This series of sermons will cover some of the main O.T. characters, beginning in Genesis with Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph. These sermons will not cover every account or incident in the lives of each person, but are selected (1) to give an overview of how God worked in their lives to accomplish his purposes; and (2) to learn important lessons about character and conduct as it relates to the people of God.
Amongst many other lessons in this series, one thing becomes abundantly clear, that the human heart does not change: it remains “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). Nonetheless, God in his grace continues to reveal himself, often in remarkable ways, to finite, frail, and failing human beings whom he uses to represent him, to communicate his instructions and plans, to provide leadership to others, and, generally, to carry out his purposes as the drama of redemption unfolds through the progress of salvation history.
We will study characters like Joseph, who was ridiculed, sold as a slave, falsely accused and imprisoned, yet, ultimately, he was vindicated and exalted. We admire him and aspire to emulate his faith, patience, and steadfast endurance despite the circumstances, and, more importantly, we grow in our understanding of God and his ways with us. Conversely, we will study characters whose behavior and responses may surprise us, but in whom God still displays his grace and through whom God still sovereignly acts.
I hope that this series will bless you as much as it has me. It was a pleasure to preach these sermons and it is now a pleasure to share them with you in written form. May the Lord use them to encourage and inspire you as you serve him and faithfully “preach the word.”
As you read the Bible you discover that life is not always a bed of roses - things don’t always turn out the way you expect or want. Sometimes it’s because of our own ambition or disobedience. Sometimes life just seems to take a twist in the road. What do you do when that happens? Where do you turn?
Kay Arthur tells the story of her friend’s father while he was deer hunting in the wilds of Oregon. He was following an old logging road, nearly overgrown by the encroaching forest, cradling his rifle in the crook of his arm. It was nearly evening and he was just thinking about returning to camp when a noise exploded in the brush nearby. Before he even had a chance to lift his rifle, a small blur of brown and white came shooting up the road straight for him. It all happened so fast that he hardly had time to think. He looked down and there was a little brown cottontail rabbit, utterly spent, crowded up against his legs between his boots. It just sat there, trembling all over; it didn’t budge. This was all very strange because wild rabbits are frightened of people and it’s not often that you’d ever actually see one, let alone have one come and sit at your feet.
While he was puzzling over this, another player entered the scene. Down the road, maybe 20 yards away, a weasel burst out of the brush. When it saw the hunter, and its intended prey sitting at his feet, the predator froze in its track, its mouth panting, and its eyes glowing red. That’s when he understood that he had stepped into a little life-and-death drama in the forest. The cottontail was a fugitive on the run, exhausted by the chase, only moments from death. This hunter was its last hope of refuge. Forgetting its natural fear and caution, the little animal instinctively crowded up against him for protection from the sharp teeth of its relentless enemy.
The little creature was not disappointed. The man raised his powerful rifle and deliberately shot into the ground just underneath the weasel. The animal seemed to leap almost straight into the air a couple of feet and then rocketed back into the forest as fast as its legs could carry it. For a while, the little rabbit didn’t stir. It just sat there, huddled at the man’s feet in the gathering twilight while he spoke gently to it. Soon the fugitive hopped away from its protector into the forest.
Where does a fugitive run when the predators of trouble, worry, and fear pursue you? Where do you hide when your past pursues you like a relentless wolf, seeking your destruction? Where do you seek protection when the weasels of temptation, corruption, and evil threaten to overtake you? Where do you turn when your life is full of darkness and you can’t see the light of day (Kay Arthur, Stories for the Heart, 251).
Know this: God turns our darkness into dawn. That’s the theme of this series on the life of Abraham. We’re going to see in the story of “Hagar: The flight of a fugitive” that in the darkest experiences of life, that’s where we discover God. The lesson in this passage is that even when you act in self-will, your life is still controlled by God. Notice first that…
Sarah’s frustration dominates her thinking and actions. Her frustration, combined, I suppose, with a certain fear, stems from the fact that she is childless. As she laments her barren condition, she expresses her frustration: “And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children” (16:2a). This was a desperate predicament for a woman of that day. To be barren was to be under the judgement of God. For a woman to be infertile was to incur the disfavor of your husband.
Sarah’s frustration produces Sarah’s folly. Without any consultation with God, she proposes a foolish plan. She says to her husband: “Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her” (16:2b). She decides to produce a child through her maid, Hagar. We don’t know anything about Hagar’s family background. We know that she is Egyptian, perhaps an Egyptian slave girl. Most likely Sarah had acquired her when she and Abraham went down to Egypt because of the famine, when Abraham lied about Sarah being his sister (Gen. 12:10-13). Sarah’s logic here is that, “God has promised me a child (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:5), and since I have no child, cannot bear a child, and am too old to have a child, it must be God’s will to use another woman to fulfill his promise.”
Do you see what logic can do to you? It’s so easy to justify your actions of self-will as being God’s will, based on logic, human reasoning, circumstances, feelings, self-justification. Human beings have an enormous capacity to rationalize their decisions, actions, desires, and beliefs. Be very careful when you’re tempted to take matters into your own hands without consulting God. When faced with a dilemma, God should be the first person to turn to for wisdom and direction, not to our own resources.
Sarah’s folly advances to Sarah’s fulfillment. She puts her plan into action. “2cAnd Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife” (16:2c-3). She was legally entitled to do this with her servant and she was acting well within the customs and moral standards of the day. But she was acting in self-will, entirely independently of God, and wholly contrary to God’s standards for marriage and sexuality. This was entirely worldly thinking and behavior. This is what can happen when you act in self-will: your life can be infiltrated by the world’s standards, priorities, and values.
How much better it would have been if Sarah had trusted God to carry out his promise to make of Abraham a great nation. She certainly shouldn’t have considered giving a pagan, idolatrous Gentile to her husband to bear God’s promised child. This was a worldly alliance if ever there was one. The shame is that Abraham becomes an accomplice. Rather than exercise his leadership and express his trust in God, he agrees to Sarah’s plan: “And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived” (16:4a).
Abraham should have refused Sarah’s scheme. He should have obeyed God’s law and believed the divine promise. To attempt to produce the promised child through Hagar was lack of faith in God’s power and lack of trust in God’s word. So, be careful who you are influenced by. Abraham was influenced by Sarah, his wife, but her perspective was worldly, humanistic, self-willed. She wasn’t spiritually mature. She was concerned more with having a son than doing God’s will. She wasn’t a very good role model for Abraham to listen to.
Just when the plan seemed to be working, the plot thickens. Sarah hadn’t counted on Hagar’s reaction. Hagar had her own agenda. She used this unholy alliance to further her own interests. Nonetheless, we are somewhat sympathetic to Hagar because she appears to be the innocent victim of Sarah’s scheme. She acts as any worldly, unbeliever might act, with no regard for God’s moral standards and ready to better herself through selfish ambition. The flesh, the world, and the devil play themselves out through her but out of it all she comes to know God as her personal Saviour, her Redeemer.
Now Sarah’s plan began to unravel, because “when (Hagar) saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress” (16:4b). Even before she gave birth, Hagar’s attitude to Sarah changed, from subservience to scorn, from obedience to opposition. She saw that she could do what Sarah could not - i.e. conceive. This made her, in her own estimation, more valuable to Abraham than Sarah.
Hagar had been in this household now for, probably, at least 10 years. For 10 years she had worked as Sarah’s maid. Now she sees an opportunity to get ahead, to become more than just a servant. By having a child by Abraham she would become his wife! If she became his wife, she would have influence, control, freedom, power, and, more importantly, equality with Sarah. Do you see what happens when you fail to rely on God and act in self-will?
(1) When you act in self-will, the world infiltrates your life. Abraham and Sarah had gone to Egypt 10 years before to satisfy their hunger during the famine instead of relying on God’s provision. And while they were there, the world infiltrated their life when they acquired Hagar - pagan thinking and pagan ways entered their home. Even though they had been back from Egypt for 10 years (16:3), the impact of dabbling with the world still remained.
(2) When you act in self-will, you adopt worldly thinking, like scheming, rationalizing, self-centeredness, selfish ambition.
(3) When you act in self-will, you practice worldly ways. The culture said it was alright for Abraham to have Hagar as a concubine. Everybody was doing it. But whenever a sexual relationship is established on any other basis than God’s plan for marriage, it causes irreparable harm. Abraham’s relationship with Hagar caused an immediate problem not only between Sarah and Hagar but also between Sarah and Abraham.
(4) When you act in self-will, you succumb to worldly ambition. It’s a fearful force in some people’s lives – to get ahead at any cost.
(5) When you act in self-will, you practice the works of the flesh. It’s impossible to live for God in the power of the Spirit when you’re living for self in the works of the flesh. If you act in the flesh you will probably react in the flesh as well.
Sarah certainly reacts in the flesh. She reacts in the flesh by blaming Abraham. “And Sarai said to Abram, ‘May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt’” (16:5a). She says: “Abraham, what were you thinking? I gave Hagar to you to produce a child – that’s all. But instead you’ve turned Hagar against me! Poor me! She hates me now.”
Sarah reacts in the flesh by blaming Abraham and she reacts in the flesh by passing the buck to God. Listen to her phony pious language. She says: “May the Lord judge between you and me” (16:5b). She says: “Let God judge whether I am at fault for suggesting the idea or whether you are at fault for heeding my advice.” Why didn’t she consider God before this? Where was her reliance on God’s judgement when she dreamed up the whole scheme to start with? Religious language is often used as a cover for thoroughly irreligious thoughts, motives, and actions.
Hagar also reacts in the flesh by scorning her mistress, despising the one whom she formerly honored and obeyed.
And Abraham reacts in the flesh by becoming callous and irresponsible. “But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please’” (16:6a). He says, “She’s your servant; you deal with the problem.” Whatever happened to all those 10 years of Hagar’s faithful service? Where is the relationship, the compassion and care for this servant? And what happened to taking responsibility for one’s own actions?
How easily we shirk responsibility! We take matters into our own hands and leave God out. Then we don’t like the consequences. One minute we’re acknowledging, like Sarah, that God has done such-and-such, and the next we’re acting independently in self-will. If she acknowledged that “the Lord has prevented me from bearing children”, why didn’t she consult God as to what to do about it? Why not wait on God for guidance? Why not recognize the providential hand of God?
When you mess up you need to repent, not blame somebody else for it, certainly not God! How often do we want to take the easy way out and let someone else deal with the consequences of our actions? How easily we cast people aside with no concern for their welfare, dispense with them like so much household waste.
Sarah’s folly could not be that easily remedied. Do you know that this one act started a rivalry between two people groups (Israelites and Arabs) that has lasted throughout history and which has caused oceans of blood to be shed ever since? All the result of Sarah’s folly.
