7 fold blessing of abraham

Answering her questions and her doubts. Obedience is the key to fully receiving Abraham's blessings. We do it when we walk and live in the Word and Spirit.2. 6 In all thy ways God spoke to Abraham and told him what he would do for him and through him, if he would trust and obey Him. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. God rightly changed his name from 'Abram' (a name which means Exalted father) to 'Abraham' (meaning the father of many ) as a mark of and the starting point toward the fulfillment of those ric. In the fourth and fifth blessings of this paragraph, God promises Abraham that others success will depend on how they relate to him and whether they bless or curse him. Those who appreciate what he stands for and bless him will be rewarded with material success, while those who denigrate Him and his message will be cursed. God bless. Leader: Come, all who long for salvation! ) rather than cut as in the previous covenant with YHVH. Nevertheless, in both passages the word to cut is still used with reference to humanity in the Noah passage that all flesh will never again be cut off by the flood (Genesis 9:11) and in this passage that an uncircumcised person will be cut off from its people (Genesis 12:1). A sign also accompanies both covenants - in the covenant with Noah a rainbow and in this covenant circumcision. Accordingly its meaning is - there is sufficiency within Me for every creature and I have the wherewithal to care for you. 0000025096 00000 n Anyone, including Gentiles, who comes to Him in repentance and faith is made part of His kingdom, while those Jews who reject Him will be left out. Abraham has been promised the land and has begun to transverse his property but when can he truly take possession? Moreover, despite the promise that he will have descendants, Abraham still does not know how this will come about. Abraham and Sarah are infertile and Sarah is past the age of having children. Abraham had assumed that his descendants would come through Lot, or now his next-in-line heir, Eliezer, his servant. 0000018668 00000 n These promises to Abraham are applied directly to the Christian today. (Deuteronomy 18:13). Just as you are to avoid magical practices and retain your trust in Me, so also are you to walk before Me and maintain your belief in Me. This is part of what it means to be bound to God. 15 Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. 5. God rewarded Abraham's faith by giving him a long life and great prosperity. Remember, God is not a man that He should lie. I will shew thee: - 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy Who Are You Amir Tsarfati? LF3 d\++T1Y'{\:X5Y0mWi` `W4~\'vt)~\e^4 L endstream endobj 19 0 obj [/ICCBased 37 0 R] endobj 20 0 obj <> endobj 21 0 obj <>stream Psalm 41 Blessing #1: God wants to deliver you, even in times of trouble. (Chumash with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. The Lord promises prosperity to every person who sows in faith into His Kingdom. . Unlike the pagan deities, YKVK is not satisfied with occasional homage. He wants a nation that is God-centered and is cognizant of the fact that everything they have is not a natural right but a Divine gift. And I will bless thee, 3. Many commentators assume that Abraham was an outreach worker. It follows, therefore, that urban centers were precisely where he would go, since he could promote there his message of One God and attract followers to his cause. However, while there is midrashic interpretation that Abraham had such groupies, there is no mention in the Torah that this was the case. Our lights need to shine in the sin dark world. We cannot simply insert ourselves into a biblical text. We rejoice because God has made our names great because of Jesus. By contrast, the borders in the previous blessing are geo-political borders. Israel can expand beyond its core territory whenever there is national consensus, and eventually its power and influence will extend from Egypt to Mesopotamia. This is not a directive but permission to do so, and God through His aspect of YKVK will help them achieve this. In fact, the Israelites already began establishing these greater borders early in their history by capturing the east bank of the Jordan at the time of Moses. Considerable expansion of territory was also achieved in the time of King David. What To Do While Waiting For Breakthrough, MAKING GOD FAMOUS: Honouring God As Apostle Paul. Moreover, given their prophetic nature it is not surprising that many aspects of the Abraham stories reverberate to this day. Attracting her attention by His question, ". . This 5th blessing given by Elokim is about the eternity of the Jewish people and its role in world history. The land of Canaan, what will in future be called the Land of Israel, is to be their core possession. This is where the forefathers walked, set up religious monuments, and prayed to God. This is the territory that defines the Jewish people among the nations of the world, just as the territory of the seventy nations of the world defines them. As chapter 10 states on four occasions regarding the descendants of Shem, Ham and Yaphet . Let no man despise thee. D. He will do more than we can think or ask. As people of faith, we are justified in Christ. whose overriding concern is the general providence of mankind, the imminent aspect of God, who relates to humanity on an individual, family or tribal basis., Yet there is a lot more to the Abraham stories than matters of faith. In a way that defies a completely rational explanation, Abraham acted out the outlines of future Jewish history. Nachmanides was the first to elaborate on this idea with his well-known