Old/New Testament
Scripture is brutally honest when it comes to people. It never sugarcoats the depths of human degeneracy. Here is a prime example: Lot’s daughters conspire to commit incest with him, an act so reprehensible it is universally condemned. They do so in order to guarantee their future and security, but as a result they create a future where insecurity and trouble are guaranteed. The nations which they birth become two of the most troublesome enemy nations God’s people will ever have to deal with. As time goes on, the Moabites and Ammonites become fierce adversaries to the children of Abraham.
20 After spending a period of time in the hill country, Abraham moved on into the region of the Negev and settled in the land between Kadesh and Shur. Then he moved on to Gerar. 2 Because he was living in Gerar as a foreigner, Abraham once again told everyone that his wife, Sarah, was his sister. King Abimelech of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her into his harem. 3 But God spoke to Abimelech in a dream during the night and warned him.
Eternal One: Look, you are a dead man because the woman you have taken into your harem is a married woman.
4 Up to this point, Abimelech had not physically approached her.
Abimelech: Lord, would You jeopardize a nation by killing its innocent king? 5 The man himself said to me that she was his sister. Even she said he was her brother. I took her in my harem without knowing the truth. I acted with integrity. I am completely innocent.
6 Then God replied to him still in his dream.
Eternal One: Yes, I know you did this with integrity in your heart. It was I who prevented you from crossing the line. I protected you from yourself by not letting you touch her. 7 Now do the right thing. Return the man’s wife. He is one of My prophets. He will pray and intercede for you, and you will live. But if you do not give her back, I assure you, you will die—you and everyone associated with you.
The first person in Scripture to be called a “prophet” is Abraham. Prophets often speak for God; here he speaks to God on behalf of another.
8 Abimelech got up early the next morning and called all of his servants together. He told them his dream, and the men became very afraid. 9 Then Abimelech called for Abraham to meet with him.
Abimelech (to Abraham): 10 What have you done to us? What were you thinking? What have I ever done to deserve your bringing such great shame and guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done to another human being.
Abraham: 11 I did it for my own protection. I did it because I thought this was not a God-fearing place, and I was afraid you would surely kill me to possess my wife. 12 Besides it isn’t entirely a lie. She really is my sister. She’s the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother. But, of course, she did become my wife. 13 Ever since God called me away from my father’s house years ago, I told her, “I need you to do this favor for me—whenever we visit or stay in some strange or foreign place you need to tell people I am your brother.”
14 For good measure Abimelech took sheep and oxen, as well as male and female slaves, and he gave them to Abraham when he gave back his wife Sarah to him.
Abimelech (to Abraham): 15 Look, my land is your land; make your home wherever you please.
16 (to Sarah) Look now, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. This is to make up for what has happened. Everyone will see that you are completely vindicated of any wrongdoing.
17 Abraham prayed to God on Abimelech’s behalf, and God healed Abimelech. He also healed the infertility that plagued Abimelech’s wife and female slaves enabling them to again bear children 18 because God had temporarily sealed the wombs of all of the females of Abimelech’s household—all because of what happened to Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
Once again Abraham and Sarah take matters into their own hands. Although God has promised to protect and prosper them, they choose half-truths and deception in order to stay in Abimelech’s favor. The results could have been disastrous; but God’s intervention stops Abimelech from violating Sarah’s marriage, and in the end obedience preserves them all. Abraham, it seems, is rewarded, not because of his deception but in spite of it. Since Abimelech does the right thing, God brings hope and healing to his family as well. Does good then result from evil? Not at all. The good comes from God’s action and everyone’s eventual obedience. What is clear through these narratives is that God has a plan, and He can manage any contingency in achieving His purpose. When God is on the move, even evil can be turned into good.
21 The Eternal One kept His promise, 2 and Sarah conceived and gave birth to Abraham’s son (in their advanced age) exactly as the Eternal had indicated. 3 Abraham named his child, who was born to Sarah, Isaac; 4 and Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had told him to do. 5 Abraham was already one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
Sarah: 6 God has graced me with the gift of laughter! To be sure, everyone who hears my story will laugh with me.
7 Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would one day nurse children? Yet I have given birth to his son at this late stage in his life!
