Genesis

The Book of Genesis

Chapter 1:  The Creation

Summary

The 1st chapter of Genesis details the creation of heaven and Earth.  We are introduced to God.  God is the creator.  On the first day God created a formless, empty earth and light.  On the second day, God created the sky.  God created an expanse of water above the sky and below the sky.  On the third day God created land and the seas of earth.  He also created vegetation, plants, trees, and fruit on the land.  On the fourth day God created the two great lights:  the sun and the moon.  He also created the stars.  On the fifth day God created sea creatures and fish of the sea and the winged creatures and birds of the sky.  On the sixth day God created the creatures of the Earth:  "...livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife..."  Also, God created man on this day.  Man was made to rule over the earth.  Everything that God created prior was food for man.  God's creation was good!

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 1:1 - "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
• Genesis 1:26-27 - "Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.  They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth."  So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.

Thoughts on the Text

• When God created earth he also created all the planets in the solar system.  The Bible focuses on Earth, however, as this is where God created us humans to live.
• Time to God is different than time to man.  One day can be like a thousand years to God, and a thousand years can be like one day to God.  With God there is no time as God is eternal and infinite.  This can explain the seven days of creation.  Since we don't have God's time schedule, God has said in the Word that it took seven days to create the heavens and the Earth.  This is quite a magnificent feat considering that the heavens and the earth are very, very large.  As far as we know, the universe goes on forever.
• Seven days happens to be the time in a single week here on earth.  So, God created everything in the known universe in one week.  I don't know about you, but I can hardly get anything done in a single work week.  This is quite impressive!  This is one of the reasons we say God is awesome.
• The expanse of water below the sky must have been the oceans of the earth.  What was the expanse of water above the sky?  I'm really not too sure, but it sounds like a body of water literally above the clouds.  Possibly the water above the sky would account for rain clouds.  What are your thoughts on this?
• According to scriptures, God created light before he created the sun.  Another light, the light of God, was lighting the scene of God's creation, before the sun came around.  Pretty epic!
• In Genesis 1:26 the Bible says "...let Us make man in Our Image..."  Us and Our being of primary importance.  Does this mean that there our multiple Gods?  I don't think so.  Instead I believe this hints at the trinity of God.  God is one God in three forms:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  So, long before Jesus walked the earth, He was with the father during creation and even before creation.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one.  God is one and three at the same time.  They are all of the same essence.

Chapter 2:  The Seventh Day of Creation and Man and Woman in the Garden

Summary

God completes his work of creation, and He rests of the seventh day.  God blesses the seventh day and declares that it is holy.  God waters the ground of the earth so that life will flourish.  God forms a man out of the dust of the ground, and the man becomes a living being.  God places the man in the garden of Eden.  There are many fruit trees in the garden of Eden including the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  A river goes through the garden and divides into four rivers:  Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and the Euphrates.  The man is made to watch over and work the garden.  God tells the man that he can eat from any tree in the garden of Eden but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  If man eats from that tree, he will die.  The man names all the living creatures on earth.  Then, God makes a helper, woman, out of the rib of the man.  The first marriage on earth is formed, and the two become one flesh.  They were not ashamed to be naked.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 2:16-17 - "And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die."
• Genesis 2:23-24 - "And the man said:  This one, at last is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man.  This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter the actual location of the Garden of Eden is given.  The Garden of Eden is located at the headwaters of four rivers:  The Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.  Unfortunately, even with Google maps, I do not see a location where all four of these rivers come together.  It is possible that the locations of the rivers have changed in the time since Adam and Eve.  The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers still meet up and flow into the Persian Gulf.  According to Wikipedia there is no exact location for the Pishon River and the Gihon River could be referring to the Nile River.  For now, the location of the Garden of Eden will remain unknown, but this will make for a good question to ask God when we enter into eternity.
• At this point in time man and woman had no shame of being naked in front of one another.  They were perfectly formed at this time, and they had not yet sinned.  The sin that we commit brings about our shame and regret.  We will read more about this in the next chapter.
• The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is usually depicted as an apple tree.  However, this chapter does not actually tell us what kind of fruit tree the tree of knowledge of good and evil really is.

