AUG 30. READ GENESIS 21-25

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Genesis 21: The Birth of Isaac. Abraham is 100; Sarah is 90. After 25 years of Abraham planting his seed in his barren wife, Isaac, the child of promise, is finally born. Sarah laughs, but this time in joy instead of disbelief when the 3 men tell Abraham that he will have a child within a year (Genesis 18). Hebrews 11 commends her faith: 11:11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants as the stars of heaven in number, and innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.” But trouble is brewing. Already there was tension between Hagar and Sarah. After Hagar got pregnant by Abraham (it was Sarah’s idea) when Abraham was 85, Hagar despised Sarah. Did Hagar despise Sarah b/c Sarah made her have a child by Abraham that could technically be claimed by Sarah as was the custom back then? Or was Hagar just lifted up with pride sensing that her child would not be the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham? She appears to keep full custody of Ishmael after he is born. So Sarah mistreated Hagar and the pregnant Hagar fled into the wilderness but God told her to go back and serve Sarah, which she did. So Hagar has Ishmael when Abraham is 86. But now in chapter 21 several years after Isaac is born, the tension peaks as Sarah sees Ishmael mocking her son Isaac. She demands that Hagar and Ishmael be driven away, and sadly Abraham sends them away to wander in the wilderness. They ran out of water and Hagar doesn’t want to watch her child die but the angel of God shows her a well of water and tells her that her son will make a great nation (the Arabs). Ishmael grows up in the wilderness of Paran. Here is the Islamic tradition: AI: “When their meager rations of dates and water were completely exhausted, the infant Ismail began to suffer from severe dehydration. In an agonizing search for water, caravans, or any sign of life, Hajar ran back and forth between two nearby hills—Safa and Marwa—a total of seven times. In response to her faith and perseverance, God sent the Angel Jibril (Gabriel). The angel struck the ground (in some accounts, the baby Ismail kicked the sand), causing a miraculous spring of fresh water to gush forth. This source became the holy Zamzam Well, which saved their lives and ultimately laid the foundation for the city of Mecca. Today, the two small hills are housed entirely within the massive complex of the Grand Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) at Mecca where Muslims make their mandatory once in a lifetime hadj to Mecca. Millions of pilgrims retrace Hajar’s desperate path. Pilgrims walk a total distance of approximately 2.76 kilometers (1.7 miles), completing seven one-way trips between the hills.While pilgrims generally walk the route, there is a specific section marked by green lights where men are encouraged to break into a brisk run or jog, mirroring Hagar’s frantic rush through the lowest point of the valley where she briefly lost sight of her baby. After completing Sa’i re-enactment, it is customary for pilgrims to drink deeply from the Zamzam water system, fulfilling the legacy of the miracle that saved the mother and child.” This has to be a very important event for Muslims since Ishmael was about to die and Muhammed is thought to be a descendant of Ishmael. Did God know that when he rescued Ishmael from the point of death and made a great nation from him (the Arabs) that it would he Ishmael’s descendants who would hate and kill his chosen people, the descendants of Isaac (the Jews), and even kill Christians in jhads. After all, they believe that Jesus was a prophet, but only a prophet and not the Son of God. Of course, Arabs and Jews can both find spiritual peace in Jesus Christ in the church if they choose to. Some might question why God allows Israel to do some of the things they do, so the only solution is for Jews and Arabs to both come to faith in Jesus

After the incident in Genesis 20 when Abraham lied to Abimelech in Gerar, Abimelech is leery of what the God of Abraham might do, so he asked Abraham to swear that he will never hurt him, which Abraham does. After some tension over a well, they enter a formal treaty at Beersheba.

Genesis 22. The Testing Of Abraham. We come to one of the most important chapters in the Old Testament. God “tested” Abraham by telling him to offer his son Isaac (most think he was 20 or so years old). Of course, the Muslims say that it was Ishmael, not Isaac, that was to be offered. The Hebrew word for “tested” is nasah: To test, to try, to prove, to tempt. James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. The Greek word for “tempted” there is peirazó: To test, to tempt, to try, to examine. But Deuteronomy 8:2: God leads Israel through the wilderness for forty years to humble them and test what is in their hearts. So God does test people. He might even allow Satan to do the testing as in the case of Job. But if a test causes a person to have lusts that cause them to fail the test, it is not God to blame b/c he tested them. They only fail the test b/c of their own inner lusts. God will even put a limit to their failures if we seek an escape. Scripture assures believers that God does not allow people to be tested beyond what they have the strength to handle, and He always provides a way to endure it (1 Corinthians 10:13). I will never forget an incident when I was a principal. A high school boy was brought to my office b/c he was throwing rocks on the elementary playground (not at children, just throwing small pebbles) even after an elementary teacher told him to quit throwing. As I prepared to give him 3 “licks” with a very big wooden paddle, his excuse was: “If the teacher had not told me to quit throwing rocks, I wouldn’t have been in trouble for throwing rocks!” In other words, it was the teacher to blame for him getting in trouble! That’s James 1! Some blame God when they fail a test and sin.

Back to the test itself. Abraham had “unquestioning obedience” to God. He didn’t even question God as to why He could command a human sacrifice. Or why, after 25+ years of waiting to have the son of promise, He now tells Abraham to kill him. He gets up “early the next morning” When they arrived at the mount, 22:5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.” “We”, i.e. Isaac and Abraham. Why would he say “we” when he was about to kill Isaac? The explanation is found in Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” 19 [o]He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.” He was thinking, “The only possible answer to my questions is if I kill Isaac and God raises him from the dead!” What imaginative faith! What possibility thinking! What trust in God! What was the “type” in Hebrews 11:19? 1) The ram taking Isaac’s place made it a figurative resurrection since Abraham had been fully willing to offer Isaac. 2) The ram taking Isaac’s place was a type of Jesus taking our place on the cross so that we won’t die forever but have eternal life. I can’t imagine what Isaac is thinking during this whole incident. Was he looking up at Abraham as he drew back the knife or did Abraham blindfold him? Abraham bound his on top of the wood, so he had to know what looked like was about to happen.

Why did God say “Now I know that you fear God”? Did God not know that Abraham was willing to offer Isaac even before he told him to? Does God’s omniscience not require that God already knew that? Maybe God’s omniscience does not require that God know everything about everyone in the future. Maybe his omniscience means that he can choose to know the future only when He so desires or needs to (which is called Open Theism). In open theism, he might not know the free will choices people will make unless he so chooses, but he can choose to know what their choices will be. He chose to know if Judas would betray Jesus and chose Judas to be an apostle knowing that he would betray Jesus. He did not know if Abraham would offer Isaac and thus it really was a true test of his faith. But I can’t imagine how it would have affected God’s plans if Abraham had not been willing to offer Isaac. After offering the ram, Abraham named the place “Yahweh Jireh”, Yahweh God will provide. The name is only mentioned once in the Bible. This incident is a type of God providing a substitute, Jesus, so that physical death will not be forever for us. We can live forever b/c Jesus took the punishment for our sins on the cross. The angel told Abraham, 22:18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” This is the verse quoted by Paul in Galatians 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.” The inspiration of Scripture is so complete that this argument hinged on the singular or plural of “seed” in Genesis 22:18. James comments on the offering of Isaac: James 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6),” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” James quotes Genesis 15:6 where Abraham was “saved” by imputed righteousness, but says that Abraham’s faith was “perfected” (teleioó: To complete) when he offered Isaac. James had already said in his letter that trials can make our faith more “complete” (perfect): James 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Abraham was “justified” (declared free of guilt spiritually by God) by his works, but not “on the basis of” his works. Salvation is 100% by the grace of God even when we do “works” of obedience to God.

Genesis 22 closes with more of the genealogy of Terah, which will come into play in chapter 24.

Genesis 23: The death and burial of Sarah. Sarah died at 127 years old. Abraham had to by a piece of land from Ephron, a Canaanite. He buried Sarah in the cave of Machpelah on the land he bought. This cave will be the burial site for many of the patriarchs and their wives. Sarah had been roaming all over Canaan since she and Abraham arrived there when she was 65, so roaming for 62 years! She never had a permanent home in Canaan, constantly moving to find pasture and water and to avoid conflicts with the Canaanites. Peter commends the humble, submissive attitude of Sarah: 1 Peter 3:5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands; 6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” Abraham made the major decisions. He said, “Let’s leave Ur and go to this unknown land”, and she obeyed. He said, “We need to go to Egypt” and she obeyed although it nearly cost her dearly. She just humbly obeyed Abraham. A lot of modern women don’t like it when we quote Paul saying that wives should be in submission to their husbands, but Peter certainly agrees with that in 1 Peter 3:1-5. I can relate to that. I am blessed with such an humble, submissive wife. Sure I discussed major decisions with her, but I made the final decisions to leave my engineering job and our parents and house we just bought in B’ham to go to Louisiana to a school of preaching, then to move to Trinidad to do mission work, then to take a low paying job as a principal in Christian education in B’ham, then to move to Vernon, and then to move to Huntsville where we have been for 32 years now. I counted in one decade in the 70’s where we moved 11 times from foreign countries to apartments, back and forth. My wife never complained or questioned our moves. She would have been perfectly happy to have stayed in B’ham near her parents but followed wherever I thought God was leading us to serve. My wife sacrificed a lot of the things she could have had if we had settled in one place with more money, but God blessed her in the long run with 3 godly children that she did most of the raising while I was out saving the world or doing Christian education. Now as she has gotten older, she has at least had 18 years in a nice house with 10 grandchildren and close family ties with her 3 grown children. She would refute this, but I think she comes pretty close to the woman in Proverbs 31 (although Solomon says you can’t find such a woman!). I praise her as called for in 31:28 Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: 29 “Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.”

Genesis 24: A Wife For Isaac. Most scholars think this servant sent to find a wife for Isaac was Eliezer of Damascus (Genesis 15) so we will assume that it was for this blog. Look back at the genealogy of Terah above to see where Rebekah fits in as she was a first cousin once removed. The story is simple to read, but the bigger story in this chapter might be Eliezer. Notice the humility and faith of this man. He swore an oath to not take a bride for Isaac from Ur but only from Haran, and then traveled the 400 miles from Canaan to Haran. 24:12 He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. He trusts God for a sign to show him the right bride (the girl who offered to water his camels). He is constantly trying to see how God is answering his prayer as Rebekah wateed his camels: 24: 21 Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her in silence, to know whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not. He did not know at first that she was a relative of Abraham, but when she told him that she was the granddaughter of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, 24:26 Then the man bowed low and worshiped the Lord. 27 He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.” In Laban’s house (Rebekah’s brother) he would not eat until he told why Abraham had sent him. Both Laban and Bethuel (Rebekah’s father) agreed “The matter comes from the Lord” and agreed to let Rebekah marry Isaac. After a short delay, Eliezer brought Rebekah back to Canaan and she married Isaac. Isaac loved her and was comforted after his mother’s death (Sarah). I find it amazing that Genesis 24 is the longest chapter in Genesis. Of course, uninspired humans divided the Old Testament into chapters, so I’m not saying that is a “God thing” but I do find it interesting.

