Daddy, where is the lamb...

Genesis 21:1 - 22:24

Genesis 21:1-20
Just as surely as God had promised, Sarah delivered a son and right on schedule to boot, just as God promised. Abraham named his son Isaac. On the day of his weaning Sarah saw Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar, mocking Isaac and it angered her. She told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and her son. Now as you can Imagine, this distressed Abraham in a big way! she wants him to send his son, Ishmael, away. He took the matter to God. God told Abraham not to worry, do as Sarah asked. God reassured Abraham that his son Ishmael would be OK. He was destined to become a nation as God promised Abraham when Abraham was pleading for God to bless Ishmael before Isaac was born. (Note: this is the 2nd time that God told Abraham that Ishmael would become a nation. Looks to me as if God wanted Abraham to know that, even though Ishmael was a product of the "will of man" and not the "will of God", God would still bless him and keep him).

The next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food a skin of water and sent her and her son Ishmael on their way, wandering in the desert. When the water was gone Hagar sat her son under a bush and want a little distance away because she could not watch him die. Hagar sat down and began sobbing. I can feel the pain that Hagar must have felt... total and complete abandonment, rejection, helplessness! She had no food or water, no shelter, no way to care for her son, no way to stop the pain. She could do nothing but cry out to the Lord for help. (JewishEncylopedia.com says that Hagar prayed to God that He would take Ishmael instead of him dying a slow and painful death.) An angel of the Lord called out to Hagar, telling her "do not be afraid" God had heard the cries of Ishmael as he lay under the bush.

(Stop here for a moment. Does this sound familiar? Yes! When Sarah ran Hagar away, back in Chapter 16, the Angel of the Lord came to her by the well in the desert and said, "... you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for God heard you". The name Ishmael means "God has listens". I guess names and their meanings are important. What do you think?)

Back to the story...

God told her to take Ishmael by the hand, get him up, God will make him into a great nation. At that, God opened her eyes, seeing a well of water, she gave her son a drink.
God was with Ishmael as he grew up living in the desert of Paran. He eventually married a woman that his mother found for him in Egypt.


Daddy, where is the lamb...
 
Genesis 22:1-24
I again come back to a statement that I have said over and over since I began these postings, Abraham is a GREAT man of faith!

I have just written about how Abraham sent his son, Ishmael, to wander in the desert still believing a promise from God that He would make Ishmael a nation, in spite of what the natural eye told him. Now we find him going to "worship God" by sacrificing his "promised son", Isaac. Yes, I do understand that Abraham had promise after promise that his descendants would be as the dust and as the stars, they could not be counted, that he was to be the father of many nations, and all of this was to be through Isaac. But, God has now asked Abraham to do the unthinkable, the illogical. He has asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, the son through whom the blessing was to come, on the altar as an offering to God!

As they come near the place that God had described, Abraham said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you". (Did you catch that? Abraham said, "We will come back to you". Was that a show of faith? Did he truly believe that God would provide a sacrifice and spare his son Isaac? Remember, Abraham is a man of great faith. However, he did lie 2 times because he was in fear of losing his life. What are your thoughts on this?)

I can see him now, innocent and pure, trusting his father. Isaac picks up the wood and other essentials for the sacrifice. He looks around, searching, searching for something. He gets a puzzled look on his face. He looks in his Daddy eyes and says, "Daddy, where is the lamb?" Abraham, knowing what God had told him, looks down at his son, he places his hand on his son's cheek, choking back tears (I am sure), and replies, "God Himself will provide the lamb". With that they set off to worship the Lord.

After arriving at the place that God had told him about, Abraham builds and altar. He binds his son hands and feet and places him on the altar. (I can not immagine the feelings of either of the 2 of them... I SAT HERE INTEARS READING THIS STORY! As a father, I just can't immagine being told to kill my child!) Abraham takes out a knife and raises his hand to slay his son. He hears God call his name! "ABRAHAM! ABRAHAM! Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looks up, through his tears he sees a ram caught in the thicket. He takes the ram and offers it to the Lord as a burnt offering. Because of God's provision, Abraham called this place "The Lord Will Provide".

God did provide the sacrifice! It was there waiting the whole time... waiting for Abraham to be obedient to God. Had Abraham said, "No" at any point along the way he never would have seen the faithfulness of God, the provision of God, nor would he have received the blessings of God that come with obedience!

Can you pass the test?

Better yet, can I pass the test?