Abraham’s six encounters with God and the six days of creation

Abraham came from a family of idol worshipers; he did not know the Lord. He was seventy-five years old when, after his father’s death, God spoke to him and called him. God told him to leave his father’s household and go to the land that He would show him, promising to make him into a great nation and to bless him. After this, the Lord appeared to him several times in different ways.

Abraham entered into two covenants with God — the first ten years after his calling, and the second fourteen years after that. Altogether, the book of Genesis records six encounters between Abraham and God: five before the first covenant, then after a long silence of fourteen years, the sixth.

Let us first look at what happened just before Abraham (then still called Abram) came to faith and God made His first covenant with him. Immediately before that covenant, there was a significant event in Abram’s life: his encounter with Melchizedek.

Lot, Abraham’s relative who had set out with him years earlier, had settled in Sodom. One day several kings united and attacked that city, and Lot was taken captive. When Abram heard of this, he went to rescue him and succeeded in bringing him back. As he was returning from defeating the kings and met the king of Sodom, Melchizedek came to them:

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. And the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.’ But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have lifted my hand to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, lest you should say, “I have made Abram rich.” I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.’” (Genesis 14:18–24)

The account of Abram’s meeting with Melchizedek is not long, yet one detail stands out strongly. When Melchizedek blessed Abram, he referred to God as “the Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.” Then later, when Abram spoke to the king of Sodom, he too used that same phrase — “the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth.” We had never seen Abram speak of God in this way before. Coming from an idolatrous background, without anyone to teach him about the Lord, Abram had not used such words previously. From this story it seems very likely that Melchizedek was the one who told Abram about the creation and about the Creator God.

After meeting Melchizedek, Abram had a vision in which God spoke to him again. During their conversation, we can sense Abram’s disappointment — that God had not given him a child, and that all he had would go to his servant. But then God said something that changed Abram’s heart and brought him to faith.

“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. But Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no offspring; indeed, one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:1–6)

Look up at the sky and count the stars — what was so special about that? Why did this word from God bring such a profound change in Abram’s heart? This was the fourth time God appeared to him and spoke with him. What happened on the fourth day of creation?

“And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night; He also made the stars.” (Genesis 1:16)

Could it be coincidence that Melchizedek had just spoken to Abram about the creation?

Let us look back a bit further. What did God say to Abram on their third encounter?

“Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are — northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in its length and its width, for I give it to you.” (Genesis 13:14–17)

And what happened on the third day of creation?

“And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:9–10)

After the second day of creation, when the earth was still covered with water, there was not yet any “dust of the ground.” That became visible only on the third day — and on Abram’s third encounter, God said his descendants would be as numerous as the dust of the earth. Could that be a coincidence?

I believe that when God told Abram to look toward heaven and count the stars, Abram suddenly realized that what was happening in his life was closely connected to the story of creation itself. That was the moment when Abram truly believed — and that very same day, he had another encounter with God, when the first covenant was made.

Abram’s first encounter with God was his calling: when God told him to leave his father’s household and go to the land He would show him. Abram’s family had lived in spiritual darkness, worshiping idols. On the first day of creation, God said, “Let there be light,” and separated the light from the darkness. This is exactly what happened to Abram when God called him out of darkness.

On the second day of creation, God made the expanse (the sky) and separated the waters below from the waters above — a picture of the separation between heavenly and earthly things, between God’s way and human ways. After Abram’s second encounter with God, we can see two similar separations in his story: first, his journey down to Egypt during the famine, and second, his separation from Lot — a man who was righteous, yet lacked heavenly vision and calling.

On the third day of creation, God separated the dry land from the waters, and the earth brought forth plants and fruit-bearing trees. Abram’s third encounter with God was when He told him to count the dust of the earth — as mentioned before. Shortly after that, Abram courageously rescued his relative Lot at great personal risk. This reveals Abram’s good heart — the “good soil” and “good fruit” that became visible in his life.

On the fourth day, God made the sun, the moon, and the stars. During Abram’s fourth encounter, God told him to look at the stars and count them — the turning point when Abram came to faith.

After this came, on the same day, Abram’s first covenant with God, and then, fourteen years later, the second covenant. These were his fifth and sixth encounters with the Lord, corresponding to the fifth and sixth days of creation. We will look at these two covenants — and the difference between them — in the next section.

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