Problems In Genesis

God saw that Jacob favored Rachel, so he allowed Leah to become pregnant, but not Rachel. Leah had 4 sons, each time thanking God and believing Jacob would love her more. Rachel was jealous of Leah’s sons and gave her servant to Jacob to sleep with so that she could have a child on Rachel’s behalf. The servant, Bilhah, had two sons with Jacob. Leah had stopped having children at this point, so she gave her servant Zilpah to Jacob to have more children. Zilpah had two sons with Jacob. Reuben, Leah’s oldest son (from her servant), finds mandrakes, apparently… continue reading Genesis 30: Rachel and Leah get jealous and have lots of sons, and Jacob screws Laban out of his flocks

Jacob meets Rachel at a well Jacob finally arrives near Laban’s home. He reaches a well, and learns from some shepherds there that Laban’s daughter Rachel was approaching.  This reminds me of when Abraham’s servant met Laban’s sister Rebekah at a well just a few chapters earlier. Rachel took Jacob back to her father Laban for an emotional family reunion. Jacob stayed with Laban for a month, and because Jacob was working on his land, he asked what wages he could pay for his work. Jacob still had his eye on Laban’s younger daughter Rachel, the more beautiful of the… continue reading Genesis 29 – Jacob marries Rachel after 14 years of labor and being tricked into marrying Leah

Esau marries a Canaanite In Genesis 28, Isaac blesses Jacob and tells him not to marry a Canaanite, but instead to find one of the daughters of his uncle Laban to marry. Esau heard about this, and angry about Jacob receiving Isaac’s blessing, he went to Ishmael and married one of his daughters, a Canaanite. I can’t get over the prejudice! At this point, Esau is being painted as a bad guy, and Jacob as the blessed brother set up for success. But Jacob screwed his brother Esau out of his birthright, and then his blessing. He has been a… continue reading Genesis 28 – Esau marries a Canaanite, and Jacob is blessed. The first tithe.

Jacob and Rebekah fool Isaac, and Esau looses blessing Isaac is old now, and can no longer see. He tells Esau to hunt and prepare a meal so that he can bless him before he dies. Rebekah overhears this, and prepares food while Esau is away so that Jacob can bring this to Isaac, and pretend to be Esau and get his blessing. Esau was very hairy, so Rebekah placed goatskins on his neck and hands, and Jacob brought the food to his father Isaac. The trick worked, and Isaac ate the food and blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.… continue reading Genesis 27: Jacob takes Esau’s blessing from Isaac

Another famine came, leading Isaac to see the king of the Philistines in Gerar. God tells Isaac to stay in Gerar and he would be blessed, and the land would be given to him as part of the land promised to Abraham. Dejavu – Isaac lies about his wife Rebekah While there, the men asked about his wife Rebekah, and out of fear of being killed, he said she was his sister. Abimelek discovered that Rebekah was his wife and was upset, then gave orders that no one should harm Isaac or Rebekah. Double take.. Didn’t Abraham already try this… continue reading Genesis 26 – Isaac lies about Rebekah, and fights over wells

In Genesis 25 we learn the story of Jacob and Esau. Abraham’s son Isaac married Rebekah when he was 40 years old. Rebekah could not get pregnant, so Isaac prayed for her, and when he was 60 years old God answered the prayer and she became pregnant with twins. They seemed to fight within her, and God explained that: “Two nations are in your womb,and two peoples from within you will be separated;one people will be stronger than the other,and the older will serve the younger.” When she gave birth, the first boy to come out was red, with a body… continue reading Genesis 25: Jacob and Esau

Sarah Dies Genesis 23 skips ahead. Sarah has died at the age of 127, and Abram purchases a cave from the Hittites to bury her. They generously offer it to him for free, but he insists on paying. It’s interesting that an entire chapter is dedicated to the debate between Abraham and the Hittites about purchasing the cave. I’m not sure what the significance of this is. Isaac marries Rebekah On to chapter 24, Abraham is now very old and tells his servant to swear to him that he will not find a Canaanite wife for his Isaac, but instead,… continue reading Genesis 23 – 25: Sarah dies, Isaac marries Rebekah, Abraham dies, and the Twelve Tribes of Ishmael

