Abraham's Epic Fail (It's not what you think...)

Have you ever noticed what a messed up bunch of people the Bible throws forward for heroes?

Biblical literature is teeming with flawed people. Drunkards, prostitutes, cowards, adulterers, murderers and a host of other seedy folks reside in those sacred texts as heroes!

Well, to be sure, it is not their moral failures and shortcomings that make them heroes. The fact is these flawed characters knew they were flawed. They sought forgiveness. Despite their failures, in their heart they wanted to please God above all else.

And that brings us to Abraham.

Now if you have ever read the book of Genesis in the Bible you will find that Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, was quite a flawed character himself. In fact we could compile a short list of character flaws and moral failures to choose from. Cowardice, lying and adultery are all a part of his portfolio.

Yet there is an epic failure in his life that is rarely, if ever, mentioned. It occurs in Genesis 18.

In Genesis 18 the Lord, accompanied by two angels, appears to Abraham and tells him that he is on his way to investigate the wickedness of the city of Sodom. Abraham is well aware of Sodom's wickedness and pleads with God on behalf of the city. Something of a negotiation begins.

Then Abraham drew near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" And the LORD said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

 At this point in the conversation Abraham gains a little boldness and continues to negotiate with God to spare Sodom. His closing negotiation was as follows:

 ... Then he said, "Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there." He answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." [Gen 18:23-26, 32 ESV]

That is a pretty good negotiation. Now let me show you the "Epic Fail".

And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place. [Gen 18:33 ESV]

There! Did you see it? Chances are you missed it. When the conversation was over, "Abraham returned to his place."

What do you suppose would have happened had Abraham gone to Sodom before the Lord got there? Is it possible that Abraham could have preached to them about pending judgment? Is it possible that ten people would have repented of their sins?


I think so. We see another such city many centuries later with a similar pending judgment. It was a city called Nineveh. God sent a prophet named Jonah. Many of the Ninevites repented, and the city was spared.

Now, back to Abraham and Sodom. You see, Abraham had credibility in Sodom. If we back track to Genesis chapter 14, we will find that Abraham and his band of personal soldiers had literally saved their hides not long before. Armies from the north had invaded, looted the city and taken the residents of Sodom captive. Since one of those residents was Abraham's nephew Lot, Abraham sprang into action and saved them all.

Then he refused to take payment for the rescue.

Sodom owed Abraham. Big time. They would at least have listened to him, I think, but Abraham turned around and went home.

Now, before we cluck our tongues too loudly at Abraham, I'd like to pose a question.

Have you ever prayed and interceded for someone who was  facing eternity without God? Have you ever pleaded with God to show mercy to someone's soul? To soften their heart to the gospel of Jesus Christ? To send someone their way who would lead them to salvation?

If you have pleaded with God to have mercy on someone's eternal soul, I promise you he has heard you. It is also quite likely that you are the person God has chosen to carry the message of grace and redemption to that soul.

You see, if you love them enough to spend time in prayer for them you probably have credibility with them. Please, use it wisely. Eternity is a very, very long time. Take someone to heaven with you.


[NOTE: I realize it is possible that you may be reading this and have no idea what I am referring to when I write about "salvation". In that case, please visit this website http://followchrist.ag.org/decision.cfm]

Road trip! Why on earth did Joseph take Mary with him?

There is one niggling little aspect of the Christmas narrative that has always puzzled me a little.

Why did Joseph take Mary with him on his trip from Galilee to Bethlehem? 
She was obviously nearing her delivery date. Why would he take the chance that she would go into labor on the trip? Why would she choose to endure the discomfort of such a trip? 

Now, remember they weren't just climbing in the ol' minivan for a road trip. At least one of them was probably walking. They may have both been walking. Considering just how pregnant she was, it may well have taken them a week to make the journey. For her that would have been a miserable and dangerous week.

And that is what has always puzzled me just a little. Why? Why not have her just stay with her family (or his) in Nazareth? Wouldn't that have been safer? He was only going to be gone a few days. The purpose for the trip was to register for the census. He could have registered without her at his side. If the baby came she would be safe in a home and have the assistance of a local midwife. A man alone could travel lighter and faster. He could be back in half the time. So why did he take her?

Before I go any farther, let me acknowledge one point. Ultimately she went because it was the plan of God for the baby to be born in Bethlehem as had been prophesied centuries before.

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." -Micah 5:2 esv

While the fulfillment of prophesy was the reason from God's perspective, I doubt that was the reason from Joseph's perspective. 

Frankly, I think she went out of necessity at the last minute. Here is why.

The other day as I was reading in Acts chapter five, I was drawn to something that a Jewish councilman named Gamaliel said.  The council had called Peter and John on the carpet for preaching in Jesus' name and were making it rough on them. Then Gamaliel steps up and makes an argument for the council to back off a little. 

Now his argument isn't all that important for this topic, but part of the evidence for his argument is. He says,

"...After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered." -Acts 5:37

That little titbit of information is very useful. He gives us a window into what was going on in Galilee at the time of Jesus birth. This fellow known as Judas the Galilean was brewing a revolution because of the census (and resulting taxation).

On a hunch I also decided to consult the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus. Here is what I found. Because of this Judas and his followers, Josephus says,

"...one violent war came upon us after another, and we lost our friends...from them arose murderers of men, which sometimes fell on their own people...and sometimes on their enemies...a famine coming upon us reduced us to the last degree of despair as did also the taking and demolishing of cities...They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends..." 

--Antiquities of the Jews, book XVIII, chapter 1

Now we begin to see things a little more clearly. She went with him because the perils of the road were becoming less than the perils of staying home. Galilee was quickly becoming the proverbial powder keg. It was time for Joseph to take the little woman and get out of town. The census provided them with a good reason to hit the road.

This also explains a few other things.  

1. It explains the pitiful accommodations. If things started going sideways in Galilee right before Joseph planned to leave he would not have had time to send a message ahead and make arrangements for Mary's arrival. Her advanced pregnancy undoubtedly slowed them down. The were the stragglers of the travelers. The inns were all full when they arrived.

2. It explains why they were still in Bethlehem several months after Jesus birth. When the wise men arrived Jesus was already several months old, perhaps as old as two years.  Why hadn't they already went home? With Galilee roiling in civil unrest, Joseph would not have been eager to take his family back to Nazareth.

3. It also sheds light on King Herod's surly mood and infanticidal rage when he receives word of the Messiah's birth.  He had been dealing with revolutionaries for months when the Magi arrived. The revolutionaries were probably making him look bad to Rome. The last thing he thought he needed was for a messiah to show up and further inflame the radicals.



Having arrived at these conclusions there is one more thing I can pull from all of this. God had a plan in motion for Jesus' birth to occur in Bethlehem. It is quite likely that Joseph and Mary were unaware of that plan. 

Imagine all of this from Joseph's viewpoint. 

Do you suppose he felt like a failure as he stared at the baby in the manger? He had had to make a snap decision and chose the lesser of two evils. Should he leave his wife in the middle of a revolution or risk the dangers of a road trip. Had he made the right choice? Had he already failed in his role as guardian? Because of his decision, it would seem, the baby was born in a stable.

I think that it is fair to say that many of our "failures" are not actually failures at all. Instead, they are part of God's plan to put us at the right place at the right time to accomplish his purpose. God has not called us to do all things perfectly. Rather he calls us to the right thing daily, even if it makes us look like a failure.  If we will consistently follow him, I think, it is quite likely that we will someday look back on our lives to discover that our failures weren't really failures at all. They were actually the unexpected detours God used to place us where he wanted us all along.