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[What is Abrahamic faith?
Verse 6: And he believed יהוה, and He counted it to him as righteousness.
The commentator Kalisch explains:
believed. i.e. trusted. The childless Abram had faith in God’s promise that his descendants would be countless like the stars in heaven. He was ready to wait God’s time, without doubting God’s truth. That is the mark of true faith—steadfast trust in God, despite darkness and disappointment, and despite the fact that circumstances all point in the opposite direction. True faith ‘discovers through the mists of the present the sunshine of the future; and recognizes in the discordant strife of the world the traces of the Eternal Mind that leads it to an unceasing harmony’ (Kalisch).
To play the (nonexistent) devil’s advocate: Is faith really as simple as that?
We had a messianic teacher who used to be picky about words he used; he didn’t like ‘faith’ and ‘believe’, he preferred ‘trusted’. Are the three words different or simply synonyms that mean the same thing? Have you ever heard this example given in bible study to specify what God requires?
The example goes like this: A tightrope walker who had an excellent track record challenged spectators as he proposed to do his daredevil stunt-walk across a rope that connected the ledge of one mountain to the ledge of another, the height of the fall would be several hundred feet above the ground. He asks the crowd if they believe with his skills he could walk across to the other side? They all yelled YES! Do they believe he could make it back, YES they yelled. And, since they have seen him many times do the same stunt with an associate seated on his shoulders, he asked if they believe he could do the same and they yelled YES. Then he asked if one of the YES-ers would get on his shoulders? Silence, NO takers. Belief, trust, have faith, the YES-ers all had it as long as they were not going to be tested.
In Abraham’s case, there was no life to risk in believing, having faith, trusting in a promise of a son in his old age with Sarah in her old age; he simply had to take God’s word for it and keep doing what couples do to procreate. At this point, that belief/trust/faith had not yet been tested by time passing . . . . well, we know what happens later after waiting and waiting for years. . . but at this point, Abraham’s belief was already counted to him as ‘righteousness’.
Now, this word ‘righteousness’ is one of those big words that most people really don’t truly understand. Because when we look at the handpicked figures in Scripture’s hall of fame, some of them sometimes moved to the hall of shame: they were not perfect, they slipped, they made unwise decisions, they committed sins unexpected of ‘righteous’ people (take David as an example). And yet, it seems it is a certain pattern in their life that God looks at, that reflects the inclination of their heart, that manifests in the choices that they make — yes, despite their mistakes— that they REPENT and turn their lives around. Of course we cannot discount the fact that there are consequences of their sin that affect not only their lives but others and sometimes generations down the ages as well.
So, to simplify the word ‘righteousness’ — we redefine it as ‘being in the RIGHT’ because there is a RIGHT way and a wrong way. Who defines what is RIGHT? Who else, the God who gave the Torah. Live the Torah, and you’re righteous. Live whatever little you know of Torah each step of your journey, as long as you are on that same pathway and learning more each day and gaining wisdom and beginning to think His thoughts, live His prescribed Torah life even imperfectly—heart and mind inclined to obey, falling along the way but getting up and staying on the path.
The point? Abrahamic faith, despite man’s weaknesses and mistakes and wrong choices—ultimately it is all about KNOWING the One True God, believing only in Him and His promises amidst societies and cultures that remain ignorant of Him. Is that applicable to us in our day and age? What do you think? How many of our Christian/Messianic colleagues are bothering to give us a hearing? Or checking out our belief through this website? Have we convinced even one of them in the last two years? No. Though, strangely and happily, the God of Truth links us with strangers in the internet highway and with individuals who seek us out because they have heard about us and wish to know what it is we teach. That truly amazes us. As we say to them, when you are spiritually awakened from your religious affiliation and think there is more to God that what has been taught you, that stirring in your heart is known by the God of Truth and He will connect all of us with one another.
Believe Him and hey, He will count it to us ‘as righteousness’ too!
This is a re-revisit, first posted December 16, 2013, reposted July 26 2015. Commentary is from Pentateuch and Haftorah’s, ed. Dr. J.H. Hertz; translation is The Five Books of Moses by Everett Fox; additional commentary from him is indicated by “EF” and we have one more, “RA” for Robert Alter whose The Five Books of Moses also has commentary..—Admin1.]
