201 And Abraham departed thence towards the south country, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned at Gerar. 2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech the king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.
3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art [but] a dead man, because of the woman that thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife. 4 But Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, wilt thou also kill a righteous nation? 5 Did he not say to me, She is my sister? and she, even she said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and in the innocency of my hands have I done this. 6 And God said to him in a dream, I also knew that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart, and I, too, have withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore have I not suffered thee to touch her. 7 And now, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and will pray for thee, that thou mayest live. And if thou do not restore [her], know that thou shalt certainly die, thou and all that is thine.
8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and spoke all these words in their ears; and the men were greatly afraid. 9 And Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, What hast thou done to us? And in what have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me, and on my kingdom, a great sin? Thou hast done to me deeds that ought not to be done. 10 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What hast thou seen that thou hast done this? 11 And Abraham said, Because I said, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me for my wife's sake. 12 But she is also truly my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came to pass when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, Let this be thy kindness which thou shalt shew to me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and bondmen and bondwomen, and gave [them] to Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it is good in thine eyes. 16 And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand [pieces] of silver; behold, let that be to thee a covering of the eyes, in respect of all that are with thee, and with all; and she was reproved. 17 And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife and his handmaids, and they bore [children]. 18 For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
211 And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did to Sarah as he had spoken. 2 And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, God has made me laugh: all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, Sarah will suckle children? For I have borne [him] a son in his old age.
8 And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 And she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of this handmaid shall not inherit with my son—with Isaac. 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. 12 And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy handmaid: [in] all that Sarah hath said to thee hearken to her voice, for in Isaac shall a seed be called to thee. 13 But also the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a flask of water, and gave [it] to Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder—and the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. 15 And the water was exhausted from the flask; and she cast the child under one of the shrubs, 16 and she went and sat down over against [him], a bow-shot off; for she said, Let me not behold the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lifted up her voice and wept. 17 And God heard the voice of the lad. And the Angel of God called to Hagar from the heavens, and said to her, What [aileth] thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad there, where he is. 18 Arise, take the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make of him a great nation. 19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the flask with water, and gave the lad drink. 20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
22 And it came to pass at that time that Abimelech, and Phichol the captain of his host, spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest. 23 And now swear to me here by God that thou wilt not deal deceitfully with me, nor with my son, nor with my grandson. According to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shalt do to me, and to the land in which thou sojournest. 24 And Abraham said, I will swear. 25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water that Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. 26 And Abimelech said, I do not know who has done this, neither hast thou told me [of it], neither have I heard [of it] but to-day. 27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28 And Abraham set seven ewe-lambs of the flock by themselves. 29 And Abimelech said to Abraham, What [mean] these seven ewe-lambs, these which thou hast set by themselves? 30 And he said, That thou take the seven ewe-lambs of my hand, that they may be a witness to me that I have dug this well. 31 Therefore he called that place Beer-sheba, because there they had sworn, both of them. 32 And they made a covenant at Beer-sheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the captain of his host, and returned into the land of the Philistines.
33 And [Abraham] planted a tamarisk in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
221 And it came to pass after these things, that God tried Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! and he said, Here am I. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son], whom thou lovest, Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and there offer him up for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up and went to the place that God had told him of. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and the knife, and they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father! And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the sheep for a burnt-offering? 8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself with the sheep for a burnt-offering. And they went both of them together. 9 And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built the altar there, and piled the wood; and he bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 And the Angel of Jehovah called to him from the heavens, and said, Abraham, Abraham! And he said, Here am I. 12 And he said, Stretch not out thy hand against the lad, neither do anything to him; for now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son], from me. 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt-offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is said at the present day, On the mount of Jehovah will be provided.
15 And the Angel of Jehovah called to Abraham from the heavens a second time, 16 and said, By myself I swear, saith Jehovah, that, because thou hast done this, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son], 17 I will richly bless thee, and greatly multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is on the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because thou hast hearkened to my voice. 19 And Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also has borne sons to thy brother Nahor: 21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 (And Bethuel begot Rebecca.) These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother. 24 And his concubine, named Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maacah.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal; 21 for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart.
22 The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light: 23 but if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!
24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment? 26 Look at the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into granaries, and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are ye not much more excellent than they? 27 But which of you by carefulness can add to his growth one cubit? 28 And why are ye careful about clothing? Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; 29 but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these. 30 But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into [the] oven, will he not much rather you, O [ye] of little faith? 31 Be not therefore careful, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on? 32 for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil.
(Read Matthew 6:19-24)
Worldly-mindedness is a common and fatal symptom of hypocrisy, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a profession of religion. Something the soul will have, which it looks upon as the best thing; in which it has pleasure and confidence above other things. Christ counsels to make our best things the joys and glories of the other world, those things not seen which are eternal, and to place our happiness in them. There are treasures in heaven. It is our wisdom to give all diligence to make our title to eternal life sure through Jesus Christ, and to look on all things here below, as not worthy to be compared with it, and to be content with nothing short of it. It is happiness above and beyond the changes and chances of time, an inheritance incorruptible. The worldly man is wrong in his first principle; therefore all his reasonings and actions therefrom must be wrong. It is equally to be applied to false religion; that which is deemed light is thick darkness. This is an awful, but a common case; we should therefore carefully examine our leading principles by the word of God, with earnest prayer for the teaching of his Spirit. A man may do some service to two masters, but he can devote himself to the service of no more than one. God requires the whole heart, and will not share it with the world. When two masters oppose each other, no man can serve both. He who holds to the world and loves it, must despise God; he who loves God, must give up the friendship of the world.
(Read Matthew 6:25-34)
There is scarcely any sin against which our Lord Jesus more warns his disciples, than disquieting, distracting, distrustful cares about the things of this life. This often insnares the poor as much as the love of wealth does the rich. But there is a carefulness about temporal things which is a duty, though we must not carry these lawful cares too far. Take no thought for your life. Not about the length of it; but refer it to God to lengthen or shorten it as he pleases; our times are in his hand, and they are in a good hand. Not about the comforts of this life; but leave it to God to make it bitter or sweet as he pleases. Food and raiment God has promised, therefore we may expect them. Take no thought for the morrow, for the time to come. Be not anxious for the future, how you shall live next year, or when you are old, or what you shall leave behind you. As we must not boast of tomorrow, so we must not care for to-morrow, or the events of it. God has given us life, and has given us the body. And what can he not do for us, who did that? If we take care about our souls and for eternity, which are more than the body and its life, we may leave it to God to provide for us food and raiment, which are less. Improve this as an encouragement to trust in God. We must reconcile ourselves to our worldly estate, as we do to our stature. We cannot alter the disposals of Providence, therefore we must submit and resign ourselves to them. Thoughtfulness for our souls is the best cure of thoughtfulness for the world. Seek first the kingdom of God, and make religion your business: say not that this is the way to starve; no, it is the way to be well provided for, even in this world. The conclusion of the whole matter is, that it is the will and command of the Lord Jesus, that by daily prayers we may get strength to bear us up under our daily troubles, and to arm us against the temptations that attend them, and then let none of these things move us. Happy are those who take the Lord for their God, and make full proof of it by trusting themselves wholly to his wise disposal. Let thy Spirit convince us of sin in the want of this disposition, and take away the worldliness of our hearts.
