Why the Forever Trouble with Gaza?

Recently I was blown out of the water when I heard a different explanation to the Genesis account of the sacrifice of Isaac. For years I have contemplated this story. What was the sacrifice about anyway? Christians say it prefigured the death of Jesus. Some say it was just a test. Or was it given to show God’s hatred of child sacrifice–idolatry? Let’s step outside the box for a moment and go to the context in Genesis.

Abimelech was not a friend of Abraham’s. If we remember, Abimelech took Sarah to be his wife earlier, and then in a later encounter, Abraham and Abimelech make a covenant over a well in Beersheba–a peace treaty if you will.

Let’s go there and see what this was all about. In chapter 20 Abraham loses Sarah to Abimelech. This king was actually doing what was natural for him to take a beautiful woman as his wife. Abraham showed a lot of cowardice in this situation, and in the dream that God spoke to Abimelech he was justified because he didn’t know, however he was not necessarily a God Fearer. But if we think about this for a moment, it was only God’s voice that forced him to return Sarah to Abraham. He very likely would have killed Abraham if he had not been intimidated by the Divine Voice. From what we see he was not really all that righteous. Abraham was called to be the father of a great nation, the Chosen nation. So we see faults on both sides. Abraham’s lack of faith in the eternal and Abimelech’s desire to have whatever he wanted at anyone else’s expense.

We also realized that Abimelech is later mentioned taking Isaac’s wife with some of the similar consequences. Obviously Isaac also had fault in this case. But was this the same Abimelech  or was this perhaps the son of Abimelech? Even so, it shows that ultimate power corrupts and these guys had enough power to take whatever they wanted from anyone no matter how sacred the relationship might be. So again Hashem intervened. Let’s not justify this enemy because he excuses himself as being innocent. He was obviously double-tongued.

Let’s take a look at Genesis 21, we see that Abimelech claims that Abraham is only a sojourner in the land and that it basically belongs to him and his people. At this point Deuteronomy seems to express this thought except that the land has already been promised to Abraham as an inheritance.

“Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.
וַיֵּרָ֤א יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לְזַ֨רְעֲךָ֔ אֶתֵּ֖ן אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֑את וַיִּ֤בֶן שָׁם֙ מִזְבֵּ֔חַ לַיהֹוָ֖ה הַנִּרְאֶ֥ה אֵלָֽיו׃
יהוה appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will assign (give) this land to your offspring.’ And he built an altar there to יהוה who had appeared to him.” Genesis.12:5-7

If we look closely at the above passage we can see that the land was already promised to his offspring and that Abraham didn’t take advantage of it. It is true that maybe he did not have title to it yet, but you can see that Abimelech was very anxious to establish that the land belonged to him and Abraham was only a visitor.

“And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleases thee.” Gen 20:15

Was it possible that Abraham didn’t really believe what God had said? And afterwards we see him making a covenant and promise with Abimelech and he should never have done that. The Covenant that was made was actually a peace treaty if you look at it in all its details. Abraham had to promise Abimelech that he would not do anything against him or his people. Abraham paid for the well with cattle which he should not have had to do. So what do we see from this and what ongoing problem did this create in the history of Israel?

Let’s go to the chapter just preceding the story of the Isaac sacrifice:

“‭22 ‭At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. ‭23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.” ‭24 Abraham said, “I swear it.” ‭25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized. ‭26 But Abimelech said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.” ‭27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a covenant. ‭28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock, ‭29 and Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?” ‭30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.” ‭31 So that place was called Beersheba,  because the two men swore an oath there.  Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.”
(Ge 21:22-32)

Where is the land of the Philistines? If we look at an ancient map we will find that it coincides with Gaza and a little more. That is where Israel has always had trouble with the Philistines and now others in that place. We know that God takes oaths seriously and when Abraham signed away his right to the land making a covenant with a Philistine King, he opened the door for serious problems in the future inheritance of Israel. Think of David and Goliath. Think of Samson. And today.

If we look quickly at Genesis 22, we will see how the chapter begins:

וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וְהָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔ים נִסָּ֖ה אֶת־אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלָ֔יו אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִי׃
“And it came to pass after these things, that God did test Avraham, and said to him, Avraham: and he said, Here I am!” Genesis.22.1

It says “after these things” signifying that all that had happened before, including the Covenant with Abimelech was now being worked out with Abraham.

So the inheritance of the land and the offspring of Abraham had a lot to do with each other. If there were no offspring there would be no need for a land and if there was no land there would be no place to live for his offspring. So if we think about it, this test should have spoken to Abraham about the importance of the land and it should have spoken to the nation of Israel many years later when we made a peace treaty that should not have been made, giving away places like Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for peace–which by the way, never happened. So the test was really given to show that there was no need for Isaac and descendents if the process of peace for land continued!

Whose is The Land anyway?

Ariella Golani