In chapter 20, father Abraham journeyed to Gerar, about 10 miles south of Gaza, which was in the territory of the Philistines. While he was there, he repeated the same deceptive story to the people of Gerar, that he had told the Egyptians – that Sarah was his sister – not his wife. As his sister, she was unmarried and available to other men.
Now, she actually was his half-sister, but she was also his wife, and so this half-truth was really a lie. Abraham tells us why he lied about his marital relationship to Sarah. He was concerned that “ayn yee-rat Eloheem ba-ma-kom ha-zeh – there was no fear of God in this place” – and Abraham knew that what human beings think about God affects their behavior and their morals and ethics, or lack thereof.
If a person believes that this universe began with an impersonal Big Bang, and will continue for billions of years, and then experience either a gradual heat death, ultimate entropy, so that there is no activity, or that the universe will start contracting, and all the galaxies will begin to reverse themselves, and everything will return to its beginning point – one singularity, where perhaps it will form another impersonal Big Bang; if a person believes he started off as a one-celled organism, and is ultimately nothing more than glorified slime mold, an advanced sea slug, a meaningless bit of temporary matter, and that when we die we die, because there is no after-life, no God, and therefore no moral or spiritual absolutes, no “thou shalt nots,” no Day of Judgment when each human being will give an account of his actions to His Creator, no Heaven to be gained, no Hell to be avoided, no punishment, no rewards, no eternal life that is possible, then a person’s motivation to strive to do what is right will almost always be less than what it should be. With tens of millions having a worldview like this, no wonder there are so much unhappiness, so much mental instability, so many suicides, crimes, murders, so much sexual immorality, so many abortions, so much drug and alcohol abuse!
This strategy to not tell enough of the truth, left Sarah exposed and unprotected. And not surprisingly, Avimelech the king of Gerar, a city of the Philistines, took Sarah to be one of his wives.
But God is so good, and so capable, that He is able to make good come from some of our bad decisions. He is so great that He can make good come from evil! Even though Avimelech didn’t know that he was doing something wrong, he nevertheless was doing something wrong – taking another man’s wife is a terrible sin. You see, we can do something wrong even unknowingly, which displeases the Lord, and which brings serious consequences. Ignorance is no excuse. We need to make sure that everything we are doing is right, and pleasing to the Lord.
The Lord came to Avimelech in a dream, and threatened him, telling Avimelech, “heen-cha met al ha-ee-sha asher la-kach-ta – see, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken!” In addition, if the king did not immediately return Sarah to her husband Abraham, who was a prophet, someone who hears clearly from God and speaks God’s truth to the rest of us, the Lord told Avimelech that he and his family would all die.
Because Avimelech did not intentionally sin in this matter, and was lied to by Abraham and by Sarah, the Lord was especially merciful to him, and prevented the king from an even greater sin, by having sex with Sarah.
The king listened to God’s warning, and returned Sarah to Abraham. Avimelech also gave magnificent gifts to Abraham – sheep and oxen, male and female servants, and a thousand pieces of silver – to make up for having harmed him. Sarah was vindicated. Father Abraham forgave the king, and prayed that God would forgive the king’s sin, and the Lord heard the prayer of his Chosen One, His prophet, and forgave the king, and healed Avimelech’s family. After having taken away their ability to have children, He enabled them to have children again once again.
We see here God honoring His promise to Abraham and His descendants: “I will bless them that bless you and curse him that curses you: this is one of the basic principles with which God deals with individuals and with the nations, and is still valid for today. Avimelech, even though it was unintentional, harmed Abraham and Sarah and was cursed. Haman cursed the Jewish people and forfeited his life. As we look back over 4,000 years of history, we can see how every nation that has cursed the Jewish people has indeed been cursed. Those nations that have treated the Jewish people with kindness have been blessed. One of the reasons why the United States has been so greatly blessed is because this nation has been a blessing to Israel and the Jewish people. May it always be that way! Watch out, nations of Europe. Be warned, Islamic peoples that curse Israel. Take care, U.S. State Department!
I’d like to point out one other interesting and important thing that is found in verse 13, where Abraham is talking to Avimelech, and told the king that Eloheem – God, caused him to wander from his father’s house. Eloheem comes from a root that means “strength, might, or power.” When referring to the God of Israel, Eloheem means the Strongest One, the Mightiest One, the Most Powerful One. Is a noun that is both singular and plural. Normally “Eloheem” is followed by a singular verb. But there are several fascinating instances when “Eloheem” is accompanied by a plural verb, and this is one of those instances. The Hebrew literally says that “Eloheem (God) they caused me to wander from my father’s house…” A plural/singular title for God, that is accompanied by a plural verb, is a hint in the Torah of the Trinity – the singular/plural nature of God!
