Read Genesis 16:1-16. What is the significance of Abram’s decision to go with Hagar, even despite God’s promise to him? How do the two women represent two attitudes of faith (Galatians 4:21-31)?

When Abram doubted (Genesis 15:2), God unambiguously reassured him that He will have a son. Years later, Abram is still without a son.

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Even after God’s last powerful prophecy, Abram seems to have lost his faith: he does not believe anymore that it will be possible for him to have a son with Sarai. Sarai, feeling hopeless, takes the initiative and urges him to resort to a common practice of that time in the ancient Near East: take a surrogate. Hagar, Sarai’s servant, is appointed for this service. The system works. Ironically, this human strategy seemed more efficient than did faith in God’s promises.

The passage describing Sarai’s relation to Abram echoes the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The two texts share a number of common motifs (Sarai, like Eve, is active; Abram, like Adam, is passive) and share common verbs and phrases (“heed the voice,” “take” and “give”). This parallel between the two stories implies God’s disapproval of this course of action.

The apostle Paul refers to this story to make his point about works versus grace (Galatians 4:23-26). In both accounts, the result is the same: the immediate reward of human work outside the will of God leads to future troubles. Note that God is absent during the whole course of action. Sarai speaks about God but never speaks to Him; nor does God speak to either of them. This absence of God is striking, especially after the intense presence of God in the previous chapter.

God then appears to Hagar but only after she has left the house of Abram. This unexpected appearance discloses God’s presence in spite of human effort to work without Him. The reference to “the Angel of the LORD” (Genesis 16:7, NKJV) is a title that is often identified with the LORD, YHWH (see Genesis 18:1, Genesis 18:13, Genesis 18:22). This time it is God who takes the initiative and announces to Hagar that she will give birth to a son, Ishmael, whose name means God hears (Genesis 16:11). Ironically, the story, which ends with the idea of hearing (shama‘), echoes the hearing of the beginning of the story, when Abram who “heeded” (shama‘) the voice of Sarai (Genesis 16:2).

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Read Genesis 15:1-21 and Romans 4:3-4, Romans 4:9, Romans 4:22. How does Abram reveal what it means to live by faith? What is the meaning of the sacrifice that God had Abram perform?

God’s first response to Abram’s concern about an heir (Genesis 15:1-3) is that he will have a son from his “own body” (Genesis 15:4, NKJV). The same language is used by the prophet Nathan to refer to the seed of the future Messianic king (2 Samuel 7:12).

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Abram was reassured and “believed in the LORD” (Genesis 15:6), because he understood that the fulfillment of God’s promise depended not on his own righteousness but on God’s (Genesis 15:6; compare with Romans 4:5-6).

This notion is extraordinary, especially in that culture. In the religion of the ancient Egyptians, for instance, judgment was evaluated on the basis of counting one’s human works of righteousness against the righteousness of the goddess Maat, who represented divine righteousness. In short, you had to earn “salvation.”

God then sets up a sacrificial ceremony for Abram to perform. Basically, the sacrifice points to Christ’s death for our sins. Humans are saved by grace, the gift of God’s righteousness, symbolized by these sacrifices. But this particular ceremony conveys specific messages for Abram. The preying of the vultures on the sacrificial animals (Genesis 15:9-11) means that Abram’s descendants will suffer slavery for a period of “four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13), or four generations (Genesis 15:16). Then in the fourth generation, Abram’s descendants “shall return here” (Genesis 15:16, NKJV).

The last scene of the sacrificial ceremony is dramatic: “a burning torch that passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:17, NKJV). This extraordinary wonder signifies God’s commitment to fulfill His covenant promise of giving land to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 15:18).

The boundaries of this Promised Land, “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18, NKJV) remind us of the boundaries of the Garden of Eden (compare with Genesis 2:13-14). This prophecy has, therefore, more in view than just the Exodus and a homeland for Israel. On the distant horizon of this prophecy, in Abraham’s descendants taking the country of Canaan, looms the idea of the end-time salvation of God’s people, who will return to the Garden of Eden.

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Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Genesis 15:1-19:29; Romans 4:3-4, Romans 4:9, Romans 4:22; Galatians 4:21-31; Romans 4:11; Romans 9:9; Amos 4:11.

Memory Text: “But Abram said, ‘Lord GOD, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’” (Genesis 15:2, NKJV).

With Genesis chapter 15, we come to the crucial moment when God formalizes His covenant with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant is the second covenant, after the covenant with Noah.

Like Noah’s covenant, Abraham’s covenant involves other nations as well, for ultimately the covenant with Abraham is part of the everlasting covenant, which is offered to all humanity (Genesis 17:7, Hebrews 13:20).

