From Idolatry to Covenant: Abraham's Journey of Faith

In this episode of the Scripture Study Podcast, Susan Petersen and Cindy Madsen explore Genesis 12–17 and Abraham 1–2, focusing on Abraham’s journey, the symbolism of trees—especially oaks as covenant landmarks—and the deeper meaning behind sacred spaces in the Old Testament. They unpack the cultural and theological context of the “sister-wife” episodes involving Abraham and Sarah, offering insight into these complex narratives while emphasizing God’s guidance, protection, and covenantal purposes. Drawing on scholarly perspectives, the hosts highlight Abraham’s faithfulness and encourage listeners to trust in God’s wisdom, discern His voice, and approach challenging scriptures with greater understanding and faith.

00:00 Introduction
00:35 Abraham’s Journey
04:06 Key Biblical Occurrences of Sacred Trees
09:38 Famine and Abraham’s Move to Egypt
11:04 The Sister/Wife Narratives in Genesis
17:18 God’s Non-Censure of Abraham and Isaac
20:08 Ethical Reflections on the Sister/Wife Episodes
22:19 Lessons for Modern Readers
26:21 Conclusion


Resources

Books
Trees and Kings: A Comparative Analysis of Tree Imagery in Israel's Prophetic Tradition https://www.amazon.in/Trees-Kings-Comparative-Prophetic-Supplement/dp/1575067501
The Hebrew Bible translated by Robert Alter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hebrew_Bible_(Alter)

Scriptures
Genesis 12–17
Proverbs 3:13–18
Micah 4:4
Genesis 18
Genesis 20
Genesis 26
Genesis 12:17
Doctrine and Covenants 1:11

Articles
Article by Matthew Newkirk: Pimps or Protectors: A Re-examination of the Wife Sister Deceptions https://etsjets.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/files_JETS-PDFs_64_64-1_JETS_64.1_45-57_Newkirk.pdf

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to the Scripture Study Podcast. I'm Susan Peterson. And I'm Cindy Manson. We're so glad you're here with us. The Scripture Study Podcast is designed to be your midweek Bible host. Let's dig in.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hi, this is Susan Peterson. We're going to be discussing Genesis 12 through 17 and Abraham 1 through 2. And yeah, I hope you enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

So, in a book that I've been reading called Abraham and His Family in Scripture, History and Tradition, and it's edited by Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Thompson, Matthew L. Bowen, and David R. Seely. It's a collection of essays that were presented at a conference that was held at Brigham Young University in 2025. And there's an essay by Avram Shannon, and he points out that Abraham I is not set in Egypt. He said that according to Abraham 1.1, the story begins in the land of the Chaldeans at the residence of Abraham's fathers. The Chaldeans were a West Semitic people who migrated to Mesopotamia sometime after the 11th century BC. In the Bible, Semitic people are descendants of Shem, who is one of the sons of Noah. And they represent various ancient Near Eastern nations and tribes, including the Hebrews, the Israelites, the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Armenians, the Amorites, the Moabites, and early Arab tribes. And these are the people who populated the Fertile Crescent in this area where Abraham was. So Avram Shannon talks about how in the middle to late Bronze Age, which is the period that scholars generally date Abraham to, the Chaldeans were still in their original West Semitic homeland. The narrative described in the first chapters of the book of Abraham is therefore set not in Egypt, but in the Levant and the West Semitic world. There are clear Egyptian elements in the narrative, but he says that with the exception of the facsimile, nothing is actually taking place in Egypt. So there's an Egyptian context, but it's not in Egypt. And Avram Shannon says that this is especially important to remember when analyzing elements of the culture and the ritual systems that are described in our book of Abraham. Scholars of the Pearl of Great Price have connected the book of Abraham's Elkhanah with the original Semitic El Kohenah, or God creator of the land, and further to its Hittite form of El Khon Eresha. And I'm probably really butchering these. But the identification, Shannon says, the identification makes it clear that the primary deity being worshipped here is not an Egyptian deity. It is a West Semitic deity who is well attested in the northern Levant during the Mill Bronze Age. The fact that the priest of Elkanah is also the priest of Pharaoh indicates that this priest is part of an Egyptianizing party at Ur of the Chaldees. Stephen O. Smoot, John Ghee, Carrie J. Muhlstein, and John S. Thompson have also suggested the worshippers at Potiphar's Hill, mentioned in Abraham 110, were engaged in a form of Egyptian Canaanite syncretic religious practice. So why is this important? Well, it's important because you see that you've got this Egyptian influence that is moving into this area where Abraham is living. It's moving into the Levant and it moves into Canaan, which is part of this area. And this is precisely what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob are trying to get their descendants and then later on in Israel to avoid, which is incorporating the religious customs of the surrounding area into their religious practices. We're trying to do the same thing too. We are trying to say, okay, our culture that is surrounding us, essentially infecting us with its religious practices. Whether that religion is scientism or politics, whatever it is, right? The culture itself is going to influence us.

