Genesis 17.1-19.38

The Sign of the Covenant / A Son Again Promised / Haggling for Lot / In Sodom / Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah / ...If He Was the Last Man on Earth

The Sign of the Covenant: Genesis 17.1-27

In this P-source account, God appears to Abram and expands upon the covenant first explicated in Genesis 15. Before the covenant consisted of a promise of land for Abram's descendants. Now God promises land and a multitude of ancestors:

You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations...I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come of you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.

(Gen. 17.4-8)

The sign of the covenant is circumcision for every male, free and slave. Anyone without the sign of the covenant is cut off from God's people. Because of the patriarchal/partilineal nature of ancient Israel, women do not need any mark to distinguish them as part of God's people. The circumcision of their father, husband, and sons is enough.

Naming serves a very important function in the Bible as a sign of change. Designated names commemorate events and locations and signal when a character has undergone a change. Hence with the covenant Abram's name is changed to Abraham and Sarai's name is changed to Sarah. Abram's name change shifts his designation from "exalted ancestor" to "ancestor of a multitude." As "ancestor" implies, the promise of offspring was always evident. Now the promise is of great nations. Sarah's name changes only in dialect, its meaning remaining something like "princess."

God first comes to Abram he falls on his face out of reverence. He repeats the action after hearing that his wife will have a child. And he laughs. Abraham is ninety-nine years old and his wife ninety. How are they to have children? Abraham says to God, "O that Ishmael might lie in your sight!" (Gen. 17.18). God answers that Sarah will bear Isaac (he laughs in Hebrew). The covenant shall be with him. Ishmael will not be part of the covenant, but will be the "father of twelve princes" (Gen. 17.20).

The chapter closes on a mass circumcision, with all the males of Abraham's house taking part. Father-son bonding: Abraham is ninety-nie at this time and his son Ishmael thirteen.

A Son Again Promised: Genesis 18.1-15

Genesis 18 is a J-source version of God's promise in Genesis 17. The Lord and two angels appear in the form of three men at Abraham's tent. In a grand demonstration of hospitality, Abraham runs out to meet them and bows down before them, ironically addressing them as "Lords" (Gen. 18.3). he promises them a little water and bread, then tells Sarah to make three cakes, runs to his herd and chooses a calf to be slaughtered, and brings out curds and milk for his guests. He stands with them as they eat, not taking part. Though Abraham has not introduced her, the three men ask where his wife Sarah is. Abraham points to the tent. One says "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son" (Gen. 18.10). Sarah, who is listening, laughs at this; she and Abraham are both very old. The Lord asks Abraham why she laughed, but it is Sarah responds in fear, "I did not laugh." Too bad the Lord is omniscient: "Oh yes, you did laugh." (Gen. 18.15).

Recap: Promises and Laughter

This section represents God's last promise of offspring before the actual birth of Isaac in Genesis 21. It has been a long process, with all the stagnation of Waiting for Godot. This play, Waiting for Isaac, has the two protagonists waiting for a son, the result of God's action, rather than God(ot) himself.

The themes of promise and laughter have featured prominently throughout this "play." Promises come in the form of land and offspring. Laughter sets up a motif befitting Isaac's name (he laughs)

The promises promised:

"I will make of you a great nation" (Gen. 12.2)

"To your offspring I will give this land" (Gen. 12.7)

"...for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever" (Gen. 13.15)

"I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted" (Gen. 13.16)

"Look toward haven and count the stars, if you are able to count them...So shall your descendants be" (Gen. 15.5)

"I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess" (Gen. 15.7)

"To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates (Gen. 15.18)

Abraham's name chance to mean "ancestor of a multitude" (Gen. 17.5)

"You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations" (Gen. 17.6)

"And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God" (Gen. 17.8)

Sarah "shall give rise to nations; kings of people shall come from her" (Gen. 17.16)

"I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son" (Gen. 18.10)

The promise of Ishmael:

[To Hagar] "I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude."

[To Abraham] "I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation" (Gen. 17.20)

Laughter:

Abraham laughs hearing he will have a son in his old age (Gen. 17.17)

Isaac's name means he laughs (Gen. 17.19)

Sarah laughs (Gen. 18.12)

Lord asks Abraham of Sarah's laughter (Gen. 18.13)

Sarah denies laughter and God corrects her (Gen. 18.15)

Haggling for Lot: Genesis 18.16-33

The two men set out for Sodom, but the Lord stays with Abraham. There is a great outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. Their sin is very grave. The Lord confides this in Abraham, who is probably thinking, "Uh-oh, that's where Lot lives!" So like any other Middle Eastern man, he haggles.

Abraham convinces the Lord to not destroy the city if there are fifty righteous within the city. The Lord agrees. Abraham cuts it to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, then ten. Hopefully, Abraham must hope, there are at least some others besides Lot and his family that are righteous.

In Sodom: Genesis 19.1-11

Unlike Abraham, who is active in the service of his guests, his nephew Lot is passive, yet still the most righteous man in Sodom. Rather than Lot running to the men/angels, the two angels find Lot sitting in the gateway of Sodom. He invites them to his house, which at least shows some concern. He even strongly urges them from spending the night in the square. And though he makes a feast, the bread is unleavened, and he eats with them rather than waiting on him.

But he is the most hospitable man in Sodom. The other men of the town come and surround the house, telling Lot to show his guests that they may "know" him (yes, in the biblical sense). Lot is hospitable enough that he goes outside to the townspeople, shuts the door, and offers his virgin daughters instead.  The townsfolk get angry that Lot is trying to direct their actions, saying: "Now we will deal worse with you than with them" (Gen. 19.9). They move on Lot, try to break the door down. The me/angels inside bring him in, shut the door, and blind the men outside so that they cannot find the door.

Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Genesis 19.12-29

The angels come clean with their story - the city is to be destroyed. Is there anyone Lot wants to save? The future sons-in-law think Lot is jesting, and the night passes. In the morning, the men/angels force Lot out with his wife and two daughters. Lot is told to head for the hills, but just like his uncle, he bargains to run to a nearby city instead. The angels consent. Lot and his family are warned not to look back during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, all sulfur and fire. Lot's wife turns around. She turns into a pillar of salt.

In a cinematic cut, Abraham goes out in the early morning and looks toward the Plain. Smoke rises up from the land like out of a furnace.

...If He Was the Last Man on Earth: Genesis 19.30-38

Lot serves as an interesting parallel to Noah in this tale.

Lot does not go to the town after all, deciding instead to settle in the hills. Because of this, his two daughters think they are the last family on earth. It is, in their minds, up to them to repopulate the earth. They get their father drunk on two consecutive nights, one for each daughter, and conceive Moab and Ben-ammi, the ancestors of the Moabites and Ammonites, respectively.

This part of the narrative serves to cast aspersion on the Moabites and Ammonites, both enemies of Israel. From a strictly patriarchal sense, it serves Lot right to have such terrible ancestors. After all, he offered his daughters to a bunch of gang rapers.

Up tomorrow: Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit