But Isaac’s initial suspicion is about Jacob’s voice.
Later, we’ll hear Jesus say “my sheep hear my voice.”
But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of [a]flowing water.
Genesis 26:19 (NASB)
[a] Lit living water
If it’s true and good, it can be found in Genesis.
When Jesus tells the woman at the well about “Living Water” in John 4:10, this isn’t a new phrase. It comes from Genesis 26.
May you read and understand.
May you never thirst again.
Rebekah is the first.
Rachel is next in Genesis 29.
Ziporrah is the third in Exodus 2.
Each encounter ends in marriage.
When John 4 describes the Samaritan woman at the well, there’s a tension we’re supposed to notice: she has been married FIVE times already, and it never worked out. This is brought out as glaring contrast to the joyful well-side encounters of the past. The circumstances with her past husbands are heartbreaking.
But then John describes a closeness that was inappropriate for the encounter unless Jesus and this woman were married. The disciples are shocked.
Perhaps that’s the entire point of this “woman at the well” story: What Jesus offered her is a closeness that we only find in marriage. He offers Living Water: a promise of forever.
It means UNITED. It’s where we get the Gospel concept of “in one accord.”
It means no division. No hierarchy. As ONE.
Yakhad appears in five verses in Genesis, three of which are about Abraham, his son, and his young men, or servants. They act in UNITY.
And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
Genesis 22:6 (NASB)Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.
Genesis 22:8 (NASB)So Abraham returned to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived in Beersheba.
Genesis 22:19 (NASB)
The Midrash suggests that Isaac’s obedience and willingness is critical to the story, because you can’t be both yakhad and coerced.
There is no unity of purpose when one party is forcing the other party into submission. And given that Abraham is over 100 years old at this point, it seems unlikely that he could overpower his son to restrain him.
Yakhad is the only way this story moves forward.
But the teaching about yakhad isn’t only found in the positive uses here in Genesis 22. When we read the word in Psalm 133, we’re given an important clue.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1 (NASB)
Yakhad is linked to “good.” This is the same good as from the Tree of Knowledge of “good” and “evil.”
If yakhad is good (joy and blessings), the opposite of yakhad is evil (misery and suffering). With that in mind, the other usages of yakhad in Genesis give us a clear teaching.
And the land could not support both of them while living together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together.
Genesis 13:6 (NASB)For their possessions had become too great for them to live together, and the land where they resided could not support them because of their livestock.
Genesis 36:7 (NASB)
The opposite of yakhad is linked to too much wealth. Too many possessions.
It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus would teach that “it is easier for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
You can’t have yakhad with one another or with God when you’re clinging to all of your stuff.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
Matthew 7:1-3 (NIV)
The teaching about “not judging others” is a bit more nuanced than simply “don’t judge.”
If you ask God to judge between you and another, you’re putting yourself in a rather precarious position. You’d better be righteous.
Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my slave in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.”
Genesis 16:5 (NIV)
Imagine a heavenly court whereby if you bring an accusation against someone and demand that the court determine who is at fault, the FIRST thing the court does is examine you, the accuser.
At any rate, we have a rule that if someone calls upon G-d to determine if concerning an accusation leveled against a fellow human being he or she had been correct, the first thing the heavenly tribunal does is to examine if the accuser has led a blameless life himself or herself.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4
And if they find you to be unrighteous or guilty of anything, the first thing they do is punish YOU for your sins. Only then will they address the accusation.
That is what the teaching is that informs us of this “do not judge” teaching. It is a warning.
If faults are found in the accuser’s life, he is judged, i.e. punished first, before the accusation is examined in greater detail.
Chizkuni on Genesis 16:5:4
In the case of Sarai, we want to blame her for lack of faith, or perhaps we want to apply a modern standard and accuse her of causing infidelity. But notice that God does not discipline her here.
But also, what is her accusation, exactly?
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
Genesis 15:2-3 (NIV)
The rabbis suggest that in Genesis 15, when Abram prayed for a child, he prayed only for himself and not for his wife. Remember: she was the one who was barren. She is the one who needed prayer.
She accuses him of being selfish in his prayer, and she is vindicated.
There are so many lessons to learn here, if we have the ears to hear.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”
John 20:15 (NIV)
If you study Genesis first, the Gospels will make more sense.
The Midrash has a saying: when God made Adam in His Image, the angels suddenly couldn’t tell which one was God and which one was Adam. It wasn’t until God made Adam fall asleep that they knew which one was God.
Though not linguistically connected, “cursed” is associated with “binding,” and “blessing” is associated with “releasing.”
When the ground is cursed and Adam is told he will return to it, we are given imagery of him being bound to the earth, unable to rise above it. He is mortal.
When Adam and Eve are blessed, they are told to be fruitful and multiply: to increase, to spread out.
When the serpent is cursed, we are told that he will crawl on his belly, also tying him to the earth. His head will be crushed.
When Noah and his sons are blessed in Gen 9, the next chapter is the Table of Nations, showing them released to be fruitful and multiply.
So what of Ham’s son Canaan? When Noah (not God) curses Canaan in Gen 9, what is being bound? What is restricted to prevent it from getting out of hand, like a weed in a garden?
I suspect what God is cursing is our shame.
This nakedness Ham sees in Genesis 9:22 is tied to the shame and nakedness Adam and Eve see in Genesis 3:7, when they covered themselves in FIG leaves.
The Gospels tell us something about FIG leaves on a tree that bears no fruit.
Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.
Matthew 21:18-19
One day, God will curse and bind the Fig Tree that we keep using to cover our shame. He’ll cause that tree to wither so there are no more leaves to grab, and then we’ll have to stand face to face with God, who will cover our nakedness with something far greater.
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)
Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
Genesis 4:23-24 (NIV)
Perhaps the pattern starts with Genesis 4: we’re all Cain, and we all killed Abel.
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold.
Genesis 2:10-11 (NIV)
“But Josh, there’s gold in the New Heaven and new Earth. It’s in the Revelation!”
Yes. I know. And Jesus said “with God, all things are possible” in the same story. And gold will likely have a different meaning in a world where there is no scarcity. Just like in Eden.