Abraham

ABRAHAM

Scripture references:
Genesis 12–24; Romans 4;
Galatians 3

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Date:	2100 b.c.
Name:	Abram [AY-bruhm; “exalted father”] Abraham [AY-bruh-ham; “father of a multitude”]
Main contribution:	Abraham stands in Scripture as the prime example of saving faith, and the covenant promises given him reveal God’s plans and purposes.

ABRAHAM’S ROLE IN SCRIPTURE

Abraham is a towering figure in history. God chose Abraham to receive a unique revelation of Himself and gave him a series of stunning covenant promises. And Abraham responded to God with faith. These two themes–covenant and faith—sum up Abraham’s unique role in Scripture’s story of people’s relationship with God.

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BIBLE BACKGROUND:

THE COVENANT PROMISES FULFILLED

In a companion volume in this series, Every Covenant and Promise in the Bible, the significance of the Genesis 12 promises and their fulfillment is traced through the entire Bible (pp. 23–27). This chart summarizes how God has or will fulfill His ancient promises.

The Promise Stated: I will	The Promise Fulfilled
… make you a great nation	Millions (both Arabs and Jews) have descended from Abraham.
… bless you	Throughout Abraham’s long life God protected and cared for him.
… make your name great	Millions in three world religions—Islam, Judaism, and Christianity—revere Abraham as founder of their faith.
… you shall be a blessing	Abraham’s faith-response to God revealed the key to personal relationship with God (Gen. 15:6).
… bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you	Ancient and modern history shows that nations that have persecuted the Jewish people have paid a terrible price.
… in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.	Both the Scriptures and the Savior have been given to humanity through Abraham’s descendants.
… and to your descendants I will give this land.	The promise was partially fulfilled in Israel’s history, and according to Bible prophecy will be entirely fulfilled at history’s end.

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God’s Covenant promises to Abraham(Gen. 12:1–3, 7). God spoke to a man named Abram, a citizen of Ur in what is now Iraq. Genesis 12 records what God said to him, revealing in a series of “I will” statements what God intended to accomplish in and through this wealthy but otherwise ordinary man.

The covenant promises stated (Gen. 12:1–3, 7). Here are God’s statements, understood as promises and later confirmed by the making of a formal covenant [a legally binding agreement]:

Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house,

To a land that I will show you.

I will make you a great nation;

I will bless you

And make your name great;

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

And I will curse him who curses you;

And in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed. (Gen. 12:1–3)

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Later, when Abraham had obeyed God and arrived in the land God showed him, God added this promise: “To your descendants I will give this land” (Gen. 12:7).

Starting in chapter 12, the Book of Genesis tells the story of Abraham and the story of his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons. While their stories are rich in spiritual lessons, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s twelve sons are significant primarily because the covenant-promises God gave Abraham were passed on to them, and through them to the Hebrew people. In a real sense, the rest of the Bible is a demonstration of God’s faithfulness to the covenant promises He gave to Abraham long ago. As the Bible’s story unfolds, we understand more and more of God’s plan for the redemption of humankind, a plan stated first in the promises He made to Abraham.

The covenant promises expanded and explained.As the Bible unfolds, the covenant promises made to Abraham are both expanded and explained. Later, God promised David that a ruler would emerge from his descendants, who would establish an everlasting kingdom. Still later, God announced that one day he would make a new covenant with Israel that would make Old Testament law obsolete. In that covenant, signed and sealed by Jesus’ death on the cross, God promised complete forgiveness of sins and inner transformation. Each of these historic events—giving of covenant promises to David, and the formal entry at Calvary into what Scripture calls the “New Covenant”—reveals more of how God intended to keep His original covenant with Abraham.

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BIBLE BACKGROUND:

THE NEW COVENANT

God revealed to Jeremiah that one day He would make a new covenant with His people (Jer. 31). That covenant, instituted by Jesus’ death and resurrection, tells us God’s plan for reversing the impact of the Fall by the transformation of those who have a personal relationship with God. The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah, showing us this plan for the blessing of all the families of earth in Abraham’s greatest descendant, Jesus Christ:

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Heb. 8:10–12)

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Nearly a hundred times Scripture refers to God as “the God of Abraham” or to Abraham as the father of the Hebrew people. Each reference looks back to Abraham as the man to whom God made covenant promises. Each reference reminds us that what we know of God has been channeled to us through Abraham and his descendants.

