Exam Friday, 19 September
Exam Policies – also posted on Blackboard
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**You may start the exam as early as 8:45 if you wish.
**The exams will be on the chairs in the classroom. Once
you have chosen a place to sit, you must stay there.
**If you need to use a left-handed desk, be sure to arrive in
sufficient time to claim one.
**If you wish to take the exam in the Academic Support
Center, you must make arrangements with the personnel
there and then notify me by Wednesday.
**If you miss an exam for any reason whatsoever, the makeup exam will be essay format and it will be administered on
reading day at the end of the semester.
**If there should be a fire drill during an exam, simply turn
over your exam, exit as quickly as possible, and do not talk
together at all while out of the room.
Psalm 100:5
KI
TOV
ADONAI
 Because
good (is)
the LORD
 LE’OLAM
ḤASDO (2X)
 To eternity (is)
His hesed
 VE’AD DOR
VE-DOR (2X)
 And unto generation and generation
 EMUNATO
 His faithfulness
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An Introductory Question
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At what point did Abram “believe God and it was
credited to him as righteousness”?
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When Sarah finally had a child
After he proposed that Eliezer would inherit his estate
instead of an actual son and God responded by telling
him to look to the heavens, count the stars, and believe
that indeed he would have a son
After he circumcised all the male members of his
household and changed his name
When he returned from the battle to rescue Lot
And the answer is…
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After he proposed that Eliezer would inherit
his estate instead of an actual son and God
responded by telling him to look to the
heavens, count the stars, and believe that
indeed he would have a son
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Your questions?
Moving from Ur to Canaan
(Josh 24:2)
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Journeys of Abraham-Ur to Egypt
The land of the patriarchs: Shechem
East of Bethel
The Negev
Definitions
Patriarchs and matriarchs
 Covenant – an agreement between two
parties that establishes a relationship, entails
obligations on both sides and is
accompanied by sanctions.
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Literary and Theological
Observations
Narratives are about individuals, have
implications for God’s chosen people and
their relationship with Him, and teach us
about the sovereign universal plan of God as
it is worked out through human history from
creation to the final victory
 The pattern of Abraham’s life: Romans
4:11 – Abraham is the father of all who
believe
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Genesis 12:1-7 – initial call and
covenant promises
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Blessings – first three for Abram; last three
through Abram
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Great nation (offspring)
Blessing – which will include the land (12:7)
Name will be great
Be a blessing – an imperative
Those who bless will be blessed
Those who curse will be cursed
All nations will be blessed through Abram
Galatians 3:6-8 – “announced the Gospel ahead
of time”
Reaffirmations of the Covenant
Genesis 13:14-17 – after Lot departed to
the plain of the Jordan Valley
 Genesis 15 – the promise of the son and
cutting the covenant
 Genesis 17 –
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 Requirements of a covenant people
 Abram becomes Abraham
 The sign of the covenant – circumcision
 Isaac promised by name
Fulfillment of the Promise
Genesis 21:1-7 – the birth of Isaac
 Romans 4:21-24 – Abraham’s faith = our
faith
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The trials and tribulations of
Abraham’s life
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The strategy to spare his life (Gen12:8-20 and ch
20) – a puzzling pattern
Abram’s “adoption” of Sarai as sister (Gen 12 and 20) –
“everywhere we go” (20:13)
The traditional view – this is a serious moral lapse on the
part of Abram
A different explanation – with this plan, Abram intended to
protect his marriage (Gordon Hugenberger, 2002)
Problems with the Traditional View
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God punished both Pharaoh and Abimelekh; the
implication is that they did something reprehensible
The Bible declares that Abraham was morally
upright (Gen 26:3-5)
In a culture based on honor and shame (ANE), no
man would give his wife to another man
Women are enjoined to be like Sarah (I Pet:1-6)
Abraham never “repents” of this choice
Pharaoh sent Abraham away very wealthy
A Suggestion: Based on Hurrian
Custom
Kings in the ANE entered into marriages to increase their
wealth and power
 Sarai represented a wealthy family and would be a
temptation
 In the sister-adoption realm, however, there would not have
been a dowry (because the brother was not a husband)
 If the brother were killed, the wealth would not go to the
sister
 Thus, rulers should not have been tempted by Sarai.
 Note translation of 12:13 – “my life will be spared for you”
 Abraham did not imagine that Pharaoh and Abimelekh
would abduct his sister without asking permission (which he
would never give)
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Egypt and the Exodus Parallels
God punished Pharaoh – an adumbration of
the plagues
 Abraham left Egypt wealthy; as Israel would
do some four centuries later
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Additional Trials
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Problems related to Lot
 Settling in Sodom (Gen 13:1-13)
 War with the kings and encounter with Melchizedek
(Gen 14) – “King of Righteousness, King of Salem,
priest of God Most High” – Abraham gave the tithe to
Melchizedek
 Diplomacy to save Sodom (Gen 18,19) – the sins of
Sodom (Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jude 7)
 Lot’s descendants (Moab and Ammon)
Attempts to “force God’s hand” and the results (Gen 16
and 21)
Promise and Test Come Together:
The Command to Sacrifice Isaac
What was the test?
 What is faith? (Hebrews 11:17-19)
 Isaac’s obedience
 The intervention of the Lord – the
symbolism of the ram in the thicket (Deut
21:23)
 Possible parallels with Jesus
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