I am sort of addicted to this.  I have been thinking all week about getting back to this geeky exploration of scripture.  In short, I am cataloging every imperative issued by God – and some special humans – in scripture.  Last week we looked at the big wild west beginning of Genesis 1-11.  Now let’s look at the Abraham saga.

Gen 12:1 – Lekh-Lekha is how God starts the journey with the children of Abraham.  The emphasis is on “leaving” and less on purposeful sending.  A Texas-ism would be “Git outta here!”

Gen 12:2 – “So that you will be a blessing” uses an imperative form for “be a blessing.”  All the other verbs have been about what God will do, “I will show you… I will make… I will bless.”  But, when it comes to Abraham’s future, God lays claim to that future with a command, “You will be a blessing.”

Gen 12:19 – Lit. “Behold!  Your wife, take and go.”  I won’t always look at commands coming from humans, but since Pharaoh was worshiped as god, I wanted to point this one out.  The first real royalty in scripture issues commands to cover up his disgrace and ignorance.  Also, Abram made a really strange call with the sister-wife thing.

Gen 13:14, 17 – “Lift up your eyes and look… Arise, walk.”  God commands Abram’s vision and then his legs.  God shows him how good it can be before telling him to walk a long way.

Gen 15:5, 9 – “Look toward heaven and number the stars… bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat…”  Last time God talked about the promise the commands were attainable. “Look at the land, walk around.”  Deities in the ancient world granted lands and kingdoms all the time.  But at this second declaration of God’s promise to Abram, God calls for the impossible.  Technically, in 2015 we haven’t counted all of the stars.  We use statistics.  With this impossibility comes a sacrifice.  This is Abram’s first recorded ritual.  It is when God does or foretells the impossible that Abram is told to begin religion and ritual.

Gen 16:6, 9 – Abram says, “Do to her as you please.”  What a callous man Abram has become.  He has lived years under a seemingly unmet promise.  Then when he finally finds some hope, his family falls apart.  After Hagar flees, the angel says to her, “Return to your mistress and submit.”  That sucks.  That word “submit” is the same word for “dealt harshly” in v6.  The angel has commanded Hagar to go back and potentially experience the same thing.  She is the first suffering servant.  But notice, God restored relationship.  He commanded the family be put back together.

Gen 17:1 – “Walk before me and be blameless.”  This is a huge shift in Abram’s – now Abraham – and God’s relationship.  It all began with the same verb for walk/go in Gen 12:1, but now things have escalated to “before me” and the added command “be blameless.”  There are a lot of “commands” in the rest of chapter seventeen, but none of them are true imperative forms.  Being blameless sort of covers everything else.

Gen 19:5 – “Bring them out so we may rape them.”  I chose the verb rape.  It is “know them” in the biblical sense.  This is a scary weird passage, and it is God’s second biggest destruction time.  Bad choice Sodom guys, bad choice.  Be hospitable and not rapists.

Gen 19:12, 15, 17, 22 – These imperatives don’t come directly from God but the angel/messengers who are about to blow everything up.  “Bring them out… Up! Take your wife and your two daughters… Escape for your life. Escape to the mountains… Be quick! Escape.”  All good advice.  They have to command Lot four times to get out of Dodge.

Gen 21:12 – “Whatever Sarah says to do, do as she tells you” is in the ESV, but more literally, “Listen to Sarah.”  Sarah is right about the promise.  Listen to her.

Gen 21:18 – “Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand…”  Hagar was so distressed she was abandoning her son.  God intervened and told her to get back to raising.

Gen 22:2 – “Take your son… go… offer him as a burnt offering.”  These commands seem counterproductive to creating a great nation.  God’s first command for Abram to exit his homeland was hard but people migrated a lot. This command just seems foolish and mean.  Abraham is called the father of faith.

Gen 23:4 – “Give me property among you for a burying place.”  This is a big shift for Abraham and his way of life.  He has been living as a wandering herdsman.  Now he owns land.  Just like last post, this command “give” is more of an invitation.  The negotiations on the land have all the pleasantries of ancient bartering.  But, this is the first time that God’s promise of the land contacts the reality that people are already living their and own it.

Abram to Abraham.  Hagar to Isaac.  God’s commands in these stories focused on moving people around.  “Go here… Run there.”  In our current day of massive displacement, refugees, and immigration, it is comforting to know that is how God began his people, Lekh-lekha.