The Jewish orthodox sages and Rabbis understood the literalness of all of the Old Testament prophecies. Premillennialists and dispensationalists are in good company in seeing the Bible interpreted in a normal, literal hermeneutic. Someday, the eyes of the Jews will be open in seeing the Lord Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Meanwhile, their interpretative notes and commentaries on great prophetic passages continue to support the “rightness” of looking for future prophecy being fulfilled actually, and literally!
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Sources:
The Pentateuch and Haftorahs.
Society and Religion in the Second Temple Period, Michael Avi-Yonah and Zvi Baras (Jerusalem: Massada Publishing, 1977).
The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai (Detroit: Wayne State University, 1979).
Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period, William Green, ed. (Peabody, MS: Hendrickson, 1999).
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Genesis 12:1-9
The Foundation of Bible Prophecy and the Jewish People
12:1 Out of your country. “In this
land of idol worship (Babylon) you [Abraham] are not worthy to rear sons
to the service of God.” (Rashi) The evil surrounding them would
contaminate them. The command was issued for those who would follow
Abraham also, if any, when he left Babylon. (Midrash)
Your country … your kindred … your father’s
house. These are the main influences which mold a person’s thoughts
and actions. Abraham was to cut off completely all associations that
could possibly hinder his mission. A similar call comes to all of
Abraham’s seed in every generation and circumstance, to separate
themselves from all associations and influences that are inimical to
their trust in God and to their destiny.
Your country. Babylon, which was then the
most powerful empire in the world, with a highly developed
city-civilization, commercial society, and literary culture, and the
source of all paganism and polytheism, was Abraham’s point of origin.
Land that I will show you. At this
moment, the destination of the journey is not specified. This was meant
to build Abraham’s trust in the divine call of God. However, here he is
only following a voice. He will not become a true believer and a
righteous saint until 15:6, where God imputes to him righteousness for
his faith.
This promise of the land has remained with
Israel from the time of Abraham. This promised has not been annulled or
diminished. It looks for the Messiah to come at the End of Days, after
the victory of Israel over the nations, by the Messiah, and the whole
world coming to a belief in Him and God. This idea bore much fruit in
the Middle Ages as the Jews suffered under the famous Muslim tenet “the
religion of Muhammad by the sword.” The messianic vision remains for the
orthodox – “The filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea.” (Patai)
12:2 I will make your name great.
However, at first, Abraham is an unknown in the land of Canaan. He will
be a stranger but he will not threaten the order of the tribal peoples
nor make them afraid of him militarily. He will be passive but in time,
respected!
Be a blessing. These words contain the
idea that Abraham was to become a blessing to humanity be the influence
of his godly life and by turning others to a knowledge of the true God.
With the change of one vowel in Hebrew, the Midrash says, the word
“blessing” means “spring of water.” “As a spring purifies the defiled,
so will you, Abraham, attract those who are far from the knowledge of
God and purify them for their Heavenly Father.” Such was the role indeed
played out buy the children of Abraham on the stage of human history.
Tolstoy said: “The Jew is that sacred being who has brought down from
heaven the everlasting fire, and has illumined with it the entire world.
He is the spiritual source, spring, and fountain out of which all of the
rest of the peoples have drawn their beliefs and even their religions
(which are now polluted and false).”
12:3 I will bless. Those who follow
Abraham’s example of trust, and teachings, will be like him, and enjoy
God’s favor.
He that curses you. “The story of
European history during the past centuries teaches one great lesson.
That the nations which have received and in any way dealt fairly and
mercifully with the Jews have prospered—and that the nations that have
killed and oppressed them have spelled out their judgment and curse.”
(Schreiner)
In your seed shall all the families be
blessed. Israel shall be a light “of the nations” (Isa. 42:6).
