Oh no! Not another promise!

From Genesis 21 - 24:

1. If I am not mistaken, at least some of the Arab nations are descended from Ishmael. This is where they come up with the idea that they are descendants of Abraham and why they believe that they are God's chosen people. It is interesting to see that God did indeed bless Ishmael by saying that he would make him into a great nation (Genesis 21:18) (Also there is reference to him in Genesis 17:20), though he was not the one that God was chosing as the ancestor of his "chosen nation".

2. It must have been hard for Abraham to offer up his only son. I know what it is like when just one of my four children gets sick. I am not giving them up or anything, but I worry about their little lives. And in this case Abraham is going to sacrifice Isaac, which is certain death. And it is his only child. Plus he has to take a couple of days to travel there with his son, so it was not like he could make the decision without really contemplating it. Three days of travel is a long time to consider things.

3. When Sarah dies, Abraham has to negotiate to purchase the land that he wants for a tomb. The negotiations are definitely not American-like in nature. When Americans say, "None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead" and then later say, "I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead, " we would take this to mean "Go ahead". But Abraham must've sensed that this was not really the case.

The other possibility is that Abraham wanted to make sure that he actually gave money so that later no one could just take back their promise.

4. Oh no! Not another promise! Abraham made his servant promise about getting a wife from the country where his ancestors lived. In that day, in order to swear an oath, they did not have a bible to swear upon. "So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master and swore an oath to him concerning the matter." Genesis 24:9 I sure am glad we don't make oaths this way anymore. Can you imagine what a court proceeding would be like? Sounds very uncomfortable!!!

That is another reason to thank God for giving us his word, the Holy Bible.