This is the point in the Bible where I start to relax a little and enjoy myself again after the roller coaster of trippy cosmic stuff that happens in the first 10 chapters of the Bible. All of a sudden, people are living normal life spans, geographical locations are more historically accurate, and the biblical description of the conflicts between mesopotamian city states have been verified by archeology. Not only that, but the stories we begin to see are more personal. Chapter 12 introduces us to the Bible's first "hero," Abraham (aka: "The Artist Formerly Known as Abram").
I enjoy Abram's story. I like it because it shows a very authentic, and yet foreign, relationship between a man and God. It gives a model of a man who is trying to live faithfully, but even more importantly it gives us yet another image of God being faithful to man. This is important to me as a reader because it brings the rest of Genesis into focus a bit, reinforces the pattern of stories of a God being faithful to his vision of relationship with mankind. Of love establishing covenants with us. Even the crazy sounding stories, like Noah's, come into focus when viewed through this lens.
There are several things that I've found interesting while reading Abram's story. The one that stands out the most to me this time around is the fact that the Bible never mentions any justification for why God chose Abram. In my mind, I thought I remembered some line saying that he was an "upright man" or something Job-like, but there is actually no mention of that. From reading chapter 12, God's decision to choose Abram seems completely arbitrary. I kind of like that actually, for what could Man do to really merit divine attention anyway? The randomness of God's choice actually seems like an act of Grace this way.
Of course, you could look at it in another light too, I suppose. You could look at Abram's reaction to God. He listened and acted. Who knows? Maybe the fact that he was listening at all made him the recipient of God's grace. Or perhaps it was the fact that he reached out and followed through with God's command. God's grace was received by Abram's faith, yet another model for the human/divine relationship. I wonder if God asked other people before Abram to go to Canaan and he was simply the first one to listen and obey...
I enjoy Abram's story. I like it because it shows a very authentic, and yet foreign, relationship between a man and God. It gives a model of a man who is trying to live faithfully, but even more importantly it gives us yet another image of God being faithful to man. This is important to me as a reader because it brings the rest of Genesis into focus a bit, reinforces the pattern of stories of a God being faithful to his vision of relationship with mankind. Of love establishing covenants with us. Even the crazy sounding stories, like Noah's, come into focus when viewed through this lens.
There are several things that I've found interesting while reading Abram's story. The one that stands out the most to me this time around is the fact that the Bible never mentions any justification for why God chose Abram. In my mind, I thought I remembered some line saying that he was an "upright man" or something Job-like, but there is actually no mention of that. From reading chapter 12, God's decision to choose Abram seems completely arbitrary. I kind of like that actually, for what could Man do to really merit divine attention anyway? The randomness of God's choice actually seems like an act of Grace this way.
Of course, you could look at it in another light too, I suppose. You could look at Abram's reaction to God. He listened and acted. Who knows? Maybe the fact that he was listening at all made him the recipient of God's grace. Or perhaps it was the fact that he reached out and followed through with God's command. God's grace was received by Abram's faith, yet another model for the human/divine relationship. I wonder if God asked other people before Abram to go to Canaan and he was simply the first one to listen and obey...
3 comments:
Interestingly, this is about the time I actually start to really have problems with the Bible. I have long since come to terms with the weird cosmic stuff like creation. What I cannot understand is why God was so seemingly unconcerned with the lives of the women in (most) of the Bible. Sarah, Hagar, Lot's wife and daughters, Rachel, Leah, even Rebekah are all horribly mistreated and God even blames Hagar for Sarah allowing Abraham to rape her and impregnate her. What's that all about? I find those stories really hard to read as an adult because I can finally begin to understand the violence and horror those women (and sometimes the kids e.g. the story of Isaac being a sacrifice) experienced. I get so bogged down in those themes that I miss some of the overarching themes of God relating to Man, etc.
I can see how those things could be problematic for you to read. I have to admit that though they bug me sometimes, I often just read over them, chalking a lot of it up to cultural issues and expectations and seeing that often God took care of women much better than the times required or expected. Hagar virtually received the same promise as Abraham did for her troubles (the only other person I can think of in the Bible to get something like that), Sarah ended up receiving comfort, etc. Yes, I will admit that the idea of Abram giving his wife up to pharoh and Sarai giving up Hagar to Abram is a bit disturbing, but I also think that sexuality was a bit more utilitarian back then and some of those more awkward ideas would have been more culturally understood by all parties involved. Not defending it, nor saying that you aren't right to have a hard time with it though.
"the Bible never mentions any justification for why God chose Abram" Calvinism here we come!
Now seriously, the more I read the Bible, this idea of God saving us and us having nothing to do with it is huge, and, like you said, comforting. It's such an interesting mystery to think that God chose Abraham and, by the same token, eventually, through Christ, me... Sobering to realize that you are part of something so much bigger, and that you will never know how it works. It makes me want to share this story with others rather than keep it to myself because "I earned it." (Still, I'm no strict Calvinist).
Ditto Jenn on women thing in the Bible. Much more difficult now that we are surrounded by complementarians (people that think that women have a lesser role than men in relation to church leadership), because the Bible is certainly not crystal clear on these issues.
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