The life and times of Abraham

About this series

2010-06-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

This series is a commentary on the life of Abraham, and of his family. He was a great man, yet he faced profound realities and contradictions, which all bring our own realities into stark perspective. His story is not a "happily ever after", "happy ending" fairy tale - it is a very real story of a very real man, who, unlike us, could not turn to his church, community or other social reference points. God spoke to him every now and then, but otherwise his thoughts were as haunted as the hills of Canaan and the only whispered voice was the sighing of the winds across the dunes or through the sparse grass. Yet, through his journey he came to a deep understanding of God, an understanding that set his life at the headwaters of the world's primary religions and at the crossroads of all history. The simple aramean, became one of the greatest of all lives, because he persisted with God until he broke through to a great place.

About the Chaldees

2010-05-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

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Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia, located near the mouth (at the time) of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers on the Persian Gulf and close to Eridu.

It is considered to be one of the earliest known civilizations in world history.

Because of marine regression, the remains are now well inland in present-day Iraq, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, and named Tell el-Mukayyar [1], near the city of Nasiriyah south of Baghdad

The site is marked by the ruins of a ziggurat (right), still largely intact, and by a settlement mound. The ziggurat is a temple of Nanna, the moon deity in Sumerian mythology, and has two stages constructed from brick: in the lower stage the bricks are joined together with bitumen, in the upper stage they are joined with mortar. The Sumerian name for this city was Urim.

Source: Wikipedia

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.4u2live.net/

Abram's call

2010-05-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

"Get out of from this place", echoed the divine voice through the stillness of the night (Acts 7:3). Abram fell to the ground and shivered. "Get up, take your family and belongings and go where I lead you. He lay there all night long, unable to move, but resolved to do as God had commanded. In the morning, Sarai contended with him, arguing that they had little or no living knowledge of this God. Yet Abram stood firm, utterly riveted. It was done, he would go and his family with him. His father, Terah, tried to dissuade him, yet he carried on loading his belongings.

So Terah had Abram locked up with his own gods to reflect on his rashness. In the night Abram stood before each god, willing it to speak, but when nothing happened he struck the idol down in anger. Soon the floor was strewn with debris and Abram realised just how bankcrupt that pagan culture was. In the morning, Terah raged at what had happened, but Abram just said "I asked your gods for advice, but they couldn't agree on anything and started fighting amongst themselves". So Terah told Abram to take his family and go.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

Heading out

2010-05-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

"Abram, pray to the gods before you go", shouted Lot and Sarai. "I do not trust these gods", he replied. "I put my only son through the fire and what did it ever get me other than bitterness and a childless marriage. That was an offence to the Great God and it is enough that I must pay for that with my own life, but I will not stay in my error. I will not bow to gods of wood and stone ever again. The living God, the creator of the heavens and the earth has called me out of this culture, to forsake everything. I will follow Him."

Sarai, pleading now, cried back, "But Abram, this God you now serve, has He given you a son? Has He heard your prayers?" Abram shouted back so the whole village could hear him, "Noah obeyed the same God and built his ark, then God delivered him from judgement. I will follow the God of the ark, who establishes His testimony in us and delivers us from all evil. I too am building an ark, a bridge that will lead us across from this barren, pagan world into His eternal abudndance".

Source of picture: www.mywebpost.comcast.com

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Farewell to Ur

2010-05-01T06:31:00.000-07:00

Abram was 37 when he departed from Ur of the Chaldees in ancient Mesopotamia. He left in 1528 BC. Ur was part of modern day Iraq, on the river Euphrates, near to Eden. Abram left fertile abundance for the barren solitude of the desert. He knew not where he was going, but followed a divine call.

