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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday November 11, 2018
THE
BIRTH OF ISAAC
Genesis
21:1-7
In Genesis 21, verses 1-8, we see
GOD’s promise to Abraham and Sarah finally being realized, and it is exactly at
the appointed time. The silent laughter of both Abraham (Genesis 17:17) and
Sarah (Genesis 18:12), because of their unbelieving spirit, is now turned into
loud laughter of joy that can be shared by both, their family, and friends. And
it had been made possible because they had both finally, through faith, turned
themselves over to GOD, whole-heartedly and completely.
This account in the lives of this aging
couple serves to remind us forever, and to assure each of us individually,
that, the seemingly impossible things in life are put here to serve as proof,
that all things become possible for us when we serve the Almighty, sovereign
GOD, the CREATOR of the universe, in total faith.
As “human beings” living in this world, we
seem to always attempt to solve our problems by taking matters in our own
hands. However, after we become Christians, we need to develop a different
mindset, calling on the advice found in GOD’s Word, and the power of the HOLY
SPIRIT, to lead and guide us out of our own, self-imposed predicaments.
Unfortunately though, we often continue on
in “our worldly mindset” long after we’ve professed to have accepted the
wonderful gift of salvation, and vowed to GOD that we are ready to place our
lives into HIS protective hands. We seem to have a difficult time resisting the
urge to try and move forward without the help of the only wise GOD WHO is
physically invisible to us. We have to have faith in someone (GOD) other than
what we see physically every day. As human beings, our mind finds abstract
things hard to grasp and embrace, because we have to do so with our spirit.
When we develop an experiential
relationship of friendship with GOD, we can then allow HIM to work in our lives
through prayer, and by being patient and waiting on HIM to answer at perfectly
the right time. Our trust in GOD should buttress our patience, so that, over
time, we won’t see GOD as not moving fast enough, and begin to take foolish and
prideful measures, thinking that we need to “help GOD out”. The only real way
we can help GOD, or ourselves, is by being obedient to HIS Word. When we
foolishly attempt to interfere with GOD’s speed, we often end up sinning
against HIM, and thereby, we delay HIS promise and blessing that HE has already
prepared for us.
Abraham and Sarah are one of Scripture’s
greatest examples of people who delayed their blessings and promise from GOD,
by trying to “help GOD out”. First they brought their servant girl, Hagar, into
their bedroom to try and produce a child totally outside of the will of GOD’s plan
for them. This human act, of course, eventually caused a lot of strife in their
family, and, as a result, they ended up waiting seventeen more years for their
promised son, Isaac, to be born through their union.
HAGAR
AND ISHMAEL SENT AWAY
Genesis
21:8-21
In Genesis 21, verses 8-21, after
the birth of Isaac, we see more strife erupting in the family as Hagar and
Abraham’s son, Ishmael, begins to mock and deride he and Sarah’s son, Isaac.
Now, an angry Sarah calls on Abraham to oust both Hagar and Ishmael from their
home forever. She was not about to let young Ishmael share her husband’s
inheritance with her son Isaac, and her wishes were reinforced by GOD, WHO,
spoke to Abraham, assuring him that it was only through Isaac, that his
covenant blessings would be realized.
However, GOD also assured Abraham that HE
would make a great nation of the seed of Ishmael also, because, after all, he
too, was Abraham’s son, and had, in fact, already been blessed and assured
through GOD’s promise to Hagar (Genesis 16:9-11). No longer upset, Abraham rose
early the next morning and prepared food and water for Hagar and Ishmael, and
then, sent them away.
Hagar and Ishmael wandered aimlessly in the
desert of Beersheba until they had exhausted all of their food and water
supply. Concerned for their survival, Hagar placed her, now teenaged son,
underneath the shelter of a large bush. She then walked about a hundred yards,
so as to not be able to see Ishmael suffer and die.
As Hagar sat crying on the hot desert
floor, having already done all that she could do, “the GOD WHO sees us”
(Genesis 16:13), sends HIS angel, just as HE had done before, after Hagar had
ran away from Abraham and Sarah, while she was still pregnant with Ishmael.
Here in this passage we see that, GOD had heard the cries of young Ishmael also,
while he laid there under the bush. In response to Hagar’s and Ishmael’s
lamentations, GOD had already sent an angel to comfort them both.
