Chapter
X. - Abraham.In the of Book of The Spirit of Prophecy,Volume One
The Lord
selected Abraham to carry out his will. He was directed to leave his idolatrous
nation, and separate from his kindred. The Lord had revealed himself to Abraham
in his youth, and gave him understanding, and preserved him from idolatry. He
designed to make him an example of faith, and true devotion, for his people who
should afterward live upon the earth. His character was marked for integrity,
generosity, and hospitality. He commanded respect as a mighty prince among the
people.His reverence and love for God, and his strict obedience in performing
his will, gained for him the respect of his servants and neighbors. His godly
example and righteous course, united with his faithful instructions to his
servants and all his household, led them to fear, love, and reverence, the God
of Abraham. The Lord appeared to Abraham, and promised him that his seed should
be like the stars of heaven for number. He also made known to him, through the
figure of the horror of great darkness which came upon him, the long, servile
bondage of his descendants in Egypt. In the beginning, God gave to Adam one
wife, thus showing his order. He never designed that man should have a
plurality of wives. Lamech was the first who departed in this respect from
93
God’s wise
arrangement. He had two wives, which created discord in his family. The envy
and jealousy of both made Lamech unhappy. When men began to multiply upon the
face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, they took them wives of
all which they chose. This was one of the great sins of the inhabitants of the
old world, which brought the wrath of God upon them. This custom was practiced
after the flood, and became so common that even righteous men fell into the
practice, and had a plurality of wives. Yet it was no less sin because they became
corrupted, and departed in this thing from God’s order. The Lord said of Noah
and his family who were saved in the ark, “For thee have I seen righteous
before me in this generation.” Noah had but one wife; and their united family
discipline was blessed of God. Because Noah’s sons were righteous, they were preserved
in the ark with their righteous father. God has not sanctioned polygamy in a
single instance. It was contrary to his will. He knew that the happiness of man
would be destroyed by it. Abraham’s peace was greatly marred by his unhappy
marriage with Hagar. After Abraham’s separation from Lot, the Lord said to him,
“Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward, and
southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the
dust of the earth; so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then
shall thy seed also be numbered.” “The word of the Lord came unto Abram in a
vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am
94
thy shield, and
thy exceeding great reward.” “And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no
seed; and lo, one born in my house is mine heir.” As Abraham had no son, he at
first thought that his trusty servant, Eliezer, should become his son by
adoption, and his heir. But God informs Abraham that his servant shall not be
his son and heir, but that he should really have a son. “And he brought him
forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell me the stars, if thou
be able to number them; and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” If Abraham
and Sarah had waited in confiding faith for the fulfillment of the promise that
they should have a son, much unhappiness would have been avoided. They believed
that it would be just as God had promised, but could not believe that Sarah, in
her old age, would have a son. Sarah suggested a plan whereby she thought the
promise of God could be fulfilled.She entreated Abraham to take Hagar as his
wife. In this they both lacked faith, and a perfect trust in the power of God.
By hearkening to the voice of Sarah, and taking Hagar as his wife, Abraham
failed to endure the test of his faith in God’s unlimited power, and brought
upon himself, and upon Sarah, much unhappiness. The Lord intended to prove the
firm faith and reliance of Abraham upon the promises he had made him. Hagar was
proud and boastful, and carried herself haughtily before Sarah. She flattered
herself that she was to be the mother of the great nation God had promised to
make of Abraham. And Abraham was compelled to listen to complaints from Sarah
in regard to the conduct of Hagar, charging Abraham with wrong in the
95
matter. Abraham
is grieved, and tells Sarah that Hagar is her servant, and that she can have
the control of her, but refuses to send her away, for she is to be the mother
of his child through whom he thinks the promise is to be fulfilled. He informs
Sarah that he should not have taken Hagar for his wife if it had
not been her
special request. Abraham was also compelled to listen to Hagar’s complaints of
abuse from Sarah. Abraham is in perplexity. If he seeks to redress the wrongs
of Hagar, he increases the jealousy and unhappiness of Sarah, his first and
much-loved wife. Hagar fled from the face of Sarah. An angel of God meets her,
and comforts her, and also reproves her for her haughty conduct, in bidding her
return to her mistress, and submit herself under her hands. After the birth of
Ishmael, the Lord manifested himself again to Abraham, and said unto him, “I
will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in
their generations, for an everlasting covenant.” Again the Lord repeated by his
angel his
promise to give Sarah a son, and that she should be a mother of many nations.
Abraham did not yet understand the promise of God. His mind immediately rests
upon Ishmael, as though through him would come the many nations promised, and
he exclaims, in his affection for his son, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before
thee!” Again the promise is more definitely repeated to Abraham: “Sarah thy
wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I
will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his
seed after him.”
96
Angels are sent
the second time to Abraham on their way to destroy Sodom, and they repeat the
promise more distinctly that Sarah shall have a son. After the birth of Isaac,
the great joy manifested by Abraham and Sarah caused Hagar to be very jealous.