Genesis/Bereshith 15
PROMISE OF AN HEIR TO ABRAM
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after these things. This phrase commonly joins a new chapter with the preceding. It does not necessarily imply an immediate sequence.
in a vision. A frequent medium through which God communicated with man. Nachmanides points out that the vision happened during the daytime.
fear not. The possibility of reprisals, because of his intervention in the war. Or, it may refer to the Patriarch’s anxiety with regard to his childlessness.
thy shield. A symbol of defence and protection, often used in the Psalms.
thy reward. For obedience to God’s call and for uprightness of life.
[EF] YHWH’s word came: A formula often used by the Prophets. Avram is portrayed as their spiritual ancestor (Buber, 1982).
[RA] the word of the LORD came to Abram. This is a formula for revelation characteristic of the Prophetic books, not of the Patriarchal Tales. It is noteworthy that in Genesis 20 God refers to Abraham as a “prophet.” The night-vision (maazeh) invoked here is also a prophetic mode of experience.
2 Avram said: My Lord, YHWH, what would you give me— for I am going (to die) accursed, and the Son Domestic of My House is Damascan Eliezer.what wilt Thou give me? This agonizing cry enables us to look into the soul of the Patriarch. Of what value were earthly possessions to him if a worthy child who would continue his work after him was denied him? This attitude of the Father of the Jewish people towards the child, that it is the highest form of human treasures, has remained that of his descendants to the present day. Among the most enlightened nations of antiquity, the child had no rights, no protection, no dignity of any sort. In Greece, for example, weak children were generally exposed on a lonely mountain to perish. The Roman historian (Tacitus) deemed it a contemptible prejudice of the Jews that ‘it is a crime among them to kill any child!’ The Rabbis, on the other hand, spoke of little children as ‘the Messiahs of mankind’, i.e. the child is the perennial regenerative force in humanity because in the child God continually gives mankind a chance to make good its mistakes.
of Damascus. Chap. XXIV shows the important position which he occupied in Abram’s household. But, if he was to be Abram’s heir, what of the great mission that was the motive of Abram’s call from Ur of the Chaldees? The incident which follows allays these anxieties.
[EF] accursed: Heb. ariri; B-R uses “bare-of-children.” Son Domestic . . . Damascan: Hebrew difficult. The translation here reflects the play on shound (Heb. ben meshek . . . dammesek).
[RA] And Abram said. Until this point, all of Abram’s responses to God have been silent obedience. His first actual dialogue with God—in this, too, Prophetic precedents may be relevant—expresses doubt that God’s promise can be realized: this first speech to God reveals a hitherto unglimpsed human dimension of Abram.
I am going to my end. The Hebrew says simply “I am going,” but elsewhere “to go” is sometimes used as a euphemism for dying, and, as several analysts have argued, the context here makes that a likely meaning.
steward. The translation follows a traditional conjecture about the anomalous Hebrew mesheq, but the meaning is uncertain. The word might be a scribal repetition of the last three consonants in “Dammesek,” or, alternately, it could be a deliberate play on words (Dammesek and mesheq, “household maintenance”). The enigma is compounded by the fact that only here is Abraham’s majordomo named as Eliezer—a West Semitic name, moreover, that would be surprising in someone from Damascus.
3 And Avram said further: Here, to me you have not given seed, here, the Son of my House must be my heir.
one born in my house. i.e. my servant. It is noteworthy that Abram does not think of Lot as his possible heir; he had returned to Sodom.
[EF] Son of My House: The chief servant, who could inherit the estate in certain circumstances. Note the play on “son”: the Hebrew here is ben beti, while ben alone means “son.” heir: Three times here, indicating Avram’s main concern.
[RA] And Abram said. God remains impassively silent in the face of Abram’s brief initial complaint, forcing him to continue and spell out the reason for his skepticism about the divine promise.
4 But here, YHWH’s word (came) to him, saying: This one shall not be heir to you, rather the one that goes out from your own body, he shall be heir to you. 5 He brought him outside and said: Pray look toward the heavens and count the stars, can you count them? And he said to him: So shall your seed be.Since the words which follow, ‘Look now toward heaven, etc.’ are part of the vision, we are not to suppose that Abram was actually led into the open. He imagined himself as gazing up at the stars.
[RA] count the stars. This is a complementary image to that of the numberless dust in chapter 13 but, literally and figuratively, loftier, and presented to Abraham in the grand solemnity of a didactic display, mot merely as a verbal trope to be explained.
6 Now he trusted in YHWH, and he deemed it as righteous-merit on his part.
believed. i.e. trusted. The childless Abram had faith in God’s promise that his descendants would be countless like the stars in heaven. He was ready to wait God’s time, without doubting God’s truth. That is the mark of true faith—steadfast trust in God, despite darkness and disappointment, and despite the fact that circumstances all point in the opposite direction. True faith ‘discovers through the mists of the present the sunshine of the future; and recognizes in the discordant strife of the world the traces of the Eternal Mind that leads it to an unceasing harmony’ (Kalisch).
and He counted it to him for righteousness. ‘Counted his trust as real religion’ (Moffati). Trustful surrender to the loving Will and Wisdom of God is the proof as it is the basis, of true religion. Such spiritual faithfulness where there is unrighteousness..
[EF] he deemed it: “He” refers to God.
[RA] 7-21. Since this covenant is sealed at sunset, it can scarcely be a direct continuation of the nocturnal scene just narrated. The two scenes are an orchestration of complementary covenantal themes. In the first, God grandly promises and Abram trusts; in the second, the two enter into a mutually binding pact, cast in terms of a legal ritual. In the first scene, progeny is promised; in the second, the possession of the land, together with the dark prospect of enslavement in Egypt before the full realization of the promise. The first scene highlights dialogue and the rhetorical power of the divine assurance; the second scene evokes mystery, magic, the troubling enigma of the future.
7 He said to him: I am YHWH who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land, to inherit it.
[EF] who brought you out: Like the later “I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 20:2). The language is undoubtedly intentional.
[RA] I am the LORD who brought you out. This formula—the initial words of self-identification are a commonplace of ancient Near Eastern royal decrees—used here for the first time, looks forward to “who brought you out of the land of Egypt” of the Decalogue and other texts. Compositionally, it also picks up “He took him outside” (the same verb in the Hebrew) at the end of the preceding scene.
8 But he said: My Lord, YHWH, by what shall I know that I will inherit it?
whereby shall I know? He does not doubt God, but desires confirmation of the vision that had been granted him.
[EF] But he said: Avram, having just demonstrated trust in v. 6, now expresses deep doubt. inherit: Or, “possess.”
[RA] how shall I know that I shall inherit it? In this instance, Abram’s doubt is to be assuaged by a formal pact. Covenants in which the two parties step between cloven animal parts are attested in various places in the ancient Near East as well as in Greece. The idea is that if either party violates the covenant, his fate will be like that of the cloven animals. The Hebrew idiom karat berit, literally “to cut a covenant” (as in verse 1), may derive from this legal ritual.
9 He said to him: Fetch me a calf of three, a she-goat of three, a ram of three, a turtle-dove, and a fledgling.
three years old. Possibly because the number three has a sacred signification.
[EF] of three: I.e., three years old, and presumably mature and ritually fit for sacrifice.
10 He fetched him all these. he halved them down the middle, putting each one’s half toward its neighbor, but the birds he did not halve.
and he took him. ‘Him’ means, to himself.
and divided them in the midst. The ancient method of making a covenant was to cut an animal in half and the contracting parties to pass through the portions of the slain animal. Thereby the parties were thought to be united by the bond of a common blood.
but the birds divided he not. Lev. I,17.
[RA] each set his part. Existing translations fudge the vivid anthropomorphism of the Hebrew here: ‘ish, literally, “man,” means “each” but is a word applied to animate beings, not to things, so it must refer to the two parties to the covenant facing each other, not to the animal parts.
11 Vultures descended upon the carcasses, but Avram drove them back.
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and the birds of prey came down. Symbolically foreshadowing the obstacles in the way of the taking possession of the land.
Abram drove them away. The attempts to frustrate God’s design would not succeed.
[RA] carrion birds. Unaccountably, most English translators render this collective noun as “birds of prey,” though their action clearly indicates they belong to the category of vultures, not hawks and eagles.
12 Now it was, when the sun was coming in, that deep slumber fell upon Avram— and here, fright and great darkness falling upon him! a deep sleep. The same word is used of Adam in II,21. a dread, even a great darkness. The nation which was to issue from him would have to pass through bitter times of oppression.[EF] deep slumber: Not conventional sleep, it is almost always sent by God in the Bible (see 2:21, for example). The result here is “fright and great darkness.”[RA] deep slumber. This is the same Hebrew word, tardemah, used for Adam’s sleep when God fashions Eve.
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13 And he said to Avram:
You must know, yes, know that your seed will be sojourners in a land not theirs; they will put them in servitude and afflict them for four hundred years.a stranger. Better, a sojourner.’ The word means a temporary resident. The reference is, of course, to the stay of the Israelites in Egypt.
four hundred years. A round number; Exod. XII,40, gives the more precise number 430 years.
