Genesis 21-24

24 Jul

The Birth of Isaac
21 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. 3 Abraham gave the name Isaac[a] to the son Sarah bore him. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” 7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away
8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”
11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned. 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”
3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”
13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
Nahor’s Sons
20 Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor: 21 Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.” 23 Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham’s brother Nahor. 24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah.
Genesis 24
Characters:Narrator: Abraham: Eliezar: Rebekah: Bethuel/Laban: Isaac.
Nar: Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had,
Ab:“Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
Nar: . 10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 12 Then he prayed,
El: “Lord, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
Nar:15 Before he had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor.16 The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again. 17 The servant hurried to meet her and said,
El: “Please give me a little water from your jar.”
Reb:18 “Drink, my lord,”
Nar: She quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink. 19 After she had given him a drink, she said;
Reb: “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have had enough to drink.”
Nar: 20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels. 21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels. 23 Then he asked,
El: “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
Reb: “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milkah bore to Nahor.” 25 “We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night.”
Nar:26 Then the man bowed down and worshipped the Lord, 27 saying,
El: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master’s relatives.”
Nar:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household … 34 So he said,
El: “I am Abraham’s servant. 35 The Lord has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns. 37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, ‘You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live, 38 but go to my father’s family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.’ …42 “When I came to the spring today, I said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come. 43 See, I am standing beside this spring. If a young woman comes out to draw water and I say to her, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar”
44 and if she says to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too,” let her be the one the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’ 45 “Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said, ‘Please give me a drink.’
46 “She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels also. 47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ “She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milkah bore to him.’ “Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms, 48 and I bowed down and worshipped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master’s brother for his son. 49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn.”
Nar: 50 Laban and Bethuel answered,
Bet/Lab: “This is from the Lord; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has directed.”
Nar: 52 When Abraham’s servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord. 53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewellery and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. 54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said,
El: “Send me on my way to my master.”
Nar: 58 So they called Rebekah and asked her,
Bet/Lab: “Will you go with this man?”
Reb: “I will go,” she said.
Nar: 59 So they sent their sister Rebekah on her way, along with her nurse and Abraham’s servant and his men. 61 Rebekah and her attendants got ready and mounted the camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rebekah and left.
Isa: 62 Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. 63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate,[f] and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. 64 Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant,
Reb: “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
El: “He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
Isa: 66 Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. 67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

The story of Abraham offering up Isaac is usually studied om its own but there are lessons to be learnt from the stories of both Isaac and his firstborn Ishmael.
Chapter 20 shows us the last threat to the birth of Isaac, it comes from Abraham’s folly!
Chapter 21 tells us of Isaac’s birth and the crisis it causes in Abraham’s family Re:Hagar and Ishmael.
Chapter 22 narrates the test of Abraham’s faith.

1. Read 21:1-11. Isaac means “laughter.” (a) How is Sarah’s laughter here different from Gen 18:12? How does the annunciation support this? (Luke 1:35-37).

As we saw in a previous study, Sarah’s laughter in 18:12 was a laughter arising from bitterness and unbelief: one was self-pity (“Old, useless me with child? What a joke!”) and one was an attack on God (“A ridiculous promise! You’ll never do it!”).
In Gen. 21:7 Sarah’s laughter is the exact opposite of that sneer. It is a laughter of joy in herself and confidence of God. This came about by God responding with a combination of rebuke and assurance. He asked, “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?” (18:14). This rebuke for questioning God convicts Sarah of the sin of unbelief. God is saying, in effect, “I will do more than you can even imagine. I will fill your life with wonder.”
In 21:6, when Sarah says, “God has brought me laughter,” she now understands her joy is by the grace of God.

Our laughable weakness and God’s love strengthens us and makes us rejoice deeply. The more we see how weak and undeserving we have been, the more his patience, love, and grace shine out and cause us to wonder. This is the gospel in plain sight.
Centuries later, an angelic messenger tells another woman about another miraculous birth and answers her doubt by saying, “For nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Unless Isaac was born, the world cannot be blessed and saved (18:18), but ultimately Isaac is pointing to the one who turns our self-hatred to joy, Jesus Christ. “In Jesus we have the true Isaac, in whom we hear the laughter of God’s grace, triumphing over all impossibilities of our condition.” 3 Edmund Clowney

2. Read Gen 22:1-2 and 12:1-3. (a) How does the charge of Gen. 22 fit with his call in Gen. 12? Discuss this most severe test.

It is hard to miss the resonance of this call to Abraham with the first call in Genesis 12. Then and now he was called to “go” (21:2), leaving all his security and comfort behind. Then and now he is called to go without knowing the final destination. Then and now he was called to give his heart’s treasures as an “offering” to God. In Genesis 12, it was general. He was giving up friends and family and life in a safe place - major sacrifices. T To trust in God’s promise as his security and purpose, not the other things. In Gen 22 he is called to offer up Isaac, the dearest thing in his life. In each situation, “Focus on me alone” says the Lord. ‘Trust in me for your security, hope and joy.

