(This article reflects the viewpoints of another and does not necessarily reflect the understanding of Qumran Bet Community or AmYHWH. Perhaps truth would be better served if you also added your contribution to this piece.)
Living
in Abraham’s Camp
By
Ken Graydon
The
faith of Abraham is not simply a collection of beliefs – it is also a
lifestyle. This article will discuss much of the lifestyle requirements for
those of us who wish to live in Abraham’s camp.
It
is not about receiving gift-wrapped packages of blessings – it is about
possibilities! There is always work to be done. ETERNAL will give you water –
but you have to dig the well. ETERNAL will give you the land but you have to
fight for it.
This
article will not give you the answers. It will help you to find the questions.
Your prayers, your study, your relationship with ETERNAL will bring you, your
answers.
‘Living
in Abraham’s camp’ is an expression I have coined to try to describe a
lifestyle that is new to many of us. We have come out of something – some form
of organization or association – and if we are not very aware we will make the
mistake of trying to impose the styles or systems of the past in this new life
– and it doesn’t fit.
If
we look at the life of Abraham, as detailed in the Tanakh we may draw from it
some pointers that you may like to study or seek answers about. Even though
Abraham was originally Abram and his name was changed by ETERNAL I have used the
name Abraham throughout to try to avoid confusion.
Genesis 12:1-4. ETERNAL said to Abraham, “Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you, and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.”
So
Abraham went as ETERNAL had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
This
is a series of wonderful promises that will come to pass but Abraham is
disobedient. He had been told to leave his relatives but he takes along Lot.
This caused trouble then, as we shall see, it even causes trouble now because
Lot’s descendants, the Moabites and Ammonites, are part of the peoples who
oppose Israel. The people who were in Abraham’s traveling party were aware of
the promises. They would have been anxious to bless Abraham by their work and
their attitude. They all knew they would participate in the blessing from
ETERNAL. This is a pointer for us, as a group (no matter how scattered) we
inherit these promises. We are blessed, finding this truth proves that. People
who bless us will find that they are blessed. This has certainly been true in
the company I work for, where the directors who are not called spiritually (so
far), keep saying “It’s a miracle the way things work out.” It is too.
Abraham
built altars and called on ETERNAL by name as he traveled South across the land.
Genesis
12:10 There was a famine in the land, and Abraham descended to Egypt to sojourn
there, for the famine was severe in the land.
The
land, which Abraham had been promised and which he had traveled a long way to
find, was in the midst of a famine. This did not make any less of a promised
land because ETERNAL was bringing about a plan to bless Abraham with very great
wealth. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was also his half-sister. She is in her
seventies now and absolutely gorgeous because Pharaoh wanted her. (Later, when
she is in her nineties Abimalech kidnaps her for the same reason.) ETERNAL
intervenes and Pharaoh pays Abraham in many goods and possessions.
There
are times when challenges face us – no matter how obedient we think we have
been. You need to press on, because that is often the way ETERNAL chooses to
pour blessings into your life. He often uses the most unlikely people to do
this.
Trouble
develops between Lot’s people and Abraham’s. The land cannot support all
these flocks and the locals are not happy.
Genesis
13:8-12. So Abraham said to Lot:” Please let there be no strife between me and
you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not all
the land before you? Please separate from me: If you go left then I will go
right and if you go right then I will go left” So Lot raised his eyes and saw
the entire plain of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere – before
ETERNAL destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah – like the garden of ETERNAL, like the
land of Egypt, going toward Zoar. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of
the Jordan, and Lot journeyed from the East; thus they parted, one from his
brother. Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan while Lot dwelled in the cities
of the plain and pitched tents as far as Sodom.
You
see Abraham’s attitude. He was the one called to the land but he allowed Lot
to choose what appeared to be the best land. Now the contrasts appear, Lot takes
the watered land - he wants the
easier life and he wants the city life in Sodom. These are not wise choices. On
the other hand Abraham takes the open plains of Canaan. The very next thing that
happens is really great, because of what it teaches us.
Genesis
13:14-17. ETERNAL said to Abraham after Lot had parted from him. ”Raise
now your eyes and look out from where you are: northward, southward, eastward
and westward. For all the land that you see, to you will I give it, and to your
descendants forever. I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth so that
if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring, too, can be
counted. Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth! For to you
will I give it.”
Lot
had to leave so Abraham could be blessed. ETERNAL is concerned about our
associates. You cannot hold onto the past associations or to people whose life
choices are not ETERNAL’s choices for you. Then ETERNAL wants to give Abraham
the land but first Abraham has to see it and then he was to walk over it – to
claim it.
