CHAPTER 12

1. Then YHWH told Avram, "Proceed for yourself [lekh l'kha] from your land and your native culture and your father's household, and go to the land that I will show you.

Proceed for yourself: or, “Get yourself walking (away)”. Avram had come the first leg on his father's terms (possibly to visit the temple of a fertility goddess for Sarai's sake), but now he is called to act on his own and totally leave familiar territory. This is the way of a Hebrew, which means “one who crosses over” (14:13), not knowing what is on the other side. But if he does not take the risk and go, he will never find out. One cannot go anywhere without leaving something else behind, though the point is what we are walking toward, not what we are leaving. We do not define ourselves by what we do not do, but by the positive goal we are aiming for. YHWH would not just “translate” him to that place; he had a responsibility to do this part. Tradition says Avram was the son of an idolmaker who broke some of the idols, and then realized that if they were what his father claimed they were, they ought to be able to repair themselves. We do not know for sure when he started inclining his ear to YHWH, but YHWH sees in him something that he wants to use. Your land: This is the easiest step; it is common for people to move from one physical place to another. Native culture: the term includes everything into which he was born—natural family, the deities they worshipped, the circumstances into which he was born, and everything he has in common with those who remain there. Unlike those who move from China but start a Chinatown where they go, he is to leave behind everything that defined him, and let YHWH make him into someone else. But now Kharan has been his home for some time. His father had not only settled in Kharan; he settled for Kharan, stopping short of where he had been intending to go. He was called to go beyond where his father’s walk had taken him so he could walk YHWH’s path. A “father’s house” is a Hebrew idiom for the authority one is under—and his covering. He must come out from under his father’s roof by leaving behind his old loyalties and his father’s ways. Kharan means “crossroads”, a place of choices. Kharan was attached to the moon god Sin, which is the root of Islam (hence the crescent symbol), but it was also the place Terakh’s son had died, and Terakh was unwilling to leave this behind. Our fathers camped in “the place of the deceased Son”, but we must not remain there; the resurrection tells us to go beyond that. There is still a land of promise to enter. Each of the "holding tanks" where we assemble in each location before returning all the way home is called an "ekklesia", the Greek word for "called-out". (cf. Yirm./Jer. 16:15-16) The focus has to be on preparing to move on, not on becoming a part of where we are still located. We are Hebrews—descendants of the man who belongs to the other side. YHWH is not limited to this Land, but He does consider it sacred. But how can it be, if it is in the land of Kanaan, the pervert? Terakh had been headed there. He may have wanted to go sit in the tents of Shem, whom Kanaan was ordered to serve. Shem (Melkhitzedeq) did have his tents in Kanaan (v. 6) Noakh had made him priest (14:18) and therefore teacher. (Compare 9:26-27) So YHWH wants Avram there not because it flows with milk and honey, but because there was a “King of Righteousness” there who could teach him the ways of the Most High.  

2. "Then I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

Note the contrast already with Bavel, whose citizens tried to make their own name great.(11:4) Avram's prospects for advancement seemed greatly weakened by his move away from all he knew, yet the whole theme of his new nation was "not by might, not by power [or the arm of the flesh], but by My Spirit, says YHWH." Such benefits are results of seeking first the Kingdom of YHWH, and are never achieved by aiming directly at them. A great nation: based on Deut. 1:10-11, Rabbi Moshe Koniuchowsky calculates that all of Avram's descendants throughout history would now total 4 to 5 billion! We can see the rest of Scripture as "a tale of two cities": Babylon and Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). Bavel (Babylonia), which, with Nimrod as its founder, represents the antithesis of the new nation Avram was being called to found. There, YHWH subjected humanity to limits from which they kept trying to break free, but by separating Avram from any other nation, He began a new nation that would be the only safe and legitimate way out of the vanity fallen man had brought on himself. YHWH knew Avram was not really motivated by the promise of becoming wealthy. YHWH knew Avram’s longing was to be generous and hospitable. So He added that extra line that sealed Avram’s willing-ness to obey: “and you will be a blessing” so he knew he would have someone to pass it on to.  

3. "I will bless those who bless you, and curse the one who despises you, and into you shall all the families of the earth be grafted."

Not “the one who curses you”, as the translations often have it, but simply the one who does not take him seriously and does not treat him as important—and Lot himself ended up doing this, and paid a price for it. "Be grafted": or simply "bless themselves", but the former rendering is supported by such usage of this tense (Nif'al) in the Mishnah, and forms the basis for Sha'ul/Paul's discourse in Romans 11. So as to fulfill His promise to bless Shem, yet not to show favoritism to any of the 70 nations, YHWH took a man away from his own land and created a new culture, a counter-history that put men's plans to shame and was an exception to the rule that "under the sun, all is vanity".  

4. So Avram went, just as YHWH had told him, and Lot went with him. And Avram was 75 years old when he departed from Kharan.

Having no son of his own, Avram may have adopted his orphaned nephew--much like the laws of levirate marriage (Deut. 25:5). Lot was not called by YHWH to go as Avram was; Avram had “left him behind” as far as he was concerned, but Lot apparently believed Avram had truly heard directions from a reliable source, and chose to go along. At 75, Avram did not use the excuse that he was already too set in his ways. As it turns out, he had not even reached “mid-life” yet when he walked away from his past.  

5. And Avram took his wife Sarai, and his brother's son, Lot, and all their possessions which they had gained, and the persons whom they had prepared in Kharan, and they left to go to the land of Kanaan. When they entered the land of Kanaan,

It was now not his father’s house, but his own. Persons whom they had prepared: literally, “souls they had made”. None of these were his blood relatives; already people were being grafted into his family (v. 3), probably people who had nowhere else to go, possibly being ostracized along with him when they questioned idolatry. By eleven years later we see 318 trained men who have been “born in his household”. (14:14) This began well before he left Kharan, and/or some of them were not born physically in his household, but came into his sphere of authority by deciding to be dedicated to what Avram had taught them. Kanaan could only be taught through servanthood (9:25-27), so he has made servants part of his “family” to demonstrate to the Kanaanites what they should be like. When they entered: Unlike his father, Avram actually achieved what he set out to do.  

6. Avram traveled across the land as far as the site of Sh'khem, to the Oak Tree of the Teacher [Elon Moreh]; and the Kanaanite was in the land at that time.

The site of Sh’khem: The city was not there yet, as its namesake was contemporary with Avram’s great-grandsons. Avram’s father had actually set out to go to Kanaan. Why would a son of Shem want to go there? It could only be for one of two reasons: to gratify the flesh (the hallmark of Kanaan) or to fulfill his role as a son of Shem and teach the Kanaanites to serve YHWH instead. Avram seems to have this in mind, as the first place he goes in the Land is a place dedicated to teaching. He may have gone to see what was being taught by the Kanaanites, and thus confirmed that Shem’s teaching was indeed needed. (This tree may also have had some connection to Shem, the great teacher, himself, who would still be alive for two more generations. We later see him living only about 30 miles from here.) Today Elon Moreh is a “settlement” full of faithful Torah-keepers completely surrounded by hostile Palestinians, the sole foothold preventing them from controlling the whole Tirtzah Valley from the Yarden to Sh'khem. 
​                                                                                                                           Elon Moreh 

<Year 2000 from creation / 2000 B.C.>

7. Then YHWH appeared to Avram and said, "I will give this land to your seed." And he built an altar there to YHWH, who appeared to him.

That Avram came here first may also be the reason Yaaqov and Y’hoshua went to Sh’khem as soon as possible after crossing the Yarden, in addition to the fact that YHWH had told him to build an altar here and write the words of the Torah on it. Yosef, our ancestor, is buried there, so our path may take us there first as well. Yeshua also made his first foray into the territory of the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” here. (Yochanan 4) Each of our forebears who had faith in YHWH has left us a legacy, and we need to be strengthened by them as we return to the markers they set up, for they are anchors and guideposts for our walk.  

8. And he moved on from there to a mountain on the east of Beyth-El, and pitched his tent with Beyth-El toward the sea and Ay to his east. And he built an altar there to YHWH, and invoked YHWH by Name.

Toward the sea: i.e., westward.  He was in sight of Beyth-El, the "House of Elohim". Ay means "Twisted ruin" (see Yehoshua 8:3). East also means "ancient" in Hebrew, so in the context of tents (a symbol of study), we see him at the place of decision between the "water" of YHWH's word versus the ruins of his heritage at the tower of Bavel. This would also be the perfect place to teach Kanaanites the two extremes of what they could become. He had to specify which El had His home here. There were more aspects of its meaning that He would show to Moshe (Ex. 6:3), but His Name was not unknown at this time. 

                                9. Then Avram pulled up his tents, to proceed and set forth 
                                toward the Negev.

                                He retained a nomadic lifestyle even in the Land, so he could easily 
                                move when YHWH led him to. Negev: the desert which forms the 
                                southern third of Israel today.

                                10. But there was a famine in the Land, so Avram went down 
                                into Egypt [Mitzrayim] to sojourn there, for the famine in the 
                                Land was severe.

Sojourn: live as an outsider. Went down: To this day in Hebrew, entering the Land of Israel by whatever means is referred to as "ascending". Conversely, to leave--even to a place of higher elevation--is to descend, because one is going to a place of lesser holiness. He also lowered himself to the standards of Egypt (see 13:4), reacting to them rather than living deliberately as the man he actually was becoming:

11. And when he got close to entering Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "Please, now, I know that you are a woman who is beautiful to look upon;

Beautiful: literally, shapely. Sarai was already over 65 years old!  

12. "and what will occur is that when the Egyptians notice you, they will say, 'This is his wife', and they will kill me, but let you live.

This was not an imaginary fear; this was a common practice among pharaohs as described by contemporary papyri. This may be why David was chastised so heavily for doing the same; he was following the practice of Gentile kings.

13. "Please say that you are my sister, in order that it may go well with me for your sake, and my soul shall remain alive on account of you."

This was not quite a lie, but only a half-truth (see 20:12). Having descended, he used a loophole and just did not mention the part about her being his wife also. He said, in essence, "I love you, but I do not want to die for you!"  

14. Indeed it turned out that, when Avram had come into Egypt, the Egyptians did notice the woman, because she was very beautiful.

15. And the Pharaoh's princes saw her, and they were raving about her in Pharaoh's presence. So the woman was taken into Pharaoh's household.

Household: that is, out of Avram's tent and into Pharaoh's harem. She was just one of many to him, and likewise the church has said the Torah is her property now, yet considers it only one of many options, not its one true love, which it is to Israel. Sarai means "my princess", and she was probably taken for a Babylonian princess, and Babylon was the only other major power in the world at that time, so of course Pharaoh would want to establish a military and economic treaty through marriage--a common practice among kings.

16. And he treated Avram well on account of her. And he had given to him sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

The animals made him truly wealthy, providing for the needs of his household in a way that silver alone could not, but in gaining more servants, he built up his household itself and the new nation he was forming. But without a matriarch, how could there be a true household?

17. But YHWH struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues in regard to the matter of Sarai, Avram's wife.

18. And Pharaoh summoned Avram and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why didn't you tell me she is your wife?

19. "Why did you say, 'She is my sister', so that I started to take her for  myself as a wife? Well, then, here is your wife! Take her, and go!"

Was taking: “Take” was a common Hebrew term for the betrothal stage of marriage, but there was as yet no consummation. Avram did not explain his rationale here as he would in 20:12, when he was speaking to someone who had more understanding of YHWH—possibly one of the Kanaanites he had already influenced.

20. And the Pharaoh gave his men orders regarding him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Pharaoh means “great house”, but Sarai already belonged to another house. This scenario is a foreshadowing of YHWH’s bride, Israel, being held by a later Pharaoh (also originally because of a famine), and of the Bride of the Messiah being held now in a pagan household, because it is not realized that she belongs to a Hebrew. Though we have been enriched by the sojourn, once it is recognized who we are, it is clear that we do not belong in a place of exile, and must return to the Land promised to both houses of Israel.  


