Parashat Lech lecha (Genesis 12-17)
Genesis 12
12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Comment: Abraham was 48 years old when mankind rebelled Gd by building the Tower of Babel. https://www.oztorah.com/2012/10/abraham-the-tower-of-babel-noach/#.YztnhC08Igo
https://www.israel-a-history-of.com/story-of-abraham.html
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112063/jewish/Abrahams-Early-Life.htm
Abraham’s father’s house worshipped false gds (Joshua 24:2).
“Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house,” this is a call for Abraham to leave the rebellious or idolatrous culture, and to move to “a land that I will shew thee”, that is, the land of Canaan.
Although the inhabitants of Canaan also worship false gds, they are not close relatives to Abraham. In fact, it would be much harder to be different from one’s close relatives while living together with them. To live a life of faith differently from “thy country”, “thy kindred”, and “thy father’s house”, it is easier to do so when you live far away from them.
Many Chinese people (including myself) first went overseas and then found the true religion in a new land. Like Abraham, they left their either idolatrous or atheistic culture/country/relatives/family to follow Gd.
2025 Comment: “…unto a land that I will shew thee”: The Lrd did not let Abraham know the destination when calling for Abraham to leave his father’s house. Abraham is the father in faith of many future believers. A believer often has a similar experience. He is led by the Lrd step by step, without knowing the Lrd’s long range plan in all details. A believer led by the Lrd is often likened as a lamb led by a shepherd. The lamblike believer needs to follow the Shepherd’s leading, without feeling the need to know the details of the future, but focusing on following the Shepherd Himself faithfully step by step. I had similar experiences of changing fields several times in my career. My Lrd started to guide me even before I knew about him from the Bible. He guided me to my first field in college, in order for me to stay near my parents home. He guided me to my second field in a graduate school, so as to have a chance to go abroad. He guided me to my third field to get a good job. Now my current field is highly threatened by recent developments in AI, and I don’t know the details of my future. But I know my Shepherd is still leading me, step by step to my promised land.
Genesis 13
13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.
Comment: Even though Abraham is entitled to choose first, being the big uncle who has been caring for his brother’s orphan, he let his nephew choose first. Abraham was not overly competitive for personal advantage, he is willing to make a concession. This character may have also influenced his son Isaac later (see Chapter 26 where Isaac concedes water sources to the Philistines). (I learned about this observation from a Bible study session in the Grace Fellowship.)
13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.
2025 Comment: Lot was blessed to be rich when staying together with his righteous uncle Abraham (Genesis 13:5). But he had troubles later when he left Abraham to stay near evil people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, once being captivated in a world war (Genesis 14), another time being almost annihilated in fires that burned those cities (Genesis 19). Jewish people have a traditional wisdom of staying within good neighbors and good friends, and staying away from evil ones. See Ethics of Fathers 2:9 https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.9?lang=bi
Genesis 14
14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
2025 Comment: “three hundred and eighteen,” 318 is the number of אליעזר (Eliezer) in Hebrew, which is the name of Abraham’s chief servant. The name Eliezer also means “My Gd is help.” Gd is Abraham’s help. Gd is the creator of the heavens and the earth and His help can go beyond common knowledge. No wonder with 318 soldiers symbolizing Gd’s help, Abraham defeated the alliance of four kingdoms who just defeated the other alliance of five other kingdoms and won perhaps the earliest world war. For each of the three patriarchs of our faith, the Creator helped him succeed in something that he was likely unfamiliar with. Abraham was likely much less familiar with fighting wars than shepherding, but the Lrd helped Abraham succeed in winning a world scale war. Abraham’s son Isaac was likely much less familiar with farming than shepherding, but the Lrd helped Isaac to succeed in growing crops (Genesis 26:12) to a hundred-fold harvest. Abraham’s grandson Jacob was likely not a natural shepherd, having grown up as a quiet indoor person (Genesis 25:27), but the Lrd helped Jacob succeed in raising large flocks (Genesis 30:43) and becoming very rich. Being descendants of Abraham in faith, the Lrd can help us succeed in doing something that we may not naturally do well, when there is a need for this to happen.
14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
Comment: Abraham defeated the enemies of Sodom and retrieved everything, so he really was entitled to both the persons and the goods.
