Fleeing from Laban (Genesis 30 - 31)

The stories of the patriarchs have so many twists and turns. Because of this, the story of Jacob and his uncle, Laban will not be disappointing. From what I can tell, Laban is one of those, "difficult to love" kind-of guys. He initially welcomed Jacob in his home but then he stirred up trouble in Jacob's life. Remember, Laban deceived Jacob and got him to marry Leah and he ended up working 14 years for his wives. Now, Laban tries to cheat Jacob...again.

Trouble Making

In this chapter, Jacob wants to leave Laban's house but He begs Jacob to stay. Through divination, he learned that God deliberately blessed Jacob. You would think that Laban would respect Jacob since he knows this but Laban will be Laban. He's in it for the money... or in this case... the blessing. He may even be envious of Jacob. The Bible says that Laban had very little when Jacob came to live with him but now both of them had so much that they had to live a three-day journey from each other. 

Jacob puts in another six years with Laban and builds  his wealth of servants, camels and donkeys but Laban and his sons accuse Jacob of taking away Laban's wealth. Suddenly, Laban is no longer friendly. God tells Jacob to go back to Isaac's country. Jacob talks it over with his wives and they tell him that they have no inheritance with their father so they are ready to leave. So Jacob picks up his entire household and travels toward the land of his father. 

When Laban learns that he is gone, Laban gathers his relatives and for seven days, they hunt for Jacob. On this journey, Laban has a dream and God tells him not to say anything good or bad to Jacob. When Laban catches up with him, he tells Jacob that Jacob left with his daughters, his grand-kids and his animals. Laban is quite the character. I think he had nerve to call everything his and totally disregard Jacob's payment in work.  

Surprisingly, Laban makes an agreement with Jacob. "You stay in your country and I will stay in my country. They pile up rocks... a common practice to signify a covenant... eat and go their separate ways. But before they do; Laban repeats the famous Mizpah, "May the Lord watch between me and thee while we are absent from one another."  I would have never guessed that Laban would speak such a rich request from God over Jacob. 

Mandrakes & Joseph

Rachel was beautiful and was Jacob's first love. You get the feeling that Jacob would do anything for her but she remained childless for a good bit of time. In what seems to be an irrational and probably a hormone-driven fit of rage; she cries out to Jacob, "Give me children or I will die!" He explains to her that it was up to God not him. Both Leah and Rachel give Jacob their maids as wives and each of them contribute two sons.

Rachel gets creative and she sells her bedtime with Jacob to her sister so that she could get mandrakes. And what are mandrakes? They are a "Love plant" root that looks like a human form. It has been used in "magical" rituals in other cultures. I'm guessing here that she thinks mandrakes improve her chance of having sons. 

The night Leah spends with Jacob, she bears a son and later on another one. But the text says that God remembered Rachel and she had a son... Joseph. I bet Jacob felt relieved and totally in love with the child of his first love. The moments between father and son must have been priceless.

We also find Rachel stealing her father's gods and then deceiving him when she tells him she is on her period. Where she sat, the idols were right underneath her. We don't find any discipline for her deceit. I guess these two chapters showcase the human spirit but it also shows that God is running the show in spite of their human struggles. 

Happy

These chapters don't reveal too much about Leah other than she was content to sleep with Jacob and get two sons out of the deal. She was also willing to trade her mandrakes for her time with him. She named her maid's son, Asher because women will call Leah happy. Leah finds her joy or reason to smile outside of her husband. By having six sons and two by her maid, she has eight sons and the Bible mentions she had a daughter, Dinah; she reaches her utopia.

The Making of a Patriarch

These chapters point out Jacob's growing connection to God. In these chapters, he acknowledges God's blessings. I think Jacob allows this to be proof for the if/then covenant he made with God... If you bless me, then You will be my God. I like the growth of Jacob but I guess I would have liked to see him handle the matters of his household a little more effectively. For example, should he have slept with Leah in exchange for Rachel's mandrakes?

Now I don't think that he was without a backbone. He did speak his mind with Laban... although Laban really didn't listen to him. Laban bulldozed his ideas and thoughts right over Jacob's words. But I think being in this kind of circumstance allowed Jacob to build character. However, he still stayed true to the meaning of his name. When he fled Laban, the Bible says, "He deceived Laban."