8 Time went on, and Isaac grew and was weaned from his mother. Abraham prepared a special feast in Isaac’s honor, to celebrate the day he was weaned. 9 But a damper was put on the day when Sarah saw the son Hagar (the Egyptian girl) bore for Abraham laughing and teasing her son. 10 She became jealous and demanded of Abraham:
Sarah: Throw this slave woman and her son out right now! The son of this slave is not going to share the inheritance along with my son, Isaac, if I have anything to do with it![a]
11 Sarah’s demand was extremely distressing to Abraham, since Ishmael was also his son. 12 But God assured Abraham.
Eternal One: Don’t worry about the young man and your servant. Go along with whatever Sarah says, for through Isaac your covenant children will be named.[b] 13 As for the son of the slave woman, I will take care of him. I will raise up a nation through him as well because he is also your son.
14 So Abraham got up early in the morning, took bread and a container of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them on her shoulder, gave her the child—his firstborn—and sent her away. She left and wandered in the wilderness near Beersheba. 15 When the water in the container was all gone, in desperation she left the child under the shade of one of the bushes. 16 Then she walked off and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away.
Hagar: I can’t bear to watch my child die.
Though Ishmael is about 16 years old at this time, she still considers him her child.
As she sat there, she cried loudly. 17 God heard the voice of young Ishmael, and a messenger of God called out to Hagar from heaven.
Messenger: Why are you so upset, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. God has heard the voice of young Ishmael. 18 Come now, lift him up, and take him by the hand. I have plans to make a great nation from his descendants!
19 Then God opened Hagar’s eyes. She looked up from her grief and saw a well of water not far away. She went over to it, filled the container she carried with water, and gave the young man a drink. 20 God watched over him for the rest of his life. Ishmael grew up, lived in the wilderness, and became an expert archer. 21 So Ishmael went on to live out his life in the wilderness of Paran. When the time was right, his mother obtained a wife for him from her homeland Egypt.
22 Meanwhile, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke confidentially to Abraham.
Now that Abraham’s people are so numerous and powerful, Abimelech wants to see whether Abraham will remain loyal to him.
Abimelech: God seems to bless everything you do. 23 So swear to me right now on the name of your God that you and your people will be honest with me and never try to deceive me, my children, or my descendants. Promise that you will always treat me and this land where you have resided as a foreigner with kindness and grace, as I have treated you.
Abraham: 24 I swear.
25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a time when he wasn’t treated so kindly: a well of water Abraham’s men had dug had been seized by Abimelech’s servants.
Abimelech: 26 I don’t know who has done this. You didn’t tell me before; this is the first I have heard about it.
27 Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant-treaty together. 28 Abraham took seven female lambs from the flock and set them aside.
Abimelech (to Abraham): 29 Why have you set these seven female lambs apart from the others?
Abraham: 30 These seven female lambs I am presenting to you represent your personal and public acknowledgment that I am the one who dug this well, and that it belongs to me.
31 From then on, the place where the well was located was called Beersheba because it was there that the two of them swore this oath together. 32 After they had made the covenant-treaty at Beersheba, Abimelech, along with Phicol, the commander of his army, left and went back to the land which now belongs to the Philistines. 33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba at the site, and he used it as yet another place to honor and call upon the name of the Eternal One, the Everlasting God.[c] 34 For many years Abraham lived in peace as a foreigner in what would become the land of the Philistines.
22 After a period of time, God decided to put Abraham to the test.
Eternal One: Abraham!
Abraham: I am right here.
Eternal One: 2 Take your son, your only son Isaac whom I know you love deeply, and go to the land of Moriah. When you get there, I want you to offer Isaac to Me as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. I will show you which one.
3 Abraham did as he was told. Early in the morning he got up, saddled his donkey, and taking two of his trusted servants with him and his son Isaac, he cut the wood for the burnt offering and traveled to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of the journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place far in the distance.
Abraham leaves Beersheba as he left Haran many years earlier. God calls and he leaves. It is as simple as that. No map. No directions. Just an unwavering trust that God will lead him where he needs to go. Mount Moriah becomes one of the most important places in all of the promised land, the one place in the world set apart for the worship of the one True God. According to 2 Chronicles 3:1, Solomon builds his temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, not far from where God tests Abraham.
Abraham (to his servants): 5 Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to meet you here.
6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and set it on the shoulders of his son Isaac to carry. Abraham himself carried the fire and the knife. The two of them walked on together.
Isaac (to Abraham): 7 Father!
Abraham: I am right here, Son.
