Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 24:1) And Abraham was old, well stricken in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Abraham was 140 years old at this time, so three years have passed since the death of Sarah. We know this because we were told previously that he was ten years older than Sarah, and because of a scripture still to come that will tell us Isaac is 40 about this time--Genesis 25:20.
(2) And Abraham said to his oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please, put your hand under my thigh, (3) And I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; (4) But you will go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac."
Putting one's hand under another's thigh appears to have been a method of swearing an oath; it was a way of binding by oath the two parties. The person binding himself put his hand under the thigh of the person to whom he was to be bound. The reason the thigh area was chosen likely may have been because that is the part of the body that bore the mark of circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant. The person, in essence, is swearing by God, or in the presence of God, much like one today might put his hand on the Bible. Abraham told his servant what he planned to have him swear, that he would not take a wife for his son Isaac from the Canaanites, his neighbors. The original word for "take" doesn't always mean to actively take, but also means "receive" or "accept". At 40 years of age by this time, Isaac would have been well able to choose his own wife, so whether it was a custom for it to be prearranged or because Isaac would have had great respect for the opinion of the oldest servant of his father's house, either way, Abraham wanted his servant to be pro-active in steering Isaac away from the idolatrous and wicked Canaanites and finding him a wife from his own people.
(5) And the servant said to him, "Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land; must I take your son back to the land from which you came?"
It certainly appears that the servant is taking this oath seriously as he seems to be carefully considering all angles before he swears. Suppose he finds the right woman, but she will not leave her homeland. Should the servant bring Isaac to her?
(6) And Abraham said to him, "Beware that you do not take my son back there. (7) The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, 'To your descendants will I give this land,' He will send His angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there. (8) And if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be clear from this oath; only do not take my son back there."
Abraham made it clear that the servant was not to take Isaac away from this land. God took Abraham from his homeland to this land, and told him He would give this new land to his descendants. Abraham is very certain that this is where Isaac must stay. He is so certain that he has faith that God Himself will guide the servant in finding the wife. However, for the servant's benefit, so that he may feel comfortable in swearing this oath, he told the servant that if he could not convince the woman to come back to this land, then the servant would be released from the oath.
(9) And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning that matter.
Once the servant had asked his questions and had a complete understanding of what he was being asked to swear to and do, he put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swore to him concerning the matter of finding a wife for Isaac.
(10) And the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, for all his master's goods were in his hand; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. (11) And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at evening time, the time that women go out to draw water.
I believe the sense of verse 10 is that as steward of Abraham's house, the servant had access to all of Abraham's goods, and therefore he was free to take ten camels, and it was his own decision to take them, and he then departed for the city of Nahor, Abraham's brother. When he reached his destination, he made his camels lie down beside a well outside the city. Whether at this point it was by design or not, it was in the evening at the time that women came to draw water.
(12) And he said, "O LORD God of my master Abraham, please send me good speed this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham."
The servant prayed to God for favor in his endeavor, and was asking this for his master Abraham's benefit. The words translated as "good speed" are not translated that way anywhere else in the Bible, so I had difficulty determining their exact meaning, but obviously he asked for success in his mission, or asked that it happen quickly and decisively. Perhaps "Godspeed" is the better translation; he asked that God prosper or bring him good fortune that day, but again, it was Abraham's good fortune for which he prayed.
(13) "Behold, I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water. (14) And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she shall say, 'Drink, and I will give your camels drink also', let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that You have shown kindness to my master."
I have to wonder if this prayer and request for a sign from God was totally the servant's, or if Abraham had had any part of it, recalling that it was Abraham who first assured the servant that God would send His angel before the servant to find a wife for Isaac. Regardless the servant does appear to be a God-fearing man who is looking for assurance from God that he has found the right wife for his master's son.
(15) And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher on her shoulder. (16) And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, no man had known her; and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
How awesome that God began to answer the servant's prayer before he had even completed it! There is a scripture in Isaiah, specifically, Isaiah 65:24, which says, "And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." How wonderful is that? We are given a brief genealogy of Rebekah to show that she was indeed of Abraham's brother's family, and she was a fair unattached maiden. Rebekah came to the well and filled her pitcher, and was apparently coming back from the well.
(17) And the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher." (18) And she said, "Drink, my lord", and she hurried and let down her pitcher to her hand, and gave him a drink. (19) And when she had done giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have done drinking."
The servant apparently watched Rebekah fill her pitcher and as she was leaving the well, then ran to meet her. The sign for which he had prayed could not have been fulfilled until she had water in her pitcher. Rebekah was beautiful to look upon and turned out to be most gracious and considerate, and began to fulfill the requested sign perfectly.
(20) And she hurried and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. (21) And the man, wondering at her, held his peace so as to know whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not.
Rebekah indeed did what she said, and also drew water for the camels. My first thought as I read this scripture was that of course, God had made his journey prosperous! Wouldn't he have known that when the maiden first opened her mouth and said she would water the camels? However, I believe the sense of this scripture is that the servant is in incredulous wonder that things played out exactly as he had asked. He watched until the entire incident was over, and marvelled at how God had worked in this gracious young woman. When you think about it, she could have found it very condescending of this man to ask for water when he was perfectly capable of getting water himself, as he was also at the well. But to be so generous to offer even more than the man had asked was certainly something at which to marvel!
(22) And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; (23) And said, "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please, is there room in your father's house for us to lodge?"
Of course, it makes sense to me now that the servant could still be wondering if this was truly God's sign that this was the wife for Isaac. He did not yet know if she was of Abraham's family (only we knew that, at this point). The servant took out the gold jewelry, but the scripture doesn't say that he gave it to Rebekah yet. With what he has witnessed, he was probably pretty sure this maiden was "the one", but he may have wanted to be certain first before he gave her the jewels. Then again, the jewels may have been a "thank you" for her gracious generosity thus far, even if she wasn't "the one".
(24) And she said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor." (25) Moreover she said to him, "We have both straw and feed enough, and room to lodge in."
Rebekah confirmed that she was indeed of Abraham's family, and she answered the servant's question about whether or not there was room in her father's house for the servant and his entourage to lodge.
(26) And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD. (27) And he said, "Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken my master of His mercy and His truth; I, being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren."
The man bowed and prayed and thanked the Lord for His mercy for Abraham and for putting him, the servant, in the right path of the maiden God had chosen for Isaac.
(28) And the damsel ran and told her mother's household these things.
At this point, Rebekah may only be telling her family that she has invited this man to lodge with them. The fact that she told her mother's household, and not her father's, might be because her father is dead at this time. While wives often had their own tents, and the fact that Bethuel is mentioned later in scripture, might mean her father is still alive, the fact that her brother appears to be the one making decisions, it may be that the Bethuel mentioned later is another brother, named after his father.
(29) And Rebekah had a brother and his name was Laban, and Laban ran out to the man to the well.
Apparently, Rebekah left the servant at the well while she ran home to prepare her family for their guest, as Rebekah's brother, Laban, went back to the well to meet the servant.
(30) And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, "Thus the man spoke to me," that he came to the man; and there he stood by the camels at the well.
Rebekah had told her family what the man had said to her, and seeing the gold jewels, her brother Laban went out to meet the man at the well.
(31) And he said, "Come in, you blessed of the LORD; why do you stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels."
Laban saw the servant as blessed by the Lord. It could be just because he appeared wealthy because of his gifts to Rebekah, and because of the number of attendants and camels he had, but it may be that Rebekah heard the thankful prayer the servant made to God and she relayed that to her brother and the rest of her family. Laban asked the question about why he stayed behind outside, probably just as a courteous invitation to delay no further and come on in, for they were prepared for him and his camels to stay.
(32) And the man came into the house; and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and feed for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
The servant went into the house, but the "he" who gave straw and feed and water to wash the feet of the men must be interpreted to be said of Laban, unless it was "he", the servant, acting on instructions and with provisions given by Laban.
(33) And there was set food before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told about my errand." And he said, "Speak on."
Food was set before the servant, but he wanted to first make clear his purpose in being there. Laban told him to go ahead and tell them.
(34) And he said, "I am Abraham's servant. (35) And the LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, and menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys. (36) And Sarah my master's wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and to him he has given all that he has."
The servant began by telling who he was, and of the great blessings the Lord had given his master, Abraham, and of the son that was born to Abraham, who now owned all that his father had been given of God.
(37) "And my master made me swear, saying, 'You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; (38) But you shall go to my father's house and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.' (39) And I said to my master, 'Perhaps the woman will not follow me.' (40) And he said to me, 'The LORD, before whom I walk, will send His angel with you and prosper your way; and you shall take a wife for my son from my kindred and from my father's house. (41) Then you shall be clear from this oath when you come to my kindred, and if they will not give her to you, you shall be clear from my oath.'"
The servant told Rebekah's family of Abraham's desire for a wife for Isaac from his family, and retold in detail the oath.
(42) "And I came this day to the well and said, 'O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now You do prosper my way in which I go, (43) Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass that when the virgin comes forth to draw water, and I say to her, "Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink," (44) And she says to me, "You both drink, and I will also draw for your camels", let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master's son.' (45) And before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder, and she went down to the well and drew water; and I said to her, 'Let me drink, please.' (46) And she made haste and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, 'Drink, and I will give your camels drink also.' So I drank, and she made the camels drink also."
The servant told Rebekah's family about his prayer for the sign that he had found the right woman for Isaac. Note that he told them that he had said the prayer silently, or in his heart, so it was not possible that Rebekah heard his prayer and decided to play along. He told them how she indeed did do what he had asked in his prayer.
(47) "And I asked her, and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' And she said, 'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him', and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands."
The earring that the servant gave Rebekah might not have been the same kind of earring that we think of today. For one thing, there was only one. While it might have been only one for one ear, since the servant said he put it on her face, it might have been the type of ornament that hung from a lace tied around the head above the ears and centered down the forehead between the eyes and down the ridge of the nose. It could have also been a nosering.
(48) "And I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son. (49) And now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left."
The servant told Rebekah's family how he had thanked the Lord for fulfilling the sign and finding the woman for Isaac, and asked whether or not they would do this kindness for his master (in giving Rebekah in marriage to Isaac) or if he would have to look elsewhere.
(50) Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing comes from the LORD; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. (51) Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the LORD has spoken."
Here is the first time we actually hear from Bethuel in this whole episode. Dr. John Gill points out in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, that the order of the words in the original text is "then answered Laban and Bethuel", and that the word for "answered" is in the singular form, so it may be concluded that Laban gave the answer in the name of Bethuel, who might be an old man who left the management of his family affairs to his son. I would think he might also be dead by this time, and Laban could still be answering in the name of his father, as he was now head of his father's household. As mentioned before, this Bethuel might also be a younger brother named after his father. A few verses later these men seem to be mentioned again as sending "their sister" away, indicating they are her brothers, or if this Bethuel is not a brother and Laban was speaking in his father's name, it does seem that Bethuel the father is gone, and that only sons (brothers to Rebekah) remain in the household.
Regardless of who the men were, brother and father, or both brothers, they realize this thing was entirely the Lord's doing. They couldn't comment for or against, because they saw it as entirely the work of God, so they just told the servant Rebekah was before him (as God had planned) and that he should take her to be Isaac's wife.
(52) And it came to pass, that when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshiped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth. (53) And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother.
When the servant realized that his mission was to be accomplished, he bowed himself to the ground and thanked and worshiped the Lord. He then gave Rebekah more jewels and clothing, and he also gave precious things, or presents, as the word is also translated, to Rebekah's brother and mother. Once again, we read no mention of Rebekah's father, so I have to finally conclude that her father is dead, and the gifts are being given to Laban, as head of the household.
(54) And they did eat and drink, he and the men who were with him, and stayed all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, "Send me away to my master." (55) And her brother and her mother said, "Let the damsel stay with us a few days, at least ten; after that she shall go." (56) And he said to them, "Do not hinder me, since the LORD has prospered my way; send me away so that I may go to my master."
The servant and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night with Rebekah's family. The next morning the servant was ready to depart with Rebekah and return to Abraham and Isaac. Rebekah's brother and mother wanted to spend a few more days with Rebekah before she left, but the servant asked to be hindered no longer as they were all in agreement that this was the work of the Lord.
(57) And they said, "We will call the damsel, and ask her." (58) And they called Rebekah, and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" And she said, "I will go."
I'm sure the family would have liked to spend a little more time with Rebekah as this marriage arrangement came about suddenly, but their delay may have been partly to be able to talk to Rebekah and be sure that she also wanted this marriage. Although marriages were often arranged by the parents in these times, it seems that the parties to be married had a say, as well. If they couldn't spend time with Rebekah to find out how she felt about all this, then they would ask her directly now. She said that she would go with the servant to be married to Isaac.
