1. Abraham Father of the Faithful Friend of God

2. Abraham’s Mistakes Became impatient with God. Took matters into his own hands. Looked to laws & customs to justify & rationalize his decision. Stopped trusting God to do what He promised. He decided his action was best and right for his family. Humiliated his wife & caused great strife between them. Deceived himself into believing he was in God’s will.

3. Really Mistakes? God had promised a son from Abraham’s “own body.” Their actions were perfectly legal (Sumerian and Nuzi law). Their arrangement was the accepted practice of their culture. This is what people did when they could not have children. God’s promise of a son was accomplished.

4. What was Abraham’s primary mistake? Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children.” Why should he have believed that Sarai HIS WIFE would bear his promised son? God attacked Egypt to protect Sarai and defend her honor. Genesis 2’s Marriage Covenant.

5. Do we rationalize disobedience using the same argument as Abraham? Do we fail to look to God, but rather the culture or our own understanding for direction in life? It’s not against the law People would agree, it isn’t wrong This is what people do It is best for our family Decide for ourselves Don’t trust God Deceived about God’s will

6. What about, like Abraham, the area of reproduction? God blessed them and said… The blessing IS the command to be fruitful and multiply. 2 different things BE fruitful Multiply State of being Who makes these happen? Who has the authority to make them stop? FIRST BLESSING SPOKEN TO MAN

7. To Noah the blessing/command was stated and repeated. The same blessing/command was given to Jacob. Because we have multiplied at least once, does God give us the right to stop being fruitful? Does God give us the right to prevent fruitfulness in early marriage? Not just a pre-fall command exclusive to the perfect world

8. Who Has Authority to Close the Womb? Genesis 16.2: Sarai affirms that it is God who prevents conception. Genesis 30.2: Then Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” God opened, closed, and then opened again Leah’s womb. Genesis 38.9 is the first time in the Bible man prevented conception. This displeased God so much that He killed that man! 1 Samuel 1.5: Hannah was married but had no children because God had closed her womb.

9. Does God Bless those who are Fruitful? Ex. 1.12, God increased the Israelites in Egypt as a defense against their slavery. Psalm 105, 24: And He caused His people to be very fruitful, and made them stronger than their adversaries. Ex. 1.16, the first government sanctioned birth control. The Hebrew midwives defied the king ’ s order and obeyed God. They multiplied and became mighty. God rewarded them. Ex. 1.22, second government sanctioned birth control. Jochebed and Miriam disobeyed Egyptian law and deceived Pharaoh ’ s daughter and saved Moses. This was God ’ s will.

10. Does God Bless those who are Fruitful? De. 7.12-16: Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that…He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb…You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall be no male or female barren among you… Psalm 115.14-15: Children are among the greatest of God’s blessings.

11. Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Psalm 127 unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate. It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

12. How blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy and it will be well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, within your house, your children like olive plants around your table. Behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD. Psalm 128.1-4

13. Jeremiah 44.7: Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant …

14. At puberty, God, by his design of the body opens the womb of a young lady. By the same design, He closes the womb later in life. Only God can open the womb, only God has the right to close the womb. Ecclesiastes. 3.2: There is a time to give birth. As with the other “ times ” in this list, who determines the time to give birth?

15. How can we use a literal interpretation of Genesis to argue the marriage covenant between one man and one woman, but then throw out Genesis’ clear blessing/command to BE fruitful in marriage? If we agree that Abram and Sarai’s manipulation of reproduction was disobedience, can we claim that our manipulation of reproduction is not disobedience?

16. It is not a numbers game Does man have the authority to close a fruitful womb? Are you “being” fruitful? The simple questions we have to answers from the Bible are:

17. Are we rationalizing disobedience using the same reasoning Abraham used? Did Abraham trust in the LORD with all his heart? OR Was he relying on his own understanding? Judges 17.6: In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.