He took with him, his wife Sarai, his brother in law, Lot, his father, his tents, household and flocks. At the crest of a hell he looked back and bid a final farewell to the bustling city of Ur. His last view was of the towering ziggurat of Ur, home of the sumerian moon god. After leaving, Abram turned towards the North-West, to Haran, where Terah died and was buried. It was the beginning of a 600 km journey that would effectively last one-hundred and thirty eight years. It would establish him as the founder of the hebrew nation and father to the three primary world religions. He was a strong, resilient man, single minded man, set aside by God for an eternally significant purpose in a world that barely grasped the concept of a monotheistic God.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

Abram followed a call

2010-04-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

After the death of Terah, God called Abram again (Genesis 12). He told him to leave that country (Mesopotamia and its pagan ways) and head towards a country that God would yet show him (Canaan). God promised to make of Abram a great nation with a land of their own. He also declared a blessing over him and swore to bless those who blessed him, but to curse those who cursed him. God did not just throw these things randomly at an unsuspecting Abram.

Though I speculated earlier that he may have sacrificed a child as part of his pagan past, I submit that Abram was a deep thinker, who intensely searched after God and ultimately walked with the creator, but the favour of God came at a great personal price to Abram. The contrasts on his path helped to divide between his godless past and God-centred future. He was forced to contemplate the directionlessness of the Chaldean moon-god against the backlight of a vast canopy of stars that reflected the certainty of God's divine purposes. God also contrasted the dark heart of paganism (the futility of human sacrifice to non-gods) in the light of His own heart (a covenant borne out of God's sacrificial gift to us). Each step towards his own destiny stripped Abram of the misconceptions and follies of his past. Gradually God had invested his own heart in that one solitary giant to establish an oracle (Romans 2) of truth and a beacon of reason in a dark, godless world.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

Abram followed a promise

2010-04-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Abram and Lot shepherded their flocks, herds and people across the vast, open plains of Mesopotamia, towards the distant lands of Canaan. They cut deep paths in the dry, dusty earth, in search of pasture and wells for their livestock. When they found good pasture they would camp for days and weeks at times, moving forward at an unhurried pace, but always following the leading of God, towards the land of promise.

At night they slept under a great canopy of stars that filled the heavens and twinkled in the blackness of the sky. This was the dwelling place of the great God. The sun and moon deities of Ur had been confined to the ziggurat, where chaldeans worshipped tangible but otherwise impotent symbols of contrived gods. Now as the heavens unfurled above him, God began to unveil the mysteries of His heart to Abram. Unlike the gods he had left, this God could not be left behind or confined by time or place. Abram walked with God, the great shephed, a tent in the wilderness, a wellspring of life, the eternal pasture of his soul, a guiding radiance through the long, still nights and a compelling vision by day. Across the burning sands, beyond the distant hills, lay his destiny in God.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, http://www.bethelstone.com/

Abram what have you done?

2010-04-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Mark Twain observed: "If statistics are right, Jews constitute but one percent of the human race." It suggests a nebulous dim puff of smoke lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of; but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning, are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers.

He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages: and has done it with his hands tied behind him. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?"

t started with Abram, who sired a nation that birthed a savior - and the govenment shall ultimately rest on His shoulders. This series looks deeper into the towering, yet solitary life of the great patriarch. Abram (Genesis 13), having passed out of the lands of Sumeria, he lifted up his eyes and looked out across Canaan. "This is the land I will give to you and your descendants. Look to the North, South, East and West ... for wherever you place the souls of your feet, that is the land that I have given you. That small, significant parcel of land, at the center of the world, by the crossroads of the ancient trade routes, is the land that God gave to the Jews and it remains the most contested piece of real-estate in history. It is the cradle of monotheism, the birthplace of the redeemer, the place of sorrows where God intermediated for all. There the destiny of nations and the march of history will reach its climax when Messiah breaks through the clouds with ten thousands of His saints . .

