Genesis 13-15

God was blessing Abram, even when Abram wasn't doing things right. That is my opinion, but so many people ask, "Why would God bless Abram when he lies (ala Genesis 13)?" I do not think that Abram was being blessed due to lying, but was being blessed in spite of lying. Often in the Old Testament people are not following the laws of God and good things still happen. This does not mean that God honors it, but that He works in spite of us. Abram's riches from Egypt, however, cause some problems. He has to separate from his nephew, Lot, due to each of them growing so rich. This leads Lot to live in Sodom (ch. 13), be captured by some fighting kings (ch. 14), lose his house and wife (ch. 19) and cause his daughters to seduce him to have offspring (which happen to be two nations that will cause Israel problems throughout the OT (ch. 19 – Ammonites and the Moabites). Abram also receives a slave woman that leads to an illegitimate son, Ishmael, that too becomes a thorn in the side of the nation of Israel. Sometimes what starts as a blessing becomes anything but.

In Genesis 14, king Melchizedek (literally "king of righteousness" מֶלֶךְ־סְדֹם) of Salem (peace) appears to bless Abram and give honor to God. He is mysterious and becomes a major biblical character in the book of Hebrews. Check it out if you have time, just skim for Melchizedek's name and see the crazy parallels to Christ this man mirrored! Truly a neat story, and Abram saves his nephew.

Genesis 15 is the renewal of the Abrahamic covenant. We have not talked about covenants much, but there have been a couple already. A covenant, from the Hebrew word בְּרִית, is equal to a pact or alliance or vow made between men. If you were wondering why God had Abram cut things into halves, it represented that lives would come together on this pact. This happened in the Garden of Eden, if you were looking (Genesis 3, when God called the animals forward and shed their skin to cover Adam and Eve – the Adamic covenant). It happened in Genesis 9, with a "bow in the sky" to pronounce no more worldwide flooding (the Noahic covenant). Now, the Abrahamic covenant is given and God goes it alone, without Abram. This is significant as normally two parties went through the covenant together – pledging a life for a life. Here, however, Abram is off the hook. He is not responsible to fulfill any part of this bargain. God would give them the land, no matter what. If they failed to be what God desired in the covenant a life would have to be given up – His life. No one else was on the hook but God, and He never fails in His promises. Has he flooded the earth again? No. Has Satan conquered this earth? Don't think so. Did Israel deserve salvation? You will see – nope. Did God pay with His life? Through Christ – absolutely! How neat is that?