SPEAKER_00 4:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

So we are constantly pushing back against that culture.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

And a lot of times, too, you almost feel like you're splitting hairs because what Satan is so good at is imitation. Yes. And so he says, I'm seeking the priesthood, a prince of peace, meaning he wants the priesthood of the son of God, the holy order of the son of God, not whatever priesthood or whatever version of the priesthood his father is practicing. Profane actually means outside the temple. And so it is like it's always going to look, feel, sound similar, but it won't produce the same fruit.

SPEAKER_01 5:43

Exactly. And that's exactly what Abraham is saying. He says he sought for his appointment unto the priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed. So Abraham, and he says in Abraham 1 and 2, he talks about how the priesthood that is being practiced by the priest of Elkanah, who is a priest of Pharaoh, he says that the Pharaohs would fain to claim the priesthood, right? So he knows that there is this priesthood that is real that he is seeking after, and there is a false priesthood that exists that his father has essentially bought into. Now, the priesthood reference that he is seeking after, Abraham is seeking after. He talks about fathers and seed, is suggestive that this priesthood is understood as generational and dynastic. It's a patriarchal priesthood that is passed from fathers to son, and it's also includes the right of the firstborn, and presumably is dedicated to the worship of God who is going to reveal himself as Jehovah in Abraham 116. The idea of priesthood, it does not appear to have been understood in Abraham's original environment in anything like an ecclesiastical term, right? There's no church associated with this. That's not what he's looking for. He's trying to restore the privileges that were apparently once the right of his family. And he's listed as the oldest son, right? He's the birthright son, we think. We're not completely sure here. It could have been Nahor, but we're not totally sure who is the birthright son, but he also could have been seeking for that priesthood along with it. So Abraham was probably the birthright son because he's listed first in the order. Got it. So it's Abram, Nahor, and Haran. So he's seeking for this patriarchal priesthood, the legitimate priesthood. And he says in this, he says that there is a barrier that is preventing him from receiving it. And that's his father. He says that his father had turned from his righteousness onto the worshiping of the gods of the heathen. And so I would say this idea of worshiping the gods of the heathen becomes the central overarching narrative, not only in the book of Abraham, but the whole Old Testament. God is always trying to turn his people away from worshiping these false gods. And it's one of the drivers behind the narrative in the Abraham one. It's this rivalry between Abraham's priesthood claims and his desires and the priesthood claims that are being made on behalf of Pharaoh by the Egyptianizing elements in Ur of the Chaldees and this priest of Elkanah. The other thing that happens in here is we've got this narrative introducing an element of human sacrifice into the religious practices of Ur of the Chaldees. And Abraham 1.8 it says, now at this time, it was the custom of the priest of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to offer up upon the altar which was built in the land of Chaldea for the offering unto those strange gods, men, women, and children. I'm just going to bring in here, I was listening to a lecture by Patrick Hunt, who's a professor at Stanford and an author also. And he talked about how child sacrifice was this ubiquitous part of this culture. And I know that there are some scholars who will say that this ritual killing was not an ubiquitous part. There are pots of bones that are found of children, the bones you can tell they're young children, and that you can also tell by the way that the death happens that it was a ritual sacrifice. He made the point, I think it's really an interesting point, that when Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac, the interesting thing is that Abraham never asks God why, he just obeys him. And Patrick Hunt suggests, and I would agree, that the reason is because a God asking his priest to sacrifice a human was not uncommon in this area. Obviously, Abraham, the priest had sacrificed him, had tried to sacrifice him. It was a fairly ubiquitous idea. What was different was that when Abraham went up to sacrifice Isaac, God, Jehovah said, Stop. This is not who I am. And it's not what I do. This may be what all the other gods in this area are doing, but the real God, the true God, he does not require the sacrifice of humans. Instead, it will be the sacrifice of animals. The sacrifice of the human will come with God Himself. Jehovah comes down and offers himself. Our God is a God who gives himself as the sacrifice. God says, stop. We don't participate in the surrounding culture. In fact, although we live in the culture, we are not of the culture, as Jesus said. We are in the world, we are not of this world. And that's what he's calling on us to be as his disciples. Someone who lives in this world but worships a God who is not a part of the gods of this world. And we're always being called out of this world. And we always have to be on guard against the syncretization. We take the philosophies of men and we are blending those philosophies with scripture. And God says, no, stop. That is not the right kind of worship. That may have been what this priest of Elkanah was doing. Abraham recognizes, no, this is not the correct priesthood. We want God's priesthood, which is a pure, undiluted, undefiled priesthood. So that is what's going on here.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

