2011-05-13
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the first two elements of the Abrahamic Covenant-the people and the land. Then, last week, we examined the third, which is the Seed, meaning the consummation of IS 11: 1, a King arising out of the Jewish royal family [line] of David. Today, we will begin a discussion of the basis of the Abraham Covenant. GN 15: 9-11 is the preparation for confirmation of the Covenant. “So the Lord said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’ Abram brought all these to Him, cut them in half, and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however he did not cut in half. Then the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.” The act of Abram driving the birds of prey away is possibly symbolic and a foreshadowing of God driving death away in Christ’s great sacrifice of Atonement. Abram knew what to do with these sacrificial animals because he knew the will of God better than most men of his day. Three year olds without spot or imperfection were always used.
We learn more from GN 15: 12-14, “As the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they were serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.’” History bears out this happened. The number of years according to EX 12: 40 was actually 430 years, so G N 15: 13 is and approximation. As for the mistreatment of the Jews, most accounts mention it wasn’t the whole time they were slaves, but mostly toward the end of that period. We all know the story of the cruel pharaoh who refused to let them use straw in making the bricks, so as to make their labor harder in constructing the pyramids etc. More than anything, the separation that Hebrew slaves kept between themselves as monotheists and the polytheistic practices of the Egyptians kept the Jews apart from their captors. It must be understood that the pharaoh, who dealt with Egypt’s economy began to recognize that the numbers of Jews living in their country was becoming great enough to be a financial burden on Egypt, which is why the desire to expel them from this country was growing. God was keeping His promise that some day Abram would have a many descendants as the grains of sand or stars in the sky [GN 12: 3; GN 17: 2, 7].
GN 15: 15-16 further illuminates what happened. “You [Abram], however, will go to your fathers in peace and will be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here [meaning Canaan/Israel/the Promised Land], for the sin of the Ammonites will not yet reached its full measure.” GN 25: 8 records the fulfillment of this prophecy. The origins of the Moabites and Ammonites are of interest. We find that later from the time mentioned above, Abraham and his nephew, Lot, separated due to shortages in grazing lands for them both to stay in the same place with their flocks of sheep. Lot went east of the Jordan River to a land that is now covered by the southern end of the Dead Sea, a land called Sodom. Abram had remained in Canaan to the west of the Jordan River. The story of what happened at Sodom will be discussed in a later devotion, but for now, it’s important to mention that when Lot became elderly, his two daughters, each separately, slept with him after getting him drunk. Both got pregnant. The older daughter had a son, called Moab. The younger daughter also had a son, and he was named Ben-Ammi. Ben-Ammi founded the Ammonites [GN 19: 30-38]. The Moabites and Ammonites later became bitter enemies of Abraham’s descendants, the Jews. 1 SAM 14: 47 tells us that after Saul became king of Israel much later, he fought against Moab, the Ammonites, Edom [the descendants of Esau], the kings of Zobah, and Philistines-all enemies of Israel. 2 CH 20 tells the story of how the Hebrew king, Jehoshaphat defeated the Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites. Any questions about why God would not let these societies survive are quickly answered by a view of their religious practices, which included idolatry, religious prostitution, and divination. God is patient in judgment, even with the wicked Canaanites [2 PET 3: 9].
GN 15: 17 is the actual ceremony, the rite of the setting of the Abraham Covenant. Remember that Abram had fallen into a deep sleep after arranging the halves of the animal sacrifices on the altar. “When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.” This was clearly an act of God, supernatural and binding as an obligation on Him and on Abram as a representative of mankind especially chosen for this important immediate and cosmic purpose. This was the consummation of the Abrahamic Covenant! It was the “cutting” of a covenant that would have a profound effect on mankind. Immediately after this rite of consummation, God delineated the land [already discussed] that He meant to be, by Divine right, in the hands of the Jewish people [GN 15: 18-21].
PRAYER: O Lord, You command that we spend time in Your word, because You want us to learn the lessons of our history and most of all, know You and Your will for us. Moreover, You have given those of us who have obligated ourselves with you in the Covenant of Grace additional and vital information in JN 1: 1-5. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was in the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood.” This quite mysterious statement was understood by the Greeks as a rational principle that governs all things, while the Jews [and John was a Jew] believe “Word” and God are the same. While Your Trinitarian nature isn’t clearly mentioned here, we have come to understand You as having three personalities. 1) We accept that You are the Father, a Personality Whom we don’t understand completely due to our limited human perspective, but Whose teaching You have made clear. We have difficulty picturing Your Father personality, but are given remarkable descriptions of You in EZK 10 and REV 4: 2-8. 2) You have shown us Your knowable Personality in the from of Jesus Christ and helped us to understand Him in COL 1: 15- 20 and shown us His most important purpose in 1 COR 5: 6-8 and REV 5: 1-14. 3) Dearest Father, Your third personality is that of the Holy Spirit. He isn’t always understood, especially by those new in the faith, but it is through Him that You carry out Your will for us and help us to understand Your teaching. We are privileged to have the Holy Spirit dwell in those of us who have repented of our sins and come to believe in the Lord Jesus [RO 8: 14-16]. He “intercedes for us in groans that words cannot express” during our times of weakness [RO 8: 26]. We, who believe, are truly a blessed people, and have only You to thank and praise for that. In Christ’s holy and mighty name, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We will look at how Abraham foreshadows [prefigures] Christ and some of the Hebrew words which describe the making of a covenant and what a covenant really is. These things help us to have a better understanding of the basis for the Abrahamic Covenant. In the meanwhile, we should not feel overwhelmed by all of this. It really matters to our Christian and Messianic Jewish culture and practices. In this series of messages on “Our Covenant,” we will go all over the Bible, OT and NT, to begin to understand God’s amazing consistency in His teaching. It is my hope that we can see God in a new, closer way by seeing into His heart and His courage in obligating Himself to people who need to be more civilized due to sin inherited and committed by them. Our God is a loving and patient God, but He does have His limits. We need not be afraid of Him, if we are willing to spend daily time in the Scriptures and initiate/enrich our prayer lives. PS 119: 1-5, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, a light for my path.” PS 116: 1, “I love the Lord, because He hears my prayers and answers them.” Our God is merciful and compassionate. PS 103: 13, “The Lord is like a father to His children, tender and compassionate to those who have reverence for Him.” His love for each of us is unparalleled by any human being. IS 64: 4, “No one has ever seen or heard of a God like You, Who does such deeds for those who put their hope in Him.” 1 JN 4: 12, “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us.” Thus, we can be encouraged, and we can know that what we do for God that is according to His will is always “storing up our treasures in heaven” [MT 6: 19-21]. Praise and thanks be to the Lord!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15