It Begins
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you;” Genesis 12:1 NASB
From your father’s house – “ . . . the mandatory separation of Abraham from his kindred is unprecedented.”[1] But we don’t give it a second thought, do we? We don’t recognize that YHVH asks the unthinkable—to leave family, to separate from personal and communal identity, to erase all that made Abraham who he was. Right from the beginning! Breakage! Disconnection! Isolation in a world where connection meant safety, purpose and recognition. We think that Abraham responded to a spiritual calling, but the truth is much more devastating. Abraham responded to a call for extinction. To leave behind family and father was the equivalent of becoming nothing. God did not call Abraham to take on a new religion. He called Abraham to sacrifice himself!
When we come to the end of the journey, we find the same sacrificial call. But this time it’s not Abraham who is to be sacrificed. It’s Isaac. Or maybe not. Maybe the end is just like the beginning. Maybe the “sacrifice” of Isaac is once more a call for Abraham to erase himself, to give up whatever identity he has created in this new line that began when he left Mesopotamia. Maybe Abraham has to sacrifice twice before God knows the depth of his devotion. When he is called to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham is asked to erase all of the new identity that he created over those years of wandering. Yes, he did leave himself when he followed God “to a place I will show you,” but now he is asked to leave something else—all that he made of himself along the way to that place. Now, at the end, Abraham is asked to disconnect from everything again. Once it was about his past. Now it is about his future. The line will end. Isaac will die. The journey will have been for nothing.
Of course, the narrator tells us it’s just a test, but Abraham doesn’t know that. All Abraham knows is that he will become a blank space between God’s sentences. He will have lived and died without meaning. And yet, he does not hesitate. Just as he immediately obeyed the first call for extinction, he immediately obeys the last call for extinction. Perhaps that’s the real lesson of Abraham—to live as a blank space in the lines of God’s poetry, to not need to know the reason why but only to respond to the divine call. How many of us, willing to let go of our past, would as easily embrace an empty future? How many of us respond because there is still a rainbow’s end in view? How many of us are willing to serve as blank spaces, commas in God’s drama? No past, no future, only obedience?
I fear we have converted Abraham into a saint and forgotten he was a man.
Topical Index: Abraham, father, identity, Genesis 12:1
[1]Ringgren, TDOT, Vol. 1, p. 9.
“Breakage! Disconnection! Isolation in a world where connection meant safety, purpose and recognition… Abraham responded to a call for extinction. To leave behind family and father was the equivalent of becoming nothing. God did not call Abraham to take on a new religion. He called Abraham to sacrifice himself!”…”He will have lived and died without meaning. And yet, he does not hesitate.”
On the Road to Emmaus… “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Luke 24:27 NIV
Maybe… just maybe, Yeshua told these two disciples…
“I responded to a call for extinction. To leave My Father to become nothing. My Father did not called Me to take on a new religion. He called me to sacrifice Myself!”
As it is written:
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” Isaiah 53:7-11 KJV
Yeshua was put to death… not having a single descendant… no generation to tell… “who shall declare his generation?”…
But at the end, He will be rewarded with a new generation… He will see His seed…
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 KJV
Yeshua surely has prolonged His days… the pleasure of the Father has prospered in His hand… He has seen the travail of His soul and has been satisfied…
Alfredo, that was breathtaking!
This TW is one for me to meditate on. I walked away from my entire identity – my family, church community, and friends, in my youth. It was do that or die. I did all the wrong things to ‘find myself’ after that. It was terrifying to have no safety network in a dangerous world – a world that correctly perceived me as ‘easy pickings’ because of that. I learned things about myself and that world I would have never been able to see otherwise, however. Now, I am moving away from the community that my children identify with. I am going to seek Canaan in another place; a place where I am not “mom”, either. I am going to be thinking a lot about what that means when it comes to being willing to be an “empty space” that YHVH can color in with His idea of who He intends me to be on this planet.
This was O, so timely for me, Skip. Now I see the new story in that Good Book to lay my life over. Now I can see what my next choices should be, and why, as well as what can be expected to happen next. I can row securely into my future now because I know what, in that history, I should be focusing on to get me to where I need to go. I have learned so much! Thank you!
