Our Father Abraham
Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life; and he was gathered to his people. Genesis 25:8 NASB
Satisfied with life – Let’s talk about death. In particular, let’s talk about the death of Abraham. Abraham is the father of our faith. Paul holds him up as the paradigm of God’s redemptive grace. He is first in the heroes of the faithful. His life is the foundation of God’s chosen people. God’s promise to Abraham is the reason we serve the Lord today. There is hardly a more important figure in the Tanakh than Abraham.
But far too often we think of Abraham’s faith in our categories, not his. We forget that Abraham didn’t have a single line from the Bible. He didn’t have the historical hindsight of our generation. He didn’t know anything about Yeshua. And most of his life, he experienced God’s silence. Abraham could not have endorsed our creeds, produced a modern statement of faith, written a systematic theology or recognized anything in our worship services. He is our father, but his understanding of YHWH was radically different than ours.
Some of this is just a matter of God’s progressive revelation. Abraham didn’t know because God didn’t reveal it to him. He knew what he had to know. But some of this enormous difference is the result of cultural importing. Instead of reading Abraham as an ancient near-eastern Semite, we read him as if he sat in the back of the sanctuary, saying “Amen” to our stage performance. Perhaps we can begin to appreciate how much we have misread Abraham if we consider his death instead of his life.
Notice that the verse says absolutely nothing about life after death. Not a hint! Abraham lived a long and fruitful life. Then he died. The NASB glosses the Hebrew idiom zaken vesavea, literally “aged full.” The idea that Abraham was satisfied with his life is a contemporary cultural import. We are the ones who demand to be satisfied with life. There is no indication that such an expectation was part of Abraham’s culture. In fact, there are several ancient near-eastern cultural facts that overturn such a translation. Consider these:
1. H. W. Wolff argues that “man does not have nephesh, he is nephesh, he lives as nephesh.” Nephesh is granted to Man. It still belongs to God. God is its source. We do not have it as a piece of divinity now inherently resident in us. Genesis 35:18 suggests that nephesh departs at death.
2. “Where the nephesh is related to awareness and perception, the ruah is related to consciousness and vitality. Like nephesh, the ruah is not understood as continuing to exist once the person dies. Indeed, it is difficult to demonstrate that a person has his/her own ruah. Rather, each person has God’s ruah.”
“What continues to exist in Sheol after death is neither nephesh nor ruah.” [1]
3. The near-eastern view of death means that life is returned to the Creator. To be human is to be a guardian of what originally and ultimately belongs to God. To die is to simply return to God what was always His.
4. Therefore, life is what life is NOW! To live a full life is to experience God’s purposes in my life now while I am the custodian of His gift. In fact, the singular orientation of the Tanakh, from Abraham to Isaiah, is the duty and honor of service to God while I live. It is not accidental that there is almost nothing about an after-life in the Tanakh. The preoccupation with eternal life had to develop during the time between the end of the prophets and the end of the Sages. How much of that development was influenced by Greek metaphysics and the Greek concern with the heavenly abode has yet to be determined.
This much is clear about Abraham. He lived a life purposeful to God – and he died. Whether or not Abraham considered his life satisfying is irrelevant and anachronistic. The story of Abraham is God’s autobiography, not Abraham’s biography.
Would you have the faith of Abraham? Would you follow God based on His call alone? Would your faith be diminished if you put aside the idea of heaven and heavenly rewards? Can you still love the Lord as much if the end is “gathered to your people”? I am not suggesting that heaven isn’t real or that there isn’t life after death. Yeshua clearly teaches that there is. What I am asking is more fundamental. Do you have faith like Abraham, who perhaps never knew any of the hope of the other side? Could you walk with God as Abraham walked if your life were returned to the Creator at death? Or are you “faithful” because you are looking for something more than “aged full”?
Topical Index: death, zaken vesavea, aged full, Genesis 25:8, Abraham
[1] John Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament, p. 214
Good questions this morning, Skip. As believers, we need to answer them (or at least consider them) BEFORE we give others our reason for the Hope within us! Otherwise we might simply be adding Christ as a supernatural means to help in our pursuit of happiness.