Lessons

God uses broken people. This story is not short of broken humans. So many issues and yet God used Jacob. He was the one who was going to be the keeper of the seed of Jesus Christ. That seed passed right through his family with all of its brokenness. This idea  gives hope to me and others who recognize and suffer from broken lives. 

I can relate to deceit. Sadly, I've done it before. The fruit of deceit can be a painful process. The fruit of operating in my own will is also painful and difficult. Yet God worked with Jacob
and brought him into a relationship with him. God established the 12 tribes of Israel through this relationship... and finally a people so vast that it is impossible to number them. God delivered exactly what he told Abraham he would do. That gives me a hope in my life and in my world. That means God can and will make something of my broken life; my broken character. He can work with me and through me and bring about beauty that I never dreamed or imagined. This draws me to Him. This is the story that I can share with a broken world. 

That's it for today. 

Deceit (Genesis 27 - 29)

Jacob, Esau & Rebekah  (Genesis 27-29)

Deceit & Treachery

These chapters start with telling the story of Jacob deceiving his father and taking the blessing from Esau. The Bible gives play by play of the deceit-laced conversations between Jacob and his mother; and between Jacob and Issac. As a result of these conversations, Jacob had to flee to his uncle's house because Rebekah heard that Esau might try and kill him. Once Jacob reached his uncle's house, he discovered the deceit & treachery of Laban. Laban tricked Jacob into marrying Leah... his daughter with the weak eyes.  A few chapters later, Laban had the nerve to call all of Jacob's possessions his own. Forget the labor of Jacob! For fourteen years, he labored for both of his wives and Laban called Jacob's possessions his. The story continues to tell us that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah and God saw this. He opened Leah's womb and gave her four sons in this chapter. But Rachel had none. 

A few Observations

Since God let Rebekah know when she was pregnant with twins and that the older would serve the younger why did she help God out and have Jacob deceive Esau? Why didn't she pray to God as she had done before and ask Him what she should do? The Bible is silent on this and we are left to wonder the whys of this story. 

Jacob seemed a little bit leery about lying to his father but his mother Rebekah encouraged him to do whatever she said. Once the deed was done, I noticed that when she told him that he should leave the house to protect himself for what he had done. In other words she shifted the blame on him and let him carry it as though he was the one who came up with the idea. Yet she was the one who chose to get him to lie. 

I noticed something else.  Later on in the story when Jacob saw Rachel he kissed her and wept aloud. However when his mother Rebekah saw Isaac she covered her face so there was something different in the tradition there. I wonder why. 

I also noticed when Jacob told Laban his story of how he deceived his brother, Laban responds,  oh you really are a part of my people. Since his sister was the one who encouraged Jacob to be deceitful, perhaps the whole store was recognizable and familiar to Laban. Perhaps, there might have been a similar story in their past. So, since Jacob was familiar with deceit, I'm sure he was not surprised when Laban deceived him. Perhaps, Laban is in essence acknowledging that there is lying and deceit on their side of the family. Perhaps, culturally, this was acceptable.

Beauty & Tragedy

This story also embraces a beauty & tragedy. Her name is Leah. She was born with some kind of physical issue with her eyes. Perhaps  society judged her appearance negatively and she was given to a husband who never had a heart for her. Even though her story is laced with tragedy, Jacob kept going back to her because she kept having children. 

Anyway, God saw this unloved woman and his way of having compassion for her was to give her several boys. I understand that having lots of boys in this culture was like winning the lottery... I know a bad comparison but I think it works here. Anyway, for a while Leah hoped that her husband would love her but he never seemed to come around. 

Finally, Leah decided to lift up God and praise him for her fourth son and named him  Judah. By doing this, she declared God as the one who orchestrated her life. As God tells his story through people, he chose Leah to bear Judah who eventually became part of the lineage of Jesus. Sometimes God picks the underdog or the most unlikely persons to bear his will and his message. And that is exactly what he did in this case. If someone was writing a romantic novel with an impactful ending such as the Messiah, most likely, the writer would have chosen the romance story of Jacob and beautiful Rachel but this was not the case. 

