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.
Right away the reader is confronted with a moral dilemma: why would a God who hates human sacrifice,
• Deuteronomy 18:10-12 - "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God drives them out from before you.”
ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?
God never intend for Abraham to actually sacrifice Isaac – let’s get that straight.
God had chosen Abraham to be the father of the nation through which the Messiah would come. Faithfulness, integrity and right-doing were important character traits, yet, in moments of perceived crisis, Abraham had proven himself to be unfaithful – more than that he had demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice someone else when it benefitted him. Was Abraham really the man for the job? That was the question to be answered.
Genesis 22:1–18
Remember last week, we noted that Lot chose to negotiate rather than immediately obey? By contrast when God spoke to Abraham and instructed him to take Isaac and sacrifice him, Abraham, “rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him.”
The land of Moriah was about 50 miles north – about a 3-day journey. At any point, Abraham could have talked himself right out of obedience and returned home, but he kept putting one foot in front of the other until they reached their destination. Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go up there. We will worship, then we will return to you.” This was more than wishful thinking it was the very definition of faith:
• Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
• Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time. – Oswald Chambers
• Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a KNOWN God. – Corrie Ten Boom
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and placed it on Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and the knife, and the two of them went together.
And Isaac said to Abraham his father, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went together.
And they came to the place that God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood. Then he bound Isaac his son and placed him on the altar atop the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
And the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And he said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy; do not do anything to him. For now I know that you are one who fears God, since you have not withheld your son, your only child, from me.”
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, a ram was caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh will provide,” …
This test answered the question, but more than that it gave Abraham a glimpse of what God’s experience would be when the longed-for Messiah offered himself as The Substitutionary Sacrifice - as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” – John 1:29
The chapter ends with the genealogy of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah:
Genesis 22:20-23 - Now it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, "Indeed Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: "Huz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." And Bethuel begot Rebekah.