Life Lesson: I wish I had the faith of this relatively unknown character in the Bible. He is humble, he trusts God completely for success, he is focused on his task and will not even eat till he accomplishes it, he is prayerful, he is constantly seeking God’s guidance in what he is doing, he worships God when he has success, he is looking out for the interests of others (Abraham and Isaac), he believes that God can provide spiritual mates for his children, etc. We should be like Eliezer every day, every moment of every day. When you start out on a day’s jobs or tasks or travels, do you start first with prayer for success. When things happen, do you look for God’s leading or just assume it is circumstantial happenings? Do you praise God every time something good happens? Are you willing to go to great lengths to help others? Do you know of an “Eliezer” that has these qualities?

Genesis 25 Death Of Abraham and Birth Of Jacob And Esau. Abraham was 137 when Sarah died. He died at 175, so he lived 38 years after Sarah died and took a 2nd wife, Keturah during those 38 years and had 6 sons by her. We don’t know where Keturah was from. Abraham sent her sons off to the east so they wouldn’t interrupt God’s plans for Isaac. They became Arabian tribes. Abraham died at 175, “in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life.” Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah where Sarah was buried. I find it interesting that he died “satisfied with life”. He could have easily been very unsatisfied with life. God had called him to an unknown land 1,000 miles away, and he only found out that he personally would never own any of the land except for the cave he bought to bury Sarah in. He was constantly moving around, being harassed by the Canaanites, dealing with the Philistines and Abimelech. He watched as Sodom went up in smoke. We don’t know if he ever saw Lot again after the destruction of Sodom. He had to take his 318 men and rescue Lot. He tries to plant his seed in a barren woman for 25 years after they enter Canaan (maybe many years before that). He has to send Hagar and Ishmael to wander in the wilderness, thinking they might die there, but he truly loved Ishmael. He almost killed Isaac if God had not stopped him. But Hebrews 11 says it best: 11: 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” 11:13 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. 15 And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” AI says it well: “Abraham died satisfied because his contentment came from his relationship with God and seeing God’s promises unfold, rather than from having an easy life or possessing the land completely. Abraham looked past his immediate hardships and lived with a long-term, eternal perspective. His deepest sense of fulfillment came from walking closely with God, who guided him step-by-step through every trial. Even though he lived as a nomad and did not own the entire promised land, he lived to see Isaac grow and his family begin to multiply, fulfilling God’s promise to make him the father of many nations.” He was looking for a city whose builder was God. I’m not sure what they means but it had to be an eternal spiritual place after death! Enjoy the song “Looking for a city”, Gaither style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlcG8PJ9VK0

Genesis 25 has the 7th “these are the generations of” with “these are the records of the generations of Ishmael” in 25:12. Ishmael lived 137 years and settled in “defiance of all his relatives”, i.e the descendants of Abraham and Isaac.

Then we come to the 8th “generations of” with “these are the records of the generations of Isaac” (25:19-35:29).

Genesis 25 closes with the birth of Isaac and Rebekah’s 2 sons, Jacob and Esau. Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and 60 when the twins were born. Twins but totally different looking, with totally different personalities. Esau was a hunter, the favorite child of Isaac and Jacob, the favorite of Rebekah, “lived in tents”. God told Rebekah that the older would serve the younger, and that proved to be true as Esau was the firstborn but Jacob was the one through whom the promises to Abraham would be fulfilled. A little lengthy but we need to look at Romans 9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as [g]descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” I highlighted the reason God chose the older to serve the younger. He wanted to make it known that His plans are ultimately not based on our works or goodness but b/c of His power. Sure, he perhaps looked into the minds and hearts of the twins when they would grow up and decided that Esau would not appreciate his birthright so Jacob would be the better choice to fulfill the promises to Abraham. But Jacob had so many flaws, was he really a better choice than Esau? Ultimately, he was the better choice to carry on the seed line of Jesus despite his flaws. Paul then quotes Malachi 1:2-3 “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated”. Perhaps the “hated Esau” refers to the dislike God came to have of the descendants of Esau who persecuted Isaac’s descendants down through the centuries. Esau proved to be unworthy of the chosen line of Jesus b/c he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew. He “despised his birthright” (24:34). Jacob ended up in Egypt in old age, trusting God to fulfill the promises He had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He made sure his bones would be buried in Canaan, not Egypt.

Well that accomplishes my purpose of catching up to where I first started the readings on Aug 31 with Genesis 26-30. I hope you have had time to read all these chapters and the blogs that go with them. And then keep up with the current daily readings.

Thanks for reading .

AUG 29. READ GENESIS 16-20

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Genesis 16: El Roi. The Lord God (Yahweh) Who Sees Me. When Sarai drove Hagar from her presence into the wilderness, the angel of the Lord appeared and assured her that her son by Abraham (which was Sarai’s idea) would be blessed with many descendants. She was surprised that she was still alive after seeing God as the angel of the Lord was perhaps the pre-incarnate Jesus and thus God. She called the angel, “You are a God who sees”. She realized that He noticed her deep pain and isolation. She also named the nearby well Beer-lahai-roi, meaning “well of the Living One who sees me”.
Life Lesson: AI: “This name highlights that God sees the outcasts, the vulnerable, and the forgotten. To be “seen” by God means He fully understands personal suffering, distress, and individual circumstances with compassion. It reassures believers that no hidden place or lonely situation escapes God’s notice.” This name is only used once in the Old Testament. Do you ever wonder if God is watching you suffer, when you are depressed, when you are in trouble, when you are afraid, when you are discouraged? A good parent is always watching his/her children. He/she sees them when they are having difficulties and goes to help. It doesn’t always seem that the Lord is watching us like that when we have difficulties. But he is. He might not bail us out immediately, but He will always give us the strength we need to handle the difficulties. The next time you face such, just say the name “El Roi” and remember the lesson from Hagar. Hagar had her child Ishmael when Abraham was 86. Ishmael would become the father of the Arabs and of course, the Muslims. AI: “Muslims view Ishmael in Islam as a major prophet, a righteous man of deep faith, and the ancestral patriarch of northern Arab peoples. Unlike the biblical narrative, Islamic tradition teaches that Abraham was commanded to sacrifice Ishmael, not Isaac, in Genesis 22. According to Ishmael | Meaning, Facts, & Significance, Ishmael and Abraham together built and purified the Kaaba in Mecca as a house for the worship of the one true God. Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad is a direct descendant of Ishmael.”

Genesis 17: When Abraham was 99 (Sarah was 89) God renewed his promise with Abraham to multiply his descendants and give them the promised land. He changes Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah. He then gives the covenant of circumcision for all male descendants when 8 days old. Also Abraham and all his servants were circumcised at that time. God then tells Abraham that he will a son by Sarah in one year’s time. Abraham’s response is a little surprising: Genesis 17: 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” This sounds contradicotry to what Paul said in Romans 4:18 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” It sure looks in Genesis 17 like he “wavered”, doesn’t it? He seems perfectly content to just have Ishmael as his descendant that would be multiplied. I saw this on AI: “Abraham’s laughter in Genesis 17:17 is best understood as an expression of awe, wonder, and stunned amazement rather than cynical disbelief, which resolves the tension with Paul’s description in Romans 4.” I’m sorry but I can’t buy that. He questioned in hs heart silently, “how can a child be born to a man 100 years old and a woman 90 years old”? He told God that he wanted his descendants to come through Ishmael. God had to tell him “No”, your descendants to fulfill the promises will be through Isaac not Ishmael. That sounds like wavering and doubt. My conclusion to this dilemma is that he did have a moment of doubt and wavering, but then obeyed God and went right back into Sarah to have sex with her and bear that promised child by her. A moment of wavering does not mean that he wavered throug the whole process. It took faith to go have sex at age 100 with a 90 year od woman, fully expecting God to give you a child in one year.

Life Lesson: Have you ever had one of those doubting, wavering moments, when you questioned God on how things would turn out? When you doubted that God was going to do some good thing in your life? When it looked “hopeless, hope against hope” in your difficulties or prospects, did you waver briefly but then come out of that moment with renewed hope in the promises of God? The next time your faith wavers a little think about Abraham and how it all turned out for the good like God promised.

