Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and the Abrahamic Covenant ______
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Reading Assignment Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and the Abrahamic Covenant ______________________ Instructions: Complete a write-up as you have been doing noting those things that you will need to write about in the course review paper. To help you, it is suggested that you include the question and answers to the readings and questions found throughout this reading assignment. I. Introduction Shechem Abraham stopped at “the plain of Moreh” (Gen. 12:6), a mistranslation of the Hebrew words meaning “the tree In the last reading assignment we learned of the general promises of the teacher.” Exactly what this was we do not know. made by God to Abraham. The Lord promised Abraham “I will We are told that at this tree, God appeared to Abraham and make of thee a great nation” through whom God would have the said “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” Abraham then built an blessings of the gospel and through the authority of the priesthood altar to the Lord (Gen. 12:7). This incident established they would be the means of “all the families of the earth” being Shechem as the sacred center of the land of promise for future blessed “with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings generations as is shown in many biblical stories. of salvation, even of life eternal” (Abr. 2:9, 11). In other words, through Abraham’s seed God would be able to bring both For Latter-day Saints, this story is of great interest. When Lehi salvation and eternal life to all his children. was told to leave Jerusalem, he and his family traveled three days into the wilderness then set up camp (see 1 Ne. 2). The So, the ultimate aim of the Abrahamic Covenant is to bring about Lord was going to lead Lehi to a new promised land (see 1 Ne. a celestial people dwelling in a a celestial kingdom or Zion and 5:1-5). Like Abraham, Lehi did not know where the land was eternally existing in a celestial globe. This what is meant in located. One night while camping at that site, Lehi saw in a Abraham 2:11 when the Abraham is promised that his literal seed dream the promised land. In that land was a tree, a tree of life “shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the (1 Ne. 8:2-10). The tree of life became an important symbol blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, throughout the Book of Mormon of the Lord’s promised even life eternal.” blessings that would be given the seed of Joseph. This is the goal of the gospel plan of our Heavenly Parents. This B. The Lord “cuts a covenant” with Abraham. is what our testimony of the gospel is all about. President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876-1972) declared: From Shechem, Abraham moved to other locations to live. This testimony comes from God; it convinces all to whom it is given Sometime later, the Lord said to Abraham, “I am the Lord that in spite of themselves, and it is worth more to men than any sign or brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land gift, because it gives peace, happiness, and contentment to the soul. [the land of Canaan] to inherit it.” In response, Abraham asked It assures me that God lives; and if I am faithful, I shall obtain the the Lord, “whereby shall I know that I shall inherit?” (Gen. 15:7- blessings of the celestial kingdom. The earth will become purified and 8). In response, the Lord told Abraham to bring him a certain made a fit abode for heavenly beings and for the Lord our God to number of animals. Abraham secured the animals and then come and dwell upon, which he will do during the millennium. The cut them in half, laying the severed halves together. Why? gospel is salvation, and without it there is nothing worth having. This Abraham understood that the Lord intended to formalize the is what we are after. The reason that we are here is that we may promises He had made with Abraham through a covenant overcome every foil and prepare ourselves for eternal life in the ritual. future. (Conference Report, Oct. 1966, p. 125) Covenant rituals in the ancient world generally involved cutting But it does seem odd, that since the goal of the Abrahamic and blood. In some cases animals were cut in half. Then after Covenant has been the goal of God from the beginning, why is the reciting the terms of the covenant, the parties making the Lord making such a big deal about what has become known as covenant would pass between the severed parts of the animal thee Abrahamic Covenant? Perhaps the Lord is doing some (thus identifying themselves with the animal) suggesting that if things differently with Abraham, and his son Isaac, and his they did not keep their part of the covenant then what was grandson Jacob. done to the animal would be done to them: i.e., they would be Let’s explore a few of the stories of these three men and see what killed. In fact, the proper way to say in Hebrew, “he made a we can learn. covenant” is “he cut a covenant.” (For another Old Testament example, see Jeremiah 34:18-19.) II. Abraham After the animals were cut in half, the Lord stated the terms of A. Abraham enters the promised land. the covenant. Abraham’s posterity would become enslaved in another land for four generations (a generation was one *Read Genesis 12:1-7. hundred years). At the end of that period the Lord would bring The incident of Abraham 2:6-11 occurred while Abraham was them out of bondage and give them the land of Canaan. Then living in Haran. Being directed by the Lord, Abraham and his the Lord, represented by a smoking furnace and a burning family left Haran for the promised land–but not knowing where lamp, passed between the severed animals (Gen. 15:13-18). that was (Heb. 11:8). They reached the main thoroughfare that Abraham now knew the land would be his. Of course, that led from Mesopotamia to Egypt via the land of Canaan–the would mean that Abraham would need to “cut a covenant” with southern part of the strategic corridor linking the Asian and the Lord. African continents. C. Abraham “cuts a covenant” with the Lord The road led Abraham to Canaan where he stopped at an Genesis 17 records the occasion relative to Abraham’s important city named Shechem (Sichem in Gen. 12:6), the entering into the covenant. The ritual which initiated the crossroads between the northern and southern parts of the land covenant on Abraham’s part also involved cutting and blood. of Canaan. The King James Bible tells us that coming into 1 But instead of cutting animals in half and walking between the Abraham followed a pattern: he was asked to give up pieces, the sign of Abraham’s covenant was the ordinance of something earthly for a higher or Godly cause. In the end, circumcision. Circumcision became the token of the covenant Abraham never really gave up anything for he was always throughout Old Testament history. The one entering into the blessed with something better. Joseph Smith was told that covenant cut off his foreskin symbolizing that if he did not keep because Abraham (as well as Isaac and Jacob) did none his part of the covenant that he and his posterity would be cut other things than that which were commanded they have off from the presence of the Lord even as he had cut off the entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and foreskin. sit upon thrones, and are not angels but are gods” (D&C 132:37). Genesis 17:1, states what Abraham must promise to do: “walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 17:1). To walk before the E. The Abrahamic Covenant is “Made Sure.” Lord is to walk in His paths, to do things in the Lord’s way, to live after the manner of the Lord and not the voice of the world. The ultimate test of Abraham’s obedience came when God The Hebrew word translated “perfect” means to be whole, asked Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering to Him complete, intact, blameless, or without blemish. It did not mean * Read Gen. 22:1-2. sinless. The two promises Abraham was to make--to walk before the Lord and be perfect–meant that he was to promise This struck against everything God had taught Abraham the Lord that he would obey wholly and completely the about the wickedness of human sacrifice. Moreover, by commands of the Lord. offering Isaac as a sacrifice, Abraham would lose his heir, the child through whom the promises of the Abrahamic In Genesis 17, the Lord promises Abraham that if he keeps is covenant would come (Heb. 11:18-19). agreement God will make Abraham “a father of many nations” that his seed would “be known among all nations.” Further, “I President John Taylor (1808-87), with other members of the will make nations of thee, and kings shall come of thee and of Twelve Apostles while in Nauvoo, recalled the Prophet thy seed” (JST Gen. 17: 8, 10). Please consider what this is Joseph Smith (1805-44) saying, “It was not everybody that saying about modern Israel–members of the Church in our day.