The Treaty

 DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE TREATY

Gen 26:23-35

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham." 25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well. 26 Meanwhile, Abimelech had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?" 28 They answered, "We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us' — between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not molest you but always treated you well and sent you away in peace. And now you are blessed by the LORD." 30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they left him in peace. 32 That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, "We've found water!" 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba. 34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

NIV

Considering the Lord's appearance and blessing, there are still more nuggets to chew on. The treaty is one of them. Why would a king with a personal advisor and a commander of his forces want to make a treaty with a private citizen? If King Abimelech has a commander of his forces, it would make sense he has a whole army at his disposal to make war against other kings, no less a private citizen with a few manservants, unless Isaac had a whole army of manservants, herdsman, and shepherds that he could overpower a king’s army. Nevertheless, it is not about the number of men Isaac had, but about the blessing of the LORD which Abimelech was concerned about. Although we do not know the faith of Abimelech, he was afraid of a man who had the blessing of the LORD upon him. This could mean that God would fight the battle should any king attack Isaac’s encampment. Do we not have the blessing of the LORD upon our lives? God has blessed us with his Son Jesus who paid the price for our sins, taking the punishment of death we deserved. However, he was also raised from the dead, so that we can be also, as we live under the promise of Jesus when he told us that we would live even though we die if we believe in him. In fact, he promised that faith in him would mean we would never die. We have the promise, the treaty with God, of eternal life. It does not matter how much the army of the evil one attempts to attack our encampment, the LORD God will fight the battle for us, for we live under the treaty he made with us. As Isaac prepared a feast for Abimelech and his men before they made an oath with each other, Jesus prepared a feast for us in that place he had prepared for us. Although we cannot make an oath to God, although our faith is somewhat of an oath, He has made an oath to us because of our faith, he has promised to save us. We cannot repay him, we cannot make an oath, we cannot offer God anything other than ourselves, our faith. So it is our faith and His oath, that is God’s treaty with us.