When you act in self-will, your life is infiltrated by the world. And ...
The folly of Sarah’s misguided plan precipitates Hagar’s flight. “Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (16:6b). Previously, Sarah feared being despised by Abraham for her infertility and she misused Hagar to carry out her sordid scheme. Now, Sarah is despised by Hagar and she mistreats Hagar, again. In fact, she mistreats her so badly that Hagar flees as a fugitive. Hagar’s life has gone from riches to rags, from being a maid to the wife of a wealthy man, to a single, pregnant, homeless, despondent woman on the run. All of these conditions are hard and depressing. Being single and pregnant is hard and depressing. Being homeless is hard and depressing. Being on the run is hard and depressing. Being single, pregnant, homeless, and on the run is a recipe for disaster.
How quickly your life can be turned upside down! One minute you’re living in the lap of luxury; the next, you don’t know where your next meal is coming from. One minute you have a kind boss and good job prospects; the next, you’re cast aside, out on your ear. One minute you’re part of a loving family; the next, you’re caught in the middle of a family feud. One minute you’re single and free; the next, your pregnant and tied down. One minute everything is looking rosy; the next minute your world is dark and bleak.
How do you deal with that? Where do you turn when your life is turned upside down? One thing you don’t do is run away into the wilderness. That’s an act of self-will, taking matters into your own hands. The wilderness is no place to be when you’re in trouble, distressed, desperate; when you’re vulnerable, isolated, despondent. That’s when you need protection, care, support, community.
Hagar flees into the wilderness of Shur where “the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur” (16:7). There are times in our lives when we find ourselves in the wilderness, in a lonely place. Sometimes people act foolishly towards us. Sometimes we act foolishly towards God and other people. And sometimes we react by fleeing as a fugitive, only to find ourselves in the desert, abandoned and alone. When we hit rock bottom, those are the times when God steps in, assuring us of his favor and showing us that he is still in control.
“And (the Lord) said, ‘Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?’” (16:8a). She knows where she came from but she doesn’t know where she’s going. “She said, ‘I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai’” (16:8b). Life for her was full of uncertainty; she didn’t know the future. She had started down a one-way street and now it’s turning out to be a dead-end with nowhere to turn. The only way Hagar can turn with certainty is backwards. “The angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Return to your mistress and submit to her’” (16:9). All that Hagar had and was came from being Sarah’s maid. That was her identity, her position in life. She had left that position without notice or permission and she must return to that position. It wouldn’t be easy to return but it would be right. It was wrong to be rejected, but it was right to go back and face the music. Though Sarah had wronged her, she must not retaliate with another wrong. That’s the result of self-will and personal ambition, not God’s direction. Hagar was as ambitious as Sarah was independent and both character traits lead to trouble.
When you carry out your own independent plans without consulting God, you can expect your life to be turned upside down. When you’re ambitious to improve yourself and get ahead without God’s leading, you may suddenly find yourself in a desert place - lonely, isolated, depressed, desperate. When you act in self-will, the only solution is to repent, turn back to God, and be obedient. It may not be easy but it’s right.
First, then, when you act in self-will your life is infiltrated by the world. Second, when you act in self-will your life is turned upside down. But know this…
After Sarah’s folly and Hagar’s flight, then we see God’s favor. When everything looks black, God turns darkness into dawn. “10 The angel of the Lord also said to her, ‘I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.’ 11 And the angel of the Lord said to her, ‘Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction. 12 He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen’” (16:10-12).
God is “the One who hears.” That’s what “Ishmael” means. God is the One who cares for and comforts the desperate and the homeless, who pours grace into troubled hearts, who turns darkness into dawn. He pours his grace into Hagar’s heart by giving her a promise of his favor, that she would be the mother of a great nation. Her child would not be the child of the promise made to Abraham, but the child of a promise made directly to her. But there would be consequences to her actions - her son would be a “wild” man.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; it cannot be controlled. Ishmael was the product of an utterly fleshly, worldly union. He was the product of a blatantly unequal yoke between a believer and an unbeliever. You cannot mix faith and flesh, law and grace, promise and works.
In the midst of our darkness and despair, God is “the One who hears” and God is “the One who sees.” “13 So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’ 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered” (16:13-14). God had “heard” Hagar and he had “seen” her. He knew all about her. And Hagar had “seen” God, even in the desert and darkness of her life. No wonder she called the well Beer-lahai-roi, “the well of him who lives and sees me.” This idolatrous, unbelieving Gentile now knew that God was alive and active in her life. He is not the God of the Jews only but of the Gentiles also.
In the darkest experiences of our lives, that’s where we discover God, his constant care and sovereign control. Remember: Even when you act in self-will, your life is still controlled by God. In the deepest extremities of desolation and brokenness, we come face to face with God and we find fellowship, nearness, instruction, comfort, hope, communion, acceptance, and relationship. In the places where we least expect to meet God, he manifests himself to us - he bestows his favor on us; he strengthens us, comforts us, and encourages us to face the hardest and darkest experiences of life; he hears our cry and sees our circumstances. In his presence the desert becomes an oasis where we receive refreshing, spiritual renewal that enables us to go back and face the realities of life. “And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram” (16:15-16).
If you’re not a Christian, you’re in the desert without God. You need God. He knows all about you and he is in full control of your life. You need God for salvation through Christ.
If you are a Christian, you may also be in a desert place today, but you are not alone. Perhaps you’ve acted in self-will and your life has turned upside down as a result. Perhaps you’re experiencing dark circumstances in your life. You don’t know where to turn. You feel abandoned and desperate. Perhaps you’re facing a health crisis, or financial obligations you can’t meet, or sexual temptations that won’t go away. Perhaps you’re struggling spiritually with your relationship to God, with what the Christian life is about, with what God wants you to do with your life. Perhaps you’re making a heavy decision about a marriage partner or career. Whatever your situation, Christ turns darkness into dawn. He is with you to instruct you and encourage you. The barriers of darkness can be broken today. You can receive Christ’s comfort, strength, encouragement, and care.
If you need to meet with God, why don’t you take this moment to confess that sin that has caused darkness in your life, to cast yourself on the Lord for his direction and protection and provision, to repent of your self-will and neglect of God in your life, to ask God for relief from the dark circumstances of your life, or to pray for friends and family who desperately stand in need of God. Will you do that today?
In the last lesson from Abraham’s life (Gen. 16:1-16), we learned the principle that “even when you act in self-will, your life is still controlled by God.” We saw that Sarah’s frustration and folly led to the fulfillment of her ill-conceived plan, choosing to rely on her own scheme to overcome her barrenness by having a baby (Isaac) through the illicit union of her husband, Abraham, and her maid, Hagar. The plan backfired and caused nothing but turmoil and resentment in the household. So Sarah treated Hagar harshly, causing her to flee from the household like a fugitive. But then, God’s favor turned toward Hagar in her hour of darkness, because God is the God who turns darkness into dawn.
Now we move on to another dark experience in Abraham’s and Hagar’s lives. By now, Isaac has been born and Abraham’s household becomes a place of euphoria and celebration (21:1-7). First, there was euphoria over Isaac’s birth in Abraham’s and Sarah’s old age. Now, some 3 years later, there is great celebration over Isaac’s weaning. But how quickly everything changes. The euphoria turns to conflict (21:9), indignation (21:10), and finally Hagar’s banishment (21:14).
In the December 31, 1989, edition of the Chicago Tribune, the editors printed their photos of the decade. One of them, by Michael Fryer, captured a grim fireman and paramedic carrying a fire victim away from the scene. The blaze, which happened in Chicago in December 1984, at first seemed routine. But then firefighters discovered the bodies of a mother and five children huddled in the kitchen of an apartment. Fryer said the firefighters surmised, “She could have escaped with two or three of the children but couldn’t decide who to pick. She chose to wait with all of them for the firefighters to arrive. All of them died of smoke inhalation.” (From the story: “Times When It Is Hard to Leave”).
Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye to those we love. You see it in the TV images of people heartbroken for loved ones, not giving up hope that they may still be alive, and desperately not wanting to say “good bye.” It’s hard to let go of those you love, whose company you enjoy. Sometimes family members come for a visit. You look forward to them coming for so long and all of a sudden it’s over, and you’re sad to see them go. Time moves on so quickly; things change so suddenly.
That’s how it was in Abraham’s household in this story as he bids goodbye to Hagar and Ishmael. We will see once more that God turns darkness into dawn. But notice this principle carefully that as darkness comes before the dawn, so trouble often precedes triumph. Trouble comes from all kinds of sources…
“Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing” (21:9). Evidently, Ishmael has been tantalizing Isaac (whether verbally, physically, or both we don’t know), ridiculing him, scoffing at him, and this has caught Sarah’s attention. Ishmael is a teenager by now, probably 16-17 years old. According to Gen. 17:24, Abraham was 99 when he was circumcised and Ishmael was 13 at that time. Isaac was born the next year (when Abraham was 100 and Ishmael 14). Isaac would be weaned at about 2-3 years old. Therefore, Ishmael would have been 16-17 at this time.
Ishmael can see what is happening in the family. All his life he had probably been told that he was the child of God’s promise to Abraham and Sarah. But when he found out that Sarah was pregnant, perhaps he knew that it was not so. Now Isaac becomes the centre of attention. This incites Ishmael’s jealousy and anger against Isaac. Ishmael feels victimized and deceived, supplanted. Unfortunately, he has adopted his mother’s attitude. Just as Hagar despised Sarah (16:4), so now Ishmael despises Isaac. You can see how much a child’s environment affects their behavior and attitudes - like mother, like son.
But the problem isn’t so much Ishmael’s scoffing as it is Sarah’s bad attitude. She has never judged her resentment toward Hagar and Ishmael, so that when conflict occurs in the family home, the same emotion quickly resurfaces and the same solution is quickly demanded again: “Get this slave woman and her son out of my house!”
Some people become bitter very easily and then they find it hard to repent of it. They continue to express their resentment, sometimes even years later. Bitterness and resentment are powerful emotional forces. If you become resentful, know this: the same feelings and reactions can quickly rise to the surface again. They always seems to lie just beneath the surface, ready to explode. The apostle Paul says, “Be angry and sin not. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Eph. 4:26). In other words, do not let anger become sin by nursing it, enjoying it, using it for selfish purposes, or by becoming angry over things we ought not to be angry about. Instead, put a limit on your emotions; put a time limit so that your anger is judged and finished. “Don’t go to bed mad”; bring it to an end. Our emotions are powerful forces in our lives. God has given them to us but not for them to be used sinfully or to go unchecked. It’s sad that our anger is often misdirected. We don’t become angry about things we should and we become angry about things we should not. We should be angry over things that make God angry, but we usually become angry over things that we don’t like.
