Tag Archives: Isaac

Genesis 27 – Jacob Deceives Isaac and Steals Esau’s Blessing

09 Sunday Feb 2014

Posted by in Genesis

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.”

“Here I am,” he answered.

Isaac said, “I am now an old man and don’t know the day of my death. Now then, get your equipment—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.  Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” Genesis 27:1-4

Isaac became old, his eyesight failed and his health began to deteriorate. Approximately how old Isaac was at this time can be determined by first noting that his son Jacob was 130 when he entered the land of Egypt (Genesis 47:9). Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh King of Egypt (Genesis 41:46). After 7 years of plenty and 2 years of famine, Joseph was approximately 39 years old when Jacob came down to Egypt. Knowing that Jacob was 130 years old when he came down to Egypt and Joseph was 39 at that time, we can calculate by subtraction that Jacob was 91 years old when Joseph was born. Joseph was born after Jacob worked 14 years for his uncle Laban to pay the bridal prices for his two wives (Genesis 30:25). Therefore, Jacob left home and arrived at Laban’s when he was 77. Since Jacob was born when Isaac was 60, this means Isaac at this time is about 137 years old.

Isaac was over 137 years old and he could no longer see. He probably also considered that Ishmael, his half-brother, had died at 137. Therefore, he called for his son Esau to prepare a last meal for him before he dies. But according to Genesis 35:28, Isaac lived 43 more years and died at 180. Isaac’s physical blindness was symbolic of his spiritual blindness. In his haste to pronounce a blessing over Esau, Isaac failed to see the character flaws in his eldest son and the necessity of God’s spiritual choice over the natural order of the firstborn by birth. The prophecy given to Rebekah before the birth of Esau and Jacob stated that Jacob would be the ruling son. In addition, Esau had shown himself to be a self-centered and foolish man. Esau so disregarded his position in the family that he sold the birthright of the first-born son to his brother for a bowl of red lentil stew. Surely, Esau was not worthy of the blessing.

Now Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. When Esau left for the open country to hunt game and bring it back, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Look, I overheard your father say to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me some game and prepare me some tasty food to eat, so that I may give you my blessing in the presence of the Lord before I die.’ Now, my son, listen carefully and do what I tell you: Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so I can prepare some tasty food for your father, just the way he likes it. Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may give you his blessing before he dies.” Genesis 27:5-10

Rebekah may have heard Isaac call out to Esau, watched him enter his father’s tent and then listened to the conversation. Isaac had said that he wanted to give Esau his blessing in the presence of the LORD (Yehovah). This was to be a solemn blessing witnessed by the LORD, pronouncing it in His Name and authority. Rebekah knew of the prophecy that her older son Esau would serve his brother and understood that Jacob was the one who should receive the blessing. But instead of entreating her husband and reminding Isaac of what the LORD had told her, she devised a plan to have her son Jacob deceive his father.

Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “But my brother Esau is a hairy man while I have smooth skin. What if my father touches me? I would appear to be tricking him and would bring down a curse on myself rather than a blessing.”

His mother said to him, “My son, let the curse fall on me. Just do what I say; go and get them for me.” Genesis 27:11-13

Although she went about it all wrong, Rebekah was inspired by her faith in the divine promise and was confident that Isaac would not be able to curse Jacob. Rebekah provokes her son to follow her wishes in spite of his fear.

 So he went and got them and brought them to his mother, and she prepared some tasty food, just the way his father liked it. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau her older son, which she had in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. She also covered his hands and the smooth part of his neck with the goatskins. Then she handed to her son Jacob the tasty food and the bread she had made. Genesis 27:14-17

Jacob obeyed his mother and fetched two choice young goats. Rebekah seasoned the meat and cooked them to her husband’s liking. Realizing that Esau would be gone for awhile, Rebekah dressed Jacob in his brother’s clothes. To complete the disguise, she covered Jacob’s hands and neck with the goatskins so that he would feel hairy to his father’s touch.

 He went to his father and said, “My father.”

“Yes, my son,” he answered. “Who is it?”

Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

Isaac asked his son, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”

“The Lord your God gave me success,” he replied.

Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come near so I can touch you, my son, to know whether you really are my son Esau or not.” Genesis 27:18-21

Jacob lived up to his name of supplanter and deceiver by claiming to be his brother Esau and lying to his blind father. But Isaac suspected something was wrong and sought further proof.

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he proceeded to bless him. “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.

“I am,” he replied. Genesis 27:22-24

Isaac did not recognize that it was Jacob speaking to him because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau. Yet, Isaac questions his son for the second time for the voice he heard was Jacob’s voice. When Jacob lies again maintaining to be Esau, the deception was completed.

 Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.”

Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Genesis 27:25

Isaac’s eyesight has become so bad that he could not see. His sense of taste probably was also poor because he could not distinguish between goat and venison.

 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.”

So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said,

“Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed.
 May God give you heaven’s dew and earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine.
May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.” Genesis 27:26-29

After finishing with his meal, Isaac calls his son over to kiss him. This request may have been made in gratitude as well as out of lingering suspicions. Any doubt that Isaac may have still had was dispelled by the scent of Esau’s clothes that Jacob was wearing.

The blessing by Isaac was both a prayer and a prophetic declaration that would be fulfilled by the nation of Israel. During the time of Joshua and when the judges led Israel to victory, the Canaanites were conquered by the Israelites. During King David’s reign,the Moabites, Ammonites, Syrians, Philistines, and Edomites were all in subjugation and paid tribute to Israel. The final pronouncement, “May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed” is a partial reiteration of the LORD’S promise to Abram found in Genesis chapter 12.

After Isaac finished blessing him, and Jacob had scarcely left his father’s presence, his brother Esau came in from hunting. He too prepared some tasty food and brought it to his father. Then he said to him, “My father, please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”

 His father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”

“I am your son,” he answered, “your firstborn, Esau.”

Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!” Genesis 27:30-33

Isaac was amazed, astonished, and seized with a great trembling all over his body as a result of the terror and confusion of his mind caused by the craftiness of Jacob in getting the blessing he had intended to give Esau. Isaac’s fearful reaction may have also been a result of his realization of God’s providence in this matter. For Isaac now saw clearly that it was according to the divine will that Jacob should be blessed in accordance to the LORD‘s declaration that the older son will serve the younger.

When Esau heard his father’s words, he burst out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me—me too, my father!”

 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? This is the second time he has taken advantage of me: He took my birthright, and now he’s taken my blessing!” Then he asked, “Haven’t you reserved any blessing for me?”

