First Families I: Abraham and Sarah & Hagar

Question 1

Titles are important

Answer 1

• Genesis 12:50 normally called: The Patriarchal Narratives

Question 2

The Call if Abram (Gen 12)

Answer 2

• God calls Abram to leave everything
  Promises:
  1. make you a great nation, I will bless you
  2. make your name great, you will be a blessing

Question 3

Promises & Covenant

Answer 3

• Genesis 12
  promise: “I will make you a great nation…”
• Genesis 15:18-21 (unconditional)
  promise: descendants as numerous as the stars
  ritual: “cutting” a covenant & theophany (appearance of God)
• Genesis 17
  promise: “walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant with you”
  >name change from Abram to Abraham
  >everlasting covenant, make nations of you
  >requires the circumcision of Israelite males

Question 4

Covenant

Answer 4

• Berit: originally meant shackle or chain; a binding agreement
• a relationship
• covenant of friendship: Jonathan and David
• contract: Jacob and Laban
• peace pact: Abraham and Amorites
• marriage: Proverbs 2:17; Malachi 2:14
• treaty b/w kings: Solomon and Hiram of Tyre

Question 5

Abraham and Sarah Cycle (Gen 12-23)

Answer 5

• a series of tests face Abram and Sarai
• they are promised blessings but they experience the opposite
• obstacles: Pharaoh, infertility, Hagar, “binding of Isaac”

Question 6

Challenges - Faith

Answer 6

1. Abram passes off Sarai as his sister
2. Abram tries to substitute an enslaves person for an heir
3. Abram and Sarai use Hagar as a surrogate
4. The binding of Isaac - the promise is at risk

Question 7

Hagar (Gen 16)

Answer 7

Hagar is treated as an object
- she is “the slave” and passed from Sarah to Abraham
- Hagar is now identified as wife until Sarah deems her a threat
- her status is demoted to “your slave-girl” by Abraham

Question 8

Runaway (Gen 16:6-16)

Answer 8

• a pregnant Hagar escapes into the wilderness
• angel of the Lord meets her there
• command to return & submit
• given a blessing and promise of offspring
• Hagar names God “El-roi”

Question 9

Issac: The Promised Child

Answer 9

• after years of infertility Sarah’s prayers are answered
• son is named Isaac
• but his birth brings both great joy (for Sarah) and suffering for Hagar & Ishmael
• Sarah tells Abraham to cast out Hagar as she is no longer needed

Question 10

Into the Wilderness (Gen 21:14)

Answer 10

• Abraham casts away Hagar and Ishmael, giving then bread and a skin of water

Question 11

The Akedah

Answer 11

• The Akedah = the binding of Isaac rather than the “The Sacrifice of Isaac”
• Christians have sometimes reinterpreted “The Sacrifice of Isaac” as a typology of Christ’s sacrifice
• removing it completely from its Old Testament roots loses the tension
• important to consider the story within the larger Abraham and Sarah narrative

Question 12

The Bigger Story

Answer 12

• Gen 12 a call to faith vs Gen 22 testing faith
• Verse 8 “God will provide” trust without direction
• we are confronted with a God who tests
• tension between portray of God as “tester” and “provider”

Question 13

The Delay of Promises

Answer 13

• God promised land, descendants and a blessing
• Land: already occupied by others
• descendants: son Isaac but lineage is still not secured
• blessing: Gen 24:1 “and the Lord has blessed Abraham in all things”