BIBLE STUDY: May 12th

The meeting opened with prayer

In the Scriptures, by the Spirit,
   May we see the Saviour's face,
Hear His word and heed His calling -
   Know His will and grow in grace.
Amen
 

 
Genesis 12:1-5

1

The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you.

2

"I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

3

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you."

4

Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

5

Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Here we read of Abram's call by God to leave Haran to go to a land that God will show him. Abram is also given the promise that his descendants will be a great nation and that in him "all the communities of the earth shall find blessing." In simple obedience to God's call, Abram left with wife, Sarai, and his brother's son, Lot, and all their possessions and servants - possibly some 200 people.

Abram had originally come from Ur in the south of Mesopotamia (Iraq). At the end of chapter 11 of Genesis, we read that Abram's father, Terah, had taken Abram and Sarai, together with his grandson, Lot (Lot's father having died in Ur) to Haran in the north-east border of Mesopotamia. It is here, after Terah's death, that Abram received God's call for him, Sarai and Lot to move on. Abram does so in obedience to God, showing complete faith in God's call.

 
Genesis, chapter 15

1

Some time after these events, this word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great."

2

But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer?"

3

Abram continued, "See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."

4

Then the word of the LORD came to him: "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir."

5

He took him outside and said: "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,"he added, "shall your descendants be."

6

Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.

7

He then said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession."

8

"O Lord GOD,"he asked, "How am I to know that I shall possess it?"

9

He answered him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon."

10

He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up.

11

Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram stayed with them.

12

As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram, and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

13

Then the LORD said to Abram: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

14

But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.

15

You, however, shall join your forefathers in peace; you shall be buried at a contented old age.

16

In the fourth time-span the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then."

17

When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces.

18

It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates),

19

the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

20

the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

21

the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

When Abram and his entourage reached Canaan, Abram found his faith very much put to the test. There was famine in the land so they moved down to Egypt; here he and Lot prospered but had to leave because they'd upset the Pharoah. On returning to Canaan, Lot has claimed the Jordan valley for himself; then there were wars between rivals in Canaan, in which Abram got involved to save his nephew, Lot, despite the fact that Lot had earlier grabbed the best land for himself. All this time Abram and Sarai had had no son. So what of God's promise that Abram's descendants would become a great nation?

We see that by this time Abram's faith was wearing a bit thin since he actually questions God: "O Lord GOD, what good will your gifts be, if I keep on being childless and have as my heir the steward of my house, Eliezer? .... See, you have given me no offspring, and so one of my servants will be my heir."

God simply replies "No, that one shall not be your heir; your own issue shall be your heir." Abram, we are told, does believe God and so the LORD "credited it to him as an act of righteousness." This verse, Genesis 15:6, is centuries later quoted by St Paul in his Letter to the Romans (Rom. 4:3) and his Letter to the Galatians (Gal. 3:6).

But although Abram believes that God will give him an heir of his own issue, he does ask for some sign that he will actually inherit the land of Cannan. So we have this apparently strange sacrifice described in the remaining part of the chapter. This was, in fact, an ancient oath binding ritual; the one making the covenant passed through the dismembered carcasses saying: "May I be torn apart like these animals if I do not keep my promised covenant to you." God himself was actually telling Abram that, although he was God, he would be torn apart if he did not keep his covenant with Abram!

Also we noticed that when Abram fell into a trance just before sunset, God told him: "Know for certain that your descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth." This is a clear prophecy of the Israelite's later enslavement in Egypt and their exodus under Moses. In other words, with this covenant God is pointing ahead to Moses, with whom he will renew his covenant of love. In fact, we shall find that the covenant God makes through Abram is threefold; it is made here, and again in chapter 17, and finally in chapter 22. On each occasion God points to its fulfilment in covents to come: the covent here will be fulfilled in the Mosaic covent, that of chapter 17 in the Davidic covenant, and that of chapter 22 in the New Covenant of Christ.

This chapter concludes with God reiterating his promise that Abram's descendants will inherit the land of Cannan.

 
Genesis, chapter 17

1

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am God the Almighty. Walk in my presence and be blameless.

2

Between you and me I will establish my covenant, and I will multiply you exceedingly."

3

When Abram prostrated himself, God continued to speak to him:

4

"My covenant with you is this: you are to become the father of a host of nations.

5

No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations.

6

I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you.

7

I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

8

I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God."

9

God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages.

10

This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you that you must keep: every male among you shall be circumcised.

11

Circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me.

12

Throughout the ages, every male among you, when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including houseborn slaves and those acquired with money from any foreigner who is not of your blood.

13

Yes, both the houseborn slaves and those acquired with money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact.

14

If a male is uncircumcised, that is, if the flesh of his foreskin has not been cut away, such a one shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."

15

God further said to Abraham: "As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai; her name shall be Sarah.

16

I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. Him also will I bless; he shall give rise to nations, and rulers of peoples shall issue from him."

17

Abraham prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?"

18

Then Abraham said to God, "Let but Ishmael live on by your favor!"

19

God replied: "Nevertheless, your wife Sarah is to bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will maintain my covenant with him as an everlasting pact, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.

20

As for Ishmael, I am heeding you: I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation.

21

But my covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you by this time next year."

22

When he had finished speaking with him, God departed from Abraham.

23

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his slaves, whether born in his house or acquired with his money--every male among the members of Abraham's household--and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that same day, as God had told him to do.

24

Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised,

25

and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.

