The assigned reading is composed of excerpts from the story of Abraham. On one level, these passages are a narrative history of actual events, but they also help characterize God.
In this reading, Abraham’s interactions with God are described; God’s promise of a great nation, the births of Ishmael and Isaac, and the testing of Abraham. For the most part, these stories are historical. That is, Abraham was indeed a real person. However, it seems that this history was probably written down sometime after it occurred (For example, the mention of anachronisms in the side notes suggests that it was written around the time of the Patriarchs). So, while not perfectly accurate, as a history, this story explains the origin of both Judaism and Islam.
More important, however, is how God is described. In these passages, God is someone who often speaks to humans, which is a rare occurrence nowadays. The God of Abraham is also one that demands animal sacrifice. Yet, even stranger things are attributed to God; e.g., when he tells Hagar to go back to Sarai to submit to her abuse (16:9), or when God tests Abraham (22) though God is omniscient. Now, from these events, we could suppose that the God of Abraham is one that supports slavery, or even that the God of Abraham is not the same God as the one in the New Testament. However, considering the culture of the time and the fact that these stories were written well after the events occurred, we could reach the more likely conclusion that ancient Jewish culture plays a major role in the personification of God. Ancient ethics do not correspond to modern concepts of equality, so the actions of God in the lives of Abraham and of Sarah would not seem incongruous with the culture of the time; rather, the audience probably understood God’s actions.
Sincerely,
Caleb Capozella
The God of Abraham appears to be more demanding of those in the readings, which manifests Him as the Ruler of all nations. For example, He demands sacrifices from Abraham, perfect obedience from Hagar, decrees Abraham's "descendants shall be aliens in a land not their own," (Gen. 15:13) and makes large promises regarding land and nations. I believe this God is the same as the one in the New Testament. His words appear harsher in Genesis because such language was customary of the time period. As the centuries went by, however, speech became more softened and politically correct. For example, in the New Testament Jesus is still very direct in telling his disciples to leave everything and follow Him. In short, I believe the God of Abraham shows us the power of God as a foundation on which we can build our faith.
ReplyDelete~Caitlin Gorecki
In the story of Abraham, God is more direct and stern. He tells Abraham what to do. He acts as the leader, like he is in charge of everything that Abraham does. This God is more realistic. We look up to God to guide us and that is what Abraham is doing.
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Ritter
In the story of Abraham, I think that God is portrayed as the savior and as a being with a plan for humans. throughout the story of Abraham, both Abraham and Sarah face obstacles, such as child-bearing, that seem almost impossible to overcome until God steps in. He seemed to have made the impossible possible. He also seemed to have a plan for Abraham and his family from the beginning and kept assuring Abraham that God would take care of him. I think that the God in this story is a good image of God because it shows a loving God who has a plan for each of us. God shows his admiration and car for Abraham throughout his life and he was always their for guidance and often answers.
ReplyDelete- Nicole Dillon
In the story of Abraham, God generally appears to be good from what I'm going to refer to as a 'cosmic perspective.' He promises to, and ultimately does, bless Abraham and Sarah richly, and even provides for Abraham's son through Hagar after He replaces him with another heir.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be contradicted by God's demand of Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Although this ends up being just a test, it still seems at least somewhat morally questionable to test someone with human sacrifice. (Abraham was willing to go through with it - what does that say about Abraham?) In spite of this, though, because this was only a test, and because cultural context could throw things into a different light, and lastly because the rest of the reading indicates God's role as a sovereign caregiver, I would conclude that this reading depicts God as good when seen from the big picture.
Chelsey Sterling
From what I gathered while reading this narrative of Abraham, I found that God was very good, but in an aloof and omniscient way. Of course most of the Old Testament portrays God as a being infinitely superior to us, but this is just one thing that struck me.
ReplyDeleteI know I may be going off on a tangent here, but I also wanted to point out that I found a strong similarity between Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah. Just as Eve leads Adam to lose trust in God, so too does Sarah, impatient for an heir, lead Abraham to conceive Ishmael with Hagar instead of wait and trust in God. Of course God had a plan for Ishmael, but I found it interesting how these female figures in both stories instigated an action (not always intended).
-Sophia Pileggi
It seems to me that God treats Abraham exactly like he tells Him to. In other words, Abraham is to become the foundation of God's holy people so God promises him lots of things and also asks a lot of things of him. This makes sens, though, because if Abraham is the beginning of God's people it would throw a whole lot off if he went bad. So even though God seems a little pushy and demanding, it is understandable because even a slight change in the initial condition of the foundation could have radical repercussions years and years down the road. Abraham is also going to be an example for many people, and knows this, so His extra attention is also in line in that respect. God in some sense is like HQ, and Abraham is the secret agent. He follows God's orders to the utmost, and God trusts him with his personal missions.
ReplyDelete-Nathaniel Hlavin
In the story of Abraham, God is described in a very different light than how I normally perceive Him. The account serves dualistically as an historical and spiritual account of the origin of the Jewish people. Yet we must keep in mind that Abraham and his wife Sarah were merely a pagan couple whose lives were touched by a divine experience. They were not perfect nor free fom error, yet God's interactions with them seems contradictory at times. God's relations with them seem to be greatly personified by the Jewish authors of Genesis. God gives Abraham a distinct covenant that promises him multitudes of descendants, so long as Abraham and his descendants are circumcised, keeping the covenant.
ReplyDeleteThis story raises several questions for me personally, especially Chapters 16 and 20. Why does God allow and demand actions from Abraham and Sarah that would be considered immoral in today's views? Why does Abraham have a child with Hagar, Sarah's slave (16: 2-4); and when Hagar realizes she is being used for her body (a form of a surrogate mother,) God commands her to go back to Sarah and put up with her abuse. (16:5-9) In chapter 20, it is written that God tested Abraham by commanding him to kill Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. God is all-truthful, so how is it possible for Him to deceive? How could he command one human to murder another? Does this mean that God supported slavery, abuse, spousal infidelity, and violence? Also, if a morally upright man were NOT circumcised, whether through his own or his parents' ignorance(17:12-14), would God really cut him off and turn away from him? What about women, how were they accepted into the covenant, or did they have a choice? From the context of Abraham's story, God seems to be very demanding, unmerciful, and not understanding. Although it is said that this is merely the interpretation of God by the Israelites at the time that Genesis was written, it is unclear to me how God can deliberately support slavery, adultery, murder, and abuse, regardless of the time period. If an action is a sin now, it must have always offend God, whether is was commited before or after the ten commandments were given to Moses. If God eternally has the same characteristics and truth of morality, how can issues of morality change throughout the years of history?
The God in the story of Abraham is different from the God that I think many people believe in today. As several people have already mentioned, Abraham’s God is more like a man on a mission than a guiding force. Rather than being the great being that people follow as a spiritual guide throughout life, as people do today, God in Genesis is demanding and has a plan. He gives Abraham very specific instructions on what to do to be a part of the Covenant- this is very different than the minimal interaction people claim to have had with a spiritual force today. In this story, God is speaking to these people. He is very adamant in what he wants them to do- such as, in addition to the Covenant, when he tells Abraham to allow Sarah to do as she pleases to drive Hagar out. Another interesting idea presented in this story that is different from the God many think of today is that he doesn’t seem to know everything that happens all the time. For example, the story tells that he learns of Hagar’s lost hope after being kicked out of Abraham’s house because “God heard the boy’s cry, and God’s messenger called to Hagar from Heaven” (19:17). Today it seems as though it is more believed that God knows everything that happens in the past, present, and future. He wouldn’t need to hear a baby’s cry to know of its distress.
ReplyDelete-Tori McAllister
The God in the story of Abraham is a no nonsense God which is not like the God we all come to know. The God we know is loving and no matter how many sins we can commit or how flawed we are He will always love us and never punish us. This God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac in order to test that Abraham will do whatever God decrees. He changes Abraham and Sarah's name to fit His will. This God seems to do whatever He wants and whatever suits Him. He also appeases a lot of people such as Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar seemingly to stop them from complaining by making a lot of covenants so that they will follow His plan. I think this God is an imperfect God in my eyes because a supremely good God would not test people in order to see if He has people's trust. I do not understand how the God we all know now is the same God then. This God seems to avoid conflict when it arises by agreeing with the complaining party and because of this this God seems to have no backbone. This is not a very godly God.
ReplyDeleteEmma Leary
The God of Abraham seems to be different then the God of the New Testament. He seems to very demanding, and supports things that we would not expect God to support. As the others have said before, this may just be due to the culture of the time that it was written. If not, then the God of Abraham seems to be much different than the God of the New Testament.
