Genesis 20: Abraham travels to Gerar, about 12 miles south of the Gaza strip. He… again… tells the lie that Sarah is his sister, out of fear of being killed. Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife. God comes to Abimelech in a dream and tells him that he is dead man for marrying an already married woman. Abimelech declares that he had not yet been intimate with Sarah and proclaims that he is completely innocent. God spares Abimelech and tells him to return Sarah to Abraham or he and all of his people would die. He brings back Sarah the following morning, and yells at Abraham and asks him why he tricked him. He explains that Sarah is actually his half-sister, claiming that he technically didn’t lie. Abimelech brings Abraham many animals, money, and tells him he can live where he wants in his city because he is blessed by God and wants him near to bring blessings to his city. In trade for Abimelech following God’s instructions, he healed him and all of the women, so they were able to become pregnant.

Genesis 21: Finally, God’s promise of his son Isaac’ birth came. At 90 years of age Sarah gave birth and breastfed a son. On day 8, Isaac was circumcised. Sarah claimed that God brought laughter to her, ad all who hear- good, happy, joyful laughter. Ishmael, likely around 17 years old, chooses to laugh Isaac on his 3^rd birthday. Sarah had had it with the cruel behaviors from Hagar and Ishmael towards Sarah and Isaac. They are both just unhappy, mean people- making sense of what was said to be of Ishmael- unsettled, unliked.  She asks Abraham to cast away Hagar and Ishmael, disowning them as family members. I’m sure there was mocking and rude comments under their breath during the entire pregnancy and Isaac’s childhood up until this point, so I don’t blame her. This would remove them as beneficiaries of any wealth or inheritance. This saddens Abraham for his son, because he loves Ishmael very much. God tells Abraham not to be displeased, and to listen to Sarah and do as she say. He promises to bless Ishmael and to give him a life of wealth. Abraham sends them off with the bare minimum, a skin of water and a small amount of bread. We don’t know why he only gives them so little to eat and drink. Soon, they run out of food and water, and Ishmael seems to be dying of dehydration. She lays him under a tree to die, and weeps. Even though she is a nasty woman, we have to feel empathy for her watching her teenage son slowly die from dehydration. God hears he cry, and God allows Hagar to see a well of water- a life source. Ishmael lives and becomes a hunter as his prophecy stated- and promises to make him into a great nation. He marries a woman from Egypt. During this time Abimelech make a covenant and treaty, both wealthy men, equal parties, making an oath of peace. Abimelech knows that he will be blessed with God’s blessing if they have a covenant amongst one another. There was an argument about the well, or water rights, that Hagar and Ishmael use, so Abraham gives Abimelech 7 lamb in trade for his rights to the water for Hagar and Ishmael. The place was then called Beersheba.

Genesis 22: This is the one stories of the bible that I remember as a child. It’s the chapter when God tells Abraham to bring his favorite son, Isaac, to the mountain to be sacrificed to the world for its sins. Without hesitation, he preps for this including cutting the wood for the burnt offering that was supposed to be his son. He leaves with a few of his men, and when they get to a certain spot on their travels, he lies to the men he is traveling with. He tells them that he and his son will go to worship, but this wasn’t what was happening. It’s notable that human sacrifice was something that was practiced in the Pagen religion. At this time, Isaac was around 30 years old, and his father around 100, It seems that Isaac surely would have been able to fight his father off yet, yet Isaac still followed his father likely having an idea. When Abraham had proved he would sacrifice his son, an angel stopped him and told him he had proven that he was loyal to God. Instead, a ram was available for the sacrifice instead of Isaac. God promises that his offspring will possess the gate of their enemy- if you can remember, this means that they will control that city itself. At the end of this chapter, the genealogy of some of Abrahams brothers’ genealogy is shared, introducing Rebekah who would turn out to be the bride of Isaac. There is mention of polygamy, however this doesn’t mean that God approves of plural marriage. We later read that he disapproves of plural marriage.

Genesis 23: It shares that Sarah lives to 127 years, and it’s worth noting that this is the only time a woman’s age is mentioned in the bible, and we know that she has been favored by God. Abraham takes a lot of time to mourn her death, because he is devastated. He travels to Canaan and asks the people to sell him a piece of property to bury his wife away from him. It is thought that perhaps Abraham wanted to bury Sarah far from him because he couldn’t move forward while he was near her and needed to find a special place for her to lay in peace. The people tell him that he won’t need to purchase the land, and he can have it as a gift. There must have been a lack of trust, so after 3 times of offering to gift the land, they come to an agreed upon price to legally purchase the land. This is the first mention of a type of cemetery, and I’m sure this land was purchased with a plan of using this for his family’s burial in the future, which becomes known as the ‘Tomb of the Patriarchs’. He offers to pay what the value is for the land and buries Sarah. Later we see that Abraham was also buries here after his death, along with Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah.