ABRAHAM, FRIEND OF GOD (II CHRONICLES 20:7)

 

Abraham, Friend of God (II Chronicles 20:7)

After working for many years in in the corporate world, I have learned the great importance of having friends in high places. Below are some of the scriptural references concerning those who had such high friends, lost such friends, or aspired to have them.

II Chronicles 20:7

This is where the phrase “friend of God” first appears in the Bible, and in this case it refers to Abraham. As important as this verse is, there are still different understandings regarding the reason Abraham was given that distinction, as witnessed below:

“Because of Abraham's faithful obedience, he was known not only as God's 'servant' (Gen 26:24; Ps 105:6,42), but also as his 'friend' (2 Chron 20:7; Isa 41:8).” (Verhoef) This understanding seems to link being chosen with Abraham's prior act of obedience.

“Abraham played a role as intercessor for the nations, and this was traced in Genesis 18 to his status as confidante of God. This status, afforded to only one other individual in the history of Israel (Moses, in Ex 33:11), may be reflected in two instances outside of Genesis in which Abraham is called 'the friend of God' (2 Chron 20:7; Is 41:8).” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery) Here the primary cause of the choice of Abraham is left unsaid.

Isaiah 4:8

Finally, regarding this repetition of the choosing, Oswalt states, “Here we are introduced for the first time to the concept of God's 'servant,' which is especially frequent in this part of the book...It is evident that servant is intended to be an encouraging term here by its connection with the vocabulary of election. Israel, like Abraham, Moses, and David has been especially chosen to serve God. That chosen servanthood extends in a straight line back through their ancestors to Abraham, himself, the prototype of election (see Chr. 16:13 and Ps. 105:6). my friend (lit. 'my lover' or 'my beloved') suggests that election is not an austere, judicial act but is rooted and grounded in love, both the love of God for the chosen and the love of the chosen for God. Thus, as those particularly chosen to serve God, offspring of his unique friend (2 Chr. 20:7; Jas. 2:23), they have nothing to fear (John 15:14-15).”

Here we have the cooperative nature of being chosen or saved – it involves actions on the part of both God and man. To attempt to assign a priority of importance to one or the other of these actions while excluding the other entirely is not really justified by Scripture.

Exodus 33:11

The next person in the Bible to claim such a high status is Moses. This verse states: “The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” The phrase 'face to face' should probably not be taken literally since soon after this statement, we read in v. 18 that Moses requests to actually see God's presence. This close relationship between these two parties is reemphasized in Numbers 12:7-8 and Deuteronomy 34:10-12 where the phrase 'face to face' is repeated.

Thus, we have the following comments from scholars:

Ramm: “A commentary on this is found in Numbers 12:8...These passages reveal a directness of communication not experienced by any other prophet in the history of Israel. Moses was in no trance, nor ecstatic state but the communication was a direct as possible.”

Cole: “God will speak to Moses 'mouth to mouth', that is to say, not in dreams or visions, but clearly and directly. Moses had the gift of clarity of spiritual insight: he shared the very counsels of God.”

Matthew 26:50

This is perhaps the most confusing usage of “friend” in the Bible since it is the term Jesus uses to address Judas just after He has been given the infamous kill of betrayal. France best explains the situation by saying, “This form of address is peculiar to Matthew in the NT; cf 20:13; 22:12. In each case there is an element of reproach and of distance, which is hard to reproduce in any accepted English idiom. 'My friend,' taken in its lexical sense, is too warm and welcoming, but we do sometimes us it in this rather formal way to address someone who is not in fact a friend at all. In all three Matthean uses it 'denotes a mutually binding relation between the speaker and the hearer which the latter has disregarded and scorned' (K. H. Rengstorf). The comment of Davies and Allison that 'Jesus remains friendly to his betrayer' depends more on the lexical meaning of hetairos than on the idiom as it is used in Matthew. R. E. Brown stresses the ironic function of the term here and in its other Matthean uses.”

John 11:11

Jesus tells his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,” referring to his death. Culpepper notes, “Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are identified as those whom Jesus loved (11:3,5). The only other individual in John of whom it is said that Jesus loved him is the Beloved Disciple. Lazarus is also a 'friend' (11:11; cf. 15:13-15; 3:29). Since the raising of Lazarus is the final offense which sets in motion the plot to kill Jesus – and he was well aware that it would be (11:7, 8, 16) – Jesus actually lays down his life for a friend by returning to bring life to Lazarus (cf. 15:13).”

John 15:14-15

In this address of Jesus to his apostles, He says that they are now friends, not servants of his, since He has made known to them all that He received from the Father.

“Having introduced in the previous verse the subject of genuine friendship...John now employs the noun philoi to spell out the implications or basic requirements of such friendship. They are exactly the same obedience requirements as those (15:10) for abiding in his love (agape). It is therefore imperative to avoid the frequent mistake of highlighting differences between agapan and philein in John. The point of the verse is that obedience to the commands of Jesus defines what it means to be his friends...But neither in the Old Testament nor the New Testament is God or Jesus referred to as the friend of humans in the manner of the gospel song 'What a Friend We Have in Jesus.' Such a thought probably would be regarded by the biblical writers as too debasing of God or Jesus.” (Borchert)

John 19:12

Those wishing to have Jesus crucified attempt, successfully, frighten Pontius Pilate by saying that he is no friend of Caesar if he acquits Him. The exact import of this comment is somewhat ambiguous and has given rise to the following diverse opinions. It is not necessary, however, to choose between them since they both have good ideas to share.

Keener: “One of the most common political uses of 'friendship' in our literary sources refers to political dependence on a royal patron...In the Roman period it applies especially to friendship with Caesar..., although of Jewish tetrarchs and rulers, apparently only King Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-2) felt secure enough to adopt this title on his coins. John 19:12 probably refers to this position of honor.”

Morris: “Some hold that 'Caesar's friend' is used in a technical sense, but this seems unlikely. It is a general term for a loyal supporter of Rome. The Jews are maintaining that there is an antagonism between Jesus and Caesar. Again we have John's irony, for there is a sense in which this is true, though not in the sense in which the Jews meant it.”

James 2:23

As an apt conclusion to this subject, Tasker brings together several of these passages as he discusses this NT verse:

“The words here quoted from Gn xv. 6, Abraham believed,and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, though they referred specifically to something that happened thirty years before the incident narrated in Gn. xxii, are nevertheless regarded as being fulfilled in Abraham's readiness to sacrifice Isaac, for there is a sense in which they were prophetic of that event.

“James also draws upon further Scripture proof in his desire to underline the reality of the righteousness imputed to Abraham. He was called the Friend of God. In 2 Ch. xx. 7 Abraham is called God's 'friend for ever'; and in Is xli. 8 God calls Israel 'the seed of Abraham my friend'. The meaning of the expression 'friend of God' seems to be that God did not hide from Abraham what He proposed to do (see Gn. xviii. 17). Abraham was privileged to see something of the great plan which God was working out in history. He rejoiced to see the day of the Messiah (see Jn. viii. 56). Similarly, because Jesus unfolded to His apostles, particularly in the discourses in the Upper Room at Jerusalem, the divine secrets entrusted to Him, He was able to call them His friends. 'Henceforth', He said, 'I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you' (Jn. xv. 15).

“The meaning is certainly not that Abraham 'earned the title of God's friend' because of his readiness to sacrifice Isaac, as R. A. Knox's translation states; any more than we should infer that the apostles of Jesus earned by their obedience the right to be initiated into the secrets of the divine will, and so be styled Jesus' 'friends'. Both in the case of Abraham and of the apostles it was entirely due to divine grace that they were able to receive a title of such honor and dignity.”