May
the mumbling commence!
What
is the best kind of dreams? They’re God
induced dreams. Abram was not only
worried about his heir but also worried about how this land teeming with
peoples strongly entrenched would become his and his descendants’
property. Read from Peterson’s
translation:
God
continued, “I’m
the same God who brought you from Ur of the Chaldees and gave you this
land as your own.”
Abram said, “Master God, how
am I to know this, that it will all be mine?”
God said, “Bring me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old,
and a dove and a young pigeon.”
He brought all these
animals to him, split them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite of each other. But he didn’t
split the birds.
Vultures swooped down
on the carcasses, but Abram scared them
off. As
the sun went down a deep sleep overcame Abram and then a sense of
dread, dark and heavy.
God said to Abram, “Know this: your descendants will live
as outsiders in a land not theirs; they’ll
be enslaved and beaten down for 400 years. Then I’ll punish
their slave masters; your offspring will march out of
there loaded with plunder. But not you; you’ll have a long and full life and die a good
and peaceful death. Not until the fourth generation will your descendants return here, sin is still a thriving business among the Amorites.”
When the sun went down and
it was dark, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch moved between the split carcasses. That’s when God made
a covenant with Abram: “I’m giving this land to your children, from the Nile River in Egypt to the
River Euphrates in Assyria – the country of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:7-21)
Now
read the same passage from the NIV translation:
He also said to him, "I am the Lord, who
brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
But Abram said, "O Sovereign Lord,
how can I know that I
will gain possession of it?"
So the Lord said to
him, "Bring me a heifer, a goat and a
ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon."
Abram brought all these to him, cut
them in two and arranged the halves opposite
each other; the birds, however, he did not
cut in half.
Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep,
and a thick and
dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said
to him, "Know
for certain that your
descendants will be strangers in a country not their
own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred
years. But
I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,
and afterward they will come out with great
possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried
at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the
sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing
torch appeared and
passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord
made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your
descendants I give
this land, from the river of Egypt to the great
river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites,
Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites,
Girgashites and Jebusites." (Genesis 15:7-21)
There’s
a lot more red in today’s passage. For
the most part, the changes that Peterson made do not affect the meaning, the Spirit
of the Word. In fact, I like the
emphasis that this Lord is the same Lord that brought Abram out of Ur.
The
biggest bone of contention is the difference between the “sin of the Amorites has
not yet reached its full measure” and “sin is still a thriving business among
the Amorites”. These two phrases, I
believe, have significantly different meanings.
The sin of the Amorites was still growing… it had not reached its
fullest potential. That’s different than
simply saying it’s thriving.
Peterson’s
work seems to forget the patience of the Lord.
God was still trying to give the people a chance to repent… to change. To change so that they can be a part of the
blessing of the Lord… Do you remember
that the Lord will bless all peoples
through Abram? It’s true for the
Amorites and the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites and the Hittites
and the Perizzites and the Rephaites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and
the Jebusites.
Enough
mumbling for now…
Peace
Out
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