Gary Gleans

God had promised Abraham many descendants and God always keeps His promises.   God blessed Abraham with children and a long full life just has God had promised to do.   There is much in store for his descendants and especially for his son of promise Isaac who becomes the focus of the next few chapters. ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS AND DEATH: Abraham may not have had children until he was, old, but once he started having them, he had several.   After Sarah’s death Abraham married another woman and fathered another six children by her.   However, they were not considered to be children of promise and were not given a right to Abraham’s inheritance.   While he was alive he gave them gifts and sent them away just as he did to Ishmael.   Isaac was the son of promise and the one who would inherit all that Abraham left.   He died at 175 years of age and both Ishmael and Isaac came to bury him with his wife Sarah.   Abraham had not always been faithful to God, but God had always been faithful to him.

Marriage is a wonderful blessing from God, but it is definitely not to be taken lightly.   Certainly there are many cultural differences between the days of Abraham in the middle-east and today’s culture.   However, there are certainly principles from this narrative about how Isaac and Rebekah were married that will be of help to our families today. ABRAHAM COMMISSIONS HIS SERVANT TO FIND A WIFE: Abraham was sensitive to the fact that Isaac needed a wife.   It is a foolish parent who tries to keep their children from marriage for too long.   Certainly, a basic level of maturity is a prerequisite for marriage, however, too often parents try to “hang on” for too long and end up inviting disgrace and disaster into their homes.   Abraham makes two things very clear to his servant.   First of all, he does not want Isaac to marry a woman from the land a Canaan because of the evil and idolatry that was rampant in these people.   He did not want Isaac to be bound by marriage to a local people

Abraham and Sarah left Ur together at the calling of God in order to go to a land and give birth to a nation.   There have been many twists and turns along the way of their lives together, but at the time of Sarah’s death they had only one son.   I am sure that when they started their journey they had imagined something far different than what actually took place.   It is important for us to always remember that God’s ways are not always the way that we would choose.   They are, however, the right ways and we must adjust our expectations and not give in to disappointment with God. THE DEATH OF SARAH:   Sarah lived to be 120 years old, so Isaac was twenty when she died.   It is important to remember that Moses just gave us snap shots of some of the highlights and lowlights of their lives.   Sarah stood by Abraham’s side all along the way.   She definitely had her imperfections and times when her faith wavered.   The Bible paints the pictures of its characters with warts and all.   Perha

As many times as Abraham has messed up with what seem to be easy tests, I am amazed at his willingness to obey God in this the hardest test imaginable.   There are times where we might have wondered about Abraham’s character and walk with God.   This chapter lays those doubts to rest once and for all. ABRAHAM’S COMPLETE OBEDIENCE TO GOD: God commanded Abraham to do the unthinkable.   He was to take Isaac, the son that he had waited for so long to come, and sacrifice him on an altar as a burnt offering to God.   The Scriptures do not record any argument or debate from Abraham.   Rather, he gets up early the next morning packs his supplies grabs Isaac and takes off to do just as God had commanded.   When Isaac questions about the sacrifice Abraham confidently tells him that God would provide.   The New Testament tells us that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac from the dead.   Whatever the case may be, Isaac let his dad tie him up, lay him on the altar and raise a knife to plung

I am sure that when Abraham answered God’s call to leave Ur and believed that God would give him numerous descendants, he imagined the promise would come to pass much sooner than it did.   It did, however, come to pass.   God’s plans are amazing and we will do well to wait patiently for them to come to pass. GOD PRODUCES AN HEIR THROUGH SARAH: Just has God had promised a year earlier, Sarah conceived and bore a son that they called Isaac.   Sarah laughed when she heard the promised, she laughed when she became pregnant, she laughed when the baby was born and she invited everyone who heard her story to laugh right along with her.   It was only appropriate that the child be named laughter.   God is a specialist and turning our tears into joy, turning our fear into hope and turning our trials into victories.   This was a great time of joy in Abraham’s house.   It is a wonderful thing to serve a God who keeps His promises.   We are blessed to know this God that is not limited by the circum

They say that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.   Abraham migrates once again and finds himself in a place where he fears that he will be killed because of the beauty of his wife.   He has made this same mistake in the past, but decides to follow the same course of action once again. ABRAHAM LIES TO ABIMALECK: I cannot imagine the cowardice that overtakes Abraham in times like this.   When Lot was taken prisoner he marched out a defeated a coalition of kings to rescue his nephew.   Now Abraham fears Abimaleck so much that he forgets the promise of his descendants coming through Sarah and he lies about her being his sister and gives his wife to the king.   Apparently, even in her advanced age, Sarah was still beautiful.   Fear of men and a failing faith are a dangerous combination.   When we live in fear of the circumstances we face it is easy to forget the faithfulness of God.   This leads us to disobedience and is a disgrace to the name of our God.   We must

