Tag Archive for: Shem

Genesis 12:1-4a

The first 11 Chapters of Genesis are called the “primeval history” which ends with the Tower of Babel story — an “etiology” (story of origins) relating to the scattering of humankind and the multiplicity of languages. The last chapter of the primeval history also traces Abram’s lineage back to Noah’s son, Shem (which means “name” in Hebrew and from which we get the word “Semites”).

Today’s reading begins the “ancestral history” in which YHWH calls Abram (whose name is the same root word as “Abba” or father) to go to a land that YHWH will show him. There, Abram will be a father of a great nations and (as a descendent of Shem) his “name” will be great.

In Verse 3 is the phrase “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (which Paul interpreted as a blessing on the Gentiles through Abraham). This phrase is also translated as “by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves” – or in other words, people will say “may we be like Abraham.” 

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

Paul’s letter to the Romans is his longest, last and most complex letter. It was written in the late 50s or early 60s (CE) – at least ten years before the first Gospel (Mark) was written. Its over-all purpose was to encourage respectful and supportive relationships between the Gentile Jesus Followers and the Jewish Jesus Followers in Rome.

In today’s reading, Paul emphasizes that Abraham’s righteousness (right relationship with God) was a result of Abraham’s faithfulness. In Paul’s epistles, the word “Faith” is almost always better understood a “Faithfulness.”   For most modern persons, “Faith” is understood primarily as a cognitive assent to one or more propositions, but “faithfulness” is an active living into one’s beliefs through grace and trust in God. In the last verses of today’s reading, Paul continues his discussion of the law and its limitations and emphasizes that mere obedience to the law is  not sufficient for the fullness of a right relationship with God.