This is our first day in the “Land of Promise.” What is a promise? A promise is a declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen. The theological, or biblical, term for a promise would be covenant – an agreement which brings about a relationship of commitment between God and his people.
What is the promise? Ultimately, it’s the promise of the coming the Messiah, Jesus. But today we are going to back up thousands of years before the birth of Christ, and start our journey by encountering the story of redemption through events in the lives of David and the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).
The Valley of Elah
Our first stop will be the Valley of Elah, where David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17). David had been anointed the King of Israel (1 Samuel 16:12-13), but was not yet on the throne. At this time, Saul is still king and David’s primary responsibility is tending to his father’s sheep. David comes to the battlefield not intending to be a warrior, but as a servant bringing food to his older brothers who were part of the armies. (17:17-18, 20) But that didn’t translate to meekness on David’s part. This was because he was very clear on the identities of the men of Israel (God’s covenantal people who were the armies of the living God), the identity of Goliath (an uncircumcised Philistine, which meant he was not part of the covenantal people), and the identity of the living God (who will deliver David from the hand of the Philistine).
David knows the battle is the LORD’s, not his, to win. He accuses Goliath of defying the LORD. The result will be that the LORD will deliver him into David’s hand. (17:46) This isn’t so that David will be the victor and receive glory, but that God would. The end game was that “all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that the assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear.” (17:46-47) All of creation and every person gathered on the battlefield would have no doubt.
Identity and lineage are important. David’s is stated at the beginning and end of the story: “he was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse.” This is the same heritage described for the coming Messiah by the prophets Micah (5:2) and Isaiah (11:1). When God made his Covenant with David, he promised that it would be through David’s offspring that his house, his kingdom, his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7).
We will each be able to “choose five smooth stones from the brook.” (17:40) Think about what they represent when you hold them in your hand.
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| This is the Valley of Elah where David picked up 5 smooth stones to defeat Goliath. The brook is dry because of the summer dry season. |
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Five Smooth Stones |
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. The name Beersheba itself means “well of seven” or “well of oaths.” It is the name of a Canaanite town that I’ve often just glossed over in reading my bible. But, it’s a very interesting common detail in several passages, especially as part of the theme of Covenant or Promise.
Consider the following:
- A Promise for the Outcasted (Genesis 21:8-21). Hagar and Ishmael were cast out of Sarah and Abraham’s home. Hagar was their slave woman, and Ishmael was Hagar and Abraham’s son who was born when Sarah had become impatient waiting for the promised birth of Isaac. Genesis 21:14 says, “she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.” However, despair wasn’t the end of the story. God not only provided water (21:19), he promised to make Ishmael a great nation (21:13,18).
- A Promise of Grace and Favor (Genesis 21:22-34). This is the second story of Abraham and Abimelech, the King of Gerar. The first was in Genesis 20 when Abraham and Sarah had traveled to the Negeb and Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister. The current situation is that Abraham is accusing one of Abimelech’s servants of seizing a well of water. But, the two men made a covenant. “Therefore that place was called Beersheba, because there both of them swore an oath.” (21:31) Abraham planted a tamarisk tree which was a physical symbol of their covenant, but also had spiritual significance because this was the land promised to Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 17).
- A Promise to Bless All the Nations (Genesis 22:15-19). Abraham obeyed God by not withholding his only son, Isaac, when commanded to offer him as a burnt offering. God provided a ram to be the sacrifice instead. But God promised that through Abraham’s offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Abraham and his men then went the Beersheba. “And Abraham lived at Beersheba.” (22:19)
- Another Promise of Grace and Favor (Genesis 26:23-33). Isaac and Rebekah had settled in Gerar like Abraham and Sarah did before. Also, like Abraham, out of fear, Isaac told Abimelech that his wife was actually his sister. After some quarrels between the herdsmen of Gerar and Isaac’s herdsmen, Isaac went to Beersheba (26:23). Here God reiterates the unconditional covenant that he had made with Abraham, so Isaac did not need to be fearful. Abimelech came to him and asked that a covenant be made between them so that neither would do harm to the other. After Abimelech and his men went away in peace, Isaac’s servants told him that they had found water in a well they had dug. “Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.” (26:33)
- A Promise, Even in Despair (Genesis 28:10). Jacob and his mother Rebekah had tricked Isaac into blessing Jacob, the younger son, instead of his older twin brother Esau. The result was that Esau was so angry that he planned to kill Jacob (27:41). Jacob was then sent away to live with his brother Laban. “Jacob left Beersheba and went to Haran.” (28:10) Nothing Jacob did, or didn’t do, negated the fact that the covenant made was unconditional. But there were consequences for his actions. He was forced to leave his home, and scripture doesn’t say if he ever saw his beloved mother again.
