Lech Lecha “go out”
It is customary for religiously practicing Jews to read from an annual cycle of weekly Old Testament readings called Torah Portions. This is said to be the same reading schedule that was taught every Sabbath in the Synagogues during the times of Jesus in the first century.
As Christians exploring the Torah portion cycle we must maintain a balance of including the Old Testament, the prophets, and the gospels in our weekly bible study.
Torah Portion Name and Readings-
Lech Lecha is the Hebrew word for “go out” or “go from”, this is the name for the weekly Torah Portion reading for the Genesis starting in chapter 12 verse 1 and going through chapter 17 and verse 27.
Prophets and New Testament-
It is also important to point out that along with the Torah portion readings and teachings, there are what are called Haftarah portions which are readings from the Bible in the books of the prophets. This week’s haftarah readings come from the book of Isaiah in chapter 40 verse 27 through chapter 41 verse 16.
The gospel readings incorporated with the weekly Torah portion readings come from the book of John in chapter 8 with verses 51 through 58.
Torah Portion Overview-
This weeks Torah portion starts with God’s call to Abraham (then Abram) to leave his fathers house. Sarah is taken by Pharaoh and returned when God punishes him (although he was innocent in his intent), Lot and Abraham separate, then Lot is captured and rescued by Abraham. Abraham meets with a mysterious person named Melchizedek, later God makes a promise to Abraham. We see infighting between Sarah and Hagar and then Ishmael is born, and finally God makes a covenant with Abraham. This may be the most action packed Torah portion! There is so much here that we could cover!
I want to do a little deep dive into the covenant of Abraham and the promises of God. Although the covenant is found in chapter 17, there are other promises coinciding with the covenant found in chapters 12, 13, and 15. The covenant and promises of God to Abraham can be summarized with the following:
Commands:
Leave your country (Genesis 12:1)
Leave your family and father’s house (Genesis 12:1)
Fear not, I am your shield (Genesis 15:1)
Walk before me and be blameless (Genesis 17:1)
Circumcise every male on the 8th day (Genesis 17:10-14)
The Land:
To the land that I will show you (Genesis 12:1)
To your offspring I will give this land (Genesis 12:7)
All the land that you see I will give you and your offspring forever (Genesis 13:14-15)
To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites (Genesis 15:18-21)
And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8)
Partial fulfillment: The conquest and David’s expansions
Progeny:
Make you a great nation (Genesis 12:2) (fulfillment, Israel)
I will make you exceedingly fruitful (Genesis 17:6) (fulfillment, Jacob)
You shall be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4) (fulfillment, Isaac, Ishmael, Midian, Ishbak, Sheba, Dedan)
I will make you into nations (Genesis 17:6, 16) (fulfillment, Isaac, Ishmael, Midian, Ishbak, Sheba, Dedan)
Kings shall come from you and Sarah (Genesis 17:6, 16) (fulfillment, Davidic Dynasty)
Your son will be your heir (Genesis 15:4) (fulfillment, Isaac)
Isaac will be the heir (Genesis 17:16-19) (fulfillment, Isaac)
Your offspring shall be like the stars (Genesis 15:5) (partially fulfilled, Deuteronomy 1:10, 10:22, 1 Chronicles 27:23, Nehemiah 9:23)
Blessings:
Bless you (Genesis 12:2) (fulfillment, Abraham’s life)
Make your name great so that you will be a blessing (Genesis 12:2) (fulfillment, Abraham’s life)
Change name to Abraham (Genesis 17:5)
Change name to Sarah (Genesis 17:15)
Bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3)
Curse those who curse you (Genesis 12:3)
Your reward will be very great (Genesis 15:1) (fulfillment, Abraham’s life)
In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3) (fulfillment, Yeshua, Galatians 3:16)
As noted above, the land grant of the covenant was only partially fulfilled with the conquest of Canaan and later expansion by David. The covenant is a unique covenant in the Bible that resembles a royal land grant of a king in the Ancient Near East. The land grant goes all the way to the Nile river and so this has not been fully fulfilled yet. The land grant, although given, required Israel to still conquer and obtain it. There are hints in Scripture though that this land grant will one day be realized (Isaiah 19:19-25), although perhaps not like we expected. It is not the land grant that I want to focus on though, it is another possibly fulfilled promise.
Genesis 15 tells us about a sacrifice that Abraham took part in. God starts by coming to Abram in a vision and tells him that his reward will be great and that God will be with him. Abram responds by asking God about that which he desired most, a heir. No matter how much blessing, if Abram died without an heir all would be lost. Indeed, everything he owned was bound, without an heir, to go to his chief servant! God then instructs Abram to go outside and count the stars…. if he can.
There are two possible viewpoints that I know of with this verse.
Abram is still seeing a vision and sees the stars in a vision.
This part of the story is no longer a vision. If this is the case, verse 12 which happened hours later (after the sacrifices) tells us that when God told Abram to count the stars, it was still day.
I tend to believe that the second option here is the more accurate one. Why? Because just like Abram couldn’t see his heir yet, because he wasn’t born, so too Abram couldn’t see the stars yet! But just like the stars will be there, so too his heir will be there one day! In other words, this is a word pictures that Abram should continue believing and trusting God, because it is coming! Either way, he is told that his descendants will be like the stars.
Genesis 15:5 (ESV)
“And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Clearly the statement about the stars here is about their number. This is further testified by Deuteronomy 1:10, 10:22, 1 Chronicles 27:23, Nehemiah 9:23. But I believe there is a secondary meaning here. To understand the possible second meaning we will look at the book of Daniel.
Daniel 12:2-3 (ESV)
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Here we can see that Daniel is prophesying about the resurrection of the just, where resurrected saints will “shine”. But what does this mean?
In the ancient near east, stars were often considered living beings because they moved. The Bible sometimes refers to them as the hosts of heaven (Genesis 2:1, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 33:6, Isaiah 45:12). Sometimes the idea of stars and angelic beings are connected (Judges 5:20), and angels are said to be “bright” or have bright clothing (Acts 10:30, Revelation 15:6).
We too are also going to be bright or have bright clothing.
Matthew 13:43 (ESV)
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Revelation 19:7-8 (ESV)
“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”-- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
It is the power of Jesus that will raise us from the dead, and His power that will cause us to “shine”.
Ephesians 5:14-15 (ESV)
“for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,”
Thus I believe that the promise to Abraham that we would be like the stars, although a reference to number, could also be a prophecy of the resurrection! Though we cannot see the stars, we still die and are not resurrected yet, yet one day we will be brought back to life by the power of God! We have this hope, for death does not sting us, because it cannot destroy us! We do not look to our present earthly circumstances but instead to our coming destiny, the resurrection! And so we have this hope, we will live again!
Torah Portion Scriptural Highlights-
Genesis 12:1 God calls Abraham to leave his Father’s house
Genesis 12:10 Sarah is taken by Pharaoh and returned when God punishes him
Genesis 13:1 Abraham and Lot separate to Canaan and the Jordan Valey
Genesis 14:1 Lot is captured and rescued by Abraham
Genesis 14:17 Abraham meets with Melchizedek
Genesis 15:1 God makes a promise to Abraham
Genesis 16:1 Sarah and Hagar, and Ishmael is born
Genesis 17:1 Yahweh makes a covenant with Abraham
Haftarah (Prophets) Scriptural Highlights-
Isaiah 40:27 Trust in the Lord, he will fight for you
Brit (Gospel) Scriptural Highlights-
John 8:51 Before Abraham Jesus was I AM
Bibliography
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, vol. 1 of Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1987), 333.
Matthew J. McMains, “Hosts,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary, ed. John D. Barry et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
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