“BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS.”
By W. N. G.
The title of the Sunday-school lesson in this paper is “Isaac the Peacemaker.” The Lord Jesus Christ declared in His most noted discourse, “Blessed are the peacemakers; for they ‘shall be called the children of God.’” This was not by any means a new doctrine, altho it may have been new to most of those who heard it at that time. The moment the breach occurred in the friendly relations of God and man in the Garden of Eden, the Son of God was on hand as a peacemaker. Then and there the olive branch was held out to the fallen pair, beseeching them to be reconciled to God. When there was strife between the herdmen of Abraham and Lot, which even threatened the friendship of the masters also, Abraham immediately suggested a way of peace. And as soon as his plan was put into operation, the Lord appeared to him and blessed him. Abraham had secured peace at the sacrifice of personal prerogative in the choice of land, and the Lord now made him heir of all the land, and to the land grant was added the promise of an innumerable posterity to occupy it. Gen. 13:14–18. After the death of Abraham, Isaac inherited his property and promises. “And there was a famine ‘in the land, beside the first famine that was in the ‘days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech ‘king of the Philistines unto Gerar.” Ch. 26:1. The Lord told him not to go to Egypt, as his father had in time of famine, but to sojourn in that land. So “Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the ‘same year an hundredfold.” He prospered until he “became very great,” and “the Philistines ‘envied him.” Then there was trouble of course. Abraham had once “sojourned in Gerar,” and had an experience somewhat similar to that which had now befallen Isaac. But Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, which was respected as long as Abraham lived. Then, after his death, the Philistines stopped the wells that Abraham had dug, and “filled them with earth.” But while the Philistines were jealous of Isaac’s prosperity, the king was afraid of his growing power and influence, and requested him to leave. For the sake of peace Isaac went away, but camped in the valley of Gerar, in the part his father had occupied. The acknowledgment on the part of the king, “Thou art much mightier than we,” would have caused any ambitious worldly man to maintain his position, and say, You can go yourself, I prefer to stay here. But Isaac was a type of Christ, a believer in God’s promises, and therefore he was a peacemaker, at any material cost to himself. So he meekly withdrew and digged again the wells of his father, which the Philistines had stopped. In this connection Isaac was again favored with “good fortune,” as men would say. His servants “digged in the valley, and found there a well of ‘springing water.’” Only a contemplation of the labor necessary to draw water for large flocks and herds will enable one to appreciate the value of this flowing well. This discovery added to the envy of the Philistines, and they boldly claimed the water right as their own. Altho Isaac had a powerful company, he had yielded to the demand of the Philistines once, and this evidently emboldened them. So “the herdmen of Gerar did strive with ‘Isaac’s herdmen,’” for the water. Like most of this world’s gain, the new water supply caused contention, and Isaac named the well Esek, or strife, and gave way to his enemies. Then he digged another well, and they strove for that also. Isaac named this well Sitnah, or hatred, and removed from that region. In all this he manifested the disposition of Christ, and exemplified the injunction, “Say not thou, I will recompense evil; ‘but wait on the Lord, and He shall save thee.’” Prov. 20:22. “I say unto you, That ye resist not evil; ‘but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, ‘turn to him the other also.’” Matt. 5:39. This time Isaac went farther away from his persecutors, and stopped at Beer-sheba. He digged another well, and “for that they strove not.” Isaac named this well Rehoboth, or room, saying, “For ‘now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall ‘be fruitful in the land.’” This was a different policy from that which the “enterprising” men of to-day pursue. They seem to have the idea that the way to prosperity lies in crowding upon others. The large fortunes of to-day are mostly made at the expense and often the ruin of others. But this prototype of Christ left the valuable things for which the selfish men of the world strove, and sought room where he could have prosperity in peace. Had men in general the peaceful disposition of Isaac, there would be no great crowded cities, seething hotbeds of iniquity, where some strive for fortune and others for the barest existence by preying upon one another. And immediately after Isaac made this move, the Lord appeared to him, and said, “I am the ‘God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am ‘with thee, and will bless thee.’” Thus followed quickly the blessing upon the peacemaker. “And ‘he builded an altar there, and called upon the name ‘of the Lord, and pitched his tent there; and there ‘Isaac’s servants digged a well.’” Like Abraham his father, he kept the altar fires burning, and trusted in the promises of God. But while the stockmen of the Philistines no doubt thought that Isaac was afraid of them, and that they had won a great victory in ridding themselves of his presence, it was not so with their king. He still feared Isaac, as he had feared Abraham. While outward appearances indicated that Isaac was defeated, Abimelech was in dread of some calamity because of the treatment Isaac had received. This spirit of yielding by one whose power had been acknowledged by the king was a mystery to the heathen mind, and he feared that there would be a subsequent revenge. While Isaac trusted in the Lord, his enemies were kept in dread of him. The Spirit of God had wrought with Abimelech, and his contact with Abraham and with Isaac were golden opportunities to him and to his people. There were some good traits in the man, and God had used him as a means of administering stern rebukes to both Abraham and Isaac. Genesis 20, and 26:7–11. These facts would have given Abimelech a feeling of superiority, had not the Spirit of7the Lord impressed a different sentiment. So the king, accompanied by a confidential friend and the chief captain of his army, went to see Isaac, and Isaac asked him, “Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ‘ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?” And now comes the result of true missionary conduct in dealing with the world. “And they said, ‘We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee.’” But that the king did not fully understand the nature of Isaac’s religion is shown in the request for a covenant with him that he would do the king’s people no hurt. The diplomacy of Abimelech is manifest in his asking for such a covenant while protesting that Isaac had received “nothing but ‘good’ at the hands of his people, and that they had sent him away in peace. But with it all was the acknowledgment that Isaac was “blessed of the ‘Lord.” Of course Isaac would make the covenant of peace—a covenant to do them no hurt—for such a covenant he had already made in spirit with all men. The true Christian rule is, “Follow peace with all ‘men,” for “God hath called us to peace.” “And ‘the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them ‘that make peace.” W. N. G.