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Genesis
20:1-18 “And
Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between
Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2
And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is
my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar
sent, and took Sarah. 3 But
God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art
but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a
man’s wife. 4 But
Abimelech had not come near her: and he
said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5
Said he not unto me, She is my
sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of
my hands have I done this. 6 And
God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity
of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7
Now therefore restore the man his
wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt
live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that that thou shalt surely
die, thou, and all that are thine. 8
Therefore Abimelech rose early in the
morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their
ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9
Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said
unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou
hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me
that ought not to be done. 10 And
Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11
And Abraham said, Because I thought,
Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for
my wife’s sake. 12 And
yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father,
but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13
And it came to pass, when God caused me
to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy
kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come,
say of me, He is my brother. 14
And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and
menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored
him Sarah his wife. 15 And
Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16
And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have
given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of
the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17
So Abraham prayed unto God: and God
healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
18
For the LORD
had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah
Abraham’s wife.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED530] “Genesis
chapter 20, interesting set of circumstances, because Abraham is going to
repeat a mistake that he had made 25 years before this. And this is right on the heals of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. You
know sometimes as we go on with the Lord, we do pretty good for a pretty long
spell, God will give us a season of grace.
And we actually start to take ourselves seriously, as if it were
something. And we find ourselves
remarkably, here’s Abraham, none of this is mentioned in Hebrews 11, when God
puts this man of faith before us, but here in his humanity we find him again
failing, we find him telling half-truths or full-blown lies, we find him again
afraid, this man whom God had drawn so close to and said so many things
to. And God is not ashamed at all to
hold his humanity before us, because how many times in life do we find
ourselves, you know, pressed in a circumstance where we kind of, instead of
just telling the truth, we kind of say a half-truth, you know it’s not a lie,
but it’s just not all the information.
Or we find ourselves afraid of man, and the Bible says the fear of man
bringeth a snare, doesn’t it, how often we’re intimidated, we hate
confrontation, we don’t want to get into something with somebody, we look for
the easy way out. And Abraham is made of
the same stuff that we’re made of. And
here he is at 100 years old, and he’s going to find himself in a situation that
he doesn’t want to be in, and he begins to take the easy way out again, instead
of, certainly he could have trusted God with his whole heart in this
circumstance, and God would have sustained him.
This is put on the page and preserved through the centuries for us, not
doubt, to look at, to learn from. Abraham
Steps Into The Same Sin & God Has To Bail Him Out Again It
says “And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and
dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.” (verse 1) down in
the south towards Egypt. He’s heading
south. We’re not told why, there’s no
information here. Maybe he couldn’t
stand the sight of Sodom and Gomorrah smoldering every day. Maybe he didn’t know where Lot was, maybe it
was eating at him, we don’t know, we’re giving him the benefit of the doubt,
but we don’t know. He begins to head
towards the south. It seems when he does
that he gets in trouble, I’ve learned that just from reading a few chapters on
his life, it seems that he should know by now.
“And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took
Sarah.” (verse 2) Now this sounds
familiar, doesn’t it? He did this 25
years earlier when he went down into Egypt.
He told the same story, got in a pickle, God had to rescue him, rescue
Sarah. Now here he is, he’s down more
towards the coast, over towards the area of Gaza that you see on the news every
day, going down towards Egypt. He’s
encountering evidently tribesmen, and he’s going to run into this king
Abimelech. Abimelech is not his name,
Abimelech is the title of the king, his name was probably Charlie, you know,
Jaz or something. But Abraham said of
Sarah now, his wife “She is my sister.” Now he’s a hundred and she’s ninety, and
I wonder at this point why anybody doesn’t say, ‘boy, they’ve been together
for a long time, why doesn’t either one of them get married? He’s a hundred, and she’s ninety and they’re
still hanging around with each other.’ “and
Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.” into his harem. Somebody think a little bit here. Sarah must have been beautiful. I’m just thinking of somebody else, and
that’s another story, but I can actually interject it here, and I love to do it
once in awhile just for shock value. One
of the other Calvary Chapel pastors in the area in one of the last Harvest
Crusades we had, his aunt was kind of, he said, the black sheep of the family,
nobody liked her, and she started coming over and hanging around, and he said ‘You
can come over for dinner if you go on the Harvest Crusade with us,’ and she
said ok. So he took her down, and sure
enough she went forward and she got saved.
