Bless You! (Genesis 12:3)
The Lord called Abraham to leave his father and other relatives behind in Haran which is in Mesopotamia. It is a land east of the middle-Euphrates river valley. Modern Iraq encompasses most of this ancient land. Abraham was called to follow God to an unnamed place. Abraham followed God's call.
I see in Abraham the same kind of faith I see in the early disciples of Jesus. Jesus came to Simon Peter and James and John, fisherman of Galilee and said, "Follow me." They dropped everything and followed Jesus into ministry. I don't think I could do that. I need to know my family will be cared for. I couldn't leave them, so they'd need to come with me. So when God called me to preach, I didn't just drop everything. Instead everything was dropped for me. I was working as production superintendent for a food company when we were sold to another company in the industry. The day after they took control, I was let go with 37 others in a reduction in force, part of the agreement at the time of sale. I was suddenly unemployed. I was reeling from the experience and came to God in prayer. I asked what His plan for me might be. I wanted to do His will, not my own. When I and my wife discerned that God was calling us into professional ministry, we weren't sure where God would take us, but we were committed to going there together.
Abraham was a stranger in the strange land which God had shown him. Canaan was to the west of Mesopotamia along the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea and north of Egypt. It was occupied by a variety of Canaanite peoples including Sea Peoples to the north, who became the Philistines, Hittites, Amorties, Ammonites, Moabites, Girgashites, Perizzites, Jebusites and a few others. Abraham found friends among the family of Mamre the Amorite. (Genesis 14:13) He pitched his tent on their lands known as the Oaks of Mamre. There he lived in safety, but not without trial. There was a famine which required Abraham to migrate to Egypt for food. After the famine there was a dispute between Abraham and his nephew Lot over grazing lands and water. They decided to separate. And after that there was a war in which Lot and his family were captured and taken as slaves. While God had promised Abraham the land to be given to his descendants (Genesis 13:14-17), it would be centuries before that promise would find fulfillment.
God told Abraham that he would make Abraham's name great. He would become the father of a great nation. And all who bless Abraham would be blessed. Indeed Abraham would be a source of blessing to all the families of earth.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
An alternate reading is that all families on earth will bless themselves by Abraham's name. Abraham will be blessed for his faithful response to God's call and because of his faithfulness Abraham will become a source of blessing to others. Abraham is blessed to be a blessing.
We see that play out in subsequent stories about the patriarch. The Egyptian pharaoh takes Abraham's wife Sarah into his harem. God curses the house of the pharaoh with a plague, a foreshadowing of the great plagues God will bring upon Egypt during the exodus from slavery there. Then the pharaoh richly provides for Abraham to appease the God of Abraham. The plague disappears. When Abraham fights against the kings who took his nephew Lot captive, God have him victory. The king of Sodom wished to reward Abraham with the spoils, but Abraham refuses. He doesn't wish to be made wealthy by the king of Sodom. It must be clear that God alone is blessing him. The Jebusite king and high priest of Salem (Jerusalem), Melchizedek, blessed Abraham and received from Abraham an offering of a tenth of everything retrieved from the battle.
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (Genesis 14:19-20)
So Abraham was blessed in various circumstances through his travels, and those who he dwelt among, who offered him hospitality, were also blessed. Abimelech of the Philistines acknowledged God's blessing on Abraham and sought to formalize their relationship.
At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.” (Genesis 21:22-24)
Abraham continued in the land which God promised to his descendants as an alien, a foreigner living under the blessing of God Most High, and in the good graces of those controlled the land. The inhabitants of the land recognized that the blessing of God was on Abraham and they sought to enjoy good relations with one so blessed. Abraham was allowed to dig a well for his exclusive use by an agreement with Abimelech. When Sarah died Abraham purchased a cave in which to bury her.
The field with this burial cave at Machpelah was sold to him by Ephron the Hittite. It was Abraham's only property. Abraham never saw the possession of the land fulfilled, but he certainly saw the Lord's blessing wherever life took him, for Abraham walked with God by faith. Those who befriended Abraham were also blessed.
In Abraham I see the vocation of the church. We are called to follow Christ into a ministry of teaching hope, restoring health, and liberating those who suffer oppression of all sorts. We are witnesses to God's love and grace through Jesus Christ. The church is a visible sign of the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom led by God's love. The apostle Peter speaks of the church as aliens and strangers on this earth (1st Peter 2:11-12). We, like Abraham, sojourn among those who do not know God. We are here to be a blessing by carrying on the ministry of Jesus among them. By doing so they may also bless the name of Abraham's descendant, Jesus. And by blessing Him, be blessed.