Genesis 18: The 3 men visit Abraham. The story is easy to understand so just a few points that maybe you didn’t notice in your reading. 3 men come to Abraham. 19:1 identifies 2 of them as angels just taking the form of men temporarily. The 3rd men is more than an angel. After the 3 men tell Abraham that he will have a son in one year, 2 of the men head to Sodom and the 3rd man remains, talking with Abraham as Abraham finally asks God to save Sodom if 10 righteous souls could be found (which God agreed to do). Abraham addresses this main figure, the 3rd “man” as Adonai (Lord), and the text interchanges the dialogue directly between Abraham and Yahweh. It is what is called a “theophany” (a physical, visible manifestation of God (Yahweh) taking on human form). Maybe even the pre-incarnate Jesus, the Word, as he delivers the word about the birth of Isaac. Sarah laughs as she is snooping at the tent but denies it! It is encouraging to hear Abraham talk directly and boldlyto the Lord with his requests. Isn’t this what prayer should be, talking directly, humbly, boldly to God, making our requests made known to him? You might even can changed what God had planned to do. As evil as Sodom was, God was going to spare Sodom if 10 righteous souls could be found in the city b/c of the constant, bold intercession of Abraham. God even rescued Lot and his family of 4 even though 10 souls could not be found. Life Lesson: Who knows what disasters or bad things could be avoided for people or what good things could be given to people through your intercession. 1 Timothy 2:1 – “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people”. James 5:16 – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” Ephesians 6:18 – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Genesis 19: The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. You probably know the sordid story. Lot takes the 2 angels into his house (they still lookd like men so did he know they were angels) and the men of Sodom want Lot to bring them out so they can have sex with them! The most surprising part of this story is when Lot offers his 2 virgin daughters to the men to have sex with them instead of with the 2 angels. What laws of hospitality could even remotely suggest doing this? What kind of a man had Lot become that he would do that? 2 Peter 2 comments on Lot’s frustration with the evil in Sodom: 2:6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men 8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds).” If Lor was tormented day by day by the sins in the city, why didn’t he take his family and leave. His wife was probably from Sodom. His 2 daughters were engaged to 2 of the man of Sodom (at least were either straight or bisexual), but the 2 future sons-in-laws thought he was joking about the upcoming destruction of the city. Lot “hesitated” leaving the city so the 1 angels/men take Lot and his family “by the hand” to pull them out of the city and tell them not to look back. I’m sure you know that Lot’s wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt, the falling, fiery briimstone with which God rained destruction on the city. Lot and his 2 daughters are given permission to flee to Zoar while Sodom was being destroyed. Later they fear for their safety in Zoar and flee to a cave in the mountains where his 2 daughters, thinking they are the last 2 women on earth, get Lot drunk and have sex with him to get pregnant. Moabites and Ammonites come from that incestuous relationship. A sad ending as Abraham looks down on the smoke from Sodom. I wonder if he knew at that time that Lot and his 2 daughters had been spared? We are not told what happened to Lot after that. His 2 daughters’ children obviously survived and formed the nations of Moab and Ammon, but we don’t know about Lot. Luke 17 tells us: 29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and [s]brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.” and then adds “Remember Lot’s wife” which would serve as a warning to those fleeing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Life Lesson: Lot lost everything when he moved to Sodom for financial gain. He lost his self respect. He lost the respect of the men of Sodom and his future sons-in-laws. He lost any friends he might have had in Sodom. He lost his wife who turned into a pillar of salt. I wonder if he ever went back to look at that pillar. He lost his daughters to their incest. He lost his companionship with his uncle Abraham. He lost his peace of min as he was tormented day by day with the sins of Sodom. He lost his home and all his possessions that were burned up in Sodom. He was still called “righteous” in 2 Peter 2 so we don’t think he lost his spiritual relationship with Yahweh. We can only hope that he was not drawn into idol worship in Sodom. He lost everything and it started with one simply decision: which land to choose. Choose the one that promises more financial gain but is close to Sodom or choose some land in Canaan away from Sodom. Life is about choices. A friend of mind preached a simple lesson to our high school seniors telling them the 3 main choices in life were 1) To follow God and Jesus. 2) Who you marry. Nothing is guaranteed in marriage even if you marry a Christian, but your odds are better if you do. 3) Your career and all the implications of the career you choose. Perhaps you have already made some bad choices and are reaping what you sowed. Perhaps you have some choices still to make. Make them wisely. Ask God to give you wisdom in your choices and ask the Spirit to guide you.

Chapter 20. Surely Abraham learned from his mistake in Egypt, right? Nope. He goes to Gerar in Philistine territory and tells the same lie, that Sarah is his siter, to keep Abimelech from killing Abraham and taking Sarah to be his wife. Here is where he tells that Sarah is his half sister, which still was a lie to deceive Abimelech. Here we learn that Abraham had told his wife to lie wherever they went telling that Abraham was her brother. Again, Abimelech, not Abraham, is punished even though he innocently took Sarah in the “integrity of his heart”. The women in Abimelech’s household had been made barren b/c of this incident, but after he restored Sarah to Abraham the women were healed. I don’t understand this, but perhaps this is just God’s way of showing that Abraham was a prophet of the one true God (20:7) even if he makes mistakes. Have you ever committed the same sins over and over. Have you ever thought, “I wonder if God gets tired of me confessing the same sins. Maybe he is frustrated with me that I don’t learn from my mistakes.”

I’m about caught up.

AUG 28. READ GENESIS 11-15

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Genesis 11. The first part of Genesis 11 (the Tower of Babel event in verses 1–9) occurs chronologically before a lot of the final dispersion of nations described in Genesis 10. A key clue confirming this is 10:25 Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.” That tells us that aat least some of the genealogies of chapter 10 occurred after the tower of Babel when the earth was divided. Let’s track Shem’s descendants. Shem’s descendants from the flood up to Peleg and Babel are given from 10:21-25 and then 10:21-25 are the descendants of Peleg’s brother Joktan’s 13 sons (not Peleg’s descendants) from the tower of Babel to some time after Babel. Some suggest that 11:1-9 then tells why the earth was divided in the days of Peleg since 10:25 mentioned that. But notice in 11:10 “these are the records of the generations of Shem”. That is the 5th “these are the generations of ” in the outline we used in Genesis 1. So 11:10-17 gives the descendants of Shem from the flood to Peleg and the tower of Babel (covering about 100 years from the flood). Then in 11:18-26 give the descendants of Peleg from Babel to Terah the father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran. I know that sounds confusing but that has to be the way it breaks down. Check it out and you will see.

Genesis 11:1-9 The tower of Babel. This was probably about 100 years after the flood and the descendaants of Ham, Shem, and Japheth during that 100 years are still together instead of spreading out like God told them to. Imagine the mass confusion when God “confused” their languages. Sociologists have a lot of theories about how languages evolved over hundreds of thousands of years, but the Bible says they came about instantly at Babel. Perhaps God even miraculously changed some of their genetic code and that is where different “races” came from even though technically there is just one race, the human race who all came from Adam. Paul said in Acts 17:26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.” Different colors of people and different languages would certainly scatter the people over the earth as God commanded. Here is the map of what it looked like some time after Babel:

Genesis 11:10-26 gives the 5th “generations of ” with the generations of Shem.

Genesis 11:27-25:11 gives the 6th “generations of” with the generations of Terah the father of Abraham, Nahor, and Haran.Terah took Abram, Sara, Lot. Nahor apprently stayed behind in Ur but later relocated to Haran since he is living in Haran in Gensis 24. Lot’s wife is not mentioned as traveling to Haran with Terah, so we assume that he married her after he went to live in Sodom. Terah died in Haaran.

Here is the genealogy of Terah that will be a big part of the rest of Genesis.

Genesis 12:1-3 is the call Abraham received while in Haran. But he was first called while in Ur according to Stephen in Acts 7:2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.” We don’t know how long Abraham lived in Haran but he was 75 when he received his 2nd call while in Haran. God promised 3 things to Abraham: 1) A great nation would descend from him, fulfilled in Israel becoming God’s chosen nation at Mt Sinai. . 2) The Promised Land of Canaan. Joshua 21:43-45 says that, after the conquest of Canaan, Israel got all the land God had promised the. 3) In Abraham’s seed all nations, Jew and Gentile, would be b blessed. Galatians 3:16 says that “seed promise” was fulfilled in Jesus. This 3-fold promise to Abraham is the hub of all Old Testament history.

There are more verses devoted to the faith of Abraham in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 than any other person. They begin with his call: Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” I assume this refers to his calling in Ur. We know that Terah worshipped foreign gods. Joshua 24:2: The Hebrew Bible explicitly states that Terah and his ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River and “served other gods”. Some Jewish legends even have Terah making and selling idols and a young Abraham smashing some of those idols (as in the Turner movie “Abraham”). We don’t know if Terah ever came to have faith in Yahweh. We don’t know how God spoke to Abraham or whether God did any miracles to show Abraham that He was the one true God. But imagine leaving your home and relatives and traveling 1,000 miles to a land you have never even seen just on faith. No visits back to home in Ur even though he could have done so.

Life Lesson: In 1974 my wife and I left Birmingham, Al to travel 2,200 miles to do mission work in Trinidad, West Indies, but we knew where we were going and had monthly support to supply our needs. We had funds to come back to visit our parents in B’ham once every year. Back then, everyone could come to the airline gate to see us off and we had a big crowd as we boarded the plane, including our parents. But I do remember as we sat down in our seats on the plane having a panic attack, thinking “I can’t believe we are doing this! My dad would always bail me out of jams and my mom always sheltered me. No more of that, we were on our own.” After a 10 hour flight, it was a joy to have all the missionaries meet us at the airport and carry us to a missionary’s house for a little welcome party. Abraham did not get anything like that. I had faith to leave our relatives and go to Trinidad b/c I felt that God was calling us to do so, just like God called Abraham, but I had so many guarantees for our 3 years there that it really required very little faith. We could have hopped on a plane and been back in B’ham in half a day at any threat of danger. Abraham lived 75 years in Canaan, constantly surrounded by threats from the Canaanites. What about you? Have you ever felt a strong call from God to make a drastic change in your life, your career, your living location, your business decisions, your separation from relatives that maybe are holding you back? Are you completely ready to leave everything and go where God calls you? I know 2 young people who felt that call after graduating from college to go to Asia to preach the gospel in predominately Buddhist and Muslim countries. They are both married with 2 children each, leaving their parents in the US and carrying those precious children overseas to a distant land. What faith! Don’t be afraid to ask God to call you to do great things for him. William Carey felt the call to leave England in 1792 AD to go preach the gospel to the hundreds of Hindu, unconverted souls in India. He had a famous motto: “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” I hope God will call you to do great things for Him. BTW that doesn’t have to be in a foreign country. He might be calling ou to adopt an orphan locally. That takes great faith. He might call you to take care of widows in your church. He might call you to feed the poor in your area. Be ready to respond.

Here is a great map of Abraham’s journey giving distances:

Stage 1 on the map is from Ur to Haran. Stage 2 is from Haran to Canaan. He left Haran at age 75. When he came to Shechem, he built an altar to God and continued on to the Negev (locate on the map). Stage 3 on the map is from Canaan to Egypt during a famine where he lied to Pharoah, telling him that Sarai was his sister to keep from being killed by Pharoah who wanted to take Sarai as a wife. It’s hard to believe that the man with enough faith to leave everything and go to a land 1,000 miles away would not have enough faith that God would protect him from Pharoah, but Abraham failed this test. Stage 4 on the map is from Egypt back to Canaan. I wonder what Sarai thought of Abraham lying that she was his sister? She had to be afraid as Pharoah took her into his harem, only saved by God sending plagues on Pharoah. How did she feel knowing that her husband was willing to let Phroah take Sarai, have sex with her, and make her his wife? How did it feel knowing she was married to a coward? I bet it was a silent journey on the way back to Canaan. Did Abraham ever apologize to Sarai for this incident? Did his conscience bother him? Why is it that Pharoah gets punished for this deception and not Abraham? Technically Sarah was actually Abraham’s half-sister through their father, Terah, not their mother (Genesis 20:12) but this is still a lie, a cowardly deception. My mother called it an “Abrahamic lie” when she wanted to stretch the truth a little! We all laughed at that.

Life Lesson: We all have our moments of great faith and we all have our moments of weak faith. I know what my weak spots are. I know what I can handle with faith and what I have panic attacks over due to a lack of faith. I think back to some of my moments of weak faith and how I responded and am embarrassed by them. I almost had a nervous breakdown over an incident where I was afraid of being sued and was sleeping about an hour only each night for a month worrying. A friend carried me to a lawyer who assured me everything would be fine and I slept good that night for the first time in a month. I could have found that same relief from my worries a month earlier if I had more faith. What about you? Have you ever had your “Abraham in Egypt” panic attack where you resort to human tactics b/c of your lack of faith? Are you in the middle of one of those moments right now? Trust God and things will be just fine!