The covenant promises: a foundation for our hope (Heb. 6:13–18).The writer of Hebrews reminds us that the significance of the promises to Abraham is not merely historical or theological. In looking back to Abraham and the promises made to him, we discover a firm basis for our own faith in God. In the promises given to Abraham and in their working out in history, we see a God who is utterly faithful to His word. The writer of Hebrews said:

For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it with an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus (Heb. 6:13–29).

In looking back to Abraham and God’s promises to him, the writer of Hebrews reminds us that God made an absolute and immutable commitment. All that we know of God, we know through events that unfolded through millennia, and these events have demonstrated that God keeps His promises. It is unthinkable that the God who kept His promises to Abraham would go back on the promises He made to us in Jesus Christ.

Summing up, Abraham’s significance in Scripture is rooted first in the fact that he was the recipient of covenant promises made to him by God. Those promises give shape to salvation history, and indeed the rest of Scripture is the story of how God has kept commitments first made to Abraham. That God is still keeping those ancient covenant promises serves as a revelation of God’s character. God is ever faithful to His Word. And because God is faithful to His commitments, we who look to Jesus for salvation can be utterly confident that we are secure in Him.

Abraham’s faith in God (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4).Abraham is also significant in Scripture for his modeling of saving faith. Abraham followed God’s instructions and traveled from Ur to Canaan. Some ten years after he arrived, God spoke to Abraham again, repeating and expanding the promise of many descendants (Gen. 15:5). Although Abraham was old, and his wife Sarah had gone through menopause and was no longer fertile, Scripture says that Abraham “believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).

Abraham’s need for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Unlike hagiographies, the Bible never glosses over the sins and failures of its heroes. In saying God counted Abraham’s faith “for [or as] righteousness,” the Bible makes it clear that Abraham had no righteousness of his own.

This is clear to anyone who reads the Bible’s account of Abraham’s life. Originally Abraham was a pagan who, with his family, “served other [pagan] gods” (Josh. 24:2–3). In Canaan, Abraham twice was so terrified of what strangers might do to him that he had Sarah lie about being his wife. While some have attempted to explain away Abraham’s moral failures, it is important to see that Abraham was as flawed by sin as any human being.

Why is this important? In three places the New Testament portrays Jesus refusing to permit His opponents to take comfort in the notion that they have Abraham as their father (Matt. 3:9; Luke 3:8; John 8:33, 39). While the claim by Jesus’ opponents that Abraham is their father rests on acknowledged physical descent from Abraham, far more is implied. First-century rabbinic Judaism, like Judaism today, tended to glorify Abraham. One modern Jewish commentary on Genesis stated:

God Himself was indebted to Abraham because, until he proclaimed Him as Master, the purpose of Creation had been frustrated.… What was more, he would be father to a nation that would carry on his mission of standing up to skeptics and enemies until the day when all would acknowledge its [creation’s] message and accept its teaching. Of course, Abraham could be called master of mankind because, whether they realized it or not, they owed their existence to him. But that was not all. God called him My master, because he had presented God with a gift that even He, in His infinite power, could not fashion for Himself. For even God cannot guarantee that man’s mind and heart would choose truth over evil, light over darkness, spirit over flesh, love of God over love of pleasure, recognition that the Master is God and not whatever inexorable force happens to find favor in the eyes of any current generation of non-believers (Bereishis, Vol. 1, p. 376 [1988])

The glorification of Abraham led to the doctrine that personal salvation was possible through keeping Moses’ Law and participation in the merits of Abraham. That is, God owed such a great debt to Abraham that Abraham’s merits were endlessly available to make up for any personal failures on the part of his descendants!

Christ decisively rejected any such claim, for Genesis clearly teaches that Abraham was saved by faith rather than by works. God accepted the sinner Abraham’s faith in place of a righteousness he did not have, and his faith was credited to him as if it were righteousness.

Abraham as the prototype man of faith (Rom. 4).In arguing for a salvation won for us by Jesus Christ and appropriated by faith, the apostle Paul pointed back to Abraham.

What shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification (Rom. 5:1–5, 19–25).

Paul’s point is that faith in God’s promises has always been the key to a personal relationship with God (see also Gal. 3:6–14). This truth, lost in first-century Judaism, is clearly established in Abraham’s experience with God. Abraham’s true offspring are not his biological descendants but rather those who have an Abraham-like faith in the God who makes wonderful promises to humankind.

Abraham’s role as one of Scripture’s greatest—in the sense of significant—men is firmly established. Abraham received covenant promises that revealed God’s fixed purposes and plans. In responding to God’s promises with faith, Abraham showed us the way to a personal relationship with God.

