ABRAHAM

God told Abram to leave his place of residence, Haran, and head to the land that He would show him. Haran means dry and parched. It is the place where God is absent, spiritual food is absent (dry ground without wheat, barley) and life with prayer is absent (Abram built no altar). The man who is in this state, and seeks God in his heart, does not need to make an effort to find him. God will call him and draw him near him. He only has to follow him. This is what Abram did and he came out of his land.

Abram in Hebrew means exalted father, exalted because the righteous man, the believer, has value for God and father because faith in God yields spiritual fruit. Abram entered the place indicated to him by God, which symbolizes the church, not the building, but the spiritual place where God is present and presiding over the people who believe in Him. Abram went to the tree of Moreh in Shechem. The tree in the Lord's chosen land is the tree of life, Jesus. It is eternal life. Moreh means teacher. The believer begins to be taught by God. Shechem means shoulder. The believer ceases to be autonomous and rests on the shoulders of the Lord. Abram built the first altar there. The life of prayer begins.

Right afterwards, Abram camped between Bethel and Ai. Bethel means house of God. The spirit of the believer leads him in this direction, where he is in the presence of God. However there is an obstacle. Ai means a heap of ruins. It’s the things foreign to God that drive the believer away from God. It’s the problem of the carnal Christian (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Abram was not in Bethel which would have been desirable, but between Bethel and Ai, between the spirit and the flesh. He was in the same position as the believer described in Romans 7. Nevertheless the spiritual life continues. Abram built an altar there.

There was famine in the land and Abram made the same mistake as Elimelech and Naomi. He went to Egypt which symbolizes the world. When facing the first difficulties in your spiritual life you wait patiently for the salvation of the Lord according to his will, and you don’t adopt the methods of the world to prosper, nor do you go to the churches that have adopted practices and wisdom of the world. They are churches that have a seeming glory but God is absent. Abram and Sarah in Egypt faced difficulties and were humiliated. Although they abandoned God, God did not abandon them. Thus they were forced to return again to the promised land, not to Bethel, but between Bethel and Ai once again.

Then they went to dwell in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built an altar there. The life of prayer continues. Mamre means fatness. Abram was full with the bread of the Lord, the Word of God. This means that he received enough for his spiritual growth. Hebron means community or association. The believer has communion with other brothers. Unfortunately, today the fellowship of the elders with the believers is frequently associated with their economic exploitation, with the aim of profit. Abram said to the king of Sodom "That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich”(Genesis 14:23). Nehemiah stated that for 12 years, he and his brothers did not eat the bread of the governor. He stated: “But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God” (Nehemiah 5:14,15,18).

Abram hastened to have the child that the Lord promised him, and went in unto his handmaid, Hagar, and thus, Ishmael was born. If you hasten to enter the ministry of God while you are in the flesh, then you are not in union with God but you are alienated from him. Hagar means stranger. “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Then the work of the believer is not perfect. It is not exactly what the Lord wants but it is not condemned either. In Genesis 17, after Ishmael’s birth, and before the birth of Isaac, God appeared to Abram and renamed him Abraham “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee” (Genesis 17:5). Ishmael means "God will hear” and God proved it when Hagar was sent away by Abraham and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba, together with the child. Then in her state of despair God told her “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there" (Genesis 21:17- NIV Bible). It is interesting that in the previous verse we read "And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept" and yet God heard the boy and not Hagar whose name means "stranger".

Later, Abraham went between Kadesh and Shur after first passing through Negev. He had also passed through Negev when he went to Egypt. Our Christian walk needs discernment. The world and Jesus are not in opposite ways as everyone thinks, but in the eyes of the believers the direction looks similar. It is easy to be deceived, to think that you are worshiping Jesus when in fact being a member of a dead Christian religion. Kadesh means sanctified. Here we see the defining point of the believer's life, the believer is sanctified only after the course that preceded it, and not after the repentance and belief in Jesus as it is taught in the churches.

There is a difference between sanctification or cleansing by blood and sanctification by the spirit. It is two different Bible messages. The blood cleanses from sin and frees man from the consequence of sin, death. The Spirit cleanses the impurities of the soul of man. Shur means wall or fortress. The believer builds the walls of his spiritual life, he protects himself with sound teachings and a sound spirit. He wears the armour of God (Ephesians 6:13).

Then Abraham sojourned in Gerar. Gerar means a lodging place. At this point the believer is ready for effective ministry for the Lord. Then Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac, the child of promise. The relationship with the Lord yields spiritual fruit, and when God gives something, it is good (Genesis 1:31). Abram is renamed Abraham by God, which means "father of many". Even at this stage Abraham is tempted not to trust God. He repeats his previous mistake by introducing his wife Sarah to the king of the Gerar, Abimelech, as his sister. Unfortunately, even after being sanctified, the believer continues to be a man with his weaknesses.

Abraham went down to Egypt, because there was a famine in the land they dwelt (Genesis 12:10). Abraham made the same mistake with Naomi and Elimelech. They settled in the land of Moab because there was a famine in their land. They did it contrary to the will of God (Ruth 1:1) as did Abraham. Lot chose a land to inhabit based on its beauty (Genesis 13:11) without asking his Lord. He found himself in Sodom, among the wicked. In Judges 20, the sons of Israel gathered to judge the sons of Benjamin for their sin. They made the decision for judgment in Mizpah (Judges 20:1-3) and asked God if they would go up against Benjamin in Bethel* (Judges 20:18,26). Their mistake is that they should do it the other way around; they should come before God in Bethel which means house of God and they had to ask God if they would go up against Benjamin in Mizpah. Mizpah means watchtower. Their motive was not right before God, they made a decision of revenge and they unconsciously begged God to bless their decision. The voice that urged them to go up against Benjamin was not God's. The people of Israel obeyed it and destruction followed.

Bethel is the place God gives a new direction to the believer. Bethel means house of God. In Bethel, God told Jacob that he would no more be named Jacob, but Israel. Jacob in Hebrew means supplanter. Bethel is the place Abraham and Jacob called the name of the Lord. They recognized His presence in their lives. Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 would have chosen the wrong man for king of Israel, if God had not pointed David to him. God answered him "for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The prophet in 1 Kings 13:11-26, obeyed man and not God, and it cost him his life. In Acts 1:16 the 11 apostles rushed to appoint Matthias as 12th apostle while this position belonged to Paul. Paul would be anointed as the 12th apostle directly by God.

*The KJV has it, house of God instead of Bethel.