Genesis 13 and 14 tell about Abraham’s split with Lot b/c their herds were too big to stay together and it was causing conflict among their herdsmen. Abraham could have chosen the best land and sent Lot off looking for land, but he gave Lot the first choice of land. Lot chose land near the sinful city of Sodom and that was the beginning of Lot’s troubles. The land near Sodom was well watered (like the garden of Eden) and no doubt Lot could increase his wealth near a big city like Sodom. He probably found and married his wife there. Her faith in Yahweh is questionable since she didn’t obey the angels to not look back when leaving Sodom. While living in Sodom, 5 Canaanite kings attacked Sodom and carried Lot captive. Abraham and 318 of his men travelled 170 miles to Dan to rescue Lot. After the rescue, Lot had one last chance to get out of Sodom but he returned to live in Sodom. It only goes downhill after that as we will see in Genesis 18-19.

Genesis 14: On Abraham’s return from rescuing Lot, he was met by Melchizadek, king of Salem and high priest of the God Most High (El Elyon) who blessed Abraham and then Abraham gave the king a tenth. There is no info on Melchizadek. We don’t know how God appointed him to serve in pagan, Canaanite, Salem (later the cite of Jerusalem). Did he work to convert the pagans in Salem to Yahweh? Did he have any success? How long had he been in Salem? It will be fascinating one day to let him tell us about what all he did in Salem! What we do know from the writer of Hebrews (and from Psalm 110) that Jesus was high priest after the order of Melchizadek and not Levi (Hebrews 7). The writer tells us that Melchizadek was superior to Abraham b/c he blessed Abraham and the greater always blesses the lesser. He then used a math axiom: if a>b and b>c, then a>c. I’m sure you all remember that axiom from you math classes in middle school (LOL). If Melchizadek (a) > Abraham (b) > Levi (c) (Abraham would be greater than his descendant Levi), then Mechizadek (a) > Levi (c) and Jesus is high priest after a greater priestly order than Levi. The priesthood of Levi was done away with and replaced by the high priesthood of Jesus. Jesus’ priesthood was superior in that he was not a sinner and did not die (forever) like the Levitical priests. What a strange character Melchizadek was to base such a critical New Covenant doctrine on.

Genesis 15: Abraham questions God’s promise to give him descendants to make up a great nation. Abraham would be 85 now, having spent 10 years trying to have a child with his 75 year old barren wife Sarai. He was getting frustrated and began to have doubts about God’s promises. Then comes a great moment in Abraham’s faith. God shows him the stars and promises Abraham that his descendants would be countless like the stars. It says, Genesis 15:6 Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” The apostle Paul used this verse to say that Abraham was justified by faith and not works. Romans 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” So was Abraham not saved when he left Ur by faith? He could not have obeyed God’s call to leave his homeland without a prior, saving trust in God. But doesn’t Genesis 15:6 sound like that was the moment his faith saved him? AI: Genesis 15:6 is generally understood not as the exact moment Abraham was first saved, but as an explicit, landmark confirmation and record of the faith he already possessed.” His faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness”. Paul comments on that also: Romans 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,” The Hebrew word for “reckoned” in Genesis 15:6 is chashab: To think, plan, reckon, account, consider, devise, esteem. The Greek word for “reckoned” is logizomai: To reckon, to consider, to account, to think, to impute. Both carry the idea of something that is credited or put into your spiritual “account” that you can’t possibly have on your own. AI: “The phrase “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” comes from Isaiah 64:6, meaning that human moral efforts and good deeds cannot earn salvation or match God’s absolute holiness.” God puts His own righteousness in our account to save us. We are given righteousness that is not our own, that is imputed to us. Picture this. You owe millions of dollars but you don’t have money in your bank account to pay your debt. Someone comes in to the bank, and puts millions of dollars in your account to pay off your debt. That’s what God did for Abraham. That’s what Jesus did for us! 1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His (God’s) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Imputed righteousness is a free gift by grace through faith. It can’t be earned. Do you have that righteousness?

God then gives Abraham a confirmation of the land promise but also reveals a few things that He had not yet told Abraham.He tells him the full extent of the borders of the promised land. He also tells him that he will never personally own the promised land, but that it would be given to his descendants, and only after 400 years of slavery in a foreign land. Would Israel actually be in slavery in Egypt for 400 years? AI: “Based on generational timelines and the age of Moses (who was 80 at the Exodus and born after the oppression began), estimates for the actual period of hard bondage and enslavement range roughly between 80 and 144 years, even though the broader family lived or sojourned in the region for much longer.” There was no slavery until after Joseph died and they came out in the 4th generation (Isaac/Jacob/Levi/Amram) and that can’t be a full 400 years. AI: “This 400 year span encompasses a combined period of living in Canaan and actual servitude in Egypt, leading up to the 430-year total span mentioned in Exodus 12:40 (which counts from the initial unconditional covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15).” Was Abraham disappointed to only learn after 10 years in Canaan then he personally would never own the land? He did buy a cave to bury Sarah, but that was it. Again, the writer of Hebrews. Did he think, “God, why didn’t you tell me this before I left Ur. I might have reconsidered leaving Ur if I knew I would never actually own the land.” I don’t think so. Hebrews 11″9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” I don’t know what he envisioned as “the city whose builder is God”. Was it eternal life with God in some heavenly city?

God then confirms his promise with a strange but apparently common method of confirming covenants back then. Genesis 15:9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces.” The smoking oven and torch is God’s passing between the pieces. I’m not sure why God used those two things to represent Himself. Apparently only God passed between the pieces and not Abraham.

Wow! Some great stuff from Genesis 11-15. Hope this helped understand those chapters.

AUG 27 READ GENESIS 6-10

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Genesis 6 brings us to the 3rd “generations”: 6:9 the records of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.  Noah 10 Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

First issue to be discussed:Who were the “sons of God” and who were the “daughters of men” that they married. The Book of Enoch said that the sons of God were angels who came down, married earthly women and bore a race of giants, the Nephilim. Here’s AI about the book of Enoch:

The Book of Enoch states that a group of 200 angels called “Watchers” lusted after human women, descended to Earth, and took them as wives. This illicit sexual union defiled the women, introduced forbidden magic, and produced a race of violent giant offspring known as the Nephilim.

The Descent of the Watchers
Two hundred angels swore an oath on Mount Hermon to leave heaven and find human wives.
Led by figures like Semiaza and Azazel, they coupled with the women and defiled themselves.

Corruption and Forbidden Knowledge
The angels taught women charms, sorcery, making weapons coosmetics.
This spread immense wickedness and lawlessness across the earth.

The Offspring (The Nephilim)
The women gave birth to giants 300 cubits tall (450 feet).
These giants consumed the food of mankind and
eventually turned on humans and animals to devour them and drink their blood.

Divine Judgment
God condemned the rebellious angels, having them bound and imprisoned in the depths of the earth until the final judgment.
He also sent a great flood to cleanse the earth of the destruction caused by the giants.

  • Not in Standard Bibles: The text is not part of the standard Hebrew Bible or mainstream Christian Old/New Testaments.It was not written by Enoch who did not die but was carried to heaven. It was probably written between 3rd century BC and 1st century AD. The fact that the book of Enoch says that the women gave birth to giants 450 feet tall makes it pretty unbelievable and mythological.
  • Ethiopian Canon: It is accepted as canonical scripture only within the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Church.
  • Historical Influence: Early Jewish and Christian writers read the book widely, and the New Testament book of Jude directly quotes a line from 1 Enoch. Fragments of it were also discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Could angels come down to earth and have sex with earthly women? Jesus said in Matthew 22:30 that angels do not marry but it doesn’t say they could not marry. I guess anything is possible but I think that the “sons of God” were the descendants of the line of Seth who worshipped the one true God. Genesis 4:26 To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.” They began to marry the ungodly descendants of Cain which led to widespread moral decay. That produced a race of giants (Nephilim), a race of “men of renown”, or at least a race of powerful tyrannical rulers.The 10 spies reported seeing Nephilim. Numbers 13:33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” So it does seem that the Nephilim were giants like Goliath. If the sons of God were the descendants of Seth and not angels, why would their marriage to the daughter descendants of Cain produce giants? That might make us lean toward the sons of God being angels but I just don’t believe angels came down and had sex with women. Also these sons of God married the daughters of men. That implies that they were on earth long enough to establish marriages instead of just one-time sexual relations and then head back to heaven. So, I can’t explain how the descendants of Seth marrying the daughters of men created a race of giants. It is interesting that “Gotquestions.org”, which is usually pretty conservative, says that the sons of God were fallen angels! It comments: “Early Jewish interpreters and apocryphal and pseudepigraphal writings are unanimous in holding the view that fallen angels are the sons of God mentioned in Genesis 6.” Of course, he is including the book of Enoch in that comment which is not accepted as authentic by most Christian scholars.

That brings up another question that bothers me. Did the flood wipe out all the giants on the earth? It seems for certain that the flood wiped out all the Nephilim (whoever they were) on thee land wiped out by the flood. But then after the flood there are still giants like Goliath (and his brothers) and the Nephilim that the spies saw in Canaan. Where did they come from if giants over the entire earth were wiped out by the flood? Apparently there were giants on places like Easter Island who created and moved statues weighing 12-14 tons and 13 feet tall (some much heavier and taller). Hod did giants come to live on Easter Island. There were only 8 people surviving the flood (Noah, his wife, his 3 sons and their wives). How could giants come from one of those 8 people? Some have suggested that one of Noah’s daughter in laws had the genes to produce giants but that is pure speculation. There is another theory that might sound like heresy but here it is! Is it possible that Noah’s flood only wiped out the people in the Mesopotamian valley of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and not all people all over the earth? But didn’t God say that He was going to blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land? Yes, He did, but that language might not be strictly speaking of all mankind on all the continents of the earth. AI discusses this possibility:

Yes, biblical scholars and linguists argue that phrases like “all the earth” and “all the people” in Noah’s flood can be interpreted as a local or regional flood rather than a planet-wide cataclysm.