She was 82 or something, on the way home she said ‘I guess I’ll have
to get a new job.’ And he said ‘What
are you talking about,’ she said ‘Well you know those 900 calls, these
guys calling and you talk dirty conversations?’ and he said ‘What are
you talking about?’ and she said ‘Well ya, in the old age home I’m in
there’s about five or six of us, and we get paid so much, and these young guys
calling, and think we’re pretty young girls, and we sit around and talk dirty
to them, I guess I can’t do that anymore, I’m a Christian.’ and he said ‘No, you better not do
that anymore.’ [laughter] I just say that, because if you’re stupid
enough to call a 900 number, I want you to know, on the other end is not that
chic that’s on television, it’s an 80-year-old, ok. [laughter]
I think we have a different circumstance here. This is Abimelech, he’s a king with a harem,
he’s got 19-year-olds in his harem, this is not a guy who takes 90-year-olds
and put them into his harem. Sarah’s
probably pregnant at this time. God has
restored her, he’s restored Abraham. In
the next chapter we’re going to find that when Isaac is born she nurses him,
herself. You know, when the Rapture
happens [cf. 1st Corinthians 15:49-54, whenever it does], whatever
your position, but it says in the twinkling of an eye, this corruption puts on
incorruption, this mortal puts on immortality, that transformation will take
place in all of our lives, we’ll all arrive in heaven [at the Wedding Feast of
the Lamb, cf. Revelation 19:7-9] in the twinkling of an eye, and I think we’ll
all be about 30 when we get there [I go for 20]. So God is able to do that partially evidently
if he wants to. He took 90-year-old
corruption in Sarah and 100-year-old corruption in Abraham and turned back the
clock enough for them to be intimate and have a child, and evidently Sarah is
beautiful enough that this old king, Abimelech doesn’t know she’s 90, and takes
her, Abraham’s afraid again, she might have been prettier than when he lied in
Egypt, I don’t know, and said ‘say you’re my sister again.’ Here’s God, he rejuvenates them, he gives
them life, he makes them beautiful, he turns back the clock on their biology,
and in the middle of that miracle Abraham’s afraid ‘I’m gonna get killed
again.’ So this king takes Sarah,
who must look beautiful, he thinks she’s 20 or something, and puts her into his
harem. “But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for
the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.” (verse 3) that sounds more like The Godfather than
God, doesn’t it there, “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the
woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.” God upholds the sacredness of marriage, this
is long before the Ten Commandments, the 7th Commandment is given in
regards to adultery, but it was still wrong.
Capital crime in the Old Testament, if you’re in adultery this evening,
I didn’t know you were going to be here, my only advice would be, if the shoe
fits, wear it. Repentance is a wonderful
thing, a wonderful word, something God has given to us that we can turn back to
him and ask forgiveness, and confess, homologao, admit that we’re
wrong. Here, God says to this king,
because he’s taken Sarah, ‘I want you to think about this, Bub, you’re a
dead man, because the woman you’ve taken, she’s somebody else’s wife.’ Verse 4 says “But Abimelech had
not come near her: and he said, Lord,
wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?” now that’s small “ord” so
Abimelech’s not sure, evidently, he’s not saying Jehovah [or Yahweh], El
Shaddai, but he knows a divine being’s come to him in a dream. “wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?” I don’t know if he’s thinking about Sodom and
Gomorrah, evidently he senses this is a God who judges. “Said he not unto me, She is my
sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother:” and look
what he says to God, never try to pull the wool over God’s eyes, “in the
integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.” (verse 5) ‘I did this with integrity and innocence,
took this woman away from a man against her will, put her in my harem, I’m
innocent because she’s not married, the heck with the fact that I took her
against her will and decided that she would be mine and I was going to do
whatever I wanted to do with her.’--such innocency, the world’s filled with
it today, isn’t it? God says to him in a
dream ‘Ya, I know.’ Does
your translation say that? The King
James does, I love that, “And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that
thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from
sinning against me: therefore suffered I
thee not to touch her.” (verse 6)
He’s saying ‘God, I’m innocent, I didn’t know you were going to kill
me, I’m a good guy,’ and God said, ‘Ya, I know, you’re so filled with
integrity and innocency, the reason you didn’t touch her is because I kept you
from sinning against me, or you’d already be dead, I’m the one.’ the
king’s heart is in the LORD’s
hand, he turns it whichever way he will.
“Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a
prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her
not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are
thine.” (verse 7) Now it’s the first
time in the Bible we have the word “prophet.”
He’s the fibbing prophet, he’s the scared prophet, but he’s a
prophet. “Now therefore restore the
man his wife; for he is a prophet,” now that’s evidently
something Abimelech is familiar with, there were spiritual people in those
cultures, even those that were deceived in spiritual matters, “and he shall
pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and
if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and
all that are thine.” And you don’t want to hear that from God when
Sodom and Gomorrah’s smoldering next door.
He’s a prophet, he’ll pray for you, first work of a prophet,
prayer. The priest was the person who
represented the people to God, the prophet was the person who represented God
to the people. The prophet was the one
who spent time alone in God’s presence.
Abraham was called “the friend of God.”
And evidently Abraham spent a lot of time alone with the LORD,
and God says ‘this man’s a prophet, he will pray for you, and you will
live,’ very interesting, ‘if
you don’t listen to me, you’re gonna die, and so’s everybody you know.’ Abraham’s
telling a half-truth, a half-truth is a whole lie--for a Christian, for a
believer to tell a half-truth, it’s a full-blown lie “Therefore
Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all
these things in their ears: and the men
were sore afraid.” (verse 8) Abimelech makes the
wise choice. I’m sure he didn’t sleep
much after that, either. That’s why he
got up early. You ever have one of those,
where there’s no sense trying to go back to sleep, you’re against the tide? [as
I get older, that happens more than I’d like it to] He gets up early in the morning, “and
called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears:” and
notice, “and the men were sore afraid.” all of them. “Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said
unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou
hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me
that ought not to be done.” (verse 9) ‘You’re
a prophet and you lied to me? You’re a
prophet and told us this story?’ “And
Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?”
(verse 10) Those of you that are
parents, you ever have a kid you say that to?
‘What were you thinking when you did that!?’ ‘Aaah, aaah,’ I love
that look, when they’re little. ‘Now
what did I tell you,’ ‘Aaah,’ they
want to say the right thing. I have no
idea. Abimelech says ‘What sawest
thou, what were you thinking, what did you see, why did you do this, that you
have done this thing?’ Now
Abraham has got to have some lame excuses here.