About Food

These chapters also do an excellent job of giving us ideas on what they ate. So far, we know that they ate goat with savory seasonings. At least this is what Rebekah prepared for Issac. She knew how to blend the spices exactly the way Issac liked it. Esau must have known too. His father asked him to prepare the fresh game meat just the way he liked it. Jacob knew how to fix lentils. His cooking enticed Esau to give up his birthright. In fact, the Bible says that he despised it for a bowl of lentils. We don't eat lentils too much today in the United States. It is still a savory dish in other cultures but generally speaking, we've lost the art of making it so scrumptious that we would want to sell our birthright too. 

Lessons

I'm guessing my lesson here is that God does not always pick what appears to us to be the right one. Nothing seem to be wrong with Esau but God looked on the heart of both of them. The Bible says he hated Esau and at this point, I am not too sure why. Perhaps this is something that I have yet to discover. On the other hand, the very name of Jacob meant heel grabber or deceiver. He is definitely not the one we would choose for the task of carrying the seed of the Messiah but it was God's choice. 

There is so much for me to learn. I am seeing in the story that God is not accepting those who appear to be pure but those are willing to follow him. He accepts those who he has plans for... or in other words he chooses... it seems. 

That's it for today.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 25 and 26)

Abraham's Family

Often times when we think of Abraham, we think that he had two sons and two wives. This chapter tells us differently. After Sarah dies Abraham takes another wife named, Keturah. She bore him six more sons. However when Abraham died, he just gave them gifts and sent them their way. Everything else he gave to Isaac. So, just for the record, Abraham had a total of eight sons that we know of.

When Abraham died both Isaac and Ishmael buried him. Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. At this point, it seems that the two half brothers get along long enough to bury their father. There is no mention of Abraham's other six sons. The Bible does not say what happens to his wife Keturah. But I think I can safely say that none of them seem to be buried with Abraham and Sarah.

One other point of interest to me is that God bless Ishmael with twelve sons. Also, Ishmeal lived out the rest of his life in hostility toward all of his relatives. I am sure that this included Isaac.

Isaac's Family

These chapters also tell us about the birth of Jacob and Esau. Rebecca inquired of God about what was going on inside of her and God explained that she had two nations within her.  God told her that the older would serve the younger and that one people will be stronger than the other. When it was time for birth, the first one was red and hairy so they named him Esau. I'm guessing here that Esau means hairy. When the second one came out, he was holding on to Esau's heel. So, they named him Jacob, which means heel grabber or deceiver.

So, even at birth, the stage is set for these two brothers. Esau becomes a skillful hunter and Isaac prefers Esau. Jacob is content to stay at home and prefers Rebecca. I am sure that this drastically affected their home life. You don't get the picture that Jacob and Esau were buddy buddies and played together with each other. It seems as though they have been raised differently. Esau with his father and Jacob with his mother. So with this kind of division, it is easy for Jacob to be a cook and to take the birthright from his brother.

The Search for Water

This is my first time realizing how much early Israel and the surrounding people looked for water. These  chapters mention Krohnert two times I would say about six or seven times about wells being dud. Each one got its own name and they named wells based on struggles. 

The last one in Chapter 26 is named Beersheba meaning they found water. The fact that they named it, "they found the water," lets me know that there is a struggle To find water. 

Overlap

These chapters also say that Abraham live 175 years. Isaac was born when he was 100 years old. Isaac married Rebecca when Isaac was 40 years old. That means Abraham was 140 years old when Isaac married Rebecca. Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born Which means Abraham was 160 years old. So Abraham live for 15 years when Jacob and Esau were around. Pretty cool! I didn't know that before. 

Like Son Like Father

These chapters also tell us that God talks to Isaac and tells him that he will bless him because of his father. His father obeyed God, did everything God asked, kept his commandments, his decrees, and his instructions. When there was a famine in the land, God told Isaac, not to go to Egypt and to live where God told him to live. Isaac seems to be just as obedient as his father.

In these chapters Isaac did the same thing Abraham did. He said his wife was his sister But the king saw Isaac with Rebecca and fussed at him for lying. God also blessed him with riches just like his father. His wife was also barren like his mother. Rebecca was beautiful like Sarah. 

Deceit in the Family

These chapters start with telling the story of Jacob deceiving his father and taking the blessing from Isaac. Since God let Rebecca know when she was pregnant with her twins and that the older should serve the younger, why did she help God out and have Jacob deceive Esau? And, in this story, Jacob seemed a little bit leery about lying to his father about who he was but his mother Rebecca encouraged him to do what ever she said. However, Once the deed was done, I noticed that she told him that he should leave that it was to cover what he had done. In other words, she shifted the blame on him and let him carry it as though he was the one who decided to do it. Yet she was the one who chose to get him to lie. 