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Abram left the cradle

2010-04-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Hellenists gave the term "Mesopotamia" to the regions below modern day Baghdad, between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is a region that has held strategic interest to the great nations of history, even to the present era. It was formely regarded as Sumerian after possibly the oldest city of recorded history, Sumeria. The region was one of a handful of city states that served as a cradle to early civilisation. It is my own theory that Eden lay beyond the current water courses, below the waters of the Arabian gulf. As the earth cooled, water condensed into the great basins of the world and also reduced the high humidity levels of the highlands, resulting in a migration to the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. The area provided the birth place of mid and near east civilisations and it was clearly also the place where early bible incidents took place, including the building of the tower of Babel and the settlement of the sons of Shem, son of Noah: they were the ealiest semites (shemites).

Abram emerged from this fairly advanced, but pagan and (if Babel is anything to go by) willful culture. He left it all behind, to face another contradiction in the dry, barren wastelands towards Canaan. He left a fertile, progressive but spiritually barren cradle, for a dry, dusty but spiritually fruitful plain, where he grew up and became a significant man and father in God. As he entered Canaan, he camped between Bethel, the house of God and future touchstone of Israel, and Ai, a heap of ruins that symbolised the corrupt, uncertain remnants of his past.

Image source: McClungmuseum.uk.edu

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Abram's indiscretions

2010-04-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

It fascinates me how honest and real the bible is. It tells us how it was and never white-washes the indiscretions of great people for the sake of a divine reputation. It is to God's own glory that He could achieve so much with such imperfect souls and it is to our benefit that He is willing to do so. The king of Egypt thought Sarai was a great beauty and Abram disclaimed her as his sister to protect his own skin. He did that twice, but Sarai seemed to understand him better than we can and certainly God remained silent on the matter, except insofar as such incidents were recorded in scripture.

Then came a defining moment when Sarai convinced Abram to sire a son through her handmaid. The boy, Ishmael strove with Abram's eventual heir and became a fugitive. Centuries later Ishamel's children would still be a major thorn in the side of Isaac's decsendants. His indiscretion assumed the possibility of compromising on God's promise to ensure a male heir to Abram. It gave him a son alright, but plenty of troubles besides.

Sarai eventually so despised the proud arrogance of Hagar, Ishmael's mother, that she banished the woman from Abram's camp. Yet God blessed Ishmael anyway, for he was Abram's offspring. Abram's indiscretion was costly, yet so are the compromises we make in pursuit of God's promises. He is faithful to fulfill all His promises, but equally resolute in making us live with the consequences of our short-sightedness.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Lot strove with Abram

2010-04-26T06:40:00.000-07:00

God had called Abram. Lot merely went along for the ride. Yet even as a passenger, Lot gleaned many of the rewards of being under Abram's wing. Nonetheless, the two men represented divergent world views that paved the way for conflict between their descendants. The call of God was like a sword, defining the two men and distinguishing Abram. It was another contradiction that set a pattern for God's dealings with people, for He uses our apparent contradictions and dilemmas to clarify His own values, ways and purposes - He never sets out to destroy, but uses our life experiences to establish us and equip us for our future inheritance. However, the way any two people respond to God's working in their lives can lead them down divergent paths and turn family or friends into long term enemies, because the path chosen by one will always provoke the other.

The contradictions between the two men came to a head when they contended for common pasture. This led to division and consequently the two needed to decide where to live. Abram had enough confidence in God's calling and favor to let his foolhardy relative choose the best of the land together with the riches and prosperity of a worldly culture. Even then Abram realized that things are never quite as they seem, whilst things that many despise often lead to the rich rewards of God. Thus it happened that eventually Abram had to rescue Lot when envious neighbors contended for the same prize. He subsequently also rescued Lot from the corruption and decadence that prosperity brought. Eventually, Abram's descendants annexed all the land that Lot had claimed, but the land of promise was blessed and transferred to Abram and His descendants as a perpetual heritage. Abram's advantage lay in the certainty of God's favor and the call over his life - it enabled him to make astute, log-term decisions and bide his time until God realized a far better outcome in his life.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

A covenant made, Genesis 15

2010-04-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

A warm desert wind caught the flap of his tent and swished in the stillness of the night. Abram lay awake staring at the ceiling, his heart pounding with a sense of occasion. The wind caught the flap again and blew it wide open, giving him a brief glimpse of a starry sky. He rolled, got to his feet, stepped through the tent and looked up at a vast canopy of stars that covered the sky. The camp remained silent as he crept away, up an embankment, outside the camp, where he lay down to gaze at the sky.

