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Hebrews 11:9 (ESV) By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Abram is ordered by God Himself to leave his cozy comfortable home in Babylon. God’s leads him, along with Lot, his nephew who decided to go with him to Cana’an, a land which already occupied. They settle south; are driven to Egypt by a famine; Abram’s wife is taken captive by Pharaoh; God sends a plague to Pharaoh, who releases Sarai and showers Abram with wealthy gifts; Abram returns to the Land; separates from Lot and it is then that God makes an eternal covenant with him. Abram then has to fight to keep the Land away from five foreign invaders and to free Lot his relative. He then meets with, tithes to and honors the King of Jerusalem. After God renews and specifies His covenant with Abraham, Hashem gives him Isaac; destroys Sodom; has Sarah again taken captive; freed in the same manner as before; has Isaac miraculously born; then ‘resurrected’ (Hebrews 11:19). Sarah then dies Abraham now wants to buy a piece of land to bury his wife. His only ownership of the Land is in the promises of God, which sadly do not constitute currency in our world. Hephron the Hittite at first seems to make an altruistic offer, but pragmatic Abraham sees the ‘strings’ attached to the ‘gift’ and wants nothing of it so he yields to an exorbitant price for a piece of land in Hebron. Abraham wants this to be a closed undisputable affair. Along with two other such, since the covenant follows Isaac’s line, this biblically recorded transaction serves today as a record of the indisputable Jewish ownership of that Land. God allowed these to be recorded in His Word so there would be no doubt about it. . Wonder today at the encrypted message in this story. The prophet Isaiah said it so well, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, (Isaiah 46:10). Read with me in the lives of Abraham and Sarah the life and destiny of Jacob whom Mashiach renamed, ‘Israel’ (Genesis 32:28). Coming out of Babylon Jacob came to an occupied land. Israel was made captive in Egypt, freed through plagues then showered with gifts. When Israel returned to the Land, he still has to fight for control even through kings who wanted to dominate him. Israel is again taken in captivity, this time in Babylon from where he returns with gifts from the King of Persia. The whole story takes us to the miraculous birth of Yeshua and to His resurrection. Eventually, the Land will be legally owned by its God ordained inhabitant. …, for an exorbitant price! Here is now the rest of that verse from Isaiah: 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' (Isaiah 46:10 ESV) .
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Abraham, faith, Bible, Tanach, Torah, Yeshua, Jesus, Covenant theology, Israel, Jews, Middle East crisis,
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