Week 15: Son of Promise

 Week 15: Son of Promise

Contents of this week’s study: 

Day One: Beauty and Favor  

Day Two: If I am a Slave to Sin  

Day Three: You Are as Good as Dead 

Day Four: This is Your Loyalty  

Day Five: Son of Promise  

Day Six: Shema Discussion 

Day One: Beauty and Favor

This is the second account of Avraham requiring Sarah to say she’s his sister. As we saw previously, we learn in this week’s study that Sarah is Avraham’s half-sister. She was the daughter of his father, but they had different mothers. The first time Avraham made this request was when they were going into Egypt. Sarah was about sixty-five years old when they left the land of Haran. She is older now, but there’s still something so beautiful about her that foreign kings desire to marry her.  

*Note: neither Pharaoh nor Abimelech intended Sarah for the Harim [harem]. Both of these foreign rulers pursued this beautiful Jewess as a fully titled wife. Throughout the ancient world a woman who was merely part of the Harim was considered a possession of the king or magistrate, but wives merited favor and held the rights and prestige granted to the king’s relations and elite members of society.    

Genesis 20:1-2 (TLV)  1 Then Abraham journeyed from there to the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was dwelling as an outsider in Gerar,2 Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So King Abimelech of Gerar sent for and took Sarah.    

*Today, it has become rare for women past thirty to be considered extreme beauties who would be desired even by wealthy, prestigious men, but it wasn’t always so. In fact, even in our hedonistic, youth driven world, we are seeing a resurgence of women being celebrated as beautiful throughout their lives, not necessarily those who have surgeries or use expensive treatments to stay looking “young”, but acknowledging a different kind of beautiful. This is what I believe happened with Sarah. I don’t think Sarah looked like a teenager at seventy-five years of age.    

*I imagine these foreign kings desired Sarah’s “mature” beauty with her graying, or perhaps, even white hair, her eyes which had seen a bit of the world, her face with lines of wisdom and the knowledge of God’s redemption across it and her graceful, soft, mature figure, but mostly I believe the favor she received was a result of Jehovah, Himself, naming her “Princess”. Like Avraham, Sarah was favored (chosen) by God.    

*Sarah was a princess in the kingdom, and even though Avraham, himself didn’t appreciate who his wife was to the creator of the universe, to the worldly minds of the kings around him, his wife was a prize worth killing him for, and he knew it.    

*Avraham had received a promise from Jehovah that the line of the Messiah would come through his descendants, but remember, Jehovah made it clear that the redeemer was also to be of Sarah’sgenes. Make no mistake, there was a spiritual battle going on behind these events. Jehovah was establishing the rout to redeem mankind, and the enemy was very busy trying to pervert the minds and motives of everyone around to prevent the coming destruction of his pseudo kingdom. Avraham had a heart for God, but each time he fell into the enemy’s trap he compromised Jehovah’s directives and didn’t guard those entrusted to him.  

Genesis 20:3 (TLV)  3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead, because of the woman whom you have taken—since she is a married woman.”  

1. Noting what we just unearthed above, was Abimelech being told he was going to be taken out because he was interfering with God’s plan to bring the redemption?  

2. Is it just as dangerous for people today who get in the way of the fulfilment of the events that will bring Messiah back, namely the Jews receiving the revelation of who Messiah was? Are people who hate the Jews in danger of divine judgement?    3. In light of these issues, how important is it that we understand the heart and the plan of God in these end days? 

Day Two: If I’m a Slave to Sin  

In the Strong’s:  

Negev (South in the KJV) 5045H negeb, neh-gheb; … to be parched; the south (from its drought); specifically- the Negeb or southern district of
Judah, occasionally, Egypt (as south to Palestine): --- south (country, side, -ward).  

*Why did Avraham move back to a barren and dry area? He had, once again, moved outside Jehovah’s richest blessings, away from the promise of living in Eden again [the area of Jerusalem and Bethel], and does his choice to live in a parched land reveal something about his joyless heart at this time in his life? (remember, Avraham had two women who hated each other in his troubled life, presumably living intimately with him in the same camp. Two women fighting for a man’s favor and affection will always be brutal torture for the poor, hapless man).    

*As we’ve discussed, before you indulge in sin it looks as if it will be the answer to all your problems. Sin typically presents itself as the fulfillment of your desires, but sin is like a drug (the use of which is also a sin, we’ll touch on why). Drugs, we now know overstimulate and delude the brain’s pleasure centers, and your body and mind very quickly become accustomed to this heightened level of delusive stimulation.   

