The Everlasting Hatred (13 page)

To my knowledge, no one has done an extensive study on the history of Abraham's greater family outside of the chosen line of Isaac and Jacob. So follow this section closely. It will throw some very important light on today's Middle East problems.

When God called Abraham, He told him very specifically, “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you.”
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Now the record shows that Abraham (then called Abram) only
partially obeyed
the LORD's command. For when he left Ur of the Chaldeans, his father, Terah, was in charge and went with him as far as Haran, which was only part of the way to Canaan. It appears that the LORD did not allow Abraham to even enter Canaan until after his father died in Haran.
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God wanted Abraham to be in charge of his own household. Ancient tradition always established the eldest father as the chief of the family.

After Abraham's father died, we read in the Biblical record:

“So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land.
Then
the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”
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(emphasis added)

Even though Abraham was now in charge of the family, he still did not fully obey the Lord's command, for he took Lot, his nephew, with him. And Lot became the proverbial “Albatross” around Abraham's neck.

Later, when Abraham and Lot tried to live together, a range war developed between their two groups of “cowboys” and shepherds. They both had too many cattle and sheep to be sustained in the same region.

So Abraham, the senior, graciously allowed Lot first choice as to where in the land he would like to settle. Lot's choice was purely of the flesh. He chose the lush plain of the Jordan River. Here is the Bible's description:

And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent even as far as Sodom. But the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord.
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There are many interesting facts revealed here. The area that is now the Dead Sea was like the Garden of Eden before God's overwhelming judgment upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The tremendous explosion that hit these two cities must have hit like a giant karate chop. This area is now a rift valley. The area in the center, where Sodom and Gomorrah were, is like a moveable stage that is between two parallel fault lines. The main fault, to which the rift valley is connected, extends from Mount Hermon in the
north southward to Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The Dead Sea, which is the center of the Rift Valley, is 1,260 feet below sea level.

Standing atop Masada, I have seen some of the ruins of Sodom under the southern tip of the Dead Sea. Anyone who doubts God's attitude toward “Sodomy” only needs to look at this geographical reminder.

Whereas Genesis 13 records that Lot first pitched his tent toward Sodom, it is later revealed that he moved into the city of Sodom and settled there in a house. From then on his troubles multiplied. We can't immerse ourselves in the things of this world and sustain fellowship with the Lord. It was apparently the influence of his wife that drove him from tents into the luxury of the city. But they paid a terrible price, as revealed in Genesis chapter 19. The people of the city were consumed with every form of sexual perversion mixed with extreme violence.

When God revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham interceded for the wicked cities in order to save Lot and his family. God granted Abraham's desire, but not his petition. That is, He delivered Lot and his family, but destroyed the wicked cities.

In 2 Peter, Lot is held up as an example of God's unfailing grace even to the carnal, out of fellowship believer:

And [God] turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them,
tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)—the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.
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Lot was out of fellowship and his conduct was not righteous, but his spirit was still born again and he had the righteousness of faith that comes with receiving God's pardon for sin. Though God disciplined Lot, He never disowned him. And God delivered him because of Abraham's intercession for him.

Now it was after this destruction and the death of Lot's wife when she turned back and yearned in her heart for the fleshly comforts of Sodom, that Lot became the father of two of Israel's greatest enemies.

Lot's two daughters feared that, since they were the only female survivors of the entire region of Sodom and Gomorrah, they would never have a husband and children. Children were like having social security for your old age in those days.

So each girl in turn made their father drunk and had sex with him. The result of this incest was the birth of two sons, Moab and Ammon. We will see that their descendants became the constant enemies of Israel and that the Bible predicts that their descendants will be part of a Muslim alliance in the war that ends this present world order—Armageddon.

A little-considered part of Abraham's life is what happened to him after the death of Sarah, his wife. When she died, Abraham was 137 years old. After Abraham provided Rebekah as a wife for Isaac to make sure the covenant line was settled, he married another wife. He was about 139 years old by this time.

We all marvel, and rightly so, that God enabled Abraham, against nature, to have Isaac at the age of one hundred years. But here we find just how far back God turned Abraham's biological clock and restored his youth. Here is the amazing and important record:

Abraham again took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.
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Abraham had six more sons and ten grandsons before his death at the age of 175 years.

