Genesis 14:14-18:8

There are many echoes of what has already come, and what is to come, in this section of Genesis. Abram is the soldier, foreshadowing David, who rescues his nephew, Lot, from his captors. Melchizedek, the great priest of God Most High, prefiguring Jesus at the Last Supper, offers bread and wine to commemorate Abram's victory.  The great priest also blesses God the Most High, who delivered Abram's foes into Abram's hands--as God, through Jesus, delivers us from our enemy, sin. As with Noah, God promises Abram that he will have countless descendants, but instead of likening the number to particles of dust (as with Noah), God compares them to the multitude of stars on the sky. Abram fathers Ishmael, with Sarai's maid, and then God promises Abram that Sarai will bear him a son herself. As he did with Noah, God also makes a covenant with Abram, promising that He will be the God of Abram and his descendants forever--an "everlasting pact." This covenant is fulfilled in Christ.  As a sign of the covenant, God renames both Abram (Abraham) and Sarai (Sarah), and instructs Abraham that circumcision will be the human mark of the covenant. God then reiterates his promise that Sarah will bear him a son, who shall be called Isaac.

Genesis 11:10-14:13

Interesting that the fruitfulness theme comes up here early in the story of Abram. That his wife, Sarai, was barren allowed them to pose as brother and sister when they fled the famine in the land of Canaan for Egypt. Sarai, who was beautiful, was taken to live in Pharaoh's palace, and, as a result, "it went very well with Abram." He was able to accumulate many riches and possessions. Eventually, though, misfortune befell Pharaoh because (as he discovered) Sarai was actually Abram's wife. Pharaoh sent them both out of Egypt--with Abram's possessions. Abram and Lot, his nephew, ultimately had to part ways, as each of their possessions made the land too small for them to dwell together. Once Lot had departed, God made Abram a promise that Abram's descendants would be like the dust of the earth. God's meaning is that they would multiply and thrive to such an extent that they would be too great to be counted. Fruitfulness again--but also, a wonderful echo of Adam and Eve (formed from the earth).