"Abram, count the stars". Abram rolled over and fell on his face in the dust, but kept silent. "As you see the stars, so shall your descendants be for number ... as numerous as the sands of the seashore. But the child you have sired, shall not be your heir, for you shall have your own son. I am the God who called you out of Ur to this land, which I have given to you and your descendants".

Abram lay still for hours, but as the morning sun streaked across the sky he got up, descended to the camp and took what he needed for a sacrifice. He spoke to no one, but led a heifer and a lamb into the hills. As the last star blinked out in the light of dawn, he mounted a hillock where he gazed out of over the land of his inheritance and worshipped God.

The life and times of Abraham (c) P Eleazar, www.Bethelstone.com

Mechizedek, King of Salem

2010-04-24T18:25:00.000-07:00

There is much speculation about Melchizedek, including a widely held notion that He was an incarnation of God, a view advanced by thirteen fragments found with the dead sea scrolls of Qumran. There is no theological support for this idea, but no one doubts that He was a myserious and significant figure.

Our best record of Melchizedek is found in Hebrews 7, which declares Jesus as a priest of an "order", the order of Melchidekek. This has precedence over the Levitical order and was esteemed by Abram.

We know from Hebrews 6 that Melchizedek was the king of Salem, the original king of peace. Hebrews 7 compounds the mystery surrounding the man, by indicating that he was without father or mother (which arguably meant there was merely no record of his lineage) and without beginning or end of days (alluding to his sudden appearance and disappearance in biblical records).

Abram esteemed Melchizedek so highly that he worshipped Him and paid a trubute (tithe) to Him of the spoils taken from Chedarloamer. This implies that He worshipped the true God, something which was probably fairly commonplace at the time. He was also the original King of Jerusalem and a type of Christ, the last and ultimate king and priest of the same city.

Finally the priest, whose name means "My King is righteous", served bread and wine to Abram and then blessed him. Jesus instituted the same covenant meal, but the fact that Melchizedek blessed Abram suggests a very significant person, for biblically, the less is blessed by the greater.

Abram and Lots more

2010-04-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

One has to ask, given that near-eastern names tended to carry symbolic meaning, what did Lot's name really mean? If he had a lot of anything, I would have asked him to cut down and do with less of it ... foolishness that is. He opted to live in a materially desirable, morally bancrupt culture, down in a valley, far below the strategically advantageous highlands where Abram lived. Thus he never saw the trouble coming that he and that wretcheded town should have anticipated in those heady, violent times. Then one day they came for Sodom, plundered it and dragged away the inhabitants, including luckless Lot.

When news reached Abram, he formed a posse and divided his forces into three, surrounding and overwhelming them at the tar-pits of Siddim (oil deposits were already evident). He returned with all the goods and people that had been plundered, but would have nothing to do with the king of Sodom, who wanted to trade the goods for all the souls that Abram had rescued. What Abram did want was to offer tithes and sacrifices to a mystical high priest, Melchizedek, who evidently had no beginning nor end of days ... perhaps Jesus, a priest after the order of Mechizedek (Hebrews 7), was the same person and maybe Abram saw a preincarnation of Jesus ... I don't know. What I do know is that Abram ate a covenant meal of bread and wine with the priest, and he was then blessed by Him.

Not to be outdone, Lot then got into more trouble, not realising that the king of Sodom was a bad leader, a type of Satan, who dealt in souls and corruption. Lot should also have known that Sodom was not where he belonged .... but he was a slow learner. He should have stayed closer to Abram, a truly great, competent man and a living example in a world of contradictions.