I could be totally wrong, but I do feel like probably somewhere along the line, they thought God is going to sacrifice his son. We should sacrifice our son to show our allegiance to God. And I think there's been times even within our church where we get off track like that. I think perfectionism is actually one where we get off track really easily. I've heard you can't do things perfectly, but you can be perfect at this one thing. And it's like actually, we can never be perfect because we live in a fallen world. And nor, never, ever does God require perfection for our love. That's not even part of our commandments. There is one, be ye therefore perfect as your father in heaven. But to that, it's always a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It's taking your flaws before him. He never wants us to try to show up perfectly. And I think it's sometimes the same thing. What are we sacrificing to unknown gods in trying to get closer to our God? But it just puts us off track. And I think somewhere, somehow, Abraham saw there had to have been a contrast in his life between what his father was doing and what someone else was doing. And in my head, it's probably taking back to Milka, which he learned along the way something else. And so, yeah, just like keeping that in mind as fanaticism, this is like fanaticism. It just comes up anytime in anything, and just to be careful of that.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Yes. And I think that bringing that up as something that we struggle with in our time, I think is really an important thing because it's much more difficult for us to see imperfections in our time because we live in such a factory, industrialized, mass-produced society where having everything exactly the same is the norm, which would not have been the norm back then in a more craft-centered society where you would have imperfections in things that would have been more common. But in our society, we have this idea that we can reach perfection on our own somehow because we have this industrialized society.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

And we offer it as a sacrifice. But that's not what God wants from us. He wants our broken heart, he wants a contrite spirit. That's what He's asking us to put on the altar, our will.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

I think it's interesting that that verse, be therefore perfect, where it's coming is it's coming right after God tells us, you have heard that it was said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, that you may be the children of your father in heaven. That's when it says, right after that, if you only greet your own people, everybody does that, right? Yeah. You are supposed to love your enemies. Be perfect. And I think maybe we take that verse so out of context. Right out. We just pluck it. We pluck it right out. And maybe he was talking about other parts of the Sermon on the Mount, but where it comes is right after loving your enemies. And perhaps what he's telling us, because that word of perfect, it means more of this idea of not unflawed, but be whole. So what he's saying is love your neighbors, whether they are like you or not. Loving does not mean adopting their culture necessarily. It means to love them and just to be the light on the hill, right? I think maybe what he's telling us, it's going right back actually to what we were just talking about in Abraham, which is something out and then all be culture around it.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah. And I think that happens all the time.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

