Latest / Reformed Thinking / Peace Through Strength: The Believer’s Witness in a Watching World (Genesis 21:22–26)

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Peace Through Strength: The Believer’s Witness in a Watching World (Genesis 21:22–26) · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to reformed thinking. Today we are heading straight
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  out to the edge of the map. I want you to picture the Negev
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  desert. It's it's hot, it is dry and it
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  is, you know, completely unforgiving.
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  And we're looking at a scene that, on the surface at least,
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  makes absolutely no sense at all It.
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  Really is a striking tableau if you if you really stop to look
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  at the details. The visual contrast alone tells
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  the whole story before anyone even says a word.
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  Right, because on one side you have Abimelech, and he is the
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  king of Juror, and standing right next to him is Fishel, who
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  is the commander of his entire. Army the top man.
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  The top man and these guys represent the city of man in all
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  its, you know, its glory. They have the Chariots, the
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  Spears, the fortress, all the structural authority.
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  They are the heavyweights in this situation.
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  Precisely. They represent the absolute
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  pinnacle of military and political strength in that
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  region. You have to imagine the you
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  know, the bronze armor just glinting in that harsh desert
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  sun. They project stability, force
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  and established order. And then on the other side of
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  the scene, looking, I imagine, pretty dusty, you have Abraham.
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  And let's be honest about where Abraham is at right now.
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  He is a stateless nomad. He is living in a tent.
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  He's just gone through this massive family crisis where he
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  he expelled his son Ishmael. He looks vulnerable.
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  He looks like a guy you could just push over.
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  By every earthly metric, Abraham is the weak party here.
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  I mean, he is a resident alien. He has no standing army, no
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  sovereign land of his own, yet he is, for all intents and
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  purposes, A squatter living on the fringes of the King's
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  territory. But N this is the central
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  mystery that we are going to crack open today.
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  The guy with the army comes bowing to the guy in the tent.
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  The King is the one initiating the treaty.
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  It's backwards. It's completely backwards.
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  He's the one asking for peace. So the question we have to ask
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  is why? Why does the City of Man, armed
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  to the teeth, fear a solitary old man?
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  That is the question, and the answer is not in Abraham's
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  military strategy because, well, he doesn't have one.
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  The answer lies in what Abimelech has seen, and This is
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  why. This isn't just a history lesson
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  about some ancient treaty. This is a master class on the
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  doctrine of Providence and really the believers witness in
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  a hostile world. I love that.
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  So we aren't just talking about ancient politics here.
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  We are talking about how the world sees God working in and
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  through us. That is right.
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  We are digging into how the city of God relates to the city of
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  man. And we have to be careful
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  because as Christians we so often fall into one or two
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  ditches, OK? We either isolate ourselves, you
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  know, the holy huddle approach, or we just assimilate.
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  We hide who we are to avoid conflict, but Abraham shows us a
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  different path, a third way. A way where the world eventually
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  has to stop and recognize the the sheer weight of God's glory
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  on a believer's life. That's it.
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  They can't ignore it forever. OK, let's unpack this.
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  We are in Genesis chapter 21, specifically verses 22 through
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  26, and it starts with this incredible moment of
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  vindication. Verse 22 says God is with you in
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  all that you do. And that statement is the.
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  You could say it's the exegetical heartbeat of the
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  entire passage. And remember who is saying it.
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  This isn't Sarah or Isaac, you know, encouraging him.
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  This is the Pagan king. That is wild.
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  It's it's like the CEO of a completely secular corporation
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  walking into your office and saying, look, I don't know what
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  it is, but God is clearly backing your projects.
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  It just doesn't happen. It is similar to that, and we
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  have to analyze the power dynamic here.
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  As you said, Abraham is weak, you know, politically.
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  But the initiative comes from Abimelech.
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  He comes to Abraham that signals a massive shift in perceived
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  strength. So something has changed.
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  Something has definitely changed, stability and and real
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  blessing in a fallen world. It attracts attention and
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  Abimelech has been watching. He's been taking notes.