A cut above

2010-04-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

In Genesis 17, God called Abram aside and confirmed His covenant with him and his descendants. As God confirmed the covenant, He also changed Abram's name to Abraham, meaning "Father to many nations". He similarly changed Sarai's name to Sarah, the meaning of which is not clear, although Hebrew scholars take it to mean princess or honoured.

God then covenanted to make Abraham a father to nations and to keep His covenant with His descendants, to be their God and to give them the whole of the land of Canaan.

However, a covenant required reciprocation. It was always that way. Two parties would always commit to each other and God now required Abraham to seal the covenant in blood, through the circumision of his foreskin. This was to be applied on the 8th day of every new born son.

There are noteable practical reasons for this including cleanliness, health and sexual considerations. There was a strong cultural consideration too, for the practice distinguished the Jews from the pagans, right up to the modern era. Remaining uncircumcised, risked being "cut off" (Hebrew karet) to bear reproaches like Arelim (uncircumcised) or Tame (unclean).

God also linked the ritual, in genesis 17, to nation bearing. The covenant related to Abraham's seed and his offspring. That was what God was blessing. The blood covenant: confirmed his fatherhood, sealed his seed, blessed his offsping and separated his people unto God.

The New Testament equivalent relates to circumcision of the heart, in which God seals us with His Holy Spirit to separate unto Himself a Holy People drawn from every tribe and nation.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

My promise is made sure

2010-04-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Three visitors appeared outside of Abraham's tent one day, but references to the meeting, in Genesis 18, are all in the singular. The account starts with "The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre", but then Abraham addresses them as one man. God is three, yet one; three personas, one person; three facets, one diamond. It is significant that three witnesses are seen, for it is in the confirmation of three witnesses that God's intent is confirmed.

Whereas the promise of a son had been somewhat general up to then, God now witnessed and confirmed the promise of Isaac. The general references were replaced with specific references about: when (this time next year); what (you will have a son) and how much (one son).

This was the turning point in Abraham's long journey with God. Sarah sniggered at what she heard and God rebuked her for that, for His intent was now clearly defined. The matter was decided. Such is God's authority, that His Word is deliverance enough: for once He speaks His heart nothing can reverse the outworking thereof: whether it is a negative or positive word, a judgement or a blessing.

Esau repented with tears but could never reclaim his birthright and King Saul repented with tears but never regained his kingdom. A word spoken by God is enough - His authority is supreme and His will for our lives will come to pass on the strength of His Word alone. If His word spoken in judgement over His enemies is sure, how much surer will the promise over those He loves stand sure.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

I feel swell

2010-04-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

Sarah, had laughed at the idea that an old woman, who had blindly followed her willful husband into nowhere, should now conceive a son in her barren womb. But God had spoken it and shortly thereafter a feisty woman would have said to her grey-haired soul-mate, "Come here Abie, let's make this baby", to the wry smile of a not unwilling accomplice.

Of course, fulfillment of God's promise did not immediately appear fully formed in her, nor was there a sudden knocking from within, to let her son out. No, a moment of conception had happened at a microscopic level. The next day, week and month, would still provide no evidence.

Her menstrual cycle may have abruptly ended the recurring cycle of hopefulness and disappointment, but she had probably passed menopause: accentuating the miracle of the moment.

Eventually, she would have turned to the old man in her bed and said, "Hey Abie, look ... there is a swelling and its not the mosquitoes. God is fulfilling His Word in me: our promised son rises up in confirmation."

Believers face hard, dry seasons where His Word is nothing more than words spoken about something that may happen one day, hopes that rise, then fall back in dissilusionment. But when His purpose is confirmed, there is no phantom pregnancy: reality will birth in us and we will breakthrough, thus ending the rending of the heart and the bleeding of our wretched souls.

Finally the Word matured and a promise conceived as a tiny spark of life, emerged as the torch that would take Abraham's legacy through the dark uncertainty of the future. The glory of God's purpose, so conceived in one, solitary boy, would emerge as a nation and prepare the way for Messiah.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

Hello Isaac

2010-04-19T08:15:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the birth of his firstborn son, Abraham would have dedicated him to God. On the 8th day, according to God's instructions regarding circumcision, Isaac then found out why the first cut is the deepest.