Notice God’s emphasis in v2: “Your son, your only son”. Isaac is not literally Abraham’s only son. Isaac is Abraham’s only son with Sarah and all his hopes and promises are focused on him. God was saying, “Give up this…and wait for the promised son.” Isaac would certainly have been everything personally to Abraham. He was now very old.
But there is more, Isaac was the salvation the makings of a great nation that God had promised. But he was also the promised one through whom God’s blessing would come to the whole world. God is virtually saying, ‘Trust in me, though it looks like I am contradicting my own word!’ By faith, Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, although God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” (Heb. 11:18)

Footnote: Many have interpreted the moral of this story as: “God called Abraham to murder his son, and Abraham by faith and submission got ready to do it. So we should do whatever God calls us to do.” But this is a misunderstanding of the firstborn son in Judaism. If Abraham had heard a voice like God’s saying, “Go and kill Sarah,” he would not have done it, assuming that he was hallucinating and that God wouldn’t ask him to do something that was clearly wrong. But because of their sinfulness, the life of the Hebrew’s firstborn was forfeit, though they could redeem them with sacrifice (Ex. 22:29, 34:20) or Levitical service (Num. 3:40-41) or ransom payment (Num. 3:46-48). Remember how, God punished Egypt by taking their firstborn. The firstborn or heir was, in those traditions, the bearer of all the family’s hopes for a prosperous future. When God said that the child-heir’s life belonged to him unless ransomed, he was saying in the most vivid way possible that every family on earth owed a debt to eternal justice—the debt of sin. That is why God’s commandment to Abraham was enormously painful, but God was not asking him to murder his son. He was calling in Abraham’s debt! Abraham was faced with the question: “I do owe this. Our sin means that Isaac’s life is forfeit. Yet God is a God of grace as well. Can I trust a holy God to still graciously fulfil the promise?”

3. Read 22:3-8. Discuss Abraham’s thoughts and hopes as he goes to the mountain with Isaac?

Gen 22:8 and 5 show us that Abraham had to cling to the goodness and promises of God despite all logic. He says, “God…will provide the lamb” (v8). It is unlikely that he believed specifically that a ram-substitute would be discovered. Just that God would do it somehow. Do what? Somehow God would remove the debt on the firstborn and keep the promise of grace. “We will come back to you” (v5) implies Abraham has faith in God’s provision. The mountain path was still agony, as the dialogue shows in verses 6-8. Hebrews 11:19 suggests that Abraham even considered resurrection as a way that God could be both just and gracious. This is the ultimate test. Abraham was not just exercising blind faith. He wasn’t saying, “This is murder, but I’m going to do it anyway.” He was saying, “I know God is both holy and gracious. I don’t know how he is going to be both, but I know he will.” He had hope that God would do something up on the mount—and thus he trusted God.

4. Read 22:9-14. What provision did God make on the mountaintop that dealt with sin yet allowed Abraham to keep Isaac?

Abraham could not see the whole picture, he did see that God wanted faith: “Now I know that you fear God” (v12). Secondly, once he believed, God was able to provide a substitute for Isaac; he saw the “ram, caught by its horns” (v13). The New Testament writers knew what this was pointing to: first, Abraham’s sense of God-forsakenness was only symbolic. God did not truly forsake Abraham as he obeyed God in this ultimate test. But on the cross, when the ultimate beloved child cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” “the Father paid the price in his silence,” Ed Clowney 5
Second, the true substitute for Isaac was God’s Son, Jesus, on the cross. 2 Chron 3:1 places Jerusalem in this region and God led his only Son into those hills. Wood was laid on this true Isaac. But there was no one to say, “Stay your hand.” In Rom. 8:32, Paul understood the meaning of this story using its language to Jesus: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Paul is saying look at Calvary and say to God, “Now,, we know that you love us, for you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love, from us.”

5. What lessons can we learn from the story of Isaac’s offering?

First, God will identify our idols and ask us to give them up. Isaac had become an idol, even in the midst of Abraham’s faith and obedience. Was Isaac more important than God to Abraham? Idols can be very subtle. For eg. we may consider spiritual activities and ministry as worthy rather than to God. These are “Isaacs” that God wants us to be willing to give up. Many idols are (like Isaac) good things that remain in our lives once we have handed them over to God. There they won’t control us leading to anxiety, pride, anger, and driven-ness. On the other hand, if Abraham had gone up the mountain thinking, “I just have to put him on the altar, not really giving him up,” he would have failed the test. Idols must cease to be idols. That is when we are really willing to live without them, trusting in God. Second, God seems to have forsaken us when he is near. Here he was saving the whole world and turning Abraham into a great man. We cannot know the reasons God allows bad things to happen, but, like Abraham, we must trust him. Abraham passed the test not with will power but by looking to the “provision” (22:8). Abraham had his eyes fixed on a provision he could not imagine but knew was there. But we can see the . As we look at the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, and rejoice in what he did for us, we will have the joy and the freedom from idols and man-made securities to follow God’s call when it we cannot see the way ahead.

Conclusion

In the life of Abraham in Gen. 12 -22, we learn how God’s promises to Abraham began the redemption of the world. Gen 23-26 are a bridge between the story of Abraham and the story of Jacob (Gen 27-50). Sarah dies in Chapter 23. Abraham finally becomes a landowner by acquiring a tomb for Sarah. In Gen 24, Abraham finds a wife for Isaac from his own relatives. God continues to work out his purposes and fulfil his promises in life and descendants of Isaac. Abraham dies in Gen 25 and Gen 26 is a series of snapshots from the life of Isaac. Isaac is overshadowed in the book of Genesis both by his father Abraham and his son Jacob. But even this brief look at Isaac shows God fulfilling his promises.

Gordon J. Wenham, “Genesis” in New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1994), p. 75. 2 Robert Alter, Genesis (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), p. 97. 3 Edmund P. Clowney in a taped lecture. 4 Gerhard Von Rad, Genesis, Revised Edition (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1972), p. 244. 5 Edmund P. Clowney, The Unfolding Mystery (Phillipsburg, N. J.: P & R Publishing, 1988), p. 58.

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Kelvin Burke