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  So let's dig into that phrase. Elohim, Mimka, God is with you.
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  Is he just buttering Abraham up here?
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  Is this just, you know, flattery to get a good deal on trade
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  roads or something? I really don't think so.
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  The Hebrew implies this is an inescapable conclusion.
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  It's based on empirical observation.
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  It isn't flattery, it is a concession of reality.
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  I mean, just think about the dots Abimelech has connected.
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  Well, he has had a front row seat to the Abraham show for a
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  while. Now, he certainly has.
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  First, he saw the supernatural protection of Sarah back in
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  Genesis 20. I mean, his entire royal house
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  was plagued because of her. God intervened directly.
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  That's not something a king forgets.
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  No, you don't forget it when your whole house gets sick and
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  God shows up in a dream to tell you why.
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  Exactly. Then he's seen the miraculous
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  birth of Isaac. We have to remember Abraham and
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  Sarah were geriatric. Biologically, that birth was an
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  impossibility. Right.
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  Having a baby at 100 years old and your wife at 90 is
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  definitely going to make the neighbors talk.
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  It's it's not normal. Not at all.
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  And then there's the economic success.
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  Abraham's flocks are thriving. They're growing in a hostile
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  desert, in a place where resources are scarce and
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  everyone is struggling. Abraham is getting richer.
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  So it's not just one thing, it's this pile of evidence.
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  It's the cumulative weight of these events that forces the
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  Pagan mind to realize this man is not operating by human
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  ingenuity. There is another power at play
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  here. It's like Abraham's life has
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  become, I don't know, legible to the outsider.
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  They can read the Providence of God on him even if they can't
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  read the Torah. That is a beautiful way to put
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  it, and this links directly to our confession to the
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  Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 5, Section 1 on
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  Providence. It teaches that God the great
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  Creator upholds and governs all creatures and actions to the
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  praise of His glory. So it's not that Abraham's
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  putting on a show. Not at all.
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  He didn't need a billboard or a marketing campaign.
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  The ordinary workings of his life, his family, his sheep, his
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  movements were so infused with divine blessing that the veil
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  was pulled back for a moment, and even a Pagan king could see
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  it. Now here's a key question, I
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  think. Does this mean Abimelech is
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  saved? Is he converting?
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  Because saying God is with you sounds pretty religious.
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  And that is a critical distinction we absolutely must
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  make. This is very likely not saving
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  faith. It's not regeneration.
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  This is an operation of what we in theology call general
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  revelation and common grace. OK.
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  Can you break that down for us? What's the difference?
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  Well, John Calvin talks about the census divinitatus, this
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  innate sense of the divine that is inside every human being.
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  It's been suppressed by sin, but it's there.
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  When Abimelech sees the overwhelming external evidence
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  of God's power in Abraham's life, that sense is triggered.
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  He respects the power, but it's probably out of fear of
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  consequences, not out of the love for God.
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  So he's not saying I love your God, let me worship him.
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  He's saying your God is scary and powerful and I do not want
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  to be on the wrong side of him. That is it.
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  It is a pragmatic conclusion. He realizes that opposing
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  Abraham is like opposing the cosmos itself.
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  It's a bad business decision. And we see this biblical pattern
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  repeat itself, don't we? This isn't a one off.
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  Event not at all. Later, a successor, another
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  Abimelech says the very same thing to Isaac in Genesis 26.
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  We have plainly seen that the Lord is with you.
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  Potiphar sees it with Joseph in Genesis 39 that the Lord was
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  with him and made him succeed. And it goes all the way to the
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  prophets, right? It's not just in Genesis.
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  It is. Zechariah 8.23 has this
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  incredible eschatological image, this picture of the future where
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  10 men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a single
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  Jew and say, let us go with you, for we've heard that God is with
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  you. Wow.
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  Abraham is the prototype for that future reality.
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  His life is the initial fulfillment of that promise.
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  That is huge. So the vindication of the
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  believer doesn't always look like the world converting on
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  mass, but it often looks like the world being silenced by the
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  undeniable reality of God in our lives.