Through the ensuing years, Isaac spent a lot of his formative life with Sarah, where he learnt their language, the basic principles of their culture and concepts of discipline. Abraham, a busy and influential man, old as he was, still managed his fields and his herds, sometimes even meeting with community leaders, kings and business people.

Isaac learnt some things from the servants, perhaps things like hunting, milking and slaughtering. To survive he needed practical skills.

Abraham was not as strong or active as a younger father would have been, yet he still found time to instruct his only son on many things, including the deep values of his heritage and the history of his people. Like all sons, Isaac's sense of his dad was one of wonder. He would long for his dad to return when he had been away and delight to sit in his lap at the end of a hearty meal, or listen in wonder as the old man related stories of legend and the heart of his faith.

Their walks through the hills and across the grassy plains, their nights spent under starry skies or around the fire filled the heir to the Abrahamic dynasty, with an intimate sense of his great father's deep heart for God.

Abraham looked with wonder at the gathering strength of his boy and felt reassured about the future. His love for his son was made more sure by his pricelessness and the long, long wait he had endured for so great a blessing. Isaac was Abraham's favourite son, his only son and the apple of his eye, a torchbearer whose fire would burn through the pages of history and keep his legend alive forever.

Get up Abraham, take your son .....

2010-04-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

"Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, to a place I will show you and there offer him as a sacrifice to me."

Abraham lay awake that night, tossing and turning as he wrestled with what God had asked of him. The loneliest night confronted him, for he had to bear his pain alone.

At four in the morning, when the first birdsong was heard, Abraham crept into his son's tent, shook him and told him to get dressed, for they were going on a journey. This was not altogether unusual for the family, so it would not have alarmed Sarah, but Abraham told her nothing of his plans.

They departed the farm in the twilight, to the soft sounds of sleeping forms, the gentle lowing of cattle and bleat of lambs. Long shadows crept across the ground and a mist hung over the valleys. The sky was clear and within half an hour the sun peeked over the horison, getting on with its normal activities, as was everything else, oblivious to the extraordinary crisis and significant moment confronting Abraham and his family.

How many have woken up on a fateful day to hear of the death of someone dear, driving through traffic in tears whilst life carries on as though nothing had happened. Those are the loneliest moments anyone can know, but at least we can find some support in friends, family or church.

Abraham had no support structure. He belonged to no congregation and had no family to turn to. He also could not share his pain with his closest confidantes.

Isaac was excited about the journey and animated. He wanted to know where they were going, but Abraham gave no details. Because of his sullen disposition, Isaac and the servants walked on ahead, leaving Abraham alone with his thoughts, his fears and his deep pain.

The defining moment of his long life had finally come.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

Abraham died, Isaac just trembled a bit

2010-04-17T05:27:00.000-07:00

To have witnessed the events that unfolded when Abraham, that towering giant of bible history, faced his defining moment, would have been a very humbling experience.

But the only human witness was Isaac and he only had a bit part in what was one of the most profound dramas of recorded history.

We tend to regard Isaac as a tragic part of the whole story, the suffering, sacrificial son. But he only faced about ten seconds of terror and then basked in the glory of the moment that he shared with his father.

Abraham, on the other hand, bore the pain alone and he fully understood its implications. He never involved his wife, his servants or his son. The implications for him were the potential end to his life work and his aspirations for a lasting legacy. Not only would Isaac's death break his old heart, it would also cut him off from the land of the living and sever his share in the burgeoning kingdom of God.

He had pusued a promise, whilst trying to outrun a pagan past. Now the past and the future collided in a single moment that would define the future of God's working amongst humankind.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

A time to die

2010-04-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

On the first day of his long walk to Moriah, Abraham died. He died to his dreams and hopes, particularly relating to his stake in the future of God's kingdom amongst men.