*Now, all the normal little pleasures of life just don’t get you to a happy place anymore because your view of what is actually happy has been distorted. Over time drugs, and any kind of sin, actually, can do semi-permanent if not permanent damage to your pleasure sensors preventing you from feeling any sense of pleasure. This is the “pleasure” the enemy is pushing in every area of the world.  

*This is what constitutes sin. It is anything which will overstimulate you in any way, thereby making you a slave to the enemy to have access to the destructive pleasure he sells.    

*Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. Jehovah has built pleasure and joy into his creation and He did not let that be stolen. The pleasure that Jehovah created, however, is always soothing, comfortable, and enriching. Anything that you’re involved in that causes you to feel like you have to have it is sin. It is a trap my beloved friends. Pleasure in Jehovah’s kingdom is always comforting, in the most beautiful sense, representing things in Jehovah’s creation and in heaven itself, and always brings us happiness and shalom.  

*He settled between Kadesh and Shur:  

Kadesh 6946H Qâdêsh, kaw-dashe´; sanctuary; Kadesh… from 6945H kaw-dashe´; … a (quasi) sacred person, i.e. (technically) a (male) devotee (by prostitution) to licentious idolatry: --- sodomite.  

2. What would you say the meaning of this word is as applied in our scripture today?  

Shur 7793H Shûwr, shoor; … the same as 7791H shoor; a wall (as going about): --- a wall, from 7788H shoor; (PR); properly, to turn, i.e. travel about (as a harlot or a merchant): --- go sing.  

*If you remember, Shur is the place where Hagar was headed when she was running away. This was a place of; being people less, wandering and prostitution.    

Gerar 1642H Gerâr, gher-awr´; a rolling country …, from 1641H gaw-rar´; (PR) to drag off roughly; by implication- to bring up the cud (i.e. ruminate); by analysis- to saw: --- catch, chew, x continuing, destroy, saw.  

3. Using the definitions of the names of these three places, what would you say the meaning of Avraham’s encampment is as applied in our scripture today?  

4. Why do you think our author said Avraham was dwelling as an “outsider” in Gerar?  

5. Did God allow Avraham to camp in this desolate place, surrounded by sin, to “bring up” and deal with some of Avraham’s sin? Namely, was this place used to prepare our patriarch to get the sin of Hagar and Ishmael out of his life so he’ll be focused and prepared to follow through with Jehovah’s commands? (remember, Jehovah himself, appeared to Hager at the well in the wilderness, and made promises to her individually, separately from Avraham and Sarah, and promised to keep Ishmael).  

6. As we’ve discussed before, do you believe you are in danger of losing what is truly important to you when you camp in sin? Is this what we see when people become addicted to any substance or unhealthy lifestyle? 

Day Three: You are as Good as Dead    

From the Strong's:  
Abimelech 40H 'Ăbîymelek, ab-ee-mel´-ek; father of the king; …, from two root words; 1 H awb; (primary word); father (in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application): --- chief, (fore-) father ([-less]), x patrimony, principal. 4428H meh-lek; a king: --- king, royal, from 4427H maw-lak; (PR); to reign; inception- to ascend the throne; causatively- to induct into royalty; hence, (by implication) to take counsel: --- consult, x indeed, be (make, set a, set up) king, be (make) queen, (begin to, make to) reign (-ing), rule, x surely.    

*Again we see from the meaning of his very name, Abimelech wanted to father a king, but not just any king; he, apparently--- unwittingly, wanted to steal the blessing and derail the plan of salvation for mankind by making Sarah his wife and producing an heir with her.  

7. What would you say the meaning of the name of this king of the Negev, [desolate wilderness] is as applied in our scripture today?  

Dream 2472H chălôwm, khal-ome´; … a dream, dream (-er), from 2492H khaw-lam´; (PR); properly- to bind firmly, i.e. (by implication) to be (causatively- to make) plump; also (through the figurative sense of dumbness) to dream: --- (cause to) dream (-er), be in good liking, recover.  

8. What would you say the meaning of this word is as applied in our scripture today?  

Dead 4191H mûwth, mooth; (PR); to die (literally or figuratively); causative- to kill: --- x at all, x crying, (be) dead (body, man, one), (put to, worthy of) death, destroy (-er), (cause to, be like to, must) die, kill, necro [-mancer], x must needs, slay, x surely, x very suddenly, x in no wise.  