A “contradiction” (James 2)?One passage in Scripture seems to contradict Paul’s emphasis on salvation by faith. The apostle James also looked back to Abraham, but he emphasized Abraham’s works! In chapter 2 of his New Testament book, James wrote,

Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only (James 2:21–24).

The apparent conflict is resolved when we realize that James was contrasting two kinds of “faith,” one of which exists as mere intellectual assent. James pointed out that the demons also believe in God—and tremble (2:19). No, the kind of faith the Bible calls for is trust, a true commitment of oneself to God.

The question James asked is how can one justify a claim to have this kind of faith? Indeed, how can God Himself show that Abraham had a “trust” kind of faith so that He was right in counting it for righteousness? The answer James gave is simple: true faith works. A true trust in God will be expressed in the believer’s daily life.

Here James pointed to one incident in Abraham’s life—his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac in response to God’s command—as evidence that Abraham’s faith was real. A claim that any man has faith, whether the claim is made by God or by the individual, is justified [vindicated, shown to be true] by his actions. For faith produces works.

In this brief paragraph, James gave us a key to use in studying Abraham’s life. Abraham, the prototype man of faith, had to learn faith’s walk step by step. He had no Scriptures to refer to, no believing parent to serve as a model. And so day by day, event by event, Abraham had to learn how to live out his faith. This is exciting for us, because you and I as men today do have a model—in Abraham! We can walk with him and learn from him how to build a faith lifestyle of our own.

 

ABRAHAM’S LIFE OF FAITH

First steps of faith (Gen. 12–15).Faith usually isn’t something that springs into existence full-blown. This was certainly true in Abraham’s case. Abraham’s first steps of faith were faltering.

Abraham left Ur (Gen. 12:1–5). Genesis 12:1–3 harks back to a time when Abram lived in Ur, then a major and cosmopolitan city. There God had given Abram His wonderful covenant promises, and there God had commanded:

Get out of your country,

From your family

And from your father’s house

To a land that I will show you.
(Gen. 12:1)

Abram did leave Ur. But Genesis 11 tells us that rather than go “from your family,” Abram brought his family along (11:31)! And rather than go directly to the land God would show him, Abram settled in Haran until his father Terah died. Even then when Abram set out for Canaan, he brought his nephew Lot along.

Abram’s first steps of faith were faltering ones, and his obedience to God was incomplete. Abram simply could not find the courage to set out alone in complete dependence on God. Abram tried so hard to hold on to the dear and the familiar.

Letting go is hard for us, too. What do we struggle to hold on to despite God’s call? What are we afraid to release—that we might learn to rely on God alone? Whatever it is, the day will come when we, like Abram, do set out to complete our journey of faith. How good to see that despite Abram’s failure, God’s commitment to him remained firm. However long you and I may delay, God will remain committed to us, too.

God added promise to promise (Gen. 12:6–8). It is significant that the promise “to your descendants I will give this land” was not added to the covenant until Abram actually arrived in Canaan. God has more for us than we can imagine. Yet, we’ll not discover the full riches of His provision until we act in faith and respond to God’s call.

Abram responded to circumstances rather than wait on God’s Word (Gen. 12:10).God had sent Abram to Canaan. But when the rains ceased to fall and a famine developed, Abram hurried off to Egypt in search of food. Abram reacted to circumstances rather than inquire concerning God’s will.

God may guide us through circumstances. However, God expects us to use common sense in making decisions. God had specifically led Abram to Canaan, and God had not told Abram to leave.

We’re naturally tempted to wonder, should things go wrong, if God has really led us into a difficult situation. But such situations are often intended to increase our faith, and it is important for those learning to walk by faith to discover that God has a solution already planned.

In this case, Abram relied on himself rather than God. And this led him into potential disaster.

Abram was gripped by fear (12:11–20). When Abram entered Egypt he became afraid. His wife Sarai was still beautiful, and he feared that some powerful Egyptian would kill him in order to possess her. Abram’s solution was to beg Sarai to lie about their relationship, and claim that she was merely his sister.

Unrealistic fears are one sign that we have strayed away from God’s will. Another is a strong temptation to do wrong—whatever our motive may be.

In this case, God protected Sarai and Abram from the possible consequences of his lie. God may well protect us as well. But how much better to remain in our Canaan rather than hurry to some Egypt when troubles come.

Abram risked being gracious to others (Gen. 13).When Abram was still in Ur, he built up the herds and flocks that were the wealth of nomads. As Abram and Lot now wandered through Canaan, it became clear that their herds were simply too large for them to remain together. As the eldest, Abram had the right to take his pick of the land when they separated. Instead, Abram gave Lot first choice. Lot selfishly (and foolishly) chose the verdant Jordan River valley where the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah lay.

Abram had risked offering Lot first choice, and his nephew had taken advantage of him. But shortly afterward God appeared to Abram and promised, “All the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever” (13:15). Abram learned that making himself vulnerable was no risk at all, for God was for him. Whatever he lost, God would repay many fold.

This is an important lesson to learn early in our Christian life. We, too, can trust God. Rather than act in a self-protective way, we can risk showing concern for others. Even should others take advantage of us, God will bless.

Abram rescued Lot (Gen. 14).Archaeology has documented the route taken by the raiding kings described in this chapter, and documented the natural resources they sought to obtain. In this case, the kings also stripped Sodom and Gomorrah of their wealth and their populations, taking Abram’s nephew Lot captive as well.

Abram immediately set out to rescue Lot, and succeed in retrieving all the goods and people of the fallen cities. When the king of Sodom offered to turn the recovered wealth of his city over to Abram, Abram refused. “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing … lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’ ” (Gen. 14:22–23).

Abram showed himself not only ready to depend on God completely, but he was also concerned for God’s reputation. Abram wanted the world to see that any blessing he experienced came from God, not from favor shown by others.

The promise formalized (Gen. 15).God’s response to Abram’s fresh affirmation of faith was to appear to Abram again, telling Abram not to be afraid and saying, “I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward” (15:1). In turning his back on Sodom’s wealth, Abram had lost nothing. God would guard him. No reward on earth could compare with what God had planned for him.

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Abraham failed as a husband when he begged Sarah to pretend that they were not married and then let her be taken into the king’s household.

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Abram’s response was a complaint. What could possibly have any value to Abram, seeing he still had no son? God made an utterly amazing promise to this aged, childless man. “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.… So shall your descendants be” (Gen. 15:5). And Abram responded with total and complete trust in God. He believed God.

In this we see how much Abram has grown in his walk of faith. From a man hesitant and uncertain about relying fully on God, Abram has been freed by his trust in God to be vulnerable to his nephew, bold in confronting danger, and more concerned with God’s glory than with earthly wealth. Abram has come to have complete faith that God can and will do the impossible for him!

The message for us is a wonderful one. Our young faith may falter as Abram’s did. But as the years pass and we experience more and more of God’s goodness, our faith, like Abram’s, will grow. The doubts that trouble us will dissipate, to be replaced by an unshakable confidence in the Lord.

Challenges to a mature faith (Gen. 16–24).One of the things that we learn from Abraham’s life is that faith is no guarantee of a stress-free existence. In fact, men of faith experience just as many if not more trials than others. This was certainly true for Abram.

The challenge of awaiting God’s timing (Gen. 16). When Abram and Sarah had been in Canaan for ten years, Sarah began to urge her husband to seek a child through a surrogate. It was common in Mesopotamia two thousand years before Christ for marriage contracts to include a provision that should a wife not produce an heir within as little as two years, she should procure a servant girl who would serve as a surrogate to be impregnated by her husband. Sarai had waited ten years, and she had ceased menstruating. So Abram gave in to her urgings, and had sex with Sarai’s maid Hagar, who almost immediately became pregnant.

The child Hagar bore Abram was named Ishmael, and although Abram loved him, he was not destined to inherit the covenant. Once again Abram had run ahead of God, and the consequences were disastrous. For the Islamic peoples trace their roots back to Ishmael, and the conflict between Arab and Jew has been bitter indeed.

Even those whose faith is great need to learn to wait on God. Sensing His timing, and resisting the temptation to run ahead of Him, is a challenge indeed.

The challenge of testifying to the impossible (Gen. 17:1–9).Thirteen years passed before God spoke to Abram again. This time He promised specifically that Sarah would bear Abram a son. At that time God also told Abram, “your name shall be called Abraham” (17:5).

It must have been difficult enough for the childless Abram to bear a name that meant “exalted father.” But to have his name changed to Abraham, “father of a multitude,” must have seemed a burden. In a culture where a man’s name was expected to reflect something of his essence, for a childless man nearly a hundred years old to be called Abraham was an object of ridicule. Yet from this point on, Abram is Abraham. We can imagine him returning to his tents and announcing the change to all. Abraham believed God. And He was willing to bear the ridicule in the firm confidence that God would vindicate him in due time.

