ABRAHAM: DOWNPAYMENT ON A PROMISE

Welcome to Bible study online. Today we will study Sarah's great moment in history, so grab your Bible and let's take a look together!

God has been promising Abraham for twenty-five years that He will make him a great nation and a blessing to all the nations of the world. So far, Abraham has been left waiting and wondering about it all. Now, the time has come for God to begin making the promise a flesh-and-blood reality.

A CHILD IS BORN

Genesis 21:1-2 says,

The LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did to Sarah as He had promised. And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.

The Hebrew verb “paqad” is translated “visited” in this verse, but it is a strong verb that is difficult to translate. Far from a simple social call, it means here an action on the part of God which produces a beneficial result for His people. However, this verb is most often used in association with drawing up troops for battle. It is as though Sarah has been waiting all her life and now God has said, “It’s time now for you to get involved in My plan.” God had promised Abraham in Genesis 17:21 that Sarah would soon have a son and then He promised Sarah herself in chapter 18:14 that it was time. These verses and the preceding chapter involving Abimelech and his household make it clear that conception is the Lord’s doing. No child comes into the world apart from His action. Now this opens up a lot of questions for us because we simply can’t understand why good and loving women are sometimes not enabled to have children or why parents who neglect and abuse their children are allowed to have them in the first place. Just as Job did not understand why his situation was allowed to happen, neither do we understand all that God does or allows. However in the final chapters of Job, Job discovered that God was bigger than all of his “why’s” and so, like Job, we must let ourselves rest in God.

God is at last beginning to build a house for Abraham. Let’s look at Psalm 127 in connection with this idea of building a house.

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
The watchman stays awake in the vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
And go late to rest,
Eating the bread of anxious toil;
for He gives to His beloved sleep.
Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
Are the children of one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
Who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

This Psalm works on the idea of building a house, guarding a city, and building a family. It points out that God is the true builder and watcher and without Him, our human labor is in vain. How does this relate to Abraham and Sarah? They had previously tried to build a family in their own way. Hagar and Ishmael were the result, and although Ishmael was a gift from God, he was also a symbol of man trying to work by his own common sense and effort in the strength of his own flesh.

Up to now, it seems that Sarah has not believed God. It was she who suggested the surrogate mother idea involving Hagar and when God finally told her it was time to have a baby, she laughed at the idea. So on the face of it, we wouldn’t think she had a lot of faith. But Hebrews 11:11-12 says,

By faith, Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered Him faithful Who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

So we see that Sarah herself was able to conceive because she believed God was faithful to His promises.

Verse 2 of Genesis 21 says that Sarah gave birth at the time God had told Abraham this would happen. Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.” So we see that God had planned beforehand the exact time of Isaac’s birth. The times that God has set for all the things that happen on earth are a great mystery for us. We don’t understand why or when He does as He does. Romans 11:33 says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable His ways!”

OBSERVATION: Learn to rest in the mysteriousness of God, trusting in His goodness.

Returning to our text of study, Genesis 21:3 says, “Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.” The literal understanding of the name “Isaac” in this context is “God is Laughing Now.” In Genesis 17:17, Abraham laughed when God told him that Sarah would have a son. In Genesis 18:12, Sarah herself laughed when she heard God say that she would soon have a son. But God gets the last laugh. This is not a derisive or mocking laugh, but a laugh of joy.

Genesis 21:4-5 says,

And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Notice here that Isaac was the first of the Hebrew line to be circumcised on the eighth day. Abraham was an old man and Ishmael a young boy when God made His official covenant with Abraham and instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign. The significance of the number 8 is that it marks a new beginning. The new week began on the eighth day and so the number 8 stands for new beginnings. Circumcision itself was meant to symbolize a new beginning, putting off the old nature that we are born with so that the new spiritual nature can be revealed. Now we see Isaac being circumcised on the eighth day, so something new is beginning. From Adam until Abraham, God dealt with man by means of his conscience. Eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil aroused the conscience of Adam, so God worked through that for 2,000 years. Now He is getting ready to work through a nation, so we see that in Isaac, there is a new beginning in God’s dealings with man.