26

Thus, on that same day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised;

27

and all the male members of his household, including the slaves born in his house or acquired with his money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

In chapter 16, we find that Sarai had persuded Abram to take her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, as concubine and have issue through her. She did become pregnant but when she was pregnant, she looked with disdain on the barren Sarai; then Sarai abused Hagar so much that she ran away. But God spoke to Hagar, telling her to return and submit to Sarai's abuse and that she would bear a son, who is to be called Ishmael, and that he would be the father of a multitude of descendants. Hagar returned and Ishmael was born, from whom the Arabs are descended.

But this will cause problems as yet again Abram had not fully trusted God. As we see above, God intended his covenant to be with Abram and his descendants by his wife, Sarai. However, before making this clear, God renames Abram as 'Abraham', telling him he is to be the father of a host of nations (ab-hamon goyim). His new name is a 'portmanteau' of his former name, Abram, and of ab-hamon "father of a host."

God then tells Abraham (as we must now call him) that he will make nations of him and that kings shall stem from him. This will be fulfilled when Isreael is at its most powerful under King David and his son Solomon (We are thus looking forward to the Davidic covenant here). God also tells Abraham that the sign of the covent he is making with him is to be the circumcision of all males in his and his descendants' households - a circumcision to be made on the eighth day after birth. Circumcision was (and still is) quite a common practice in many places; it was practised, for example, by the Canaanites and the Egyptians. But normally it is part of the 'coming of age' ritual when a boy becomes a man. What was special about this sign of the covenant is that it was to be performed on the eighth day after birth; the mark of God's covent is to be with each male even as a child.

But God had not finished with Abraham. While Abraham is taking in the fact that he must be circumcised as well as all the males in his household, God gives him an even greater bombshell: Sarai (my princess) is to be renamed Sarah (Princess) and she will bear him a son - the son through whom nations are to rise and from whom will be descended rulers of peoples (i.e. David and his successors). How does Abraham react? He laughs to himself and, in effect, says to God: "I've got Ishmael - won't he do?"

God assures Abraham that Ishmael will become the father of a great nation, but he intends to maintain his covenant with Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. After the birth of Isaac, Sarah has Hagar and Ishmael driven out to wander before settling in the wilderness of Paran. Sadly, the rivalry of the two half-brothers lives on till the present day in their descendants, the Arabs and the Jews.

 
Genesis 22:1-19

1

Some time after these events, God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, "Abraham!""Ready!"he replied.

2

Then God said: "Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you."

3

Early the next morning Abraham saddled his donkey, took with him his son Isaac, and two of his servants as well, and with the wood that he had cut for the holocaust, set out for the place of which God had told him.

4

On the third day Abraham got sight of the place from afar.

5

Then he said to his servants: "Both of you stay here with the donkey, while the boy and I go on over yonder. We will worship and then come back to you."

6

Thereupon Abraham took the wood for the holocaust and laid it on his son Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

7

As the two walked on together, Isaac spoke to his father Abraham. "Father!"he said. "Yes, son,"he replied. Isaac continued, "Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the holocaust?"

8

"Son,"Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the holocaust."Then the two continued going forward.

9

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up his son Isaac, and put him on top of the wood on the altar.

10

Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11

But the LORD'S messenger called to him from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!""Yes, Lord,"he answered.

12

"Do not lay your hand on the boy,"said the messenger. "Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son."

13

As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

14

Abraham named the site Yahweh-yireh; hence people now say, "On the mountain the LORD will see."

15

Again the LORD'S messenger called to Abraham from heaven

16

and said: "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son,

17

I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies,

18

and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--all this because you obeyed my command.''

19

Abraham then returned to his servants, and they set out together for Beer-sheba, where Abraham made his home.

Child sacrifice was common in ancient times among various Semtic peoples such as the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Carthaginians etc., the child being offered to deities such as Ba'al or Moloch. Abraham would have found nothing odd in having to sacrifice Isaac, except that God had promised that Isaac's descendants would be a great nation. So Abraham must have been puzzled exactly how God was to achieve this if Isaac was offered as a whole burnt offering. As the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews observed: "By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, 'Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name.' He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol" (Heb. 11:17-19).

It would seem from other places in the scriptures that Mount Moriah was the mount upon which in later ages Solomon was to build the Jewish Temple. We are talking of a sacrifice to take place in what will later be Jerusalem. To Isaac's question asking where the lamb was for the burnt offering, Abraham replies: "God himself will provide the lamb." This was taken by early Christian commentators to refer ultimately to Christ, the Lamb of God. On Mount Calvary in Jerusalem Christ, the Lamb of God, will be sacrificed to reconcile fallen creation with its Creator - the fulfilment of God's covenant of love.

The story is well known. Abraham is told not to lay his hand on the boy, and a ram is offered instead. But this time as well as telling Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the grains of sand on the seashore, he is told that all nations will find blessing in his descendants. This is a universal prophecy. Through the Jews, the descendants of Isaac, will come the knowledge of God; and among them Jesus, the Messiah, will be born. Through Jesus' sacrifice a New Israel will be brought into being and Abraham, our father in faith (1st Eucharistic Prayer), will have an even greater number of spiritual offspring. This third reiteration of the covenant to Abraham will find its fulfilment in the Sacrifice of Christ, which is the Sacrifice of the Mass, and in the world-wide Catholic Church.

Thus we have seen how Abraham obeyed God's call and despite difficulties and wavering from time to time, he stuck with his trust in God as God gradually revealed his covenant to him - a covenant of love made with Abraham, leader of a wandering tribe, that would find its fulfilment in a nation under Moses, a kingdom under David and, most especially, in the universal Catholic Church, the Body of Christ.
 

The meeting closed with prayer.

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Most of the scripture texts on this page are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C.