I continue to find it amazing how the scriptures ‘track’ one another. In today’s Matthew section, the Sermon on the Mount ends with these quick bites of sayings. Vs 19-21 is the storing up treasure quote. Then in the Proverbs, we again have storing but this time it is not monetary treasures, it is God’s commands. This is a ‘hidden treasure’, not the kind moths and rust destroy.
And the Genesis passage is all about being pregnant or not as the case may be while the Psalm uses the ‘pregnant with evil’ analogy. It feels strange to me how the scriptures intertwine.
In the OT passage, it is all about how important Sarah, The Princess, is. Clearly, even in her old age, she was exceedingly beautiful. Pharaoh took her in a previous passage and in day after tomorrow, a king of Gezar is going to take her again. But she was flawed. She had no children. She also did not command her slaves very well. Later, we will see with Jacob how each of his wives handles the pregnant servant girls without a Biblical commentary. What was wrong with Sarah? I am not sure it was Sarah. I think it was really Abraham. He was the one who did not see her importance. Heck, he keeps giving her away! He didn’t take her part when Haggar treated her badly. He is the first one to laugh about Sarah having the baby. She got chastised but he laughed first. God told him Sarah was the mother of the blessing and he is still worried about Ishmael. What about gratitude for the gift she is going to be given?
But what would you expect from a man that is told by God/angels to leave his home, so he does. To circumcise himself and all the males, so he does. In a little bit, to kill his son and so he does everything but the slash. In my 21st century worldview, I am glad I am not married to him.
A tiny bit about the hospitality scene: notice that when Abraham addresses them, he addresses the one who has prominence with the uncapitalized words ‘my lord’. If we were reading Hebrew, it would be very obvious that he did not know that he was entertaining God. This apparently is how Abraham treated everyone. In desert hospitality, the water and the shade were what were expected. Abraham goes all the way with the milk, the cheese, the bread and later the calf. He had an all day feast for these strangers. Clearly extraordinary behavior. From Letters to the Hebrews 13:2, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it”. Something to ponder in this day and age when we seldom bring anyone into our homes. Probably, because you might see dog and cat hair on the floor, some unmade teenage boy beds, books and computers scattered about, and possibly a large amount of unfolded laundry. So, just in case an angel shows up tonight, I am going to fold the wash and put it away.
Thanks Sylvia for this wonderful resource! I will be giving more attention to the O.T. readings, since this is what I feel I need at this time (not that I will ignore the N.T.). "Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?" This rhetorical question is one of the great inspirational verses in the Bible. It brings to mind what the angel Gabriel said to Mary, "For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37) As for Abraham, yes, I agree; he certainly had his faults as a husband. As for his plea for Ishmael, I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I read his plea as a positive - as a sign of his continuing concern for Ishmael as he learns that his promised son will be great. Perhaps he's simply saying, "God, don't forget about Ishmael." It's worth noting that God hears and responds to Abraham's plea for Ishmael. Ishmael, too, will be great, even though the covenant is with Isaac. Thanks for reminding me of the importance of hospitality. Your reflections are right on. Thanks Sylvia!
ReplyDeleteI had a phone conversation yesterday with a former pastor. He is now retired and we were just catching up. I told him about this plan to read the Bible in one year. He told me that almost no one has read the entire Bible and what a good idea it was. He told me to think of it as a "treasure hunt" to look for parts that spoke to me. And then today the Proverbs reading ends with the idea that we should search for Understanding like treasure. Truly God stuff.
ReplyDeleteA couple of more reflections. First, another good word on Abraham's behalf. Why am I in this "defending Abraham" mood this morning? Even though the Lord prevented her from bearing children (Sarai/Sarah's words, not mine), it sounds to me like Abraham stayed with her and remained faithful to her. He had to wait until he was 100 years old for her to have a child. That sounds like a faithful husband to me! Also, going back to Ishmael, is it going too far to suggest that God also made a covenant with him? Covenant-like words are used for Ishmael as well: "I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous...I will make him a great nation. I know it says that the covenant will be established with Isaac, but... Well, now I'm through - I promise.
ReplyDeleteI too was inspired by the Proverbs passage.
ReplyDeleteGod's word and knowledge to discern it as hidden treasure.
And I've often thought of having just Hebrews 13:2 stenciled above my front door.
But now I'm thinking the door to my garage, since that's really where all the activity happens!
A good reminder