The Shape of Genesis – Part 3

The “Abraham narrative” replays the events of Day 3 of Creation, but in human flesh.

Read part 1. Read part 2.

Just as Israel’s later possession of Canaan serves as the “Day 3” step of covenant history, so the promise of Canaan to Abraham is the “Day 3” step of the book of Genesis. Adam was called to divide between moral light and moral darkness (Day 1), Noah divided the waters and re-established faithful worship (Day 2), and now Abraham was promised land and seed as an exalted sacrificial “head” who would represent all nations and keep the wild seas at bay (both the actual sea and the Gentile “Sea,” Job 38:10).

Genesis 1 describes the sequence of “physical” (or creational) events on Day 3, and the typological “social” equivalent of this sequence shapes the of events in the Abraham narrative. Firstly, God gathered the waters together in order that dry land might appear. Then, He named the dry land “Earth” and the waters “Seas,” giving each domain an official identity or “office” before they could be of service.

He then commanded the ground to bring forth the first flora of the world, that is, those with a sacramental purpose: grain plants (for bread) and fruit trees (for wine). These “natural” fruit bearers from the mouth of God required the priestly labor (bread) and kingly wisdom (wine) of man to reach their intended “super-natural” potential. A man would be the agent of the glorification of the world, taking it from Garden to City, from nature to supernature, from the field to the table. Thus, agriculture and food preparation together picture God’s preparation of His people for glory.¹These precursors of bread and wine in the Land had sacramental “proxies” in the two trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life (priestly obedience) and the Tree of Judicial knowledge (kingly … Continue reading

The Day 3 process of land-to-firstfruits, symbolized in man’s work of field-to-table, is expressed in the contrast between Esau (the natural son who smelled of the field) and Jacob (the supernatural son who served in the tent). So, while the “social” Land and Sea events in the life of Abraham look backwards to the actual land and sea events in the Creation Week, they also look forward to the counterparts of these “elements” of the physical world in the “elements” that furnished the Tabernacle. These items of furniture shed further light on the events and structure of the Abraham narrative. The Bronze Altar in the courtyard represented the four-cornered Land, and the Golden Table inside the tent represented the sacramental firstfruits lifted up as legal proxies or “heads” of the rest of the world. Likewise, just as the Bronze Altar symbolically furnished God’s table, turning flesh and blood into bread and wine (reversing the sin of Cain, who turned mankind’s plowshares into swords), this entire Tabernacle arrangement was a proxy for the cultivated land that provided grain and fruit for the tables of men. The Bronze Altar outside the tent was all about natural offerings—the fruit of the land and the womb. The Golden Table was about supernatural offerings—the fruits of the Spirit that God required of Adam and Eve in the Garden. Adam was created in the Land (the field) and lifted up by God into the Garden-Sanctuary as a human firstfruits (the table). This is also why Paul told Timothy that he was ready to be poured out as an oblation. Those who partake of Jesus’ “flesh and blood” not only turn swords into plowshares, but also become food for others. The Bible Matrix works from Creation (nature) to Glorification (supernature).

This office of sacramental representation was pictured in the role of the Levites who had no earthly inheritance, and whom God took as “supernatural” proxies in place of the natural firstborn sons of Israel. They had no part in the “Bronze Altar” work of the Land. Instead, they received tithes of that labor and presented them at God’s table.²This is also why so-called paedosacraments are a violation of biblical architecture. They put the blessings of God before obedience, which is simply one more way of seizing kingdom as Adam did. God … Continue reading

Overlaying this later Tabernacle symbolism onto Genesis 1 helps us to understand the process in the narrative of Abraham’s life not only as architecture, or construction, but also as a sacrificial offering. The land that God raised from the “waters” of the gathered kings also had to be purified before God could lift up the fruit bearers upon it. The reason that Sodom and its sister cities were destroyed by fire and not by water is because the dry land was not being submerged, that is, removed from the sight of God, but presented, that is, lifted up as an olah to God. Canaan was already beginning to prefigure the “heavenly country” that would ultimately be inherited by all of the Old Covenant saints (Hebrews 11:16).³For more discussion, see The End of Israel – Part 3.

The Abraham narrative thus consists of two cycles, the first for the Land (the Bronze Altar) and the second for the Fruit Bearers (the Golden Table). In terms of sacrificial liturgy, it prepares the altar and then places the sacrifice upon it. This explains why the thesis (central point: Testing) of the first cycle/chiasm reveals the plot of Abram and Sarai to procure offspring by natural means (surrogacy) in order to fulfill the promise, and the thesis of the second cycle/chiasm reveals Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac in the knowledge that God would not break His supernatural promise. Thus, the first cycle is about nature (offspring) and immature faith, and the second cycle is about supernature (office) and mature faith. God cultivates Abram and, unlike Adam, he bears spiritual fruit.

ETHICS: PRIESTHOOD
Day 3 – Abraham (Genesis 12:1-25:18) Land & Firstfruits
(Ascension – Presentation)

Overview

It is helpful to place the two cycles side by side, allowing the steps within each to correspond and shed light upon each other as they walk through the Creation Week, the dominion pattern, and the rite of sacrifice.

CYCLE 1 The Natural – Bronze Altar		CYCLE 2 The Spiritual – Golden Table
Abram, Sarai and Pharaoh (Genesis 12)	TRANSCENDENCE Day 1 – Creation Initiation – Ark of the Testimony	Abram, Sarai and Abimelech (Genesis 20)
The households of Abram and Lot separate (Genesis 13)	HIERARCHY Day 2 – Division Delegation – Veil	Isaac is born and Ishmael is exiled (Genesis 21:1-21)
Abram rescues Lot and is blessed by Melchizedek (Genesis 14) God makes a covenant with Abram (Genesis 15)	ETHICS: Priesthood Day 3 – Ascension Presentation – Altar & Table	A treaty with Abimelech concerning a well (Genesis 21:22-34)
Hagar’s surrogacy for Sarai “The God who sees” (Genesis 16)	ETHICS: Kingdom Day 4 – Testing Purification – Lampstand	The sacrifice of Isaac on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22)
The covenant of circumcision God changes Abram’s name (Genesis 17)	ETHICS: Prophecy Day 5 – Maturity Transformation – Incense Altar	Sarah’s death and burial A cave purchased from Ephron (Genesis 23)
Abraham intercedes for Sodom (Genesis 18)	OATH/SANCTIONS Day 6 – Conquest Vindication – Laver & Mediators	Abraham brings a bride to Isaac (Genesis 24)
God rescues Lot and destroys Sodom Moab and Ammon are conceived (Genesis 19)	SUCCESSION Day 7 – Glorification Representation – Shekinah	Abraham’s death The generations of Ishmael (Genesis 25:1-18)

• Creation: The correspondence of the rescue of Sarai from Pharaoh and later from Abimelech allows us to see them both as reprises of the intended rescue of Eve from the serpent. In both cases, Abraham was crafty, knowing that, as a brother, the king in each case would be expected to negotiate with him for the hand of his sister. In both cases, God blessed Abraham for deflecting a satanic attack on “the Woman,” thus protecting the promise of her seed. There is also the contrast of the location: Egypt was “below” on the Bronze Altar and Canaan was “above” in the Holy Place. Abimelech, though still guilty of theft, is restrained by God in a dream.
• Division: The first cycle describes a division over land between the tribal fathers, and the second cycle is a division between sons. Lot’s choice of the immediate fertility of the plain is natural, and Abraham’s choice of a still barren land and the miraculous child of a barren womb is supernatural.
• Ascension: The first cycle rescues the promised land from a conspiracy of kings who joined forces in the Salt Sea. This step is itself twofold, a miniature of the two Ascension chapters (14-15) which are then a miniature of the two cycles. The first part is about the land and the second part is the blessing of Abraham (Jewish land) by a Noahic priest-king (Gentile Sea) at a table with bread and wine. The second step makes Abram himself on the altar, represented in a series of sacrificial animals, each of which corresponds to an element of the Tabernacle.⁴For a detailed discussion, see “Cutting Off Canaan” in Dark Sayings. This brings the “head” of the first cycle to an end, and it does so through its recapitulation of the history of Man from Adam and Eve (Abram and Sarai) to Noah (wine and a deep sleep which results in an inspired decree concerning the future).⁵See Microcosmic Abram. Like the ascension offering in Leviticus 1 recapitulates Genesis 1 in sacrificial flesh and blood, so this recapitulation of the primeval history of Mankind in Abrahamic flesh and blood “makes all things new” by investing Canaan as a sacrificial substitute for all dry land.
  As the Ascension step in the first cycle concerns the gathered nations as the “waters below,” so the Ascension step in the second cycle concerns the water of a well, a reminder of the Edenic spring that is related repeatedly throughout the Bible to the womb of the Woman, flowing down from the mountain as the “waters above.” Finally, Melech-Zedek (king of righteousness) brings bread and wine and receives “land” tithes, but Abi-Melech (father-king) receives seven “bridal” ewe lambs, images of offspring.
• Testing: Sarai’s plan to use a fruitful Egyptian womb prefigures Israel’s sojourn in Goshen, a natural blessing but not God’s supernatural promise of Canaan. This also brings us back to the use of polygamy to evade the curse upon the womb of the Woman. Abram had avoided compromising with the kings of the land when offered plunder from the defeat of the kings, but here he goes along with the plan. God uses this weakness to teach Abram, and us, the difference between the natural and the supernatural, creation and glorification, earth and heaven. God looks after Hagar and Ishmael and although they will not inherit the promises they will still benefit from them. Abraham is tested at this point in the second cycle and, now having reached a point of spiritual maturity, obeys God despite the apparent contradiction between the promise and the commandment. Sacrifice itself is a picture of death and resurrection, and it is obvious that Abraham expected a miracle. That miracle was substitutionary atonement. Note that the ram in the place of Isaac corresponds to the ram in Genesis 15 that pictures the Golden Table.
• Maturity: The circumcision of Abram’s household is a natural sign that prefigures supernatural sons, a circumcision of flesh that pictures circumcision of heart. This step concerns multiplication, a heavenly host, so God promises to multiply Abram greatly and make him the father of a multitude of nations. Even Abram’s name is transformed through “multiplication.” This bridal imagery is matched in the second cycle by the purchase with “bridal” silver of an “Edenic” grove for the burial of Sarah, a Garden in the Promised Land. To be buried in the Land was to honor a promise of resurrection. All barrenness would finally give way to abundant, evergreen life, hence the use of fragrant flowers and spices.
• Conquest: The “Day of Atonement” step brings a promise of conception for Sarah (fertility) and a judgment upon the cities of the fertile plain (barrenness). Abraham and Sarah are Adam and Eve in the Garden visited by the Lord and two cherubim. These two angels are sent from the Sanctuary to spy out the Land while Abraham, like the High Priest, intercedes for the people. As a “friend” (confidant) of God, he is permitted to bargain with God. In other words, God Himself shows no mercy because the chosen Man becomes the mercy as an advocate in the heavenly court. This occurs in later history in Moses and again in David, and, of course, finally in Christ. In cycle two, instead of sending angels down to the Land, Abraham sends an “angel” to fetch a bride for the promised son.
• Glorification: Human beings need food and offspring (land and womb) to have any future, so the destruction of the cities of the fertile plain and the “theft” of sons from Lot—who later become a curse to Israel—are ironic reversals of Shekinah filling the Tabernacle and the marriage feast of the Lamb. Instead of evergreen fragrance there was the stink of sulfur, and the sterility of a land sown with salt was concentrated in the sign of the judgment of Lot’s wife as a memorial pillar. This conflagration brings to an end the “Bronze Altar” cycle, and is a stark contrast to the corresponding death of Abraham after having six more sons by his second wife, Keturah, whose name possibly means “incense,” the opposite of the sulfur of Sodom.