Chapter 3:  The Temptation and the Fall and Sin's Consequences

Summary

Satan tempts Eve and Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Eve eats the fruit of the tree, and then she gives some to her husband to eat as well.  Immediately, they are ashamed and make clothes to cover their nakedness.  God is walking in the garden and Adam and Eve hide from God.  God questions them, and they both confess to eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.  God curses the serpent, and He punishes the woman and the man.  Both man and woman will now die as well.  Adam names his wife Eve, and God makes clothes for both of them.  Now mankind knows the difference between good and evil.  God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.  Mankind is never allowed back into the Garden.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 3:16 - He said to the woman:  I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish.  Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you.
• Genesis 3:19 - You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it.  For you are dust, and you will return to dust.
• Genesis 3:22 - The Lord God said,"Since man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, and also take form the tree of life, and eat, and live forever."

Thoughts on the Text

• Although we associate the serpent with Satan, the Bible does not actually state that the serpent was Satan.  
• Eve is not more guilty than Adam.  They both ate the forbidden fruit, and both are equally guilty.  They suffer the same fate; life on earth where they will live and die, instead of life in the Garden where they could have lived forever.
• In verse 22 of Chapter 3 God is referred to as "Us."  This again is relating to the Holy Trinity.  This does not give credence to some ancient alien theory, even though it would make for a good science fiction book or movie.

Chapter 4:  Cain Murders Abel and the Line of Cain

Summary

Adam and Eve have two sons:  Cain and Abel.  Cain became a farmer of the land while Abel became a shepherd of a flock.  Cain and Abel give offerings to the Lord.  The Lord has more regard for Abel's offering than Cain's offering.  Cain becomes furious and he kills his brother Abel.  The Lord banishes Cain from the land, and Cain travels to the land of Nod to live.

Cain marries and fathers a son named Enoch.  He also builds a city in Nod called Enoch.  Then, the line of Cain is written in the scripture.

Cain -- Enoch -- Irad --Mehujael -- Methushael -- Lamech

Lamech has two wives; Adah and Zillah.  Adah bore Jabal and Jubal while Zillah bore Tubal-cain and a daughter named Naamah.

Adam and Eve have another son after the death of Abel.  This son is named Seth.  Seth also has a son named Enosh.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 4:6-7 - Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you furious?  And why are you downcast?  If you do right, won't you be accepted?  But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you but you must master it.
• Genesis 4:26 - ...At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

Thoughts on the Text

• God gives Cain wisdom concerning the sin nature of mankind before Cain murdered his brother Abel.  Unfortunately, the advice goes unheeded and Cain commits the first murder on earth.
• We should strive to do what is right in the Lord's eyes.  Whenever we struggle with temptation to do something wrong, sin is calling out to us.  When sin calls out to us, we should make a good effort to call on God and ask him to help us overcome our sin.  When tempted to do wrong, we should pray.  Otherwise, we will most likely give into the sin.  If we never pray or ask for God's help, we may sin habitually.
• The line of Cain is cursed because of sin.  In this chapter we see that Lamech is just as bad if not worse than Cain.

Chapter 5:  The Line of Seth

Summary

The family lineage of Seth is given in this chapter.  

Adam -- Seth -- Enosh -- Kenan -- Mahalalel -- Jared -- Enoch -- Methuselah -- Lamech -- Noah

Noah fathers Shem, Ham, and Japheth

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 5:1-2 - ...On the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God; He created them male and female.  When they were created, He blessed them and called them man.
• Genesis 5:24 - Enoch walked with God, and he was not there, because God took him.
• Genesis 5:29 - And he named him Noah, saying, "This one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the ground the Lord has cursed.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter we see the line of Seth down to Noah and his children.  We must bear in mind that these are not the only sons and daughters fathered in the line of Seth.  Many other sons and daughters are father by each of the individuals listed in the line of Seth.  So, this really is the line of Seth that leads to Noah.  Noah turns out to be the savior of the world.  As we find out, the line of Shem, Ham, and Japheth are the only lines of Adam that remain after the flood.  All the rest of mankind is wiped out.
• The scripture says that Enoch walked with God for 300 years.  Then God takes Enoch.  This gives us reason to believe that Enoch never died on earth.  Instead, God may have taken him to heaven before he died.  We really do not know exactly what happened to Enoch.