CHAPTER 13

1. And Avram went up out of Egypt into the Negev—he and his wife and all that was his, and Lot was with them.

2. And Avram had become very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.

Rich: literally, heavy. And indeed, riches often do prove to weigh us down. Yeshua would tell a man who thought he had been keeping all the commandments that if he was wealthy, he must not really be fulfilling the commands toward his fellow men, because too many around him were still poor. (Mat. 19:16-30) One cannot honor YHWH if he is not caring for his brothers when he is able. But he did not go to Egypt to get rich; he needed a lot of resources to support all who he was teaching and continue showing hospitality. But Avram did not try to stay close to the place provision had come from, but went back as soon as possible to the place YHWH had told him to go. He took only the wealth that was portable. This is a litmus test for whether our wealth is useful for the Kingdom or a hindrance to it. If you cannot remain mobile enough to follow YHWH wherever He leads, your wealth owns you, not the other way around. YHWH calls His people His most special treasure (Deut. 7:6), and Avram had the same attitude. The silver and gold were not listed among what Pharaoh gave him as a bride-price for his “sister”, but may be part of how he was “treated well” for her sake (12:16). The true treasures are the Kingdom, YHWH’s words, and the other members of our “flock”. Avram used his livestock to teach his servants how to be shepherds, but what he really treasured were the people that he used the gold and herds to take care of.

3. So he broke camp and moved from the Negev, all the way to Beyth-El, to the place where his tent had been earlier—between Beyth-El and Ay—

4. the site of the altar he had made there the first time. And Avram called on the name of YHWH there.

Like his descendants who would return from the land of Egypt, he returned to his own spiritual roots. He wanted to be back where YHWH had met him the first time, for a cleansing breath so he could put Egypt behind him. It is beneficial to revisit the places He has intervened in our lives when we need to regain the proper perspective on where we are now and remember that He has not left us.

5. And Lot, who went with Avram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.

Tents: again, an idiom for a place of teaching. Lot was a descendant of Shem, too, on whom it was incumbent to teach the Kanaanites to be servants. He, too, had his own tents, and this may be the root of what is discussed next. He was called “righteous”, but he had a different approach to presenting who YHWH is, and this interfered with Avram’s.  

6. And the land was not able to sustain them all if they lived together, because their possessions were so numerous that they were unable to remain together.

Together: or "in unity". They had too many possessions to fit on limited territory. Yet he was in the company of a great man. What they allowed to cling to them drove them apart. Was it really worth that? The early believers in Y’shua dealt with this problem that had haunted their forefathers by selling their possessions and having everything in common instead. (Acts 2:40ff; compare 2 Tim. 6:6-7)  

7. And there was disputing between those tending Avram's livestock and those tending Lot's livestock. (Now the Kanaanite and the Peritzite inhabited the land at that time.)

It is not the relatives themselves who are at odds, but their hireling shepherds. The ones they are trying to teach are being taught two different ways, and strife is inevitable. Peritzite means "dweller in unwalled villages". They seem to interrupt the flow of the narrative here, but they may have been the very ones hired as shepherds, or it may be saying that because there were Kanaanites (which means “merchants”) present, there was no room for them to spread out further at that location. But if the problem was that they had too many possessions to remain together, why did they not just sell many of them to these people who lived nearby?

8. And Avram said to Lot, "Please don't let there be disputes between me and you, or between my shepherds and yours, for we are [grown] men [and we are] relatives!

9. "Isn't the whole land here awaiting you? Please spread out away from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right—or if you go to the right, then I'll go to the left.

Avram trusted YHWH’s promise that the Land would be his. (12:7) So he felt secure in leaving this choice in Lot’s hands.

10. So Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the whole district of the Yarden River as you come to Tsoar was well-watered (this was before YHWH destroyed S'dom and Ghamorah), like the Garden of YHWH and the land of Egypt.

Yarden River: At that time it probably flowed all the way to the Reed Sea. It was a beautiful place, but Yarden means "descender"—which should have warned him that if he chose that direction, he would indeed end up in a “lower” place than where he was at this time.

11. Then Lot chose all the plain of the Yarden for himself, and set forth toward the east.

Lot made his decisions based not on honor for his uncle, his teacher, but based on what was best for his livestock. He went east. When he later flees the area (chapter 18), he ends up on the plateau to the east, so undoubtedly he was already across the river, because he would be unlikely to try to cross it during a calamity. So already, east of the Yarden was the place to be if you had “much cattle”, a theme the tribes of Reuven and Gad picked up on centuries later. (Num. 32:1; Deut. 3:19) But Lot also thus ceased to be a Hebrew for the sake of his wealth, because he crossed the Yarden in the wrong direction.  

12. So Avram remained in Kanaan, but Lot lived among the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent as far as S'dom.

As far as S’dom: or toward S'dom, possibly with the hint of beginning to lean toward its philosophy of life. This was another step downhill for him.

13. But the men of S'dom were evil and sinners before YHWH—exceedingly so.

Y'hezq'el/Ezekiel 16:49 tells us the root problem that led to the others. Lot would have been better off to have stayed with Avram. No possessions are worth separating brothers who are both righteous, but now he was going to lose both—and more.

14. And after Lot had separated from him, YHWH said to Avram, "Lift up your eyes now and look toward the north, south, east, and west from the place where you are,

Where you are: Beyth-El and Ay (v. 3) are on the mountain ridge, from which he would be able to see far in any direction.

15. "for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed forever. 

Avram allowed Lot to choose this world's best, but he inherited something better. Elohim compensated for his selflessness. This part of the blessing could not alight on him until he had completely fulfilled the commandment to leave his native people (12:1). Now that everyone left there is “on the same page of the same story”, it is like Bavel again—unity, but for a righteous purpose this time. But he would even inherit "the east"--the part Lot had chosen, for it too is visible from where he stood; Lot’s descendants would have to move further eastward. "Lift up your eyes" is a phrase often linked to prophecy, and indeed the promise has reached its full borders only in a token sense for a short time during the reign of Shlomo; a greater fulfillment still awaits us.

16. "And I will make your seed like the dust of the earth—since if a person is able to count the dust of the earth, then also your seed will be able to be counted.

One reason Avram's seed cannot be counted is that most do not know that that is who they are, especially since the Northern Kingdom of Israel was scattered and assimilated with the Gentiles. But YHWH never lost track of us.

17. "Get up! Walk through the land—its length and its breadth—because I will give it to you."

The Land had already been deeded to him, but YHWH told him to also go stake it out. "The Land" that is our inheritance includes all that belongs to Israel--holiness, justice, purity, etc., and we need to claim these for ourselves. He foreshadows his descendants, 
who were told they would be given every place the soles of their feet would 
tread. (Deut. 11:24; Y’hoshua 1:3) But we possess only the promises that 
we actually step into in faith, not what we simply wish for.

18. Then Avram moved his tent, and came and settled among the Oaks of Mamre, which are in Hevron, and there he built an altar to YHWH.

After looking over all the places where he could settle, he chooses Hevron, for it is physically the highest in elevation of all cities in Israel, and thus symbolizes taking the highest possible path. Note, though, that though he is very wealthy, he is still a tent-dweller, not tied down by his possessions, but ready to move again if YHWH wanted him to. The city's name comes from "friendship", alliance, or unification in Hebrew. David's reign, which first united all of Israel into one nation, would begin here at Hevron. Avram staked the claim to it with the altar for this purpose, yet it is a city of strife today. Muslims prevent Jews from praying at the tomb of Avram, their common ancestor. Mamre (whose name means fatness or strength) was the Emorite who owned the site (14:13). Like David, Avram allied himself with whomever was YHWH’s provision for him at the moment, and even brought honor to them because of this, but did not become deeply attached to them if they did not worship his Elohim.  


CHAPTER 14

1. In the days of Amrafel king of Shin’ar, Ariokh king of Ellasar, Kedarlaomer king of Eylam, and Tidal king of The Nations,

Amrafel: "sayer of the darkness" or "fall of the sayer". Shin’ar: land of two rivers (Mesopotamia), the kingdom started by Nimrod. Ariokh: "Lion-like" (Sumerian, Eri-Aku). Ellasar: "El is chastener". Kedarlaomer: Kudur-Laghamaru, "servant of an Eylamite goddess". Eylam: east of Babylonia, between Assyria and Persia. Tidal: or Tud-khula--"Great son". Nations: probably a particular alliance, sometimes used of specific Yafethites (10:5).  

2. all made war on Bera king of S'dom, Birsha king of Ghamorah, Shin’av king of Admah, Shem’ever king of Ts'voyim, and the king of Bela (that is, Tsoar).

Made war: In Hebrew, the root is related to the word for bread (or in general what is eaten, for often that is the root cause for war), hence they intended to completely “devour” these former vassal city-states. Bera: "Son of evil". S’dom: "burning". Birsha: "Having wickedness". Ghamorah: "submersion" or "a pile of ruins". (Story in chapter 19.) Shin’av: "Splendor of the father", or "father is altered", king of "the ground" (a picture of Lucifer, who was cursed to crawl the ground after once having been the most splendid being). Shem’ever: "name of lofty flight", king of "gazelles"; and the king of "destruction". Bela: “swallower”—but Tsoar was one city YHWH spared from being swallowed up.

3. All of these were joined [in battle] in the 
Valley of Siddim (which is [now] the Salt Sea).

Siddim means "fields" or "plains". Salt Sea: also known as the Dead Sea. At that time, it was just the Yarden River valley, and the river still probably had an outlet to the Reed Sea. The story of how it changed to what it is today (and was by the time Moshe wrote this) will be seen in chapter 19. 

4. Now they had been vassals to Kedarlaomer for 12 years, but the 13th year they had revolted.

Kedarlaomer was the leader of the “unity government” they shared.(vv. 3, 5) In Hebrew, Kedarlaomer sounds like "handful of sheaves". An omer is the word for sheaf, as it is also the measurement of how much actual grain is yielded by one standard sheaf of wheat or barley. Each person’s allotment is to be one omer per person (Ex. 16:6). This king wanted more than he was assigned—a whole handful of sheaves. He was not satisfied with what YHWH had provided, but wanted to present himself as more valuable than others, and to define his own kingdom. Those who try to do this are eventually rebelled against.

5. Then in the 14th year, Kedarlaomer and the kings that were with him came and struck down the Refaim in Ashteroth-Qarnayim and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Eymim in the plain of the two villages [Shaweh-Kiryathayim],

Refaim means "slackers" or "sunken ones", thought to be a giant race, remnant of the nefilim seen in chapter 6; targum Onqelos calls them “mighty ones” and Ugaritic texts consider them divine inhabitants of the underworld. They may have gone into hiding there if men were trying to exterminate them, as we see with Y’hoshua and David. Ashteroth-Qarnayim: "stars of the two horns/peaks". Zuzim: "roving creatures" or “movers”; Ham: possibly a variation on Kham, "hot" or "sunburnt"; Eymim: "terrors" or “fearsome ones”. They occupied the area that would later be known as Moav (Deut. 2:10-11), now in the west central part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

6. and the Horites in their Mt. Seir, the oak of Paran, which is by the desert.

Horites: "cave dwellers", and Paran also means "caverns" This may demystify the idea of "cavemen". They were not prehistoric, but contemporary with Avram, a very recent phenomena recorded right here in history. ALternately, Velikovsky thought the Horites were the better-known Hurrians.  Mt. Seir, or "mountain of the shaggy goat", is where his grandson Esau would later settle.  

7. And they turned back and came to Eyn-Mishpat, that is, Qadesh, and destroyed every field of the Amaleqites, and also the Emorites who lived in Chatzatzon-Tamar.

Qadesh means "holy". There were several locations with this name. The Aramaic targums interpret this as Reqem, which Davies has tentatively identified with Petrawhich is definitely “set apart”, though it is usually called Sela in Scripture. Eyn-Mishpat means “spring of judgment”, but the more basic meaning of the word spring is “eye”, so the phrase can figuratively tell us that one way to holiness is to turn back to having an eye for judgment. This will lead to the destruction of the ways of the Amaleqites and the Emorites, which YHWH later designates as His enemies. Chatzatzon-Tamar: "place of cutting dates", an earlier name for the oasis of Eyn-Gedi west of the Dead Sea (2 Chron. 20:2), where date-palms are again a major cash crop. Amaleqites: " dwellers in low places"; Emorites: "talkers".

8. And the king of S'dom went out, along with the king of Ghamorah, the king of Admah, the king of Ts'voyim, and the king of Bela (which is Tsoar), and they drew up battle formations with them in the Valley of Siddim

9. against Kedarlaomer, the king of Eylam, and Tidal king of the Nations, and Amrafel king of Shinar, and Ariokh king of Ellasar—four kings against five.

10. And the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits, and the kings of S'dom and Ghamorah fled and fell into them, and those that remained fled to the hills.

The whole valley was called "Slime Pits", also translatable as "oil wells". These probably played a big part in the explosive catastrophe that would soon occur there. Oil has been discovered deep under a salt dome here. Clods of bitumin did rise to the surface of the later Dead Sea, which was known in Josephus' day as "Lake Asphaltitis", and the Nabateans grew wealthy by selling it as caulk for ships. Lightning storms would set it ablaze, earning this "Salt Sea" the nickname "the Lake of Fire". An earthquake in the 1840s sealed off the seepage, but a quake when the Messiah returns to Jerusalem may open it back again, allowing Rev. 19:20 to come true literally.

11. And they took all the possessions of S'dom and Ghamorrah, and all their food, and left.

12. And they took Lot, the son of Avram's brother, and his belongings, and left; he had been living in S'dom as well.

It was common for those who lived in unprotected areas on the outskirts of the city to move into the walled city for refuge during wartime or a siege. Because of his possessions, he was living too close to avoid being drawn into what affected the city, and now his possessions were taken away as well.

13. But a fugitive came and told Avram the Hebrew, for he was living among the oaks of Mamre the Emorite, the brother of Eshkol and Aner; these had made a treaty of alliance with Avram.

This is the first time anyone is described as a Hebrew, which means "a descendant of Ever", whose name means “the one who crosses from the other side”. (10:24). Had made a treaty: He lived in what was then still their territory, by their consent. Their names mean "fatness/vigor", "cluster", and "boy". He had an alliance with them by mutual agreement for the benefit of both, but he was not united with them. He had a “deal” with them as one another’s “suppliers”, and treated them fairly, but he did not join himself to anyone else. Egypt had enriched him, but he did not become part of it. He had even sent Lot away—his last connection with his past--so he has a right to call himself a Hebrew. Our alliances may come and go, but we must always keep ourselves in a position to remain on YHWH’s side, not making commitments that would stand in His way.

14. Now when Avram heard that his relative had been captured, right away he led out his trained [men], who had been born in his household—318 in number. And they pursued them as far as Dan.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us "there is an appointed time for everything to be a delight to heaven", then goes on to say there is a time for war. Here Avram shows us that the time when war is a delight to heaven is when our brothers are taken captive. (R. Webster) Avram would have ignored the wars of both sides if they had not involved his relative, for he was “on the other side”. He did not buy into any of their ambitions; he was separated unto YHWH. The fact that the people of S’dom were taken away had nothing to do with him. But now someone has taken captive one who at least follows YHWH to some degree—one who had been part of the same camp. Now it was no longer permissible to stand idly by. Trained [men]: "instructed" or "dedicated", from the root word for "Hanukkah". They were his disciples, who had joined him on his journey because they wanted to learn about his monotheistic faith. Dan is about 100 miles due north of Sodom; Avraham was in Hevron, on the ridge west of S'dom. The added energy needed to chase these men so far may have existed because the speed of light was much faster at that time. (See note on 1:19)

15. And he divided his forces against them. He struck them at night, and chased them as far as Hobah, which is on the left side of Damaseq.

Divided: The trained men did not decide which part of the battle each would fight; Avram did. Left: "Orientation" means "facing east"; directions were reckoned this way in antiquity. Thus Ps.-Jonathan and Onqelos add "north" (it is 25 miles north); Josephus simply says "Hoba...belong[ed] to Damascus", possibly alluding to the meaning of "left hand" as representing despised servitude. Damaseq (or Damascus): the present-day capital of Syria.  

16. And he brought back all the property, and also brought back his brother and his property, and also the women and the servants.

Servants: or people, but it has recently been discovered that earlier in its history, the term am (when derived from an Egyptian root rather than the standard Hebrew term) was sometimes used for a special class of servants, not just a cohesive group of people in general.

17. Then the king of S'dom went out to meet him, after he returned from striking down Kedarlaomer and the kings which were with him, to the Shaweh Valley, that is, the one [now called] the King's Valley.

He must have remained hidden in the tar pit he fell into until the attackers were gone (v. 10), then escaped, for he has not been carried away captive himself. Shaweh: "Equal", or by extension, "level".

18. But Melchitzedeq, king of Shalem, brought out bread and wine; he was also the priest of the Highest Elohim.

Melchitzedeq is here not because he is a priest, but because he is the king, for apparently the Kings’ Valley was a place kings met to confer in such times of great upheaval, much like the United Nations, but more righteous because this king was also there. It may be because of who he was that the five kings did not attack him as well. Highest Elohim: Heb., El Elyon. The knowledge of YHWH had not yet totally disappeared from Kanaan; this spot was a priestly site from the very start (cf. notes on 2:8ff). Melchitzedeq: "My king does what is right", or "the righteous king". He was sometimes referred to as if an angel or divinely-appointed judge in the heavenly court (DSS; cf. Ps. 82), but is linked by many to Shem himself (Yasher 16:11; targums Pseudo-Jon.; Neofiti), the more likely case. Having been born in "the former world"--before the Flood--and living 600 years in an age when lifespans were much shorter, an elaborate complex of eschatological legends grew up around this mysterious personage, including the one that he had no beginning or end. (Heb. 5:6; 7:1-21) Shalem (which means peace or completeness) later formed part of the name "Jerusalem" (“teaching of peace”), as Psalm 76 verifies that this is where YHWH’s tabernacle was in David’s time. The first one called a “priest after the order of Melkhitzedeq” is Shlomo (Solomon), in Psalm 110. It is one of the titles conferred on a righteous king who reigns from Yerushalayim. Shlomo had a priestly aspect to his kingship. He built the Temple and inaugurated the use of the altar by dedicating it. We later see Yoshiyahu rededicating it. (2 Kgs. 22:3) So this is the king’s prerogative. Three times a year he offered ascending offerings, peace offerings, and burned incense on the altar. (1 Kgs. 9:25) He blessed all of Israel in YHWH’s name (1 Kgs. 8:14ff; 2 Shm. 6:17-18) as the high priest also did. (Num. 6:22; 1 Chron. 23:13) The Torah tells us that a priest’s role is to provide judgment and justice. (Deut. 17:9-12; 21:5) David did the same. (2 Shmu’el 8:15) Yoshiyahu restored the worship of YHWH after a long period of paganism in Yehudah, and he tells the high priest how to spend money brought into the Temple treasury. (2 Kings 22) So the king had authority over the finances of the Temple (which explains Yeshua’s right to do what he did in Mark 11:15ff; 12:41-43). But this did not infringe in any way on the duties of the Levitical priests; Uzziyahu tried to do so, but was struck with leprosy for doing so when warned by the priests not to. (2 Chron. 26) The king acts in a priestly role only on special dedicatory occasions. We see evidence in Y’hezq’el (Ezekiel) 45-46 that this will again be done in the Messianic Kingdom. This helps us understand why the writer to the Hebrews emphasizes that Yeshua’s sacrifice was “once and for all”, not a repeated one like those of the Levites. He feeds Avram, his student, a meal that expresses community and friendship--one bread and a common joy. Bread and wine are the things Yehudah has preserved as a celebratory feast.    

19. And he blessed him and said, "Avram is blessed by the Highest El, Owner of Heaven and Earth,

20. "and blessed is the Highest Elohim [Himself], who has delivered your oppressors into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of everything. 

Tithe: ten percent, the portion later due the Levitical priests for their livelihood (Num. 18:21) and also tribute paid to a teacher. Tradition says that Shem and his grandson Ever set up a yeshiva (school) where knowledge of the one true Elohim was passed down, and that the patriarchs studied there in Yerushalayim under them. Shem did not die until Yaaqov/Jacob was 35 years old. By tradition, a line of firstborns constituted the priesthood from Noakh until the Levitical system was set up under Moshe. Shem was Noakh's firstborn--and thus the one to inherit the priesthood before it was assigned to the Levitical line. He was also the eldest of all men alive at this time. Yeshua was the firstborn of his mother but also, as the Word, the firstborn of creation and later the firstborn from among the dead, so this is another another reason he is called a priest after the same order.     Melkhitzedeq (Shem) was not a Hebrew himself in the same way that Avram was not an Israelite—they were the ancestors of the ones through whom their character was preserved. This king took no armies to this battle, but he has come out to celebrate a brother delivering a brother. He is thus recognizing that Avram, who now teaches in the “tents of Shem”, is representing him well, and in supportiveness of him, passes the priesthood of the family along to him. Noakh had died not long before this, and now Shem was the authority on not only the way things worked in the world (having more experience of it than anyone else living), but of what YHWH was like. He had even seen conditions before the Flood, and knew better than anyone else what kinds of trends should not be allowed to continue. And Avram, who until now was alone in his theories, now had a teacher who knew the truth! Some of the further covenants yet to be conferred on Avram could not come about until the “mantle of the firstborn” had been passed on to him. Avram in turn recognizes him as his teacher and his priest. 

21. Then the king of S'dom said to Avram, "Just give me the soul, and take the possessions for yourself."

The soul: a particular person--the one Kefa/Peter calls "righteous Lot", whom the king may have known would be needed to preserve the wicked city from judgment. Alt: "give me the live [ones]" (i.e., the survivors)—literally “the one(s) breathing”. Avram took the attitude that YHWH had given him all He wanted him to have. Having once been warned, Lot nonetheless chose to return to this city which had been shown to be a vessel marked for destruction.  

22. But Avram said to the king of S'dom, "I have raised my hand to YHWH, the Highest El, the Owner of Heaven and Earth,

Raised my hand: in oath. He had to live by his word. YHWH is named directly, so there is no doubt as to whom the highest Elohim is.

23. "that I will not take anything that is yours, from even a thread to a sandal-thong, so you won't [be able to] say, 'I am the one who has made Avram rich.'

Didn’t Avram have a school to fund? A whole entourage of followers to support? How could he be a blessing if he had nothing to give others? Didn’t he have a noble cause to use the king of S’dom’s reward toward? So why would he refuse it? He would not let a man take credit for what YHWH had brought about. He would not put himself in a position in which someone outside the camp was taking care of him. Thread means "cord" or "string", as one would expect, but its verb form means "to repair foundations” or “patch up". Thong is from a word for "twisted" or "entangled". A sandal is for walking. Avram refused to be "bound" to these pagans whom he refused to credit for who he became, or "entangled" in any of the ways they "walked", nor would he even allow them to "patch up" the pagan foundations of his life that YHWH had already overthrown. And this was the wrong source of riches; he recognized that not all wealth is beneficial. He wouldn’t taint the water his students were drinking with something that was dirty at its source. Time Magazine editor Nancy Gibbs had a great quote in the 4/27/09 edition: “As we pick through the economic rubble, we may find that our riches have buried our treasures.” Avram apparently did keep what they plundered from the attacking kings, because he did give a tithe of this.

24. "Nothing for me! Only what the young men have eaten, and the share that goes to the men who went with me—Aner, Eshqol, and Mamre--let them take their share."

Anyone else, who measured things the way this king did, could have all they wanted. They were not against Avram, and thus were for him (cf. Mark 9:40), so he did not begrudge them any of this world's goods, nor did he force them to live up to his convictions. He was grateful and they received a just reward, but his own standard had to be higher. Though by leaving his family and prior commitments in Ur he must have seemed a "traitor", someone had to get out of the quicksand and onto firm footing in order that all nations could also be led into purer truth.


