How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New? 7

1. Humankind’s first record of self-edification:

If we return to the history of the descendants of Noah’s son, Ham, (Gn. 10:6 – 10.), we learn that one of his grandsons was named ‘Nimrod’, which in the Hebrew means ‘We will rebel.’ He is the first person in Scripture to have a ‘kingdom’, part of which was in the land of Shinar (Babylonia):

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. Gn. 11:1, 2. NLT

            Being that the kingdom was Nimrod’s, he would have played a leading role in convincing his subjects to corporately sin against God. How so?

They said one to another, “Come, let us make bricks…let us build a city for ourselves, and a tower whose top will reach into the heavens, and let us make a [famous] name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered [into separate groups] and be dispersed over the surface of the entire earth [as the LORD instructed].” Gn. 11:3, 4. AMP

            How are they sinning? One: they are defying God’s command to be fruitful and multiply, and to cover the entire Earth. (See Gn. 1:22 & 28, and 9:1 & 7.) Two: in so doing, they are separating themselves from God, and three: they are indulging in pride (self-adoration).

            Pride leads to many problems:

Though the pride of the godless reaches to the heavens and their heads touch the clouds, yet they will vanish forever, thrown away like their own dung. Job 20:6, 7. NLT

And when they cry out, God does not answer because of their pride. Job 35:12 NLT

For he breaks the pride of princes, and the kings of the earth fear him. Ps. 76:12 NLT

Pride leads to disgrace… Pr. 11:2

Pride leads to conflict… Pr. 13:10

Pride goes before destruction… Pr. 16:18 NLT

“I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and humble the pride of the mighty.” Is. 13:11 NLT

            God’s will cannot be successfully thwarted:

Now the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one [unified] people, and they all have the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do [in rebellion against Me], and now no evil thing that they imagine they can do will be impossible for them.”

“Come, let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) go down and there to confuse and mix up their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the surface of the entire earth; and they stopped building the city.

Therefore the name of the city was Babel – because the LORD confused the language of the entire earth; and from that place the LORD scattered and dispersed them over the surface of all the earth. Gn. 11:5 – 9. AMP

            At some time in the future, God will restore a single language to His children when the Gospel is told to all people.[1]

            From this point on, i.e., following Gn. 1:1 – 11:9, the focus of Genesis shifts from being about humankind’s predilection for depravity, to how they may grab ahold of their redemption.

            It begins by establishing the lineage of Abram (who will become Abraham). There were 10 generations between Adam and Noah. There are an additional 10 generations between Noah’s son, Shem, to Abraham,[2] (the first Hebrew).

            This is our first introduction to Abram:

Terah fathered Abram…Haran fathered Lot. Haran died in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah’s lifetime…Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Gn. 11:27, 28 & 31. CSB

• The First Hebrew

As we’ve just seen, Abram, (Hebrew for ‘high father’), settled in the city of Haran (modern-day Turkish city of Eskiharran), with his father, his nephew, and his wife. When Abram reaches the age of 75, he receives a direct call from Jehovah Himself:

The LORD said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Gn. 12:1 – 3. NLT

            Like with Noah, Jehovah is entering into a covenant promise with Abram (the ‘Abrahamic covenant’) – promising him land (Canaan), making him a ‘great nation’, (Israel), raising his stature (as the father of faith), and covering him with His blessings.

            Furthermore, God’s blessings upon Abram will pass through him as well – blessing all of God’s children around the globe. 

We don’t know why God chose Abram. We do know that Abram took Him at His word, and in his obedience, he made his first act of faith – to gather his wife, Sarai, and his nephew, Lot, and a few servants and left everything that he ever knew, and trusted in God, that He was sending him to a better place.

At his advanced age, Abram and his retinue embarked on a 1500-mile trek to a place that they’ve never seen:

When they arrived in Canaan…the area was inhabited by Canaanites. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the LORD… Gn. 12:5 – 7. NLT

            Unfortunately, soon thereafter, our ‘father of faith’ suffers a human-type lapse in said conviction, when Canaan is struck with a famine. Instead of believing that God would provide for them in this calamity, He gathers Sarai and travels to Egypt, which was not experiencing famine.