I see in Abraham the same kind of faith I see in the early disciples of Jesus. Jesus came to Simon Peter and James and John, fisherman of Galilee and said, "Follow me." They dropped everything and followed Jesus into ministry. I don't think I could do that. I need to know my family will be cared for. I couldn't leave them, so they'd need to come with me. So when God called me to preach, I didn't just drop everything. Instead everything was dropped for me. I was working as production superintendent for a food company when we were sold to another company in the industry. The day after they took control, I was let go with 37 others in a reduction in force, part of the agreement at the time of sale. I was suddenly unemployed. I was reeling from the experience and came to God in prayer. I asked what His plan for me might be. I wanted to do His will, not my own. When I and my wife discerned that God was calling us into professional ministry, we weren't sure where God would take us, but we were committed to going there together.
Abraham was a stranger in the strange land which God had shown him. Canaan was to the west of Mesopotamia along the western shores of the Mediterranean Sea and north of Egypt. It was occupied by a variety of Canaanite peoples including Sea Peoples to the north, who became the Philistines, Hittites, Amorties, Ammonites, Moabites, Girgashites, Perizzites, Jebusites and a few others. Abraham found friends among the family of Mamre the Amorite. (Genesis 14:13) He pitched his tent on their lands known as the Oaks of Mamre. There he lived in safety, but not without trial. There was a famine which required Abraham to migrate to Egypt for food. After the famine there was a dispute between Abraham and his nephew Lot over grazing lands and water. They decided to separate. And after that there was a war in which Lot and his family were captured and taken as slaves. While God had promised Abraham the land to be given to his descendants (Genesis 13:14-17), it would be centuries before that promise would find fulfillment.
God told Abraham that he would make Abraham's name great. He would become the father of a great nation. And all who bless Abraham would be blessed. Indeed Abraham would be a source of blessing to all the families of earth.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)
An alternate reading is that all families on earth will bless themselves by Abraham's name. Abraham will be blessed for his faithful response to God's call and because of his faithfulness Abraham will become a source of blessing to others. Abraham is blessed to be a blessing.
We see that play out in subsequent stories about the patriarch. The Egyptian pharaoh takes Abraham's wife Sarah into his harem. God curses the house of the pharaoh with a plague, a foreshadowing of the great plagues God will bring upon Egypt during the exodus from slavery there. Then the pharaoh richly provides for Abraham to appease the God of Abraham. The plague disappears. When Abraham fights against the kings who took his nephew Lot captive, God have him victory. The king of Sodom wished to reward Abraham with the spoils, but Abraham refuses. He doesn't wish to be made wealthy by the king of Sodom. It must be clear that God alone is blessing him. The Jebusite king and high priest of Salem (Jerusalem), Melchizedek, blessed Abraham and received from Abraham an offering of a tenth of everything retrieved from the battle.
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” (Genesis 14:19-20)
So Abraham was blessed in various circumstances through his travels, and those who he dwelt among, who offered him hospitality, were also blessed. Abimelech of the Philistines acknowledged God's blessing on Abraham and sought to formalize their relationship.
At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.” And Abraham said, “I swear it.” (Genesis 21:22-24)
Abraham continued in the land which God promised to his descendants as an alien, a foreigner living under the blessing of God Most High, and in the good graces of those controlled the land. The inhabitants of the land recognized that the blessing of God was on Abraham and they sought to enjoy good relations with one so blessed. Abraham was allowed to dig a well for his exclusive use by an agreement with Abimelech. When Sarah died Abraham purchased a cave in which to bury her.
The field with this burial cave at Machpelah was sold to him by Ephron the Hittite. It was Abraham's only property. Abraham never saw the possession of the land fulfilled, but he certainly saw the Lord's blessing wherever life took him, for Abraham walked with God by faith. Those who befriended Abraham were also blessed.
In Abraham I see the vocation of the church. We are called to follow Christ into a ministry of teaching hope, restoring health, and liberating those who suffer oppression of all sorts. We are witnesses to God's love and grace through Jesus Christ. The church is a visible sign of the kingdom of heaven, a kingdom led by God's love. The apostle Peter speaks of the church as aliens and strangers on this earth (1st Peter 2:11-12). We, like Abraham, sojourn among those who do not know God. We are here to be a blessing by carrying on the ministry of Jesus among them. By doing so they may also bless the name of Abraham's descendant, Jesus. And by blessing Him, be blessed.
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