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  Yes. The mouths of critics are shut
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  not by our clever arguments, though they have a place, but by
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  the undeniable reality of God's presence.
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  A life lived under his blessing is the loudest apologetic.
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  So Abimelech seize this power. He gets understandably a little
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  nervous and he decides he needs to lock this down.
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  He needs some kind of security. And that brings us to Part 2,
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  the stipulation, verse 23. He asks Abraham to swear enough.
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  He does, he says, swear to me here by God that you will not
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  deal falsely with me, nor with my offspring, nor with my
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  posterity. It's a very specific demand.
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  I just find the irony here delicious.
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  You have a Pagan king insisting that the oath be sworn elohim by
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  God. He knows how the world works,
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  doesn't he? He knows that a treaty is only
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  as binding as the authority underwriting it.
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  If Abraham swears by the gods of Gerar or by the king of Gerar,
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  that means nothing to Abraham. It's just words.
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  Just words, But if he swears by his God, the God who closed up
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  the wombs of Abimelech's entire household, then Abimelech knows
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  Abraham is bound by a power he fears.
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  He recognizes that Abraham's moral framework, his fear of
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  God, is the only thing that can truly restrain him.
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  That in itself is a powerful testimony.
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  It is The world knows we have a higher standard.
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  Even if they don't share it, they see it.
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  Indeed, Abimelech recognizes that the fear of God is the only
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  truly reliable standard for justice and truth in a fallen
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  world. He's outsourcing his legal
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  security to Abraham's theology. Now Abimelech uses a specific
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  word here for what he wants. He asks for kindness.
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  He uses the Hebrew word cheesed. Which is, I mean, that's a heavy
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  hitter in the Bible. That's not a light word.
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  It is. It's so much more than just be
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  nice. To me, it's often translated as
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  loving kindness, loyal love, or covenant faithfulness.
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  It's the word that usually describes God's tenacious,
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  unstoppable loyalty to his people.
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  So Abimelech is Co opting this sacred covenantal language for
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  his political treaty. He is.
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  He's trying to elevate this non aggression packed into something
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  sacred and almost familial. He wants cheese.
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  He wants this deep, abiding loyalty.
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  But then he gets a little revisionist with the history,
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  doesn't he? He says.
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  Show me kindness according to the kindness that I've done to
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  you. Yes, there is a definite
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  distortion there. Let's, as you say, Fact Check
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  the source text. Did Abimelech show kindness to
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  Abraham? Well, yes, he eventually gave
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  him land and sheep and money. Right, but there's a big butt
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  there, A. Huge butt.
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  He only did that after God threatened him with death in a
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  dream because he'd taken Sarah. His kindness was motivated by
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  sheer terror. Right it was.
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  I was nice to you after your God told me I was a dead man walking
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  if I touched your wife. The world so often reframes
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  pragmatic survival as moral benevolence.
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  Abimelech is spinning the narrative.
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  He's saying I was good to you, so now you know me, you be good
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  to me. And Abraham doesn't even argue
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  the point, does he? He just lets it go.
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  He lets it go. He understands the bigger
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  picture here. He's not going to get bogged
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  down in a, he said, she said about past events.
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  And Abimelech is asking for a lot here.
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  It's not just for himself, My offspring, my posterity.
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  He is looking way, way down the road.
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  He fears displacement. That's the core fear.
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  He sees Abraham growing stronger.
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  He's seen the miracle of Isaac's birth and he is terrified that
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  this nomad's children are going to one day wipe out his children
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  and take over his Kingdom. So he wants to secure a
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  perimeter of peace, not just for his lifetime, but for
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  generations. For his entire legacy.
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  This brings up a really practical question for believers
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  today about how we interact with the government or other secular
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  authorities Because, you know, some Christians would say, don't
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  make treaties with the world, stay separate, come out from
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  among. Them and that would be, I
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  believe, a misunderstanding of the Reformed view on the civil
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  magistrate. If we look at the Westminster
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  Confession, chapter 23, it is very clear that it is lawful for
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  Christians to interact with civil authorities.
