The Abrahamic Covenant
The Abrahamic Covenant was an agreement between the Lord and Abraham, which would have substantial implications for all of humankind. The first expression of the agreement is given early in the T’nach, although at that stage it was not called a covenant and Abraham’s name was Abram. The arrangement is best described as a promise, although a promise of God, dictated in such clear terms carries all the guarantees of a covenant. “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Gen. 12:1-3)
The first and most striking feature of this promise is the use of the word ‘bless’. “I will bless you” and “I will bless those who bless you”. Here is promised the blessing of the Lord that “makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it”. (Prov. 10:22) Not only was blessing promised to Abram, and to those who showed favor to him, but Abram himself was to be a blessing. And not only was the blessing to be of the highest quality, that is, the blessing of the Lord, but it was to be of the widest application, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”.
The second feature was the assurance that Abram would father a large posterity. “I will make you a great nation”. Abram was to have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, and so on.
The third feature was that Abram’s election, coupled with personal, national and international blessing, was in the gift of God, and that the Lord personally committed Himself to keep His promise. “I will make you a great nation”; “I will bless you and make your name great”; “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
The different elements of the promise are, in large part, a reversal of the judgment on Adam. There it was exile, here it is a fellowship (Abraham will be called the friend of God) – there it was pain in childbirth, here it is the joy of children in abundance. In the expansion of the promise into a covenant agreement there will be added a homeland which adds a further contrast because Adam was put out of the most fruitful garden on the planet into a world with uncooperative soil, while Abraham’s posterity will live in a land flowing with milk and honey. Like Adam, who had only one command to obey, this promise of great blessing had only one condition, a requirement that Abram leave Ur of the Chaldees, the city “consecrated to the worship of Sin, the Babylonian moon-god”. It appears there could be no blessing while Abram remained in Babylonia, the territory that consistently rebelled against the living God.
So Abram had met with God, heard His voice, and been assured of His care. What an encounter! What promises! Stephen, referring to this event said, “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran”. (Acts 7:2)
The Genesis account puts it slightly differently. “The word of the Lord came to Abram” (Gen. 15:1) and “Behold, the word of the Lord came to him” (Gen.15:4) This is the first mention of the “word of the Lord” in the Bible. Stephen identified the “word of the Lord” as “the God of Glory”. Here, surely, is an indication that it was the pre-incarnate Christ, the Word who was in the beginning with God, and who is God, that made the covenant with Abram. Jesus, the incarnate glory of God was first the pre-incarnate God of Glory.
Abram did, in fact, leave his home, and followed the guidance of the Lord, albeit, with some delay as he cared for his father. They tarried in Haran, a city also dedicated to the worship of the moon-god, Sin. The fulfillment of the promises of the Lord would have to wait until His chosen vessel had fully departed from the contaminated atmosphere of idolatry. But even when Abram and his household had reached the promised land, Abram’s personal commitment yet had some way to run. The severance from his family was still incomplete because his nephew Lot accompanied him. While Lot remained, Abram encountered difficulties. Canaan did not yield its produce to him – it was hit by famine, and he took a detour down into Egypt. If Babylon, represents the world against God, Egypt certainly represents the world without God. Alas, Egypt contaminated both Abram and Lot. Lot enjoyed his stay in Egypt, and even after he had left, the land that was watered by the Nile influenced him. When he was required to separate from Abram, He saw an area that reminded him of Egypt. There was a well-watered plain, and cities nearby. With the memory of Egypt fresh in his mind, he chose to pitch his tent towards Sodom. It did not take long for him to relinquish the life of a nomad and become a city dweller – in Sodom, of all places! He not only became a city dweller but an elder of Sodom, sitting in an official capacity at its gate. Abram, in the meanwhile, continued to look for a “city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God”. (Heb.11.10)
It was not until Lot had gone did God fully confirm the detail of His undertaking. “And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are— northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.’” (Gen. 13:14-17) This new word from the Lord, not only re-established the promise of a nation coming from his loins, but also added detail that had not been expressed previously, that is, the land to which he was guided would be given to his descendents, the nation that he would father. It was only after Abram had removed from the influence of both Babylon, and Egypt, and had finally separated from his family, did God repeat the divine promise.
The Scriptural assessment of his obedience is summed up in the catalogue of heroes, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going”. (Heb. 11:8) This verse identifies the element that is at the heart of a covenant relationship with the Lord and an essential ingredient in any obedience offered – faith. “By faith Abraham obeyed”.
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