Chapter 21 records the birth of Abraham’s true heir, Isaac. Isaac is very important because the covenant that God made with Abraham, that includes the salvation of all the families of the Earth, will go through Isaac.
When the Lord had appeared to Abraham near Chevron, He had promised Abraham that Sarah, who had never been able to have a children, and now was old and past her child-bearing years, would have a son. Sure enough, as the Lord had promised, with His help, it happened! The child was named Yitz-chak – laughter, because this miracle child brought joyous laughter into the life of his parents.
Isaac was circumcised on the eighth day, and then when he was weaned, Abraham celebrated with a great feast. But Isaac did not cause everyone to laugh from joy. Sarah saw Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar, “m’tza-chek” – laughing with scorn, a mocking kind of laugh, at Isaac. He was contemptuous of his younger brother, and perhaps jealous of him as well. Ishmael’s scorning laughter directed at Isaac foreshadows the hostility that the Arab peoples and the Moslems have shown to us to this day.
Sarah saw the danger to Isaac, and demanded that Hagar and Ishmael be sent away. This distressed Abraham, who loved Hagar and his son Ishmael, but the Lord spoke to Abraham, and told him that Sarah was right, and to listen to her, because Isaac would be Abraham’s full heir, the one through whom God would carry through His plan to save the world. The Almighty would not completely disinherit Ishmael. This son of Abraham would become a nation. No doubt Abraham was comforted.
And so Abraham, diligent to obey His Maker, got up early the next morning, provided Hagar and Ishmael with bread and water, and sent them away. Hagar and Ishmael got into serious trouble, and ran out of water in the wilderness around Beersheva, but the Lord was true to His word, and an angel spoke to her, and God helped her find a well that had water. They survived, and Ishmael grew up, became a man, and married an Egyptian (like his mother).
The rest of chapter 21 describes an oath made between Avimelech, who was a king in that region. Avimelech knew that God was close to Abraham, and he wanted a treaty with Abraham, that Abraham and Avimelech and their descendants would always treat each other with kindness.
Abraham then told the king that Avimelech’s servants had taken over a well that Abraham had dug, and been using. It would seem that this king of the Philistines made sure the well was returned to Abraham. For his part, Abraham gave sheep and oxen to Avimelech. In addition, Abraham gave seven lambs to the king, as a witness that the well that Abraham discovered belonged to Abraham. Therefore, Abraham called the name of that place “Beersheva” which means both “Well of the Seven (Lambs)” or “Well of the Oath.” And, there is a city of 200,000 Israelis in that same area, called Beersheva, today!
I like what Abraham did next at Beersheva. He planted a tamarisk tree there. It’s a beautiful tree, with long feathery branches and tufts of tiny leaves, which produces spikes of beautiful pink blossoms. Often when I see a beautiful tree, it reminds me of the Creator, and I praise God, for as the poem reminds us, “only God can make a tree.” And there, at Beersheva, which had a good well that provided water for the people and the flocks, and a beautiful tamarisk tree, Abraham called on the name of the Adonai, El Olam, – worshiping and praying the Self-Existent One who has life and being and inherent in Himself, the Source of our existence, the Supremely Powerful One, the Eternal One who is without beginning and without end because He always was, He is, and always will be – the God of Eternity, who alone can enable human beings who draw near to Him to live forever and ever!
Chapter 22 records the highpoint of faith in the life of Abraham. Abraham was a human being, and made a few mistakes in his long life, but in general, his life is characterized by great love for God, and faithfulness to Him.
God tests Abraham, and demands that he sacrifice his son and heir Isaac on one of the mountains of Moriah. Abraham and Isaac, accompanied for most of the way by two other men, go on a three day journey. When they get there, Abraham and Isaac go alone, and Abraham prepares Isaac to be sacrifice. As he is about to kill his son with a knife, an angel calls out to him, and prevents him from killing his child. Instead, the Lord provides a ram, that is caught in a thicket, and Abraham sacrifices the ram in the place of Isaac. He calls the name of the place “Adonai Yeer-eh – the Lord Will See, and therefore when the Lord sees, the Lord Will Provide.” The angel speaks to Abraham again, and reaffirms God’s covenant with Abraham, promising that the children of Abraham will become as numerous as the stars of the Heaven and the gains of sand on the seashores of the world. Abraham’s children will be victorious over all their enemies, and they will have a world-wide impact for good on all the nations of the Earth. All the peoples of the world will experience blessing through obedient and faithful Abraham, and through his descendants.
