Genesis 22:1-8 – God Himself had provided a Lamb

We come to the high point in the life of Abraham in his journey with God. We are not told how many years had passed since Ishmael departed. But we know that Isaac had grown into a fine boy. God then put Abraham through the severest test of his life. He asked him to take Isaac to the mountain and sacrifice his precious son to Him. It seems like a gruesome test. How could God who gave him a son at his old age then decided to take him away? There can only be a few reasons. Firstly, God wants total trust. He had promised that the descendants of Abraham would come though Isaac. Could Abraham trust God to keep His Word? Secondly, God wants loyalty and total allegiance from Abraham. Would he be loyal and committed by showing willingness to give God his only son? The asking of Isaac will be a good test. His willingness will show who has the priority in his life.

Notice that by this time Abraham had grown to love Isaac very much. God knew it that’s why he specifically told him to sacrifice the son whom he loved. So God came to him one day and asked him to take Isaac to a mountain in Moriah where God would show him so that he could offer Isaac as a burnt offering to Him. Abraham obediently followed God’s instruction. He rose early, took two servants, cut wood, saddled Isaac and went up to Moriah. It was only on the third day that he sighted the mountain where he was to offer Isaac. Notice how Abraham told the two servants before he took Isaac up to the mountain to offer to God. He said to them, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” In other words, Abraham fully expected to return with Isaac even if he had sacrificed him to God. He believed that God would resurrect Isaac even if he should slay him on the altar. That’s absolute faith.

Leaving the servants behind, Abraham and Isaac ascended the mountain. He made Isaac carry the wood for the sacrifice, while he took the knife in one hand and the fire, probably a torch, in the other hand. If we were in his shoes, our hearts would be heavy. So we can easily imagine Abraham’s feeling at that point. To add to what was already hard to bear, Isaac had to ask the most difficult question. He asked his daddy saying, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham’s heart must have been pierced a thousand times. Bravely he replied, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”  What faith! So the two of them walked on.

What Abraham did was an enactment of what God Himself would do for us years later. He actually sent Jesus, His only Son, who carried a wooden cross up to Mount Calvary where He was to be sacrificed. Much like Isaac who had carried wood up a mountain in Moriah for his own sacrifice. But unlike Isaac, He was actually sacrificed and gave up His life for the payment of our sins. He is truly the lamb that Abraham told Isaac that God Himself would provide. He is the Lamb that had been slain for the sin of the world. Let’s be grateful for what God had done in order that we can walk on together with Him.

Genesis 21:22-34 – Drawing nearer to God

Many things had taken place. In Genesis 20, we saw how God dealt with Abimelech and preserved Sarah from being added to his harem. This God did to ensure that His plan for Isaac would not be jeopardized. Then when we come Genesis 21, we saw the birth of Isaac and the jealousy that Ishmael had over Isaac. He was then driven away with his mother and was rescued by the Lord and became an archer. The last we read was that he married a woman from Egypt.

Time had elapsed and Abraham had gained some standing, that King Abimelech visited him with Phicol, the commander of his army. He recognized the hand of God with Abraham and treated him as an equal in his dealings with the patriarch. We recall that in Genesis 20, he saw Abraham as a nomad that had come to visit his land in Gerar. Now in Genesis 21, his treatment of Abraham was very different. The last we saw was Abraham prayed for him and the change that had happened. Now Abimelech saw how the Lord had blessed Abraham and he had increased in everything: herds, servants and descendants.

We can sense from verse 25 that the servants of Abimelech and those of Abraham were having some contention over a well. The servants of Abimelech had seized the well. While Abraham consented to deal with Abimelech in a non-aggressive agreement over the matter, he however wanted the well to be released and returned. The well was vital to Abraham and his people. For they needed it for irrigation to cultivate their crops. Apparently, Abimelech was unaware of it. So he told Abraham, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.”

Abraham made a pact with Abimelech to seal the fact that the well belonged to him. He offered the king of Gerar, sheep and cattle in the pact. Abraham also set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock. That aroused the curiosity of Abimelech so he asked Abraham what that meant. He wanted the king to acknowledge that the well his servants had seized was indeed dug by Abraham and therefore belonged to him. The king returned the well and Abraham named it Beersheba, meaning the well of oath. Now that the matter was resolved, Abimelech and Phicol returned to the land of the Philistines. This gives a clue that king Abimelech was a descendant of the Philistines.  