It is also important here to begin to look at Isaac through the eyes of Old Testament typology. In the past, God gave “pictures” in the lives of people that pre-figured Christ and also the Church and even in some cases God’s plan for future ages. This is what the scholars call “typology.” In the life of Isaac, we see a pre-figuring of Jesus. First, we see that both Isaac and Jesus were born by the promise of God. God promised Abraham and Sarah that He would give them Isaac. God promised the human race through Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15 that He would send a Redeemer (the Seed of the woman) to destroy the work that Satan began in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was the fulfillment of that promise. Second, both Isaac and Jesus were born by supernatural intervention. Finally, they were born according to God’s pre-determined time. We have already mentioned this in connection with verse 1, but let’s look at Galatians 4:4-5. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” So we see that the timing of the birth of Jesus was pre-determined by God.

GOD MAKES LAUGHTER

Genesis 21:5-7 continues,

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

Verse 5 emphasizes the extreme age of Abraham. Hebrews 11:12 says that Abraham was so old he was “as good as dead.” In these verses regarding Sarah, we can feel some of the pain she must have endured for long decades as she watched other women having babies, nursing little ones and seeing them grow up around her, unable to identify with the pride and joy of the parents. She must have asked herself, “Why not me? What’s wrong with me?” Don’t we all sometimes ask ourselves, “Why do other people get all the lucky breaks? Why did that guy get a miraculous answer to prayer, but I didn’t?” I recently heard a person say, “I’ll believe in miracles when God tells me the winning lottery numbers!” To help correct our perspective on this, let’s look at Isaiah 54:1.

“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
Than the children of her who is married,"
Says the LORD.

Sarah was barren except for one child, but she was blessed under the covenant of marriage, unlike Hagar. Like Sarah, we may not have a lot to show off in this life, but we are blessed under a covenant of grace with God Himself. What more do we want?

Sarah utters at this point what seems to me like a prophecy. She says, “All who hear of it will laugh.” This birth is good news for all people because through him, the Promised Redeemer will come. The angel in Luke 2:10, announcing the birth of Jesus, said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.” The birth of Isaac was a foreshadowing of the great event announced by the angel.

Our text continues in Genesis 21:8, “And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.” All is happy and joyous up to now. Isaac would have been about three years old when he was weaned and this was a first milestone in his development. The proud and happy parents are celebrating the life and growth of their son by proclaiming a feast. Likewise, in our own spiritual lives, after the life of the Son of God has been born into us when we trust Him for salvation, we are meant to nourish that new spiritual life with the milk of God’s word. The fellowship with other believers and the teaching, mentoring, and discipling of other more mature believers helps us to grow to the point that we can be spiritually “weaned” and begin to take on the solid meat of the word of God as His Spirit reveals truth to us. Just as every proud parent celebrates when a child becomes able to feed himself, those who watch over the spiritual lives of others rejoice when they begin to be able to understand God’s word and apply it for themselves. The Apostle Paul grieved over the failure of the Corinthian church to grow spiritually in I Corinthians 3:1-2 when he said, "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready.”

TROUBLED WATERS

All seems happy and joyful, but a fly is about to land in the ointment in chapter 21, verses 9-11.

But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son.

The party is in full swing when Sarah notices Ishmael laughing at Isaac. The word used here for laughter relates to Isaac’s name, but Ishmael is not rejoicing over Isaac—he is mocking his little brother. Ishmael is about 17 years old here and is probably jealous. It is easy to poke fun at the little fellow. Ishmael is strong, fast, and has probably been popular in the family all along. Isaac is toddling around, barely eating table food. So Ishmael relieves his jealous feelings by mocking little Isaac.

It’s important at this point to notice the typology of Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac is a type of the spiritual life and Ishmael is a type of the flesh. Isaac was born by the supernatural intervention of God but Ishmael was completely natural, born solely by the strength of the flesh. The flesh will always mock the spiritual. The flesh always seems smarter, more sophisticated, stronger, and ahead of the game, while the person who prays and waits for God to lead and move will seem weak and ineffective—at least for a time.