There are many important lessons to be learned from this story. First, God tested Abraham. The essence of the test was, “Abraham, who is most important to you? Who is in first place in your life? Your Creator, Your Maker, Your Lord, Your God, or your special son whom you love, and your heir?”
What will Sarah think when she finds out I’ve killed our miracle child, the son of our old age, who has brought joyous laughter into our lives? How will this affect my relationship with her? What will my family think? My friends? But instead of wavering, Abraham remained committed to the Lord, and even grew stronger in his faith.
Abraham was not alone in this test. Isaac too was tested. At this point of his life, he was a “na-ar” – not necessarily a boy, but rather a young man, probably old enough and strong enough to overpower his father if he wanted to. But Isaac didn’t fight his father, even when he finally understood that Abraham was planning on killing him. Instead, he cooperated with his father, and was willing to be sacrificed. Nor did he get resentful later in life towards his father or towards the God of Abraham.
Why would God test Abraham, or anybody else, for that matter? The Lord knows that we are created in such a way that we will only function the way we were designed to, and only be fully human, and only reach our potential, when the Creator is at the very center of our lives, when we love Him with the totality of our being, with all our heart, all our soul, and all our strength. Abraham was tested to see if he would love and honor God more than Isaac, that very special son, that miraculous son that he and Sarah conceived, Isaac, his promised heir and the inheritor of the promises and the covenant that God made with him.
The all-wise and good God knows that is destructive to us if anything else usurps His rightful place in our lives. Anything that comes before God is destructive, and the Almighty, being the merciful God that He is, will not allow that destructiveness to go unchallenged.
Our relationship to God is the most important thing about us. It is our most important possession. Our relationship with God is what saves us. Our relationship with God is what protects us. Our relationship with God is far more valuable than gold or any earthly wealth. Our faith will be tested so that our faith will be refined, so that we can be greatly rewarded at the completion of the refinement process. If we, like father Abraham, are tested, and pass the test, so that we continue to trust God and do His will above anything else, then we will be greatly rewarded with everlasting praise, glory and honor! And isn’t that what life is really all about?
Just as God tested Abraham and Isaac, the Lord will test us in various ways. He will ask us to do difficult things, or make difficult choices, in order that He may come first in our lives – above all else. Messiah tells us that in order to for us really be His disciples, and truly follow Him, we must love the Lord our God with all our hearts, all our soul, and all our strength. Nothing must come before God – no earthly possession – not even those whom we love, our dearest relations, our husbands or wives, our children, our people, even our own lives, for the one who saves his life will lose it. – nothing. Our God must come first in our lives, above everything else.
This is true Judaism. This is what it means to be a genuine “son of Abraham” – either physically by being born Jewish, or spiritually, by having faith in the Messiah that God has sent. Judaism is not just being part of a special people, and observing commands and traditions, but above all it is entering into a personal relationship with the Living God. Do you have that kind of relationship with God, like Abraham and Isaac did? That same kind of faith and faithfulness? That same kind of commitment to God above all else?
Another lesson to be learned is about Te-chee-at HaMay-teem – the Resurrection of the Dead. The concept of the resurrection is an essential part of authentic Judaism, and must be accepted and believed.
Abraham said to his servants who went with him to the mountains of Moriah, “I and the young man will go there and worship and return to you.” We are informed in the book written to the Messianic Jews (Hebrews) that Abraham knew that God had promised that Isaac was the special inheritor of God’s promises to Abraham, and he believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead, in order to fulfill His word to Isaac (Hebrews 11:19). Abraham’s faith was strong enough that he believed that if he sacrificed Isaac, God would raise Isaac up from the dead!
Abraham’s faith was a resurrection faith. He had enough confidence in God that the Almighty could raise the dead, and restore Isaac to him, so that Isaac could fulfill the things that God had said about him.
