Author: Joyce Long, PhD
Concepts Covered: Promises, Loyalty, Appeal
“Greatness isn’t determined by the number of promises that you make, but by the ones that you keep.”― Frank Sonnenberg, The Path to a Meaningful Life
The importance of making and keeping promises is prominent in this portion of Genesis. Let’s start by looking at examples of G_d himself making promises to human beings.
In Genesis 18:1-14, the Lord visits Abraham and promises: “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.”
When the promise was made, Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was so old that she had stopped having menstrual periods and described herself as “worn out.” When Sarah responded to the promise with doubting laughter, the Lord addresses her lack of faith and repeats the promise a second time, assuring them their son will be born in a year. Genesis 21:1-2 later records how “the Lord remembered Sarah” and did to her “as He had spoken,” which resulted in the conception and birth of Isaac at exactly the time God originally promised Abraham.
In Genesis 22:16-18, the Lord made another promise after Abraham demonstrated his willingness to obediently sacrifice his divinely conceived son.
“By Myself have I sworn…that I will surely bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand that is on the seashore, and your descendants will inherit the cities of their enemies. And through your children shall be blessed all the nations of the world, because you hearkened to My voice.”
Compared to these promised blessings, Parashah Vayeira also provides examples of G_d promising to bring destruction and death.
In Genesis 18:32, G_d responds to the outcry against overwhelming evil in Sodom and Gomorrah by giving Abraham a promise that he will not destroy the cities for the sake of 10 righteous people. G-d kept his promise because 10 righteous people were not there so the cities were completely destroyed.
Similarly, G_d also promised King Abimelech that he would surely die if he did not return Sarah to her husband. As promised, Abimelech’s life was spared after fulfilling G_d’s request.
In addition to these examples of God keeping his promises to humans, this same Parashat records men making and keeping promises to each other. In Genesis 21:22-32, Abimelech acknowledges G_d’s presence with Abraham and asks him to make two promises:1-never to lie to Abimelech, his son or grandson; 2-treat Abimelech with the same kindness that he himself has received while living in the king’s land. Abraham swears he will keep those requested promises. He also provides Abimelech with flocks and cattle to confirm a promise that he had truly dug a disputed well that was confiscated by Abimelech’s servants. This man-to-man exchange caused the formation of a cross-cultural covenant.
Relevance
We often casually make promises that we have no intentions of keeping or later fail to uphold. How does that reflect the character of our Creator or the trustworthiness of Abraham as displayed in these examples? Our Creator always keeps his promises. If we are made in his image and likeness, perhaps we should pause a moment and consider whether we really can or want to keep a promise before making it.
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