22. ABRAHAM AT NINETY

AND NINE

GENESIS 17

We have reached another of the important crises in the history of our patriarch and are to behold again the matchless grace of Jehovah in His dealings with the father of all them that believe. Thirteen years had elapsed (see 17:25) since Abram, in his impatient unbelief had "hearkened to the voice of Sarah." Significant number this! In Scripture thirteen is invariably found in an evil connection signifying, as it does in the language of numerics, unbelief, rebellion, apostasy. The first time this numeral is met with in the Word is Genesis 14: 4, where we read, "Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled." How closely Abram's own experience resembled this! Abram was seventy-five years of age when God's call had come to leave home and kindred and to tread the highway of faith, and for practically twelve years he had endured as seeing Him who is invisible. But at the age of eighty-six (Gen. 17:1, ninety-nine, less the thirteen years for the age of Ishmael, 17:25) Abram turned aside from the path of faith and resorted to the devices of the flesh, hearkening to the suggestion of Sarah to obtain a son by Hagar her Egyptian maid. And now another thirteen years pass, during which time there is no mention of any appearing of the Lord unto him. This interval is passed over in silence; it is a blank, a period of spiritual barrenness; apparently a season which brought forth nothing but wood, hay and stubble. Thus we find that the first two mentionings of this numeral thirteen are associated, respectively, with rebellion and impatient unbelief in resorting to carnal efforts instead of waiting upon God. And it will be found that thirteen is an evil number right through the Scriptures (see 1 Kings 7:1 and contrast 6:38; Esther 3: 12, 13, etc.). The same is true of instances where the numeral is not specifically mentioned as, for example, the marching of Israel thirteen times around the defiant Jericho; also the thirteen "judges" enumerated in Judges, which is the book of apostasy (see 21:25); so, too, of Mark 7:21-23, where the Lord specifies just thirteen of the evil characteristics

and products of the depraved heart of man; other examples might be added such as the fact that the term "Dragon" is found exactly thirteen times in the apocalypse. Again, the same uniform evil significance of this numeral is discovered in cases where multiples of thirteen occur in Scripture: thus Jacob says to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years (13 x 10): few and evil have the days of the years of my life been" (Gen. 47:9). In Numbers 16, which records the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and the visitation of God's wrath upon them and their followers, we find there perished 250 (Num. 16:35) plus 14,700 (Num. 16:49) or 14,950 in all, which is 13 x 1,150. In Deuteronomy 14 there is a list of the unclean animals and birds which the Israelites were forbidden to eat, and a careful count shows there were just 26 or 13 x 2, which were prohibited (see vs. 7-19). At the hands of his unbelieving countrymen the Apostle Paul received "forty stripes save one" (2 Cor. 11:24), or 39, that is 13 x 3. The Epistle of Jude which treats of the apostasy of Christendom is the twenty-sixth book of the New Testament. And so on. In the light of these examples it is surely not without deep meaning that we learn there was an interval of just thirteen years between the incident mentioned in Genesis 16 and that recorded in Genesis 17, between Abram hearkening to the voice of Sarah and the Lord's appearing to him anew, and that this interval is one of spiritual barrenness and is passed over in silence. Ere we turn and consider the gracious revelation which the Lord made to Abram at the close of this interval let us first ask and ponder an important question:

Why had Abram to wait all this while before the Lord appeared to him again? Why must so many years drag their weary course before Jehovah reveals Himself once more and makes promise of giving him Isaac? Is not the answer to be found in Romans 4:19? "And being not weak in faith; he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb." God was about to act in grace, but ere grace can be displayed the creature has first to come to the end of himself: ere divine power is put forth man must learn his own impotency. Not till Israel were driven to desperation and despair at the Red Sea did the word

come, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." So here. Not till Abram's body was "dead" would God fulfil His word and give him a son. God's opportunity does not come until man's extremity is reached. This is a lesson we sorely need to take to heart, for it is of great practical importance. It might be tersely expressed thus: the Lord has a reason for all His delays. God not only does that which is right and best but He always acts at the right and best time. Mark, it was not until "the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4). Is not this the explanation of what is a sore problem to many hearts? We mean, God's delay in sending back His Son the second time. Like one of old, we are often tempted to ask, "Why is His chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the wheels of His chariots?" (Judges 5:28). Ah! here is the answer-the "fulness of time" has not yet arrived. God has a wise and good reason for the delay. What that is we learn from 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (to send back His Sonsee v. 4), as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." God's delay in sending back His Son is due to His long-sufferance, not willing that any should perish.