CHAPTER 15

<Year 2018 / 1982 B.C.>

1. After these words, the word of YHWH came to Avram in a vision, saying, "Do not be afraid, Avram; I am a shield to you; your reward [will be] very great."

These words: those in 14:22-24, in which Avram revealed where his heart really was. Avram took the first step by committing to not receiving any wages but what YHWH wanted to give him, and YHWH counts this as having passed a test. He did not go to war for booty, but to rescue his brother. He had just ascended a step and things looked more fearful from here. But Avram had just called Him the possessor of heaven and earth; He now wants him to trust Him as such. Your reward will be very great: Or, "I [Myself] am … your very great reward"—i.e., I am what you are really fighting for. YHWH knew he might question his wisdom in not accepting the payment from the king of S’dom for having brought Lot back. But YHWH was saying His presence was wealth far beyond what any king could ever give him. (Compare Numbers 18:20.)

2. And Avram said, "Master YHWH, what can You give to me, since I am going about utterly stripped of everything? The son of inheritance in my house is ‘Damascus Eliezer’!"

He has just passed up another kind of wage, so he asks an honest question, not in a rebellious way, for he calls Him “Master” (for the first time). There still remains in him a deep-seated fear—that his line would not continue. YHWH had just said He would be Avram’s reward; he may have wondered if that meant he would not have a son after all. Granted, one’s name can be carried on in other ways. If we have no children, it does not mean that what we sow into the lives of others will be lost. There is no guarantee that our children will carry on what we started, as David knew well. Avram’s teaching had already ensured that his name would continue, because the following he had earned knew it was worth carrying on. But Avram was afraid this was the only way his name would survive, and this was not enough for a man whose name means “exalted father”. It had to be true in both senses. It was not enough to have students; he needed a true firstborn. Eliezer has none of Avram’s actual DNA. Damascus: the city’s Hebrew name, Dameseq, is only one letter different from mesheq, the word for inheritance here. 

3. Avram said further, "Look here! You have given me no seed, and look! The son of my household is inheriting from me!"

"Son of my household": Targum Pseudo-Jonathan explains: the manager of my house.  

4. And behold! The word of YHWH came to him, saying, "No, this man shall not be your heir; rather, one who will proceed from right within you—he shall be your heir."

5. And He brought him outside and said, "Please gaze at the sky and count the stars—if you can count them!" And He told him, "This is what your seed will be like!"

With very little of the haze and “light pollution” that we have today, Avram would see many more stars than we usually can see with the unaided eye. The primary idea is that his descendants would be innumerable. But, as in 3:15, the term "seed" is singular (Gal. 3:16), and so a secondary interpretation concerns the Mazzaroth--the original, pure zodiac--"signs", cf. 1:14, which foretold the story of the promised Redeemer: "Enumerate the stars in order--this is what [Messiah] will be like!" (cf. Psalm 19:1ff: i.e., the promised Seed will fulfill this form of prophecy as well). Avram's descendants would also one day make up the "hosts [i.e., armies] of heaven." (Yehudah/Jude 14)

6. And he trusted YHWH, and regarded it as righteousness for Him.

​Trusted: stood firm in his confidence; based on the verb form of "amen", which means "established" or "trustworthy". Nehemyah 9:8 gives us the traditional Hebrew interpretation of this: YHWH proved righteous or just in Avram’s consideration because He did fulfill His promise, though it seemed impossible. Romans 4:9ff takes the “hims” in the reverse sense—that Avram trusted confidently in YHWH's promise, though it seemed impossible. 
There is a precedent for understranding the phrase this way as well, as the same affirmation is given to Pin’has (Ps. 106:31) because he acted on his belief—and so did Avram. No one can prove anything about us by what we think; the proof is in the results. Avram believes his line will continue, but it would not have if he had not done his part in fathering the child. He must still walk in a way that proves he believes. (Yaaqov/James 2:20ff) 


7. And He said to him, "I am YHWH, Who brought you up out of Ur of the Chaldeans, in order to give you this land to inherit [possess]."

He is saying, “Think about who I am. Consider what I have already done, and continue trusting in My promise.”

8. And he said, "My Master YHWH, by what will I know that I will inherit it?"

This is an honest question. He is not being arrogant, but asking how someone like himself—childless and with no one to pass it on to--could be worthy of such a gift. But it is YHWH’s choice that counts, not how fit we appear to be.

9. And He told him, "Get for Me a three-year-old heifer and a three-year-old she-goat, and a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon that is still in the nest."

Cattle represent our security, for they not only can plow our fields, but also provide us with plentiful food and even clothe us. Then YHWH asks for the male and female form of the same type of animal, a picture of Avram and his wife and all their wealth. Thus this covenant requires us to turn over all of our security and the fertility that other nations became idolatrous to try to ensure. A three-year old heifer is the oldest of any animals YHWH ever asked anyone to offer Him, for this covenant requires a greater degree of maturity than the ones that came before.

10. So he got all of these for Him, and divided them down the middle, and arranged each piece opposite its other half, but the birds he did not divide.

A "covenant-cutting" included the exchange of weapons, robes, names (17:5), and blood (Mat. 26:28), and told a vassal, "This is what will be done to you if you break the treaty." (Compare Yirmeyahu 4:18-22) The kingdom of Israel was indeed cut in two when we did not keep our part of the covenant.  

11. And the birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Avram drove them back.

In the midst of the covenant-cutting, Avram is given another test. All birds of prey are unclean, picturing unclean people (those motivated by selfishness) who try to feed off the covenant to which they have no right, and thus misuse it by creating new doctrines so people will think they can only enter the Kingdom through themselves. We get rid of these “vultures” by becoming Avram again—leaving behind these who falsely claim to represent his heritage, and truly identifying with him. 

12. But as the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Avram, and behold! a terror of great gloom fell upon him.

YHWH often puts people into this deep sleep (Heb., tardemah) to set the stage for great things He wants to do, as in Gen. 2:21; 1 Sh'muel 26:12; Yesh./Isa. 26:10, interpreted by Rom. 11; Yochanan/John 11:11ff; 1 Thess. 4:14.

13. And He said to Avram, "Know for sure that your seed will be aliens in a land that is not theirs (and they will enslave them and afflict them) for 400 years.

Not that they'd be enslaved for the full 400 years; rather, his seed (those not yet born) would be without a land of their own for that long. Even while in the Land of Israel they would still be sojourners (e.g., ch. 26, Zlotowitz). They would actually be enslaved fewer than 83 years, because Aharon, 3 years older than Moshe, did not have to be protected as Moshe was, and Moshe returned at age 80 to deliver them. They were delivered from slavery 430 years later (to the day, Ex. 12:41; cf. Gal. 3:17). Still, what sort of promise is this? Kanaan, not Shem, is supposed to be the one enslaved. Entering this new covenant seems dark and scary. Much more is at stake than the responsibility we feel upon signing a mortgage. But this bondage is part of His plan, so that we can see who is really in control:“Do not be afraid; it will be worth it if you hang on long enough”:

14. "And I will judge the nation that they shall serve, and afterward they will come out with great substance.

I will judge: Not just Egypt or Babylon/Assyria, but anyone who enslaves Israel in any way, will have certain expectations placed upon them by YHWH.

15. "But you shall come to your fathers in complete welfare. You shall be buried at an appropriate, gray-headed age.

16. "Then in the fourth generation, they shall come back here, because now the iniquity of the Emorites is not yet filled up."

Fourth generation: from the time they entered Egypt (Yaaqov's day); Moshe was Yaaqov's great-grandson, and in the generation of his own son, he led them out. (Exodus 6:14-20) Iniquity of the Emorites: With our actions and attitudes, we fill up our cups, and when the “last straw” makes them spill over the top, YHWH decides to deal with it, for better or for worse. We might have thought we were getting away with wrong, but now there will be a price to pay. When a nation's sins have reached the point of irreversibility, His grace period ends, and He sends another nation to judge them and take their place--but not before. He does not yet have the justification for killing them off. The name Emorites comes from the word for "to speak". Filled up: shalem (complete), so judgment (like at the flood) would come "when what is being said is fully perverted". Taking Avram’s descendants out of the Land allowed it to reach that state, so that YHWH could with complete justice dispossess them. There also had to be enough righteousness in His people to be able to take the Land without ourselves bringing defilement to it afresh; hence the final 40 years in the wilderness.

17. Now what took place when the sun went down and it became very dark was that, lo and behold! a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the parts of these animals!

The smoke shows that the oven is still being heated up; it has to get to over 600 degrees Fahrenheit. When this stage is finished, the fuel and fire are removed, and the heat the earth or brick oven retains is enough to bake bread. The torch is to light the fire and to provide light. The word for “torch” here is the same word used of the “lightning flashes” seen at Mt. Sinai when YHWH gave the Torah. (Ex. 20:18) Thus the responsibility of Avram’s seed in the covenant is to “bake bread” (form a community as per 1 Corinthians 10:17) and to be a light to the nations. The original Hebrew text does not have the vowel points or even spaces between words. Part of this verse, if the words are cut differently, reads,"Fire, fire an evil [thing] into Rabin, decrees the Eloah on that day." As soon as the sabbath on which this portion was read in synagogues all over the world in 1995/ 5756 was over, Israel's Prime Minister Rabin was shot twice by a man claiming Elohim had told him to do it! 

18. On that day YHWH made a covenant with Avram, saying, "I have given this land to your seed, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Ferath—

River of Egypt: either the Nile (as per targum Ps.-Jon.) or Wadi El-Arish in N.E. Sinai. On That Day: The first occurrence of this oft-repeated phrase that, on the prophetic level, alludes to the Day of YHWH (Yoch./John 2:1). Israel had these borders for a short time under David and Shlomo, whose reigns of justice, peace, and wisdom foreshadow "That Day"--an idiom for the final "day" of the "world-week", the millennial Messianic Kingdom, when the promise will be fulfilled in entirety.

19. "the land of the Qeynite, the Qenizzite, the Qadmonite,

[smiths, hunters, and most ancient easterners]

20. "and the Chittite, and the Perizzite, and the Refaim,

[terrors, villagers, and invigorators]

21. "and the Emorite, the Kanaanite, the Girgashite, and the Yevusite."

[the sayers/talkers, the zealous low-lying merchants, dwellers on clay soil, and residents of the threshing place--a particular one, the site of the later Temple, because it was on a hilltop where the wind could carry away the chaff: 1 Chron. 21:15-28.] After they have fully passed away, the Land can be fully given to Avram’s descendants.  


CHAPTER 16

1. Now Sarai, Avram's wife, had still not borne him [any children], but she had a maidservant--an Egyptian--and her name was Hagar.

2. And Sarai said to Avram, "Look here, now; YHWH has kept me from bearing children. Please  go into my maidservant; maybe I can be built up from her." And Avram listened to Sarai's voice.

Built up: the Hebrew word for "son" is from a root word meaning "build". "House" in Hebrew can also mean "household", and a household is built up through children. Sarai attributed her barrenness to being frowned on by her Elohim, but she does not include Avram in this perceived curse. This was not a new idea that she came up with. Hammurabi’s code, which was in force in the area where Avram had grown up, said that if a woman was barren, she could give her female slave to her husband and any offspring she had would remain with her mistress. Adoption would not be necessary, because Sarai owned her, so any son she had would also belong to her. (Compare Exodus 21.) But if he was taken as her own child, he would not be a slave. An ancient Nuzi contract said essentially the same thing. So this was an accepted norm in that day. It was seen as right and natural, and in other cases it was permitted. (30:3-10) But in this case it was not what YHWH really intended. There would be severe consequences (to our very own day) because it was not done the right way. The whole Middle East conflict is rooted in this one less-than-best choice. What YHWH allows is not always what He intends. Listened to: Includes the acceptance of what she said. When Adam had listened to his wife’s voice (saying essentially the same thing—“take the fruit, and you will continue”), thorns, thistles, and death resulted. On a later occasion YHWH would tell Avram that his wife was right (21:12), but this time it was just her human logic.