Thanks Skip – as usual – spot on in your understanding. “Abba Father I will walk with You from this day forward. To You alone does my whole heart belong. Thank You for washing me with the blood of the Lamb. All glory to our Abba Father and King who never gives up on us and who gives us the desire and strenght to admit the sin in our lives and to return to Him wholeheartedly.
Shalom Shalom!
“then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” – Ecc. 12:7
This has always made it clear to me, about the spirit departing. I have thought of this in very comforting terms. As going “full circle.”
Skip, this lesson brought a Johnny Cash
song to mind…
How many times have
You heard someone say
If I had his money
I could do things my way
But little they know
That it’s so hard to find
One rich man in ten
With a satisfied mind
Skip,
It used to be difficult to talk with people about salvation. Too many of them simply believed (and still do) that salvation was simply a decision they made to “follow” G_d. There were no life changes that needed to be made and no instructions to follow; just a mental assent to God. Right? Well, I am experiencing today that much of that belief of salvation is changing. People do understand that G_d indeed requires something of us. But, the subject of the afterlife has taken its place. Anytime I suggest that the discussion of the afterlife is really irrelevant, the blank stares and defesive quesions begin. Today’s study is deeply important because to realize that Abraham “didn’t have a single line from the Bible. He didn’t have the historical hindsight of our generation. He didn’t know anything about Yeshua. And most of his life, he experienced God’s silence. Abraham could not have endorsed our creeds, produced a modern statement of faith, written a systematic theology or recognized anything in our worship services. He is our father, but his understanding of YHWH was radically different than ours,” makes all the difference. Maybe we need to put down the books of the dispensationalists and simply pick up the Book. 🙂
Jimmy
That would be a good start, wouldn’t it. On the other hand, Abraham didn’t even have the Book. So maybe we need to exam how he lived before we run to the text for more education.
“Some of this is just a matter of God’s progressive revelation. Abraham didn’t know because God didn’t reveal it to him. He knew what he had to know.” SEEMS THIS IS VERY TRUE TODAY & HAS NEVER CHANGED…
“Would you have the faith of Abraham? Would you follow God based on His call alone? Would your faith be diminished if you put aside the idea of heaven and heavenly rewards?” I DON’T THINK MANY BELIEVERS IN CHRIST EVEN THINK ABOUT HEAVENLY REWARDS – I DON’T THINK/FEEL THAT IS WHAT IS THE BASIS FOR WHAT THEY DO BUT MAYBE IT SHOULD BE – WHY ARE WE EVEN ON THIS SUBJECT – I DON’T KNOW ANYONE THAT DWELLS ON OR MENTIONS THIS MORE THAN YOU DO, SKIP?!?!?!
AND WHY WOULD ANYONE BE DISAPPOINTED IF THEY WERE RETURNED TO THEIR CREATOR AT DEATH – ISN’T THAT WHAT HEAVEN IS??? “Do you have faith like Abraham, who perhaps never knew any of the hope of the other side? Could you walk with God as Abraham walked if your life were returned to the Creator at death? Or are you “faithful” because you are looking for something more than “aged full”? A TRUE BELIEVER IS FAITHFUL NO MATTER WHAT – IS NOT EVEN IN OUR DNA TO GO AROUND THINKING ABOUT IF WE DO THIS OR DO THAT OR HAVE FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAINS THAT WE ARE GOING TO GET SOMETHING REALLY GREAT – DOESN’T MEAN IT IS WRONG IF BELIEVERS THINK OF IT ONCE IN A WHILE BUT I TRULY DON’T KNOW ANY BELIEVERS IN CHRIST THAT MAKES THIS THE CRUX OR THEIR FAITH?!?!?!
jan
Hi Jan,
Maybe you don’t get out much 🙂 but if you happen to stumble upon a Baptist church or a Pentecostal assembly, you are likely to hear about “receiving a crown in heaven” for the good things you did on earth. Rewards are a big part of the theology. In fact, HEAVEN is often portrayed as a reward.