Today, we live in a world that laughs at the most basic truths taught in Scripture and at Christians’ moral commitments. Like Abraham we are called to testify boldly to what seems impossible to most, in the sure and settled belief that God will vindicate us too, in His own time.

The challenge of maintaining unity (Gen. 17:9–27).On this occasion, the last statement of His covenant promises, God instituted the rite of circumcision. Throughout the Old Testament era, circumcision remained a vital symbol of membership in the covenant community.

Abraham’s challenge and that of his offspring was to see himself as a member in a community of faith. Relationship with God, while personal, is not merely individual. The faith that bonds us to God bonds us to all others who profess the same allegiance. If we are to grow to maturity we need to commit ourselves to develop nurturing relationships with other believers, for worship, fellowship, and ministry.

The challenge of appropriate prayer (Gen. 18).When God next visited Abraham, this time as the Angel of the Lord and accompanied by two angels, it was to inform him that within the year Sarah would bear the promised son. God also informed Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah were about to be judged. For fascinating insights into the role of investigator angels and the place of angels in carrying out divine judgment, see the companion volume, Every Angel and Demon in the Bible (1998).

The announcement troubled Abraham. His concern was expressed in a series of prayers. Abraham did not object to God judging sin, but Abraham was worried that some who were innocent might die with the guilty. This would tarnish God’s reputation. Abraham won a promise from God that if even ten good men could be found in Sodom and Gomorrah, God would withhold judgment. In fact, only one good man could be found in the cities: Lot. God saw to it that Lot and his family were brought out before He destroyed the cities.

We’re reminded of several things about prayer in this incident. We’re reminded that our prayers are to be driven by a desire to see God glorified. And we’re reminded that our prayers for others are welcome. God has a far deeper love for them than we do.

The challenge of continuing temptation to sin (Gen. 20). Abraham’s faith had matured. But Abraham remained a sinner, subject to the pull of his old nature. This is revealed in another incident. Again, fearing that he might be killed for the sake of his wife, Abraham asked Sarah to lie about their relationship. Again, God protected Abraham. But Scripture records Abraham’s confession—and his weakness. “I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place” (20:11).

How easy it is for us to look away from God for a moment and be overwhelmed by circumstances. Had Abraham taken a moment to consider, he would have realized that whether or not the people he feared respected God, God was present there. We are not to be confident because others believe in God but because we know God is ever present with us.

The challenge of personal heartbreak (Gen. 21:1–14). Isaac, the child of Abraham and Sarah, had now been born and, at age three or four, was being weaned. At the celebration marking this transition from infant to child, Isaac’s half-brother Ishmael teased Isaac. Sarah exploded and insisted that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother away.

Abraham refused, not only because such an act was morally wrong and legally wrong in that culture, but also because Abraham loved his son Ishmael (Gen. 21:11). Only when God confirmed that this was His will as well as Sarah’s did Abraham consent to send Ishmael away.

The separation from his son broke Abraham’s heart. All too many today, in our age of broken families, share Abraham’s pain. Yet, God’s words to Abraham can comfort us. God promised, “I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed” (Gen. 21:13). Abraham could no longer care for his son, but God would take care of Ishmael. When events beyond our control shatter a precious relationship, we need to remember those words. We may not be able to be with our loved one, but God is with him or her. If for no other reason than that the loved one is ours, God will care for him or her.

The challenge of surrendering all (Gen. 22). All Abraham had left was his son Isaac. But when Isaac was a young teenager, God claimed Isaac too. He commanded Abraham to take his son to Mount Moriah [later to be known as Mount Zion], and to sacrifice Isaac there.

The text tells us that Abraham “rose early in the morning” (22:3) and set out with his son. How stunning! Despite the awful import of the command, Abraham did not wait to obey. What a difference from the man whose reluctant journey to Canaan had taken so many years!

Years later, the writer of Hebrews recalled Abraham’s words to two servants who accompanied father and son on their journey: “The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you” (Gen. 22:5). The New Testament interprets this in a fascinating way. Abraham’s faith in God’s promise that “in Isaac your seed shall be called” was so firm that he concluded “God was able to raise him up, even from the dead” (Heb. 11:18).

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Abraham was willing to offer his son Isaac because he was convinced that God could raise Isaac from the dead if that were necessary to keep His promises.

