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#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 27

Jan27

   Day 27 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

Day 27 – Genesis 43 – 45 – (Joseph tests brothers, sends for Jacob)

Chapter 43. The second year of famine hits harder and Jacob/Israel’s family have run out of food again. The Patriarch tells his nine sons to go down to Egypt and buy more.  

Judah reminds him of the Egyptian ruler’s words – they must take Benjamin or not bother to come. When Jacob objects, Judah pledges HIMSELF as a surity for his kid brother. Jacob finally agrees to the inevitable, but tells them to take double money and some gifts.  And he prays, “May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man.”

When they arrive, Joseph brings them all into his house. He’s going to feed them a sumptuous meal, but THEY think they are doomed. Again the brothers bow down low to him. When Joseph sees Benjamin, emotion overwhelms him and flees to his bedroom to cry. After washing his face and returning as the stern vice-ruler of Egypt, he orders the meal.  He seats the brothers in birth order which amazes them. And, as a test to see if their jealousy toward Ben is really gone, heaps much more food and goodies on his younger brother. No reaction. (a good sign)

Chapter 44 tells of one more test Joseph gives his brothers.  He fills all their grain sacks to the brim, once again adding back their money, but also places his own silver chalice in brother Ben’s sack. ALL ELEVEN brothers leave, relieved at having escaped in tact.  But they soon see the dust of a chariot approaching them. Joseph’s steward accuses them of stealing his master prized cup. 

“What? No! We wouldn’t do that!!”  The Steward searches their sacks, and of course in the last one – Benjamin’s – it is found.  The brothers are terrified!  (Did they accuse their young brother of actually taking it?) The steward says only the thief will need to return, but they ALL go. They would rather face an angry Egyptian ruler than their own father if Benjamin is not with them!

Joseph feigns anger. Judah confess their guilt (selling of Joseph, but not stealing the cup) and tells him they all will be his servants.  But Joseph says only the thief stays, the rest can go home.

Now we see Judah at his best. (Remember his humble confession of sin back in chapter 38?)  Now he offers HIMSELF in place of Benjamin. (A picture of what Christ did!) He says that his father will die if Benjamin is not returned. What a change from when he first said, “Let’s kill Joseph,” with no regard to his fathers feelings. Judah has truely changed. 

Chapter 45. When Joseph sees Judah kneeling before him, offering his own life, he can stand it no longer. He sends all his servents out and breaks down. In Hebrew he confesses he is their brother, Joseph.  They are shocked, stunned, speechless, and scared to death. 

Joseph beckons them closer (to get a gook look at him) “I AM YOUR BROTHER, JOSEPH, whom you sold into slavery. Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves. God sent me before you to preserve life… to preserve for you a remnant on earth…to keep alive for you many survivors.”  He tells them of the five remaining years of famine yet to come. “It was not YOU who sent me here, but GOD. Now, hurry, go get my father and bring him to me!”

The brothers finally believe him, fall on him with mutual weeping and talk the night away.

The ELEVEN return to Jacob (can you imagine his joy at counting all the heads of his sons?). They convince him that it is true. Joseph is alive. Joseph is vice-Pharoah of Egypt. Joseph has prepared a place for them. Joseph want to see his father.

“It is enough,” Jacob cries. “I will go see my son before I die.”

 

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 26

Jan26

   Day 26 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

Day 26 – Genesis 41 – 42 – (Joseph & Pharoah’s dreams, Joseph meets 10 brothers)

It’s been TWO LONG YEARS since Joseph asked the Wine Steward to remember him to Pharoah. Finally in chapter 41 he remembers! His boss has had a couple disturbing dreams about cows and corn, and the court “soothsayers” can’t interpret them. What to do??

“Oh, yeah!” says the steward, thunking his head. “I remember a Hebrew slave in prison.  He can do it.”

They send for Joseph, and they bring him out of “the pit.” He shaves himself (Egyptians like smooth cheeks and bald heads), changes his clothes and presents himself to the king of the land.  He reminds Pharoah that ONLY GOD can interpret dreams and that He will give the king an answer.

Pharoah tells his weird dreams – seven fat cows are eaten up by seven skinny cows, who got no fatter. And then seven ears of corn growing on one stalk (amazing, usualy only 2-3) are swallowed by seven withered, thin, and blighted ears. (I see a theme here….)

God reveals the meaning of the dreams to Pharoah through Joseph. Seven years of amazing plenty in Egypt, followed by seven years of severe famine. And…. “God will shortly bring it about.”  Yikes!  But our wise, enslaved-for-13-years, Hebrew lad has a suggestion: Choose a discerning & wise man to oversee the land. Collect 20% of all the crops for seven years and store it away for the time of famine, so that Egypt won’t starve to death.