[EF] afflict: Looking toward the “affliction” of the Israelites in Egypt (Ex. I:11,12).
14 But the nation to which they are in servitude—I will bring judgment on them, and after that they will go out with great property.with great substance. Referring to the gifts of the Egyptians, Exod. XII,35.
15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good ripe-age.
shalt go to thy fathers. ‘The death of Abram is predicted in one of those remarkable phrases which seem to prove that the Hebrews were not unacquainted with the doctrine of immortality. Here the return of the soul to the eternal abodes of the fathers is, with some distinctness, separated from the interment of the body. That both cannot be identical is evident; for while Abraham was entombed in Canaan, all his forefathers died and were buried in Mesopotamia’ (Kalisch).
in peace. Thou wilt not witness any of the tribulations that befall thy children (Kimchi).
[EF] ripe-age: Lit. “grayness” or “hoariness.”
16 But in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite has not reached full-measure heretofore.and in the fourth generation. ‘The Arabic dahr (corresponding to the Hebrew) is also used for a hundred years and over’ (Burckhardt); thus, the 400 years mentioned in v. 13 are referred to here as four generations. Or, these four generations are not to be computed from the time of the vision of Abram, but from the time when his posterity first came into Egypt (Rashi).
the iniquity of the Amorite. ‘Amorite’ denotes the inhabitants of Canaan generally. Some of their abominations are enumerated in Leviticus XVIII,21-30. The postponement of the penalty indicates Divine forbearance. God would give the Canaanites full time to repent. Hence he sent Abraham, who ‘proclaimed the Lord’, and, with his disciples and descendants, taught by precept and example ‘the way of the Lord to do justice and mercy’. Meanwhile, the gradually accumulating guilt of the Amorites rendered dire punishment inevitable. God’s prescience was certain that their hearts were forever turned from Him.
[EF] But in the fourth generation . . . : God here speaks of the future conquest of Canaan by Avram’s descendants. The natives (here termed “Amorites) are viewed as having forfeited their right to the land by their immorality (see Lev. 18:25-8).
[RA] the fourth generation. This would seem to be an obvious contradiction of the previously stated four hundred years. Some scholars have argued that the Hebrew dor does not invariably mean “generation” and many here refer to “life span” or “time span.”
17 Now it was, when the sun had come in, that there was night-blackness, and here, a smoking oven, a fiery torch that crossed between those pieces.
a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch. This symbol of the Godhead was seen to pass between the pieces, to ratify the covenant which was being made.
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[RA] a smoking brazier with a flaming torch. All this is mystifying and is surely meant to be so, in keeping with the haunting mystery of the covenantal moment. It seems unwise to “translate” the images into any neat symbolism (and the same is true of the ominous carrion birds Abram drives off). There may be some general association of smoke and fire with the biblical deity (Nachmanides notes a link with the Sinai epiphany), and the pillars of fire and cloud in Exodus also come to mind, but the disembodied brazier (or furnace) and torch are wonderfully peculiar to this scene. The firelight in this preternatural after-sunset darkness is a piquant antithesis to the star-studded heavens of the previous scene.
18 On that day YHWH cut a covenant with Avram, saying: I give this land to your seed, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the river Euphrates,
have I given. The perfect tense is used, although it refers to the future, in order to denote the certainty of the event.
river of Egypt. ‘Brook of Egypt’ (Num. XXXIV,5) the Wady-el-Arish, which is the boundary between Egypt and Palestine.
Euphrates. The ideal limit of Israelite territory, reached in the days of Solomon (I Kings V,1).
[EF] cut: Concluded; the usage is influenced by the act of cutting animals by the parties involved, as in this story.
[RA] To your seed I have given. Moshe Weinfeld shrewdly observes that for the first time the divine promise—compare 12:1-3, 12:7, 13:414-17, 15;4-5—is stated with a perfective, not an imperfective, verb—that is, as an action that can be considered already completed. This small grammatical maneuver catches up a large narrative pattern in the Abraham stories: the promise becomes more and more definite as it seems progressively more implausible to the aged patriarch, until Isaac is born.
19 The Kenite and the Kennizzite and the Kadmonite,
Kenite, and the Kenizzite. Friendly tribes inhabiting the S. of Palestine, which merged with the Israelites.
Kadmonite. Not mentioned elsewhere.
[EF] the Kenite . . .: Canaanite tribes, here presented as a round ten in number.
20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Refa’ites,
Perizzite. see on XIII,7.
Repahim. see on XIV,5.
21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Yevusite.
For the peoples enumerated in this verse, see on X,16.