Two reviews ahead of Advent, including a Hebraic offering that might just change your Christmas.

Torah portion: Genesis 12:1-17:27

Lech Lecha (‘Go!’)

This is a parashah like no other: an account of the beginnings of a people God formed for Himself out of all mankind.

Abram was 75 years old when he and his wife Sarai obeyed God’s call to leave his home and relations and go to a land God would show him. All they knew was that it was to be Canaan – they didn’t get to decide whether it would be a nice, comfortable place to live. Abram and Sarai simply had to obey and trust the Lord.

What is more, this was not a young couple going out to seek fame and fortune (so to speak), but an old couple who may well, until God’s call, have felt that life had passed them by and have been in the process of making themselves comfortable for the latter years. They had once before followed Abram’s father Terah on such a venture towards Canaan, only to settle at Haran instead.

We can only imagine the inner struggles they might have experienced, deciding whether or not to obey the call. But obey they did!

Adventures and Misadventures

This elderly couple arrived in the Promised Land only to find it possessed by others. In Genesis 12:7 God confirmed they had indeed found the right place, appearing to Abram and saying, “I will assign this land to your offspring”.

I don’t see in Abram and Sarai a couple who were super-pious. They explored the country but got frightened sufficiently by a famine to head to Egypt. There, out of fear for their lives, they played a dangerous game of deceit that ended in them being booted out. Later, their increasing wealth led to quarrels and division: nephew Lot and household separated and got enmeshed in a local battle requiring Abram’s intervention.

Offspring had been part of God’s promise but Abram was now 85 and still waiting. Abram and Sarai notoriously agreed their own plan to ‘make it happen’ and Ishmael was born. But when Abram was 99 years old God clarified his covenant promise that a son would nevertheless come through Sarai, changing their names to Abraham and Sarah as a sign.

Encouragement for Us

Thinking about this account I see the evidence of strength and vigour growing, not diminishing, as Abraham and Sarah worked out their path of trusting obedience through adventures and misadventures. Several hundred years later Isaiah may have had Abraham in mind when he wrote to encourage struggling Israel:

He gives strength to the weary, fresh vigour to the spent. Youths may grow faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but they who trust in the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles grow new plumes: they shall run and not grow weary, they shall march and not grow faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31)

But you Israel my servant…seed of Abraham my friend…Be not frightened, for I am your God; I strengthen you and I help you, I uphold you with my victorious right hand. (41:8-10)

Whilst spoken to and still relevant for Israel today, I believe these words hold a tremendous encouragement for us grafted-in Gentile believers: to never give up following our Lord as he directs our paths – no matter our age, position or ability.

Author: John Quinlan

Quotations from the Jewish Study Bible.

Torah Portion: Genesis 6:9-11:32

Noach (‘Noah’)

The story of the Flood is, I believe, often glossed over by Christians, either because it is considered to be classic (even clichéd) Sunday School material or because it quickly becomes caught up in arguments about Creationism and the possibility of a literal worldwide flood.

Either way, what easily gets missed is the story’s vivid, timely portrayal of the Gospel: a corrupt world under the weight of imminent judgment – the sin of humanity polluting the very land, spoiling the entire fabric of Creation – and a remarkable way of escape from this judgment being provided by God for the one righteous man amongst all humanity, and those under His protection.

The Lord Knows How to Rescue the Godly

This one blameless Man, a preacher of repentance, “walked faithfully with God” and “did everything just as God commanded Him” (Gen 6:9, 22), fulfilling the Lord’s specific instructions for achieving salvation to the letter. His righteousness and obedience made a way for His entire family to be saved - his blood relatives and those covenanted into the family by marriage. The righteousness of these folk is not considered in the scriptural account, their place in the lifeboat guaranteed by His righteousness alone.

The account of the Flood paints a horrifying picture of the ubiquity and rottenness of human sin, reminding us of how much it grieves God’s heart (Gen 6:6). But it also tells of the richness of His mercy in protecting and providing for those who trust in Him – not necessarily taking them out of the trouble, but saving them through it, carrying them through the midst of judgment and death in miraculous safety and peace.

If we wonder about the applicability of such a passage today, we ought to look no further than Yeshua’s words in Matthew 24, where He directly compares the days preceding His return with the days of Noah. Peter later taught that if God brought Noah and his family through the Flood, “then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment” (2 Pet 2:5, 9).

To the Uttermost

Noah’s sons and their wives all survived the Flood, but not all of them went on to finish well (Gen 9). This should, for all of us, warrant humility and holy fear. However, the abiding theme of this week’s Torah portion, even with this warning, is one of hope: that our God knows how to carry His people through, “to save [them] completely” (Heb 7:25, other translations “to the uttermost”). The key is entrusting ourselves to His loving care, depending on His provision of salvation in the righteousness of Yeshua, living out that faith in obedience to His Word, our weaknesses swallowed up in His strength.

In the day of judgment, may we be found in the ark of Yeshua’s salvation, under His righteous protection – along with many others who have been brought into the same family: the family of God. There is a greater destruction coming even than the Flood (2 Pet 3) but He knows how to carry us through, to the “new heaven and [the] new earth, where righteousness dwells.”

Author: Frances Rabbitts