A Man of Peace in a World of Strife

GOLDEN TEXT: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” —Matthew 5:9

GENESIS 26:17-29

THERE is considerable lapse of time between the setting of last week’s lesson and today’s. In due course God fulfilled his promise to Abraham, and Isaac was born. When this long-waited-for son was a young man God asked his father to offer him up as a burnt offering, which Abraham showed his willingness to do, having faith to believe that God would raise him from the dead.

Later Sarah died and Abraham sent his trusted servant, Eliezer, back to his native country to seek a wife for Isaac, and Rebecca was found. Sometime after, their twin sons, Esau and Jacob were born. Then “there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Issac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.” (Gen. 26:1) The Lord warned Isaac not to go down into Egypt, but to “sojourn in this land,” promising, “I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father.”—vss.2,3

Then the Lord confirmed the covenant with Isaac which he had made with Abraham, that through his seed “all the nations of the earth” would be blessed. (vs. 4) Besides giving him this promise, God blessed Isaac along material lines, and “the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: for he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and great store of servants.”—vss. 13,14

Isaac’s prosperity brought trouble to him. The Philistines, who lived nearby in the same territory, envied him. Abimelech was evidently the ruler of the Philistines, and Abraham had had dealings with him in this same territory. The Philistines had also been unfriendly to Abraham, and had filled in wells which he had dug to procure water for his flocks.

Now Isaac and his herdsman proceeded to reopen these wells, giving each of them the same name as had been given by Abraham. But this resulted in a continuous strife between the Philistine herdsmen and the herdsman of Isaac. Finally Isaac decided that the best thing to do was to move far enough away so that the Philistines would not be interested in interfering.

Doing this, his servants digged another well, giving it the name “Rehoboth,” meaning room. Here the Philistines did not interfere, and there was peace. Isaac went from there to Beer-sheba, and “the Lord appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy Father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. He builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.”—vss. 24,25

The peace-loving Isaac had voluntarily removed from the scene of strife, giving up claim to the wells which had been previously dug by his father’s servants. Because of this “surrender” he received the Lord’s blessing. Then followed another test. Abimelech approached him, expressing the desire to make a covenant of peace with him. This was all right, except that Abimelech endeavored to make it appear that his herdsmen had forced Isaac’s herdsmen to move out of their territory instead of acknowledging that it was a voluntary move in the interest of peace.

True, Abimelech acknowledged that the Lord’s blessing was upon Isaac, and this peace-loving son of Abraham accepted this acknowledgement and entered into a covenant with Abimelech. Here is an example which every follower of the Master might well follow. In this world of imperfection and sin we cannot expect that the rightness of our cause will always be acknowledged. They said unto Jesus, “If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Jesus was the Son of God, but he did not attempt to justify himself before his enemies. Instead, he died under this cloud of misrepresentation.

In principle, our Golden Text fits with the example set for us by Isaac, but actually it applies to the Gospel-age house of sons, the followers of Jesus, the ones Paul referred to when he wrote that we are the children of God, “if so be that we suffer with him,” that is, with Jesus. (Rom. 8:17) Those who suffered in the divine cause prior to the coming of Jesus will be highly rewarded, but they will not be joint-heirs with Jesus in his kingdom. (Heb. 11:39,40) These will be the human representatives of the kingdom of Christ.

The servants of God in every age should endeavor to be peace-makers. They should radiate peace and good will under all circumstances. The children of God of this age are peacemakers in a still higher sense, in that they are called to be ministers of reconciliation between God and men. (II Cor. 5:18,19) This ministry is at present accomplished through the dissemination of the Word of truth.

QUESTIONS

Explain how Isaac was a man of peace.

Was Isaac one of the children of God mentioned in the Golden Text?

Explain the manner in which Christians are now peacemakers, and how this ministry will be enlarged.

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