There is Pain in These Names...

Abraham.

Isaac.

Jacob.

Names that often emerge thoughts of prosperity and power and triumph.

We hear the names of these fathers of monotheism, the very patriarchs that began this movement of God blessing the world and there is a certain elevation that rings in our minds as their images are provoked bringing forth words like prominence and prestige and honor.

This is often what we hear resonate when the story of Israel is told.
When we hear it said:

"The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

And it usually comes with a sense of brightness and certainty.
These were the good and righteous men that brought forth the world as we know it.

Yet the story is actually quite disorienting. When you hear these stories in their depth and rawness, all of the sudden, these three names are heard a little bit differently.

Abraham, the man who used the prostitution of his wife to make a profit on Egyptian leaders. Not only  did it protect him from death, but also benefited him in wealth from the process.

Isaac, who also prostituted his beloved wife because of his own timidness and fear. Who betrothed the identity of this woman to give him control in the uncertainty of the land he found himself in.

And Jacob. Constantly deceiving his family and his allies to take what isn't his.

But these become the three.

The God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

Prostitution and fear and deception.

This is how Israel's story begins. This is who God claims to move his story forward in the world.

The community that is to go and bless the world, the nation that is supposed to display the Creator God of Israel to the ends of the earth, it begins with quite a bit of embarrassment. And even the story's progression proves to be equally as humbling. The sons of Jacob who become the twelve tribes of Israel that are mentioned again and again throughout Israel's story, one of their first collective acts is to trick an entire population to be circumcised so that, in their state of pain and weakness, the sons can plunder the city and kill the inhabitants. This is what becomes the twelve tribes. Or the name of Judah that is so often remarked with such promise and authority - Judah's largest narrative is based on a moment of prostitution with Tamar, his daughter in law.

These are the names that God uses as his people. These are the names of God's story.

And there is pain in these names...