Arguments for Local Language

  • Hebrew Word Meanings: The Hebrew word erets translated as “earth” or “land,” frequently refers to a specific local territory, country, or region (like the “land” of Egypt) rather than the physical globe.
  • Universal Idioms (Hyperbole): Biblical writers often use universal terms like kol (“all” or “whole”) as hyperbole or naked-eye observation to mean “all within the writer’s known horizon or experience”. For instance, Exodus 9:25 says “all the trees of the field were broken” by hail in Egypt, yet Pharaoh’s crops elsewhere survived. Or the gospel would be preached to the whole world by 70 AD (Matthew 24:14), which it was according to Paul (Colossians 1:23) the “gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven,” The apostles did preach the gospel to the whole Roman Empire, but not to every person on earth as the language might imply.
  • Contextual Clues: Scholars pointing to a regional event note that Genesis 8:5 mentions mountaintops becoming visible while the surrounding “earth” remained flooded, which fits a regional Mesopotamian basin view better than a globe-spanning ocean.

Arguments Against Local Language

  • Repetition and Emphasis: Traditional interpreters argue that Genesis repeatedly uses comprehensive modifiers—such as “all the high mountains under the whole heaven”—to deliberately rule out a mere local event. But counter: does that language necessitate all the mountains over the whole earth?
  • The Logic of the Ark: Critics of the local theory ask why God would command Noah to spend decades building a massive ark and gathering regional/flying animals instead of simply telling him to migrate to a safe region. But counter: the flood could have been local but large enough to kill animals and people in the Mesopotamian Valley and requiring that Noah build such a large ark. If animals had to come from all over the earth, then that is possible but difficult to see animals coming from all the continents of earth coming even if pangea is still the case when the flood came.
  • New Testament and Covenant: Passages like the rainbow promise or Jesus and Peter’s comparisons treat the event as a total, universal judgment, which opponents argue is undermined by recurring local floods. But counter: The judgement Peter predicted in 2 Peter 3: 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men” is actually only predicting the judgment on the Jews in 70 AD and a spiritual new heavens and earth (not literal) that was fulfilled in the new Messianic system. Peter’s language also sounds like he is predicting universal destruction of the heavens and earth but he is only referring to a local judgment. So when he refers to the Noah destruction of the heavens and earth and ungodly men, he could also be referring to a local Noah flood. Counter on the rainbow point: The rainbow is indeed seen all across the earth and it is a promise not to ever do a flood as extensive (even if it was just a local flood) Mlike the Noah flood (even though there have been many local floods) but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Noah flood was universal.

Where does Pangea come into all this? Pangea was a giant supercontinent that joined all of Earth’s landmasses together into one single land piece. That does appear to be true when you look at a map of how the continents could seem to fit together. Genesis 1 suggests that the land on earth was one piece: Genesis 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.” If Pangea is true, then when did the continents separate? Old earth advocates say they separated one inch at a time over 100’s of millions of years, but I am a young earth (a 6,000 year old earth: see the blog article on Genesis 1-5) so I can’t accept that. I think the continents separated at the flood. The flood could have been local but large enough to separate them b/c it says the all the fountains of the great deep burst open (Genesis 7:11) so that could have produced the shift in the tectonic plates that would separate the continents. That would explain why scientists found identical plant and animal fossils on continents that are now separated by wide oceans.and matching rock layers and mountain ranges appear across different sides of the Atlantic Ocean. That would also explain how animals and people (if the flood was a local flood killing only the people in the Mesopotamian Valley) came to be on all the continents. If it was a local flood, there were still people and animals on the continents as they quickly were separated and you would have people and animals in all the continents not destroyed by the flood. Universal flood advocates say that after the flood, people and animals migrated to the separated continents by drifting across on rafts or land bridges across temporary shallow seas, but I find that hard to believe. Noah’s flood was around 2350 BC. The tower of Babel was about 100 years after the flood when those surviving the flood and their descendants were not separated across the earth. Even a very conservative estimate is that early Mayan civilizations were present around 2,000 BC. Think about all the people and animals just in South America coming about by drifting on rafts across the ocean within a few hundred years after the Noah flood. I find that implausible. It makes more sense to me that the people and animals living when the continents separated were simpy carried to their new continent locations and continued to thrive and reproduce. After all, it appears that God was angry with a specific group of the descendants of Seth and descendants of Cain and not angry with people in South America (or other distant locations) So why would God destroy all the people in Pangea with a flood? BTW if the Noah flood was local but extensive, and if the fountains of the deep opened up causing the continents to separate, that would have produced massive flooding over the continents as they separated. That might explain how young earth advocates find signs of floods all over the earth. But there could be flooding all over the earth at the time of Noah’s local flood without destroying all men and animals on all the earth. That could also explain why there are so many flood myths of different cultures. There are about 300 flood myths all over the earth (like the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh which dates to around 2,000 BD). Many of them have details similar to Noah’s local flood. If continents separated at Noah’s flood, then people on all the continents would have some knowledge perhaps of the Noah local flood and then added their own myths and gods to the Noah flood story. Likewise with the people at the tower of Babel who separated across Europe, Asia, and Africa after the tower of Babel. Those people certainly knew about Noah’s flood but were rebellious and God confused their languages which caused them to migrate to Europe, Asia, and Africa. They simply added their own myths and gods to the original Noah flood story. Why do we believe that the Noah flood story is not just a myth like the other 300 flood stories? Many Bible believers would simply say, “B/c Moses in Genesis said it happened.” But I point to the fact that Jesus said that it happened. Matthew 24:37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Jesus was the Son of God and we can trust what he says. He was also with the Father all through the Old Testament history, so He was actually watching the flood as it happened. The Holy Spirit inspired apostle Peter also said the Noah flood really happened. BTW Jesus is predicting his coming in judgment on the Jews in 70 AD which was only a local judgment and not a judgment of all the people on all the continents. 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.” 2 Peter 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly.”

But what about the dinosaraurs? Were there dinosaurs on the ark? Scientists tell us that dinosarus died out 60 million years ago and modern man only appeared 300,000 years ago. But the Bible says that God created both man and land animals on day 6, so according to the Bible dinosaurs and man co-existed and lived the same time. There is plenty of evidence of that. Many drawings made by ancient peoples that clearly show dinosaurs that they saw. There are many legends about dinosaurs over the past 2,000 years that appear to be factua firsthand sightings of dinosaurs. So yes there were dinosaurs on the ark. The book of Job (Job 40) even mentions 2 dinosaurs, Behemoth and Leviathon, that God created. So what happened to the dinosaurs? Scientists say a comet somehow wiped out all the dinosaurs but not all the other animals but that is wild speculation. They just became extinct like 2,500 other species of animals have become extinct over the past 2,000 years.

Most of the Genesis 6-10 account of the flood is easy to understand so I won’t review it all. A few points. Critics refute that all the animals could not fit on the ark, but the ark was massive (as the Ark Museum in Kentucky shows) and had the space of 550 railway box cars. Plus Noah only took “kinds” of each animal, so they could indeed all fit on the ark. They were on the ark about one year. God allowed man to eat meat after the flood (before the flood they only ate vegetables). Capital punishment was demanded by God for murder. He makes no distinction between premeditated murder and manslaughter like Moses did in the Law later. The rainbow is indeed a beautiful reminder that the flood did occur (whether universal or local). After they got off the ark, Noah planted a vineyard, got durnk, and got naked! Ham saw his father’s nakedness and told the brothers, but did nothing to remove the embarrassment of this incident. Shem and Japheth covered Noah’s nakedness. Strange story. What actually did Ham do that was so wrong? Did he mock his father and gossip about it to his brothers? Is there something more perverse to what he did as some suggest? It just seems that he “saw and told” and was guilty of disrespect. But what about Noah getting drunk? The man who saved the world got drunk and set a terrible example for his family. Some suggest that he was unfamiliar with the effects of alcohol, but shouldn’t he have realized the effects after drinking a few sips? Some suggest that he was suffering from post tramatic stress from years of building the ark and spending a year on the ark with all those animals! I guess we could understand that if that was the case! Also weird is that Noah didn’t accept any blame for getting drunk and naked. Instead he cursed, not Ham, but Ham’s son Canaan to be a servant to the descendants of Shem and Japheth. A lot of weird stories in the Bible!

Noah lived 350 years after the flood for a total of 950 years. He was 500 when he had his 3 sons and about 600 when the flood began. I close with a few slides that might interest you.

I know that’s a lot and I left a lot unanswered questions and gave some speculation. I hope it didn’t cause more confusion than necessary. Keep reading. Catching up on Genesis.

AUG 26. READ GENESIS 1-5

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I only started the 5 chapters/day and matching blog articles late so I wanted to catch up on the ones I missed. Maybe, if you are currently on schedule with the daily readings, you might want to do some binge reading on the ones I messed starting in Genesis 1 and read these catch up blogs that I will be dong!

What is the best outline of Genesis? I have seen many good ones, but the best is the one Moses used.

Notice that Abraham, a main character, does not have his own “generations”. He (as well as Isaac) falls under generations of Terah, his father. Same with Joseph, who has 13 chapters devoted to him. His generations fall under Jacob.

Genesis 1. The big debate is over the length of the days in Genesis 1 and the age of the earth. But before we dig into that, let’s not fail to praise God for His creation of all things. He spoke all things into existence from nothing. For a long time, scientists belileved that the universe was eternal. But then the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics says that everything is always moving into a higher state of entropy or disorder. Things wear out. Stars are burning out. So if the universe was eternal, it would have already deteriorated into chaos and not the design that we see in the universe and life itself. But scientists now believe that the earth had a beginning when there was nothing and that the earth (and the universe) somehow created itself from nothing. But then the 1st Law of Thermodynamics says that all matter and energy in the universe is constant. If there was ever nothing, there would still be nothing. Scientists admit these inconsistencies in their theories and say, “Science will figure it out some day.” They are asking you to trust science. But Moses said, “Here is how God did it!” But if every effect must have an adequate cause (the law of causality), then someone will say, “If God created everything, then who created God?” Creationists believe that God was (is) a supernatural cause of all things. Yes, that takes faith. But the alternative is that the universe created itself from nothing, and that is totally unscientific. Which theory is more reasonable and plausible? It helps that God gave so many predictive prophecies in the Old Testament that all came true with 100% accuracy. It helps that God did many miracles (but of course science rejects miracles). It helps a lot that God raised Jesus from the dead. Acts 17:31 says that God gave “proof” that Jesus is the judge of all by the resurrection of Jesus. Then there is the incredible design of the universe and life that simply could not happen by mere chance. The design of all the systems in the human body, the periodic table with each element adding one proton to its nucleus, the over 30 physical constants that must be finely tuned for life to exist, the complexity of the cell, the complexity of DNA, etc. Design demands a designer. If you see a new hosue, you think, “Someone built it and someone designed it”. The evidence for “intelligent design” is so overwhelming that Paul said in Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” There is no excuse for a person to be an atheist. It has to be his pride and intellectual arrogance that keeps him/her from believing in God.

