Abraham's Faithfulness to God and God's faithfulness to Abraham
Theme: A Journey with Abraham
Theme Verse: "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." Hebrews 11:8 NIV
Readings: Genesis 24:1-19
Memory Verse: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)
"Abraham was now old…and the LORD had blessed him in every way." The LORD knows what we need and how to satisfy us. Abraham had passed the test and withheld nothing from God at Mt Moriah. Now he needed a suitable wife for Isaac. Isaac was forty when he married (Genesis 25:20) -- maybe a year later. A word received: This is a story of my faithfulness to Abraham and his faithfulness to me. It is the way I want your relationship with me to work too.
This servant (probably Eliezer, Genesis 15:2) "was in charge of all that he had." His was a very important position, one of stewardship and Abraham had great trust in him. He had been with Abraham many years and clearly had some knowledge of God, not any god, but THE God (Yahweh), whom Abraham worshiped and obeyed. He had watched Abraham all through the years. This really is a faith journey for the servant. He has seen Abraham's life of faith and now is living out that faith himself. By our faith we influence the faith lives of our children and those around us. The servant is able to say, "Please give me success this day" (Genesis 24:12, 27b) to God. He is not like Saul who said to Samuel, "You pray for me to your God." When the servant prays for success it is not for self-fulfillment, but to fulfill the assignment from Abraham to the glory of God. We and the children need to think about being role models for others. What are we modeling for others by our lives, whether we intend to or not?
The servant prayed, "O LORD God, God of my master, Abraham". God has deliberately chosen to be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in personal, relationship terms rather than territorial or abstract terms. God identifies himself in Exodus 3:6, not only by his name, "I AM" (Yahweh) but also as "I Am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,…Isaac, and…Jacob." -- forever! (See Note on last page.) Word received: You are My chosen ones. I chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I chose you. I have chosen many. Who will answer My call and My choice? Abrahaam, Isaac and Jacob chose to respond to My choice of them. I want the lesson to have a clear call to choose Me in response to My choice.
Abraham made his chief Steward swear a special oath (Genesis 24:2-3) that society considered sacred to one's god because it was related to the source of fertility as well as in the name of God.
Abraham makes (him) swear the most solemn oath that under no condition is he to take Isaac back where Abraham came from. Abraham says it twice (Genesis 24:6 & 8). God had called Abraham and made it clear he was to leave his family and homeland and go to Canaan (which would one day belong to Abraham's descendants) and Abraham is determined to be obedient to this. It was hard enough for Abraham to leave. It would also be hard for Isaac if he went back and might not return. (Look how long Jacob stayed when he went there for a wife.)
Abraham is determined that his family will obey God's call to Canaan and not go back to what had existed before God called him. (Are we ever tempted to turn back for what seems at the time to be a good reason?) A word received: I want you to take your lead from me, not how the world leads.
WHY did Abraham want a wife from his own relatives and country and not from the Canaanites? Abraham's family had at least a minimal knowledge of God and they had been there when God called Abraham. [However we read later in Genesis 31:34, that they still worshiped some "household gods" along with the true God.] Equally important was that the Canaanite gods were truly horrible. The Canaanites offered their own children as burnt offerings to their gods. God forbad the Israelites to inter-marry with the Canaanites because then they would be led astray to worship idols, do horrible things and their children would not grow up to worship the only, true, and living God. Read Deuteronomy 7:2-4 and Deuteronomy 9:4-6. Unfortunately they did it anyway with predictable results.
[One disconnect for us is the idea of worshiping Yahweh, the true God, along with other gods. You must remember that the whole of the surrounding culture was polytheistic. From that perspective there was no problem. Most gods were territorial. What we have here is the beginning of understanding that Yahweh is THE universal God. Only later would Abraham's descendants understand that Yahweh was the ONLY God as well as being the God of the universe. They thought of Yahweh as the "most high god", God of gods. Modern polytheism is called relativism--i.e. there is no absolute truth or God and your god and my god are all true and all equal.]
Now look at the memory verse. A more literal translation says, "Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers." The image is that of a pair of horses or oxen in one yoke and pulling in opposite directions. It was and still is a problem for the New Covenant people of God -- Christians. Malachi 2:11 talks about an Israelite marrying a pagan as "marrying the daughter of a foreign god." If Christian believers are sons and daughters of God through Christ, then marriage to an unbeliever yokes, ties, them to a false god--an idol.
Also Malachi 2:15, talking about marriage says, "has not the LORD made them one? Why one? Because He is seeking godly offspring." Children are likely to follow their parents. Modern pagans don't worship physical idols but whatever is your final authority is your god. Sometimes it is one's own will, opinions of others, money, fame, what is "politically correct", etc. St. Paul made one exception for new believers who were already married to a non-Christian. They should stay married if the other person was willing. (2 Corinthians 7:12-16) Perhaps the spouse would become a Christian. God's plan is that Christians marry other believers within God's covenant so that their children will choose the Living God also and the Church will be built up. Each generation has to choose God for itself, but it is a lot easier if they grow up with believing parents. The people of God are always one generation from falling away. A question to ask ourselves and the children: Who are our friends? Who do we hang out with?
Abraham expects and trusts God to take care of the details. "He will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.," (Genesis 24:7) The servant is going off without an army, with a lot of treasures, on a long trip. Both Abraham and the servant are trusting God. Prayer: Lord, help me to trust in you for all the details of my life, especially important decisions like a job, a husband or wife, the place you want me to live.
(Verse 12) Now we see why this servant was trusted with all that Abraham had and this important assignment -- he knows how to call on the LORD! He obviously learned it from Abraham. He finds Abraham's family and the granddaughter of Abraham's brother. He asks for a sign, which is perfectly reasonable, since how is he to know which girl, even if he found the family? He does not pick an easy sign. Watering camels is very laborious work! They drink huge amounts of water, especially after a long journey. It is not something most women and girls would volunteer to do! Rebekah is obviously a generous person and kind to strangers. She had no idea what was behind the request. Prayer: Lord, help me to remember to call on you whenever I am faced with a difficult decision.
Teaching Ideas for Lesson 25
Please read the Study Guide first.
Go over Memory Verse to make sure the children understand it and then if they have memorized it.
Remind them their parents need to sign a report slip monthly if they have read the lessons, so they will get credit at the end of the year.
Make sure they know what happened in the story. Get them to tell you.
Basic points of the lesson for little ones:
1. God wants to have a relationship with us like he had with Abraham, where each was faithful to the other.
2. How will you respond to God's choice of you? God wants you to choose Him in response to His choice and call to you.
3. God wants us to choose to follow his guidance not the wisdom of the world around us. He wants us to ask Him to show us the way.
4. God wants us to trust Him with all the big decisions and small details of our lives. He loves us and wants the best for us.
5. God wants us to marry other believers.
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