Wahoo!!  Guess who Pharoah picks and sets up in Egypt as vice-ruler, second in command only to the king? He gives Joseph a signet ring for sealing documents, garments of fine linen (watch those fancy coats, Joseph!), a gold necklace, and the second (flashiest) chariot in the garage. (This is basically what Potipher and the prison keeper did to Joseph, but to a much greater scale.God was certainly with him.)

Joseph also got a new name, and at 30-years-of-age, he was given a wife who bore him two sons – Ephraim & Manassah. (Recognize these??)

Joseph collected the required Federal cut of grain each year, built storehouses for it, and socked it away. Then came the severe famine. Joseph opened the storehouses and SOLD the grain to the people.  People from other countries came to Egypt looking for food, and Joseph SOLD it to them, enriching Egypt’s coffers.

Chapter 42 flashes back to Canaan where Jacob, his 11 sons and all their families began to feel the pinch. “Go down to Egypt and buy some grain so we don’t die!” demanded Jacob to his TEN sons. No way was he sending Benjamin, the only remaining son of his “wife” Rachel. (The “boy” was probably in his early twenties then.) They took money and began a trip that their great grandfather had made several hundred years before.

Joseph is shocked to see his ten brothers seeking food and bowing down before him. (Flash back to his own dreams when he was a boy.)  He counts and sees only 10 brothers.  Have they done away with his full brother Benjamin too?

Thinking quickly, he calls them SPIES and quizzes them about their father and the other boy. To further shake them up, he puts them in jail for three days. They groan and wail that this was their punishment for what they did to their brother, Joseph. They do not know that this Egyptian ruler can understand Hebrew.  Their words and sorrowful guilt after all these years touches Joseph and he cries.

Then with his commander face back on, he tells them he will let them take the grain, but they will get NO MORE unless they bring their younger brother with them next time. And as further incentive, he keeps Simeon in jail as collateral.

The NINE brothers return home and tell Jacob/Israel what happened (including the fact that all their money bags were found back inside the grain bags.

“NOooooooooooo!” wails their father. “You will NOT take Benjamin. He is the only son I have left.” (huh?) Reuben – probably glad the ruler took Simeon and not HIM – offers to keep Benjamin safe, saying Jacob could kill his own two sons if harm comes to him.  WHAT??  Are you kookoo, Reuben? Kill two of Jacob’s grandsons!!  Sheesh.

It doesn’t matter. Jacob absolutely REFUSES to send his “only” son to Egypt.

(We’ll see about that. Hunger causes desperation.)

#2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 25

Jan25

   Day 25 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 25 – Genesis 38 – 40 – (Judah & Tamar, Joseph & Potipher, the butler, and the wine steward)

Chapter 38 steps briefly away from the story of Joseph to give us a glimpse of Leah’s fourth son, Judah, through whom the Messiah will come. We’ve seen his 3 older brothers disqualify themselves. (Reuben slept with his father’s concubine, and Simeon & Levi massacred a whole town for revenge.) It would seem Judah is about to do the same disqualifying thing, but look for his humble confession of sin.

This chapter is full of a lot of cultural things that leave our mouths haning open. God executing sinful men on the spot, brothers siring children for a deceased sibling, deception, prostitution. It’s all there with Judah and his sons and daughter-in-law.

His two oldest sons sinned mightily before God and died. Judah went against custom and withheald his 3rd son from the widow. Tamar the offended daughter-in-law deceived her father-in-law. Judah went to a “prostitute” then later self-righteously condemmed her to death for immorality, until she declared HIM as the means of her pregnancy. Read 38:26. Judah’s eyes are opened to his own sin and says of Tamar’s actions and his own, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” 

It is through one of the resulting twin sons the the Messianic line is continued. God is so merciful and gracious. “Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness and mercy to the children of men.” Psalm 107:8

Back to Joseph in chapter 39 (but we will see the “converted” Judah again in chapter 44.) Meanwhile Joseph is sold to Potipher, Captain of the King’s Guard. And whoa! Everything that the Captain puts into Joseph’s hands prospers. He soon makes the handsome young slave overseer over everything in his life except the food he eats. AND his wife. (No problem there for Joseph.)

But the wife lusts for Joseph and tricks him into fleeing her boudoire to escape her wiles. Unfortunately, she grabs his coat and in the process of escape he slips out of it. (Poor Joseph, again at the mercy of a “coat.”) She falsely accuses him of trying to rape her, whimpering before her deceived husband, the Captain. Immediately the innocent Hebrew slave is sent to prison. (And assumably Potiphars prosperity declines.)