Sarah’s bad attitude now boils over into her deep-seated resentment. She orders Abraham to “cast out this slave woman with her son”(21:10a). The word Sarah uses here for slave woman indicates that Hagar’s position in the family has advanced. Hagar is no longer merely a “shiphhah”, a female slave (16:1-3), but now she is an “amah”, a maidservant. For all practical purposes Hagar is Abraham’s second wife (16:3b), whose son, Ishmael, under cuneiform law, has a legal claim to Abraham’s estate.
Sarah’s resentment evidently focuses on the family inheritance. She isn’t merely indignant about Ishmael’s scoffing at Isaac, but, more specifically, about the matter of the inheritance, “for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac” (21:10b). Perhaps that was always at the root of her bad attitude, and now she gives expression to it. She says: “There’s no way that this son of a maidservant is going to share in the inheritance with my son.” Sarah is actually asking Abraham to disinherit Ishmael, his firstborn son.
Resentment can cause us to have a bad attitude. And a bad attitude can cause us to be very critical, to say things we wouldn’t normally say. Resentment tends to do that. It loosens your tongue to say things that are very caustic, vitriolic. Sarah had not raised the matter of the inheritance before but her bad attitude causes her to find and see things that weren’t issues previously.
Resentment over money often divides families. So often money issues lie at the root of squabbles and resentment. The Bible says that “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10). So, be sure that it doesn’t get hold of your heart as it did Sarah’s.
Trouble often finds its source in our bad attitudes. And…
Abraham’s bad decision, when he agreed to Sarah’s scheme with Hagar, is now affecting his state of mind. “The thing / matter was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son” (21:11). His attitude is now deteriorating. He also has undoubtedly witnessed Ishmael’s ridicule of Isaac, on account of which he is most disturbed and distressed.
Notice the predicament that one bad decision can initiate. His bad decision initiates Abraham’s tense relationships. Now he has a blended family, which often causes conflict. Ishmael is as much a son of Abraham as Isaac is, but not so for Sarah. Abraham is caught in the middle between Sarah and Isaac on one hand and Hagar and Ishmael on the other; between what is legal and illegal; between what is right and what is hard; between his love for Ishmael and his love for Sarah. What Abraham thought was long past comes back to haunt him.
In the midst of his predicament, we see Abraham’s remorse over the bad decision he had made earlier. He must have said to himself a million times: “I wish I had never done what Sarah asked me to do with Hagar. If only I could relive that part of my life. Won’t this problem ever go away?” He sounds like David in Ps. 51:3b. Now he is reaping the consequences of his previous irresponsibility, lack of leadership, and distrust of God.
Bad decisions sometimes produce lifetime scars. Most of us experience the results of past sins (either our own or the impact on us of others’ sins). Abraham sinned in his intimacy with Hagar and he was deeply impacted by Sarah’s bad attitude – her scheming, bitterness, jealousy, resentment. We reap what we sow: it’s the law of the harvest (Gal. 6:7). Sins committed in haste and self-will often continue to haunt us. We get caught in the web of our own weaving. Sins that are forgiven often have consequences that live on. “Though every act of sin is forgivable, the effects of some are not erasable” (Chuck Swindoll, “Abraham”, 110), such as drug abuse, promiscuity, criminal acts. Nonetheless, if we repent, God takes the burden and brings relief. He turns the darkness of our lives into the dawn of his deliverance.
In the midst of his remorse, God brings Abraham’s relief. “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” (21:12). Sarah is right, but for the wrong reason. Abraham is to banish Hagar and Ishmael not because Ishmael has done anything to deserve disinheritance, nor because of Sarah’s resentment, but because of God’s sovereign decree that his promise to Abraham will take place through Isaac. So long as Hagar and Ishmael live in Abraham’s house there would be no peace, nor would Abraham be able to focus on raising Isaac, the child of promise.
Sometimes obedience to God involves letting things go - things that we don’t even know are a hindrance to us; things that are sometimes very dear to us (as Ishmael was to Abraham); things that weigh heavily on our consciences, which we have to deal with and let them go. For some 14 years, Abraham had been under a false impression that Ishmael was the promised child (15:5; 16:10; 17:18). Now he knows otherwise. Nonetheless, it’s still hard to let Ishmael go. Undoubtedly, Abraham must have thought: “He’s still my son. Hagar is my second wife. And they have nowhere to go. How can I do this? I can’t let them go!”
Sometimes the way to correct our bad decisions means making hard decisions. Many times God’s ways aren’t easy for us to accept. Sometimes he uses our bad decisions for his purposes. Perhaps you have an Ishmael in your life. You’ve held on to something for years, as Abraham had held on to Ishmael and it’s hard to let it go because it’s dear to you. Sometimes, obeying God isn’t easy and it is particularly not easy when we have to do something hard to correct something we did wrong. Our affections and desires get in the way and our past keeps coming back. We don’t understand how it will all work out. We keep asking: “Why? What’s the purpose of this experience? It all looked so good at the beginning and now you’re taking it all away. This is a burden too great for me to bear.”
But Abraham wouldn’t have to live the rest of his life under this burden of guilt. Notice how God brings relief to Abraham’s burden by giving him a promise about Ishmael: “And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring” (21:13). God, not Abraham, would take care of Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham could let the burden go, roll it off onto God. Ishmael would lose his family rights as a son but he would gain a national right as the father of the Arab people. Ishmael would lose his inheritance of property but gain an inheritance of a nation. Ishmael would be cut off from what is his by legal right but be connected to what is his only by God’s promise. Why? “Because he is your offspring.” Such is the grace of God to Abraham. Despite Abraham’s failure to live up to his responsibilities last time, God will fulfill his promises to him concerning both his sons.
No matter what the consequences of our past sins, God brings relief. If we accept the consequences of those sins and wait upon God, he pours his grace into our lives. Sometimes God removes the cause of the problem so that we can live happily in his will. Sometimes the cause of the problem can’t be removed because we have taken actions which are irreversible and to try to reverse them would be to commit another sin. But God forgives when we accept responsibility and confess our sin, so that we no longer live with the burden of guilt even though we may live with the burden of reality and its consequences.
Abraham’s remorse turns into Abraham’s relief and finally to Abraham’s responsibility. “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” (21:14a). He is distressed over Sarah’s excessive demand but he responds in obedience to God. Little does he know what God is going to require of him in the next chapter – to sacrifice his son of promise. And yet again Abraham will act in perfect obedience. So here, he does what he has to do but with care and concern for the two of them.
He gives Hagar the basic staples of life (bread and water) and entrusts Ishmael to her care. But bread and water will provide little solace either for their physical or emotional well-being in the life-threatening rigors of the desert. Undoubtedly heart-broken by this tragedy, he sends them away but not in the way or with the anger that Sarah displayed. Instead of hostility there is love. Instead of resentment there is remorse and regret.
Trouble often finds its source in our bad attitudes and in our bad decisions. And…
Sarah’s resentment produced Abraham’s predicament and, finally, Hagar’s banishment. “She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” (21:14b). These were bad circumstances to say the least.
Maybe Hagar forgot God’s promise about her son (16:10). After all that was some 16 or 17 years ago, when God had spoken to her at the spring in the wilderness on the way to Shur. By now she probably believed, like Abraham, that Ishmael was the son of promise. She is probably unaware that God just renewed his promise about Ishmael in 21:13 in order to bring comfort to Abraham. In any event God’s promise probably seemed patently absurd to her now. After all, that was then and this is now. That was the dim and distant past and this is the here and now. She needed to deal with the reality of the present.
You can’t live just on memories of the “good old days”, you know. The reality is that she and her son are both about to die and she is about to face the deepest darkness of her life. “Wandering in the wilderness” doubly underscores her darkness. It’s bad enough to wander hopelessly, like a straying animal, lost, not knowing where you’re going. But to wander “in the wilderness” would fill you with abject terror.
When I flew to Zambia a few years ago, I looked out of the window of the plane and saw the Sahara desert stretching out as far as the eye could see, nothing but mountains of sand, no sign of life. To be abandoned in the wilderness would be a scary prospect.
Soon the moment of total abandonment and darkness comes. “When the water in the skin was gone, she put the child under one of the bushes” (21:15). Under the scorching heat, with no shelter and the water supply exhausted, Hagar places Ishmael in the only shade she can find - a desert shrub. What can be more bleak and hopeless than for a mother to place her son under a desert bush and then watch him die. Obviously, she could not carry Ishmael for he is a teenager, but she could help place him in his weakness under a shrub. She takes the very best care of Ishmael that she can, denying herself the only shade that was available.
Powerless to stop the inevitable she sits at a distance awaiting Ishmael’s death. “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” (21:16). All she could do is sit and wait. She can’t even bear to watch, incapable of preventing certain death. Surely she doesn’t deserve this treatment, this fate, despite her attitude toward Sarah and Ishmael’s attitude toward Isaac.
Sometimes the promises of God ring hollow in our experiences, don’t they? They must have been so for Hagar at this moment. “Where is God when I need him? It’s all very well for God to make these grandiose promises, but I need action!”
Trouble often finds its source in our bad attitudes, in our bad decisions, and in our bad circumstances. But remember: As darkness comes before the dawn, so trouble often precedes triumph. And in this lesson it is so, for…
For the second time in Hagar’s life God displays his goodness to her. Sarah’s resentment has led to Abraham’s predicament, to Hagar’s banishment and, finally, to Hagar’s encouragement as God intervenes in her life again to disclose to her a promise concerning Ishmael’s future. First, God hears again: “And God heard the voice of the boy” (21:17a). “Ishmael” means “the God who hears”. God heard the cry of the dying boy and the wail of Hagar’s heart. Then, God speaks again: “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” (21:17b). These are words of comfort: “What’s wrong, what troubles you, Hagar? Don’t be afraid.” Just as God assured Abraham that he need not fear in sending Hagar away (21:12), so now God assures Hagar that she need not fear. Then, God promises again: “Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation” (21:18). Ishmael is not going to die as Hagar expected. Just as God fulfilled his promise to Abraham concerning a son of promise, even when Abraham was as good as dead (Heb. 11:12), so God fulfills his promise to Hagar (16:10) when Ishmael is as good as dead also. Now, in the midst of the ordeal, she hears God’s promise again that Ishmael will become a great nation. What God had told Abraham to give him assurance in sending them away, he now repeats for Hagar’s encouragement.