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  So it's OK to engage. It is.
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  We can make treaties, we can sign contracts, we can obey
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  laws. Separation does not mean total
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  isolationism. That's more of an Anabaptist
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  view, not a Reformed. One, so Abraham isn't
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  compromising his faith by entering into this treaty with a
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  Pagan king. No, not at all.
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  He is engaging in what you could call international diplomacy.
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  He is using the common grace structures available to him like
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  a legal treaty to protect the spiritual seed, to protect
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  Isaac. That makes sense.
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  He needs peace so he can raise Isaac in the land and establish
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  the worship of Yahweh. He's using worldly means for a
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  spiritual end. That is a great key take away
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  for all of us. We can and we should cooperate
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  with unbelievers in lawful matters like, you know, property
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  contracts, peace treaties, zoning laws, without
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  surrendering our distinct identity as God's people.
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  We are in the world, but not of it.
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  But being not of it doesn't mean we can't sign a lease or pay our
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  taxes or make a peace treaty. So Abimelech puts the terms on
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  the table. Swear by your God, you won't
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  hurt me or my kids. And we get to Part 3, the
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  response verse 24. And Abraham's answer is well,
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  it's shockingly short. I will swear in the Hebrew it is
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  just one word, Ishivea. That's it.
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  No, Let me think about it. No.
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  Let me run this by my legal team.
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  No. Well, it depends on what you
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  mean by deal falsely. The brevity is the point.
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  It indicates absolute integrity. This is a character study and
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  what it means to be a man of your word.
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  Abraham places himself under the curse of his own God.
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  If he breaks his word, he doesn't need to hedge.
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  It is such a stark contrast to modern pragmatism.
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  I feel like today everything is about the fine print.
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  We're always looking for the loophole, the exit clause.
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  That is the spirit of the age. But the believer is called to
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  live corumdio before the face of God, and that means your yes is
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  yes and your no is no. When you fear God, you don't
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  need 50 pages of contingencies to make you an honest person.
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  Your word is your bond because it's sworn before an audience of
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  1. Precisely.
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  So Abraham says. I will swear he commits.
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  But then, and here's where it gets really, really interesting,
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  we hit Part 4, the confrontation.
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  Verse 25 starts with a massive structural pivot, a huge but,
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  but Abraham approved Abimelech. Structural, but I love it.
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  He agrees to the piece, but he has a bone to pick first.
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  The ink isn't even dry on the verbal agreement and he's
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  already lodging a complaint. And it is a serious one.
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  It's not a minor issue. It's about a well of water that
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  Abimelech servants had seized. Now for us, living with modern
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  clumbing, a well is like maybe a quaint garden feature or
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  something you use if the city Pikes break.
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  But in the Negev this is life or death.
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  It's everything. Water is the most precious and
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  fought over resource in the desert to seize a well.
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  And the Hebrew word used here, gazel, implies robbery or
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  violence is an act of aggression.
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  It's not just trespassing. No, it's a direct threat to the
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  existence of the clan. If you take my well, you are
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  actively killing my flocks and eventually my family.
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  You are trying to drive me out of the land.
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  So Abraham isn't just complaining about a minor
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  property dispute, he is defending his life and the life
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  of the promised seed, Isaac. And notice the sequence is
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  brilliant. He says I will swear,
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  establishing his good faith, and then immediately pivots to the
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  grievance. This defines what true peace is.
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  Abraham refuses to engage in peace faking.
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  Peace faking. I like that term.
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  What do you mean by that exactly?
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  It's when you smooth over sin to avoid awkwardness.
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  It's pretending everything is fine when it very much isn't.
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  It's the let's just get along mentality that ignores
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  injustice. Abraham knows that true, lasting
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  peace cannot be built on a lie or on an ignored injustice.
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  If he signs the treaty but lets them keep the stolen, well, the
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  treaty is worthless. It's a house built on sand.
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  The resentment will just rot the relationship from the inside
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  out. That is so applicable to us.