- A Promise Embraced. (Genesis 46:1-5) Generational family disfunction left Joseph, Jacob’s beloved son, a slave in Egypt when his brothers sold him. The brothers told their father that he had been devoured by a fierce animal. God did use the horrible situation for good when Joseph was eventually taken out of prison and placed as the second in command in Egypt where he used his power to save up resources. When famine came over Canaan, Joseph’s brothers were forced to tell Jacob what they had done so that he would make the journey to Egypt and the family wouldn’t starve. The first stop mentioned on Jacob’s journey is Beersheba. Here he made sacrifices to God and God again said that Jacob should not be afraid to go down to Egypt, “for there I will make you into a great nation … then Jacob set out from Beersheba.” (46:3,6) Jacob finally got it.
The covenant that God made with the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wasn’t reliant on the location of Beersheba. In fact, it wasn’t even reliant on the Patriarchs. It was completely reliant on God alone. Beersheba, the “well of oaths,” was a backdrop detail of the story of these people and their journey, not the destination itself.
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Overlooking Beersheba's city ruins from a high point (with a mini model at the forefront) |
In other parts of scripture, we read about Beersheba in relationship to Dan – “From Dan to Beersheba.” (Judges 20:1) This was a common phrase used to describe the whole land of Israel, indicating the area inhabited by the nation of Israel. Dan was to the North (north of the Sea of Galilee) and Beersheba was in the South in the desert. |
Beersheba was located on a main highway, so many people would have passed through it as they headed north or south. It’s probable that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus would have passed through Beersheba on their way to Egypt.
You will be standing on the ancient ruins of Beersheba in the Negev desert our first day in country. This is the same land where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived, walked, and built altars. It’s also an intersection that a very young boy, Jesus, likely traveled through with his parents to escape Herod’s killing of boys under the age of two. (Matthew 2:13-18) How does this make the land more worshipful, and yet less worshipful, at the same time?
As we journey and pilgrimage through Israel, we will continue to see and experience the actual places and spaces that people of faith encountered, including some of whom we read about in Hebrews 11. Yet, “all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us.” (Hebrews 11:39-40).
Jesus, “the founder and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) “has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)
Israel is a (the) holy land. However, just as Beersheba was a backdrop detail of the story we will be experiencing today, so is Israel itself to us as Christians. Jesus lived and traveled through Israel, and Beersheba. But ultimately, he was passing through so something greater could be made available to us (Revelation 21-22).
As we experience the sites in the Land of Promise, may these encounters increase our faith and commitment to the Lord of the Covenant.
Cindy Preston
Reflection Questions
- What does God making a commitment between himself and his people imply about God's identity? About yours?
- How does a right understanding of identity, and the sacredness of God's covenant, offer us reassurance when we are facing our Goliaths?
- What do the backdrop details in the bible add to the stories? Are there cautions we should take when studying those details?
- In today’s reading we see God’s promise, his unconditional covenant, revealed in and to the lives of the outcasted, the favored, even all the nations of the earth. How does this offer hope, even when we struggle like Jacob did to embrace it?
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being the God of Promise, for choosing and pursuing me to be one of your covenantal people. Thank you for the incredible, unique blessing and opportunity to visit the Holy Land. As I step foot on Israeli soil - the same ground that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Jesus stood on - help me to embrace the unconditional gift of covenantal relationship with you, now. Today. Let my focus be more on the Lord of the land than on the land of the Lord throughout this journey.
Amen
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