Abraham I. Questions A. Who was Abraham? B. Why must we share in the faith of Abraham? II. Background A. What we know of Abraham can be found in the book of Genesis, particularly Genesis 11:27-25:11; with a few exceptions, the rest of the witness of Scripture is rooted in what is told there 1. The book of Genesis is generally believed to have been written by Moses; it would have been written ca. 1450 or ca. 1250 depending on one's view of the Exodus 2. Many scholars would want to date the writing of many parts of Genesis to much later; nevertheless, witness about Abraham is consistent in the stories of Moses and Joshua and thus go back to the end of the Bronze Age B. We do not have any contemporaneous specific, explicit extra-Biblical references to Abraham; archaeological discoveries have allowed us to understand some culturally contextual aspects of parts of Abraham's story C. Abraham lived sometime toward the end of the third millennium BCE (ca. 2000 BCE, perhaps 2150-1975 BCE) 1. Again, very contentious; some would date him far later 2. Nevertheless, what we see in the Genesis narrative makes better sense in that Mesopotamian/Canaanite context at the end of the third millennium more than the middle to late Bronze Age D. Transitions at the End of the Third Millennium BCE 1. The time immediately before Abraham was a time of great transition in the ancient Near East 2. The "Old Kingdom" in Egypt and the Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia collapsed in the 22nd century BCE, likely at least in part because of what we now call the "4.2 Kiloyear Event," a major dry spell in the ancient Near Eastern world that led to severe famine and political collapse 3. Such has defined the transition from the "Early" Bronze Age into the "Middle" Bronze Age, and would have involved a lot of disruption, and most importantly for our purposes, migrations E. Abraham's World 1. Abraham is the son of Terah, brother of Nahor and Haran, and all are from "Ur of the Chaldeans" (Genesis 11:24-28) 2. Terah was an idolater according to Joshua 24:2 3. Abraham is likely contemporary with the last great independent kingdom of Ur, a Sumerian city: the "Third Dynasty of Ur" 4. Ur would have been one of the most cosmopolitan and prosperous cities of the time 5. According to Genesis 11:31-32 it was Terah's intention for his whole family group to go to Canaan but only got as far as Haran 6. Haran is in modern-day Turkey near the Syrian border in the northernmost point of the "Fertile Crescent"; it was deemed part of "Aram Naharaim," Aram between the rivers, in Upper Mesopotamia 7. Abraham would go on to Canaan and Egypt (Genesis 12:1-20) 8. Canaan would have been a cultural backwater in the Early to Middle Bronze Age; a collection of city-states, mostly oriented toward Mesopotamia, often conquered by them (cf. Genesis 14:1-11) 9. As stated above Egypt was undergoing the convulsions of the collapse of the centralized state at the end of the Sixth Dynasty, and entering into the divided period of the First Intermediate Period; a Pharaoh would have been ruling from Herakleopolis over Lower Egypt, not to the extent of the ancestors, but sufficiently for Abraham's purposes 10. The picture of Sodom and Gomorrah and the lands around the south and east would indicate a time much better watered and fertile than would have been seen and enjoyed by later generations (cf. Genesis 13:10); consistent with climate data F. Thus Abraham lived at a transitional time which would seem quite foreign even to Moses and the Israelites at the end of the Bronze Age, and all the more so to Israelites in the Iron Age: a time full of idolatry, the collapse of the "golden ages" in Egypt and Mesopotamia, and settlements before the Amorites would saturate everything III. The Story A. Abraham's life is told in Genesis 11:27-25:11 1. Originally named "Abram," later changed by God to "Abraham" 2. We could easily preach on each episode of Abraham's life as detailed in this section of Genesis; we will content ourselves with an oversimplified overview B. We do not know much about Abraham's early years; lived in Ur, moved to Haran at some point; idolaters all according to Joshua 24:2; he had married half-sister Sarah but had no children (cf. Genesis 11:27-32) C. At 75 years old, God spoke with Abraham and promised him that He would make him into a great nation, bless those who bless him, curse those who curse him, and be a blessing for all the families of the earth if he would go out from his country and family and go to the land He would show Abraham, and Abraham went (Genesis 12:1-8) D. During a severe famine they went to Egypt; kept up the half-truth that Sarah was Abraham's sister; she was taken by Pharaoh as wife, returned when the truth was made known (Genesis 12:9-20) E. Abraham would continue to inhabit the land west of the Jordan, but did not own any of the land in it; nephew Lot went east; YHWH promised the land he inhabited to Abraham (Genesis 13:1-18) F. God spoke again with Abraham at some point between age 75 and 85 and promised him an abundance; Abraham wondered when he would get children, since Eliezer of Damascus was presently his heir; YHWH promised that he would have a son from his own body, and Abraham believed Him, and it was reckoned or