[photo, DJohanson, 2009]
Genesis 26:28-29 28 But they said, "We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, 'Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, 29 'that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.' "
Abimilech is an interesting character. A minor Palestinian potentate of no great world significance, he ruled where he could, bowed and scraped where he must and generally dealt with life as it came. Pragmatic to the core he was not one of those reflective types who spent a great deal of time thinking and pondering the abstract questions of life, at least in my estimation. As with Isaac’s father Abraham before him, Abimilech was interested in protecting his own rear end and furthering his own interests. Abraham and now Isaac were powerful clan chieftains and they could muster quite an effective little army if they needed. Certainly Chedolaomer, King of Elam, had discovered that earlier (Gen. 14) and Abimilech was not one to let such a lesson in history pass unnoticed.
So I don’t think there was a great deal of mystical, theological and spiritual insight that prompted this particular confession by Abimilech to Isaac. The evidence that the “LORD is with you” and the Isaac was “blessed of the LORD” did not arise from an in depth course in discipleship. It came about because Abimilech could not deny what was plain to his eyes and which his inherent prudence demanded he understand. This man Isaac, like his father Abraham before him, has something going for him and it was in his best interest that he not be provoked to action or alliance against him.
Never the less, there is an abstract propositional truth that lies behind the confession. God’s people should and ought to, be the sphere in which the power of God as well as the Word of God is evident to the eyes of even the unbelieving world. In weakness they should show forth strength that speaks to a Supernatural source. In persecution they should show forth and unexpected courage and resolve, like Stephen, that bears witness and wins converts and transforms the world, bearing witness that they are the “blessed of the LORD.” In prosperity they should be always pointing beyond themselves to the source of their provision and then using the fruits of prosperity in a manner which again, testifies to the goodness of their God.
These things and others like them, should set Christians apart. They are, by that Divine connection, a thorn in the side of those outside the Kingdom. There will be those who seek to abuse them and those like Abimilech who seek to use them, but they will not go unnoticed. The power of God will not remain unknown even if it remains invisible.
The question is, are we opening our lives to the LORD as did Abraham and Isaac. Are we walking in a strange world, among the people who live there, and bearing witness that our God is sustaining us, upholding us, and strengthening us until the day that ALL that we see will be OURS? Are we depending on God so that the eyes of the world will discover that God is faithful to those who depend on Him?
Such was Abraham and Isaac’s calling and Abimilech was not unaffected by the way they fulfilled it. Perhaps, all that is wanting in this land of ours, is that the people of God should start living as if their very lives depended on the God they served. Who knows who might be watching?
Recent Comments