Chapter 6:  Sons of God and Daughters of Men, Judgment Decreed, and God Warns Noah

Summary

The human race multiplies, but mankind becomes corrupt.  God shortens the average life span of mankind to 120 years.  Mankind becomes so corrupt that God grieves and regrets creating them.  God decides to wipe every living thing off the face of the earth.  Noah, however, followed the ways of God.  God favored Noah, and He tells Noah of his plan.  God plans to flood the whole earth.  God tells Noah to build a large boat called an ark.    Noah is to enter the ark with his immediate family and two, male and female, of every creature on the earth.  They are to enter the ark whenever the earth begins to flood.  Noah listens and obeys the Lord.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 6:3 - And the Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt."
• Genesis 6:5-6 - When the Lord saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
• Genesis 6: 12 - God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.

Thoughts on the Text

• Since Noah listened and walked with God during his life, God decided to establish His covenant with Noah.  We learn more about this covenant in chapter 9 of Genesis.  This is a reminder to us that if only we listen to God fully, then God can truly work miracles through us while on this earth.
• It is interesting to note that this chapter mentions the people on earth before the flood were known as the Nephilim.  The Nephilim were a race of giants that also lived to be very old.  For example, Methuselah lived to be 969 years old.  If you are interested to learn more about the Nephilim check out the Wikipedia page:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim
• The Bible doesn't say what trade or craft Noah and his family did before the flood.  He must have been a master builder and carpenter in order to construct such a large, functional boat with no power tools.  Some people believe that it took Noah 75 years at the most for him and his family to build the ark.

Chapter 7:  Entering the Ark and the Deluge

Summary

Noah and his family along with all the animals enter the ark as the Lord commands.  God makes it flood on earth for 40 days and 40 nights.  The flood began when Noah was 600 years old.  All the animals and humans on the earth perished.  The life on the ark was all that remained.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 7:1 - Then the Lord said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before Me in this generation."
• Genesis 7:5 - And Noah did everything that the Lord commanded him.

Thoughts on the Text

• The Bible states that the rain of the flood lasted 40 days and 40 nights, but the storm surge lasted for 150 days.  So, Noah and his family were in the ark with all those stinking animals for 5 months.  The Bible says,"...the Lord shut him in."  This statement is literal as there was no other place to go on the earth.
• It was a huge leap of faith and commitment to build the ark.  Also, it was a huge commitment to live with so many animals for such a long period of time.  It had to be a full time job to feed the animals and clean the animals and all the filth they left on the ark.  Talk about a dirty job.  The living conditions on the ark had to be nasty.  It's amazing the amount of waste a cat leaves behind in a litter box.  Much less waste than an elephant, and way less waste than two of every single creature of the earth.
• This brings up the point that when we listen to God, God may want us to act on faith and do something that we do not want to do.  Sometimes we must sacrifice our personal desires and comforts for the greater good of God's plan for our lives.  There is no telling where God will lead us in our life.  We just have to take a step of faith and listen to and obey our creator.
• This is a common theme throughout the Bible:  There are tremendous consequences for not listening to and obeying God.  God's wrath is real, and God will take us out if we get too far off course.
• God is our creator.  He knows what is best for our life.  God already has the plan for our life.  We need to ask God to reveal that plan to us.  When we pray and ask God for guidance, He will reveal His plan for our life.