First he says this, “And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the
fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s
sake.” (verse 11) Number 1. Wait a minute, look at all the chapters
before this. He just said to God ‘Surely
you’re not gonna slay the righteous along with the wicked?’ And now he’s telling Abimelech ‘I thought
you were going to kill me,’ while God was telling him ‘You’re going
to be the father of many nations,’ making all of these promises for all
of these chapters, and he did this. Can
you believe that? You can if you get up
and look in the mirror in the morning.
Think of the promises God has made us.
And we get mad when Grama dies and leaves the Coocoo clock to somebody
else. We have eternity, we have heaven
[i.e. a future home in the New Jerusalem, which will end up on earth, cf.
Revelation 21:1-23], streets of gold, bowls of jewels. He’s given us everything. We don’t think that he’s going to help us get
the gas bill paid? He’s given us
eternity, but can’t handle the gas bill.
Abraham’s doing the same thing. ‘Why
did you lie to me?’ There’s nothing
worse than a religious liar. You know,
this guy comes, God’s saying he’s a prophet on top of everything else, and he’s
saying ‘What in the world were you thinkin’ man? Why did you do this, bring evil on me and my
entire kingdom, what were you doing?’ And
Abraham said ‘Well, aaah, I was afraid, and thought this must be a
godless place, and if I don’t make up a story, you’re gonna kill me, and take my
wife.’ Now he justifies it, “And
yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father,
but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.” (verse 12) ‘and she became my wife, I don’t know
how.’ [laughter] ‘she was my sister, and I woke up and she was my
wife, I thought she was my sister, she’s my father’s daughter but a different
mother, so she’s my half-sister,’ and your half-wife? He’s telling a half-truth, a half-truth is a
whole lie. For a Christian, for a
believer to tell a half-truth, it’s a full-blown lie, there’s no such thing as
a half-truth for us. It’s just amazing
what he’s saying here. ‘She was
born of my father, she is my sister, but she became my wife.’ And now look at this history, this is
interesting in verse 13, “And it came to pass, when God caused me to
wander from my father’s house,” way back in chapter 12, at the end of
chapter 11, “that I said unto her,” this is years ago, “This is
thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall
come, say of me, He is my brother.”
‘It’s not my fault, we made this rule up long ago, it’s an old family
rule, everywhere we go and I’m afraid, we lie about this.’ He’s so human. “And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and
menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored
him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said,
Behold, my land is before thee:
dwell where it pleaseth thee. And
unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces
of silver: behold, he is to
thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.” (verses
14-16) Now this is Abimelech kind of
digging a little bit with Sarah. “a
covering” not her eyes, but “the eyes.”
He’s saying ‘I just gave your husband a thousand pieces of silver,
you think you can buy a veil so this doesn’t happen anymore?’ ‘he is a covering
of “the eyes” unto thee, can you do this the right way, you know, your
brother?’ “So” remarkably “Abraham
prayed unto God: and God healed
Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD
had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah
Abraham’s wife.” (verses 17-18) So
no doubt they must have been there for a number of months, no one was
conceiving, Abimelech hadn’t touched Sarah because of whatever God smote him
with. He said ‘Oh, it’s because I’m
innocent,’ God said, ‘Oh, I know, I took care of your innocence, that’s
why you’ve been innocent.’ Now look
at this, Abraham is God’s man, loves God, he does love God, and in his weakness
he fails. God is sovereign, God still
protects him, still protects his wife. Christian perfection is not the
perfection of performance, Oswald Chambers says, but it’s the perfection of
relationship. It’s not the perfection of
performance. Yes, we should grow in
grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should live more wisely
now than we did last year, or two years ago.
But perfection for us now, is that when we do fail, when we do make a
mistake, that we can go to him and say ‘Father, forgive me, I really blew it
today.’ You know, I think as a
younger Christian, when we make a mistake and we do something wrong, we grovel,
because we’re still growing in grace, and we’re learning as time goes on, that
no one has ever loved us the way that he loves us. When we get to chapter 22, if the Lord
tarries, please read next week chapter 22.
No one has ever loved us the way that he loves us. And we find as we go on, we still
struggle. You know, Paul the apostle, at
the end of his life, and God has done such great things in his heart, he’s
still Paul the apostle. He says, ‘Demis
hath forsaken me, Luke alone, he’s with me here,’ he says ‘when
you come bring my cloak from Troas, bring the parchments, that I might sit,
study the Word,’ and he’s talking about his situation, and then all of
a sudden he says ‘and Alexander the coppersmith, God will get him.’ Because he’s still got that edge, all
the way at the end there, just gotta throw in, ‘I want to sit with the
Lord, you know, Demis is gone, but Luke is still here, I just want to read my
favorite Psalms, and that Alexander the coppersmith, God will get him.’ We’re still human. How many times, when we get ushered into
eternal life, I wonder how many times we’re going to find out God kept us from
sinning, like he kept Abimelech from sinning.
I wonder how many times we’re going to find out God intervened
sovereignly and kept us out of trouble, even though we made a foolish
decision. We do that with our
children. They make a foolish decision,
a little kid running around the house, you don’t say ‘Pack your suitcase,
change your last name.’ And he loves
us more than we love our own children.