I have no doubt that a deep heartbreak filled his life as realisation washed over his frail, old heart. All he ever held dear was heading for the altar, to be given back to God: rightly so, perhaps, because all he had, came from God in the first place.

As he walked alone along the desert floor, with his son and servants out in the distance, Abraham agonised over his predicament. He had waited so very long for Isaac's birth and then carefully shepherded him through his youth, passing on his own values before time ran out on him.

His carefulness was reflected in the way he later made arrangements for Isaac's future bride. He left nothing to chance, showing the kind of attention to detail that reflected his life journey. He would have applied the same care to Isaac's formative years, thereby forging an intimate bond with his only begotten son: the Greek word for this in the New testament, is monogenes, literally meaning "genetically unique".

Abraham had taken the time and trouble to prepare Isaac for a future role, but now had to live with the notion that he had been preparing a lamb for the slaughter, a firstling of the flock for the altar.

Centuries later, Jesus said "Sacrifice and offering you sought not, but a body you have prepared for me. For in sacrifices and offerings you have no pleasure, but I have come to do your will Oh God (Psalm 40:6 and Hebrews 10)." The parallel between these two lives is clear, for Jesus evidently also spent His own years preparing for a defining moment: a sacrifice on the same hill where Isaac was offered. The vital difference is that Isaac was substituted by a lamb, but Jesus became the substitutionary lamb.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

A time to bury

2010-04-15T03:05:00.000-07:00

On the third day of the defining chapter in Abraham's long life, the bible declares, "He lifted his eyes and saw the place (of sacrifice) afar off".

The language used suggests optimism, a change of posture from the grim stoop of the preceding two days. He had been downcast, now he looked up. What happened on day two that can only be deduced from the bible?

Three day journeys in the bible imply a period of waiting on God through a ccyle of death, burial and resurrection: Jonah was in the whale for three days and Jesus said that it would be for Him as it had been for Jonah and Israel waited three days before crossing the Jordan to reconcile themselves to a dead past and a new future.

So if Abraham died on day one and evidently rose to new hope on day three, then we could regard day two as a time of burial. Indeed, on that day he found reason to lift his head as he let go of Isaac and reconciled himself to his limited perspective of Isaac.

For whilst Abraham saw in Isaac, a son, God saw a father. Whilst Abraham saw continuance, God saw the passage of history. Whilst Abraham saw a fragile incident, God saw a mighty journey. Whilst Abraham saw a lamb in a thicket, God saw the saviour on a cross. Whilst Abraham hoped for descendants, God saw a people drawn from every tribe and nation. Whilst Abraham saw a vulnerable boy, God saw a mighty people. Whilst Abraham saw a land of inheritance, God saw an everlasting kingdom.

Abraham rightfully conceded that he had no power to keep Isaac or preserve his own legacy, other than by entrusting it all to the surpassing power and purpose of an eternal God. The influences on Israel threatened their entire history and Abraham had no means to intervene in that reality, yet God did intervene and preserved Abraham's legacy to the present day.

So when Abraham lifted his head on day three it was because he knew that the future was in good hands. He had given Isaac back to God so that divine purpose could be outworked and as such he knew that however things worked out up there on that hill, it would not signal an end, but a beginning.

Effectively Abraham buried himself on those plains and died to his own right of way. He acknowledged that he was just a small part of a legacy that reflected God's deliberate and patient sifting and crafting of the hearts of great men and women. It was clearly bigger than him and not about to be thrown away on his account, anymore than God would put six thousand years of history at risk by making you an exception to His promises.

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

A new and certain future

2010-04-14T06:23:00.000-07:00

Abraham emerged from his dilemma with a sealed covenant, a sure faith and rest from his long toils.

A covenant between consenting individuals, in bible times anyway, generally implied: All that is mine is yours and all yours is mine. If I should die, the covenant will not die with it: for you will continue to honour me in the way you care for all that effectively becomes yours through my death.