God is with Joseph and he finds favor with the prison keeper, who soon puts him in charge of all the prisoners (in order that, presumably, HE can be only concerned with his meals! Ha!)

In Chapter 40, two of Pharaoh’s top guys – who look after HIS meals (bread and wine) – fall into disfavor. The Captain of the Guard (Potiphar) appoints Joseph to be with them and attend them while they await trial. 

One night these two men have disturbing dreams. Joseph asks why they are so troubled and they tell him their nightmares, wishing there was someone who could interpret them. Ahhhhhh… our dreamer of dreams himself is there and tells them that only God can do that, but offers to try.

The Wine Steward goes first, telling of three lush grape clusters that he juices into the wine glass in Pharoah’s hand. Good news! Joseph tells the man he’ll be restored to service in three days. Then he begs the Steward to remember him and mention him to Pharaoh so he can be released.

The Baker, cheered, tells his dream about carrying three baskets on his head that are full of yummy baked goods for Pharaoh. But the darn birds kept coming and eating the goodies. Bad news! Joseph sadly tells the man that in three days he’ll be executed.

The fate of both men plays out just as God revealed to Joseph, but the Wine Steward, forgets Joseph.

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 24

Jan24

   Day 24 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 24 – Genesis 35 – 37

In Chapter 35, after the horrific situation with his daughter in Shechem and Jacob’s fear of retaliation in the last chapter, God now comes to the road-weary man with a new direction.

“Get up to Beth-el and live there. Make an alter there to the God who appeared to you when you fled your brother.”    (Beth-el is where Jacob had the stairway to heaven dream and first heard God’s promises. He’s a different man now. His fathers’ God is now HIS God.)

He commands his household to get rid of all their foreign gods/idols and purify themselves.  Hmmm, besides the ones Rachel stole from her father, where did all these idols come from?  Remember in 34:29 when Jacob’s sons plundered the city of Shechem, they took all the livestock, all the little kids and wives, all their wealth, and ALL THAT WAS IN THEIR HOUSES.

Jacob obeyed God, left the pagen idols behind, and began the 20-mile trek south to Bethel to worship “the God who answers me in my day of distress.”  And, “a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they DID NOT PURSUE the sons of Jacob.” 35:3-4  WOW!

Jacob and fam, arrived at Beth-el, he built the alter and worshiped God. God reaffirms his name change to Israel, and identifies Himself as God Almighty (El Shaddai). He reaffirms the promises given to Abraham and Isaac…

  • they would be fruitful and multiply
  • nations and kings would come from him
  • the land would be given to him and his offspring

Two deaths are mentioned in this chapter. Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, dies in labor wit her second son, whom Jacob names Benjamin. He buries her near Ephrath (Bethlehem – remember when Herod tries to kill Jesus by killing all the boys under two in Bethlehem? It said “Rachel was weeping for her children, who were not.” This is the place.)

And soon after Jacob meets up with his father, Isaac (and I’m sure, introduces all his children to “Grampa” and tells his story of the last 20+ years), Isaac dies at the age of 180.  Jacob & Esau bury him in that burial cave along with Abraham, Sarah, and Rebekah.

Chapter 36 (don’t skip reading it!) gives the geneology of Esau, his children and leaders, and cities they become.  36;6-8, tells of Esau’s whole family, with livestock and possession leaving the area (much like Lot did when it became too crowded), moving south and east to what will be know as Edom.

Chapter 37 begins the story of Jacob’s “favorite” son, Joseph. (Didn’t he learn a lesson about favortism from his parents??) But, Jacob’s heart remembered his beloved Rachel, and this was her first born son. He lavishes love on him and gives him the special, long and long-sleeved coat of a “ruler” of his brothers, an “amazing technicolor dreamcoat.”  (Just kidding.)

Joseph’s brothers KNEW EXACTLY what it symbolized and hated their “pompous” little brother, who tattled on them every chance he got and taunted them with his “dreams” of superiority.”  (Yes, God sent the dreams as prophecy, but did he have to share them???)

They got their revenge, and when they saw the boy coming to where they were pasturing the sheep (way north, past Shechem), they plotted first to kill him, and then to sell him for profit to a caravan of Ishmaelites going to Egypt.

(It’s interesting that both Reuben & Judah did not want him killed (37:21 & 26). These two brothers will also seek to save Bemjamin’s life in Egypt.)

The chapter ends in double tragedy. Joseph, the exalted son, becomes a slave to Potiphar, a captain of the guard for Pharaoh.  And Jacob (the great deceiver) is deceived again, this time by his sons, who tell him that Joseph must have been killed by wild animals.  The “ruler’s coat” is torn and splattered with blood (by them) to prove his untimely death.

