Galatians 5
Falling away from God’s graceverses 1-6
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage
BEHOLD – I Paul say to you – that if you be circumcised
Christ shall profit you nothing
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised
that he is a debtor to do the WHOLE law
Christ is become of no effect to you
whosoever of you are justified by the law
ye are FALLEN from GRACE
FOR we through the Spirit wait for the
hope of righteousness by faith
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything
nor uncircumcision BUT FAITH which works by love
Beware of false teachingverses 7-10
You did run well
who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?
This persuasion comes not of HIM that
calls you
A little leaven leavens the
whole lump
I have confidence in you through the Lord
that you will be none otherwise minded
BUT he that troubles you shall bear his judgment
whosoever he be
Called to live in freedomverses 11-15
AND I – brethren – if I yet preach circumcision
WHY do I yet suffer persecution?
THEN is the offense of the cross ceased
I would they were even cut off which
trouble you
For, brethren – you have been called unto LIBERTY
only use not LIBERTY for an occasion to the flesh
BUT by LOVE serve ONE ANOTHER
FOR all the law is fulfilled in one word – even in this
You shall love your neighbor as yourself
BUT if you bite and devour one another
take heed that you be not consumed one of another
Works of the fleshverses 16-21
This I say then
Walk in the Spirit
and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
For the flesh lusts against the Spirit
and the Spirit against the flesh
and these are contrary to one to the other
so that you cannot do the things that you would
BUT if you be LED of the Spirit
you are not under the law
Now the works of the flesh are manifest – which are these
adultery – fornication – uncleanness – lasciviousness
idolatry – witchcraft – hatred – variance – emulations
wrath – strife – seditions – heresies – envying – murders
drunkenness – revelings – and such like
of which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past
that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God
Fruit of the Spiritverses 22-26
BUT the fruit of the Spirit is
love – joy – peace – long-suffering – gentleness
goodness – faith – meekness – temperance
against such there is no law
AND they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh
with the affections and lusts
IF we live in the Spirit
LET us also walk in the Spirit
LET us not be desirous of vainglory
provoking one another, envying one another
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. (1758 “entangled” [enecho] means have a quarrel with, to hold in, set one’s self against, hold a grudge against someone, be hostile towards, be under control of, be loaded down, or be burdened)
DEVOTION: There has always been a battle between salvation by faith and salvation by works. The Jewish nation has been using the sacrificial system for generations to bring offerings to God. They came to think that their offerings were what gave them grace in the eyes of the LORD instead of HIS mercy.
So when the New Testament covenant was given they continued to think that they had to do something to earn their salvation. Paul instructed them otherwise.
However, there were false teachers coming in to the church teaching them that Paul was wrong and they were right in regard to personal salvation. They wanted them to return to the Law of Moses and obey all the commands found there. Paul instructed them in the fact that if the Law of Moses worked to forgive sins than Christ didn’t have to come and set up a New Covenant through HIS blood on the cross.
Too often even today we can come under the control of thinking that is something we did that gave us salvation. We also think that if our good works outweigh our bad works we will get into heaven on our own merit. This was wrong thinking in Paul’s day and it is wrong thinking in our day.
We have to stop thinking we can do anything to earn our salvation when Christ did it all on the cross.
If our local church teaches us that we have to give at least ten percent of our offering in order to be saved we would move to another church even though our offering should be ten percent but for the purpose of showing God that we are thankful for our salvation not to earn our salvation.
If our local church instructs us in the fact that we are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in our local area and overseas and that will earn us salvation. They are wrong. We again are to be witnesses because we want to say thank you to the LORD for saving our soul and want others to have the same joy that we have in serving the LORD.
The illustrations could go on forever but the fact is that salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ and that was the message of Paul and should be our message as well.
Service helps others to see that a change has taken place in our life but it is not bondage. The Law of Moses just shows everyone that they are a genuine sinner on their way to the lake of fire for eternity unless we repent of our sins and turn in a different direction.
Paul wants all those who are members of the church at Galatia to stand fast in the faith that he delivered to them through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his life.
CHALLENGE: This message is repeated repeatedly because false teachers are always trying to change the road to salvation for their own personal profit. Watch out for them.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love. (1754 “works” [energeo] means to do what something is used for, perform as expected when operating, to cause to be, put forth power, to display one’s activity, or to cause to function.)
DEVOTION: Here was a group of people who were Gentiles all their life and suddenly they hear a message by the Apostle Paul about Jesus Christ. They not only hear the message about Jesus Christ but they become a follower of Jesus Christ by repentance and a change of lifestyle. They are trying to develop a Biblical worldview. They want to do what God wants them to do.