Dear Laurita, we are so pleased to hear that your future is becoming more tightly focussed. We travelled this same unknown road three times and ours came into focus only after we met Skip on a ship (I like that) and had our lives ruined five years ago. LOL
Laurita, our thoughts and prayers are with you as you make this transitional journey. Just a reminder you are not going or arriving to this new place alone. Aside from the all important (Triune) God, you are taking THIS community with you, a community you in part helped coalesce and mature through the awkward teen years by your words of wisdom and love; for better or worse we are part of you and you us. As for me and my house… we are better because of YOU and we thank you sister. Shalom. In love, Michael and Arnella
Dear y’all (you know who you are), I love you, too! Your support is really huge for me (a new thing I have to get used to) and is very stabilizing in my life. Thank you more than my words can say because I tend to be wordless in these places so I can’t tell you how I really feel. I hope you can know it anyway! George, and Penny you, for sure.
Michael and Arnella, thanks for the vigorous support and encouragement but please know that, as a Body, we are all growing together; Someone Else is doing all the work; we just show up and punch our timecards (yep; old enough to remember those!). If feels so good to BE, together! Halleluah! Three cheers for eternity to do it (have it done through us, and for us, and in spite of us -sometimes, anyway) some more!
Laurita- I hope April in Florida is somewhere on that new journey
In a moving tribute to the late, great Leonard Cohen I am reminded by Professor James Diamond that in back to back weekly Torah portions (3rd & 4th) the phrase “lech lecha” (Go forth) is found (and only here). The first bookend asks Abraham to leave his land, his hopes, his family (HIS PAST) and go forth unto an unknown land and an uncertain future. In the next weeks reading we see YHWH asking him to offer up his only son (HIS FUTURE) on a lonely mountain top. Dr. Diamond notes that Martin Buber calls these bookends a repudiation of the past world of the fathers and the repudiation of the future world of the sons. When Abraham had to count the cost it was not just high, it was ALL. But before we begin to think that we, in the New Covenant, have it any easier, remember the words of Yeshua: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” and “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”.
And while we can (and do) debate the meaning of the words “hate” and “taking up your cross” I seriously doubt Abraham debated the meaning of the words “go forth” or “a burnt offering”. He acted in obedience. So must we. Quietly, Quickly and Qualitatively.
“Obedience”… difficult word for most of us…
“Shema”… hear… and obey…
Alfredo, that obedience includes placing my identity in the flesh on that altar, too, as my Example did. He learned what obedience was through that suffering. He had so much to lay down that was perfectly fine: all my stuff will never be missed!
Perhaps the dichotomy doesn’t have to be so extreme…”I fear we have converted Abraham into a saint and forgotten he was a man.”
My studies have led me to understand Abraham as a man who greatly pleased the Lord because of his obedience. Perhaps not a saint, but certainly his obedience was seen as exemplary by God, and by most people who understand his story. Yes, he was a man, and he certainly made some poor choices along the way, but God still chose to work with those poor choices and the future generational dysfunctions that followed. God loved Abraham enough to make a Covenant with him and we’re among the beneficiaries. For that I’m very grateful.
Skip/Mark, Is this EDIT button something new or has it been hiding in plain sight and I just noticed it? Either way it is a needed and welcomed addition. Thanks. I wish I could add such a button to my speech!
I believe it was due to an update to a plugin I use for commenting. Maybe enough people requested it so it was added? Either way, I agree, a welcomed addon.
Wow thank you -this describes where I am 🙂
Its like i can hear God saying He wants to “right “my story & write a new story in me .:) this includes not looking back because He wants to do something new & for the places I have unanswered questions or unreconciled places I am to put them in an alabaster box for a later time .
Colleen well said. God wants our hearts to became his writing pad so that our lives can be united with him…
I agree that there was a break of some sort, but Abraham does go back to his kin to find a bride for Isaac; and Jacob journeys there too. I believe there was some kind of disconnection, but maybe the bridge was not burned because Rebecca was allowed to marry Isaac? But is there not a re-connection through marriage? And isn’t the line of Haran re-established?