(59) And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant and his men. (60) And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "You are our sister, you be the mother of thousands of millions, and let your descendants possess the gates of those who hate them."
Rebekah's family then sent her on her way with their blessing. I suppose it is a blessing that any family would want for their own, that they have many children and grandchildren, and that those descendants be successful and powerful and victorious, which was what they were, in essence, saying. Possessing the gate of those who hate them is to have power over them. This may have been a common blessing, but it certainly sounds prophetic. Perhaps they knew of God's promise to Abraham; maybe the servant had told them. Whether it was their unknowing prophetic wish and blessing for Rebekeh, or whether they knew God's full plan and in agreement sent Rebekah with their blessing, the end result was the same. Rebekah left her home to go with the servant back to Abraham and Isaac, to be Isaac's wife.
(61) And Rebekah arose, and her maidens, and they rode on the camels and followed the man; and the servant took Rebekah and went his way. (62) And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai Roi, for he dwelt in the south country. (63) And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening, and he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, the camels were coming.
Lahai Roi is the same place as Beer Lahai Roi, which was where the well was at which the angel met with Hagar when she fled from Sarah. As the camel caravan bringing Rebekah came back home, Isaac had gone out in a field to meditate or perhaps to pray, and saw the camels coming.
(64) And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she got off the camel; (65) For she had said to the servant, "Who is this man who walks in the field to meet us?" And the servant had said, "It is my master." Therefore she took a veil and covered herself.
Apparently when Isaac saw the camels, he started toward them. When Rebekah saw Isaac coming toward them, she asked the servant who he was and the servant replied that it was his master, Isaac. It was after she knew who he was that Rebekah got off her camel, and she covered herself with a veil out of modesty and respect and subjection, as was the custom in those days when a woman met a man.
(66) And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. (67) And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
I'm sure the servant told Isaac the entire story explaining how he knew this was the wife for Isaac. Isaac brought Rebekah to Sarah's tent, which would now be hers, as wives often had separate tents from their husbands. Rebekah became Isaac's wife, and the scripture points out that he really loved her. As a single man, he apparently still suffered from the loss of his mother, but Rebekah was a real comfort to him, just as God intended a marriage partner to be.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. - Ephesians 5:28
And the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a help meet for him." - Genesis 2:18
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be one flesh. - Genesis 2:24
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
The Death and Burial of Sarah
Back to Genesis in my chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 23:1) And Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah. (2) And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Abraham not only came to mourn for Sarah by performing the usual mourning customs of the time, but he also wept for Sarah, indicating he was sincerely saddened by the loss of his wife. Kirjath Arba means "city of Arba", or "city of the four giants". Some of the oldest commentaries speculate that it was so named for a Canaanite, one of the Anakim (a mixed race of giant people), called Arba. He was probably the chief of four brothers who dwelt there. This appears to have been deduced because of later scriptures:
And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba (Arba was a great man among the Anakim). And the land had rest from war. - Joshua 14:15
Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba), and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. - Judges 1:10
Normally, I would not have made such a big study out of the name of the place, but I rather liked one speculation by early commentaries that the place had been named for the four greats, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they were buried there, or for the four great couples, as their wives, Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah were also buried there. But as it would have been named long after the time in which Sarah died, and with the scripture references above, I am now after that study, more inclined to believe the former explanation of the name.
(3) And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, (4) "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me possession of a burial place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
After he finished the customs of mourning, Abraham went about to provide for a burial place for his wife. He, not a native of the place, spoke to the sons or descendants of Heth, whom we learned was the son of Canaan in Genesis 10:15, who were at this time the inhabitants of that part of the land where Abraham now was. Wanting Sarah buried out of his sight would have been simply because death will make even the most lovely, most unpleasant.
(5) And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, (6) "Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choice of our sepulchres; none of us will withhold from you his sepulchre, that you may bury your dead."
Although Abraham called himself a stranger and a sojourner, the inhabitants had a high opinion of him, and gave him his choice of burial places. There was not a man among them who would deny him the use of his sepulchre in which to bury Sarah.
(7) And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the children of Heth. (8) And he communed with them, saying, "If it be your desire that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, (9) That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is at the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth, let him give it to me for a possession of a burial place among you."
Abraham bowed himself out of respect and as was the custom, as he was grateful for their kind offer. He continued communication on the subject, saying if it was their wish to allow him to bury his wife anywhere he chose, then he chose the cave of Machpelah, and asked that they intercede for him with the cave's owner, Ephron. Abraham was not looking for a free gift, but was willing to pay what it was worth.
(10) And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, of all who entered the gate of his city, saying, (11) "No, my lord, hear me, I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you; in the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you; bury your dead."
Ephron answered for himself in the presence of the descendants of Heth, with whom Abraham had spoken. "All who entered the gate" probably means all of the citizens of the city. Ephron offered to give the cave and the field in which it lay to Abraham.
(12) And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. (13) And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "If you will give it, please hear me, I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there."
Again Abraham bowed out of respect and probably gratitude, but he told Ephron that if he would allow Abraham to take the cave and the field, then he would pay for it.
(14) And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, (15) "My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? Therefore bury your dead."
Ephron told Abraham the worth of the land, but asked the rhetorical question about what that trifling amount really mattered, and so to therefore bury his dead.
(16) And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver to Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
Abraham listened and immediately paid Ephron the amount he mentioned, all of this done with the inhabitants, descendants of Heth, as witnesses. Abraham paid in shekels of silver, which were particular weights of silver that he weighed out, and it appears this was a common currency used by merchants of the time.
(17) And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were within all the surrounding borders, were made sure (18) To Abraham as a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
We read a description of the land "made sure" or deeded to Abraham, once again mentioning it was in the presence of the citizens, the descendants of Heth.
(19) And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. (20) And the field and the cave that is in it were made sure to Abraham as a possession of a burial place by the sons of Heth.
Abraham buried Sarah in the cave in the field which he had just purchased from Ephron. As is the way with God and Biblical truths written for our benefit, the words are spoken or written twice to establish them as fact.
...In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. - 2 Corinthians 13:1b
And that Biblical truth is established by at least two more mentions in the Bible, one time by God in His laws in Deuteronomy, specifically Deut. 19:15, and another by Jesus in Matthew 18:16. That surely makes it solidly established!
(Genesis 23:1) And Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah. (2) And Sarah died in Kirjath Arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
Abraham not only came to mourn for Sarah by performing the usual mourning customs of the time, but he also wept for Sarah, indicating he was sincerely saddened by the loss of his wife. Kirjath Arba means "city of Arba", or "city of the four giants". Some of the oldest commentaries speculate that it was so named for a Canaanite, one of the Anakim (a mixed race of giant people), called Arba. He was probably the chief of four brothers who dwelt there. This appears to have been deduced because of later scriptures:
And the name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba (Arba was a great man among the Anakim). And the land had rest from war. - Joshua 14:15
Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba), and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. - Judges 1:10
Normally, I would not have made such a big study out of the name of the place, but I rather liked one speculation by early commentaries that the place had been named for the four greats, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they were buried there, or for the four great couples, as their wives, Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah were also buried there. But as it would have been named long after the time in which Sarah died, and with the scripture references above, I am now after that study, more inclined to believe the former explanation of the name.
(3) And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, (4) "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me possession of a burial place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."
After he finished the customs of mourning, Abraham went about to provide for a burial place for his wife. He, not a native of the place, spoke to the sons or descendants of Heth, whom we learned was the son of Canaan in Genesis 10:15, who were at this time the inhabitants of that part of the land where Abraham now was. Wanting Sarah buried out of his sight would have been simply because death will make even the most lovely, most unpleasant.
(5) And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, (6) "Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choice of our sepulchres; none of us will withhold from you his sepulchre, that you may bury your dead."
Although Abraham called himself a stranger and a sojourner, the inhabitants had a high opinion of him, and gave him his choice of burial places. There was not a man among them who would deny him the use of his sepulchre in which to bury Sarah.
(7) And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the children of Heth. (8) And he communed with them, saying, "If it be your desire that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, (9) That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is at the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth, let him give it to me for a possession of a burial place among you."
Abraham bowed himself out of respect and as was the custom, as he was grateful for their kind offer. He continued communication on the subject, saying if it was their wish to allow him to bury his wife anywhere he chose, then he chose the cave of Machpelah, and asked that they intercede for him with the cave's owner, Ephron. Abraham was not looking for a free gift, but was willing to pay what it was worth.
(10) And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the children of Heth, of all who entered the gate of his city, saying, (11) "No, my lord, hear me, I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you; in the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you; bury your dead."
Ephron answered for himself in the presence of the descendants of Heth, with whom Abraham had spoken. "All who entered the gate" probably means all of the citizens of the city. Ephron offered to give the cave and the field in which it lay to Abraham.
(12) And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. (13) And he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "If you will give it, please hear me, I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there."
Again Abraham bowed out of respect and probably gratitude, but he told Ephron that if he would allow Abraham to take the cave and the field, then he would pay for it.
(14) And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, (15) "My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that between you and me? Therefore bury your dead."
Ephron told Abraham the worth of the land, but asked the rhetorical question about what that trifling amount really mattered, and so to therefore bury his dead.
(16) And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver to Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.
Abraham listened and immediately paid Ephron the amount he mentioned, all of this done with the inhabitants, descendants of Heth, as witnesses. Abraham paid in shekels of silver, which were particular weights of silver that he weighed out, and it appears this was a common currency used by merchants of the time.
(17) And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were within all the surrounding borders, were made sure (18) To Abraham as a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
We read a description of the land "made sure" or deeded to Abraham, once again mentioning it was in the presence of the citizens, the descendants of Heth.
(19) And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. (20) And the field and the cave that is in it were made sure to Abraham as a possession of a burial place by the sons of Heth.
Abraham buried Sarah in the cave in the field which he had just purchased from Ephron. As is the way with God and Biblical truths written for our benefit, the words are spoken or written twice to establish them as fact.
...In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. - 2 Corinthians 13:1b
And that Biblical truth is established by at least two more mentions in the Bible, one time by God in His laws in Deuteronomy, specifically Deut. 19:15, and another by Jesus in Matthew 18:16. That surely makes it solidly established!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
What Does It Mean to Have the Faith of Abraham in Our Day?
I chose to do a chronological Bible study this time. I enjoy it because I get to see when something happened in relation to something else. I get to read a psalm in context when it was written or sung as opposed to as just one in a huge chapter of many psalms. If there are more than one telling of an incident, as in the gospels, I get the full picture of it with each writer's slightly different details. Rather than reading a chronological Bible, I chose this time to use a chronological guide by Skip Andrews. It is this guide that leads me from the story of Abraham to this commentary of it in the New Testament:
(Romans 4:1) What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found?
The fourth chapter of Romans begins with the Apostle Paul asking the question about Abraham. Abraham is the Jews' ancestral father, the founder of their nation, and being the father of all believers, what he has found would be of extreme importance and relevance to the readers of Paul's letter. "As pertaining to the flesh" may mean simply that Abraham was their natural father, but it may be that Paul is asking the question about what Abraham has found with respect to the flesh, as opposed to the spiritual. Because this chronological guide has us beginning in the middle of Paul's thought, we don't get the best understanding. In the strictest chronological sense, Paul's letter didn't occur at the same time as the events in Abraham's life, so for that reason, this has not been my favorite chronological study, but it's different, and different gives a different perspective!
(2) For if Abraham were justified by works, he has something of which to glory, but not before God.
So what has Abraham found? We return to Paul's answer to his question. IF Abraham were justified by his own works, he would have something to boast about, as he was certainly a very faithful and obedient follower of God. But as all men sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), he would have no room to boast before God; therefore he is not justified by his own good works.
(3) For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
Paul refers back to scripture to answer his question. Genesis 15:6 says, "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Because Abraham believed God, and all that goes with that belief, faithfulness and obedience, therefore God counted it as righteousness, although the actions of themselves were not altogether righteous. We certainly read of many cases where Abraham was not altogether righteous, truthful, or completely trusting of God, as no sinful man can be. It is a gift from God that He counted Abraham's belief in Him as righteousness.
(4) Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned as grace but as debt.
If all we had were our own good works to make us righteous before God, then our reward would not be as a gift from God, but would be in payment of a debt. We would be constantly working to keep ourselves out of hell, and we would be sometimes failing.