These
are deep and meaningful lessons. When ETERNAL speaks into your life – do you
‘see’ it? Do you catch the vision – the possibilities? Then will you walk
over it and around it? Will you claim it? Will you now live as if you already
have it? Will you thank ETERNAL for it even before you receive it?
How
do you think Abraham felt about the dust? ETERNAL has given him this picture in
his mind now about the number of descendants he will have. We now call this
‘creative visualization’ – ETERNAL calls this talking to his friend
Abraham.
A
local war developed and as a result all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah was
taken and Lot and all his possessions were taken by the victors.
Genesis
14: 13-16. Then there came a fugitive and told Abraham the ‘Ivri’(this word
means Hebrew), who dwelt in the plains of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of
Eshcol and the brother of Aner, these being Abraham’s allies. And when Abraham
heard that his kinsman was taken captive, he armed his disciples who had been
born in his house – three hundred and eighteen – and he pursued them as far
as Dan. And he with his servants deployed against them at night and struck them;
he pursued them as far as Hobah which is to the north of Damascus. He brought
back all the possessions; he also brought back his kinsman, Lot, with his
possessions, as well as the women and the people.
This
is the first time the expression Hebrew is used in the Tanach. It means from the
other side. This could have two meanings – the word comes from the name of
Abraham’s grandfather Eber and the language he spoke. He lived on the other
side of the Euphrates River. It may also mean that Abraham is ‘different’,
which is certainly true.
Abraham
had been preparing for such a time as this. That is why his disciples/servants
were trained, equipped and motivated to act immediately. These people lived in
the confidence that they were chosen. Not that they were better than anyone else
but that they had accepted more responsibility. They did not simply pray that
ETERNAL would ‘look after’ Lot, although prayer was in their program, they
knew they had to act decisively. We need to be ready to act to support, defend
or rescue our extended family in ‘Abraham’s Camp’.
Genesis
14: 18-20. But Melchizedek,
king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of G-d, the Most
High. He blessed him saying:
”Blessed is Abraham of G-d, the
Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; and blessed be G-d, the Most High, Who has
delivered your foes into your hand”; and he gave him a tenth of everything.
This
is a foundational teaching on tithing a tenth of your increase. Melchizedek, who
may well have been Shem,
passes
on the blessings of ETERNAL and also gives thanks to ETERNAL for this successful
outcome.
The
king of Sodom then tried to get the people for himself and to let Abraham keep
all the possessions.
Genesis
14: 22-24. Abraham said to the king of Sodom:
”I lift up my hand (in worship) to
ETERNAL, the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth, if so much as a thread to a
shoestrap; or if I shall take anything of yours! So you shall not say, ‘It is
I who made Abraham rich.’ Far from me! Only what the young men have eaten, and
the share of the men who accompanied me: Aner, Eshcol and Mamre – they will
take their portion.
Abraham
wants no dealing with the Sodomite king. He will not allow any opportunity for
him to be able to claim that he helped make Abraham rich – that is his loyalty
to ETERNAL. The expression ‘Far from me!’ is an emphatic ‘Get outta
here!’ Abraham will only take the food they used during the expedition and a
share for his allies which was customary.
Abraham,
apparently forgetting that ETERNAL had promised that his descendants would be as
the dust on the ground gets into a conversation with ETERNAL about this. The
ETERNAL then gives Abraham a more dramatic picture. His descendants will be as
numerous as the stars. Every night after this Abraham will see this sign in the
sky to remind him of the words of ETERNAL.
Read
all of Genesis chapter 15, about the establishment of the covenant.
This
was the custom of the time, to walk through the blood of sacrificed animals, to
make an unbreakable covenant. ETERNAL took time out from being the CREATOR of
the Universe, to establish this covenant – which is still in place. ETERNAL
does this for us now, taking time out to bless us and apply all the promises of
the Tanach to our lives.
Abraham
and Sarah decide they will help ETERNAL out with the problem of getting a child.
(I do not imagine I am the only other one who has said ‘If I just do this
……
ETERNAL
will be able to ……). They take Hagar, Sarah’s servant, as another wife for
Abraham and she becomes pregnant. As you may expect, this causes some trouble
around the tent. Hagar runs away but is sent back by an angel and has Ishmael.
The Tanach is not against multiple marriage, particularly in the matter of
preserving the family line, and counsels against having to many wives.
Fourteen
years later ETERNAL speaks to Abraham to remind him of the covenant and to
expand on it. This makes it clear that both the benefits and the obligations
apply to us now as they did to Abraham then.
