I am still in the process of writing my whole book commentary for Genesis, however I decided to share an abbreviated summary on Abram’s appearance and incidents of his life from chapters 11 to 19. Mind you, this has only a few Scripture references, and no in depth notes that currently accompany my whole commentary.
This is but an overview of Genesis from the end of Shem’s descendant list in chapter 11 to where we meet Abram through to the end of chapter 19. I wrote this so as to cement in my mind the key incidents that take place. Again, it is but a quick overview, since my whole book commentary on Genesis is already well over 42 pages just up to the end chapter 19. I pray whoever reads it enjoys it, and gets some benefit from it.
When we first meet the father of God’s chosen people in chapter 11 his name is Abram, (Exalted Father) By the time we get to chapter 17, God changes his name to Abraham, (Father Of Many Nations) While living in Ur of the Chaldeans, which is in modern day Iraq, Abram hears from God for the first time. At 70 he is told to leave his home and go to a land God will show him, and that He will make him a great nation.(Genesis 11:26)
He takes his family and goes as far as Haran and delays the journey until his father Terah dies. Again, God tells him to take his family and go to a land He will show him. He is now 75, and finally obeys God and completes the almost 1500 mile journey he began in UR, arrives in Shechem and builds an altar to God. (Genesis 12:4)
Shortly after a famine in the land, instead of trusting God to provide for him, he takes his family to Egypt. While in Egypt he fears men more than God and stands by as Pharaoh’s men take his wife, Sarai, to be become a part of Pharaoh’s harem. Yet God steps in to bail him out by striking Pharaoh’s house with a plague. Pharaoh is fearful of God, and tells Abram to take his family and leave Egypt. Thus Abram leaves Egypt much more wealthy than when he arrived with much livestock, silver, and gold.
Chapter 13 sees strife taking place between Lot and Abram’s herdsmen, so Abram gives Lot the ability to choose where he wants to live. Lot chooses unwisely, because he took the lush lowland of Sodom and Abram stayed in the hill country. Maybe seeing Sodom with the land and the people reminded Lot of Ur of the Chaldeans or Haran, where life was lively and had many shops and people to enjoy life with. We will never know, but it does seem the lure of the World drew him away and the result would be devastating for him and his family. This should remind us of Psalm 1:1-2 where David wrote;
“””Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”””
In chapter 14 we see Lot and his family taken captive during the war won by Chedorlaomer against the five kings. We also see Abram’s courage as he sets off to save his nephew and his family. With 318 of his own trained servants Abram chases the four kings headed by Chedorlaomer and catches them in the area where the tribe of Dan will one day settle. He defeats the greater army, and delivers Lot from his captivity. Other than what his men needed for food and supplies, he gave the spoils to the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zoar. Then Abram is blessed by the King of Salem, the priest of God Most High, Melchizedek. He then tithes to the priest 10% of all his wealth.
We get to chapter fifteen and see God telling Abram to look up to all the stars. God tells him that his descendants will be like the stars. We then read that,
“”“Abram believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness.””” (Genesis 15:6)
So God established His contract with Abram with a blood covenant ceremony that was well known to the ancients of the East. Abram then dozes off and has a dream where he is shown what will happen to his descendants and how they will be afflicted and serve strangers for 430 years, but Gd will bring them back to the land He covenants to Abram.
In 16 we see Abram having another moment of weakness when he allows his wife Sarai to convince him to sleep with a servant girl as a surrogate to have a child since she feels she is too old to have children. Hagar may have been given to them by Pharaoh the last time Abram’s faith was weak and now that failure comes back to haunt them. Her being young, had Abram agreeing that maybe it was a good idea to helping God fulfill His promise by having Hagar bear an heir for Him. Sarai sends Hagar away and blames Abram for the slight Hagar shows Sarai. We then see what could be the first Christophany, when Christ visits her. God tells Hagar to submit to Sarai, and tells her to name her son Ishmael, and that he will have 12 sons and be a wild man whose hand will be against all men.
Chapter seventeen starts where Abram is 99, and is visited by God again. God changes Abram’s name from Exalted Father to, Abraham, Father of Many Nations. He also orders Abraham to circumcise his whole household as a sign of His covenant. This sign is one that is visible in the flesh. This is but a shadow of things to come, and when Christ fulfills His work, mens hearts will be circumcised and no physical sign will be required. God then tells him that Ishmael will be a great nation, but that the covenant will be with a son he has with Sarai. God then changes Sarai’s name to Sarah, (Mother of Nations). God then lets Abraham know that in one year she shall bear a child and his name is to be Isaac. The chapter ends with Abraham following God’s command by circumcising Ishmael and all the males of his household.
In 18 we see three men approach Abraham, and this is not much after the time when God had Abraham circumcise the men of his household. Amongst these men is a Theophany, which is God. Like a Christophany which is Christ in the Old Testament. The Holy Trinity consists of God the Father, God the Son (Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, and in chapter 17 we saw Christ visit Hagar, and now God is visiting Abraham with two angels. God tells Abraham that Sarah will have a child. Sarah laughs, but denies it when God asks her why she laughed. God then tells Abraham where he is going and what He is doing. We then see Abraham bartering with God for the lives of those in Sodom. He gets God down to 10, and heads off to see Sodom.
Chapter 19 opens up with only 2 angels entering Sodom, God is no longer with them, and they meet Lot who was in a position of authority at the gate of the city. They do not find 10 people worth saving, in fact they only find Lot, his wife, and two daughters who are betrothed to men who think Lot is crazy when he warns them of the coming destruction.
This is one of the most tragic times in the Old Testament when the people of the plains of Sodom and Gomorrah are so wicked that the men want to rape the angels. Lot has been so corrupted he offers his virgin daughters instead, to save the angels from being molested.
The angels have seen enough and they blind the men of Sodom and force Lot and his family out of the city. His wife’s desire to return is her demise as she turns to a pillar of salt. At first Lot goes to a smaller town nearby, but is so fearful that he ends up in a cave in the mountains. This is where we truly learn of how corrupted Lot’s family was, because his daughters take turns getting him drunk to have sex so they can have children, thinking the whole world has been destroyed and they are the only humans left alive.
Again Psalm 1:1-2 comes to mind as I consider the two different types of men Abraham and Lot have become.
1 “””Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.”””
The blessed man fits Abraham, because God blessed him as he became a blessing to others and the promise was that, through him, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Not Lot though, Lot’s life was shameful, as he lost everything. His home in Sodom was gone, his wealth was gone, his wife was dead, his future son-in-laws were gone, and his daughters bought into lifestyle they lived around in Sodom so much that they both birthed children by their father.
As for Abraham, he continues to gain blessings from God. Imperfect as he may be by faltering, stumbling, and failing, he continues to get back up and he learns new things about God. And his life becomes like the man in the Psalm, even in old age he is bearing forth fruit.
In the next chapter, 20, I will be writing commentary and notes for a time when Abraham traveled to Kadesh where we see him falling into the same weakness of his fear from other men over his wife as he revisits the same problem he had while in Egypt.
God bless you all.
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