So he's telling us love them. You're supposed to do good to your neighbor. You're supposed to love your neighbor. You're not supposed to adopt their pagan principles, but you're supposed to love them. That's what he's saying. And you're not supposed to shun them. And so I think that we are supposed to love people whether they line up with our political beliefs or whether they line up with our religious beliefs, whether they are economically advantaged or disadvantaged, we love them because every person, every human is created in the image of God. And some people are easier for us to love. What God's calling us to do is to love the people who are not as easy to love. And sometimes those people are the people that are in your own family. You know, it's much easier to love the poor disadvantaged person who lives in Africa than to love the poor disadvantaged person who lives down the street. Right. And he's calling us to love the people who are right or who are neighbors. Yeah. And our neighbors are the people that are next door. I think a lot easier to give to the food bank when you're not seeing those people, much more difficult to love the person that's living next door to you. And so he's calling on us to love the people who are around us. And I'm not saying you don't love the people. Right.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

I think we're calling on all people, right? Perfection in that verse is also a pattern. It's an invitation. And I think back to Abraham, it's an invitation to offer sacrifice in similitude of the Son and not your children as the similitude. So I think as you read this, I find that if I try to think, oh man, they had it wrong back there, they didn't know what they were doing and they were so far off and blessed their hearts. I find pretty quickly the Lord will humble me and show me the ways in which I am off track and someone is trying to bless my heart. And so wisdom and understanding backup to those ones that you talked about earlier is reading something and trying to figure out how it applies to your life right now and where you're falling short and letting the Lord chasten you in the most loving, beautiful way. My chastens from the Lord are always beautiful. Rarely are they harsh or mean, or I never come away feeling inadequate, but in fact I feel empowered. But the wisdom and the understanding is to be able to read this story, see how you're falling short in the same way that the protagonist has, and then understanding that, and then wisdom is actually applying it to your life.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

So we have Abraham, and he is called then to leave his country, okay, and his kindred. And that's at this point that we're going to get the Abrahamic covenant. And it begins as a priesthood covenant. It's not just a land promise. Cindy.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

Does he receive the Abrahamic covenant before he goes into the wilderness?

