Answers for a study in the book of Genesis: Chapters 19-21, Abraham Part 3

“Answers for a study in the book of Genesis” is a weekly post in addition to the regular “apologetics” posts on the weekend where the original questions can be found at the bottom of the study, and then answers appear here mid-week. This gives you time to do your own research, and then check your answers. Keep in mind these will be basic answers with a little depth, but you can go much deeper for discussion if you’d like.

Always remember to pray before you study and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and lead you into the truth found in God’s Word – pray for protection from the evil one who will try to discourage, distract and deceive us when we commit to growing closer to the LORD.

Note: Questions are taken directly from the chapters, and answers should be found and cited from the Scripture text in order to be Biblically accurate (unless asked to summarize in your own words). Study Bibles, commentaries and your own thoughts can be used for Discussion or Going Deeper questions. If you use these kinds of sources share them with your group.

 1.  Review of Class Topic:  Before getting into the Bible study questions, discuss today’s class presentation by summarizing what you learned, commenting or asking any questions.

Answers will vary…

Read Genesis Chapter 19:30 through Chapter 21, then answer the following questions:

2.  (Genesis 19:30-38) In this part of the story Lot’s daughters do the unthinkable. Why did they do this and what was the outcome? Going Deeper: Two sons were born out of this situation. What can you uncover about their descendants and their relationship later on with Israel?

³⁰ Lot went up from Zoar, and stayed in the mountains, and his two daughters with him; for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; and he stayed in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹ Then the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of the earth. ³² Come, let us make our father drink wine, and let us lie with him that we may preserve our family through our father.” ³³ So they made their father drink wine that night, and the firstborn went in and lay with her father; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁴ On the following day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Behold, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve our family through our father.” ³⁵ So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger arose and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. ³⁶ Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷ The firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸ As for the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi; he is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

• In context, part of the reason is understanding the ancient culture they lived in – having children was life’s main purpose and accomplishment, not to mention the means to survival (gathering food, preparing it, daily chores, protection from others etc.)
• Also, we must remember that the “Law” had not yet been given, so marriage, and having kids, within families was still acceptable (although not common for father-daughter). The DNA was still OK; it would be about 600 years before God would give direction to not marry within close family when He gives Law in the Torah (The Law of Moses).
• Speculating, we can assume this family thought they would never live in a city or area where they could ever marry, let alone have children. Even though they had been in a local town after the disaster, it was reasonable to assume no one would trust them, or may hurt them, since that is why they left it for the mountains (v.30 says they were afraid to stay in Zoar). They may also have assumed everyone they knew was gone, including Abraham – but we don’t know from the text, nor do we know where they eventually ended up.

Going Deeper:

• The older daughter bore a son: Moab, he is the father of the Moabites; the younger bore a son Ben-ammi, he is the father of the Ammonites.
• Both of these tribes would grow to be Nations that were enemies of Israel.
• Moabites: Ruth was a Moabite and she married Boaz an Israelite, and they became parents of Obed who was the father of Jesse, who was the father of King David – a direct ancestor of Jesus! The Moabites, later in the history, become a servant Nation to King David.
• Ammonites: The Ammonites were still around at the end of the Old Testament history and were part of the people who tried to stop the Jews from rebuilding Jerusalem after their return from captivity in Babylon.

God tells Moses in Deuteronomy 23: 3-6, “³ No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, ⁴ because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you. ⁵ Nevertheless, the Lord your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you. ⁶ You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.”

3.  (Genesis 20:1-18) Abraham and Sarah repeat the same mistake they made earlier in Egypt (12:9-20). How is this story different? Discuss: What example is being set for Abraham and Sarah’s descendants when they repeat these kinds of exploits, and does it make us think how our own repeated behaviors could affect our next generation?

