There are times to stay and face situations and times to leave. Hagar gets to leave (after the first time when God told her to go back), and Abraham must face his mistakes (after getting to leave without rebuke the first time).
We all like to think that we learn from our mistakes. Truth is it often takes several errors before we really realize we aren’t doing the right thing. God often has to pound stuff through our thick skulls before we really give it to Him. Such is the case with Abraham. Remember just a few chapters ago, Abraham and Sarah went to Egypt and Abraham had Sarah pose as his sister because he was afraid that the king of Egypt would kill him and take her as his wife.
In that case God inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh - and he sent Abraham packing. You’d think that would be enough - but now, in Chapter 20 and 21 we see the same thing happen all over again:
Verses 1 - 2
The area where Abraham went was in the Philistine country - to the southwest of Jerusalem on the way to Egypt.
Sarah is 90 years old and still beautiful! What spa did she go to anyway?
These kings could do whatever they wanted - they could have taken Sarah if they wanted. It could have also been a strong political connection if he married Sarah.
Abraham was faithful in the big test of faith (believing when God said He would bless Abraham, and then also with the king of Sodom) - but falters in the small things. Doesn’t his happen to us as well?
We get all fired up for the big tests, but when the little every day decisions come about we don’t think they are of any importance. But God truly wants us to be holy through and through - and in fact uses the small things to build big faith.
Jesus said in the parable of the talents:
Matthew 25:21 "His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.
So don’t let the little things trip you up - things like honesty, integrity, obeying the laws - dare I mention speeding?
So look how God handles this Philistine king:
Verse 3
It doesn’t mean Abimelech is sinless - he just hadn’t had relations with her. Why didn’t God come to Abraham and say "why did you do this, Abe?" Well, he is going to use this pagan king to teach Abraham a lesson - and really it was protection.
God wants the world to know that they can’t mess with His people.
Psalms 91:11-16 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike our foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."
God protected Abraham - in great measure to show the world "my salvation" which would come through Abraham’s descendents. See it wasn’t that Abraham was special - it’s the covenant that’s special.
Abimelech actually has the moxy to answer God back!
Verse 4 - 7
God knows when we mean to and when we don’t! Abimelech portrays himself as totally innocent - and even his nation - but God only addresses this one issue - that he didn’t mean to steal another man’s wife. God doesn’t address Abimelech’s condition or the spiritual condition of his nation.
Perhaps word had gotten out what God did to Sodom - and so Abimelech worries - am I next? Both the grace and judgment of God can be useful in evangelism.
Verse 6: "I kept you from sinning against Me" All sin is against God - because it’s a violation of who He is. "I kept you from sinning against Me." It’s not just a separate moral code that He thought it would be good for us to follow. The definition is: a personal moral affront to Him and He takes it personally.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 (especially vs 6). It’s God’s will that we not be sexually immoral. If we are, then God is the avenger in these cases.
Verses 8 - 10
I like how Abimelech wasn’t afraid to attack unrighteousness, even though he was a pagan. Don’t you ever get into conversations with pre-Christians where they can easily point out the hypocrisy in your life? It shouldn’t be that way.
Verses 11 - 13
1. God doesn’t rebuke Abraham for it - but he lets Abimelech do it. Abraham’s reasons are instructive to us:
2. "There was no fear of God in this place" - I wasn’t in church so I don’t have to act like a believer.
3. "I was afraid" - I let fear be the arbiter of my behavior, not God’s Word
4. "She really is my sister" - I can split hairs on matters of righteousness and honesty so that I can get my way legally - technically, even though I wasn’t sharing the whole truth.
5. "When God had me wander" It’s really God’s fault that I’m in this jam.
6. "This is how you can show your love to me." He pulls the old "if you really loved me you’d do something that you and I know isn’t right." Nasty!
7. We’ve always done it this way. So it must be okay ’cause God hasn’t stopped me.
Why does Abraham get rebuked? Perhaps he really didn’t learn the lesson from Egypt - when we refuse to let God teach us then the rebukes get louder. But notice this - God still doesn’t rebuke Abraham - He leaves that to this godless king.
Verse 14 - 18
We learn how God afflicted Abimelech - they were childless - which was really a serious thing in those days.
Notice that it wasn’t until Abraham prayed for healing - God had no relationship with Abimelech - only with Abraham. The non-Christian can pray till they are blue in the face but God will not hear or answer - only the prayer of repentance and faith.
