Selections from In the Beginning/Lech Lecha Genesis 12-17
God tells Avram: Go forth from your
native land
To the land that I will show you. I am
blessing you to be a blessing
Abram goes forth taking his wife Sarai
and his nephew Lot with him
God appears to him. Avram builds an
altar there to God Gen: 2.7
Because of severe
famine, he heads south to Egypt and say to his wife You're very beautiful. Say
you're my sister and my life will be spared
Because of her beauty
Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s palace
God strikes Pharaoh
and his palace with severe plagues
Why didn't you tell
me she was your wife, demands Pharaoh
Take her and go. Avram heads northward with his wife and Lot
Very rich with
servants, livestock, silver and gold, sheep and cattle
God says to Avram, Look
up, see the north, south, east and west
All the land you see
I am giving to you and to your offspring forever Avram builds an altar to God (again, and so might we) Gen: 13.18
Some kings wage war
against the kings of Sodom and Gemorah
The victors take
everything including Lot and his
possessions
This news comes to
Avram who musters all his men, hurries after the
invaders, divides his forces against them, attacks at night, thus bringing back
Lot, the women, the other people and all their goods
The king of Sodom
comes to greet him and Melchizedek, king of Salem Who is (also) priest to God. He brings bread and
wine, saying:
Blessed be Avram to
God most high, and blessed be God
Who delivers your
enemies into your hands
Melchi-zedek, king of Salem, king of peace, who also is Shem, son of Noah
Avram then gives him
a 10th of everything (tithe)
God's word comes to
Avram in a vision saying, Fear not
I am your shield. Your
reward is very great (faith brings fearlessness)
Avram asks, God, what
if I remain childless?
God says, one born
from your own body will inherit what is yours
How numerous your
descendants will be
Avram believes in God
and this is counted as his righteousness
The sun is setting
Avram falls into a trance and in a deep dark dread God says to him, know that
your descendants will be foreigners
In a land that is not
theirs. They will be enslaved and oppressed
But I will finally
bring judgment against the nation who enslaves them
And they will leave
with great wealth
You will join your
fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age
How will I know, asks
Avram. God says, bring me a sacrifice
Abraham does and
separates his offerings in two Gen: 15.10
It becomes very dark. A smoking furnace and a flaming torch pass Between the halves
of his offerings. God makes a covenant with Avram
Sarai has borne no
children. Consort with my Egyptian handmaid
Says Sarai, perhaps
I’ll have a child through her
Avram goes into her
and she conceives
Avram is 86 when
Hagar bears his son Ishmael (God hears)
When he’s 99 God appears to him saying
I am God Almighty,
walk before me and be blameless
You are no longer to
be called avram, but Avraham
Father of multitudes.
I will keep my covenant between you and me Everlasting through all generations
As for your wife, do
not call her sarai, for Sarah is her name
I will bless her and
give you a son by her
I am blessing her to give
rise to nations Gen:
17.16
