calling

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The Blessing of the World andthe Call of Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3

Genesis 12:1-3Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I 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.’

Key Points in Abraham’s Calling

• Divinity transcends territory.


• Divinity transcends territory.• God’s plan for redemptive blessing must

have human cooperation.



have human cooperation.• Human cooperation requires risk and

trust.



have human cooperation.• Human cooperation requires risk and

trust. • Exclusive election for a universal purpose–primary instruments vs. exclusive recipients

People outside of the “chosen people” seem to know God.

– Melchizedek (Gen 14)– Abimelech (Gen 20)

Genesis 1417After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). 18And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. 19He blessed him and said,‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth;

20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’ And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. 21Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.’ 22But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, 23that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, “I have made Abram rich.”

Genesis 20From there Abraham journeyed towards the region of the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien, 2Abraham said of his wife Sarah, ‘She is my sister.’ And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married woman.’

4Now Abimelech had not approached her; so he said, ‘Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? 5Did he not himself say to me, “She is my sister”? And she herself said, “He is my brother.” I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.’ 6Then God said to him in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.

7Now then, return the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.’ 8So Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, ‘What have you done to us?

How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.’ 10And Abimelech said to Abraham, ‘What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?’ 11Abraham said, ‘I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.

These stories can be read as a warning to not take special election to mean arrogant presumption about the status of “outsiders.”

Genesis 12-50

• Abraham and family have lots of issues.

Genesis 12-50

• Abraham and family have lots of issues.• Mistrust, betrayal, incest, jealousy, bitter

envy… and forgiveness.

Genesis 12-50


envy… and forgiveness.• Genesis begins with brothers fighting and

ends with brothers reconciling.

Genesis 12-50


envy… and forgiveness.• Genesis begins with brothers fighting and

ends with brothers reconciling. • For God’s redemptive plan to move forward

through these people, it is going to have to be through forgiveness.

Liberating the Slaves andthe Call of Moses

Exodus 1-14

Exodus 18Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, ‘Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’ 11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor.

They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

Exodus 2:3

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket [ark] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.

Exodus 2:3

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket [ark] for him and coated it with tar and pitch.

Just as God started something new with Noah, God is starting something new with Moses.

Exodus 223After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

• Exodus 3:1-10 Moses’ profound divine calling• Exodus 3:10- 4:13 Moses’ deeply human doubt–Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring

the Israelites out of Egypt? (3:11)– If people ask me who it is that sent me, what shall

I say? (3:13)– Suppose the people don't believe me, what do I

do then? (4:1)– Lord, I have never been eloquent; I am slow of

speech and slow of tongue. (4:10)– But he said, ‘O my Lord, please send someone

else.’ (4:13)

Pharaoh and the Plagues• God, Pharaoh, and the hardening of his heart– Not until the 6th plague does God “harden his heart”– Pharaoh decides to harden his heart and resist God,

and God then confirms or strengthens his resolve.• The ten plagues – God allows chaos to come back into creation, as

happened with the flood story.– Human disobedience causes creation to go backwards– Historical, symbolic, or both?

Moses and the Commandments

Exodus 19: 4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’

Exodus 202I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9For six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

• Moral motivation comes from the experience of grace.

• The purpose of the commandments is to enable the Israelites to live with dignity and blessing.

Taking the Land and the Call of Joshua

Deut 7:1-6Joshua

Deuteronomy 7When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations mightier and more numerous than you— 2and when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant with them and show them no mercy.

Joshua 1After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, 2‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. 3Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses.

4From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. 5No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Three Theories on the Conquest

• wholesale military onslaught• slow infiltration• peasant revolt

The historical picture painted by the book of Joshua is complex and confusing.

Is God like this?

Is God genocidal? Is holy war what God is about?Is ethnic cleansing ok if “God” commands it?

Some responses:• The Canaanites deserved it for their wickedness.• While this would normally be wrong, it had to be

done at this particular stage in God’s redemptive plan.–Can’t be used to authorize further holy wars

(such as the Europeans did with Native Americans).

• The second Joshua tells us more about God than the first Joshua. (John 1:18, Col 1:15, Heb 1:1-3)

• All of scripture is “inspired” (2 Tim 3:16), but that doesn’t mean it is divinely written. According to the Bible, not all pictures of God in the Bible are equally true.

• The Bible records a progressive and unfolding understanding of who God is, and Jesus is the climax of God’s revelation.

• The usefulness of texts like these is that they serve as mirrors to humanity, rather than windows into God.

• Jesus revealed a God who would rather die at the hands of his enemies than kill his enemies.

Next week:

Judges 13-161 Samuel 8Psalm 721 Kings 11:1-8Amos 5:18-242 Chronicles 36:15-21 Isaiah 40:1-5

calling

Education

king of sodom

abram rich

king abimelech of gerar

fear of god

human cooperation

redemptive blessing

israelite people

chosen people