His dealings right now are with a guy called Abimelech – one of the first Philistine leaders to settle in Canaan. He pays a fairly formal visit to Abraham, taking his army commander along.
Now, Abraham and Abimelech go back a wee while together. Chapter 20 – which we missed out – tells how when Abraham entered Abimelech’s territory, he introduced Sarah, not as his wife, but as his sister. That was a half-truth, as we have already found out. And Abraham had already done the same thing, to Pharaoh in Egypt. You would think he would have learned his lesson. Yet here was, repeating the same old mistakes again, betraying his wife into the hands of a foreign King, then lying low and hoping something would work out. This pattern of wrong behaviour was so deeply ingrained that it was repeated in the next generation: What Abraham had done, his son Isaac in turn did – to Abimelech! (Gen 26. 7)
This time, God had done two things. He had appeared to Abimelech in a dream and warned him in no uncertain terms not to touch Sarah. And he had caused a sudden outbreak of infertility in Abimelech's tribe. (as well as causing the women in Abimelech's tribe to become infertile! So the situation took place over a protracted period of time, once again!)
And again, as had happened in Egypt, Abimelech told Abraham off severely – and asked Abraham what he was playing at. And Abraham's excuse for his behaviour? He was afraid, because “I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife!” Now, that is not a great way to win friends and influence people! It was honest, but it was honestly stupid. Too often Christians struggle in our dealings with the “secular world” because in our hearts we are thinking the same s Abraham was: “There is no fear of God in this place.” I believe that sort of negative, judgemental, and sometimes shallow assessment of our world, pulls us out of shape, blinds us to the possibilities for effective, positive witness, and predisposes us to be fearful and inept in our dealings with the big, bad world.
But God was gracious: he was on Abimelech's and Abraham's and Sarah's case! So Abimelech's response was to give Abraham sheep and land to stay in as compensation for taking his wife. God was gracious, and Abimelech showed himself to be honest and fair-minded.
That's all background. Now Abimelech turns up again with the commander of his army. He's not looking for trouble: quite the opposite, he wants to head trouble off. He's looking for some sort of agreement, some sort of treaty, that will allow his people, and Abraham's people, to co-exist, in the new land they have come to.
Is it possible to co-exist with the Philistines? Is it possible to co-exist with the “secular world”? With an employer, a Trade Union, a political party? Not if we are full of fear and tend to dismiss everything outside the Christian faith as “Godless” and bad. And not if like Lot, we walk blindly into our world and uncritically copy its values and actions. We want to be salt and light in our world; we want to change our world. That means we have to be there but be different.
Abimelech has two things to say:
Firstly, “I recognise that God is with you”.
Abimelech had reasons to know that “God is obviously with you, helping you in
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| Sunset on Castleland Hill, Photo by G Lilly |
Abraham was able to demonstrate God's power and God's grace. That is a desirable aim: in the world of work, politics, business, for people to be able to recognise God is with you”....
It is grace. We make mistakes – just like Abraham did, we misjudge people, we self-protect, we lie, we connive. And God is on our case! He wants to refine our character, to pour out his power, to provide for us, to answer our prayers, so that people can see “God is with you.”
And, secondly, “Promise you will not deceive me”.
“Don't lie to me; and deal with me according to the covenant love or loyalty (hesed) I have shown to you.” A bit embarrassing for Abraham! Abimelech had reasons to say “Promise you won't deceive me!” Abraham is happy to enter into a treaty with Abimelech; but first, he wants to be sure it will not be empty words but a workable agreement they can all use for future reference, so he needs to deal with something that has been an irritation for some time – and was actually vitally important in an area where water is a valuable commodity. Some of Abimelech's men have taken over by force a well dug by Abraham. Abimelech denies all knowledge.
The way the agreement was “signed” was through a ceremony when animals were handed over. And Abraham includes seven lambs as a sign that he, Abraham, had dug and therefore was the rightful owner, of that well.
There area a number of lessons we can take from this treaty, for our witness, co-existing in our world.
Firstly, to be affirming and positive. To recognise virtues and strengths. “Deal with me according to the loyalty I have shown you
Secondly, to be grace-givers, who are prepared to show generosity in situations where there is wrong.
Thirdly, to be realistic and proactive in dealing with difficulties.
Finally, to be honest and upright at all times.
We have covenants, agreements, responsibilities and points of contact with the secular, commercial, business world: we buy and sell houses; we borrow money, we accept jobs; we go to school, we use the NHS. And some of us have that connexion in our own homes, maybe in marriages with people who don't know Jesus or with kids or parents who aren't living as Christians. All around us there are people, situations, that are saying to us “deal with me according to the loyalty I have show to you.”
We need to hear that. We need to be in the place where we are hearing these two cries, from the “secular world”: “I recognise that God is with you,” and, “promise that you will be fair with me”
So the place gets a new name: The well of Seven, which sounds like The well of oath. Beersheba. There Abraham plants a tamarisk tree – any tree would be a sign of looking to the future and the tamarisk has particularly hard, durable wood. A great sign of permanence, and reminder of the “everlasting God”. Quietly, on his own again, Abraham worships the “everlasting God.” If we are in there in the power of he Spirit, the secular world doesn’t distract from our spiritual life – it enriches it and makes it makes it stronger.
© Gilmour Lilly June 2015
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