The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”’ (Gen.12:1-3).
Learning is a natural ability God has given to every human being. A child’s mind is like a blank sheet when he/she is born on which what happens in the surroundings will be registered. Environment, family and society have major contribution to the learning of human beings. The patriarch Abraham was child like when the lord called him in (Gen. 12:1-3). Here, to begin with, Abraham seems to be a passive listener, but a closer look at the text shows that he is an ardent and obedient learner.
Let us examine some learning from Abraham narrative. There are three sources from which he mainly learnt. These areas should be viewed from the point of view of three promises god made to Abraham namely, posterity, blessing and the nationhood. God At one time Abraham doubted God and looked for alternatives to God’s promise heeding to Sarai’s voice (Gen.16:2). The more he trusted and related to God the better he understood about God. Eventually, God, for Abraham was more a personal God, that his descendents referred this personal God of patriarch Abraham as ‘God of my father, God of Abraham etc.
Abraham’s relationship with God grew so much that Abraham became partner with God in being blessing to mankind or in blessing mankind e.g. Abimelech (Gen.20:17). The other aspect of partnership with God is found in Abraham being a model of faith and intercession (Gen.18:17-33). From being beneficiary of the covenant God made, Abraham goes one step ahead where God considered him to be equal with Him and thus made Abraham a covenant partner.
Family The initial call of Abraham (Gen.12:1-3) was in the context where Abraham was just a member of his father’s house and a member of relatives. But as he obeyed that commandment of God, he got a family away from family. The Abraham narrative is just the account of how Abraham became a full family and how he became blessing to the families of the earth. This narrative pictures God as Abraham’s father and that Abraham as God’s son. His role as father of his children helped Abraham to understand God as father and wise versa.
Wherever Abraham went along with his family, he built altars and pitched his tent. Abraham built altars in Bethel (Gen.12:7-8), Hebron (Gen.13:4) and mount Moriah (Gen.22:9). The Christian Education should begin in the family rather than leaving it to godparents or some other individual/agency/ church. Other People/Nations Abraham understood that the kinsmen of Abraham namely Lot (i.e. Moabites, Ammonites) and Arameans though initially contended for heirship later kept themselves aloof from Abraham, thus paving the way for the future heir and thus became facilitators of the promise of posterity.
The two servants of Abraham namely Eliezer who was a potential heir and Hagar who played a role in the arrival of an heir could have claimed a share in the inheritance, or claimed hairship but they facilitated the arrival of the promise son being passive or by retreating. (but rather) Abraham later understood that God is not going to fulfill his promise through these servants. The third group of people Abraham learnt from is the kings and subjects of other nations, namely, Egyptian Pharaoh and his subjects (Gen.12:11-20), Philistine king, Abimelech and his subjects (Gen.20:10,11), Hittites and Amorites.
These groups also were related to Abraham through the theme of posterity. To begin with Abraham thought that they seem to be opposing the posterity of Abraham, but later he learnt that they in fact co-operated in God’s plan of giving Abraham offspring. One can notice that other people (non-chosen patriarchs, servants and other foreigners) also have a part to play in fulfillment of promise of son in this Abraham Narrative. Not only did the foreigners play their part in the fulfillment of promise, God also used the foreigners for learning and correction (Gen.12:10-20; Gen.20: 1-16). Learning/Teaching: The method Abraham learnt was trial and error method.
God seemed to allow Abraham to err and learn the lessons in a harder way. However after learning once in a harder way, later it was spontaneous. This method can be illustrated through the wife-sister incidents (Gen. 12 & 20). He landed in problem thrice (Gen.12, 20 &26), but after God came in his rescue, he learnt the lesson and depended on God. God took care of existential needs of Abraham and his men in the time of famine (Gen.13). Abraham could allow his nephew Lot to choose the economically lucrative region. In the Abraham narrative people and human relationships are given importance over economics.
God testified that Abraham would teach his descendents the way of the Lord. God says in Gen.18: 19 “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.” and in Gen.18: 17; Gen.22:16-17 God commended Abraham saying: “because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you….” In this incident of offering Isaac, Abraham has taught his son Isaac that God will take care. Here God commended Abraham’s teaching role. Thus, Abraham being one of the first ones to learn and live as ‘the called one’ becomes an example for learning in any given generation. The implication drawn from the patriarch is that time has come that we live out what we believe and proclaim Gospel through our presence rather than aggressive evangelism.
Author: Rev. Dr. Abraham Saggu is the Registrar of SAIACS and is currently teaching in the Dept. of Old Testament.
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