Bible Story (Genesis Edition; Part I)

The Father of All

If you're picturing a father and was asked what's the most important value that a father must have, what would you say? Is it the courageous? Loyalty? Leadership? Wisdom? Hard to decide isn't it? Well, it's also what the Genesis's writers were trying to imply when they're writing the story of Abraham. He was chosen among dozens of Noah's descendants, not because of his character or even perfections, but rather because of his faithfulness to God. It's the most important thing about being the Father of Israel's competence; To give a role model to the nation, what it takes to believe in God, and where it'll also take you when you decide to obey to a descendant figure

The first time Abraham met God was quite marvelous in the ancient world. There must've been some mystical experience that Abraham got that moved him so bad, that he believed that he was talking with the 'superior creature'. To become one with God and hearing His voice, must've been the best day in his life. And that's something probably we missed in the modern world; we've been so great with our logical & systematic world that we saw the mystical experience, as a false belief or even a hoax. Believing in something that is indescribable in a common sense or logical is absurd & naïve for us, and now it's time to learn from the ancient world about it.

Abraham is not just met God & amazed by His power; he was also given a mission, to leave his place & homeland and explore a new place that God gave little clue about it. Can you imagine if you were given a task by a man that you've just met? You must've been suspicious or even avoid the task, right? Especially if the task was considered hard or impossible to be done. Well, not like Abraham and it's unknown until know why he accepted the job and start his new life & adventure, but all that we know, he followed God's order well, without questioning.

For the record, we also need to appreciate Abraham's dignity & bravery to follow God, to the promised land, because from the ancient context at Genesis chapter 12, he had been living with his family (the bible mentioned his father) for 75 years! He never went around the world and there were only camels, donkeys, and horses as a transportation. It must've been a scary task for him, and we all know that an unknown area is also a dangerous place. Abraham was also not a great / well-known guy at that time, considering that he only had a few stuffs and servants with him.

The first destiny was a terrible place. 'The famine was grievous in the land' (Verse 10), and Abram decide to face Egypt, a tyrannical place. It's better to become a slave in a rich country than to be a free man in a poor area, right? Or is it? Well, this is the first time that we witness the first lie that Abraham told to his wife & the Pharaoh. He was so scared to be in this country that he turned into a pathetic guy, and I really wonder how Sara would respond to it. Could you imagine that her own husband, her soulmate dares to not admit that she was his wife? It must've been painful for her.

Not to mention that his deceit was not just accepted by the pharaoh, it became so successful that Abraham managed to left Egypt, richer and more prosperous than when he came. Weird isn't it? Why would God blessed Abraham although he was trying to be deceitful with his wife? He even didn't get the curse that had been with the Pharaoh and his servants for several days. Probably it's the comical side of the bible, when a bad guy gained all the fortune & luck by his immoral actions. Even the Genesis writers put the blame on Sarah instead of Abraham (Poor lady...)

But there's another problem, his nephew, Lot was leaving him. Not because Abraham not being kind & gentle to him, but rather that their troops were beginning to quarrel with one another. Their groups had grown too big, that they needed to separate from each other before worse thing happen. Well, one thing that I found interesting with Abraham is that although he had no children, he had a great relationship with Lot, that he also invited Lot to come to his journey with God, and Lot agree with that! Well, he sure didn't regret his decision when he went to join Abraham. He's rich now! And it's time for a goodbye to Abraham.

And after that time, what Lot didn't know about the area that he chose to stay is that, the land was corrupted as well & led by a bad king. He was captured easily, because he's an easy target for the king with big troops & lots of good stuffs. Luckily, one of his servants manage to escape & found Abraham. Abraham didn't need a lot of explanation & encouragement, he rallied his servants and armed him with a proper weapon and went to do the impossible task; to find Lot & fight the kings if he must.

For the record, we all know that in the story, it's not just one king, but kings! Yup, Abraham had managed to defeat several kings at once, even the Sodom & Gomorrah Kings. That's why I called it the impossible mission, how on earth did Abraham managed to win that battle only with his troops? Besides that, he had prepared himself well, Abraham must had been blessed by God as well, so that winning the battle is not as difficult as it seems. Did you think that being Abraham is easy, to rescue Lot? Well, of course not, but I think Abraham must've love Lot so much that he dared to risk himself, to save his beloved nephew (kind of reminds me of the relationship between Uncle Scrooge & Donald Duck)

And after that, Abraham managed to save Lot (and his stuffs), but the test had not finished yet. God was testing Abraham's moral integrity again, this time. He was persuaded by the kings that didn't fight him, to accept a token of appreciation. Which is a weird thing to do, when you found an enemy, instead of trying to kill/fight him, the king tried to give him gifts (but it's perhaps a political strategy to make Abraham became his ally).Well, fortunately Abraham was avoiding that gifts but instead he wished to have what had been taken from him or his nephew. What a nice guy!

Well, we've seen the progress & growth of Abraham, with just 2 chapters. From a villager turned into a war chief. A simple man became a rival to kings. An old man with no children, became the father of nations. I guess that's life, isn't it? Life is not about growing exponentially & stable, but it's more like a roller-coaster, a lot of upside-down. And that's what gives life, meaning. To not just become who we are, and not trying to go and seek for the 'Canaan'. Abraham had lived that kind of life for 75 years! Perhaps he's too old and tired to go for an adventure, but as we saw through those chapters, no matter how hard life came to him, it made him stronger & better than before! He can even fight kings! And now, it's your turn. Are you ready to be a better version of you?