A Change in Tradition

I noticed something else as the story continues. I noticed that when Jacob saw Rachel he kissed her and wept aloud. However when his mother Rebecca saw Isaac she covered her face so there was something different in the tradition there. I wonder why. I also noticed when Jacob told Laban his story of how he deceived his brother, Laban says, "oh you really are a part of my people." 

I wonder what went on in Laban's head at the time he said this. I wonder if he purposed in his heart to deceive Jacob to teach him a lesson because Jacob deceived his brother. Or perhaps he was just as deceitful as Jacob. So I'm sure Jacob was not surprised when Laban deceived him. Perhaps Laban is, in essence, acknowledging that there is lying deceit on their side of the family.

The Lessons for Me

I'm guessing my lesson here is that God does not always pick what appears to us to be the right one. Nothing seem to be wrong with Esau but God looked on the heart of both of them. It seems at the time when Jacob was in Bethel, or what he named as Bethel, when he was sleeping on a rock and saw the ladder going to heaven that he did not accept Isaac's God Prior to this time. Because he established a condition for God and said if God does what Jacob desires, then Isaac's God would be Jacob's God too. 

There is so much for me to learn here. I am seeing in the story that God is not accepting those who appear to be pure but those are willing to follow him. He accepts those who he has plans for... In words he chooses... it seems. 

These stories are rich with the detail and are worth reading again and again. Each time I read them I get something different. This time I am into to the characters that each person plays. Each person's character showcases their strengths and weaknesses. And the writers in the Bible do not bite their tongue. They say what is whether it is right or wrong. The lining and the deceiving is very strong. It is passed on from generation to generation. Yet in spite of this character flaw, God speaks to each one of them and reaches out to them and communicates with them. Each one is used to build a nation that lasts throughout biblical history and even into today. And spite of their flaws they were able to preserve the story that God wants to tell through humans. I look at this and I understand that each of us today can be used by God and spite of our very prominent weaknesses. I believe that God has an overall plan and we can fit into this plan when we keep our ears open to his voice. And, we can act on his voice and spite of pitfalls. These stories teach me this.

That's it for today.

The Story Goes On (Genesis 22-24)

The Sacrifice

This section starts off telling the story of Abraham and the sacrifice. Abraham wakes up one morning and says to his son, Isaac, let's go to the mountains and offer God a sacrifice. They take up the wood and other  materials needed for the sacrifice. Isaac notices they have everything for the sacrifice but he asks, where is the animal? Abraham tells him God will provide. 

They get to the place where they will have the sacrifice and he binds Isaac. He places him on the altar and raises a knife to kill Isaac. A voice from heaven tell him to stop! Do not lay a hand on your son and harm him. 

God provided a ram that was caught in the thicket. They sacrificed the ram and come down from the mountain. 

The story has a few twists and turns that do not fit normalcy. First, if society where to look at Abraham they would have thought him a little crazy. He was about to kill his son. Having said that though, in the old testament there are dozens of stories, well maybe not dozens but enough to let us know that human sacrifice of children was all too common.  So in this light Abraham was not crazy. Perhaps human sacrifice during his time was also common. The Bible does not say. 

The amazing thing to me that Isaac, I don't know if he was a teenager or young adult, would let his father bind  him and put him on an  altar and allow him to stab him without saying anything. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of conversation took place since the Bible really does not record all of their conversation. 

Most of the youth today would have in someway disrespected Abraham but Isaac did not. In this day you would have even had some who may have tried to defend himself and end up hurting Abraham. And our court system would have justified his defense. 

Within this culture, this kind of act was allowed. God used it to illustrate what it would be like for Father God and the Messiah, his son; and the redemption he offers us. The rest of this chapter covers the offspring of Nahor, the brother of Abraham. 

Sarah Dies

The story moves on and delivers a sad piece of news. Sarah dies at the age of 127 years old. That means that Isaac was 37 years old when his mom died. There is a long exchange between Abraham and Hittites to determine where he would bury Sarah. The Hittites wanted to give him the cave since he was a mighty prince among them. But Abraham wanted to buy it and it eventually he did for 400 shekels of silver. The property he purchased included the field and a cave. It was near a place called Machpelah near Mamre which was near Hebron.

