Counting the Stars--Abraham's Faith

"After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.’ 2 But Abram said, ‘O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ 3 And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.’ 4 But the word of the Lord came to him, ‘This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.’ 5 He brought him outside and said, ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

7 Then he said to him, ‘I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.’ 8 But he said, ‘O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?’ 9 He said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.’ 10 He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him...17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,..."

Introduction

[For an essay describing how this passage has meant something to me in my own life, click here.]

This mysterious and alluring passage leads us into the early weeks of Lent. It is mysterious for a number of reasons: (1) the vision Abram receives is unique in the Pentateuch. Visions normally occur for prophets rather than for patriarchs. (2) The ceremony of passing through the slit parts of various animals in vv. 17 is unprecedented. Most scholars interpret the flaming torch and smoking fire-pot as symbolizing God's commitment to the promises earlier in the chapter (v. 5). (3) The deep sleep and terrifying darkness that came upon Abram signal something of extreme potency in this encounter with God. Elsewhere when such deep sleep (Heb. tardemah) is mentioned, it is accompanied with dread and the shaking of bones (Eliphaz's experience in Job 4:12-15). We, too, ought to be shaken out of our complacency by these strange elements, elements that warn us not simply to accept a standard "Pauline" reading of this passage--that faith saves us. The world into which Abram is brought through this passage has elements of mystery, terror and grace.

The passage is alluring for another reason. It shows Abraham "at his best." In earlier days he had been traipsing across the land (Gen. 12), getting into conflict with Lot (Gen. 13), and fighting with kings (Gen. 14). Now that the smoke has cleared from those struggles we have an Abram who speaks his concerns honestly, believes firmly and acts obediently. This, we think, is the Abram we like. Four points emerge from this text that could be mentioned in sermon or discussion: (1) God's Declaration (vv. 1); (2) Abram's Need (vv. 2-3, 8); (3) God's Promise (vv. 4-5, 7, 18); and (4) Abram's Belief (v. 6). A word on each may be helpful.

I. God's Declaration (v. 1)

Two points from this opening verse are noteworthy. First is the designation of God as "shield;" second is the statement that Abram's "reward" shall be very great. The reference to "shield" is backward-looking; the "reward" is forward-looking. Abram has just finished battling, with his 318 retainers, against a coalition of kings (Gen. 14). Battles make one think about shields and bucklers, about refuges and fortresses. The Hebrew word for shield (magen) is one of a host of Hebrew terms used in passages emphasizing the divine protection. A good example is Ps. 18:2,

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield (magen) and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."

God's first words to Abram in this passage, then, deal with the trauma of the past. 'The shield which you so much need, Abram, that is who I am to you.'

But there is a word of the future, too. Most translations render the Hebrew word sekar is "reward," but that really isn't a very good translation. In most instances, especially in Genesis, the word is best translated "hire" or, especially, "wages." For example, when Rachel lets Leah share her Jacob for the night (interesting world, huh?) because Leah has given Rachel a share of her son's mandrakes, Leah conceives a son and calls his name Issachar (the root of the name is s-k-r, our word here) because "God has given me my 'wages' or 'hire' because I gave my maid to my husband" (Gen. 30:18). Other uses of the same word in Gen (30:32, 33; 31:8) emphasize the "payment" or "wages" reading of the word. Thus, when commentators such as von Rad emphasize the "free gift" nature of the word, and quote passages where it is used from Is. or Jer., they are jumping too quickly to a theological focus on "free grace" that isn't really borne out by the text. Abram will receive a "reward" to be sure, but it will be in the form of "wages" for service rendered, rather than some kind of proto-Lutheran "justification by faith." God's word to Abram is both backward and forward-looking, just the kind of word that he (and we) need in life.

The next essay completes my reflections.

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