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  I mean, how often in our own lives and our families or
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  churches do we just swallow a grievance because we want to
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  keep the peace, but really all we're doing is letting a wound
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  fester? Constantly we choose the
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  appearance of peace over the substance of it.
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  But biblical peacemaking includes the courage to
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  confront, and Abraham uses a specific method here.
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  The text says he reproved Abimelech.
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  What does that word mean? The Hebrew verb is yakak.
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  It implies a legal forensic argument.
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  He's not whining, He is adjudicating.
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  He is setting matters right. He's presenting his case.
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  He isn't gossiping to Sarah in the tent about it.
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  He isn't complaining to official behind the King's back.
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  He speaks directly to the authority.
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  He indicts the King to his face, and in doing so he defends his
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  property rights, which, by the way, is a direct implication of
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  the 8th Commandment. You shall not steal, as
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  understood by the Westminster Confession in Chapter 19.
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  So defending what's yours isn't unchristian.
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  Not at all. Believers are not called to a
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  false doormat. Pacifism, defending the
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  stewardship entrusted to you by God.
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  In this case, the water needed for the covenant family is an
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  act of righteousness. So he says, OK, I'll sign your
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  treaty, I will swear this oath, but first we need to talk about
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  my well that you stole. He's willing to swear the oath,
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  but parallel to that, he must settle the grievance.
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  Right. It's a package deal.
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  Integrity without isolation and peace with justice.
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  You cannot have one without the other.
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  So how does the king take this? I mean, he's just been accused
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  of theft. We moved to Part 5, the defense
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  verse 26. Abimelech's reply is well, it's
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  interesting. It is, he says.
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  I do not know who has done this thing.
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  You did not tell me and I have not heard of it until.
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  Today, the classic I didn't know defense, plausible deniability.
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  The question is, do we believe him?
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  That is the $1,000,000 question, and there are really two
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  possibilities here. Possibility A.
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  It's genuine ignorance. He is a king, he has a
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  bureaucracy, he can't micromanage.
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  Every shepherd, and maybe his servants, went rogue and seized
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  the well on their own initiative.
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  OK, that's possible. Possibility B.
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  It's feigned ignorance to save face.
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  Shocking. My servants did what?
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  I am appalled. Tell me more.
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  It feels a little bit like when a modern company gets caught
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  doing something shady and the CEO is hauled before Congress
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  and says I had no idea this was happening in the lower levels of
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  my organization. That is a perfect modern
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  comparison. This is what we call theological
• 17:56
  realism. Sin hides in systems.
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  Sin loves to hide in delegation and distance.
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  Servants commit crimes in the name of the king and the king
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  and plausibly deny it all. But Abimelech also throws a
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  little bit of shade back at Abraham.
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  He doesn't just claim ignorance, he says.
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  You didn't tell me. And that is a fairpoint, isn't
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  it? Peace requires clear and honest
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  communication. The phrase he uses until today
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  implies that the issue is only being solved now because it is
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  finally being named. This just highlights the
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  necessity of explicit agreements.
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  You can't just assume people know what's wrong or that
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  they'll do the right thing. Peace requires clear, sometimes
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  written term stipulations because human memory is
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  selective and sin is social. We need to trust but verify
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  dynamic in a fallen world. The oath that follows clarifies
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  ownership and creates a public memory, so this can't happen
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  again. And if Abraham had stayed silent
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  to keep the peace, that treaty would have collapsed in six
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  months when the servants came back to the well and there was
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  another fight. Absolutely.
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  The whole thing would have been for nothing.
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  Abraham's reproof, his confrontation, was necessary for
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  the long term survival of the peace.
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  So we have seen the vindication, the stipulation, the response,
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  the confrontation, and now the defense.
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  Let's try and pull all these threads together.
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  This is Part 6, Theological synthesis.
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  If we step back and look at the believer stance that Abraham
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  models here, it's a perfect balance.
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  He is peaceable without being pliable.
