Blessings on the Just and Unjust

Genesis 21:14-21

14 So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water; and putting it on her shoulder, he gave it and the boy to Hagar, and sent her away. Then she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba. 15 And the water in the skin was used up, and she placed the boy under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot; for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the boy.” So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept.
    17 And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, “What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18 Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”  19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink. 20 So God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 He dwelt in the Wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Abraham sent away Ishmael, his son of the bondwoman, with Hagar and only a few provisions.  She took him and set out into the wilderness until they had no more water, and she resigned herself to what appeared to be inevitable death.  Hagar put Ishmael under a bush and sat further off so that she would not see him die, and then she did cry.  Ah, but God who hears listened to Ishmael and spoke to Hagar of how her son would be a great nation someday, which was not an empty promise.  He opened her eyes to see a well so they would not die of thirst, and they drank.  God was with the boy who would be great, yet not the son of promise to Abraham.  He ended up being an archer, which was interesting because his mother had sat him under a bush to die “at a distance of about a bowshot.”  They lived in the wilderness and his mother gave him an Egyptian wife (she was also Egyptian - Genesis 21:9).  What we learn here is that God blesses the just and unjust, and His earthly blessings are not the same as His promised blessings of His chosen people.  His goodness to all is not the same as His promises to all. 

Children of Promise

Genesis 21:1-13 

1 And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” 7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.” 
    8 So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.  9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac.” 11 And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son.
    12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. 13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”

The Lord God came to make sure Sarah got pregnant, even though Abraham was the father; divine enabling allowed them to have a child at such old and seemingly impossible ages.  There is truly nothing too difficult for our God!  Sarah then gave birth to the son who reminded them they laughed and God’s promise in the beginning, but now they held His promise in their arms and would gladly rejoice with everyone who laughed.  As the agreement stood, Abraham circumcised Isaac on the eighth day as commanded for his part of the covenant.  When Isaac was weaned, Ishmael scoffed at the feast for God’s heir, much as his descendants do now at God’s people.  Sarah told Abraham that they needed to cast out the bondwoman with the scoffer (Galatians 4:30), yet Abraham still loved his firstborn even if Ishmael was not the son of promise.  God reassured him that this one would Father a nation because he was Abraham’s son, just not the lineage of ultimate redemption that was to be through Isaac.  The promised ones have the last laugh in a sense, for Ishmael means “God will hear" and Isaac “he laughs.”  God heard the desire for a son and heir, but His will has the last laugh against the order of the flesh by the spiritual of promise as Galatians 4:28-31 points out.  These events were both part of God’s sovereign plan and lessons for us to understand grace apart from our works or understanding of how things should go.  He makes us a nation without human borders in Christ; we are the children of His promise. 

Called to Truth and Trust

Genesis 20:1-18

1 And Abraham journeyed from there to the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and stayed in Gerar. 2 Now Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” And Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. 3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “Indeed you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife.”  4 But Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also? 5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, even she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and innocence of my hands I have done this.”
    6 And God said to him in a dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart. For I also withheld you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7 Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.”  8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were very much afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I offended you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done.” 10 Then Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you have in view, that you have done this thing?”
    11 And Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife. 12 But indeed she is truly my sister. She is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, ‘This is your kindness that you should do for me: in every place, wherever we go, say of me, “He is my brother.” ’ ”  14 Then Abimelech took sheep, oxen, and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham; and he restored Sarah his wife to him. 15 And Abimelech said, “See, my land is before you; dwell where it pleases you.” 16 Then to Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; indeed this vindicates you before all who are with you and before everybody.” Thus she was rebuked.  17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children; 18 for the Lord had closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

Abraham was going south when another ruler came to take his wife Sarah as the Pharaoh did before (Genesis 12:13).  He again told the half truth that she was his sister, leaving out the the rest of the story that she was also Abraham’s wife.  He did this out of fear for his own life, for he reasoned that someone might kill him to have her with the husband out of the way.  This was deception, however, and almost cost the king of Gerar his life under God’s hand for taking another man’s wife.  But God warned Abimelech in a dream by revealing that she was married; God knew his integrity and innocence and so warned him, yet also warned him not to harm His prophet.  God told him that Abraham would pray for the king when he spared Abraham, which he did to make the king fruitful again in his household.  Note that Abraham used the excuse that there was no fear of God in that place as he feared being killed, but God protected all from harm by exposing the truth of the matter.  He calls us to truth and trust as well, not compromising God’s commands to shortcut living by faith not seeking to be deceptive to preserve ourselves, but putting our lives in His mighty hands.  

