Genesis to Jesus

III. Our Father Abraham
a. Hebrews and Semites
b. Priest of the Most High God
c. 'Covenant in Your Flesh'
d. Binding Isaac

IV. Age of the Patriarchs
a. Jacob the Younger
b. Joseph and Judah

V. Study Questions

b. Priest of the Most High God

There are three more scenes from the dramatic life of Abraham that we need to look at because they point us forward to the New Testament.

The first is Melchizedek, the mysterious king of Salem, who makes his appearance after Abraham defeats the warrior kings to free his nephew Lot (Genesis 14).

Notice that he appears out of nowhere. He has no genealogy and his capital, "Salem" isn't mentioned before in the book. Salem, as we see later in the Bible, is a short form of the name Jerusalem (see Psalm 76:2).

Melchizedek brings out bread and wine and declares a blessing on Abraham. The Church Fathers, saw this is as foreshadowing the Eucharist. And the Church's Liturgy reflects this tradition in its First Eucharist Prayer, which refers to "the bread and wine offered by your priest Melchizedek (see Catechism, no. 1333).

The Bible sees Melchizedek as a figure of the son of David, who is declared "a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek" (see Psalm 110:4). He is also, in the New Testament, seen as a figure of Jesus, the eternal royal high-priest (see Hebrews 7).


c. 'Covenant in Your Flesh'

Circumcision is the sign God gives of His covenant oath to make Abraham's descendants a royal dynasty.
"Thus my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting pact" (see Genesis 17:1-14). Jesus is circumcised to show that He is in the flesh a member of the people of the covenant (see Luke 2:21).

But circumcision is also a physical sign that points us to Baptism, the spiritual and sacramental sign by which we enter into the New Covenant, the royal family of God.

Already in the prophets, "circumcision of the heart" had become a sign of dedication of one's whole being to God (see Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4; compare Romans 2:25-29; 1 Corinthians 7:18-19). The prophet Jeremiah said that the law of the New Covenant would be written on the heart (see Jeremiah 31:31-34). This happens in Baptism which is the "circumcision of Christ" (see Colossians 2:11) and the true circumcision (Philippians 3:3).


d. Binding Isaac

St. Paul said that the story of Abraham's two sons - the illegitimate Ishmael born to the slave girl Hagar, and his heir Isaac born by God's promise to his wife Sarah - was meant to symbolize the difference between the New Covenant and the Old Covenant (see Galatians 4:21-31).

But there is an even more profound symbolism in the awful test that God gives to Abraham - to offer his only beloved son, Isaac, as a sacrifice.

Beginning in the Bible and coming to full flower in the writings of Church Fathers like St. Augustine, this story was seen as foreshadowing God's offering of his only beloved Son on the Cross at Calvary (see John 3:16).

God twice here praises Abraham's faithfulness - "You did not withhold from me your own beloved son" (see Genesis 22:12,15). St. Paul cites the Greek translation of these exact words when He talks about the Crucifixion - "He who did not spare His own Son but handed Him over for us all..." (see Romans 8:32).

There are other interesting parallels that Church Fathers saw:

For instance, the mountain where God tells Abraham to perform the sacrifice: Mount Moriah is in same place that Melchizedek came from - Salem. It's the site where one day Solomon will build the Lord's Temple (see 2 Chronicles 3:1). In fact, Jewish tradition says that the name Jerusalem comes from attaching Abraham's word of faith - God "will provide" (see Genesis 22:8; Hebrew = yir'eh or jira) to the word Salem.

Calvary, where Jesus was crucified, is one of the hills of Moriah. And as Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice, and submitted to being bound to the wood, so too will Jesus, "the son of Abraham" (see Matthew 1:1), carry His cross and let men bind Him to it. St. Augustine even saw in the ram caught in the thicket, an image of Christ crowned with thorns.

Even Abraham's words to his servants: "We will worship and then come back to you" (see Genesis 22:5)
can be heard as a promise of resurrection. That's how these words are interpreted in The Letter to the Hebrews: "He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol" (see Hebrews 11:17-19). In fact, Isaac is spared "on the third day" (see Genesis 22:4).

As Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son was counted as a sign of his faithfulness, the sacrifice of Christ brings us "the blessing of Abraham" (see Galatians 3:14).


IV. Age of the Patriarchs

a. Jacob the Younger

Isaac grows up to marry Rebekah. Like his mother Sarah, she's barren. But Isaac, as his father Abraham had before him, appeals to God to give them children (see Genesis 25:21; 15:3)

While her twins are fighting in her womb, God tells Rebekah that each will be a nation, but the younger of the two, Jacob, will rule the older, Esau (see Genesis 25:23).

