Welcome to Messiah in the Old Testament. Today we are continuing our series of episodes looking at Messianic Prophecies associated with the life of Abram or the so called Abrahamic Prophecies. So far we have revealed 14 of these prophecies. In our last episode we saw Abram leave Haran and move to Canaan. He took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him. They moved to Shechem with all their stuff including servants, slaves, soldiers, herdsmen and animals. They travelled to Shechem to the Great tree of Moreh. There Abram built an altar to Elohim who appeared to him in person hence the name Adonai Hannireh (God who appears). This was the first altar he built but it would not be the last. He would go on to build five such altars. This was the first time that Elohim appeared to him but it would not be the last. He would appear three times to Abram. This encounter with Elohim produced three Messianic Prophecies.
1) God appeared to Abram in person so that he could be seen. This points us to Messiah, the part of Elohim that appears to men in human form so that we will be able to see him.
2) The name Adonai Hannir’eh, the God who Appears, points us to Messiah who is the part of God that appears and can be seen by men.
3) God promised the Land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring. This was Messianic provision to ensure Messiah’s line would continue through Abram’s line.
From Shechem he moved to a spot between Bethel and Ai. There he built his second altar where he called upon or cried out in a loud voice to the name of the LORD. The second altar was called Shem Adonai. This encounter produced yet another Messianic Prophecy.
4) Abram as a type of Messiah cried out to the LORD in a loud voice (yelled or screamed). So it will be with Messiah. He will cry out to the LORD in a loud voice. He will call on the name of the LORD.
From Bethel he moved to the Negev where he ran into difficulty finding food and water as a famine gripped the land. He went to Egypt to find relief from the famine.
He made his wife Sarai swear to call him brother to protect their lives. Abram feared the Egyptians would kill him and seize Sarai because of her exceptional beauty. His concerns turned out to be quite valid as she was taken by Pharaoh’s officials into his household (harem). Abram was heavily rewarded because of her beauty and quality. According to the Amarna letters the Pharaohs had a system where they solicited women from foreign dignitaries i.e. sisters and daughters. They paid for them with gold. We showed you the gold sandals and finger / toe stalls recovered from the wives of Pharaoh Thutmose III. His wives had Semitic Names Menhet, Menwi and Merti. We recognized Merti as an older form of the name Martha.
Sarai would have remained in Pharaoh’s palace, but Elohim had other plans. He sent multiple severe but selective plagues on Pharaoh and his household. This would have included his harem but Sarai was spared along with Abram and his household. Pharaoh discovered that the source of the multiple severe plagues was his taking of Sarai who was actually Abram’s wife. In response to the plagues Pharaoh sent Abram away with Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their possessions including the stuff Pharoah gave Abram for Sarai.
This was the first set of plagues that beset the Pharaoh of Egypt but it would not be the last. Moses would see ten plagues beset Pharaoh and all Egypt during the Exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt. This was the first plundering of Egypt by Abram and his offspring but it would not be the last. Moses would see the plundering of Pharaoh and all Egypt by the Children of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt. Abram’s experience in Egypt was a foreshadowing of the Exodus. This brought us the final Messianic prophecy from the last episode.
5) God’s miraculous provision to Abram at the hand of Pharoah provided the means for the line of Messiah to thrive and move forward.
This brings us to our story today. It begins in Genesis 13:1-2:
So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
Here it is, the rest of the story. Abram went back to Canaan “very wealthy.” This phrase is translated from the Hebrew dOaVm dEbD;k (kaveyd me’od). dEbD;k (kaveyd) is an adjective from the root db;k (kaveyd) which means heavy, weighty, burdensome or honored. The adjective means massive, abundant, numerous with the connotation of prosperity or wealth. dOaVm (me’od) means very. So, Abram returned from Egypt burdened down or heavy with massive amounts of h‰nVqI;m (miqneh), PRsR;k (kesef) and bDhÎz (zahav). That is cattle, silver and gold. The picture here is that of Abram using carts to haul away his heavy gold and silver out of Egypt. Abram’s entourage had grown even larger. The Negev was no place for Abram to settle down, so he moved back north passing Jerusalem, again and he returned to Bethel. This is found in Genesis 13:3-4:
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
This is the third altar (another iteration of the second altar) Abram built.
The word translated altar is AjE;b◊zI;m (mizbeach) from jAbÎz (zabach) which means butcher, slaughter or sacrifice. Abram was sacrificing animals on these altars. He made it his practice to sacrifice to the LORD much like Job or Noah. He built his first altar in response to the appearance of Elohim. He used it to worship and glorify Elohim. The second and now this the third (another iteration of his second altar) were constructed and used as a means to approach Elohim and cry out to him. This has Messianic implication. As we discussed in our episodes looking at sacrificial systems Abram’s sacrificing on the altars points us to Messiah who will become the ultimate sacrifice and abolish the whole sacrificial system. Using the blood of animals and the sweet fragrance of a burnt offering to approach Elohim will no long be necessary when Messiah comes. We will be able to cry out to God directly. This is our first Messianic prophecy in this episode.