Let us repeat what we have said above and apply it to another perplexing problem. God has a reason for His delays. Not until man comes to the end of himself will God put forth His power. Not until man's extremity is reached does God's opportunity arrive. Not until our own powers are "dead" will God act in grace. What is the great lesson of Psalm 107 but this? "They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.... Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.... They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted be

cause of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses" (Ps. 107: 4-6, 12, 13, 23-28). Ah! it is when we are at our "wit's end," when all our own devices have failed and all our own efforts come to nought, that we "cry unto the Lord in our trouble," and "then" He bringeth us out of our distresses.

Beloved reader, apply now this principle to your own individual life. Are you anxiously exercised over God's delay? He has some wise purpose for it. He had with Abram, and He has with you. From seventy-five-his age when he left Haran-to one hundred-when Isaac was born-was a long time to wait, but the sequel evidenced the Lord's wisdom. God has more than one reason for His delays. Often it is to test the faith of His children, to develop their patience, to bring them to the end of themselves. His delays are in order that when He does act His delivering power may be more plainly evident, that what He does may be more deeply appreciated, and that in consequence He may be more illustriously glorified.

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1). These words are to be regarded first as a reproof. It was as though the Lord had said, "Have recourse no more to unbelieving expedients; keep now to the path of uprightness, and leave Me to fulfil My promise in My own good time and way." This opening verse of Genesis 17 needs to be read in the light of God's original promise to Abram to give him a "seed" (Gen. 13: 15, 16) and the attempt made by our patriarch to obtain fulfilment by his own efforts. What Abram needed to be reminded of was God's Almightiness. It was for want of considering this that he had had recourse to crooked devices. Another lesson this which we do well to mark-never to employ unlawful means in seeking to promote the cause of God. How much the Lord's servants need to heed this truth! Like Abram, they are longing for seed, spiritual seed, but it comes not; and only too often they resort to unworthy methods to produce seed of themselves, arguing that the end justifies the means. Here is the effectual cure for all im

patient anxiety-to reckon on One who is all-gracious, allpowerful, all-sufficient.

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect" (Gen. 17:1). But again. These words must be regarded as a blessed exhibition of Divine Love. It is written that "Love suffereth long, and is kind.” How this was exemplified in God's dealings with the patriarchs of old! How they tried that love! How often they grieved it! How often they acted unworthily of it! Yet, notwithstanding, as it was with the apostles so it was with the patriarchs"Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1). How patiently God bore with Abram! It was love that "suffered long' with Abram's failings! It was love that persisted with him in spite of every check and drawback. It was love that now met him and promised to grant the desire of his heart, and in old age give him a son. And, Christian readers, is it not Divine Love that still "suffers long" with each of us! Would we not have perished long ago were it not that nothing is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Ah, note the last three words. It is the love of God in Christ Jesus. That love is a righteous love and not a sickly sentimentality at the expense of holiness. In the epistle which tells us that God is Love, we first read that "God is Light" (see 1 John 1:5; 4:8). But to return to Genesis 17:1.

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God." The revelation which God here made of Himself was well suited to the occasion. This was the first time that He revealed Himself as "the Almighty." None but One who possessed all power could meet Abram's need at this time. Ninety and nine years of age, his body dead; Sarah barren and long past the age of child-bearing-how could they hope to have a son? But with God all things are possible. And why? Because He is El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One. The "Almighty" is a title which strikes terror into the hearts of the wicked, but to the righteous it is a haven of rest. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe" (Prov. 18:10).