ANALYSIS

The presentation of the two cycles as Bible Matrix “quantum” chiasms helps us to observe the correspondences in the symmetries. In the first, Abram rescues Sarai from Egypt at the beginning and God rescues Lot’s family from Sodom at the end. Lot’s departure to Sodom and Abraham’s intercession for Sodom are matched at steps 2 and 6. Steps 3 and 5 both concern the covenant with Abraham, and Hagar and Sarah feature at the centre as images of “natural” Jerusalem below and “supernatural” Jerusalem above, the sons of men versus the Sons of God.

The second cycle leaves the land symbolism behind and focusses on imagery related to brides and offspring. Isaac’s birth and marriage match each other in the symmetry, as do Abraham’s covenants with Gentile rulers, Abimelech and Ephron. Notice that in the steps where God made covenants in the first cycle, the Man makes covenants in the second cycle. And finally we have Abraham and Isaac, father and son, at the center of the cycle on the mountain that would ultimately become the site of the Temple.

BRONZE ALTAR – Outside the Tent

Golden TABLE – Inside the Tent

Finally, it seems that the two heptamerous cycles work together as a fivefold covenant sequence of sacred “houses,” each a miniature of the primeval world, an architectural triplet comprised of Garden, Land, and World which images the Trinity. This does require a couple of minor adjustments—the splitting of Abraham’s reception of the angels and his intercession for Sodom into two separate steps as Garden and Land, and also the combination of Isaac’s marriage and Abram’s remarriage and death as bridal “Spirit” events in the “World.” Otherwise, it fits nicely, indicating not only that God’s calling of Abraham was a “new covenant” within the Noahic order to mitigate against its ultimate failure, but also hinting at the Law that would prevent idolatry concerning things in heaven above, on the land (beside) and in the waters (below).

TRANSCENDENCE
Abram rescues Sarai in Egypt (12:1-20) GARDEN – above
Abram and Lot separate (13:1-18) LAND – beside
Abram rescues Lot and is blessed by Melchizedek (14:1-24) WORLD – below

HIERARCHY
God makes a covenant with Abraham (15:1-21) GARDEN – above
Sarai and Hagar (16:1-16) LAND – beside
The Covenant of Circumcision (17:1-27) WORLD – below

ETHICS
Abraham receives the angels (18:1-21) GARDEN – above
and intercedes for Sodom (18:22-33) LAND – beside
God rescues Lot and destroys Sodom (19:1-38) WORLD – below

OATH/SANCTIONS
Abraham and Abimelech (20:1-18) GARDEN – above
Isaac born and Ishmael exiled (21:1-21) LAND – beside
A treaty with Abimelech (21:22-34) WORLD – below

SUCCESSION
The sacrifice of Isaac (22:1-24) GARDEN – above
Sarah’s death and burial (23:1-20) LAND – beside
Isaac and Rebekah, Abraham’s death (24:1-25:18) WORLD – below

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