(Genesis 21:22-34) 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.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
The first thing that I noticed is that king Abimelech could see that God was with Abraham. Although, we then see Abimelech use that information, plus the leverage he believed he had because he had been nice to Abraham, even though Abraham had lied to him about Sarah being his wife. And when Abraham brought up the issue of the well, Abimelech claimed ignorance on the matter. We cannot be sure, and Abraham could not be sure if Abimelech actually knew anything or not about the well.
Wisely, to make sure there wasn't any misunderstanding for the present as well as for the future, Abraham supplied the sheep and oxen to make a covenant (contract) between himself and Abimelech. As well, Abraham gave Abimelech seven female sheep as a kind of payment for the rights of the well. It was definitely an act of good will on Abraham's part.
Abraham called the area Beersheba (meaning "well of an oath"), then planted a tamarisk tree beside the well as a memorial. THEN Abraham called on the Lord to talk. We don't know about what. It could have been that Abraham wanted to thank the Lord for how that situation worked out, or it could have been that Abraham wanted to know what he should do next - or it was both those things - or many more things. We don't know. But Abraham called upon the Lord.
Maybe after hearing Abimelech mention that he could see how much God did for Abraham, and seeing how much Abimelech respected Abraham because he saw that God was on his side, that caused Abraham to realize just how much God actually did for him.
To hear an unbeliever say that they can see God working in our lives, as we remain steadfast and obedient to God's will, should encourage us to humbly continue calling upon the Lord for every aspect of our lives.
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