Ishmael had been instructed by his mother that he was to be especially blessed
of God, as the son of Abraham, and to be heir to that which was promised to
him. Ishmael partook of his mother’s feelings, and was angry because of the joy
manifested at the birth of Isaac. He despised Isaac because he thought that he
was preferred before him. Sarah saw the disposition manifested by Ishmael
against her son Isaac, and she was greatly moved. She related to Abraham the
disrespectful conduct of Ishmael to her, and to her son Isaac, and said to him,
“Cast out this bondwoman, and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not
be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” Abraham is greatly distressed. Ishmael is
his son, beloved by him. How can he send him away! He prays to God in his
perplexity, for he knows not what course to take. The Lord informs Abraham,
through his angels, to listen to the voice of Sarah his wife, and that he
should not let his affections for his son, or for Hagar, prevent his compliance
with her wishes. For this was the only course he could pursue to restore
harmony and happiness again to his family. Abraham has the consoling promise
from the angel, that Ishmael, although separated from his father’s house,
should not die, nor be forsaken of God; that he should be preserved because he
was
97
the son of
Abraham. God also promises to make of Ishmael a great nation. Abraham was of a
noble, benevolent disposition, which was manifested in his pleading so
earnestly for the people of Sodom.
His strong
spirit suffered much. He was bowed with grief, and his paternal feelings were
deeply moved as he sends away Hagar and his son Ishmael to wander as strangers
in a strange land.If God had sanctioned polygamy, he would not have thus
directed Abraham to send away Hagar and her son. He would teach all a lesson in
this, that the rights and happiness of the marriage relation are to be ever
respected and guarded, even at a great sacrifice. Sarah was the first and only
true wife of Abraham.
She was entitled
to rights, as a wife and mother, which no other could have in the family. She
reverenced her husband, calling him lord; but she was jealous lest his
affections should be divided with Hagar. God did not rebuke Sarah for the
course she pursued. Abraham was reproved by the angels for distrusting God’s
power, which had led him to take Hagar as his wife, and to think that through
her the promise would be fulfilled. Again the Lord saw fit to test the faith of
Abraham by a most fearful trial. If he had endured the first test, and had
patiently waited for the promise to be fulfilled in Sarah, and had not taken Hagar
as his wife, he would not have been subjected to the closest test that was ever
required of man. The Lord bade Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the land of Moriah; and offer him
there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
98
Abraham did not
disbelieve God, and hesitate, but early in the morning he took two of his
servants, and Isaac his son, and the wood for the burnt-offering, and went unto
the place of which God had told him. He did not reveal the true nature of his
journey to Sarah, knowing that her affection for Isaac would lead her to
distrust God, and withhold her son. Abraham did not suffer paternal feelings to
control him, and lead him to rebel against God. The command of God was
calculated to stir the depths of his soul. “Take now thy son.” Then, as though
to probe the heart a little deeper, he adds, “thine only son Isaac, whom thou
lovest;” that is, the only son of promise, “and offer him as a burnt-offering.”
Three days this father traveled with his son, having sufficient time to reason,
and doubt God if he was disposed to doubt. But he did not distrust God. He did
not now reason that the promise would be fulfilled through Ishmael; for God
plainly told him that through Isaac should the promise be fulfilled. Abraham
believed that Isaac was the son of promise. He also believed that God meant
just what he said when he bade him to go offer him as a burnt-offering. He
staggered not at the promise of God; but believed that God, who had in his
providence given Sarah a son in her old age, and who had required him to take that
son’s life, could also give life again, and bring up Isaac from the dead.
Abraham left the servants by the way, and proposed to go alone with his son to
worship some distance from them. He would not permit his servants to accompany
them, lest their love for Isaac might lead them to prevent him from
99
carrying out
what God had commanded him to do. He took the wood from the hands of his
servants, and laid it upon the shoulders of his son. He also took the fire and
the knife. He was prepared to execute the dreadful mission given him of God.
Father and son walked on together. “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father,
and said, My father; and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the
fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham
said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering; so they
went both of them together.” Firmly walked on that stern, loving, suffering
father by the side of his son. As they came to the place which God had pointed
out to Abraham, he builds there an altar, and lays the wood in order, ready for
the sacrifice, and then informs Isaac of the command of God to offer him as a
burnt-offering. He repeats to him the promise that God several times made to
him that through Isaac he should become a great nation, and that in performing
the command of God in slaying him, God would fulfill his promise; for he was
able to raise him from the dead. Isaac believed in God. He had been taught
implicit obedience to his father, and he loved and reverenced the God of his
father. He could have resisted his father if he had chosen to do so. But after
affectionately embracing his father, he submitted to be bound and laid upon the
wood. And as his father’s hand is
raised to slay
his son, an angel of God who had marked all the faithfulness of Abraham on the
way to Moriah, calls to him out of Heaven, and says, “Abraham, Abraham; and he
said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou
anything
100
unto him; for
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine
only son, from me. “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold
behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took
the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.”
Abraham has now fully and nobly borne the test, and by his faithfulness
redeemed his lack of perfect trust in God, which lack led him to take Hagar as
his wife. After the exhibition of Abraham’s faith and confidence, God renews his
promise to him. “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of Heaven
the second time, and said, By myself I have sworn, saith the Lord, for because
thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that
in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as
the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”
REFERENCE
The Spirit of
Prophecy
Volume One
Ellen G. White
1870,Page 93-100
Social Plugin