Water bearer

When Abraham gets very old he is concerned about getting his son a wife. So he finds his most trusted servant and has his servant swear to him that he would find a wife for Isaac among his own clan. Abraham makes him swear by placing his hand under Abraham's thigh.

Abrahams servant travels to Abraham's homeland and prays that God will help him find the woman for Isaac. He asks God to let this woman give him water and his camels water to drink when he asks. Rebecca comes along, he asks, and she gives him and the camels water. He learns that this is Abraham's granddaughter.

He asks if he can stay the night with the family and he gives her two bracelets and a nose ring. They get to the house and when her brother Laban sees them talks to the servant, they agreed to let God's will be done concerning Rebecca.

The servant gives them the gifts that Abraham provided and then he tells them he wants to be on his way back home. Laban and his mom ask if Rebecca can stay at home for 10 more days with them and Abraham's servant says no. They decide to let Rebecca make the decision and she is ready to go.

They leave and when they get close to home, Rebecca sees a man sitting in the field. She asks who is he and learns that it is Isaac. He is out in the field meditating, the Bible says. She covers her face with a veil. Isaac marries Rebecca and sets her up in his mother's tent and then he is comforted since he lost his mother three years ago.

My thoughts

This is a wonderful love story that works out pretty good. The Bible says that Rebecca is very beautiful. You get the feeling that Isaac is pretty handsome as well.

Sometimes I wonder why Sarah had to die so early compared to the long years of Abraham. I am guessing that if she had not died then perhaps Isaac would have never had Rebecca as his wife. I guess timing is everything. The stories in these readings are straightforward. I don't see anything new here. What I do come to understand is that God's hand is moving the story along among humans.

That's it for today.

Tragedies (Genesis 19 - 21)

Sodom

Yesterday's reading was straight narrative and makes sense. I don't know if I can say that today but that's the only way I know how to describe it.

Two men who went to Sodom were met by Lot at the city gate. He begged them to turn aside, come to his house, let him wash their feet and give them food. Initially they were reluctant but agreed.

That evening, while they were spending the night at Lot's house, the men from the city came and banged on their door. They wanted to sleep with the men but Lot told them, no. 

Now here is the first thing that I really do not understand. Lot offered the men their daughters and said they could have their way with them. Really? Did he say that in all sincerity? It makes me wonder! Did Lot understand who was in his presence? Did he know they could rescue him and his family? Where women so worthless back then that in one night he would have given them to be raped and possibly killed? 

Today we would question the love that this kind of father had for his daughters. I guess the Bible just tells the story of the way things were. Perhaps Lot had a bit of Sodom corruption but I've seen this scenario in other places in the Bible and even today. Sadly. 

There are some people who don't treat women with dignity, respect, or they don't even treat them humanely. We have our problems in this country. We still underpay women what they are worth in the job setting. Human trafficking in this country is on the rise. Spousal abuse is on the rise. Sometimes I wonder if we keep going will it be like Sodom. 

The story goes on to say that these men blinded the men of Sodom because they were adamant about sleeping with the visitors. 

Lot's Family

Early the next morning the men try to hurry lot and his family out of the city and send them to the mountains. They were so reluctant to leave. Lot try to get his sons-in-law to come but they thought he was joking. Finally the two men had to take Lot's family by the hand and lead them out. They told them don't look back. Lot's wife did and she turned into a pillar of salt. I get that she disobeyed, but I don't get the pillar of salt. Why salt? And why a pillar of salt for disobeying. She never knew she turned into salt but her daughters got to see their mom disappear into a mountain of salt. 

Lots begs to go to a city name Zoar. They were too afraid to stay there so they ended up in a cave in the mountains. His daughters thought that since they were away from men they would never have children. So they each took a turn getting their father drunk and slept with him. 

This decision ended up raising two nations. The older daughter had a son and named him Moab. They became the Moabites.  The second daughter had a son and named him Ben Ami. They became the Amalekites. I am guessing this whole idea of having a son was more important than life itself. 

This is a very different culture from what I understand to be normal. Today women and couples choose not to have no children at all. So this act of mothering a son means nothing here in Western culture. 