14:22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
Comment: “possessor of heaven and earth”: In Abraham’s mind, whether the persons or the goods, all things really belong to Gd, Who even possesses heaven and earth! Although Abraham retrieved the persons and the goods in a war victory, he knows that his victory was due to Gd’s help in the first place, since with only 318 men (v14), he defeated the armies from four kingdoms. The number 318 in Hebrew can be expressed as אליעזר, which means “My Gd is help”. https://messianic-revolution.com/14-3-was-abram-assisted-by-318-men-or-just-one-servant/
14:23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
Comment: “lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich”: Abraham wants to prove that Gd makes him rich, not man. In this incident, Abraham concedes again, this time for glorifying Gd.
14:24 Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.
Comment: He returned both the persons and the goods to the King of Sodom, with the exception of what his allies were entitled to get. This teaches a lesson that when we glorify Gd by self-sacrifice, we should take care not to reduce other people’s benefits.
Talmud (Nedarim 32a) has an opinion that disagrees with Abraham’s deed, which says that Abraham should have kept the persons in order to bring them to Gd. https://www.sefaria.org/Nedarim.32a?lang=bi
In fact all those persons, (as well as the goods), later were destroyed by Gd together with the city of Sodom in Genesis 19. Apparently they were influenced by the evil behaviors of the Sodomites, since any righteous people would have been saved, as Genesis 18-19 will tell us.
Genesis 15
15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Comment: The last part of this verse could be combined with the next verse to derive a New Testament teaching.
“So shall thy seed be”: The most fundamental feature of “thy seed” is defined in the following verse …
15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Comment: … “thy seed” is defined to be all who “believed in the LORD” to be counted “for righteousness”.
Paul in has a detailed discussion regarding this: (Romans 4:3) “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. ” (Romans 4:11) “ And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:”
15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
2025 Comment: The Lrd will shield Abraham, just as He promised him in verse 1: “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, …”. He will protect him to make sure that all His plan on Abraham will be fulfilled before taking him home. Nothing will stop Abram from being circumcised and renamed as Abraham. Nothing will stop Abraham from fathering a son at the age of 100. Nothing will stop Abraham from going to offer his son to the life-giving Lrd. Nothing will stop Abraham’s son from being saved and replaced by a ram for the sacrifice. Nothing will stop Abraham from finding an appropriate wife for his son, who will raise the chosen people for the Lrd. Also, we believe that nothing will stop Abraham from being resurrected from the dead when the Lrd comes in the future. However, even after all Abraham’s earthly missions having been accomplished, the Lrd still protects Abraham; He has decided not to let Abraham die an unnatural death. It is the Lrd’s mercy to His servant, that even after all the services are finished, the Lrd still treats His servant well. It is also the Lrd’s mercy, for Him to let us know through how He has treated our ancestor in faith, that He is fully capable of granting His servant a natural death at a good old age, before being resurrected in the future in the kingdom of Gd. For some other faithful servants of His (such as many prophets and apostles who became martyrs), He decided not to do so, despite being fully capable of doing so. We therefore conjecture that He has a better plan for them. According to Revelations Chapter 20, their martyrdom will bring them a greater reward in the future, with an earlier resurrection in the millennium kingdom of Gd (Rev 20:4-6); They will also reign together with the Lrd, starting from then until forever (Rev 22:5).
Genesis 16
16:11 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.
Comment: The angel that “said unto her” was a very special angel of the LRD, as we will see soon in a later verse …
16:13 And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?
Comment: … In fact it was the LRD Himself Who “spake unto her”. The LRD can send (or can be sent by) the LRD (Zechariah 2:8-11) to interact with human beings. E.g., Zechariah 2:10-11 says “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.” In Christian concept, this special Angel of the LRD who manifests the LRD Himself, is the Word of Gd prior to His incarnation (in human form as Jesus). From this (and quite a few other Old Testament sources), we can see that the Jewish criticism of Christianity as having “two gds” is really unfair, since the Old Testament also supports the concept that the one Gd can send His special manifestation for salvation.
I learned about this citation Zechariah 2:8-11 from a Chinese Christians online forum “Jonah’s Home” http://www.jonahome.net , which was recently closed by the communist government.
Genesis 17
17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Comment: “a father of many nations”: Abraham is our ancestor in faith, even if we might not be his biological descendants. This is not just wishful fantasy, it is based on what the Creator has decreed in this Bible verse. The new name “Abraham” was formed exactly for this purpose: to be a father of many nations.
17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Comment: “a mother of nations”: Sarah is our matriarch in faith, even if we might not be her biological descendants.