A Promise Kept

Genesis 25:1-12                                  A Promise Kept

6/26/16            D. Marion Clark

Introduction

We are nearing Independence Day. Here is a question for us Americans. “Who is the father of our country?” George Washington. The nation of Israel can even more easily and unitedly identify their father – Abraham.

Text

Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³ Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. ⁵ Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. ⁶ But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

⁷ These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. ⁸ Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹ Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰ the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. ¹¹ After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

We have come to the end of Abraham’s life. Verses 1-6 reveal an interesting side note about Abraham that is surprising. Abraham had married again and had not one but six sons! It is somewhat unclear when this additional family came to be. The wording in Hebrew is such that Abraham could have taken the wife while Sarah was still alive. Either way, we are left scratching our heads at Abraham’s prowess. The concubines in verse 6 are evidently Keturah and Hagar. A concubine is what might be called a second-tier wife – a legal marriage, but the wife and her children are not on equal footing with the primary wife or wives.

Other than to raise eyebrows, why make note of the extra wife and sons? The author Moses is likely giving the sources of the very people whom the Hebrews are meeting in their wilderness journey. These sons are sent east of Canaan, the territory that the Hebrews must pass through. Should their descendants lay claim that Abraham is also their father, Moses demonstrates that they are nevertheless not claimants of the covenant promise, especially that of the land. That is for the descendants of Isaac.

Abraham dies at the ripe old age of 175, full of years. He is buried in the only piece of property that he ever owned – the burial land for Sarah, now for himself, and for his family who succeed him. Think about that. One hundred years earlier, God made his first promise to Abraham of land and of offspring so that he will become a great nation. What does Abraham end up with? A burial plot and one son of the covenant promise.

Even so, Abraham still has faith in that covenant. He sends the other sons away, as if there was not enough land to hold them all. He gives gifts to the other sons, but he passes on his estate to Isaac alone. He still believes that God will come through on his promise.

Lessons

It is at such a juncture that we typically would look back over a biblical person’s life for the lessons we might learn. But Abraham is one figure for whom we look into the future to understand his place in God’s work.

In the next chapter, Isaac is moving through the land. There is a famine. The Lord appears to him and says, “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (26:3-4).

The one thing for us to note is the place of Abraham in the promise made to Isaac. It is the same promise made to Abraham, and now all the more will be carried out by the Lord because of Abraham’s faithfulness in obeying the Lord. Isaac subsequently has to move because of dispute about land. God appears to him again and reassures him, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake” (26:24).

Next comes Jacob. He is on his way back to Mesopotamia to find a wife and escape his brother’s wrath. He has the famous dream of “Jacob’s ladder.” God tells him, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (28:13-14). And so the promise made to Abraham continues.

We turn the pages to Exodus. You know the story of what happened. Jacob produced twelve sons, one of whom was Joseph. His family of seventy end up in Egypt where they remain for four hundred years. There they become slaves.

Exodus 2:24 tells us: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” The deliverance of the people, now called “the people of Israel,” will take place, not because God was looking over the earth and came across a people that were suffering and thought he would help them. It is because God remembered his covenant made first with Abraham and then renewed with Isaac and Jacob. When he introduces himself to Moses, he identifies himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” That is how he will have Moses first speak of him when Moses goes back to the people in Egypt.

God is good to his word and delivers the people. He directs them to Mt. Sinai where he calls Moses up to the top to give him the Ten Commandments. The people lose faith and we have the “Gold Calf” incident. God is so angry that he says to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you” (Exodus 32:9). Moses successfully argues their case by saying, “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever” (32:13). Remember the promise made first to Abraham.

Moses dies. Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land. Near the end of his life, as he calls the people to recommit themselves to the Lord, he will refer to “father Abraham” whom God brought first into the land.

Abraham’s name then drops out of the period of the Judges. It is probably no coincidence that the people of Israel’s faith and morals spiral down. King David will bring back attention to Abraham. It is the day that David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He gives a psalm to the music director Asaph to be sung. It includes these verses:

Remember his covenant forever,
    the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
    his sworn promise to Isaac,
which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan,
    as your portion for an inheritance” (1 Chronicles 16:15-18).

Remember the covenant God made with Abraham, the everlasting covenant, the covenant of an inheritance of land. Psalm 105 will also reference Abraham and his covenant and then add this phrase: “O offspring of Abraham.”

Later in Israel’s history, Elijah will call on God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel to bring down fire on his offering in his contest against the Baal priests. When enemy armies are marching against Judah, King Jehoshaphat appeals to God, reminding him that he had given the land to the descendants of Abraham, his friend. King Hezekiah will lead a revival in Judah by appealing to the people, “return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.”

