Genesis 22-23 and Early Church Writings [Mathetes to Diognetus] 10-12

Genesis 22 - God puts Abraham to the test at Moriah (said to be where Jerusalem would later be built).  “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, who you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you” (22:2).

Abraham obeys. On the third day of travel, Abraham spies the place he’s been told to go to in the distance. He tells the men with him to stay while he and Isaac go farther.

“Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders while he himself carried the fire and the knife” (22:6). The wood on the shoulders of in “only son” is the kind of detail that puts me in awe of the miracle of scriptural unity and cohesion. I mean all these stories, all these writings were from the hands of many people over nearly a thousand years.

Isaac wonders aloud to his father where the “sheep for the burnt offering” is, and the faithful Abraham answers, “God himself will provide the lamb” (22:8), and of course he does—not only ultimately but here proximately.  God is looking only for Abraham’s willingness to obey and his recognition that the son he has is also a gift, something that the Lord has provided, not anything really belonging to him.  What strikes me here is that having been asked to renounce the past (his ancient clan, the traditions and lands of his father in Ur), he is now asked to renounce the future (or at least any personal goal he might have for the future).  He is to live in the relationship of faith only, not in any notion of what faith may get him.

“When they arrive at the place where God told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied him son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’

‘Yes,’ Abraham replied. ‘Here I am’” (22:9-11). The angel tells him to stop, but is pleased that Abraham would not withhold anything from his God, even his own son.  He [the angel/God] says, “I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. . . . And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed” (22:17-18).

Verse 20 traces the genealogy of Abraham’s brother Nahor to trace the relationship of Rebecca to Isaac.  One of Nahor’s sons, Bethuel is Rebecca’s father.  The offspring of Nahor’s relationship with a concubine—Reumah—are also introduced.

Genesis 23 - Sarah dies at age 127 and is buried at Kiriath-arba (Hebron). The Hittite owners of the site try hard to give it to Abraham, but he finally tells Abraham that it is worth 400 shekels [pieces of silver] and Abraham pays that amount.

The spot – a cave at Machpelah and the fields around it -- is the first bit of land Abraham takes possession of in the “Promised Land.”

It is interesting to me that the promise - the promised heir and the first land right - comes concretely through Sarah — despite the fact that she is depicted as far from perfect in her relationship to God.  The faithfulness comes from Abraham.

Epistle of Mathetes [Disciple] to Diognetus

From Christian Classics Ethereal Library - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html

Chapter 10 – “If you also desire [to possess] this faith, you likewise shall receive first of all the knowledge of the Father. For God has loved mankind, on whose account He made the world, to whom He rendered subject all the things that are in it, to whom He gave reason and understanding, to whom alone He imparted the privilege of looking upwards to Himself, who He formed after His own image, to whom He sent His only-begotten Son, to whom He has promised a kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved Him.”

If you attain to this, imagine the joy and the love you will be able to possess. “[D]o not wonder that a man may become an imitator of God. He can, if he is willing. For it is not by ruling over his neighbors, or by seeking to hold the supremacy over those that are weaker, or by being rich, and showing violence towards those that are inferior, that happiness is found . . .. On the contrary he who takes upon himself; he who, in whatsoever respect he may be superior, is ready to benefit another who is deficient; he who, whatsoever things he has received from God, by distributing these to the needy, becomes a god to those who receive [his benefits]; he is an imitator of God.”

Chapter 11 – “I do not speak of things strange to me, nor do I aim at anything inconsistent with right reason; but having been a disciple of the Apostles, I am become a teacher of the Gentiles.”

The Word manifested Himself to His disciples, who being found faithful were able to acquire a “knowledge of the mysteries of the Father.” This Word “was from the beginning. . . and is ever born afresh in the hearts of the saints.” This is the Son “through whom the Church is enriched, and grace, widely spread. . . “

Chapter 12 – “When you have read and carefully listened to these things, you shall know what God bestows on such as rightly love Him, being made [as ye are] a paradise of delight, presenting in yourselves a tree bearing all kinds of produce and flourishing well, being adorned with various fruits. For in this place the tree of knowledge and the tree of life have been planted; but it is not the tree of knowledge that destroys—it is disobedience that proves destructive.”

“But he who combines knowledge with fear, and seeks after life, plants in hope, looking for fruit. Let your heart be your wisdom; and let your life be true knowledge inwardly received. Bearing this tree and displaying its fruit, thou shalt always gather in those things which are desired by God, which the Serpent cannot reach, and to which deception does not approach; nor is Eve then corrupted, but is trusted as a virgin; and salvation is manifested, and the Apostles are filled with understanding, and the Passover of the Lord advances, and the choirs are gathered together, and are arranged in proper order, and the Word rejoices in teaching the saints—by whom the Father is glorified: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

Genesis 20-21 and Early Church Writings [Mathetes to Diognetus] 7-9

Genesis 20 - A doublet of 12:10, but involving not the king of Egypt but the King of Gerar, a kingdom south of Gaza, Abimelech.  Abimelech has a dream from God revealing the truth of what Abraham is doing and he confronts Abraham.  The idea of God’s prophets being favored and being people who can intercede with God for us is reinforced here (20:7). Abraham learns that there is fear and respect for God outside his own people, so at Abraham’s intercession, God does lift the sanction he had imposed on them for their inadvertent violation of his will.