Faith in Te-chee-at HaMay-teem, the resurrection of the dead, has been and will continue to be an essential part of genuine Judaism, and true Christianity. We need to have that resurrection faith too! A Judaism without faith in the resurrection of the dead is a terribly deficient Judaism. How sad it is that so many of my Jewish people no longer believe that a resurrection will take place, a resurrection of the righteous, who believe in and obey Messiah Yeshua, and a resurrection of the wicked, who ignore God and the wonderful Messiah that He has sent to us. Blessed is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. Do you know that there will be a resurrection of the dead, and that you are part of that first and blessed resurrection?
Another lesson to be learned from the binding of Isaac is the importance of the Substitute and the Sacrifice and the Atonement. They are essential parts of authentic Judaism.
God provided a substitute – a ram that was sacrificed in place of Isaac. On Passover lambs were killed so that our first-born sons would be spared from death. On Yom Kippur a scapegoat died in place of the whole nation. 2,000 years ago, during Passover, on a cross in Jerusalem Yeshua of Nazareth, the son of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the Righteous One, the Lamb of God died to take away the sin of the entire world! This is where the Torah and true Judaism was leading all of us – Jews and Gentiles. Is Yeshua your Substitute? Have you participated in His sacrifice? Is He your atonement?
The last lesson to be learned is that we are to look to God to provide everything that we need for life and godliness. God saw Abraham and Isaac’s need for testing, for a pure faith, for atonement, for salvation, for eternal life, and then He provided the ram as a substitute and a sacrifice. Therefore Abraham called the name of that place, “Adonai Yeer-eh – The Lord Will See,” in the sense of seeing our needs, and therefore when the Lord sees, the Lord will Provide” for our greatest needs. Man’s greatest need is the knowledge of God and the acquisition of atonement, and in that holy place, God saw our need, provided atonement for us, and revealed Himself to us.
The name “Moriah,” where this took place, comes from this same Hebrew root – to see. Moriah means “that which is seen of the Lord.” Tradition teaches us that the mountains of Moriah are the same as the mountains that surround Jerusalem, and according to one source (Midrash Tehillim 76), the name “Jerusalem” comes from this same root – to see, and so Yerushalayim can be understood to mean “peace will be seen” and therefore provided.
This is the same place where King David was shown the angel with the sword about to destroy Jerusalem. And so David built an altar there and offered sacrifices to avert God’s judgement, and God revealed Himself in mercy, and provided pardon for Israel.
That is the same spot where Solomon built the Temple, the place where God was seen, through the sacrifices, the place where God was seen through the temple ceremonies, where God was seen through His She-chee-nah, His glorious dwelling presence, manifesting Himself in the Temple.
This is the same location where the Son of God, our Lord, our Kind and our Savior, was sacrificed, where the love and mercy and goodness of God is forever most clearly seen.
This is the same spot where we will see God and the Lamb forever. John writes that he saw a new Heaven and a New Earth. He saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, where the dwelling place of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them. The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face. “Bahar Adonai yi-rah-eh: on the mountain the Lord will be seen.”
God chose this holy spot to disclose Himself to the fathers of Israel and to their descendants for all time and eternity. God revealed Himself and his mercy to Abraham and Isaac on Moriah 4000 years ago. God revealed Himself and His mercy to David and Solomon there 3000 years ago. On Moriah God revealed Himself in the clearest and most powerful way in the Messiah 2000 years ago. God will reveal himself forever on Moriah to all whose who trust and believe in Yeshua.
Judaism has always looked to this special spot, to Moriah, to Jerusalem, to Adonai Yeer-eh, the Lord who provides, and to provide everything that we need – our deepest spiritual needs and our physical needs for life in this world.
I love that special place! “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You; in whose heart are the highways to Zion.” “May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem above my chief joy.”
One last thought: Abraham, the father of Isaac, is like God, our Father in Heaven. Abraham had a great love for His only son, who was the heir of the promise. God has a great love for His only Son, the Heir who will fulfill all the promises that God has made to mankind. God didn’t ask of Abraham what He ultimately demanded from Himself. He didn’t allow Abraham to kill his only son. But God did not spare His own Son. He willingly gave Him up as a sacrifice for us, to provide atonement for our sins and make reconciliation with God possible.
And Yeshua is like Isaac, who allowed himself to be bound and offered on Moriah. And just as Isaac didn’t resist his father, so Yeshua also knowingly obeyed His Father and willingly gave up His life, placing God’s will above His own. He passed the test and was willing to drink from the bitter cup of death and suffering that the Father offered Him, and as a result, provide the forgiveness of sins for all of mankind.