Isaac answered Esau, “I have made him lord over you and have made all his relatives his servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. So what can I possibly do for you, my son?”

Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau wept aloud. Genesis 27:34-38

Esau wept loud and bitterly and blamed Jacob for taking advantage of him for the second time. Yet, it was Esau’s own carnal character that led him to despise his birthright and sell it for a hot meal. Esau’s tears were not of repentance but of self-pity. He understood that his father’s blessing upon Jacob was irrevocable and asked for a blessing of his own. God in His foreknowledge and sovereignty chose Jacob to receive the blessing reserved for the first born.

 His father Isaac answered him, “Your dwelling will be away from the earth’s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother.
But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck.” Genesis 27:39-40

Isaac’s declaration over Esau is almost the antithesis of Isaac’s blessing over Jacob. Jacob, who was content to stay at home among the tents and desired the rights and responsibilities of the first-born son, receives a blessing of agricultural abundance. Self-centered Esau, on the other hand, was a skillful hunter and a man of the open country. His descendants are destined to live on poor land and be a warlike, predatory people.

The final portion of the prophetic declaration states that Esau’s offspring (the nation of Edom) would finally throw off Jacob’s yoke. This was fulfilled in the days of King Jehoram of the southern Kingdom of Judah.

In the time of Jehoram, Edom rebelled against Judah and set up its own king. 2 Kings 8:20

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. He said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

 When Rebekah was told what her older son Esau had said, she sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is planning to avenge himself by killing you. Now then, my son, do what I say: Flee at once to my brother Laban in Harran. Stay with him for a while until your brother’s fury subsides. When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him, I’ll send word for you to come back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?” Genesis 27:41-45

Like Cain, who slew his brother Abel out of jealousy because Abel received God’s favor, Esau is enraged that Jacob received his father’s blessing and planned to slay his brother. Satan was constantly attempting to thwart God’s plan of redemption by preventing the promised “seed of the woman” from being born through the prophesied lineage. Messiah was to come through Jacob’s son Judah.

Rebekah was rightfully concerned that she could lose both of her sons in one day. The punishment for murder was to be the death of the murderer.

“Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind.” Genesis 9:6

Jacob would indeed flee to his uncle Laban’s home in Harran. But this was not to be for just a little while. It would be twenty years of toil and unfair treatment by Laban until Jacob’s character and name would be changed for the better and he would return to the land of Canaan.  

Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.” Genesis 27:46

Esau had married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. Although Abraham was befriended by Hittites who came to his aid in the war against the Mesopotamian kings, the Hittites, descendants of Heth, son of Canaan son of Ham, are listed among the accursed Canaanites and not the blessed line of Shem. The name Hittite is derived from the name Heth and means “sons of terror.” Esau has again shown that he is not to be trusted as the father of the “promised seed” through which all nations on earth are to be blessed.

Rebekah wanted to convince Isaac to send Jacob to Harran to get a bride. In God’s sovereignty, Jacob was forced to flee for his life and would marry within his family’s clan and preserve Messiah’s line.

Genesis 26 – Isaac Settles in Gerar & He Deceives Abimelech!

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Genesis

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had  occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land of which I shall tell you.” Genesis 26:1-2

Because of the famine in Canaan, Isaac starts to journey south towards Egypt and stops over in Gerar in the territory of the Philistines.                   

The LORD appeared to Isaac as He did to his father Abraham. This appearance was not in a dream or a vision. This was a visible manifestation  of God that was tangible to his human senses. Most probably this appearance was a Christophany – a preincarnate appearance of Christ. The LORD appeared to Abraham on three different occasions:

1) On his arrival in the land, wherein God promised the land to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 12:7-9).

2) When God reaffirmed his promises of land and numerous descendants to Abraham when he was ninety-nine years old (Genesis 17:1).

3) And on the Plains of Mamre before He sent his two angels on their way to destroy Sodom (Genesis18:1).

Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. Genesis 12:10

Almost as quickly as Abram entered into the land of Canaan, he leaves. Abram trusted God for over 1,000 mile arduous trek from Ur to Canaan. He left behind his home and family, and by faith, traveled to a country where he had never been. He did so because he believed that God was going to make him into a great nation. But when Abram arrived in Canaan and a famine hit the land he does not think he will survive for more than a few weeks. He goes to Egypt and tries to solve his problems himself. The man who trusted God for the ultimate, his future and for the future of his descendants, was unwilling to trust God for the immediate – food for himself and his family. Abram trusted God for huge promises to extend through generations, but didn’t have faith when it came to immediate needs. Yet faith means trusting God for both His eternal promises as well as for our daily bread. This is where we often fail. We trust God with our eternal salvation, and then we worry about the daily struggles that we are going through and the decisions we have to make.

The LORD commands Isaac not to go down to Egypt to escape the famine as did Abraham his father. Instead, the LORD exhorts Isaac to remain in the territory of the Philistines for a while and not leave Canaan. By obeying the LORD, the covenant promises that were made to Abraham would be established through Isaac.

 Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” Genesis 26:3-5

The nations that occupied Canaan and the territory promised to Abraham that were to passed on as an inheritance to Isaac and his descendants are described in Genesis 15:18-21. The land would span from the Nile, which was the southern boundary of the land of Canaan, to the river Euphrates. Israel at one time had dominion over this expanse during the reigns of David and Solomon. Isaac would inherit other the covenant promises as well. He would be fruitful and the nations of the earth would be blessed because the Messiah would continue through Isaac’s lineage.

Abraham received the blessings of God and they were passed down though Isaac because Abraham obeyed (literally, hearkened to) the voice of the LORD. If we and our children are to be blessed then we must not just be aware of God’s Word but obey it. Although it would more than 400 years after God cut a covenant with Abraham until the Torah was given on Mt. Sinai to Israel, the LORD declared that Abraham kept God’s commandments, statutes and laws.

So Isaac lived in Gerar. When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful.” Genesis 26:6-7

Many years before, Abraham moved south from Hebron and also stayed a while in Gerar which is located in the western Negev.

Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur.  For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. Genesis 20:1-2

Abraham may have been so deeply disturbed by the destruction of Sodom, the stench of the smoldering sulfur, and not knowing what happened to his nephew Lot, that he left Hebron. There in Gerar in the land of the Philistines, Abraham hid the fact that he was married to Sarah as he did when he went down to Egypt. Abram had gone down to Egypt along with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot during a time of famine in Canaan. Since Sarai was very beautiful, Abram had deceived the Egyptians into believing that Sarai was only his sister when in fact, she was his wife. Sarai was the half-sister of Abram, but a half-truth is still an entire lie.

