The Covenant-Making God and the Connections of Adam and Abraham
(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)
On occasion on this Substack, despite the largeness of the subject matter, the post I write is relatively short as I am only offering preliminary reflections on it. This is one of those times. What I am considering today is why God works through covenant and how God, through covenant, aimed to begin addressing the problems caused by Adam and Eve in Gen 3 (as well as the problem of Gen 11) through Abraham (or Abram, as he is named in Gen 12). Covenants throughout Scripture take many forms and have many implications, but at the center of the whole theme is a conviction that YHWH cares for his creation, is at work to set it aright (in general terms, to restore its shalom), and is doing so chiefly/climactically through a covenant people. By the time of the NT, this point is made sharper in that the covenant people are brought to a focal point in Jesus the Messiah and it is by virtue of our union with Christ that YHWH’s work is accomplished in us.
YHWH makes covenants, establishes the terms, obligates himself to carry out the covenantal purposes, and dedicates himself to doing so faithfully, often in spite of the people who are on the other side of the covenant. As stated earlier, the further implication is that YHWH is dedicated to carrying out his redemptive plan through humanity and especially through Israel. Furthermore, our passage of Gen 12 features the roots of the later connections between covenant, land, fruitfulness, and general blessing, which is related to what we have noted about the significance of the promised land in the series on Resurrection in the OT.
But why covenant? Why does YHWH choose to work in such a manner? One reason does seem to be that establishing a covenant carries with it certain obligations and by working through covenant YHWH communicates to creation that he is obligating himself to do what he says. In the process, he thereby conveys his absolute integrity, his faithfulness, and his love in initiating the covenant in the first place. In establishing a covenant and its dynamics, YHWH reveals himself more clearly to a creation that has misconstrued him.
Another reason is that a covenant calls forth response on the part of other parties involved. YHWH does not want passive vessels to dote upon; he wants active participants in his grace. This reason also comports with the original creative intention for humans as image-bearers of God, creatures who actively shine forth his character and rule into the world, and active worshippers pouring out in response to him.
This second reason evokes another reason connected to the importance of humanity in YHWH’s creation. Humans, as stewards of creation, incorporate the state of creation into themselves and in turn effect its course (which they can do in a unique capacity as the image-bearers of God). So if something is wrong with humanity, something is wrong with creation. In turn, if creation is to be redeemed, that redemption must come through YHWH’s action in humanity (even though it will in the process create other levels of problems). YHWH’s covenantal call to humans to participate in his purposes at once affirms the true nature of YHWH, the goodness of creation, YHWH’s creative intention, the proper function of humans as the image-bearing creatures, the necessity of creation having a proper relationship with YHWH to be authentically itself, the love of YHWH for creation, and the need for transformation in light of current circumstances of brokenness.
In the case of this particular passage of Gen 12, the redemptive aspect shines brightest when one compares promises made to Abram/Abraham to the blessing given to man and woman in Gen 1:28. Genesis 1:28 states, “God blessed them and said to them, ‘be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’” The other text of Gen 12:1–3 states, “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Note the following points of contact: 1) a divine impartation of favor imbuing the statements; 2) a land grant (though the former has a more universal scope); 3) contained in the land grant—more implied in the second text—is a grant of dominion; 4) fruitfulness by the blessing of YHWH; 5) the recipients are thereby conduits of blessing (implied in the function of humans as images); 6) the universal scope of the blessing; 7) the revelation of YHWH as sovereign Creator.
The point of these connections is to indicate that the blessings given to the first humans are now to come through Abram/Abraham, restoring humanity and creation as a whole as a result. The difference between the specific land grant to Abram/Abraham and the universal land grant to the first humans highlights a point that later Israelites would develop about the significance of the promised land. The promised land was supposed to be the primary locus of YHWH’s creative activity, a place that one may well consider a place where creation is being restored to its proper function, for that is where the people who have the revelation of the true God and a covenant with him reside (of course, such statements of how it should be often did not line up with what was actually the case). Of course, later passages would expand on this point more explicitly and declare that the promised land would be where YHWH’s creative power would flow out to the rest of creation and draw it to YHWH, thereby connecting it with Eden (see Exod 19:4–6; Deut 28:1–14; Ps 72; Isa 2:2–5; 42; 49; 61; 65:17–25; Ezek 36; Mic 4:1–4; Zech 14). In the covenant itself, this line of thought is only there in seed form, however. But the other signs of contact between this covenant and the blessings on man and woman in Gen 1 may hint at something akin to the idea that YHWH’s restoration/transformation of creation might be most evident at the land promised to Abram/Abraham.
A further contrast is also set up to Gen 11, further underscoring the link between the problems of Gen 3 and Gen 11. The people who tried to build the Tower of Babel wanted to make a great name for themselves, while YHWH promises to do such for Abram/Abraham himself. The builders of Babel tried to settle in one place so that they would not be scattered (yet YHWH scattered them anyway), while YHWH tells Abram/Abraham to leave his father’s household to settle elsewhere. The last promise to Abram/Abraham also serves as an answer to the problem of Babel as the other families of the world will be blessed through him. This blessing the other families experience seems to be the revelation of YHWH that comes through Abram/Abraham’s line.