(5) But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
It must be pointed out that this doesn't mean that the believer does not work at all, but he is not working for his salvation. James will later show in his writing that the believer will naturally do good works because of his salvation in Christ, but he does not do them to be justified before God. The man who does not work for his salvation, but believes in the One who through His grace justifies ungodly sinful men, his faith will be counted as though he was completely righteous before God. What a much easier path God has provided for us! Jesus said that His yoke was easy and His burden light, and that if all who labored and were heavily laden, would come to Him, He would give them rest (Matt. 11:28-30). What a hard and hopeless life it would be to be constantly working, working, working to please God, and knowing that you sometimes failed. However, God provided a way that we could be righteous and justified before Him, by believing in the only One Who can do that for us.
(6) Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works, (7) Saying, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8) Blessed is the man to whom the LORD will not impute sin."
Paul uses an example of David, again someone the reader would greatly esteem as someone to emulate, who said in Psalm 32, which Paul quotes, that a man is blessed to be seen as righteous without working for that righteousness. He is blessed to have the sins which would have prevented him from being seen as righteous, covered and not counted against him.
(9) Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Paul asks the reader to then examine whether this blessedness of God comes only to the circumcised Jews, or to the uncircumcised Gentiles, as well. Paul points out that it has been established that Abraham's faith is what made him righteous.
(10) How then was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Paul asks and then answers that the blessing of righteousness actually came to Abraham while he was uncircumcised.
(11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had still being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them who believe, though they are not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
Abraham was justified first and then as an outward sign and a seal of that righteousness, he was circumcised. It was a seal of the covenant between God and Abraham that Abraham would be the father of all believers, even though they were not circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, as well. God had said that all nations would be blessed in Abraham's seed. Abraham was the physical ancestral father of the Jews, but he was the spiritual father of the Gentiles, because in his seed, specifically in Jesus Christ, the Gentiles could come to be considered righteous children of God.
(12) And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Thus is Abraham the father of that seal of that covenant to not only the circumcised Jews, but also to those who have the faith that Abraham had, even before he was circumcised.
(13) For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The heir of the world is the same, in essence, as the father of many nations, which is what God had promised to Abraham and to his seed. Paul says this was not promised based on Abraham's score of how well he adhered to the law, but was promised through the righteousness counted to him for his faith.
(14) For if they who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, (15) Because the law works wrath, for where no law is there is no transgression.
Paul goes on to explain why it is that the promise could not have been made to Abraham according to the law. If those who work to adhere to the law are the ones who are the heirs, then faith would be of no use, and a promise of God would be unnecessary, because if people achieved the "proper score", they'd achieve their salvation with no special promise of God needed. The law works wrath because its very purpose is to define right and wrong. If a person breaks the law, he is found to be wrong, and judged accordingly. If there is no law, then there is no breaking of the law and no crime to be judged harshly.
(16) Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Therefore it, the promise, is of faith, not by obedience to the law, that it, the promise, is by the grace of God, a merciful gift from God, not as a result of a score on the works card. And this is so that the promise is guaranteed to all, not only to those who adhere to the law (the Jews), but also to those who are heirs because of their faith like Abraham's (the Gentiles). That is not to say that true believers would be lawless, but the law that Paul refers to in these passages is that of circumcision, and he makes it clear that it is not circumcision, or adherence to any law, for that matter, that makes one heir to the promise. It is by faith that he is given this gracious gift of God.
(17) As it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations" in the presence of Him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were;
Paul goes on to qualify what makes Abraham the father of us all from the scripture before this one, and that is because God said it to Abraham. God, who gives life to the dead, gave life to a dead womb. God, who calls things that are not, called someone a father who had no children and whose wife was past the age of possibly having children, as though he already was a father. Abraham believed God who said these impossible things because he knew, or had faith, that He could do the impossible
(18) Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, "So shall your seed be."
Abraham, against all probability, against all apparent and usual grounds for hope, believed in the hope of, or rather, was very hopeful for what was promised him, specifically because that is what God told him.
(19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, now dead (since he was about a hundred years old), nor the deadness of Sarah's womb; (20) He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
This passage pretty well sums up the scripture before it. The reason Abraham was able to believe in hope against hope, was because he had strong faith, and did not look at his personal circumstances, but rather looked to God, giving Him glory, knowing full well that God could do whatever He said He would do.
(22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Because of this great faith in God, this faith of Abraham was accounted to him for righteousness, before there was any circumcision law by which he could be "justified".
(23) Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, (24) But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Verse 22 is actually a quote from Genesis 15:6, "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for righteousness." That was not written for Abraham's sake alone, that he alone might be found righteous before God, but for all of us who believe...... Believe exactly what? This is the important part--what we believe is essential, and Paul sums it up beautifully for us. We believe in God, knowing that He raised Jesus Christ, our Lord, from the dead, knowing that He was delivered up to death as a sacrifice for our sins, not for any of His own, as He was sinless, and that God raised Jesus from the dead that we sinful humans may be justified before God. This is the only belief and faith that makes us justified before God; this is the specific faith that lets us be counted as righteous before God. People today say so casually, "Oh, I believe in God", and "I believe in Jesus." Well, so does Satan!! Believing that either exists is not the specific belief that saves us. We must have the specific faith of Abraham! That God will do what He said and save us, but just as Abraham had to pass the faithfulness test, so must we, in order to be found righteous and given this gift of salvation. Specifically, we must believe and have faith and trust in the One who provided the only one Way through Jesus Christ that we might be found righteous before Him. We must believe that God sacrificed Jesus Christ for our individual sins, and that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that He was raised for us, and as a perfect illustration that we might also be raised, even though we are sinful. We are justified because of Christ.
Abraham believed God; he believed what He said. So must we believe what God says, not what we feel must be right. To believe in a god of our convenience, who does what we think he ought to do, is to believe in a false god. There is only one true God and there is only One Way to Him, whether it is convenient or comfortable to all or not! In this day and age many choose to believe that there are many paths to God; this is absolutely false and DEADLY! To true Christians, believers and followers in the One true Jesus Christ, they see these people as headed for certain eternal death! It IS certain death! So what an unsaved world sees as Christians "pushing their faith" on others is really their maybe-often-sloppy attempt to save the lost people of that world. Because the lost world does not understand what a true Christian knows, its people cannot see the truth of why Christians do what they do. They apply their own worldly feelings and actions, and decide they must be judgmental and bigoted or living in fairy-land.
I know that Christians do not always act in the most loving manner, but for the most part, I believe they are just misunderstood. Let's face it, we know that the largest part of our government is Godless. How else could we allow abortion and sexual immorality, including homosexuality, to be considered right? How could a true follower of Christ really believe that the taking of innocent human life is okay for the convenience of the mother? Some may say that once it was the law of the land, then leaders must uphold the law. But those same leaders do not uphold the laws they don't like, like the Defense of Marriage Act. If true followers of Christ were running this country, there is no way they would be voting to take God out of their political platform and trying to erase Him from the public square. It is very obvious we let Godless people run our country and then we wonder what is going wrong!
It's also obvious that the majority of media, at least what we consider the mainstream media, is Godless. Why else would they glory more in the immorality and violence, and be so biased toward the Godless views of man? Yes, I know they are supposed to be reporting news, and they report what they see, but who could truthfully argue that they don't report the news with a bias? It used to make me so angry about how blatantly biased the media were, but I am beginning to understand that they can't help themselves. They truly cannot understand a Godly perspective, so they attempt to report what they do not understand through their corrupt worldly views. I suppose the same is to be said of our leaders; they honestly don't know any better. After all, the Bible tells us over and over again, there is no wisdom but God's, so Godless leaders are incapable of making Godly moral laws! Godless news people are incapable of reporting the truth of those Godless laws. And the people who vote for Godless leaders likewise can't really know what they are doing. Why would a true follower of Christ intentionally vote for a man who voted on three separate occasions to KILL by neglect fully born ALIVE babies who happened to survive botched abortions? There are so many more reasons for a true Christian to flee from such a leader as the president we as a country have chosen, but to me that one reason is so black and white and blatantly illustrative of just how far we have let ourselves go if we can justify the killing of people!
I'll never forget a call-in listener on ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) with Jay Sekulow when he was fighting against partial birth abortion. The woman used her liberal talking point about how she didn't believe the government had the right to tell a woman what to do with her body. Jay asked her then if she believed the abortion procedure was okay, and proceeded to tell her what they did in a partial birth abortion. She was terribly indignant, and said well, if he was going to put it THAT way, they just couldn't discuss it! THAT was the truth!! But it was too uncomfortable for her to hear. Many times the truth is too difficult, but we are doing a disservice to ourselves and to our country, and certainly in this case, to the millions of lives that could be saved, if we do not take responsibility to simply vote against it, if we did nothing more. But to turn our backs and pretend it's something that it's not... Just think of how Godless leaders take moral issues and give them names the very opposite of what they are. Killing babies becomes "freedom of choice" and homosexual marriage, something God called an abomination, becomes "marriage equality". "Separation of church and state" is an absolute myth, but repeating that mantra over and over again has certainly worked, as people think it is fine and lawful to remove God completely from the public square, and then we wonder why there are so many problems in our schools. If people really understood what "freedom of choice" meant, if it were called the "Brutal Murder of Innocent Babies Act", how many people would then go along with it? Bad laws are purposely given names to make them more palatable. Why hide what you are doing behind deceptive names? If there was nothing wrong with abortion, there would be no reason we couldn't call it what it was and describe it!
Wicked leaders do lead the people to do wicked things. That was stated over and over again with the kings in the Old Testament:
"Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins," - 1 Kings 16:2
The media helps to perpetuate wickedness. Sex and violence and all kinds of sinful behaviors are glorified, and there is a definite liberal bias, as bad laws are usually reported as good, and attempts to change them to more Biblical laws are seen as bad, hateful, and bigoted, because they simply do not understand the Truth. Although leaders and media do help to cause people to sin, the people have no excuse. The Bible tells us they are "without excuse". They know better, but they choose to ignore the truth:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. - Romans 1:18-25 (NKJV)
How is it people cannot see this truth? Because they choose not to see it. God will reveal Himself and His truth to all who seek Him first, but in this day and age, people seek personal pleasure first and seek the things that they want to hear, regardless of truth:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts, because they have itching ears, they will heap to themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and will be turned to fables. - 2 Timothy 4:3-4
How true and sad it is that people are willing to read other spiritual books, listen to Oprah, listen to what other people have to say, but resist reading the only true Word of God!
Continuing this chronological study, the author of Hebrews, who may have also been Paul, said this about the faith of Abraham:
(Hebrews 11:17) By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
I believe the point here is to emphasize that Abraham was promised numerous posterity, too numerous to count, and yet when God told him to, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only begotten son, the only one through whom the promise seemed possible.
(18) Of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called",
Indeed, the author of Hebrews quotes Genesis 21:12, showing that it was through Isaac himself that the promise would be fulfilled, and yet Abraham willingly obeyed God and was going to sacrifice Isaac.
(19) Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
The author of Hebrews answers the question about how Abraham was able to do what he did, which I have pondered a great deal in my lifetime. Here we see that if God was to use Isaac, there really seemed to be no other way for God to fulfill His promise other than to raise Isaac from the dead. So great was Abraham's faith in God, that he did what seemed absolutely contrary to what would have seemed humanly "right"! What a lesson there is to be learned in this! As it was already pointed out above in Romans 4:17, God gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they are; the things of God are often opposite of what our sinful human nature may feel is "right".
The second part of the scripture above actually reads in the old KJV, "...from whence also he received him in a figure." I try to stay true to the KJV, as, after much study (see this), I believe it to be the most accurate, but in my personal study, I sometimes use the NKJV for more modern terminology that I can better understand if I feel it agrees with the original meaning. "From whence", meaning "from which", would mean from the thing just previously spoken of, that is, from death. It can also mean "whereby" or "for which reason", but the general idea is the same. In "receiving him", Abraham received Isaac back from the dead in a "figure", the original word being "parabole", meaning "parable". This was meant to be an example of faith and obedience for a parable. The same way in which Jesus used parables to explain the supernatural plan of God for His death and resurrection and salvation of the world, God used this incident in Abraham's life as a parable that was to be purposely recorded for the benefit of all generations to come.
Finally, in this particular chronological study, we have the words of James, the brother of Jesus:
(James 2:20) But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
"Will you know", meaning "are you willing to know" that faith without works is dead? James goes on to use Abraham as an illustration of his point.
(21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
At first glance, this appears to be a contradiction to Paul's assertion that Abraham was justified by faith, but James continues to explain his point:
(22) Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
Abraham had the faith first, and because of his great faith, he was able to do what he did, with regard to being able to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. As much as I enjoy a good chronological study, this particular study fails a little in that we don't get the benefit of reading what James had said up to this point, which more fully explains the point he was trying to make:
What does it profit, my brethren, though a man says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them those things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? So also faith alone, if it does not have works, is dead. A man may say "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God, you do well; the devils also believe, and tremble. - James 2:14-19
Wow! This should give lukewarm Christians great pause! People who believe that just believing in God, just believing in that "salvation" moment when they went down the aisle and accepted Jesus into their hearts, and yet do not live as Christians, and continue to live worldly lives contrary to the word of God, are given a rude awakening by the brother of Jesus. So-called Christians today may say they believe, but James says that by a Christian's works, you will see his true faith. Indeed, Jesus said, "By their fruit you will know them."
