Observation: Abraham doesn't yet have a land of his own. God has promised that one day his family will be a great nation with its own land, but for now, Abraham lives the same life as his ancestors: he's a nomadic herdsman. As such, it's really important to maintain good relationships with the owners of the land where his livestock graze. In this text, Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelech that they will have honest dealings with one another while Abraham resides in his land as an alien.
Application: What jumps out for me today is that all three of the "Abrahamic" faiths--Judaism, Christianity and Islam--claim a migrant worker as their ancestor. Throughout his entire life, Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of others. He never had his own. Furthermore, a central value God lifts up for Israelites when they do finally enter the Promised Land, is kindness to foreign residents on their land, remembering they once were in the same position.
In remembrance of Abraham, a lifelong nomad, and of Jesus, an itinerant preacher who never had a permanent place to lay his head, we are called to be compassionate to immigrants, and find the proper way to do right by them.
Prayer: God, we are your guests on this land. No one is here permanently. Help us be humble, and generous with all that we temporarily call our own. In the name of Christ, the Shepherd of our souls, we pray. Amen.
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