He cares for Abraham. He takes
care of him, and for Sarah. “So
Abraham” the fibbing prophet “prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and
his maidservants; and they bare children. For the LORD
had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah
Abraham’s wife.” (verses 17-18) Genesis
21:1-34 “And
the LORD
visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD
did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2
For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a
son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3
And Abraham called the name of his son
that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac
being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5
And Abraham was an hundred years old,
when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6
And Sarah said, God hath made me to
laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7
And she said, Who would have said unto
Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him
a son in his old age. 8 And
the child grew, and was weaned: and
Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9
And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the
Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10
Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast
out this bondwoman and her son: for the
son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11
And the thing was very grievous in
Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12
And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be
grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of the bondwoman; in all
that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy
seed be called. 13 And
also the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy
seed. 14 And
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water,
and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the
child, and sent her away: and she
departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15
And the water was spent in the bottle,
and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16
And she went, and sat her down over
against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the
child. And she sat over against him,
and lift up her voice, and wept. 17
And God heard the voice of the lad; and
the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth
thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18 Arise,
lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation. 19 And
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the
bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20
And God was with the lad; and he grew,
and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21
And he dwelt in the wilderness of
Paran: and his mother took him a wife
out of the land of Egypt. 22 And
it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the chief captain of
his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou
doest: 23 now
therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me,
nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but
according to thy kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me,
and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. 24
And Abraham said, I will swear. 25
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because
of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. 26
And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath
done this thing: neither didst thou tell
me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. 27
And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and
gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28
And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the
flock by themselves. 29 And
Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou
hast set by themselves? 30 And
he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they
may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. 31
Wherefore he called that place
Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 32
Thus they made a covenant at
Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and
Phicol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the
Philistines. 33 And
Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of
the LORD,
the everlasting God. 34 And
Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.” Sarah
Gives Birth To Isaac “And”
beginning the next chapter, the
continuing story, “the LORD
visited Sarah” please notice “as he had said,
and the LORD
did unto Sarah as he had spoken.” (verse 1) You know, when God made a covenant with
Abraham, Abraham didn’t pass between the parts, God had passed between the
parts alone. The covenant was dependent
on God’s faithfulness, and God is doing exactly what he said he would do, he’s
doing it in his own timing, and he’s doing to Sarah what he said he had
spoken. She’s 90 years old, “For
Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age,” he’s 100, please
notice “at the set time of which God had spoken to him.” (verse 2) That wasn’t a time that Abraham set or Sarah
set, it wasn’t the time that you and I would have set, but God has a set
time. He’s a hundred, she’s ninety, she
bears a son to Abraham in his old age, “at the set time of which God had
spoken to him.” God had let him know
in chapter 18, ‘a year from now.’
God’s not in a rush, his schedule’s not like ours, he’s right on time,
but he’s not in a rush. He waits until
this child of promise has to come of miraculous means, because this Isaac is
the line that would go to the One who would come miraculously to take away the
sin of the world. “And Abraham called
the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.”
(verse 3) Izak, Laughter, a reminder to Sarah, a joy to Abraham. “And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac
being eight days old, as God had commanded him.” (verse 4) when the Profombrin and vitamin K is
there, as God had commanded him, a sign of the covenant. “And Abraham was an hundred years old,
when his son Isaac was born unto him.
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear
will laugh with me.” (verses 5-6) That’s a half-truth too, she laughed in
unbelief back in chapter 18 when God said ‘Why did Sarah laugh?’
and she said ‘I did not laugh,’ he said ‘Yes you did, and
we’re going to name this child Laughter.’ Because she said ‘Shall I have pleasure
of my lord in his old age, he’s old and I’m past the age.’ All that’s fixed. “And Sarah said, God hath made me to
laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto
Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him
a son in his old age.” (verses 6-7) ‘that
I’d be able to nurse at 90 years old? for I have born him a son in his old
age.’ Now there’s something
remarkable about this as I look at it.
Here’s two old spirits in young bodies again. People ask me ‘Would you love to be 21
again?’ and I say ‘Only if I could still know what I know now.’ [That’s the incredible beauty of God’s
Plan of Salvation, we spend a lifetime gaining experience, God’s Laws, what
works in life, what doesn’t, all the experience of a lifetime for most of us
that live a full life. And then in the
Resurrection to immortality (1st Corinthians 15:49-54), with all of
that experience, we’re given young, immortal bodies that will not age! Christianity is merely a journey to that
ultimate destination.] I would never
want to be 21 and only know what I knew when I was 21 again. But this seems to be what is the ultimate
situation here, because Abraham is still 100 and Sarah’s still 90, only their
bodies are two old spirits in young bodies again. That’s a great setup [and again, that’s a
picture of our destination at the Resurrection, what he calls the Rapture,
except our bodies will be composed of spirit, which will be more solid than
matter. A spirit being, like the angels,
can fly through matter like it is a cloud, without being hurt. An angel can fly through the center of the
earth, or the sun, like it is a cloud, without harm.] Kind of heavenly, I think. And I think, ‘How remarkable that must
be.’ Ishmael
& Hagar Driven Out Of Abraham’s Camp A
Promise For National Greatness For Ishmael Too And
it says “And the child grew, and was weaned:
and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was
weaned.” (verse 8) that was 3 to 4
years old, in the culture, how remarkable, moving from milk to stronger meat,
God rejoices when we start to do that in our spiritual walk. But, any of you guys, you remember your first
kids, when you’re first married, you don’t have much money saved, I remember
when Joanna was born we borrowed a crib, we took whatever hand-me-downs we
could get, you take what you can get. Then
of course by the time Hannah’s born ten years later we’re a little more
established, we picked out a crib, we actually went to the store and picked out
a car seat. You’re just a little more
established. You know, this is the son
of their old age, they’re rejuvenated so they have enough strength to chase a
toddler around the house, imagine if they were still a hundred and ninety
physically, ‘Somebody get him, that’s the son of promise! Put a helmet on him, he’s gonna kill himself,
I can’t keep up with him.’ God [must
have] rejuvenated their bodies. You see
how kids, they love to be around grandma and great grandma or great grandpa,
because of the age and the stillness and the quietness. Imagine here Abraham and Sarah at 103 and 93
have this little 3-year-old. What a
remarkable set of circumstances this must have been. “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the
Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.” (verse 9) He’s about 14 now, Ishmael. “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out
this bondwoman and her son: for the son
of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.”