(23) And the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
The scripture being referenced above is Genesis 15:6 which says, "And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Later in scripture, 2 Chronicles 20:7 refers to Abraham, God's friend.
(24) You see then how a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
James concludes, at least, he concludes in this chronological study (he goes on with another example in his letter), that a man is justified by his works and not by only his faith. Paul had concluded that a man was justified by faith without the works of the law. This is why it is so essential to know the entire word of God in context! Both are correct and are not at all contradictory! It is a person's faith in Jesus Christ that justifies him/her before God, but you will know that a person is truly a follower of Christ by his/her works! Anything less than that, taking only one part of that out of context, is to distort the whole meaning, as Satan, who also believes in God and Jesus Christ, does, as evidenced by his deceptive temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:6 and Luke 4:10-11.
In my conclusion, I have to now admit that this was a good chronological order after all, as it sums up what true faith in Jesus Christ really means in its entirety!
(Romans 4:1) What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found?
The fourth chapter of Romans begins with the Apostle Paul asking the question about Abraham. Abraham is the Jews' ancestral father, the founder of their nation, and being the father of all believers, what he has found would be of extreme importance and relevance to the readers of Paul's letter. "As pertaining to the flesh" may mean simply that Abraham was their natural father, but it may be that Paul is asking the question about what Abraham has found with respect to the flesh, as opposed to the spiritual. Because this chronological guide has us beginning in the middle of Paul's thought, we don't get the best understanding. In the strictest chronological sense, Paul's letter didn't occur at the same time as the events in Abraham's life, so for that reason, this has not been my favorite chronological study, but it's different, and different gives a different perspective!
(2) For if Abraham were justified by works, he has something of which to glory, but not before God.
So what has Abraham found? We return to Paul's answer to his question. IF Abraham were justified by his own works, he would have something to boast about, as he was certainly a very faithful and obedient follower of God. But as all men sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), he would have no room to boast before God; therefore he is not justified by his own good works.
(3) For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
Paul refers back to scripture to answer his question. Genesis 15:6 says, "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Because Abraham believed God, and all that goes with that belief, faithfulness and obedience, therefore God counted it as righteousness, although the actions of themselves were not altogether righteous. We certainly read of many cases where Abraham was not altogether righteous, truthful, or completely trusting of God, as no sinful man can be. It is a gift from God that He counted Abraham's belief in Him as righteousness.
(4) Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned as grace but as debt.
If all we had were our own good works to make us righteous before God, then our reward would not be as a gift from God, but would be in payment of a debt. We would be constantly working to keep ourselves out of hell, and we would be sometimes failing.
(5) But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
It must be pointed out that this doesn't mean that the believer does not work at all, but he is not working for his salvation. James will later show in his writing that the believer will naturally do good works because of his salvation in Christ, but he does not do them to be justified before God. The man who does not work for his salvation, but believes in the One who through His grace justifies ungodly sinful men, his faith will be counted as though he was completely righteous before God. What a much easier path God has provided for us! Jesus said that His yoke was easy and His burden light, and that if all who labored and were heavily laden, would come to Him, He would give them rest (Matt. 11:28-30). What a hard and hopeless life it would be to be constantly working, working, working to please God, and knowing that you sometimes failed. However, God provided a way that we could be righteous and justified before Him, by believing in the only One Who can do that for us.
(6) Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works, (7) Saying, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (8) Blessed is the man to whom the LORD will not impute sin."
Paul uses an example of David, again someone the reader would greatly esteem as someone to emulate, who said in Psalm 32, which Paul quotes, that a man is blessed to be seen as righteous without working for that righteousness. He is blessed to have the sins which would have prevented him from being seen as righteous, covered and not counted against him.
(9) Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
Paul asks the reader to then examine whether this blessedness of God comes only to the circumcised Jews, or to the uncircumcised Gentiles, as well. Paul points out that it has been established that Abraham's faith is what made him righteous.
(10) How then was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Paul asks and then answers that the blessing of righteousness actually came to Abraham while he was uncircumcised.
(11) And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had still being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them who believe, though they are not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also,
Abraham was justified first and then as an outward sign and a seal of that righteousness, he was circumcised. It was a seal of the covenant between God and Abraham that Abraham would be the father of all believers, even though they were not circumcised, that righteousness might be counted to them, as well. God had said that all nations would be blessed in Abraham's seed. Abraham was the physical ancestral father of the Jews, but he was the spiritual father of the Gentiles, because in his seed, specifically in Jesus Christ, the Gentiles could come to be considered righteous children of God.
(12) And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Thus is Abraham the father of that seal of that covenant to not only the circumcised Jews, but also to those who have the faith that Abraham had, even before he was circumcised.
(13) For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
The heir of the world is the same, in essence, as the father of many nations, which is what God had promised to Abraham and to his seed. Paul says this was not promised based on Abraham's score of how well he adhered to the law, but was promised through the righteousness counted to him for his faith.
(14) For if they who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, (15) Because the law works wrath, for where no law is there is no transgression.
Paul goes on to explain why it is that the promise could not have been made to Abraham according to the law. If those who work to adhere to the law are the ones who are the heirs, then faith would be of no use, and a promise of God would be unnecessary, because if people achieved the "proper score", they'd achieve their salvation with no special promise of God needed. The law works wrath because its very purpose is to define right and wrong. If a person breaks the law, he is found to be wrong, and judged accordingly. If there is no law, then there is no breaking of the law and no crime to be judged harshly.
(16) Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
Therefore it, the promise, is of faith, not by obedience to the law, that it, the promise, is by the grace of God, a merciful gift from God, not as a result of a score on the works card. And this is so that the promise is guaranteed to all, not only to those who adhere to the law (the Jews), but also to those who are heirs because of their faith like Abraham's (the Gentiles). That is not to say that true believers would be lawless, but the law that Paul refers to in these passages is that of circumcision, and he makes it clear that it is not circumcision, or adherence to any law, for that matter, that makes one heir to the promise. It is by faith that he is given this gracious gift of God.
(17) As it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations" in the presence of Him whom he believed, God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they were;
Paul goes on to qualify what makes Abraham the father of us all from the scripture before this one, and that is because God said it to Abraham. God, who gives life to the dead, gave life to a dead womb. God, who calls things that are not, called someone a father who had no children and whose wife was past the age of possibly having children, as though he already was a father. Abraham believed God who said these impossible things because he knew, or had faith, that He could do the impossible
(18) Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, "So shall your seed be."
Abraham, against all probability, against all apparent and usual grounds for hope, believed in the hope of, or rather, was very hopeful for what was promised him, specifically because that is what God told him.
(19) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, now dead (since he was about a hundred years old), nor the deadness of Sarah's womb; (20) He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
This passage pretty well sums up the scripture before it. The reason Abraham was able to believe in hope against hope, was because he had strong faith, and did not look at his personal circumstances, but rather looked to God, giving Him glory, knowing full well that God could do whatever He said He would do.
(22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Because of this great faith in God, this faith of Abraham was accounted to him for righteousness, before there was any circumcision law by which he could be "justified".
(23) Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, (24) But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if we believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, (25) Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Verse 22 is actually a quote from Genesis 15:6, "And he believed in the LORD, and He counted it to him for righteousness." That was not written for Abraham's sake alone, that he alone might be found righteous before God, but for all of us who believe...... Believe exactly what? This is the important part--what we believe is essential, and Paul sums it up beautifully for us. We believe in God, knowing that He raised Jesus Christ, our Lord, from the dead, knowing that He was delivered up to death as a sacrifice for our sins, not for any of His own, as He was sinless, and that God raised Jesus from the dead that we sinful humans may be justified before God. This is the only belief and faith that makes us justified before God; this is the specific faith that lets us be counted as righteous before God. People today say so casually, "Oh, I believe in God", and "I believe in Jesus." Well, so does Satan!! Believing that either exists is not the specific belief that saves us. We must have the specific faith of Abraham! That God will do what He said and save us, but just as Abraham had to pass the faithfulness test, so must we, in order to be found righteous and given this gift of salvation. Specifically, we must believe and have faith and trust in the One who provided the only one Way through Jesus Christ that we might be found righteous before Him. We must believe that God sacrificed Jesus Christ for our individual sins, and that God raised Jesus from the dead, and that He was raised for us, and as a perfect illustration that we might also be raised, even though we are sinful. We are justified because of Christ.
Abraham believed God; he believed what He said. So must we believe what God says, not what we feel must be right. To believe in a god of our convenience, who does what we think he ought to do, is to believe in a false god. There is only one true God and there is only One Way to Him, whether it is convenient or comfortable to all or not! In this day and age many choose to believe that there are many paths to God; this is absolutely false and DEADLY! To true Christians, believers and followers in the One true Jesus Christ, they see these people as headed for certain eternal death! It IS certain death! So what an unsaved world sees as Christians "pushing their faith" on others is really their maybe-often-sloppy attempt to save the lost people of that world. Because the lost world does not understand what a true Christian knows, its people cannot see the truth of why Christians do what they do. They apply their own worldly feelings and actions, and decide they must be judgmental and bigoted or living in fairy-land.
I know that Christians do not always act in the most loving manner, but for the most part, I believe they are just misunderstood. Let's face it, we know that the largest part of our government is Godless. How else could we allow abortion and sexual immorality, including homosexuality, to be considered right? How could a true follower of Christ really believe that the taking of innocent human life is okay for the convenience of the mother? Some may say that once it was the law of the land, then leaders must uphold the law. But those same leaders do not uphold the laws they don't like, like the Defense of Marriage Act. If true followers of Christ were running this country, there is no way they would be voting to take God out of their political platform and trying to erase Him from the public square. It is very obvious we let Godless people run our country and then we wonder what is going wrong!
It's also obvious that the majority of media, at least what we consider the mainstream media, is Godless. Why else would they glory more in the immorality and violence, and be so biased toward the Godless views of man? Yes, I know they are supposed to be reporting news, and they report what they see, but who could truthfully argue that they don't report the news with a bias? It used to make me so angry about how blatantly biased the media were, but I am beginning to understand that they can't help themselves. They truly cannot understand a Godly perspective, so they attempt to report what they do not understand through their corrupt worldly views. I suppose the same is to be said of our leaders; they honestly don't know any better. After all, the Bible tells us over and over again, there is no wisdom but God's, so Godless leaders are incapable of making Godly moral laws! Godless news people are incapable of reporting the truth of those Godless laws. And the people who vote for Godless leaders likewise can't really know what they are doing. Why would a true follower of Christ intentionally vote for a man who voted on three separate occasions to KILL by neglect fully born ALIVE babies who happened to survive botched abortions? There are so many more reasons for a true Christian to flee from such a leader as the president we as a country have chosen, but to me that one reason is so black and white and blatantly illustrative of just how far we have let ourselves go if we can justify the killing of people!
I'll never forget a call-in listener on ACLJ (American Center for Law and Justice) with Jay Sekulow when he was fighting against partial birth abortion. The woman used her liberal talking point about how she didn't believe the government had the right to tell a woman what to do with her body. Jay asked her then if she believed the abortion procedure was okay, and proceeded to tell her what they did in a partial birth abortion. She was terribly indignant, and said well, if he was going to put it THAT way, they just couldn't discuss it! THAT was the truth!! But it was too uncomfortable for her to hear. Many times the truth is too difficult, but we are doing a disservice to ourselves and to our country, and certainly in this case, to the millions of lives that could be saved, if we do not take responsibility to simply vote against it, if we did nothing more. But to turn our backs and pretend it's something that it's not... Just think of how Godless leaders take moral issues and give them names the very opposite of what they are. Killing babies becomes "freedom of choice" and homosexual marriage, something God called an abomination, becomes "marriage equality". "Separation of church and state" is an absolute myth, but repeating that mantra over and over again has certainly worked, as people think it is fine and lawful to remove God completely from the public square, and then we wonder why there are so many problems in our schools. If people really understood what "freedom of choice" meant, if it were called the "Brutal Murder of Innocent Babies Act", how many people would then go along with it? Bad laws are purposely given names to make them more palatable. Why hide what you are doing behind deceptive names? If there was nothing wrong with abortion, there would be no reason we couldn't call it what it was and describe it!
