Stroll through Scripture for Sunday, September 15, 2024

Based on Genesis 15:1-6

The covenant with Abram is an interesting story.  It is familiar and foreign at the same time.  It is familiar in the sense of God calling a person, that person taking matters into their own hands, and God making and fulfilling a promise in spite of what humans do.  It is foreign because our context in 21^st century United States is so very different than what we encounter in the reading – slaves, a heavy focus on who will be the heir to Abram’s property, and more in the broader story.  

The interaction starts with “Do not be afraid” and with God telling Abram that God is his shield or protector.  Given that Abram is living a nomadic life and has many possessions and livestock, protection would be important.  You never know who will come and raid your encampment.  God and Abram have an interesting relationship, to say the least. 

In Genesis 12, when we are introduced to Abram, God says to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred…to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation…”. And Abram, we are told, went just as God told him to do.  No questions asked.  He didn’t know where he was going, but he went.  He heard the promise and followed.  

By the time we get to Genesis 15, Abram has been to Egypt and back up to the Levant around the Dead Sea region, split up with his brother Lot, and been blessed by the king and high priest Melchizedek.  

All along, God reminds Abram of the blessing that God has in store for Abram.  Here in Chapter 15 we hear of God’s covenant with Abram.  The covenant is about Abram’s offspring, but it is more.  A covenant is an agreement between two unequal parties.  In this case God is the superior party and Abram is the inferior party.  The superior party is the one who sets the terms and exposes themselves to the consequence should they not keep their end of the covenant.  

But even more radical than God promising Abram numerous heirs, is God “reckoning” Abram as righteous, which means that God formally declared Abram in right relationship with God.  This becomes the foundation of what faith is all about – an unearned gift from God in which we play no part in obtaining.  

Questions for Further Reflection:

• What part of Abram’s story can you identify with?  Why?  
• Why do you think God “reckoned” righteousness upon Abram?  
• God comes to Abram in a vision and tells him “Do not be afraid.”  How do you think God comes to creation now?   
• God makes a covenant with Abram.  Often we try to make deals with God, but we often break our end of the deal.  How is God’s covenant different?