God in the Microscope

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What are you known for? It can be something positive or negative. What do you think people think about when they think of you? What would you like them to think? 

Here is this passage, we get a glimpse of what is thought about Abraham. And what we find is that there are positive and negative aspects! As one scholar points out, "It is ironic that the two things Abimelech knew about Abraham were that God was with him and that he was not altogether trustworthy (recall chap. 20)." (387) If you remember what we talked about a couple weeks ago, the last time Abraham and Abimelech met, Abraham was pulling the ole' "she's my sister, so don't kill me" routine. Abraham admitted to Abimelech that this was something of a habit of his. 

From Abimelech's perspective, he needed to make a covenant with Abraham, but the opening reason actually has nothing to do with Abraham, per se. We are going to explore what that is by looking at our two points today: Our relationship with God is the most valuable thing we have and Bringing others into that relationship is the kindest thing we can do. 

Our relationship with God is the most valuable thing we have 

Let's begin with Abimelech's opening line with Abraham. Remember that Abimelech is the local king of the area that Abraham is currently camping in. When Abraham arrived and lied to Abimelech, Abimelech almost committed a sin that would have killed him. What's worse is that the whole of his household was affected by something until Abraham prayed for him and God healed. 

It is Abraham's relationship with God that has impressed Abimelech. Now, remember, Abraham is still very powerful in many other ways. He is still very rich. He was wealthy when we met him, and he has only gotten more wealthy as things have progressed. In fact, Abimelech just added another thousand pieces of silver to his already full coffers. He has already been known to take on and win in battles with his own army (see chapter 14). This is probably why Abimelech takes his general with him (Phillips, 37)! He's got servants, animals, money, and a literal army, but Abimelech sees through it all and notices the God behind it all. 

Do you see God behind your blessings? Have you ever noticed when things go bad we say, "God why are you doing this?" but when things are going well, we say, "Well, my hard work has paid off!" Yes, God uses our efforts, but He is also the one who supplies our efforts. We should thank Him accordingly. Even the pagans in this chapter can see it. He wants to be with Abraham because Abraham is with God. 

So, because Abimelech knows a good thing when he sees it, he wants to make a covenant. Now, as we said in the introduction, Abimelech's experience with Abraham thus far has been one of deception. He wants to make a covenant to ensure that neither Abraham (nor his descendants!) will deal falsely with him in the future as he has in the past. Further, he points to his own kindness to Abraham and asks for similar behavior from him in the future. 

I think this again points to how much respect that Abimelech has for God here. Scripture doesn't tell us whether he becomes a full fledged believer in God or not, but he apparently is so impressed with him, that he is willing to look past the sin of Abraham in order to be in covenant. This once again shows how wonderful God has been to Abraham. God's grace to him outshines even Abraham's sin. 

That is something that we should endeavor to display. One piece of worldly advice is to never apologize for anything or admit wrongdoing. The logic goes that if you have to apologize for something, then you are showing weakness. You are admitting that someone has something on you and if you apologize, you are putting yourself in debt to them forever. This shows up in parenting as well, even as Christians. We can think that if we apologize that we will lose legitimacy as parents. But this isn't true. It's when we can point away from ourselves to God that we actually fulfill our purpose here. The purpose of our lives is not to present as perfect people who have it all figured out. We all know that this is a lie anyway. The goal of our lives is to point to God who is perfect and forgiving. Does that mean that it doesn't matter how we act? No. Does it mean that if we sin publicly that it can do damage to our witness? Yes. But don't fall into the trap of pretending like you never need the grace of God. Repent when you need to repent and praise God for the progress he is making with you. 

Now, we move on to the covenant proper. Abraham agrees to enter into covenant with Abimelech, but there is an issue to resolve first: ownership of a well. In a semi desert environment, water is pretty important. Animals, servants, and as we will see in a moment, plants need water if they are going to make it. It seems to be that there is a dispute over who actually has the watering rights to this particular well. Abimelech has been unaware of this problem but is quick to resolve it. Aside from the animals that they have brought to make the covenant, Abraham has brought seven lambs as a physical witness about the well in particular. 

Because of all of this, the place is named Beersheba. The Hebrew here is littered with the number seven. Some think that even the word for "swearing" as in swearing an oath (not swearing as in bad language) is literally to "seven" oneself. The name of the place has been called such because oaths have been taken. 

