Day 4 - Genesis 12-15

Every now and then, in an argument about the veracity/relevance/truth of scripture/Christianity, someone will assert that the faith, and particularly the Bible is a collection of wishful thinking and self-congratulatory, self-aggrandizing tales, written to make the protagonists look awesome.

I both like and dislike when this happens. First, it generally means that I'm talking with someone who's never read the Bible, and second, because one of my favourite aspects of the Bible is that it is absolutely nothing if not realistic in its portrayal of people - all people, almost especially the "heroes."

Abram, who will later become Abraham, (shh... spoilers) is one of the Bible's most revered heroes, and is, of course, one of the most important characters in history, since three of the world's most influential religions look at him as a historical father figure.

But, particularly at the beginning, he's sort of a dick, isn't he?

Who just lets his wife get taken as the wife of another man (Pharaoh or not) because she's smoking hot? It's just not cool at all, but that's what happens. Yes, I know it was another time and another culture, and yes, I know that the notion of a monogamous marital relationship is, in many ways the construct of a blah blah blah, but the point remains that the whole thing comes to light (because God also thought it was a dick move), and the Pharaoh doesn't exactly chuckle and pat Abram on the back with a genial "yeah, I get that. She's pretty good looking, so yeah, who wouldn't claim that she was a sister!"

But I love (and am sometimes a little simultaneously depressed by) the fact that even the best examples of people are still just people. There aren't really any incredible, super-human heroes in the story, which again stands in stark contrast with most religious/epic/mythic works of the time and culture in which it was written.

That's cool.

Melchizedek is also, to put it mildly, cool.

Here's this guy who, out of seemingly nowhere, recognized Abram for what he is, almost seeming to recognize him for what he'll become, but beyond all that, and beyond his giving Abram a tenth of his entire wealth which, as a king, was likely significant to say the least, it the one little descriptor that gets thrown in after his identification as the king of Salem.

14:18b - "now he was a priest of the God Most High."

There's something incredible about this, really. Here Abram is - the founder of the great monotheistic religions and the first one with whom God makes a covenant that goes beyond "I promise I won't kill everything using water ever again" and up walks this other guy whose identity is so wrapped up in serving God (and it is meant to be the same God - the Hebrew word in question is also used when God identifies Himself to Abram a few chapters later) that his relationship with Him is mentioned in the same breath as his kingship. There are so many questions that this asks, and none of them get answered.

Who is this guy? How did he come to be a priest of God when he's not mentioned anywhere before this (or after, apart from an indirect and equally enigmatic mention in the Psalms)? Maybe most importantly, how many others were out there that were priests of God without ever making it into the main story?

Kind of makes you think twice about assuming that we've got the monopoly on Godly relationships a bit, no?