So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, ...
[Well done, Abe!]
...and Lot went with him.
Uh ....
Didn't God say to leave your kindred? Wouldn’t that include Lot? Why would Abram do such a thing? Maybe Abram didn’t quite trust that God was going to give him a son (based on what happened with Hagar a few years later), so Lot may have been insurance for Abram, you know, in case God didn’t come through.
You know. Just in case.
So they went to the land of Canaan.
Remember Canaan? The son of Ham? The grandson that Noah cursed? Well, Canaan and his children had scattered and filled the land. But they were not people of peace, people of godly fear. As we see soon with Sodom and Gomorrah, the people of Canaan did not provide a nice neighborhood in which to raise your family. Lot would soon know for himself just how dangerous living in Canaan can be.
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Genesis 12:4-9
Here is one of those assurances that are so affirming. Abram learns that he is in the right place, after all. This is where the far-off promise meets the present reality. “So.” So he built an altar there to the Lord. Later he moved on and pitched his tent, and built other altars to the LORD, and (we assume) offered up other sacrifices.
And Abraham began to call upon the name of the LORD. Remember that phrase from earlier? This is another mark of worship in the life of Abram: He builds an altar to provide blood sacrifice, and he calls upon the name. And once again, we discover that worship involves such things as obedience, sacrifice and calling on the name. Abraham had obeyed at God’s command, he had believed when God gave him a promise, but he had not begun to call upon the name of the Lord yet. He was growing in this thing we call worship, I guess.
Worship then takes a new turn in the life of Abram when Melchizedek enters the scene.
And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!" And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Genesis 14:17-20
Three or four new elements are added in this account that we have not seen before. First, Melchizedek is king of Salem, which is our first introduction by name to a person who is called a king, and it is the first mention of the city which came to be known as Jerusalem. Second, we find that Melchizedek is the first mention of a priest, and the first mention of the name God Most High. Third, Melchizedek brings out bread and wine, which, of course, came to be used in worship, both at Passover and especially in the Lord’s Supper. And fourth is the first mention of a tithe, when Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything. The passage is brief, and merely mentions each of these details without any explanation of its significance, which makes it all mysterious and rather perplexing, given that it comes with no context or background.
The writer of Hebrews helps to put some context to many of these details, showing how all of this is really a Theophany—a visible manifestation of Christ, eventually fulfilled by the Messiah, some centuries later. He explains that his name is translated king of righteousness, and that the city’s name Salem means he is king of peace. He also provides a reason for Melchizedek’s sudden appearance, that like the Son of God he has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but continues a priest forever. He explains that Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils because Melchizedek is far greater than Abraham is, and is also greater than priests because he predates them all. Yet Melchizedek, even though he is greater than Abraham, appears in order to bless the lesser person, just as Christ has come to bless us, though He is infinitely greater than us. Melchizedek predates Levi, and therefore is a different kind of priest. Likewise, Jesus did not come from the tribe of Levi, but is far greater and more powerful, and as priest He is able to make perfect those who trust in Him, for He is the sinless guarantor of a better covenant.
He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever. Hebrews 7:27-28
Later in Abram’s life, the covenant that God made with him is revisited. Again, this brings a new detail of how God sometimes communicates with a person: it is the word of the LORD, and it came to him in a vision. Perhaps Abram was asleep, and this was a very intense dream, and perhaps it was a wide-awake moment when God interrupted the conscious thoughts of a man with clear images and words.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." Genesis 15:1
Keep in mind that some years have gone by since the Lord had first given Abram the promise of a nation coming from him. But nothing had happened since then. Abram is still living in tents, Sarai is still barren, and the clock is ticking, as Abram approaches the age of 100 years. And God tells him, “Fear not.”
And we find another hint of perhaps what it means to walk with God, for Abram makes this a two-way conversation by asking questions of the Lord.
And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 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." Genesis 15:4-5
This is a famous scene, but for our purposes, there are two details to note here: First, the word of the LORD came to him. He did not drum it up. He did not imagine a conversation. No, behold (this is a surprise!) the word of the LORD came to him. Second, God brought him outside and said more. How did God lead him outside? A clear idea? Was He in physical form? In any case, Abram was very convinced that this was God communicating to him. And it was so convincing, that Abram counted it as true, in spite of all the years of failure.
And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6
YOUR ENCOUNTER
You might call these details from Abram’s life worship innovations. Abram was not inventing new things to do just to be creative or self-expressive or to draw a crowd, though. God was initiating most of these, and they all seem to foreshadow Christ. Consider the list:
Built an altar
began to call on the name of the Lord
King of Righteousness
Jerusalem
Priest
God Most High
Bread and wine
No beginning or end
Greater than priests
Blesses one lesser than he
guarantor of a better covenant
word of the Lord
A vision
”Fear not.”
Which of these was an innovation that Abraham himself invented? Which of them is something the God brought unexpectedly into his life? Now, which have their fulfillment in Christ Jesus? Adding up all of this, write a short paragraph on what this teaches you about worship. Share your thoughts with someone and include them in your journal.