Chapter 8:  The Flood Recedes and The Lord's Promise

Summary

God stops the rain from the flood, and the floodwaters begin to subside.  After over seven months since the flood began, Noah's ark struck land on the mountains of Ararat.  After the waters of the flood completely subsided, God instructs Noah and his family along with all the creatures to come out of the ark.  Noah, his family, and these animals are to repopulate the earth.  Noah builds a sacrificial alter to the Lord.  Noah offers up burnt offerings to the Lord.  The Lord is pleased and tells Noah that He will never curse the ground again, and He will never kill every living thing on earth again.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 6:22 - As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.

Thoughts on the Text

• Even though Noah's ark hits solid ground on the mountains of Ararat on the seventh month, Noah and his family do not exit the ark for another five months.  Noah, his family, and all the living animals are on the ark together for just over one year.  
• Ararat is located in present day Turkey or Armenia.  At this time Israel or the promised land did not exist.  Noah and his immediate family never live in Israel.  Israel becomes a country later on.  Ham and the descendants of Ham live in the area known as Canaan.  Later on the land of Canaan becomes the land of Israel.
• Noah offers up the first burnt offering to the Lord that is mentioned in the Bible.  The Bible does not tell us when God told mankind to make offerings to the Lord.  Is this something man decided to do on his on behalf, or is this something that God instructed man to do?  Possibly, the instruction was simply not recorded in the Bible.

Chapter 9:  God's Covenant with Noah and Prophecies about Noah's Family

Summary

God once again places all the creatures of the earth under man's authority.  God has given these creatures to man as food and resources.  God has also given man every kind of fruit and vegetable on the land as food.  Man is not to kill another human being.  If he does, his life will be taken as judgment for that sin.  God reaffirms his covenant with Noah.  God will never kill mankind and all the animals of the world by a flood.  God creates a rainbow as a sign of his covenant with Noah and all living things of the earth.  The rainbow is a remembrance of the covenant.  

The whole earth becomes populated by Noah's three sons:  Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  Ham was the father of Canaan which is in the location of the land later to be known as Israel.  Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, and one day he gets drunk.  During his drunkenness he gets naked, Ham sees his father naked, and Shem and Japheth cover up their father.  Noah curses Ham and Canaan because Ham saw him naked.  The descendants of Ham, Canaanites, will be the slaves of the descendants of Shem and Japheth.  Noah lives to be 950 years old, and he dies.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 9:6 - Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in His image.
• Genesis 9:11 - I confirm My covenant with you that never again will all flesh be wiped out by the waters of a deluge; there will never again be a deluge to destroy the earth.
• Genesis 9:25 - Canaan will be cursed.  He will be the lowest of slaves to his brothers.

Thoughts on the Text

• God tells Noah not to eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.  This is why we cook the meat that we eat to this day.  Not to mention all of the health risks associated with eating raw meat.
• In essence, God gives Noah the first commandment:  Man should not kill man.  The punishment for breaking this commandment is death.
• Not only was Noah a master craftsman and carpenter, he was an exceptional farmer and wine maker as well.  The men of old may have had more practical skills and know-how than modern day man.  The men of old were intelligent, they just had more primitive forms of technology at their fingertips.  They knew how to make do with what they had, just by using the resources from the land.  This is know-how that we have lost in the present day. 

Chapter 10:  The Table of Nations

Summary

Chapter 10 of Genesis lists the family lineage and clans that descended from Noah's three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  All the clans and nations of earth go back to Noah and his three sons.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 10:1 - These are the family records of Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  They also had sons after the deluge.
• Genesis 10:32 - These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their family records in their nations.  The nations on earth spread out from these after the flood.

Thoughts on the Text

• Ham fathered Canaan, and Canaan fathered the Canaanite clans.  The Canaanite clans are listed in the scriptures.  As far as I know the Canaanites lived in the land of Canaan.  Much of this land would later become the land of Israel.
• It is amazing and miraculous that one man and his three sons were responsible for populating the whole earth.  All of the nations on earth today come from the line of Noah.  If you go far enough back in your family tree, we are all related somewhere along the line.
• The names of old are all very strange, unfamiliar names.  Today, there are any common names that are familiar and easy to pronounce.  I would have hated to be a teacher in Old Testament times.  I would massacre most of the pronunciations of the names.