Jacob is inconsolable in his mourning and weeping, and wishes he were dead too.

(But God means it all for good.)

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 23

Jan23

   Day 23 —  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 23 – Genesis 32 – 34 (Jacob goes home)

In yesterday’s reading we saw Jacob being confronted by his father-in-law. He will face more crises today.

Chapter 32. After leaving Laban and before he meets his supposedly blood-thirsty brother Esau, God sends a host of angels to encourage him. (He’s going to need that!)

He’s sent a message to Esau that he is returning home and hopes to find favor (not fury) in his brother’s eyes.  The message comes back that Esau is coming to meet him…… with 400 men. YIKES!  (Remember Abe’s 318 men who fought kings and rescued Lot?)

Jacob divides his camp in two, hoping to save some of them, and asks for help and deliverance from the God of his grandfather and his father (not his own yet). He remembers that God had promised to be with him and to make his offspring numerous as the sand.  Then, still trusting in his OWN methods, he sends Esau a humongous gift of animals to appease him. And then he waits.

That night, God, Himself meets and wrestles with Jacob. He changes his name to Israel (champion with God) and blesses him. He also cripples Jacob’s hip to remind him Who really got the upper hand. Jacob realizes he’s “seen” God for himself.

Chapter 33. Taking one more precaution against the Esau-crisis, Jacob arranges his family in preferance of who he loves most. The servant girls and their boys in front, Leah, her sons & daughter next, and his beloved wife Rachel and favorite son Joseph at the very back. Then he turns to face his “avenging” brother.

But miracle of miracles! Esau runs to meet his long lost sibling and embraces him (and there is no dagger in his hand!). Introductions are made all around, Jacob/Israel is humble towards Esau, and Esau is gracious towards his “cheater” brother. They both go their way in peace.

Whew. Crisis number two averted, by God hand, again.

Jacob/Israel and his huge (intact) family and still an abundance of animals, turn West, cross the Jordan River and re-enter the Promised Land. He settles in Shechem and buys some land, including a well from the local head honcho. (betware, Jacob!!)

In Chapter 34, a set of horrible disasters plays out. First Jacob & Leah’s daughter Dinah is raped. The man, and his father, the local king barter for her. (Lets all intermarry and be one happy family.)  Unfortunately, Jacob does not meet this crisis head on. It’s left to Simeon and Levi, full brothers to Dinah to revenge their sister’s defilement.  They murder not only the man and his father, but ALL the men in the town. They also plundered the city – all their wealth, all their little ones and wives, all that was in their houses.

Whoa. (Certainly not the ‘eye for an eye’ concept that God had set in place hundreds of years ago.)

Jacob is aghast and ashamed… and fearful. He thinks he’s doomed now, by the hands of all the surrounding Canaanites. “I stink in their sight,” he moans. And they hastily move on.

On his journey home, he’s had to deal with Laban, Esau, and now the pagans in the land that God promised his offspring.  He’s nearly 100 now, and responsible for so many people. He’s at a very low point.

But God meets him in the pit and raises him up. (tomorrow’s reading)

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 21 & 22

Jan22

    Day 21 & 22 — (I combine Sunday and Monday reads.)  Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 21 – Genesis 27-29  (Isaac & sons, Jacob on his own)

Chapter 27 tells us that Isaac is getting old and blind. He is 137 years old (the age his half-brother, Ishmael died, and he assumes his death is coming soon. But Genesis 35:28 tells us he actually will live another 43 years and die at 180!!!)

But that was his frame-of-mind when he decided to bestow the “Blessing” on his older son, Esau (whom he loved best, because of the food he brought. Hmm, like father, like son: food would be his downfall!)  He asks Esau to go hunt for some fresh meat, cook it, and bring it to him so he could bless him.  Exit Esau, Meanwhile behind the tent flap Rebekah & Jacob eavesdrop.  And Mom sets a plan into action that will eventually deprive her of her favorite son for the rest of her life.

Together, with like-tasting venison-stew, kid leather hand and neck coverigs, and a stolen robe of Esau’s they TRICK old Isaac into blessing Jacob.  Now God had already promised this, and might have brought it about in an amicable way, but Mom couldn’t chance. it.  The ruse goes off, with only a few suspicious questions, and Jacob receives the Patriarchal Blessing. But is he blessed?  You decide.

Esau returns and blows up at the trick. He now has neither Birthright or Blessing. He threatens to kill his brother (as soon as their father dies). Rebekah is frightened he WILL do it, and convinces her husband to send Jacob off to her brother Laben’s family “to get a non-pagen wife.”  Remember Esau’s Hittite wives who were bitterness for her and Isaac.

