Gen. 18: 16 – 33 – Abraham’s Intercessions – Held on Sunday, October 28, 2012

Gen. 18:16 – 33 – Abraham’s Intercessions

Review

We started off focusing our attention on a remark that Ken had submitted on our blog last week.  As I heard Ken, he assumed first of all that from an unknown but earliest period in humankind “hospitality” as portrayed in the passage would not have been present, a value for the earliest human beings.  He also felt that “debauchery and wickedness” would have been more prevalent in these earlier times and is present but less prevalent today.  One of the most critical values in our group’s gathering is the freedom and comfort to say whatever we are thinking.  I personally believe that without that climate the very Word of God is hindered from entering into our lives.  The only place to begin is where we actually are.  Having said that, it doesn’t mean that what we assume or think is correct or true.  In fact, most adult learning is from ignorance or error to truth.  As adults we already have a rather well formed world view in which we live and handle the triumphs and tribulations that fill our life.

The question then for each of us, Is the direction of human history one of ongoing growth and development, slow and back forth, but essentially moving forward; forward not within the field of knowing, that is science, nor in the field of making, that is technology but in the field of practical living, that is in our moral and, for we believers, in our religious life, our relationship with God in Christ Jesus?  What is your opinion on this question?

Faryl offered her take on the question.  She thinks that we have and will continue to advance in both knowledge and technology but our moral being is pretty much as it has been from the beginning.  When both of these factors are at play we find ourselves having potential for ever greater good and ever greater evil.  In conclusion she feels that history is evidence of both the ever greater good and evil occurring.

Background

A first step in learning about the background to this and any of our passages is to read the notes, http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/18, as they apply to vv. 16 – 33.

This passage can be further broken down into three subsections.

1. In verses 16 – 19, God is talking to the other two men [Abraham can hear but isn’t part of the conversation.  The key verse is verse 19: “Indeed, I have singled him out that he may direct his children and his household in the future to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD may put into effect for Abraham the promises he made about him.” I have bolded the heart of this whole passage, and in some sense of the Jewish Covenant.
2. In verses 20 – 22, we can note the transition taking place,
   1. First looking back at verse 16 we are told that the three men “looked toward Sodom”
   2. And now in verse 22 we read that two of the men “went toward Sodom,” leaving God and Abraham together and setting the stage for the ensuing dialogue between them.
   3. If we look forward to chap. 19:01 we learn that the two mean “came to Sodom.”

We also learn that the LORD intends to find out if things are as bad as they have been reported.  In verse 21, there is a very telling phrase, “If not …” placed by the author on the lips of the LORD.  The “if” reveals that our future is open and dependent in part upon us; for “it” [life as we live it] can be different and the LORD intends to find out.

3. In verses 23 – 33 we come to the heart of the whole passage, Abraham interceding, assuming and beginning to fulfill his role as a blessing for all the nations and thus fulfilling the LORD’s promise.

Our Questions

For the sake of completeness I will include in our blog the basic questions that guide us in hearing the passages we study each week.

1. First who are the characters and what role does each play? To the extent that we can identify
   1. what the characters say and do, or
   2. don’t say and do but we would expect them to do so, and
   3. finally when they enter into the passage and leave it

we can more easily and more accurately know what their role is from the point of view of the author and / or the editor of the passage.

1. The “when” question is quite complicated and again for the sake of completeness; there is
   1. The “when” within the story / passage itself,
   2. The “when” of the editor, and most importantly,
   3. The “when” of our life at the time we are actually reading / studying the passage.
2. What is the plot, the point of the passage?
3. Finally, because each passage is at one and the same time the word of human being and the Word of God, there is revealed the values that are part and parcel of the human beings in their time and place and there is the values revealed by God for the believer.  Our final question is to discern which values in the passage are attractive to us, we are drawn to and which are we repulsed by, inclined to reject?  The more difficult task, if we do identify these two responses in us of the values revealed, which are of God and we are being challenged to embrace and which are not of God and we are being challenged to develop.

My Refrain

Before we read though, let’s quiet ourselves, remember whatever we can from the background, our questions and, most importantly, pay attention to what happens inside of us as we read.

Reading of the passage http://www.usccb.org/bible/genesis/18.

Discussion Gen. 18:16 – 33 – Abraham’s Intercession

The discussion of this passage will continue in our next session but a couple of points seem important to me.  First in the version we read in the study group, verse 23 and the following translate the “right” in verse 19 as “innocent” whereas in version it is translated as “righteous.”  In the scholars I use to guide me, justice and righteousness are critical terms to understand in their full breadth and depth.  They hearken back to the creation story, run through the whole of the Jewish scripture and invite us to maintain and promote all our relations to include our relationship with the earth and all that fills it; the earth itself, the plants, the animals and all of our fellow human beings.

A second point came into focus when we wondered why Abraham stopped at “ten” righteous persons.  Like most numbers in the scripture the number “ten” in this account is symbolic, means more than one thing.  For example, it might have meant that Abraham was now convinced that God would be faithful to his way of justice and righteousness.  It could have meant that any lesser number would imply treating the situation on an individual rather than a social basis.  There are other possible meanings but these two might give us a taste of the richness of the author / editor.

Your comments, observations, questions are welcomed.  See “comment” link below.