Lessons on Deliverance from Destruction

Genesis 19:15-29

15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.” 16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”  18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords! 19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die. 20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”  21 And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken. 22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”  Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.
    23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. 24 Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.  26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.  27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
    30 Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. 31 Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. 32 Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 33 So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.  34 It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” 35 Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.  36 Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. 37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. 38 And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.

The Lord delivered Lot, his wife, and two daughters by the hands of angels from the judgement of destruction on Sodom for the perverse and continuous sin against the Holy One.  Lot lingered as he was most likely torn with his choice of that city and escape from destruction, so God had to intervene with mercy by the messengers in grabbing them all by the hand and pulling them out of the fiery fate of those remaining in Sodom and its sin.  They were told to escape and run for their lives, and they were not to look back to desire the sin they were being saved from.  They went not to the mountains, but to the town of Zoar while the angels held back judgement until they were safe.  Then God showered fiery destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, killing everyone and everything that lived.  But Lot’s wife disobeyed and looked back at her old life with longing and was turned into salt (Luke 17:31-33).  Abraham looked on at the smoke rising from a distance, thankful for Lot’s deliverance by God’s promised mercy.  We see here our salvation from God’s wrath by grace from the fiery judgement to come at time’s end, and know not to look back at the sin we were once entangled in and blinded by.  We desire to be true salt and light in Christ, not a worthless and immobile statue of salt in wanting to go back to sin’s hopeless mire which we have been pulled out of.  This passage then ends with the daughters of Lot sinning by seducing their own father to keep the bloodline alive, not trusting God for His plan and work.  Our sin never works the righteousness of God; this is a warning as we see the later problems of the Moabites and Ammonites; we must also live as God has commanded, not seeking to solve problems by our supposed knowledge of good and evil from the Fall. 

Sin’s Judgement and Deliverance

Genesis 19:1-14 

1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground. 2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”  3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.  4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. 5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”
    6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, 7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! 8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”  9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.  12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! 13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”  14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

The messengers from God went from Abraham to Sodom at night to meet Lot, the nephew of Abraham, finding him in the gate where business and judgements were transacted.  Lot immediately offered hospitality to them to come stay at his house and rest on their journey, assuming or hoping that they would leave sinful Sodom the next morning.  The angels wanted to sleep in the open square of the city, but Lot pleaded with them not to for their safety, for he knew very well how perverse the people were there where he had chosen to live (Genesis 13:10-13).  Lot’s choice of what looked like a pleasant and fertile valley harbored great sin and was nothing like what his eyes saw in the choice to live there, but he had come to know the error and so now warned these strangers; who knows if he did this with others as well?  The men of the town and others came to Lot’s house to have him hand them over for perverse homosexual acts, but he refused, and even made the mistake of offering up his virgin daughters instead to satisfy their lust and not do anything more perverse.  The sinful ones retaliated with accusations of Lot acting as a judge over their ungodly actions, much like those trying to justify sin do even today.  When they tried to break the door down, the angels rescued Lot, shut the door, and took away the sight of the already blind ones.  They then commanded Lot to gather his family and leave, since God’s promise to destroy the city due to less than ten righteous ones there was about to take place (Genesis 18:32).  Judgement was falling, but deliverance was offered.  But Lot’s sons-in-Law laughed at His pronounced judgement, just as sinners choosing darkness (John 3:19-20) have since the Fall.  Even now there are many who seek the passing pleasures of sin and ignore Him offering salvation from the penalty and power of sin, but there are also those God seeks out to pull them from the destruction to come.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God with scoffing and turning the back to His offer.

