Scripture: Genesis 21:22-34
Video Link: https://youtu.be/w4-ftz3ddMM
Structure:
- Introduction
- Peace
- Prayer
- Purpose
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
There are two kinds of trees: deciduous and evergreen.
The word deciduous means ‘to fall off’. Deciduous trees shed their leaves in autumn, to conserve energy in winter, then regrow their leaves in spring. Deciduous trees tend to have broad leaves, like oak or maple.
In contrast, evergreen trees keep their leaves all year round and generally cope better with hot weather. The leaves of an evergreen tree tend to be narrower, like pine or kānuka.
Today we continue our series, The Testimony of Trees. Last week we heard about the tree of knowledge in Genesis 2 and 3.
This week our focus is the Tamarisk tree, in Genesis 21. There are about 60 varieties of tamarisk trees growing around the world. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen.
The variety of tamarisk native to the Middle East (the geographical setting of Genesis 21) is Tamarix Aphylla. Tamarix Aphylla is the largest of the tamarisk family, growing up to 18 meters tall.
It has slender branches and scale like leaves. The tamarisk tree is known to be very tolerant of salts. In fact, its leaves excrete salty water. Due to the high salt content of its foliage tamarix aphylla is slow to catch fire. Which means it can be used as a fire barrier.
Tamarix aphylla grows relatively quickly, providing shade from the sun and shelter from the wind for stock. It also has an extensive root system which makes it good for erosion control, particularly in sandy soils.
Basically, tamarix aphylla is a hardy, resilient tree. A friend to shepherds in the middle east. From Genesis 21, verses 32-34 we read about the tamarisk tree.
32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines. 33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God. 34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
In the context of Genesis 21, the tamarisk tree is associated with at least three things: peace, prayer and purpose. Let’s begin by considering the peace connection.
Peace:
Last Thursday, the 6th of February, was Waitangi Day, a national holiday for the people of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Waitangi Day commemorates the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) in 1840.
The Treaty was eventually signed by 531 Māori chiefs and the representatives of the Crown. Queen Victoria of England was the reigning monarch of the day.
The purpose of Te Tiriti was to protect Māori and their land, as well as establishing stable government to keep peace and order. New Zealand was a pretty wild place in those days, without law or an effective justice system.
You sometimes hear the principles of the Treaty summarized by the three P’s: partnership, participation and protection.
Those who signed the Treaty in 1840 understood it to be a covenant, a forever agreement. The wording stipulates ‘forever’. Sadly, there has been much disagreement over the interpretation and application of the Treaty during the past 185 years, not helped by the fact there are two versions of the Treaty, one in English and one in Māori.
In verse 22 of Genesis 21, Abimelech, the king of Gerar, and his general, Phicol, offer to make a peace treaty with Abraham. If you think about it, this is quite remarkable really. Normally, with peace treaties, the party in the weaker position approaches the one in the stronger position.
Outwardly, Abimelech appears to be in a stronger position than Abraham. Abraham is a wandering shepherd, a sojourner, a resident alien in the land; he doesn’t have a fortress or an army like Abimelech and so we don’t expect Abimelech to make a treaty with Abraham. Why then does Abimelech feel the need to do this?
Well, Abimelech gives his reason in verse 22 when he says to Abraham: “God is with you in everything you do”. What does it mean that God is with Abraham?
I’ve come up with a little acronym which outlines what it means to be with someone. W is for wellbeing, I is for intimacy, T is for trust and H is for help.
You know someone is with you when they are committed to your wellbeing. When they share themselves intimately with you. When they trust you. And when they provide you with help.
God is with Abraham, as a friend. Theirs is a relationship characterised by wellbeing, intimacy, trust and help.
One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’. Jesus is, God with us. Through faith in Jesus, we can have a relationship with God based on wellbeing, intimacy, trust and help.
Returning to Genesis, Abimelech has the spiritual sensitivity and insight to see that God is with Abraham. And so, Abimelech says to Abraham…
23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”
24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”
By making a treaty with Abraham, Abimelech is aligning himself with Abraham’s God who holds the power of life & death. Abimelech wants Abraham to deal honestly with him and to treat him with kindness
The Hebrew word translated as kindness here is hesed. Hesed is a Hebrew term which is sometimes translated as kindness, sometimes as mercy and other times as steadfast love or loyal (covenant) love.