Again, as we have covered before, to make a covenant, the two parties would slaughter animals, split them in half, and then walk in between them together. The idea is that the oath functions as something like a prayer to God. The prayer would be saying, "If I don't fulfill these promises that I am making here, may God do to me as I have done to these animals." This is a pretty serious promise to make and one that shouldn't be entered into lightly. 

Now, some may have questions here as it relates to Jesus' teaching about swearing and oath making. In Matthew five, Jesus tells the crowd not to swear but to simply have your yes be yes and your no be no. Is Abraham sinning against Jesus here? I think the answer is no. There are times in which it is appropriate to make oaths and promises (after all, God makes covenants in the Bible Himself). But I think Jesus is dealing with a people that had a whole system of oaths that was very confusing. Some would say, "Well, if you said, 'I swear by the temple I will do this thing' then you have to do it, but if you say, 'I swear by the gold of the temple' then that isn't binding." and it was a whole system that can be done away with by simply telling the truth when you talk. Frivolously swearing is a bad thing to do. Just do what you say you are going to do. You can actually see a bit of this in part of the reason Abimelech is making this covenant in this way. Abraham has already lied to him! Part of the reason this is necessary is because Abraham has already shown himself to be distrusting. 

All this side note to say, if you are asked to take an oath in court, I think that you biblically can. If however people are demanding that you make a ton of promises to do things, then you may have a lying problem that needs to be fixed. 

Bringing others into that relationship is the kindest thing we can do. 

Now, the covenant has been made. Everyone goes home. And Abraham plants a tree. Now, why is this here? Do you finish this chapter thinking, "It feels like I stumbled across a meeting minutes document where there was a dispute over a well that got resolved and a tree was planted." It doesn't seem to stir the soul, does it? But that is likely because we despise small things. 

It's a detail that is easy to miss, but did you notice that this covenant included offspring? Abimelech isn't just making a covenant with Abraham, but he is making it with the future descendants of Abraham, WHICH HE NOW HAS! Isaac is going to be key in this covenant (Matthews, 276). It isn't much of a promise to guarantee good behavior out of a 100 year old. How long is that covenant supposed to last? How much peace does that really bring? But now there is a SON. There is the future. Again, it is a small detail, but how much does that shout God's goodness to Abraham. 

What about the well and the tree? Well, the tree that Abraham plants is a kind of tree that makes for wonderful shade (again, important in a semi-desert region) and grows like 20 to 30 feet. To plant something like that, you are intending on staying a while. You don't go to the trouble of planting and caring for a tree if you don't intend to enjoy the shade of that tree. As one scholar pointed out, "To plant a tree in Beersheba presupposed a constant supply of water and indicated a determination to stay in the region. Here, then, was faith and security." (Ross, 389) That brings us to the well. Abraham has a spot to call his own. God has come through for him on His promises. 

The chapter ends how it began, pointing to God, the everlasting God. Just like this covenant is going into the future beyond Abraham, God is going far into the future as well (Belcher, 152). God is already in the future just waiting for us to catch up. In that sense, we should almost stop saying, "Well, I'm just waiting on God." No, God has already provided for you in the future; He is just waiting on you to get there. 

That is what we need to be inviting people into. God fulfills His promises. 

So what is our takeaway in all of this? Besides the obvious one that we have been hammering here (trust God because He fulfills His promises), I would also say look for God in the little things, the details of life. 

If you say something like this, you aren't sinning or anything, but have you ever noticed that when something big happens we say, "Oh, man, that is a God thing." And what we mean by that is that there is no way that this could have happened by anyone's effort. Clearly God is moving in a wonderful way and we want to acknowledge that. Nothing wrong with that at all, but it is incomplete. God is in the little details, too. He is in the well disputes. He is in the subclauses of covenants. All of it is meant to point to Him. Give God glory in the small things as well. It'll make you more grateful and aware of God's working in your life. And a person who does that really shines God's grace in their lives. I'm not talking about being a Pollyanna pretending that everything is great all the time, but I am saying that we shouldn't just be looking for God in the telescope. Only aware of God in the big things. Notice God in the microscope as well. The small details of life are just as important in advancing God's purposes in your life. 

Finally, let's be grateful for the covenant that God has made with us in Christ. I'm sure Abimelech was excited to be in covenant with Abraham who was in covenant with God. It is great to have capable friends. But we have a gift far greater than Abimelech. We aren't friends of friends with God. We are in covenant with God Himself. That is something always worth celebrating even when the telescope and the microscope are smudged. God stands right here with you, just as He promised.