Pleading for Mercy against Sin’s Wages

Genesis 18:16-33 

16 Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. 17 And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, 18 since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19 For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.” 20 And the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, 21 I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”
    22 Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23 And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
    27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?”  So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.”  29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?”  So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.”  30 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?”  So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”  31 And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?”  So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”  32 Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?”  And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” 33 So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

God knew the evil of Sodom and sent His three angels who had visited Abraham and Sarah to see if there were any righteous ones left there.  He told Abraham what He was about to do because of the covenant to bless and multiply him.  God spoke of the heinous sin of Sodom and Gomorrah, and sent the messengers to give them a chance as Abraham pleaded for.  God said Je would spare them if at least fifty righteous ones were in Sodom.  Abraham asked at first for God to spare the cities if there were at least forty-five righteous ones left, and continued bargaining of a sort until he got down to just ten in the cities.  Then the Lord God left and Abraham went back to his tent to await the verdict.  What eventually comes out of this is that when sin abounds as it does in all our sin-marred hearts from the fall, it demonstrates that there is none who is righteous, no not one (Romans 3:10, 23).  Apart from the undeserved grace of God, we all deserve punishment for our rebellious thoughts and deeds as much as those in Sodom and Gomorrah.  We do well to think often on these things to be truly thankful for His mercy in Christ. 

Faith for God’s Promised Kingdom

Genesis 18:1-15 

1 Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. 2 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, 3 and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. 4 Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.”   6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.” 7 And Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender and good calf, gave it to a young man, and he hastened to prepare it. 8 So he took butter and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate.
    9 Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.”  10 And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”
    13 And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”  15 But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid.  And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

After God’s promises to Abraham and giving new names to him and Sarah and after the cleansing of circumcision for the covenant, the Lord sent three messengers.  Abraham was sitting in a hot tent when he looked up and saw them, but still had the energy driven by hospitality to quickly meet them and ask them to stay a while.  He had his wife whip up something for them and killed a calf for meat, then they ate while he stood by.  The visitors asked where Sarah was, then delivered God’s message as already told, that she would have the son of promise for the blessing through Abraham by faith.  Sarah heard this while eavesdropping, and laughed (bit not out loud); the Lord asked why she laughed, but she denied it out of fear.  God even asked them if anything was beyond His power to accomplish (Job 42:2, Jeremiah 32:17, 27).  God reminded her because she denied her laughing doubt out of fear, assuring that He could and would do exactly as covenanted.  The fruitfulness to multiply His kingdom would happen as designed and planned by God’s sovereign might and will.  We also may doubt God using us for His kingdom of righteousness in Christ, but He who began this work in us will not relent, but accomplish all He promised (Philippians 1:6).  Nothing is too hard for Him, not even using us when we doubt, so why not rather have faith? 

Unending and Impossible Promises

Genesis 17:15-27

15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
    17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
    19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.” 22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
    23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; 27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Sarai the princess became Sarah the noble one, for she would be a mother of nations and their noble kings to come, all from her son of promise at an old age.  Abraham heard God say these things and laughed as he considered the impossibility of having a child at their ages (yet his son by the bond woman was born just thirteen years before when they were in their eighties and nineties).  God assured him that they would indeed have a son and name him Isaac (“he laughs”), and the unending covenant would be to him and his descendants.  Ishmael would of course be blessed and fruitful, but in different ways; twelve princes from him would be a great nation, but the covenant was not with him.  Then Abraham obediently circumcised Ishmael and all the males in his family and entourage as a cleansing seal of the covenant.  This demonstrates God’s promises are to the people He chooses, the ones He elects by grace according to His purpose and not our estimation of what is right, fair, or even in the realm of possibility.  God’s promises are unending. 

Covenant of Obedience and Grace

Genesis 17:1-14 

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
    9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

God called Abram to follow Him in sight of God in his thoughts and actions (walking before Him).  Then God made His covenant agreement with the man and for his descendants who would be innumerable as previously promised.  This agreement by God was to transform Abram (exalted father) into Abraham (father of many).  God would make him fruitful to multiply, and Abraham was to live openly righteous in obedience for his part of the covenant.  God then promised the covenant would be not only to Abraham, but also as an eternal agreement for all his offspring.  God gave the promised land to them forever as well, which is why the Palestinians attempt to claim it now is in vain.  The sign or seal of the covenant for Abraham and his descendants was the circumcision of the flesh, which later would be seen a a picture of the true cleansing of the heart (Romans 2:28-29, 4:11-12, Galatians 6:15, Philippians 3:3, Colossians 2:11) to obey out of love by grace.  Those not circumcised were cast out from God’s people, cut off instead of cut back from the sin of disobedience (Galatians 5:11-12).  Disobedience was the covenant deal breaker.  For those who are not in Christ, disobedience to believing (Hebrews 3:19, John 3:36, 2 Thessalonians 1:8) the gospel of His work of grace likewise keeps them from entering into His new covenant. 

