Jesus said to the Pharisees, “If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39). John the Baptist had made the same point when he told the people not to rely upon being descended from Abraham, because God was able to raise up children unto Abraham from the stones themselves (Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8). Being of Abraham's blood was not enough. Jesus pointed to the way Abraham lived.
Abraham put the Father first. When God told him to leave his country, his kindred and his father's house, Abraham went (Genesis 12:1-4). He built altars, called upon the name of the LORD, listened when God spoke and did what God told him to do. God spoke to him in visions, appeared to him personally and continued dealing with him throughout his life (Genesis 15:1; 17:1; 18:1). Abraham knew God because he walked with Him.
Abraham also built a household that was much larger than what most of us would now picture when we hear the word family. God said of him, “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD” (Genesis 18:19). His children and his household were not the same thing. There were many people who belonged to Abraham's house.
When Abraham left Haran, he took Sarah, Lot, their possessions and “the souls that they had gotten in Haran” (Genesis 12:5). Later, when Lot was taken captive, Abraham armed 318 trained men who had been born in his own house and went after him (Genesis 14:14). Those 318 men were only part of the household. There had to be hundreds more, including women, children, older men, younger boys and the people who remained behind to care for Abraham's flocks, herds and possessions. Abraham was not wandering through Canaan with Sarah and a few servants. He was leading a very large household.
That household followed Abraham. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God gave him the covenant of circumcision and commanded that every male in his house be circumcised. Abraham did it that same day, and Genesis says that all the men of his house were circumcised with him (Genesis 17:23-27). These men had already followed him into battle, and now the whole male household entered into the covenant command God had given him.
Eliezer of Damascus also shows us something about Abraham's household. Before Isaac was born, Abraham believed that Eliezer might inherit everything he had. He called him the steward of his house and spoke of him as his possible heir (Genesis 15:2-3). Abraham obviously loved and trusted this man. He was considering leaving everything that he had to him. Eliezer was not Abraham's biological son, however he held a very important place within the household.
Lot was family as well. When Abraham's and Lot's possessions became too great for them to remain together, Abraham allowed Lot to choose where he wanted to go (Genesis 13:8-11). Lot left, however when he was later taken captive, Abraham gathered his trained men and went after him. Lot had chosen to live elsewhere, but Abraham still regarded him as family.
Abraham's own family was also large. Sarah was his wife. Hagar became his wife and bore Ishmael (Genesis 16:3-4). After Sarah's death Abraham married Keturah, who bore him six sons (Genesis 25:1-2). Genesis also speaks of Abraham's concubines in the plural and of the sons who came through them (Genesis 25:5-6). His wives, concubines, children and the larger household around him were all part of Abraham's life.
Jacob continued much the same pattern. He left his father's house with very little and years later said, “with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands” (Genesis 32:10). He returned with Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, eleven sons, Dinah, servants, flocks and herds. Benjamin was born later. The household had become so large that Jacob could divide the people and animals into two companies when he feared Esau was coming against him (Genesis 32:7-8). Then God changed Jacob's name to Israel. Before Israel was a nation, it was a family. It was fathers, mothers, children, servants, flocks, work, protection and people living together. From that household came the tribes of Israel.
When Jesus said to do the works of Abraham, He pointed us back to a man who put the Father first, obeyed Him, raised a large family, led a much larger household and taught that household to keep the way of the LORD. Abraham's life was centred around God and family, and the people gathered around him lived, worked and stood together. That is the Abraham Jesus pointed to, and so the question each of us has to take to the Father is very simple: Father, what does it mean for me to do the works of Abraham?