0728. Beguiling Abraham
Beguiling Abraham
"When the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife, and they will kill me" (Gen_12:12).
The people who filled the earth following the flood, were soon under satan’s sway. The Lord God manifested His judgments by the destruction of the tower of Babel, and in other ways. Finally God spoke unto Abram.
This man Abram was separated from his country and his people. Unto him God spoke and gave promise that through him the Seed of the woman would be born.
With the promised Seed narrowed down to one, satan naturally began to plot against that one man. In this, satan’s strategies are plainly marked. We will tabulate them thus:
1. Satan first fills Abram’s heart with fear of Pharaoh. Sarai was beautiful of countenance and fair to look upon: and Abram said unto his wife, concerning the Egyptians, "They will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister" (Gen_12:12-13). Thus it befell that Sarai was taken unto Pharaoh’s house. "And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife" (Gen_12:17), and so the Lord delivered her, baffling satan’s purpose to destroy the Seed.
2. Satan next causes Abram to doubt the promises of God. And Abram said: "Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus * * Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir" (Gen_15:2-3). But God forever set aside Eliezer as Abram’s heir: "This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth of thine own bowels shall be thine heir (Gen_15:4). And Abram believed the Lord.
3. Satan yet again makes Abram waver. The years pass on and still no child is born through whom the Seed could come. Both Abram and Sarai were old and past the age of parentage. Hagar, Sarai’s maid, had been given Abram as concubine, and Abram had a son (Ishmael) of her. About this time God spake and said unto Abram: "My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham" (Gen_17:4-5). And God said: "As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her" (Gen_17:15-16). And Abraham 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" (Gen_17:17-18). But God, confounding satan’s strategy, gave assurance that not Hagar, but Sarah; not Ishmael, but Isaac should fulfil His will. And thus God said: "My covenant will I establish with Isaac" (Gen_17:21) and with his seed.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR