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Midweek Meditation, October 13, 2020, Week of October 11, 2020

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Midweek Meditation, October 13, 2020, Week of October 11, 2020 Midweek Meditation, October 13, 2020, Week of October 11, 2020 Genesis 25 As you may remember from last week, we left off at the place where Abraham’s servant and Rebekah arrived in the land of Canaan after a long journey, whose purpose was to find a wife for Isaac. They arrived at the place where Isaac was, and Rebeka covered herself with a veil, and she was joined in marriage to Isaac inside the tent of Sarah, Isaac’s recently deceased mother. And so, the covenant that Abraham made with his servant was fulfilled. That brings us to the beginning of the 25th chapter of Genesis. Now, the first part of this 25th chapter contains a story that is quite often forgotten about, when it comes to the broader story about Abraham. Let’s take a step back, and think about how old Abraham was at this point in his life. Recently, we know that Sarah had passed away at the age of 127. And from the stories about the birth of Isaac, we know that Abraham was about 10 years older than Sarah. So, Abraham at this point in the story, is at least 137, and perhaps a year or two older than that. You may remember, we presumed that Abraham was too old to make the journey in order to find his son, Isaac, a wife. But look here what happens to Abraham in this chapter. Several years after Sarah died, Abraham found himself another wife. And her name was Keturah. Abraham and Keturah had six children. And their names were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Median, Ishbak and Shuah. From what the scripture says, we don’t know how old Keturah is, but obviously, she is many years younger than Abraham, because Sarah was considered way too old to have children at the age of 90. Isaac was born only by the miraculous hand of God. So, Keturah had to be even many years younger than 90, and that compared to Abraham who was 137 at the least. Go figure! Maybe he could have made that journey back to his homeland after all. So, at this point, Abraham has 8 children; Ishmael, the son of Sarah’s handmaiden, Hagar; Isaac, born to Sarah and Abraham; and these six that were shared by Keturah and Abraham. Yet, as God told Abraham, Isaac was the one chosen by God to be the only heir to Abraham. So, all of Abraham’s wealth, or blessing, as we referred to it last week, went to Isaac. Just like Abraham did with his son, Ishmael, he presented his younger sons, who were not named Isaac, with gifts and sent them off to the land east of Canaan. But we will get into all of that part of the story next time. This part of the story shifts quickly to the death of Abraham. Abraham lived a little more than 40 years after the death of Sarah to the ripe old age of 175. Upon his death, this passage says that Abraham was gathered to his people. There are some differing ideas about exactly what it means for Abraham to be gathered to his people at the time of his death. I take it to mean that he was spiritually reunited with his ancestors, that he was asked by God, to leave in the land of Ur so many years ago; Terah, Abraham’s father, Nahor and Haran, his brothers and their families; and also, with his wife Sarah, of course. Upon Abraham’s death, it is interesting that Isaac and Ishmael seem to be equal partners in the process of returning to the tomb that Abraham bought in Hebron from the Hittites, 40 years ago. It says that Isaac and Ishmael joined together and placed their father’s body in the tomb at the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite. You may remember that this was the cave that the Hittites wanted to give to Abraham at the time of Sarah’s death. They said that he could take whatever place he wanted; none of the people will object. But Abraham insisted on paying a fair price for the place where he would bury his beloved Sarah. So, Sarah was placed there, and now Abraham was being placed there. And Abraham and Sarah and a number of their offspring remain there until this day. I thought it was interesting that earlier in Genesis, when Ishmael and Hagar, Ishmael’s mother, were sent away, many years ago, Isaac was referred to as Abraham’s only Son, indicating that Ishmael had been disowned. Yet now, at the time of Abraham’s death, Isaac and Ishmael are listed as the survivors of Abraham. And beyond that, there is no mention in that conversation about Abraham’s other six sons. And another question to ask here is, “Were there any daughters born to Abraham? Did Abraham have daughters that are simply not mentioned? I believe this is likely. Because there is no mention of any girls being born to the line of Abraham until several generations later when Jacob has a daughter that is mentioned in the Biblical narrative. It seems unlikely that there were no girls born in this whole family until two generations removed from Abraham. More likely, they are just not mentioned in the context of a patriarchal society. This passage concludes by saying that, after Abraham’s death, God blessed his son, Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi. This underscores that Isaac and Rebeka were the ones that God chose to dwell in Canaan. Abraham’s other children and their families all lived in the land to the east. And by the way, Isaac and Rebeka were still living as aliens in this land just like Abraham and Sarah were. Isaac’s descendants would not actually inherit this land for many years and many generations. Until then, Isaac and Rebekah and all of their offspring must simply wait faithfully and patiently for the fulfillment of God’s promise that was made so long ago to Abraham and Sarah. After Abraham’s death, Ishmael returned to the east. And Rebekah and Isaac continue as the line that God chose to dwell in the promised land, the land of Canaan. And that will end our conversation for today. If you want to know what comes next, you will have to tune in next week. Let us pray… .
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