Wednesday Bible Study: Abraham plank by plank finale

 

At this point, Abraham has been built into the man God wanted- the father of God's nation.  From here, there are 6 more events in Abraham's life I want to touch on, just to sew everything up.  Each one contains a last lesson to learn from our story.

Isaac's birth

We've already seen a host of miracles involved in this event, including the miraculous rejuvenation of Abraham and Sarah needed to accomplish it.  But there is one further thing to add, and it comes when Ishmael, now a young man, gets mouthy about the new arrival, and Sarah demands Abraham kick him and his mother out of the camp.  Abraham is loathe to do so; but God speaks to him:

Gen 21:12  But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 

Gen 21:13  And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring.” 

I think we draw from this a lesson about our children: sometimes we can guide them in faith, and sometimes we just have to put them in God's hands, and hope in His blessings.  As it turned, Ishmael returns to the story when Abraham passed, helping Isaac bury their father.

Abimelech

While the rejuvenated Sarah was pregnant, Abraham did that "she's my sister" thing a second time; I covered that pretty well before.  But then, later on, they almost got in a dust-up over wells that their herdsmen were disputing.  This points out that, even when we think we've "made it", there is always the danger of backsliding.  Not to mention the importance of communication- when the well issue came up, Abimelech brought his army with him, thinking Abraham meant trouble (and why wouldn't he?).  As they talked, Abimelech found out that NO ONE had even told him about the source of the conflict!  Finally, Abraham gave Abimelech seven ewes from his flock, as a symbolic payment to end the dispute.  The whole series of incidents reminded Abraham what he did wrong with Abimelech (and Pharaoh), and he meant to make them right.

Sarah's death

While he was with the herds in "the land of the Philistines", Sarah died at what would become Hebron, some miles away.  When he returned, he wanted a certain area to bury her.  He had many friends there, and they encouraged him to take whatever spot he wanted.  But having learned the price of free gifts, he demanded to pay for the land.  Even when giving a price, they were willing to forgo the cost:

Gen 23:15  “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 

But Abraham paid it anyway, and it became not only her burial spot, but that of himself, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah.

Sacrificing Isaac

Now we get to the big one, and all the symbology that goes with it.  But I'm going to skip past that, to throw in a bit of Jewish tradition that throws a different spin on it.

The Jews believed that, just like the Job story, an aspect of Satan appeared before the Lord and claimed Abraham loved Isaac more than God, and that was the reason behind this event.  Do I believe that?  I don't know... but what I do know is that if there was a conflict in Abraham's loyalty, this settled it.  Not only did he BELIEVE that God could do anything (including raise Isaac from the dead), but was willing to DO anything God commanded.  "Faith without works is dead", and Abraham proved in the most extreme way, he had both.

Abraham gets re-married

Gen 25:1  Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 

Gen 25:2  She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 

Gen 25:3  Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 

Gen 25:4  The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 

Some try to say that this happened WHILE he was still married to Sarah- I don't believe that.  After all he went through for and with Sarah, and Sarah's reaction even to Ishmael, why would Abraham humiliate her more with an even more fertile woman? No, this came later- and shows that Abraham still had that restored youth!  A many who thought himself "as good as dead" at 99 years old, had 6 more kids between the ages of 138 and 175!  Now I almost went down a bunny trail of the 'many more nations' that he apparently fathered, with names like 'Sheba', 'Dedan', 'Medan', 'Midian', and 'Asshurim'; but I have found that several of them were namesakes of the original progenitors of these peoples from either Shem or Ham; However, Midian is the progenitor of the Midianites that Moses lived with, and Shuah is the ancestor of Bilbad the Shuahite, one of the 'advisers to Job.

But to the original point, this is yet another example of, "You're not done till God says so"!

A wife for Isaac

In what would seem an offhand comment, the Bible says that Hagar found a wife from among the Egyptians for Ishmael; later, we will see the disapproval of Isaac and Rebekah for Esau marrying a handful of Canaanite ladies.  But Abraham, who had learned of his brother's expanding family some time after the almost sacrifice of Isaac, wanted a bride for Isaac from said family.  He did not want the tree God was growing defiled with Canaanite or Egyptian blood.  On the other hand, he didn't want Isaac picking up his old family baggage, either:

Gen 24:2  And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 

Gen 24:3  that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 

Gen 24:4  but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” 

Gen 24:5  The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?” 

Gen 24:6  Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. 

Gen 24:7  The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. 

Gen 24:8  But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” 

I file this under, "Giving my children the tools they need to grow up serving God"; he didn't want Isaac defiled with new sins OR old sins.  If Isaac had went back, he would have had to have rebuilt himself exactly the way God did with Abraham; as it was, Isaac would have to face the same "she's my sister" mistake, and the same "two-son" problem.  Not to mention the same "Don't let my kid marry a Canaanite" thing.  It seems to me that just like Abraham and Isaac found themselves having to "go back over the same old ground" a few times, so do we; so do I.  And by the stress Abraham puts on it here I'm thinking the "don't go back" is a lot harder than the "don't do the new thing".  I can attest to that!  Many of my sins are my father's sins; many of my son's sins are mine.  And if there is any overarching lesson to gather from the building of Abraham, it's that it's a never-ending process.