I believe that this is one of the most sobering passages in all of Scripture.   It demonstrates God’s hatred of and the consequences of sin.   It gives us a startling example of how low men can sink into sin.   It also shows us how dangerous it is for those who fear God to associate with men who have no fear of or respect for God.   These are sobering words for sobering times that today’s society desperately needs to visit. THE DEPRAVITY OF SODOM: It appears that between the visit to Abraham and the visit to Sodom Christ leaves the company of angles, presumably because He could not stand to be in the company of such depravity.   When the two remaining angles enter the city of Sodom, Lot immediately recognizes them as messengers form God and he bows before them and insists on taking them into his home for their own protection.   Lot lives in a depraved society and he knows it.   He has somehow managed to keep his daughters pure and does not participate in the sins of Sodom, but he was s

Three men arrive in Abraham’s camp and there must have been something very obvious about them that let Abraham know that these were messenger’s from God.   One of them seems to be a manifestation of the pre-incarnate Christ.   They are special guests that are on a special mission.   God is preparing to do something extraordinary once again and is here to reveal His plans to Abraham. A WARM RECEPTION:   When Abraham received the visitors, he did all that he could to take care of them and make them feel welcome in his home.   He washed their feet, gave them rest and plenty of food.   He was honored to be able to have them as guests and demonstrated it in very tangible ways.   Hospitality is such an important aspect of what God wants to see in our lives.   The ability to make people feel welcome and to serve them with love and care is honoring to God.   So often we get so preoccupied with our own agendas that we do not even consider the needs of the people around us.   Loving others by op

Abraham has been waiting for a very long time to see the promises God made to him come true. It has been several decades since Abraham left Ur with the promise of property and the provision of posterity.   Abraham is still living in a tent and Sarah still has no son.   Just when it looked like all hope was lost and Abraham must have been questioning whether or not God had forgotten all about him; God shows up.   We might be tempted to question Abraham’s faith, but we must remember that Ishmael, Abraham’s illegitimate son, is now a teen-ager.   We often have a hard time waiting for 13 days for God to answer our prayers.   Abraham has been waiting for far more than 13 years. GOD REPEATS HIS SOLEMN COVENANT:   God must have known that Abraham was struggling, so He comes to Abraham once again and repeats the covenant that He had made with Abraham.   He tells Abraham that he will be the father of many nations that his descendants will possess the Promised Land and He even changes his name.

Just when is seems like Abraham is walking with and trusting God, he follows Sarah’s advice to have relationships with Hagar in order to try to have children.   God has repeatedly assured Abraham that He will have descendants, but as time goes on Abraham and Sarah grow impatient and take matters into their own hands.   Sometimes the hardest thing for us to do is wait and trust God.   This plan brought about several problems in the family, many of which continue to this day. ABRAHAM TRIES TO HELP GOD: Abraham and Sarah’s plan for Abraham to bear children through Hagar was not born out of lust but out of a lack of faith.   They had been told that they would have a child, but as time went on it became harder and harder to believe and wait.   Men have an ability to rationalize sin when they think that it will in some way help God to keep His promises.   There are two things we must remember: first, God does not need our help; and second, God’s will is never accomplished through sin.   We m

God appears to Abraham in a vision and reaffirms His promises to him.   God is gracious to reveal Himself to man.   God establishes a special relationship with Abraham and interacts with him in a unique manner.   God makes it very clear that He is going to do something special with Abraham and through his descendants. THE PROMISE OF A PEOPLE: God has promised all along that Abraham would be the father of a great nation.   The problem is that he does not have any children.   His wife is barren and he is getting old.   Abraham suggests that his head servant would be his heir and that perhaps this nation would come out of his servant.   God assures Abraham that he will father a child and then takes him out to look at the stars and promises him that his descendants would be more numerous than the stars in the sky.   Abraham believes God and God counts this belief as righteousness for Abraham.   God always justifies men on the basis of faith.   We must believe that God keeps His promises ev

War seems to be a constant companion of mankind.   People always seem to want more than they have and are willing to go to war with others in order to obtain what they desire.   Abraham seems to be neutral in this conflict until Lot is taken as prisoner.   This is an amazing story that must have involved incredible heroics and supernatural intervention. DESTRUCTION: Sodom and Gomorrah are part of a rebellion against a foreign king who seems to be in control of this region.   The king comes down with his allies and makes a clean sweep of the coalition of nations that tried to overthrow his dominion.   Sodom and Gomorrah fall and are dispersed and destroyed.   Lot and his family are taken captive as prisoners of war and are likely destined to be sold as slaves.   God seems to be judging these wicked cities and warning Lot that his company with these evil men is placing him and his family in grave danger.   Sin always has disastrous consequences.   God uses kings and nations to punish tho

After a disastrous journey to Egypt, Abraham returns to Bethel where he had built an altar and he called on the name of the Lord.   It is hard to know what would have happened had he stayed put, but, to his credit, Abraham did return to the land to which God had called him.   His struggles continued, but God was faithful all along the way. ABRAHAM EXPERIENCES CONFLICT WITH LOT: Abraham and Lot were both very wealthy men and the land was not able to support all of their animals in the same location.   I believe that Lot’s presence with Abraham was not God’s plan from the beginning.   God had told Abraham to leave his home and his family, not take his nephew along with him.   Whatever the case may be, we can always be sure that when we disobey God, conflict will not be far around the corner.   It is amazing how easy it is for interpersonal relationships to distract us from that which God has called us to do and be. ABRAHAM EXTENDS COURTESY TO LOT: Abraham does a very wise thing in order