No Shortcut to God’s Promise

Genesis 16:1-16 

1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. 3 Then Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan. 4 So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became despised in her eyes. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “My wrong be upon you! I gave my maid into your embrace; and when she saw that she had conceived, I became despised in her eyes. The Lord judge between you and me.”  6 So Abram said to Sarai, “Indeed your maid is in your hand; do to her as you please.” And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence.

7 Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai's maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?”  She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”  9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude.” 11 And the Angel of the Lord said to her:
    “Behold, you are with child,
    And you shall bear a son.
    You shall call his name Ishmael,
    Because the Lord has heard your affliction.
    12 He shall be a wild man;
    His hand shall be against every man,
    And every man's hand against him.
    And he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; observe, it is between Kadesh and Bered.  15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Since Sarai was seemingly barren, she took a shortcut to get children from her servant with Abram.  This of course did not accomplish what she wanted, but only made the situation worse because the servant then looked down on her because she now had the child the wife could not.  Abram should not have given in to this idea in the first place; it would have been wise to trust God’s promise of an heir and endure patiently instead of listen to his wife, for he repeated the sin of Adam in heeding Eve instead of God’s word.  Sin runs deep in us.  Sarai then seemed to harass and most likely beat Hagar until she ran away and almost died.  God intervened and promised many descendants through her son Ishmael, but not the blessed line of God to come through Abram’s son of promise.  Indeed, Ishmael would prosper numerically, but be wild and the adversary of others around him.  We see the consequences of this played out through history.  God saw the suffering of Hagar and brought relief in a lesser promise, but this was not the promise to Abram nor for the deliverance of all God calls; those who say Ishmael was the son of promise call God a liar and themselves are His adversaries.  We learn to trust God’s promises and patiently endure for their fulfillment (Hebrews 6:13-19).  There are no shortcuts to His promises without dire consequences.  

A Certain and Eternal Promise

Genesis 15:1-21 

1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” 2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”   4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” 5 Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

7 Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

8 And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.  12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:  “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— 19 the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

God began His covenant agreement with Abram by assuring him that He was both a shield to protect and all the reward he ever needed.  All would be found in the Lord and His provision, so He was to be trusted and waited on for all promises.  Though without children as of yet, God promises that Abram would have innumerable descendants as countless as the stars above.  Therefore Abram trusted God’s word by His promise; God says this faith was counted as Abram’s righteousness, the absolute reliance on God’s character and word to do all He said.   But as to the details, Abram wanted to know how he would inherit the land which was promised to him and his offspring.  God had him offer a sacrifice, told him how his people would be driven to Egypt for four hundred years, be delivered with great possessions, and how that land would be judged for enslaving God’s people (which we see in Exodus).  Yet God promised Abram a long life with the promised land still to be theirs with the boundaries clearly spelled out for the future, including today.  What we learn from this is to absolutely trust the trustworthy and sovereign Lord of the universe and His immutable promises to us in Christ Jesus our Savior who delivers forever from God’s wrath and the power of sin over us, knowing we have a certain heavenly country (Hebrews 11:16) to come which cannot be taken away.  We have the promise of a certain and eternal salvation. 

Abram’s Giving through Melchizedek

Genesis 14:18-24

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. 19 And he blessed him and said:

    “Blessed be Abram of God Most High,
    Possessor of heaven and earth;
    20 And blessed be God Most High,
    Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all.

21 Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.”   22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, 23 that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— 24 except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”

Though Melchizedek seems to have come out of nowhere, He was the priest of the Sovereign God of Israel.  Abram recognized this and allowed God’s blessing from the priest as God’s grace, just as we receive grace from our eternal High Priest and Lord from this type back then (Hebrews 5:5-6, 7:1-3, 10).  This king of peace (Salem) blessed Abram after glorifying God who owns the universe and everything in it (including Abram) and who saved Abram in the battle to recover Lot and his lot.  Then the other king, of Sodom, offered the spoils to Abram from the successful battle, but he refused before God by an oath to be indebted for any riches at the hand of man.  He asked only for the food already eaten and for a portion to those three who went and fought with him.  Abram realized all he had was God’s, and had given a tenth (tithe) to the High Priest as die to God, keeping no riches for himself and giving to others.  This pattern of giving first to God, then others, and trusting Him for our own provision is one to remember well, not focusing on ten percent, but who we give to and why. 