It’s interesting how many times the Psalms praise God for his creation of the universe and evertything in it. Then add Revelation 4.

  • Psalm 8: Reflects the creation of humanity and order of the cosmos, echoing Genesis 1.
  • Psalm 19: Celebrates the heavens declaring the glory of God and the order of day and night.
  • Psalm 33: Depicts creation by God’s spoken word (“he spoke, and it came to be”), directly mirroring Genesis 1.
  • Psalm 74: Recalls God crushing sea monsters and establishing light, day, and night.
  • Psalm 104: Provides a grand poetic sweep of the creation account, matching the specific order and elements of Genesis 1 (light, waters above, mountains, animals, and seasons).
  • Psalm 136: Praises God for making the heavens, earth, sun, moon, and stars with “understanding.”
  • Psalm 148: Calls all created elements, cosmic bodies, and creatures to praise the Lord.
  • Revelation 4:11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”
  • Nehemiah 9:5“Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed and exalted above all blessing and praise! 6 “You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them and the heavenly host bows down before You.

So now for the debate. In order to get the millions and billions of years into their atheistic evolutionary teaching, many say that the days in Genesis were millions of years long and not 24 hour days. Here’s are 2 slides that settle that IMO.

Many teach that the Genesis creation account is just a myth. Even many Christians teach that. But Jesus believed it was an historically accurate event. Matthew 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” The apostles Paul by inspiration of the Holy Spirit said that Adam was a the first man, a real person through whom sin entered the world: 1 Corinthians 15:45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” Moses compared the 6 days of creation to the six 24 hour days each week that men work before honoring the Sabbath: Exodus 20:11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” Also on day 4 God created the sun and the moon and said, Genesis 1:16 God made the two great lights, the greater light (the sun) to govern the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to govern the night; He made the stars also.” That is obviously a 24 hour day. BTW that would mean that, at the minimum, days 4, 5,and 6 were 24 hour days. It is on days 5 and 6 that God created all the animals and man on 2 consecutive days, and not the millions of years that evolutionists claim was required for man and animals to evolve. Even “theistic evolutionists” try to make days 5 and 6 millions of years long to try to get their unproven theories of evolution to fit in the Genesis account. God created everything full-grown. Life did not evolve from a single cell. In conclusion, I believe that the 6 days of creation were 24 hour days.

What about the age of the earth? Is it 6 billion years old or 6,000 years old? I don’t believe this is a “heaven/hell doctrine”. We Christians can even disagree on the age of the earth. Many strong Bible believing Christians believe that the earth is 6 billion years old. They cite their scientific proofs and young earth advocates cite their proofs. Here is what I believe. I believe that the Bible claims that the earth is about 6,000 years old based on the genealogical accounts in Genesis 5, 11, and Matthew 1. In Genesis 5 and 11 there are about 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham. In Matthew 1 there are about 2,000 years (42 generations of about 40-50 years each) from Abraham to Jesus. Then there are 2,000 yeas from Jesus to today. That’s 6,000 years from Adam to today, i.e. the Biblical age of the earth. It’ impossible to refute that the Bible claims a 6,000 year old earth even if you dn’t believe that is true.

I’m sure many atheists and Theistic Evolutionists would disagree with this, but to me they are disagreeing with what the Bible clearly claim, i.e. a young earth. If we can’t trust the genealogies in Genesis, why should we trust the rest of Genesis? Why should we trust the miracles in the Old Testament if we can’t trust the creation account in Genesis? Atheists point to radiometric dating to prove a 6 billion year old earth. But, without going into great detail, radiometric dating is based on one big, unprovable, assumption. You have to assume that you know the amount of the mother element that existed in the original sample before you can use the half lives of the decay of the daughter elements to determine how old the sample is. Radiometric dating is unreliable. I think I will stick with the reliable word of God!

Genesis 2 begins with a summary of the creation week. Many people make a big deal about how this summary supposedly contradicts the Genesis 1 account but I don’t believe that it does. Here is a good AI on the supposed contradicion:

Critics often claim a contradiction in the order of creation—specifically regarding animals and plants—between the two chapters. However, these are resolved by looking closely at Hebrew grammar and literary structure:

  • The Creation of Animals (Genesis 2:19): A surface reading of some English translations suggests God formed the animals after making Adam. However, in Hebrew grammar, the verb translated as “formed” can accurately be rendered in the pluperfect tense as “had formed.” This means Genesis 2:19 is not describing a second, later creation of animals, but rather a flashback or summary explaining that God had already created the animals (as stated in Genesis 1) and now brought them to Adam to be named.
  • The Creation of Plants (Genesis 2:5–9): Genesis 2 mentions that certain shrubs and cultivated plants had not yet grown because there was no man to till the ground. This passage refers specifically to the localized agricultural environment of Eden rather than a global re-creation of all botanical life from Day 3 of Genesis 1.
  • Whether we can fully explain all this, I believe Moses wrote Genesis and I can’t fathom him contradicting his Genesis 1 account immediately after he gives it. Instead, the two chapters are widely viewed as complementary narratives with different literary styles and focal points. AI: “‘Genesis 2 functions as a localized, intimate “zoom-in” or close-up on the sixth day. It skips the broad cosmic timeline to focus specifically on humanity, the Garden of Eden, human relationships, and moral responsibility.”

Moving on the the main part of Genesis 2. 1) The command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 2) The creation of woman to be a helper for Adam and the first marriage. Jesus fully believe that this was a real, historical account. Matthew 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” There are several “eternal” principles given in this. God created 2 genders: male and female. The current debate over gender identity is so unbiblical. I can’t even imagine the factors that led to all the confusion. It is pretty obvious how God made man and woman to “fit” together in the sex act. Any homosexual activity is condemned in the Old and New Testaments. Some try to say that the Greek words for “homosexual” where Paul condemns such in 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1 only mean sexual acts with minors. I simply carry them to Romans 1 where there is no ambiguity: Romans 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” Case closed. Debate over. Homosexuality is a sin. Gay marriages are sinful. Marriage is between a man and a woman according to Moses and Jesus. The fact that God said “a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife” says that is an eternal rule for marriage since leaving father and mother wouldn’t even apply to Adam. You are born male or female, period. To change your gender through surgery is going against how God made you, period. One other point. Eve was created as a “helper” for Adam. No “suitable helper” was found for Adam among the animals (tough a dog is a man’s best friend, right?). She would meet his needs for companionship, love, and sexual procreation. But “helper” says that the woman was the helper, not the head person. An electrician’s helper or apprentice is not the one in charge. Paul stated that in Ephesians 5 when he said that the husband is the head of the wife and the wife should be in “submission” to the husband. In 1 Timothy 2 Paul said that women were not to “usurp authority over the men (at least in church affairs) b/c Adam was the first one created and then Eve. But let’s be clear: the husband is to love, cherish, and nourish his wife. He is to appreciate the role God gave her and not take advantage of that. She needs love, appreciation, and support in what she does, especially as she takes the main role in birthing the children and raising them. Conclusion: if we just followed God’s pattern set up in Genesis 2, we wouldn’t be in this moral mess we are in today. We are in this mess b/c many don’t believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God. Also, if you believe the Genesis account of creation is a myth, none of thse principles really exist.

Genesis 3 The fall of man. The serpent was Satan. Revelation 20: 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan. When did Satan enter or become a serpent? Where did Satan come from? We think that he was a beautiful angel who fell from heaven due to pride (Ezekiel 28). In his discussion with the woman, Satan questioned the reason God gave the rule not to eat of rhe forbidden tree. He said God just didn’t want Adam and Eve to be like God, knowing good and evil. Satan has always tried to tell people that God’s laws are simply to deprive us of joy and pleasure. But God’s laws might test our obedience to God, but they are also for our own good. Deuteronomy 6: 24 So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.” They are for our good in giving us eternal life in the next life if we obey God, but they are also for our good in this life. Living just to satisfy the lusts of the flesh and of the eye and the pride of life does not bring true happiness, only misery. It’s interesting that it was Eve who first sinned by eating from the forbidden tree but Paul says that sin entered the world through one man, Adam (Roans 5:12). Is that b/c Adam failed in not leading his wife in opposing Satan and thus Adam is responsible for the fall? It is also interesting that Paul says that Eve was deceived by the devil’s lies, but Adam wasn’t (1 Timothy 2:12ff). That means that he heard the same lies as Eve did, so why didn’t he step up and help his wife resist?

Then come the curses on the serpent, on Eve, and on Adam. The most notable one is Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The seed of Satan will deliver a minor blow (to the heel) to the seed of woman (referring to Jesus) but the seed of woman (Jesus) will deliver a major blow to the seed of Satan. Indeed, Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He came tro cast Satan into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 20:19). The devil did give a blow to Jesus when he persuaded the Jews and the Romans to crucify Jesus, but Jessu arose from the dead after that so the blow was not fatal. But Jesus delivered a major blow to Satan and his power.

I find it interesting that God already planned to send Jesus to save sinners even before the creation of man. 1 Peter 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.” That means that God knew that man, having been given freewill choice, would sin and that a loving God would one day in the distant future send His Son Jesus to die for sinners. God even put that forbidden tree in the garden, knowing that man would eat from the tree and sin and would therefore need salvation from sin b/c the justice of God demands punishment for sin. Why would God put that forbidden tree in the garden if He knew Adam and Eve would eat from it and sin? If God had not put that forbidden tree in the garden, would Adam and Eve have lived forever in a perfect garden, and if so, what would mankind after Adam and Eve be like? A lot of unanswered questions that I leave with your imagination. But it is what it is. We all sin like Adam and Eve did. Jesus died for our sins. Praise God.

Genesis 4. Cain and Abel. My question on Cain and Abel is this: why did God reject Cain’s offering of fruit? Was it b/c he offered fruit instead of Abel’s firstlings of his flocks? Was it b/c he lacked the sincere faith by which Abel offered a “better sacrifice” than Cain (Hebrews 11:4)? How was Abel’s sacrifice “better”? Better b/c of Abel’s attiude or b/c it was an animal? 1 John 3 tells us a little more about Cain: 3:11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.” He did not love his brother Abel. He was envious of Abel pleasing God. But he did not want to repent and ask God what he should do to please God. Instead, he became angry and his countenance (his facial expression and body language) had fallen. God told him, “5:7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Life lesson: Isn’t sin always crouching at the door with us, waiting to catch us at a weak moment? There was no mention of the devil tempting Cain. His own lusts caused him to become envious and commit murder. But we must “master” sin and show it who is boss, who is in control. Do you have a lust you have trouble saying no to? Has sin caused your countenance to fall and make you angry, bitter, envious, unforgiving, unloving, etc.?

