The Prosperity Gospel’s Misinterpretation of the Abrahamic Covenant Part 2

A study of the Abrahamic narrative in the plot of Genesis and the Bible

This is another entry (click to see the previous post) in my responses to Jonathan Shuttlesworth’s video series “35 Questions for Those Who Hate the Prosperity Message.” Question 17 focuses on a centerpiece for Prosperity/Word of Faith Christianity, the “Blessing of Abraham,” or Abrahamic Covenant.

On the other hand, this article also serves as an introduction to Genesis and the biblical narrative in which it begins. The purpose of this post goes beyond simply refuting the prosperity gospel’s interpretation of the Abrahamic Covenant.

17. Do you believe that the blessing of Abraham is not extended to Christians and does not include financial wealth?

The first part of this consideration of the Abrahamic Covenant was a general overview that discussed the importance of correct interpretation (reading narratively or literarily, and covenantally), what a blessing is, whether what we’re talking about is the “Blessing of Abraham,” or the “Abrahamic Covenant,” and an overview of the role of the Abrahamic Covenant in redemptive history. This second part will look more closely at the narrative structure of Genesis and where the Abraham story fits in so we can better understand whether, and how, the Abrahamic Covenant promises material riches for believers today. The third and final part will look at the argument from Galatians 3 used to defend the prosperity position on the covenant, and then give some final remarks and questions. 

As covered in the last post regarding the Abrahamic Covenant, the differences between the interpretation suggested by those in the prosperity gospel position and those in the historic, traditional position is that the prosperity/Word of Faith adherents view this as a blessing that Abraham received which provided riches and health for him and his family, and thus a blessing believers can receive today; on the other side, the traditional interpretation is that of a covenant God formed with Abraham to bless him and make him a blessing to all nations of the world, a historical trajectory that would produce the Jewish Messiah and restoration of the original blessing of Adam and Eve, which would reverse and ultimately eliminate the curse associated with the Fall in Genesis 3. These views represent different religions entirely which are not compatible. 

The Narrative Structure of Genesis and Where the Abraham Story Fits In

In the previous post I discussed definitions and examples of blessings and curses. Blessing and curse are central to the plot of Genesis and the Bible as a whole. Genesis begins with a blessing, then immediately that blessing is countered with a curse in response to rebellion against God. The curse counters every part of the initial blessing. In the midst of this judgment, a glimmer of mercy, grace, and hope appear because God makes a promise to end the curse. The rest of the story of Genesis traces the effects of the curse, the promise to end the curse, and the blessing that survives despite the curse. The narrative ends with the reader wondering how the promise will be fulfilled, and who the “seed of the woman” is whose triumph will end the curse. 

Here I’ll attempt to break the narrative down, showing how the theme of blessing, as it relates to the themes of “curse” and “seed,” drives the plot. The point of the exercise is to demonstrate that the blessing promised to Abraham within the Abrahamic Covenant is the promise of the Gospel, fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and not a material blessing related to the believer’s temporal life on earth. I hope you’ll grab your Bible and join me. This article is about 4000 words, so roughly the length of a 45-50 minute sermon.

To begin, I’ll say something that might sound odd. While reading Genesis, it is worth considering why Moses wrote about Abraham and why the Bible doesn’t begin with Exodus. That may sound like a weird thought, but it is a helpful exercise, because the reality is the way these narratives are constructed, Exodus is an answer to promises in Genesis. 

Moses was the fugitive prince of Egypt God used to communicate His message and power to the Egyptians to enact liberation for the Hebrews. Moses received the divine revelation regarding Israel’s covenant, law, and sacrificial system. Redemption, liberation, Passover, the Mosaic Covenant, the tabernacle and sacrificial system….it’s all here in Exodus, so why doesn’t the Bible begin here?

Moses was all these things mentioned, but Moses was also a Hebrew himself, and the Hebrews played a special role in God’s world. Exodus is not merely the story of God releasing captives, although it is that. Exodus is not merely the story of God’s power demonstrated as superior over religious and human systems, although it is that as well. Exodus, first and foremost, is a story that details the beginning stages of God fulfilling massive promises made to previous generations. God’s act of redemption and release for captive Israel is part of the fulfillment of centuries-old covenant promises. Exodus, while being foundational to the Bible and our doctrine, is itself an answer to the Genesis narratives. 

