Tag: Genesis 15

Do Not Judge

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Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 (NIV)

The teaching about “not judging others” is a bit more nuanced than simply “don’t judge.”

If you ask God to judge between you and another, you’re putting yourself in a rather precarious position. You’d better be righteous.

Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
Genesis 16:5 (NIV)

Imagine a heavenly court whereby if you bring an accusation against someone and demand that the court determine who is at fault, the FIRST thing the court does is examine you, the accuser.

At any rate, we have a rule that if someone calls upon G-d to determine if concerning an accusation leveled against a fellow human being he or she had been correct, the first thing the heavenly tribunal does is to examine if the accuser has led a blameless life himself or herself.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4

And if they find you to be unrighteous or guilty of anything, the first thing they do is punish YOU for your sins. Only then will they address the accusation.

That is what the teaching is that informs us of this “do not judge” teaching. It is a warning.

If faults are found in the accuser’s life, he is judged, i.e. punished first, before the accusation is examined in greater detail.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4

In the case of Sarai, we want to blame her for lack of faith, or perhaps we want to apply a modern standard and accuse her of causing infidelity. But notice that God does not discipline her here.

But also, what is her accusation, exactly?

But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:2-3 (NIV)

The rabbis suggest that in Genesis 15, when Abram prayed for a child, he prayed only for himself and not for his wife. Remember: she was the one who was barren. She is the one who needed prayer.

She accuses him of being selfish in his prayer, and she is vindicated.

There are so many lessons to learn here, if we have the ears to hear.

Our Customs

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So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.
Genesis 16:3 (NIV)

The reason I’m not convinced that Abram was meant to kill the animals that God told him to bring in Genesis 15 is because of what we read in Genesis 16.

The Midrash and Jewish commentary say that the “10 years” in Genesis 16 refers to the time after which a man may leave his wife who bears no children. If a man could not “be fruitful and multiply” with his wife, he could divorce her and find another woman.

“This was the custom” is the explanation. And while that explains the actions, it doesn’t tell us that this is what God demands. Sarai’s offer of her concubine was to appease the custom.

God can bless us, but He does so in spite of our customs, not because of them.

Separating

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Genesis 1 and 2 show us God creating through a process of separating: light from dark, land from water, Isha from Ish. I think the pattern here in Genesis 15 is related.

But it’s Abram who cleaves the animals, and we might agree that this is a destructive act, rather than a creative one. However, we see that God dwells even in those separations, shown as a torch that passes between them. It’s quite powerful imagery: God in the spaces between.

I like to think that God healed those animals that were cleaved, and He brought them back to life so Abram could see that God is Lord over death and life as well.

To Cut a Covenant

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On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying,
“To your descendants I have given this land,
From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates.
Genesis 15:18 (NIV)

When the scriptures tell us that God “made a covenant” with Abram in Genesis 15:18, the word “made” is the hebrew word כָּרַת (kaw-rath). It means to cut down. The idiom is to “cut a covenant.”

1. to cut off
– 1. to cut off a body part, behead
2. to cut down
3. to hew
4. to cut or make a covenant
H3772: כָּרַת (kāraṯ)

I wonder if scripture gives this because God is responding to Abram’s action.

Cut in Pieces

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So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Genesis 15:9-10 (NIV)

It seems very sad to me that Abram cut up the animals. If you look closely, God did not ask him to do this.

Even in Death

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As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Genesis 15:15 (NASB)

The English renders the Hebrew word “bo” here as “go,” and it makes the place of the dead seem far away, like a distant place to arrive after a long journey through life.

But the rabbis say this word more often means “come.” As in, even in death there is nearness to God.

400

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Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him. Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Genesis 15:12-14 (NASB)

Genesis 15:12-14 echoes Genesis 1:1-3.

The number 400 is represented by the Hebrew letter “tav,” which is the final letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It points to a finality; perhaps captivity in Egypt is a picture of something larger.

It is the past. It is the future. It is now.

Split Animals

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So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
Genesis 15:9-10 (NIV)

The rabbis say the significance here is twofold: first, these animals represent the sacrifices acceptable to God.

Second, the cleaved animals are the nations that will later exile Israel, and that God will exact avenge.

The birds (both doves) are Israel, remaining whole, but split between two kingdoms.

From the Fire

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Then [God] said to him, “I am יהוה who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”
Genesis 15:7 (The Contemporary Torah, JPS 2006)

The Midrash contains a fascinating story about Abram, suggesting that Nimrod (king of Babylon) threw Abram into a blazing furnace for not worshipping his idol. “Ur” means “flame.”

He was in the fire, but not consumed by it.

The rabbis say that Genesis 15:7 is the first time God tells Abram His name.

Later, when God meets Moses, He presents His name and another fire, this time on a bush that is not consumed.

Perhaps this is how Moses remembers the covenant God made with Abram: these are intentionally linked stories. God preserves us, even through the fire that should consume us.