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At times, we too are called to surrender what is nearest and dearest to us. Faith reminds us that, no matter how great the loss may seem, God will never take away more than He gives.

The challenge of the death of loved ones (Gen. 23). Sarah, who had shared Abraham’s life for well over half a century, now died. Abraham went about the sad task of arranging for the burial of this one he had loved so long. Of all the ills human beings are subject to, the loss of loved ones may be the most painful. Yet faith looks beyond the loss to a grand reunion in God’s future, dawning day.

The challenge of relying on others (Gen. 24).It was now time for Isaac to wed. Abraham, unwilling for his son to marry one of the women of Canaan, sent the most responsible servant in his household on a mission to find a bride for Isaac. Quieting the servant’s doubts, Abraham quietly said, “The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my family … He will send His angel before you” (24:7).

It’s hard for most men to delegate responsibility. We feel confident in what we do ourselves but less sure of others. Abraham’s example helps us understand how to approach situations in which we must rely on others. First, choose the right person. Abraham selected “the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had” (Gen. 24:2). Second, instruct him carefully. Abraham made his expectations clear (Gen. 24:3–4). And third, Abraham trusted God to work in and through the man he had chosen (Gen. 24:7).

We need to be wise in who we select to take on responsibilities for us, and careful to prepare them. But then we need to trust God to work through them.

The challenge of aging and death (Gen. 25:1–11).Abraham’s last challenge was to face his own mortality. As Abraham drew near the end of his life, he was forced to realize that his day was past. His descendants would play their part in fulfilling God’s purposes, but Abraham’s moment on history’s stage was drawing to an end.

It’s hard for men of action to come to grips with inactivity. It’s hard for those who have done great things to realize that nothing remains for them to do. As life draws near its end, each of us must focus anew on our relationship with God, and realize afresh that knowing Him is the most significant thing of all.

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CHALLENGES TO A MAN’S MATURE FAITH

•     Awaiting God’s timing

•     Testifying to the impossible

•     Maintaining unity with others

•     Praying appropriately

•     Resisting continuing temptations

•     Trusting despite heartbreak

•     Being willing to surrender all

•     Loss of loved ones

•     Relying on others

•     Facing personal mortality

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EXPLORING ABRAHAM’S RELATIONSHIPS

As we read the chapters in Genesis devoted to Abraham, we can clearly see that he had several significant relationships.

Abraham’s relationship with Lot(Gen. 12–14; 18; 19). Lot was Abraham’s nephew, the son of Abraham’s brother Haran. Haran had died years before in Ur (Gen. 11:27–28); it’s likely that Abraham looked on his nephew almost as a son. It’s no wonder that despite God’s command to leave family behind, Abraham took Lot with him when he came to Canaan.

Competition develops (Gen. 13). In letting his emotions rather than God guide him, Abraham did his nephew no favor. Lot had inherited his herds and flocks along with servants to care for them. The trouble was that when Abraham and Lot traveled together, “the land was not able to support them” (Gen. 13:6). The conflict began with the herdsmen as they competed for grass and water, but soon the hard feelings infected Lot’s and Abraham’s relationship too (Gen. 13:8).

Lot’s selfish choice (Gen. 13). Abraham took the initiative to restore peace. In doing so, he surrendered his rights as eldest and offered Lot first choice of the whole land. Lot looked over the land and selfishly chose the best for himself: “all the plain of Jordan … well watered everywhere” (Gen. 13:10). This left the less desirable highlands for Abraham, but Abraham neither complained nor resented Lot’s choice. What neither grasped then was that the men of the cities of the plain “were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord” (13:13). In disobeying God and bringing Lot with him to Canaan, Abraham had inadvertently placed his nephew in a danger neither could imagine.

Abraham’s loyal love (Gen. 14). The first hint of danger came when raiding kings overwhelmed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and took their populations captive. When Abraham heard that Lot was among the captives, he quickly organized a nighttime raid that startled the enemy into flight. Lot was rescued from the most obvious danger, and then he returned to Sodom!

Lot’s compromise (Gen. 18; 19).The real danger, however, was moral. Lot had settled among a wicked and immoral people. He was wealthy and comfortable, but the society he lived in was corrupt. Yet Lot, knowing the character of the men of the land, chose to remain among them, not imagining that God was about to destroy the wicked cities.