Along comes a group of Jewish individuals who say that they must now be circumcised. They had never heard this teaching from Paul. They were never circumcised at birth so they begin to think that this is something that will give them more favor with God.
Paul says NO!! Circumcision is not necessary for salvation or a way to please God more. It is a false teaching that they need to reject.
Paul even adds that what is important in regard to faith is that we express it by speaking the truth in love. We are to reach those around us with the message of how God showed HIS love to the world by sending HIS Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world.
Every individual has an opportunity to become a believer if they repent of their sins and follow Christ.
CHALLENGE: The message must be presented in a manner that the individual will know the love of God is genuine. It must also be presented with a warning of what will happen if the message is rejected.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. (1657 “liberty” [eleutheria] means freedom, or true freedom is living as we should not as we please)
DEVOTION: There are three “L” words that need to be understood to live the Christian life. The first is Legalism. Legalism is an external belief that if you obey a set of rules made by man we will be okay. The second is License. This is the belief that once we are saved we can do as we please. We can sin as much and as often as we like and God will forgive us. We have fire insurance against any sins we commit willfully. The third is Liberty. This is the balance between external rules and no rules. This is action because we want to thank the LORD for our salvation.
We have the freedom to serve the LORD through serving others. The others in this passage are our neighbors. The freedom we show them on a daily basis helps us manifest the love of God to the world. They are not seeing it enough from the members of local bodies of believers. We are not going to manifest the works of the flesh as a lifestyle. We might manifest some of them some of the time but we know that they are wrong and need to be confessed for our fellowship with the LORD to be sweet. Paul warns Christians that biting and devouring one another hurts the church and those who are members of it. We will manifest the fruit of the Spirit with the help of the LORD on a regular basis.
Are we willing to show agape love toward fellow believers? Are we willing to restore a fellow believer to a closer walk with the LORD or do we like to envy one another? Once we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we want to use our freedom to love others. If we are saved, we are saved to serve the LORD. If we only want to serve self, then we are probably not saved. Are we serving one another in love?
CHALLENGE: Show love for those around you. Everyone in your world is your neighbor.
: 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another. (355 “consumed” [analisko] means destroy, with the possible implication f something being used up, to cause to die, or like our ‘breaking up’, loosing, or departure)
DEVOTION: Church splits. There are many of them all around the world. People start looking to their own selfish desires and want others to agree with them in everything or they will just move to a new location and start another church or denomination.
The false teachers had entered the church at Galatia and taught them a false doctrine. They taught that people needed to be circumcised to be genuinely saved. This caused Paul to write a letter warning them that a false doctrine causes division in a church and the division could cause individuals to pick sides and start saying things bad about those who didn’t agree with them.
What happens when this starts in a church is ugly. There are secret meetings. There are business meetings that end up as shouting matches of those of one view against those of another view. Sometimes it can be a doctrinal issue or a just the color of the paint in the sanctuary or the right windows in the parsonage. It doesn’t take much to cause selfish Christians to fight.
Once they start biting and devouring one another the community sees what is happening and thinks they don’t need this kind of church to attend. The reputation of the church is marred and it’s witness may be lost for at least one generation and maybe more.
This is what the enemy of the church wants. He has a desire to see believers fight with one another. He wants the church to be consumed with fighting. This type of church will not reach its community for the LORD.
Sometimes those who stay in the church don’t care for any more members. They are satisfied with “use four and no more.”
CHALLENGE: Wrong thinking in the book of Revelation says that the LORD will come and take away their candlestick and it will exist no more.
