What A Wife Is Not
Remember, the key to understanding Genesis 12-36 is to see it as the education of the patriarchs about the way to make family work.
Here we go again.
The Abraham story began with Abraham passing off his wife as his sister when they sojourned in Egypt. A lot has happened since then, and Abraham and Sarah have grown old and very wealthy. But still, Abraham hasn’t learned his lesson: a “wife” is not the same thing as a “sister” or a “mistress” or a “concubine”; a wife is a partner in the raising and the shaping of the next generation.
And so, here Abraham tries the same trick with Abimelech, and just as before, the Lord intervenes.
What happens next is important. As we’ll see in tomorrow’s reading, Sarah finally becomes pregnant with the child of the covenant—Isaac—but only after Abraham finally learns his lesson.
“Only when Abraham acknowledges that a wife is something absolutely other than a sister does Sarah become pregnant; and only then is she a wife in the full sense”.
—Leon Kass
For the covenant to be passed down, both husbands and wives, fathers and mothers will be necessary. As we’ll continue to see, this lesson is not one the children of Abraham learn easily!
Today’s Scripture
Why Is Incest Wrong?
Why is incest wrong? We know that inbreeding increases the chances of harmful genetic mutations, and most people cite the harmful genetic consequences of inbreeding as the reason why incest is wrong. That answer isn’t acceptable, however, and here’s why:
It implies that incest is acceptable if pregnancy will not result from the incestuous activity.
So, in that line of thinking, incest would be fine if the consenting participants use birth control, for example.
The taboo against incest, however, does not derive from fear of inbreeding. The taboo against incest derives from an understanding of the purpose of sex itself.
I have a theory—stronger than a theory, really; more like an abiding conviction—that ongoing sexual sin retards emotional maturity. Why?
God’s blessing to humanity in Genesis 1 is to be fruitful and multiply. That blessing requires that humanity move forward and mature; parents have children who then take the parents’ place and raise their own children, and so it goes. To be a husband and a father or a wife and a mother forces a person to grow up and mature. But, sexual sin is the refusal to accept those responsibilities, which is why I believe sexual sin retards emotional maturity.
Imagine a 48 year-old playboy—maybe he’s been married previously and maybe he even has kids from a previous relationship, but he doesn’t live as a husband or a father: he lives as a 48 year-old playboy, a serial monogamist. He’s with this woman for a while, and then with that woman for a while, etc. What he doesn’t do is take on the responsibilities that come with marriage and fatherhood, responsibilities that tie one down and restrict freedom; or, to put it another way, the responsibilities that make one grow up.
How does this relate to incest?
Adulthood is about leaving one’s father and mother and making one’s own way in the world. The entire human project depends on this pattern: parents raise children who then move forward on their own and become parents themselves. Incest, however, is a turning inward. Rather than moving out into the world, incest is a refusal to leave home, so to speak. It is a sexual narcissism, a seeking of the same.
The stories of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the incest of Lot’s daughters are nobody’s favorite Bible stories. But, I think it it important that we understand why the Bible is giving us these stories; Genesis 12-36 is about the education of the patriarchs (any by extension, us) as to what it will take to make family work, so that the covenant can be passed down to the next generation.
Today’s Scripture
[Every weekday I write a brief commentary on that day’s reading in the Munger Bible Reading Plan. Join us and read along!]
This Is What the Abraham Story is About
Because it is immediately followed by the dramatic dialogue between the Lord and Abraham about the destruction of Sodom, it’s easy to overlook the Lord’s introductory comments as the episode begins:
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” [Genesis 18:17-19]
Did you catch that?
“For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.”
The whole story is about family. It’s about the founding of a family and what it will take to pass on the covenant generation to generation.
Or, to put it another way: family is how we fight.
How can you build for the next generation today?
Today’s Scripture
[Every weekday I write a brief commentary on that day’s reading in the Munger Bible Reading Plan. Join us and read along!]
What If You Rub Shoulders With An Angel Today?
When strangers visit Abraham, he runs (not walks) to welcome them into his house. His hospitality is extraordinary and instructive:
One of the characteristics of the people of God will be their lavish hospitality to outsiders.
How can you show hospitality and kindness toward a stranger today?
And as the writer of Hebrews puts it (reflecting on this story of Abraham), you never know with whom you might come in contact:
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” [Hebrews 13:2]
P.S. Did you catch how the Lord appears to Abraham? “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby.” (Genesis 18:1-2). It’s ONE LORD, but THREE PERSONS. Interesting….
Today’s Scripture
[Every weekday I write a brief commentary on that day’s reading in the Munger Bible Reading Plan. Join us and read along!]
The Meaning of Circumcision
Let me say it again: the story of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) in Genesis 12-36 is a story of their education and formation into what family life will need to be like if the covenant will need to be passed down generation to generation. An important part of that covenant is circumcision, but what does it really mean?
I found this comment from Leon Kass to be helpful:
“Male circumcision was, of course, a custom already widely practiced in the ancient world. In pagan societies, circumcision, performed at the time of puberty, was part of a male rite of passage (it may also have served symbolically as an act of human sacrifice to the gods). A mark on his maleness, circumcision was a sign not only of the youth’s new sexual potency but also of his initiation into the male role and male society (putting an end to his primary attachment to his mother and the household, to the society of women and children). But in the new way of ancient Israel, the special obligation of the covenant gives the practice of circumcision a new and nearly opposite meaning. An initiation rite of passage of young males into adult masculinity is transformed into a paternal duty regarding the male newborn. Israel’s covenant with God begins by transforming the meaning of male sexuality and manliness altogether.
I find that really interesting: the Lord is teaching Abraham and his descendants that true masculinity is not a conquering masculinity but a masculinity that is dedicated to something greater than itself, namely toward others.
Today’s Scripture
The Egyptian Woman
The key to understanding Genesis 12-36 is to see it as a story about the education of the patriarchs as patriarchs, that is as the founders of a family that will be able to successfully pass on the covenant, generation to generation.
Or, to put it more succinctly:
Genesis 12-36 is about what it takes to make family work.
In Egypt, Abraham gives his wife to Pharaoh. But, the Lord rescues her and Pharaoh sends them on their way. The lesson for Abraham: a wife is not the same thing as a sister.
Now, it’s as if the roles are reversed: Sarah gives Abraham her Egyptian slave Hagar. The Lord permits Abraham and Sarah to make a mess of things, but then steps in and blesses Hagar’s son with Abraham, Ishmael.
Abraham will subsequently learn that a wife is not the same thing as a concubine.
In each episode, Abraham is learning what the Lord requires of him to be the founding patriarch of a people.
For us, I think the lesson is clear: you can’t have God’s ends apart from God’s means. Trusting in God’s promises means trusting that God will bring them about without your having to force them to happen.
Today’s Scripture
You "Cut" A Covenant
In the Ancient Near East, when two parties made an agreement the weaker party would cut animals in half and walk through the halves, in essence saying: “May this be done to me if I don’t uphold my side of the covenant.” Ancient Hebrew reflects this understanding because in Hebrew you don’t “make” a covenant, you “cut” a covenant.
What’s amazing about the covenant the Lord makes with Abraham in Genesis 15 is that only the Lord passes between the animals, not Abraham.
CHRISTIAN READER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!
The Lord says to Abraham, I will uphold both my side and your side of the covenant, even if it takes my life.
WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.
(Jesus was crucified.)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son….”
P.S. Note that 15:16 implies that the Canaanites won’t be kicked out of the land until they deserve it; that time finally comes when Joshua leads the Israelites to conquer Canaan, several hundred years later.