Sarah’s reaction is immediate, “Throw those two out!” This is obviously not a good moment of grace and tender mercy for Sarah. However, her instinct will be proved right. Abraham, we see, is unhappy with the idea. In this culture, dismissing a surrogate mother and her son was unthinkable. It also appears that Abraham loved Ishmael because he was his own son. So a bitter situation has developed here. What will Abraham do?

Genesis 21:12-13 continues,

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

When Sarah first suggested to Abraham the surrogacy scheme all those years ago, Abraham jumped right in with it. There is no record that he consulted with God at all. Here, however, he apparently spends the night seeking and listening to God regarding this problem. God’s response might seem a little surprising to us. He tells Abraham to do as Sarah said and send away Ishmael. But he consoles Abraham by telling him not to feel badly or worry about it. Although Isaac is the one through whom the promise will come, God promises to make Ishmael into a great nation because he, too, is Abraham’s son.

The Apostle Paul uses this occasion to illustrate the spiritual lesson seen in these two sons. Let’s look at Galatians 4:21-31.

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband." Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman." So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

In this passage, we see that Isaac was born of a promise and thus typifies the spiritual, while Ishmael is born as an effort of the flesh and typifies the flesh. Paul uses this to illustrate that receiving Christ by faith under the new covenant is spiritual while keeping the law is an effort of the flesh. The Law itself acknowledges its inability to save from sin because it contains elaborate provisions for sacrifices for sin. But we see here that the flesh will always mock the Spirit. The world will always mock the faith of the believer. But sadly, within the Church, the carnal Christian will mock the spiritual Christian, because it will always seem that busy activity accomplishes more than prayer and waiting on God. It will also seem that injecting a little sensuality and worldliness into the church’s activities produces faster results than the simplicity of prayer, faith and resting in God.

THE PLACE FOR THE FLESH

Our text continues in Genesis 21:14-16:

So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot, for she said, "Let me not look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

Notice that Abraham obeys God immediately. He gets up early the next morning and sends Hagar and Ishmael away with a little bread and water. He has God’s promise that Ishmael will prosper, so he trusts him into God’s hand and cuts ties at this point. Verse 15 tells us that Hagar wandered in the wilderness. She had no idea where to go. The wilderness is a place where you are definitely not in control. You are at the mercy of whatever comes along and there is no one to help you. If God doesn’t take care of you, you will die. It is a place where the proud are humbled and the humble are strengthened in their faith because they have no place to go but to God.

The lesson for us in all this is that the flesh must give way to the spiritual. Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” Notice that the provisions sent for Ishmael were very meager. Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:29) Likewise, Paul told the Corinthians, “I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (I Corinthians 9:27) Once Christ has been born in us, He is to be the center of our attention. The flesh has to go. Notice also that if we will obey God by disciplining the flesh and “sending it away” figuratively, He will provide for it as He deems proper.

The story ends in verses 17-21:

And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.’ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Here we see that the flesh, which generally seems so strong, is actually pitifully weak. Hagar and Ishmael don’t last long in the wilderness. That skin filled with water is now empty and Ishmael will soon be as dead as the skin itself if something doesn’t give. (Incidentally, the skin that held the water might be seen to typify the Law, unable with its system of sacrifice to impart the Living Water so essential to life.) This is all too painful for Hagar to bear, so she lays him down and goes off a little way. But something happens when she leaves Ishmael alone. Ishmael’s father is Abraham and he had heard all his life about the God of Abraham and he even saw Sarah having a baby at the age of 90, so as death closes in around him and his pride crumbles away, he calls out to God—and God hears him. In Ishmael’s brokenness, God hears and answers and saves him from death. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (I Peter 5:5), so Ishmael in his repentance has found the place of grace.

In Genesis 16:10, God had promised Hagar that Ishmael would be greatly multiplied, and He renews that promise to her again. When we consider all the suffering that the descendants of Ishmael have caused the descendants of Isaac, we again find ourselves asking, “Why?” This remains another mystery in which we must rest and trust God. God opens Hagar’s eyes to another well. The well was there all along, but Hagar could not see it for herself.