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Whole Lawverse 3
Law fulfilledverse 14
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
Godverse 21
Kingdom of Godverse 21
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
Christ verses 1, 2, 4, 6, 24
Jesus verse 6
Jesus Christverse 6
Lordverse 10
Crossverse 11
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Spiritverses 5, 16-18, 22, 25
Walk in the Spiritverses 16, 25
Flesh lusts against the Spiritverse 17
Led by the Spiritverse 18
Fruit of the Spiritverses 22-23
Love
Joy
Peace
Longsuffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance
Live by the Spiritverse 25
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Uncircumcision verse 6
Neighborverse 14
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Entangled with yoke of bondageverse 1
Counting on circumcision for salvationverse 2
Debtor to whole lawverse 3
Think your justified by the Lawverse 4
Fallen from graceverse 4
Not obey the truthverse 7
Leaven (sin)verse 9
Trouble believersverses 10, 12
Brings judgmentverse 10
Preach circumcisionverse 11
Using liberty for occasion of fleshverse 13
Bite and devour one anotherverse 15
Lust of the fleshverses 16, 17
Works of the fleshverses 19-21
adultery
fornication
uncleanness
lasciviousness
idolatry
witchcraft
hatred
variance
emulations
wrath
strife
seditions
heresies
envying
murders
drunkenness
reveling
Affections of the fleshverse 24
Lusts of the fleshverse 24
Desirous of vaingloryverse 26
Provoking one anotherverse 26
Envying one anotherverse 26
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Stand fastverse 1
Libertyverses 1, 13
Freeverse 1
Testifyverse 3
Justified by faithverse 4
Graceverse 4
Waitverse 5
Hopeverse 5
Righteousnessverse 5
Faithverses 5, 6
Works by loveverse 6
Obey the truthverse 7
Calledverses 8, 13
Not otherwise mindedverse 10
Brethrenverse 11
Suffer persecutionverse 11
Offence of the crossverse 11
Called to libertyverse 13
By love serve one anotherverse 13
Love your neighborverse 14
Walk in the Spiritverses 16, 25
Led by the Spiritverse 18
Fruit of the Spiritverses 22-23
Crucified the fleshverse 24
Live by the Spiritverse 25
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Circumcisionverses 2, 3, 6,11
Debtor to do the whole lawverse 3
Church (New Testament people of God)
Paulverse 2
Confidence in believersverse 10
Brethrenverses 11, 13
Last Things (Future Events)
Not inherit kingdom of Godverse 21
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QUOTES regarding passage
6 Two more points are made as this verse wraps up the first half of this section. First, as hard as Paul has been on circumcision and as much as it would serve his purpose polemically to downgrade it in preference to uncircumcision, he nevertheless
acknowledges that neither circumcision nor uncircumcision in themselves count for anything. This is further evidence that his concern is theological and not ceremonial. It is a similar point to that made about eating meat offered to idols (1 Cor 8:8).
The second point is that true faith, having an ethical side, works itself out “through love.” This is what matters—this kind of faith! True, we are saved through faith rather than by works; but faith is no mere intellectual conviction, as if a Christian could do as he wishes so long as he believes properly. This is a horrible idea, as Paul writes elsewhere (Rom 6:1, 2). To believe is to place one’s personal confidence in C`hrist, who loves us and gave himself for us. Therefore, since Christians have learned love in such measure and at such a source, faith must issue in a genuine and self-denying love for others.
It is worth noting that, in making these two points, Paul has come very close to giving a full and extremely beautiful definition of true religion. “In this is the whole of Christianity,” says Bengel. The sentence begins with a reference to those who are “in Christ Jesus,” so placing the emphasis both in point of order and in importance on God’s act of engrafting a person into his Son. It proceeds by repudiating the value of form or ceremony in determining a person’s relationship to God. It ends with a unique emphasis upon the combination of faith and love toward both God and man. Paul does not combine the words in this manner anywhere else in his writings.
In vv. 5, 6 the three great terms “faith … hope … and love” appear together (cf. 1 Cor 13; Col 1:4, 5; and 1 Thess 1:3) (Boice, J. M. (1976). Galatians. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol. 10, p. 489). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)
Paul next presents the life of the believer in the sphere of grace (Gal. 5:5–6). This enables us to contrast the two ways of life. When you live by grace, you depend on the power of the Spirit; but under Law, you must depend on yourself and your own efforts. Faith is not dead; faith works (see James 2:14–26). But the efforts of the flesh can never accomplish what faith can accomplish through the Spirit. And faith works through love—love for God and love for others. Unfortunately, flesh does not manufacture love; too often it produces selfishness and rivalry (see Gal. 5:15). No wonder Paul pictures the life of legalism as a fall!
When the believer walks by faith, depending on the Spirit of God, he lives in the sphere of God’s grace; and all his needs are provided. He experiences the riches of God’s grace. And, he always has something to look forward to (Gal. 5:5): one day Jesus shall return to make us like Himself in perfect righteousness. The Law gives no promise for perfect righteousness in the future. The Law prepared the way for the first coming of Christ (Gal. 3:23–4:7), but it cannot prepare the way for the second coming of Christ.