Chapter 28, it sounds good to Isaac and he sends Jacob off to Haran, where his very own wife came from. Sadly Rebekah never sees her fave boy again. She dies before he comes back.

Too bad they hadn’t know Proverbs 3:5-6.

Heading north, Jacob stops at a place he renames Beth-el (house of God) and has a fantastic dream about a ladder stretching from earth to heaven, and angels going up and down on it.  (Remember the song about climbing Jacob’s Ladder?)  And the LORD, the God of Jacob’s fathers, appears and blesses him: his offspring as numerous as dust – the land theirs forever – all the nations to be blessed through his Offspring.

On top of that, God promises to be with Jacob always and will bring him back to The Land.  Jacob vows back to God, saying that if He will do all that, then the LORD will be Jacob’s God too.

Chapter 29 – Jacob reaches Haran, and (deja vu) he sees a woman coming to water her sheep who is of the very household he’s looking for. It’s love at first sight. Her father, Laban (Jacob’s uncle), agrees to give Rachel to him as a wife …. for seven years of free labor.  The years fly by.  The wedding feast comes, and he marries Laban’s veiled daughter.

Come morning… YIKES!!! Not the beautiful Rachel, but her older, not-so-pretty sister, Leah. Jacob complains to Laban. YOU TRICKED ME!  Ah, Jacob, you know how it feels now!  Laban says, oh, I forgot to tell you the oldest daughter gets married first. But no problem, Rachael can be yours for another seven years free labor.  A week later, Jacob now has two wives, and although LEAH is considered Jacob’s “prime wife” by God, Jacob always calls RACHEL his true wife.

Four sons are born to Jacob by Leah – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah (the son through whom the Messiah will come.)  Judah’s name means PRAISE because with him, Leah praised the LORD.

   Day 22 – Genesis 30 – 31

Chapter 30 begins with a MEGA STRIFE in Jacob’s household. He is bought, bartered, and traded between his two wives and their servent girls for his affections and his “power to impregnate”. Before the chapter is done, Jacob (at 91)  has eleven sons and a daughter and he thinks it’s time for him to “go home,” back to the Promised Land. Uncle Laban objects hotly. Jacob has been his “rain maker” and brought much prosperity to him.

ALLOW him leave?  NO!!!

In chapter 31 Jacob sighs and agrees to work a few more years, all the while plotting an outrageously weird plan to “cheat” Laban out of his best sheep and goats. Laban is conniving too, and switches the rules several times. (What a pair!) Jacob claims Laban cheated him TEN TIMES!

(Oh, Jacob, remember the lentil stew you traded for the Birthright? Remember the kid-leather gloves and claiming to be Esau to get the blessing…..?)

But God is sovereign in all, and Jacob prospers despite all the trickery.  Then God sends an angel to tell Jacob it’s time to, “go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.”

He takes his two wives out into a field and secretly tells them to pack up, that they are leaving.  And while Laban and his other sons are moving the sheep to another pasture, Jacob, all his women and kids and possessions exit Haran, gaining a 3-day lead on his father-in-law.

Laban is furious and takes some men in hot pursuit. But God sent a nightmare to Laban warning him, “Be careful not so say anything to Jacob, bad or good.”  Laban catches them and rants at Jacob. WHY have you tricked me? Why did you trick me?  It’s in my power to do your harm, but….. your God warned me not to.

At the end, he just asked to kiss his daughters and grandkids goodbye.  Things calm down, but then Laban drops a bombshell.  “I know you longed greatly for your father’s house…..but WHY DID YOU STEAL BY IDOLS?”

What???

Jacob swears he did NOT take them, and allows Laban to search all his tents, pronouncing a “curse of death” on anyone who has them. (Jacob will rue the-is day.)

But…Jacob did not know that Rachel — his beloved Rachel, his precious wife, the mother of his favorite son, Joseph — had taken the idols from her father’s house. She hid them under a camel’s saddle in her tent and sat on it, claiming to be in “the monthly way of women,” and not able to get up.

Jacob and Laban argue more, and finally agree on a mutual oath, that they would be “keeping an eye” on each other. The oath they swore has been taken as a benediction today, but it was originally a malediction.

“The LORD watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.”

And they set up a piller (like a line drawn in the sand) saying that neither one was to pass over it to do the other one harm.  “May God judge between us” they vow.

In the morning Laban kissed his grandchilddren and daughters and went home. Jacob went on the other way.

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 20

Jan20

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 20 – Genesis 25 – 26  (A new man, same old sin & brothers hate)

Let’s look at chapter 26 first and then attack the geneologies of chapter 25.