At various times, beginning centuries before a new king rose up who did not know Joseph, God had made a covenant promise to bless the world through the “seed” of Abraham (“descendants,” although “seed” is singular, a point Paul emphasizes in Gal. 3:16). God reiterated this promise to Abraham’s son Isaac, and grandson Jacob. Many generations before that, during the days of the first generation to walk the earth, God made a promise that the seed of the woman would triumph over the seed of the serpent, and that triumph would end the curse God enacted in response to sin. Redemption and reversal of the curse would come by way of the seed of the woman and the seed of Abraham. Genesis is the series of narratives that tells that story. 

When we get to the introduction of Abraham, our belief that Scripture is intentionally constructed leads us to look for the story’s connection to the narratives before (Gen. 1-11) and after (Ch. 12-50). Stories in the Bible never begin with just that story. Genesis 1 is the beginning of all the stories. Stories begin where the Bible begins because the Bible is telling one continuous story.  But even when reading Genesis 1 we should pause and ask why Moses is writing about the origin of the world for people who already know God as their Redeemer from Egyptian slavery. As John Sailhamer pointed out, the world’s origin story is not told to people who may or may not believe in God in order to tell them there is a Creator, but rather was recounted, at a historical moment, to people who already knew Yahweh so that they would know that their Redeemer also happens to be the Almighty God who created the universe. The origin of the world began whenever it began, but the record of the world’s origin is told in the context of a newly liberated Israel in the wilderness fumbling through the beginning of their relationship to God with whom they’ve entered a covenant. 

The story of the Abrahamic Covenant, or blessing of Abraham, does not begin with Abraham. Abraham’s story does not begin in Genesis 12. The writer of Genesis has very carefully constructed this set of narratives to tell Israel who they are and what their purpose and place is in the world and in God’s plan of redemption for the world. Remember, these Hebrew Scriptures were written for the ear, not the eye, so whereas I am using page formatting, punctuation, paragraph breaks and headings, the ancient Hebrew author used other kinds of clues, writing for a primarily aural audience to follow the structure of the narrative. With repetition of themes and vocabulary this story can be traced coherently from beginning to end so that all the individual narratives work together to tell one larger story. Multiply, seed, bless, curse, land, Eden…these words are some of the key concepts used to tie the various narrative events together. 

The First Blessing: Gen 1:28.  “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it…” 

The creation narrative in Genesis 1 tells the story of God preparing the land to provide a place where people thrive and live with him, like the construction of a temple. A temple in every religious tradition is the place where heaven and earth (God and people) meet. The Garden in Eden is this place. God prepares the land for people, the land formations delineating order from the chaotic waters. Contrary to the traditional Jewish and Muslim interpretations, the imperative, “be fruit and multiply,” is not a command but the usual language of blessing. As I covered in the last post, a blessing is a good word spoken to someone that carries with it the power or ability to accomplish it. Thus, the imperative mood is the typical language of blessing. The essence of this initial blessing is its focus on descendants. “Thus already the fulfillment of the blessing is tied to human ‘seed’ and the notion of ‘life’–two themes that will later dominate the narratives of Genesis.” (Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative, pg 96)

Notes:

-“Be fruitful” refers to the ability to procreate. “Multiply” refers to childbearing. “Fill the earth” refers to many generations of descendants that fill the land God had established in which people were to thrive in His Kingdom. “Subdue” refers to human co-regency within God’s kingdom. 

-1:29-31 describes the goodness of the land—at the moment, a small microcosm of the kingdom God had planted and intended to increase through the blessing given to the people—and this place had everything needed for the people to thrive and begin the task of expanding this microcosm of kingdom by multiplication. The purpose of man and woman in the Garden was not simply to enjoy the presence of God in this paradise, but to expand God’s good rule across the land by fruitful multiplication.  

-2:1-3. The order of events is significant. Immediately after the previous description of the garden, God set the 7th day apart as a day of rest following His completed work. The “rest” of the 7th day begins a major biblical theme (shabbat, or the “sabbath”). It is only in the provision of God in the earth and the blessing of fruitfulness and worldwide blessing expansion that rest is found. This type of rest throughout the Bible is not relaxation, but the experience of wholeness (shalom) in the presence of God as a result of His completed work…the opposite of the “futility” to which the created order was subjected by the curse (Rom. 8:20).