principle: . God wants us to be a blessing to all people. King James Bible. D. He will do more than we can think or ask. God will equip us with strength that comes from that which every joint supplies in the community of believers we call the Body of Christ. , The Canaanites will live in the coastal plain of the land of Canaan otherwise not occupied by the Philistines, the lowlands (shfela) of Canaan and its valleys, and the Jordan valley. The other tribes will inhabit the central mountain range. Hence, the . Judaism is often regarded by its followers as a religion only for self-improvement and for achieving the World to Come. This is indeed the case but it has another function too. Through his ideas, the example he projects, and his dealings with others, Abraham is to be the means of bringing spiritual benefit to the rest of mankind and thus the means by which God can bestow His loving kindness and bounty on all of humanity. 12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 7. , which occurs four times, and this keyword highlights the theme of this passage. Five of these seven benefits reflect Gods involvement alone, as they begin with the words . In verse 7 Paul explains that it is those who have the kind of faith that Abraham had that are truly children of Abraham, even if they are Gentiles. 43.Rashi suggests that its meaning is the Jewish people plus the tribe of Edom (Rashi to Genesis 17:6). Nachmanides disagrees that Edom is included here and brings examples where the Jewish people are called nations and peoples (Nachmanides to Genesis 17:6). Targum Onkelos translates nations as tribes. Radak suggest that the reference is to the descendants of Keturah who married Abraham after Sarah died. DANIEL MOSES . However, there is no specific mention in the Bible of a trial such as this. Nor is there mention of Abraham engaging in similar destructive activities against pagan worship while in Canaan. Abraham doubtless announced his beliefs to all around him, but otherwise seemed to live in comfortable harmony with the pagans around him, as did his son and grandson.. Abraham's story picks up with his family settling in Haran, which today would be the country of Turkey. Joy Chinonyerem is an ardent follower of Christ who believes in Living the Christian Life according to the tenets set by Christ himself. Elokim is forging a special relationship with Abraham and his descendants by promising to be a God to them.41 At first glance these two sentences seem similar to each other, but they do in fact express very different ideas. In the last but one sentence, Elokim promises to be a God to Abraham and his seed forever and this would include periods of exile. In the last sentence, He also promises to be their eternal God but in the land of Canaan.42 In essence, He asserts that He will be their God throughout the entirety of Jewish history. These sources are of interest not necessarily because of their accuracy, but because they all indicate that they were prepared to consider other locations for Ur other than southern Mesopotamia. On the other hand, these commentaries were all written when Ur was no longer inhabited and it is possible that they were unaware of this citys existence. However, there are other good reasons to consider a southern Mesopotamian Ur of the Chaldees as being unlikely. Southern Mesopotamia is the habitation of the descendants of Ham, whereas the descendants of Shem lived in present day Turkey, Iran, and Northern Iraq. According to Genesis 10:22-31, the five sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. Abraham was one of the descendants of Arphaxad (Genesis 11:12-25) Josephus suggests that these five sons gave rise to the nations of Elam, Assyria, Chaldea, Lydia and Levantine. An Ur of the Chaldeans in southern Mesopotamia also leads to a very obvious contradiction in the Biblical text. While in Haran, Abraham is told to leave your birthplace (moladtecho). Also, when requesting his servant Eliezer to take a wife for his son Isaac, he tells him to go to Haran to my land and my birthplace (moladeti) shall you go and take a wife for my son, for Isaac (Genesis 24:4). But earlier his birthplace (moladato) is referred to as Ur of the Chaldeans.43 Also, in the Covenant between the Pieces, God takes responsibility for taking Abraham from Ur Kasdim: And he said: I am YKVK Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit. (Genesis 15:7). As far as using Romans 13:1-7 to defend 501C3 and your building - I address below. 4:21-24. However, there is no evidence from elsewhere in the Bible that bestowing blessing on others was important to Abraham. Radak suggests that the phrase and you shall be a blessing is not an imperative but a promise. Prior to being given the fourth blessing, Abraham finds himself involved in local politics and conflict and successfully attacks invading forces from Mesopotamia to rescue his nephew Lot. This is not an irrelevant side-story to the biblical narrative. Without intention, Abraham suddenly finds himself a regional power with an empire extending from close to Egypt up to Mesopotamia. At this point, he does not have the resources to keep this empire together and almost certainly no desire either but he is pointing out to later generations that it is part of YKVKs design that Israel become a regional power between the empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt.. in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.May we as children of God receive all God have for us through our Great God and England. The Egyptian Exodus and Canaanite conquest - facts or fiction? But these are the very beliefs credited to Abraham! The blessing of Abraham finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:16) and the Redeemer of the world.The rest of the Bible records how these promises were fulfilled and the blessing of Abraham advanced. We do this by letting the Holy Spirit Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. A convert to Judaism is called a child of Abraham. Islam and Christianity also consider themselves spiritual heirs to Abrahams legacy. The Koran establishes its Abrahamic lineage through Ishmael. Christianity views Abraham as an important exemplar of faith and a spiritual and possibly a physical ancestor of Jesus. Until this time, Abraham and Sarahs married life had been marked by infertility. The Bible continues: (Genesis 15:6) It is unclear who regarded whom as being righteous, and the text could be read either way. Nevertheless, the Bible is again emphasizing that a foundational aspect of Abrahams relationship with God was his trust in Him. Shiurim in Chumash and Navi by Menachem Leibtag. Abraham falls on his face in subjugation, and laughs to himself in wonderment (although not in disbelief). Sarah is well passed the age of giving birth to children. Abraham suggests that Ishmael be chosen instead - to which Elokim replies: Indeed Sarah your wife shall bear you a son;and you shall call his name Isaac;and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you;behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him exceedingly;he will beget twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time the next year. ' Tony I. (Chumash with commentary based on the teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. This is not to say that the Egyptian exile is completely unfathomable and in retrospect one may attempt to find reasons. It may be that the Jewish people had to experience the emptiness of servitude to Pharaoh to bind themselves to a new Master. They had to experience being treated harshly as strangers in another land to appreciate how strangers should be treated when in their own promised land. Very likely the Israelites would have assimilated in Egypt in the absence of discrimination and enforced servitude. The exile also had to last hundreds of years since historical circumstances were not yet ripe for them to enter the land of Canaan., even before the contract was sealed. He could have told God that he had had second thoughts about this entire venture. But he did not do so. Nor did the majority of Jews throughout their thousands of years of exile. This is because God will bind Himself to the Jewish people and they will bind themselves to God. How this is so, is detailed in the next blessing. B. Blessing number six of Abraham Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that God doesn't bless us just to make us happy; He blesses us to make us a blessing. He promised to curse those who curse Abraham. You shall be a blessing 5. (verse 2) The Psalmist wrote, "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance" ( Psalm 32:7 ). representative to the world to promote justice and righteousness. The History of Jewish, Christian and Islamic Messianism" of extreme interest. . , Gods response is the directive to leave his family home. Moreover, if he follows this directive he will be rewarded, and this is related in the Bible as seven blessings. The number seven represents Gods total involvement in these blessings and the absolute perfection of His promises. Accordingly, the number seven will occur throughout these passages. Five of these blessings are revealed to Abraham through His aspect of YKVK, one through His aspects of El Shaddai and Elokim, and one through Elokim alone. Which name of God is the source of each of these blessings is important, since this will determine its focus as well as its The Divine source of these blessings is important since it determines its focus as well as its purpose within Jewish history. Abrahams role in this covenant is revealed at the very beginning of this passage: walk before Me and be wholehearted (Genesis 17:1), God is saying - you, Abraham, are to walk in front of me and be my representative to the world. This should be contrasted with Noah, who walked with God.39 What Abraham represents is not delineated in this passage, but is mentioned in the very next section. In brief, Abraham will teach notions of justice and righteousness (Genesis 13:19) to his children and they by their example will instruct the rest of the world. God is the epitome of justice and righteousness and He needs a representative on earth who will embody His attributes and by example bring these ideas to the rest of humanity., A number of interpretations of the phrase wholehearted(tamim) have been proposed. Nachmanides relates it to a similar use of this word in Deuteronomy when the Bible discusses forbidden magical practices and which concludes there with the phrase you shall be wholehearted with YKVK your God (Deuteronomy 18:13). Just as you are to avoid magical practices and retain your trust in Me, so also are you to walk before Me and maintain your belief in Me.40 Interestingly, this passage is introduced by YKVK. The concept that God has a different name for His aspect of fertility may sound strange to us moderns. Nevertheless, within the pagan world it was common that there be a chief male god of might in partnership with a female god of fertility. The number 8 in the Bible has the connotation of being one level above the holy. This is because the act of circumcision binds the Jew in the strongest way possible to a holy purpose. * It was directly before the Tabernacle that the blood of the red heifer was sprinkled seven times, Numbers 19:4. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 - UCKG HelpCentre is a UK charity (1043985). He is a faithful rewarder of them that seek him. Have there been circumcised Jews in the world for most of the almost 4,000 years since Abraham came to Canaan? This is undoubtedly the case. Did Abraham did become the spiritual father of a multitude of nations (Genesis 17:5) in effect of a good proportion of the world? It is difficult to argue otherwise. Do the former tribes of Israel currently have jurisdiction over much of the former land of Canaan? This is also incontrovertible. The full implications of the Abraham story are now coming together. Why were Abraham and Sarah told to leave Haran in their old age? Clearly, no age is too late to confront spiritual challenges. Prior to God communicating with him at age 75, Abraham may well have concluded that he had led a meaningful life and little remained for him to accomplish. If he had thought this he was mistaken. The most consequential aspects of his life were yet to come. About Us 44.Hoffman notes that in ancient Arabic the word raham means a multitude and suggests that although this word is not currently used in Hebrew it may once have been part of the Jewish lexicon. He was faithful until the end. He also authors The Father's Menu, a power packed monthly daily devotional book. Even so, one of Jesus' disciples, Stephen, indicated that this call on Abraham's life happened many years prior. God wants us to be a blessing to all people.B. Fruitfulness is self-replicating abundance produced without undue strain but rather by the blessing of God. At least two other important concepts are introduced in this section. One is that the ten nations currently living in Canaan will deserve to be expelled - although not now but at the time of the fourth generation, since. On behalf of this generation, Your friends in the service of Christ, Let us boldly come before the throne of God through our Redeemer Jesus Christ and boldly, by faith receive these blessings in carrying out our roles as God's High Priests. The blessings of Abraham are two-fold: financial and protective. Religion creates Penitents while Jesus casts them Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, do I really unde How to Handle a matter wisely; trust in Jesus, Placebo; Howard Pitman's trip to the third heaven. 7.Midrash Raba 39:6 applies the following verse from Psalms 45:8 to Abraham: You love righteousness and hate wickedness, therefore has Elokim your God appointed you with oil of joy from among your peers. What is meant from among your peers? States the midrash: from Noah to you there were ten generations, and I never spoke with any one of them except for you. hb```f``e`e`Wbf@ a(I The equivalent name for a God of might in the Bible is El and for the God of fertility Shaddai. The Bible is not separating these two aspects of God but bringing them together as a single Divinity in a way that would be recognizable to people at that time. But before you do this,do watch this short videoby clicking on these words in yellow. It could well be, therefore, that this is an expression of outspoken praise of God and His attributes, with or without an audience. , Abrahams siring in his old age is fully elaborated in the Torah and there must be messages here. One is that these tribes have a place in the Near East just as do the offspring of Isaac. Another may be that these nations were once raised in the household of Abraham and would have picked up religious sparks from their upbringing. Some time in the future, they will seek their true roots and by embracing his ideas will once again become part of the extended Abrahamic family. The commonalty of nations rather than their differences also flows from the story of Noah and his forming the common ancestry of man.. and Marge Abram have been preaching the Good Why Terah was drawn to the idea of moving to Canaan is not stated in the text, but Abraham would now continue on the second leg of this journey, although undoubtedly for very different reasons. You will be a blessing A different explanation is provided by Cassuto who proposes that this name is used in the Bible within the context of fertility. Unlike the pagan deities, YKVK is not satisfied with occasional homage. He wants a nation that is God-centered and is cognizant of the fact that everything they have is not a natural right but a Divine gift. One way of looking at this sentence is to consider part of it as being in brackets: In other words, the Israelites will be in servitude and oppression but not for all these 400 years. The blessing of Abraham was not just for Abraham. It is in this way through Abraham that the entire world would be blessed. Abraham's 7-Fold Blessing Obedience turns into Promises: 1. 6. admin@tfhconlinesermon.org Abraham was blessed because he believed God. "I will give to you and to your posterity after you, the land": This speaks of OWNERSHIP,WEALTH. 0000003153 00000 n 4. In other words, his walking had a directive function but did not establish possession. Abraham. I. Luzzatto suggests that the name comes from the three-letter root shin daled daled, and notes that the Arabic word shadid means strong. Hence, its meaning would be Omnipotent God. This is similar to the explanation of Nachmanides and Ibn Ezra of Mighty God. However, the blessing Abraham received from God went far beyond those immediate, personal blessings. On the horns of the golden altar (Exodus 30:10). God blessed Abraham financially so that Abraham could be a blessing. People: Our blessing comes from God, the God of Abraham, the God of the ages. God promoted Abraham to a position of great importance not to stroke his ego but so that though Abrams wealth and reputation, he would be a blessing to those around him.