Genesis 21 - Abraham, now 100, finally has his son Isaac (meaning ‘God smiled,’ or laughed).  Sarah is also very old.  Ishmael who, by Chapter 16 reckoning would be 15 years old here is pictured as still a child (14)—on his mother’s shoulder. 

At Sarah’s request, they are banished (again?).  God promises Abraham to look after them and make a nation of Ishmael as well. This is a kind of an echo or shadow of the promise to Abraham. In the desert Hagar is reassured personally by an angel.  They go to the wilderness of Paran (on the Sinai Peninsula south of the Negev,) and there Hagar gets a wife for her son from Egypt -- remember Hagar might be Egyptian as well.

Abimelech and Abraham make a covenant and settle a dispute over a well at Beersheba, just east of Gerar.

Epistle of Mathetes [Disciple] to Diognetus

From Christian Classics Ethereal Library - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html

Chapter 7 – “[T]his was no mere earthly invention which was delivered to them, nor is it a mere human system of opinion, which they judge it right to preserve so carefully, nor has a dispensation of mere human mysteries been committed to them, but truly God Himself, who is almighty, the Creator of all things, and invisible, has sent from heaven and placed among men, [Him who is] the truth, and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and has firmly established Him in their hearts.”

“As a king sends his son, who is also a king, so sent He Him; as God He sent Him; as to men He sent Him; as a Savior He sent Him, and as seeking to persuade, not to compel us; for violence has no place in the character of God. As calling us He sent Him, not as vengefully pursuing us; as loving us He sent Him, not as judging us. For He will yet send Him to judge us, and who shall endure His appearing?”

They are exposed to wild beast yet they are not overcome. They are punished but their punishment leads them only to have greater numbers. “This does not seem to be the work of man; this is the power of God.”

Chapter 8 – Who of us “understood before His coming what God is?” Some said God was fire and others said water. No man has ever “seen Him or made Him known”; he has revealed himself “through faith.”

“But after He revealed and laid open, through His beloved Son, the things which had been prepared from the beginning, He conferred every blessing all at once upon us, so that we should both share in His benefits, and see and be active [in His service].”

Chapter 9 – “As long then as the former tie endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts . . so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able.”

“He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous. . . . O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! That the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors!”

Having shown us in earlier times that we were not capable on our own of attaining that “life” he intended for us, he revealed to us our Savior so as to “lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious concerning clothing and food.”

Genesis 19 and Early Church Writings [Mathetes to Diognetus] 4-6

Genesis 19 - Two angel messengers are entertained by Lot whose hospitality is implicitly praised.  The men of the town beat at his door demanding that he turn them over to them so they can “abuse” them –“be intimate with them” [Tanakh 19:5]. There is virtually no discussion or follow up on the particular evil implied.  The whole focus is on the fact that destruction will come, but the virtuous Lot and those he loves are given a path to follow to avoid the destruction.

Lot’s daughters seem to be affected by the sexual decadence of the times in their own plot to sleep with their father.  The older daughter gives birth to Moah, the younger one to Ben-ammi (the Ammonites).  The note suggests it is a gibe at Israel’s enemies to link them in this way with such conduct.

There is controversy over whether God is outraged at what happens here because the men of Sodom “abuse” male visitors, hence are guilty of a crime involving homosexuality or because they violate the norm of “hospitality.” I personally think the crime is primarily a crime against the ethic of hospitality. Just having finished reading Fagel’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey, it is pretty clear that hospitality was central to ancient people. In Greek culture, and here apparently in Mesopotamian culture, you NEVER KNEW if the beggar who was seeking your help was really a god or the emissary of a god.

Epistle of Mathetes [Disciple] to Diognetus

From Christian Classics Ethereal Library - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.html

Chapter 4 – He describes the Jews as a people full of superstitions concerning the Sabbaths, circumcision and “fancies about fasting and new moons, which are utterly ridiculous and unworthy of notice . . ..” This part definitely sounds like something that early Friends picked up on.

To speak of God “as if He forbade us to do what is good on Sabbath-days” is impious. And “to glory in the circumcision of the flesh as a proof of election” – this too is worthy of ridicule. The Christians abstain from the vanities and common errors of both Jews and Gentiles. But “you must not hope to learn the mystery of their peculiar mode of worshipping God from any mortal.”

Chapter 5 –The Christians “are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct, which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners . . . They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all . . . They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all . . ..”

These words were a little thought-provoking to me - a little surprising in light of the way Quakers [and Mennonite Christians] have in some ways tried to create an “alternate culture” of “plain dress” and distinctive language; but perhaps these distinctive ways arose naturally out of a desire to do away with distinctions that were very much a part of the “worldly” culture of their day. I think we should keep this in mind today though. We are not seeking to be noticeable for being uniquely old-fashioned; we should be simple and not spend wads of money on clothing or ornaments; but we aren’t trying to set ourselves apart in superficial ways – just in the love we have and the faithfulness we have to Christ’s Light in us.

Chapter 6 – “To sum up all in one word—what the soul is in the body, that are Christians in the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians are scattered through all the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, yet is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, yet are not of the world. . . . The flesh hates the soul and wars against it, though itself suffering no injury, because it is prevented from enjoying pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though in nowise injured, because they abjure pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and [loves also] the members; Christians likewise love those that hate them. The soul is imprisoned in the body, yet preserves that very body; and Christians dwell as sojourners in corruptible [bodies], looking for an incorruptible dwelling in the heavens.”