 It came about, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window, and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah. Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, certainly she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘I might die on account of her.’” Genesis 26:8-9

Frightened concerning his own safety, Isaac succumbs to the temptation to pass off his wife as his sister as twice did his father Abraham. In doing this he was willing to risk Rebekah’s purity as the price for his personal protection.

Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” Genesis 26:10-11

Although Isaac and Rebekah had been living in Gerar for a long time and Rebekah was beautiful, her virginity was preserved and she remained chaste because of God’s protection. The LORD is sovereign. He was not only going to fulfill His oath and establish the Abrahamic covenant through Isaac, but Rebeka was God’s chosen vessel as well. Abraham had declared to his servant that the LORD would send his angel with him and make his journey a success, so that his servant could get a wife for Isaac from Abraham’s own clan and from his father’s family (Genesis 24:7). Rebekah was chosen by the LORD to be Isaac’s wife. When she was asked if she was willing to leave with Abraham’s servant, Rebekah did not hesitate but was willing to immediately fulfill God’s calling for her life. She, like Abraham, was willing to leave her family and her country and dwell in a land far off.

The similarities between this sin of Isaac and that of his father Abraham are numerous. Both had their faith tested in times of famine. Both sinned in the presence of the ruler of the Philistines and were rebuked by that ruler. Although these were different men, both rulers were named Abimelech. Both Abraham and Isaac had a beautiful wife and feared for their own safety. They both believed that they might be killed so that someone could marry their wife. Both lied by saying that their wife was their sister. Yet, both Abraham and Isaac were blessed and protected by the LORD in spite of their fears and weaknesses because the LORD is a covenant keeping God who is abundant in mercy.

Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the Lord blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him. Genesis 26:12-14

The natural elements and principles of Israel’s agricultural society were used by Jesus when He spoke in parables in order to reveal the supernatural elements and principles of the Kingdom of God. Isaac, who obeyed the LORD and did not go down to Egypt during a famine in Canaan, is blessed by God and reaps a hundredfold crop and he became rich. In Mark 4:1-9, Jesus uses the parable of a farmer who sowed seed on different types of soils to illustrate how the word of God in received in the hearts’ of men.

Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop–a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Matthew 13:8

From a single seed that is planted and takes root and entire fruit tree can grow and bear much fruit.  Seed must be planted in good soil means that the Word of God can only take root, grow and bear fruit in a softened heart and compliant heart. The hardness of the soil of the heart must be broken by humbling oneself, repenting of sins and forgiving others. The stones of bitterness and selfishness need to be removed. The heart must be watered by the Word of God and softened by the oil of the Spirit. When properly prepared and received, the word of God will bear much fruit. 

… a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Isaac was blessed and reaped a hundred times what was sown. Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac, the son of the promise was born. Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob the father of the 12 tribes of Israel was born. Joseph, who received a double portion of his father Jacob’s inheritance, was thirty years old when entered the service of Pharaoh and became second in command of all of Egypt. These three numbers, a hundred, sixty and thirty were significant in the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.

Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped up by filling them with earth. Then Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.” And Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar, and settled there. Genesis 26:15-17

The act of stopping up a person’s wells and cutting off their supply of water was often a strategy used in warfare. It would be impossible for flocks and herds to exist without access to water supplies. The Philistines were jealous of Isaac’s wealth and that was probably their motivation in committing these acts. Abimelech, both envious and fearful of Isaac, orders him to leave his city.

Then Isaac dug again the wells of water which had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the same names which his father had given them.  But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with the herdsmen of Isaac, saying, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah. Genesis 26:18-21

Isaac met with much opposition in digging wells. The first successful well Isaac’s servants had dug was a cause of contention between his herdsmen and the Philistines. It was named Esek, which means, “strife” or “contention.”Likewise, there was quarreling over the second well. This well was named Sitnah which is a feminine form of the Hebrew word for Satan (adversary) and means “enmity” or “hatred”.

 He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.” Genesis 26:22

Rehoboth is the English form of a Hebrew word which means literally a “broad place” or “room to live.” Abimelech had told Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are too powerful for us.” Yet, Isaac did not war against the Philistines when they claimed the first two wells that his father Abraham had originally dug. Instead, Isaac chose to move further and further from the Philistine territory until they ceased to make claim to his well.

 Then he went up from there to Beersheba. The Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, for the sake of My servant Abraham.”

So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. Genesis 26:23-25

From Dan to Beersheba, a distance of about 144 miles became the usual way of designating the whole Promised Land with Beersheba being the southern border. The same night that Isaac arrives in Beersheba, the LORD appears to Isaac to comfort and reassure him. The LORD will keep His covenant promises that were made to Abraham and are now passed down to Isaac.

Although Isaac had be laid upon an altar as a potential sacrifice in Genesis 22, this is the first time mentioned in Scripture that Isaac himself had built an altar and called on the name of Yahweh.

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with his adviser Ahuzzath and Phicol the commander of his army. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you; so we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, even between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.’” Genesis 26:26-29

Isaac speaks the truth without hesitation or apology. He plainly states that Abimelech ordered him to leave the territory of the Philistines out of hatred that was motivated by Abimelech’s jealousy.

Abimelech clearly acknowledges that the LORD has been with Isaac and seeks to make a peace agreement with him. Although Abimelech acknowledges the blessings that the LORD was capable of bestowing on Isaac, Abimelech doesn’t seek the LORD but a promise from Isaac.

Abimelech is correct in stating to Isaac that we have not touched you. But considering that the Philistine shepherds contended over two wells that Isaac re-dug, Abimelech’s claim that the Philistines have done nothing but good  to Isaac is simple untrue.

Then he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they arose early and exchanged oaths; then Isaac sent them away and they departed from him in peace. Genesis 26: 30-31

According to the mid-eastern custom of hospitality, Isaac had a meal prepared for his guests. Since Isaac was entertaining a king, his advisor and the commander of his army, he had a feast prepared. Early in the morning Isaac’s guests arose, exchanged oaths and parted in peace.

When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 16:7

 Now it came about on the same day, that Isaac’s servants came in and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” So he called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. Genesis 26:32-33                                                                                    

Shibah means “oath” or “seven”. Beersheba means the “well of the oath,” or “well of seven.” Abraham had entered into a compact with Abimelech and said to him, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well” (Genesis 21:30). After re-opening it, Isaac gave it the same name.

