God's Plan For Abraham's Descendants example essay topic

Hebrew Bible Paper - Abraham Abraham stands as one of the most important figures in the Hebrew Bible, and is central to the understanding of God's solution to the problem of mankind. Man, the mysterious creature that God wrought as a semi-experiment, is constantly prone to believe he is self-sufficient and capable of survival without God, the central problem God must deal with in the Hebrew Bible. To solve this problem, God decides to strike fear in the heart of man and to revolutionize his lifestyle by creating laws and empowering a chosen group of people, who will spread the word of God by example. These people are the Hebrews, and Abraham is the father of their race, the man from whom all Hebrews descend.

He is chosen for this crucial position because he already possesses all the qualities God desires for his people. God says of Abraham, 'For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment'. Thus, a study of Abraham's character is a study of the Hebrew people's character, and, ultimately, a study of the qualities God desires for all people. At the time of Abraham, the world appears to be a violent, immoral place. Chapter 14 of Genesis describes the many bloody wars that are occurring around Abraham, and cities like Sodom and Gomorrah are full of men who are 'wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly'. Abraham stands as a unique figure for his time, avoiding fights whenever possible and always following God's orders, meant as an example to the rest of the world.

Instead of the mass destruction akin to the flood, God's new plan is to change the world through Abraham's and his descendants' good deeds and righteous living, effectively a moral evolution. Every extraordinary quality that Abraham possesses is desired by God for everyone. A major thread of all these qualities is self-sacrifice for the good of others; through the promotion of these ideals, God is creating a society capable of existing in peace. One of Abraham's most important qualities is his complete obedience to God. Abraham, or Abram, is introduced when God tells him 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee... I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee'.

Abram leaves his home and family, and departs into the 'strange land' of Canaan, showing an extreme obedience to God and understanding of his duty to father this great race. Throughout Genesis, Abraham builds altars to God and sacrifices animals. In Genesis 22: 2, God tells Abraham, 'Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou love st, into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains'. The next day, Abraham sets off for Moriah 'and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ' After God stops the sacrifice, he tells Abraham, 'Now I know that thou fear est God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

' Abraham's continual obedience to God is central to his character and the desired character of the Hebrew people. God, in his great plan, wishes to remove the human tendency to believe only in his judgment, the pride of thinking he knows better than God. Thus, God wishes to promote the qualities of obedience and humility, to birth a nation of men who fear God and follow orders. Only in this way can people be expected to follow a moral code and adhere to laws; they must understand that there are powers beyond them that they do not always understand, but must perpetually follow. Abraham is an ideal example of someone who recognises this sense of duty, and is willing to give up anything for God, including his son. Another of Abraham's extraordinary qualities is his devotion to his family, especially his wife Sarah.

Even though his ultimate duty is to God, he remains dedicated to both his immediate family and the nation that will follow him. When Lot is captured by an army, Abraham 'pursued them unto Dan... And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot'. Abraham's wife, Sarah, is barren through most of her life, but Abraham does not seek another until Sarah requests it. Only until God is sure that Abraham's love for Sarah is true does he make Sarah conceive. After Sarah dies, he goes to great lengths to secure a burial place for her and 'came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

' When he is near death, Abraham tells a servant, 'Thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. ' He remains dedicated to keeping his descendants pure, according to God's wishes. Dedication to family is important to God's plan because it is another consequence of humility; it is a recognition that one cannot exist alone and cannot be entirely self-sufficient. In God's plan for Abraham's descendants to become a great nation and spread the word of God through good deeds, a sense of unity and family duty is crucial. No longer can the world be divided into small warring factions if a universal law is to be instituted and followed. Rather, this new nation must possess not only a dedication to God's plan, but a dedication to each other.

Through His plan, God wishes to instill many other values to humanity, as seen by the diversity of the laws given to Moses. Abraham practices many of these virtues throughout his life. When there is a strife between Abraham and Lot over lack of land, Abraham says to Lot, 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herd men and thy herd men; for we be brethren. ' Abraham allows Lot to take the plot of land that he wants, and promises to go somewhere else.

The only time Abraham openly disagrees with God, or questions his actions, is when He tells Abraham of the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham says to Him, 'Oh let not the Lord be angry', and asks God to spare the good people living there. Abraham repeatedly shows his desire for compromise and avoids fights whenever possible. The instinct for violence and forced personal gain mankind possesses is one of the qualities God's plan seeks to quash. Through the destruction of this urge, civilization would become a much more stable and loving place, an ideal environment in which to worship God. Another of Abraham's remarkable qualities is his generosity, and lack of greed.

When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah offer Abraham a reward for him vanquishing their foes when he rescues Lot, Abraham tells them, 'I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine'. And when Sarah dies and Abraham finds a place to bury her, the owner of the land tells him it is unnecessary to pay, but Abraham does so anyway. This generosity is desired for God's plan because it is another demonstration of self-sacrifice for others. A community like the Hebrews is better able to survive if its members are willing to share their wealth, and be charitable to one another. Crucial to an understanding of God's plan and its relationship to Abraham is the covenant between them. At first, God makes a covenant by saying to Abraham, 'Unto thy seed have I given this land'.

He develops it by adding, 'Thou shalt be a father of many nations... and I will establish my covenant between me an thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee... This is my covenant, which ye shall keep... Every man child among you shall be circumcised. ' God calls the foreskin that is cut off 'a token of the covenant betwixt me and you'. Thus, the circumcision serves as a gruesome symbol of the sacrifice required towards God, a sign that obedience to God is significant on a spiritual and physical level. It further helps to strengthen the bond between the Hebrews, as they are now physically similar and are identifiable to each other.

Abraham, consistent in his obedience, circumcises himself and his family. God's plan is complex and difficult to interpret. After vowing to never again destroy humanity after the Flood, God decides to attempt a new method to moralist the human race. Abraham and his descendants are an engineered experiment in moral evolution; God's chosen people are able to survive and breed and create a nation that will possess the qualities God sees fit.

Rather than destroying, God is creating. Rather than striking out against the bad qualities of human nature, God is finding those who possess the good qualities and ensuring their success. In this way, the world will eventually be full of those with only good qualities. God and Darwin eerily coincide here, in a way neither of them would have been comfortable with.