9. What would you say the meaning of this word is as applied in our scripture today?  

Married (Wife in KJV) 1166H bâ'al, baw-al´; (PR); to be master; … to marry: --- have dominion (over), be husband, marry (-ried, x wife).  

*If you have studied the Old Testament at all you may think this is referring to the Phoenician idol, but it’s not. The idol is defined in 1167H and 1168H. in the Strong’s.  

*Remember, marriage is a covenant, an agreement. Do you think it might be possible that Jehovah was warning Abimelech that Sarah was in covenant, not only with Avraham, but with Jehovah, himself, and although Avraham was apparently not in any kind of mental state to protect his covenant relationship with this “chosen” woman, that Jehovah would take Abimelech out if he dared touch Jehovah’s bride?    

*If your spouse does not love you the way he or she should, Jehovah loves you. Note how He says He prevented Abimelech from sinning against Him (vs. 6 below). Could this be evidence that Jehovah was actually defending His covenanted relationship with Sarah and His promise to bring Messiah through her descendants?  

10. What would you say the meaning of this word is as applied in our scripture today?  

Genesis 20:4-7 (TLV)  4 Now Abimelech had not come near her. So he said, “My Lord, will You slay a nation, even though innocent? 5 Didn’t he say to me, ‘She’s my sister’? And she herself even said, ‘He’s my brother.’ I did this with integrity of my heart and guiltlessness of my hands.”  

6 Then God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I myself knew that you did this with integrity of your heart, so I, yes I Myself prevented you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. 7 So now, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet. And let him pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die—you and all who are yours.”  

Day Four: This is Your Loyalty  

Genesis 20:8-13 (TLV)  
8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants and spoke all these words in their ears—and the men were very frightened. 9 Then Abimelech called to Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us, and how have I sinned against you, that you brought great sin upon me and my kingdom? You’ve done to me things that should not be done!” 10 Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What motivated you to do this thing?”  

1. Did Abimelech and the people of his kingdom take Jehovah’s warnings seriously?  

2. Fill in the missing word from Gen. 20:8, “Abimelech rose ____________ in the morning”. It sounds like Abimelech was doing something a-typical in getting up earlier than usual to settle the matter of Sarah and avoid the wrath of God. Do you think as believers we tend to take Jehovah’s love for us for granted and fail to carefully honor each of His commands?  

Abimelech called his servants (probably the wise men and advisors) and told them God’s warning in his dream and “the men were ___________ _________________”. See vs. 8 above. Are you ever “very frightened” of Jehovah’s wrath when you sin?    

Hebrews 4:1 (CJB) “Therefore, let us be terrifiedof the possibility that, even though the promise of entering his rest (cease from worldliness and be subjects of Jehovah’s kingdom now) remains, any oneof you might be judged to have fallen shortof it;”  

How seriously should we be taking God’s commands?  

1. What do you suppose Sarah’s life was like in the tents of Avraham, waking every day to face Hagar, her rival for Avraham’s affection? Do you think Sarah was treated like royalty as Avraham’s wife or even beloved by her husband, and how do you suppose her life might have changed living as a royal woman in Abimelech’s palace? Our Author tells us that Abimelech was showering Avraham, Sarah’s supposed brother, with gifts. Can you imagine how he would have been bejeweling his new acquisition, this beautiful, graceful woman of promise, with precious gifts?    

*Sarah would have been served and pampered. She would have attended fine meals and palace entertainments. She would have been dressed in finery and adored as a regal woman. The life Abimelech offered her as one of his wives may not have been a satisfying one for the long term, but I can’t help thinking her head must have been turned by the king. If he was dashing at all to look at, she may have been swept completely off her feet, and, as we’re about to see, he was most certainly taken with her.  

Genesis 20:11-13 (CJB)  11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘There is certainly no fear of God in this place, so they’ll kill me, because of my wife.’ 12 And besides, she really is my sister. She’s my father’s daughter, though not my mother’s daughter. Then she became my wife. 13 So when God made me wander away from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is your loyalty that you must show me: in every place we go, say of me, ‘He is my brother.’”  