Today’s Scripture
How to Delay The Blessings God Has Planned For You
This is what the Lord said to Abraham in his initial command:
“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” [Genesis 12:1]
Here’s what happens next:
“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” [Genesis 12:4]
I think it’s possible that Abram wasn’t willing to completely break from his father’s household, which is why he brought his orphaned nephew along with him. But, Lot isn’t the heir the Lord has in mind, and it’s no surprise that they eventually have to part. No doubt the parting was painful, but it opens the door for Abram’s own son to (eventually!) be born.
The surest way to delay God’s blessings for your life is to be only partially obedient to God’s command. God’s purposes will be realized no matter what; the problem with partial obedience is that it hurts us by delaying what God wants to give us.
P.S. Lest you think that I’m being too hard on Abraham here, let me make up for it by pointing out that Abraham’s greatness is shown in the episode that immediately follows his parting with Lot. 1. Abraham initially avoids entanglement in this war of the kings; 2. But when Lot is in danger, Abraham risks his own life to rescue him; 3. Abraham devises a cunning plan whereby his inferior force routs a superior one; 4. Abraham blesses Melchizedek, proving that those who bless Abraham will be blessed; 5. Abraham refuses the spoils of war offered to him from the King of Sodom; 6. but he graciously speaks up for his fighting men and allows them to be rewarded. Not a bad business!
Today’s Scripture
Were There Other Hypothetical Abrahams?
[Scroll down to the end for some bonus content about “That Hideous Strength” from Friday’s post, including a complete answer to my trivia question.]
Were there other men whom the Lord called and commanded to leave their homes and families who refused to go? Were there others with whom the Lord wanted to make a covenant, if only they would obey? Were there other hypothetical Abrahams? If so, then certainly part of Abraham’s greatness—just like the Virgin Mary’s, millennia later—was his unique willingness to say, “Yes.”
You have no idea what hinges on your obedience today. Abraham said “Yes,” and history changed forever.
P.S. As we will see, the stories of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—are primarily concerned with their education about family; family is what God will use to pass on the covenant, so it’s important that Abraham and the others learn how to make family work. (It doesn’t come naturally!) So, in this strange story about Sarah and Pharaoh, Abraham is learning that a “wife” is not the same thing as a “sister”.
Today’s Scripture
Bonus Content: “That Hideous Strength
On Friday, I wrote about Babel and entitled my post “That Hideous Strength.” I asked you to identify the source of that title.
No one actually got the answer right (or at least not completely). Yes, it is the title of the 3rd novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, but none of you actually explained why Lewis gave his novel that title or why I used it in the title of my post. So, let me tell you:
I re-read the Space Trilogy last year and was struck by the epigraph on the title page of That Hideous Strength. Here’s what it says:
“The shadow of that hyddeous strength
Sax myle and more it is of length”
Sir David Lindsay: from Ane Dialogue [describing the Tower of Babel]
Sir David Lindsay was a poet of the late Renaissance, who wrote Ane Dialogue in 1555 (which explains the strange spelling). Lewis, remember, was an expert on English Renaissance literature; when he wrote his novel about the dangers of technological powers joined with spiritual evil, he used the striking phrase “that hyddeous strength” as his title. I think the description of Babel is terrifying: an evil tower so high that it’s very shadow is six miles long.
So, there ya go.
That Hideous Strength
The Babel story is about humanity’s desire to save itself through technological innovation. Genesis 1-11 is a descending spiral of humanity’s attempts—and failures—to find life apart from God; Babel is the culmination.
Note that they have the technology before they have a use for it. First, they have bricks, and only then do they decide to make a city and a tower. In other words, the means drive the ends. What a true description of our current struggles with technological innovation—we gain the power, and then we think of ways to use it. Just because we can do something, however, doesn’t mean it’s wise for us to do so.
I predict that the great struggle for humanity in the 21st century will be a struggle over technology: either we will master our technological powers, or be mastered by them. In the Babel story, God stops the builders before they can complete their project. Will God need to save us from ourselves in the same way?