Another famine comes to the land. Remember what Abraham did when a famine came in HIS time and what happened as the result? This time the LORD appears to Isaac and tells him clearly, “DO NOT GO DOWN TO EGYPT, stay in this “promised land” and I will bless you. And God reaffirms the “Abrahamic blessing” to Isaac as well – offspring as numerous as the stars, the land given to them, and all nations blessed through his ultimate offspring.  Isaac obeys and stays.  But…..

Like father: like son. It’s hard to believe, but a fearful Isaac tells the men in Gerar that Rebekah is his sister!!!  This time is is not even half true. If anything they are cousins twice removed!   Anyway, it seems the king saw them kanoodling in the garden one day and confronted Isaac.  Our boy gives his weak excuse and Abimelech chastises him and warns all his people about him. Sheesh, Isaac!! Obey and then dismay your God.  And because Isaac was such a prosperous farmer, the Philistines were jealous of him and the king told him to, “go away!”

*Later Abimelech calls him back because he sees God has blessed Isaac and wants to get in on a little of that blessing.  After some squirmishes about the wells again, there is peace.

Okay back to the geneologies of chapter 25.

Before Abraham dies, he re-marries a woman named Keturah, who bears him six more sons who became the fathers of more nations on the East side of the Jordan. And they have grandsons for Abe as well. In verse 6, Keturah is called Abraham’s “concubine” which refers to a wife of “lesser status”.  Sarah is the prime wife, her son, Isaac, in the Messianic line.  Like with Ishmael, Abraham sends all these “secondary” sons away, because he KNOWS God has given the land and the blessings to Isaac.

Then at 175 years old, Abe dies.  (It’s interesting that he DID see his twin grandsons up to the age of 15.) Also interesting is that Ishmael returns and together he and Isaac bury their father in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham had bought as a family burial place, and where Sarah was buried.

The progeny of Ishmael is listed, with twelve “princes” born from him, all settling far east of the promised land. Then at 137, he died.

The last part of chapter 25 begins the story of the twin boys born of Isaac and Rebekah twenty years after they were married.  When Isaac saw his wife was barren, he prayed and God heard his prayer.  When the the babes in her womb seemed to wrestle and struggle inside her, Rebekah prayed to the LORD.  And, interestingly, God prophesied to her about the boys. Two nations would come from her, they’d be divided, and the older would serve the younger. 

In time the boys wre born. The first one out had vibrant red hair (Esau, meaning ‘red’), the second one had smooth skin (somewhat like his character).  How fun that the second one (Jacob) had a hold of the firstborn’s heel when he was born.  He was called Jacob (grabber, supplanter).

Then we see a serious failing of these twice blessed parents.  Dad loved Esau best (he caught and brought Isaac, yummy venison).  And Mom loved Jacob best (he stayed home and helped around the house).

Trickster Jacob, one day cheated his minutely older brother out of his birthright (a double portion of all their father would leave to them). Esau was famished; Jacob was cooking some lentil stew (probably his mom’s famous recipe). Esau’s stomach growled and rumbled at the delectible smell. Jacob held out one hand with the stew and the other for Esau’s birthright. Esau “threw away” his birthright and gobbled the stew (sopping up the last with some fresh bread Jacob included).

Verse 34 says Esau DESPISED his birthright.  Later, Esau would DESPISE his brother and threaten to kill him.

Verses 34-35 of chapter 26 tell us that at 40, Esau married two Hittite women, and that they made life BITTER for Isaac and Rebekah.

Sigh.

Since the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, with brothers Cain and Abel, sin and strife has split and threatened brothers.  Sadly this won’t be the end of it.

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 19

Jan19

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 19 – Genesis 22 – 24 (A sacrifice, a death, a marriage)

Chapter 22 begins with God testing Abraham with the words, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go…offer him as a burnt offering…” 

That isn’t any way that I’d like my day to begin!  But Abraham’s immediate response was obedience. There are no questions, complaints, or refusals. He gets up early with the boy, the wood and the fire, and heads to the place God will show him…. to kill his only son. He builds an alter, lays the wood on it, binds and places Isaac on top (the boy is about 20 years old!), raises the knife to kill him, and is micro-seconds away from plunging it into the “son he loves,” the son of the Covenant, through whom the Messiah would come.  Yet Abe is willing to do it.

Hebrews 11:17-19 gives us the bulwark of his faith.  He believed God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise.  God’s promises are always YES! and AMEN!  God never changes. God later imputes “righteousness” to Abraham because of his faith.

1 Corinthians 10:13 — “No temptation (testing) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted (tested) beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also PROVIDE the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.”