Wicked leaders do lead the people to do wicked things. That was stated over and over again with the kings in the Old Testament:
"Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins," - 1 Kings 16:2
The media helps to perpetuate wickedness. Sex and violence and all kinds of sinful behaviors are glorified, and there is a definite liberal bias, as bad laws are usually reported as good, and attempts to change them to more Biblical laws are seen as bad, hateful, and bigoted, because they simply do not understand the Truth. Although leaders and media do help to cause people to sin, the people have no excuse. The Bible tells us they are "without excuse". They know better, but they choose to ignore the truth:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. - Romans 1:18-25 (NKJV)
How is it people cannot see this truth? Because they choose not to see it. God will reveal Himself and His truth to all who seek Him first, but in this day and age, people seek personal pleasure first and seek the things that they want to hear, regardless of truth:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts, because they have itching ears, they will heap to themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and will be turned to fables. - 2 Timothy 4:3-4
How true and sad it is that people are willing to read other spiritual books, listen to Oprah, listen to what other people have to say, but resist reading the only true Word of God!
Continuing this chronological study, the author of Hebrews, who may have also been Paul, said this about the faith of Abraham:
(Hebrews 11:17) By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
I believe the point here is to emphasize that Abraham was promised numerous posterity, too numerous to count, and yet when God told him to, Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only begotten son, the only one through whom the promise seemed possible.
(18) Of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called",
Indeed, the author of Hebrews quotes Genesis 21:12, showing that it was through Isaac himself that the promise would be fulfilled, and yet Abraham willingly obeyed God and was going to sacrifice Isaac.
(19) Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
The author of Hebrews answers the question about how Abraham was able to do what he did, which I have pondered a great deal in my lifetime. Here we see that if God was to use Isaac, there really seemed to be no other way for God to fulfill His promise other than to raise Isaac from the dead. So great was Abraham's faith in God, that he did what seemed absolutely contrary to what would have seemed humanly "right"! What a lesson there is to be learned in this! As it was already pointed out above in Romans 4:17, God gives life to the dead and calls those things which are not as though they are; the things of God are often opposite of what our sinful human nature may feel is "right".
The second part of the scripture above actually reads in the old KJV, "...from whence also he received him in a figure." I try to stay true to the KJV, as, after much study (see this), I believe it to be the most accurate, but in my personal study, I sometimes use the NKJV for more modern terminology that I can better understand if I feel it agrees with the original meaning. "From whence", meaning "from which", would mean from the thing just previously spoken of, that is, from death. It can also mean "whereby" or "for which reason", but the general idea is the same. In "receiving him", Abraham received Isaac back from the dead in a "figure", the original word being "parabole", meaning "parable". This was meant to be an example of faith and obedience for a parable. The same way in which Jesus used parables to explain the supernatural plan of God for His death and resurrection and salvation of the world, God used this incident in Abraham's life as a parable that was to be purposely recorded for the benefit of all generations to come.
Finally, in this particular chronological study, we have the words of James, the brother of Jesus:
(James 2:20) But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
"Will you know", meaning "are you willing to know" that faith without works is dead? James goes on to use Abraham as an illustration of his point.
(21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son on the altar?
At first glance, this appears to be a contradiction to Paul's assertion that Abraham was justified by faith, but James continues to explain his point:
(22) Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
Abraham had the faith first, and because of his great faith, he was able to do what he did, with regard to being able to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. As much as I enjoy a good chronological study, this particular study fails a little in that we don't get the benefit of reading what James had said up to this point, which more fully explains the point he was trying to make:
What does it profit, my brethren, though a man says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them those things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? So also faith alone, if it does not have works, is dead. A man may say "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God, you do well; the devils also believe, and tremble. - James 2:14-19
Wow! This should give lukewarm Christians great pause! People who believe that just believing in God, just believing in that "salvation" moment when they went down the aisle and accepted Jesus into their hearts, and yet do not live as Christians, and continue to live worldly lives contrary to the word of God, are given a rude awakening by the brother of Jesus. So-called Christians today may say they believe, but James says that by a Christian's works, you will see his true faith. Indeed, Jesus said, "By their fruit you will know them."
(23) And the scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God.
The scripture being referenced above is Genesis 15:6 which says, "And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness." Later in scripture, 2 Chronicles 20:7 refers to Abraham, God's friend.
(24) You see then how a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
James concludes, at least, he concludes in this chronological study (he goes on with another example in his letter), that a man is justified by his works and not by only his faith. Paul had concluded that a man was justified by faith without the works of the law. This is why it is so essential to know the entire word of God in context! Both are correct and are not at all contradictory! It is a person's faith in Jesus Christ that justifies him/her before God, but you will know that a person is truly a follower of Christ by his/her works! Anything less than that, taking only one part of that out of context, is to distort the whole meaning, as Satan, who also believes in God and Jesus Christ, does, as evidenced by his deceptive temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4:6 and Luke 4:10-11.
In my conclusion, I have to now admit that this was a good chronological order after all, as it sums up what true faith in Jesus Christ really means in its entirety!
Thursday, December 27, 2012
A Beautiful Illustration of the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament
Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(Genesis 22:1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham," and he said, "Behold, here I am."
This event came to pass after the weaning of Isaac, and the other things we read about in the last chapter. The word transcribed as "test" was originally translated as "tempt" in the KJV. Although I have come to realize that the KJV is probably the most accurate translation we have (please see my previous post on Biblical translations), the KJV translators missed the boat on this word. The original word is "nasah"and it means "test, try, prove, tempt, or put to the proof or test". Actually, as I see where this word is used in other places in scripture, it's most often used as "prove" and other times used as "tempt", but never as "test". The KJV translators did not use the word "test" anywhere in their transcription of the Bible, so perhaps the word was not so much a part of their vocabulary back then. The Biblical scholar, Adam Clarke, wrote that the word "tempt", from the word "tento", means no more than to "prove or try", but it has come to be understood by us as a solicitation to evil, but God never tempts any man to do evil as evil is not a part of His nature. The word used here is absolutely meant to be "test or prove".
2) And He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Note that God called Isaac Abraham's only son. God is well aware that Ishmael is also his son, as He blessed Ishmael in the previous chapter because he was Abraham's son. However, Isaac was the son willed by God, his only legitimate son, his only son by his lawful wife Sarah, the only son of the promise, and actually, he was the only son left to Abraham, as Ishmael had been cast out. Wow! God told Abraham to take this only son, the son Abraham loved, and go to a land of His designation, and offer that beloved son as a burnt offering!
(3) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. (4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
It appears that God may have spoken to Abraham in a dream or a vision, and Abraham awoke early in the morning and was immediately obedient, preparing for and starting out on his trip that apparently took him three days. Dr. John Gill wrote about the significance of the third day, saying that the Jewish people interpreted the day as the third day of the resurrection; the deliverance of Isaac on this third day was a symbol of Christ's resurrection from the dead. When Abraham began on his journey, he would have considered his son dead because he was going to offer him up as a sacrifice at the end of his three day journey. Dr. Gill pointed to Hosea 6:2, "After two days He will revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight."
(5) And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; and the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and come back to you."
Abraham told his two servants to stay with the donkey, while he and Isaac went to worship. Isn't it very interesting that Abraham stated that they would go worship and that they would come back? The fact that he did not want his servants to go may mean he didn't want them to know what he was going to do. Surely they would have tried to stop him if they saw him binding his son with the intent of offering him as a sacrifice, so maybe in saying this, he was further hiding the truth from them. However, could it be that Abraham was speaking by faith in prophecy that he and his son would both return? When you think about it, how else could Abraham do such a thing? He had great faith and trusted God with all his heart. He had obeyed before when he didn't know how it would work out. He had even tried to "help" God before and found it wasn't necessary. He had learned that he could totally trust God, so he was completely obedient, but he also may have truly known in his heart or by the Holy Spirit that he and Isaac would both return.
(6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they both went together.
Wow! Again it is Dr. Gill who points out that Isaac is a picture of Christ carrying his own "cross" on which he will be sacrificed. Even more than that, note that the father laid the wood upon the son, a symbol of God the Father laying our sins on His Son. Wow!
(7) And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father", and he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (8) And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." So the both of them went together.
Once again, wow! Imagine his only beloved son asking Abraham where the sacrificial lamb was, and Abraham answering that question, knowing his intentions to sacrifice that son! The general understanding of Abraham's answer is that "God will provide the sacrifice", meaning either that if it be God's will that Isaac was the sacrifice, then it would be, or God would provide another way. For the first time I am struck by the exact wording, "God will provide Himself". Not only did God provide for Himself the perfect Lamb sacrifice, but God provided Himself! God Himself came down from heaven in the human form of Jesus Christ, God the Son, to be the perfect unblemished sacrifice for our sins!
(9) And they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
I can only imagine the protests of his son while Abraham bound him. Just imagine a father hearing the cries of his son who does not understand while he raises a knife to slay his only beloved son! To speak the words he did and to do what he was doing, Abraham was surely acting and speaking from the Holy Spirit of God this beautiful prophetic depiction of God's ultimate plan to save sinful man.
As I read old Biblical commentaries of this passage, I was struck by something of which I had not thought. Actually, the scripture says nothing of Isaac protesting. That was my imagination. Because of historical chronological studies (of which I am not learned), it is the consensus of most Biblical scholars that Isaac is a grown man by this time, anywhere from 25 to 37 years of age. Some suggest he was probably 33, considering all the other perfect similarities between him and Christ. Could a strong young man not have overcome an old 125 to 137 year old man if that is what he wanted to do? So also must Isaac's character be considered in this. He must also have trusted God or was, at the very least, also acting by the Holy Spirit of God, even if he didn't fully realize what he was doing. Adam Clarke states it beautifully, "All this was most illustriously typical of Christ. In both cases the father himself offers up his only-begotten son, and the father himself binds him on the wood or to the cross; in neither case is the son forced to yield, but yields of his own accord; in neither case is the life taken away by the hand of violence; Isaac yields himself to the knife, Jesus lays down his life for the sheep."
(11) And the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." (12) And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
Obviously, God did not need such a test to prove Abraham's faith. He already knew Abraham's heart, but through Abraham's obedience to his Lord in this, we have a beautiful historical record of his faith and of his giving his all, all that was dearest to him, to his Lord and Savior. It was also meant to be a prophetic illustration of God sacrificing His only beloved Son. It must be noted that this particular sacrifice of Isaac's son was prevented. God does not approve of human sacrifice. I have often thought about this story, and whether or not I could ever have enough faith to do what Abraham did. However, I have come to realize he was acting through the Holy Spirit to give us a perfect picture of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. We can do all things through the Holy Spirit of God!
Not to over-think this too much, but I don't think we would be called to sacrifice our children in this day and age, as a test of faith. We are told to always try (test) the spirits to see if they are of God. As the Bereans were commended because they searched the scriptures to see if what they were told was true, we also use the Word of God as our reference to determine if something is true, and we know God has told us not to kill, and He hates the sacrifice of children. Additionally, when Satan told Jesus to throw Himself down because scripture said God would save Him, Jesus told him that we are NOT to tempt (test) the Lord with such acts.
(13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
The Lord Himself provided another sacrifice rather than the death of Isaac, as the Lord has provided the sacrificial Lamb in exchange for our eternal deaths.
(14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be seen."
The strict definition of "Jehovah Jireh" is "Jehovah sees", meaning Jehovah sees to it, or the Lord provides. Dr. John Gill writes that from this time to his present time, the phrase had been used "as a proverbial saying, that as God appeared to Abraham, and for his son, in the mount, just as he was going to sacrifice him, and delivered him, so the Lord will appear for his people in all ages, in a time of difficulty and distress, and when at the utmost extremity, who call upon him, and trust in him." He takes it a step further and writes that it might also be taken literally, that the Lord will literally be seen, "This may also refer to the presence of God in this mount, when the temple should be built on it, as it was...and to the appearance of Christ in it, who was often seen here..."
(15) And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, (16) And said, "By Myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, (17) That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. (18) And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
I have to smile at the phrase, "By Myself have I sworn". While we humans swear by God, there is no greater than God Himself for God to swear by! God is swearing by His own nature and by perfection itself, that because Abraham was willing to give his only beloved son, God will bless and multiply Abraham abundantly. God repeats His blessing to Abraham that his descendants will be millions, as numerous as the stars in heaven or the grains of sand on the shore. In addition, Abraham's descendants will possess the gates of their enemies, as in "the gates of hell", meaning they will triumph over their enemies and overcome the world. Gates represented the security and strength of a city; a strong gate fortified by troops meant a strong city. Also at the gates of a city were where the courts were, so the idea is that no evil strength or wicked counsels will be able to prevail against Abraham's descendants.