ReplyDeleteTom May
In the Story of Abraham, the God that we see is more stern and serious. He is supporting actions that we would not think he would support, and are even seen as immoral. Though he seems stern, he is still the loving, protecting God, showing that he has a plan and will still guide them. He is almost portrayed as a stern father figure; but is still loving and caring to us as we look to him for guidance.
ReplyDelete-Kate Shannon
In the story of Abraham, I have always believed God to be all good. He begins very loyal, loving, and protective towards Abraham. "...I will bless you...I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." (Genesis 12:2-3) Additionally, God says other things to Abraham such as "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great." (Genesis 15:1) These statements prove how loving God is, and how much he wants to help us. I believe that this makes God very trustworthy in our eyes. He constantly assures Abraham that He will be of help.
ReplyDeleteHowever, while reading this, I noticed that God seemed very untrustworthy of his followers. He is dedicating himself fully to helping his servants, but He is not entirely sure that we will reciprocate such love. First of all, he decides that all men must be circumcised in order to prove their dedication to God. "...every male among you shall be circumcised...and that shall be the mark of the covenant between you and me." (Genesis 17:10-11) It seems here that God is forcing men to sacrifice something for God so that they may remain true to His covenant.
More along those lines, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son. In this, God is once again testing his servant, to ensure that he has total loyalty. "I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son." (Genesis 22:12)
I never noticed this view of God before I read this passage tonight. However I truly believe that God is unsure of our loyalty to Him. I believe this because He constantly tests us, ensuring that we will live out the covenant, and remain true to Him.
-Elisabeth O'Toole
In the story of Abraham God is the same as the God in every other story. In this story he is asking Abraham to take his only son Isaac to a high point up on a mountain and build an altar on which to make a sacrifice. If he follows through with Gods command God will fulfill the covenant in which he will make Abrahams "descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore." I think that God here is being far however I was a little disturbed at first that Abraham was about to sacrifice his son and that God didn't warn him about that earlier.
ReplyDelete--Nicholas Darin
The story of Abraham always seemed to show to me, in the past, a kind and loving God who gave Sarah the ability to have children and made Abraham the leader of the Israelites. Now is when I realized that God is giving all of these things to a man who breaks all of the ten commandments (if they had existed). Sarah is harsh with her workers and treats them poorly. God bestows all of these things on people who don't need or deserve it. Then again, God is stern with Abraham in these excerpts and Abraham does what he is instructed to do. God, therefore, has chose a good leader for his people.
ReplyDelete-Tara Costello
The God portrayed within the stories of Genesis seems to periodically ignore human sin. When Sarah abuses her maid because of the latter's sexual relations with Abraham, the audience is not shown a God who reproaches Sarah's actions. In fact, He remains uncharacteristically silent. Here, the divorce between the God of the Old Testament and of the New Testament surfaces. Focusing little on compassion and forgiveness, the God in Genesis is concerned with constructing a "great nation." It is relatively disconcerting that this "great nation," though extremely important, is built upon an intrinsically flawed man (Isaac). While Abraham's God conducts miracles and speaks of the importance of knowing Him, the God which Catholics usually think of still resides in the New Testament.
ReplyDeleteIn the story of Abraham God is portrayed as an all loving God through his continuous tests of the loyalty and love of his people. His intentions however, although good, fail in my perspective due to the almost cruelty that he imposes. Such as the dictation to kill Abraham's son, which to me exemplified not an all mighty loving Godly God but rather a selfish and twisted God. I understand it was to show how God wants us to prove our love and devotion to Him, yet it appears to be sought by wicked means. I did not like how God appeared all powerful in that he can dictate such cruel wishes, just for His own pleasure in satisfying Himself to know he is worshiped. He has every right to question our faith towards Him, yet the extremity of his tests appear to me unnecessary. Their are other means by which God could illustrate and test our love towards Him as examples.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Smedley
In these passages from Genesis, God is portrayed as being trustworthy, because Abram believes His promises and does as God tells him. God is also attributed with doing good for Abram so that Abram builds an altar to God in thanksgiving. God favors Abraham and Sarah and blesses them with a child in their old age, but God does not favor Pharoah: He sends several plagues to Pharoah and his household. In addition, God is portrayed as faithful in that He fulfills His promise to grant Abraham and Sarah an heir. I think that the characteristics of this God correspond with the way that we understand God today: we see Him as trustworthy, attributed with doing good and therefore deserving of praise, bestowing favor on the good, as represented as Abram and Sarai in the story, working against evil, as represented as Pharoah in the story, and above all, faithful.
