Genesis 21:22–34 (ESV)
At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army said to Abraham, God is with you in all that you do. Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my descendants or with my posterity, but as I have dealt kindly with you, so you will deal with me and with the land where you have sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. When Abraham reproved Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized, Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today. So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham, what is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart? He said, these seven ewe lambs you will take from my hand, that this may be a witness for me that I dug this well. Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath. So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his army rose up and returned to the land of the Philistines. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.
What we are encountering here in this story is a really everyday life scene of what it meant to live in the ancient Bronze Age era. So there's this neighborly treaty making happening between Abimelech, the Philistine king and his general and Abram. And the reason they want to make this treaty is because they've noticed that God is with Abram in everything that he does.
And in this time period, treaties about land and water rights were a pretty normal thing to happen. They were part of normal diplomacy in the ancient Near East. But it's the covenant that God has made with Abraham, the fact that God is with Abraham in everything he does, that actually becomes the breeding ground, the foundation upon which this covenant or this treaty rests.
Now, it's important for us to recognize that water rights were a really important part of living in a desert-like area. When you live in a desert, a single well, like the well of Beersheba, is a survival issue. And so when Abimelech's men seized Abram's well, well, they effectively threatened his future in the land. They were threatening the life of God's covenant people.
And so Abram brings this up and he tells Abimelech, you know, if we're going to make this treaty, you need to deal with the situation where your people have seized my well, my water rights. And then Abram provides these seven ewe lambs as a kind of public receipt almost. It's like a rubber stamp that says this well really belongs to Abram. And the fact that the king now has these ewe lambs show and provide proof that in fact this is Abram who dug the well, not the king.
Now interestingly, as this treaty is signed and sealed and put into place, something special happens. Abraham plants a tamarisk tree and there he calls on God, on Yahweh al-Olam, the everlasting God. So even though this was a normal everyday experience, a normal everyday treaty that was made between two leaders of the area, it ends in a worship, a liturgy, if you like.
It reminds us that, as Kuyper famously said, every square inch of our lives belongs to God. Even boring border negotiations and negotiations over a well should result in our worship of God. It sits under God's sovereign reign. God is the everlasting God, the forever God who reigns everlastingly over every aspect of our life. And so we should treat everything we do as an act of worship to God. Whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, we should do it as an act of worship.
Lessons from This Ordinary Treaty
Now, this is important for us because it shows us that our integrity or the way that God deals with us and what people see of our lives ultimately tell a story. Abimelech is seeking this treaty with Abram precisely because Abram has had this God-shaped life, or at least that God is seen clearly through Abram's life. Everything Abram does, in everything he does, God is with him, says Abimelech. And so even though Abram himself has had ups and downs and his faith has not always been particularly clean and holy, nevertheless, God has walked with Abraham. And so the fact that God continues to walk with Abraham becomes the basis and the foundation upon which this treaty is built.
And so it's precisely because of the God-shaped nature of Abraham's life. Abraham walked with God that these people seek to make this treaty. How we live our lives before God show other people who we are and also whose we are. And therefore we need to live our lives according to God and his purposes.
Part of our covenant lives, part of living under God's reign is also to promote peace within the areas that we live. So Abraham could have nursed this grudge because his well had been stolen. And in fact, his very survival was probably threatened by this act. But instead, he pursues true reconciliation with Abimelech and his people through the proper channels. Abram could also have gone and simply taken his strength and the people that he had with him and conquered those that had stolen the well. But instead, he goes through the proper channels, goes to the one who's in charge of those people, the king, and he sets about trying to rectify the situation.
So gospel people, people who belong to God, to be part of the peacemaking of the world. Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus says in his Sermon on the Mount. And so that's part of who we are as people who promote and bring peace.
And then finally, and I think perhaps most importantly, this passage shows us that every part of our life is worship. Worship is not just the music you sing on a Sunday morning or the band that plays on the stage during a church service. In fact, it's biblically, I think, wrong to say, to refer to those things as worship, even though, of course, they are worship. No, worship is more than the singing. Worship is the way we live our lives. We are to offer our lives as a living sacrifice, a living act of worship. This is your true and proper worship, Paul says in Romans chapter 12.
And so in this passage, we see Abraham not waiting till Sunday, if you like. He takes this property settlement dispute and he turns it into an act of worship. He plants the tree and he gives thanks and he begins to call on the name of God, the everlasting God, in the midst of a property dispute that has been settled.
This means that in our lives everything can end with a quiet thank you everlasting God for what you have done for me even in this particular thing that is happening in my life right now.
So let's pray.
Dear everlasting God, thank you that your presence with Abraham is now with us also in Christ, that your Holy Spirit dwells within us. Teach us to live our lives as these acts of worship, as these things that communicate that we love you and we want to live for you. Help us to always thank you for everything that happens in our life so that our days are filled with thank you everlasting God type moments like we see here. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.