When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis 26:34-35

When Esau was forty years old, the same age that his father Isaac had married his mother Rebekah , Esau married two Canaanite women. Esau’s grandfather Abraham had been insistent that his servant not get a wife for Isaac from among the Canaanites but from his own relatives. Isaac’s favorite but wayward son brought no less than two idolatrous wives among them—an additional proof that Esau neither desired the blessing nor dreaded the curse of God. Esau, who despised his birthright, also intentionally dishonored his grandfather and father’s wishes not to intermarry with idolaters

Genesis 25 – Abraham Left Everything that He Owned to Isaac!

08 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by in Genesis

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

The details of Abraham’s death are recorded, as well as the accounts of the family lines of his sons Ishmael and Isaac. Isaac’s wife became pregnant with twins.

Abraham had taken another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah. Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Ashurites, the Letushites and the Leummites. The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east. Genesis 25:1-6

Keturah was the woman whom Abraham, the patriarch of the Israelites, married after the death of his wife, Sarah. Keturah bore Abraham six sons.Keturah is referred to at different times as either Abraham’s wife in Genesis 25:1 or Abraham’s concubine in 1 Chronicles 1:32. While Abraham left everything to Isaac, he made grants to his sons by his concubine during his lifetime, and sent them east away from Isaac.

One of the sons of Keturah was Midian, the father of the Midianites. Some of the descendants of Keturah went to Persia while others scattered into Assyria.

Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD. Isaiah 60:6

This prophecy from Isaiah speaks of the descendants of Abraham and Ketura. Midian was Keturah’s son and both Sheba and Ephah were her grandsons. Bearing gifts of gold and incense, those from Sheba would proclaim the praise of the LORD. It is interesting that the Magi, who are also known as the “Wise Men,” brought gifts of gold and frankincense to the newborn Messiah. According to Matthew 2:3, the presence of their great caravan caused a great disturbance in Jerusalem and like the sons of Ketura, they came from the east with many camels. The visit of the Magi may have been the fulfillment of Isaiah 60:6.

Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi. Genesis 25:7-11

Abraham lived 175 years. He lived seventy-five years after Isaac’s birth and thirty-eight years after Sarah’s death. There is no record of any of his sons through Keturah attending his burial.

This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s slave, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham.

These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa,  Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps. Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt, as you go toward Ashur. And they lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them. Genesis 25:12-18

God is faithful to fulfill his promises and the prophetic word of the LORD is sure to come to pass. In Genesis 21:14 God made the following promise to Abraham: And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. The twelve sons of Ishmael became the twelve tribes that comprise the Arab nation. According to Genesis 16:12, Ishmael was prophesied to be, “… a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.” Genesis 25:18 records that Ishmael’s descendants lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them. As a wild donkey is accustomed to live, and run, and range about the wilderness, so the Arabic peoples were nomadic and many Bedouins still exist today.

This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Genesis 25:19-20

As recorded in the first four verses of Genesis 24, Abraham had his senior servant swear an oath that he would not get a wife for his son Isaac from the daughters of the Canaanites but would travel to the country of Abraham’s own relatives to get a wife for his son. This was to insure that the lineage that would produce the Messiah would descend from the blessed line of Shem and not the cursed line of Ham.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lord answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. Genesis 25:21

Although Rebekah had been barren for 20 years, Isaac did not do as Abraham his father did and take a second wife to have children by her. Instead, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife and the LORD answered his prayer.

The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” Genesis 25:22-23

Within Rebekah’s womb were two sons from whom two nations would descend. From Esau, the first born or older son, the Edomites would arise. From Jacob, the younger son, the Israelites would emerge. These nations would be comprised of two different types of people separate and distinct from one another. The Edomites and the Israelites would not only differ physically, but in their lifestyle, locale, and most importantly, in their religious practices.

The prophecy stating that one people will be stronger than the other people initially spoke of the Edomites, the posterity of Esau. They were a very powerful people and had a succession of princes and kings, while the Hebrews, the posterity of Jacob, were slaves in Egypt. But when the nation of Israel was birthed out of the furnace of affliction in Egypt and took possession of the Promised Land, the Israelites became the stronger of the two nations.

It is recorded in 2 Samuel 8:14 that the older (the descendants of Esau or the Edomites), did serve the younger (the descendants of Jacob or Israelites) during the time of King David’s reign:

He put garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subject to David. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.

There is a time spoken by the prophet Obadiah when the descendents of Esau will totally be destroyed by the offspring of Jacob:

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame; Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esau.” The LORD has spoken. Obadiah 1:17-18

The great and terrible “Day of the LORD” will be a great day of victory for Israel and a terrible day of calamity for the posterity of Esau.

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them. Genesis 25:24-26

The first born son of Isaac and Rebekah was either ruddy in complexion and covered with hair, or covered with red hair. They named him Esau which means, “hairy.” His wild appearance may have been an indication of the coarseness of his character and roughness of his nature.

His fraternal twin brother Jacob emerged from his mother’s womb grasping the firstborn son’s heel. Jacob is the English translation of the Hebrew name, Yacob.  Jacob means “heel holder” or “supplanter.” Jacob’s name both denotes his character and was prophetic. Jacob was to be a usurper eventually not only taking the “right of the firstborn” but also Esau’s blessing by treachery.

 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Genesis 25:27-28

Esau was a hunter, like two notorious hunters in the Bible who lived before him.

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” Genesis 10:9

Nimrod is traditionally considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. Nimrod is described as a “mighty hunter before the LORD.” This description implies ruthlessness and a lust for power. Nimrod is closely associated with the Hebrew word meaning “rebel.”

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. Genesis 21:20

Ishmael became an archer. Ishmael became skilled in the use of the bow and arrow for hunting, for protection against wild beasts and in waging warfare. All Arabs, following Mohammed’s example, claim descent from Ishmael. Ishmael’s descendants are Muslims who seek the annihilation of the descendants of Jacob.

Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. Psalm 91:3

Keep me safe from the traps set by evildoers, from the snares they have laid for me. Psalm 141:9

Hunters often use traps and snares to capture their prey as do evil men who look to ensnare godly men. Nimrod, Ishmael and Esau were hunters which symbolized their wild and ungodly natures. Their power and ability was in the arm of flesh and they opposed the things and people of God.

Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau because Esau was a hunter who loved the outdoors. Jacob, on the other hand, was content to stay at home among the tents and was loved by his mother Rebekah.

Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) Genesis 25:29-30

Esau was also called Edom which means red. Esau’s descendents were called the Edomites. Esau, who was an outdoorsman and walked in the flesh, was not merely hungry. He was famished – desperately hungry. Satisfying his fleshy desire was not to be postponed but immediately satisfied.

Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright. Genesis 25:31-34

The right of the firstborn to a double portion of the inheritance and a leadership position in the family when the father passes was Esau’s by birth but Jacob’s by promise. It entailed more than material blessings. The birthright had an important spiritual significance as well. The Messiah would descend from Isaac’s son who held the birthright. Jacob who now had the birthright would also insure that the future possession of the land of Canaan would be by his children’s children.

There is another account of two sons and the division of their father’s inheritance that is found in the New Testament. It is the parable of the prodigal son. Why did the prodigal return? It was because he was hungry. But why was he hungry?  It was due to a famine in the land. The sovereign LORD caused the famine. Why was Esau famished? Although he was a skilled hunter, the LORD prevented him from finding any game.

The prodigal responded to his hunger in humility and repented.  While Esau cared more about filling his belly than fulfilling the responsibilities of the firstborn son. The LORD knew that Esau was carnally minded and unworthy to receive the birthright.

Although Jacob was manipulative and deceitful, he believed in God’s promises to Abraham. Jacob also was willing to also take on the responsibilities that the birthright entailed. These responsibilities included the patriarch to provide for and to protect the family as well as teach his children the ways of the LORD.  

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

Jacob would eventually have to endure many years of hardship and testing because of his manipulative actions and deceitfulness. Eventually the LORD would not only change Jacob’s name but his character.

Esau refused to take on the responsibilities of the first born and treated his birthright with disdain. That is why Paul writing to the church at Rome reminds that God proclaimed, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Romans 9:13 b

The Servant of Abraham Was Sent Back to Get a Wife for Isaac

02 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by in Genesis

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Genesis 24 tells the account of the servant of Abraham who was sent back to Abraham’s relatives to get a wife for Isaac. Rebekah had a servant’s heart.

Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” Genesis 24:1-4

 The name of Abram’s chief servant and steward of his house was revealed in Genesis chapter 15.

But Abram said, “Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” Genesis 15:2

Most commentators agree that the senior servant referred to in Genesis chapter 24 was most probably Eliezer whose name means, “God is help”. I believe the reason that Abraham’s senior servant is not named at this point, is the emphasis of this chapter of the Bible is on the nature of servanthood and obedience. A true servant is not serving for personal recognition but serves in humility and with a willing heart. 

The act of Abraham having his servant place his hand under his thigh was an acknowledgement that the promised Messiah would come from the seed of Abraham. The servant swore an oath that Isaac’s wife would be taken from the blessed line of Shem and not the cursed line of Ham.

The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”

“Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said.“The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. Genesis 24:5-9

Yahweh, the God of heaven and earth, made a covenant with Abraham and promised the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants. Isaac was to remain in the Promised Land even if a woman from Abraham’s family would be unwilling to return with his servant. The angel of the LORD, the pre-incarnate Messiah, would assure that Abraham’s servant would complete his journey to the town of Nahor. This town was named after Abraham’s grandfather.

Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. Genesis 24:10-11

The journey from the south of the land of Canaan to Haran, where Abraham’s family had settled, was a distance of approximately 700 miles. Camels can cover 25-30 miles per day carrying a load of up to 300 pounds. It probably took at least a month for the journey. Now, outside of town as the cool of the evening approached, the ten camels knelt by the well.

Then he prayed, “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”  Genesis 24:12-14

Abraham’s servant had been with his master for many years and had witnessed the great blessings, favor and wealth the LORD had bestowed on Abraham. But far from being envious of his master, his servant entreats the LORD to be gracious to Abraham and grant him success in obtaining a wife for Isaac. To be sure that she would be the one that the LORD chose for Isaac, the servant asks for a sign from the LORD.

Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. Genesis 24:15-16

Rebekah was the daughter of Abraham’s nephew Bethuel and the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor.

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

Abraham sent his servant to get a wife for his son Isaac from his own relatives. Before his servant had finished praying, Abraham’s great niece Rebekah came out with her jar to draw water from the well. Not only was she from Shem’s line, she was pure and beautiful.

The servant hurried to meet her and said, “Please give me a little water from your jar.”

“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.

After she had given him a drink, she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.”So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful. Genesis 24:17-21

Rebekah waters a camel

A camel can drink up to 20 gallons of water at one time. Since water weighs more than eight pounds per gallon, it was unlikely that Rebekah’s water jar held more than three gallons of water. She would have had to make at least six or more trips to the well and back for each camel. Watering ten camels would entail at least sixty round trips to the well. If it only took three minutes to fill the jar, walk to the trough, pour out the water and return to the well – it would have taken Rebekah at least three hours to water the camels. This indeed was a miraculous sign and a demonstration that indeed, Rebekah also had a servant’s heart.

When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. Then he asked, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

She answered him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” And she added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”

Then the man bowed down and worshiped the Lord, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.” Genesis 24:22-27

Rebekah was rewarded handsomely for her act of servitude. The gold nose ring weighed a beka which was ½ a shekel or equivalent to an ounce of gold. The two gold bracelets weighed a total of ten shekels or four ounces of gold. Then after enduring an arduous month’s trek of 700 miles by camel, Abraham’s servant praised the LORD for success in his journey that led to house of his master’s relatives.

The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring. As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and had heard Rebekah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.“Come, you who are blessed by the Lord,” he said. “Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.” Genesis 24:28-31

Laban was impressed by the expensive gifts given to Rebekah. Five ounces of gold in today’s market would be worth several thousands of dollars. Laban called this seemingly wealthy man traveling in a caravan of ten camels, “… blessed by the LORD.”

So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet. Then food was set before him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” Genesis 24:32-33a

Being a diligent faithful servant, who had his master’s interest at heart, he preferred to deliver his message and explain the purpose of journey to his necessary food.

“Then tell us,” Laban said.

So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’

“Then I asked my master, ‘What if the woman will not come back with me?’

“He replied, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked faithfully, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father’s family. You will be released from my oath if, when you go to my clan, they refuse to give her to you—then you will be released from my oath.’

“When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar,”and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’

“Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’

“She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

“I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

“She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’

“Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,and I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.” Genesis 24:33b-49

Abraham’s servant recounts the entire scenario to his audience. He begins with the charge his master had given him and the purpose of his venture. Then he continues by letting them know the divine favor he had received from the LORD. Now that they know the entire picture, he awaits their reply.