Genesis
17: 7-11. I will ratify My covenant between Me and you and between your
offspring after you, throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant,
to be the ETERNAL to you and to your offspring after you; and I will give to you
and to your offspring after you the land of your sojourns – the whole of the
land of Canaan – as an everlasting possession; and I shall be the ETERNAL to
them. ETERNAL said to Abraham, “And as for you, you shall keep My covenant –
you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is My
covenant which you shall keep between Me and you and your descendants after you:
Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of
your foreskin, and that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you.
This
is very specific and non-negotiable. Verse 14 goes on to say ‘an uncircumcised
man has invalidated the covenant’ and should be cut off from the people.
Abraham
was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised himself and all the males in his
camp. It was after this obedience that ETERNAL announced that Sarah would bear a
child (Sarah is in her nineties). Do you see the pattern here? Obedience to the
will of the ETERNAL allows Him to bless you with the things He wants you to
have.
Although
the covenant that ETERNAL established with Abraham is to be continued through
the, as yet, unborn Isaac. ETERNAL says He will bless Ishmael because Abraham
asked Him to. When you become a friend of ETERNAL, He wants to bless you – and
through you, others.
Genesis
18: 1-8. ETERNAL appeared to him in the plains of Mamre while he was sitting at
the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day. He lifted his eyes and saw: And
behold! Three men were standing over him. He perceived, so he ran toward them
from the entrance to the tent, and bowed toward the ground. And he said “My
Lord, if I find favour in Your eyes, please pass not away from Your servant.”
“Let some water be brought and wash your feet, and recline beneath the tree. I
will fetch a morsel of bread that you may sustain yourselves, then go on –
inasmuch as you have passed your servant’s way.” They said, “Do so, just
as you have said.” So Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah and said,
“Hurry! Three se’ahs of meal, fine flour! Knead and make cakes!” Then
Abraham ran to the cattle, took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the
youth who hurried to prepare it. He took cream and milk and the calf which he
had prepared, and placed these before them; he stood over them beneath the tree
and they ate.
Abraham
shows us true hospitality. It is the hottest part of the day but when three
strangers appear he runs to greet them and offer a meal. As the story develops
we see these are angels on a mission.
The
meal Abraham offers, meat with milk and cream, served with hot bread, dispenses
with any man made rules about not serving dairy food with meat. The Tanach says
you must not serve a kid cooked in its mother’s milk.
Now
the promise that Abraham and Sarah will have a son is repeated. Sarah laughs at
the idea but is quickly silenced with the question ‘Is anything beyond the
ETERNAL?’ (This is a question that confronts us!)
We
then come to the key verses of this whole story:
Genesis
18: 17-19 And ETERNAL said,
”Shall I conceal from Abraham what
I do, now that Abraham is surely to become a great and mighty nation, and all
the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by him? For I have loved him,
because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the
way of ETERNAL, doing charity and justice, in order that ETERNAL might then
bring upon Abraham that which He had spoken of him.”
ETERNAL
honours Abraham with His confidence because Abraham lives, and teaches his
household to live, by ETERNAL’s ways of doing things. They practice charity
and justice and ETERNAL loves them for it. These characteristics plus the
blessings of ETERNAL will cause them to be blessed, so much, that other nations
will want to adopt their lifestyle so that, they too, may be blessed.
ETERNAL
reveals that the evil of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great that they
and their cities must be destroyed. Abraham bargains with ETERNAL to have the
cities spared if there are ten righteous people in them. Abraham does not
mention Lot and his family who live in Sodom.
The
two angels arrive in Sodom and find Lot sitting at the gate of the town. Lot
offers them hospitality and then tries to persuade the Sodomites to leave them
alone – even offering his daughters to the crowd rather than his guests. Lot
is a contradictory character. He has chosen the Sodomite lifestyle but acts
bravely to defend the angels. When the angels urge him and his family to leave
for their own safety they don’t want to go. Finally they agree to leave –
but not for the open plains and the natural life. They wont give up everything
– they just want to go to a smaller town. Lot’s wife so misses the city life
she looks back regretfully – and dies. The people of today who are ‘in
Abraham’s camp’ are often asked by ETERNAL to give up something. A job, a
lifestyle, a habit, a hobby, a personality trait, anything. We cannot ‘do a
Lot’, just give up part of something – it has to be total. ETERNAL never
asks you to forego something good out of nastiness. He wants the best for you.
Better things, a better life than you would choose for yourself, a better future
than your deeds deserve. Abraham made sacrifices and was blessed.