QUESTION: How often are we too distracted with life to “see God?”

So we see that God did not abandon Ishmael after Abraham cut ties with him. While Ishmael stayed in the wilderness, God blessed and cared for him and made him mighty. If we will likewise reckon the fleshly things in our life as dead, God will then be free to make what He chooses of our physical lives.

Thanks for joining us. We are almost finished with our study of Abraham. Thanks for persevering.

ABRAHAM: FROM MOUNTAIN TO VALLEY

Welcome to Bible Study online. We are getting close to the end of our study of Abraham. Be sure to grab your Bible and let's look at how Abraham handles fear.


The life of faith has some glorious mountains where we connect with God in our understanding and see His way clearly. We love these moments and they are often accompanied by emotional ecstasy. On the Mount of Transfiguration when Peter saw the glory of Jesus unveiled and heard the voice of God, he just wanted to build a shelter and stay forever. But God’s plan was not long term mountain top experiences and emotional ecstasies. His plan was the valley filled with burdened, demon-possessed people. Abraham has just experienced the presence of God. He spoke to the Lord face to face and interceded successfully with God on behalf of his nephew. But now, he has awakened to the valley of destruction. Smoke is rising from the direction of the Jordan Valley and he sees the furnace of God’s judgment. Suddenly, Abraham doesn’t feel so comfortable by the oaks of Mamre. So he packs up and heads away from the smoke of Sodom.

Genesis 20:1 says, “From there Abraham journeyed toward the territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.” The Negev (Negeb) is the southern-most part of the land promised by God to Abraham. The town of Gerar was part of ancient Philistia and we are about to see the first meetings and the relationship established between the father of the Israelites and the ancient Philistine race. These two groups of people are going to eventually become bitter enemies, but how do they start off? Let’s take a look first at the origins of the Philistines.

The name “Philistia” literally translates “land of sojourners” and word is rendered “Palestine.” So we see immediately that the Philistines were immigrants to this land. They were not the original indigenous population. The land of the Philistines itself is a 40-mile plain along the Mediterranean coast that is ten miles wide at its northern end and twenty miles wide at its southern end. It has extremely rich soil, allowing prosperity for its inhabitants. This plain was very useful for war chariots, allowing the Philistines to develop a very successful military advantage. The plain was dotted with elevated sites which proved very useful and strategic for strongholds. Situated between Phoenicia and Syria to the north, and Egypt and Arabia to the south, Philistia easily became an important commercial center. So the Philistine people had every possible advantage from a worldly standpoint.

The Philistine people themselves originated from a group called Caphtor. Genesis 10:13-14 says, “Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Parthrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim.” This verse ties the Philistines to Casluhim, the brother of Caphtor. Deuteronomy 2:23 says, “As for the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.” Gaza was one of the five major Philistine cities. So it seems apparent that the Philistines actually came from two brothers, Caslu and Caphtor, who were sons of Egypt. Finally, in Amos 9:7 the Lord says, “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?” So we see that God Himself established the Philistine people in the land, and that they were not the original people, but they destroyed the people who lived there before them and took their land. This is interesting in light of the present attitude of the “Palestinian” people who resent the presence of Israel in “their” land. Many historians believe that the people of Caphtor had settled in Crete, a Mediterranean island, but later migrated to Egypt before moving on to Palestine.

Now that we have established the identity of the Philistine people, let’s look at Abraham’s first encounter with them. Genesis 20:2-3 says,

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man’s wife."

Abraham has once again defaulted from faith to fear. As before in Egypt, he does not build an altar at Gerar and he denies his true relationship with Sarah.

OBSERVATION: Jesus’ most frequent command in the gospel accounts is to not be afraid.

