We are continuing the theme of wilderness wanderings on this our second Sunday in Lent. You know, one of my favourite things about being in the wilderness is the lack of light pollution and therefore the abundance of stars that one can see in the sky. It was always a special treat, when camping as a kid, to get woken up by Dad who would say, “Jenny come out and look at the stars.” Headlamps in tow we would walk to a clearing, turn off the lamps, and look up. On those nights it was obvious how the Milky way got it’s name. Astronomers estimate that there are septillion stars in the observable universe, that’s a 1 followed by 24 zeros. However, on a good night the most we might see is 2500, which is still mind boggling. Before the invention of electricity, those kinds of nights- and seeing an abundance of stars- were available to most, now they are relegated to nights in the wilderness. Wilderness wanderings aren’t always about fasting or remorse or repentance. Even last week, we learned that the wilderness was both a place of penalty and a place to encounter God. Sometimes wilderness wandersings are simply just good for the body and soul.
It is on a wilderness night that God speaks to Abram and makes a covenant with him. God takes Abram out of his tent, basically says, “Come out and look at the stars- Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them, so shall your descendants be.” In this wilderness moment God makes a bold promise, especially given that Abram has yet to have any biological heirs, let alone many! God actually makes two promises to Abram on this starry night because God also gives a declaration of salvation-a promise of land. While it is vital to focus on the importance of these promises, I am also struck by how Abram carries on this conversation with God- questioning God, confused by God, working through what these promises mean. In the wilderness Abram and God have a full on debate. But perhaps a bit of an Abram 101 is need for us to understand why Abram is questioning God’s promises.
Abram was the son of Terah and brother to Nahor and Haran, both of whom only have bit mentions in the Genesis 11. Haran is the father of Lot- whose name will likely be familiar, but his story and wilderness wanderings will be for another day. Abram was born in Ur which is in modern day Iraq. After he marries Sarai, he goes with his father, Terah, and nephew Lot toward Canaan. But they don’t quite make it, rather they settle in Haran (yes, that’s the same name as Abram’s brother but this time it’s a place not a person). Why I think this is important information is because we often loose the fact that Abram is a foreigner and a wanderer. After Abram’s father dies he receives a call from God to continue on his journey. Abram and his wife end up in Egypt, which doesn’t go according to plan because Sarai ends up in Pharaoh’s harem and, again, another story for another time. But eventually Abram is wandering in the wilderness again when God calls Abram to continue on to Canaan where God will bless him and make him a great nation. That call is made in Genesis 12. What we hear in Genesis 15 is an affirmation of this call, that Abram’s descendants will be as many as the stars in the sky.
The fact that Abram is childless is really only part of the problem. Yes, it is true that from the very beginning there is an emphasis on the importance of children. God’s first commandment to humanity is, “be fruitful and multiply.” There is also a great emphasis on genealogy, we know how important it is based on the emphasis on Jesus’ genealogy but genealogies are listed in Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11 and there are whole books of the Bible that were written to outline the genealogies of kings. One’s link to the past is important. So, we can be excused for thinking that the only problem Abram has is that he is childless. However, this covenant made in the wilderness highlights something else. After Abram grieves his lack of children Abram laments that as a consequence Eliezer of Damascus, Abram’s slave will end up his inheritor. Abram’s problem is not just lack of children but his prejudice.
Thankfully, we know that God’s covenant with Abram is broader than simply a promise of biological children- it is also a promise of land. God promises Abram and all of his descendants that he will have land to possess. For many of us who have been wanderers, people who have travelled far from home for work, people who have served in the military with limited time to put down roots, people who have struggled to afford a place to live; the promise of a place to settle, to land, may be even more comforting than the promise of children. It is also why conversations about identity being tied to the land, whether we are talking about Jewish Settlements, Palestinian refugees or Indigenous rights, can be so passion filled. Land and identity are as intricately linked as one’s family, one’s inheritors. God makes these defining promises with Abram in this undefined wilderness and it is these promises that will shape the future of God and God’s people. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all trace their roots, their identity, to these promises in the wilderness.
You might find it strange that our passage for this morning then continues to give some of the details about how Abram brings a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove and pigeon and they are cut in half and laid against each other. The reason why this is important is because this is how this particular covenant is cut. Baptist Minister and Hebrew Scholar Justin Michael Reed, points out why these details are important, “This is not just a promise but a type of agreement where humans ensure their obligations with a symbolic gesture that speaks volumes. By treading through a path of blood between animals cut in half, a person “cutting a covenant” symbolically asserts that they will keep their word lest their own body be severed like the animal whose blood they walk through.” That is why these instructions are included. It is also why that piece about the smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between these pieces; because that is depicting God passing “between the carcasses in order to say that God will suffer death if God does not keep this promise.” The almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent God doesn’t need to come down to our human level and walk the same path as we do when we make promises- however God chooses to do that.
People often talk about how small they feel, even insignificant they feel, when they look up and see all those stars. In the wilderness there is beauty but also humility. In fact, in the wilderness, God humbles Godself. In the incarnational story of Jesus God humbles Godself. In this story God meets Abram at a very human level. In fact, Reed points out, “God [even] concedes to Abram’s prejudicial anxiety about a slave carrying his legacy.” Actually, since we know how the story goes we know that Abram’s fear that a slave will become his inheritor will actually come true- not through Eliezer but through Joseph, Abram’s biological great-great-grandson. Abram’s descendants will become slaves in Egypt yet through Moses they will be freed and will spend the next 40 years, under the stars, in the wilderness.
In conclusion, Abram worries about his future and the future of his inheritance. We all have worries about tomorrow, next month, next year. We all worry about our future- and nothing can augment those worries like being in the wilderness. Sometimes those fears do become realized- just perhaps not always as we expected. But in every situation the truth is that God humbles Godself to walk in that wilderness of worries with us. God passes between the covenants made so that we and God can be in relationship with each other. God tells us to get out of our tents and look at the stars. Perhaps that’s the most amazing thing about this relationship God wants to have with us. Imagine, the God who created all those stars says to us, “Do not be afraid. Look up. I’m in this wilderness with you.” Amen