COMPREHENSIVE NOTE ON GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM

For this lesson you have to read Genesis 12:1-9; 17:1-21; 21:1-8; 25:19-26
(I) A covenant is an agreement. It also means a contract.

The Call Of Abraham

   Abraham was born in Ur of Chaldea, a city in which idols were worshipped.  Abraham was not an idol worshipper.  He was a believer in the existence of only one God. God called Abraham and told him to leave his home town which was steeped in idolatry,  and to go to a land called Canaan in order that he might live apart and worship Him there.

God’s Promise To Abraham

God made a promise to Abraham that ;
• His descendants would be as numberless as the stands of the sea.
• His descendants would be a great nation.
• His descendants would inherit the land of Canaan.
• That through them all nations would be blessed.

Abraham obeyed God’s command and left his home reaching Canaan after some years of traveling.  In the course of time God appears to him and changed his name to Abraham ( from Abram), meaning ” the father of multitudes” and his wife name from Sarai to Sarah. When Abraham got to Shechem after the call, God appeared to him and said,  ” Unto your seed will I give the land”.
   God made a convenient with Abraham whereby Abraham and his descendants must be CIRCUMCISED as a sign that they were God’s chosen people.  This was to distinguish the seed of Abraham from the Gentiles. Abraham was also told that his descendants should possess the land of Canaan after they had spent 40 years in a foreign land.

  Abraham’s wife, Sarah was the mother of only one son,  Isaac. He was born when Abraham was 100 years and Sarah was 90 years old.  The birth of Isaac was a direct fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

Isaac had two sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob who was the younger of the two sons bought birth-right from Esau and deceive his father to get his blessing.  He later suffered on account of his deception but it could be seen that God chose him instead of Esau to continue His promise to Abraham. The descendants of Jacob and not those of Esau, eventually inherited the ‘Land of Promise ‘.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were patriarch or ancestors of the Hebrew nation, Jacob was renamed “ISRAEL” by the angel who wrestled with him at Peniel. His descendants became known as the ISRAELITE

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN POINTS

(I) Covenant was the agreement between God and Abraham.
(ii) God promised Israelites many blessings subject to their obedience to God.
(III) Abraham left his home in obedience to God’s instructions.
(it) Circumcision of all Abraham’s descendants was a special sign of God’s covenant with Abraham.

Significance Of the Lesson

• God’s promise will always be fulfilled whether we like it or not

• We are blessed as we obey God’s commandments.