Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119.103
| Text size: +/-A Word in Time
This week's theme: The Father of Many Nations
Caption:Lot drinking with his daughters, by Lucas van Leyden. CC-Art.com
Tuesday 23rd June 2009
"Then Abram said to Lot, 'Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left'." (v.8-9)
Background
The book of Genesis is very often concerned with the capacity of the land to support its peoples and territorial disputes. The Negeb, east of Egypt, was especially drought-prone (the word comes from a root meaning 'parched'). The land could not sustain two large herds living together.
So Lot separates from Abram. What appeared to be good grazing land did not fulfil its promise. Lot's story becomes one of displacement and flight (see Genesis 19, especially verse 30).
But what of our theme – Abram, the father of many nations? At this stage in the narrative, the pattern of blessing entails separation. Lot, ancestor of Moab and Ammon, parts from Abram. Drunken relations with his daughters in a cave (Genesis 19:30-38) are later to put his descendants under a cloud of shame.
This separation or branching in Abram's line of descendants is repeated later in his favouring of Isaac over Ishmael, and the birthright given to Jacob not Esau. The peculiar line of blessing from Yahweh (one of the ancient Hebrew names for God) through Abram seems to follow only one branch.
Abram is indeed to father a great nation through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. Yet Moab and the descendants of Lot are also included in the divine plan. Ruth the Moabite is to become the ancestor of Jesse and David (a future king of Israel).
The story of divine blessing and Yahweh's relation with the peoples of the earth cannot be told exclusively with reference to Abram's line of descendants through Isaac.
These ancient texts account for the existence of many peoples in a geographical region. Theologically, they tell the story of election through Abram and one line of his descendants. Crucially, however, the many distinct peoples of the world – including the descendants of Lot – also trace their origin to the creator God.
To Ponder
Contrary to appearances, drought-prone land (rather than lush plains, chosen by Lot) was to be the bearer of the divine promise. How does this seem to suggest that God's valuation of the sources of blessing might be different from ours?
Consider the role played in these ancient texts by the 'land'. Elsewhere, the land seems almost to acquire agency (Leviticus 18:25). How can you, as a modern-day reader, interpret this?
Bible notes author: Dr Esther Reed
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