Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in Genesis.  Tonight is study #39 of Genesis, chapter 21.  We will be reading the last couple of verses in this chapter.  It says in 21:33-34:

And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of JEHOVAH, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.

We read that Abraham planted a grove.  The word “Abraham” is italicized, but the context is obviously referring to Abraham.  Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba.  Remember, the word “Beersheba” is a compound word that means “well of swearing” or “well of an oath.”  We already saw that the Lord had arranged things so that Abraham and Abimelech entered into a covenant and swore to one another concerning certain things at Beersheba, the well of the covenant or the well of an oath.  We discussed how a “well” points to salvation and God’s covenant identifies with the Bible, and it is the Bible that brought salvation to the elect people in various generations.

So, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba in this place that identifies with the well of an oath.  The word “grove” is only found three times in the Old Testament.  It is found here in Genesis and it is found two other times in the book of 1Samuel.  In both instances it involves King Saul.  For example, it says in 1Samuel 22:6:

When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;)

The word “tree” is the word translated as “grove” in our verse.

Also, it says in 1Samuel 31:13:

And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

It is referring to the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan.  They had died in battle at the hand of the Philistines.  We have commented in the past about how Saul can be a picture of the corporate church and his death in battle against the Philistines can point to God’s judgment upon the churches.  So, both verses relate to Saul who relates to the corporate church. 

The word translated as “planted” in Genesis 21:33 can also be related to the corporate church, as it says in Jeremiah 2:20-21:

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

God was speaking of Israel, the outward representation of the kingdom of God on the earth during its time period of about two thousand years.  In turn, they were a representation of the New Testament churches that would come later.  So, the word “planted” here also relates to the corporate church.  There are two times that God speaks of planting a vineyard.  The reference in the New Testament refers to Old Testament Israel, but the reference in the book of Isaiah refers to the New Testament churches and congregations.  Both were typified by a vineyard.  In the Old Testament account, the vineyard was destroyed.  In the New Testament, the Lord said He would take the vineyard away from the wicked husbandmen and give it to other husbandmen that would render the fruits in their season; that is, He would take away the outward identification Israel once had as His kingdom and give it to the New Testament churches and congregations.  This is the reason we know the reference to the vineyard in the New Testament is related to Old Testament Israel, because the vineyard was not destroyed.

But God speaks of a vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-2:

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

The word translated as “planted” in Genesis 21 is translated here as “choicest vine.”  You can read this account, but God said in Isaiah 5:5-6:

And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Here, the Lord describes the destruction of the vineyard and, therefore, it cannot be referring to Israel.  Again, Israel was the keeper of the vineyard during a certain time period, but it was turned over to other keepers in the transition from God using Israel to God using the churches as His vineyard.  The churches had their end when God came to visit them for their high places.  The churches were destroyed, and now there is no other corporate entity that God will turn the New Testament churches over to, so when the church age came to an end the vineyard was totally destroyed.  Of course, God is using the language of “Israel,” but that is the nature of the historical parable, as it goes on to say in Isaiah 5:7:

For the vineyard of JEHOVAH of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

In other words, He looked to see if they were faithful in handling His Word, the Bible.  They were not and, therefore, He destroyed them.

But in our verse in Genesis 21, Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba.  Remember, this was in the Philistines’ land, the land of Canaan.  The land of Canaan represents the kingdom of God.  In this case, it is the outward representation.  God established it on this earth using the two entities, Israel and then the churches.  After telling us that Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, it goes on to say in Genesis 21:33:

… and called there on the name of JEHOVAH, the everlasting God.

Here, we see a reference to the name of JEHOVAH, the everlasting God.  We can find many verses where God says His name is JEHOVAH or some other name.  He will say His name is Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God or Jesus.  Many different names are given.  Here, He refers to the name of JEHOVAH and it was to be called upon, but each name God uses for Himself reveals certain characteristics or attributes of the Person of God.  The name reveals something of the glorious Being of God that is being highlighted or showcased.  With the name of JEHOVAH, it often points to God as Saviour, as it does in Isaiah 43:11:

I, even I, am JEHOVAH; and beside me there is no saviour.

They were to call on the name of JEHOVAH.  This took place in Israel of old and it took place in the congregations during the 1,955 years of the church age.  Men called upon the name of JEHOVAH, the Saviour.  And the Saviour did save His people within Israel and within the churches.  Of course, there was a very limited number saved during the entire Old Testament period.  The most we read about in Israel is 7,000 at one point that had not bowed the knee to Baal.  In the churches, it speaks of 144,000 as the firstfruits unto God.  That is not a literal number, but it represents the fulness of the believers that were saved during the church era.  We do not know the actual number, although we do know the Bible indicates it was not as great a number as we might think, given the number of churches and the number of professed Christians over the course of the church age.  Given the fact that they had the Bible and the fact that they had almost two thousand years to call on the name of JEHOVAH, we would expect a great number.  The indicator in the Bible is that it could have been a handful of millions, which is a small number considering the overall population of the world, so it was somewhat of a disappointment.  But we do know that God saved the best for last and He saved the great multitude out of Great Tribulation. 

However, that is not what is in view in these last couple of verses of Genesis 21 because it is speaking of the planting of a grove in Beersheba, the well of an oath, in the land of Canaan.  And men called on the everlasting God.  Referring to the everlasting God, it says in Psalm 41:13:

Blessed be JEHOVAH God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.

Here, the reference to Israel would point to spiritual Israel which consists of all elect, both Jew and Gentile, over all periods of time.  Those that become saved become part of spiritual Israel through the circumcision of the heart, which means they were born again.

Again, it says, “Blessed be JEHOVAH God of Israel, from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.”  God uses this kind of language, which is all encompassing if you were trying to describe every bit of existence there has ever been in every realm – in time, before time and after time – of the creations of God.  I think that sums it up.  Every bit of existence there has ever been is described in this statement, from everlasting to everlasting.  This is the reason God uses this language elsewhere, like in Psalm 90:1:

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Of course, the existence of God is eternal because He had no beginning and He has no end, so the only way to describe Eternal God is to say that He is from everlasting past and He will continue to exist for the everlasting future – from everlasting to everlasting.  It says in Psalm 93:1-2:

JEHOVAH reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; JEHOVAH is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

JEHOVAH has been King throughout eternity past.  He is the ever-existent One, the great I AM.  That is the name for Himself that He told to Moses when Moses asked God how he should respond when the people ask, “What is His name?”   God said, “I AM THAT I AM.”  It is a statement of Being.  It was true of God yesterday, today and forever.  It is true of God from everlasting to everlasting, which is the whole spectrum of existence where God is.  He has existed and has been all-powerful and Almighty from eternity to eternity.  There is nothing that was before God.  He is “existence” and the very definition of “being” and there is nothing (possible) before Him.  Remember, God said that He knows of no God other than He.  People speculate and theorize and philosophize about things as they set their minds to working.  Men are so impressed with the brilliant scientists and atheists of this earth.   You know, we must laugh because we are speaking of men that are “little specks” and tiny, finite creatures, when compared to the Almighty God of the Bible.  Even if an individual had an unimaginable IQ of 200, what is that compared to the Almighty who possesses all knowledge that has ever been or ever will be?  This all-knowing God of the Bible is the Author of the Bible, and He tells us about Himself through His Word, the Bible.  There is no comparison.  Man, in all his brilliance, is like a flea, ant or some microscopic creature, compared to God.  And even that is not an accurate comparison – we are less than that in comparison to God.  He is the Creator and we are the tiny, tiny beings He has created. 

Of course, man is arrogant and proud, and it is almost the definition of pride because man is also a fallen creature, dead to things of the Spirit.  He is blind and ignorant of spiritual things.  So a few men, or even millions of men, put their minds together and think about these things:  “Where did we come from?  How did we get here?  How did this world get here?  How did the universe get here?”  With their tiny “gray matter,” they begin their speculation and, of course, they dismiss the idea of a God.  That is a colossal mistake, but they think, “We will figure it out because there must be a natural way.”   They are natural-minded men, so that is the only way they can think, given their limitations.  “There must be a natural way that all of this creation came into being.”  So, they think and think and think, and they come up with various theories.  They act as if their theories are facts.  They put it in textbooks: “There was the Big Bang.”  Of course, their theories do not answer all the questions, and then they later correct their theories with a different theory.  “Now we just have to reprint the textbooks.”   

But they have an enormous, unsolvable problem in answering the question: “Where did that initial matter come from?”  Was it a black hole or two sticks rubbing together?  Whatever it was, there had to be matter of some kind to explode (in the Big Bang) and come forth to develop and form anything.  Where did the beginning of these things come from?   The only answer is that there had to be some eternal and everlasting “matter” that has always been there.  Therefore, they would have to say  that from everlasting there was “matter” or “substance” from which all else was made.  And that “matter” is their god, no matter how foolish or idiotic it is, or how greatly it reveals their blind, rebellious hearts that accept the most absurd theories to avoid the truth – the fact that there is an everlasting God, the Creator and the God of the Bible. 

God spoke and brought everything into existence.  He is everlasting.  He had no beginning.  There must be something or someone that is everlasting and had no beginning, and the fact that we exist and the fact that other things exist all around us testify to the truth that the Lord God of the Bible is real.  He is the prime mover.  He is the first.  He is the beginning, the Alpha, and the Creator of all things.  The design of man, of animals and all creation do not testify to a “mindless piece of matter” that happened to explode.  That theory is ridiculous to no end because they are saying that something exploded into something of “order.”  But explosions result in less order than there was to begin with because when we use science and examine “explosions,” they do not bring things into “order” and into “patterns of design.”  They result in disorder, disarray and they destroy – they do not form design.  So, the idea of stuff exploding into the pattern we see all around us is not even worth considering because it is impossible.  It is not within the realm of possibility.  “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  And God could create the heaven and earth of this creation because He had already been.  He is from everlasting to everlasting.

Well, I got off on a discussion I was not planning, so we will come back for one more study in Genesis 21, Lord willing.