“How to Restore Eden”

Genesis 26:26-33

 

We have been reading through chapter 26 of Genesis which contains the narrative of Isaac, in three distinctive parts. We have come to part three. He has proven to be the blessed deceiver, taking cues from his father Abraham. In Isaac’s case, his blessing leads to tribal rivalries because God has been providing living water for him in the middle of the wilderness during a famine. There is also a satanic force at work creating rivalry, envy and anger amongst the brethren. We left off last week with Isaac sitting in a stream bed, with living water, while everyone else around him was thirsty. 

 

But God had told Isaac that He would bless the nations through him. Up to this point, it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. 

The story continues with King Abimelech coming to meet Isaac. The king doesn’t come alone. He brings his companion Ahuzzath and Philcol, the commander of his army. Whoa! Let’s consider what is going on right now. Issac was kicked out of the city of Gerar by King Abimelech and has spent the last, who knows how long, quarreling with Abimelech’s herdsman over water and pasture. At this point, Isaac is the only one who has water. The king shows up at his tent with his advisor and army captain. A bit intimidating to say the least. Makes you wonder how things may go. As for Isaac, he comes right out and asks, verse 27, 

 

“Why did you come to me? You hate me; you threw me out of your country.”

 

King Abimelech responds with what has become clearly obvious, 

“We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;”

He then requests to create a sworn agreement between the two of them. Abimelech may have the army, but it’s clear by his request who has the most power. 

The man that has the Lord with him. 

The king is requesting they make an “alah” or what is known in Hebrew, as an “oath-curse.” This particular agreement is a covenant that establishes that should one party do something bad to another party, they would be cursed, and vice versa. Basically each party agrees not to do anything bad to the other or they will suffer a curse. 

Isaac agreed, and then he made a feast for them and they ate and drank. Do you remember where Isaac was living? By the well of seven. 

 

So at the well of seven, where Isaac had pitched his tent, by the altar where he had met with Yahweh, the Philistine King, his advisor and army commander came together with Isaac and they all enjoyed a feast. The next morning, when they were sober and alert they swore oaths one to another. Verse 31, 

“Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully.”

That very same day, Isaac’s servants came to him and told him about a well they had dug. They had found more water! Isaac names the well, Shibah, meaning “oath.” The town of Beersheba still exists there to this day.

Wow! We certainly dodged a Near East World War I, don’t you think? How wonderful that two tribes were able to say they were sorry to each other and make peace. 

How does this fit into the melody? 

Notice the way in which King Abimelech organizes his speech to Isaac. He begins his conversation with, 

“We saw clearly that the Lord was with you;” verse 28 and ends his statement with, 

“And now you are blessed by the Lord.” end of verse 29.

Abimelech begins and ends his speech with the recognition that for Yahweh to be with someone is another way of saying that they are blessed. So for Abimelech to reach out to who he truly perceives to be the chosen one of Yahweh and admit he shouldn’t have done something bad to Isaac because he was definitely the chosen one, is huge. 

Isn’t this exactly what Yahweh had planned? 

The nations come to the chosen one, and they participate in the blessing of the family of Abraham, through a covenant. And for this moment the brothers are unified. 

 

The treachery of God’s chosen one was being transformed, inverted and overcome to create peace and covenant and shalom with the nations. We are told that Isaac sent them away in shalom, in peace. 

 

We have just read a description of the marriage feast of the Lamb. 

It’s the picture of the end that we all look forward to one day. 

 

The narrative of Isaac is short, basically three sections in one chapter. He will appear again, in a little bit, just to be deceived and then die many chapters later. We have been given such a small snippet of his life yet it has been told in such a way that it tells the story of the whole Bible. 

 

The narrator of the Bible does this throughout the story. 

We are given small stories that have been compacted in such a way that they represent the whole story. It’s like a miniature version of the bigger story. 

 

Here’s what we have been given - 

 

On one level, we have the birth of Isaac’s son, who becomes a deceiver and you wonder, “How is this going to work out?” How is Jacob going to be a blessing to the nations? How is this all going to work out? 

 

Tension, the kind of tension that keeps you reading, because you just 

have to know what is going to happen next.

Then the narrator throws in this little narrative of Isaac’s life and it leads to the mountain, with the nations coming together, in peace, at the well of seven, with blessings and shalom and a covenant. 

 

The narrator has provided hope.  The story will turn immediately back to dirty details and jealousy and deception, but in the midst of it all, you have a glimpse of how it all will end. On the outside this story looks for all extensive purposes like a story about some ancient people when in fact, it’s the telling of the whole biblical story in miniature. It ends with a picture of what were once rival tribes coming together in unity, because of what God did through the chosen family of Abraham. 

 

This is the same story that Jesus saw Himself within. 

 

From chapter 4 to chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew, all the way up to the Sermon on the Mount, including ten healing stories, Jesus was the main event. He was solely announcing the Kingdom of God was at hand. But in chapter 10, Jesus pivots, and He multiplies Himself by 12. 

Verse 1, 

 

“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.”

 

Jesus gives the disciples power over Satan and his minions, to be able to cast them out and to restore Eden to all the broken and sick bodies they come in contact with. Jesus overcame His test in the wilderness, when He was confronted by the snake. 

 

Recognize, Jesus wasn’t confronted in a garden, He was confronted in the wilderness and demonstrated He was the image of God who could rule the beast. 

Jesus, 

human, 

in the image of God, 

goes around spreading the life of Eden everywhere into lots of people’s lives. When we get to chapter 10, Jesus believes that His followers can imitate that very process. Notice what Jesus instructs them to do, verse 5,

 

“Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

 

Jesus explains that it’s not time to go to the nations, yet. 

Instead, start with the family, start with the Israelites, the lost sheep of Israel. Jesus knows that the chosen family of Israel had itself become a snake. They needed to get back on track so they could become the vehicle God had intended, to bring blessings to the nations. As Jesus’ journey on earth continued there were Gentiles that were healed along the way, the Canaanite woman who came asking for crumbs, the healing of the daughter of the centurion. But by and large, Jesus remained on track. 

 

The disciples had been taught on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:23,24

 

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.”

Basically, if you think you can go to the temple, and worship in what was understood to be as “Eden” and you brought conflict in with you, you’re not in Eden any more. You need to reconcile with your brother before you can come hang out at the temple. Jesus had this idea, that the way the family was going to spread blessings was through learning how to live together in unity. 

 

Paul picks up this theme with his letters explaining how to become a mature human and to experience the life and blessing of God, the Jew and Gentile were to be treated as one. 

 

This is big. 

It’s not like unity would be a nice thing to happen. 

It's a necessity. 

The problem is, since the beginning of humanity there has never been a generation of humans where unity hasn’t been like a desperate need. 

 

Check in time.

 

We have our own version of this right now. The fact that people don’t like each other isn’t new. And the fact that they kill each other over scarce resources continues to this day shouldn’t surprise us. But for those who are paying attention, God surprises all of us, almost every day with bits of Eden in the wilderness. The primary place that Christians are called to work things out is in the local gathering of Jesus’ followers, where we are to learn how to endure each other. Each of us has been given the tools necessary to restore Eden. The difficulty is this side of heaven, there are snakes still around promoting jealousy and deception. 

Today’s Scripture should remind us that we have the power, through Christ, to promote peace and restore a bit of Eden, this side of eternity. For as much as it is within our power, with the grace of God, may we do so. 

 

Let’s pray.