So, the believer who chooses legalism robs himself of spiritual liberty and spiritual wealth. He deliberately puts himself into bondage and bankruptcy. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 715). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
5:6 neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. Cf. 6:15. Nothing done or not done in the flesh, even religious ceremony, makes any difference in one’s relationship to God. What is external is immaterial and worthless, unless it reflects genuine internal righteousness (cf. Ro 2:25–29). faith working through love. Saving faith proves its genuine character by works of love. The person who lives by faith is internally motivated by love for God and Christ (cf. Mt 22:37–40), which supernaturally issues forth in reverent worship, genuine obedience, and self-sacrificing love for others. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Ga 5:6). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)
Ver. 6. For in Christ Jesus, &c.] The Arabic version reads, in the religion of Christ; in the religion of Moses, or of the Jews under the former dispensation, the things after mentioned were of some moment and consideration; but are of no account in the Christian religion, and under the Gospel dispensation: circumcision and uncircumcision make no difference in the church of Christ, or are any bar to communion with it; nor do they make any alteration in the love and favour of Christ, who is all in all to his people, whether Jews or Gentiles; nor have they any influence at all on salvation, Christ being a common Saviour to the circumcised and uncircumcised; nor are they any evidence for or against a person’s being in Christ, or having an interest in him: neither circumcision availeth any thing; not now as a command and ordinance of God, being abolished by Christ; nor as a type, having its accomplishment in him, and his people; nor as a privilege, giving any preference in any respect to the Jew above the Gentile; nor is it of any weight or consequence, or has any concern in the business of salvation: nor uncircumcision; it is no hinderance to the enjoyment of the Gospel, to entrance into a Gospel church-state, or to admission to the ordinances of it; nor to the participation of the blessings of grace, as justification, pardon, adoption, and eternal life: but faith which works by love; faith has a concern in justification and salvation, not by way of causal influence, but as it is that grace which receives the righteousness of Christ, through which we are saved, and kept by the power of God unto salvation; yet not any sort of faith, but that which is operative, is attended with good works; and which works itself by love to God, to Christ, to his people, ways, worship, truths, and ordinances. The Syriac version renders it, דמתגמרא, which is perfected by love; that is, is shewed to be right, true, and genuine thereby; see James 2:22. (Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 3, p. 43). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
5:6 ἐν γὰρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ οὔτε περιτομή τι ἰσχύει οὔτε ἀχροβυστία. The Christian fellowship embraced both circumcised and uncircumcised; it made no difference whatsoever to their new existence ‘in Christ Jesus’. In the old order the distinction the distinction between circumcision and uncircumcision was of great importance; in the new order it had lost all relevance (cf. 3:28a; also Col. 3:11, where in the new humanity οὐκ ἔνι … περιτομὴ καὶ ἀκροβυστία).
The statement that for Christians neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any religious validity appears in two other places in Paul’s writings: Gal. 6:15 (see below) and 1 Cor. 7:19. In each place a different positive statement is added to the negative statement. In 1 Cor. 7:19 the positive statement is: ‘but (what matters is) the keeping of God’s commandments.’ This could be taken, in an appropriate context, as a rabbinical ruling parable (say) to Yohanan b. Zakkai’s comment on the water of purification: ‘Neither does a dead body defile, nor does water purify; but the Holy One, blessed be he, says, “I have laid down a statute, I have issued a decree; you shall not trespass my decree” ’ (Num. Rab. 19:8 on Nu. 19:2). So one might envisage another rabbi as saying, ‘Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters in itself, but God has given a commandment, and his commandments must be kept.’ Paul’s intention is quite different: being circumcised or uncircumcised, he means, is irrelevant to the doing of God’s will. J. W. Drane, Paul: Libertine or Legalist? (London, 1975), 65, sees in the clause ‘but the keeping of the commandments of God’ (1 Cor. 7:19) an instance of Paul’s more positive attitude to the principle of law (as a rule of life) in 1 Corinthians than in Galatians. Paul probably knew that the permissive Corinthians required a different emphasis from the Galatians, with their leaning to legalism.
ἀλλὰ πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη, ‘but (what avails is) faith operating through love’. It is better to construe ἐνεργουμένη as middle voice than as passive, as though the meaning were faith energized (produced) by love’. In every NT occurrence of a form of ἐνεργέω which might be either middle or passive, a good case can be made out for taking it as a middle (pace J. A. Robinson, Ephesians, 241–247). More importantly, in keeping with the general teaching of this and other Pauline letters, faith is viewed as the root, love as the fruit. See J. B. Lightfoot, Galatians, 204f.; E. D. Burton, Galatians, 281. G. S. Duncan (Galatians, 157f.) inclines to the rendering ‘faith … which is set in motion by love’; he refers to 2:20, where ‘Paul declares that what brought him to rest exclusively on faith was the revelation of a Saviour who loved him’. But in the present context the ‘love’ is much more likely to be Christian love than the love of God in Christ; cf. v 13: ‘through love serve one another’. J. B. Lightfoot observes that ‘these words διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη bridge over the gulf which seems to separate the language of St Paul and St James. Both assert a principle of practical energy, as opposed to a barren, inactive theory’ (Galatians, 205).