Abraham’s response to the whole matter was to plant a tamarisk tree. The significance of what he did was that he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. The fact that Abraham prayed to God showed us that the Covenant God Abraham served and worshipped is an eternal God. He had proven Himself to be faithful to Abraham, His servant. Abraham now had the heir God had promised him, and also could roamed freely in the land of Philistine. He would have been a fulfilled man. However, he was unaware of the great impending testing of his faith that was soon to come. An untested faith is not worth believing, so his faith would soon be tested. And so will ours. Just as Abraham, our salvation in Christ will also lead us into times where we will be tested. However, we need to know that they are intended to cause us to draw nearer to God. So whatever we are facing now, know that it’s a call to draw nearer to God.      

  

Genesis 21:1-21 – God’s plan always comes to pass

Abraham finally had a son with Sarah at the age of one hundred years old. They were careful to name him Isaac as instructed by God. Sarah’s laughter of cynicism now becomes the laughter of joy as she held Isaac, meaning laughter, in her hand. She was very sure that though she gave birth at such an old age, no one would laugh at her, but all would laugh with her. Abraham was also quick to obey the instruction given earlier to circumcise all males in his household. This was to be a sign of the covenant God had made with him and his descendants forever. So at eight days old Isaac was circumcised. Abraham held a feast when Isaac was weaned, probably about three years of age. Sarah had long given up the hope of bearing a child but her joy would certainly be full. With the weaning, Isaac had taken the first step toward becoming a man. It was truly a joyous occasion for Abraham and Sarah, but not for Hagar and Ishmael.

Jealousy arose and at the feast of Isaac’s weaning, Sarah saw Ishmael mocking. He was probably about 16 years of age. No reason was given why he mocked Isaac, but his attitude reflected that of Hagar, his mother, years ago when she was pregnant with him. It must had irritated Sarah so much that she wanted them gotten rid of. So in verse 10 we read that she told Abraham to “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” Sarah was being mean. Refusing to mention them by their names, she referred to them as the slave woman and her son. No matter what, Abraham went to have relationship with Hagar at her coaxing and Ishmael was his son. In that culture what Sarah demanded was not allowed. That’s why we are told that Abraham was greatly distressed by Sarah’s vehemence to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. He only heeded to Sarah’s demand when God told him to do so and promised to make Ishmael into a nation.   

Verse 14 tells us that Abraham rose early the next morning, gave Hagar and Ishmael bread and water in a skin bottle and sent them off and did not drive them off as demanded by Sarah. And the mother and son went wandering in the desert of Beersheba. In the heat of the desert the water given to them by Abraham was soon depleted. In her discouragement Hagar thought Ishmael could not survive the rough situation they were in. He could be in a state of semi-consciousness at this point due to exhaustion and lack of water, and was not able to walk on his own. Thinking that Ishmael would soon die she put him under one of the bushes. She then walked away from him for she could not bear to see him die. And there all alone she sobbed in despair.  

There is no record that she prayed but we are told that Ishmael did. And God heard his cry of despair and responded. Ours is a compassionate God. He always hear the cry of the afflicted. He will come to the rescue of those who call out to Him in despair, especially His very own. So the angel of the Lord intervened and called out to Hagar, brought her hope and showed her a well nearby. In her despondency she missed the well nearby. Now with God’s help she was made aware of the water and her hope rekindled.  What we see here is again the grace of God in display. When all hope is gone, our cry, like Ishmael’s, can still reach the heart of our compassionate God. His ears are inclined to the cry of His children. Miraculously delivered, Ishmael lived in the wilderness of Paran and became an archer. God was with him too. And his mother got him a wife from Egypt.

What’s there to glean in this story? When we try to do the will of God with our own selfish idea, we create dissension, discord and rivalry. The mistake made by Abraham and Sarah in the birth of Ishmael had created rivalry that had such a rippling effect that it is still felt in the Middle East today. Let us learn to trust God, wait for His timing to bring about his plan in our life. He makes all things beautiful in His time!       