*Avraham assumed that the people in this parched land were without understanding of the one true God. He feared what they would do to him to get to his wife, but he didn’t seem too concerned about what was happening to Sarah after Abimelech took her by force (remember, this is the man who had formed a well-trained army and chased down the Eastern kings to retrieve his nephew, Lot). Was he happy to live as the king’s brother in law, reaping blessings based on the admiration the king felt for Sarah, his wife, while   

Avraham, himself, could enjoy the peace of living with only one woman, and also enjoy a close relationship with Ishmael without it making Sarah jealous.  

It would seem that God’s plan is too far gone now, but, as we know will happen, He is going to have to step in to arrange matters and get these two distracted inheritors of blessing back together and moving forward again.  From the Strong’s: What did Avraham ask Sarah to show him?  

Loyalty (kindness in the KJV) 2617H checed, kheh´-sed; kindness, by implication- (toward God) piety; rarely (by opposition) reproof or (subjectively) beauty: --- favor, good deed (- lines, -ness), kindly, (loving-) kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.  

Genesis 20:14-18 (CJB)  14 Avimelekh took sheep, cattle, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Avraham; and he returned to him Sarah his wife.   

Abimelech did fear Jehovah and he gave Sarah, his great prize, back to her husband. Sarah may have been a bit sad to leave a man who appreciated her and was kind. He now gives Avraham free reign to choose where to live.  

15 Then Avimelekh said, “Look, my country lies before you; live where you like.”    16 To Sarah he said, “Here, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. That will allay the suspicions of everyone who is with you. Before everyone you are cleared.”  

 Now Abimelech turns his attention toward Sarah, herself, and addresses her, in what feel like a very tender moment. Is he is concerned for her happiness and her reputation? He gives Avraham what must have been a very generous restoration price and tells Sarah clearly that it was to protect her from accusations of infidelity, a noble price given for a royal and very desired woman. Could it be that Abimelech was aware of Avraham’s contentment with the situation while Sarah was gone and understood that the 1,000 pieces of silver would make it more desirable to Avraham to have her back?  

17 Avraham prayed to God, and God healed Avimelekh and his wife and slave-girls, so that they could have children. 18 For Adonai had made every woman in Avimelekh’s household infertile on account of Sarah Avraham’s wife.  

Interestingly, all the women of Abimelech’s household, and, in fact, Abimelech himself, had become barren while Sarah was living there, which was the same condition Sarah had. Avraham prayed and all were restored.  

Day Five: The Son of Promise  

So, Avraham finally brought Sarah home, Sarah and her redemption price, worth an amazing one thousand pieces of silver (clear picture of the price Yeshua paid to redeem His bride), which, other than her fond memories of his kindness and favor, was all she had left of her royal appointment in Abimelech’s palace.   

She’s back to the place she was before, fighting the heat, dust and duking it out with (fighting) the slave girl for Avraham’s affections, and believe me when I tell you that Sarah, God’s princess, was on the losing end.  

*Avraham had long ago developed an appetite for carousing with the slave girl, and he could not see nor remember the amazing love he felt for his wife, the woman of God, the woman who’s gifting’s and personality complimented Avraham’s and who chose to stand by him --- Avraham would never be free to love Sarah and the miracle Jehovah was about to perform in his and Sarah’s union until he sent the slave girl and the fruit she bore away, And yes, though Jehovah would be present by His Ruach (Spirit) who is everywhere, Avraham had to be the one to end his sin.  

*Sarah had never wanted to say she was Avraham’s sister. She loved him and missed his companionship once he transferred his affections to another.  

*Although, I’m sure, she was very convincing, Hager did not love Avraham the way Sarah did. Hagar saw an opportunity to get something she wanted by giving herself to this man who was, in all actuality, not a man she otherwise would have chosen. Sarah, on the other hand, despite her own issues and failures, was the woman whose heart had always been to please and support Avraham, even to the point of giving up her title as his wife, which he asked her to do, supposedly to protect him.   

Jehovah knew Avraham would never recognize Sarah’s worth or the deep passion he did still feel for her until the foreign woman and her offspring were gone.   

1 Adonai remembered Sarah as he had said, and Adonai did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him.  

*It had been one year since Jehovah appeared to Avraham, His friend, by the oaks of Mamre and promised him a royal son from his and Sarah’s union.  Despite Avraham and Sarah’s mistakes and spiritual blindness, Jehovah was faithful. He visited an amazing miracle on Sarah and she finally gave birth to the son of promise.  

3 Avraham called his son, born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitz’chak. 4 Avraham circumcised his son Yitz’chak when he was eight days old, as God had ordered him to do.  