SPEAKER_01 20:06

So Abraham, we're told in Abraham 1 that there's a famine. Okay. There's a famine in the land. And remember, they're semi-nomadic. So the famine means that they're going to starve. And so what happens? His father becomes tormented. This is going back to what you were saying, because of the famine. And so at this point, he's going to repent of the evil. And Abraham, because of this famine, which it says in chapter two was caused by God, he is going to leave Ur of the Chaldees. God says to him, Get thee out of the country. So he's going to leave Ur, and he is going to go to the land of Canaan. And he's taking with him Lot, his brother's son, and Sarai, his wife, and his father. He comes out and it says that the famine abates, his father stays in Haran and dwells there, and his father returns to his idolatry. And at that point in verse six, it says that Abraham and Lot prayed to the Lord. And the Lord appears to him and says, Arise, take Lot with thee, because I'm going to take you out of Haran, and I am going to make you a minister to my name in a strange land, which I will give unto thy seed for an everlasting possession when they hearken to my voice. So God at this point is beginning his covenant with Abraham. And he says, I am the Lord thy God, I dwell in the heaven, the earth is my footstool, I stretch my hand over the sea, and it obeys my voice. I cause the wind and the fire to be my chariot. I say to the mountains, Depart hence, and behold, they are taken away by a whirlwind. And in an instant, suddenly, and then he names himself. My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning, therefore my hand shall be over thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee beyond measure and make thy name great. So we've got in Abraham 1 this beginning covenant. And it's interesting because Lot at this point is a part of this covenant. And so he leaves and he goes out. And then God says this in Abraham chapter 12. He says this, he says, Again, I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you. And him that dishonors you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. And I just wanted to talk just a little bit about that word blessing, because blessing is always connected to the innovation of new creative life where there was non-life. So we're going to go back to Genesis 1, 2, and 3, which I always love to go back to because everything goes back to that, right? Now, in chapter one, God blesses three times in Genesis chapter one. The first blessing is not for the humans, it's for the animals. And it's where new categories of creatures are brought into the world. And it's the sky fliers and the water swarmers. The second thing God creates are the really big water swarmers named the Tanin or the dragon or the sea monster. We know in Isaiah 27:1 that this is the opposition to God. So we get the blessing of opposition. And it says, and God blessed them, those two things. And then the third thing he creates and blesses are the humans. And so the idea in Genesis 1 is that this word blessing is used where God brings about something, where he orders something, where there was nothing, there is now something. And what does he tell that something? He says, be fruitful and multiply. So the first time blessing is introduced to the reader of the Bible, it's associated with new life. It's associated with abundance, it's associated with multiplication. And then once you get into Eden and in the Eden narrative, that idea of blessing is associated with security and fruitfulness and seed and safety. And then as you read through the rest of the biblical story, God means for you to just keep adding to your definition of what blessing is. So it's like you've got this little entry, this encyclopedia entry in your mind, and you're constantly filling in your definition of what blessing is. So Abraham being a blessing to the nations is that Abraham becomes this light to the world, right? He is supposed to show what a follower of Jehovah is like. And what happens with this follower of Jehovah is that he increases in his blessings, which are the fruitful blessings of flocks and livestock and wealth, but it's also the blessing of the priesthood and the ability to bless others because of his Zedekah, his righteousness. So he brings these life-giving traditions of Jehovah rather than the death-giving traditions of the priests of Elkanah or other competing deities. And what's interesting is that just as the definition of blessing is about something that grows throughout the Old Testament narrative, so the idea of what priesthood is grows throughout these chapters. And we're going to pick up more our discussion of priesthood when we get to Genesis chapter 14.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

So I told you I read conference talk this morning. Yes. It's uh D. Todd, who is my fave. I love him. But listen to this. This is from his latest conference talk in October 2025. Look to God and live. No promise is repeated more often in the Book of Mormon scripture than this. Inasmuch as you shall keep my commandments, you shall prosper in the land. But inasmuch as you will not keep my commandments, you shall be cut off from my presence. The lived experience of the Book of Mormon people over centuries demonstrate the truth of these words. Prosper. Prosper meant enjoying the guidance and blessings of heaven in their lives. Prosper meant achieving levels of economic well-being that enabled them to marry, raise families, and minister to the needs of others. Prospering included the capacity to rise above hardship and trial. Through the grace of Christ, all things work together for their good, refine them, and deepen their relationship with Him. That's it.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yes, that's blessing. That's blessing. Yes. That is blessing. You will be blessed in the land. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:34

And it does not mean you're going to be rich. No. In a monetary point of view. No. That might be part of it.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

That is generally true with the people of the Lord.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yes. Well, it goes back to this that they achieve economic well-being that enables them, but then there's to raise your family and to minister to the needs of others. And so that is what the wealth is for. Which is what Abraham says. Yes. I wanted to do that. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Exactly. No, that's great.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Thank you so much for listening. As a reminder, part two will come out next week. And so I will see you here then. Bye. Thank you for listening to the Scripture Study Podcast, your midweek Bible boost. Everything we mentioned on this podcast, if we said there would be a link to it, it is in the show notes wherever you find your podcast. Cindy Madsen currently does not believe in or participate in social media. However, if you would like to follow along with Susan Peterson, she can be found on Instagram at susan.m.peterson. Have a good week.