Genesis 20:8-18 – Being honest can help us avoid needless troubles

God would never allow His plan to be ruined. He will remove the obstacle to get us there. This is clearly seen in how He dealt with the problem caused by Abraham. He again tried to give a deceptive account about his relationship with Sarah. He only disclosed to Abimelech, the King of Gerar, that Sarah was his sister and not the fact that she was also his wife.  Being deceived, Abimelech almost head into trouble for acquiring Sarah for his harem. God intervened because His plan through Abraham was about to be brought to pass. He had promised that Sarah would bear Abraham a son. So he was not about to let Abimelech destroy His plan. So He warned him in a dream. God did that also because He knew that this king of Gerar had integrity and would not have done what he did, had he known about Sarah’s status. Our God is just and will never deal with a person unfairly.

One of the avenues God speaks to us is through dreams. Here He revealed to Abimelech through a dream. Abimelech could have dismissed it had he been less sensitive to God. But because he was a God fearer, he could recognize God’s message from his dream. Having ascertained the warning by God, Ahimelech took action early the next morning. He assembled his officials together and told them all that had happened, including the revelation by God. And great fear came upon his people. He then summoned Abraham and blasted him. He wanted to know why Abraham did not tell the truth about Sarah’s status as his wife. For Abimelech to acknowledge publicly that he was deceived, was unusual. If not for God’s intervention, he would have punished Abraham and drove him out of Gerar.

Here in is the contrast. Abraham, the man of faith, should have been the honest one. But instead we see that Abimelech, a pagan king who should have been more cunning, was more honest than him. When Abraham became self-serving, he acted with fear and caused a great deal of misunderstanding. Here he leaves us with a lesson. We should trust God at all times, so that we do not create needless troubles that could sabotage God’s plan for our life. He almost put the plan of God for Isaac into jeopardy. Abraham’s lack of trust in God made him less discerning. King Abimelech and his people were more honorable that he thought. Any believer could also do what Abraham had done when connection with God had weakened. The loss of discernment is an evidence of a faith that has weakened.

Had Abraham been more truthful about his relationship with Sarah, he would have been spared the embarrassment, and his wife’s needless trepidation would have been avoided. On top of that, Abimelech would have been spared the guilt and fear. Here we see what one wrong move could cause many bystanders to suffer. It teaches us to decide and act rightly in our walk with God. Our own move may not just affect ourselves, but others also. Here, despite his embarrassment, Abimelech compensated Abraham. He gave to the patriarch sheep, cattle and slaves. He even told Sarah, sarcastically, that he was giving Abraham, her brother, a thousand pieces of silver. He also offered them the right to live wherever they chose with his land. So thorough was this king that he would not want to be caught in any wrong, so he asked Abraham to pray for him. He also declared that in this matter Sarah was not guilty. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his household, and God reversed the curse and restored their fertility.  

One of the avenues God speaks to us is through dreams. Here He revealed to Abimelech through a dream. Abimelech could have dismissed it had he been less sensitive to God. But because he was a God fearer, he could recognize God’s message from his dream. Having ascertained the warning by God, Ahimelech took action early the next morning. He assembled his officials together and told them all that had happened, including the revelation by God. And great fear came upon his people. He then summoned Abraham and blasted him. He wanted to know why Abraham did not tell the truth about Sarah’s status as his wife. For Abimelech to acknowledge publicly that he was deceived, was unusual. If not for God’s intervention, he would have punished Abraham and drove him out of Gerar.

Here in is the contrast. Abraham, the man of faith, should have been the honest one. But instead we see that Abimelech, a pagan king who should have been more cunning, was more honest than him. When Abraham became self-serving, he acted with fear and caused a great deal of misunderstanding. Here he leaves us with a lesson. We should trust God at all times, so that we do not create needless troubles that could sabotage God’s plan for our life. He almost put the plan of God for Isaac into jeopardy. Abraham’s lack of trust in God made him less discerning. King Abimelech and his people were more honorable that he thought. Any believer could also do what Abraham had done when connection with God had weakened. The loss of discernment is an evidence of a faith that has weakened.

Had Abraham been more truthful about his relationship with Sarah, he would have been spared the embarrassment, and his wife’s needless trepidation would have been avoided. On top of that, Abimelech would have been spared the guilt and fear. Here we see what one wrong move could cause many bystanders to suffer. It teaches us to decide and act rightly in our walk with God. Our own move may not just affect ourselves, but others also. Here, despite his embarrassment, Abimelech compensated Abraham. He gave to the patriarch sheep, cattle and slaves. He even told Sarah, sarcastically, that he was giving Abraham, her brother, a thousand pieces of silver. He also offered them the right to live wherever they chose with his land. So thorough was this king that he would not want to be caught in any wrong, so he asked Abraham to pray for him. He also declared that in this matter Sarah was not guilty. Abraham prayed for Abimelech and his household, and God reversed the curse and restored their fertility.  