(verse 10) And Sarah can be a bit of
a lioness once in awhile. “And the
thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.” (verse 11)
that tells us volumes about him, because of his son. Interesting, “And God said unto Abraham,
Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of the
bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for
in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” (verse 12) Now God had reproved him last time, and said ‘This
is because you listened to your wife’s voice,’ now he’s telling him ‘I
want you to listen to your wife’s voice.’ Now listening to your wife’s voice is
difficult enough. You know how you say
to a little kid ‘What did I tell you?’ they go ‘Aaah, aaah.’ Husbands are like that too. When your wife says ‘Are you listening to
me?’ ‘Ahah.’ ‘What did I say?’ ‘Aah.’
Because you want to say the right thing, you really do, before the
Lord. If Jesus would come down he would
tell your wife ‘He wants to say what’s right, he’s hesitating because he
knows if he says the wrong thing, it could cost him weeks to get back in good
again, he’s terrified, just be easier on him.’
You know, and earlier Sarah had said ‘Take Hagar,’ and
I think Abraham didn’t break the code.
He should have said ‘Oh Honey, I love you, how could I ever take
Hagar,’ he just said ‘ok.’ Problems,
God said ‘It is because you hearkened unto your wife.’ Now God is saying to him ‘Hearken
to your wife, listen to her.’ So
this isn’t always a simple process, we need Divine guidance. Pray for Divine guidance. We have a very interesting circumstance
here. His name is Ishmael, it means “God
hears.” They had probably acquired Hagar
when they were in Egypt. Hagar must have
been Sarah’s closest confidant. For
Sarah to say to Abraham ‘Take Hagar and let her raise up seed for me,’ it
means that she was the closest of all of the maidservants that Sarah had, she
was the most dear to her, she was the one she considered the closest. And no doubt this young Egyptian girl had
come back with this strange man from another country, who was already getting
old, and constantly talking about this God of glory that had appeared to him,
and told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees.
And God has promised this son is going to be born, and that through him
all of the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. And this young Egyptian girl must have
listened, amazed. You know at night time
they sat around the fire, there was no television, there was no fax machines,
there were no distractions. They sat and
they listened and they talked, and Abraham said ‘Look at the stars, God is
going to bring forth the seed, and his children, his offspring are going to be
like the stars of heaven in number.’ And
all of a sudden, Sarah says to Hagar, ‘Hagar, I want you to go in and raise
up children to us.’ And Hagar then
gives birth to this son. And she must
think ‘This is the son that this LORD
Abraham has been talking about, my son, my womb, my body, this is the son that
all of the nations of the earth are going to be blessed through.’ [Comment:
right now they are all blessed through Ishmael’s descendants, view their
rich oil reserves, OPEC 😊]
And she then looked down on Sarah. And of course Sarah treated her unkindly,
drove her out, and God met her there by the well Beerlahairoi and asked her to
go back, to return. So she’s been back
now with Abraham and Sarah for 14 years, Ishmael has been growing up in the
home, in the tent with them. I’m sure
they didn’t have a separate tent. And
Abraham loved Ishmael. [Comment: And don’t think for a nano-second that when
Abraham comes back with Jesus and us resurrected saints at Jesus’ 2nd
coming, that he is not going to lovingly regather Ishmael to him and heal the
breach that has existed so long between Isaac and Ishmael in today’s
world. Meditate on that one.] And when this happens and Sarah says ‘I
want you to send them away,’ it says it was grievous to Abraham. How could you raise a young boy for 14 years,
and love that young boy, and pour your life and your heart into that young boy,
and then just send them him away. But
I’m sure that Ishmael, about 11 years old, when Isaac is born, senses this
major shift in the chemistry of the family.
All of a sudden this baby is getting all the attention, all of a sudden
there’s an excitement that he’s never sensed in his life or with his mother
Hagar. He’s realizing, this God of
Abraham has done something miraculous with their physical frames, with their
health, and he’s produced this child in their old age, he’s taking this second
place, he’s no longer the center of attention.
That happens naturally in a family, where there’s just a pecking order,
the first one gets all the attention, the second one is born, the second one
gets more attention than the first one, you guys that have raised kids you know
the process. You get married, I waited
for years, I got a wife, we were going to wait two years to have children, five
months later she was pregnant. Don’t
know what happened, she was my sister, I woke up she was my wife. [loud laughter] And then she has a baby, and then you’re an
outsider. ‘Wait a minute, I married
you,’ she has a baby and you’re an outsider, ‘Wait a minute, I
married you,’ now she’s with the baby and I’m here, ‘Do this, pick up
the nook, boil it, do this, do that.’ And then the second one comes. Now the second one, by now it’s changed a
little, when the nook falls you just pick it up and stick it back in the mouth,
forget about boiling it. And when the
third one comes, you’re on the same team again because it’s three against two,
it’s the only means of survival in the house.