After
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – Lot, who is now a widower is hiding in
the mountains out of fear. He’s lost everything except two daughters. Abraham
is the one standing on the mountain looking at this distant destruction saying
“I’m glad I didn’t choose the city life!” This life is about choices.
Four hundred and forty years later Joshua would put it well to Israel “Choose
this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15). These choices confront you
every day – serve ETERNAL and His ways or serve something else and pay the
price!
Once
again Sarah – the gorgeous ninety year old – is taken away by someone who
wants her for a wife. This time it’s Abimelech. Abraham has once again told
people the partial truth that Sarah is his sister so he wont be killed to get
him out of the way. ETERNAL tells Abimelech in a dream he will die for taking
Abraham’s wife. Not only that but ETERNAL punishes everyone in Abimalech’s
household. (My Tanach says Gen 20:18 that ETERNAL had restrained every orifice
in the household of Abimelech – yours may say womb. The Hebrew word is womb,
but used not in a specific medical descriptive sense but in the sense of sexual
organs. In any case they were being punished and they knew about it
immediately). Once again Abraham is given more flocks, cattle, servants and
stuff as compensation. When you are being blessed and you keep on being obedient
– the blessings increase!
Genesis
21: 1-5. ETERNAL remembered Sarah as He had said; and ETERNAL did for Sarah as
He had spoken. Sarah conceived and bore a son unto Abraham in his old age, at
the appointed time which ETERNAL had spoken. Abraham called the name of his son
who was born to him-whom Sarah had borne him-Isaac. Abraham circumcised his son
Isaac at the age of eight days as ETERNAL had commanded him. And Abraham was a
hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
Although
we are aware of the blessing of Sarah which was honoured by the birth of Isaac
we also need to see that at one hundred years old Abraham had been blessed too.
In fact Abraham’s blessing was so effective he fathered four more children
after the death of Sarah some thirty-seven years later to another wife.
Genesis
21: 22-24. At that time, Abimelech and Phicol his general said to Abraham,
“ETERNAL is with you in all that you do. Now swear to me here by ETERNAL that
you will not deal falsely with me nor my son nor with my grandson; according to
the kindness that I have done with you, do to me, and with the land in which you
have sojourned.” And Abraham said, “I will swear.”
Other
people were aware that Abraham was in the flow of blessings from ETERNAL and
that because of that he is a powerful man. Do people see that in your life?
Now
we come to that other well known incident where ETERNAL ‘tested’ Abraham
over Isaac.
Genesis
22: 1-2. And it happened after
these things that ETERNAL tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham,” and he
replied, “Here I am.” And He said, “Please take your son, your only one,
whom you love-Isaac- and go to the land of Moriah; bring him up there as an
offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”
Notice
the wording here. Isaac is to be taken as an offering, not as a sacrifice. Isaac
is not the first-born so he has not automatically been offered to ETERNAL.
The
ETERNAL who despises human sacrifice and punishes people who practice it
provides a ram which is sacrificed. Abraham’s willingness to offer his son was
the gesture ETERNAL was looking for.
Genesis
22: 16-18. And He said, “By Myself I swear – the word of ETERNAL – that
because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one,
that I shall surely bless you and greatly increase your offspring like the stars
of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore; and your offspring shall
inherit the gate of its enemy. And all the nations of the earth shall bless
themselves by your offspring, because you have listened to My voice.”
We
know that the offspring have increased as described but the number now who
listen to ETERNAL’s voice is very small – a remnant. We have seen the
descendants of Abraham including the British Commonwealth and America holding
the gates of their enemies. Gibraltar, the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, the
Cape of Good Hope and so on. Lately there has been a suicidal rush to give up
these ‘gates’ as the descendants of Abraham have forgotten, or been lead
away from, the truth of ETERNAL.
If
you have read this far – you may be sure ETERNAL is calling you to be in
Abraham’s camp. The response must be yours and it must be voluntary. Those of
us who have put in some service time will have heard the expressions “If you
volunteer you obviously didn’t understand the question!” I want you to be
sure you really do understand the question being asked of you now. Will you
serve the ETERNAL? Will your lifestyle, public and private, lead other people to
see your blessings so that they want what you have?
Some
people will be called to a lifestyle in community, some will join large groups
who have these truths, some will be the Lone Rangers of the ETERNAL. There are
as many right ways as there are people being called by ETERNAL.
Please
read the entire story of Abraham in Genesis, study it and pray about it. This
article was to raise some questions. The ETERNAL provides the answers.
<kennygee@bigpond.com>