This is the principle of how God works. First the ordeal, then the revelation. First the suffering, then the solution. First the trouble, then the triumph. First the darkness of defeat, then the dawn of victory. And that’s when God takes action again. “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” (21:19).God is active and in control even in such a dark situation. God became a husband to Hagar (cf. Isa. 54:5) and a father to Ishmael (cf. Ps. 68:5-6). He not only promises the future but provides for the present. He gives them not only a promise but practical provision – the water of life. Just as he provided Elijah with a cake and a jar of water (1 Kgs. 19:6), so he blesses Ishmael with a drink and a destiny. The well was there all the time but Hagar couldn’t see it. As soon as God opened her eyes, she satisfied her son’s thirst - he is her first concern and responsibility.
When we exhaust our resources, our tendency is to sit down and cry. Well remember, God still has a lot of options left. Our bad circumstances blind us to the provision God has made. In order to see God’s plan, all we need to do is open our eyes. And when we open our eyes, we see that God was involved all along.
God hears, God speaks, God promises, God acts, and, lastly, God blesses again. “20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness and became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt” (21:20-21). The story begins with Isaac’s growth as a child (21:8), but now Ishmael grows from a youth to a man. God is “with the boy, and he grew up.” There is intimacy, care, divine presence - not merely a voice from heaven – and there is nourishment. What was once a place of dark banishment into a hostile wilderness / desert, becomes Ishmael’s home.
To survive in the wilderness requires skill and Ishmael’s skill is that of an archer. The bowshot that once marked the distance between him and his mother (21:16) now becomes his means of survival in the Wilderness of Paran (21:20). In this little detail we see the wonderful literary skill with which this story is written.
In Hagar’s final responsibility to Ishmael, she chooses a wife for him (21:21). He would never be left alone in the desert. Isn’t it ironic that Hagar, who had no choice of a husband and was thrust into a relationship with someone of a different race and religion, now takes a wife for her son from their own people, the Egyptians? She had far more spiritual discernment than Sarah did in giving an Egyptian to her husband.
Remember: As darkness comes before the dawn, so trouble often precedes triumph. God is the God who turns darkness into dawn. The God who heard Ishmael’s cry is the God who hears us when we cry. The God who spoke from heaven is the God who speaks to us through his Word. The God who renewed his promise to Hagar is the God who daily renews to us his precious promises. The God who took action in the wilderness is the God who acts in our wildernesses. The God who blessed Ishmael is the God who blesses us abundantly in and through Christ.
Our privilege and resource in the darkness of our lives is to cry to God, to listen for his voice, to be comforted by his promises, to watch him act, and to receive his blessing. When the circumstances are the darkest, God hears our cry and speaks words of comfort and encouragement; God takes action and opens our eyes to see his power; God is with us even when we can’t see him.
Perhaps you are passing through particularly dark times. Perhaps there are things in your life that you aren’t facing up to. Perhaps there is unconfessed sin in your life of which you have not repented. Perhaps you haven’t changed what needs to be changed. Perhaps you haven’t appropriated God’s grace in your life. Perhaps you see other people as the source of all your problems. Whatever it is, make sure that you deal with it before God today; be reconciled to God through faith in Christ. Don’t allow bitterness and resentment to control your life. Be willing to forgive others. Embrace the grace of God in all its fullness. Trust his precious promises.
Remember the lesson of this story, that as darkness comes before the dawn, so trouble often precedes triumph. Sinful consequences may disturb us but they need not defeat us. Marital conflicts may disrupt us but they need not destroy us. Personal confusion may disarm us but it need not demoralize us. No matter how dark the days may be, God never changes. He is always there when we turn to him. In those times when we can’t see his hand, we can trust his heart.
P. Gerhardt (1607-1676) wrote a hymn that John Wesley translated which sums up how we need to trust God through the dark times as well as the good.
Through waves, through clouds and storms,
God gently clears the way;
We wait His time; so shall the night
Soon end in blissful day.
He everywhere hath sway,
And all things serve His might;
His every act pure blessing is,
His path unsullied light.
When He makes bare His arm,
Who shall His work withstand?
When He His people’s cause defends,
Who then shall stay His hand?
We leave it to Himself
To choose and to command,
With wonder filled, we soon shall see
How wise, how strong His hand.
We comprehend Him not,
Yet earth and heaven tell
God sits as sovereign on the throne,
And ruleth all things well.
Most of us don’t like tests and we certainly don’t like failing them. I grew up in England and at eleven years old we had to write an exam called the “Eleven Plus.” This exam determined whether I would go to a grammar school or a technical school. I remember my dad’s relentless tutoring in the evenings to prepare me for this exam. Surprisingly, I passed! Then, a few years later, I remember writing another set of important exams at sixteen years old called “O” (ordinary) levels. This time the results were miserable. Then came university undergraduate exams, then seminary graduate exams followed by post-graduate exams. I think the worst kind of school tests were those surprise tests that teachers sometimes give. You can probably remember when the teacher would come into the classroom and, without warning, announce: “Today we’re going to have a quiz” and your heart would sink.
God gives tests and usually without warning. More than likely you can pass a test if you prepare for it, but the real test as to whether you know your stuff is if you’re tested without warning. That’s what God does sometimes. Sometimes God tests us when we’re unprepared, off-guard, when no one’s looking, to see if in private we’re the same as we look in public; to see if we truly believe what we say or whether it is just a good show for others. Sometimes God tests us with circumstances or challenges that make no sense to us, to see if our love for him is really what we say it is; to see if we trust him the way we say we trust him. In that situation, do you really trust the providence of God; do you really believe in the sovereignty of God?
Just when we’re hanging onto something tightly, that’s often when God comes in with a test. That’s when God asks: “Do you love me more than these - more than this car, this house, this career, this hobby, this sport?”
How tightly are you holding onto “things”? It’s easy to say “I give everything to you, Lord”, without really meaning it. It’s easy to sing “all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood,” but do you? Sometimes “things” get such a hold of us, we can’t let go. Those are the times when God checks up on us to test the authenticity of our faith and our love for him. Sometimes those tests are hard. Sometimes we pass them and sometimes we fail them. Sometimes life makes no sense. That’s the way it was in the life of Abraham.
“After these things…” (22:1a). After the miraculous birth of the promised child, Isaac; after the banishment of Ishmael and Hagar into the wilderness; after the restoration of relationships in the family; after finding peace with God about God’s promise through Isaac. Just when Abraham thought that everything had settled down, that the past was finally past, that he could look forward to a glorious future, that he had it all figured out, “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am” (22:1).
God is a jealous God. He demands our absolute affection and loyalty. He won’t tolerate idols in our lives, even things that are good. He tests Abraham to see if God is first in Abraham’s life or whether Isaac means more to Abraham than God himself.
God had tested Abraham before and Abraham had failed three times. He tested Abraham’s obedience to God with a famine (Gen. 12) and Abraham failed in his obedience by going down to Egypt. He tested Abraham’s faith in God when the birth of the promised son was delayed (Gen. 16) and Abraham failed in his faith by having a son by Hagar. He tested Abraham’s fear of God when Abimelech took Sarah (Gen. 20) and Abraham failed in his fear of God by lying that she was his sister.
When you fail a test three times, it doesn’t look good for the fourth try, especially when that test will involve all three tests you’ve already failed. That can be a very dark time in your life: “Will I pass or fail?” But know this: When your faith passes the test, God renews his blessing. Notice firstly that…
You’ve all probably suffered the agony of buying something in the store that you had to put together when you got home, only to find that the instructions didn’t make any sense and you had to phone an 800 number to figure it out. God’s threefold instruction makes no sense to Abraham.
God’s instructions defy logic about who to take. “He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love’” (22:2a). Notice how this instruction gets progressively more intense. “Take your son… your only son… your only son Isaac, whom you love.” Here’s the issue: this child was becoming an object of affection in Abraham’s heart that was competing with God’s exclusive claims on Abraham’s heart.
By this time, Isaac is probably late teens to mid-twenties. He’s certainly no baby anymore. Over the years Abraham’s love for his son has grown and intensified. First, he loves the baby promised from God. Then, he loves a son born in his old age. Now, he loves the progenitor of a great nation. Why would God now ask Abraham to take this special child of promise to offer him as a sacrifice? God’s instructions defy logic about who to take.
God’s instructions defy logic about where to go. “…go to the land of Moriah” (22:2b). Abraham had followed God’s instruction where to go years before when he left his home in Ur of the Chaldees to go to the unknown land of Canaan (Gen. 12). Now once again, he must travel from his home in Beersheba to the unknown land of Moriah, a place known only to God. Why would God ask Abraham to go to this unknown place?
God’s instructions defy logic about what to do. “…offer him (Isaac) there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (22:2c). A burnt offering was a sacrificial offering. It cost the worshipers something. It made atonement for the sins of the worshipers. It produced a sweet aroma to God. It signified total commitment, the only offering that consumed the entire animal on the altar (cf. Lev. 1). That’s the kind of offering God wants - an offering that costs us everything, nothing held back.
These instructions beg two important questions: (1) Will Abraham obey God and offer his son, knowing full well that Isaac is the only person who can perpetuate the promise of God? Abraham has just lost one child, now he is about to lose the other. He lost Ishmael to the wilderness, now he is about to lose Isaac to the altar. He has just banished Ishmael at Sarah’s command, now he is about to banish Isaac at God’s command. (2) Will God protect and provide for Isaac as he did for Ishmael? Will God resolve this dilemma?
It raises an additional corollary question: Why a child sacrifice? Wasn’t this pagan and contrary to God’s own law (Lev. 20:2-3; Deut. 18:10)? Perhaps God demanded this of Abraham to make the test even harder to understand and obey. But the question resolves itself if we focus on the whole narrative, not just the command. God never did require the slaying of Abraham’s son, because he provided a substitute.
Certainly, none of this made any sense to Abraham. It was contradictory to and inconsistent with (a) Sarah’s miraculous conception; (b) the banishment of Ishmael; and (c) God’s promise of descendants through Isaac. And now God was telling him to sacrifice this promised son? It defied logic: it made no sense.
When God tests our faith, he often defies our logic. Perhaps your own life makes no sense sometimes. Perhaps your future seems to hinge on one momentous test or decision. “Should I marry this person, or take that job, or go out in missions, or take a course of action which could change my life forever.” Perhaps you’ve suffered great sorrow and your life goes into turmoil. You can’t figure out what to do or where to turn.
Or, perhaps you feel the direction of God so strongly in your life but it makes no sense. You thought you knew where your life was headed and now it’s taking a completely different course. Remember, God’s thoughts are not your thoughts nor his ways your ways (Isa. 55:8-9).
When God tests our faith, he often defies our logic. And…
Abraham’s heart is revealed in his threefold reaction to God’s threefold instructions.
