I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.

     Once again Abraham moves into an area where he is afraid of the rulers, so he agrees with Sarah to tell the people that she is his sister. Once again, the local ruler (named Abimelech in this case) takes Sarah as his wife and once again God intervenes and warns the ruler against actually sleeping with her. Abimelech confronts Abraham about his deception and Abraham tells Abimelech that he was afraid that they would kill him in order to take his wife Sarah. Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham along with a large amount of wealth and offered Abraham his choice of land to live on. It is interesting that for a second time Abraham misled a ruler about his wife and for second time he received a large amount of wealth for doing so.
     Shortly after this Isaac was born. Abraham was 100 years old at the time and Sarah was 90. When Isaac was weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael mocking him and demanded that Abraham send Ishmael and his mother Hagar away. Abraham did as Sarah requested and sent Hagar and Ishmael away. When the food and water that Abraham provided ran out, Hagar thought that they were going to die. However, God reassured her that He was with her and Ishmael and revealed to her a nearby well.
     About this time Abimelech came to Abraham and made a treaty with him. As part of the treaty, Abraham requests recognition that a well that Abimelech’s men had taken from him actually belonged to Abraham. There are two possible translations of the name “Abimelech”. The first is “My father is king.” The second is “My father is Moloch” (later prophets condemned the act of sacrificing children to Moloch). This is significant because the next part of the passage is about Abraham taking Isaac to sacrifice him. If Abimelech means “My father is Moloch” it suggests that Abraham was living among a people who sacrificed some of their children to Moloch. Which in turn explains why Abraham felt obligated to sacrifice Isaac to God, it was the way that those around him expected a godly man to behave. Abraham took Isaac and the wood to offer a sacrifice and went to the mountain that he had been told was the place to offer the sacrifice. As he approached the place with Isaac, Isaac asked his father where the sacrifice was. What were they going to sacrifice when they got there? They had the wood and fire, but no animal to sacrifice. Abraham replied that God would provide a sacrifice. Now there are different ways to interpret this, but I believe that Abraham was looking for God to provide a way out. Abraham believed that he should be willing to sacrifice his son to God and he was willing to perform this sacrifice, but he felt that that probably did not represent God’s will. The people he was living among kept saying to him, “How can you claim that you are truly dedicated to this God you claim to serve when you won’t even offer Him your son? Look we sacrifice from our children to our god.” When Abraham got to the mountain he bound Isaac on the altar and prepared to perform the sacrifice. At the last moment God spoke to him and told him to not sacrifice Isaac, showing Abraham a ram caught in the thicket. God did provide. Abraham was able to return and tell the people of the land that he lived in that his God did not desire him to kill his children. Rather Abraham’s God provides alternate sacrifices. God desires that we raise our children to serve Him.

     In today’s passage Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with three final teachings. In the first He tells us to be wary of teachers who come with wonderful sounding teachings who are teaching in order to benefit themselves. He tells us that we can judge the value of their teachings by evaluating their actions. Just as we would judge a fruit tree by the quality of its fruit, so we should judge those who claim to teach righteousness by the quality of their actions. You can judge how much someone cares about people in general by looking at how they treat people in particular. Does someone speak eloquently about how important it is to do things to assist those who are less fortunate, yet never seems to have time for anyone who cannot offer them something? Or does someone speak coldly about facts and figures, yet repeatedly interrupts their own pursuits to help those in distress? We are to judge a person’s words by their actions, not judge their actions by their words.
     Jesus goes on to say that it is not enough to say that we are doing things to glorify God. It is not enough to do mighty works in Jesus name, we have to actually do the will of God. Finally, Jesus says that it is not enough to hear His words, we have to actually follow them. If we put Jesus’ words into practice we will be building our lives on solid footing and we will be able to withstand all of the storms that come upon us. On the other hand, if we do not follow Jesus’ teachings, we will be washed away when the storm winds of life come upon us.

     I will tell of God’s wondrous deeds. I will praise His name. He will provide a shelter in times of trouble. I can trust in Him because He has never forsaken those who seek Him. He avenges murder and cares for the helpless. God answers the cries of those who suffer, let me never be the cause of their cries.

     Wisdom teaches that putting sexual gratification ahead of right behavior leads to misery and death. Rather follow the path of righteous living to a stable and contented old age.