The bible account of the separation of Ishmael from Isaac provides four lessons toward understanding the individual responsibility in family leadership. First, after recognizing the need for the separation, Sarah honored Abraham’s overall leadership by asking him to send Ishmael and his mother away. Abraham honored Sarah’s leadership of the specific matter by taking her demand seriously and seeking God’s guidance toward resolving his personal conflict regarding the demand. Second, God’s guidance to Abraham provides a conflict resolution strategy of focusing on the underlying concerns regarding a dispute. Third, Abraham’s response illustrates quick and permanent resolution of a potentially dividing husband-wife disagreement, to preserve their unity before God. Fourth, the separation highlights selective development of family opportunities: based on selecting the opportunities to develop and those to abandon, delay, or de-emphasize; in order to focus better on the selected opportunities.
Abraham-Sarah vs Ishmael: Individual Responsibility Regarding Family Leadership 13:44
We continue the bible study series toward understanding the individual responsibility regarding family leadership, based on bible examples of husband-wife interactions and relationships. Previous studies in the series led to understanding the husband as overall leader of the household and the wife as spiritual gateway of the family and occasional leader in specific matters. Both husband and wife are individually responsible to honor and support family leadership. The family will benefit greatly if they do.
We discuss God’s interaction with Abraham regarding the covenant, to understand that his promise for a husband or wife belongs to the husband-wife union. His promise of a great offspring expansion for Abraham and an identical promise for Sarah convey a promise for Abraham-Sarah union, to be fulfilled for them as one. The interaction conveys a message that God’s promise for a husband or wife regarding wisdom or knowledge, material possession, child bearing, or other areas of human need; is a promise for the husband-wife union and will be fulfilled for them as one. Therefore, a husband and wife need to interact with God as a union, even if physically separate, in order to receive fulfillment of his promise.
Husband-Wife Blessing Revealed to One 10:44
This study continues a series to understand the individual responsibility regarding family leadership. Our previous studies in the series led to understanding the husband as the overall leader of the household and the wife as the spiritual gateway of the family and occasional leader in specific matters. Both husband and wife are individually responsible to honor and support family leadership. The family will benefit greatly if they do. The series is based on bible examples of husband-wife interactions and relationships.
Abraham-Sarah succumbed to temptation to seek their child of promise through maidservant Hagar. After Hagar became pregnant from Abraham, she desired more and sought to disrupt the Abraham-Sarah union. In honor and support for Abraham as head of household, Sarah called on him to resolve the issue of Hagar. In response, Abraham delegated to Sarah his authority over Hagar and, thus, honored and supported Sarah leadership of their relationship with Hagar. The Abraham-Sarah union was more important to them than Hagar’s pregnancy, notwithstanding that her pregnancy could be their last chance to receive fulfillment of God’s promise. Abraham-Sarah bonding resulted from a long period of caring for, respecting, and honoring each other.
Abraham-Sarah vs Hagar Individual Responsibility Honor-Support Family Leadership 20:17
This bible study continues a series to understand the individual responsibility regarding family leadership, based on bible examples of husband-wife interactions and relationships. We begin with a summary of what we have learned so far.
The series started with a discussion of the Shunammite couple, where we learned that the couple was blessed abundantly through their honor and support for family leadership. The Shunammite woman honored and supported her husband as overall leader of the household, whereas the husband supported his wife as spiritual gateway of the family and leader in specific matters. Proceeding with Adam and Eve, we learned from the account of their creation that God created marriage to combine a man and woman to form a union of seamless complements, that is adequate for the mission of representing him among all creation. He created man first but found him inadequate. Then he created woman as comparable companion and helper from within.
The series has continued with a study of the Abraham-Sarah union, which we have divided into four segments to focus enough on the details. The first of the four segments discussed the call of Abraham-Sarah, where we see that God called the union by speaking to Abraham. Based on the interactions, we can surmise that he relied on Abraham’s leadership of the union and seamless communication with Sarah to ensure that Abraham-Sarah shared the information and commitments seamlessly.
The current study discusses interactions between Abraham-Sarah and their maidservant Hagar that began with Abraham-Sarah seeking to address childlessness by having a child through the maidservant. They expected that having a child through Hagar would help God fulfill his promise of a great offspring expansion for their union. The attempt started successfully in that Hagar became pregnant through Abraham. However, she desired more and attempted to disrupt the Abraham-Sarah union by despising Sarah. Abraham-Sarah called on the strength of their union and their honor and support for family leadership to defeat the attempted disruption by Hagar. We discuss their history briefly to understand that their bonding resulted from a long period of caring for, respecting, and honoring each other.