First, God reveals our hearts by testing our obedience to him (22:3-4). Abraham only had two options: to obey God or disobey God. And by the morning’s early light, he knew what he would and must do. “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him” (22:3).
If you react in true obedience, you’ll take immediate action - no bargaining with God, no rationalizing, no arguing, no resisting, no doubting.
If you react in true obedience, you’ll take God at his word. So Abraham gathered what was needed - a donkey to carry the load, two men to take care of them on the way, his son, and the sacrificial wood. As he split the wood, can you imagine what was going through his mind? Every stroke of the axe must have plunged into his heart, reminding him of the knife that soon would plunge into Isaac’s heart.
God’s tests demand unwavering faith in God’s word. That’s the bottom line: “Do you really believe God’s word or not?” That’s why it’s important to read, study, and memorize the Bible. If you want to pass an exam, you must know your material, in this case, God’s Word.
If you react in true obedience, you’ll take immediate action, you’ll take God at his word, and…
If you react in true obedience, you’ll face reality with courage. “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar” (22:4). Just as Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem (Lk. 9:51), unswervingly going to “The Place of a Skull” (Jn. 19:17), so Abraham saw the place afar off and faced the reality of the situation with courage.
The true test of obedience is to see the reality of what God demands and to face it without turning back and without complaint. Perhaps you’ve been there - you’ve seen the test coming in the distance, you knew what it would cost you, and you faced it without doubt.
So, God reveals our hearts in our reaction to tests of obedience, and …
Second, God reveals our hearts by testing our faith in him (22:5-8). If you react in true faith, you’ll have the right perspective. “Then Abraham said to his young men, ‘Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you’” (22:5). He had the right perspective: the sacrifice of his son was worship! He had the right perspective: “We will come back - God will keep his word. If Isaac is slain God will raise him up again.”
If you react in true faith, you’ll have the right determination. “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together” (22:6). Before, Abraham had placed the bread and water on Hagar’s shoulder. Now he places the wood on Isaac’s shoulder. Both actions must have torn his heart. But despite all that is happening, there is unity between them; the two of them went together - one in purpose, bond, trust, communion.
Isaac is big now, strong enough to carry the wood but young enough to ask a childlike question: “And Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘My father!’ And he said, ‘Here I am, my son.’ He said, ‘Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?’” (22:7). If you react in true faith, you’ll have the right perspective, you’ll have the right determination, and, if you react in true faith, you’ll have the right answer. “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together” (22:8). Many times before, Isaac had probably seen his father sacrifice a lamb. He knew the procedure, but this time there is fire and wood but no lamb. He knew the pagan sacrificial practices of the Canaanites who offered their firstborn sons as sacrifices to placate the pagan gods, so his question is very valid and real: Might this be what his father is doing?
When tough questions are asked, true faith has the right answer. You can’t explain everything but you respond out of deep faith in God - no wavering, no bitterness, no despair, no rebellion; just trust and serenity. Abraham’s answer completely satisfies Isaac. He has complete trust in his father, complete confidence and reassurance. Besides, he had heard his father tell the servants: “We (I and the boy) will come again to you” (22:5). What a great relationship Isaac had with his father!
A person’s true character comes out when the chips are down. It’s easy to trust God when everything is going well, but it’s much harder when life is falling apart. It’s easy to express faith in God when everything is rosy but much harder when things look bleak. When Abraham’s world fell apart, he trusted the promise of God (Gen. 21:12), he trusted the power of God (Heb. 11:19), and, here, he trusted the provision of God. When our world seems to be falling apart, we need to trust the promises of God, trust the power of God, trust the provision of God.
God reveals our hearts by testing our obedience to him, by testing our faith in him, and…
Third, God reveals our hearts by testing our fear of him (22:9-10). “9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son” (22:9-10).
If you truly fear God, you’ll show it in your actions. It took faith to gather the donkey, the servants, and the wood three days ago. But it took fear to build an altar, arrange the wood, and bind Isaac. That’s why the angel of the Lord said: “Now I know that you fear God” (22:12).
What does it mean to fear God? It means to reverence him totally, trust him implicitly, obey him unquestioningly; to fear offending him by sinning against him. When you fear God, you obey him no matter what the cost, despite natural instincts, human logic, and unknown consequences. When you fear God, you hold him above everything else - supreme, sovereign - and trust him above all else. When you fear God, you take him at his word. The fear of God is the result of knowing God, loving God, trusting God (Ps. 11:10; Job 28:28; Eccl. 12:13).
When God tests our faith, he frequently defies our logic, he repeatedly reveals our hearts, and…
The knife is poised, ready to be plunged into Isaac’s heart, and at the climax of the drama we discover God’s faithfulness.
First, God confirms his faithfulness by withdrawing the penalty (22:11-12). What a relief it must have been for Abraham to hear God’s voice. God speaks from heaven at just the right time. The God who would one day slay his own Son, and whose hand no one would withhold, now withdraws the penalty: “11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, ‘Abraham, Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 12 He said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me’” (22:11-12).
God confirms his faithfulness by withdrawing the penalty. The penalty for sin is withdrawn when we trust Christ as our Saviour by faith. The penalty of testing is withdrawn when our faith passes the test. He turns our nighttime of testing into the dawn of relief.
God confirms his faithfulness by withdrawing the penalty, and…
Second, God confirms his faithfulness by providing a substitute (22:13-14). Just as Abraham had assured Isaac (22:8), so God now provides a substitute. “13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, ‘The Lord will provide’; as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided’” (22:13-14). Abraham’s part in the story is completely subordinate to God’s part. Abraham’s faith is not memorialized, but God’s faithfulness is. The “Mount of the Lord” becomes a permanent witness to the gracious provision of God.
Through all of this, Abraham came to know God in increasingly more precious ways. First, he knew God as “Jehovah” – I am that I am (Gen. 12:1). Then, “El Elyon” – most high God, possessor of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19). Then, as “El Shaddai” – God almighty, the One who can do what is impossible with men (Gen. 17:1). Now, as “Jehovah-Jireh” – the God who provides.
In the darkest circumstances of our lives, when faith triumphs God confirms his power, his love, his trustworthiness. He is the God who provides. He provides a Savior as our Substitute. He provides the faith to believe, to overcome temptations, to endure tests, to carry burdens, to go on when you feel like quitting, to trust him at all costs. If you’re passing through a deep test of your faith, remember that God is Jehovah-Jireh, “the LORD will provide” and your dark place will become a memorial to his faithfulness. When you look back on the experience, you will call that heavy burden, that deep sorrow, that prolonged sickness, “The Mount of the Lord,” the place where God provided.
God confirms his faithfulness by withdrawing the penalty, by providing a substitute, and…
Third, God confirms his faithfulness by renewing his promise (22:15-19). The voice from heaven comes a second time to finish the story. “15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.’ 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba” (22:15-19).
First, God attributes praise to Abraham for his faithfulness: (1) “Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son” (22:16); and (2) “Because you have obeyed my voice” (22:18). Now, God confirms his faithfulness by renewing his promise to make Abraham’s descendants plentiful (17a), powerful and successful (17b), and influential throughout the earth (18).
The ultimate consequence of this test is not the sparing of Isaac but the renewal of God’s promise about Abraham’s descendants. They will prosper because Abraham was obedient and faithful – he passed the test. You will never know the impact you will have on future generations because of your obedience and faithfulness.
1. God’s tests often defy our logic. They usually come when you least expect them. One day everything is great, the next your world is upside down. This is where we meet and learn about God in the extremity of our need, in the suddenness of our total dependence on him.
When everything is going well, look out for God’s test! When you’re going through it you won’t like it and it may not make any sense to you. God’s tests often appear incongruous, illogical, because our perspective and understanding are limited. God’s tests may cause you immense grief and you may even think God has abandoned you, because the darkness often obscures what we know by faith.
2. God’s tests repeatedly reveal our hearts by touching intimate, private areas of our lives, by confronting us with a choice between our dearest possessions and him, by forcing us to decide what’s most important to us, by determining where our security lies, by proving our hearts, by demanding that we give up what we love the most to put him first. God wants your heart, 100% of it. He wants you to trust him no matter what. He wants your heart because he cares for you and loves you enough to die for you.
Is your heart totally committed to God? Would you give up your dearest possessions for him? Is he first in your life? Or, does something or someone else hold first place in your heart? How deep is your love for God? When put to the test, will you come forth as gold tried in the fire? Can you truthfully say: “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee”?
3. God’s tests constantly confirm his faithfulness. He is the God who turns darkness into dawn. He is the One who provides. When you can’t figure it all out, when you think everything is hopeless, when you struggle all alone, God steps in at just the right time to reveal the next step, to confirm his faithfulness, to renew his blessing.
Do you really trust him to provide for you, to bless you even when things look dark, and when your faith is tested? Remember: When your faith passes the test, God renews his blessing.
In the final analysis, God’s tests draw us closer to him because in our darkest experiences God becomes more personal and real to us, and because we hear him speak in ways we would otherwise never hear. He relieves our burden, affirms our faith, provides for us, blesses us, and renews his promises to us in ways too wonderful for us to imagine.
One of the most important decisions anyone ever makes in life, aside from choosing to trust Christ as our Savior, is the lifetime commitment to a spouse. People today use all kinds of different methods for finding a spouse. Some use online dating services. Others meet their spouses at church or at work or some type of social gathering.
It’s one thing to meet someone who might become your spouse, but quite another thing to actually choose that person to be your spouse. What criteria do you use? How do you compare the person to your criteria? How do you know if what you see is what you will get? Some people are quite clinical about their criteria for an ideal spouse, their evaluation of a potential spouse, and their final commitment to a spouse. In his book, “Abraham, The Lord Will Provide,” Ed Dobson cites an advertisement that appeared in a major metropolitan newspaper:
“Christian, blond, blue eyes, 5’ 2”, 100 pounds, professional female, no dependents, wishes to meet Protestant Christian, professional man in 30’s with a college degree who has compassion for animals and people, loves nature, exercise and physical fitness (no team sports), music, church, and home life. Desires non-smoker, non-drinker, slender 5’7” to 6’, lots of head hair, intelligent, honest, trustworthy, sense of humor, excellent communicator of feelings, very sensitive, gentle, affectionate, giving, encouraging and helpful to others, no temper or ego problems, secure within and financially, health conscious, neat and clean, extremely considerate and dependable. I believe in old-fashioned moral values. If you do and are interested in a possible Christian commitment, write to the following box. Please include recent color photo and address.”