3. So Sarai, Avram's wife, took her slave-girl Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Avram as his wife, after Avram had lived ten years in the land of Kanaan.

Ten years after the promise, they wondered if they had understood it correctly, and the weight of the “exalted father” still having no children was heavy upon her; she may have thought, "Elohim promised you children, but not necessarily through me!" (Sforno) Ten barren years was seen as a sign of permanent unfruitfulness, and considered grounds for divorce. Since she could not seem to give him children, she thinks she is doing YHWH’s will, but this would get in the way of her own fruitfulness. As his wife: Her job was to “be Sarai” as her representative, but she was not to have the same relationship to Avram as his true wife had. Her child would only be Sarai’s son in a figurative sense, and was therefore in some sense a lie. It is our privilege and responsibility to do YHWH’s will, but we do not have the right to define how or when it should be accomplished. They thought they had waited long enough, but this is a natural way of thinking; YHWH will fulfill His promises when it is most profitable, not necessarily when we think we need them. (Yeshayahu 55:8-11) We are responsible not only to get to where He wants us, but to get there His way. The son of this union was out of season. It was not time for Sarai to have a son.  

4. And he went into Hagar, and she conceived. And when she realized that she had conceived, her mistress was lightly esteemed in her eyes.

Lightly esteemed: literally, she grew lighter (while Hagar grew heavier with child, and “heavier” is a Hebrew idiom for “more important”). Because Hagar was no longer serving Sarai day and night, the thought occurred to her that she could now take the place of her mistress. Hagar now saw an open door to act on this delusion of grandeur. It may be that Avram, who was known for his kindness, was too easy on her, making her feel too much like a soulmate, though she had only been given to him for the purpose of procreation. Rashi’s midrash on this text says Pharaoh had given Hagar (his own daughter) to Sarai because he knew she would be better-taught than she would be even in his household! (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan bases this idea on 12:16-20.)

5. So Sarai said to Avram, "May this injustice done to me be upon you! I gave my slave-girl into your bosom, and now she considers me insignificant! Let YHWH judge between me and you!"

I.e., “She no longer takes me seriously as mistress. She thinks this is her child, when it is legally mine! This is your fault!" The responsibility was with Avram, who, like Adam, could have vetoed his wife's wish. The root of Sarai's name means "dominance", but this is not what was taking place anymore. Apparently Avram had taken his dominant traits of hospitality, lovingkindness, and mercy too far, and Hagar was thinking of herself as more than a slave. She saw herself as “somebody” now. Her descendants have the same attitude. Rather than enjoying the rights they could have as citizens of the awesome nation of Israel, the Palestinians are trying to take dominion and think of themselves as rightful rulers, when they are only guests permitted to stay in the Land if they follow Israel’s rules. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for “injustice” here is hamas (violence). Gentiles were grafted into Avram's family in order to build up his house and bear him more children, but since Constantine granted them a "separate legitimacy", they have tended to exalt their ways over the pure Israelite lifestyle, calling it inferior. 

6. But Avram said to Sarai, "Behold, your slave-girl is in your hand; do to her what is best in your eyes." And Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her presence.

In this case, Sarai would have done better to emulate Avram's trait of mercy. Hammurabi’s code stipulated that a slave girl taken as a surrogate mother could not be sold or driven out because she had been humiliated (and the Torah has similar rulings in Deut. 21:14; 22:29). Therefore Sarai probably beat her to the point where she would want to leave of her own volition.  

7. And the messenger of YHWH found her by a spring of water in the desert--by the well on the way to Shur.

Shur (also called Haluza and Khagra in the Aramaic targums): a region of Egypt between the Delta and Sinai. Apparently she was fleeing back to Egypt, where she still felt at home. The church, likewise, felt that the Torah represents a "cruel taskmistress", and has tried to go back to the "more user-friendly" customs of Rome and Babylon.

8. And he said, "Hagar, domestic servant of Sarai, where did you come from, and where are you going?" And she said, "I am fleeing from the presence of Sarai, my mistress."

The name Hagar actually means “flighty”, and is related to the well-known Arabic hejira, her descendant Muhammad’s flight from Mecca. Domestic sservant: from the same root word as "family”. In YHWH's eyes, she is not “Avram’s wife”; Sarai still has authority over her, so she has no right to run away. 

9. And the messenger of YHWH said to her, "Go back to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand."

YHWH did rule in favor of Sarai (as she requested in v. 5).  All whom YHWH counts true believers are under the rules of Avram's household, whether they want to admit it or not.

10. But the messenger of YHWH told her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants, so that they will not be able to be numbered because they are so many."

Because of the tangled web Avram wove, being a seed of Avram, part of this promise to Avram had to apply to Yishma’el as well.  I will: This establishes that YHWH’s messengers and prophets can sometimes speak for Him in the first person, and clears up misconceptions about why Yeshua could do that. 

11. And the messenger of YHWH said to her, "Look; you are expecting a child, and you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Yishmael, because YHWH has paid attention to your misery.

This blessing was her compensation for having to go back into slavery. Yishmael means "Elohim will hear" or "El will pay attention".

12. "And he shall be a wild ass [of a] man; his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand against him, yet he shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers."

Wild ass of a man: or "an undomesticated Adam", as all of us have been to some degree--still human, bearing some of YHWH's image, but not the refined, submitted persons we were meant to be; Targum Onqelos renders it “a rebel among mankind”. This is probably the main reason Hagar was told to return to Sarai for a while, for before he was turned loose in the world, this wild man had to have a certain amount of Avram’s influence in order to bring some honor to his father. Yet they may be the only ancient people other than the tribe of Yehudah who have maintained a clearly separate identity for 4,000 years. And wild donkeys are not loners; they run in herds, and so this may also be a prophecy that he will be a tribal people. His descendants cause controversy wherever they go, but they are very community-oriented. In the presence of: or, "amid opposition from". Many Arabs have indeed been warlike, yet they are forced to live today again with the presence of Israel (or, better, "in its face", as the word literally means), though the return of the legitimate heir now threatens the children of the flesh. The reason Israel, whose Land was a backwater of the Muslim world until the Jews began returning, is such a rock of offense to the Arabs is that the Qur'an says that any land once owned by Muslims can never be ceded to any other, and must forcefully be taken back. However, Israel has the prior claim, and the most hotly disputed places--Avraham's and Yosef's tombs and the Temple Mount, were actually purchased, so there would be no question whose they were. As Chavvah was "set against" Adam, so the Ishmaelites have a special purpose. They have actually done better than Israel at maintaining Avram’s cultural lifestyle. Their extremism has often countered the Christian tendency to move toward polytheism, and though their shrine is an abomination to YHWH, they were counted worthier of protecting the site of the Holy of Holies from being trampled and profaned; Christians had begun selling pieces of the rock on which the Ark of the Covenant sat at ten times their weight in gold.

13. And she called the name of YHWH, who spoke to her, "You are [indeed an] Elohim who sees me!" For she said, "Even here have I seen the One who sees me?" 

Who sees me: Or, "has been revealed to me" (Targums Pseudo-Jonathan; Neofiti; Onqelos).  

14. That is why the well was named, "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me"--it's right there between Qadesh and Bered.

Some Aramaic versions say “the well at which the Living and Enduring One was revealed”. Qadesh and Bered were fortifications on the border of Egypt.

15. And Hagar bore Avram a son, and Avram named the son Hagar bore Yishmael. 

Hagar was told to name him Yishmael, but Avram actually ended up having the privilege of doing so. She must certainly have recounted the story to him.  

16. And Avram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Yishmael to him.

In summary, the child was not illegitimate (see note on 30:3), but he was the fruit of the "flesh" instead of the promised miracle child (Gal. 4:29-31)--a warning to any of us who might try to carry out a vision YHWH gives us in our own natural power and timing, not His. As we recognize that He wants to bring the two houses of Israel back together, we may suffer for any compromises we make in order to get it done more expeditiously. 


CHAPTER 17

1. Then when Avram was 99 years old, it took place: YHWH appeared to Avram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai; walk before Me and become blameless,

El Shaddai: YHWH is presenting another side of who He is. It is often translated "Almighty", but it seems to be related to shad (breast), i.e., "my Nourisher". The Torah is often likened to milk. Here, the context has been Sarai’s lack of fertility. Numerous ancient idols signified fertility goddesses. But YHWH is saying, “Look to Me for this as well, rather than anywhere else. What you are seeking will not be found among the Egyptians or the seed of Hagar. Trust Me to be all that you need. I will increase you as and when you need to be increased, though it may not be the way you expect.” Dai means “enough”, so “Shad dai” could also mean “the one whose provision is sufficient”. But the root word of shad can also mean“to devastate”, and depending on our response to Him, He will be either nurturing or destructive. Become blameless: complete, perfect, or entire, a process that can only result from walking in His presence.  

2. "and I will provide My covenant between Myself and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

My covenant: a continuation of the agreement He first made with Chavvah--to bring about a deliverer from the curse through her seed--and now his. Between Myself and you: literally, “in the dividing of Myself and you”. Avram had seen Him walk between the halves of the animals he divided. A covenant is a two-way legal document; Avram had to uphold his side by staying where he could hear from YHWH.  

3. And Avram fell on his face. And Elohim spoke with him, saying,

When his descendants take the same position before YHWH, the two halves of what was divided as a result of Israel’s failure to keep the covenant (the Kingdom) will be able to come back together. Spoke…saying: Now He is no longer just “saying” something to him, but is conversing with him as his friend. (Yaaqov/James 2:23)  

4. "I am here! My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of a roaring crowd of nations,

This is an ancient legal formula for stating one’s own part of the covenant.

5. "so your name shall no longer be called Avram; rather, your name shall be Avraham, because I have made you a father of a roaring crowd of nations.

Avraham: "Father of Many" vs.  Avram,"Exalted Father" (a name which must have seemed odd for a childless man). Avram was a great name, but Avraham was even better. . This was the difference between merely being fruitful and “being fruitful and multiplying”. One’s name is not just a title, but reflects all one is known by. It is his reputation. YHWH’s own name for Himself, Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh, means, in essence, “I will be all that you need Me to be.” We do not need to call on fertility gods or storm-gods, because He is all we need. Many from Efrayim who are now returning to Torah change their names, especially if those they had were non-Hebraic ones or even pagan-based. The name change indicated a new direction. YHWH is elevating him. Yishma’el was Avram’s child; those who were to come after him would be Avraham’s children—a subtle difference but an important one.  

6. "And I will make you very fruitful—abundantly so. And I will make nations of you, and from out of you shall come kings.

7. "And I will establish my covenant between Myself and you, and your descendants after you, to all their generations as a perpetual covenant, to be an Elohim to you and to your descendants after you.

Perpetual: i.e., forever. It is foolish to think it could be nullified if He said this. As long as we will walk in it, it will not pass away; He will do exactly what He said He would.  

8. "And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojourning—all the land of Kanaan, for a perpetual possession—and I will be their Elohim.

And your descendants: It is not just for Avraham alone, but for a people, and it is tied to a particular Land. YHWH has worked in many places, but this one is the apple of His eye. The prophets says all the tribes can have the Land back, but we must walk in this covenant to get there. The root for “possession” means “to seize”. He will underwrite it and make sure the result is favorable, but we have to act to claim what is ours.

9. And Elohim said to Avraham, "You shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you, to all their generations.

"Keep" in Heb. chiefly means “guard" or "watch over”. His descendants were given the responsibility of guarding the purity of YHWH’s revelation so it would be available to the rest of the world. Now he becomes very specific: 

10. "This is My covenant which you shall guard, between Myself and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.

This is part of the “guarding”. Male in Hebrew literally means "remembered" or "marked", both terms used for the people that YHWH would preserve during times of judgment. A mark is a special seal of safe-keeping, as in Rev. 7:3ff. What applies to both men and women is the idea that true circumcision is of the heart. (Deut. 30:6)

11. "And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you.

