X - Genesis Chapters 20 and 21

Yesterday's post was too lengthy. I will keep them shorter from now on in hopes to be more affective. It's easy to lose sight of the potential to exceed saturation points when studying such important and thought-provoking material.------------------So we have concluded our study about Lot and we should have learned a few things along the way. We will study Lot no further. On to chapters 20 and 21.---------------Abraham moved on again. Let's be reminded that the earth was being populated rapidly because families grew fast along with their livestock and possessions and if people didn't constantly move "beyond", the land in any particular location could not sustain. Abraham moved close to Gerar, evidently because there was available land in this region for Abraham and his immediate kinship to settle. The king of this region was Abimelek, something of a colorful figure, I think. I don't fully understand Abraham's reasoning for this, but in the second verse of chapter 20, he decides to tell the same lie about his wife Sarah. He tells the people of that land that Sarah is his sister. The scripture doesn't give a lot of details, but says that king Abimelek sends for Sarah and takes her in to his household. God immediately confronts Abimelek in a dream and tells him he is as good as dead for disrespecting a married woman. Abimelek is quick to defend himself to God (he makes a few good points) saying that he hasn't done anything to defile her yet and besides both Abraham and Sarah lied to him and he didn't know she was a married woman. Verses 6 and 7 tell me that God liked Abimelek because God prevented him from doing anything wrong and God would not have to punish him. Verse 8 Abimilek confronts Abraham and simply asks him why he lied to him. In verses 11 - 13 Abraham seems to struggle in his response to Abimelek and actually gets technical with him saying that she really is his sister because she is his father's daughter. (Surely Abimelek isn't too impressed with this) Then in vss 14 - 16, Abimelek rewards Abraham, making him wealthier than he already was. I think Abimelek did this out of fear, wanting to find favor with Abraham because of God. In the upcoming books of the Bible we will see that throughout the heathen world, the God of Israel is always feared.---------------------- Chapter 21 - The Birth of Isaac------------------- Sarah gives birth to a son just as God promised. They named the boy Isaac (name means "laughter"). In keeping with the covenant, Abraham circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old. Vs 8 - tells of Isaac being weaned and Abraham holding a great feast in celebration. Now this gets interesting: vs 9 Sarah notices that Hagar's son Ishmael was mocking the occassion. Sarah goes straight to Abraham and demands that he get rid of Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah does not want Ishmael to share Isaac's inheritance. She is aware that Ishmael is Abraham's first-born son, and that is VERY important then as it is now in the Hebrew community. Although this distressed Abraham, God told him in vs 12 to go ahead and do as Sarah wishes. The holy nation will be made through Isaac, but as promised earlier a great nation will be made through Ishmael also. But God's chosen nation Israel is through the blood-line of Isaac, and God never changes His mind about this. It remains prominent even through the times of the Gospel, thousands of years later. Noteworthy to mention is the fact that these two boys are half brothers, making their families very closely related. Today they call each other "cousin". -------------------------Vs. 14 - Abraham sends both Hagar and Ishmael away. Just think how hard this is for Abraham to do this to his first-born. Just think how frightened Hagar and Ishmael must be. All Abraham gave them was some food and water and sent them off to unknown places. They ended up in a desert. Verses 17 through 20 tell how God watched over Hagar and Ishmael and kept His promise to them. Vs 20b Hagar finds Ishmael a wife from Egypt. More on Hagar and Ishmael in a while.-----------------------------Vss 22 - 34 - The Treaty at Beersheba------------------------ Again, these large kinships grew and grew, crowding the land, which always caused contention between families, and sometimes within kinships as we saw earlier with Abraham and Lot. Abimelek comes back on the scene and continues to pursue peace with Abraham. Abraham consents but always seems to make out very well in his business dealings. Then in vs 22 the issue of a common well was raised by Abraham. Seems some of Abimelek's subjects had taken it over. Abimelek agreed to decalre it Abraham's well and they sealed their treaty with gifts. They swore an oath to their agreement and named the place Beersheba (means "well of the oath") Beersheba is mentioned frequently in the Old Testament. After their agreement, Abimelek returned to Philistia and Abraham remained in the land of the Philistines many years. ------------------------------ The next post we'll deal with the test of Abraham's faith, which many of the previous chapters have been a prelude to.