Another Lie from Abraham

So the story goes on and we learned that Abraham moves from the Negev. He moved between Kadesh and Shur. Here we discover a man named Abimelek. Abraham once again tells folks that Sarah is his sister. So Abimelek takes her into his home. God appeared to him in a dream and said if you touch her, you and everybody in your household will die. 

Abimelek says, "Abraham said that she is my sister." 

God says, "true but I am telling you so now you know." 

Abimelek fusses at Abraham and Abraham explains that he and Sarah have this agreement. Whenever they go to a new place he tells her to say that we are brothers and sisters so that people won't kill Abraham. 

Abimelek gives Sarah one thousand coins, gives Abraham sheep and goats and wants to be at peace with him. We also learned in this passage that God tells Abimelek that Abraham is a prophet. I can't remember if I saw this somewhere else. 

Isaac & Ishmael

A year later Isaac was born. When Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. 

Sometime later, Sarah was planning a celebration for Isaac and Ishmael was mocking him. Sarah said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He will not share in the inheritance of Isaac." 

This distressed Abraham because Ishmael was his son. God told Abraham to do what Sarah told him to do because Isaac was the one to carry the inheritance, not Ishmael. 

The household must have been very tense at that time. Hagar must've been a strong willed woman who was an Achilles' heel for Sarah. I guess Sarah reached an all time high of intolerance. 

None of this was fair for Isaac or Ishmael but it had to be because this is God's story and this is how it goes. This concept is strange but this is what I am getting when I read about the unfairness in the Old Testament stories. 

The next morning Abraham gives Hagar and Ishmael food and a skin of water. Hagar wanders around in the desert of Beersheba. They run out of water and Hagar puts her son under a bush and moves away. She cannot witness him dying from the lack of water. 

An angel/God comes to her and wants to know what's wrong. God tells her not to be afraid; he is going to make Ishmael into a great nation. God opened her eyes and she saw a well and she gave Ishmael something to drink. God watched over Ishmael and he became a great archer. His mother got him a wife from Egypt. 

The Covenant

In the meantime Abimelek made a covenant with Abraham. There were some disputes over water wells but they seem to settle it and made an agreement. Abimelek wanted Abraham to show him the same kindness that he showed to Abraham. 

To close this chapter, the writer says that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba. 

My Thoughts

I feel blessed to live in the western culture where women are respected. One kind of wishes that Hagar and Sarah got along; but they didn't. This put Hagar at a disadvantage. When Ishmael and Hagar got on Sarah's nerves, she was dismissed in  less than 24 hours with no benefits or no way to take care of herself. 

It is interesting to note, the stories of the patriarchs have a lots of drama and tragedies. The outcome of brothers that share the same blood is a tragic one. They could have grown up together, caring and loving for one another; but that is not God's story. 

I know the enemy of our souls also plays a role in making difficulties happen. In spite of these difficulties God's story is still told. Unfortunately, the story is a broken one. And today, that story for each of us has not changed. 

That's it for today.

Name Change (Genesis 16 - 18)

Hagar and Ishmael

Sarai couldn't have children so she told Abram to take her Egyptian slave. Her name was Hagar. Hagar got pregnant and she had Ishmael. However, when she was pregnant she despised Sarai. Sarai complained to Abram and he told her to do whatever she wanted. Then Sarai started mistreating her and Hagar ran away. An angel found her by a spring and asked her, "Where did you come from and where are you going?

She explains that she is running from her mistress. The angel tells her to go back and submit to her. The angel tells her that he will increase her descendants so much that there will be too many to count. The angel also tells her that she will have a son and she should name him Ishmael. He will be a wild donkey of a man and he will be against everyone and everyone will be against him. He will also be hostile toward his brothers and visa versa.

Then she tells him that the angel is the God who sees her and the well or spring is called Beer Lahai Roi. What the angel/God told her came true. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born.

Name Change

Fourteen years goes by and Abram is 99 years old. God came to him and said I am God; walk faithfully and be blameless. Then, I will make a covenant between me and you. I will increase your numbers.

Abram fell facedown and God said, "This is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. Your name is now Abraham since you are the father of many nations. I will make you fruitful. Kings will come from you. My covenant is everlasting between you and me and your descendants. I will give you an everlasting possession of the land of Canaan and I will be their God."

