Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

11:17-21 GENESIS
Schultz (OTS, 34): “The covenant plays an important
role in Abraham’s experience, Note the successive
revelations of God after the initial promise to which Abraham
responded in obedience, As God enlarged this promise,
Abraham exercised faith which was reckoned to him as
righteousness (Gen. 15). In this covenant the land of
Canaan was specifically pledged to the descendants of
Abraham. With the promise of the son, circumcision was
made the sign of the covenant (Gen. 17). This covenant
promise was finally sealed in Abraham’s act of obedience
when he demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice his only
son Isaac (Gen. 22).”
In its present fused form, ch. 11 consists of two interrelated
parts. The first (1-6) has to do with the increasingly
urgent matter of Abraham’s heir. The patriarch’s
original call (1 2: 1 ff.) implied that the mandate
was to be taken over by Abraham’s descendants. Thus
far, however, -Abraham has remained childless. The ultimate
success of his mission was therefore in danger. Moreover,
he had cause for personal anxiety, for in ancient Near
Eastern societies it was left to a son to ensure a restful
afterlife for his father through proper interment and rites
(‘he shall lament him and bury him,’ say the Nuzi texts).
God’s reaffirmed promise of a son now sets Abraham’s
mind at rest on both counts. The remainder of the chapter
(7-24) places the preceding incident in a broader perspective.
Above and beyond personal considerations, the
birth of an heir to Abraham is essential to God’s scheme
of things. It involves a nation to be, and its establishment
in the Promised Land. That land shall extend from Egypt
ia (18). The emphasis shifts thus to world
he importance of the episode is underscored
by the conclusion of a covenant.
In secular practice, this
ct between states. This time,
covenant between the Creator
of the universe and the ancestor of a nation ordained in
i
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