Laban and Bethuel answered, “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.” Genesis 24:50-51

Both Rebekah’s brother Laban and her father Bethuel acknowledged that it was the LORD’s will for her to marry Abraham’s son.

When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. Genesis 24:52-54a

The desire of Abraham’s servant was to fulfill his master’s wishes with the help and guidance of the LORD. After receiving the approval for Rebekah to become Isaac’s wife, the first thing he did was to worship the LORD in thanksgiving. Then he paid Rebekah’s family a lavish bridal price.

When they got up the next morning, he said, “Send me on my way to my master.”

But her brother and her mother replied, “Let the young woman remain with us ten days or so; then you may go.”

But he said to them, “Do not detain me, now that the Lord has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master.”

Then they said, “Let’s call the young woman and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”

“I will go,” she said. Genesis 24:54b-58

Rebekah did not hesitate but was willing to immediately fulfill God’s calling for her life. She, like Abraham, was willing to leave her family and her country and dwell in a land far off.

So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the cities of their enemies.”

Then Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left. Genesis 24:59-61

The family’s blessing upon Rebekah was prophetic. It was literally fulfilled when the twelve tribes of Israel took possession of the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua.

Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”

“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.

Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. Genesis 24:62-67

Isaac went out to take the advantage of a silent evening, and a solitary place, for meditation and prayer. When he looked up, he saw Rebekah who was not only outwardly very beautiful but who had the willing and obedient heart of a servant. So she became his wife and he loved her.

In Genesis chapter 22 according to the command of the LORD, Abraham was willing to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham, who was well over 100 years old, could not have forced Isaac to be bound and laid upon the altar. Isaac willingly laid down his life. Even if it meant that he had to die, Isaac submitted his will to the will of his father. In this is prophetic picture of the coming Messiah, Father Abraham typified God the Father, while Isaac foreshadowed the sacrifice of God the Son.

Abraham’s servant sojourned from the Promised Land to the country of Abraham’s relatives to get a bride for Isaac. Rebekah was chosen because she willingly drew water from a well. This scene is reminiscent of the account of the woman at the well in John chapter 4.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans).

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:7-14

The Holy Spirit is the “living water” who regenerates those who have placed their trust in the finished work of Messiah on the cross. Abraham’s servant, who was sent by Father Abraham to get a bride for his son Isaac, typifies the Holy Spirit who came down from heaven to indwell and prepare the Bride of Christ. As Rebekah was chosen by the LORD to marry Isaac, the Bride of Christ is betrothed to God’s Son according to the Father’s will. Rebekah, the beautiful virgin who was obedient to the LORD’s calling for her life, pictures the spotless bride of Christ. Isaac loved his wife. So, in much greater measure, does Christ love His bride.

Abraham is Told to Offer His Son Isaac as a Burnt Offering!

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by in Genesis

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

The LORD tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. This event is a prophetic picture of the sacrifice of God’s Son.

GENESIS CHAPTER 22

Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” Genesis 22:1-2

How much time later is not clearly expressed in the Scriptures. In the previous chapter we are told that Isaac had been weaned. His mother Sarah gave birth to him when she was ninety years old. Isaac may have been 3-5 years old at that time. Genesis 21 also records that Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Some paintings portray Isaac as being just a boy at the time Abraham was called by God to offer up his son as a sacrifice. But this is very unlikely to be true. In one trip, a mere boy would not be able to climb up a mountain carrying a load of wood sufficient to fuel a fire large enough to consume a burnt offering. Abram who had lived in Ur of the Chaldeans for 75 years is recorded to have stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. If Abraham only dwelled in the land of the Philistines for 10 years, Isaac would have been at least 13-15 years old.

Sarah who gave birth at ninety, according to Genesis 23:2, was a hundred and twenty-seven years old when she died. Therefore it is possible that Isaac may have been a man in his thirties when he carried the wood for the burnt offering up the mountain. One thing we know for sure, Isaac was definitely not a child.

God told Abraham to take his “only son” Isaac to the region of Moriah. Yet we know that Abraham had another son Ishamael at that time. When Ishmael and Hagar were sent away it was clear that Ishmael was not to be the rightful heir, but it is also clear that Ishmael would remain Abraham’s son. God said, “Nevertheless, I will make the slave girl’s son into a nation, since he, too, is your offspring” (Genesis 21:13). Ishmael, though loved by Abraham and an offspring from his body, was not the promised heir. Isaac alone was the heir. He was the “only son” of the promise. Father Abraham was told to take his “only son” whom he loved and sacrifice him on a mountain in the region of Moriah.

Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. Genesis 22:3

Abraham lost no time in obeying God’s command. Early the very next morning he arose and made the necessary preparations for the trip. There would be little brush at the top of a mountain, so Abraham needed to bring the wood with him. Although he had servants, Abraham cut the wood himself because this was to be a personal act of sacrifice. He took two of his servants along with him and his son on the journey.

On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. Deuteronomy 17:6

Two is the number of witness and testimony. Abraham’s servants would serve as witnesses to his faithfulness to obey the LORD.

According to Torah, the burnt offering was an obligation but could also be a voluntary offering. The animal to be offered up was to be a male without defect. When offered by an individual, the person was to lay his hand on the head of the animal as an act of symbolically transferring his sins to the animal. The burnt offering was an offering for atonement.
With one swift cut across the throat, the animal was killed and the blood poured out into a basin. The carcass was flayed and the then the body cut into pieces. The offering was totally consumed by fire and regarded as ascending up to God. The burnt offering represented total submission and commitment to God.

On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” Genesis 22:4-5

It took three days to reach the mountain of sacrifice. Abraham did not lift up his eyes until the third day. During the course of this journey Abraham grieved and was downcast in his spirit knowing that his beloved son was supposed to be sacrificed. Yet, Abraham told his servants that he after Isaac had worshipped and the sacrifice had been offered, that they both would return.

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Genesis 22:6-7

Abraham did not place the wood for the burnt offering in Isaac’s arms, but placed it on his son Isaac’s shoulders. As they he walked up the mountain Isaac asked his father, “Where is the lamb?” This is a prophetic picture of God’s only Son whom the he dearly loved bearing the cross for our sins.