Yitz’chak, or Isaac as he’s called in the Christian Bible, was the son Jehovah had promised to Avraham and Sarah. He was a revelation of the coming redeemer who would, as a matter of fact, be a descendent of Yitz’chak.   

(v) 5 Avraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitz’chak [laughter] was born to him. 6 Sarah said, “God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age!”  

Compare the following:  

Genesis 21:37 “For with God, nothing is impossible.”  

Genesis 18:13-14 (CJB)  

13 “Adonai said to Avraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and ask, ‘Am I really going to bear a child when I am so old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for Adonai? At the time set for it, at this season next year, I will return to you; and Sarah will have a son.”    

Now, compare what Sarah says (above) to what Mary, Yeshua’s mother says:   

Luke 1:45-50 (CJB) “Indeed you are blessed, because you have trusted that the promise Adonai has made to you will be fulfilled.”  46 Then Miryam said,  “My soul magnifies Adonai; 47 and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, 48 who has taken notice of his servant-girl in her humble position. For — imagine it! — from now on, all generations will call me blessed! 49 “The Mighty One has done great things for me!
Indeed, his name is holy; 50 and in every generation he has mercy on those who fear him.”  

1. Did Sarah have the same level of faith Mary [Meriam] did?  *Write a few of your own insights on these comparisons in your journal.  

8 The child grew and was weaned, and Avraham gave a great banquet on the day that Yitz’chak was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom Hagar had borne to Avraham, making fun of Yitz’chak; 10 so Sarah said to Avraham, “Throw this slave-girl out! And her son! I will not have this slave-girl’s son as your heir along with my son Yitz’chak!”  

*The name Isaac (Yitz'chak) has a dual definition. It can be either “laughter” or it can mean “to jeer at”. We see both of these meanings play out in the next couple verses.  

*We now learn who it was that really suffered for all the bad choices for self-gratification all the adults around him were making. Ishmael was being pushed aside to make room for Isaac, the prince, and he was missing his father and hurting. In his lack of understanding Ishmael jeers or makes fun of Isaac and Sarah sees it. She is not going to have the son of a concubine tormenting her son. Before we judge Sarah too harshly, we need to consider that there was no feasible solution to this issue other than to end the cycle of sin. There would never be peace as long as Hagar stayed, and Isaac must be raised very carefully.  

*To my brothers in Yeshua:  Guys, you don’t like getting ultimatums, which is what Sarah is confronting Avraham with in this scripture (it is not nagging but a confrontation, meant to let you [the man] know she will not go on in the current situation any longer), but you know that sometimes it pushes you to do something you know you need to do. Just as in this case between Avraham, Sarah and Hagar, often you will let things go hoping they will just kind of go away on their own, but that nearly never happens. Sometimes issues just have to be dealt with. If Sarah had not put her foot down and demanded Avraham get the sin out of his life for his family’s sake things would have continued to spin out of control until everyone of the people involved here was completely destroyed.  I challenge you to learn to celebrate your wife’s strength and her upright heart which ultimately makes you a better man and, believe it or not, almost always, a happier one too.  

Listen to Everything Sarah Says  

11 Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son. 12 But God said to Avraham, “Don’t be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz’chak who will be counted. 13 But I will also make a nation from the son of the slave-girl, since he is descended from you.”  

*It is so much better not to allow sin into your life in the first place than to be so broken up over all the little tragedies it causes. Avraham knows he will be separated from his eldest son for the rest of his life, and he is in terrible pain over the loss.   

Jehovah tells His friend to not torment himself over having to send Hagar and Ishmael away, because He has a plan to be a father to Ishmael Himself.   

*I want you to note that although Hagar used to be called Sarah’s slave-girl, she is now called Avraham’s slave-girl, just in case anyone doubted my conclusion about Avraham carrying on with Hagar.   

“Listen to everything Sarah says to you’” means “Do” everything Sarah says. Avraham has to realize that his head is foggy with the effects of living in sin. He needs Sarah to be strong for him and help him get his life rooted in God again.   

Avraham has to learn to be truly happy again as he overcomes his cravings for things which would have eventually destroyed him along with everyone who stayed too close.  

Write the following in your own words, in a declarative sense.  

Find your Strength to overcome slavery to sin in faith (trust and faithful service) in Yeshua and rely on our Messiah to stand beside you, being your courage (determination) to drive sin and its offspring from your life.