P.S. I’ll give a gold star to readers who can correctly identify the source of this post’s title.
The Point of The Genealogy in Genesis 10
3 quick points about the genealogy in Genesis 10, the descendants of Noah:
The Bible wants us to understand that the spread of peoples over the earth is just as much part of God’s plan as the creation of the animals in Genesis 1. People are of course freely moving and spreading out, but this is nonetheless a fulfillment of God’s command that humanity be fruitful and multiply.
All of humanity is part of the same family, even though the different nations seem so different.
Israel is a small nation among many, and yet it’s the one God uses to save the world.
Today’s Scripture
Did God Make a Mistake With the Flood?
God wipes the slate clean with The Flood and starts over with Noah.
Unfortunately, Noah’s potential for sin wasn’t wiped clean, and after he begins to rebuild civilization, he foolishly gets drunk and lies “uncovered” in his tent. Seeing his father in that state, Noah’s son Ham does something shameful to him. (At the very least, he doesn’t respect his father and tells his brothers about his father’s foolishness; at the most, there could be some kind of incestuous activity.)
Either way, the man who was supposed to be the hope for humanity clearly isn’t, and neither is his family.
Did God make a mistake?
I think the message of Genesis 1-11 is that there is no simple fix for humanity. Even the good ones among us are susceptible to sin and foolishness.
God will have to fix humanity another way….
Today’s Scripture
When's the Last Time You Reflected on a Rainbow?
Like everyone else I know, I get excited when I see a rainbow in the sky.
“Look! Look! A Rainbow!”
But, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a rainbow and consciously reflected that it is a sign of God’s mercy and steadfast love. Have you?
Next time I see one in the sky, I want to do better.
P.S. Note that this first giving of the law includes in it the fact that every single person is equal before the law: no one’s “blood” is more or less valuable than anyone else’s.
Today’s Scripture
Earth's Permanence & God's Promise
After The Flood, the Lord promises that he will never destroy the earth. I think this means that we can be certain that complete destruction will not come from outside. What the Lord does not promise, however, is that destruction might not come from inside.
Would the Lord permit us to destroy Creation from within?
I’d be interested in your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture
The Uncreating
When God created the heavens and the earth, he brought order out of disorder. He separated light from dark, and the waters from the land, and fixed a boundary for the waters. Etc.
Now, with the Flood, God is uncreating that which he previously created:
“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” [Genesis 7:11]
God removes the boundaries and allows the waters of chaos to roll back in.
The question is, Why?
We’ll need to keep reading to answer that question.
Today’s Scripture
Just Do It
“Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”
Sometimes, it’s just that simple.
How can you be obedient today?
Today’s Scripture
The Nephilim and Other Weird Stuff in Genesis 6
Genesis 6:1-8 is a very strange and confusing passage. Some quick thoughts:
The entire prologue of the Bible (Genesis 1-11) is about how the creatures God made rebelled against his rule, from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel.
This is the pattern of that rebellion: they “see” what they want, desire it as “good”, and they “take” it.
In the Garden, the woman sees the fruit, desires it as good, and takes it.
In the Garden, the man and the woman wanted to become godlike.
Here, there is a reverse rebellion: the angelic/spiritual beings God created want to cross the boundary and become united with humanity
The sons of God “see” the human women, desire them as “good” (the word translated “beautiful” in v.2 is the Hebrew word for “good”), and they “take” them.
It’s the same pattern of rebellion.
A note on the “sons of God": every time the phrase “sons of God” appears in the Old Testament, it signifies the angelic/spiritual beings that God made.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the serpent in Genesis 3 is a rebellious spiritual being.
Genesis 6 is telling us (in terse language) of one form the rebellion of these spiritual beings took.
Just as God will not allow humanity to marry technological progress with human wickedness (the story of Babel in Genesis 11, which we’ll read next week), so here God will not allow the fallen spiritual beings to combine with humanity.