20 Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in Gerar. ² Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah. ³ But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.” ⁴ Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless? ⁵ Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” ⁶ Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷ Now therefore, restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.” ⁸ So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. ⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰ And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?” ¹¹ Abraham said, “Because I thought, surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. ¹² Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife; ¹³ and it came about, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said to her, ‘This is the kindness which you will show to me: everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’” ¹⁴ Abimelech then took sheep and oxen and male and female servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵ Abimelech said, “Behold, my land is before you; settle wherever you please.” ¹⁶ To Sarah he said, “Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold, it is your vindication before all who are with you, and before all men you are cleared.” ¹⁷ Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maids, so that they bore children. ¹⁸ For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the household of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Differences:

• There was no famine that forced them into Abimelech’s area, they just moved there.
• In this story, The LORD had closed all the wombs and inflicted some kind of illness on them, making it impossible for Abimelech to have defiled Sarah and ruined the promise that was to come that next year – Isaac’s birth.
• Abimelech seems to have integrity compared to the Pharaoh of Egypt because God agreed with him that he did (v. 6). However, though Abimelech was innocent he was in danger of sinning against God (with Sarah), and the punishment lasted only as long as the sin was possible.
• Verse 13 tells us that Abraham and Sarah had agreed to always tell this lie wherever they went.

Additional notes:

• Abraham had to pray for Abimelech in order for him to be saved, showing that Abraham was part of God’s sovereign plan, interceding as a Priest (foreshadowing Jesus).
• This is the first time in Scripture that the word “Prophet” is used as God said it of Abraham, and this is another foreshadow or type of what Christ would be.
• Abraham was also given any land area that he wanted to settle in, instead of being sent out, as happened in Egypt – this would lead to other encounters in the future between Abraham’s people and Abimelech’s people.
• Note: Abimelech is possibly a title, or family name, like the Pharaoh of Egypt because a different Abimelech will come up in a future story with Isaac and Rebekah.

Discussion:

• Abraham and Sarah’s offspring would know about this behavior (lying and deceiving for their own protection) and would repeat it as Isaac does (see chapter 26), and then later on in the deceitful ways of Jacob (he is known as the deceiver) – Jacob also follows Abraham’s way of taking more than one wife (he ends up with 4).
• We don’t often think about the things we do affecting the next generation – thus there is a strong need for Christian Apologetics training, beginning at an early age.
• Resources for the next generation:
  • Summit Ministries and student conferences: https://www.summit.org/
  • Impact 360 Institute: https://www.impact360institute.org/
  • ReThink Apologetics student conferences: Sponsored by https://www.str.org/
  • Ratio Christi (Christian Apologetics’ Campus Ministry): https://ratiochristi.org/

What these groups offer can help serve as an entry point to exploring the truths of the Bible in an exciting and relevant way for the next generation and beyond

4.  (Genesis 21:1-21) In this chapter, the long-awaited son of the promise is born. What is his name and what does it mean? Discuss: What happened that caused Sarah to drive out Hagar and Ishmael, how did God help them and where did they end up? What did God say to reassure Abraham, and why?

21 Then the Lord took note of Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had promised. ² So Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³ Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴ Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵ Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” ⁸ The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹ Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰ Therefore she said to Abraham, “Drive out this maid and her son, for the son of this maid shall not be an heir with my son Isaac.” ¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹² But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. ¹³ And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.” ¹⁴ So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the boy, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵ When the water in the skin was used up, she left the boy under one of the bushes. ¹⁶ Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me see the boy die.” And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷ God heard the lad crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the lad a drink. ²⁰ God was with the lad, and he grew; and he lived in the wilderness and became an archer. ²¹ He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

• Isaac = laughter

Abraham and Sarah both laughed, in different ways, about the fact that they would have a son in their old age – Isaac is happy name, like it’s unbelievable! It’s like “wow”!

What happened:

• At the time Isaac was weaned (most ancient cultures weaned anywhere from age 2 to 4) and Abraham gave a great feast – a party. Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac (making fun of) – we could imagine it was similar to what any older brother might do to make fun of his younger brother – but it seems this was probably in mean way. Sarah then asked Abraham to drive out Hagar and Ishmael.
• Note: Ishmael had to be a minimum of 14-15 years old because the Bible tells us that he was 13 when Isaac was born; and he could have been as old as 17-18 – all depending on where his and Isaac’s birthdays fell, and at what age they actually weaned Isaac.

What God said to Abraham:

• God agreed that Sarah was right in her request to send them out, but God reassured Abraham by telling him, in vs. 12-13, “Do not be distressed because of the lad and your maid; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her, for through Isaac your descendants shall be named. And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also because he is your descendant.”
• God was still keeping His promise to Abraham, even through Ishmael, to make him a great nation too, but the Covenant Promise (from Ch. 12 and 15) was to go specifically to and through Isaac.
• Abraham could then trust that God would not let them die in the wilderness. If Ishmael had stayed, then the controversy would remain about who was deserving of Abraham’s inheritance, blessing and most importantly, God’s Promise in the Covenant.
• Culturally speaking, what Abraham did in the way he sent them off, was a way of saying they were now officially cut off from him. 