In the call of Abraham-Sarah, God spoke to Abraham regarding a mission and promise for Abraham-Sarah union. He gave directions to Abraham, spoke promises to him, and received commitment from him. However, his words spoke of a mission and promise that were meaningful only for Abraham-Sarah as a union. Therefore, we can surmise that God relied on Abraham’s leadership of the union and seamless communication with Sarah: to ensure that Abraham-Sarah shared the information and commitment seamlessly.
Individual Responsibility to Honor-Support Family Leadership—Call of Abraham-Sarah 16:07
This study continues a series to understand the individual responsibility regarding family leadership, based on bible examples of husband-wife interactions. The series started with a discussion of the Shunammite couple. There we learned that the Shunammite couple was blessed abundantly through their honor and support for family leadership. The Shunammite woman honored and supported her husband as overall leader of the household. Her husband supported her as spiritual gateway of the family and leader in specific matters.
The study continued with a discussion of Adam and Eve, whereby we learned that the account of the creation of Adam and Eve shows that God created marriage to combine a man and woman: to form a union of seamless complements that is adequate for the mission of representing him among all creation. He created man first but found him inadequate. Then he created woman as comparable companion and helper from within.
The next installment of the study consists of a discussion of the Abraham-Sarah union, which we will discuss in a four-part subseries in order to focus enough on the details. In Part 1 of the four parts, we discuss the call of Abraham-Sarah. There we see that God called Abraham-Sarah union by speaking to Abraham. Although his promise to Abraham was meaningful only for Abraham-Sarah as a union, he spoke to Abraham as if he was a lone person, without even reminding him to discuss with his wife. Therefore, we can surmise that God relied on Abraham’s leadership of the union and seamless communication with Sarah to ensure that Abraham and Sarah shared the information and commitment as a union.
Part 2 of the subseries will discuss Abraham-Sarah interactions with their maidservant Hagar. The interactions show Abraham-Sarah trying to address childlessness by having a child through Hagar. They were successful, but the attempt caused serious problems for them that required calling on the strength of their union. Part 3 of the subseries will discuss God’s blessing for Abraham-Sarah to see that husband-wife blessing comes as a promise revealed to one, to be fulfilled for the union as one.
In Part 4 of the subseries, we will discuss Abraham-Sarah interactions regarding the challenge of Ishmael. There we see that the separation of Ishmael from Isaac was a directive to Sarah that God urged Abraham to implement. Sarah was the custodian of the information and Abraham implemented the directive as head of household. Also, we will learn about timely and permanent resolution of a husband-wife conflict and selecting an opportunity from several options.
After Abraham-Sarah, the series continues with a discussion of Isaac and Rebekah and Mary and Joseph. The current study session focusses on the call of Abraham-Sarah.
Through his covenant with Abraham and elaboration of the covenant in the gospel according to John, God establishes a uniform criterion for the status of every person before him, irrespective of race. He explained the criterion further in interactions between Peter and Cornelius, where he poured out the Holy Spirit without regard to racial, national, cultural, or other differences among the people. He mandates every person to accept and interact with others the same way he would: without regard to race, nationality, geographical extraction, physical features, gender, or any other categorization. Therefore, racism or racial discrimination is a human failure and has no place among people that believe in God.
God to all that worship and serve him theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org
We digress somewhat from our scheduled study in order to participate in the on-going discussion of race relations occasioned by events in the United States of America. We focus our contribution on understanding God’s purpose for multiracial interactions and relationships based on accounts in the bible. God creates people into categories based on race, nationality, geographical location, physical features, gender, and others. However, none of these categorizations has any effect on a person’s status before God. Instead, his covenant with Abraham and explanation of the covenant in the gospel according to John establish the equality of all people under God, irrespective of race or any other categorization.
Furthermore, interactions between Peter and Cornelius clearly explain God’s purpose for race relations. During Peter-Cornelius meeting in Caesarea, God poured out the Holy Spirit on Cornelius and his relations and friends the same way that he did on Jewish followers of Jesus at Pentecost. Racial, national, cultural, or other differences between Jews and Gentiles did not matter to God and should not matter among his people.
Comfortable among others LumoProject.com FreeBibleImages.org
Also, as we discuss in Following God Schedule by Living in His Image, God creates every person to represent him in interactions among people: to convey his presence and impact as if he was there physically in human form. Therefore, he mandates every person to accept and interact with others the same way he would, without regard to race, nationality, geographical extraction, physical features, gender, or any other categorization. Racism or racial discrimination is a human failure before God. Any person that rejects, demeans, or in any way discriminates against another person on the basis of race has failed in God’s purpose of Let Us make man in Our image… [Genesis 1:26].
Samuel rebukes Saul [1 Sam 15:23] Sweet Publishing FreeBibleImages.orgGod terminated Saul as king of Israel because he departed from God’s command in executing judgment against Amalek. Instead of destroying all as he was commanded, he spared “everything that was good” for special treatment while selecting the “despised and worthless” for total destruction. Based on the swift termination of Saul’s kingship following the incident, we learn that God will not condone discriminatory application of the law. The principle of equality under the law is part of God’s mandate and means the law of a people must apply equally to all, irrespective of race, status in the society, or any other categorization.
First, we discuss God’s covenant with Abraham and elaboration of the covenant in the gospel according to John to understand the status of a person before God is determined based on a uniform criterion and choice available to every person. Second, we discuss Peter-Cornelius interactions to understand God accepts every person that believes in him and wants us to do the same without regard to race or any other categorization. Third, we discuss the termination of Saul as king of Israel following his interaction with Amalekites to understand equality under the law as God’s mandate.
Every person is created to represent God in interactions among people: to convey his presence and impact as if he was there physically in human form. Those that live according to this purpose will follow God’s schedule and receive fulfillment of his promise. In contrast, those that depart from the purpose will depart from God’s schedule. Examples from David illustrate his approach in interactions with Saul satisfy God’s mandate of keeping “the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.” The approach contributed to his success on a path to kingship that lasted over ten years and included transition from Saul, training for David, and preparing Israel to accept David as king. Two encounters with Saul presented opportunities for David that could have been misinterpreted. Saul conceded the kingship to David on both occasions as David’s commitment to “right and just” prevailed over the temptation to clear his way to the kingship by killing Saul. The concession contributed to preparing Israel to accept David as king.
The Beatitudes. wikipedia.org
GOD’S AMBASSADOR God creates every person to represent him among others and wants us to fulfill the purpose in interactions among people and between people and other creations. To understand the biblical basis for this statement, we note that God is supernatural, created the universe (including the earth and its inhabitants) to work naturally, and wants to interact seamlessly with the universe and its constituents. Let’s focus on people and the earth. God creates people and other inhabitants of the earth to work naturally and wants to interact seamlessly with them. He can interact with people through the Holy Spirit but the interaction is supernatural and doesn’t fill the need for natural interaction with people.
To understand the importance of working naturally, imagine a person’s bank account suddenly swells with a large amount of money that is not traceable to any natural source. How would other people, including the regulatory authorities, respond to the change? It would be unacceptable to say that God gave the money. That is a supernatural explanation. The natural system requires a natural explanation. As a second example, how would people respond to a full-grown tree appearing suddenly in the middle of a highway? Or a person showing up one day to claim the presidency of a country saying God appointed him/her president? God can do any of these but chooses the natural way to do them.
The natural way requires interactions among people following certain rules and processes while God channels his participation in the interactions through the people. For example, if he wants to provide money to a person, he works with the person and others to provide the money naturally. He works through people in every situation to implement changes naturally to fulfill his purpose. He creates every person to represent him in interactions among people to fulfill his purpose in every situation.
The biblical basis for this understanding is in God’s declaration of his purpose for humans: “Let Us make man in Our image…” [Genesis 1:26], which we paraphrase as: let us create every person to represent God (his presence, desire, approach, methods, sensitivity, compassion, etc.) in interactions among people and between people and other inhabitants of the earth. The paraphrase helps us understand the declaration to mean that God creates every person to be his channel for natural interactions with other people.
David would not “lay a hand” on Saul because he revered Saul as God’s anointed king of Israel. He was committed to “doing what is right and just” and understood the commitment to mean he would not “stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed.” Therefore, he spared Saul on two occasions despite potential strategic advantage of killing him. Saul expressed regret for seeking David’s life; conceded kingship to David in the first encounter; and, in the second, acknowledged David “will do great things and surely triumph.” Therefore, although David resisted the temptation of killing Saul to clear his way to kingship, he won Saul’s concession of the kingship in the presence of several Israeli witnesses. Thus, his commitment to “doing what is right and just” advanced him along the path to becoming king of Israel.
