October 19, 2026
GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:
“Some time later Abraham was told, “Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor….’” (Genesis 22.20)
REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:
What is the purpose of this verse and then this list of children born between Nahor and Milkah? It is the signalling of a continuing line of those who believe in the Lord God Almighty. From one of the children of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, whose name was Bethuel, whose daughter Rebekah would become the wife of Isaac. We should all strive to be named Bethuel. In Hebrew, his name means “one of God” or more literally translated, “house of God.” It is a name of strong identity and purpose. For Abraham, and for Moses who is retelling this story for the generations of Hebrews whose existence is due to the faith and faithfulness of Abraham, it is a guarantee of the legacy of righteousness begat by God. It lays the groundwork and framework for those who would be “the people of God” among all those who are God’s people. This is a distinction that cannot be ignored as we look back to Abraham’s two sons: Isaac and Ishmael.
Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, was an Egyptian. When she and Ishmael were sent out of the community of Abraham at the command of Sarah, she found a wife for Ishmael from those who did not recognize God as the One True God. His wife was an Egyptian and they had twelve sons who would become heads of their own tribes settling in the land between Havilah and Assyria. One of those sons was Kedar who was the ancestor of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. While the promise of the legacy of salvation did not fall to Ishmael, God did promise Hagar that he would be the father of many nations. And so it was.
As for Isaac, the promise which was confirmed at Moriah with the sacrifice of the ram which substituted for Isaac, was made real by continuing the line of those who worshipped the God of Abraham and Isaac. It would be a pure line descending from those who were known both literally and figuratively as “men of God” who dwelt as “houses of God.” It was not truly by blood line, though that was important at the time, but by the holding to faith in God for all things. This is good for each of us, mighty ones of God, because we are not blood descendants of Abraham but descendants of Abraham’s faith through which the legacy of God’s promise is given generation after generation. It is by the blood of Christ, that we are grafted into the whole family of God. We are as new creatures and creations whether Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female. Through Jesus Christ, the promise lives on in us, saved by the blood of the Lamb of God.
TODAYS’ PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:
Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness endeavor, but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