But amongst the kids then, there’s this, you know one of them is used to
being the one that’s getting all the attention.
I remember when my son Josh was born, and I came home, my wife said, and
Mike there was six years between them, he was bad, [laughter] and she had tears
in her eyes, I would come home and she’d be crying after spending a day with
him, and she said ‘He wished Josh had never been born.’ And I went up, you know, six years old,
and said ‘Mom told me you said you wish Josh had never been born?’ He looked at me and said ‘Yet. I said, I wish he had never been born
YET.’ How am I supposed to keep a
serious face? But I’m sure Ishmael
senses all of the dynamics of this thing, where it’s not normal like it would
be in a normal family, where there’s normal tensions, this is the whole family
centered on this miraculous child, and he is outside of the circle. And when they’re celebrating the fact that
young Isaac is weaned, it says here that he’s found mocking in some way. If your translation says “playing,” it
doesn’t give you the Hebrew, the sense.
He’s no longer the center of attention, he’s doing something he
shouldn’t be doing. And look, he’s 14
years old, he was raised up in a house with monotheists that knew the
truth. He had access to all of the truth
about God, all of the nourishment he should have had spiritually, and he’s
rebelling at this point in time. He
mocks. Sarah saw it, ‘Cast out the
bondwoman and her son,’ Abraham is grieved, it’s his son. And I think this is why God speaks to
Abraham, “And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight
because of the lad, and because of the bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said
unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”
(verse 12) “And also the son of
the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.” (verse
13) And God had told this to Abraham
before. Now isn’t it interesting,
Abraham making major mistakes in chapter 20, several years have gone have by,
God asked him to do something very difficult here, and he doesn’t hesitate, he
gets up early in the morning, and we’re going to see that’s his pattern now as
he moves along. He’s learned something
very important, and you can ask him when you see him in immortality, that’s not
articulated in chapter 20, but Abraham’s pattern is going to be getting up very
early to obey God from now on when God asks him to do something. He must have seen a measure of God’s grace with
Gerar and Abimelech that he hadn’t realized before, and even though he failed,
God still used him, and when he prayed Abimelech is still healed, and I think
he’s filled with wonder. Isaac is born
on top of that, the promise that was made has been fulfilled. The
LORD
Steps In And Saves, Protects Ishmael & Hagar And
it says “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a
bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her
shoulder, and the child, and sent her away:
and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.” (verse
14) It’s in the wilderness, it would
be named Beersheba [the Israelis call it Beersheva now] in the next
chapter. This is interesting, you know
he’s grieved, he loves them, he could have sent away servants with them, sent
camels, he could have sent gold and silver, could have sent supplies to last
them for six months. I’m assuming that
he’s doing the harder thing, getting them up and sending them away, I’m
assuming that this is also in obedience to a request that God has made, he
sends them out with bread and water, that’s all. Isn’t it interesting? But we can picture the bread of life, living
water, we do those things, but for Hagar she’s got bread and water on her
shoulder. And verse 15 says “And
the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the
shrubs.” She’s in the desert, she’s down by Beersheba, it’s hot, it’s
unforgiving. If you’ve been in the
Middle East, I’ve been there many times, the sun is relentless, it’s
unforgiving, it just continues, it burns in the middle of the day. The water is spent, Ishmael 14 is collapsing,
he’s so weak, she can’t stand it, she lays him under a shrub to provide what
little shade she could. “And she
went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a
bowshot: for she said, Let me not see
the death of the child. And she sat over
against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.” (verse 16) I guarantee you she’s bitter at Abraham. She had lived in his tent all these years,
she got taken away from her home in Egypt, she got sent into the tent with
Abraham, it wasn’t her decision when Ishmael was born. She was the one now that was the second time,
she was mistreated earlier, now she’s sent out, didn’t ask for any of this. And she’s probably feeling the same way that
you or I would feel in this circumstance.
And she gets far enough away, and she’s weeping out loud. Verse 17 says “And God heard” please
notice this “the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out
of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath
heard the voice of the lad where he is.”
We don’t know what he’s saying, she’s weeping out loud, Ishmael’s
evidently praying, ‘LORD,
God of Abraham, where are you?’ It’s going to tell us that when Abraham dies,
Isaac and Ishmael come to his grave, and it’s going to say Abraham went to be
with his fathers. A few verses after
that it will tell us Ishmael dies at 137, and he went to be with his
fathers. So whatever else that happened
in those 14 years, and however difficult they were, please listen, if you’ve
come out of an abusive situation, you’ve come out of a situation where there’s
been great injustice, that does not mean that you can just sit in bitterness
and die in the desert of all of that.
Because this young man is going to become a great nation, his father
sends him away at 14 with his mother, unjustly in his mind. And yet at the death of Abraham he’s there
with his brother Isaac, he will flourish and become a great nation, and when he
dies he will go to be with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [And I am sure that he will, along with
Abraham, go on to reconcile all of the Arab nations back into fellowship with
the nation of Israel, all 13 tribes, including Judah and Levi, right after
Jesus’ 2nd coming.] “And
God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God” now this is not “the
angel of the LORD”
that came to Hagar back in chapter 16, this is now “the angel of God,”
“called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar?
fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.” (verse
17) ‘Heaven is aware that something is ailing you, heaven is not unaware of
your pain, Hagar.’ Before she can
answer, “fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.”--a
bowshot away from you.’ God hath
heard the voice of the lad, now notice the angel saying ‘God hath
heard.’ The angel of the LORD
said to her back in chapter 16 ‘I have heard.’ Now this is not a theophany, this is an
angel, from heaven, of God. It says ‘God
has heard the voice of the lad.’ “Arise,
lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation.” (verse 18) and notice this, “And God opened her eyes, and she
saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave
the lad drink.” (verse 19) She could
find no hope until God opened her eyes.