And this is what God did for His friend, Abraham. STOP!  Now I know that you fear God. (God knew this all the time of course. He’s omnicient. But now ABRAHAM knew it too.)  And Abraham immeditely saw a ram caught in the brambles. This animal became the sacrifice. And the place became know as “Tthe LORD provides.” And indeed it was on that very mount that God Almighty “provided” His only begotton Son to the world, as a sacrifice and payment for their sin. (John 3:16)

Oh my! God renews His promises and gives even more:

  • I will surely bless you
  • I will surely multiply your offspring (as the sand on the seashore)
  • Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies
  • In your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed

In chapter 23, Abraham’s faithful wife of 62 years dies. He negotiates with his long-time friends near Hebron to buy a burial ground, and he buries her there. (He, Isaac & Rebekah, and Jacob & Leah will all be buried there as well. It is the first concrete piece of the Promised Land that Abraham actually OWNS.)  

Isaac is 37 when his mother dieds and Abraham thinks it’s high-time that the “boy” is married. Through the 66 verses of chapter 24 we are treated with a remarkable love story.  Abe sends his faithful servant (who HAD BEEN in the line of inheritance) back to Haran where Abraham’s brother’s family still lived to acquire a wife for Isaac. (No Canaanite wife for the Son of Promise!)  

The story shows the sovereignty and plan of God in very wonderful ways as the 85-year-old faithful steward, Eliezer, travels the long distance, and relies solely on God to choose the woman whom he will take back to his master’s son.  Read it again. It’s beautiful.

And Isaac (40 years old now) sees the beautiful Rebekah and takes her as his wife. The last words of the chapter are, “So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

Isn’t love grand?

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 18

Jan18

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 18  Genesis 19 – 21

We ended yesterday with Abraham’s interceeding with God to spare the cities of Sodom & Gomorrah for the sake of a bare minimum of 10 righteous people living there.  God agrees, but the cities are doomed by their sin and because there is only ONE righteous man in the whole area.

Chapter 19 is God’s grace at work. The two angels go into Sodom with the purpose of rescuing Abe’s nephew Lot and his family. They are lewdly accosted by the crazed men of the city, but they incapacitate them with blindness. Forceably grabbing Lot, his wife, and two daughters, the angels flee the city just minutes before the LORD rains down sulfer and fire out of heaven and burns up the cities, all the valley, all the inhabitants, and even what grew on the ground.

Talk about narrowly escaping “by the skin of your teeth!”

To show that only Lot is righteous in this family, his wife turns back and hesitates, looking longingly at all her “things.”  And the backflash of sulfer immediately coats her and turns her into a statue of salt. (A mini Hiroshima!)  Then the broken – but righteous man – flees to live in a cave (remember he had been a very important man – a judge – in the city), and is twice made drunk and seduced by his own daughters. They both have sons by him, who later turn out to be enemies of Israel – the Moabites and Ammonites on the east side of the Jordan.

Back to the man of the hour in chapter 20, when Abraham leaves the area (the sight & stench of the burned cities?) and roams into the Negev (south of Gaza).

And then —- can you believe it? —- he tells the local Philistine king that Sarah is his sister!!!  WHAT?  At this point Sarah as about to conceive – or maybe already has conceived – the promised son, Isaac! Abimelech takes her into his household, and God immediately closes the wombs of all the women in his house. (I’m thinking that God maybe causes great impotence among the men of the house, for that would be sooner evident.) If this hadn’t happened, perhaps Abimelech “might” have claimed Isaac as HIS offspring. YIKES!

God appears to the king in a dream with, “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN because the woman you took is a man’s wife.”

Abimelech cries out that he is innocent, a man of integrity of heart. God agrees and tells him that He, Himself, had KEPT HIM FROM SINNING.  Sarah (she must really be tired of this) is returned to Abraham, who prays for the king, and God “opens the wombs of the women.”  But the king DOES indignantly accuse Abe for bringing that trouble on him, although he sends him away with more loot. (and a thousand pieces of silver to prove Sarah’s innocence.)

And FINALLY, after 25 years of waiting, the promised son, “He laughs” is born. Abe is 100, Sarah is 90, and Ishmael is about 14.  A couple years later when Sarah weans Isaac, she notices Ishmael mocking (teasing, tormenting) the toddler.  She says (again) that Hagar and Ishmael MUST GO AWAY.  This time God agrees with her and tells Abe to do just that.

With regret and sorrow (but with God’s promise of blessing) Abraham sends the Egyptian maid and her son away. In the wilderness, the gracious God meets her again, refreshes and encourages her, reminds her of His blessing on her son and “points her to the south-east.”  Later, she takes an EGYPTIAN wife for her son.

At the end of chapter 21, there is a skirmish between Abraham and Abimelech (possibly another king in the line) about some wells that Abe dug.  It’s settled and the king and his men go back to Philistia. The place is named Be’er Sheva (Beersheba) meaning “seven wells.”