Fear is the total opposite of faith. So we see in the life of Abraham, who stands as a type of the life of faith, he struggles with fear. Why was Sarah so desirable? We’re talking about a 90-year-old woman. Why would Abimelech want to add her to the harem? The most likely reason is that Sarah is a woman of some wealth herself and she is obviously of noble birth. She may have been living in a tent for 25 years, but that hasn’t erased the unmistakable signs of a noble lady. Her “brother” is obviously wealthy and a noble man also, so an alliance through marriage with Sarah would add considerably to Abimelech’s wealth and prestige. In that day, being married was a necessity for life for most women, so he would have had no doubts that he was doing Sarah a great favor in marrying her.

Genesis 20:4-5 continues the story,

Now Abimelech had not approached her. So he said, "Lord will You kill an innocent people? Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this."

God has just told Abraham that in about a year Sarah will have his son and heir. Having Sarah in Abimelech’s harem is most definitely mucking up God’s plan, so God intervenes to set things straight. Notice in these verses that God does speak sometimes to unbelievers.

OBSERVATION: God is not careless or indifferent to man. He does not “flatten” the opposition indiscriminately. He has appeared to Abimelech to tell him of his error and the danger that he is in in order to give him a chance to set things straight himself.

Notice also in this passage that Abimelech says he has not come near Sarah. This strengthens the idea that he desired a material connection and alliance with Abraham through Sarah. Abimelech pleads his innocence in the matter and points out the deception of both Abraham and Sarah. Oswald Chambers said, “Abimelech does not stand for the sinful, but for the noble, upright and perfectly natural.” Abimelech is a morally upright man—he is just not a man of faith.

God responds to Abimelech’s defense in Genesis 20:6-7:

Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”

In this dream-state conversation between God and Abimelech, God acknowledges Abimelech’s integrity. Adultery and wife-stealing was not in Abimelech’s mind. On the contrary, he thought he was doing a good thing for everybody involved.

We also see in these verses that God Himself directly intervened to prevent Abimelech from any physical relationship with Sarah. God is perfectly capable of keeping His plan on track despite the foibles of man. God also acknowledges that Abraham is a prophet. He is certainly not a perfect man, but God is not going to give up on Abraham and find somebody else.

OBSERVATION: We may not openly acknowledge God in all our ways as we ought, but He doesn’t give up on us. He sees what He will make of us in the end.

There is one final note of warning here: God is prepared to kill Abimelech and all his household in order to protect Sarah. God’s plan of ultimate redemption will not be denied.

Genesis 20:8 tells us how Abimelech responds to God’s warning. "So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid.” Can you imagine, sitting as a king and suddenly finding out that you have gotten yourself into a life-threatening predicament? You have messed up “royally!” Would you tell your servants, or try to cover it up? I think most of our politicians today would brazen it out and cover up the problem. Abimelech is not too proud to call all the servants and tell them what has happened. Fortunately, Abimelech and his servants are god-fearing and they react appropriately to God’s warning.

Genesis 20:9-13 says,

Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done." And Abilmelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?" Abraham said, "I did it because I thought, 'There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do to me: at every place to which we come, say of me, "He is my brother.”’”

Abimelech calls for Abraham to come see him and confronts him with the truth. “You have caused me to sin” is the charge that Abimelech makes. Can there be any more serious accusation to make against a person of faith than to say that you have been a stumbling block by causing me to sin? Yet Abraham’s fear has caused him to do this very thing.

What did you see that made you do this? Abimelech knows there must have been something to cause this, and Abraham admits his fear. In his fear, he misjudged the people of Gerar. Keeping in mind that he has known the wickedness of Sodom and has left the sight of its ash heaps, it is easy to understand why he thought the people of Gerar were also wicked. But here he has made a misjudgment. He repeated a past mistake and defaulted from the mountain of faith to the valley of fear. Now, he must make an answer. Oswald Chambers also said, “When we realize that we have repeated a sin, the danger is to be down in the mud and refuse to get up.”

The story continues in verses 14-16:

Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male servants and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you." To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone you are vindicated.”

Abimelech’s true nobility is seen here where for the second time he attempts to form an alliance with Abraham. This time, the alliance is based on giving rather than taking. He first attempted an alliance by taking Sarah as his wife. This almost cost him his life. Now, he is making an alliance by giving livestock to Abraham and by extending hospitality to live among them wherever he chose, in contrast to Pharaoh who politely but firmly threw them out of Egypt.

Abimelech’s parting words to Sarah include a sarcastic reference to her “brother.” Although she acted under his instructions, it is sometimes necessary for a noble woman to do what she knows it right without regard to her husband’s wishes. His words to her, however, and the witness of the silver coins vindicate Sarah in the eyes of the world and the paternity of her son will not be questioned.

This first meeting between Abraham and Abimelech concludes as follows in verses 17-18:

“Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. For the LORD had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.”

Considering that God told Abraham before the destruction of Sodom that in about a year Sarah would have a son, we can imagine that the time Sarah was actually in Abimelech’s house was not very long at all. These verses indicate that when Sarah entered his house, both Abimelech and all his women began to be afflicted in such a way that no children could be born. Abimelech’s affliction was most likely the means that God used to keep him from coming near Sarah. It also seems likely that miscarriages and other reproductive problems would have become immediately noticeable among the women. With all the affliction going on, is it any wonder that Abimelech was so terrified when God appeared to him?

The Bible records one more encounter between Abraham and the Philistine king, Abimelech. Let’s look at Genesis 21:22. “At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, ‘God is with you in all that you do.’” Oswald Chambers said, “Abimelech stands as the type of civilization with its organizations and culture and good sense. Between the Church, which is an organism, and organization which is pagan, there must be arbitration. Much of our organization in the Church is pagan, and it is our salvation to see that it is.” We have seen that the Philistines were immigrants in the Promised Land. Although they did not bring the wickedness of the Canaanites, they did bring the worldliness of Egypt and the commercialism of the Mediterranean peoples with them, resulting in love of the world and of money. Like Esau, they were noble, natural, and full of good sense, but also like Esau, they felt no need of God.

OBSERVATION: These same “immigrants” of worldliness and commercialism wander into the lives of Christians and into the Church. How will we deal with things? Will we do what “seems right” and “makes good sense” or will we walk in faith?

Genesis 21:23-24 continues:

“Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned." And Abraham said, "I will swear.”

Abimelech is proposing a perpetual peace treaty between the Philistine people and Abraham’s people.

QUESTION: Is this a wise treaty? Will there be peace between faith and worldliness for future generations? How can people of faith relate to worldly people?

To have peace between faith and worldliness, there must either be compromise or arbitration. Let’s see what happens.

Genesis 21:25-32 says,

When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today." So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?" He said, "These seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well." Therefore the place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines.

From the text, Abraham does apparently have a problem with the Philistines. He has apparently moved out of Gerar, but a well he has been using has been taken over by Philistines. Abimelech denies all knowledge of the matter, so he has not instigated or condoned it. Do they agree to compromise and share the well? No. There is no compromise, no intermingling of interests, but instead there is arbitration. Abraham settles his right to the well with seven ewe lambs and Abimelech accepts his terms. So we see the pattern set here for peace between faith and the world must never rest on compromise.

Covenants were normally established to signify a oneness of life between two parties. This covenant, however, appears to have been mostly a peace treaty. Abimelech made the covenant because he wanted the favor of God, not because he wanted a relationship with God.

The story concludes in verses 33-34:

"Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines."

Planting a tree was a common part of covenant because normally the tree would live a long time as a reminder of the covenant. After successfully arbitrating with Abimelech, Abraham’s faith is apparently strengthened and he once again builds an altar and calls on the name of the LORD – El Olam, the Everlasting God. He is beginning to believe that God really will see him though—everlastingly.

So what became of the covenant between the Philistine people and the Children of Abraham? After the Israelites returned to the land from Egyptian captivity, these people became enemies and fought off and on for many centuries. The Philistines were finally wiped out, except for a small remnant, by Alexander the Great. Today, people who bear the name “Palestinians” are still fighting with the Children of Abraham.


Thanks for joining us. Our next study will cover the birth of the promised son!