Session #8
Covenant 3a: Abram
We now begins the journey wherein God starts his family
Have you ever known you needed to change or let go of something in your life, but you just couldn’t do it?
FOCUS Information:
After Noah, humanity once again falls into rebellion, culminating with the Tower of Babel, and the human family is thrust into further exile. However, the line of Noah’s son Shem remains faithful — and one of his descendants, Abram, is chosen to receive the Lord’s next covenant.
God calls Abram to leave everything behind, including his extended family, and travel to a new land. Amazingly, Abram responds faithfully to this call—mostly. We read, “So Abram went as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him.” But who is Lot? In Genesis 12:5, we learn that Lot is Abram’s nephew (his brother’s son), one of his kin. Lot isn’t supposed to come. God tells Abram to leave everything he knew and without contact with family, forage for himself in a strange land.
Abram was willing to sacrifice so much by traveling to a new land. Why would he also disobey the Lord’s command by bringing Lot? First, remember that Abram has no descendants: If he remains childless, none of God’s promises will be possible. He will have no one to carry on his name or inheritance, two very important concerns for the people of Abram’s time. So what is Abram doing? As one study suggests, he is trying to be faithful to God and his own plan (Tim Gray and Jeff Cavins, Walking with God 34 – 36). Lot is Abram’s “exit strategy” or “security blanket,” just in case God’s promises don’t work out. Abram is keeping his options open by bringing Lot, a kind of surrogate son. He is being faithful, but he is also covering his bases.
What promises does God make to Abram? (of these we will want to keep track of this as we read on)
"I will make of you a great nation..." - Kingdom
"I will bless you, and make your name great so that you will be a blessing." - Exaltation/Glorification
"I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. - Safety
We can also put ourselves as the recipients of the generic aspects of the promises, namely, to be loved, to be safe, and to be trusted with responsibility.
Have you ever lied to ensure something is not known perhaps for someone's good?
Out of fear, Abram lies to the Egyptians. Abram did not protect Sarai with his life but rather gave her up with a high potential of rape at the least if not losing her entirely. Protecting Sarai from harm, God brought plagues to the house of Pharoh. Therefore, Abram's lie endangered his wife, the soul of Pharoh, and even his body. In trying to protect what He loved, He committed a grave evil. There are goods in our own lives that we would like to preserve and sometimes the act of trying to do so actually endangers them worse.
Lot is a family member, remember Genesis 12:1. Remember, what happened in the last passage. Now, what, on account of His disobedience, is the path Abram put himself on?
Why would Abram want to bring Lot? What would He have to gain?
We see Abram pushing Lot to independence which is good for Lot. Although the land that Lot chose also happens to be near and likely partially used by great sinners (meaning unremorseful). Wherein Lot actually gets captured by Chedorlaomer.
Now that we have Lot back, we are introduced to the Priest-King of Salem, Melchizedek. We find reference to Melchizedek throughout the Bible so let's explore this a little bit.
This is all we have for this session; we have been studying pretty intensely so either you are free to go, or we can hang out and talk.
If Desired
Listen to this song and consider how much Abram, would not have felt this sort of assurance and would have wanted it.