I believe these are the people to whom the prophet Jeremiah refers in a prophetic warning to the nations that mistreated Israel. He refers to them as a part of the Arabian people, “all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of
the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert
…”
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The “mixed multitude” is no doubt descended from Abraham's other sons, who apparently mingled with the Ishmaelites in the vast Arabian Peninsula. This is supported by what the Bible says in Genesis 25. The Bible notes that, before Abraham died, he gave all he had to Isaac. Then it specifically points out that “Abraham gave gifts to the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; and while he was still living he sent them eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.”
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Note that it says “concubines,” in the plural. Abraham only had only two concubines—Ishmael's Egyptian mother Hagar and Keturah. This would indicate that he called them all together and gave gifts to Ishmael and the six sons he had with Keturah. And then he sent them (which in context would have to mean both Ishmael and his other six sons) “eastward, away from Isaac his son, to the country of the east.” As noted before, the country to the east is the land we know as the Arabian Peninsula.

I am sure the reason Abraham sent these family members to the east was to protect Isaac and his family. There was resentment and jealousy among all of Abraham's other sons and relatives toward Isaac. They saw only Abraham's favoritism toward Isaac, not God's sovereign choice and purpose.

This is the common factor that runs through all of Israel's relatives.
It is this enmity that developed from envy and jealousy that binds all of these family members together
.

There are two descendants of Abraham that have been the most persistent enemies of Israel—Ishmael and Esau. As we have seen, Ishmael is the half brother of Isaac, and Esau is the twin brother of Jacob. Much was observed about Esau in chapter three, but there are some other factors that need to be noted here.

Esau and Jacob were fraternal twins. Fraternal twins are not only different in appearance, but they are also usually very different in temperament and personality. This was glaringly so in the case of these two boys.

I have fraternal twin daughters who don't even look like sisters. Their temperaments and personalities are radically different. They represent two entirely different strains of their family's genes. But thank God, they are not like these two boys—they have always loved each other.

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, Esau was nicknamed “Edom” or “Red” for apparently two reasons. First, because from birth his body was covered with red hair. And second, because he called the lentil stew for which he sold his birthright, “that
red
stuff.”

When Esau discovered that Jacob had tricked his father Isaac into giving him the blessing of the first born, which Esau had traded to Jacob for “red” lentil stew, Esau wept and begged for the oath to be reversed. But Isaac realized that what he had sworn before the Lord could not be reversed. Instead, as a result God made the following prophecy through Isaac about Esau's future:

And he [Isaac] said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing.” Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has
cheated
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me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” But Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” And Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. And by your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
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The LORD caused Isaac to unwillingly pronounce a sad prophecy upon Esau's future. The land where his descendants settled was not fertile—it was primarily the Arabian Peninsula. They first settled east of the Dead Sea in the mountains that extended from its lower tip southward. But eventually, almost all of them migrated and mingled with the Ishmaelites, who are the Arabs.

Like his uncle Ishmael, Esau would live by the sword. He would war and pillage to sustain his people. In this regard, consider a couple of observations from Keil and Delitzsch. First, commenting on, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, and away from the dew of heaven from above,” they write, “This is generally the condition of the mountainous country of Edom, which although not without its fertile slopes and valleys, especially in the eastern portion, is thoroughly waste and barren in the western; so that Seetzen says it consists of ‘the most desolate and barren mountains probably in the world.'”

Second, regarding, “And by your sword you shall live,” they write, “The mode of life and occupation of the inhabitants were adapted to the country… His maintenance would be by the sword, i.e., he will live by war, rapine and freebooting [piracy].”
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Most important, these verses reveal that Esau was already holding a grudge against Jacob. “Is he not rightly named Jacob,” Esau said, “for he has cheated me these two times?” This shows Esau was keeping count of the wrongs he considered Jacob had done to him.

Once Esau realized that the inheritance and blessing had permanently been given to Jacob, he said, “So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.'”
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This hatred became an enmity that permeated his descendants. They became primarily called the sons of Edom or the Edomites. They later became known as the Idumaens that produced the Herod dynasty spoken of in the New Testament. King Herod the Great, who ordered the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem in order to kill the Messiah, was a descendant of Esau.