Hey, welcome back friends.
We are closing,
or we did close out chapter 17.
Yesterday, today, we pick up chapter 18.
And in some ways,
Clint, it’s not so much a new story
as it is a new frame for a story.
And I think that’s what makes this interesting.
Yeah, again, just this kind of tool
that we have talked about,
we, I think, shared it with you in the beginning.
When you go through the book of Genesis,
one of the clear things that helps
is to see how they’re talking about God.
There is a combination of sources in this book.
And in the creation account,
we see it clearly.
There’s a chapter,
and there’s another chapter.
In these stories, for the rest of the book,
they are more intertwined.
And so our story today is going to sound
a lot like our story yesterday with some different nuance.
But if you notice in chapter 17,
when God is referred to,
it’s G-O-D.
When we get to today’s story,
it’s L-O-R-D,
Lord.
And that’s the biggest indicator.
It’s not 100%, it’s not foolproof,
but it’s the biggest indicator in Genesis
of which narrative source you’re in,
which family story you’re in.
And so they are retelling some of the same events,
but they’re doing so with slightly different nuances.
So today we’ll look at a story that will be similar,
but we’ll try to point out the differences in it.
Chapter 18,
the Lord appeared to Abraham
by the oaks of Mamre,
as he said at the entrance of his tent
in the heat of the day.
He looked up and saw three men standing near him.
When he saw them,
he ran from the tent entrance to meet them.
He bowed down to the ground.
He said, “My Lord, if I find favor with you,
do not pass by your servant.
Let a little water be brought to wash your feet
and rest yourselves under the tree.
Let me bring a little bread that you may refresh yourselves
and that you may eat and pass,
that you may pass on since you have come to your servant.”
So they said,
“Do as you have said,
and Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah
and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures
of choice flower, and eat it,
make cakes.’
Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf tender and good
and gave it to the servant who hastened to prepare it.
Then he took curds and milk for the calf that he prepared,
and he set it all before them,
and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.”
So just a couple of things about this text
as we get started.
The general idea of hospitality is extremely important in the Midwest,
or I’m sorry,
in the Middle East.
In the Midwest too,
in the Middle East.
Hospitality is essentially a character trait.
It is a regional trait.
It’s something deeply held to.
There are village loyalties.
If someone shares a meal with you,
if someone offers their home to you,
those are more than just nice gestures.
There is a sort of bond that happens,
a kind of
allegiance of a sort,
and we see that here in Abraham.
He runs,
which is not a thing that a man would do
in that culture.
It was considered demeaning,
but he runs to the people.
He gets them bread.
He gets them water.
He has one of his choice animals prepared.
He really goes above and beyond.
Now,
whether he knows that these are significant visitors
or not, we’re not aware in the text yet.
We don’t know that at this point,
but he clearly responds to them with a kind of zeal
that is typical of how Abraham does things.
So this is really an important story
that does illuminate some of Abraham’s character as well.
And to the point that you were making,
Clint, just very briefly,
we tend to, especially in a Western context,
we tend to struggle with the idea of
really considering the difficulty of travel.
When you think of being able to secure a hotel room
in pretty much any city in America,
it can be hard to imagine that you could be
on the road traveling somewhere
and not have any place to stop where there would be water
or where you could get a cake of bread to eat.
I mean, there’s no quick trips in the ancient world.
And so while that is a practical reality,
it does lead into this cultural aspect
where showing hospitality to another person
isn’t just a neighborly thing to do.
It is actually one way of honoring
that kind of human connection and relationship.
But here,
and we’re supposed to know this,
we’re supposed to sense this,
that Abraham is going above and beyond.
Even the promise that he makes here,
did you notice?
He said that he’s gonna bring a little bread
that they could refresh themselves.
But then when he goes to Sarah,
he asks for the choice flour.
He asks for what comes out,
or cakes, not just bread.
And then on top of that,
he brings out a young calf.
He brings out a good portion for these guests.
So it’s very clear to those reading here
that this is not only Abraham doing a duty,
sort of social good,
but he’s actually showering these strangers
with blessings, with grace,
and with goodness.
And that is another measure of Abraham’s character.
And ultimately,
it’s going to be exemplified
as the story goes on of why that’s so significant.
Yeah, and you may have picked it up
also early in the story.
There is a kind of undercurrent in this narrative
for what is happening here
and exactly who these men are.
They’re going to continue in the story
for most of this chapter,
but it’s not exactly unclear.
We start off being told the Lord appeared to Abraham
when he looks up and sees three men.
But when he speaks to them,
he speaks in the singular,
my Lord, if I find favor with you.
And so there is this sense in which Abraham
is treating these men as if they represent God,
as if they are ambassadors such.
We’re going to see,
as we continue this story,
we see that again.
So verse nine,
they said to him,
“Where’s your wife,
Sarah?” And he said, “She’s there in the tent.”
Then one said, “I will surely return to you in season,
“and your wife,
Sarah, shall have a son.”
And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.
Now Abraham and Sarah were old,
advanced in age, and it had ceased to be with Sarah
after the manner of women.
So Sarah laughed to herself.
She said, “After I’ve grown old and my husband is old,
“should I have pleasure?”
And the Lord said to Abraham,
“Why did Sarah laugh
“and say, shall I indeed bear a child now that I’m old?
“Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
“At the set time,
I will return to you in due season,
“and Sarah shall have a son.”
But Sarah denied saying it.
She said, “I did not say,
I did not laugh,
“for she was afraid.”
But he said, “Yes,
you did laugh.” So here we get into that mixing of exactly
what are these three visitors?
Who are these three visitors?
They make the pronouncement that we saw God make to Abraham yesterday.