The circumstances where exactly the same, nothing was different, in the
exact same circumstance it says God opened her eyes, and she saw something that
was there all along. It doesn’t say God
miraculously made a well and stuck it there.
It says God opened her eyes and allowed her to see something, it had
been there. It had been waiting. It had been providing what was needed for
sustenance, for rejuvenation, for life.
And the lad is crying out to God, and heaven responds. Heaven is aware of every injustice, every mom
that’s sent out, every single mom that’s put in a situation she doesn’t want to
be in, every boy that grows up without a father, Jesus knows that well, in a
sense. Mary was a single mom for
years. Please know, he hears your heart,
he hears you voice, your complaint, your pain, he knows, heaven knows. And God sustains, she opens her eyes and she
saw a well, with the encouragement and the assistance of heaven. God was gracious, she saw a well, she went
and filled the bottle, she gave it to the lad, “And God was with the lad;
and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the
land of Egypt.” (verses 20-21) northern part of Saudi Arabia, in the
desert, “and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt” from
her own homeland. [So the Ishmaelites
are ¼ from Abraham and ¾ from Egyptian stock.] Abimelech
Is Concerned About How Powerful Abraham’s God Is “And
it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the chief captain of
his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou
doest:” (verse 22) Now we assume this is the same Abimelech,
because there hasn’t been a lot of time that’s gone by, it could be a different
Abimelech, that’s the title. Now
Abimelech must be thinking, this guy’s God smokes Sodom and Gomorrah, this
guy’s God protects his wife, afflicts me with a disease in my house, heals me
when he prays, gives this guy a kid when he’s 100 and his wife is 90,
everything this guy does God touches him, I need to be friends with this
guy. “God is with thee in all
that thou doest: now therefore swear
unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me,” like you did
in chapter 20, “nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to thy kindness that I
have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast
sojourned.” (verses 22b-23) “And Abraham
said, I will swear.” (verse 24) ‘I will promise, equity, to treat him
fairly.’ Now Abraham though took
the opportunity, now that he had Abimelech saying ‘Come and make an oath
with me,’ Abraham’s going to say ‘Let me pick a bone first.’ “And Abraham reproved Abimelech
because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken
away.” (verse 25) Now in that part
of the world, a well is a big deal. Any
source of water is a huge deal. Abraham
had graciously looked past that, remember, he took his 318 armed servants and
slaughtered Chedorlaomer and the five kings from the north in great victory,
and yet there was none of that towards Abimelech [and Abimelech was probably
aware of that victory also, and that the God of Abraham gave him that victory
over overwhelming odds, so he really wants peace between himself and Abraham]. He was gracious, he looked past this, but he
was going say to him now, ‘OK, let’s make a deal, let’s make peace, but I
want that well back again.’ “And
Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard
I of it, but to day.” (verse 26) ‘This
is a shock to me, I didn’t know anything about it.’ “And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave
them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.
And
Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
And
Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou
hast set by themselves? And
he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they
may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.” (verses 27-29)
‘you take these as a signature and a witness of the fact that I’m the one,
myself and my servants that dug this well.’ “Wherefore he called that place Beersheba;
because there they sware both of them.” (verse 30) Beersheba means “the well of the oath,” they
made an oath there, so they called it Beersheba, “Wherefore he called that
place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the chief
captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.”
(verses 30-32) Now it’s going to say
this, the land of the Philistines, archeologists kind of grapple with this a
little bit, because the Phoenicians, as properly the Philistines won’t come for
a few centuries after this. [Pastor Joe
is a little mistaken, the Philistines were an entirely different race from the
actual Phoenicians. They were in reality
a mixed race of warriors settling in the southern cities of what became Judah,
Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron and two other cities.
The Phoenicians, a mercantile seafaring people were mainly headquartered
in the two major cities of Tyre and Sidon just to the north of Israel. They first formed an alliance with king
David, through Hiram their king, and that alliance was passed on to Solomon,
and then to the ten northern tribes of Israel when they split off of Solomon’s
kingdom during the reign of his son Rehoboam.
The Israelites never had a military problem with the Phoenicians, but
they did end up having a religious problem with them (cf Jezebel and Ahab see https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html).] There are some records there was early
trading with the ancestors of the Phoenicians.
