Abraham And Isaac Series

November 02, 2024

When we left off last week, Abraham and Sarah had been told that, at the same time the following year, they would have a child. I also asked a question……. Did Abraham finally understand that Sarah was and had always been included in the covenant promise? Well, no.

Genesis 20:2 - Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

Genesis 20 is a basic repeat of Genesis 12:11-20. This was the 2nd time Abraham was willing to sacrifice Sarah to protect himself. Slightly different circumstances, but the same failure of faith – Abraham had failed, once again, to put his faith in the God who had called him to be a blessing to the world.

That brings us to chapter 21, where we begin to shift from the story of Abraham and Sarah to their descendants.

Today we will be introduced to the promised child – Isaac.

Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born.

Genesis 21:6-8 - And Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me…. Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age." So, the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.

It should have been a very joyous time in the camp of Abraham, but there was a problem, namely Hagar and Ishmael. By this time, Ishmael was around 16 years old – so he was a teenager.

As we know, teenagers, by default have attitude – Ishmael was no different. He openly mocked Isaac. Sarah’s response was immediate. Hagar and Ismael had to go. Sarah went to Abraham and demanded their banishment, “for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac."

Once again, we are given a front row seat to the consequences of choosing to step outside the will of God.

Let’s recap:

• Sarai, frustrated that God had given her no children, told Abram to marry her servant, Hagar, and have children through her. In a faith-fail moment, Abram agreed.

• Hagar began to get uppity when she discovered she was pregnant. Sarai complained that this was Abram’s fault and he needed to send Hagar away. Again, Abram agreed, but God had other plans and sent Hagar back = Ishmael.

Should any of this have happened? No.

Abraham was distressed by Sarah’s demand to banish Ishmael, which would result in him receiving no inheritance.

God instructed Abraham to do as Sarah requested, but also promised to bless and care for Ishmael and make a great nation from him.

Once again, Hagar found herself out in the desert and out of options. Yet, the same God who had called her by name all those years ago, visited her again and promised to bless her son:

Genesis 21:14-21 - ……… Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer. He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

About this time, Abraham had another encounter with Abimelech, this time over water. This is how it all started:

Abimelech and the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore, swear to me by God that you will not deal falsely with me, with my offspring, or with my posterity; but that according to the kindness that I have done to you, you will do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt."

Do you suppose that Abimelech was just a little bit distrustful of Abraham? Based on their previous encounter, I would say, yes.

Abraham said, "I swear."

However, a situation arose when Abimelech’s servants seized Abraham’s well. Water is an important resource, especially in a desert environment, so Abraham went to Abimelech and said, “What’s up with this?”

Abimelech denied any knowledge of the seizure. Abraham sent Abimelech sheep and oxen and the two made a covenant. Then separately, Abraham sent 7 ewe lambs to Abimelech.

“What’s the meaning of this?” He asked Abraham.

“You will take these ewe lambs from me and they will be my witnesses that I dug the well.” Abraham replied.

So, they made a covenant and Abraham lived in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Abraham had experienced some great highs in his life, when his faith soared with eagles, however he also experienced some pretty low lows when he chose to trust himself rather than the promises of God. 2 of the lowest lows had involved Sarah. Twice he had willingly sacrificed her to save himself, now God was going to ask him to sacrifice Isaac – the laughter of Sarah’s life.