Deliverance Through Adversity

Genesis 14:1-17 

1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations, 2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). 3 All these joined together in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4 Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6 and the Horites in their mountain of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is by the wilderness. 7 Then they turned back and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and attacked all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon Tamar.

8 And the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and joined together in battle in the Valley of Siddim 9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. 10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled; some fell there, and the remainder fled to the mountains. 11 Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. 12 They also took Lot, Abram's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram. 14 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan.  
15 He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. 16 So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.

17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.

Sodom, Gomorrah, and three other nations were subdued, then rebelled twelve years later. The conquerors put down the rebellion but also captured Lot, nephew of Abram, in the battle.  What did Abram do?  He heard of the capture, took 318 of his own trained men who were his servants, and hunted the captors down, all the way to Dan.  Abram spilt his forces and attacked at night, fighting past Damascus.  He ended up getting not only Lot back, but also all his people, as well as everything he owned which was plundered as well - the riches accumulated in Egypt with Abram and since then.  God did not keep adversity from these, but enabled them to regain what was lost.  Likewise, He does not promise us a lack of suffering and a life of material prosperity, but will rescue us from the evil one and keep us as His through (not always apart from) adversity.  

Promises of Never-ending Blessing

Genesis 13 

1 Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. 2 Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. 3 And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. 6 Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. 7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land.
    8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”
    10 And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. 11 Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. 12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. 13 But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
    14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.”   18 Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.

After Abram’s fearful deception with Pharaoh in Egypt, he returned to the promised land with all the riches he gained.  He came back to Bethel and to the altar to the Lord he made there; he again called on God’s name in worship, likely thankful for the deliverance from his situation as well as the famine’s end.  The problem now was his prosperity; both Lot and himself had so much riches in animals that they needed to separate from each other to feed them with different grazing grounds.  Abram gave Lot the first choice of land from what God gave him, and his nephew chose the fertile plain of the Jordan, leaving the land of Canaan to Abram.  Ah, but the plain contained sinful Sodom (so sinful that their perversion is now named after that place).  Abram, however, was reassured by God of the covenant of land and descendants to be given to him forever.  God reminded him that his future offspring would be as innumerable as the dust of the earth which God made man from, and so commanded him to take a walk through this promised land and consider the promise’s ramifications.  Abram did so, and then set up His tent in a new place with another altar to worship from.  We see how God’s promises are covenanted and that we are ourselves the recipients of them through Christ; we have a heavenly land promised as children of faith as Abram who trusted God and was given the new name of Abraham.  As children of promise we look forward to a far greater and eternal inheritance by the God of Abraham who is more than able to fulfill every word. 

Fearful Deception

Genesis 12:10-20 

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, “Indeed I know that you are a woman of beautiful countenance. 12 Therefore it will happen, when the Egyptians see you, that they will say, ‘This is his wife’; and they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you.”

14 So it was, when Abram came into Egypt, that the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15 The princes of Pharaoh also saw her and commended her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken to Pharaoh's house. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake. He had sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

17 But the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. 18 And Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’? I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way.” 20 So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had.

When the famine in the land promised to Abram worsened, he continued the journey south, all the way to Egypt.  But as they entered that land, Abram lost trust in God to keep his beautiful wife Sarai safe.  He imagined that someone would take his wife and kill him to have her, so he told her to say she was his sister (which was half of the truth as Genesis 20:12 explains).  He put his trust in his own schemes instead of God’s sovereign hand.  However, the ruler of Egypt himself fell for her when pointed out by the princes, and they took her to the Pharaoh to live with him.  What did Abram get out of the deal?  Prosperity.  But God made Pharaoh suffer for almost taking another man’s wife as his own, and he found out the ruse of lies and let them go.  They left with all that he had been given - animals and servants.  Abram began to get rich off this deception out of fear to save himself.  Such fearful deception may yield the results we desire, but miss the mark on God’s desire for our reliance of faith in trusting His protection and grace.  We can learn from Abram’s negative example to do what pleases God instead of deceiving others because we feel we must protect ourselves.  Selah. 

Living by Faith in the Promise

Genesis 12:1-9 

1 Now the Lord had said to Abram:
    “Get out of your country,
    From your family
    And from your father's house,
    To a land that I will show you.
    2 I will make you a great nation;
    I will bless you
    And make your name great;
    And you shall be a blessing.
    3 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.”

4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.

7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord. 9 So Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South.

