PLEASE NOTE: You will find a fuller exploration of the following, in the books, “Reconciliation: The Children of Abraham,” and “The Great Consolidation: Reconciling the Family of God.”Christianity seems to be taking a brutal hit from the world, at this time. It seems that there is some fatigue about the message of the gospel, as delivered by much of the community of the ministers, priests, and other officials of the organized church. This is unfortunate. The message of the gospel as contained in the Bible, is a powerful tool for living. It is time that the undistilled message of the Gospel be presented to the world, in a modern format. Therefore, in this discourse we will be presenting discussions of Bible-based topics of religious living; with an emphasis on the Jewish and Christian traditions. There will also be some mention of those parts of Islam that pertain to the God of Abraham. In this blog, we study God as He is described in the Old Testament of the Bible. To use the words from a discussion between God and Moses:
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
(Exodus 3:11-15)Lest those who are of the lineage of Ishmael, the son of Abraham by the handmaiden, become uncomfortable with this Scripture; let me add that the LORD is also the God of Ishmael. To support this statement, let me quote from a few passages of the Bible. This should provide a tie-in between the two lines of Abraham: Ishmael and Isaac.
Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
(Genesis 17:17-20)And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. (Genesis 25:7-10)Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham: And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations:the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth;and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations.
And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren.
(Genesis 25:12-18)There did not seem to be any anamosity between the two brothers, Ishmael and Isaac. In their time, they seem to have put aside the differences of their mothers. There is no written indication that, once they were of the age of accountability, Ishmael and Isaac ever had any conflicts between them that had to be put aside.This is the same type of peace that another two brothers came to; brothers who did, indeed, have at least one–maybe two–conflicts between them that needed resolving. These brothers were the twin sons (fraternal, not maternal) of Isaac and Rebekah. Therefore, since they were twins, they had no inherent maternal differences to set aside. They did, however, have paternal differences that spilled over to, and absorbed a significant part of the joint-life of the children.. Again, this is from the Bible.At the beginning, of the conflict, the brothers had this type of relationship:
And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.
And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
(Genesis 27:1-13)And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou?
And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau.
And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.
And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.
And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing.
And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
(Genesis 27:30-36)And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away; Until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?
(Genesis 27:41-45)Just as a side note, here, before coming to the conclusion of the matter: there is some blending of the lines of Ishmael and Isaac, as found in the Bible.
When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughers of Canaan; And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. (Genesis 28:6-9)Returning to the struggle between the brothers, Jacob and Esau: as the LORD moved them through life, and gave them individual measures of prosperity. In that respect, the beneficence of the LORD God was extended to both borthers. God did not favor one, just because he was a child of promise, Jacob, while neglecting or discarding the other, Esau. Both sons are of the line of Abraham, through Isaac. Thus, both sons were heirs to the blessings of the LORD, in accordance with how they reached out to the LORD to receive them. Thus, in time, the relationship matured to this form:
And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee?
And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met?
And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.
And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.
And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.
And he urged him, and he took it.
(Genesis 33:1-11)Maybe, by reading some of these postings, the two extensions of the line of Abraham can see that there is no need for warring about the place of each in the will of the LORD God. In fact, the entire region should be able to stand up proud in their combined place in the heart of God. I close this greeting to you, with the following Scripture, which pertains directly to the peace of the region of the children of Abraham, as well as the peace of those who were a part of the development of the region, under the guiding Hand of the LORD God; as revealed to the prophet Isaiah.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. (Isaiah 19:23-25)
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This entry was posted on Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 18:20 and is filed under Why Stop Here. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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