The Curse that Counters the Blessing: 3:14-20… “enmity,” “pain,” “toil”… but not without hope of the curse’s end. 

When the man and woman rebelled, God enacted a curse that directly counters the various aspects of the blessing from 1:28. Where they were to subdue and rule over the earth, now they will benefit from the land only by even harder toil, and the ground will not produce in proportion to their work. Where they were to multiply and fill the earth, they now will experience difficulty in both marital and parenting relationships.

Notes:

-The curse in 3:14-20, and verse 15 in particular, sets the pattern for the rest of the narrative’s plot. “Who is the seed of the woman?” is the primary question for the reader, and the reader must read the rest of the story to find out. 

– The initial blessing of 1:28 was to be fulfilled (and the kingdom was to be expanded) through “seed” and multiplication. “Seed,” another way of saying childbearing and progeny, is also the means by which God would begin the “work” of restoration of the blessing. 

-It is important to note that the curse does not void the blessing; the blessing is not removed by the placement of the curse. The curse makes the blessing impossible to fulfill in human effort.

-Following Eden the pair were exiled to the east of Eden (descendants eventually going to Babylon, Gen. 11). Abraham would be called from the East in Babylon and go west to Canaan (reversal). This exile from Eden was called death (Gen. 2:17). The Genesis narratives connect the concepts of exile and death, with “going down” connected directly to the concept of death, such as in the later chapters when Joseph “goes down” into the “pit” of Egypt, a narrative that is shaped as a death and resurrection story. Joseph’s brothers throw him in a “pit” to leave him for dead, then decide to sell him to slave traders who take him “down” to Egypt. He is falsely accused of attempted rape and sent “down into a pit,” which is why Joseph refers to prison as “my pit.” Joseph is “raised to life” because the king brings him “up” out of prison and re-makes Joseph in his own image (in appearance). After death comes resurrection. 

Grace in the Curse: God graciously provides salvation in the midst of judgment. 

Episode 1 of Grace in the midst of judgment: Veiled Gospel Promise. Though the man and woman rebelled and the blessing was reversed in the curse, a glimpse of hope was given. Restoration of the blessing will occur, and it will not be the work of the man or woman to restore it. It will be the triumph of the “seed” of the woman that secures this restoration. Already in the earliest of stories we see sparing by means of substitution. The substitution is highlighted by God making animal skins to clothe the couple. Substitution also becomes a major theme of Exodus, in which Israel is “redeemed” (replaced with a substitute) in the Passover where Egypt’s firstborn becomes a substitute to spare Israel, and after which God commands the offering of all firstborn animals, allowing them to be “redeemed” by other animals, which begins to establish the major biblical themes of redemption and substitutionary atonement.

Back in Eden, the leaves Adam and Eve used to cover themselves were inadequate. God alone is able to provide an adequate covering for sin and shame. This curse and covering scene also seems to foreshadow the Mosaic Covenant (with its sacrificial system) and the Gospel. The triumph of the “seed” is a promise of the Gospel. The animal skin foreshadows the temporary covering of sin provided in the sacrificial system.

Episode 2 of grace in the midst of judgment: Noah and the ark. When Lamech named his son Noah he said, “Now this one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed” (Gen. 5:29, NASB). The name Noah (נֹחַ) is a wordplay with the verb “give us rest” (נחם). The verb here, naham, means to give comfort or consolation, so Noah’s name, while not from the same verb as נחם is pointing him out by way of the word play as a comforter. The writer is tying together for the reader the person of Noah and the reversal or blotting out the effects of the curse. Where the first man failed to fulfill the blessing and brought a curse upon the earth, which has since produced rampant and deep depravity on the earth, another man is identified as a comforter to reverse the effects of the curse. That is what the Noah story is all about. This is also what the Moses story will be about, and the author makes this connection by referring to the basket into which baby Moses is placed as an ark (the same word in Hebrew). As with Noah, the people of God, through Moses, will be sustained in the judgment.