After Abram moved to Haran from Ur where his father died, God told him to go further.  Yet He did not tell Abram exactly where to go, just that the destination would be one God would show him.  He was to leave the place of family and familiarity to follow his God.  The covenant promise God made to Abram was to bless him by multiplying Abram into a great nation, a more specific promise of the original charge to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.  God would make Abram’s name known and use him to bless others, all throughout in the earth.  What did Abram do?  He heard and trusted by active faith to go (Romans 4:3, 20-21), to follow God.  When Abram and those with him arrived at Shechem, God then told him that was the place He spoke of by promise for Abram and his descendants.  Abram built an altar to worship God out of thanksgiving and honor to God’s glory for this calling and promise.  He then moved near Bethel and built a second altar and called on the name of the Lord.  Then he journeyed further into the land promised and given by the God he now worshipped by calling on His name, acknowledging who He is and submitting to His rule over his life.  The lesson for us is to have this faith, trusting God’s word to lead us (and with His Spirit in us, with even more assurance).  We should be ready and willing to go as led and to believe His promises in Christ both for our present salvation and eternal destiny (Hebrews 11:8).  We therefore are to live by faith, not sight, as Abraham gave us the example.  

Walking by Faith in God’s Plan

Genesis 11:10-32 

10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.  12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. 13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.  14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. 15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.  16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. 17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.  18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.  20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. 21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.  22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. 23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.  24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. 25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. 
    26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.  27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
    31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram's wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Noah’s Son Shem had a long lineage of children until Terah, whose son was Abram (later changed by God to Abraham in Genesis 17:5).  Abram’s brother Haran had a son named Lot, of whom we read a lot about in the future with his uncle Abram.  Haran died in the country of the Chaldeans, Ur.  Abram and his other brother Nahor got married, but Abram’s wife Sarai could not have children.  There came a day in which Abram and his father, along with Sarai and Lot left Ur and traveled the long road to Canaan, named after Ham’s son.  They settled in Haran, where Terah died at the age of two hundred and five; the long lifespans as before the flood were getting shorter still.  What this teaches us is that God sovereignly gives offspring and their leading to accomplish His greater will according to plan.  We now can look back at this history to see how He prepared a people and promises later through the man Abram, who would become the father of His people and of many nations by faith (Genesis 17:4-6, Romans 4:16, 20).  We can learn faithfulness to follow God by trusting His plan and design, especially when we cannot see the end from the beginning, knowing that He always does (Isaiah 46:10).  We walk by faith, living in light of His grace with absolute trust and assurance, regardless of circumstances. 

Towering Pride of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9 

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

When the nations began after the great deluge of judgement, everyone spoke a common language.  They had no trouble understanding each other, which was also their downfall; they were all able to communicate their prideful intent clearly among themselves.  They most likely knew of the flood and feared being separated and scattered by God or each other, and determined to build a tower to the heavens to “make a name for themselves.”  The Lord God saw the intent of their hearts and intervened to stop them as a way to protect them from their sinful desire.  Therefore, the triune God confused their speech by giving them different languages (which would be undone when redeemed and brought together in understanding as seen in Acts 2).  They were unable to communicate and therefore could not complete their towering project of pride over Babel.  They were then scattered as they feared, but by God’s grace and design so that they could continue to multiply and fill the earth as commanded to Adam and Eve in Eden and again to Noah.  The word Babel means both “confused” and “Gate of God,” which is ironic to show the way to God was not to be in a self-made tower of pride, but through confusion among themselves to look to God for the gate to life.  After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God had to show them that He alone could teach them what they tried in vain to do themselves (Hebrews 5;14); they needed redemption through a gate provided for them (John 10:7-9) by God, not one by their own tainted works.  The confusion was lifted when Christ came and gave them understanding of this and each other again at Pentecost after His resurrection when they were given understanding of each other’s languages and of Him as the gate to God.  This is God’s eternal plan of grace which was only beginning in Genesis. 

Old and New Beginnings

Genesis 10:21-32

21 And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. 26 Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

32 These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

The sons of Shem are numerous, and we see familiar names which come up later, most notably Uz, Arphaxad, Ophir, and Havilah (where gold was found, Genesis 2:11 and 1 Chronicles 1:23).  These accounts allow us to retrace history to show theses are historical accounts and not imaginative stories, as well as to set the stage for future history recorded in the Old Testament.  Nations continued to be formed from the families and descendants of Noah, spawned and dividing the land of the earth after the flood caused the men of continuously wicked thoughts to be judged and taken away, and a new beginning by Noah’s line to replace Cain’s.  The account in Genesis is of both old and new beginnings.  

