Genesis 18:10-27:40
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
7:48 PM
In genesis chapter 18, verses 16-33 is when Abraham pleads to God to not destroy Sodom. I am familiar with Genesis, like I've noted in previous notes on my personal bible study, but while I was reading this, I remembered reading a few chapters back that Abraham's nephew(?)Lot had gone to live in Sodom, because the family had gotten too big so they split, Abraham went one way, Lot wen another. So I think that maybe Abraham was pleading for God to not destroy Lot more than he was pleading to God to not destroy Sodom. After all, Gomorrah was just as bad as Sodom, and Abraham did not plead for it. imagine, your nephew goes to live in a city because it the family has gotten too big to be able to travel together, and then you get word that God is going to destroy that city for being so wicked and sinful. You would plead to God to not destroy your nephew. This is probably obvious, but I did not grow up reading this, so the super obvious is not always so obvious to me.
One verse that I found funny, was chapter 19, verse 5: "where are the men who came to you tonight? bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them." I found this verse funny, because it just sounds...so...wrong you know? However, verse 8 of chapter 19 really stuck out to me: "look, I have two daughters never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. but don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." when I read this verse, which is in the chapter where three visitors(angels sent by God)come to Lot, is that he put God before his own family, before his own daughters. No, actually, he put messengers from God before his own family, his own daughters. How many of us today would do that? I cannot imagine my dad doing this! I cannot imagine my father offering me up like this. My guy friends back home are truly great Christian men, and I admire them so much. They love God, they live Christian lives, and it seems to me that they try to do what they believe God is calling them to do. However, I cannot imagine any of them offering up their daughters over like this. Or even their friends who are girls, they would never just offer them up like this. So it seems to me that Lot must have been a truly awesome man, one worthy of being admired and looked up to. I hope that someday, I come to love God this much.
"so Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, 'hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!' but his sons-in-law thought he was joking(Gen 19:14)." when I read this verse, it made me think that people never believe disaster is coming. Never. During the flood, no one believed disaster was coming, that God was going to flood and destroy the entire world. And so you would think that people who had probably grown up hearing about the flood(I assume this)would have taken God seriously. But they did not. This can also be applied to us. We never believe disaster is coming either. I feel like it's easy to read the bible and say "why did they not believe this was going to happen?" yet if we are truly honest, would we have believed it? how often do we hear people talking about end of the world coming, etc. and we dismiss it? what if someone came to your city and started saying that God is going to destroy it. we would think they were crazy wouldn't we? I would. Would any of us really take that seriously? in this chapter, there is a section where Lot is told to flee to the mountains, and he says no, that he can't, and could he go to this small nearby town instead? And this is granted to him. Made me think that maybe God compromises sometimes.
"but Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt(Genesis 19:26)." Lot and his family were told not to look back when they were fleeing the city, but Lot's wife did not obey. She looked back. It might be easy to judge her harshly or say "why would she looked back?!" but maybe it is kind of like when someone tells you not to look down. The first thing you do is look down. Anyways, it stuck out to me. they were running away from something, and because she looked back, she died. She failed because she looked back. Makes me think that this can be applied to moving on from unrequited love, or from a bad situation, etc. if you look back, you are done. You go back, you regress. You lose the progress you have made. I know, a bit of stretch, but there you go lol.
In chapter 21, verses 8-10, Sarah has given birth to Isaac, the child God promised Sarah and Abraham they would have. However, in these verses Sarah sends away Hagar and Ishmael. Hagar is one of Sarah's servants and Ishmael is the son that Hagar and Abraham had at Sarah's insistence when she doubted God's promise of a child would be fulfilled. she created this situation and now that God's promise has been fulfilled, she is getting rid of the very situation she created. God did create another nation through Ishmael, who have been...not getting along with the Jews(the nation God created through Isaac)ever since. It stuck out to me because it made me think that sometimes, by sending away or ignoring or not dealing with a situation we created, we make it worse and bring on troubles and problems for other people.
In chapter 22, verse 7, Abraham and Isaac are going up a mountain(the bible says in the region of Moriah)because Abraham has been asked to sacrice Isaac. Isaac does not know this, or does not appear to. Anyway, in verse 7 he asks Abraham where the lamb is for the sacrifice, because he notices the wood and the fire were there but not the lamb. Abraham says that God himself will provide the lamb. Then they keep going. When I read this, I thought about Isaac. Did Isaac put up a fight when his father started tying him up the fire and the wood to sacrifice him? Did he struggle? Did he fight? Or did he trust his father the way his father trusted God? Or did Isaac trust God the way his father did? What is Isaac's point of view? I wish that was in there. I did also notice the similaries to Jesus's dying on the cross. I think I remember learning in bible class that it was on the same hill, in the same place. Also, Abraham had Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice, the way Jesus would carry his own cross to his crucifixion. It stuck to me most off that God did something what He would never allow Abraham to do: sacrifice his only son. It also stuck to me that Abraham was willing to do what God did for us. So...powerful I think.
"so Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said 'on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided'(Genesis 22:14)." for some reason, I love the last part of this verse, the "on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided." I love mountains, and I love mountain imagery, so I love this verse. There is just something about it that I really love.
Chapter 24 is when Isaac meets Rebekah. I know this story, but I was stuck by two things, and both of them are when the servant is sent by Abraham to find a bride for Isaac. When he gets to the place, he starts praying to God for success on his mission, and what struck me was that even before he was done with the prayer, Rebekah walks up! I find that amazing and makes me wish that God was that quick at answering my prayers! :) I was also struck and amazed when Rebekah offered to water all 10 of the camels! Now, watering one camel would take you a bit of time, let alone 10 of them! that probably took her hours! That is amazing to me.
"two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger(Genesis 25:23)." this is what the Lord said to Rebekah when she was pregnant, and it made me think of what she must have thought when she heard this. Imagine, you are pregnant and yo are told this? Was she fearful? Did she believe it? did she understand what it meant? I am kind of curious.
Later on in the chapter, when Esau gives away his birthright for some strew, I was just struck by the fact that...jacob was cooking! Back then, I thought that cooking was something women did, not men. So how, why, would jacob have learned to cook?!
In verses 6-7 of this chapter, which is chapter 25, Isaac is afraid that he will be killed by the people of gerar so that they can have his beautiful wife. So he lied to them and said she was his sister. Now, this should sound familiar because Abraham did the same thing. Did Isaac know that Abraham had done the same thing and was reproached by God? Did Abraham tell this story to his son, or did he never tell Isaac this. Either way, it shows that mistakes are repeated.
When Isaac is fooled by Jacob into giving Jacob Esau's blessing, I was wondering why, if Isaac recognized the voice as Jacob's, did he give him the blessing? Wasn't he...suspicious? even a little? despite the fact that the hair and the food made it seem like it was Esau?
"Your dwelling will be away from earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck(Genesis 27:39-40)." I LOVED the last line of this Blessing! It really struck me! it says 'throw his yoke from off your neck." not take of, not put aside, but throw. Very forceful imagery. This last part was saying that someday, this wont bother you. Someday, you will yourself get tired of feeling this way and throw away this burden. i...i so long for that. I love it. I can relate to Esau a bit, because it is sooo hard when someone gets what you want. And this Blessing says that someday, you will be tired and sick and fed up with feeling this way, of carrying this burden, and you will throw it from off your shoulders. I want that. I think this is the better Blessing actually. Because someday, Esau will free himself of this yoke, this burden. But Jacob will always have that yoke of knowing what he did, of having to live with that.