We face many ups and downs in life in general as well as in our spiritual walk.   There are times when things are going our way and times were it seems like all is going wrong.   There are times in our walk with God that we feel so close to Him and experience great blessing from Him.   However at times we feel like we are in a holding pattern just going through the motions of life without really seeing real progress.   Then there are times when we simply give in to the desires of our flesh and we walk in sin.   It is clear that Abraham experienced all of these stages in his life and walk with God. ABRAHAM’S PROMISE: God called Abraham and set him apart from all the men of the earth.   We do not have any indication that Abraham was a particularly righteous man like Noah.   It simply appears that God decided to reveal Himself to Abraham and to give him promises that God determined to fulfill.   The promise included personal blessings, national blessing and universal blessings.   God prom

It is obvious that the flood did not remove the sinful hearts of men.   God had told Noah and his family to multiply and fill the earth.   It becomes very apparent that man did not desire to fill the earth but decided to congregate.   This is not what God commanded and not what God desired so once again He interrupted the course of history and judged mankind.   We can accompany this progression in this chapter. CONCEIT: When we look at the intent of man’s heart, it is very easy to see that one of his basic problems in conceit or pride.   When the God of the universe gives a command, those who recognize their proper place in life humbly submit to Him.   Arrogant men rebel against God and refuse to obey.   Society feared separating from one another, so they decided to build a city where everyone could live and in the city they built a tower.   Possibly, the purpose of the tower was to have a means to escape the judgment of God should He flood the earth again.   Apparently this tower beca

Noah’s three sons are the origins of all nations of the world today.   This chapter gives us the locations to which they were spread and it seems that their languages were determined according to their connection with their families going back to Shem, Ham and Japheth.   I find it interesting that the genealogy starts with the youngest and moves to the oldest. THE DESCENDANTS OF JAPHETH: God has promised that Japheth’s house would be expanded, and it certainly appears that geographically this is true.   It seems that most of northern Europe and Asia were inhabited by the descendants of Japheth.   This is a huge area of land that makes up a major percentage of the population of the earth. THE DESCENDANTS OF HAM: Ham was cursed in the previous chapter and it seems that his descendants were spread to the south of Israel which would include Africa.   It would be hard to identify a content that has suffered more through the history of the world than Africa.   Ham was also the origin of the

After the flood, God instituted some changes on the earth.   However, it became very clear that some things had not changed.   The evil in man’s heart was not washed away by the flood, so God instituted some changes to help men govern in the midst of this evil.   The changes that God made are further steps of God revealing Himself to man along the path of redemption. THE PROTECTION OF PEOPLE: God’s command to Noah and his family was to multiply and fill the earth.   He gave man the right to use all of the animals as food, so it seems that up until this time, all men were vegetarians.   The most significant change was that God protected human life by making murder be punishable by death.   Men were not permitted to kill Cain after he murdered Able.   This prohibition seemed to embolden Cain’s grandson Lamech who killed two men.   As time went on men became more and more violent to the point that prior to the flood murder was very likely a common occurrence.   God made man in His own ima

In the midst of God’s judgment we find that His grace is evident.   God saved the lives of Noah and the animals in the ark; not because He needed to, but because He is gracious.   We should not marvel that God would judge the sins of men so severely.   We should marvel at God’s mercy and grace in saving anyone.   That an absolutely holy God permits sinful men to live one day is mercy.   That our God makes provision for sinful men to live for all of eternity through Christ is amazing grace. GOD REMEMBERED NOAH: God’s wrath had been poured out upon the earth all live outside the ark had been extinguished.   But God remembered Noah and all the animals in the ark and He made provision for them to be saved.   God alone is able to resolve the problems of man’s sin.   God always consistent with His divine attributes.   He is always holy, He is always gracious and He is always just.   God’s grace is never consumed by His justice and His holiness is never consumed by His grace.   He acts in acc

It is astounding and sobering to see how God judged the entire earth because of the sinfulness of man.   It appears that God determined to make some major changes on the earth that would shorten the lives of men and demonstrate His ability and willingness to judge mankind.   Unfortunately, man has not been very faithful to remember these truths about God.   Fortunately Noah did obey the Lord and he and his family along with the animals were spared. NOAH LISTENED TO THE WARNING: God was faithful to warn Noah of the coming judgment.   God has always been faithful to warn man of judgments that are coming.   As we read through Scripture we see that much of it is dedicated to warning man of God’s judgment.   We must follow Noah’s example and listen to these warnings and take them very seriously.   Since it had never rained on the earth prior to the flood, it must have seemed unbelievable that God would flood the earth.   We can only imagine the ridicule that Noah and his family suffered as