Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Abram was Shem's great times seven grandson. And sometime in between Shem and Abram was the Tower of Babel.
God's creation had begun in a garden, and with sin spread "east" of Eden. With further sin, God pulled the reins in and brought creation back to a small size with one family after the flood. But before too many generations, once more creation spread and sin, with Babel, sent creation off near and far.
So when we meet Abram - already an old man - he is part of one of the many tribes that have formed on the face of the earth, spread away from each other after Babel.
And still, God is trying to save creation from their turning away. With Abram, he finds a new way. This time, rather than destroy creation, with one man, God will save creation.
And the rest of scripture will be the unfolding of this plan.
We all perhaps have a verse in the Bible that we believe to be the most important. In the Old Testament - the Hebrew Scriptures - this is mine. God is doing a new thing with Abram, and it is an important thing that I think we sometimes miss.
God isn't calling Abram to save Abram and his family. God is calling Abram so that through him, the entire earth may be blessed.
All of it.
One man and his tribe will be the vehicle through which all the other tribes of the world will benefit by God's blessing.
One tribe will be the yeast so that there is enough bread for all. One tribe will be salt so that everything can be preserved. One tribe will be the light so that everyone will see.
This is the inheritance we get through Abram by way of Jesus. We are blessed so that others can be blessed. We are salt and light.
We are part of God's salvation plan not for the evacuation of our souls at death, but so that all the earth may be blessed. So that the Kingdom of God may reign both now and not yet.
God's promise to Abram will have twists and turns all through the Old Testament. The promise will be forgotten by Abram's tribe over and over again.
But God will not forget.
Lord, bless us to be a blessing. Make us salt and light not to save our selves, but so that we can show your love to the world. Amen.
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