Note: Ishmael is considered to be the father of the Arab Nation. His line would later mix with Esau (Jacob’s brother) as Esau would marry one of Ishmael’s daughters (Ch. 28). History will show that the descendants of Isaac – the Nation of Israel, and the descendants of Ishmael – The Arab Nation, will continuously battle for everything including land and religious heritage rights through Abraham – The Islamic religion teaches that Ishmael was the promised son, not Isaac and they tell the story we have in chapter 22 as being Ishmael, not Isaac. Today we still see conflicts between the Jews and Arabs in various parts of the world and especially in the Middle East.

5.  (Genesis 21:22-34) What covenant did Abraham make with Abimelech and why?

Going deeper: Give an example where the following names come up later on in the Bible, and in what context:  Beersheba and Philistines

² Now it came about at that time that Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “God is with you in all that you do; ²³ now therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall show to me and to the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴ Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵ But Abraham complained to Abimelech because of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. ²⁶ And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it until today.” ²⁷ Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant. ²⁸ Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹ Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰ He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a witness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹ Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there the two of them took an oath. ³² So they made a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³ Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴ And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines for many days.

• Abimelech saw that “God was with Abraham in all that he did” (v. 22) so he did not want to have any problems in the future with Abraham’s clan, so he asked Abraham to swear an oath (covenant) that they would deal kindly and fairly with each other in the land. This covenant also included the well at Beersheba that was agreed to be Abraham’s.
• Extra: Tamarisk trees provided salt for the animals (example in verse 33).

From gotquestions.org:

Beersheba:

• Beersheba was a city in ancient Israel in the southern part of the land. To the south of Beersheba was the Negev Desert, so Beersheba marked the southernmost boundary of cultivated land in Israel. The proverbial phrase from Dan to Beershebais used nine times in the Old Testament to describe whole of the Promised Land—Dan being in the north, and Beersheba in the south (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10; 17:11; 24:2, 15; 1 Kings 4:25; 1 Chronicles 21:2; 2 Chronicles 30:5). The distance from Dan to Beersheba was about 270 miles.
• Beersheba was a place where several people came into contact with God. Isaac (Genesis 26:24) and Jacob (Genesis 46:2) both heard from God in dreams they had at Beersheba. Hagar (Genesis 21:17) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:5) were in the wilderness of Beersheba when God spoke to them.
• Beersheba can be seen as symbolizing those events in our lives that cause us to call upon the name of the Lord. Tragedy strikes, heartaches happen, and the Lord shows Himself strong on our behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9). The date or place where we experienced a turning point becomes a memorial in our hearts, much as Beersheba’s altar, well, and tamarisk tree were to Abraham and Isaac. When God reveals His will to us or rescues us in some way, we can create a personal “Beersheba” in our hearts. Then, when times of doubt or conflict come, we can return there over and over in our hearts for assurance that God is fulfilling His plan.

Philistines:

• The Philistines were an aggressive, warmongering people who occupied territory southwest of Israel between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The name “Philistine” comes from the Hebrew word Philistia, and the Greek rendering of the name, palaistinei, gives us the modern name “Palestine.” The Philistines are first recorded in Scripture in the Table of Nations, a list of the patriarchal founders of seventy nations descended from Noah (Genesis 10:14). It is thought that the Philistines originated in Caphtor, the Hebrew name for the island of Crete and the whole Aegean region (Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:4). For unknown reasons, they migrated from that region to the Mediterranean coast near Gaza. Because of their maritime history, the Philistines are often associated with the “Sea Peoples.” The Bible records that the Philistines had contact with both Abraham and Isaac as early as 2000 B.C. (Genesis 21:32, 34; 26:1, 8).
• From the very beginning, the Philistines were either allies or deadly enemies of God’s people. They played a pivotal role in the lives of Samson (Judges 13:1; 14:1), Samuel (1 Samuel 4:1), Saul (1 Samuel 13:4), and David (1 Samuel 17:23).
• With the exception of Jeremiah chapter 47, there are very few prophetic references to the Philistines. In the end, the Philistines were assimilated into Canaanite culture. They eventually disappeared from the biblical record and from history altogether, leaving behind the name “Palestine” as a testimony of their existence.

Please join us each week as we continue our case for the Old Testament!

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Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

1 Peter 3:15