Abraham, a Good Neighbor in Canaan
75
Abraham Is Afraid
Abraham had been a man of peace, so far as possible shunning
strife. With horror he recalled the carnage he had witnessed. The
nations whose forces he had defeated would doubtless renew the inva-
sion and make him the special object of their vengeance. Furthermore,
he had not entered upon the possession of Canaan, nor could he now
hope for an heir, to whom the promise might be fulfilled.
In a vision of the night the divine voice was again heard. “Fear not,
Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” But how
was the covenant promise to be realized while the gift of a son was
withheld? “What wilt thou give me,” he said, “seeing I go childless?
... Lo, one born in my house is mine heir.” He proposed to make his
trusty servant Eliezer his son by adoption. But he was assured that a
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child of his own was to be his heir. Then he was told to look up to
the unnumbered stars glittering in the heavens, and the words were
spoken, “So shall thy seed be.” “Abraham believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:3
.
The Lord condescended to enter into a covenant with His servant.
And the voice of God was heard, bidding him not to expect immediate
possession of the Promised Land, and pointing forward to the suffer-
ings of his posterity before their establishment in Canaan. The plan
of redemption was opened to him in the death of Christ, the great sac-
rifice, and His coming in glory. Abraham saw also the earth restored
to Eden beauty, given for an everlasting possession as the final and
complete fulfillment of the promise.
When Abraham had been nearly twenty-five years in Canaan, the
Lord appeared unto him and said, “Behold, My covenant is with thee,
and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” In token of the fulfillment
of this covenant, his name Abram was changed to Abraham, “father of
a great multitude.” Sarai’s name became Sarah—“princess,” for “she
shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”
At this time circumcision was given to Abraham, to be observed by
the patriarch and his descendants as a token that they were separated
from idolaters and that God accepted them as His peculiar treasure.
They were not to contract marriages with heathen, for by so doing they
would be tempted to engage in the sinful practices of other nations and
be seduced into idolatry.