Whether this advertisement produced a spouse who could live up to all those requirements I don’t know. But it illustrates just how complicated and stressful finding a spouse can be. No wonder so many young people today are nervous about making a commitment in marriage. It is not only a daunting task in itself, but they are surrounded by a society that takes marriage vows lightly, pursues divorce readily, and gives seemingly little consideration to the effect all this has on themselves (spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and financially) and on their children, if they have any. As a result we are seeing many young people who, seemingly, aren’t much interested in getting married and so many marriage and family break-ups.
We are continuing our study of the series: “Abraham, his faith and failures.” In this expository sermon, our biblical passage is Genesis 24:1-67, in which Abraham initiates the search for, and is successful in securing, a wife for Isaac, the son that God promised him in his old age. This account gives us many principles for navigating the difficult terrain of decision-making - discerning and acting on the will of God – in any circumstance but here specifically as it relates to finding, identifying, and marrying the spouse of God’s choosing. The first principle we learn is that…
“Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years. And the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 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, 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, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.’” (24:1-4).
If you have read my previous article on Abraham (Gen. 21:8-21), you will remember that my comments on Genesis 21:21 relate to what we are about to study in chapter 24. Abraham had been called by God out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Mesopotamia) to the land of Canaan, the country which God promised to him and his descendants. Abraham was a god-fearing man but, under pressure from his wife to produce a son and heir, entered into an illicit sexual relationship with his wife’s maid, Hagar. Thus he not only entered into a relationship that was contrary to God’s moral principles for marriage (i.e. the exclusive and monogamous union of one man and one woman for life), but he showed reckless disregard for any spiritual or cultural discernment. By contrast, when Hagar chose a wife for her son, Ishmael, she chose an Egyptian (Gen. 21:21). In so doing, she demonstrated a far greater spiritual and cultural discernment than that of Abraham and Sarah. Hagar selected a wife for her son from her own people, someone of the same race and religion.
It seems that by the time of our passage (Gen. 24), Abraham has learned from that prior experience, because now, when he authorizes his servant to search for a wife for Isaac, he gives the servant explicit instructions to not take a wife for his son, Isaac, from the daughters of the Canaanites (the foreign people among whom they lived), but to go to Abraham’s birth country and family to find a wife for Isaac. Evidently, Abraham now knew by sad experience that if Isaac married a pagan Canaanite woman they would be spiritually, morally, and culturally incompatible. He saw what was going on around him amongst the Canaanite women, their worldly lifestyles and pagan ideas with no respect for, understanding of, or relationship with the God of Abraham, the one true living God.
Abraham had learned the principle that your spouse must be spiritually compatible with you. The first and most basic application of this principle is that, if you are a Christian, you must marry another Christian. Don’t even think about pursuing a relationship with a non-Christian – it will only lead to unhappiness or complete disaster. Inevitably, when a Christian marries a non-Christian, the non-Christian influence eventually draws the Christian away from the Lord. It’s a basic principle that water always finds its own level.
And, by the way, this principle applies to other “unions” as well, like business partnerships. A business partnership effectively unites you with someone else whose moral and spiritual commitments will impact you over and over again – their integrity, their sexual morality, their marriage etc. They are not submissive to the principles and authority of Scripture. The old axiom is true: oil and water do not mix. Or, to cite the apostle Paul,
“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14).
The second basic application of this principle is to make sure that you are compatible as to your spiritual convictions. Even if your potential spouse is a Christian does not mean that you will be compatible with them on matters of spiritual convictions about Scriptural truths, Biblical interpretation, denominational affiliation, and practical Christian living. If you have radically different positions on these matters, you need to clear these up before you marry this person. Disagreements of this type can cause major disharmony in the marriage relationship and in how you bring up your children. As Ed Dobson puts it: “Building a healthy marriage means total agreement on the absolutes, understanding on the convictions, and tolerance on the preferences” (Abraham: The Lord Will Provide, 170).
So important is this principle of decision-making in the selection of a marriage partner that Abraham made his servant enter into a binding covenant with him to obey this instruction by placing his hand under his thigh and swearing “by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth” (24:3a). This was not something to be taken lightly. Abraham’s word was crystal clear. His servant must not under any circumstances “take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (24:3b-4).
So, this leaves the question hanging in the air: If Abraham forbade Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman, then where could he find a suitable and compatible wife? The answer was in Mesopotamia, Abraham’s birth country where some of his family still lived. Evidently, Abraham was confident that there was a woman there who would be suitable for Isaac. More specifically, he had confidence that a suitable woman within his own family would be found. We aren’t told why Abraham had this conviction, but perhaps his own testimony to them when he obeyed God selflessly and took that long journey to Canaan had convinced them to also believe in and worship Abraham’s God. So that’s where he instructs his servant to go on this mission to find a bride for Isaac.
So, the first principle we learn is that when you make decisions, exercise spiritual discernment. Second…
The servant has a “what if” question.
“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?’” (24:5).
In other words, what if I find someone, but she refuses to come with me to Canaan? What then? Should I take your son to Mesopotamia to try to find someone himself.
“Abraham said to him, ‘See to it that you do not take my son back there. 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. 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.’ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.” (24:6-9).
Three things Abraham was convinced and adamant about. First, that Isaac marry someone of the same spiritual and cultural heritage as Abraham himself. Second, that if the woman that the servant chose was not willing to make the trek from Mesopotamia to Canaan, under no circumstances was the servant to take Isaac to Mesopotamia. Abraham would be true to God above all else. God had led him from Mesopotamia to Canaan and no one was authorized to reverse that. Under no circumstance would Abraham doubt what God had promised (Gen. 12:1-3) or contradict what God had done in leading him to Canaan. There was to be no going back to Mesopotamia. Third, Abraham was convinced that God would not fail him now or change His mind. The servant need not worry about this potential failure to bring back a wife for Isaac. No, the God who brought him from there to Canaan and who promised this land to him and his descendants would “send his angel before you.” His confidence was fully and solely in God!
That finalized the matter. If in the unlikely event that the servant did not find a wife for Isaac among Abraham’s family in Mesopotamia, then Abraham loosed the servant from the oath he had taken, but “you must not take my son back there.”
So, the first principle in this passage is that when you make decisions, exercise spiritual discernment. Second, when you make decisions, don’t disobey God to achieve your own purposes. And third…
“Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor. And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time when women go out to draw water” (24:10-11).
The faithful servant began the long journey northward, through Syria, across the Euphrates river to Mesopotamia. This was by no means a random search but rather a specific task with a specific goal.
Immediately upon arriving at his destination (the city of Nahor), the servant prayed for God’s direction. After all, how was he to know how to go about his search or indeed whom to select? So, he sets his situation plainly before the Lord. “And he said, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham’”(24:12).
The nature of the servant’s prayer is so instructive. First, notice how he addresses God: “Lord, God of my master Abraham.” He acknowledges God as the Lord, the sovereign ruler of the universe, and, specifically, “the God of my master Abraham.” This journey and search were all on behalf of and in the name of Abraham, his master. That’s who he served and he never lost sight of that. Second, notice the direction that he seeks from God:
“ Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master’” (24:13-14).
This is a big “ask,” isn’t it? To expect God to indicate to him whom he should choose to be Isaac’s wife by bringing that specific woman to that specific well at that specific time, who would respond to the servant’s request to provide him a drink and, furthermore, who would voluntarily offer to water his camels also. This was a big and bold prayer.
Estimates vary as to how much water a camel can drink, depending on its environment, thirst level, and exertion. But most estimates seem to range between 20 and 30 gallons. And the servant had ten of them! This would have been a huge commitment by the woman. Surely, such a response by such a diligent, kind, hard-working woman would make a good wife for Isaac.
“ Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. Then the servant ran to meet her and said, ‘Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.’ She said, ‘Drink, my lord.’ And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink. When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, ‘I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.’ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw water, and she drew for all his camels” (24:15-20).
Isn’t that amazing? The servant’s prayer was answered before he had finished praying and the answer met and exceeded everything he had asked for (cf. Isa. 65:24). First, Rebekah was a close relative of Abraham, exactly what Abraham had requested. Second, she was “very attractive” and morally pure. Third, she responded to the servant’s request exactly as he had prayed, with no objections or excuses. So, the servant “ gazed at her in silence to learn whether the Lord had prospered his journey or not” (24:21). Was this the one or should he continue looking? Though the servant was bold in his prayer request, he was by no means presumptuous. He would not get ahead of the Lord. Convinced that this was the one, he offered her a gift for her faithful and willing service to him and his camels (24:22) and inquired of her,
“‘Please tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?’ She said to him, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.’ She added, ‘We have plenty of both straw and fodder, and room to spend the night’” (24:23-25).
Now the servant learns about her family. She is the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham’s brother - just the family connection that Abraham had asked for. And, in God’s providence, she evidently trusts the servant sufficiently to offer him accommodation. No wonder that “The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord and said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me in the way to the house of my master’s kinsmen.’ Then the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things” (24:26-28). Everything is unfolding as Abraham had requested and as the servant had prayed. This is no chance meeting or coincidence. This is of the Lord who is honoring his master’s faith.
Quickly, the servant is received into Rebekah’s household. Her brother, Laban, welcomes the servant and his men into their home where they are extended great hospitality. The camels are fed and housed, and he and his men are provided with water to wash up after their long journey. But when he is offered food, he refuses to eat until he can relay to the household the purpose of his journey, which is his top priority (24:29-33). And so he narrates all that had led him up to that moment (24:34-48), and what a compelling account it is, concluding with a demand for Laban’s (Rebekah’s brother) and Bethuel’s (her father) answer:
“‘Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” How could they refuse? “Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, ‘The thing has come from the Lord; we cannot speak to you bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before you; take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken’” (24:49-51).
In response to all that God had done in bringing him safely on this long journey and in answering his prayers more than he could ask or think, once more the servant “bowed himself to the earth before the Lord. And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments” (24:52-53). This was indeed a moment of celebration for all God’s goodness, faithfulness, and provision.
What a lesson this is for us when we make decisions or undertake tasks. In this case, the principle is that when you make decision, seek and trust God’s direction and provision. This principle applies to all facets of the Christian life, doesn’t it? Prayer and trust in God are fundamental to decision-making and living the Christian life in general. We must grasp this truth that God answers prayer.
Here in this story we see how God works in the world. He providentially marks out our way forward, often without any intercession on our part. But God delights to lead us forward by way of prayer and we should delight in this privilege and opportunity. I know that often the answers to our prayers are not as explicit or as timely as in this story, but, nonetheless, the principle remains. Many times, I think, God answers our prayers and we don’t recognize or like the answer. Sometimes God’s answers are clear and detailed. Other times they may not be so obvious to us. Perhaps in those instances God is saying “no” or “wait.”
The fourth principle we learn from this passage is that…
As soon as the servant and his men arose the next morning, they immediately made preparations to leave. Their work there was done. But Rebekah’s “brother and her mother said, ‘Let the young woman remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go’” (24:55). Clearly, they were standing in the way of the servant’s work. You could argue, I suppose, that this was just a natural response by family members, especially Rebekah’s mother who would not want to see her daughter leave for a far off destination. Isn’t that often the case? Family members often hinder people responding to the work of God in their lives – “at least ten days” they said. Notice that they did not say “ten days” but “at least ten days.” This was open-ended and could go on for a long time, maybe even indefinitely.
But the servant was focussed and adamant, saying to them,
“‘Do not delay me, since the Lord has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master.’ They said, ‘Let us call the young woman and ask her.’ And they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ She said, ‘I will go.’ So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men. And they blessed Rebekah and said to her, ‘Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!’ Then Rebekah and her young women arose and rode on the camels and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah and went his way” (24:56-61).
Rebekah shows unquestioning obedience to the evident will of God. She didn’t hesitate, saying “I will go.”
Neither the servant nor Rebekah herself were discouraged or dissuaded by the hindrances of others. She could have easily said, “Let’s wait for at least ten days before we go. After all, it will be along time until I see my family again.” But neither family ties nor separation by distance would hinder her. She could have asked for a delay in leaving by questioning the servant’s story. How did she know that what he said was true? A delay would give time to check his story out. She might have had a hundred other objections to the servant’s demand to leave right away. But she didn’t. She knew intuitively that he had told the truth and that this was the will of God for her life.
What a lesson for us when confronted with making tough decisions. How good and happy it is when we can clearly see the direction and provision of God and when we voluntarily and unhinderedly say, “I will go.” How many missionaries have had to face this same kind of decision and have willingly and readily responded, “I will go.” How many young women have faced this same challenge in a marriage proposal which would separate them from friends and family. “‘Will you go with this man?’” they ask her. Unhesitatingly she replies: “‘I will go.’”
The final principle from this passage is that…
We come to the final scene in this unfolding drama. The servant has done his job. Rebekah has responded appropriately. Isaac is expectantly waiting. “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming” (24:24:63). His heart must surely have gone pitter-patter when he saw the caravan approaching. He must have had a thousand questions at that moment: “Did the servant find him a wife in accordance with his father’s instructions? What does she look like? What kind of personality does she have? Will we be compatible?” Evidently Isaac was looking for their return from the far country. “And behold, the camels were coming.” This was the moment of the big reveal to find out what God had in store for him.
At the same time as Isaac lifted up his eyes and saw the camel caravan approaching, Rebekah too “lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel and said to the servant, ‘Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?’ The servant said, ‘It is my master’” (24:64-65a). I think when she asked the question, “Who is that man?” she must have known in her heart who he was, for even before the servant answered, she had “dismounted from her camel.” And when the servant said, “It is my master,” she “took her veil and covered herself” (24:65b). This is an act of reverence and humility. The one who was found by the servant is bowing before the one who sought her.
“And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done” (24:66). When Isaac heard the servant’s story, he was convinced that this was the woman for him. God had guided and provided through the entire process and without hesitation, “Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (24:67). What a lovely touch. Isaac was “comforted after his mother’s death.” Rebekah was not Sarah but she filled that void as good wives do. He would no longer be alone. Rebekah would be his comfort and companion.
So, there you have five abiding principles for decision-making in the Christian life:
1. When you make decisions, exercise spiritual discernment (24:1-9)
2. When you make decisions, don’t disobey God to achieve your own purposes (24:5-9)
3. When you make decisions, seek and trust God’s direction and provision (24:10-53)
4. When you make decisions, don’t be dissuaded or discouraged by hindrances (24:54-60)
5. When you make decisions, rejoice in the prospects of what God has done (24:62-67)
Of course, the N.T. perspective here is the beautiful illustration of God the Father sending his Servant, the Holy Spirit, into the world to seek and secure a bride for his one and only beloved Son.
Notice that the servant always obeyed Abraham’s will to the letter and never brought attention to or spoke about himself. Everything he did and said was in submission to and in honor of his master. His sole purpose was to carry out the will of his master in seeking a spouse for his master’s son. Thus it is with the Holy Spirit. God sent him into the world to draw sinners to the Savior. And in carrying out his work here, he does not speak of himself. In John’s gospel, Jesus taught his disciples extensively about the Holy Spirit, his nature and function. Concerning the Holy Spirit Jesus said:
1. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16:13)
2. “The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (Jn. 14:26)
3. “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me (Jn. 15:26)
4. “When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (Jn. 16:8).
Notice that before Rebekah responded to the servant’s invitation to accompany him back to marry Isaac, Isaac himself had already offered himself as a willing sacrifice to God on the Mount of Moriah (Gen. 22). And God had raised him from that place of death to await his bride, who would be found and brought to him by the servant. This is the work of redemption played out in living color here in the O.T. A wonderful illustration of all that God would subsequently do through his beloved Son, whose sacrifice at the cross made atonement for the sins of all who believe, whom the Servant, the Holy Spirit, would draw to the Savior, granting them new life in Christ.
Once Rebekah’s decision was made known, the servant and their entourage set out on the long return journey to Isaac’s home. The servant knew the way and made every provision for Rebekah. She was not left to her own devices nor to worry about how it was all going to work out. No, she was confident and content in the servant’s care and provision. This is how it works in the Christian life too. When you trust Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit makes every provision for you. He guides you when you don’t know the way. He encourages you when you feel discouraged. He teaches you when you don’t understand. He comforts you when you feel alone.
All of this we see epitomized and beautifully illustrated in the nature and function of Abraham’s servant. His work is to honor and magnify his master and his master’s son. Thus it is with the Holy Spirit who came to seek out and win over those who become the bride of his Mater’s beloved Son. Some have wondered about how the Holy Spirit carries out his work. How does He convince and draw people to Christ? Not by forcing them. He does not, so to speak, hold a gun to their head. They do not decide to trust Christ out of any outside pressure. Rather, the Holy Spirit opens up their understanding to believe the truth of God’s word about his Son and salvation, such that they willingly believe and obey. This might be the result of hearing the testimony of a Christian friend, or reading a tract or the Bible that someone gives you. It may come about through overhearing a conversation or attending a church service where the gospel is explained. The Holy Spirit takes these ordinary activities and opens up your heart and mind to the truth and draws you to Christ in faith.
What a picture that God has given us so that we can better understand the work of God in redemption, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit in particular, which is illustrated in the work of Abraham’s servant. The message of the servant touched Rebekah’s heart such that when asked if she would go with “this man” she unhesitatingly replied, “I will go” (24:58).
How do you envision the end of your life? Living life to the full, right to the end? Using your gifts for God until your final breath? Or, fading into the sunset with nothing much to show for it?
What will be your perspective when you near the end of your life? “I’ve raised my children, worked hard, now I’m entitled to some peace and quiet” – preoccupied with your entitlement? Or, “I’m past it, out of touch, incapable of contributing, no use to anyone anymore” – absorbed with helplessness? Or, “My life is over and all I’m waiting for is to die” – obsessed with hopelessness?
What will others say about you when you’re gone? He lived his life well for God? Or, he lived for self? Or, she was fully devoted to serving God? Or, she was preoccupied with things?
What will be written on your tombstone, your epitaph? An epitaph is something by which a person, time, or event is remembered. It’s an inscription on a tombstone, words written or spoken in memory of a person who has died. So, how will others remember you? What words would they use to sum up your life?
Before commenting on the following verses, please note the interesting literary structure which the writer has chosen in bracketing Abraham’s death between the genealogies of his two concubines - Keturah (25:2-4) and Hagar (25:12-18) – which are then followed by the genealogy of Isaac in 25:19f.
Genesis 25:1-11 constitute the closing testimony of Abraham’s life and death, which testimony teaches us many invaluable lessons about how to end our lives well. Notice the first biblical lesson that…
We’ve met Hagar before (Gen. 16:1-16 and 21:8-21) and now we are introduced to Keturah. “Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah” (25:1). Like many O.T. men of faith, Abraham had more than one wife. Multiple wives were often taken to produce children. But this practice was contrary to the will of God for marriage, that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24-25). This practice was an accommodation of cultural standards that were contrary to God’s standard. It conflicted with God’s intent for marriage, just as divorce did (Matt. 19:8).
The questions that are sometimes raised concerning Keturah are: (1) “What was Keturah’s status? (2) When did she become Abraham’s wife? (3) Was she Abraham’s wife or concubine? Or, was she his concubine who became his wife after Sarah died?”
Concubines were sometimes referred to as “wives” (cf. Hagar in 16:3; Bilhah in 35:22 and 30:4), as is Keturah (Gen. 25:1), although they did not have equal status alongside an actual wife. In some respects they were treated as slaves, being kept and provided for by the man and being considered the property of the man.
It appears that Keturah probably began as Abraham’s concubine and that, after Sarah’s death (Gen. 23:2), she became his wife (Gen. 25:1), although we cannot say this definitively since we need to remember that Genesis does not always record its genealogies in literary or chronological order. For example, even though Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah at age 40 is recorded in Genesis 25:20, and the twins were born 20 years later as recorded in Genesis 25:26, yet both these events took place before Abraham’s death, which is recorded earlier in Genesis 25:8. However, that said, if Keturah was Abraham’s concubine (1 Chron. 1:32) prior to Sarah’s death and became his wife after Sarah died, this would quite adequately explain the two different descriptions of her status – concubine and wife. It should be noted, however, that she never enjoyed the same status as Sarah, which perhaps would explain why her sons received gifts from Abraham (Gen. 25:6) but did not share in the inheritance with Isaac.
Other than her name, the only thing we really know about Keturah are the names of the six sons, seven grandsons, and three great-grandsons she bore to Abraham (25:2-4). We know little else but the names of these descendants of Abraham. What we do know is that Abraham sent them “eastward to the east country” (25:6b), probably to Syria or Arabia (cf. Ishmael’s children, Gen. 25:18) where they became the progenitors of six Arabian tribes (cf. 1 Chron. 1:32-33). We also know that the descendants of Midian (the Midianites) became staunch enemies of Israel.
It’s sad, isn’t it, that a godly, faithful man like Abraham should produce descendants who turned out to be so ungodly and so opposed to God’s people. But I suppose what we learn from this is that godly parents can raise their children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4) but they cannot control how they turn out spiritually. For that we must entrust our children to God’s sovereign care and control.
