Study From the Book of Genesis,21

Study From the Book of Genesis,21

Today we study chapter 21 of the Book of Genesis. I choose two biblical principles and their lessons which are useful in Biblical Counselling.

The Bible stresses that the Lord causes conception; that children are a gift of the Lord. The verb visits us is an extraordinary choice here, because it means that the Lord entered directly into the affairs of His people. The promise was fulfilled and Sarah got pregnant of Isaac. It appears that Sarah conceived while Abraham was in Gerar. The context is wonderful: God closed the wombs of the women of Abimelech, and now He opened Sarah’s womb. It was time now for Abraham and Sarah to celebrate.

Isaac means laugh, Both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they heard the promise of God.  Wonderfully this woman in her 90s had breasts filled with milk and her arms are full with a child.

The Hebrew word for scoffing is related to the name for Isaac. The young Ismael, now 17, was making mocking the joy of Sarah and Abraham in their young son. Years before, Hagar had had to leave the same household while she was pregnant of Ismael, now she discovered herself again outside the house with bread and skin of water only. What wonderful words these are! There is no pain of His people that God does not hear or see. God was near to deliver; the child would not die. God renewed His promise to Hagar as Ismael would become a great nation.

Structure

Verses: 1-21: Isaac is born.

Verses 22-34: a covenant with Abimelech.

Principle 36: verse 21:1: ---“And now the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.”

Lesson 36: God always keeps His promises, no matter how impossible their fulfilment may seem. And every promise He keeps is an expression of grace.

Principle 37: 21:33: -----“And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God.”

Lesson 37: Abraham knew the Lord as the Everlasting God, a title found only here. We can count on God to keep His promises because, as He says “I am the Lord, I do not change” (Mal 3:6).25.01.2025,