Michael Hoffman, August 20, 2025
Contents:
links work on desktop Edge/Chrome:
- Rules of Analogicity & Ahistoricity Interpretation/ Reading/ Decoding
- Mytheme Decoding: {promise to Abraham} = to all who are destined for transformation from Possibilism- to Eternalism-Thinking
- Intro
- In what sense is Abraham the father of many nations, not just one nation?
- Full Text of Gen 17 (NIV)
- Motivation for This Page
- Gen 22 – Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
- Religions through which I Was Brought Up
- See Also
Rules of Analogicity & Ahistoricity Interpretation/ Reading/ Decoding
Ahistoricity of Abraham and Promise
Genesis:
- no literal nations
- no literal Abram
- no literal Abraham
- no literal Sarah
- no literal Isaac
- no literal Jacob
- no literal promise from God
- no literal promise of literal land
- no literal descendants
- no literal thicket
- no literal ram
- no literal knife and branches and rock altar
- no literal blood of the lamb
- no literal burnt ram offering
- no literal circumcision
Ahistoricity of Jesus
New Testament:
- no literal Jesus
- no literal Cross
- no literal cave
- no literal resurrection
- no literal son of God
- no literal death of Jesus
- no literal blood of Christ
Mytheme Decoding: {promise to Abraham} = to all who are destined for transformation from Possibilism- to Eternalism-Thinking
Even in Gen 17 before Gen 22, the promise is not only to a “nation” called “Israel”, but to “many nations”.
Transforming the meaning via New Testament (Paul) isn’t required, to broaden God’s promise to Abraham and his “descendents” beyond any one “nation” called “Israel”.
{Those on the inside} read according to the spirit, not flesh;
analogical psychedelic eternalism
not
literalist ordinary-state possibilism
Intro
Bible study time.
In my group University Christian Fellowship (UCF) (~2015), pastor Greg asked us to define ‘covenant’.
How is Abraham in what sense the father of many nations? NIV quote phrases:
- “I will make nations of you.”
- “You will be the father of many nations.”
- “You and your descendants.”
In what sense is Abraham the father of many nations, not just one nation?
In what sense is Abraham the father of many nations, not just one nation?
https://www.google.com/search?q=In+what+sense+is+Abraham+the+father+of+many+nations%2C+not+just+one+nation%3F —
“Abraham is considered the father of many nations, not just one, because God’s covenant with him promised descendants who would form numerous nations, not just the nation of Israel (which is also descended from him). This includes not only the Israelites through Isaac and Jacob, but also other groups like the Ishmaelites, Edomites, and others through his other sons and descendants. Furthermore, the New Testament, particularly Paul’s writings, expands this concept to include all believers as spiritual descendants of Abraham, regardless of their ethnicity, thus making him the father of a multitude of nations through faith.”
- “Biological Descendants: God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4-5). This promise was fulfilled in part through his sons Ishmael (father of the Ishmaelites) and Isaac (father of the Israelites, specifically through Jacob). Abraham also had other sons with Keturah, whose descendants also formed nations.
- Spiritual Descendants: The Apostle Paul, in his letters, interprets the Abrahamic covenant as extending beyond biological lineage to include all who have faith in Jesus Christ. This means that those who believe in Jesus, regardless of their ethnic background, are considered spiritual descendants of Abraham and heirs to the blessings promised to him.
- Multiple Nations: The “many nations” include not only the Israelites, but also various other peoples who trace their lineage back to Abraham through different sons and descendants. The Bible mentions the Ishmaelites, Edomites, and others as examples.”
Full Text of Gen 17 (NIV)
Gen 17
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen%2017&version=NIV;KJV
The Covenant of Circumcision [heading added by editor]
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram [exalted father][b] ; your name will be Abraham [father of many],[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Footnotes
- Genesis 17:1 Hebrew El-Shaddai
- Genesis 17:5 Abram means exalted father.
- Genesis 17:5 Abraham probably means father of many.
- Genesis 17:19 Isaac means he laughs.
Motivation for This Page
I have yet to read Gen 17 but seems enormous ramifs. re: “descendent”, “according to the flesh|spirit”, promise to who? Abram? Israel?
What is God’s promise?
Who is God’s promise to?
Why did God promise?
decode {Israel}
“because you have done this thing and not withheld your only son” (through whom God promised fecundity).
God gives promise why?
- b/c Abraham drew blood of ram caught in thicket?
- b/c Abraham willed to sacrifice his child?
I been study Gen 22 long time, but today this question arose: b/c I been referring to Abraham recently as Abram, re: “Who is God’s promise to?”
To answer my orig question:
It seems that when the man sacrificed his child and God then promised, the man’s name was Abraham; Gen 22.
Before that, in Gen 17, God renamed him from Abram.
Discovered by asking Google:
When did God rename Abram to Abraham?
https://www.google.com/search?q=When+did+God+rename+Abram+to+Abraham%3F
Gen 22 – Abraham’s Sacrifice of Isaac
Gen 22
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Gen%2022&version=NIV;KJV
condensed by Michael Hoffman:
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.” Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” Gen 22:7-18 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen%2022%3A7-18&version=NIV
keyboard shortcut expansion, by Michael Hoffman, sentence-per-paragraph:
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.”
Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven,
“Abraham!
Do not lay a hand on the boy.
Do not do anything to him.
Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.
He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
“I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
Gen 22:7-18 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gen%2022%3A7-18&version=NIV
Religions through which I Was Brought Up
Sequential, as remembered impressionistically:
- Jewish
- Occult
- Christian
- Human Potential
- Transpersonal Psychology
- Zen
todo: consider making a page about my religious upbringing, through university
See Also
The Sacrifice of Isaac
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/05/26/the-sacrifice-of-isaac/
11:40
The Egodeath theory 