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  He's willing to make a treaty, but he will not be pushed around
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  or have his rights trampled. And he is righteous without
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  being quarrelsome. He brings up the well not to
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  start a fight, but to end an ongoing injustice and
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  established true peace. Correct.
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  He models a kind of peace through strength, but it's not
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  the strength of Chariots and Spears.
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  It is the quiet, firm strength of God's manifest presence.
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  And of course, we can't miss the Christological connection here,
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  because this is Reformed thinking and we know the Old
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  Testament whispers the name of Jesus on every page.
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  It does more than whisper here, I think it shouts.
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  Abraham is a type. He's a shadow of the great
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  mediator to come, Jesus Christ. Think about the imagery the
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  enemy sees to seize the well of life.
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  The Philistines, the world, want to cut off the water supply for
• 20:09
  God's people. And Jesus comes and declares
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  that he is the living water. Right.
• 20:14
  Jesus is the one who brings the living water that can never be
• 20:16
  seized. But notice the difference.
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  Christ did not negotiate a truce with sin.
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  He didn't make a deal with injustice.
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  He defeated it. Abraham secured a well with
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  seven lambs and an oath. Christ secured the wells of
• 20:29
  salvation for all his people with His own blood.
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  He is the greater Abraham who establishes the New Covenant,
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  and that covenant is sealed not just for a generation or two
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  like Abimelech wanted, but for all of eternity.
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  And this is key. He makes peace with us.
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  We have to remember that by nature, we aren't Abraham in
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  this story. That's not our default role.
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  Oh. That is A twist.
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  If we're not Abraham, who are we?
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  We are Abimelech, or maybe more accurately, we are Abimelech
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  servants. We are the thieves.
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  We have seized glory that belongs to God.
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  We've tried to take what is his. We are the ones who need to come
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  to the greater Abraham, to Jesus and say, please make a Treaty of
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  peace with us. And because of Christ's cheesy
• 21:10
  his loyal covenantal love, he says, I will swear He brings us
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  into his covenant not because we deserve it, but because of His
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  grace. He does, and that is the gospel
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  right there in Genesis 21. That is amazing.
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  So for you listening today, there are really 2 clear
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  applications from this. If you are identifying with the
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  ABBA Malik perspective, if you are outside of Christ, you need
• 21:30
  to realize you are stealing God's glory and you need to make
• 21:33
  peace with the King through his Son.
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  Yes. But for the believer, for the
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  one who is already in that covenant of grace, the
• 21:40
  application is about how you live in this world, right here
• 21:43
  and now. Don't fear the faces of men.
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  Spot on. Whether it is your boss, the
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  secular authorities, your hostile neighbor, your greatest
• 21:51
  defense is not your cleverness or your arguments.
• 21:54
  It is a life lived so transparently before God that
• 21:57
  the world cannot help but respect the divine hand that is
• 22:00
  upon you. And second, don't be afraid to
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  address the stolen wells in your life.
• 22:05
  That is the practical courage we all need.
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  If there is a grievance, if there is an injustice in your
• 22:09
  relationships, in your work, in your church, address it with
• 22:12
  truth and with courage. Don't hide it or pretend it's
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  not there. True pieces on the other side of
• 22:18
  that difficult conversation. It is such a dense passage of
• 22:21
  Scripture. Who knew a simple dispute over a
• 22:24
  hole in the ground could tell us so much about the gospel and our
• 22:27
  public witness as Christians? That is the beauty of Scripture.
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  Every detail matters. Every word is there for a
• 22:32
  reason. Before we go, I want to leave
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  you with this final thought to chew on.
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  We often think God vindicates us by taking us out of the trouble
• 22:40
  or by removing our enemies entirely.
• 22:42
  But here God vindicates Abraham by being visibly with him right
• 22:46
  in the middle of the trouble. He doesn't remove Abimelech, He
• 22:48
  makes Abimelech bow. And maybe that's how he wants to
• 22:50
  work in your life too. A.
• 22:52
  Powerful truth to consider. Thank you for diving deep with
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  us today. This has been reformed thinking.
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  Keep thinking and keep living, Corumdeo.