Genesis 21.22-34

When I was a kid, I always found it frustrating to know that I didn't really own anything. My dad would remind me of this fact now and again. If I complained that he wanted to change the channel on the TV while I was watching something, he would point out that the TV wasn't mine. It was his, because he had bought it, and he now had control over what would show on it. In fact, none of the things I thought I had were really mine. My clothes, my toys, my bed...I didn't have true ownership over any of it! And that was a fact that always got on my nerves.

I wonder if Abraham ever felt similarly while he was living in the land of Canaan. God had made some pretty big promises to him. In Genesis 12, he had promised him descendants (an entire nation, in fact!), and he had promised that those descendants would live in the land. But for a long time, it looked like those promises might not happen. Abraham and his wife Sarah were really old (like, eating pudding cups all day at the nursing home old), so it didn't seem like they were going to be having kids. And, even though Abraham had set up camp in Canaan, he really didn't own any of it.

But, as Jeremy showed us last week, we begin to see the fulfillment of these promises in Genesis 21. At the beginning of the chapter, Abraham and Sarah have a son, Isaac. And in our passage today, we see how the promise of land begins to be fulfilled. Now, when yo first read this passage today, it seems like the most obscure thing in the world. But I think it shows us a lot about how God is faithful to keep his promises--both his promises to Abraham and his promises to us.

Here's how the passage starts out:

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do. 23 Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where yo have sojourned." And Abraham said, "I will swear."

In these verses, we are reminded that God has made a promise, a covenant, with Abraham. Even Abimelech, a king of the Philistines, recognizes this. Abimelech knows that Abraham is God's man (maybe because God himself had told him! [Gen. 20:7]). And yet, Abimelech knows that Abraham is living in the land as an alien. He's not living in a land that is his own; Abimelech is allowing him to live there.

Like Abraham, we too have receive various promises from God, and in this life, we have yet to receive the fulfillment of those promises. We have receive a promise of place, just as Abraham had. In John 14:1-4, Jesus says that he was going to prepare a place for us, and he promises to come and take us with him to enjoy it. That's where we ultimately belong, and right now, we're living in the world as "sojourners and exiles" (1 Pet. 2:11).

So Abraham had receive a promise of a place. But in spite of his agreement for peace with Abimelech, not everything is fine and dandy. Here's what comes next in verses 25-26:

25 When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, 26 Abimelech said, "I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today." 

Apparently, Abraham had dug a well, but some of Abimelech's men had taken it over for themselves. This was a threat to Abraham's promised place. Now, we might think, "Eh, so what? What's the big deal? It's just a well." But in that area of the world, and in that day and age, there wasn't much water. A well meant life, and to have a well taken away was a serious problem. So Abraham has received a promise of a place, but now that place is threatened. The question of the passage is: Will God make good on his promise of a place for Abraham, or will he let these Pharisees take his well?

We might face a similar tension in our own lives. We might wonder if God is going to make good on the promises he has made to us. At times, outside forces might shake our trust in God's faithfulness. It could be our own sense of guilt, or it could be the skepticism we receive from friends and family because of our faith, or it could be that we see so many problems in the world (war, natural disasters, sickness, etc.). There are so many things we can experience that hammer away at our trust in God and his promises.

But when we get to the end of the passage in Genesis 21, we see how God confirms his promise to Abraham. Here's verses 27-34:

27 So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. 28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?" 30 He said, "these seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well." 31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. 32 So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. 34 And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

In the end, Abraham and Abilmelech make a treat that guarantees Abraham's possession of the well he had dug. The threat that was present is turned away. At the end of the passage, Abraham finally has something in the land that he can call "Mine." And at first glance, it might seem like this treaty between Abimelech and Abraham was just a normal human deal, but I think it's more than that. God is at work here. Abimelech is the king of the area, and if he wanted that well for himself, he probably could have taken it. But remember, God had already told Abimelech that Abraham was a prophet and that God was on his side. God had been orchestrating events to ensure that Abraham would have this well--that the promise of a place could be confirmed to him.

So at the beginning of Genesis 21, Abraham has received promises from God but really hasn't seen much of a fulfillment. He's a childless alien with nothing to call his own. But by the end of the chapter, we see the first signs of fulfillment. He might not have a nation yet, but he has a son. And he might not have the entire land, but he has a well.

I find it very interesting that in verse 33, it mentions that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree there in Beersheba. Abraham is living near water (his well) and a tree. In the Bible, water and trees are symbols of security, peace, and establishment. They are signs that God is making good on his promises. We might think of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were surrounded by trees, and there was a river running through the Garden. And when we read about our eternal home in Revelation 22, we read about "the river of the water of life" that flows through the city, and how "the tree of life" stands on both sides of the river. We see it again--water and trees--symbols of God's peace and a sign that his promises have been fulfilled.

Abraham trusted God and received the place that he had been promised. We too need to trust God, because he's a God who makes good on promises. Jesus really is preparing a place for us, and he really will come back to take us home.