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| Melchizedek, the King of Salem
When offered his choice of land, Lot chooses the richest land for himself, the land of Sodom and Gomorrah. No sooner does Lot move in, however, than war breaks out, the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are overrun, and Lot is captured. Abram, hearing of his kinsman’s fate, raises a small army and, against all odds, wins a decisive victory, freeing Lot. Upon Abram’s return from battle, the king of Salem, Melchizedek, brings out bread and wine, gives thanks to God for delivering Abram, blessing Abram by God Most High (Gn 14:19–20). The identity of this briefly mentioned priest-king has been pondered by many. His name literally means “king of righteousness,” taken from the Hebrew melech, meaning “king,” and zedek, meaning “righteousness.” Thus, Melchizedek is not a personal name but rather a throne name. To give a modern-day example, Benedict XVI is a throne name for the pope whose personal name was Joseph Ratzinger. So just who is this great priest-king? Several Aramaic texts and ancient rabbis p 37 refer to Melchizedek as Noah’s oldest son, Shem. 7 Even some Church Fathers record this rabbinic tradition. 8 Shem was born before the flood, when the biblical narrative records longer life spans, and according to his genealogy he lives long enough to be alive in the time of Abram (Gn 11:10–11). In Genesis 9, Noah passed the blessing on to Shem, and if Shem is alive in the time of Abram, who better than Shem could give the blessing to Abram? It is possible that Melchizedek could be one of Shem’s descendants and that the line of blessing was passed on to subsequent generations without being noted in the narrative. But regardless of whether Melchizedek is Shem or one of his descendants, this is an 7 See M. McNamara, “Melchizedek: Gen 14,17–20 in the Targums, in Rabbinic and Early Christian Literature,” Biblica 81 (2000), 4, 11–12. McNamara reproduces references made in Tg. Ps.-J.; Tg. Neof.; Frg. Tgs. PVNL.; Tg. Neof. marg; b. Nedarim 32b. 8 Ibid., 12,–13, 15–16. McNamara reproduces the relevant sections from Ephrem the Syrian’s Commentary on Genesis and Jerome’s Hebrew Questions on Genesis. important scene because later the city of Salem will be renamed Jerusalem. It will be the capital city of a king whose mind is very much occupied by Melchizedek and whose priesthood will be reminiscent of Melchizedek’s. Stars, Sunset, and a Smoking Fire Now that Abram has separated himself from Lot and worshiped God through the ministry of the priest-king from Salem, it would seem to be a good time for Abram to receive the full blessing of the land. This is precisely what God has in store, for the next scene brings the word of God to Abram in a vision, with a promise we would all love to hear: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great” (Gn 15:1). Who would turn down such a promise of protection and prosperity? Abram, it seems! His reply to God is simple: what good are increasing riches when I have no children to share it with, for the heir of my house is one of my servants, Eliezer of Damascus (see Gn 15:2). Abram then sharpens the point: “ Thou hast given me no offspring” (Gn 15:3; emphasis added). How will God answer such a bold complaint? God’s response is to take the discussion outside. God tells Abram, “Look p 38 toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them” (Gn 15:5). Our first impulse is to picture this conversation happening as Abram sits alone in front of a dying campfire under a clear night sky spangled with a myriad of stars. We imagine Abram gazing up, overwhelmed by the innumerable points of light before his eyes. But, as we read on, we discover something unexpected: the sun is high overhead, not going down for another seven verses (Gn 15:12). God’s command is given in broad daylight! Abram, staring up at the blue midday sky, could no more see the stars than he could see his countless descendants. God’s message here is profound: while your sight is too weak to see the stars, I, the Lord, can see them; and I, the Lord, can also see your many descendants, even though you cannot. God’s lesson isn’t simply that Abram’s descendants will be as numerous as the stars, but that Abram must have faith and trust the Lord that these countless descendants will be given, even if he has yet to see the very first one. Abram gets the point, and “he believed the L ORD ; and [the L ORD ] reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gn 15:6). Faith provides the vision that enables one to navigate life in a way pleasing to God, in times of daylight and in times of darkness. God then moves from the promise of seed to the promise of land: “I am the L ORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess” (Gn 15:7). Surely Abram, his faith strengthened regarding his seed and heir, will accept this next promise. Not exactly. He immediately questions, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” (Gn 15:8). What will the Lord do now to convince Abram, who seems far from being the “father of faith”? God tells Abram to go and fetch a heifer, a she-goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. An odd request to our modern ears, but Abram knows exactly what God is up to, and he quickly cuts the animals in half and waits for God to act. Keeping away the birds of prey, Abram keeps vigil through sunset (Gn 15:11–12). He then falls into a deep sleep, in which God speaks to him. God tells him that his descendants will be sojourners in a foreign land, enslaved for four hundred years, and then God will rescue them and give them the land of Canaan. God confirms his spoken promise with a solemn act: he passes through the middle of p 39 the cut-up animals as a smoking fire and as a flaming torch. This is the moment for which Abram has been waiting. What is the significance of this seemingly bizarre scene? In Abram’s world it was part of the solemn act of making a covenant. When a promise needed to be strengthened, it was done by elevating the promise to the level of a covenant oath. By walking between the two halves of a sacrificed animal, the persons entering the covenant were saying, “May I end up like these animals—dead and cut in two—if I am not faithful to my promise and oath”—a very serious curse indeed, for covenant unfaithfulness! In response to Abram’s lack of faith, God makes a covenant and binds himself to keep his word (Heb 6:16–18). The story now comes full circle. After coming to the land with limited faith, Abram has learned to let Lot go and put more trust in God. Abram now believes God will give him descendants that will number the stars, and he has a promise and covenant oath that his seed will have this very land, upon which God himself will plant them. Abraham will die without seeing the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises, but he does receive “down payments” as these promises are strengthened with oaths and his faith increases. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham will be seen only as the rest of Scripture’s story unfolds. A CT 2: I SAAC AND THE S EED OF A BRAHAM tải về 6.33 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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