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| The Seven Virtues |
God promised Abram something...
“I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3 NIV)
Later...
The Lord said to Abram after Lot [his nephew] had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Genesis 13:14-17 NIV)
Abram remained childless, but God told him...
...a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:4-6 NIV)
But, Abram doubted, so God told him to prepare a particular animal sacrifice, something Abram would culturally understand.1 Then God caused him to fall into a deep sleep, and he said...
...“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation2 your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:13-21 NIV)
Abram would always remember that experience. The carcasses would still have been there the next morning, so he would have known it had really happened.
But, Abram was impatient. He listened to his wife who told him to use her servant to produce a child. That resulted in problems, and a son named Ishmael.
Thirteen years later, God reminded Abram about the covenant and he changed Abram's name to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. He also said...
...“As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. (Genesis 17:15-22 NIV)
Isaac was born in God's timing.
God makes known the end from the beginning, but he doesn't tell us everything. He leaves out details for his reasons.
When God drops something into our lap we have been desperately yearning for, we may doubt. Perhaps it is too good to be true. Is it a trap? Are we being set up? Are we dreaming?
We need time to come to terms with reality, to figure things out and to let God teach us what he wants us to know. God also needs time to bring other people along, and to allow evil to reach its full measure so he can act.
Patience is a virtue. God develops it in those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).
All glory to Him.
UPDATE, May 19, 2025...
2 This piqued my interest and I did a search of how long the Israelites were in Egypt. I knew it was around 400 years (due to a fun Bible-teaching game I experienced early in my faith walk), so "the fourth generation" seemed too short.
I like the conclusion of the linked article, which readers can contemplate for themselves.
UPDATE, July 12, 2026...
1 It was more than cultural. It was prophetic. See the following short video.
Changed the end notes to keep them in order in the main text.
UPDATE, August 9, 2026...
When Abraham undertook the task of seeking a wife for his son, Isaac, he sent one of his servants back to the land of his relatives. He did not want his son to marry any of the people of the land of Canaan, where God had domiciled him.
His servant relied on God, the god of his master, Abraham, to provide and point out the young woman who would be Isaac's wife. The story is in Genesis 24.
When the servant returned with Rebekah, Isaac was meditating in a field at evening.
Now Isaac had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev. He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching. Rebekah also looked up and saw Isaac. She got down from her camel and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
“He is my master,” the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
Then the servant told Isaac all he had done. Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rebekah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. (Genesis 24:62-67 NIV, emphasis added)
According to The New International Version (2011) translation (NIV), the meaning of the Hebrew word translated as "meditate" is uncertain.
I like to use an Internet tool called "Bible Hub" because I find it useful. It explains some things about that particular Hebrew word, at least from the perspective of the people running the website and the resources they cite. Here are the relevant links...
The verse, Genesis 24:63.
The Hebrew word translated as "to meditate."
Discussion about that Hebrew word. From that discussion...
The Old Testament emphasizes meditation not as emptying the mind but filling it with God’s truth and works, leading to trust and obedience. (Emphasis added.)
I find the contrast between what Hinduism teaches and the Bible teaches about "meditation" interesting.
I practice the latter, and it has resulted in my faith. I cannot comment about the former because I have never done it.