Honey From The Rock

www.poeministries.org

Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

TRAIL OF ALTARS

This entry was posted on 10-12-2009 and is filed under ALTARS.

"Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well" (Genesis 26:25 NIV).

Isaac was Abraham and Sarah's "son of promise." When he was 40 he married Rebekah and they had two boys: Jacob and Esau. A famine forced the family to live for a time in Philistia where Isaac became a wealthy man. But this fostered the envy of the Philistines who took fiendish delight in filling up the wells that Isaac's servants had dug for the family. So Isaac returned to Beersheba, the southernmost city in Judah. His father had once lived here. Like the John Denver song, Isaac was "back home again" and it was good, yes it was.

The first thing Isaac did was to build an altar. This was a first for him. Always before he had pitched his tent or dug a well. His godly father, in contrast, has made a regular practice of building altars and calling on the name of the Lord. In fact, you can trace the travels of Abraham by discovering the "trail of altars" he left behind! You have heard of the "trail of tears" - but this is the "trail of altars." Let's look at them this week.

The first altar we discover is in the land of Canaan (present-day Israel). This was not long after Abraham had left Ur of the Chaldeans (present-day Iraq). "Abraham passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.' And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him'" (Genesis 12:6, 7 NKJV). Was this the first altar built by man? No, it appears that Noah was the first to do so, after the great flood (Genesis 8:20). I suppose it is possible that Abel offered his animal sacrifice on an altar, but the Bible does not say so. God gave specific instructions to Moses, after the giving of the 10 Commandments, concerning the construction and use of the altar (Exodus 20:24-26). It could be made of earth or stone (but not hewn stone). Nor was it to have steps leading up to it like the stepped pyramids (ziggurauts) that Abraham was used to in Ur, where they worshipped the moon god. We will have more to say about Abraham's first altar tomorrow.

Prayer: Holy God, we thank You that You have provided for us an altar in Your Son Jesus Christ. We may approach You in worship through Him. Thank You for this wonderful privilege and help us in our travels today we pray in Jesus' Name.