There is much more to Abraham's blessing that God swore to him; an incredibly wonderful part of the blessing is that ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED, because of Abraham's faithfulness and obedience. Imagine that! Because of Abraham, and of course, more exactly, because of the Messiah who will come from his descendants, all people from all nations will be blessed, and will have the opportunity to be saved and overcome the world and the eternal death that goes with it. God promised OUR salvation to Abraham, and that fact He beautifully illustrated in the "test" of Abraham's faith.
(19) So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. (20) And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor; (21) Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, (22) And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
Abraham returned to the young men he had left with his donkey when he took Isaac with him "to worship". They all proceeded to Beersheba, where it is said that Abraham dwelt. It was apparently there that Abraham heard from someone that his brother's wife had borne him children
(23) And Bethuel begat Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. (24) And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Note that there is a distinction between the eight children borne by Nahor's wife and the ones borne by his concubine. Just as God called Isaac Abraham's only son, it seems He may give a little more honor to the legitimate children of marriage; at least He did distinguish between the two. The history is continued to set up the genealogy of Rebekah, who was to become Isaac's wife. But that, my friends, is a different story! :-)
(Genesis 22:1) And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham," and he said, "Behold, here I am."
This event came to pass after the weaning of Isaac, and the other things we read about in the last chapter. The word transcribed as "test" was originally translated as "tempt" in the KJV. Although I have come to realize that the KJV is probably the most accurate translation we have (please see my previous post on Biblical translations), the KJV translators missed the boat on this word. The original word is "nasah"and it means "test, try, prove, tempt, or put to the proof or test". Actually, as I see where this word is used in other places in scripture, it's most often used as "prove" and other times used as "tempt", but never as "test". The KJV translators did not use the word "test" anywhere in their transcription of the Bible, so perhaps the word was not so much a part of their vocabulary back then. The Biblical scholar, Adam Clarke, wrote that the word "tempt", from the word "tento", means no more than to "prove or try", but it has come to be understood by us as a solicitation to evil, but God never tempts any man to do evil as evil is not a part of His nature. The word used here is absolutely meant to be "test or prove".
2) And He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Note that God called Isaac Abraham's only son. God is well aware that Ishmael is also his son, as He blessed Ishmael in the previous chapter because he was Abraham's son. However, Isaac was the son willed by God, his only legitimate son, his only son by his lawful wife Sarah, the only son of the promise, and actually, he was the only son left to Abraham, as Ishmael had been cast out. Wow! God told Abraham to take this only son, the son Abraham loved, and go to a land of His designation, and offer that beloved son as a burnt offering!
(3) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. (4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
It appears that God may have spoken to Abraham in a dream or a vision, and Abraham awoke early in the morning and was immediately obedient, preparing for and starting out on his trip that apparently took him three days. Dr. John Gill wrote about the significance of the third day, saying that the Jewish people interpreted the day as the third day of the resurrection; the deliverance of Isaac on this third day was a symbol of Christ's resurrection from the dead. When Abraham began on his journey, he would have considered his son dead because he was going to offer him up as a sacrifice at the end of his three day journey. Dr. Gill pointed to Hosea 6:2, "After two days He will revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight."
(5) And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; and the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and come back to you."
Abraham told his two servants to stay with the donkey, while he and Isaac went to worship. Isn't it very interesting that Abraham stated that they would go worship and that they would come back? The fact that he did not want his servants to go may mean he didn't want them to know what he was going to do. Surely they would have tried to stop him if they saw him binding his son with the intent of offering him as a sacrifice, so maybe in saying this, he was further hiding the truth from them. However, could it be that Abraham was speaking by faith in prophecy that he and his son would both return? When you think about it, how else could Abraham do such a thing? He had great faith and trusted God with all his heart. He had obeyed before when he didn't know how it would work out. He had even tried to "help" God before and found it wasn't necessary. He had learned that he could totally trust God, so he was completely obedient, but he also may have truly known in his heart or by the Holy Spirit that he and Isaac would both return.
(6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they both went together.
Wow! Again it is Dr. Gill who points out that Isaac is a picture of Christ carrying his own "cross" on which he will be sacrificed. Even more than that, note that the father laid the wood upon the son, a symbol of God the Father laying our sins on His Son. Wow!
(7) And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father", and he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" (8) And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." So the both of them went together.
Once again, wow! Imagine his only beloved son asking Abraham where the sacrificial lamb was, and Abraham answering that question, knowing his intentions to sacrifice that son! The general understanding of Abraham's answer is that "God will provide the sacrifice", meaning either that if it be God's will that Isaac was the sacrifice, then it would be, or God would provide another way. For the first time I am struck by the exact wording, "God will provide Himself". Not only did God provide for Himself the perfect Lamb sacrifice, but God provided Himself! God Himself came down from heaven in the human form of Jesus Christ, God the Son, to be the perfect unblemished sacrifice for our sins!
(9) And they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
I can only imagine the protests of his son while Abraham bound him. Just imagine a father hearing the cries of his son who does not understand while he raises a knife to slay his only beloved son! To speak the words he did and to do what he was doing, Abraham was surely acting and speaking from the Holy Spirit of God this beautiful prophetic depiction of God's ultimate plan to save sinful man.
As I read old Biblical commentaries of this passage, I was struck by something of which I had not thought. Actually, the scripture says nothing of Isaac protesting. That was my imagination. Because of historical chronological studies (of which I am not learned), it is the consensus of most Biblical scholars that Isaac is a grown man by this time, anywhere from 25 to 37 years of age. Some suggest he was probably 33, considering all the other perfect similarities between him and Christ. Could a strong young man not have overcome an old 125 to 137 year old man if that is what he wanted to do? So also must Isaac's character be considered in this. He must also have trusted God or was, at the very least, also acting by the Holy Spirit of God, even if he didn't fully realize what he was doing. Adam Clarke states it beautifully, "All this was most illustriously typical of Christ. In both cases the father himself offers up his only-begotten son, and the father himself binds him on the wood or to the cross; in neither case is the son forced to yield, but yields of his own accord; in neither case is the life taken away by the hand of violence; Isaac yields himself to the knife, Jesus lays down his life for the sheep."
(11) And the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." (12) And He said, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
Obviously, God did not need such a test to prove Abraham's faith. He already knew Abraham's heart, but through Abraham's obedience to his Lord in this, we have a beautiful historical record of his faith and of his giving his all, all that was dearest to him, to his Lord and Savior. It was also meant to be a prophetic illustration of God sacrificing His only beloved Son. It must be noted that this particular sacrifice of Isaac's son was prevented. God does not approve of human sacrifice. I have often thought about this story, and whether or not I could ever have enough faith to do what Abraham did. However, I have come to realize he was acting through the Holy Spirit to give us a perfect picture of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. We can do all things through the Holy Spirit of God!
Not to over-think this too much, but I don't think we would be called to sacrifice our children in this day and age, as a test of faith. We are told to always try (test) the spirits to see if they are of God. As the Bereans were commended because they searched the scriptures to see if what they were told was true, we also use the Word of God as our reference to determine if something is true, and we know God has told us not to kill, and He hates the sacrifice of children. Additionally, when Satan told Jesus to throw Himself down because scripture said God would save Him, Jesus told him that we are NOT to tempt (test) the Lord with such acts.
(13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
The Lord Himself provided another sacrifice rather than the death of Isaac, as the Lord has provided the sacrificial Lamb in exchange for our eternal deaths.
(14) And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be seen."
The strict definition of "Jehovah Jireh" is "Jehovah sees", meaning Jehovah sees to it, or the Lord provides. Dr. John Gill writes that from this time to his present time, the phrase had been used "as a proverbial saying, that as God appeared to Abraham, and for his son, in the mount, just as he was going to sacrifice him, and delivered him, so the Lord will appear for his people in all ages, in a time of difficulty and distress, and when at the utmost extremity, who call upon him, and trust in him." He takes it a step further and writes that it might also be taken literally, that the Lord will literally be seen, "This may also refer to the presence of God in this mount, when the temple should be built on it, as it was...and to the appearance of Christ in it, who was often seen here..."
(15) And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven a second time, (16) And said, "By Myself have I sworn, says the LORD, for because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, (17) That in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. (18) And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."
I have to smile at the phrase, "By Myself have I sworn". While we humans swear by God, there is no greater than God Himself for God to swear by! God is swearing by His own nature and by perfection itself, that because Abraham was willing to give his only beloved son, God will bless and multiply Abraham abundantly. God repeats His blessing to Abraham that his descendants will be millions, as numerous as the stars in heaven or the grains of sand on the shore. In addition, Abraham's descendants will possess the gates of their enemies, as in "the gates of hell", meaning they will triumph over their enemies and overcome the world. Gates represented the security and strength of a city; a strong gate fortified by troops meant a strong city. Also at the gates of a city were where the courts were, so the idea is that no evil strength or wicked counsels will be able to prevail against Abraham's descendants.
There is much more to Abraham's blessing that God swore to him; an incredibly wonderful part of the blessing is that ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH WILL BE BLESSED, because of Abraham's faithfulness and obedience. Imagine that! Because of Abraham, and of course, more exactly, because of the Messiah who will come from his descendants, all people from all nations will be blessed, and will have the opportunity to be saved and overcome the world and the eternal death that goes with it. God promised OUR salvation to Abraham, and that fact He beautifully illustrated in the "test" of Abraham's faith.
(19) So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. (20) And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah has also borne children to your brother Nahor; (21) Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, (22) And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel."
Abraham returned to the young men he had left with his donkey when he took Isaac with him "to worship". They all proceeded to Beersheba, where it is said that Abraham dwelt. It was apparently there that Abraham heard from someone that his brother's wife had borne him children
(23) And Bethuel begat Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. (24) And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.
Note that there is a distinction between the eight children borne by Nahor's wife and the ones borne by his concubine. Just as God called Isaac Abraham's only son, it seems He may give a little more honor to the legitimate children of marriage; at least He did distinguish between the two. The history is continued to set up the genealogy of Rebekah, who was to become Isaac's wife. But that, my friends, is a different story! :-)
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Can God Bless America?
After the re-election of Obama, I emotionally checked out of this country. If the majority of this country actually wants to continue down this destructive, immoral, and Godless path, then I want no part of it! I have come to realize that all the wicked laws are not what is going to bring God's judgment on our country, but rather we accept all the wicked laws because we have rejected God. Fighting political battles is not going to change hearts and save lives and change our country's destructive course. There is only One Way to save this country, but this country, as a whole, has rejected Him.
I had recently changed the purpose of my blog. Oh, my purpose was always to share the truth, but I was originally more politically based. Then I came to realize if people just knew the real Truth, if they truly sought the Lord their God with all their hearts, He would show them the Truth and the Way, and give them wisdom. There is absolutely no wisdom apart from God, and it is so apparent when you see the insanity of what goes on in this country. Evil is called good, and good is evil, just as the Bible says it would be. It is so ridiculous that it is almost laughable that we are so foolish except that it really is so incredibly sad. For the most part, I just share the Word of God and my study of it in my blog now. Occasionally, I can't help but note how it plays in our present culture, hoping someone might see and investigate for themselves. That is how I came to be really saved and born-again. It began with my soon-to-be husband scaring me with Biblical prophecy. I remember running around the block, crying, truly scared of what I did not know. I then decided I would read and study my Bible and find out for myself the truth. I truly began to search God's Word; I was seeking Him with all my heart and as He said, He would be found if I did that. So that is my wish for others, that they might seek Him in His Word, and they will come to see the Truth, too. I guess I appear to place more importance on the Word of God first because that is tangible black and white proof of what God said. Of course, prayer and a relationship with our Lord and Savior is essential, but without knowing exactly what God said, people can be led astray by deceiving spirits, because the Bible tells us that even Satan can appear as an angel of light. We have to know what God said so that if some charming preacher or dream or feeling tells us something that seems right, we know if it really lines up with what God says is right. So often people will talk about what their God would do or not do, but there is only One God and He is true only to Himself and not to what we think is right! We know by reading Biblical prophecy, that there will come a time when the majority of the people will be deceived by the anti-Christ, and I can't help but believe that time is quickly approaching, so we must be armed with the Truth so we won't be deceived.
I came to realize I had to change the icon of the title banner of my blog. It said, "God Bless America". It had a vintage look, and I do believe that God has blessed America immensely since its founding. It's because the founders looked to God to form the greatest nation in history. However, over the years, our nation has turned from God. We decided there was no place for Him in our schools. We decided He might be offensive to others in the public square and we must get rid of every symbol of Him. We've allowed ourselves to believe there must be a separation of church and state. How else could we allow ourselves to believe it is okay to murder millions of babies, the very most innocent human life? How else could we take something God called an abomination and hail it as "marriage equality"? How else could we support a man who was the worst of the worst on life issues and even went so far to vote three times to kill (by intentional neglect) born alive babies who had the misfortune of surviving botched abortions? How else could we support that same man who went further than any other president ever has to elevate homosexual "rights", to the point of ignoring our laws, the very laws he has sworn to uphold? How else could we believe it was okay that this man had to cover up a symbol of Christ before he could speak on the same stage? How else could we vote for the party who rejected God and Israel and wanted them out of their party platform? How could we actually support such open and blatant Godlessness? The only way is to ignore God and pretend that we can still be good Christians in our private lives while supporting Godless acts in our public lives. When we try to do that, we are attempting to make a little god in our own image and place him in a little box and put him in his own place, and we are following a false god, because that is not the One True God of the Bible!