Today’s Scripture
This Insight Makes the Genealogy Worth Reading
With the birth of Seth to Adam and Eve, things look promising. But, a few chapters later, we read of the intense evil of man and of God’s plan to destroy wicked humanity with The Flood. Why? What happened?
Leon Kass has a fascinating paragraph about the genealogy in Genesis 5, of all things(!):
“To discover the worm in the family tree, we must read with a magnifying glass—and with a timeline and a calculator. Because the text reports the lives of these antediluvians [people who lived before the flood] in sequence—chronicling each man’s birth, the number of years he lived before and after begetting his first son, his life span, and his death—the complacent reader does not notice that there is more than a half century (between the year 874, in which Lamech is born, and the year 930, in which Adam dies) during which all nine generations of human beings, from Adam to Lamech, are alive at the same time, with all their myriad descendants. Then, suddenly, in the year 930, Adam drops dead. Next, in 987 (readers can do the calculations for themselves), Enoch “was not, for God took him.” And in 1042, Seth also dies. Readers of the Garden of Eden story need no longer remain in suspense: the prophecy of human mortality (“you shall surely die”; 2:17) is, at long last, fatally—and fatefully—fulfilled. Indeed, this may well be the purpose of reciting the entire genealogy in all its numerological detail: to prepare the…reader to learn…how human beings—especially the men—react to the discovery of their unavoidable finitude. For with the death of Adam, and after nearly a millennium of “immortal” human existence, natural death has entered the human world.”
—Leon Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, 154.
Did you catch that? If you read the genealogy carefully, you notice that all of a sudden death finally comes upon mankind. The unavoidably reality of death had been delayed for a while, but when it comes, it comes quickly, and the fear of death and the desperation it brings may be the reason humanity turns so wicked in the next chapter, setting up The Flood.
I find that fascinating: there is a 50 year period in which all 9 generations are alive at the same time!!
Today’s Scripture
MLK: How Can You Break Out of the Descending Spiral Today?
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy; instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Lamech, who collects women as property, brags that he is more vicious and violent than anyone else.
Genesis 4-11 describes what Martin Luther King, Jr., called a “descending spiral” of violence: you hit me, and then I hit you back harder.
The only way out is sacrificial love. The only way to break the cycle is grace—to give your enemy not what he deserves, but grace.
With whom can you break the descending spiral today by showing grace?
P.S. From where did Cain get his wife? Short answer: we don’t know. Longer answer: either it was his sister (remember Genesis 4-11 is what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes), or there were other people created that we didn’t hear about.
Today’s Scripture
Why Doesn't God See Cain's Offering as Favorable?
It is human nature to want to control or manipulate God (or the gods) so we can get the outcome we want. Think about the lucky rabbit’s foot or the baseball slugger’s warmup superstitions or avoiding broken mirrors: these are little practices that are supposed to make things go well for us. Offering sacrifice is the purest form of this behavior. “I will make an offering so that God or the gods will either be pleased with me or at least will feel placated and will leave me alone.”
Now, consider Cain: we know he is a farmer, and so he is dependent on the weather, which is outside of his control. God does not ask for or desire sacrifice in order to be favorably disposed towards Cain, but Cain wants to manipulate God by offering a sacrifice. When he offers some of his produce to God, he is showing a desire to be in control.
When God is not favorably disposed to the offering, Cain shows murderous rage and jealousy towards his brother Abel. Cain wants his offering to gain favor with God, and when it doesn’t, his anger is the anger of a prideful man who feels he has been humiliated; it is the anger of an entitled man who doesn’t get what he wants.
The irony of the Cain and Abel story is that, after the murder, God shows his character by being merciful to Cain.
I think Abel’s gift of the firstborn from his flock is meant to be seen as a gift of thanksgiving toward God—it cost him more, and I think it is reasonable to assume he gave it freely and joyfully, as opposed to trying to manipulate God.
How are you giving to God today—like Cain, or like Abel?