God’s care in the little things (Gen 24:62-25:18)

When my husband and I moved to New Zealand, we were convinced that this was the right thing and from the Lord, but I found the transition difficult. In fact, the emotional adjustment took me a good many years. Soon after we arrived in Auckland, we found a little house to rent a short walk from my work, which was particularly handy in those early days when preparing for my classes took long hours. We both loved how light and airy the place was and, despite having no fixed heating, it was amazingly warm in winter. Since I feel the cold badly, this was a wonderful bonus. Many a time coming from work, tired and at times dejected, my heart lifted at the thought that the Lord knew and cared for those little things and provided us with a cosy home. Whenever I remembered this, I was comforted that God knew how hard this change was and was easing it for me in small ways.

Isaac and Rebekah

When I read these three short sections that conclude Abraham’s life and tie up some loose threads, I see the same care of God in the everyday details despite the slow progress that is being made towards the larger promises of God. In the first, Isaac meets Rebekah for the first time and takes her into his mother’s tent (Gen 24:67), an indication that she is now the mistress of the household. For Rebekah, the quick change in her circumstances, the loss of her own family and home was tempered by a husband who loved her. For Isaac, the emotional bond with his mother must have been particularly strong, given that he was Sarah’s only child and born in her old age. Losing her would have been particularly painful for him. Rebekah, however, brought the kind of emotional comfort that Isaac lost when his mother died. While arranged marriages could be hit and miss in how two people adjusted to each other; these two found what each needed. God knew and cared about their situations.

Abraham’s other descendants

The next two sections focus on Abraham’s descendants through his concubine, Keturah, and through Ishmael. We see in this in a small way how Abraham is becoming the father of a multitude of nations (Gen 25:1-4, 16; 17:5). While most of the groups descended through Keturah are not recognisable for us (except Midian), it is thought that they settled in the southern and eastern regions around Canaan.[1] This is a mere footnote, however, in Abraham’s life, not the main line of the story, which is evident from the way Abraham sends these sons away with gifts, so that Isaac continues to remain the only heir (Gen 25:5-6). Abraham lived a substantial time (100 years) in the land and the blessings he received continued in his son, Isaac (Gen 25:7, 11). The genealogy of Ishmael also shows the fulfilment of the promise that twelve princes would descend from him (Gen 25:16; 17:20). Further, the conclusion that he settled in opposition to his brothers recalls the prophecy given to Hagar about him (Gen 16:12). Both these sections deal with a side-line in God’s main plan, but it highlights God’s faithfulness to His Word. If He cares about those who in the grand scheme of things may seem negligible, how much more will He fulfil His promises in the major things.

Remembering God’s faithfulness

Just as in Abraham’s life, God’s overarching will and design in our lives can be slow to come about. It often involves the painful process of the Lord shaping our character through the ups and downs of life and our progress at times may seem two steps forward and one step back. Whenever we get impatient or long for the fulfilment of God’s promises to us, it is good to remember those little things, the side-lines in our lives where the Lord signals to us that He is still at work and He cares.

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[1] John H. Walton, Genesis, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 533. Although readers may assume that Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died, we cannot know the exact timeline. She could have been around earlier but is not mentioned so as not to interfere with the larger storyline. We know that the events related in Abraham’s story are not entirely chronological, because otherwise the note on Abraham’s death should have been after his grandsons, Esau and Jacob, were born (Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born, Isaac was 60 when the twins were born, so Abraham would have lived another 15 years after their birth; Gen 25:7, 26). Rather, the biblical writer groups these details about Keturah and then Abraham’s death here because they complete the picture about his life but are incidental to the main thread that follows the life of Isaac and his descendants. On a different note, reading about Abraham having concubines (whether it was also polygamy, if Sarah was still alive) may feel troubling for us, modern readers. God did not intend marriage this way (Gen 2:24), but His revelation in what He requires of His people was gradual and He had not made His will clear to Abraham in this regard. In the patriarch’s cultural context, polygamy and concubinage were perfectly respectable option even if such arrangements feel distasteful for us.

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