Ok, where did Cain get his wife? The critics of the Bible always ask that! It says he went to Nod and had relations with his wife. It doesn’t say he found her in Nod. Cain had to have married a niece or sister or cousin. Adam and Eve hand many children after Cain and Abel (Genesis 5:4). You had to marry a relative to populate the earth. Tubal-cain was the great great great great gandson of Cain and he was the forger of al instruments of bronze and iron (5:22). Adam lived 930 years and Tubal-cain was born before Adam died. Point being, within about 1,000 years of the creation of Adam there was forging or iron and bronze instruments. There was no “milions” of years of primitive man who could not speak a language, who used crude tools. The first men were civilized, could speak intelligently, and could make and use tools. They could play lyres and harps (5:21). Chapter 4 closes with the birth of Seth to replace Abel. The seed line of Jesus would come through Seth.

Chapter 5. Notice 5:1 this is the book of the generations of Adam (the 2nd “generations” of the outline given at the first of this blog Here is a slide of this chapter. Jesus would come from Seth. Enoch walked with God and God took him (he did not die). Methuselah lived the longest, 969 years.

Here is that slide again showing how much their lives overlapped!

Chapter 5 ends: 5:32 Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” We are getting close to Noah and the flood!

Getting caught up! Keep reading every day.

OCT 8 READ JUDGES 5-9

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Judges 5. The song of Deborah and Barak. This is a victory song that I assume was actually sung to some tune. I would love to hear the original and maybe one day we can get Deborah to sing it for us! In the meantime, I found this rendition of the song of Deborah using the exact words in Judges 5 so please listen to it. Notice vs 8: Barak’s men had “no shield or spear”, maybe his men got the weapons from the panicking army of Sisera after their chariots were swept away by the flooding waters of the Kishon River (flooding rains that God sent); vs 9-11 the volunteer, peasant army of Barak; vs 18 Zebulun and Naphtali were especially praised as Judges 4:6 states that the main army of 10,000 men came from those two tribes; vs 21-22 the torrent waters of Kishon that mired and immobilized the 900 iron chariots of Sisera; vs 21-24 the heroic efforts of Jael deceiving Sisera and then driving a tent peg through his temple; vs 28-30 a little imagination, Sisera’s mom wondering why Sisera hasn’t returned victorious from the battle. Judges 4:7 somehow Deborah drew Sisera’s men and chariots to the Kishon River and then God sent rains to flood the river. 5:31 “And the land was undisturbed for forty years.” Now listen to this rendition of Deborah’s song using the exact words in Judges 5.

Judges 6-8 Gideon defeats the Midianites who had oppressed Israel for 7 years. Here is a good AI summary:

Background and Calling

  • Midianite Oppression: Israel faced seven years of poverty and raids by the Midianites because of their disobedience to God.
  • The Angel’s Visit: God called Gideon while he was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from enemies. An angel called him a “mighty warrior,” though Gideon felt weak and insignificant. The angel consumes with fire an offering prepared by Gideon.
  • Destroying Idols: God told Gideon to tear down his town’s altar to the pagan god Baal. Gideon obeyed at night, earning the nickname Jerubbaal. The men of the city wanted to kill Gideon for doing this but Gideon’s father said to them, “Can;t Baal contend for himself?”
  • The Fleece Sign: Doubting his ability, Gideon asked God for proof by testing a wool fleece with dew. God proved Himself by making the fleece wet and the ground dry, then vice versa.

The Defeat of Midian

  • The 300 Soldiers: God reduced Gideon’s army of 32,000 down to just 300 men so Israel would know the victory came from God, not human strength. 22,000 of the 32,000 were allowed to leave b/c they were afraid, leaving 10,000 who were tested with how they drank water and 9,700 of those were seent away, leaving 300. The Midianites had 135,000 men!
  • The Night Attack: Armed only with trumpets, clay jars, and torches, the 300 men surrounded the enemy camp at night. They blew the trumpets, smashed the jars, and shouted.
  • The Victory: Panic struck the Midianite army, causing them to turn on and fight each other, allowing Israel to win the battle. Gideon’s men killed 120,000 of the 135,000 Midianite army. Gideon chased down the 2 kings of Midian and the last 15,000 Midianites, killing them. Gideon killed many of the men of Succoth who had refused to help Gideon capture the 2 kings and their armies.

Later Life

  • Refusing Kingship: Grateful Israelites asked Gideon to rule as king, but he refused, stating that God alone ruled over them.
  • The Ephod: Gideon later made a religious object called an ephod out of gold from the spoils of war, which unfortunately became an idol trap for the Israelites and a snare to Gideon..
  • Peaceful Era: Israel enjoyed 40 years of peace during the remainder of Gideon’s lifetime. Gideon had 70 sons by his many wives and a son named Abimelech by his concubine.

My comments on Gideon. There are a lot of heroic leaders of Israel and heroic judges like Deborah, but Gideon is the reluctant, fearful judge. He is beating out his wheat in a winepress in fear of the Midianites. He said the Lord had abandoned Israel, citing the oppression of the Midianites and the lack of current miracles. He makes an excuse that he is too young to lead Israel. He asks for a sign from the angel talking to him and the angel consumes his offering with fire. He obeys God by destroying his father’s altars to Baal and Asherah but he does so at night out of fear of being caught. He twice asks for more signs with the fleece. He had to be terrified when God reduced his army of 32,000 to 300 to go against 135,000 Midianites. God tells him that if he is still afraid to go down to the Midianite camp for another sign which was a dream a Midianite man had predicting the defeat of the Midianites. Maybe Gideon is finally ready to trust God! 7:15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” He has gone from a reluctant, fearful, doubting potential leader to a courageous leader who defeats 135,000 Midianites with 300 men. I thought these AI comments were good: Divine Patience: Instead of rebuking Gideon for his skepticism, God gently met him in his fear and provided the confirmation he needed to transition from paralyzing anxiety to obedient action. Grace for Weak Faith: The narrative illustrates that God is willing to work through deeply flawed, frightened individuals, transforming their reluctant obedience into strength.”

Life Lesson: I can relate to Gideon. I have always been a fearful person. I blame it on my mom’s fearful disposition. I went to a school of preaching b/c I was afraid of going to Vietnam (I did think I would still have to go after my 2 years at the SOP, but I really was afraid to go to Vietnam). I was afraid when we went to Trinidad to do mission work, but I went b/c I always tried to obey God even if I was afraid. I was afraid of so many challenges in my 37 years of Christian education. Someone would threaten me with a lawsuit (as did happen) and I would fall apart. I almost had a nervous breakdown over an incident at a school where I was principal of the school. I could go on! But I say this not to brag, but to give God the glory. God has used fearful me and my wife to do many good things for His cause. God took me, a fearful, reluctant young man with an engineering degree and used me. I am so thankful for that. I could have possibly spent working for Alabama Power for 40 years and retired nicely but I would have missed all those wonderful opportunities to serve God and convert several people, train leaders in Trinidad, and establish relationships with young people through Christian education. Praise God. What about you? What are your fears? How do you think that God is calling you to do battle for him? Have you ever asked for signs to confirm God’s plans for you? Do you truly believe that God will answer you and show you His will for you? Does the story of Gideon help you find the courage to step out in faith to lead others? Do you feel, like Gideon did, unworthy to lead? I hope this story of Gideon will help you find courage.

Judges 9 Abimelech. Back to Gideon’s son Abimelech by his concubine. Abimelech was not one of the judges. He was an usurper who made himself ruler. Here is a good summary of Abimelech from AI:

Abimelech was an ambitious and ruthless son of the Bible judge Gideon who violently seized power and served as a self-proclaimed king over Shechem for three years. His tragic and bloody story is recorded in Judges Chapter 9.

Rise to Power

  • Appealing to family: After Gideon died, Abimelech went to his mother’s relatives in Shechem. He asked if they wanted to be ruled by all seventy of Gideon’s sons or by just one man who was their own flesh and blood.
  • Slaughtering his brothers: The leaders of Shechem gave Abimelech seventy pieces of silver from a pagan temple. He used the money to hire reckless men, went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and murdered sixty-nine of his half-brothers on a single stone.
  • Jotham’s escape: Gideon’s youngest son, Jotham, escaped the massacre by hiding. Jotham mocked the people of Shechem with a prophetic parable about trees foolishly choosing a useless, destructive bramble (Abimelech) to reign over them. The olive and fig trees and grape vines had refused to let Abimelech rule over them.

Conflict and Downfall

  • Rebellion in Shechem: God sent an evil spirit to stir up division between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Tired of his rule, the citizens turned against him and supported a new leader named Gaal.
  • Destruction of the city: Abimelech discovered the revolt, attacked Shechem, captured the city, slaughtered its people, and burned down its tower where people had taken refuge, killing 1,000 men and women.
  • Death at Thebez: While attacking a nearby tower at Thebez, an anonymous woman dropped a heavy millstone from the roof, fracturing Abimelech’s skull. To avoid the shame of dying by a woman’s hand, he quickly ordered his armor-bearer to run him through with a sword.

On a side note, Jotham’s Parable of the Bramble was one of my mom’s favorite parables in the Bible. I have no idea why she like it so much, but she was a great student of the Old Testament. The story of Abimelech ends: 9:55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each departed to his home. 56 Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech, which he had done to his father in killing his seventy brothers. 57 Also God returned all the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads, and the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.” A sad story about a murderous usurper. Sometimes God lets us have bad leaders. But remember that it was the men of Shechem who chose him to lead. Often we elect people to rule over us who are not godly people, and often we pay the price later on.

Nice place to stop before going on to the next judge in chapter 10.

OCT 7 READ JOSHUA 24; JUDGES 1-4

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Joshua 24. Ch 23 and 24 are Joshua’s farewell address. He is in his late 80’s and will die soon. In chapter 24 Joshua revews the history of Israel from Abraham to the conquest of Canaan. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities which you had not built, and you have lived in them; you are eating of vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’ Joshua told them to choose whom they would serve, either Yahweh or the gods of the Canaanites. They said, “We will only serve Yahweh”. Joshua, said, “No you won’t!” I think he knew that down deep the people were still not completely committed to following Yahweh, and that prediction came true shortly after Joshua died. Joshua set up a stone at an ok by the tabernacle as a witness to their promise. Joshua made his personal pledge, “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (24:15). Joshua died at the age of 110 so he still lived several years after his farewell address. 24:31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, and had known all the deeds of the Lord which He had done for Israel.” They buried the bones of Joseph in the cave of Machpelah just as Joseph had made them swear to do. Thus we end the book of Joshua.

We now enter the 7th period of Old Testament history, the period of the Judges.

Judges 1 describes the capture of several cites but also names the cities they failed to conquer.