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. Genesis 22:8

Abraham declared that God himself will provide (future tense) the lamb that would serve as an atonement offering. Two thousand years later John identifies the promised lamb as God himself.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Genesis 22:9

Abraham who was well over 100 years old could not have forced Isaac to be bound and laid upon the altar. Isaac willingly laid down his life. Even if it meant that he had to die, Isaac submitted his will to the will of his father. This is another powerful prophetic picture of the coming Messiah.

Jesus said in Luke 22:42, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Jesus submitted to the Father’s will and humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8b).

Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

“Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:10-12

Abraham stopped

Although it was the angel of the LORD who called out to Abraham from heaven, he said that I know you fear God because you have not withheld your son from “me”. It was God who told Abraham to make the sacrifice, yet the angel of the LORD said that you have not withheld your son from me. This is another instance of the appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ as the angel of the LORD.

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” Genesis 22:13-14

The Book of Hebrews explains the reason that Abraham was able to declare to his two servants who were to wait for him, “We will worship and then we will come back to you”:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death. Hebrews 11:17-19

Figuratively speaking, Abraham received Isaac back from the dead. The testing of Abraham and the submission of Isaac is a prophetic picture of the future atoning death and resurrection of the Messiah.

Abraham declared that God himself will provide the lamb for the sacrifice. But it was a ram, and not a lamb, that was sacrificed that day it as a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham called that place, “The LORD Will Provide.” There is archaeological evidence to support the notion that the place of the crucifixion of Jesus was at the summit of Mt. Moriah, probably near the present-day Damascus Gate and the Garden Tomb. The crucifixion of Christ on Mt. Moriah fulfilled the promise that “On the mountain of the LORD it (the final sacrifice for sin) will be provided.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD by fire.’” Leviticus 23:23-25

This holiday, The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah), is popularly known as Rosh Hashanah meaning the “Head of the Year” or Jewish New Year. According to the ceremonial calendar, it is the first day of the seventh month. Although the Jewish exiles returned from Babylon to the Promised Land on the first day of the fifth month (Ezra 7:9), they gathered together on Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem on the first day of the seventh month (Nehemiah 7:73). At that time they heard the words of the Torah/Law translated and explained to them by Ezra and the Levites. After living for seventy years as an enslaved people, finally Jewish society was to again be governed by the commandments, regulations and ordinances of Mosaic Law. Therefore, the Jewish Civil Calendar commences on the first day the seventh month on the Hebrew Calendar. Much the same way in our culture, though January marks the first month of the year, some businesses and government agencies calculate the fiscal year beginning in April.

The liturgy in synagogues around the world not only includes the reading of the same biblical accounts on each Sabbath, but the same passages are read each year on each of the Festivals of the LORD. On Shavuot (The Feast of Weeks/Day of Firstfruits), the Book of Ruth is read because it concerns the harvest. On Rosh Hashanah, the Binding of Isaac is the Torah passage that is read in every synagogue throughout the world because it concerns a ram’s horn: Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns (Genesis 22:13a).

When the shofar sounds in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah, it announces the raising of Isaac from the dead (figuratively speaking, Abraham did receive his son back from death). The Babylonian captivity lasted seventy years. The Jews that returned to the Promised Land had been dead as a nation for a lifetime (three score and ten years). When they returned on the Feast of Trumpets, the sound of the shofar blast announced the resurrection of a nation.

LDCLogo

At the New Moon festivals and appointed feasts, trumpets were sounded. According to God’s command (Numbers 10:2), two silver trumpets were to be fashioned. They were to be used for calling the community together and for announcing that the camps set out.

On the Feast of Trumpets, which occurs on the first day of the seventh month (a New Moon Festival), both silver trumpets are blown which announces that the whole camp gather together in the presence of the LORD and the shofar is blown which is a reminder of the resurrection of the dead.

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed– in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1Corinthians 15:50-54

According to the Law of Moses, trumpets are sounded to gather God’s people into His presence. They were sounded to announce the setting out of the camps as each of the Israelite tribes followed the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night. Trumpets herald the approaching of a king. They are sounded when a battle is to take place.

According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1Thessalonians 4:15-18

At the Feast of Trumpets, God’s elect will be translated in the blinking of an eye and gathered into His presence to be forever with the Lord.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”

Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba. Genesis 22:15-19

Abraham which means “Father of Many” would be the patriarch of numerous natural children through both Ishmael (the Arabic tribes), as well as through Isaac (the tribes of Israel). Abraham is not only the father of many natural children, but also the father of many spiritual children who by faith have undergone the circumcision of their hearts (Romans 4:11-12).

Matthew chapter one and verse one reveals how all nations on earth will be blessed through the offspring of Abraham: This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham. Jesus the Messiah who is the seed of Abraham blesses the elect of God from all nations under the heavens. Born-again believers in Messiah are blessed with forgiveness of sins and eternal life, with love, joy and peace, with grace and mercy, and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

Genesis Ch. 21 – Sarah Bore Isaac to Abraham in Her Old Age

02 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Genesis

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Genesis 21:1-2

Prior to the judgment by fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the LORD had appeared to Abraham and promised that Sarah would bear him a son. Sarah who was listening to the conversation at the entrance to their tent had laughed to herself in disbelief. In response, the LORD exclaimed: “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son.” Genesis 18:14

Since God is omnipotent, He possesses unlimited power and authority. Since God is omniscient, He possesses total knowledge and wisdom.

“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.” Job 12:13

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19

Nothing is too hard for the LORD. God is all-powerful, all-knowing and all-wise and He watches over His word to perform it. His promises are yea and amen. The LORD did for Sarah what He promised to do. Although she was beyond child-bearing age, by God’s grace she miraculously became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age.

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

The miraculous birth of a son born to Abraham by Sarah, who was past child-bearing age, foreshadowed the miraculous birth of Messiah who would be born to a virgin.

Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Genesis 21:3-4

The significance of a name was particularly true in Bible times. In both Old and New Testaments names were used to reflect personal experience, express character and may be prophetic. Abraham gave his son the Hebrew name, “Yitzchak” which is translated as “Isaac” in English. Yitzchak means laughter. The miraculous son of the promise was circumcised on the eighth day in obedience to the covenant that the LORD made with Abraham.

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. Luke 2:21

The incarnate Son of God was named Yeshua which means salvation. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day.

“You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.” Hebrews 1:9

Isaac, who was the son of the promise made to Abraham, was conceived miraculously, circumcised on the eighth day and was named laughter. Isaac prefigured Jesus who was the promised Son of David, miraculously conceived, circumcised on the eighth day and anointed with the oil of joy.

