Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 08 January 2021

A  quiet day here.  Yes, there is shouting and noise in much of our world.  We are taking a break from that, thankful for the opportunity for a few hours or days of peace.  We need it.

 It is, I think, not possible to overstate the significance of these passages below, as well as the others from the past few days.  Nor the echoes of them that continue to this very day.  For example, note the references to the  Abraham's son Ishmael.  As the Lord promised, Ishmael was the founder of a numerous people who still remember, with rancor, their ancestor.  Huh?  you say.  Yes.  The name Ishmael is regarded as the ancestor of the Arabs and their cousins.  So the Arabs, and by extension, the Muslims, trace their heritage back to Ishmael, and thence to Abraham.  I won't comment upon the effects that these groups have had upon the world, but you can read the news and the histories.

But see as well the continuing echoes of the fidelity that Abraham and Isaac had.  Here we see a picture of the coming Christ, the Lamb that the Lord provided for the sacrifice, just as was told here.

And need we say much about the Sermon On The Mount?  Jesus' words carry their own weight.  I will say that the first phrase in Chapter 7 contain what I regard as the most mis-used and mis-characterized in all of Scripture.

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GENESIS 20

Sarah Rescued from Abimelech

1From there Abraham traveled to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived in Gerar,  2Abraham said about his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.”  So Abimelech king of Gerar had Sarah brought to him.

3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.” 

4Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, “Lord, would You destroy a nation even though it is innocent? 5Didn’t he himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this with a clear conscience  and clean  hands.”

6Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience.  I have also kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore I have not let you touch her. 7Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet,  and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will certainly die, you and all who are yours.”

8Early in the morning Abimelech got up, called all his servants together, and personally  told them all these things, and the men were terrified.

9Then Abimelech called Abraham in and said to him, “What have you done to us? How did I sin against you that you have brought such enormous guilt on me and on my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.”  10Abimelech also said to Abraham, “What did you intend when you did this thing? ”

11Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place.  They will kill me because of my wife.’ 12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 13So when God had me wander from my father’s house,  I said to her: Show your loyalty to me wherever we go and say about me: ‘He’s my brother.’ ” 

14Then Abimelech took sheep and cattle and male and female slaves, gave them to Abraham, and returned his wife Sarah to him. 15Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you.  Settle wherever you want.”  16And he said to Sarah, “Look, I am giving your brother 1,000 pieces of silver. It is a verification of your honor  to all who are with you. You are fully vindicated.”

17Then Abraham prayed to God,  and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves so that they could bear children, 18for the Lord had completely closed all the wombs in Abimelech’s household on account of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

GENESIS 21

The Birth of Isaac

1The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.  2Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.  3Abraham named his son who was born to him — the one Sarah bore to him — Isaac.  4When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.  5Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 

6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”   7She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him  in his old age.”

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

8The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son mocking  — the one Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham.  10So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac! ” 

11Now this was a very difficult thing for  Abraham because of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be concerned  about the boy and your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac.  13But I will also make a nation of the slave’s son  because he is your offspring.”

14Early in the morning Abraham got up, took bread and a waterskin, put them on Hagar’s shoulders, and sent her and the boy away.  She left and wandered in the Wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15When the water in the skin was gone, she left the boy under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down nearby, about a bowshot away, for she said, “I can’t bear to watch the boy die! ” So as she sat nearby, she  wept loudly. 

17God heard the voice of the boy, and the  angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What’s wrong, Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is. 18Get up, help the boy up, and support him, for I will make him a great nation.” 19Then God opened her eyes,  and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the waterskin and gave the boy a drink. 20God was with the boy, and he grew; he settled in the wilderness and became an archer. 21He settled in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Abraham’s Covenant with Abimelech

22At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army,  said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.  23Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a foreign resident.”

24And Abraham said, “I swear it.” 25But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the water well that Abimelech’s servants had seized. 

26Abimelech replied, “I don’t know who did this thing. You didn’t report anything to me, so I hadn’t heard about it until today.”

27Abraham took sheep and cattle  and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.  28Abraham separated seven ewe lambs from the flock. 29And Abimelech said to Abraham, “Why have you separated these seven ewe lambs? ”

30He replied, “You are to accept the seven ewe lambs from my hand so that this act  will serve as my witness that I dug this well.” 31Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba   because it was there that the two of them swore an oath. 32After they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and there he called on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.  34And Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.

GENESIS 22

The Sacrifice of Isaac

1After these things God tested Abraham  and said to him, “Abraham! ”

“Here I am,” he answered.

2“Take your son,” He said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love,  go to the land of Moriah,  and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”

3So Abraham got up early in the morning,  saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4On the third day  Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac.  In his hand he took the fire and the sacrificial knife,  and the two of them walked on together.

7Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”

And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”

Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? ”

8Abraham answered, “God Himself will provide   the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.

9When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac  and placed him on the altar  on top of the wood. 10Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.

11But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham! ”

He replied, “Here I am.”

12Then He said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from Me.”  13Abraham looked up and saw a ram  caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide,  so today it is said: “It will be provided  on the Lord’s mountain.”

15Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16and said, “By Myself I have sworn,”  this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,  17I will indeed bless you  and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky  and the sand on the seashore.  Your offspring will possess the gates of their enemies.  18And all the nations of the earth will be blessed  by your offspring  because you have obeyed My command.”

19Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba.

Rebekah’s Family

20Now after these things Abraham was told, “Milcah also has borne sons to your brother Nahor:  21Uz his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel the father of Aram, 22Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” 23And Bethuel fathered Rebekah.  Milcah bore these eight to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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MATTHEW 7

Do Not Judge

1“Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.  2For with the judgment you use,  you will be judged, and with the measure you use,  it will be measured to you.  3Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye?  4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs,  or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking

7“Keep asking,   and it will be given to you.  Keep searching,  and you will find. Keep knocking,  and the door  will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds,  and to the one who knocks, the door  will be opened. 9What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you then, who are evil,  know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 12Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them — this is the Law and the Prophets.  

Entering the Kingdom

13“Enter through the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction,  and there are many who go through it. 14How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

15“Beware of false prophets  who come to you in sheep’s  clothing  but inwardly are ravaging wolves.  16You’ll recognize them by their fruit.  Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  17In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  20So you’ll recognize them by their fruit. 

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord! ’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,  but only the one who does the will  of My Father in heaven.  22On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons  in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name? ’  23Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’   

The Two Foundations

24“Therefore,  everyone who hears these words  of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great! ”

28When Jesus had finished this sermon,   the crowds were astonished at His teaching,  29because He was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.