This episode of Abraham’s life is full of fear and laughter. Abram is afraid (Genesis 15:1), as well as Sarah (Genesis 18:15) and Hagar (Genesis 21:17). Abram laughs (Genesis 17:17); Sarah (Genesis 18:12), and Ishmael, too (Genesis 21:9, ESV). These chapters resonate with human sensitivity and warmth. Abram is passionate about the salvation of the wicked Sodomites; he is caring toward Sarah, Hagar, and Lot; and he is hospitable toward the three foreigners (Genesis 18:2-6).

It is in that context that Abram, whose name implies nobility and respectability, will have his name changed into Abraham, which means “father of many nations” (Genesis 17:5). Thus, we see here more hints of the universal nature of what God plans to do through His covenant with Abraham.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 14.

Sunday–>

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Key Thought: Abraham, suspended between a lost past and a future he can’t see, is reassured by God, and exemplifies faith. He is one of the most mentioned figure from the Old Testament.
May 7, 2022

1. Have a volunteer read Genesis 12:1-5.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why did God tell Abram to leave his country? How did he respond?
3. Personal Application: What might be God calling you to leave behind? What part of your life might you have to abandon to heed the call of God? Share your thoughts..
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Abram was seventy five years old? Why did God call him to be the father of many nations? Wouldn’t it have been better to choose a younger, stronger person to lead out and have many children? Why did He choose an older man?’” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Genesis 12:10-20.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why did Abram leave the promised land to go to Egypt?
3. Personal Application: What should this tell us about how easy it is to stray from the correct faith? Share your thoughts
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Is it ever the right thing to do in some circumstances to not follow the commandments of God or to be disobedient to what we know we should do?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Genesis 13:7-12.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. Why did Abraham give his younger nephew the choice of land when there was strife between them?
3. Personal Application: What does this story teach us about the importance of character? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Why should we be kind and generous to others, even when they are not that way toward us? Someone said kindness is weakness. Why should I be nice to someone who is not nice to me or others?” How would you respond to your relative?

4. Have a volunteer read Genesis 14:1-17..

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. What is the significance about this war taking place just after the gift of the promised land? What does it tell us about Abram?
3. Personal Application: What kind of influence do our actions have on others? What do our actions show about our faith? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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A Dream Marriage

By Yulia Bondarenko

The day Ruth took her first step toward becoming a missionary was when she gave her life to Jesus and was baptized while in the seventh grade in the U.S.

In the eighth grade, she was asked to clean her Seventh-day Adventist church. She knew nothing about cleaning churches, so instead she sat at the piano. As she played and sang about her Savior, she imagined people from various countries sitting in the pews, and a prayerful desire formed in her mind to marry a man who would play and sing with her. But who?

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When she was 15, Ruth watched her newly married sister, visiting home from her honeymoon, slip into her wedding gown, put her hands over her eyes, and sob. Ruth resolved that a similar situation would not happen to her and started to make a list of desirable traits in her future husband. Her mother, learning about the list, wisely said, “Ruth, you also have to become the kind of woman whom that man might want.” Ruth prayerfully began to seek to acquire these traits that she expected in her husband. But who?

Just before attending Andrews University, Ruth briefly was engaged, but she broke it off. A few months later, she ended another relationship after learning that the man was dating someone else at the same time.

That winter, Ruth was in the women’s residence hall, waiting to go Christmas caroling, when a friend exclaimed, “There’s Emil Moldrik! Let’s get into his car!” “Who?” Ruth said. “Don’t you know?” her friend said. “He sings, plays the organ, and wants to be a pastor“. Ruth thought, “That’s who!”

For the next few hours, Ruth sang soprano and Emil sang tenor. She felt a new joy in her heart, and couldn’t stop looking at his eyes. She believed that eyes are the windows to the heart, and his eyes were so kind and pure. Emil returned Ruth’s gaze as they sang, and the next evening he called for a date.

Today, Emil and Ruth Moldrik have been married nearly 60 years and have served God in more than 15 countries, singing and playing musical instruments as missionaries. Emil plays 12 instruments, including the saw and autoharp. The couple has visited Ukraine alone 10 times, conducting marriage and English-language classes and Bible meetings.

As Ruth remembers the day she sang and played in the empty church, she praises God for fulfilling her dream. “I did sing and play around the world, so God answered my prayers,” she says.

This mission story illustrates Spiritual Mission Objective No. 7 of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s “I Will Go” strategic plan: “To help youth and young adults place God first and exemplify a biblical worldview.” Learn more: IWillGo2020[dot]org.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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