BRAGADAYJAH 57

Abraham is featured in the Bible as one of the leading heroes of faith; but in truth and in fact he was no hero; at least not at first, while he was going through his journeys with God. On the contrary, Abraham showed himself as being quite the opposite. If there was a hero, surely it was God. The first time Abraham faced hunger he ran away without thinking it through first. Then when he was on his way he suddenly realized that there was a flaw in his plans and tried to cover them with a lie. But what happened in Egypt? God saved him, and saved Sarah. Then there was the question of Hagar. Although God had promised him over and over again he would have seed, he lost faith and accepted Sarah’s offer of her personal maid as an alternative to God’s plan. And now here again we find him running into Abimelech’s country where he repeated the same failed lie he had used before. Abraham, therefore, may be liked unto a good student who is prepared to learn. Even though it may take him repeated trials and failures, he was under the pupilage of a good teacher, and would eventually pass the final test. With every failure God only saw the end result. Like every good teacher who knows by experience that a certain student will eventually make it. God knew Abraham, and as has been said above, had not regard to his failures, but his successes. The key point to note here is that God was with Abraham; and if God is for you, who can be against you? When Abimelech found out that Abraham had deceived him concerning Sarah, Abimelech not only retuned Sarah to him unharmed, but in addition gave him goods, such as sheep and oxen and servants, and silver and land whereon to live as long as he was pleased to do so. More.