Love, the primary fruit of the Spirit (v 22), is poured out through the Spirit into the hearts of those who are justified by faith (Rom. 5:5). It may be formally true that Paul does not make justification by faith the basis of his ethical teaching (cf. A. Schweitzer, Mysticism, 220–226, 294–297; E. P. Sanders, PPJ, 434–442), but the faith by which believers are justified is the faith which operates through love; it was by hearing with faith, the Galatians have already been reminded, that they received the Spirit (3:2). Justification by faith and life in the Spirit are two sides of one coin; neither is present without the other. ‘Works based on faith are wrought through love, but man is not justified by love’ (M. Luther, In epistulam Pauli ad Galatas, 1535, WA 40/2, 35).
This reference to ‘love’, after the mention of ‘faith’ and ‘hope’ (v 5), completes the ‘primitive Christian triad’ of graces—faith, hope and love, ‘the quintessence of the God-given life in Christ’ (G. Bornkamm, Paul, 219). Cf. 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thes. 1:3; 5:8; Rom. 5:1–5 (see A. M. Hunter, Paul and his Predecessors [London, 21961], 33–35). See p. 41. (Bruce, F. F. (1982). The Epistle to the Galatians: a commentary on the Greek text (pp. 232–233). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.)
To Paul all that mattered was faith which works through love. That is just another way of saying that the essence of Christianity is not law but a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. The Christian’s faith is founded not on the book but on a person; its dynamic is not obedience to any law but love to Jesus Christ.
(p. 43, the Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians by William Barclay)
FROM MY READING:
HINDRANCES REMOVED
I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
John 17:4
One basis of security and assurance about eternal life, according to our Lord, is that every hindrance and obstacle to our receiving this gift of eternal life has been removed by the blessed work of the Lord Himself. “I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
Many things had to be done before I could receive the gift of eternal life. As a natural man I wondered how I could get it. Eternal life really means that we are sharers of the life of God and are in communion with Him. Is it not obvious, therefore, that a great many things have to happen before we can come into that condition? But it has all been done. There is nothing that has been left undone. Christ has dealt with the problem of my guilt by removing it. He has reconciled me to God; the law of God has been satisfied. “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” (Romans 8:33). He Himself has done it, for “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God” (verse 34).
Christian people, this is the position we are meant to occupy. Here is a quotation from an Augustus Toplady hymn:
The terrors of law and of God
With me can have nothing to do.
My Savior’s obedience and blood,
Hide all my transgressions from view.
That is not boasting, for I am not relying upon myself, but upon Him: “My Savior’s obedience and blood, hide all my transgressions from view.”
A Thought to Ponder: Every obstacle to our receiving eternal life has been removed by the blessed work of the Lord Himself.
(From Saved in Eternity pp180-181, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Moses writes in poetic form a summary of everything he has taught the Israelites.
INSIGHT
Man is more than a machine. Man is more than a combination of blood vessels and bones. There is something within man that transcends the physical. It is the image of God. When the major issues of life lie before us, the image of God within us demands that we sing a song or paint a picture or write a poem or perform a dance.
At the end of his life-as Moses is struggling to summarize all that he needs to say to his people-he bursts out in song. Surely the thumbprint of God is seen in his crowning achievement. (Quiet Walk)
Lessons from Amos: Don’t Pass Through Beersheba
“But . . . pass not to Beersheba.” (Amos 5:5)
Beersheba (well of the “sevens”) became a location of some importance in Israel’s early history. Hagar, the Egyptian bondwoman who bore Ishmael, was rescued by God at Beersheba (Genesis 21:14-19). Abraham improved the well at Beersheba and settled there, built a grove, and “called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God” (Genesis 21:33). It was at Beersheba that Abraham was told to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:1-4).
Beersheba figured prominently in the life of Israel. Isaac made a covenant with the Philistines there, repaired the well, and lived at Beersheba for many years (Genesis 26:17-33). Historically, Beersheba is best known for the political oaths ceremoniously confirmed there with the secular nations around Israel.
At Beersheba, truth later became equated with tradition. Substituting the wisdom and traditions of man (Mark 7:3-13) or the world’s logic (Colossians 2:8) for truth can be very dangerous.
God looks forward not backward. Historical places and events are lessons
not laws.
God wants obedience not activity. Past victories are to be praises not
patterns.
God demands truth not compromise. Successful negotiations are
directives not doctrines.
“Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph” (Amos 5:14-15). (HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)
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