Foreskin: “that which hangs over”, or “excess”, referring not only to the genitals but to the “fat” that grows over the figurative “heart”. (Yirmiyahu 4:4) This does not mean, as skeptics have said, that YHWH must have made man imperfect. It is not really a removal but an addition; He finished His part of the work on the seventh day, but left a piece of the process for us to finish on the next day: 

12. "And every male among your generations shall be circumcised when he is eight days old—he that is born in the house, or bought with silver from any son of a foreigner who is not of your descendants.

The eighth day synchronizes perfectly with the immune system: vitamin K and blood clotting mechanisms are at their highest level in one’s whole life on this day.Circumcision has proven to be a tremendous hygienic measure, preventing disease in both men (in World War I trenches where no one could bathe, Jews did not get the diseases uncircumcised men did, cf. Ex. 15:26) and their wives (through bacteria that thrive in the foreskin; cervical cancer has proven rare in women with circumcised husbands). But aside from health reasons, in the Sabbatical rhythm, the eighth day represents the enclosing and making permanent of what has been gained in the first cycle so that it will not be lost. Performing this on the eighth day also ensures that the child has experienced one Sabbath before it is done. (In ancient times, this was often the time the son was named as well.) By removing useless flesh from the place of our fruitfulness, we show that we refuse to let the flesh (self-life) dictate our actions to the point of disobedience to YHWH. And that it is done in infancy shows that the covenant is to be lifelong. It is not up to the child to choose; it is the parent’s responsibility to uphold it. If not cared for early on, the flesh can grow back; we must carefully tend to the commitment to YHWH that we instill in our sons until they are fully grown.    

13. "The child of your house and the one purchased by your money must by all means be circumcised; My covenant shall be [right there] in your flesh itself for a perpetual pledge.

It is performed in the genitals to remind one of YHWH's promise to all generations and the abuses He forbids; thus procreation also becomes a holy act. This keeps one’s sexuality in the most fruitful vein. The servants, too, cannot be mere onlookers; they may not serve any other deity while in an Israelite house.

14. "And any male who retains his foreskin—whoever is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."

Cut off: partly a pun on circumcision. One would not be executed for this, but he could not remain a part of Israel. Most specifically, he cannot eat the Passover in this state. (Ex. 12:48) One cannot be part of the household if he is not fully committed. This is the covenant; no one may loosen it. Actually, Paul’s only point in downplaying circumcision was that if not accompanied by the right attitudes, the sign can be false advertising. We must see the spiritual picture in it: the flesh is not to inhibit our fruitfulness. But we must also have the physical sign on ourselves, or it is like a betrothed woman refusing to wear the ring her husband-to-be has given her. How much worse were those in the days of the Maccabees who actually had surgery to remove the circumcision so they would not be embarrassed to compete in Greek athletics? If it was not important, Antiochus IV would not have outlawed it.  

15. And Elohim said to Avraham, "You shall not call your wife Sarai by her name Sarai, because her name is [now] Sarah,

A name change indicates a change in identity. YHWH was about to change their lives dramatically. In this particular case, a rebalancing, in which Sarai's attitude (16:6) was made more submissive and she could function as truly female, was accomplished when YHWH “made change” by taking an "i" (yodh) from Sarah's name, with its numeric value of 10, and placed an "h" (hey, numeric value 5) in each of their names. The fullness was always there, but had to be properly distributed. She was royalty and knew it. He took some of her dominance and gave it to Avram. Yodh, in the original pictographic Hebrew alphabet, was a symbol for “hand”. When Sarai set her hand to solve the problem of having no son, we got Yishmael. So her “hand” (yad/yodh) was removed. This change of names changed the whole course of history. Sarai means “my princess”, which suggests being catered to and spoiled. Sarah simply means “princess” or “chief woman”—one who takes care of others and has great responsibility—a matriarch to many peoples, not just “mine”. It is not just about her but about her people. For YHWH’s will to come forth, Sarai can no longer be the dominant one. They have been the ones chosen to fix what Adam and Chawwah broke. Avram and Sarai had been infertile, but each had a new identity which was able to conceive. There were new expectations placed on both of them. We can challenge and motivate ourselves to do better by taking on a name that reflects a goal beyond our present performance, which can be a constant reminder to ascend higher. Your name can define you, encourage you, or help you understand who you really are.

16. "and I have blessed her and have also given you a son through her. Indeed I have blessed her, and she shall become nations; kings of many ethnic groups shall come from her."

Through her: Hagar will not fulfill the covenant.  

17. And Avraham fell on his face and laughed, and he said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? And shall Sarah give birth at age 90?"

YHWH is eternal, so our age limits mean nothing to Him. So Avram must eradicate the concept from his mind that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. And how many of us is that old? So how much more should we be willing to change our ways when necessary? From his past responses, Avram seems to have understood this, but still he must have harbored some underlyings doubts:

18. And Avraham said, "If only Yishma’el might live before You!"

Avraham started acting as Avram again. In his mind he already has a son. Why couldn’t YHWH work with what he had already invested so much in? His loophole is that Yishma’el is legally Sarah’s son. But such interpretations make us miss YHWH’s best. Whenever a Hebrew becomes too comfortable in his security, YHWH uproots him again to keep his focus right. Who wants only half-best? Man’s substitutes for YHWH’s provision are not sufficient to establish His nation.  

19. But Elohim said, "On the contrary, your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Yitzhaq. And I have established My covenant with him for a perpetual covenant with his seed after him.

Yitzhaq means "he laughed". Avram was not doubting YHWH’s ability, but was doubting His methods. If it makes perfect sense to us, we have to question if it is really YHWH, because He uses the foolish things to confound the “wise”. (1 Corinthians 1:27) If it is not beyond the normal, it is not likely to be Him. If our lives are not ironic, they are not Israelite. So Avraham will be reminded of this irony all his life. The name YHWH chose for the vessel who would carry on His covenant was not a religious-sounding one like “holy” or “righteous”, but “laughter”! Later it could be a laughter of delight rather than of scorn. Others would also laugh when they heard this hard-to-believe but obviously true story of an elderly couple bearing a child.  

20. "And as for Yishma’el, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him a great ethnic group.

I have heard you: a word play on Yishmael's name (16:15). His mother named him this because YHWH heard her prayer on his behalf; now He has heard his father’s prayer for him as well. I have blessed him: i.e., “I do have plans for him, but THIS promise does NOT apply to him.” Twelve princes: this was true in the first generation (25:12-15); today we can count more than 12 nations whose "princes" trace their ancestry to Yishmael.

21. "But my covenant I will establish with Yitzhaq, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this appointed time next year."

The promise was really more for Sarah than for Avram, who had other children who did not have a covenant with YHWH. Hagar’s son simply cannot represent what Shem is about. Appointed time: usually denotes one of the mandated festivals. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (a tradition from Y’shua’s day) says this day was the 14th of Nisan—the day on which the Passover would later fall. In the next chapter, we will see hints that this may indeed be the case. (See notes on 18:5, 6.)

22. When He had finished talking with him, the weightiness of Elohim ascended away from Avraham.

23. So Avraham took his son Yishmael, and all the boys of his house, and all who were bought with silver—every male among the people of Avraham's household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, just as YHWH had told him to do.

That same day: He did not hesitate at all to do what YHWH told h im to do. If it is Passover, it fits, because it is the only festival that one is specifically required to be circumcised to participate in (Ex. 12:48).

24. Now Avraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,

If he did so at this age, no one else has an excuse not to.

25. and his son Yishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

Because Yishmael was 13 when circumcised, his descendants, the Arabs, circumcise at age 13 instead of on the eighth day, though for him it was done at this age because Avraham had only then been given the command, and circumcised him as soon as he could after that.

26. On that same day Avraham was circumcised, and so was Yishmael his son.

27. And all the men of his household, whether born in the house or bought with silver from the son of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

How well they must have trusted him, to put the most vulnerable part of themselves in his hand, which at his age one would expect to be shaky!
Portion Lekh L'kha   
(Proceed for Yourself)
Genesis 12-17
The great dichotomy of history is symbolized in the difference between Bavel and Avram: “Let us make a name for ourselves” versus “I will make your name great.” On the surface, the end result seems to be the same. But this has always been YHWH’s watershed issue: natural versus supernatural, by His power alone or apart from Him. The whole creation was subjected to futility. Under the sun, all is indeed vanity. But once all the nations were scattered out of range of Bavel, safely established in the extremities of the continents and drifting farther apart, YHWH decided the time was finally ripe to begin setting the stage for the solution to mankind’s problem. The creation was put in bondage to futility in HOPE that one day the image of Elohim would again be revealed in human beings. With Avram, YHWH succeeded in beginning this “counter-history” that could allow us to escape post-fall norms. Its very inception was beyond anything that could come in the course of nature. All natural contingencies were severed, and history was given a direction. He broke through into history from somewhere that was NOT under the sun. “In YHWH, your labor is not in vain!”  

He remembered the promise made as soon as mankind fell, now setting the next steps in motion to make redemption a real possibility. He instituted a sign for the covenant which turned even what is often humanity’s greatest vulgarity into something holy, showing that every aspect of our lives can be not only rescued from the curse but even turned into things that serve our highest calling, restoring the lost image of Elohim and going on to repair the fallen world over which we were given dominion.
TAKE THE NEXT STEP

The idolatrous environment Avram lived in was not conducive to fulfilling YHWH’s purpose for his life. He needed to get a clear picture of what this Covenant-making Elohim was really like. The best way to do this was to go to a place where he could more effectively learn about Him without the interference of conflicting messages.

Sometimes, like him, we have to move on from a bad situation, even before we know where it is we are supposed to go. Sometimes the supports we trusted are knocked out from under us, and we just can’t stay, even though we had not prepared to be without them. It can be a scary place to be.

When YHWH called him to “proceed for himself”, Avram was even at a city whose name means “crossroads” (11:31), an idiom we still use for having to determine which way to go next. From where Avram had already migrated with his father, the Fertile Crescent would be the only hospitable route to travel on. He may have reasoned that he could not head back to its southeastern end, for that is where they had come from. So he followed it in the only other direction it went—toward Kanaan.

What would we take along, if we didn’t know where we were going? Avram took everything he had—a token that he did not intend to come back. Besides being a descendant of ‘Ever, this is probably the reason Avram is the first to be called a Hebrew (14:13)—one who crosses over to the other side of something. He crossed a line from his safe comfort zone into the unknown.

The fact that he went to the Tree of the Teacher suggests that he went to learn from someone more knowledgeable than he. But the fact that it was at the site of Sh’khem—apparently before there was a town there by that name—clues us in on something else. Sh’khem is also a verb in Hebrew, meaning to get up early and shoulder a responsibility. So it seems Avram sensed that his calling was not just to move, but also to become a teacher himself--possibly to succeed his aging ancestor Shem (as the firstborn in his generation) in teaching others about YHWH’s uniqueness. So Avram began training the people who had joined him along the way. (12:5; 14:14)  

As his descendants, scattered into many contexts, we are again being “called out” to return to the same Land that YHWH would show Avram. (Isaiah 14:1; Jeremiah 23:8; Ezekiel 34:13; 37:21)  We don’t yet know the time, for only one tribe of Israel is permitted to settle there now, and even though there are airplane tickets available to take us there temporarily, it is even hard for many of us to afford them. So while we may now know the “where” and the “why”, we can identify with Avram because we don’t know the “when” or the “how”.

Many who are hearing that call have, like Avram, had to leave the heritage in which we were raised in order to go deeper into our faith and find its purer, more pristine form. If those who taught us are not willing to go any further, we have to “proceed for ourselves” if we are to be faithful to the One who called us.

But Avram did not sever all connections with his family. Later he would consider their home the best place to find a wife for his son. So while, to be able to obey more fully and have the space and authority we need to do what YHWH is telling us to do, we might for a time have to leave even those who nurtured us, He still calls us to honor our parents, even if it has to be from a distance for a time.  
The Scriptural ideal is for one generation to declare YHWH’s mighty deeds to another (Psalm 145:4), and while it clearly means we teach the generations that follow us, it can certainly include recounting what He is now doing to those who brought us as far as they could but, like Avram’s father, for whatever reason, could not bring themselves to proceed any further. We still have to keep moving, but they also need to see that their work, limited though it might be, has not been in vain, because we are still growing.