God then tells him, "you and your descendants must keep my covenant." You must circumcise all males at 8 days old. This includes everybody including foreigners and those who are not your offspring. This will be the sign of the covenant. If someone does not get circumcised, that person will be cut off from his people.

Concerning Sarai, God says, "her name is now Sarah. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings will come from her.

Abraham fell face down and laughed to himself. "Will I have a son at 100 years old? Will Sarah have a child at 90 years old."

Abraham then says to God, "If only Ishmael can live under your blessing." This sounds like Abraham is attached to Ishmael.

God simply says, "Yes, but your wife will have a son. Name him Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him and his descendants. I will bless Ishmael, make him fruitful, and his numbers will increase. He will be the father of 12 rulers and his descendants will become a great nation. But my covenant will be with Isaac and he will be born next year this time.

God left and on that same day, Abraham circumcised every male in his house including Ishmael. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised and Ishmael was 13 years old.

Three Men

Then God appeared to Abraham again near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent on a hot day. Abraham saw 3 men standing nearby and he ran to meet them. Abraham bowed low. He asks them not to pass him by. Abraham wanted to give them water, wash their feet, let them rest under the tree and get them something to eat.

They told Abraham, do as you say. So he told Sarah to bake bread, he got a tender calf and had a servant prepare it, and he got some curds and milk. He served this to them.

One of them asked, were is Sarah? In the tent, Abraham replies. "next year this time, she will have a son. Sarah heard and laughed. "Why did she laugh? Is there anything too hard for the Lord. I will return and she will have a son this time next year. Sarah was afraid and said, "I did not laugh."

"Yes you did laugh," he says.

I do have a question. Why didn't the early patriarchs get struck down for lying and Ananias and his wife get struck down for lying to the Holy Spirit? I'm just curious.

When the men got ready to leave, the Lord said, should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Then the Lord reiterates his blessings and says that he chose Abraham to keep the way of the Lord. This means that they were supposed to do what was just and right.

Then God said there is an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and it is so great that I am going to investigate. Two of the men left and God stayed with Abraham. Then Abraham goes through this bargaining period and says, if there are so many righteous people, will you destroy these cities? God told him that if he found these righteous people that he would not destroy it. When they finished this exchange, God left and Abraham went home.

My Thoughts

This reads as a story. I like that God would appear and have conversations with Abraham and Sarah. He only appeared to a few humans to keep the scarlet thread running. He did not appear to all men. According to the New Testament, we have God's Spirit who lives inside of us. They did not have that back then. 

Today, God can communicate with all of us if we open our hearts and minds toward him; if we seek his communion. This does not mean that I have voices, bells and whistles going off in my head and calling these the voice of God.  But it does mean that I have thoughts that are good that go against my selfishness or my weaknesses or anything that has to do with my human self. These thoughts change me, mold me and shape me into being someone better than I was before. It is not about selfish gain but rather a surrendering to a will other than my own. This is beautiful but so was God standing in front of Abraham and talking to him. Nothing else here for me. It is really straight forward.

Thant's it for today.

The Father of Nations (Genesis 12 - 15)

The Story of Abraham

This section starts the new era of going through the lives of the patriarchs. The first one that the Bible introduces is Abram. 

Abram came from the land of Ur with his wife Sarai. The Bible says that God spoke to Abram and told him to move to another land. He takes his wife, his cousin Lot, and everything he owned. 

There isn't anything listed here about Abram that indicates why God chose him. God spoke to him and Abram listened. We don't know if Abram was an idol worshiper or was he the only one that believed in God or did he start to believe in God when God spoke to him. 

God reminds Abram of His promises several times in these chapters. One example is when Abram gets to the land of Canaan, God gives him several promises. God will give him all this land, he will multiply his descendants, he will bless him, and those who bless him will be blessed and those who curse Abraham God will curse. 

Abram travels and settles between two cities; Ai and Bethel. Abram finds this big tree and that is where he pitches his tents and settled down. This big tree is near Sheckem. I have seen reference to this tree in several places in the Bible; especially around the time of the different kings of Israel and Judah. Perhaps there may be more than one big tree but I believe Saul, for example, sits under the shade of a big tree.

Bending the Truth

There is a famine in the land. Abram moves to Egypt and tells the people that his wife is his sister. She is very beautiful and he is afraid that they might kill him to get her. So Pharaoh hears about his wife and places her in his palace.  

