Honey From The Rock

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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, Part 9

This entry was posted on 10-22-2009 and is filed under ALTARS.

After Abraham's death, another famine took place in the Promised Land. God appeared to Isaac and told him, "Do not go to Egypt. Live in the land that I will tell you about; stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you" (Gen. 26:2 CSB). This was after Isaac had already gone to Abimelech, king of Philistia. "Like father, like son." Isaac told a half-truth about his wife, just as his father had done. Still, Isaac prospered and became rich, incurring the jealousy of the Philistines who kept filling up his wells with dirt. This forced Isaac to move from place to place.

Finally he came to Beer-sheba. God appeared to him that night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham, Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring because of My servant Abraham" (Gen. 26:24 CSB). Now notice what Isaac does next. "So he built an altar there, worshiped the LORD, and pitched his tent there. Isaac's slaves also dug a well there." (v. 25). This appears to be the first record instance of Isaac building an altar. Did he have flashbacks to Mt. Moriah where Abraham had built an altar, bound Isaac, and placed him on the altar?

Isaac's son Jacob also built altars. The first time was at Shechem (Gen. 33:20), the same place his grandfather Abraham had build his first altar. Were the stones still there? Did he use some of them to build his altar? In Genesis 35 we find Jacob building another altar where his grandpa had once built an altar - Bethel (vs. 1, 3 ,7). Thus, Abraham's practice of setting up altars to worship the Lord was passed down from one generation to the next. May we be as wise to do the same!

Prayer/Chorus: "Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful / May the fire of our devotion light their way / May the footprints that we leave Lead them to believe And the lives we live inspire them to obey / Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful" (Steve Green)