Genesis 20:1-7 – God values integrity

Earlier, when Abraham was in Egypt, he was fearful for his life so he deceptively said that Sarah was his sister without disclosing that she was also his wife. That almost got the pharaoh into trouble with the Lord for trying to acquire her for his harem. Abraham apparently again did the same thing when he came to Gerar. He should have learnt the lesson from his past experience, but he obviously had forgotten it totally. For this incidence happened 25 years after that one in Egypt. How could Abraham do this again when His faith in God must have grown? He had experienced the Lord’s deliverance on so many occasions since that episode in Egypt, so why did he do it again? We do not have the answer, except that the human side of him must have gotten a better of him. With so many interactions with people who did not have God, Abraham probably developed a distrust for people. Abraham thought that Abimelech had no fear for God. We read this in verse 11. He said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.” So he again chose self-preservation and safety at the expense of Sarah. So he said Sarah was his sister. We surmise that Sarah must still be very beautiful despite her age. It could also be that in those days, king would acquire more women for their harem for political reason. And Abimelech was no exception.

On God’s part we see His grace at work to protect Abraham, His prophet. His flaw was obvious. He did not consider the safety of his wife. Momentarily, he forgot that God had protected him 25 years ago in Egypt in a similar situation. How short our memory of God’s gracious dealing could be. We also see God protecting Abimelech, the king. Besides his fear for God, he was also a man of integrity. He would act conscionably. God would not allow him to commit a wrong knowing that he was a man of integrity. So God stopped him before he committed a wrong to Sarah. God preserved Sarah because of the plan He had for Abraham and Isaac. At this point Sarah had not conceived Isaac yet. Just imagine if Abimelech had intimacy with Sarah that night, His plan for Isaac the miraculous son would be greatly hampered. God was bent on keeping His part of the covenant though man might fail Him. How faithful is our God!  He will never allow us to ruin His plan. Let us be sensitive to God in His dealing with us. He values integrity so we must be people of integrity, and act like one.  

Genesis 19:30-38 - Bad choices do exact a price

Lot and his two daughters now sought shelter in Zoar. They were first told by the angels who were about to destroy Sodom, to flee to the mountains. But for fear that they could not make it there, Lot requested to go to Zoar, an insignificant and small city. The angels consented and here they were in Zoar. With his wife gone, Lot was left with his two daughters. As he smelled the smoke from the devastation of Sodom and Gomorrah, he must have felt the wisdom of the angels’ instruction to go up to the mountains. So Lot and his two daughters went up to the mountains and settled in a cave. From his high society life, Lot was now reduced to a mundane, lonely existence in a cave. We can be sure that he did not expect to be where he was. He was in a pitiful state. Here’s a lesson, we like Lot, have the freedom to choose what we want, but we must remember we do not have the freedom to choose the consequences.  Like Lot, we will have to live with the consequences of our choice.  

We cannot fathom how the older daughter thought. But like Lot, they too did not consider the consequence of their choices. So they plotted to have their father drunk and then have incestuous relationship with him, with the hope that they could each bear him a son. So the first night the older daughter carried out the plan, had the father drunk and slept with him.  The next day they did the same thing, got their father drunk, and then the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Although the law against incest had not yet been given, they obviously knew what they were doing was wrong. That’s the reason they had to have their father drunk in order to carry out their plan. This account, though in the Bible, does not mean that God approves of the act.  Had Lot’s wife been around, this would not have taken place.

Coming to Lot, he obviously had poor judgement of his situation and circumstances. He had no ability to appraise life wisely. He was not careful about how he should live. His miscalculation took him to Sodom. Now his senselessness was again playing itself out. Hence the daughters could get him drunk and have sexual relationship with him. And each had a child by their father. The son of the first daughter was named Moab and the child by the second daughter was called Be-Ammi. The descendants of these two sons of Lot, the Moabites and the Ammonites, became bitter enemies with the descendants of Abraham. Conflicts between Abraham’s and Lot’s descendants persisted for a long time. Numbers 23-25 give detail of the most horrendous carnal seduction the children of Israel had at the hand of the Moabites. In Leviticus 20, we are told that many Israelites would actually sacrifice their children to Molech in flames. This offering of children in the worship of the god of Molech was an invention of the Ammonites.  

