confession. It seem odd to me God would kick them out of the land for rejecting his son then supernaturally bring them back while they are still rejecting his son. Yes they are back in the land but remember last week God has a perfect and permissive will, and both eventually bend toward his decreed will.

Explanation-Son on drugs that was kicked out

Promises #2-Progeny

Genesis 12:2 CSB

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

(2) “I will make you into a great nation” This is Yahweh promise to Abraham he would formulate a nation through him. Nation is in the singular. The word for nation is “goy” or “goyim” that is the hebrew word for heathens, pagans, or gentiles. That is very interesting. Moses is writing in his prophetic role now. And he is predicting a future nation(singular) that Abraham would be the progenitor for.

Promises #3-Prosperity

Genesis 12:2 CSB

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

(EXP)(2) “I will bless you” you remember that Abraham left UR with great possession. This was an act of faith for Abraham because he was essentially saying to his father I am not taking over the business I am going to a journey and not returning. Abraham was most likely traveling with is inheritance. But Abraham held onto his wealth and gain more even though he was disconnected from the source of that wealth which would have been his family.

Abraham continue to grow in wealth despite being on his own, no longer connected to his father. Abraham was learning how to trust an invisible Father and the Lord blessed him all throughout his life.

Promises #4-Power

Genesis 12:2 CSB

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

(EXP)(3) “I will make your name great” Saints God told Abraham I will give you power and influence like that of a King in the ancient world. You will notice the previous chapter in Genesis 11:4

Genesis 11:4 CSB

4 And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered throughout the earth.”

Notice the difference in these two text. From a chronological point of view there may have been centuries between these two events but Moses chose to put this story of Abraham right after the Tower of Babel. Moses is showing you practically the result of trying to make a name for yourself, for yourself. Notice the syntax in Genesis 11:4 “Let’s make a name for ourselves, otherwise we will be scattered throughout the earth” This is the desire of mankind. Too make their mark, to leave their name for themselves.

Notice what God promises to Abraham. “I will make your name great” God tells Abraham part of the benefits package of our new union in the process I am going to give you influence

Why is God doing that?

Result #1

Genesis 12:2 CSB

2 I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

(EXP)(2) This is the finale of the first section of vows. God promises Abraham 4 consecutive obligations. I will show a land to live, I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great,

(2) “And” this is causal conjunction it is dependent on the other previous clauses. Moses is grammatically telling the reader why God is doing all these things for Abraham.

Abraham the reason “I will show you a land”

Abraham the reason “I will make you a great nation”

Abraham the reason “I have blessed you with prosperity”

Abraham the reason “I will make you name great”

is so that you “will be a blessing”

God tells him the thing I am doing with you “will happen” and it is far bigger than what you even realize!!!!

Application

Saints God desire to make you name great but not for your own glory. When God blesses tremendously it always has a greater purpose beyond yourself.

Every Mountain, Every Valley, Every Trial, Every Victory, Every Demotion and Every Promotion is “So that You will be a blessing”

Listen to the Pharisees talk about Jesus after having resserected Lazarus in John 11:41-48

John 11:41–48 CSB

41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” 45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

Saints let the Lord make your name great so that you can be a blessing to others. Don’t seek to make a name for yourself because you simple end up in Babylon!!!!

Open of the doors of the church