Abraham’s intercessory prayer (Gen. 18). When God told Abraham of His intent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham must have thought immediately of Lot. Although not stated in Scripture, Abraham’s concern for Lot must have been in Abraham’s mind as he pleaded with God on behalf of any “righteous” among the wicked men God was determined to destroy. God too was concerned for Lot, and the angels sent to investigate Sodom’s sins carried Lot and his family to safety. Yet in the process, Lot lost his wife and all his wealth. The riches Lot had compromised his convictions to enjoy were burned to ashes, and he was reduced to poverty, living with his two daughters in a cave.

Genesis makes it clear that Abraham was intensely loyal to Lot and remained loyal to the end. Even when Lot behaved selfishly, Abraham was committed to his nephew. Loyalty is an admirable trait in any man, but in this case, Abraham’s loyalty to Lot had moved him to disobey God’s command. In the end, Abraham’s loyalty did Lot far more harm than good.

You and I may be so loyal to our sons or daughters that we act protectively even when we know deep down that we should release them to mature on their own. Should God lead us to release our loved ones to find His path for them without us, we need to let them go.

Abraham’s relationship with Sarah (Gen. 13–21).Sarah was Abraham’s companion for many decades. Yet only four incidents involving her directly are recorded in the text.

Abraham’s shocking requests (Gen. 13; 20).We’re told of two incidents in which Abraham asked Sarah to lie about their relationship. In each case, the lie resulted in Sarah’s being taken from Abraham’s tents and installed in a pagan ruler’s harem. In each case, God protected Sarah’s virtue despite Abraham’s betrayal of their relationship.

It is hard to view Abraham’s actions, motivated as they were by fear, as anything but betrayal. Husbands are supposed to love their wives, to protect and sacrifice for them. Abraham asked his wife to sacrifice for him. Surely Abraham’s actions damaged their relationship, robbing Sarah of trust in her husband, and burdening Abraham with a load of shame.

Sarah’s suggestion of a surrogate (Gen. 16:1–6).After years of childlessness, Sarah urged Abraham to give her a child through a surrogate, her maid Hagar. This was common practice in the ancient East, and any child Hagar bore would legally be considered Sarah’s (see 16:2).

Strikingly, this incident is reported immediately after the account in Genesis 15 in which God reaffirmed His promise of descendants to Abraham. Did Abraham share what God had told him with Sarah? If he had, wouldn’t the two have found grace to wait for God to act, rather than taking matters into their own hands? We cannot know, but the juxtaposition of these two stories is suggestive indeed. Sarah, without the reassurance God had given Abraham, panicked. But rather than relate his experience to his wife to give her perspective, Abraham “heeded [her] voice” (16:2).

Nothing turned out as expected. When Hagar became pregnant, she showed contempt for Sarah, as the couple’s childlessness was clearly not due to Abraham’s impotence. The hostility between Sarah and Hagar poisoned any possibility that Sarah might love and accept Hagar’s child as her own. And Sarah blamed Abraham, saying, “My wrong be upon you!” (16:5).

Sarah’s angry demand (Gen. 21).When Ishmael, the son Hagar bore Abraham, was a teenager, Sarah had her own son, Isaac. When Ishmael teased [NKJV “scoffing”] Isaac, Sarah demanded that Ishmael and Hagar be sent away. This time Abraham refused. Abraham truly cared for his son Ishmael. Only when God intervened and told Abraham to do as Sarah had said did Abraham agree.

In this case, despite Sarah’s selfish motives, she was in harmony with God’s purposes. Isaac and Ishmael represented two contrasting principles: promise, which depends entirely on God’s work in and for us; and works, which rely on what human beings can do for themselves. Only the miracle-child Isaac could truly symbolize the outcome of Abraham’s faith in God.

Ultimately Abraham’s relationship with Sarah can only be described as flawed but fruitful. We cannot doubt that a true love existed between these two saints, or that their love enabled each to overlook flaws in the other. However, we cannot explain away Abraham’s cowardly sacrifice of Sarah to his fears. Yet, Sarah out of love was willing to risk herself to protect her husband. Concern for his childless wife as well as his own desire for offspring led Abraham to have sex with Hagar. Sarah had desperately wanted a son; Abraham was willing to take this means to give her one. Yet Abraham was wrong not to share more openly with Sarah about his meetings with God.

As in most marriages, each spouse hurt the other, not intentionally, but nevertheless painfully. And as in most marriages, each forgave, and Abraham and Sarah continued to build a life together. Perhaps this is the most basic message for us from Abraham’s relationship with Sarah. Their marriage wasn’t perfect, but they remained committed to each other. The life they shared was a fruitful one indeed.