Through him, all men were to be taught the existence of the Most High
God, and the love of righteousness, thereby opening for themselves the
treasures of blessings. Here is the germ of a coming Messianic Age. This
promise was given also to Isaac as well as to Abraham. It was a prophecy
that would go far beyond the lifetime of both men. It looks for fuller
realization in the future. (Singer)
12:4 As the Lord had spoken. In
obeying the voice from heaven, Abraham leaves the land of his birth
(Babylon and Ur), and all the glamour and worldly prosperity of his
home; he becomes a stranger, a pilgrim for life, enduring problems,
famines, wanderings in Canaan as a sojourner, into Egypt as a refugee,
and then returning to Canaan, all in faithfully following the voice of
God. By his faithfulness he will be sharing his blessing of the
knowledge of God and righteousness.
Lot went with him. His nephew Lot was a
mere tag-along and does not appear to be inspired with the same ideals
as prompted Abraham’s departure from Babylon. In fact, it might be shown
that Lot really had a longing for the lights of a big city, such as Ur!
12:5 All their possessions. Their
worldly goods, movable property.
The (persons) souls. The Rabbis take the
word “souls” to mean their slaves and dependents, or Gentile proselytes
whom Abraham made while traveling. This is probably doubtful. But if it
were true, these “converts” became subservient to God’s law and followed
their master in his spiritual adventure. These people, whether
proselytes or slaves, had been acquired in Haran before coming on down
to Canaan.
Had acquired. Literally made, for
the Rabbis declare, he who wins over an idolater to the service of God
is as thought he had created him anew!
12:6 Shechem. This is the modern day
Nablus that is about thirty miles north of Jerusalem. It is one of the
oldest cities in Canaan.
The terebinth of Moreh. Some translate
this as “the directing terebinth”, the oracular tree held sacred by the
tree-worshipping Canaanites. Some trees were attended by the Canaanite
priests who interpreted the answers to their oracles to those who came
seeking their services. The terebinth tree (or turpentine tree) grew to
a height of from twenty to forty feet and may have also served as a
landmark. This tree is not mentioned here because Abraham may worship at
this site but because mentioning it, shows how far down into the land he
had traveled at this time.
The Canaanite was then in the land. The
Canaanites had already settled in the lowlands of the territory, in fact
the word itself, Canaan, signified the Lowlands! (Sayce) The Canaanites
would be some of the most ruthless people of the land and so it was
appropriate to mentioned that they were already established there for
some time.
12:7 To your descendents. In spite of
the fact that the land was occupied by this pagan and warlike people, it
would someday belong to Abraham and his children through Isaac and Jacob
and his twelve sons who formed the twelve tribes (but with no
inheritance going to Ishmael and Esau)!
12:8 Beth-el. Means “house of God.”
While this may have been a pagan site in Abraham’s day, he is not drawn
here to offer to the Canaanite deities. He worshipped God! Beth-el is in
the central part of Palestine, the site of modern Beitin, ten miles
north of Jerusalem.
Ai. Probably the modern Haiyan, about two
miles east of Beth-el. Ai will be the place of the first defeat of the
Israelites when they entered the land under Joshua.
He called upon the name of the Lord. The
Jewish Targum renders this: “He prayed in the name of the Lord.” He
proclaimed the knowledge of the true God, says the Talmud. He had the
courage to acknowledge the God of the universe here in this new pagan
land! He did this in the very midst of the soul-degrading ideas of pagan
worship held by the peoples then inhabiting Canaan. God was becoming
more and more real to Abraham!
12:9 Abram journeyed on.
Here, his name is still Abram, meaning “high father,” but it will be
changed to Abraham, meaning “father of many.” The Hebrew text indicates
that he traveled by stages, moving, settling, then pulling up tent and
moving on, after the manner of the Bedouin or nomads.
The Negev (the South). The name used to
describe the southern part of Judah, the desert mainly Jerusalem and
south. The Midrash says that Abraham was being drawn towards Jerusalem
which is at the southern end of the land. The Lord will someday make
Jerusalem the center of the earth, the city of His King!
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Sources:
The Pentateuch and Haftorahs.
Society and Religion in the Second Temple Period, Michael Avi-Yonah and Zvi Baras (Jerusalem: Massada Publishing, 1977).
The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai (Detroit: Wayne State University, 1979).
Dictionary of Judaism in the Biblical Period, William Green, ed. (Peabody, MS: Hendrickson, 1999).