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” Genesis 21:5-7

By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore. Hebrews 11:11-12

Abraham’s faith was in God’s promise and in God’s provision. Abraham believed God when He promised him a son. Abraham’s faith was faith in God, in God’s promise, and in God’s ability to provide that which He promised.

The great cloud of witnesses of Hebrew’s chapter eleven were those, among other exploits, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Hebrews 11:33-34

Believers in Messiah Jesus are not only saved by grace through faith, but also receive God’s other gracious promises and spiritual empowerment through faith as well.

Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham. Galatians 3:7

Abraham believed God’s word and promise and therefore was accepted of God as a righteous man. As Abraham was justified by his faith, so those who place their trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross are justified by faith and are the spiritual seed of Abraham.

The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” Genesis 21:8-10

Sarah had finished nursing Isaac. He may have been anywhere from two to five years old. In Eastern countries this is a festive occasion. The newly weaned child is formally brought before the assembled relatives and friends, to partake of their first whole foods. Instead of celebrating, Ishmael mocked Isaac. The birth of Isaac has made a great change in the position of Ishmael. Now at the age of at least fifteen years, he was no longer the center of attention. Ishmael may have been bitter and jealous of his half-brother. Sarah was so enraged by Ishmael’s behavior that she told Abraham to cast out both Ishmael and his mother. This act would formally disinherit Ishmael so that Ishmael would not share in the family’s inheritance.

The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring.” Genesis 21:11-13

Abraham loved Ishmael and was greatly distressed knowing that Ishmael would no longer be part of his household. God tells Abraham to heed what Sarah has demanded and reminds Abraham that Isaac is the son of the promise. The LORD comforts Abraham in his distress by reminding him of the blessing that was already promised to Abraham in Genesis 17:20:

And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. Genesis 21:14

Abraham gave Hagar some food and water for her and the boy. Abraham set these provisions on her shoulders. He did not give her a donkey, so she had to walk. Although they were to be wanderers in the desert, Abraham did not give Hagar and her son any sheep, goats or cattle to provide milk and meat for her and Ishmael. The flocks and herds were part of Isaac’s inheritance and Ishmael was not to share in his inheritance.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. Then she went off and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there nearby, she began to sob.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”                                Genesis 21:15-18                            

When Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael she began to despise her mistress and was mistreated by Sarai. At that time, Hagar fled into the desert and the angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert. The angel of the LORD commanded that Hagar return to her mistress and submit to her. Now a decade and a half later, Hagar is sobbing in the desert and the angel of God calls to her from heaven. The angel of God declares that God has heard her son crying. Then the angel of God commands that Hagar take her son by the hand and that he, the angel of God, will make Ishmael into a great nation. The angel of the LORD and the angel of God are synonymous titles of the pre-incarnate Jesus.

Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. Genesis 21:19

Hagar and her son were in vital need of water and could have died of hydration in the scorching heat of the desert sun. But God intervened and opened her eyes to see the well of water that was already within her reach.

When Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman who came to draw water from a well in Sychar, he proclaimed: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Just as Hagar was an outcast wandering in the burning desert wilderness, so is sinful man separated from a Holy God and on the downward path to hell. Just as the well of natural water was available to Hagar once her eyes were opened, so is the spiritual water that springs up to eternal life within the reach of anyone whose eyes are opened and calls on the name of the LORD.

God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. Genesis 21:20

Ishmael grew up under the protection of God and settled in the wilderness of Paran, which is present day northern Saudi Arabia. The LORD promised to make Ishmael the patriarch of 12 tribes and therefore watched over Ishmael as he grew into manhood. Ishmael became an archer. Ishmael became skilled in the use of the bow and arrow for hunting, for protection against wild beasts and in waging warfare.

According to Genesis 16:12, Ishmael was prophesied to be, “… a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”

Two other notable biblical characters were also known to be hunters:

He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” Genesis 10:9

In Hebrew and Christian tradition, Nimrod is traditionally considered the leader of those who built the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. Nimrod is described as a “mighty hunter before the LORD.” This description implies ruthlessness and a lust for power. Nimrod is closely associated with the Hebrew word meaning “rebel.”

So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. Genesis 25:27

Esau despised his birthright.Paul writing to the church at Rome reminds that God proclaimed, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Romans 9:13 b

These hunters were prideful, self-centered and violent men whose offspring were enemies of God’s people.

While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. Genesis 21:21

Nimrod’s wife was Semiramis who was noted for her beauty and gross immorality and licentiousness. Ishmael’s wife was from Egypt which was a land of many gods and full of idolatry. Esau, who was the firstborn son of Isaac and Rebecca, married two women at the same time who were Canaanites. These hunters relied on their own abilities and strength. In their pride, they rebelled against the Creator and all married pagan wives.

At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you.” Abraham said, “I swear it.” Genesis 21:22-24

Abraham and Sarah had settled in Gerar which was in Philistine territory for a while. Abraham had deceived Abimelech into believing that Sarah was unmarried, therefore Abimelech took Sarah as his wife. God had come to Abimelech in a dream and said that Abimelech was as good as dead because he took Sarah who was married as his wife. This Philistine king was so terrified that he not only returned Sarah to Abraham, but brought sheep and cattle and male and female slaves and gave them to Abraham. Out of the fear of God, Abimelech wanted to be assured that Abraham would never again deal falsely with him or his children.

Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized. But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.” Genesis 21:25-26

Gerar was an ancient town near the Negev. Abraham had dug a well in the Negev. A ready water supply in a desert region is essential and of great value. Abraham wanted his well returned otherwise his flocks and herds would have little chance for survival.

So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, and Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”

He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”

So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there. Genesis 21:27-31

The treaty site was literally called, “the well of the seven.” The word “Beer” signifies a well while the word “sheba” means seven. This location would be significant later on when Israel possessed the Promised Land. “From Dan to Beersheba” is a biblical phrase used nine times in the Hebrew Bible to refer to the settled areas of the Tribes of Israel between the city of Dan in the north and Beersheba in the south.

After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time. Genesis 21:32-34

The planting of a tamarisk tree by Abraham had a symbolic significance. This long-living hardwood tree represented the strength and faithfulness of Yahweh, the Eternal God who had made a covenant with Abraham. Abraham was in covenant relationship with God and called upon God by using God’s personal holy name. Believers in Messiah are also in covenant relationship with God. In a similar fashion, we are privileged to call upon God by using the personal holy name of God’s Son and our savior, Yeshua.