1) Abram sacrificed animals on his altar as a means to approach Elohim and call upon his name. Messiah will eliminate this need and allow us direct access to Elohim through his blood.
At this altar Abram called out to Elohim. He cried, yelled, screamed in a loud voice invoking his name. The Hebrew phrase used to describe Abram’s actions is hDwh◊y MEvV;b
M∂rVbAa
MDv a∂rVqˆ¥yÅw (vayyiqrah sham Avram beshaym
Adonai) which means And he cried out there Abram on the name of the LORD.
What does it mean to invoke someone’s name? It is like this: I am part of a surgery practice which now has three surgeons. I have practiced for 27 years in Fort Wayne, caring for over 25,000 children. My first partner has practiced 6 years in Fort Wayne caring for nearly 4,000 children. My second partner has practiced <1 year and has cared for several hundred children. Many of the new patients in our practice want me to care for them. They specifically ask if I will do their surgery. If I am not
available on the day they schedule their surgery then they ask for my first partner to do the surgery. Many families tell me that I operated on a relative or friend and that I come highly recommended. This is my MEv (shaym) brand, reputation or name. They call upon my name to get the best care possible.
Abram appealed to hDwh◊y MEvV;b (beshaym Adonai).
V;b (be) is a prefixed preposition meaning proximity as in at, on, upon. The picture is Abram using his voice to approach or get near to MEv (shaym) name, reputation or brand of hDwh◊y (Adonai). This is the personal name of God or Shem HaMephorash (explicit name of God) which many devout Jewish believers will not say. Some simply call him hashem or the name. Some say yah while others, as I do in these episodes, say Adonai or LORD. Christians tend to pronounce the Masoretic vowel pointing saying Jehovah. Some take the letters YHWH and add the vowel a between Yand H and the vowel e between W and H. I personally have no problem how you pronounce Shem HaMephorash (explicit name of God) but I do feel any reverence or awe that we can ascribe to that name is appropriate and well deserved.
In the Tanakh there are at least 122 different names given to Elohim. I have included the list on our website findingmessiah.org:
Let’s pick one of these as an example, #86 from Deuteronomy 33:29 where Moses was blessing the Israelites before his death. He tells the nation Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He then tells them
NEgDm hÎwh◊y (Adonai magayn) which means the LORD is your shield, buckler or armed defender. Protection is included in the name of God.
Let’s look at another one #98 from Exodus 15:26 where Elohim states
which means I am the LORD that heals, cures or restores you. So, healing is included in the name of God.
Finally, let’s look at #100 from Judges 6:24 where Gideon built an altar and called it MwølDv hDwh◊y (Adonai Shalom) which means the LORD is peace or is complete with nothing missing and nothing broken. So, peace is included in the name of God.
When Abram called on the name of the LORD he was invoking everything that Adonai had to offer. This has Messianic implications:
2) Abram as a type of Messiah called on the name of the LORD thereby invoking all the power contained in his Name including protection, healing, peace, etc. Messiah will do the same.
Abram’s wife Sarai, nephew Lot, his animals (flocks, herds, caravans and droves) along with all his servants, soldiers and slaves moved from place to place. They probably were searching for adequate grazing land after the famine had ravaged the land. Abram had amassed so much wealth that any area he settled would have to be very open, large and green to support his myriad animals. You and I should have such a problem. This issue grew more acute as his prosperity increased. The situation reached a breaking point in Genesis 13:5-9:
Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. And quarreling arose between Abram’s herdsmen and the herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
Lot was a man of great means in his own right. The Tanakh tells little of his dealings with Abram up to this point. We do not know if Lot’s herds, flocks and tents came from his rich uncle Abram or if he earned them on his own using his knowledge and skill. Both Abram and Lot were each rich enough to employ multiple herdsmen. The quarreling undoubtedly regarded the use of grazing lands. Apparently, the Canaanites and Perizzites were vying for the same pastures and may also have been involved in the quarrels. Abram wisely intervened and offered Lot a solution. If they separated their herds then they would also separate their herdsmen and the quarreling would stop.
Lot’s response is found in Genesis 13:12-13:
Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:
Lot chose the best land for himself. The region around the Jordan River was lush, fertile and green like Eden or the Nile River Delta. This was before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.1 There is great controversy regarding the destruction of these cities and the formation of the Dead Sea. The word translated plain is rA;kI;k (kikkar) can
1 Bower, Bruce. “An Exploding Meteor May Have Wiped out Ancient Dead Sea Communities.” Science News, 8 Aug. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/explodingmeteor-may-have-wiped-out-ancient-dead-sea-communities.
mean oval or round as in a piece of land, loaf of bread or talent weight.
There is no mention of a valley although some translate rA;kI;k (kikkar) as valley. I believe that the Jordan reached the Gulf of Eilat and created a region similar to the Nile Delta. After the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plain sank to become a deep valley with the lowest point well below sea level. The learned scientists lean into their tectonic theory to explain that the sea was created 2.5-3 million years ago at the interface of the African and Arabian plates. They separated leaving a depression. But scientists do not agree even on the date. Some place the event further back at 20-30 million years ago.
