Genesis Chapter 22

Just a couple of comments:

1) Isaac is repeatedly referred to as Abraham's only son. That saddens me. Isaac certainly isn't Abraham's only son. I think it's understandable that it's in the last two verses where we see the seeds of hate between Isaac and Ishmael's religions begin.

2) This is confusing to me:

15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Why is it that verse 15 says the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham and then it goes on to actually be God. Why is God refered to as the Angel of the Lord? Or is the angel forwarding the message?

I don't know.

Genesis 22 (King James Version)

Genesis 22
1And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.

15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

20And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;

21Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

24And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah

Sorry. I've been super busy. I haven't forgotten and will post tonight or tomorrow.

Lightbulb Moment

At the risk of quoting Oprah, I think I've had a light bulb moment in regards to the characters we've read about so far. It suddenly struck me, that we see these character fall tremendously short of perfect.

Noah, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Sarah and Lot, all leave so much to be desired, their faults immeasurable, yet they love God. They follow God. And God loves them for it.

That is the message I'm suppose to get. That is what I was suppose to take away from their failings and God's undying support of them in spite of it all.

Yay, me! I get the sticker today.

Tracy

Genesis 21 (Wrap up)

In today's read, God tells Abraham to let Hagar and her son go. That he will bless Isaac, his son with Sarah, but shall also make a great nation for Ishmael, his son with Hagar. Interesting if you understand that it is right here where we see Judaism and Islam branch of and yet God has blessed both children and their seed. Both Judaism and Islam. Christianity, as we know, is branched off from Judaism. The wars fought over the idea that this is true, are many and bloody, yet we see it right here in the Bible, the old testament which, as we should also know, is the history of the Jewish people.

Plenty to think about in this chapter.



12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.

14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.

17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.

18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation.

19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

20And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.

21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.

22And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:

23Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

24And Abraham said, I will swear.

25And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.

26And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day.

27And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant.

28And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.

29And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?

30And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.

31Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.

32Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.

33And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

34And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.

Genesis Chapter 21 (First half or so)

I don't have much time today and this chapter has a few high points to hit on so I'm going to take this one over a couple of days.

We see in this read that God gave Sarah a child when she was old, just as he'd promised. Then Sarah told Abraham to send Hagar and her son away because her son shouldn't be an heir with Isaac. He shouldn't be an equal, because he's the son of a slave.

The story I've always heard about Sarah, is how great it was that she waited patiently, unable to have a child, and then God blessed her. It was never really recognized that she was a cruel and jealous woman. I wonder why not?

Genesis 21 (King James Version)

Genesis 21
1And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.

4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him.

5And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.

6And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

7And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

8And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

9And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son.

Genesis chapter 20

In today's read we see that Abraham, once again, tells a lie. He tells Abimelech king of Gerar , that Sarah is his sister. God goes to the king in his dreams and tells him that he is a"Dead man" because that woman he took is another man's wife.

Let me ask this again, why is the person who's only crime is that they believed Abraham's lie, the one who will be punished? Why is Abraham a richeous man? I wonder if it's because through all of Abraham's obvious faults, he still follows God and the King doesn't? Or does the King? The king knows that it's God speaking to him in his dream, right? Hmmmm

Next, Abraham tells the king that the reason he lied is because he fears that he will be killed for his wife...Who is like what, 90 years old? Come on!

And last but not least...We see Abraham, once again be rewarded for his deceipt. He's sent away with riches.





Genesis 20 (King James Version)

Genesis 20
1And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar.

2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.

3But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man's wife.

4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, LORD, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.

8Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.

9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.

10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?

11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.

12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.

15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.

16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.

17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.

18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.

Two Two Posts in One!

I want to post this periodically. It's basically my "Mission statement". Not many people will go all the way back through to read my very first post here on this site so, every so often I'll repost this:(Under this is also Sunday's post)

On Day One of this Blog, I'm not going to start with Genesis, the Bible version, but my own genesis and the reason why I'm starting this Blog.

I was raised Evangelical in the Assemblies of God and am now, 41 years of age. For some time now I've been struggling with the message and face of the Christian Church. I've prayed and thought, thought and prayed and was recently sent an random email from a church I've never attended (My children had though) and the message in it was that the only way we can know God's true message is to read his word. Forget what the church tells us. Forget what your family tells you. Forget what your political leaders are telling you and listen the the Word of God then decide for yourself.

That is what I intend to do. Starting today. I will read as close to daily as possible, one, two or more verses per day. I'll start In The Beginning..Of course and discuss them here. It might not be exciting. It might not be much of anything on most days but if you want to, pick up your Bible, I'm using a King James version and let's discuss. We'll stop the day we've read the last verse and then the real journey will begin......

See you tomorrow.

Tracy