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We discuss David’s interactions with Saul in the context of commitment to God’s mandate to “keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just” [Genesis 18:19] so that God will fulfill his promise. God declared the mandate as he spoke to angels about Abraham. He declared he chose Abraham to become the ancestral father of the Messiah lineage because Abraham will raise his offspring to live in the image of God by doing what is right and just “so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him” [Genesis 18:19]. Thus, God established “doing what is right and just” as the guiding principle for living in his image and necessary condition for receiving fulfillment of his promises.
He mandates every person to understand the meaning of “right and just” to guide their response in every situation and will guide understanding and response for those that are connected to him. We discuss David’s interactions with Saul as reflecting his understanding of the mandate. He would not “lay a hand” on Saul or get into battle against him, because “who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless” [1 Samuel 26:9]? David understood that reverence for Saul in awe of God was “right and just” and represented a purpose superior to any other. Therefore, he chose a strategy of avoiding Saul or any battle against him in order to avoid any chance of stretching out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, e.g., see previous study under Mentor Turns Mentee Enemy—in Saul vs David.
Crept up unnoticed Sweet Publishing FreeBibleImages.org
The strategy became David’s guiding principle in every interaction with Saul as Saul sought to take his life. Two occasions provide clear illustration of David’s commitment to the principle. On the two occasions, David had access to Saul unnoticed. Both situations appeared to present David with a strategic advantage of eliminating Saul as an obstacle to his becoming king of Israel. Some of his followers urged him to take the advantage. However, David chose instead to confront Saul verbally from a safe distance after leaving evidence of his access to Saul unnoticed by either Saul or his troops. Also, he used the occasions to explain to his followers that he could not stretch out his hand against Saul because Saul deserved reverence as God’s anointed king of Israel.
David had opportunity to kill Saul on both occasions but spared him because his understanding of “doing what is right and just” meant he would not “stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed.” However, although he resisted the temptation of killing Saul to clear his way to kingship, he was the winner on both occasions because Saul conceded the kingship to him in the presence of several Israeli witnesses. We discuss his interactions with Saul on both occasions to understand his commitment to “doing what is right and just” helped him to advance along the path to kingship.
Come, Learn, and Be Blessed theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org
Banking Blessings Ministry welcomes you to 2019. Our program this year will focus on understanding government based on people and events described in the bible to learn about God’s purpose for relationships between people and their government. We thank you for participating in our programs as we seek and share understanding of God’s purpose for human interactions and relationships. We thank God for the opportunity to understand his message better this year and live in the understanding to approach closer to his purpose for each of us individually and as member of a community.
The year 2018 ended while we were in the middle of a series on Husband-Wife Interactions, focused on studying the life of couples described in the bible to learn from their interactions among themselves and with God. The series provides lessons about husband-wife unity; family leadership; love, honor, and trust; and bringing all these together to always present the husband-wife union as one before God, such that any potentially dividing husband-wife disagreement will be resolved quickly and permanently. We provide a summary of what we learned in 2018 based on a few selected studies from the series.
New Series for 2019
New Year celebration at Trafalgar Square wikipedia.org
The series on husband-wife interactions is not done but will be suspended for a while in order to focus on a new assignment for 2019. Developments around the world indicate increasing tension between people and their governments. There appear to be widespread dissatisfaction with government. In several cases, governments appear to have departed greatly from the expectations of the people. Maybe because the people have incorrect expectations, or the people in charge of government have forgotten or did not ever know what the government can expect from people and what the people can expect from their government.
Come, Learn, and Be Blessed theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org
The bible provides information to guide understanding God’s purpose for relationships between people and their governments. To understand the information better and benefit from the guidance it provides, the Banking Blessings bible study program this year will focus on understanding government based on people and events described in the bible and using the accounts to learn about God’s purpose for relationships between people and their government. What should the people expect from their government and what should the government expect from the people? We will find the bible provides answers to these questions.