credited as righteousness (Genesis 15:1-6) G. Sarah, following a custom of the time, gave her Egyptian slave Hagar to Abraham to have proxy children; she conceived and would bear Ishmael to him when he was 86 (Genesis 16:1-16) H. YHWH appeared again to Abraham at 99 years of age, affirming the covenant, renaming him "Abraham" from "Abram," assuring his fruitfulness, the perpetuity of the covenant, the land of Canaan to his descendants, and giving the covenant sign of circumcision; his wife renamed from "Sarai" to "Sarah," fruitfulness promised; Abraham wanted to know why Ishmael could not live before YHWH, for she was almost 90 and Abraham almost 100; YHWH reinforced His promise (Genesis 17:1-27) I. Soon after YHWH and two angels appear as men before Abraham; He promised Abraham would have a son at that time next year; Sarah heard and laughed; YHWH told Abraham His plans about Sodom, and Abraham "haggled" with God down to 10 righteous persons (Genesis 18:1-33) J. After an incident in Gerar in the Negev like in Egypt, it all happened as YHWH promised, and Sarah bore Abraham a son, Isaac, when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 (Genesis 20:1-21:8) K. At some unspecified point in the future, the Akedah: YHWH summoned Abraham to offer Isaac his son as an offering; Abraham proved willing to do so but was providentially hindered by the angel of YHWH from doing so; the angel declared how YHWH saw that Abraham would not withhold anything from Him, reinforced the covenant promise, through his Seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:1-18) L. At 137, Abraham's wife dies when she was 127; he made provision for her burial at the Cave of Machpelah, the only land in Canaan he would ever own (Genesis 23:1-20) M. Soon after Abraham made provision for Isaac to be married to a family member from Paddan Aram, and not from among the local Canaanites (Genesis 24:1-67) N. Abraham would have other children through Keturah; those children, along with Ishmael's children, would become many of the Arabian tribes (Genesis 25:1-4) O. Abraham died at 175; he gave all the inheritance to Isaac; Isaac and Ishmael buried him at the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 25:1-10) IV. Application A. Abraham, Father of the Faith 1. Abraham would become the legendary ancestor of the faithful 2. Exodus 3:6: YHWH would reveal Himself to Moses as the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob 3. John 8:33: Jewish people maintained the conceit that they were never slaves of anyone because they were descendants of Abraham 4. Romans 4:16: Paul did not consider God's promise to Abraham as voided in Christ, but in fact fulfilled; we are not to see ourselves independently from Abraham, but as children of Abraham by faith, since he is the father of us all 5. Muhammad would attempt to re-center the promises to Abraham around Ishmael; Islam also considers Abraham the ancestor of faith 6. Abraham is rightly and appropriately reckoned as such since he heard the voice of God and was willing to recognize it as God's voice and to obey God; his ancestors had been idolaters, and so indeed he is the progenitor of the faith in God (cf. Joshua 24:2) 7. Because Abraham heard and obeyed, everything else was able to take place; God's plan for redemption and blessing could move forward despite all that was lost in the Fall, the Flood, and at the Tower of Babel! B. Abraham's Trust 1. As Paul well explained in Romans 4:1-25, what made Abraham exemplary as the father of the faith was his faith and trust in God 2. Paul focused on Genesis 15:6: Abraham believed in God, and it was credited/reckoned to him as righteousness a. No end of disputes about the "imputation" of faith, not a little influenced by the Latin Vulgate translation b. We should not let that allow us to miss the basic point: at 86, Abraham had no earthly reason to trust in God's promise that he would have many descendants; it even seems like a cruel joke by that point c. But Abraham trusted in God despite it all, and that is why it was reckoned as righteousness d. Likewise, Abraham had yet to be circumcised; thus, this faith, and its reckoning as righteous, was not dependent on circumcision or the Torah which would follow 3. In Romans 4:16-25 Paul has allegorical purposes in mind but did well to focus on Abraham's faith in God that he would indeed have a child even though Sarah's womb was as good as dead, since God is a God of resurrection (cf. Hebrews 11:11-12 as well) 4. There is a whole lot going on with the Akedah in Genesis 22:1-18; nevertheless, Abraham's confidence in God in that moment cannot be denied 5. While Abraham is the father of the faith, we must remember he is the father of the faith because he displayed great faith; such is why only those who share in the kind of faith Abraham had will receive the promises God made through Abraham! C. Abraham the Sojourner 1. In Hebrews 11:8-16 the Hebrews author makes much of Abraham as the sojourner: his life after Haran is entirely by faith since he trusted in God to leave and go to Canaan and only owned his grave site 2. The sojourner theme is a major undercurrent in Abraham's story: God called on Abraham to leave the civilized stable comfort of the day to live as a wandering nomad, rootless, without a firm place 3. The Hebrews author highlights this theme because the children of Abraham by faith must also live as sojourners even if they never leave "home": to live by faith in God demands a level of ambivalence with the world as it is currently constituted, leaving believers truly rootless and without a firm place 4. On account of this, Abraham did not have much of a share in Canaan, but he also did not become a Canaanite! 