Isaiah 59:1-2 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Here are three reasons that Abraham could have acted this way:
Old fears are hard to kill. They’d been doing this for years because it was an old fear. You might have some reason for a fear. I was hurt then - and it’s not that there is no basis for the fear. But the Lord is still faithful - and there are times when our old fears have to go on hold so that I don’t commit a new sin to cover up an old fear. Old fears will be enemies to your faith.
Did he really think that God wasn’t going to be faithful?
Old habits - they are really hard to break. It’s just what I do. In our better days we pretend we won’t fall into our old habits. But on our bad days it’s amazing how that stuff comes back. Old sin habits die very slowly and painfully.
Old Prejudices. To assume that another person is evil. "I thought there is no fear of god in this place." There was more fear of God with Abimelech than in many others. Don’t let them make you do something you’d be ashamed of later. What people might do.
Chapter 21
Verses 1 - 8
Isaac means "laughter" People would laugh with Sarah that she and Abraham could have had a son so late in life - God often waits until it is impossible to accomplish without Him.
Nursing was a form of birth control. They weaned at 3-4 years old. They thought that the longer they nursed the stronger the boy would be.
Ishmael was probably about 16 when Isaac was weaned.
Verses 9 - 10
The tension between Sarah and Hagar were high based on what happened years ago. Sometimes it is really hard for old hurts to die. We like to bank them up - then use them as ammunition later on when we are wronged. It magnifies the present hurt beyond what it should be - and it clouds our ability to love and forgive as Jesus told us to.
What Sarah said was actually true - Ishmael would not receive the covenant.
Verses 11 - 13
Abraham probably wished he had done things differently.
Isn’t it a relief to know that God would take care of something that Abraham thought was a mistake? God can still do something with that because of His covenant with you.
There are times when we say "God it’s out of my control" and that God will do what is right and make something good out of it.
Now notice something here - where last time it was Hagar who had an attitude problem - now this time it’s Ishmael. And we’ll see - Hagar does not get rebuked by God. She had obeyed the Lord - and now the Lord blesses her in a time of trouble.
Verse 14
Abraham only gave her enough to get to the next settlement - which there were plenty of, and plenty of Egyptians. But she didn’t want to go to the next town, so she wandered around until she and the boy were exhausted.
Verses 15 - 21
Ishmael became the father of 12 nations which inhabited the land, which are the Arab nations of today.
God waited until both the lad and she cried out. They knew who God was - but God waits till they are at their wits end. God heard the boy - not Hagar - because Ishmael was Abraham’s offspring - again - who had the covenant with God? Abraham.
The well had been there all along but God was using the situation to say "I will trust you God." It wasn’t Abraham, nor the Egyptians that would take care of her.
Verses 22 - 24
Abraham makes a peace treaty with the Philistines there in the southeastern part of what will become Israel - eventually part of Judah. Abimelech remembers how Abraham pulled the wool over his eyes so he insists on honesty from now on.
He also saw the power of God on this man’s behalf so he respects him.
So speaking of honesty - Abraham picks this time to be honest about a little problem with a well - wells were extremely important and they come up again and again in the coming chapters. Abraham pays for the rights to the well - he buys it.
Beersheba is a little west of where he had been. Perhaps the destruction of Sodom moved him away or the memory of it - we’re not sure.
Verses 25 - 31
No matter what covenants he makes with others it’s the Lord that he has to answer to.
At the end of the chapter we see Abraham once again worshipping. This is the same as when he came back from a tough time in Egypt. When we make mistakes, when we’ve been through a big trial - it’s always good to be refreshed by recommitting ourselves to God and worshipping Him.
Conclusions
1. Don’t try to solve trials by your own wits - instead trust in the Lord and stay honest.
2. Because the world is watching you - and you can either turn people towards salvation or against it by your actions.
3. Let go of the past - both your mistakes and the mistakes of others. You’ll live longer if you have short accounts with God and with your brothers and sisters. Don’t let hurts and unforgiveness fester.
4. Sometimes we cry and moan and complain and God says to us "what’s the matter?" - we should know that despite our circumstances He will care for us and bring us to where He wants us to be. It doesn’t mean we should hold back our feelings - but we should entreat God, instead of just moan to ourselves. It is then that He will open our eyes to what He has prepared already for us.
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www.CalvaryChapelNewberg.org.
