Barakah

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. -- Genesis 12:1-3

The Hebrew word translated "blessing" in the above passage is barakah, and it is defined among other ways as a source of blessing, a gift or present, or a treaty of peace. As you have probably guessed, the words translated as "bless" and "blessed" are closely related to barakah. Although the above passage is recounting specific commands and promises made by Yahovah to Abram, it is also an important revelation about Eve's "seed," who was previously foretold about in Genesis 3:14-15. However, before we go into detail about that let's take a moment to try to better understand Abram's history up to this point.

Abram is removed from Noah by only 11 generations. Although that may seem like a long time, one should consider that 11 generations ago our ancestors were likely discussing or fighting for American independence. In contrast, the birth of Noah and the birth of Abram were separated by 892 years. Continuing with our analogy, 892 years ago our ancestors were likely discussing or fighting in the Crusades!

The reason for this dramatic difference is that people during the time period from Noah to Abram were still enjoying what we would consider to be supernaturally long lifespans. Although humans were no longer living eight or nine hundred years, they were still blessed with 200 to 400 years of vitality.

There were, no doubt, many changes between the time of Noah and Abram's day; but I would like to focus on the couple that are mentioned in scripture. Perhaps the most profound difference was the confounding or mixing up of humanity's one language into many. Certainly, this had some effect on transitioning a family-oriented culture to a nation-oriented one.

Another major change was people's initiating propagation at a much younger age than they previously did. For instance, Noah did not have his three sons until he was 500 years old; however, Abram was born when his father was only 70 years old. This would have had two effects on Abram's culture. First, the world's population would have been growing at a much increased rate. Second, one would have been contemporary with not only his parents and grandparents, but also with many of his forefathers. For example, Noah was still alive for much of Abram's life.

Now that we have a some idea of Abram's world, we can turn again to the Lord's revelation to him in Genesis 12. Certainly, God is revealing to Abram that He will make the nation of Israel from Abram. However, the promise goes much further than that because the Lord tells Abram, "...in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." The Lord uses the Apostle Paul to explain in Galatians 3:7-8, which states:

Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

The beginning of Genesis 12 recounts God's prophesying to Abram two important truths about the coming Savior. First, He will come as a member of the nation of Israel. Second, He will come to bless "all families of the earth." Abram may also have concluded that the One to come will be the Source of blessing, the Gift, & the Peace-maker.

Abraham is commonly reported as the father of the faithful, and that is certainly a title that he earned by God's grace. However, Abraham's faith was blessed only because of the Object of his faith -- the Lord. So I would like to leave you not with the common question of "Do you believe?" but rather "In what or whom do you believe?" Lord willing, we will learn more of the blessed One in the next post soon.