5. We often resist this and want to find that firmness in a place in this world; we are looking for "home," yet, like Abraham, we should not yearn to return such a "home," but trust in the heavenly city which God has prepared for us! D. Abraham's Transgression 1. We have spoken well and warmly of Abraham, and for good reason: he is the father of the faith and was faithful 2. But Abraham was not divine, and the Genesis author has gone out of his way to recount Abraham's persistent transgression 3. In Genesis 12:10-20 and Genesis 20:1-14, Abraham exhorts his wife to keep up the subterfuge that she is his sister, causing great distress for Egypt and Gerar 4. Why does Abraham deceive in this way? As he said in Genesis 20:11: he did not believe there was fear of God in the land, and so he was afraid that they would kill him to take Sarah for wife 5. In a very real way Abraham thus lacks faith in God: did God not promise that he would have children, and through Sarah? Would God not prove faithful to His promise? Would He thus not protect Abraham in these times of distress? 6. But the real issue is his extreme cynicism and jaundiced view of the people among whom he sojourns; it is not as if there is not transgression in the land, but was there really no fear of God in it? 7. Since Abraham had such a low estimation of the people around him, those around him comparatively prove more faithful to God than he in these matters: Pharaoh and Abimelech come off as more righteous than Abraham in these stories! 8. In this way Abraham's example proves to be a warning for the people of God: yes, we are called to be sojourners, and ought not become a "Canaanite" in the land of Canaanites; but if we presume a complete lack of trustworthiness in people around us, and thus we no longer act in trustworthy ways, we might find ourselves comparatively less righteous than the "godless" among us! E. Thus we have seen Abraham, the father of the faith and the exemplar of faith throughout all generations; the sojourner who reminds us to never get too comfortable in our environment, yet also warning us against a complete lack of confidence in those among us F. May we all share in the faith of Abraham so that we might be Abraham's children by faith and inherit the promised life in Abraham through His Seed Jesus! G. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: God also said to Moses, "You must say this to the Israelites, 'YHWH – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation' (Exodus 3:15). Abraham is well recognized as the father of the faith. His family came from Ur in Mesopotamia. They served the gods of Mesopotamia like everyone else. God called Abraham to go to Canaan and to obey him. Abraham obeyed, and God made him the father of many nations and of all who receive life by faith. Why would God be known as the God of Abraham? 2: Abram believed YHWH, and YHWH credited it as righteousness to him (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was the father of the faith because of his great faith and trust in God. He trusted in God even though his ancestors had served other gods. He was willing to leave his homeland and extended family and went to Canaan because of God's promise. He believed God was able to provide him with children despite his advanced age. He proved willing to offer up his only son when God commanded it. Thus all who would desire to receive God's promises must have faith in God like Abraham did. How can Abraham be our father in the faith? 3: By faith [Abraham] lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise (Hebrews 11:9). Abraham lived for a century in the land of Canaan, but he never became a Canaanite. He lived among various peoples but maintained his distinctiveness. He had left the comforts of civilization and lived as a nomad by faith in God and in His promises. The people of God must maintain the same attitude as Abraham: they must live as sojourners, conformed to the image of God in Christ and not the people around them. How can we live as sojourners in the land of our earthly heritage? 4: Abraham replied, "Because I thought, 'Surely no one fears God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife'" (Genesis 20:11). Abraham is a great model of faith, but Abraham was not without transgression. He did not believe the people around him were trustworthy at all; therefore he rationalized his own lack of trustworthiness among them. In two such instances those he presumed to not fear God proved more righteous in their conduct than he. Such is a good warning for God's people: we may live among a people who do not honor God as we do, but we should not act in untrustworthy ways because we have judged others untrustworthy. Those we have deemed godless might well prove more righteous than we! How do we best navigate life as sojourners for God?