Some cite the Sedom Lagoon Theory where a natural lagoon in the Mediterranean Sea marked by the Jezreel valley and Jordan Valley was closed off by an uprising of land (Mount Carmel).
This is a figure from Matmon, A., Fink, D., Davis, M., Niedermann, S., Rood, D., Frumkin, A. (2014): Unraveling rift margin evolution and escarpment development ages along the Dead Sea fault using cosmogenic burial ages. - Quaternary Research, 82, 1, p. 281-295.
This created a landlocked sea which evaporated to form the Jordan Rift Valley and Dead Sea. I prefer to accept the plain truth of the Old Testament which tells me that Lot went east and lived in a flat round plain around the Jordan that provided an environment similar to Eden or the Nile Delta.
Lot went east and Abram stayed put in Canaan. The story continues in Genesis 13:12-13:
Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.
At this point Abram’s last mentioned location is Bethel, 10 miles north of Jerusalem. Lot moved to the outskirts of Sodom. Sodom was not a nice place to live. We are not told why Lot moved there but I suspect it was the best land for grazing his herds. He seemed to value wealth over righteousness. Today I would call him a “greedy grabber” always putting his needs first over other’s needs. The men of Sodom are described as wicked sinners. The Hebrew phrase describing them is MyIaDÚfAj◊w MyIo∂r (ra‘im vechatta’im). We know the first word MyIo∂r (ra‘im) from a previous episode where we discovered that one of Job’s character attributes was avoiding evil. MyIo∂r (ra‘im) is from the root oor (ra‘a‘) meaning badness or evil and is translated here as wicked. It is in the pleural form describing
all the men of Sodom. MyIaDÚfAj (chatta’im) is from the root afj (chata‘) which means miss, go wrong, sin, forfeit, incur guilt, condemnation or punishment. It is also the pleural form describing all the men of Sodom. This phrase leaves little wiggle room for the Sodomites. They were very wicked and very bad people deserving of punishment. Job o∂rEm rDs◊w (vesar mayra‘) turned away from evil. He shunned evil. Lot appears to be doing the opposite. He is turning towards and leaning into evil.
Knowing what we know of the story so far, especially under the spotlight of Job’s character, we can safely say that Lot is not a type of Messiah like Job was. We can also safely predict that things are not going to go well for Lot. After Lot left Abram the LORD spoke to him in Genesis 12:14-18:
The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
So Abram moved his tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.
We do not know if God appeared to Abram or just spoke to him from afar or just spoke into his mind. Whatever the case, he made a huge promise to Abram. Can you imagine if I owned a huge swath of land let’s say Yellowstone National Park which is 2,221,766 acres. If I put you in the middle of the park let’s say at Old Faithful Geyser and I say to you, “Look north, south, east and west. All you see is yours. Walk around the park top to bottom and side to side. Everywhere your foot
touches will become yours. Abram’s job would be much larger than this. He had to walk through 5,420,800 acres covering deserts, mountains, valleys and dense forests. He had already travelled from Hatzor to Beersheva. He was in Bethel north of Jerusalem when he received the mandate to walk the length and breadth of the land. He moved south to Hebron about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem. He settled near the great oaks of Mamre. Abram moved to Amorite territory and made friends and allies as we will see later in this episode, Mamre and his brothers Eschol and Aner. Hebron is situated west of the Dead Sea, closer to the ancient city of Sodom than Bethel was. I think Abram settled in his forever home in Hebron to be closer to his nephew Lot.
Abram showed no concern over Lot picking the best land. The LORD showed him that wherever he looked, he owned it. He also showed him that wherever he set foot he owned it. Abram was walking in the blessing given to Noah and his sons. He was given permission to take dominion over the land. He was given the mandate to be fruitful and multiply and to fill it with his offspring.
God was revealing piece by piece the extent of his blessing to Abram. He made Abram wealthy in gold, silver, livestock, maidservants and menservants, herdsmen and soldiers. He gave Abram the deed to a vast expanse of land. In essence God made Abram a king over all the land that would become the future nation of Israel. He promised him innumerable offspring to fill the promised land. This all has Messianic significance:
3) Abram’s inheritance of Canaan ensured that the Messianic line would prosper and continue beyond Abram.
4) The expansive proliferation of Abram’s offspring ensured that the Messianic line would continue through Abram and his offspring.
5) Abram as a type of Messiah acted as a king over the land that was to become Israel. Messiah will be ruler over all he can see.
6) Abram as a type of Messiah will have offspring as numerous as dust. Messiah will also have offspring (followers) as numerous as dust.
Hebron became Abram’s new base of operations. I’m sure that his massive wealth along with his stunningly beautiful wife impressed the locals. He became close to an Amorite named Mamre and his brothers. It appears that they all lived in peace and comfort. This may have been due to his personal army we will soon learn about.