Judges 2. An angel rebukes Israel for not driving out and destroying all the Canaanites as God had commanded. So now they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’ (2:3). 7 The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Joshua died. 2:10 All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel.” Joshua then describes the vicious cycle repeated over and over in the period of the judges.

Judge 3. The unconquered nations were a “test” to see if Israel would obey God. Just as Joshua predicted, they did not obey God. They lived among the Canaanites, intermarried with them, and served the Baals and Ascheroth. Judges 3 then gives the first three judges.

No need to tell all the stories of each judge. Ehud is memorable b/c he stabbed a “very fat” Moabite King Eglon with a two-edged 18 inch long sword and Eglon was so fat that his fat completely covered the whole sword! Ehud just left the sword in him and fled. Shamgar is memorable b/c he killed 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.

Judges 4. Deborah and Barak defeat Jabin and Sisera of the Canaanites. Deborah was the only woman judge. Apparently no men were stepping up to bed judges at that time and deliver Israel from the 20 year long oppression of the Canaanites. Barak reluctantly agreed to help her. Sisera had 900 iron chariots and Israel would have had none. But the Lord took care of that. He sent rain to flood the River Kishon and the chariots mired in the mud and could not move any further. Israel routed Sisera army and Barak chased Sisera. He came to what he thought was an ally in Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite. She tricked him into going to sleep in her tent and then drove a tent peg through his temple into the ground. Ouch! So now we have two heroic women, Deborah and Jael. We don’t know why Jael turned on Sisera since they were supposed to be allies.

Life Lesson: Of course I am going to discuss the role of female leadership. It is obvious that God expected the men to take the lead in Israel and in the church today. Elders were to be the “husbands of one wife”. But that didn’t mean that women could not use the gifts God gave them to edify the church. In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul told the women that they could pray (out loud) and prophesy in the midst of men as long as they wore a veil (a custom back then to show submission to the men). I’m sure the early church assemblies were full of both men and women speaking in tongues and prophesying. The women were told not to “usurp authority or teach over the men” (1 Timothy 2:12) but that command did not keep them from using their gifts in a mixed gender assembly. Yes the women were told to “keep silent” in the churches (1 Corinthians 14:34) but that command can’t contradict that they were allowed to speak as long as they veiled (1 Corinthians 11). So Paul must have been speaking to some unruly women who were usurping the authority of the male leaders and causing a disturbance in the assemblies. Some have tried to make that a general rule that women cannot pray in a mixed gender assembly and I think that is sad b/c it limits us from being edified by the beautiful, heart-felt prayers of the ladies. I would be against having women elders and preachers b/c elders and preachers will sometimes need to rebuke men in the congregation and thus “usurp authority” over the men. The qualifications for elders are for men only. I believe women should be allowed to lead prayers, lead songs, read Scriptures, and give short teachings in the assemblies. Often churches allow those things in Bible classes and small groups but forbid them in the “worship assembly”, but there are not different rules for small groups vs big assemblies. Also, women can step up to lead if the men won’t (as with Deborah). It was both Aquila and his wife Priscilla who taught Apollos about correct baptism. I’m sure many women took the lead in house churches when no men were stepping up. Nympha hosted a house church in her home (Colossians 4:15). Phoebe was a “deaconness” (Romans 16:1). Junia is described by Paul in Romans 16:7 as “outstanding among the apostles,” indicating a high-level commissioning in the early movement.

The Judges cycle will be repeated many times.

OCT 6. READ JOSHUA 19-23

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Chapter 19 continues with the last allotment of land portions to the tribes. Here again is the map.

Chapter 20 gives the 6 cities of refuge. Someone guilty of manslaughter (not premeditated murder) could go to a city of refute for protection from the blood avenger of the person he/she killed. He/she would have to live in that city until the high priest died and then he could go back to his home city.

Chapter 21 is the 48 Levitical cities. AI: “They were distributed across the nation so Levites could teach God’s laws and assist with worship. Each city included surrounding common land measured out 1,000 cubits from the city wall for livestock and herds. Larger tribes provided more cities and smaller tribes gave fewer, averaging about 4 cities contributed by each of the 12 tribes.”

Chapter 21 ends with a very important statement. 21:43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. 44 And the Lord gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.” God made the original promise to give Abraham the land while he was in Ur. God repeated the land promise to Abraham while he was in Haran (Genesis 12:1-3). He affirmed that promise to Isaac and Jacob. These verses say that Israel received all the land that God had promised them. AI: “Many biblical scholars and theologians state that ancient Israel never fully occupied or controlled all the territory described in the biblical promises made to Abraham. According to passages like Genesis 15:18, the Promised Land stretched from the “river of Egypt” (often identified as the Wadi of Egypt or Nile region) to the Euphrates River, encompassing vast territories well beyond modern borders. Historians and biblical scholars note that even at the height of the united monarchy under David and Solomon, Israel’s actual political control and military occupation covered a much smaller geographic area. They never ruled the entire expanse from the Nile to the Euphrates, Many evangelical and literalist theologians believe the unfulfilled boundaries mean the promise remains valid and will be completely fulfilled in a future prophetic or millennial reign.” But regardless of those points, 21:43-45 states clearly that Israel got all the land the God promised them. Not one of the. promises failed to come to pass. Period. Case closed. Now the bigger discussion will come later when the prophets predict that Israel will be restored to the land in the Messianic Age. Is that literal or figurative? We will save that discussion for later when we read the prophets. But don’t let anyone tell you Israel never got the promised land.

Chapter 22 is mainly about an altar that the 2 1/2 tribes who settled east of the Jordan built. The 9 1/2 tribes west of the Jordan were so angry that they gathered at Shiloh to attack the 2 1/2 tribes. The 9 1/2 tribes were afraid that the Lord would get angry with all 12 tribes b/c of the altar and punish them at at Peor or as He did with Achan. They accused the 2 1/2 tribes of rebelling against the Lord. The 2 1/2 tribes explained to them that they were not building the altar to offer sacrifices, which would have been a sin since all sacrifices were only to be made at the tabernacle in Shloh. They said they were just building the altar as a “witness” to future generations that they were following Yahweh just like the 9 1/2 tribes, a witness that they were still part of the nation. Phinehas the high priest and the elders of the 9 1/2 tribes were satisfied with that explanation and called off the attack plans. Civil war averted!

Chapter 23 Joshua’s farewell address. It’s too bad we have to break up the two chapters, 23 and 24, that contain Joshua’s farewell address. Joshua is in his upper 80’s at this time. He warns Israel to finish the job of conquering the rest of the land in Canaan that they had not yet conquered. If they did not finish the conquest, “they will be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.” 23:14 “Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.” (the same as 21:43-45).

We will finish Joshua’s farewell address tomorrow with chapter 24, the last chapter of Joshua.

OCT 5 READ JOSHUA 14-18

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Joshua 14. Caleb, the other of the two spies who gave a good report in Numbers 14 when they spied out the land of Canaan (the other was Joshua), was 85 at this time and till very strong and fit. He asked to be given the hill country where the Anakim giants lived. So Joshua gave Hebron, where the Anakim lived, to Caleb. Caleb then drove out the Anakim. He offered his daughter to be the wife of anyone who could conquer another city of the Anakim, Kiriath-sepher, and Othniel did that. “A small group of survivors escaped to coastal Philistine cities like Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod. Many biblical scholars believe later giants mentioned in Scripture, such as Goliath of Gath, descended from these surviving Anakim.”

Joshua 15-18 describes the dividing of Canaan among the 12 tribes so you can skim through those chapters. The Levites received 48 cities scattered throughout the land but did not receive a land portion like the other tribes. Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manassseh, got a land portion so that makes up the 12 land portions. Here is a map that shows the division of the land.

Wow, getting close to the end of Joshua.

OCT 4 READ JOSHUA 9-13

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Joshua 9. Do you remember in Deuteronomy that God told Israel to totally annihilate all the inhabitants of all the cities in Canaan but they could make a peace treaty with cities outside of Canaan, letting them live if they would become servants to Israel. So the Gibeonites came to Joshua with worn out sandals and clothes, telling him they were from far off and wanted to make a peace treay. Joshua agreed and only 3 days later found out they had deceived him. Gibeon was very close to Gilgal where Israel camped. But Joshua said that he would keep his word and not destroy the Gibeonites, only make them servants.

Joshua 10. Five of the Canaanite kings attacked Gibeon for making this peace treaty with Israel b/c they thought it would weaken the coalition of Canaanite kings willing to fight Israel. They didn’t know that the Gibeonites had deceived Israel. So Joshua marched all night with his army to rescue the Gibeonites. The armies of the 5 kings were slaughtered with the Lord killing many with hailstones (more than the Israelites killed). Joshua needed more time to finish chasing down and killing the Canaanites, so he asked God to make the sun and moon stand still until they finished teh slaughter, and God did so. 9:13 Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. 14 There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. I do believe that this happened. I can’t explain how it happened. I know that scientifically the sun doesn’t even really move across the sky although it looks that way to us and the Bible speaks of it that way in accommodation language. But the Lord who made the sun from nothing and set in motion the laws of planetary orbits could make it stay daylight for an extra day. They finish the slaughter and Joshua killed the 5 Canaanite kings.

Life Lesson: If you were Joshua and you needed more hours of daylight to finish a complete slaughter of the Canaanites, would you have ever thought to ask God to make the sun stand still and give you an extra day of daylight? Have you ever asked God for something really crazy, something really out of the ordinary, something almost miraculous if not miraculous? Don’t be afraid to ask. James says “you have not b/c you ask not”. Think of something that you would really like God to do. Maybe it’s helping you find a mate. Maybe it’s working out a big issue in your marriage. Maybe it’s a major illness or injury that your loved one is facing. Mabye it’s a career change. I’m thinking of something that I want to see happen but there will need to be some big changes first. I’m going to ask God to make it happen and then trust Him, His will be done.

Chapter 10 then describes the conquest of southern Palestine. Chapter 11 describes the conquest of northern Palestine. Chapter 12 names the 31 kings that Joshua and the Israelites defeated and killed.

Chapter 13 begins: 13:1 “Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years (probably in his late 80’s), and very much of the land remains to be possessed.” He is told to give the land of Canaan west of the Jordan River to the 9 1/2 tribes (the half of the tribe of Manasseh) and to give the land east of the Jordan to the 2 1//2 tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh. Here is a great map of the land that Israel had not yet conquered as Joshua neared the end of his life. As you can see, there was still a lot of land to be conquered. Unfortunately, they did not finish conquering those lands. Notice they did not conqueer the Philistines and the Philistines will be a major thorn in their side in the future just as God predicted.

The next thing will be the actual division of the parts of Canaan that they did conquer.