This is another sub-plot in Genesis. Notice that God chooses always the younger son, even though the way of the world is to grant privileges and pride of place to the older. Abel's offering is preferred to Cain's. Isaac over Ishmael. And Jacob's youngest son, Joseph, becomes the hero of the later books of Genesis, while Reuben, Jacob's first-born, fails to defend him against his brothers (see Genesis 37).

Why does God do this? It's as if the betrayal by God's "first-born" son, Adam, upset the harmony between the ways of the world and the ways of God. But God's plan will not be frustrated. He saves us despite ourselves, choosing the young, the weak and the sinful to show that salvation history is governed by His free grace and His love. St. Paul, interpreting this Scripture, says God chose Isaac over Esau "in order that God's elective plan might continue, not by works but by His call...So it depends not upon a person's will or exertion, but upon God" (see Romans 9:11-13).

We'll see this, too, throughout the Bible, especially in the story of David, the youngest son of Jesse, who God commands to be anointed king (see 1 Samuel 16:1-13). The youngest or last born are the engines of salvation history until the coming of Jesus, God's only begotten Son, the first-born of the new family of God. Jesus fulfills the promise of Israel, which, as we will see in our next lesson, is God's "first-born son" among the nations (see Exodus 4:22).

Don't be distracted by the drama and trickery of how Jacob secures Isaac's blessing. Esau had proven himself unworthy of the blessing, selling his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. As the Scripture says: "Esau cared little for his birthright" (see Genesis 25:29-34).

Jacob's deception is criticized by the prophets (see Hosea 12:4; Jeremiah 9:3), and he gets his "payback"
in the text of Genesis. For instance, he will be tricked by his uncle Laban into marrying, not Rachel whom he loves, but Laban's firstborn daughter, Leah (Genesis 29:25). And later, when his son Joseph is sold into slavery, his other sons will deceive him by soaking Joseph's coat in goat's blood. The irony surely isn't lost on the narrator of Genesis - Jacob's deception of his father involved the use of goat skins (compare Genesis 27:15-16; 37:31-33).

But Jacob's s lie serves God's purposes. God chose Isaac over Esau (see Malachi 3:1; Romans 9:13). Through Jacob, God will extend the blessing he gave to Abraham (see Genesis 28:3-4). God Himself confirms this in showing Jacob a ladder into the heavens (Genesis 28:10-15). Later, Jesus will apply this dream to Himself, revealing that in Him heaven and earth touch, the human and the divine meet. He is what Jacob called "the gateway to heaven" (see John 1:51; Genesis 28:17).

God changes his name to Israel after a mysterious all-night struggle. The name Israel means "He who contended with God" (see Genesis 35:10; Hosea 12:5).


b. Joseph and Judah

Jacob's twelve sons form the twelve tribes of Israel (see Genesis 47:27; Deuteronomy 1:1).

And in the story of Joseph and his brothers, we again see God choosing the youngest to carry out His plan of salvation.

Joseph foreshadows the sufferings and the salvation won for us by Jesus. He is the victim of jealousy and rejection by His brothers, the children of Israel, is sold for twenty pieces of silver into slavery in Egypt. Still he forgives his brothers and saves them from death by famine.

Again, he shows us that what men plan as evil, God can use for the purposes of His saving plan (Genesis 50:19-21).

The Bible's first book ends with Israel on his deathbed giving his blessing to his children. To one - Judah, he promises a royal dynasty that will be everlasting (see Genesis 49:9-12). He will rule over all peoples of the world - a Scripture that the Church interprets as a promise of Jesus, the Messiah-King. The line of Judah is the line of the kings David and Solomon (see 2 Samuel 8:1-14; 1 Kings 4:20-21).

Jesus will come as the royal son of David (see Matthew 1:1-16) and the Lion of Judah (see Revelation 5:5).

God's family has wandered from East of Eden to Egypt. In our next lesson, we'll see how God fulfills the promise that Jacob makes to Joseph: "God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your fathers" (see Genesis 48:21).


Study Questions

1. How does the covenant with Noah point us to the Sacrament of Baptism?

2. What are the three parts of the covenant that God makes with Abraham?

3. How, according to the Church's ancient tradition, is the sacrifice of Isaac similar to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross?

4. For Prayer and Reflection: The Church's Liturgy of the Hours has always included the Canticle of Zechariah (see Luke 1:68-79) in its Morning Prayers and the Magnificat (see Luke 1:46-55) in its Evening Prayers. Both prayers see the coming of Jesus as the fulfillment of God's covenant with Abraham. Pray these biblical prayers of the Church and ask God to help you understand more fully "his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever."