(Genesis 12:2-3, 15:1 ff, 17:1 ff and 18:1 ff)

God made a number promises to Abraham after his positive response to His call including the following.

God promised Abraham many descendants that they would be as many as the stars in heaven and as the sand on earth that some would be kings.

God promised to bless Abraham and make his name famous so that would be a source of blessing to many.

He also promised Abraham that He would bless whoever would bless him and curse whoever would curse him.

God promised to bless all the nations of the world through Abraham. This implied that everyone would benefit from Abraham's relationship with God.

God promised Abraham divine protection for He would shield him from any danger and give him all rewards.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in foreign land where they would be treated cruelly for four hundred years.

However, he promised Abraham that he would punish the nation that would enslave his descendants at the time of their liberation, they would take great wealth with them.

Beside, God promised Abraham that he would live to a ripe old age, die in peace and would be buried.

God promised Abraham that he would be the ancestor of many nations in the world. It was for this that He renamed him as Abraham.

God declared that He would keep His promise to Abraham and his descendants in future generations as an everlasting covenant

God promised Abraham that He would give him and his descendants the land in which he was a foreigner. The whole land of Canaan would belong to his descendants forever.

God promised Abraham that his descendant would be His people and that He would be their God forever.

God promised a son to Abraham even though he was so elderly. His wife, Sarah would bear for him a son they would call Isaac.

Besides, God declared that Abraham's son, Isaac would be a father to twelve princes and he would make a great nation out of his descendants.

Revision Questions

1. Discuss the promises that God made Abraham

2. Examine the universal nature of God's promise to Abraham.

3. How were these promises fulfilled in the later history?

· Abraham was given many descendants who became known as Israel

· God gave him a son named Isaac despite his old age

• God protected Abraham like during the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah

• Abraham's name remained famous among his descendants

• Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and treated cruelly

• He punished the Egyptians for treating Israel cruelly

• God rescued the Israelites free from slavery

• Israel conquered and possessed the Canaan land

• Abraham lived for more years up to old age

• Israel became God's own people and he remained their God

• Through Abraham the whole world became blessed.

· He is presented as a great grandfather of Jesus Christ who brought 's of salvation

GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

(Gen 15:1 ff)

A covenant is a bidding agreement which is either between two people or more involved equal parties, then it is known as bilateral covenant.

However, a covenant made between unequal parties that is between God sovereign covenants. Therefore, God's covenant with Abraham which is Abrahamic Covenant was a sovereign type.

In this covenant, God took the initiative to make a fresh start with hum person of Abraham whom He brought closer through a covenant relationship.

He commanded Abraham to present to Him a cow, a goat, and a ram, ea three years old and a dove and a pigeon.

Abraham cut the animals into half and placed each opposite the other in cut the birds.

The Lord appeared to Abraham when he was in deep sleep and made including making his descendants strangers in a foreign land where they lived but that He would later set them free.

In the evening hours, a smoking fire-pot and a flaming torch suddenly appeared and passed between the half of the animals. The smoking fire-pot and the flaming for the presence of God and His acceptance of Abraham's sacrifices.

The Nature or Characteristics of the Abraid

God's covenant with Abraham was sovereign in nature for He was the 'or being and Abraham the inferior being.

It involved promises for God declared to Abraham descendants would be strangers in a foreign land where they would be treated cruelly but that He would later set them free Genesis 15:13).

This covenant involved trust. Abraham trusted in God, who became pleased with him and accepted him (Genesis 15:6).

The covenant was characterized by faith. Abraham believed in the promises that God made to him like having many descendants among others.

God revealed His identity to Abraham during this covenant as the God who had led him out of his home land into another one (Genesis 15:7).

The covenant involved offering of sacrifices for Abraham presented to God animals like a cow, a goat and a ram and birds like a dove and a pigeon (Genesis 15:9-10).

The covenant was sealed using blood as Abraham cut the animals he had brought into halves before presenting them to God.

It involved obedience for Abraham was required to obey God and was also obliged to do what was right.

It involved the sign of circumcision. God instructed Abraham to circumcise himself and all his male descendants to show that he had made a covenant with Him and to help identify them as His people (Genesis 17:10-14).

It involved changes in names. Abram was renamed Abraham to mean the ancestor of many nations and his wife, Sarai became known as Sarah, which meant a mother of nations (Genesis 17:5 and 15).

The Abrahamic covenant was characterized by God's presence and revelation. He revealed Himself in a smoky fire-pot and a flaming torch that passed across the sacrifices.

The Covenant involved the worshiping of God. Abraham abandoned his traditional visible gods and began worshiping the Almighty God whom he bowed down before.

The Covenant was also conditional. God ordered Abraham to circumcise all his male descendants if they were to remain His people (Genesis 17:10-14).

It was characterized by God's holiness symbolized by the smoking fire-pot and the flaming torch that passed in between the halves of the sacrificial animals.

The Importance of Abraham to the Jews

Abraham was the founder of the Jewish nation for all them were the descendants that God had promised him.

Through Abraham, the Jews entered and occupied the land of Canaan. This land was promised to them through Abraham.

Abraham pioneered monotheism in Israel. Quite often the Jews were later urged to copy the example of their ancestor, Abraham by worshiping God only in order to prove their obedience.

The Israelites were the divine elect of God because of Abraham's obedience, faith and trust in God during His call. Therefore, they became the special and chosen people of God through Abraham.

Abraham's building of an altar during his relationship with God later became an important aspect of Israel's religion.

Abraham began the worship of God based on offering sacrifices during his call. This was art important religious practice among the people of Israel.

Through Abraham, the Israelites came to realize that God could call anyone, at anytime irrespective of background. Abraham was a sinner, but God used him to bring about salvation to the entire humanity.

Abraham's life in the wilderness and movement to a strange land laid the foundation of the Jewish life in the wilderness and their movement to and from Egypt.

The Jewish custom of circumcision of all the male children began with Abraham. Therefore, by following this custom, the Israelites belonged to the covenant which God had made with Abraham.

Abraham's faith in God laid a foundation of faith to which the Israelites were later urged to observe particularly by the prophets God had sent to them.

The call of Abraham laid the foundation to the call of Moses. God had promised Abraham that He could raise someone to set His people free from slavery.

Through Abraham, the Jews came to be saved and liberated from their Egyptian slavery. This was a promise God had made to Abraham.

God's covenant with Abraham gave meaning to the later covenants which God made with the people of Israel like that at the foot of Mount Sinai.

The people of Israel later enjoyed the blessing that God had promised to Abraham like their continued multiplication.

Through Abraham, Israel became a theocratic nation for God remained their father and they remained His people throughout their history.