Hesed isn’t just an abstract concept though – it is an action, something tangible that one does for someone else’s well-being. Abimelech wants Abraham to make a solemn commitment to always treat him and his descendants with hesed, and Abraham agrees.
In agreeing to a covenant with Abimelech, Abraham shows respect, humility and meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength tempered by self-control. Meekness is the twin of gentleness.
God was with Abraham and had promised the land to him. But Abraham does not let that go to his head. Abraham does not seek to take the land by force. Abraham prefers peace. He respects the people of the land and waits for God.
Abimelech’s treaty provided Abraham with the opportunity to sort out a dispute over watering rights. Abraham had dug a well and Abimelech’s servants had seized it. Water wells were vitally important in that part of the world. Rain fall was seasonal (it wasn’t all year round) so wells were essential to the survival of people and animals alike.
Abimelech wanted peace with Abraham but without justice there can be no peace. So, Abraham sought justice over the well.
This was an awkward moment for Abimelech. The king has just given a speech about how he has treated Abraham with ‘kindness’ or hesed and now he is learning that in fact his servants have done nothing of the sort. The servants have embarrassed Abimelech and the king is quick to plead ignorance.
What happens next is quite unexpected. Normally the one who has been wronged (in this case Abraham) would be owed some compensation. But in this situation Abraham doesn’t seek compensation for himself. He does the opposite. Abraham gives Abimelech seven sheep. Abimelech is confused and asks, ‘what does this mean?’
Abraham explains that by accepting these sheep you are acknowledging that I dug this well.
By seizing Abraham’s well, Abimelech’s servants had done an injustice to Abraham and brought shame on their master. To save face Abimelech might feel it necessary to punish his servants. But Abraham comes to the rescue of the men who seized his well by providing compensation on their behalf.
In this way Abraham has done hesed by preserving Abimelech’s honour and shielding the servants from punishment. Indebted by Abraham’s hesed, Abimelech and his servants will now stay away from Abraham’s well.
Prayer:
It is after making this peace treaty with Abimelech that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and there called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.
To call on the name of the Lord is another way of saying that Abraham prayed to God and worshipped him.
Elsewhere in Genesis, Abraham is noted as building an altar and calling on the name of the Lord. In this context planting a tree is like building an altar. It designates a sacred place for prayer and worship.
Now to be clear, Abraham is not worshipping the tree. The tamarisk is not like an idol that he bows down to. Nor does the tamarisk tree in anyway represent God. We should not think of the tamarisk tree as a metaphor for God.
As hardy and resilient as the tamarisk tree is, it is not eternal like God.
A tamarisk tree might live somewhere between 50 to 100 years depending on the circumstances. In contrast, the Lord lives forever.
What we notice in verse 33 is Abraham’s prayer life. He has a special place for calling on the Lord. We can pray to God anywhere and at any time, of course. God is not rooted to one location, like a tree. The Lord will hear us wherever we are. Nevertheless, it can be helpful to us if we have a special place where we pray.
Abraham’s special place was by the tamarisk tree he planted in the dry and desolate wilderness of Beersheba. Once grown, the tamarisk tree would act as a sanctuary, providing shade from the harsh sun for Abraham while he prayed.
Prayer is like a tamarisk tree in that it provides a sanctuary for the human soul.
The wilderness of Beersheba is an interesting choice. Around the same time as agreeing to a peace treaty with Abimelech, Abraham sent his eldest son, Ishmael into the desert of Beersheba, with his mother Hagar and a skin of water.
Abraham’s second son, Isaac, had just been born and there was friction in the household between Sarah and Hagar. Long story short, once the water had run out, Hagar left Ishmael under a bush to die. Was the bush a young tamarisk tree? Quite possibly, we can’t be sure. From verse 17 of Genesis 21 we read…
17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.
Interesting that Ishmael became an archer. I read somewhere that the wood of the tamarisk tree is good for making bows. Apparently, tamarisk wood has the strength and flexibility needed.
What did Abraham pray about under his tamarisk tree? We are not told but probably all manner of things. As a parent, we could well expect him to pray for his children, that God would be with them and watch over their lives for good. In fact, God was with Ishmael and Isaac, even as they took different paths in life.