In the beginning (Gen. 1-2) we see God’s acts of creation which establish a microcosm of His kingdom on the earth, and human vice-regents who are given a blessing to multiply on the earth, expanding God’s loving rule and ways across the land. The vice-regents rebel and God brings about a curse which counters each aspect of the blessing. Now that sinfulness has spiraled downward to extreme, widespread depravity in the land, God performs acts of de-creation (the flood) giving the created order over to itself to be destroyed; this was not to remove the curse, but to blot out its effects up to this point. 

We were already told in 3:15 that the curse will be removed by the triumph of the woman’s “seed,” so there is no expectation that the flood would remove the curse itself. How can God remove the effects of the curse without wiping out humanity in which it resides? By choosing one man as an instrument of His grace in a world targeted by His wrath. Noah will be a new starting point for the blessing of 1:28. He and his family will be sustained through de-creating flood and be given the same blessing that Adam and Eve were given. The writer even portrays this as a restoration of the created order, as if it were a new Eden (an important thought to have while reading Genesis is “where do we see a return to Eden?).

As Noah is invited to exit the ark, God says:

“Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 

The author is clearly making a connection to Genesis 1:26 that says, “Let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 

Following their exit from the ark, and God’s promise to never again destroy the world through a flood, God again blesses the man through whom He is re-beginning to bless the earth. In 9:1 God says to Noah and his sons, as He said to Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”  Notice verse 17 says Noah should bring out all the animals so that they can be fruitful and multiply, but there is no restated blessing of the animals to be fruitful and multiply since they did not rebel against God.

Following the exit from the ark, God’s blessing to Noah, and God establishing his covenant with Noah and his sons (a setting aside of judgment against sin, see Rom. 3:25b), we see another reflection of Eden in Noah farming and planting a vineyard (9:20). However, what we see is that the sin nature is still in full effect, so even though we see a symbolic return to Eden, it is not the Eden ideal as God intended, because Noah consumes from his vineyard to excess and becomes drunk. Even Noah’s nakedness while intoxicated serves as an ironic, twisted shadow of the innocent nakedness experienced without shame in the true Eden. The effects of the curse that accumulated and defiled the land have been erased, but the curse remains and will continue to counter the blessing and veer humanity off-course. 

Noah to Babel, and Babel to Abraham

The end of Noah’s story shows the dispersion of descendants of his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham traveled south, Japheth traveled north, and Shem remained in the area of the Near and Middle East. Like the exit from the ark which marks a renewal of the land, the dispersion of Noah’s descendants marks a renewal and continuation of the blessing to be fruitful and multiply. However, like the renewal of the land that was not without the effects of the curse, the multiplication and population of the land is also tarnished by the curse, which we see in chapter 11 when the people begin multiplying in order to establish and concentrate their own kingdom rather than expanding God’s. 

The effects of the curse on the blessing crescendos in Genesis 11 with the people’s attempt to create and accomplish their own destiny, purpose and kingdom. The blessing was the empowerment to multiply and populate the earth with co-regents of Yahweh, but the curse means that people will multiply and populate the earth with those who would rather have a kingdom for themselves. God interfering with their endeavor, confusing their languages, and dispersing the people demonstrates that God places a cap on human cooperation against His Kingdom. 

To the careful reader, Genesis 11:1-9 seems to be out of chronological order with chapter 10 and the rest of 11. It is. Notice in 10:31 it says, “These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.” Then just two verses later, 11:1 says, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” But if we also look at 11:10, the verse first following the Babel incident, it says “These are the records of the generations of Shem….” So which is it? 

If we give the author the benefit of the doubt (rather than assuming error) it becomes obvious he has intentionally placed the Babel narrative within the genealogy of Shem. One of the clues that tells us why the Babel story is placed here is that the name Shem means “name” in Hebrew. In verse 4 the people say, “Come, let us make for ourselves a name (shem), otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 

The people of Babel, which is the foundation of Babylon, a city that represents the opposite of the plans of God in the Old Testament (again in the East), seek to build a city with a tower that reaches the sky. Archaeologists tell us this was most likely a ziggurat, which was a square-shaped tower often topped with a temple. Like Genesis 1, this is another temple construction story, complete with the “Come let us,” language of the Chapter 1 creation story. Genesis 1 shows God forming the land and preparing it for people as a temple, a place where heaven and earth meet. The people of Babel are building for themselves a temple that celebrates themselves and seeks to disallow God His kingship in the land. 

