1. Abram’s call to obedience (11:27-14:24)
Essential to our understanding of the patriarchal narratives is their connection with primeval history. The latter culminates with the widespread universalizing of sin in the created order. The problem of sin’s magnitude is posed in such a way as to threaten the “good” of God’s creation. The patriarchal history represents a possible solution to the dilemma. The God who calls the world into existence now calls a community into being. Is the Creator able to be a Redeemer? The future destiny of all humankind is wrapped up in the future of a particular people. As the primeval saga leads to despair, so the patriarchal stories evoke hope.
The call of God to Abram (12:1) can be properly understood in this context. It is a command directed to a situation of hopelessness to which Abram responds by obedience. The succession of clauses relating God’s call and Abram’s response gives rise to a consideration of the nature of a God who can elicit such obedience. He is a God who initiates relationships with humankind and exercises authority over them. He alone will determine human destinies. Obviously Abram perceives this God who utters the call as One able to stand behind the promises of vv.2-3, for the patriarch embraces the call and believes the promise (v.4).
The theology of the call (12:1-4) stands in contrast to the theology of the serpent (3:1-13). Whereas the latter questioned the veracity of God and elicited distrust and disobedience, which lead to the curse (vv.14-19), so now the call reveals the truth about God, which prompts trust and obedience and which, in turn, leads to blessing. The cycle of sin’s dominance is now broken, and the potential for recreation realized.
Significantly, Abram is depicted both in his fidelity (12:1-9; 13:1-18) and infidelity (12:10-20). The struggle to trust is never easy. Intrinsic to the call and standing sentinel over it is the faithfulness of a God who will not allow the promise to be placed in jeopardy. Faced with impending crises, Abram responds first in a cowardly, underhanded way (12:10-20), taking matters into his own hands even at the risk of sacrificing his wife. In the second instance (13:1-18), he acts to the contrary and trusts God to the point that he is prepared to risk the promise itself! As a result, the covenant is not only kept intact, but it is reiterated with greater magnitude than before (13:14-17).
Ch. 14 recounts the first recorded war in Scripture. The significance of its occurrence rests in the fact of Lot’s involvement (v.12) and, as a result, Abram’s intervention. Abram’s victory is credited to God Most High (vv.19, 20) by Melchizedek, king of Salem (Jerusalem), who greets Abram with a blessing. The enigma of Melchizedek’s role was somewhat mitigated by David in Ps 110, when he sat on Melchizedek’s throne and sang of a greater than Melchizedek who would one day occupy the throne of Zion. The greatest interest in Melchizedek is expressed in Heb 5-7, where Jesus Christ is depicted as a type of Melchizedek. Here in Genesis the “king of righteousness” (Heb 7:2) receives only scant mention.