And when YHWH has given us some of the instructions, He might not tell us the next step until we proceed as far as we can “for ourselves” with what He has already given us.  But when we do, blessing follows, the greatest of which is that we can also be a blessing. 

So what steps can you take today—moving on the knowledge that you do have?
Study Questions:

1. How has YHWH’s promise to bless those who bless Avram and to bless all the families of the earth through him, played out? (Gen. 12:3)

2. Is a half-truth still the truth? Was Avram right to endanger Pharaoh without warning him? (12:11-13)

3. What might have been a better solution for the problem that arose in Gen. 13:6? What resulted because they took what seemed the easier path?

4. On what basis could Melkhitzedeq be called the priest of the Most High? (14:18) (Hint: Many identify him with Shem.)

5. Did Avram change his ways between 12:6/13:2 and 14:22-23?

6. What was he afraid of (15:1), in context?

7. Can you think of one reason Avraham’s descendants cannot be counted? (15:5) 

8. Why do you think he believed YHWH in regard to children, but not the land inheritance? (15:6-8)

9. Was Avram still asleep when YHWH cut the covenant with him? (15:12-18) If so, what would that tell us about this covenant?

10. Avram and Sarai chose a logical, natural plan by which to “help” YHWH make His promise come true. What was the first sign that this was not working? (16:1-5)

11. What evidence do we have in chapters 16 and 17 of YHWH’s concern for the Arabs as well as the Hebrews?  

12. Which verses in chapter 17 clearly designate which son’s descendants would be heirs to the land of Kanaan? What tactic might you use to communicate this to those who dispute it without alienating them?

13. Why circumcision? And why is it so important to guard it? (17:10)

14. Is YHWH calling you out of your comfort zone into something new and unknown? Will you respond like Avra(ha)m?

Gate at Dan thought to have been in existence at the time of Avram
The Sidewalk
for kids

Avram had been awakened to the realization that there was one Elohim and that He had picked him for a special task for which he needed to move to a different place. He started teaching other people along the way as he traveled, and lots of them—hundreds—decided to join him, because they could tell that he was onto something big. They formed a traveling school.

Lot, who seems to have chosen to go along with his uncle after he lost his father, also had the great privilege of learning from this man who saw the truth more clearly than most people alive at his time—probably better than all but one other man, whom we get to meet in chapter 14 as well. But along the way both Avram and Lot became very rich. They had so many flocks and herds that they started getting in each other’s way. The people who took care of their animals started fighting with each other, so they had to do something about it.

Maybe Lot should have said, “Why don’t we just sell some of these animals so we don’t have so many and we can stay together?”

But he didn’t, and Avram acted very nobly and gave the younger man first dibs on whichever land he wanted. Lot picked some very good land, but when something is that much better, you are not usually the only one who notices. He had to make some kind of agreement with other people, who already lived there. The problem is, they weren’t good and wise like Avram. They were a rebellious people, and when the consequences of their recklessness caught up with them, Lot got stuck in the middle and was swept away with them. Avram’s students now had to function as an army to rescue him.

And they succeeded. You would think that after that, Lot would go somewhere else that wasn’t so much in the line of fire—and this time it would turn out to be YHWH’s fire, not men’s. But no! He went back, even though now it seems he didn’t need that land for his animals anymore, because the next time we see him he is living right in the city! He’s even working for its government. Now maybe that was an honor they gave him because his uncle rescued them, and maybe they recognized that he was wiser, because he had learned with such a man, and might be able to be a peacemaker in a very selfish and violent place.

But his choice also put him in a place that was a bad influence at least on his wife and daughters, who couldn’t even find anyone decent to marry anymore, and as the city went from bad to worse, it put them all in such a dangerous place that it took messengers from heaven dragging them out with just the clothes on their backs just to keep them alive—and one of them made a choice that cost her own life.  

All of that because he picked the better land. Maybe he should have just honored his elder and given him the better land, because Avram could probably have made more of a difference there, or at least stayed out of trouble there.

Avram also made some big choices in this Torah portion. Most of them were good—very good. He had chosen to believe in YHWH and to trust Him enough to leave everything behind and go somewhere he knew nothing about just because YHWH said so. He had chosen to put his nephew before himself. YHWH was very pleased with his unselfishness and his willingness to take risks to do the right thing. He had even promised he would have so many children and grandchildren that they would become a big nation.  

But there was a problem, to which we were introduced at the end of the last Torah portion. He still had no children. How was he going to become a nation? Rather than decide he must have just heard wrongly and that maybe he had just imagined this promise, he still kept believing that somehow he would have a son.

But the one problem came when he lowered his expectations—or at least his wife did. Maybe, she thought, the son was to be from Avram but not from her. She suggested that he take another wife who could have babies. It was a logical thing to think, and maybe she was just trying to be helpful, but this wasn’t what YHWH had in mind. He wanted to show that He could make something out of an impossible situation, and this choice to take the natural, explainable way would cause them problems later—many problems. YHWH still got the main job done, but it made life harder for them all, and that choice is still causing trouble for the nation that YHWH made, because their descendants—now 4,000 years later—are still fighting over a small bit of land that can’t support both groups at the same time because they are not in agreement about what YHWH is like and what He promised to whom.  

One choice leads to another, so when we have to make a choice, we have to think carefully about not just the immediate results but also what direction it will take us. So think hard—and pray--before you decide. You might not be able to undo what you pick.

The Renewal of Covenant

YHWH describes His relationships with human beings in terms of an ancient covenant. It was a kind of treaty by which one king, who was usually stronger, made an alliance with a weaker king and agreed to protect him militarily in exchange for tribute or some other compensation. Any time the circumstances of one party or the other changed, they would renegotiate and renew the treaty with the new conditions accounted for, while every other aspect of the agreement remained the same as before. 

So to say a covenant with YHWH can be renewed is nothing unusual; in fact, it is to be expected whenever we change something or He adds a new factor to the arrangement.

Avraham himself experienced several renewals of the covenant within one lifetime (12:2-3; 13:14-17; 15:18; 17:2, 9, 21) first when he obeyed, then when the Land was added to the agreement, then when it became about the continuation of his legacy; how much more were renewals needed after many years? And we do see that occurring, with the scope of the covenant being narrowed to Yitz’haq’s line, then Yaaqov’s, then new factors being added when Israel became a large and free nation, then renewed the next generation when they were on the brink of actually taking possession of the promised inheritance. As with Avraham walking throughout the whole of the Land, every place they set their feet would be theirs and their descendants’ (13:17).  

Special parts of the covenant were added to the tribe of Levi and specific descendants of his—Pin’has and then much later, Tzadoq—and then later to David’s line in regard to the throne that had been promised early on to his ancestor Yehudah.

Yirmeyahu promised that the covenant would be renewed (31:31) with some factors changed—the addition of a new spirit that would incline our hearts more heavily toward obedience--and Yeshua said that his blood added a factor that could put the covenant again on a firmer foundation, without changing the other conditions or requirements, which he said would never cease to be in effect. In this very Torah portion we see the prototype for that amendment—Melkhitzedeq (Gen. 14:18), a king in Jerusalem who is also a priest—which gave an added feature to David’s covenant as well. (Compare Z’kharyah 6:13, where we are told that the Messiah will be both a king and a priest, and the two roles will not interfere with one another, but will dovetail beautifully.)

Is this the same as the renewal promised to Yirmeyahu? Probably not (though it is certainly related, as all the renewals have been, and a foreshadowing of a greater fulfillment), because though both of the two houses of Israel benefitted from the new factor Yeshua brought to the mix, the exile of the northern kingdom from the Land was not over yet, and the rivalry between the two parts of Israel had not yet run its course. But next time, those two circumstances will have changed, so a renegotiation will again be needed, though as with every time before, all the other factors will continue to be in effect. New conditions on the earth (as we saw with Noakh) will also add amendments to the next renewal.

But already in Avraham’s preliminary, very basic version of the covenant, we see seeds of its fuller fleshing-out. Avraham was called out of his homeland and the context into which he was born, so that he could have the freedom to serve and proclaim YHWH without restraint. We see the same thing on a much grander scale when Israel was freed from Pharaoh but could not flourish until we came out of his context into a broader place where we could fully unfold the structure of our culture. 








One of the ways Yeshua’s followers were often identified (especially in the Gentile contexts in which the northern kingdom was still entrenched) was “the Called-out assemblies”. Within each city, they formed sub-communities that included both Jews and those who were feeling the pull back to things Hebraic, as well as any other people in their circles of influence who saw the wisdom of the Israelite way as interpreted by the Messiah. A holy enclave was cut out within each place where they could meet while still in exile, just as YHWH said He Himself would be a smaller sanctuary to us while we were scattered throughout the world without access to Jerusalem. (Yeshayahu/Isa. 8:13-14; Y’hezq’el/Ez. 11:16)

Avraham was called a Hebrew (13:14), not just because he was a descendant of Ever, but because of the meaning of the word--he “crossed over”, leaving his old world and its lifestyle behind. Yaaqov became a Hebrew when he crossed the Yabboq River after pressing all the way to victory in his own life, and all Israel got to literally be Hebrews when they crossed the Yarden River back into the Holy Land under Y’hoshua. But we left the covenant again, and have to repent (turn around) and come back “across”. Indeed, those who heed Yeshua’s call to come back into covenant are not only described as no longer being Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11-19; contrast Hosea 7:8) but also as having “passed from death into life.” (Yochanan 5:24; 1 Yoch. 3:14) As with Avram on this most basic level, we step out of our comfort zones (e.g., 14:23) and “trust YHWH, and it is counted for us as righteousness.” (Gen. 15:6)

But this metaphorical crossing over and these “little sanctuaries in exile” are not the end goal of our fellowships. They were only meant to be holding tanks until the next stage—another actual, physical “crossing over”--becomes possible. Soon we will also be called to literally leave the places we have lived and go the Promised Land in what Yirmeyahu described as an exodus that would so outshine the one from Egypt that we would hardly even remember the earlier one. (Jer. 23:7-8) “Come out of her, My people” is the watch-word in the latter days, as YHWH again separates us from the greenhouses in which we have been sprouted and sheltered, and plants us on our own soil. (Isa. 14:1; Jer. 23:8)

No wonder YHWH speaks of the ever-developing covenant in terms of seed. (15:6; 17:7, etc.) It is for Avraham and his seed after him. When Paul says, “If you belong to Messiah, you are Avraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29), he may be speaking more literally than we think. Many—maybe even most—who feel the pull back across the river into the Land of Holiness may very well be long-lost descendants of Avraham, Yitz’haq, and Yaaqov. But even if you are one of those who are not, don’t despair; what was the original promise? “In you and in your seed will all nations be blessed” (and that tense can also mean “grafted”). The covenant has always been extended to anyone who chooses to be a part of it, native-born or not.  

And, as Paul points out, the term in the promise is “seed”, not “seeds”, and that reminds us of that first promise of a special “seed” in Genesis 3:15, who would bruise the serpent’s head. He carried this vision of blessing all nations and including them in the covenant to awesome new heights, and the fact that within only a few years, YHWH’s words will be known in literally every tongue on earth is an amazing testimony to just how far-reaching the most recent renewal of the covenant—into a format that someone has called “transcultural Judaism”—has been in its effects. It could thrive where there was only a “little sanctuary”.  

Yes, it got off on some long tangents and needs to be reined in again; that’s what the next renewal and the restorations already leading up to it are all about. But the core—trusting YHWH and it being counted for righteousness—has survived through all the amendments it has gone through. So cling to that, and the inheritance will continue to flow down from this great ancestor, the ripples from whose stepping out and crossing the line are still being felt today.

Laying Claim 

Last week we found a buyer for our house, but for several days we did not have a decent prospect of a place to move into. Like the man Yeshua healed by the Pool of Bethesda (Yochanan 5), as soon as something good opened up on the market, someone else snatched it away! I felt like Avram in this Torah portion, being told to leave but not yet where to go. Very timely, as YHWH always is.