The curse is directly opposed to the purpose of the blessing. Whereas the blessing was an empowerment to expand the kingdom of God, the curse hijacks the empowerment, seeking to to conserve and hoard it for the people’s own purposes. The blessing is aimed at spreading the Kingdom of God, and the curse is aimed at consolidating power the people do not rightly have. 

The portion of the Shem/Name genealogy prior to the Babel story shows God’s genealogical design for the blessing, which is multiplication and spreading across the land. This pattern continues after the Babel story. Babel represents man’s attempts at making a name/shem for himself placed within the story of God making a name/shem for Himself. The curse and the blessing co-exist, and God is using further effects of the curse to enact His own plan (see Rom. 8:28). The Shem/Name genealogy ends with the family of Abraham, the next man, like Noah, chosen to be God’s instrument of grace in a world targeted by His wrath. 

Introduction to Abraham, and his role in the Biblical Story 

The intermission in the Shem/Name genealogy (Babel) shows the foundation of the city of Babylon. Following the confusion of languages and dispersion of some of Babylon’s inhabitants we are introduced to the family of Abraham, a family that remained when others dispersed. We are introduced to Abraham’s family as inhabitants of Ur of the Chaldeans, a city know for moon-worship, which the Bible views as among the most wicked of ancient cultic groups in the Ancient Near East. Whereas the curse drove Adam and Eve east of Eden, the first patriarch of Israel, Abraham, is called from the East in Babylon, and called to travel West to Canaan. The reversal of the curse inherent in God’s promise of triumph over the serpent’s seed (3:15) is demonstrated here geographically. From among rebels comes God’s plan of redemption. 

This is the literary context in which we are introduced to Abraham. In this context, Abraham, a moon-worshiper, is called on by Yahweh by these words:

“Go forth from your country,

And from your relatives

And from your father’s house,

To the land which I will show you;

And I will make you a great nation,

And I will bless you,

And make your name great;

And so you shall be a blessing;

And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3)

What is the subject matter into which the Abrahamic Covenant story is placed? The first man failed to bring about a fulfillment of the blessing to expand God’s kingdom across the land; he failed and brought about the death of separation from God and a curse on the land and in the hearts of mankind. Noah, then Abraham, then later Moses, will be called upon by God as instruments of His grace in a world targeted by His wrath. Where the first man failed, God’s promise to end and reverse the curse will be enacted through his chosen people. Throughout the course of this redemptive history it is shown that triumph over the seed of the serpent is not possible in human strength because the curse infects the hearts of all people. The “seed” of the woman, who is the “seed” of Abraham, the one to triumph over the seed of the serpent, must be one who is not affected by the curse. So while Noah, Abraham, and Moses are, in a sense, new Adam’s, the true “new and better Adam,” will come in the person of Jesus who is also the new and better Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

Conclusion:

If this is the subject and nature of the biblical plot, there is no room for interpreting the Abrahamic Covenant as a material blessing for temporal life on earth. Salvation in Christ harkens back to the salvation of Noah sustained through the judgment of the flood; the Great Commission harkens back to the calling of Abraham to leave home and bring about a worldwide blessing in the name (shem) of Jesus; redemption in Christ harkens back to the redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt; the New Covenant in the body and blood of Christ harkens back to the covenant God made with Israel through Moses. These covenants and events began the historical trajectory that produced the Messiah.

These New Testament events must be interpreted as fulfillments of the historical trajectory begun in Genesis, so if the covenant with Abraham is a formalization of the promise of the Gospel in Genesis 3:15, then the Abrahamic Covenant is God’s promise to produce a Savior to triumph over the seed of the serpent. Without this promise, there is no chosen one to survive the judgment; without this promise there is no ark of safety; without this promise there is no Eden, shalom, or rest. No language I have access to is strong enough to appropriately state how clearly and severely wrong it is to interpret these biblical covenants as promising material comfort in this life. These covenants are the reason we have a Gospel.

“If anyone is proclaiming a gospel to you contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed!” (Gal. 3:9)