What about the teaching in the NT about “rewards” after we have passed from this life into the next? Was this a new concept or a foreign concept to the writers of the NT? And if there is teaching on such rewards, why would they mean anything unless there was some concept of living life righteously and faithfully now for some presently deferred but future hope of reward? (“well done good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your master” and the making you ruler over cities comments etc.). Just curious, I suppose, as to One, does the Bible (OT and/or NT) teach the concept of rewards and Two, if it does, what is it’s place in the grand scheme of things if only the Present or Now is really what is important? Why even talk about future rewards or deferred hope if the future wasn’t really all that important?
You have hit upon some of the more basic issues of discipleship.
What is important to remember is that some of the things that are not written in the scriptures is just as important as to what is recorded. Often it is our understanding this aspect of our religion that is critical to our understanding of spiritual things. This is one reason why the Oral Law is so important to understand much of the Old Covenant worldview.
For example, The first recorded instance of appealing to the Oral Law is in Numbers 15:32-36, where the first individual to provide an ‘oral law’ (instructions on how to observe the written law) was God, Himself! Next, we have recorded in the Old Covent writings that several men did not see death, but was taken directly into God’s presence. From the New Covent writings, we know that at least two O.T. personalities had a living presence after their deaths, namely Moses and Elijah when they visited Yeshua on a mountain, and that the precept of a resurrection (future judgment) was a firmly establish theological position among the Jewish majority prior to the advent of Christ.
While there was a general knowledge of an after-life among the Hebrews, it really did not have strong ‘reality’ hold on the average individual. The reason being, that if one did not please God in the here and now, today, their life might well be judged to be forfeit during the year following the anual Yom Kippur festival in Jerusalem. While God has always offered mankind a future, with the promise of physical and spiritual blessings, His focus has always been on the here and now. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” God wants an ongoing and maturing personal relationship (a spiritual reality, as demonstrated in the lives of Noah, Abraham, and Peter and Paul), while mankind generally wants the abundance of material blessings (self centered gratification). Perhaps this explains why this verses is so seldom preached, it does not provide for our immediate gratification:
Eph 1:3-5, Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, [KJV]
Or, as noted in Eph 2:7-8, “And [God] hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [laces] in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
Reminder: I am talking about is where man’s focus is most often found, not a statement that God does not care, or that He does not respond to our daily needs and desires! It is our world view that needs examination and brought into line with ‘our Father’s’, using the Son’s worldview as our ‘in the world’ example to follow. Now, we are ready to ‘count the costs’ of discipleship.
Wonderful!
Here are some words to ponder upon:
Gen 26:1-6 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar. The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; settle down in the land that I will point out to you. Stay in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, and I will fulfill the solemn promise I made to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” So Isaac settled in Gerar. [NET]
Here in the West, so many forget that the Hebrew (scriptural) mindset centers on “what must I do to please God”, while we center on “what can I get God to do for me.” While the promises of God are ‘out there’ and solid, it took many generations before the children of Abraham actually saw the promise being fulfilled. That is, we simply do not recognize that every covenant God has made with man requires a list of give and take from both parties!
Question: How many disciples of HaMaschiah actually know, understand, and observe the the Brit Chadasha (New Covenant) requirements levied on individuals who would enter into a covenant with our creator?
A.W.,
“That is, we simply do not recognize that every covenant God has made with man requires a list of give and take from both parties!” I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT MOST OF GOD’S PROMISES ARE CONDITIONAL – HE DOES HIS PART & WE DO OUR PART & ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER DOES NOT CONSTITUTE FULFILLMENT OF THE PROMISE – IT DOESN’T HAPPEN, BUT MOST DO NOT & WILL NOT AGREE ON THAT FOR SURE…
I SEE IT EVERY WHERE IN SCRIPTURE… MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD TO BE SAVED & THAT IS IT – DON’T KNOW ABOUT OBEDIENCE OR REPENTANCE OR HAVE NEVER BEEN TAUGHT & DON’T EVER READ THE BIBLE/TORAH – HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SANCTIFICATION IS & JUST CONTINUE TO WALK IN THEIR FLESH & THINK IT OKAY… 🙁 I DON’T THINK MOST PEOPLE RECEIVE THE FAVOR/BLESSINGS OF GOD WITHOUT OBEDIENCE TO THE CONDITIONS OF THE PROMISES – JUST DON’T HAPPEN MOST OF THE TIME BUT I HAVE KNOW A FEW EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE…
TO ME IT IS SO PLAIN THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE BUT OTHERS DON’T SEEM TO SEE IT OR WANT TO SEE IT BECAUSE THEN THEY WILL BE RESPONSIBLE & BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE – IGNORANCE IS BLISS OR IS IT?!?!!?
jan
“Some of this is just a matter of God’s progressive revelation. Abraham didn’t know because God didn’t reveal it to him.”