Ham’s Descendants, God’s Sovereign Purpose

Genesis 10:6-20

6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
    7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.  8 Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).  
    13 Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).
    15 Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; 16 the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; 17 the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; 18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

The first son of Ham, Cush, had Nimrod as a son; this one was a great hunter and he setup a kingdom which included Babel where the inhabitants’ pride in reaching towards heaven would be their downfall and affect all other nations to follow.  He also built Nineveh, which is also infamous for their sin, but best known for humility and repentance.  The second son of Ham, Mizraim, was most notable for siring the nation’s of the Caphtorim and the Philistines, who would oppose God’s chosen people in the future.  The third and last son of Ham, Canaan, had a long list of descendants (Genesis 15:18-22) who would be dispossessed as well in the promised land to Israel in times to come.  These Canaanites possessed much of the land for quite a while until God’s plan for His chosen children would set them at odds.  This account then of the sons of Ham shows a beginning of nations and sets the stage for future nations and conflicts which end in God’s plans for His people chosen out of the descendants of Noah who repopulated the earth after the great deluge of judgement on sin, as a second chance for mankind.  Grace is on display alongside God’s sovereign purpose. 

Beginning of the Nations

Genesis 10:1-5 

1 Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

As the earth was beginning to be repopulated, the scriptures tell us the genealogies of Noah’s sons.  The first ones mentioned are the children of Japheth, where the lineages of two out of the seven total are described further.  Only the sons of Gomer and Javan are pointed out, and those of Javan lived along the coastal lands.  These separated into nations which were now beginning to form as the populations grew.  Some consider these to be mainly the Greeks.  What is important is that the beginning of countries is recorded here in the beginning of history after the flood, and that the descendants of Javan are mentioned the least in comparison to those following of Shem and Ham. 

Original Sin Continues its Effects

Genesis 9:18-29

18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.  20 And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. 21 Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness.  24 So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. 25 Then he said:
    “Cursed be Canaan;
    A servant of servants
    He shall be to his brethren.” 26 And he said:
    “Blessed be the Lord,
    The God of Shem,
    And may Canaan be his servant.
    27 May God enlarge Japheth
    And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
    And may Canaan be his servant.”
28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29 So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

The human race and all races and nations originated from the disembarkation of Shem, Ham, and Japheth from the ark following the great deluge.  These trace their existence back through Noah’s line to Seth, Son of Adam, Son of God (Genesis 5:3 - And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth).  The bloodline of Cain the murderer of Abel ended under the flood of God’s judgement.   Noah did take up the profession of Cain in farming the earth as was the curse of sin pronounced on Adam (Genesis 3:17-19) for listening to Eve instead of God’s word.  The account reveals further sin by Ham (father of Canaan to be trouble later conquered by Joshua in taking the land God gave Israel), who found his father drunk from the wine of the farmer’s labor and did not turn away from looking at his nakedness.  The nakedness was known from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the source of sin needing to be covered by God (Genesis 3:21).  He told his brothers, who did not gaze at the nakedness to continue sin, but covered Noah appropriately.  When Noah awoke, he knew the younger son’s sin and cursed him and his lineage to be servants to the others, but blessed the God of Hem and of Japheth to prosper together with their brother as servant.  Noah then died later at 950 years old, one of the last living to be nearly a thousand years old.  After the flood, men lived shorter and shorter lives.  If nothing else, this limited the amount of sin they could live for. 

Covenant of Mercy and Grace

Genesis 9:8-17 

8 Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: 9 “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. 11 Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. 14 It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; 15 and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

God’s covenant was to Noah and his sons, but also to all their descendants,which means the entire human race.  This includes you and I.  It also includes all the animals, every living creature God fashioned for us.  The covenant, the agreement of God’s promise to us, is that He will never flood the earth to wipe out sinful man who corrupted all the world in his disobedience to His commands, yet there will be a final judgement on those continuing in sin and rejecting His grace and mercy; it will be a consuming fire instead of a deadening deluge (2 Peter 3:5-7).  God’s covenant shows His mercy and grace to not wipe us out and start over, but does not negate His intolerance of sin and His wrath which requires payment.  He paid the price for His chosen people through Jesus Christ, and the water of our immersion in Him is the flood of undeserved goodness and mercy given us.  The proof of the everlasting covenant to us and to the earth and all living things on it in not flooding the earth is the rainbow resulting from the waters drying up after the forty days of rain.  The proof of the eternal covenant in Christ is the cross and empty tomb.  We look to each to remind ourselves of God’s great grace and forgiving mercy, none of which we deserve.  The blood of Abel shed by Cain was answered by God’s sacrifice to seal the covenant forever in washing away our sin’s power and punishment in Christ’s blood (Hebrews 12:24), baptizing us into His righteousness of the new covenant.  How much greater is this covenant to deliver us! 