Every wrong decision in life has its attending consequence. When Lot started out, he probably did not anticipate such a result. He made his decision without calculating the cost. He certainly had every right to choose, but he didn’t realize that he couldn’t control or choose the result. It’s the principles of cause and effect. Remember that bad choices do exact a price!  

Genesis 19:15-29 – The importance of good decision

When the angels came to Sodom it was evening. The whole event that ensued where Lot sought to protect them from the lust-crazy people took a whole night. Verse 15 indicates that morning was dawning, and time for the impending judgement had arrived. The angels then urged Lot to take his wife and two daughters, and leave the city so that they would not be caught in the judgement God was bringing upon that city. But Lot hesitated. Why? Perhaps he was thinking of the property he had in Sodom. Maybe it was the friends he had to leave behind. He was weighing the cost of leaving Sodom. We, standing at a distance looking at him, must have felt how foolish he was to have second thoughts about leaving that wicked city. But wait. Aren’t some of us like him in some ways? Thinking of the cost of leaving our past behind to truly follow Christ has caused some to hesitate. Remember, Jesus reminds us that to put our hand on the plough and then look back, makes us unworthy of the Kingdom of God. As we evaluate how we have gotten so far with Christ, be thankful for the mercy of God. He has sent people who can see clearer to push us on. In the same way, God’s mercy was shown to Lot and his family. The angels forcefully took them by the hands, and sent them out of the city.

As Lot and his family was out of the city, they were urged to flee for their lives, and not to look back. They were told not to stay in the valley but to flee to the mountain. Moving on to higher and safer ground with the Lord is ours to do. With no uncertain terms he was told to escape to the mountain. But evaluating his situation, he doubted that he could make it to the mountain, so he requested to go to one of the nearby cities. In spiritual life, each one of us must aim to exert higher. Never choose the low land. Lot doubted momentarily. Of course by his own strength he wouldn’t be able to make it to the mountain. But God was in control. If Lot could only see that. Thankfully, we have a fuller revelation and we know that God is in control of all the circumstances of our life. He will sustain us when we trust Him, and press toward higher grounds.

Lot was a survivalist. He never thought about the future, he only cared for the moment. He didn’t think of the negative influence he could get, in the smaller city he proposed to run too. He was too fearful for his life and became self-centred. His trust in the Lord became weak and he wavered. Failing to focus on the Lord who had brought him out of Sodom, he chose a temporary relief. Like Lot, there are people who would rather have stop-gap measures in life. But God would rather that we go for the total solution found in the mountain. It is there that we connect with Him. He wants us to experience His best. But in His grace, he does allow us to choose a lesser plan like Lot did. Any plan we choose other that God’s, would be as insignificant as Zoar, which literally means small.  

As instructed, Lot and his family fled from the impending judgement that God had for Sodom and Gomorrah. They were running toward that smaller town that Lot had requested, although the Lord would rather they run to the mountain. They were told not to look back. But as the fire and brimstone fell from heaven upon the two wicked cities, Lot’s wife looked back. She became a pillar of salt instantly. Why did she look back? Was it curiosity? Was it the love she still had for her past? Was it the friends or property she could not part with?  Whatever the reason for her failure to follow instruction, it was disobedience, clear and simple. The one last look at evil can be dangerous. It could be the deciding factor to a life of usefulness or a life of uselessness. She became a reminder to us of the danger of having one last look at evil.   

The account closes with Abraham going to the spot where he had interceded with the Lord. He saw the smoke that rose from the ashes of Sodom and Gomorrah, and knew that God couldn’t even find ten righteous in that city. His mind must have gravitated to Lot, wondering what had happened to him. He knew the wicked influence Lot was exposed to on a daily basis. But the passage made clear that Lot was spared because of Abraham’s prayer. This helps us to know that our prayers for people we love do make impact with God. So don’t stop praying for them. We are given the freedom of choice. But what we choose determine how we will end. Hence, we must choose to begin with the end in mind. So choose wisely!