“Where’s Sarah?
“She’s going to have a son.
“It will be a year from now.”
And they speak with the kind of authority
that the Lord speaks with.
And then if you notice in verse 13,
the Lord picks up the speaking.
The men started the conversation apparently,
but in verse 13,
we just switch over to
the Lord is now saying things.
And it’s not clear what that means.
Is the Lord present alongside the three men?
Do the three men represent the Lord?
It gets even more confusing as we continue in this chapter
by probably tomorrow or Thursday,
we will see even more mixing of these questions.
But the point is that it has now been pronounced
over Sarah again that a son will be delivered.
Yeah, and I don’t think we should also miss here, Clint,
the clear connection in terms of both Abraham
in the previous story and now Sarah in this story,
both laugh at the promise being made
as to what God is going to do for them.
And I don’t want to be too obvious,
but it’s a connector with Isaac having that sense of laughter
even in the definition of the name.
Here we have both partners in this covenant.
Well, in God’s promise have now laughed at the thing,
laughed at the reminder of that covenant,
sorry.
But here I think what is striking is the difference here
a little bit in Sarah’s response too.
Here we have in verse 15,
she denies it saying,
I did not laugh.
And it says that explicitly the text says she was afraid.
And then the Lord says, yes,
you did laugh.
There’s a sense in which we noted kind of the softness
of God’s response to Abraham in the previous text
that it’s not really explicit.
There’s not a significant sort of response.
And it’s not to say that this is in any way punitive either,
Clint, but this certainly is a little bit more biting,
the sense that I saw it and you certainly did do it.
It does have that connotation that she’s being called out
for this thing that she even denied.
So there is a little bit of a different spin
on this version of Sarah’s account.
Yeah, I think that the other story
which seems to be maybe a little looser
makes a little more room for the idea of doubt,
the idea, you know,
Abraham falls on his face laughing
and there’s not a word said about it.
Yeah, right.
Sarah laughs to herself and God questions Abram about it,
really questions her about it as well.
But again,
I think the beauty of that is that the authors
are making sure that we see laughter inserted
throughout this story.
We’re going to get a kind of a break.
Sometimes the stories in the Bible are sandwiched between other stories.
We’re going to get a story in between this promise of Sarah
and the deliverance of Isaac,
but they are connected.
And part of the way they’re connected
is with this word to laugh,
which is literally the name Isaac as Michael has pointed out.
Isaac means to laugh or laughter.
And so it is interesting that both in the Abram version
of the story and here in the Sarah version of the story,
laughter figures prominently in both texts.
One thing to keep in mind here,
if you see in verse 13,
I believe this is,
why did Sarah laugh and say,
shall I indeed bear a child now that I’m old?
No, sorry, this is what I was looking for.
Verse 14,
is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
And that’s a really interesting,
I especially appreciate Clint,
the questions that we find in the text.
Sometimes I find those questions to be
just on their own generative.
And here,
clearly this story is pointing us
towards a wonderful reality.
I mean, even a miraculous reality
that it has gone to great lengths.
Everything from describing how old Abraham and Sarah were,
like by naming it in the previous story.
Now in this story, we’re even told
that Sarah is past that point where it’s possible.
It’s common knowledge.
She cannot physically have children.
So it’s obvious that the narrator here
is making it very clear that that is the appropriate question.
Is there anything too wonderful?
Is there anything beyond the pales?
Is there anything that God is going to be restrained
from being able to do in order to keep this promise?
And we can intuit the answer.
That once again, I think that question itself
points us to the main character of this story.
Who once again,
it’s not Abraham and Sarah.
It’s God who’s made this promise
and is gonna keep the promise.
And I just find that question generative.
All of us have been in a time in our life
where we could only hope that a thing would turn out well.
And there’s a sense in which when we see God’s faithfulness
in the rear view mirror,
we can join our voice to this and say,
is there anything too wonderful for God?
Is there anything beyond God’s ability
to love and act in this area?
And so often I think we discover
that God is lavish and generous and gracious.
And it’s a great question to ask.
Yeah, and I think the benefit of questions
is sometimes we see, we hear them.
Well,
we read them in the text addressed to the characters,
but they transfer easily to ourselves as well.
And so they carry on.
They are rich points for us to jump into
and out of the text.
So tomorrow, we’ll look at a kind of detour.
Again,
Genesis is going to insert a story
inside of the Abraham-Sarah story.
We’ll see the character lot.
Again, he makes a reappearance.
Probably a story that you know,
or at least know of,
the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah
and Abraham’s connection to it as well,
these three visitors’ connection to it.
I don’t know, we’ll say some things about them.
I don’t know what to say about them,
those stories on the front end,
other than they are interesting stories.
They have been
understood, misunderstood,
used, misused.
I think they give us a lot of opportunity
to try and discern what is the point of the story
and why is it being told to us.
And so we’ll have some conversation
about that the next couple of days.
Okay, I’m gonna make a bold statement.
Maybe, maybe it’s not bold.
It’s, I think we’re gonna see,
if you join us tomorrow,
think you’re going to get a glimpse of why
reading the Bible contextually or together matters.
Because when you read one story in isolation from the others,
it’s easy to take meanings that are far afield.
But when you see where we’ve been today and before,
this idea of the covenantal promise
and God literally coming and engaging Abraham and Sarah
in that promise, when you see the next story,
which in some ways is gonna feel
like a complete 180 in tone,
you’re gonna see that the connection between them
actually really does matter.
It changes and transforms how we understand
the force of a story.
And so for that alone, join us tomorrow.
Yeah, I hope you can make it.
Thanks for being here today and look forward to it tomorrow.