Whatever our spouse’s flaws, we need to remember that we, too, are imperfect, and trust that through mutual forgiveness and commitment our marriages will be fruitful too.

Abraham’s relationship with Ishmael (Gen. 21; 25:7–8). Our insight into Abraham’s relationship with Ishmael comes first from chapter 21. Abraham was eighty-six when Ishmael was born (Gen. 16:16) and had fourteen years to bond with his boy before Isaac’s birth. And bond Abraham did! When Sarah demanded that he send the then nineteen-year-old Ishmael away, Abraham was distressed “because of his son” (Gen. 21:11). When God confirmed Sarah’s demand and told Abraham to send Ishmael away, Abraham must have been heartbroken. Yet, he did as God said. And God promised that He Himself would watch over Ishmael and make him a great people for Abraham’s sake.

In this day of easy divorce and broken homes, many fathers share Abraham’s pain. They are separated from their children, for whatever reason. And not only do many of them hurt; many must wonder whether their children will ever understand or forgive. In such cases one can only follow Abraham’s course and trust the children into God’s loving hands. And this is good. Yet Scripture adds a word of additional comfort.

Years later, when Abraham died, the Bible tells us that “his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah” (Gen. 25:9). Ishmael had understood after all! In the years after Sarah’s death, father and son must have been reconciled. What a relief to know that if we continue to love our children, in time they will understand.

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Abraham paid in pain for the lack of faith shown when he fathered a son by Hagar, Sarah’s maid. Later his heart was broken when he had to send this son, Ishmael, away.

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Abraham’s relationship with Isaac (Gen. 22).Genesis tells us that God tested Abraham telling him to “take now … your only son Isaac, whom you love” (Gen. 22:2). Abraham was to take Isaac to Mount Moriah (Zion) and sacrifice him there.

The description of the incident records touching words exchanged by the two. After reaching the foot of the mountain, Abraham and his son set out together, bringing wood for the burnt offering and a knife. Isaac looked up at his father trustingly and asked, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham could only reply: “God will provide for Himself the lamb.”

Reaching the top of the mountain, Abraham built an altar and then bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar. Isaac trustingly let his father tie him, and then looked up as Abraham picked up the knife. Only then did a voice from heaven call Abraham and point out a ram caught in a nearby thicket. God had provided the sacrifice. Abraham had demonstrated his trust in God—and Isaac had demonstrated trust in his father.

We can find many lessons in this brief story. Abraham had shown himself willing to surrender what he loved most should God require it. Only as complete a trust in God as Abraham’s will enable us freely to give up to God what we love, confident that He has something better in mind for us.

Isaac also demonstrated a remarkable trust in Abraham. Isaac knew his father loved him. A healthy father-son relationship marked by love and trust makes the son’s transition to trust in God a natural and easy one.

But the story of these two tells us even more about God. In the end, God could not ask Abraham to sacrifice his only and dearly loved son. Yet, one day God would lead His own beloved Son to Calvary’s cross, and Jesus Christ would die there for us. For Christ there would be no reprieve. God the Father would fully experience the pain that for a few brief days Abraham had looked forward to but from which he had been spared.

ABRAHAM: AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY

Abraham is truly one of Scripture’s towering figures. Yet he lived his life as a nomad far from any ancient seat of power. What made Abraham so significant was not, as some have suggested, his “invention” of monotheism, but the fact that the God of the universe spoke to Abraham—and Abraham responded with faith.

Abraham’s long life was marked by challenges that required him to exercise faith. At times, Abraham’s faith failed. Yet, we can see the growth in his faith as Abraham experienced more and more of God.

Abraham’s relationships involved long-term commitments to the others in his life. While Abraham may not have been wise in his relationships with either Lot or Sarah, he most surely was loyal. Perhaps considering our many failings, loyalty and commitment are the most important gifts we can give to those we love.

All in all, Abraham was a man to be respected and admired. We can hardly describe him more appropriately than did the writer of the Book of Hebrews, who said in chapter 11:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:8–10).

What lessons can a man take away from a study of Abraham’s life? Certainly the following:

•     Trust in God and His promises is the only sure foundation on which a man can build his life.

•     As we meet each new challenge, we need consciously to rely on God for guidance and for strength.

•     We need to remain aware of our fallibility, and live humbly in the sight of others and of God.

•     Like Abraham, we need to invest in our long-term relationships with spouse, family, and friends. We must set aside time and energy to nurture our relationships with those who are important in our lives.

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