So, the first biblical lesson that this account of the end of Abraham’s life teaches us that godly parents do not always have godly children. The second lesson is that…
The first invaluable lesson that we learn from the life of Abraham is…
Abraham had not always acted responsibly, as we have seen, for example, in earlier studies of Genesis 16 and 21 in his relationship and dealings with Hagar. But at the end of his life, he made responsible and wise provision for his children, provisions that he made voluntarily and not out of obligation.
Because Isaac alone was the son of promise, he was Abraham’s sole heir and inherited all his father’s assets. Thus, Abraham “gave all that he had to Isaac” (25:5). His estate would not be divided up between various children because Isaac was the sole and rightful God-appointed heir, the son of God’s promise.
This is a lovely illustration of Christ’s inheritance, whom God “appointed the heir of all things” (Heb. 1:2). And how much more precious is it to know that, as God’s children by faith, we also are heirs, “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17).
I assume that Isaac’s inheritance of his father’s estate took place upon Abraham’s death, since the text specifically states that to his other children, the children of his concubines, he gave gifts while he was alive: “But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country” (25:6). Giving gifts to the children of Keturah was an act of pure goodwill, as there was no requirement for Abraham to give anything to sons of concubines. They were his biological children, but not children “of promise.” Just as Abraham sent Ishmael away in order that he would not participate in, or interfere with, Isaac’s inheritance (21:10), so he also sends all the sons of his concubines away. And just as he gave provisions to Ishmael when he sent him away (21:14), so he gave gifts to all the sons of his concubines when he sent them away.
Notice the wisdom and forethought that Abraham must have put into the plans for the disposition of his estate pursuant to his death. He not only secured the succession of the covenant through Isaac as his heir (and subsequently Jacob), but he also safeguarded Isaac from any opposition of the children of Keturah (1) by giving them gifts while he was alive (that was the extent of their participation in his wealth); and (2) by sending them “eastward to the east country,” far away from causing Isaac any trouble.
In all of Abraham’s dealings with and provision for his children, we can learn good, practical lessons about responsible parenting and responsible financial planning prior to our death. First, we learn that parents lay up for their children, not vice versa. For, as the apostle Paul says, “children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children” (2 Cor. 12:14).
Second, at our death we must not leave a mess for our children to clean up. While it is not possible to prevent your children from fighting over your estate, at least you can do your part by spelling out in writing what is to happen to it upon your death – i.e. by way of a will. It’s sad, isn’t it, how many families are torn apart by disputes over the division of an estate? Money often changes people’s thinking and behavior. No wonder that 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
Third, as God prospers you, use your assets wisely for God’s work, for your family, and for those in need. May we make this a lifelong pursuit to be joyful and generous in blessing others and honoring the Lord with “the first fruits of all your produce” (Prov. 3:9; cf. 2 Cor. 8-9). Let us exemplify generosity now and to the next generation.
Fourth, leave a legacy that will impact your children and grandchildren after you’re gone – not just financial, but how you lived your life. This was the overriding legacy of Abraham’s life - not his wealth, but his faithfulness to God.
So, Abraham teaches us how to plan wisely. And he teaches us…
“These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years” (25:7). His biblical biography doesn’t start until he was 75 years old and covers the next 100 years of his life, during which he experienced God in a most personal and dynamic way. Let’s quickly review Abraham’s biblical biography.
Abraham believed God’s promise that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:3) and he obeyed God’s instruction to uproot his wife, Sarah, and his entire household from their home in Ur of the Chaldeans in Mesopotamia and go to a new home in the promised land of Canaan (12:1-9). When a famine came, he and Sarah journeyed to Egypt, where, because Sarah was “a woman of beautiful appearance” (12:11, 14), he feared the possibility that Pharaoh might kill him in order that he could take Sarah as his wife. So, he lied and said she was his sister. He and his nephew Lot parted company because their livestock and possessions were of such abundance that they needed separate properties (13:6). Lot chose the well-watered plains of the Jordan Valley, settling in Sodom, while Abraham settled in the land of Canaan. When four kings made war with the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and captured Lot and his possessions, Abraham rescued them (14:1-16). After this, God repeated his promise to Abraham that he would have descendants in number like the stars of heaven, even though he was still, at that time, childless. And Abraham “believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness” (15:5-6).
But no child was forthcoming from Sarah, so Sarah devised a scheme that, instead of waiting for God to fulfill his promise of a son and heir, they would produce their own son through Sarah’s maid, Hagar (16:1-4). But the result of this self-willed scheme was disastrous. Ultimately, Abraham had to send Hagar and her son, Ishmael, away in order to bring peace to his household (21:8-21). Finally, Isaac, the son of God’s promise, was born and no sooner had he become a young man than God called upon Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in order to test Abraham’s loyalty to God (22:1-19). He passed the test with flying colors.
Finally, in his old age and undoubtedly wanting to preserve their family lineage as God had promised, Abraham sent his servant back to Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac. The servant was successful in his search and brought Rebekah, who “became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death” (24:67).
That is a quick summary of Abraham’s long and full life. With his affairs in order and a full and varied life behind him, Abraham’s life ended well. It seems as though the Spirit of God can’t repeat enough the fulness and the blessedness of Abraham’s life, the man who “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God” (James 2:23). And so the final epitaph and benediction on this good and godly man reads: “7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years and was gathered to his people” (25:7-8). Notice and analyze well this fourfold, repetitive tribute to Abraham…
First, Abraham’s life in retrospect. “These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years” (25:7). A life, no matter how long it may be, is made up of days. And Abraham’s days were varied, full of adventure, failures and faith. Let us learn to walk with God, as Abraham did, to be aware of God’s constant provision, protection, and guidance, and to seek to please God every single day.
Second, Abraham’s death recorded. “Abraham breathed his last and died” (25:8a). It seems from the way this is worded, that his end was not a long, drawn-out battle, as it is for some. He simply slipped peacefully and quietly into the presence of God. There is no hint of any bitterness over life’s hard experiences and lessons, no apparent regrets over bad decisions and behavior, no struggle with guilt, but a life at peace with God. His life ended in full communion with God, despite all the ups and downs, just as we would expect a “friend of God” to die. He died in faith and at peace with God.
Third, Abraham’s life reviewed. He died “at a good old age, an old man and full of years” (25:8b). He died in perfect accord with God’s promise, having received the abundance of God’s blessing. God’s promise was: “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age” (Gen. 15:15). And God’s blessing is indicated in the phrase, “full of years,” which literally and simply reads: “full” – i.e. “satisfied” or “contented.” Thus, his life was not only long in length but “full” in satisfaction and contentedness. How we should long to do the same, to die full of the blessings of God and satisfied in Him.
Fourth, Abraham’s soul reunited. He “was gathered to his people” (25:8c). This probably refers to his reunion with his predeceased loved ones, which reunion takes place immediately upon death, when the soul is separated from the body. Thus, here in the O.T. we have the truth revealed that human beings, despite being mortal and corruptible, have immortal souls that continue on after death.
So, Abraham teaches us how to plan wisely, how to be remembered well, and…
Abraham was buried honorably in two ways. Firstly, Abraham was buried honorably by his two sons. Isaac and Ishmael, whom we last saw in conflict and separation (21:1-17), were reunited in the burial of their father (25:9-10). It’s lovely to see families come together at a time of loss, to set aside their differences and unite at a time when they most need togetherness. Isaac and Ishmael honored their father by reuniting at his burial. Notice that only the sons of Sarah were involved (not the sons of Keturah), Ishmael being considered Sarah’s son by a surrogate mother, Hagar.
Secondly, Abraham was buried honorably at his burial site. The cave of Machpelah was purchased by Abraham on the occasion of Sarah’s death as a family burial plot (Gen. 23:1-20). This was the first acquisition of property in the promised land by Abraham. Abraham made sure that he and his descendants would have a permanent burial place. This is an act of faith that God would fulfill his promise to give them this land. Hence, his careful negotiations and insistence that he own the property by buying it from Ephron the son of Zohar (23:8-16). Abraham would not agree with any of the options offered to him: (1) to borrow a burial place from the sons of Heth (23:3-6); and (2) to accept a burial place as a gift from Ephron the Hittite (23:7-11). Rather, he insisted that he buy the property at the market price and own it by a deed with a detailed description (23:12-16). Not until the deal was concluded to his satisfaction did Abraham bury Sarah in the cave of Machpelah.
“After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi” (25:11). Isaac now becomes the recipient of God’s covenant blessing to his father, Abraham, the blessing of the God who “lives and sees me” (Gen. 16:7-14). God is faithful and true; He keeps his word. He intervenes in our lives to deliver us from trouble, to correct us when we stray, and to give us renewed hope.
Even though Abraham’s life was dotted with failures, nonetheless, he is included in the Hebrews hall of faith as one who “obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8). That’s a life of faith well-lived for God. When he was already 75 years old, he obeyed God’s call to leave his home in Mesopotamia and go to the land of Canaan, a land he had never visited, knew nothing about, and didn’t even know how to get there (Gen. 12:1-4). That’s obedience and faith. And that’s what marked the entirety of Abraham’s life. That’s the testimony (epitaph) of his life.
So, what will your descendants write on your epitaph, in your memory? What will they say at your funeral? How will history record your life and death? That you lived a full, rich life for God? That you used all your gifts and abilities to bless your family and God’s people? That you left behind an example of how to live a life of faith that all who come behind you will seek to emulate?
How are you using (or going to use) your time at the end of your life, your “retirement” years? For self and pleasure? Or in activities that have spiritual and eternal consequences and benefits? Will you be known as a man or woman of faith who was gathered to your people?
Let us learn and take courage from the life of Abraham. After living for 175 years, a life with failures amidst incredible faith, at the end of his life Abraham’s epitaph reads: “He died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years” (Gen. 25:8).
Perhaps you are tormented over failures in your life, the memory of which keeps coming back to haunt you. Well, remember that while you can’t erase your memory nor the consequences of your actions, nonetheless you can be fully forgiven.
Sometimes, I think that those memories of failures that keep recurring are stimulated by our lack of acceptance and understanding of God’s full and complete forgiveness. Sometimes I think we are just unable (or unwilling) to accept and grasp the extent of God’s grace. We need to take God at his word, which says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9). We may not be able to forget the past, but God can and does: “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34).
So, let us keep short accounts with God, confessing our sins every day so that nothing hinders our full fellowship with Him. Let us enjoy the peace of knowing our sins (past, present, and future) are forgiven because of Christ’s death on the cross. And let us strive to live for the glory of God by faith, for the God “who saved us and called us to a holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9) also strengthens us with power through his Spirit (Eph. 3:16), thus enabling us “to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Eph. 4:1; cf. Col. 1:10). Take courage in these great and precious promises and press on for the glory of God until Jesus comes again or until He calls you home to heaven.