Treaty

DEVOTION

GENESIS

TREATY

Gen 21:22-34

22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do. 23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you." 24 Abraham said, "I swear it." 25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized. 26 But Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today." 27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty. 28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, 29 and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?" 30 He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well." 31 So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there. 32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

NIV

It appears we have some chronological issues in this narrative. Because this portion of the narrative starts with, “At that time”. The question is: At what time? At the time Ishmael was married? It would seem this is a continuation of the conversation between Abimelech and Abraham we saw in the preceding chapter when Abraham arrived in his land and kept the truth about Sarah being his wife from Abimelech. At least this was the beginning of the relationship between the two men. So whatever the time, “At that time” meant, it was after this deception by Abraham and the making of it right by Abimelech by not touching Sarah, returning her to Abraham, giving him cattle and sheep and money. So now Abimelech is seeking Abraham to deal honestly with him from now on, and forever even to his descendants as long as he lives in his country. However, Abraham points out that Abimelech has not treated Abraham with the some honesty by having his servants seize a well that Abraham dug. Of course Abimelech doesn’t know a thing about it, at least that is what he says. So the two of them came to an agreement, made a treaty to treat each other honestly and fairly then parted company. What can we learn from this exchange? We do know from the previous chapter Abimelech was a God fearing man. He had some kind of relationship with God. So this treaty was not between unequal men.  Both were God fearing men. This treaty does not conflict with the teaching about not being unequally yoked. What was taught there was we should not be making treaties with the world. We should not be in partnership in any way with unbelievers. We have nothing in common with them. We are not joined in common affairs with them. Here both Abraham and Abimelech were God fearing and made a treaty to always be honest, right and fair with each other. This is how we need to be with all our fellow believers. Although it is also true we should be that same way with everyone. However this is a treaty, an agreement between two men. In that sense it is a legal binding contract. We need to see this as we are bound to each other and must always deal truthfully, honestly and uprightly with our fellow believers. Abimelech stated he did not know about it, that Abraham had never told him until this day. Was Abraham being truthful by not saying something about this before? Did he hold back some truth? Are we truly transparent with other believers? Do we hold back some truth about our attitudes, or behaviors? Have we really made a treaty with other believers? Have they made or offered to make one with us? Is it just assumed we all are completely honest and transparent with each other? This would necessitate total trust. If Abimelech and Abraham were going to share the same territory they would have to trust that each other would treat each other fairly, not attacking the other, not infringing on the commerce of each other, or going behind each other’s back in any way. Do we trust other believers we share the same space with, the same church? Do we remain guarded about our past and even our present situations in life? Are they guarded about theirs? This might well describe the church as a whole. How do we overcome this? Have we all created facades, only showing each other what we want the other to know about us, our spirituality, and our deeds? True we need not stand in front of the whole assembly and confess our sin, but there should be some within the body which we make this bond with. If we all took the time to stand before the whole assembly we may never get to leave, the time of confession would take all day and into the night, of course depending on the size of the congregation. But the point still stands. We need to be in treaty, understanding all that means, with other believers.