Then diseases fall on the Egyptians and then Pharaoh asks Abram why did he do this thing? Take all your belongings, your wife and leave so Abraham leaves. 

I never understood why God punished the Egyptians because of Abrams choice of not telling the full truth. Perhaps, since Abram came from a society filled with idolatry, his idea of right and wrong may not have been fully developed. But I think that is a weak argument. Perhaps it was a customary practice for men to do this with their beautiful wives. Who knows? I wonder if Sarai protest this arrangement or did she just obey her master. 

Solving Land Problems

Now that Abram gets kicked out of Egypt, he goes back to the Negev where he built an altar. He called on God. At this time Abram and Lot were very wealthy. They had precious metals, sheep and goats, and so on. The servants of both men started to argue and fight over water and land; so and Abram said to Lot let's not fight. Abram told Lot to pick whatever choice land he wanted. If he goes east then Abram will go west. Lot decided to move near Sodom and Gomorrah out on the plains. 

After he left God told him to look all around and all the land he saw, God was going to give it to him. Abram and his descendents could live there forever. God told him that his offspring would be like the dust and he told him to walk the land and look at it. 


Battle

Abram moved to the great trees of Mamre at Hebron. Once Abram was settled the Kings in the region decided to fight. There were four kings who went against five Kings. These five kings included the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. The kings who were oppressing them fought and won against them and took their possessions. Since Lot lived nearby they took him, his possessions, and his family with them. Abram heard about it and went and got 318 men who were trained for war that were born on his property. He and his men rescued Lot and got back all of Lot's possessions. 

The king of Sodom was happy and told Abram he could have some of the possessions that were retuned to him from war. Abram told him he did not want any of it just in case he would say, "I made Abram rich.

There's something here that is very important and is a foreshadow of the coming Messiah.

Melchizedek

When Abram came back from war with the spoils, there was a king by the name of Melchizedek from Salem who came out to meet him. He was also priest of God most high and he blessed Abram. Then Abram gave him one-tenth of everything. Much is said about this priest and king. He comes from nowhere and he disappears. No references to him are made after this. Some folks believe that it was God who appeared as Melchizedek. He is talked about in the book of Hebrews, I believe. Perhaps I will write about a little later when I get to the book of Hebrews.

Then, God comes to Abram in a dream and tells him not to be afraid. I am your shield and you're very great reward, he tells Abram. Abram asks God for a child, otherwise he will have to give his estate to his servant. God promises him that he will have a son from his own flesh so there would be no need to give his wealth to his servant.

The Covenant

God takes him outside and tells him to look at the stars. If you can count them, he says then you will be able to count your descendants. Abram believed God and asked him, how can I know that all of what you say will come true about giving the land to Abram. Then God said bring me a 3-yo heifer, a 3yo goat, and a 3yo ram; And a dove and a young pigeon. Abram cut the animals in half and leaves the birds whole. He arranged them as God wanted him. He had to keep the vultures and animals from stealing the meat.

After the sun set, Abram fell into a deep sleep and thick darkness came over him. God tells him that for 400 years your descendants will be strangers in a country that is not theirs. They will be slaves and mistreated but when they come out, they will leave with great possessions. But you will go to the grave at a ripe old age.

Then a smoking fire pot and a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. A covenant was made and God promised the land to Abram.

My thoughts

This is the story of the man who is the father of many nations and three major religions. He sits at the beginning of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Each of these groups treasure Abram as their forefather . I bet that he had no idea of the amount of people that he would influence or what they would be like. He also did not know that so many hairs would be split trying to figure out who he is and what he wants. He also may not have known how they would fight.

Here is something that I observed. I can now see better the story of Jesus Christ in the making in the Old Testament. These stories cradle a scarlet thread throughout history that preserves the bloodline of Jesus Christ. I never saw it before like I see it now. I bet that there were a lot of barriers established in these stories that were supposed to destroy the bloodline of Jesus but God used all kinds of people and all sorts of circumstances to preserve the path that made the way for Jesus to be born.

The Biblical stories are sort of like a necklace. A necklace is filled with a variety of beads or stories but there is only one string that connects them all. Jesus Christ is like that string that connects all of the events. The Bible stories are a collection of all the beads and if we look carefully we will see that string of Jesus Christ passing through each bead. And this story is just the beginning.

That's it for today.