Image Bearers - Fruitfulness and Blood

Genesis 9:1-7 

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. 

    6 “Whoever sheds man's blood,
    By man his blood shall be shed;
    For in the image of God
    He made man.
    7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
    Bring forth abundantly in the earth
    And multiply in it.”

After God’s covenant promise with Noah and the remaining mankind of his family, God reaffirmed His command to Adam to be fruitful and multiply to fill the earth.  This time, however, He also put fear of man into the animals who would be eaten as well as sacrificed.  Everything alive was now fair game to be eaten until later restrictions were added in the Law through Moses.  The only caveat was not to eat the lifeblood of the animals, a command repeated later also (Acts 15:20).  God equates the blood with life; certainty we know by scientific examination of God’s design that blood carries oxygen to sustain life, and we see the physical life in blood.  But He also was speaking of life given in shedding blood for remission of sin in sacrifices, a picture carried from the skins covering Adam and Eve’s sin through sacrifice until the Son of God and Man, Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.  Therefore the sin of taking a man’s life as Cain with Abel is repeated and emphasized here to Noah, giving the consequences of shedding another man’s blood in murder.  We are image bearers of God our Maker, and by attacking His creation we take the life He gave, thus offending God Himself.  Only God has the right to sacrifice for us in Christ, allowing only animal sacrifices until He sacrificed His own Son.  We do not sacrifice or kill other people bearing His image.  What we were commanded in the physical realm is to be fruitful in multiplying; spiritually, we are to do the same in Christ, making disciples and filling the Kingdom with new life in Him.  

Costly Sacrifices and God’s Promised Grace

Genesis 8:20-22 

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

22 “While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Winter and summer,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

When God delivered Noah and his children with their families, along with all the animals, Noah thanked God as his ancestor Abel with burnt offerings which cost him something (2 Samuel 24:24).  Abel sacrificed animals given to his father Adam as helpers, and Noah sacrificed some of the seven remaining animals and birds which remained after the flood of judgement.  This cost him much, and God honored the sacrifice of life for life, just as He set the pattern in the beginning by killing the first animal to cover their sin (Genesis 3:21).  Their own attempts to cover with leaves was not sufficient (Genesis 3:7) just as Cain’s offering from the plants grown out of the earth were not enough, but the blood offering of life for life in these sacrifices were pleasing to God.  His heart therefore was moved to never curse the ground again because of man’s sin.  He determined this while knowing the sinful bent of man’s fallen nature, evil from birth, and covenanted in Himself to show grace instead of just judgement.  This agreement of promise would hold as long as the earth remains; the cycles of planting and harvest from the dirt would continue through all seasons and weather until the end of the earth as we see later in Revelation. 

God’s Plan for Man Restarted

Genesis 8:1-19 

1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4 Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. 6 So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. 7 Then he sent out a raven, which kept going to and fro until the waters had dried up from the earth. 8 He also sent out from himself a dove, to see if the waters had receded from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself. 10 And he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark. 11 Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. 12 So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry. 14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dried.  15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him. 19 Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, and whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

God was mindful of the covenant He made with Noah and his family along with the animals to deliver them out of the flood that identified them with Him, as a sort of baptism to bring life out of death.  God stopped the rain and caused the wind to blow until the waters slowly dried up and Noah was able to open the hatch to see dry land once more.  He was told to empty the ark and be fruitful to multiply on the earth, the command originally given to Adam before sin had overtaken man which resulted in Cain’s murderous bloodline being ended along with nearly all of creation.  God takes the rebellion of sin seriously, and so should we.  If not for His grace, we would also be overcome by the flood of just judgement we deserve instead of forgiveness and mercy which we do not deserve.  So Noah went out with his wife and sons with their families, leading the animals out to restart the original plan of God for man.