His Faithfulness to ALL Generations

 

 

For the past several weeks, my church has been studying the book of Genesis, a couple chapters at a time. This week was the part of Abraham’s story where Sarah dies and Abraham finds a wife for Isaac. And I had a load of notes, part from the sermon, part from my own mind gears turning.

Let’s see if we can make this all make sense.

So first off, I was amazed to study just how many great nations ended up coming from Abraham. We all know the Israelites. We all know the Ishmaelites (who occupied Saudi Arabia, parts of Edom, and they eventually fathered the Islamic religions). We even know Esau became the nation of Edom. But after Sarah’s death, Abraham married a third time. We don’t talk about that much.

Abraham’s kids by his third wife were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Zimran may tentatively be connected with the nation of Yemen.

Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. Is this the Sheba from whence Ethiopia became a nation? Perhaps not, as there was another Sheba who was the grandson of Cush (though coincidentally, both Sheba figures also had a brother named Dedan). So who knows. Ethiopians could be descendants of Ham, or they could be descendants of Abraham.

But anyway… Abraham’s third son by Keturah was Medan. This is pure speculation, but is it possible that he could have fathered the Medes?

The fourth son, Midian, is pretty obvious. The Midianites, who occupied the northern Arabian Peninsula along with the Ishmaelites. Moses fled to Midian and married a Midianite woman. His father-in-law, Jethro, was a Midianite priest. The worship of YHWH seemingly originated in Midian (considering Moses’ experiences have YHWH telling him that “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El-Shaddai, but I did not reveal my name, YHWH, to them.”

The fifth son is Ishbak, who’s further history is unknown.

Finally, there is Shuah, who seems to have travelled north and settled what is now northern Syria. On a side note, Job’s friend Bildad was a Shuaite.

Following this tangent, Job’s friend Eliphaz was a Temanite. There was a Teman who was a grandson of Esau and duke of Edom. Teman’s father was also named Eliphaz. We know that naming at least one son after your father or grandfather was a common thing in the ancient days, so perhaps Job’s friend was a great-grandson of Esau. His fourth friend, Elihu, was a Buzite. There was a Buz who was the second son of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Further, an attack from the Chaldees is one of the things that happened to Job. Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees, and the Chaldees continue to pop up through history all the way into the Babylonian Empire. So it’s not unreasonable to speculate that Job’s story could’ve been a few generations after Abraham.

But back to the point I was making. Basically the better part of the Middle East can potentially claim Abraham as their father. Kinda proves the whole “more descendants than the sand on the seashore” thing.

And Abraham makes a treaty with the king of Gezer (Gaza) to co-inhabit in peace. Isaac will eventually make a treaty with Gezer to also abide in peace. Moses will later annihilate Midian for seducing the men of Israel. He will command Israel to deal kindly with Edom, since they were brothers. David will defeat and annihilate the Philistines (of which Gezer was the capitol in Isaac’s day). History is loaded with covenants between one man and another, and many are eventually broken.

But none of this had anything to do with the sermon. That was merely my explorations after reading that Abraham had a third wife.

The main point of the sermon was about Isaac and how God is faithful to multiple generations.

In Genesis Chapter 23, Sarah dies at 127. Isaac can’t be more than 27 years old, since Sarah was 99 when she conceived. And Isaac is a very submissive, passive, and wholly unambitious guy. He isn’t even stated as having put up a fight when Abraham tied him to an altar. He very much just goes with the flow. But now his mom is dead, and at 27, he has no wife, no kids, and--let’s be honest—he doesn’t have much of a life either. *winces painfully, sitting here at 26 in a very relatable position*

And Abraham starts worrying that in grieving Sarah’s death, Isaac will turn to the Canaanites to find a woman to comfort him. So Abraham sends his servant back to Ur. The servant finds Rebecca, takes her to Canaan, and when Isaac and Rebecca lay eyes on each other, its more sappy than a Hallmark movie. Instant love, they go into the tent, and he *cough* “knows” her. Shortest dating period in history. Shortest wedding in history, too.

Never mind that Rebecca was the daughter of Isaac’s cousin. At least they did better than Abraham marrying his own sister. Though Isaac eventually pulled the same lie his father did, and told the king of Gezer “this is my sister”. You would think they would’ve learned to stop doing that.

But ultimately, it just goes to show God’s faithfulness. He made a covenant with Abraham who married his sister and twice lied about being married. He made the same covenant to Isaac, the unambitious man-child who proceeded to be something of a pushover his entire life. He made the same covenant to Jacob the cheater. And he remains faithful through all generations.

Man failed in his faithfulness. Badly. Man fails basically every time you turn a page in the Bible. But not once does God cease in his faithfulness.