I have to admit I am beginning to no longer believe that God can bless America. I want to believe that 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land," means that Christians are the only responsible parties and that if we were to change our wicked ways, God could bless this country again, with or without the Godless people. However, I just can't see God blessing a country that kills millions of babies and celebrates such an immoral culture. It's not that I don't believe something God said. Perhaps a part of Christians' evil ways is that they have completely missed the boat in sharing the news of Jesus Christ and changing lives. I know God will continue to bless His people who follow Him and He will continue to draw His lost sheep to Him, even in the midst of a fallen country, and He can heal those personal lands, but I just can't believe that He will truly bless America again until America changes her wicked ways. Once again, it is probably the fault of Christians and churches not doing their jobs that has led to this country's state and that is what must change, but for the time being, I just can't continue to display the banner, "God Bless America".
Because this blog is now about the study of God's Word, and because I have a love for the vintage, I looked for images of studying the Bible in old paintings. I found many beautiful old images. The one used in my banner above is from a painting by Hermann Kaulbach (1846-1909), entitled "Reading the Bible". The image at the top of the right column is from "The Orphans, Reading the Bible", 1845, by Hughes Merle. Below is Vincent Van Gogh's "Still Life with Open Bible," 1885:
This is "Old Woman Reading a Bible", 1630, by Gerrit Dou:
Another painting I found while I was searching is one I will not show here, but I found it very interesting. It was the posting of a man whose wife had found a painting on eBay called "Proof Reader", depicting the devil reading the Bible, by Todd Hamilton. Although I have no idea what the artist's intentions were, I found what I saw depicted in the painting to be very true. The devil knows the Bible quite well, as evident in the way he quoted scripture to Jesus when he tempted Him:
And he (Satan) brought Him (Jesus) to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here, for it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answering said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'". - Luke 4:9-12
We have to know the entire Word of God in context to know when Satan tries to deceive us with scripture out of context. I realize we can never know everything about the nature of God or everything in His Word with 100% accuracy, but if we truly seek Him, He will guide us in His Word and by His Holy Spirit, and with the very Author guiding us, we will come as close as we humanly can in this world!
I had recently changed the purpose of my blog. Oh, my purpose was always to share the truth, but I was originally more politically based. Then I came to realize if people just knew the real Truth, if they truly sought the Lord their God with all their hearts, He would show them the Truth and the Way, and give them wisdom. There is absolutely no wisdom apart from God, and it is so apparent when you see the insanity of what goes on in this country. Evil is called good, and good is evil, just as the Bible says it would be. It is so ridiculous that it is almost laughable that we are so foolish except that it really is so incredibly sad. For the most part, I just share the Word of God and my study of it in my blog now. Occasionally, I can't help but note how it plays in our present culture, hoping someone might see and investigate for themselves. That is how I came to be really saved and born-again. It began with my soon-to-be husband scaring me with Biblical prophecy. I remember running around the block, crying, truly scared of what I did not know. I then decided I would read and study my Bible and find out for myself the truth. I truly began to search God's Word; I was seeking Him with all my heart and as He said, He would be found if I did that. So that is my wish for others, that they might seek Him in His Word, and they will come to see the Truth, too. I guess I appear to place more importance on the Word of God first because that is tangible black and white proof of what God said. Of course, prayer and a relationship with our Lord and Savior is essential, but without knowing exactly what God said, people can be led astray by deceiving spirits, because the Bible tells us that even Satan can appear as an angel of light. We have to know what God said so that if some charming preacher or dream or feeling tells us something that seems right, we know if it really lines up with what God says is right. So often people will talk about what their God would do or not do, but there is only One God and He is true only to Himself and not to what we think is right! We know by reading Biblical prophecy, that there will come a time when the majority of the people will be deceived by the anti-Christ, and I can't help but believe that time is quickly approaching, so we must be armed with the Truth so we won't be deceived.
I came to realize I had to change the icon of the title banner of my blog. It said, "God Bless America". It had a vintage look, and I do believe that God has blessed America immensely since its founding. It's because the founders looked to God to form the greatest nation in history. However, over the years, our nation has turned from God. We decided there was no place for Him in our schools. We decided He might be offensive to others in the public square and we must get rid of every symbol of Him. We've allowed ourselves to believe there must be a separation of church and state. How else could we allow ourselves to believe it is okay to murder millions of babies, the very most innocent human life? How else could we take something God called an abomination and hail it as "marriage equality"? How else could we support a man who was the worst of the worst on life issues and even went so far to vote three times to kill (by intentional neglect) born alive babies who had the misfortune of surviving botched abortions? How else could we support that same man who went further than any other president ever has to elevate homosexual "rights", to the point of ignoring our laws, the very laws he has sworn to uphold? How else could we believe it was okay that this man had to cover up a symbol of Christ before he could speak on the same stage? How else could we vote for the party who rejected God and Israel and wanted them out of their party platform? How could we actually support such open and blatant Godlessness? The only way is to ignore God and pretend that we can still be good Christians in our private lives while supporting Godless acts in our public lives. When we try to do that, we are attempting to make a little god in our own image and place him in a little box and put him in his own place, and we are following a false god, because that is not the One True God of the Bible!
I have to admit I am beginning to no longer believe that God can bless America. I want to believe that 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, "If my people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land," means that Christians are the only responsible parties and that if we were to change our wicked ways, God could bless this country again, with or without the Godless people. However, I just can't see God blessing a country that kills millions of babies and celebrates such an immoral culture. It's not that I don't believe something God said. Perhaps a part of Christians' evil ways is that they have completely missed the boat in sharing the news of Jesus Christ and changing lives. I know God will continue to bless His people who follow Him and He will continue to draw His lost sheep to Him, even in the midst of a fallen country, and He can heal those personal lands, but I just can't believe that He will truly bless America again until America changes her wicked ways. Once again, it is probably the fault of Christians and churches not doing their jobs that has led to this country's state and that is what must change, but for the time being, I just can't continue to display the banner, "God Bless America".
Because this blog is now about the study of God's Word, and because I have a love for the vintage, I looked for images of studying the Bible in old paintings. I found many beautiful old images. The one used in my banner above is from a painting by Hermann Kaulbach (1846-1909), entitled "Reading the Bible". The image at the top of the right column is from "The Orphans, Reading the Bible", 1845, by Hughes Merle. Below is Vincent Van Gogh's "Still Life with Open Bible," 1885:
This is "Old Woman Reading a Bible", 1630, by Gerrit Dou:
Another painting I found while I was searching is one I will not show here, but I found it very interesting. It was the posting of a man whose wife had found a painting on eBay called "Proof Reader", depicting the devil reading the Bible, by Todd Hamilton. Although I have no idea what the artist's intentions were, I found what I saw depicted in the painting to be very true. The devil knows the Bible quite well, as evident in the way he quoted scripture to Jesus when he tempted Him:
And he (Satan) brought Him (Jesus) to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, cast Yourself down from here, for it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answering said to him, "It is said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'". - Luke 4:9-12
We have to know the entire Word of God in context to know when Satan tries to deceive us with scripture out of context. I realize we can never know everything about the nature of God or everything in His Word with 100% accuracy, but if we truly seek Him, He will guide us in His Word and by His Holy Spirit, and with the very Author guiding us, we will come as close as we humanly can in this world!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
No Man Is an Island
Continuing a Bible study of Abraham:
(Genesis 21:1) And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken. (2) For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Sarah bore a son as God had promised. Note the Lord Himself did this; after all, Sarah was 90 years old by this time! Dr. John Gill, in his Biblical commentary, brought to my attention something of which I had never given much thought. Notice how the scripture tells us twice that the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and that the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken (actually three times if you count that Sarah bore a son at the time God had told Abraham). Dr. Gill says the repetition is made to cause attention to God's fulfillment of His promise, but that reminded me of something more I have come to learn in scripture. God always states something at least twice, for "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (Deut. 19:15, Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor. 13:1). When I was looking up references to that truth in scripture, I found that even that principle of God's is found three times in the Bible! I marvel at how God is always so steady and so true!
In Bible study, I have found the above fact to be a great aid in determining what is really meant in scripture. In the past, I have stumbled over obscure passages or ones that seem to state something contrary to what I thought I knew about God and the Bible. I now know that if it is something God wants to be an established fact, then it will be repeated. If it is only stated in one place and it seems to be an odd, obscure, or contradictory statement, then I know that we have probably interpreted it wrong. How exciting it is that God makes it so plain and easy for us!
(3) And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
Isaac is the name God had directed Abraham to name his son (Gen. 17:19). The original word for our Anglicized "Isaac" is "yitschaq", and it means "laughter" or "he laughs". We remember that Abraham laughed for joy at the promise of having a son in his old age. Additionally, Sarah laughed in mockery and disbelief. Again it is Dr. John Gill who writes an interesting observation on the fact that the name "might presignify the joy and laughter that would be expressed by others at his birth; and perhaps also that he would be the object of the laughter and derision of his brother; such a number of events agreeing with his name." Isn't that often the way with God? He is so much more complex than we are, and most times there are multiple meanings and lessons derived from each part of His Word. That is how you can read the Bible again and again and always find new pearls of wisdom each time.
(4) And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. (5) And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Again Abraham strictly observed a command God gave him (Gen. 17:12). Isaac was the first that we read of in scripture who was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. All others were circumcised at the time God gave the command. God's covenant with Abraham was established with the birth of Isaac in his old age, and he is cheerfully obedient to his Lord.
(6) And Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me." (7) And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."
Here we have Sarah's interpretation of Isaac's name, either that God made her laugh with the prophecy, or perhaps that she now laughed for joy at the birth of her son. All who hear the news will rejoice with her. A year before no one would have thought it possible that Sarah would nurse her own baby of Abraham's, but the miracle had occurred.
(8) And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. (9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac, and we know this because we were told earlier in scripture that he was born when Abraham was 86. We can assume that Isaac was weaned by 2 or 3 years, so Ishmael was about 16 or 17 years of age when he mocked either little Isaac, or perhaps his old mother; we are not really told the exact object of his mocking or what he said. Either way, Sarah didn't like it.
(10) Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac." (11) And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
The child of Abraham by Hagar might be considered as having a right at least to a part of Abraham's inheritance, and Sarah wanted there to be no possibility of that. However, the idea of casting them out greatly grieved Abraham, for after all, Ishmael was his son, too.
(12) And God said to Abraham, "Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the lad and because of your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall your seed be called. (13) And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is your seed."
It is indicated here that it is God's will for Ishmael and his mother to be turned out, for it is Isaac alone from whom God's promised seed would come. This is not to say that it was initially God's will to be cruel in allowing Sarah's harsh intentions to come to fruition. We must remember that it was Abraham and Sarah who brought this dilemma upon themselves. God will also bless Ishmael; He reiterated His promise that from Ishmael will also come a nation.
(14) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Abraham rose early the morning after God spoke to him, and did send Hagar on her way, with provisions, and with her son.
(15) And the water was gone in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. (16) And she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said, "Let me not see the death of the child." And she sat across from him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
Scripture states that Hagar wandered in the wilderness. Surely, Abraham had given Hagar enough water to reach the next well, but she wandered around in the wilderness. However, regardless of whether or not she had been given enough provisions, when God tells us to do something, we should do it, and rest assured that God will take it from there. So now we find Hagar at the end of her rope, so to speak. She expects she and her son will die, and she can't bear to face the death of her child, so she pushed him under a shrub and sat a little distance away from him, crying.
(17) And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. (18) Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in your hand, for I will make him a great nation." (19) And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad a drink.
God did indeed hear their distress, as the scripture says He heard the lad, who probably cried, also. God's angel spoke to Hagar to comfort her. He told her not to fear, because God knew where the child was. We must remember that nothing ever catches God unaware; He always knows where we are. He instructed Hagar to get up, raise her son up, and take him by the hand. It's as if it's sort of an instruction to pick herself up by the boot straps and push onward, and in doing so, she saw the well. God also repeated His promise that her son would be a great nation, which meant he would not die, so stirring her to action to get up and take care of him. Often in despair and hopelessness, we cannot see or think clearly. Usually when we get calm and quiet (and get in prayer), God helps us to see. There's no indication that Hagar or the child actually prayed to God, but this was the promise He had made to Abraham, and it was His will that the child live and this He helped Hagar to see.
(20) And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. (21) And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran, a desert region of Arabia near Mount Sinai, where God was with him, and he grew and prospered in health and in ability as he became an archer. Hagar found a wife for him of the women of her own country, Egypt.
(22) And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the chief captain of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. (23) Now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son; but according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt." (24) And Abraham said, "I will swear."
Sometime after Abraham and Sarah had left Abimelech and dwelt in the land of their choosing, Abimelech and the chief captain of his army spoke to Abraham. They could see that God was surely with Abraham and blessed him in all that he did. Seeing he was a powerful man of God (or with God, he was powerful), they wanted him on their side. The fact that Abimelech wanted Abraham's word not just now, but for future generations, makes me wonder if Abimelech knew or had heard of God's promise to give the whole land of Canaan to him and his posterity, and therefore wanted to insure that his own posterity would not be driven out. Abraham, undoubtedly mindful of Abimelech's fair treatment of him, agreed that he would always deal fairly with Abimelech and his future generations.
(25) And Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
It appears to be at the same time that Abraham is swearing to deal as kindly to Abimelech as Abimelech has dealt with him, that Abraham points out that Abimelech's servants have not dealt so kindly concerning a well they had seized.
(26) And Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; neither did you tell me, neither had I heard of it until today."
Abimelech claimed to have known nothing about the seizing of the well. From all we have seen up to this point, I believe we can assume that this man found the fear of God by observing His work in and through Abraham, and truly wished to deal fairly with Abraham, and probably truly did not know his servants were doing things not so fairly.
(27) And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant.
It appears that Abraham believed Abimelech to be truthful about the well as he agreed to enter into a covenant with him.
(28) And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. (29) And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?" (30) And he said, "For these seven ewe lambs you shall take from my hand, that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well."
Abraham gave Abimelech sheep and oxen, but he made it a point to separate seven ewes from the rest of the flock. The original word for "seven" is "shibah" or "sheba", and it means "the sacred full and complete thing". Nothing could be added to it or taken from it. Abimelech asked about the separate ewes and with Abraham's explanation, it is established by both men that these were to be a testimony that the well that had been taken away from Abraham was one that he had dug, and was his property, and Abimelech acknowledged this by his acceptance of these seven ewes.
(31) Therefore he called that place Beersheba because there they swore both of them.
The actual meaning of the name appears to me to be "well of seven", but by the explanation in the verse, it was intentioned to mean "well of the sacred agreed upon complete oath". Those are my words, but that pretty much sums it up for me.
(32) Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. (33) And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. (34) And Abraham dwelled in the land of the Philistines many days.
Abimelech and the chief of his army left the place of his and Abraham's covenant, but Abraham remained there. He planted a grove, and I believe that was to mark this place and it gave him a physical place to worship his Lord, and I believe it was, in his heart, a place to honor his Lord, the everlasting God. Maybe it was to be a public display of the acknowledgement of God while he dwelled in the land of the Philistines, and left as a memorial to Him after he left.
As I read over these scriptures and my notes, I saw that this chapter contained two different "stories", one about the turning out of Hagar and Ishmael, and the other about the covenant between Abimelech and Abraham, but I was struck by a similarity and connection of the two. Abraham, as a blessed friend of God, brought blessings to the people who were associated with him! He was a blessing to others! Some blessings were due to his direct actions, but others were due to God's blessing of Abraham that brought blessing to those close to Abraham. What a beautiful thought that not only can we be (or bring) a physical blessing to others, but that they might be blessed because we are blessed by God! I am always in awe about how God moves in such intricate ways. No man is an island, for sure! The fact that our little individual portions of the earth can bless others is an awesome truth of our sweet everlasting Lord!
(Genesis 21:1) And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as He had spoken. (2) For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
Sarah bore a son as God had promised. Note the Lord Himself did this; after all, Sarah was 90 years old by this time! Dr. John Gill, in his Biblical commentary, brought to my attention something of which I had never given much thought. Notice how the scripture tells us twice that the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and that the Lord did to Sarah as He had spoken (actually three times if you count that Sarah bore a son at the time God had told Abraham). Dr. Gill says the repetition is made to cause attention to God's fulfillment of His promise, but that reminded me of something more I have come to learn in scripture. God always states something at least twice, for "in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established" (Deut. 19:15, Matt. 18:16, 2 Cor. 13:1). When I was looking up references to that truth in scripture, I found that even that principle of God's is found three times in the Bible! I marvel at how God is always so steady and so true!
In Bible study, I have found the above fact to be a great aid in determining what is really meant in scripture. In the past, I have stumbled over obscure passages or ones that seem to state something contrary to what I thought I knew about God and the Bible. I now know that if it is something God wants to be an established fact, then it will be repeated. If it is only stated in one place and it seems to be an odd, obscure, or contradictory statement, then I know that we have probably interpreted it wrong. How exciting it is that God makes it so plain and easy for us!
(3) And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
Isaac is the name God had directed Abraham to name his son (Gen. 17:19). The original word for our Anglicized "Isaac" is "yitschaq", and it means "laughter" or "he laughs". We remember that Abraham laughed for joy at the promise of having a son in his old age. Additionally, Sarah laughed in mockery and disbelief. Again it is Dr. John Gill who writes an interesting observation on the fact that the name "might presignify the joy and laughter that would be expressed by others at his birth; and perhaps also that he would be the object of the laughter and derision of his brother; such a number of events agreeing with his name." Isn't that often the way with God? He is so much more complex than we are, and most times there are multiple meanings and lessons derived from each part of His Word. That is how you can read the Bible again and again and always find new pearls of wisdom each time.
(4) And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. (5) And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Again Abraham strictly observed a command God gave him (Gen. 17:12). Isaac was the first that we read of in scripture who was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. All others were circumcised at the time God gave the command. God's covenant with Abraham was established with the birth of Isaac in his old age, and he is cheerfully obedient to his Lord.
(6) And Sarah said, "God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me." (7) And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."
Here we have Sarah's interpretation of Isaac's name, either that God made her laugh with the prophecy, or perhaps that she now laughed for joy at the birth of her son. All who hear the news will rejoice with her. A year before no one would have thought it possible that Sarah would nurse her own baby of Abraham's, but the miracle had occurred.
(8) And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. (9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
Ishmael was 14 years older than Isaac, and we know this because we were told earlier in scripture that he was born when Abraham was 86. We can assume that Isaac was weaned by 2 or 3 years, so Ishmael was about 16 or 17 years of age when he mocked either little Isaac, or perhaps his old mother; we are not really told the exact object of his mocking or what he said. Either way, Sarah didn't like it.
(10) Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac." (11) And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.
The child of Abraham by Hagar might be considered as having a right at least to a part of Abraham's inheritance, and Sarah wanted there to be no possibility of that. However, the idea of casting them out greatly grieved Abraham, for after all, Ishmael was his son, too.
(12) And God said to Abraham, "Let it not be grievous in your sight because of the lad and because of your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall your seed be called. (13) And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is your seed."
It is indicated here that it is God's will for Ishmael and his mother to be turned out, for it is Isaac alone from whom God's promised seed would come. This is not to say that it was initially God's will to be cruel in allowing Sarah's harsh intentions to come to fruition. We must remember that it was Abraham and Sarah who brought this dilemma upon themselves. God will also bless Ishmael; He reiterated His promise that from Ishmael will also come a nation.
(14) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Abraham rose early the morning after God spoke to him, and did send Hagar on her way, with provisions, and with her son.
(15) And the water was gone in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. (16) And she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said, "Let me not see the death of the child." And she sat across from him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
Scripture states that Hagar wandered in the wilderness. Surely, Abraham had given Hagar enough water to reach the next well, but she wandered around in the wilderness. However, regardless of whether or not she had been given enough provisions, when God tells us to do something, we should do it, and rest assured that God will take it from there. So now we find Hagar at the end of her rope, so to speak. She expects she and her son will die, and she can't bear to face the death of her child, so she pushed him under a shrub and sat a little distance away from him, crying.
(17) And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. (18) Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in your hand, for I will make him a great nation." (19) And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad a drink.
God did indeed hear their distress, as the scripture says He heard the lad, who probably cried, also. God's angel spoke to Hagar to comfort her. He told her not to fear, because God knew where the child was. We must remember that nothing ever catches God unaware; He always knows where we are. He instructed Hagar to get up, raise her son up, and take him by the hand. It's as if it's sort of an instruction to pick herself up by the boot straps and push onward, and in doing so, she saw the well. God also repeated His promise that her son would be a great nation, which meant he would not die, so stirring her to action to get up and take care of him. Often in despair and hopelessness, we cannot see or think clearly. Usually when we get calm and quiet (and get in prayer), God helps us to see. There's no indication that Hagar or the child actually prayed to God, but this was the promise He had made to Abraham, and it was His will that the child live and this He helped Hagar to see.
(20) And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. (21) And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran, a desert region of Arabia near Mount Sinai, where God was with him, and he grew and prospered in health and in ability as he became an archer. Hagar found a wife for him of the women of her own country, Egypt.
(22) And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech and Phichol, the chief captain of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. (23) Now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son; but according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me and to the land in which you have dwelt." (24) And Abraham said, "I will swear."
Sometime after Abraham and Sarah had left Abimelech and dwelt in the land of their choosing, Abimelech and the chief captain of his army spoke to Abraham. They could see that God was surely with Abraham and blessed him in all that he did. Seeing he was a powerful man of God (or with God, he was powerful), they wanted him on their side. The fact that Abimelech wanted Abraham's word not just now, but for future generations, makes me wonder if Abimelech knew or had heard of God's promise to give the whole land of Canaan to him and his posterity, and therefore wanted to insure that his own posterity would not be driven out. Abraham, undoubtedly mindful of Abimelech's fair treatment of him, agreed that he would always deal fairly with Abimelech and his future generations.
(25) And Abraham rebuked Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
It appears to be at the same time that Abraham is swearing to deal as kindly to Abimelech as Abimelech has dealt with him, that Abraham points out that Abimelech's servants have not dealt so kindly concerning a well they had seized.
(26) And Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; neither did you tell me, neither had I heard of it until today."
Abimelech claimed to have known nothing about the seizing of the well. From all we have seen up to this point, I believe we can assume that this man found the fear of God by observing His work in and through Abraham, and truly wished to deal fairly with Abraham, and probably truly did not know his servants were doing things not so fairly.
(27) And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and both of them made a covenant.
It appears that Abraham believed Abimelech to be truthful about the well as he agreed to enter into a covenant with him.
(28) And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. (29) And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves?" (30) And he said, "For these seven ewe lambs you shall take from my hand, that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well."
Abraham gave Abimelech sheep and oxen, but he made it a point to separate seven ewes from the rest of the flock. The original word for "seven" is "shibah" or "sheba", and it means "the sacred full and complete thing". Nothing could be added to it or taken from it. Abimelech asked about the separate ewes and with Abraham's explanation, it is established by both men that these were to be a testimony that the well that had been taken away from Abraham was one that he had dug, and was his property, and Abimelech acknowledged this by his acceptance of these seven ewes.
(31) Therefore he called that place Beersheba because there they swore both of them.
The actual meaning of the name appears to me to be "well of seven", but by the explanation in the verse, it was intentioned to mean "well of the sacred agreed upon complete oath". Those are my words, but that pretty much sums it up for me.
(32) Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba; then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his army, and they returned to the land of the Philistines. (33) And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. (34) And Abraham dwelled in the land of the Philistines many days.
Abimelech and the chief of his army left the place of his and Abraham's covenant, but Abraham remained there. He planted a grove, and I believe that was to mark this place and it gave him a physical place to worship his Lord, and I believe it was, in his heart, a place to honor his Lord, the everlasting God. Maybe it was to be a public display of the acknowledgement of God while he dwelled in the land of the Philistines, and left as a memorial to Him after he left.
As I read over these scriptures and my notes, I saw that this chapter contained two different "stories", one about the turning out of Hagar and Ishmael, and the other about the covenant between Abimelech and Abraham, but I was struck by a similarity and connection of the two. Abraham, as a blessed friend of God, brought blessings to the people who were associated with him! He was a blessing to others! Some blessings were due to his direct actions, but others were due to God's blessing of Abraham that brought blessing to those close to Abraham. What a beautiful thought that not only can we be (or bring) a physical blessing to others, but that they might be blessed because we are blessed by God! I am always in awe about how God moves in such intricate ways. No man is an island, for sure! The fact that our little individual portions of the earth can bless others is an awesome truth of our sweet everlasting Lord!
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