If Avram was being given the Land as an inheritance, why couldn’t he settle down on it? I think it may be because then he would only have claimed a small bit of it; YHWH told him to walk the length and breadth of the Land—to stake out his claim. (Gen. 13:17) YHWH later clarified the concept for Moshe: He would give him any place on which his foot would tread. (Deut. 11:24) He promised the same to Y’hoshua, who was actually laying claim it in a way Avram never did, as a stranger and sojourner. But if he was to be the patriarch of multitudes of people, he needed a lot of territory to deed to them as an inheritance! 

And so it is with the spiritual world: we are told to claim territory, bringing all things—even our thoughts!--into subjection to the Messiah (2 Corinthians 10:5), who has been promised it as an inheritance: YHWH will put all things “under his feet” (Hebrews 2:8, alluding to Psalm 8:6), as we saw above. But what we do not overtly “bring captive” to the Heir of all things (Heb. 1:2), seems to still remain under the control of the “prince of this age” (Yochanan 14:30); though he has been deposed, like the Emorites in this Torah portion (Gen. 15:16), his iniquity has not yet reached its fullness. But soon it will, so “taste the powers of the age to come” (Heb. 6:5) while it is still only in the wind, and you will help anchor a place for them when they fully arrive.

Something Truly New and Different

Just as YHWH took Israel to Sinai in the uninhabited wilderness to form us into a nation, He likewise started our nascent “kingdom of priests” by bringing Avram to a place where his past culture would not influence him and he would be a separate entity, not part of any other people and thus free to begin new traditions in his own right--based on what he had learned about YHWH. He was not at the mercy of another culture as he was when he rode out the famine in Egypt. (Gen. 12:10ff) His one influence now was Shem himself (Melkhitzedeq, or Adoni-tzedeq according to Yasher 16:11, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan & Targum Neofiti). (14:18) Shem, as the one vestige of the former “world that perished” (2 Pet. 3:6), had Noakh’s direct training. Nothing could have given Avram a better perspective at that time in history.

Like the ekklesia (called-out community) of our era, Avram’s “non-nation nation” is a linear non-sequitur made up of people who gravitated to him (12:5), from whatever ethnicity. They wanted to know this singular Elohim of which Avram spoke, and Who occasionally spoke to him. That pattern continued even after his “seed” (15:4) became the core of the nation. It would have to be re-taught after several hard knocks made Israel “gun-shy” and hesitant to have any dealings with outsiders--understandable, but it did not allow us to fulfill our purpose, so Yeshua and his followers had to go against the current of their day to remind our nation that we are meant to be a light that is not hidden. (Mat. 5:15, etc.)

Avram, too, had to learn the hard way to trust YHWH rather than his own ingenuity to keep his family safe. (12:18-19) Yet much later in life (ch. 20) he did the exact same thing and was reprimanded again for assuming people were out to get him when they were not. He could have had a more positive influence on these peoples had he not feared them. An extra-canonical midrash (Yasher 11-12) explains why he was skittish around kings: Nimrod had arrested and tried to kill him, in a story strongly reminiscent of Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace (though Nimrod was in Bavel and Avram in Ur). 

 He was a better example when he refused the gifts of the 5 kings of S’dom, etc., because he did not want the association with their lifestyle (ch. 14)—and YHWH reassured him that he had made the right decision and that He would provide for him apart from such an offer. (15:1-4) So why, when he had just been assured that Sarah would bear him a son (ch. 18), did he fear for his life again instead of continuing to trust (15:6) in the One who made the promise? We all have places where this can apply. And apply it we must, because we carry Avram’s legacy. It is good to know that the heroes of faith were as frail as we are. Yet we have much more history, information, and experience of YHWH’s faithfulness than Avram had, so we have much less excuse than he did to wonder if YHWH will come through for us.

The other side: What is this curious concept—the “iniquity of the Emorites” (15:16)? When Yeshua said to forgive 490 times, did he pull that number out of thin air? No; YHWH stopped forgiving Yehudah for failing to keep the 7th-year shmittah after 490 years, and called in their debt, requiring 70 years of exile to let the Land have its rest. (Lev. 26:33-35; Yirm./Jer. 29:10) So is that His outer limit? 49 (7x7) is the full count elsewhere; is ten times this (10 symbolizing completion) also when this cup of iniquity would be full? 

 The count is hazy from Yosef’s death to the Exodus, but if the 430 years of Exodus 12:40 started at this time and we add 40 years of wilderness wanderings, if this was 20 years after the Kanaanites first got to hear about YHWH (being some time before Yitzhaq’s birth 25 years after Avram’s arrival in Kanaan), by the time Y’hoshua was finally told to destroy all of them, they would have had 490 years to learn of YHWH and repent of their ways—but did not. Their time had run out; justice was due.

But it doesn’t have to get to that point. Israel was specially created, chosen to not just be blessed but spill over to bless and influence other nations, diverting their natural downhill drift with something new.

The Short Term 
vs. the Long Term

The people of Bavel said, “Let us make a name for ourselves.” (Gen. 11:4) And so they did, but what kind of name was it? In direct contrast, YHWH told Avram, “I will make your name great.” (12:2) And He did, beginning a counter-history by which many effects of the Fall could begin to actually be reversed.

Though they were not yet officially his by law, by building altars at particular sites, Avram staked them out as inheritance for his descendants as promised: Sh’khem (where Yaaqov would settle and Yosef be buried), Beyth-El (place of Yaaqov’s dream, part of Shmuel’s circuit), Hevron (where he’d later buy the patriarchal burial ground, and David’s first capital), and even Ay (the second city Y’hoshua conquered).

“Their substance was great, so they could not dwell together.” (13:6) Recognizing that wealth was not worth fighting over, Avram let his his nephew choose the pastureland he wanted. YHWH compensated for his sacrificial choice; his descendants would still inherit the land Lot chose, in a better day when the wicked were gone. (13:13-17) So take the long-range view and do the right thing in the short term.

S’dom and ‘Amorah were Canaanite cities (10:19); of course they ended up provoking the wrath of other Hamites in Shin’ar (10:10). Lot suffered the consequences of living among those prone to rebellion and war. This became quite inconvenient for Avram, who had to disrupt his life to go get him back. 

 He was quite willing to do so for his protégé, but he would not allow himself to be swept into their sphere of influence as his nephew had been. Again he would not take the “treasures of wickedness” which “are of no profit” (Prov. 10:2) in the long run. He would not let it be said that he was made rich by those who got their wealth wrongfully. (14:22-23) He essentially said the same thing the king said to him: “Just give me the persons” (14:21), literally “those that breathe”. That’s the real wealth, and that is what he got.

And YHWH again promised him compensation greater than what he had forfeited for the sake of integrity. (15:1) Paul said, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the weight [of glory] that shall be manifested to us.” (Romans 8:18) 

 But it was not just for him, or even to be seen in his lifetime, except in a token way that anchored it for later; his descendants would still have to wait 4 generations or more because YHWH wanted to give others a just amount of time to repent. (Gen. 15:16) Such is the integrity of His promises; for good to be widespread, lasting, and not just selective, it requires short-term sacrifice; even Yeshua, who avoided sin, was not exempt from this.

YHWH’s purpose was “In you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (12:3) We can easily get fixated on His promises to us and turn inward, but then we end up selfish, because as much as He loves us and considers us a special treasure, we are not the only ones YHWH is concerned about. David caught His big-picture drift when he said, “May Elohim show us favor, bless us, and smile on us…so Your way may be known on earth, Your deliverance among all nations.” (Psalm 67:1-2) That’s the long view.

But Avram still listened to his wife’s human logic (16:1-3) and thought it was too late for YHWH’s promises to be fulfilled, and wondered if the ball was in his court. He may have thought YHWH needed his help, or that he was somehow expected to make the promise come about by himself, and again took the short-term view, and it resulted in long-term trouble--conflicts that still remain 4,000 years later.

Had he waited for YHWH’s own doing (17:16-19), he could have avoided much heartache for himself and his descendants. But YHWH allowed the children of the flesh to be included in His salvation that extends to all nations (17:20); even our errors can be redeemed if we turn and trust Him—if we surrender to His logic and let Him decide what kind of name to make for us instead of trying to make one for ourselves. 

The One Constant

Looking back over past commentaries, I am reminded that this Torah portion has often fallen at times when we too, like Avram, were facing unknowns and very new paradigms in our lives and walks with YHWH. This year I meet this Torah portion with a recent medical diagnosis that for me is definitely uncharted territory. And Israel as a nation needs a clear path forward right now. However we divide it, YHWH’s word is always in season!

Avram had very little to go on to know about YHWH—just a few short encounters, each of which consisted of only a few sentences (at least according to the record we have). But they were vivid and powerful, and they carried him through many years of what appears to be silence from YHWH.

He did have a strong sense that no human being—especially the likes of the king of Sodom—should get the credit for making him wealthy. (14:22-23) He had a healthy view of riches. It’s always a red flag when our possessions are too many for us to live together harmoniously. (Gen. 13:6-7) Avram had the right perspective: “This is not worth a fight; we’re brothers.” (v. 8) He let his nephew have the better land, as part of his example to him of how to live righteously. After he made several such self-effacing decisions, YHWH reassured him: “Don’t be afraid, Avram; I am your defender—your exceedingly great reward.” (15:1) He had chosen rightly, though at the time it looked disadvantageous to him, by all human reasoning. YHWH was the pivotal factor.
The covenant was even formed while Avram was in a deep sleep (tardemah); YHWH was the sole actor. (15:12) This is the kind of deep sleep He put Adam when creating Chawwah (Eve) (2:21), so we know He was up to something big again: creating an alternative history. Then there were darkness, fire, and smoke (15:17)—all of which appeared again on Mt. Sinai when YHWH renewed this covenant with the multitude of “stars” (15:5) that that “4th generation” (15:16) in Egypt had already become. (Deut. 1:10) YHWH was consistent in His ways.

Once Avram and Sarai took matters into their own hands, trying to fulfill the supernatural vision by natural means, and the Arab race was conceived. Fascinatingly, what Sarai said to Avram then was, “May my Hamas be upon you!” (16:5) I.e., “You are responsible for this mess!” Though the whole thing was Sarai’s idea, she blamed Avram for the injustice and oppression that resulted when her maid Hagar lost respect for her because she could bear a child while Sarai could not! Part of the enmity between Arabs and Israel probably stems this far back, since though Ishma’el, her son, was by far the elder, Yitzhaq was chosen to carry on the covenant. (16:21) It is partly a matter of jealousy by the one not chosen who thinks he should have been—the same kind we see from Esau’s descendants (Rome) and even from the other tribes of Israel for the tribe of Yehudah, which was chosen as the royal tribe. (Isa. 11:13) But besides the idea that land once taken by Islam must always remain in Muslim hands, the rest of the hatred is explained by what someone recently reminded me: “Satan hates whatever YHWH loves.” He called Avraham His friend—or literally, beloved, (Isa. 41:8) and He includes Israel in that, as his seed.
But when “Avram trusted YHWH, … it was counted to him as righteousness.” (15:6) Paul made much of the trust, as well he should. We are Avraham’s seed, whether physically or because we share his faith (Gal. 3:16-29); in many cases it is both. But I want to emphasize that YHWH was worthy of his trust.

Isaiah’s word from YHWH in the haftarah echoes the one to Avram: “Don’t be afraid, because I am with you; don’t be dismayed, because I am your Elohim. I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you. I will even hold you up with My righteous right hand.” (Isa. 41:10) But those assurances are only meaningful if the promiser can deliver on the promises.

The only constant through all the changes in life, for Avraham and for us, is YHWH Himself. Anything else can fail us at one time or another. Melkhitzedeq blessed Avram in the name of “El Elyon, possessor of Heaven and Earth”. (14:19) 

 The owner of everything can deliver, giving us whatever we truly need! When anything else is lacking or malfunctioning, He is still constant. So once you are sure He is really the one who spoke, do trust the One who is trustworthy, even when what He says looks impossible, and be counted as righteous like Avraham.