Prayer is like a tamarisk tree. It provides a sanctuary for the human soul.
Where is your tamarisk tree? Where is your sanctuary for prayer?
Do you have a private prayer closet in your home? Or do you prefer to pray in a small group of close friends? Maybe this church auditorium is your prayer place? Or perhaps you prefer to pray with your hands in the garden, pulling out weeds and watering the plants?
The tamarisk tree of Genesis 21 is associated with peace, prayer and purpose.
Purpose:
You may have heard of the term agroforestry. Agroforestry does not refer to angry trees. Rather agroforestry is a sustainable farming practice. That is, planting trees and shrubs alongside crops and livestock.
Agroforestry enhances biodiversity and mitigates the harmful effects of monoculture. (Monoculture is when just one crop is grown.)
Tamarisk trees are used in agroforestry as wind breaks and they also help with the reclamation of marginal lands. As already mentioned, tamarisk roots give stability to the soil and the branches provide shade for livestock. If pasture is scarce, then sheep and goats and cattle can feed off the leaves of the tamarisk.
What’s more, the tamarisk flower attracts bees, which are good for the pollination and propagation of a variety of plants.
Abraham probably chose to plant a tamarisk (rather than an oak or something else) because it served a practical purpose. The tamarisk was suited to the harsh environment of Beersheba and, as verse 34 makes plain, Abraham intended to stay there for a good long while.
Planting tamarisk trees in Beersheba was an agroforestry strategy long before the term ‘agroforestry’ was coined. Planting tamarisk trees would help Abraham and future generations with farming and shepherding livestock.
I can’t help noticing how Abraham is a bit like the tamarisk tree in some respects.
Through years of waiting in barrenness, God had grown Abraham & Sarah’s faith strong and deep and wide, like the root system of a tamarisk tree.
Abraham’s faith in God has proven resilient, prospering in even the harshest of environments.
Abraham (who is now over 100 years old) is still evergreen, fathering a son in his old age.
What’s more, Abraham is a salt of the earth kind of person. Just as the tamarisk leaves sweat salt, so too Abraham is salty. Abraham is in the world but not of it, maintaining the distinctive flavour of holiness.
Abraham and the tamarisk tree are both a blessing to the land. Abraham does not try to take the land by force. He is humble and meek, lending stability and peace. Abraham is a man of prayer and a servant to God’s purpose.
Perhaps also the tamarisk tree serves as a symbol of God’s purpose for the nation of Israel. Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God was making a nation that would be resilient and life-giving, a source of shelter and sustenance to those who find themselves in the wilderness. A blessing to the nations.
Sadly, the people of Israel fell short of God’s purpose for the nation, as we have all fallen short. But by God’s grace Jesus fulfils God’s purpose for Israel and for all humanity.
Like Abraham, Jesus serves God’s purpose as a man of peace and prayer.
Jesus did not go to war against the occupying Roman forces of his day.
Jesus chose the path of gentleness and humility, saying…
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
And, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Conclusion:
At this point in the sermon, you might expect me to encourage you all to be more like the tamarisk tree; hardy, resilient, salty, lending stability to the land and providing shelter from the harsh elements of this world.
And while they might be good things to aspire to, I’m not sure that is the best application of the text. What you will notice as we go through this series is that each variety of tree we learn about is different.
A better question might be: If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? How has God made you? Some of you may be like the tamarisk tree, but not all of us are suited to a dry and desolate environment. Most of us do better when planted beside streams of water.
The point is, don’t try and be something you are not. Be who God made you to be. Whatever tree you might be like, grow where you are planted and let God fulfil his purpose for your life.
Let us pray…
Gracious God, help us to grow to full maturity in Christ and be the people together you made us to be. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- What are some of the characteristics of tamarix aphylla? What are tamarisk trees useful for?
- Why did Abraham plant a tamarisk tree in Genesis 21? What is the tamarisk tree associated with in Genesis 21?
- Where is your tamarisk tree? Where is your sanctuary for prayer?
- In what ways is Abraham like a tamarisk tree?
- In what ways are Jesus and Abraham similar? (How do Abraham’s actions in Genesis 21 point to Jesus?)
- If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? How has God made you?
Tawa Baptist 