By the great tree of Moreh at Shechem, Genesis 12:6, “the Lord (YHWH) appeared to Abram” to promise that land to his offspring (7). And what was Abram’s response? “So he built an altar there to YHWH who had appeared to him.”
But why an altar (cairn of rocks)? Because in Abraham’s mind it marked that spot as sacred to both himself and to YHWH. Sacred to himself because it was on this spot that YHWH had personally sealed his promise to Abraham and his offspring, that through them he would “bless all peoples on earth” (3). And sacred to YHWH because that was the spot where he planted his flag on this planet, staking his claim to blessing it, and now with a solid visual marker too.
The altar could be viewed as both a personal and a political statement, therefore – personal in Abraham’s own expression of thanks to YHWH for choosing him, but also political, in stamping God’s presence and purpose on the planet in his committed promise to bless it.
Abraham then built a second altar in “the hills east of Bethel” (8), but this time he “called on the name of the Lord” too. Unlike the first altar – that marked the spot where YHWH spoke his promise to him – this altar marked the spot where Abraham spoke his faith in that promise to YHWH.
In the building of these two altars, therefore, we can see what knowing YHWH did to Abraham.
It made him deeply thankful, first of all, that YHWH had chosen him and his offspring as the means by which he was going to bless all nations, and for the huge influence he promised they would have (verse 3). It also made him want to stamp YHWH’s presence and his greatness on this planet through a visual means. It also made him want to call on YHWH by name, on realizing how much he and his offspring would need him in fulfilling their part in his purpose.
But how does all this relate to us now? Well, as Paul writes in Galatians 3:7, we are now “the children of Abraham,” so will knowing God as YHWH do the same three things to us?
To the next blog, then: “How do Abraham’s altars play out in our lives?”
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