Isaac: Look, we have the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
Abraham: 8 God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
The two of them continued to walk on together.
9 When they finally arrived at the place God had shown him, Abraham took some stones and built an altar there and arranged the wood carefully on top of it. Then he bound up his son Isaac with rope and laid him on the altar on top of the stack of wood. 10 Just as Abraham reached over to grab the knife that would kill his son, 11 the special messenger of the Eternal One called his name from heaven.
Special Messenger: Abraham! Abraham!
Abraham: I am right here!
Special Messenger: 12 Don’t lay your hand on the boy or do anything to harm him. I know now that you respect the one True God and will be loyal to Him and follow His commands, because you were willing to give up your son, your only son, to Me.
13 Abraham glanced up and saw a ram behind him with its horns caught in the thicket. He went over, dislodged the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son. 14 From that day forward, Abraham called that place, “The Eternal One will provide.” Because of this, people still today say, “On the Mount of the Eternal, all will be provided.”
15 The special messenger of the Eternal One called out to Abraham yet a second time from heaven.
Special Messenger: 16 Listen to the solemn vow the Eternal One has spoken: “Because you have done what I asked and were willing to give up your son, your only son, 17 I will reaffirm My covenant of blessing to you and your family.[d] I will make sure your descendants are as many as the stars of the heavens and the grains of sand on the shores. I reaffirm My earlier promises that your descendants will possess the lands and sit in the gates of their enemies, 18 and from your descendants all the peoples of the earth will discover true blessing.[e] All this is because you have obeyed My voice.
We reach the climax of Abraham’s covenant story. God tests Abraham, and he passes with flying colors. Somehow he knows God will provide, for he tells his servants that he and his son will come back from the mountain. He also knows that God’s covenant promises are going to be fulfilled through Isaac and not another. Although Abraham is willing to sacrifice him, he expects Isaac to still be the one through whom God’s blessings come to the world. How could it all happen? Only God knows, and Abraham trusts in God and His promises. Abraham’s level of trust is un matched in all of Scripture. This is why he stands as the founding father of our faith.
19 Then Abraham returned to the place where he left his trusted servants. They traveled together—Abraham, Isaac, and his servants—back to Beersheba where Abraham lived on for some time.
20 After this happened, Abraham was informed that Milcah had also given birth to many children by his brother, Nahor. 21 Uz was the firstborn, then came his brother Buz, Kemuel (Aram’s father), 22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 Bethuel fathered Rebekah. Nahor, Abraham’s brother, had eight children in all by Milcah. 24 Not only that, but Nahor’s concubine (whose name was Reumah) also gave birth to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
19 Some people store up treasures in their homes here on earth. This is a shortsighted practice—don’t undertake it. Moths and rust will eat up any treasure you may store here. Thieves may break into your homes and steal your precious trinkets. 20 Instead, put up your treasures in heaven where moths do not attack, where rust does not corrode, and where thieves are barred at the door. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light. 23 But if your eye is clouded or evil, then your body will be filled with evil and dark clouds. And the darkness that takes over the body of a child of God who has gone astray—that is the deepest, darkest darkness there is.
When Jesus speaks of eyes and light, He means all people should keep their eyes on God because the eyes are the windows to the soul. Eyes should not focus on trash—pornography, filth, or expensive things. And this is what He means when He says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Jesus: 24 No one can serve two masters. If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa. People try to serve both God and money—but you can’t. You must choose one or the other.
25 Here is the bottom line: do not worry about your life. Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will drink. Don’t worry about how you clothe your body. Living is about more than merely eating, and the body is about more than dressing up. 26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not store food for winter. They don’t plant gardens. They do not sow or reap—and yet, they are always fed because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are even more precious to Him than a beautiful bird. If He looks after them, of course He will look after you. 27 Worrying does not do any good; who here can claim to add even an hour to his life by worrying?
28 Nor should you worry about clothes. Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They do not work or weave or sew, and yet their garments are stunning. 29 Even King Solomon, dressed in his most regal garb, was not as lovely as these lilies. 30 And think about grassy fields—the grasses are here now, but they will be dead by winter. And yet God adorns them so radiantly. How much more will He clothe you, you of little faith, you who have no trust?
31 So do not consume yourselves with questions: What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? 32 Outsiders make themselves frantic over such questions; they don’t realize that your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need. 33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and then all these things will be given to you too. 34 So do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Living faithfully is a large enough task for today.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.