There in the heat of the desert, GOD
reassures Hagar of HIS promised blessings upon she and Ishmael, and HE placed a
well in front of her, and she filled her containers with water and gave her son
Ishmael a drink. And GOD continued on with them as Ishmael grew up in the
desert of Paran, which is located in the northeast section of the Sinai
Peninsula. He became an expert archer, and Hagar later arranged a marriage for
him to a young woman from Egypt, her own homeland.
The Apostle Paul uses this historical
biblical account of the life of Abraham and Sarah in his, now famous, “Letter
to the Galatians” (Galatians 4:21-31), where he attempted to teach the
Galatians about the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. There he tells
how Ishmael was born through the flesh, as a result of Abraham and Sarah’s own
human passions and desires. Isaac, on the other hand, was the “humanly
impossible birth” brought about by the promise of GOD, and thereby, becoming heir
to that promise.
And so we see one child, Ishmael, ended up
representing the bondage of the “Law” given to Moses on Mount Sinai, while the
other child, Isaac, came to personify the “freedom of the promise” that would
later be ushered in to us by CHRIST JESUS. When JESUS came into the world, “the
old way” (the Law, which can only condemn us)) was done away with, and HIS
vicarious sacrifice, “the new way” (the ultimate Grace, which can only save us)
enabled us, as believers, to become co-heirs to the promise of GOD.
Those of us who allow ourselves to be
adopted into the family of CHRIST, and thereby, into the family of GOD, are set
free from the bondage of sin, and, the Law. And just as Ishmael and Isaac were
in conflict with each other, so is it with “the flesh” and “the spirit”. The
flesh often mocks and derides the spirit, and therefore, as Christians, we are
called by GOD to reject the threat of the flesh, just as Abraham and Sarah
eventually had to do (send it away), and choose to cling to, and live by the
SPIRIT. That way, we will always be able to keep ourselves on GOD’s schedule
and timetable, not ours, and we can allow HIM to lead and guide us into all
truth.
A
TREATY WITH ABIMELECH
Genesis
21:22-34
In verses 22-34, some time after
Hagar and Ishmael had been sent away, Abraham receives a visit from Abimelech
and his commanding officer, Phicol. Here in this passage, we see that,
Abimelech, knowing by now that Abraham was supported by a powerful GOD, and,
that he also was capable of much trickery and deceit, shrewdly decides that it
may be in his best interest to bind Abraham to a covenant for his own
protection, and for the security of his family, and, their descendants.
Here Abraham is called on by the Abimelech
to swear in his own GOD’s name that he will be as loyal to him as he had been
to him and his family, allowing them to dwell in peace in the land that he had
given to him. Abraham agreed and accepted the Abimelech’s offer of peace, but
then he issued a complaint to the king regarding the taking of a well he had dug
when he settled in their land. Apparently some of Abimelech’s servants had
taken control of the well from Abraham, without the king’s knowledge.
At this point Abraham brings out sheep and
oxen and offers them to Abimelech as a peace offering. In addition, he brings
out seven ewe lambs and set them off by themselves. When the Abimelech inquires
as to why he did that, Abraham responds, “They are a gift to you as a public
confirmation that I dug this well”.
In the Hebrew, the word used for “swear” is
“saba” and it is mentioned no less than three times in this passage. Also in
this passage the Hebrew numerical adjective “seba” occurs three times, and it
is the term used for the number “seven”. After agreeing to abide by their
covenant with each other, they called the name of that place “Beer-sheba” which
means “well of seven” and also “well of oath”. It stresses the significance of
their agreement and is indeed the key verse in this passage.
After sealing their covenant, the Abimelech
and his army commander returned home and left Abraham and his clan in peace.
Abraham, showing his faith in GOD that HE would allow him to live there for a
long time, in peace and security, planted a Tamarisk tree in the midst of this
desert land, as if to prophesy through that action that, GOD would supply a
constant stream of water to make the tree grow and provide shade to him for
years to come. In Hebrew tradition, the term “one is sitting under a shade
tree” implies that a person is living in comfort, peace and security with no
worries. It is the same term that JESUS used to describe how HE saw Nathaniel when
he first spoke to him (John 1:48).
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
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