With the calling on the name of Jehovah, the Eternal Mighty One - Verse 33, which tells us that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, also says that he “called there on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God” (Heb.). Here we see another special title of God-Jehovah, El Olam. In chapter seventeen we saw El-Shaddai, the all-sufficient Mighty One. Here we see El Olam. The Hebrew word olam means eternity or eternal. However, the root of this Hebrew word means to conceal, hide, or veil from sight. Anything which is veiled spontaneously becomes secret. Abraham eventually experienced God as the Eternal One, as the secret and mysterious One. We cannot see or touch Him, yet He is so real. His existence is eternal, for He has neither beginning nor ending. He is the Eternal God (Psa. 90:2; Isa. 40:28).

Here we find another seed which is developed in the New Testament. The God whom Abraham experienced in chapter twenty-one is the same as the One revealed in John 1:1, 4: “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God...in Him was life.” This life is the very El Olam. The mysterious God in eternity is our eternal life. Eternal life is a divine Person who is so concealed, veiled, hidden, mysterious, secret, and yet so real, ever-existing, and ever-living, without beginning or ending. The title El Olam implies eternal life. Here God was not revealed to Abraham but was experienced by him as the ever-living, secret, mysterious One who is the eternal life. In other words, in Genesis 21 Abraham experienced God as the eternal life. By the tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, Abraham could testify to the whole universe that he was experiencing the hidden, ever-living One as his mysterious life. There, at Beer-sheba, he called on the name of Jehovah, El Olam. In chapter twelve he only called upon the name of Jehovah, not yet experiencing Him as the God who is the mysterious, ever-living One. But here in chapter twenty-one, after having so much experience, with Isaac at Beer-sheba under the tamarisk tree he experienced the ever-living, mysterious One as his inner life and called, “O Jehovah, El Olam!” Although no one could see this mysterious One, He was real to Abraham in his experience. The One we have within us today is the very El Olam, the hidden, secret, concealed, mysterious, ever-living One. He is our life. We may have the same enjoyment Abraham had simply by calling, “O Lord Jesus.”

While Abraham was sojourning in Beer-sheba, he must have done many things. But here the Scripture only tells us of one thing-that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beer-sheba and called on the name of Jehovah, El Olam. By this brief record we can see two things. One is that the planting of the tamarisk tree must have been very significant; the other is that this planting of the tamarisk tree is connected with calling on the name of Jehovah, El Olam. As we have pointed out, Genesis 1 and 2 are not merely a record of God’s creation but a record of life, with the tree of life as its center. Likewise this section of the Word is not merely a record of Abraham’s history; it also is a record of life, showing by what source Abraham was living. He lived by calling on Jehovah, El Olam, by experiencing the eternal, hidden God as his life. In New Testament terms, he was experiencing the eternal life flowing with all its riches like a tamarisk tree which expresses the riches of the well by which it lives. As the tree of life is the center of the record in chapters one and two, the tamarisk tree is the center of the record here. We may say that the tamarisk tree is the tree of life experienced by us. It is the expression of the tree of life. Our Christian life and the proper church life are both a tamarisk tree, expressing the tree of life by which we live. This goes together with the calling on the Lord who is our eternal life, our Jehovah, El Olam.

Making Isaac a burnt offering - This source of living water makes Isaac a burnt offering (22:2, 9). The source from which Ishmael drank made him an archer, one who lived wildly for himself. But Isaac’s source of living made him a burnt offering, one who was offered to God for His satisfaction.

Leading to the offering to God on the mountain in Moriah - This source of living led Isaac up to Moriah, not down to Egypt (22:2). Ishmael’s source of living leads people downward, but Isaac’s source leads people upward to the mountain in Moriah where Jerusalem was later built. This going up to Moriah kept God’s people from the Philistines. We also need to go up from Beer-sheba to Jerusalem, not only having the church life at Beer-sheba but also in Jerusalem. Ultimately, this proper source of life will make all of us Isaacs and will lead us to the New Jerusalem.

Here we have another seed of the divine revelation. Ishmael lived in the wilderness and was joined to Egypt, but Isaac lived in a planted place and was led to Moriah. The mountain in Moriah eventually became Mount Zion upon which God’s temple was built (2 Chron. 3:1), thus becoming the center of the good land which God gave to Abraham and his descendants. After his descendants followed the way of Ishmael and went down to Egypt, God brought them out of that land with the intention of bringing them into the good land of Canaan. But their unbelief kept them wandering in the wilderness where Ishmael lived. Eventually, God brought their children into the good land and chose Jerusalem, which was built on Mount Moriah, as the unique center for them to worship Him. As a result of this, all the children of Israel were brought, three times every year, to the very mountain in Moriah to which Isaac was brought. Thus, Isaac’s being brought to Mount Moriah was a seed which was developed in the going up to Mount Zion of all the children of Israel.

Out of Abraham two kinds of people came into existence. One is represented by Ishmael who lived in the wilderness and who was joined to Egypt; the other is represented by Isaac who lived at Beer-sheba and who was brought to Mount Moriah. Today there are also two kinds of Christians. One kind is like Ishmael, living for themselves in the wilderness of their soul and being joined to the world. The other kind is like Isaac, living for God in their spirit and in the church and being brought to Zion. Even we, the real Christians, may be like Ishmael, living in and for ourselves and being joined to the world, unless, as typified by Isaac, we live in our spirit and in the church that we might reach God’s goal.