And ALL is at peace…..

#2024 GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 17

Jan17

Won’t you read the Bible with me this year?   It only takes a few minutes.  (You can also listen to an audio recording.)

   Day 17  Genesis 16 – 18

After seeing God’s generous list of promises to Abraham yesterday despite the man’s flaws, we will see God’s continued faithfulness to him in these chapters, in and through yet another instance of Abraham “trusting his own understanding” instead of God’s.  (Consider Proverbs 3:5-6.)

In chapter 16, Abraham and Sarai/Sarah lose patience with God’s long-range, ultimate plan and decide to “provide an heir for Abe” by their own machinations. According to custom in those days, Sarah offers her maid (part of the “stuff” they got on that wayward trip to Egypt) as a surrogate provider.

Of course it happens and Hagar gets pregnant. She stupidly acts superior to the 80’s-year-old Sarah, and Sarah starts fuming. With Abe’s “okay,” she sends Hagar away – into the wilderness (presumably to die!). Wow.

But the God “who sees everything, even our grossest of sins” sees Hagar’s plight, encourages her, and sends her back to her owner. None of the three realize just HOW MUCH of an error has been made, for Hagar’s son, Ishmael, becomes the “father” of Islam, the perpetual enemy of the Jews through the ages, even until today.

Ah well, I am SO like these seniors – foolish in my “old age.”

Hagar’s son is born to Abe when he is 86.  God seems to be silent for 13 years until the surrogate son (whom Abraham has come to love very much) “becomes a man.”  And then the LORD comes to Abraham with MORE promises!! (Chap. 17)

God commands Abe to “walk before me” and “be blameless.”  He identifies Himself to Abraham as “God Almighty” (El Shaddai) (capable of doing anything). He promises to multiply Abe greatly (more than dust and stars??) He also tells and shows the 99-year-old Abraham another, binding Covenant, renaming Abram, Abraham “Father of a multitude of nations.” Besides being greatly multiplied, KINGS will come from his progeny.

This covenant will be “everlasting” though ALL generations of his offspring (the Jews), and the “sign” of it will be in ALL the males: circumcision.

God Almighty promises again for the land of Canaan to be their EVERLASTING possession. And He promises to be THEIR GOD. (Are you keeping track of all these promises?)

THEN…. to Abe’s amazing and somewhat uncomfortable enlightenment, God promises that Sarah, Abe’s one and only WIFE, will bear him a son, THE son of the Covenant.  What??  Sarah???  A mother of nations and kings????

Abraham falls on his face before God (in worship?) and laughs.  “You’re kidding,” he exlaims, “a 90-year-old woman will bear a child?”  Hahahaha, yeah right!  or Hahahaha, REALLY???  Curbing his laughter, Abe remembers his “other” surrogate son. “Oh, that Ishmael might live before you (be the covenant son).”

“Nope,” says God.  “Not him, but (for your sake) I will bless him too.  But, NO….I WILL ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH THE SON YOU AND SARAH SHALL BEAR. Period.” “Oh, and BTW,” says God, “you will call him “he laughs’ (Isaac).”   Fitting, right?

After God leaves, immediately Abraham circumcises himself, Ishmael, and all the men in his household. Now, THAT’S obedience!

Soon afterwards, in chapter 18, the LORD (Yahwey) appears again to Abraham, along with two “men” (angels).  Abe is wowed, runs to them in welcome, washes their feet and invites them to stay for lunch (bread, veal, millk and cheese).

Then the LORD gives Abraham a certain timeline (finally!). He tells him (and Sarah, listening in the tent) that in one year, she will bear that promised son.  This time Sarah laughs, although she denies it when God calls her on it and asks her if ANYTHING is too hard for THE LORD.

And after that meal and amazing revelation of joy, God reveals His horrendous plans for the cities in the valley (where Lot lives).  He doesn’t hide it from Abraham because:

  •      Abraham is to become a great and mighty nation
  •      All nations on earth will be blessed in him
  •      He is chosen by God
  •      He  will command his children and household to keep the ways of the LORD and do righteousness & justice.

God tells Abraham of Sodom and Gomorrah’s “grave sin” and that the “outcry” against them is great, and that God plans to utterly destroy them.  YIKES! How would you like to get THAT news?

Abraham immeditely thinks of his nephew (and his family, by then), and begins humbly, meekly, bargaining with the LORD to reconsider.  And in the process, the LORD says He will reconsider… IF THERE ARE 10 RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE living there.

(Turns out, there is ONLY ONE, so their doom is fixed. See 2 Peter 2:6-9)