Arguments from silence are usually risky. We really don’t know the full extent of God’s revelation to Abraham. All we have is what is recorded. Do we assume there is nothing more?
Consider: What did Cain and Abel have that allowed them to know a) they should sacrifice, and b) what should be sacrificed? We’re not told. We’re not told how they knew, although we can make some intelligent deductions.
When Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, he seemed confident in two things: a) that he and Isaac would return, and b) YHVH would provide a sacrificial lamb. How did he know these things? We’re not told how he knew them. But it is recorded that YHVH “spoke” to Abraham. At the age of 99, Abram has a “conversation” with YHVH that results in a name change and a promise.
We certainly have a progressive written revelation of God. But should we assume that Scripture tells us everything that happened prior to the codification of the Torah, or just those things YHVH thought were relevant for us to know?
Indeed, Ian. As Art quoted above from Genesis 26: “All this will come to pass because Abraham obeyed me and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
The scriptures don’t tell us everything – they tell us what we need to know in order to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives. Just like they don’t tell us anything of what happened before “Bereshiyt”. Here’s one for you that I heard a while back; the sages say that the scriptures begin with the letter Beyt rather than Aleph for a specific reason. Just as Aleph is silent, the written record is silent about all that was before “bereshiyt” – it is hidden from us because we don’t need to know. 🙂
Good point, Ian. We don’t really know what Abraham knew, and we can certainly see that Scripture implies more knowledge by the ancient people than we have in written form. However, I hope this point doesn’t deter us from realizing that the presence of God is essential, regardless of accessibility to the text.
One of the challenging points in understanding Scripture is this very issue, the presence of God. Somehow the Real Presence and the written Word need to coalesce better in our lives to make our faith a vibrant and living faith, rather than a set of sterile propositions.
But I think that’s the message you’re trying to have us understand. 🙂
Skip, “Maybe you don’t get out much but if you happen to stumble upon a Baptist church or a Pentecostal assembly, you are likely to hear about “receiving a crown in heaven” for the good things you did on earth. Rewards are a big part of the theology. In fact, HEAVEN is often portrayed as a reward.”
I VISITED A VERY SMALL BAPTIST CHURCH AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR BECAUSE IT WAS REALLY CLOSE TO ME ON WEDNESDAY EVENING BIBLE STUDY & OCCASIONALLY ON SUNDAY – THEY NEVER SPOKE OF HEAVEN OR CROWNS (WHICH I HAVE HEARD IN MY LIFE TIME) BUT I DIDN’T STAY BECAUSE I FELT I WAS GOING BACKWARD INSTEAD OF FORWARD WITH MY GROWTH IN THE LORD SO I LEFT. THE PENTECOSTAL ASSEMBLY IS WHAT IT IS & HAVEN’T BEEN IN THEIR CONGREGATION(S) IN YEARS BUT I THINK BOTH OF THE ABOVE HAVE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES THAT ARE OUT OF LINE THEN BEING TOLD YOU ARE GOING TO RECEIVE A REWARD IN HEAVEN.
YEP, I DON’T GET AROUND MUCH TO DIFFERENT CONGREGATIONS – PRETTY MUCH STAY OUT OF THE ORGANIZED CHURCHES – GET TO GRIEVED IN MY SPIRIT WHEN I GO OR STAY TOO LONG…
jan
I completely understand that remark. I too am grieved when I sit through most services. My work takes me to many and often I have the “I’m going backwards” feelings. Press on, sister.
I like what my pastor said: “I would follow Christ if there were no heaven.” Why? Because Yeshua said, (we do listen to Him, -right?) – “I am come that you might have life, and have it more abundantly..” The Saving Life of Christ- “amen!”