ReplyDeleteI think God is still the reason for creation in this part of Genesis because he allows Abraham and Sarah to have a son, and also Hagar to have a son. That is what I think God literally is; however, I think God also seems like a father in one sense because God is constantly instructing Abraham and Hagar to do certain things and they obey. I think this God is a trustworthy and one who seems to have a plan, unlike what we talked about in class how God seemed disorganized in the second creation story. He seems trustworthy because each person in the story of Abraham obeys God's commands and it seems to benefit them. I also think it seems God is more organized and has some sort of plan because he instructs Abraham to do certain things like lead his family from one place to another for their benefit.
ReplyDelete-Katie Lamb
In the story of Abraham, God is a Supreme and Powerful God. He tells or commands Abraham "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk". He is also a loving God because it is God who approached Abraham and called to him. It was God who said, "I will bless you" Abraham did not choose to seek out God, God chose him. God is also true and reliable, he led Abraham on his journey of faith, and Abraham's faith grew. I think this God is good and loving and patient. He is a God who reaches out to us.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn Spero
There is a constant debate over the nature of God; in the story of Abraham, we see many different examples of just what kind of “God” God is. He is generous when He gives Sarah a son in her old age. He is merciful when He provides for Ishmael and Hagar. He is challenging (and almost cruel) when He asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but just when He prevent Abraham from actually doing it. Some would call these different portrayals of the same Lord as contradictory; others would choose to ignore certain aspects and focus on others. I don’t think either of these options are the way to go when reading the Scripture; in fact, recognizing all of these different yet complimentary “natures” of God are important to understanding the Word of God.
ReplyDeleteWe have accepted that God is all-powerful. That power is evident, not only in His miraculous acts (like giving Sarah a son), but also in His ability to be all of these different natures. It was important for God to show Abraham all of these natures, because Abraham would become the foundation for God’s Word. To accept God and His Message, Abraham had to experience God first. God is complex, not someone easily understood or categorized; therefore, in order for His people (in this case, Abraham) to understand Him, they needed to experience Him.
I associate the God in the Abraham story as the all-powerful divine being that the Jewish people should feel obligated to obey and show utmost loyalty to. I feel like the Abraham story is to teach the readers that while God "demands" loyalty, he will not make us do things that he knows he should not make us do. It shows his morals.
ReplyDelete-Charlie Clunk
In the story of Abraham, God (The Lord) shows his great power, beginning when he basically tells Abraham to get up and go you must"Go Forth from the land of your kinsfolk", and then proceeds to tell him that along the way he will Bless those that bless Abraham along the way and Curse those who Curse him. At the same time God can also be much kinder and gentler an example being when he allows Abraham the birth of a son Ishmial. in this story god can be seen from different view points, but in the end i feel that he is kind and reliable in the way he reaches out to Abraham.
ReplyDeleteIn these passages, God seems to be much more humanized than He was in the creation stories. Even though the God in the creation stories had human-like thoughts and logic, I feel that He had more of an divine and God-like demenior. To me, this could have arisin because He was inspiring men to write these works, He wasn't directly speaking to anyone. The writers of this story were doing their best to convey His divinity but also write somehting that people could understand.
ReplyDeleteIn the story of Abraham, God speaks to His people directly, just as another human being would. I believe that this happened because this story was passed on through generations through story telling before it was actually written down. I feel this way because the way God speaks to Abraham seems simplified and down to the most basic for of communication; a conversation. This would have been how a story was told, with simplifications to help everyone understand it, so they could pass it on. This humization of God was a result of the distortion by word of mouth.
In my opinion, God portrays himself as a loving creator by acting as a father figure to Abraham. However, Abraham is continuously instructed to take extreme actions to show his love for God, such as uprooting his family from Ur and attempting to sacrifice his son Isaac. This is similar to a father always asking his son to do laborious chores around the house. The son may find tasks to be unimportant, but the father knows that the chores will benefit the house as a whole. God does the same to Abraham, but unlike most children that argue with their father, he never argues against the instructions God presented him. Because of Abraham's unquestioning loyalty, God shows his "father knows best mentality" by blessing Abraham and his descendants.