As Abraham reached the foot of Moriah, he came to a realisation that in offering his son to God, he would ultimately offer all he had. Isaac was the only link to Abraham's future and thus symbolised his whole life. In offering Isaac, who would suffer a few moments of anguish, Abraham would effectively offer himself. It was a moment of ultimate consecration to the God who called him from the Chaldees so many years earlier.

But in offering all he had, the instrument of sacrifice would become the common ground of covenant. Thus, Abraham gave a son and with him, his own life, his dreams of the future and his legacy. In turn, God entrusted the same to Abraham: His own people, His eternal purposes and His glory.

The covenant committed God to Abraham's descendants: to keep them and preserve His promises in them. It would allow Abraham to sleep in peace, knowing that the covenant would outlive his mortality. In turn, the covenant obligated Abraham and his descendants. Romans 2 distinguished them as the "oracles of God".

No doubt Abraham and his descendants have paid deeply for the implications of that covenant. But, in turn, God has never forsaken His people. He has preserved Israel as the most enduring culture of history, despite the unbelievable odds stacked against her. As much as He has sustained her, so she has matured to become a light on a hilltop, a beacon of truth in a dark-world and the sundial of history.

(c) Peter Eleazar at http://www.bethelstone.com/

A time to live again

2010-04-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Abraham saw the hill of sacrifice far off and lifted his head. His posture changed and hope revived.

After a tortuous two days of deep uncertainty and confusion, Abraham lifted his head, but he did so some distance before they reached Moriah.

The language used is subtle, but it does not suggest the kind of defiant look of a man bracing himself for the dentist. He looked up long before he had to and took the scene in.

His heart and mind flooded with anticipation of a long overdue appointment with his God, the great and faithful companion who had walked with him and watched over him over so many seemingly fruitless years.

That journey was about to climax and Abraham was about to seal his covenant with the Great I Am. He knew it, but could not imagine what would happen on the hill. No word had come from God to spare him the ordeal of taking his son up the hill to sacrifice him, so it was with trepidation mixed with a deep hope that he approached that last hill.

He then laid the burden of firewood on his son's back and led him up the Moriah, just as Jesus would one day bear the wood of His own sacrifice up the hill of Calvary: but in both cases, the actors in these climactic scenes came back down the mountain again to give enduring hope to their descendants.

(c) peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com

It's over

2010-04-12T03:10:00.000-07:00

Finally they confronted the mountain that had so filled Abraham’s thoughts, but God was not there?

Having faced a death out there on the plains, a denial that led to acceptance and burial of his dreams on day two, Abraham was reconciled to a better hope in God. He braced himself for the mountain and led his son up its winding path to the summit.

Isaac inquired about the sacrificial lamb, but Abraham reinferred his unspoken hope when he said, "God has provdied himself a lamb for the offering".

In the midst of great uncertainty, faith propelled him to the top. His anticipation of God's provision was intense, but his thoughts and feelings so mixed.

Unfortunately, when they arrived God was not there or not evidently so. The summit was bleak and desolated. No sign of life occupied the hill and all he heard was the soft sighing of the wind though the grass.

Dread filled his heart as he heaved the load of wood off Isaac's back onto the rock. Then he laid Isaac on the altar and bound him. Only then did Isaac realise what was happening.

Abraham sobbed within, tears welled up and he sighed deeply. His son cried out, but not wishing to prolong his pain Abraham quickly lifted his knife and prepared to sacrifice his son.

"No" shouted Isaac, "No, Dad don't. Don't do this, I am your son."

His arms were at their full height and he braced his frame for the downward plunge, aiming for a quick, clean and painless kill.

"No" shouted another voice, which Abraham initially ignored until the owner of that voice grasped his arm in a vice-like grip, "No" (softer), "No" (a whisper), Abraham No. It's over, your son is spared. See over there is God's provision ...

Abraham fell to the ground and sobbed as his past, his future, his fears and dreams collided inside that frail old heart. "My God" (between deep sobs), "My God" (I can't say anymore).

(c) Peter Eleazar at www.bethelstone.com