This morning we come to Genesis 24.
Abraham, the man of faith nears the end of his life. The promises of God have proven true.
But there remains an obstacle to the Lord’s plan to produce a nation from Abraham, a people numerous as the stars, and as the sand: the matriarch has died.
No more children would come from Sarah’s womb. Dead women do not a nation make. The nation must descend from Isaac. But he remains unmarried.
As we consider this passage this morning, let’s enter in to this passage from the perspective of the original readers of Genesis to whom Moses wrote: the nation of Israel, 600 years after Abraham, who had been redeemed out of slavery in Egypt by the mighty hand of God and were looking to enter the promised land, the land of rest, the land of milk and honey, the land of prosperity but were instead, wandering in the desert.
We don’t understand the tension within Israel. We’ve read the conclusion, Joshua 3, where Israel crosses the Jordan and enters the land. But they didn’t have the book of Joshua. Many they thought they would all die in their desert wanderings.
But there were faithful people among Israel. As they read Genesis 24, trudging along with the doubting masses, listening to the complaints and grumblings, what would they have heard from God that addressed their circumstances?
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