Abraham, The Bridge to God: Part 1
Hello again, everyone.
In the book of genesis, there seems to be a pattern of what God is speaking about and who He is speaking to. In some sense, there is this question and answer found in Genesis in what the subject matter is that God is speaking into. It starts off very general and then gets gradually more specific with time. Rather than looking at certain exceptions to the pattern, we should look at who and what God is speaking to giving us an inclination that Abraham is the bridge to God in some sense where His revelation to Abraham is full. There are certain key places where God speaks more specifically that have its culmination in Abraham.
Gen. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24
God is generically speaking things into existence.
God is plural.
Genesis 1:28–29
“And God blessed them. And God said to them…
And God said…”
God speaks to man.
God is plural.
Genesis 2:18
“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.””
Who is the LORD God speaking to?
LORD is singular and God is Plural.
Genesis 3:22
“Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—””
Who is the LORD God speaking to?
LORD is singular and God is Plural.
Genesis 6:3
“Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.””
Who is the LORD speaking to?
LORD is singular.
Genesis 6:7
“So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.””
Who is the LORD speaking to?
LORD is singular.
Genesis 1:26
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.””
Who is God speaking to? Us!
God is Plural.
Genesis 8:21
“And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.”
Who is the LORD speaking to? His heart!
LORD is Singular.
Genesis 11:5
“And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.”
LORD is singular, came down is in the Plural.
Genesis 11:6–7
“And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.””
Who is the Lord talking to?
LORD is Singular.
Genesis 3:9–13
“But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.””
Who is the LORD God speaking to? Adam.
LORD is singular and God is plural.
Genesis 3:14–19
“The LORD God said to the serpent…
To the woman he said…
And to Adam he said…”
Who is the LORD God speaking to? The Serpent, Eve, and Adam.
LORD is singular and God is plural.
Genesis 4:6–16
“The LORD said to Cain…
Then the LORD said to Cain…
And the LORD said…
Then the LORD said to him…
Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Who is the LORD speaking to? Cain.
LORD is singular.
Genesis 12:1–3 ESV
“Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.””
Who is the LORD speaking to? Abraham.
LORD is singular.
So, the pattern seems to be that God speaks generally as plural, then generally as singular, then specifically as plural, then specifically as singular. Where it is said the LORD is speaking, it is more personal in tone. When it is God by itself it is more generic. This all culminates with Abraham where God speaks specifically in the singular to Abraham the very first time He speaks to him and it appears the general concept of “God” is more or less dropped from this time forward.
That concludes this part of the series.
God bless you! Until next time!