Among the prophets, Isaiah speaks of Abraham as father and the people as his offspring. He also refers to Abraham as God’s friend. Jeremiah reports God saying, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them” (33:25-26). They can count on God to restore their fortunes because God keeps his covenant promise made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on behalf of their offspring.

And so, throughout the generations the nation of Israel remembers the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The children of Abraham can confidently place their hope in God’s redemption because of being the children of Abraham, God’s friend.

As we move into the New Testament, this theme of the covenant and of belonging to Abraham continues. Both Mary and Zechariah, in their respective praises to God, reference the covenant promise made to Abraham, looking to its fulfillment soon to take place.

There will be two men who embrace the concept of the covenant for Abraham’s offspring, but they will challenge the concept of who those offspring are. Chapter 8 of the Gospel of John presents a confrontation between Jesus and some Jewish hearers.

They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. … I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires (John 8:33-44).

Note Jesus’ contention. It is one thing to be offspring, i.e. physical descendants of Abraham; it is another to be children, true “chips off the old block.” These descendants were not following the ways of Abraham – his faith and his obedience. What is the litmus test? Their ability to receive teaching from Jesus and to recognize who he is.

The next challenger is the Apostle Paul. He argues in Romans 4 and in Galatians 3 that Abraham is the father of those with faith, whether Jewish (circumcised) or Gentile (uncircumcised).

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised….

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”… (Romans 4:9-12, 16-17).

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

… in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:7-9, 14, 29).

One’s heritage – be it bloodline or historical heritage or religious heritage – is not the guarantee of belonging to the covenant promise made to Abraham. The guarantee is faith in Jesus Christ as the Promised Redeemer. It is believing that God fulfilled his promise to Abraham through the sending of his Son Jesus Christ.

Application

Why take up so much time in Bible study? Have you ever heard someone say, “I can’t make sense of the Bible; how does it all fit together?” You have just learned how it does. There is a theme that runs through the Scriptures leading up to Christ and then beyond his resurrection. God made a covenant promise. He made it first to Abraham. This promise will come about through the birth of the offspring promised to Eve – one who will crush the head of Satan. The seed for that offspring must pass from Abraham through Isaac through Jacob and on down the line until the birth of Jesus Christ. Satan will try to destroy the line of that seed. But God in his providence will protect the lineage.

Meanwhile, each generation of the covenant nation of Israel will pass down the hope of the covenant promise. Despite periods of spiritual depravity, the people will never lose sight of that hope. “We are children of Abraham.” “God will remember his covenant.”

But here is the real encouragement to take away from this lesson. You too, if your faith rests in Jesus Christ, are children of Abraham. You too belong to the covenant of Abraham. Whether your heritage is Jewish or Gentile, you may count Abraham as your father. Once you were strangers to the covenants of promise; once you were far off; once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; now you have been brought near to God; now the covenants of promise belong to you.

Do you ever fear that God will give up on you? There! You sinned again, the very sin you promised not to commit. Look! Your faith waved again. You did not trust God yet again, though you had promised to do so. Really! Jesus died for you and what do you have to show for it? Will God, will Jesus give up on you?

The real question that matters is this: Does God make a promise he will not keep? Did he tell Abraham that he would do his best for Abraham’s descendants, but no guarantees? More to the point. The covenant made with Abraham was fulfilled and re-mediated by Jesus Christ. The conditions of obedience and of faithfulness were laid upon Jesus’ shoulders. Did Jesus fail? Will God the Father go back on the agreement made with his Son? If God would keep his promise made to his friend Abraham, will he not all the more keep his promise made to God the Son, the Son who is not ashamed to be called our Brother? Rest, not in your ability to be good enough, work hard enough; rest in the work of your Promised Redeemer.

Perhaps you are one who has yet to take the step of faith. You might think that you are too weak or too sinful or too whatever-it-is that holds you back. Look also to Abraham. There is another passage in Isaiah that refers to Abraham, one that I almost skipped because it did not make sense to me. It reads, “Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham…” (Isaiah 29:22).

Redeemed Abraham? When did Abraham ever need redeeming? When Joshua had made reference to Abraham, he said the following, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods” (Joshua 24:2). Abraham had been a pagan. God took him out of that pagan life and made him the faithful servant he came to be.

God can take you out of your outsider condition. He can bring you into the covenant made with Abraham and fulfilled in Christ. He can make you too a child of Abraham. Indeed, he can make you a child of God the Father. All that you need to do is ask in faith.