But Moses’ writing calls this territory, so that his readers will
evidently understand, the area of the Philistines, which will be after this. But it gives them the location and the
country. “And Abraham planted
a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD,
the everlasting God.” (verse 33) the
Everlasting God, “El Olam” is the first time we have in the Bible, the
Everlasting God. He had called on El
Shaddai, the Almighty God, and now at 100 years old, or 103, he appreciates the
Everlasting God a little bit more, no doubt, who had made this covenant with
him so long ago. He plants a grove
there. The Hebrew word indicates a
certain Tamarisk tree there, there are 12 species of Tamarisk trees in
Israel. Abraham, like Johnny Appleseed
is down there, he likes the desert, but he likes the shade too. So down at Beersheba in the desert he plants
this grove of Tamarisk trees, and they’re all over that part of the country
still. They’re throughout Israel, but
there are groves of Tamarisk trees there in the south. He plants a grove in Beersheba, and he
worships there, he calls on the name of the LORD,
“And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days.” (verse 34) In
closing We’re
going to find he’s there probably 27 to 30 quiet years. The next time God speaks to him is going to
be 27 to 30 years after this, he’s going to live there, raise Isaac, Isaac’s
going to be 30, 33 years old, Abraham’s going to look at him and wonder, ‘This
is the promised seed, what are you going to do with his life?’ All of the
things that you said to me, unbelievable, here I am at 133, I feel great,
Sarah’s 123 she’s still a fox, LORD
you’re so gracious.’ And all of a sudden God’s going to speak to
him and say ‘Abraham, take thy son, thine only son whom thou lovest, and
bring him to a mountain that I will tell you of, and offer him there as a burnt
offering unto me.’ Imagine
hearing that, after 30 years of silence, living quietly, worshipping the Everlasting
God. And it’s going to say again,
Abraham rose up early. The next chapter
is the first time that you have the word “love” in the Bible, the first time
you have the word “worship” in the Bible, the first time you have the word
“lamb” in the Bible, the first time that you have “son” in the Bible. It’s a very interesting chapter. First time you have the word “lamb,” and it’s
‘father here’s the fire, here’s the wood, where’s the lamb?’ It’s answered in the New Testament with the
first time you have the word “lamb” is ‘Behold, the lamb of God that
takes away the sin of the world.’ When
you read through chapter 22, realize that God is allowing Abraham to sense
something from the Father’s point of view.
And we’ll talk about that next week.
What did it cost the Father as Gethsemane, through the Passion, through
the scourging, to restrain himself, to remain silent, to watch. Abraham is allowed to touch some of his
emotion, to enter into a place that had been established before the foundation
of the world. Not evolving in his
lifetime. The mountain that he will go
to is Calvary, the revelation that he will have is of a father sacrificing his
son. And I can’t read it without getting
wiped out. Remarkable, remarkable
chapter. So read ahead, next week, and
some amazing things you want to take note of here. Abraham and Isaac go, it tells us in Hebrews
11 that Abraham had enough faith that he realized that if it was necessary God
would even raise Isaac up from the dead.
What it doesn’t tell you is that it insinuates that Abraham had enough
faith that if it was necessary God would raise Isaac from the ashes, because he
was going to be a burnt offering. Now
that’s faith. Abraham comes back again,
we don’t see Isaac. The next thing we
see is Abraham sending his servant, “Eleazar,” which means “the comforter,” to
get a bride for his son. Sound like a
familiar story, God the Father sending the Comforter to get a Bride for his
Son? And the next time we find Isaac is
when Eleazar is bringing Rebekah, and she falls off her camel when she sees
Isaac, he’s a good looking guy. The next
time we see the Son, after the mount of crucifixion, is when the Holy Spirit is
bringing the Bride to Him. Very
interesting picture. Read ahead. Let’s stand, let’s pray, let’s sing the last
song together. And a great time this
evening just to say ‘LORD,
I appreciate the honesty that you put men and women in front of us.’ You know tonight
might be your night to say ‘You know I fall back into the same thing, I
think I’m never going to do again,’ or you might say ‘Here I am a single
mom, and I just need to be reminded that heaven is aware, and providing a
well.’ ‘Or Lord, I grew up without a
dad, forced out, and in all my complaining, all of my bitterness, all my
struggle, Lord you’re hearing my voice, just like you heard Ishmael, even in
the desert.’ Or maybe it’s your
night to say ‘You know I don’t know this God and I want to know this God, I
need forgiveness of sin, and I don’t want to die alone in the dark, to face the
possibility of heaven and hell and eternity without knowing this God’s
forgiveness.’ And if you know you
need to be saved tonight, as we lift our voices and our hearts, we want you to
feel free to come, just stand here with others, we’ll give you a Bible, some
literature, we don’t want your phone number or address or offering envelopes or
anything, if you just know tonight ‘You know, I don’t want to play church, I
don’t want to play religion, but I want to know this God, and I want to know
that he loves me, that he sent his Son to die for me, I’m a sinner, I need that
forgiveness, but I’m willing to turn from all my emptiness and phoniness, and
I’m willing to turn to him, tonight, I want to be his son or to be his
daughter.’ If that’s your heart, as
we lift our voices, as we worship, feel free to come. But we are going to lift our own lives,
believe me I’m going to be saying ‘Lord, I don’t want to fall back into the
same old things, I’m thankful that you love me, bail me out, that you’ll get
Abimelech if he messes with me, but Lord let me get past, let me grow.’…[transcript
of a connective expository sermon on Genesis 20:1-18 and Genesis 21:1-34, given
by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA 19116] related
links: The
Phoenicians, a mercantile seafaring people were mainly headquartered in the two
major cities of Tyre and Sidon just to the north of Israel. They first formed an alliance with king
David, through Hiram their king, and that alliance was passed on to Solomon,
and then to the ten northern tribes of Israel when they split off of Solomon’s
kingdom during the reign of his son Rehoboam.
The Israelites never had a military problem with the Phoenicians, but
they did end up having a religious problem with them, cf Jezebel and Ahab see https://unityinchrist.com/kings/1.html
Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED530
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