ReplyDelete-Jay Garrick
The depiction of God in Abraham’s story is just, authoritative, and demanding. He promises so much to Abraham and his decedents, asking only that they abide by his laws in return. I see this as a very generous deal, especially since we aren’t given a lot of background information on why exactly God chose to send Abram to Canna instead of someone else. What made him so special? This God must have seen something in Abram that inspired him to give him the name of Abraham. Name changes in the Old Testament are always very significant, symbolizing a change of destiny. In this story, God also keeps his seemingly impossible promises, even when and after Abraham and Sarah doubted he would. This shows that he is a faithful, all powerful master of the earth who not only has the ability to create, but also desires to take an active role within his masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteThe God that is shown in this reading seems to be very demanding of those in the ready. He is wants to be perfectly obayed and thinks that everything he says should be done. In these reading is very much the leader and tell Abraham what he needs to do. In these readings we also see that if we fallow what God tells us to do we will be bless greatly by him. This is shown in the fact the Abraham and Sarah are blessed with many things. Throughout these stories God test Abraham to see if he is faithful. I think this is to show us that we will be tested throughout are lives by God and we need to be sure we are always living how he wants us to do and fallowing his teachings. I think that in the reading God is shown in a good light. Yes he is at times harsh, but in the end it is always for a good reason.
ReplyDelete-Courtney Geary
I definitely agree with Caleb, that the historical context must be taken into consideration. Most of the circumstances that we have experienced in the Old Testament so far have been odd to us, but if we had lived in that time period, they would seem normal.
ReplyDeleteIn these Old Testament passages God communicates directly with his followers. I do not want to say his personality changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, because God is unchanging, He is everything at once. However, I think God is portrayed differently because at the time the people needed a different view of God in order to deal with their morals, their culture, and their religion. In the end, He is the same God.
~Nicholas Shields
Initially, I was slightly disconcerted by the God portrayed in the story of Abraham. He is demanding, and doesn't seem to be all-forgiving which is evident when he says to Abram, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." (Genesis 12:3) I really thought that that statement would not be from the God that I know, which is the reason I felt uncomfortable. God is especially generous with Abram, which leads me to ask, why? He promises him death at a contented old age and his descendants a happy, wealthy life. After Abram impregnates his wife's servant, the Lord's messenger appears to Hagar and prompts her to submit to her mistresses abusive behavior, and her descendants will be many. I don't like that God sent a messenger to relay that message to Hagar. This God seems to be relishing in his all-powerful nature. It was disconcerting to me as to why God was so obsessed with giving Abraham so much power.
ReplyDeleteIn the story of Abraham, God is not like the God that is all loving and happy, but he also has a stern and more serious tone to him. I think this god is a good God that is loving and caring about what is happening, but it would take time to actually get use to him.
ReplyDelete-mary vogt
The God in the story of Abraham seems more stern and caring than the God in the New Testament. God seems to demand more perfection than in other stories. God seems to expect more out of Abraham than normal, and he seems to want everything done in an orderly fashion.
ReplyDelete-Elise Ariens
In the story of Abraham God is portrayed differently than he is in the creation story. From this point on in the Old Testament, God is a strong, more forbidding type of Lord. He promises Abraham many things, but only if Abraham follows His ways and does things in accordance to Him. God is very no-nonse and somewhat more demanding. But in this way, he is still very rewarding to his people, but only if they follow through with the ways of the Lord. It should be noted though, that even though God is “tougher” (or seems it) in these stories, His love for Abraham and all His people is still present.
ReplyDeleteGod in the story of Abraham is very demanding and not like the God that we as readers are familiar with. God demonstrates great power throughout this reading. He acts as a father to Abraham and constantly gives him obstacles to overcome to prove his love. The God in this story is very clear and stern.
ReplyDeleteI think the God described in the assigned passages from Isaiah is consistent with the depiction of God elsewhere in the Bible, even if slightly different language is used in the descriptions over time. He is still a merciful God, punishing sinners only when they have done something terribly wrong as well as rebuffed his many warnings to stop their wrongdoing and repent. I don't see the God described here as being wrathful or vengeful at all, given the circumstances.
ReplyDelete--Kat Hermanson
We usually think that God would appear to someone saintly: someone who doesn't sin, or at least tries their best not to. But here in the assigned reading, we see God appearing to Abraham, a man who has children with both his wife and her servant, and allows them to compete. He even makes Abraham the father of Judaism and Islam! What is important, though, it seems, is that Abraham is faithful to God--that is the message that should be drawn. God in this story is accepting of Abraham's failings, knowing that humans will never be perfect. The writer of this story probably sought to communicate this, and to teach the reader to trust in God above all things.
ReplyDelete