Day 4 – Genesis 20-27

One of the most unfortunate and sometimes quite destructive temptations in our Bible reading is to consider these people chosen by God for His purposes and by the Holy Spirit to be included in the inspired writings as somehow “better” than we are. It is unfortunate because it undermines the power of the Living God and elevates the power of mortal men in our eyes. It is potentially devastating to our faith and our spiritual growth by causing us to idolize people and so judge ourselves as to believe we cannot be saved because we aren’t “good enough”. Well, we are NOT good enough … and neither were they.

You are a Hebrew if your lineage runs from Abraham through Isaac and Jacob (soon to be known as “Israel”). So, the “children of Israel” are the Hebrews. From this point in the biblical narrative, God is telling us the story of a family. He will bless them, punish them, fight for them and refuse to defend them according to their faithfulness to His covenant with them. He will send them into exile, and He will restore them to Judea and Jerusalem. All for the greater purpose of bringing Messiah into the world. Jesus, the Christ (the Greek term for “Messiah”) is a Hebrew, a child of Israel and a descendant of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob. The man without sin – Jesus – came from a messed up family filled with messed up people. Just like you. Just like me.

Abraham, a man revered for his faith, still needed saving from sin. In today’s reading we find him lying to protect himself and opening his own wife up to committing adultery with King Abimelech. He did the same thing in Genesis 12:10-20. Yahweh Elohim was his protector, but Abraham waivered. Just like you. Just like me.

Sarah earlier had waivered in her belief that God would bless her with a child and had given her Egyptian maid to her husband so he could father a child. Now, Sarah looks upon this child and her mother with disdain and orders them away. She blames them for her own mistakes. Just like you. Just like me.

Yahweh blesses the child of promise, Isaac, with e beautiful wife and twin sons. The older should inherit the blessing of God promised through Abraham and Isaac as the firstborn. Instead, he sells his birthright because he did not consider the promises of God to his father to be valid. He saw the petty things of this world – even a bowl of stew – to be more important than the wonders of God. Just like you. Just like me.

Jacob wasn’t innocent in all of this. He should never have asked for the birthright, instead he should have honored God, his father and his grandfather. Then he goes even further to deceive his father with the help of his mother and steal the blessing of his father that was intended for Esau. He was dishonest and conniving. Just like you. Just like me.

Even with all of their flaws, Yahweh still loved them. Yahweh still cared for them and guided them. Yahweh still used them for the greater purpose. Just like He can with you. Just like He can with me.

Tucked in the midst of all of this intrigue is the account of the “other” altar that Abraham built. The one on which he was supposed to sacrifice Isaac, the son of promise. In Hebrews 11:17-19, we learn that Abraham believed God could raise him from death back to life. Abraham’s hand was stopped, and God provided a substitute for the sacrifice, a ram caught in the thicket. This is a foreshadowing of the substitution of Jesus, the Lamb of God, for all mankind. Yahweh Elohim asked Abraham the father to sacrifice Isaac the son … knowing that He, himself, God the Father would sacrifice Himself, God the Son to atone for all of these flawed people.

Just like you. Just like me. You see, the Bible is the story of a family. The family of God. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1-3

Consider His nature. Consider His ways. Strive to love Him more!