After 10 chapters, we’ve reached the big moment – Abraham is asked to sacrifice Isaac to God. We met Abram back in chapter 11. He lied to some kings, built some altars, has a covenant with God, and has a son in his old age to fulfill the promise that he would be the father of many nations. And now, in chapter 22, God has a test. Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of… continue reading Genesis 22 – God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac

Isaac is born, and Sarah is still giggling In Genesis 21, Sarah finally has the son who was promised to her and Abraham.. Isaac was born and circumcised when Abraham was 100 years old. I love Sarah’s comment after the birth: Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.” She sees the humor in it! It seems like this holy event, but here Sarah is, looking… continue reading Genesis 21: Isaac is born, and Ishmael is sent away

Genesis 20 returns to the story of Abraham. Abraham calls Sarah his sister (again?) Abraham and Sarah were living in Gerar for awhile (I don’t know where that is, but I don’t think that’s really the point): For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” Now Abimelek… continue reading Genesis 20: Abraham calls Sarah his sister, again

Genesis 19 begins: The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. In the previous post, I questioned who the 3 men were who visited Abraham, and was confused by the blurred line between the men and God. Here we seem to have the men defined as 2 angels, and 1 other man (God?). Anyway… The angels, the men of Sodom, and Lot says “Hey, rape my daughters!” Lot sees the men, and insists that they stay with him. “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”… continue reading Genesis 19: Lot and his daughters…

God (or 3 men?) meets Abraham Genesis 18 begins with God appearing to Abraham, but apparently God is 3 men: The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. Abraham and Sarah prepare a meal for the men, and the men spoke about Sarah: “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.… continue reading Genesis 18: God, or 3 men, and Soddom and Gomorrah

Abram is now 99 years old. God again promises him to make his descendants into a great nation of kings, and promised to be their God forever, and renames him Abraham. All of Canaan is also promised to him and his descendants. The Covenant of Circumcision In return for all that God has promised, Abraham and his descendants needed to keep his covenant and each male would be circumcised as a sign of this covenant. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.… continue reading Genesis 17: Circumcision

As previously mentioned, Sarai had so far been unable to have children. She decided Abram should have a child with her slave Hagar, and Sarai would raise the child with Abram. Human emotion Jealousy and conflict arose from the situation. Sarai felt Hagar looked down on her because of her inability to have her own child, and there was also tension between Sarai and Abram. Sarai became increasingly cruel towards Hagar, leading Hagar to run away. I love the human element that arises in this story. It’s no longer a stale story of old nations and unrelatable events. We see… continue reading Genesis 16: Ishmael

After leaving Egypt, Abram (now very wealthy), Lot, and Sarai travel back to where they were before they left for Egypt. Abram and Lot part ways At this point, Lot and Abram had acquired too much stuff – too many animals, too much wealth, too many people, and they were getting in each others’ way. Abram let Lot pick who would go where, so Lot picked the lush land of the Jordan at the east, leaving Abram to go West to Canaan. Despite this, God promised Abram that all of the land would eventually be his, and his descendants would… continue reading Genesis 13 – 15: Abram and Lot separate, and God makes promises

After his father died, God told Abram to leave for the land he would reveal, promising to bless him and make him into a great nation. Abram left Harran with his nephew Lot and his wife Sarai and went to Canaan, and built an altar. Lying to Pharaoh about Sarai There was a famine, so Abram went to Egypt. He was afraid the Egyptians would see his beautiful wife Sarai and kill him so that they would take her, so he told her to lie and say she was his sister. Here is the story: Now there was a famine… continue reading Genesis 12: Abram lies to Pharaoh about his wife Sarai

The Genealogy of Shem, Ham, and Japheth Genesis 10 gives the genealogy of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genealogies can be boring reads, but if you pay attention, some interesting details can emerge. Some things to note here: Each son’s genealogy is summed up by saying they spread into clans and nations, with their own languages and territories. (This fact will come into play later.) Fun fact: Ham was an ancestor of Nimrod, the mighty hunter and warrior. This is also the source of the name “Nimrod” which is used as an insult today. The best explanation I could… continue reading Genesis 10-11: Genealogies and the Tower of Babel

Genesis 4 tells of Adam and Eve’s two sons Cain and Abel. Abel was a herder, and Cain was a farmer. Cain gave an offering of fruits to God, and Abel gave fat from his flock. God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice, but not Cain’s. From Genesis 4: Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and… continue reading Genesis 4: Cain and Abel