Was Abraham “satisfied” at the end of his days? Yes, He was. Completely. – And am I satisfied- right here- right now- right where I am? Am I satisfied to be “in Christ?”- Yes, completely and abundantly. Folks- “my cup runneth over” (also!) That I (too) may know Him..” This is my goal and this is G-d’s progressive revelation to me over the course of time- day by day- and with each passing moment, -strength, (rest, comfort) I find to meet my trials here!- Where does my Help (Rest, Comfort, Strength) come from? lol!- My help comes from ADONAI- the LORD, my LORD- Maker of Heaven AND Earth. He, my Friends is LORD of the “was, the now”, and the “then.” Past, present, future- all are His and (good news!)- I now belong to Him! I am His by right of creation (formed and fashioned according to His good pleasure) and I am also His by right of Calvary- “bought with the precious blood of Christ.”
Abraham was part and parcel of the blood-covenant of Friendship. This was instituted and performed by YHWH. G-d did it all. Just as Jesus “paid it all” at Calvary. And friends, – “all” to Him I owe. G-d did that. He did it for Abraham, and He did it for me also. The blood-covenant of (true) Friendship. Am I (also) a friend of G-d? Yes, I am. I may be His friend,- but He is my LORD. I am Mephibosheth eating at the King’s table- ‘only’ because of the King’s invitation and because of the blood-covenant of Friendship- the King offered to him who was lame in both his feet.
(Only) because of Him. Amein!
Yes. My answer is yes praise God. Thank you for this insightful and thought provoking article.
The beauty of the way God designed our time and space life, is that we are always in the “NOW”.
And while we presently know Jesus’ teachings about eternal life, He’d be the first to tell us it’s already happening “NOW”. It’s to be enjoyed NOW!
Abraham wasn’t cheated or denied a blessed thing because of his antiquity. He experienced the very presence of God Himself . . . and he experienced Him “NOW” in his time.
We do the same! Nothing beats “NOW”. Why would we possibly desire anything more?
In general, the seven covenants God has made with man fall into the following categories:
1. The Adamic Covenant (Garden, Pre Fall)
2. Edenic (Post Fall)
3. Noah Covenant (Post Flood)
4. Abraham’s (Patriarchal) Covenant
5. Mosaic Covenant, also referred to as the Mt. Sinai or Wilderness (the promise) Covenant.
6. Davidic (Eternal Kingdom Covenant)
7. First Messianic Covenant (or the Covenant of Completion). The current Covenant.
8. Marriage Supper of the Lamb Covenant (Second Messianic & Post Judgment Covenant, The Covenant of New Beginnings)
In each case the ‘newer’ covenant made by God with man resulted in His taking the ‘old covenant’ stipulations, modifying (expanding in scope) them, and included them in the ‘new’ follow up covenant. In each case, rather than repeating all that went before, as unnecessary and redundant, we are given insight into some of the major updates to the revelation of God’s nature and what He actually requires of us. What we currently have is the most complete listing of all of the previous Covenant requirements as outlined in the Mosaic Covenant, and the fulfillment of that covenant with the advent of the Messiah.
When the Mosaic covenant was illuminated with the advent of Yeshua, the Davidic Covenant came into effect (another promise delayed). Upon the end of the Messiah’s physical ministry, the entire revealed Law of God became expressed in the current ‘New, first Messianic Covenant’, i.e. the Spirit trumps the letter of the Law by integrating it into our souls (to live and to walk in the Spirit) – for those who will allow it to be so! We should have noted by now, that no covenant is/was a standalone covenant, but each, in turn, represented a progressive revelation of God to mankind. What should our worldview be now? I would recommend, as a starting point, a detailed, word by word, line by line study of Matthew chapters 5 through 7.
Shalom Aleichem
The final covenant will be ushered in when everything has been fulfilled, and expressed in the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we shall finally know God as He is, even as He knows us today. All of the covenants will be fully known, understood, and integrated into the final, complete, and most intimate covenant (marriage) relationship to be experienced between all members of mankind, and between all of God’s creation with the Creator. This is a concept that is not easily grasped nor accepted, even by many professing followers of HaMashiach.
The above comment, “… intimate covenant (marriage) relationship to be experienced between all members of mankind, …” was not to be taken as advocating the ‘universal salvation’ theology! this statement is only address the redeemed of Christ.