We learn several lessons from Abraham-Sarah interactions in the separation of Ishmael from Isaac: Quick and permanent resolution of a potentially dividing husband-wife disagreement to remain united as one before God; conflict resolution strategy based on understanding and addressing the underlying concerns in a conflict; and opportunity selection based on remaining connected to God to receive guidance regarding opportunities that one may de-emphasize in order to focus on proper development of other opportunities.
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We discuss Abraham-Sarah interactions regarding Ishmael to learn about resolving a potentially dividing husband-wife disagreement quickly and permanently. Also, the interactions help us understand that certain things or opportunities that are important to us may at times need to be de-emphasized or abandoned in order to make room for proper development of other opportunities.
Sarah gave birth to Isaac, a son with husband Abraham in their old age, fulfilling God’s promise: “… Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” [Genesis 17:19]. Therefore, Isaac was the child of promise: God’s promise to Abraham-Sarah will be fulfilled through Isaac’s offspring. However, Abraham with Sarah’s approval had fathered a child Ishmael with Sarah’s maid-servant Hagar. He loved Ishmael, felt a responsibility for him, and maybe wondered about Ishmael’s rightful inheritance as his son.
During a feast to celebrate Isaac’s weaning, Sarah noticed Ishmael display apparent hostility toward Isaac: “And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing” [Genesis 21:9]. She recognized the behavior as a sign of potential future threat to Isaac growing up in the presence of Ishmael. Therefore, she demanded Ishmael and his mother be expelled from the household to protect Isaac: “Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac” [Genesis 21:10].
Hagar and Ishmael wikipedia.org
Her demand troubled Abraham greatly: “And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son” [Genesis 21:11]. He likely was sympathetic to Sarah’s demand but felt an internal conflict with throwing out his son because of a sense of responsibility and concern for his well being. God intervened: He directed Abraham to accept his wife’s demand and resolved his internal conflict by explaining that he will bless each of the two children separately [Genesis 21:12–13]: “But God said to him, ‘Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.’”
We learn several lessons through these events. First, we learn an important conflict resolution strategy through God’s resolution of Abraham’s internal conflict. Second, we discuss the urgency of his intervention and the resolution he provided to underscore the need for quick and permanent resolution of any potentially dividing husband-wife disagreement. Third, the separation of Ishmael from Isaac provides a lesson on opportunity selection—recognizing available opportunities that may need to be de-emphasized or abandoned in order to make room for proper development of other opportunities.
God’s promise to a husband-wife union could be revealed through the husband or wife and will be fulfilled to them as a unit. Because the husband and wife are one, a promise to one is a promise to the two-in-one and will be fulfilled to them together. God interacts with husband and wife as one and illustrates the relationship through his covenant with Abraham-Sarah: a conditional promise to be God to all that worship and serve him.
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Alone with God Sweet Publishing FreeBibleImages.org
We discuss God’s interaction with Abraham regarding his conditional promise to be God to all that worship and serve him. The promise was for Abraham-Sarah as a union, their descendants, and all humanity. However, God revealed the promise to Abraham as an individual. The context of the interaction enables an understanding of aspects directed at Abraham or Sarah individually and aspects directed at Abraham-Sarah as a union. God provides a message through the interaction: that his promise to a husband-wife union could be revealed through the husband or wife but will be fulfilled for them together as a unit.
Abraham understood the message but doubted the promise could be fulfilled for him and Sarah considering their age. He appealed for Ishmael in an apparent attempt to “help” God find a path to fulfillment of the promise [Genesis 17:17–18]: “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ … ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!’” Then God clarified the promise: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” [Genesis 17:19]. Thus, God explained to Abraham that the promise is for Abraham-Sarah and will be fulfilled to their descendants through a son of their flesh. He spoke to Abraham to convey a conditional promise for Abraham-Sarah.
Husband-wife and child theglobalgospel.org freebibleimages.org
It is perhaps easy to understand that the promise of a child to a husband or wife is a promise to the husband-wife union. However, we may need greater consciousness of the message to appreciate its other implications. Whether in regard to wisdom or knowledge, physical possession, child bearing, or any other areas of human need, God’s promise to a husband or wife belongs to the husband-wife union and will be fulfilled to them as an indivisible unit. They need to be functionally together and interact with God as one in order to receive fulfillment of the promise. They could lose the promise if one person should become greedy and seek to claim individual ownership of any part.
We discuss God’s interaction with Abraham as described in Genesis 17 to understand the message of the covenant as it relates to husband-wife interactions and relationships.