            To add insult to injury with regards to the strength of his faith, as they approach the Egyptian border, Abram turns to Sarai and says:

“Look, you are a very beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife. Let’s kill him; then we can have her!’ So please tell them you are my sister. They will spare my life and treat me well because of their interest in you.” Gn. 12:11 – 13. NLT

            And it all came to pass. Palace officials bragged about Sarai’s beauty to Pharoah, and Sarai conveyed the lie; and she became part of his harem. And Pharoah gave riches to Abram. 

There has been a lot of scholarly debate about these proceedings. Was Abram only concerned with himself?

The outcome certainly seems like his plan worked. Was having Sarai tell a lie a sin? Again, if she had not, there was a good chance Abram would have been killed. Did Abram force Sarai to commit adultery? Not if it was forced upon her. It would be tantamount to rape. The Torah infers that the adultery took place, the Christian translation does not. 

God Himself puts an end to this dilemma by pouring plagues upon Pharaoh’s palace. Pharaoh in turn, booted Abram and Sarai out of Egypt. There was no sign of repentance on Abram’s part.   

This fiasco demonstrates that even the ‘father of faith’ had a slip-up. He gave in to the fear in his flesh. Let’s think about this. If the Bible’s number one example of faith can blow it, we can understand how we may fall short as well.

            Instead of berating ourselves when we do, (which hinders our ability to receive God’s love), it is a far better approach to ask Jehovah to strengthen us, to be able to step back into faith. He will never let us down. It’s not about how often you fall; it is about your willingness to get back up…

Abram and his retinue return to Canaan:

So Abram left Egypt and traveled north into the Negev (a desert region south of Judah), along with his wife and Lot and all that they owned. (Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold)…they pitched their tents between Bethel and Ai, where they had camped before. Gn. 13:1-3. NLT

Lot…had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents. But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds living so close together. Gn. 13:5, 6. NLT

            Gallantly, Abram tells Lot to go pick out land that he prefers; and then Abram will be sure to put the required distance between them, so that each of their husbandries could thrive:

So Abram settled in the land of Canaan, and Lot moved his tents to a place near Sodom and settled among the cities of the plain. But the people of this area were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the LORD.  Gn. 13:12, 13. NLT

            After Lot leaves, Jehovah speaks to Abram – reiterating His covenant with him:

After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west.I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”

So Abram moved his camp to Hebron and settled near the oak grove belonging to Mamre*. There he built another altar to the Lord. Gn. 13:14 – 18. NLT

*(One of Abram’s allies.)

Lot gets kidnaped:

About this time war broke out in the region…The victorious invaders then plundered Sodom and Gomorrah and headed for home, taking with them all the spoils of war and the food supplies. They also captured Lot—Abram’s nephew who lived in Sodom—and carried off everything he owned. But one of Lot’s men escaped and reported everything to Abram the Hebrew. Gn. 14:1 & 11 -13. NLT

When Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men who had been born into his household…he divided his men and attacked during the night. Abram recovered all the goods that had been taken, and he brought back his nephew Lot with his possessions and all the women and other captives. Gn. 14:14 – 16. NLT

After Abram returned from his victory…the king of Sodom went out to meet him…And, the king of Salem and a priest of the God Most High…blessed Abram…Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the goods he had recovered. Gn. 14:17 – 20. NLT

            From the Hebrew Bible perspective, king Melchizedek was not a Hebrew, but a God-fearing man. Nonetheless, he occupied both the office of king and priest, as did Christ. He was thought (in rabbinic legend) to be Shem, the son of Noah (see Ps. 110:4), whom God was going to make the first high priest. But, because he blessed Abram without first blessing God, the priesthood was given to Abram instead.

            Diverging to the Christian viewpoint, Melchizedek was the preincarnate Christ (see Heb. 7), which was why Abram submitted to him. Notice too that Abram gave a tithe to the high priest. Here, we need to pause, and root out what that meant…

[1] Zep. 3:9

[2] Gn.   11:10 – 26.