Chapter 11:  The Tower of Babylon and the Family Line from Shem to Abram.

Summary

After the flood, all man spoke the same language.  Technology increased, and people began making bricks to build with.  So, the people began making towns and cities.  In particular, the people were building a large, towering building in Babylon.  Man did this in vain and mostly for selfish reasons.  So, God scattered the people over the face of the earth and confused their language.  God scattered the people from Babylon.  This is why different people groups speak different languages to this day.

The Bible then lists the family line from Shem to Abram (later to be known as Abraham).  This family lineage is as follows:

Shem--Arpachshad--Shelah--Eber--Peleg--Reu--Serug--Nahor--Terah--Abram

Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.  Abram married Sarai, but she was barren and could have no children.  Nahor married Milcah (the Bible says nothing about their children), and Haran fathered Lot.  Terah along with Abram, Sarai, and Lot leave their home in Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan.  Before they get to the land of Canaan, they settle in Haran.  Abram's father, Terah, dies at the age of 205 in Haran.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis:  11:1 - At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary.
• Genesis  11:6: - The Lord said, "If, as one people all having the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them."

Thoughts on the Text

• When God scattered the people across the whole earth, people began to speak different languages.  Also, different environmental factors changed the skin tones of all the different people groups.  According to Wikipedia, estimates of the number of human languages in the world today vary between 5,000 and 7,000.  It's hard to imagine a world where we all speak the same language.  Although, it seems possible as most other people groups around the world are beginning to speak English.  There may come a day where most of the languages of the world become extinct, and the only remaining spoken language is English.  I doubt this will happen, but English does seem to be a globally spoken language.
• What was the language that Noah and his sons spoke?  Does any one have an answer to this?  Adam and Eve certainly spoke a language, and this language was not Hebrew.  Some refer to the first language down to Noah as Adamic (or the language spoken by Adam) or as Chaldaic.  We do not know exactly.  We do know that this one language was confused after the story of the tower of Babel.  Now world languages are extremely diverse and seemingly disjoined.
• Everyone knows about the father Abraham, and even his prior name, Abram.  However, no one ever mentions Abraham's Father:  Terah.  
• The lifespans of the people from Noah to Abraham start to decrease dramatically.  Noah's life lasted for 950 years where as Terah's life lasted for only 205 years.  This must be because of intermarrying within the family may have caused genetic mutations and the blood line became less pure.  Check out this article for more clues :  https://answersingenesis.org/bible-questions/why-did-people-have-shorter-lives-after-flood/  

Chapter 12:  The Call of Abram and Abram in Egypt

Summary

Abram follows the Lord's will.  He leaves Haran with his wife, Lot, and others to go to the land of Canaan.  He journeys by stages to the Negev.  The Lord instructs Abram that He will make him into a great nation and bless him.  Also, one day God will give the land of Canaan to Abram's offspring.  Abram builds altars along the way and worships God during the journey.

There is a famine in the land of Canaan, so Abram goes to Egypt to seek refuge.  Then, Pharaoh takes Sarai as his wife, and Abram is forced to say she is his sister.  Pharaoh treats Abram well because of her, but God strikes Pharaoh and his house with severe plagues.  Pharaoh finds out that Sarai is Abram's wife, so he sends Abram and Sarai out of Egypt blaming them for the plagues.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 12:1-3 - The Lord said to Abram:  Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter Abram and his crew enter into the land of Canaan.  The land was already occupied by the Canaanites, or the offspring of Ham.  So, basically, the offspring of Shem was to eventually claim the land of the offspring of Ham.  This would eventually lead to a war between distant relatives.  We are all of one body on the earth, so all war is war between distant relatives.  In essence, when there is war, brother fights brother.
• Abram traveled to the Negev.  I wonder why he would chose this place to settle as the Negev is a desert region in the land of Canaan.  Maybe one of the reasons why he settled here is because it was unwanted land, and he did not have to fight for the land.
• In this chapter Abram lies to Pharaoh and and Pharaoh commits adultery with Abram's wife.  As with all sin, there are consequences to sin.  Pharaoh and his house contracts some kind of plague, while Abram and his house are sent away from Egypt back into a land in famine.  God creates the commandments in the Bible for our benefit.  If we follow the commandments less harm, distress, sorrow, and other bad things will come our way.  If we follow the commandments, we will be blessed and be a blessing to other people.

Chapter 13:  Abram and Lot Separate

Summary

After being sent away from Egypt, Abram and his house return to the Negev.  Abram goes back to where he had built the altar, and he worships the Lord again.  Both Abram and his nephew, Lot, were rich at this time with large herds, flocks, and tents.  The land could not support both of them.  Also, there was conflict between their herdsmen.    Before matters got worse, Abram comes up with a resolution to go separate ways and settle in different lands.  Lot chooses to settle in the Jordan Valley as there was water there and the land flourished.  Lot sets up his tent near Sodom, an evil city.  Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, most likely near the Negev.  God tells Abram that all the land he sees in every direction will one day belong to his offspring.  Also, Abram's offspring will be as numerous as the sands of the earth.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 13:14-16 - After Lot had separated from him, the Lord said to Abram, "Look from the place where you are.  Look north and south, east and west, for I will give you and your offspring forever all the land that you see.  I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if one could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could be counted."

Thoughts on the Text

• Abram realizes that Lot and him are practically brothers.  Abram is very wise in this chapter to come up with a resolution that does not involve fighting with one another.  I believe this act shows that Abram was a man of God.  As such, he was blessed with many riches in livestock, silver, and gold.  Also, this chapter reveals the great faith of Abram.  As Sarai was barren, she could not have any children.  God's claim that Abram's offspring would be innumerable was almost laughable and outlandish.  Despite this fact, Abram continues to worship and do the will of the Lord.
• God is powerful and awesome enough to turn something that is fiction into fact.  God has the power to change the laws of nature and science.  God sustains these physical laws and God can change the laws.  Just because the doctor says you are barren does not mean that you can't have a child.  Everything is left up to the will of the father.  If God wants you to bear a child, you will bear a child.  Miracles are real!

Chapter 14:  Abram Rescues Lot and Melchizedek's Blessing

Summary

War breaks out in the land of Canaan and the surrounding area.  The kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela are defeated in battle by the kings of Elam, Goiim, Shinar, and Ellasar.  Lot is taken captive as Sodom was destroyed in battle.  Abram finds out that Lot is taken prisoner, and he assembles 318 trained men to attack the captors.  Abram and his men rescue Lot, other people held captive, and all their goods.  Abram and his men defeat Chedorlaomer and the other kings who were allied with him.

The king of Salem, Melchizedek, gives Abram a blessing for coming to their aid.  Abram gives Melchizedek a tenth of everything gained in battle.  Abram gives every possession and all the people back to the king of Sodom.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 14:19-20 - ...Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and give praise to God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you...

Thoughts on the Text

• Abram is victorious in battle against Chedorlaomer and his allies.  He is able to get back all the goods that these kings plundered.  Abram then gives Melchizedek, a priest to God, a tenth of all the possessions he acquired in battle.  To me this seems like a foreshadowing of the ten percent tithe and offering.  This is the first time we see a ten percent offering in scriptures.  Abram not only does this, but he ends up giving all possessions and goods back to the King of Sodom.  Abram gave back all, and did not keep any of the plunder for himself.  Abram truly was a man of God.  Let us strive to give to the Lord what belongs to him, and give back to people in need as much as we can.
• Whatever oaths that we make with the Lord, we should strive our hardest to keep those oaths just as Abram did in this chapter.  This will build our integrity and strengthen our walk with the Lord.  If we don't follow through with our oaths, then we are unreliable and indifferent hypocrites at best.

Chapter 15:  The Abrahamic Covenant

Summary

Abram and Sarai believe that they can have no children.  The only heir that Abram has is a slave born in his household.  However, God tells Abram that he and Sarai will have a son, and their offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Abram had faith and believed the Lord.  God also promised Abram that his descendants will be given the land of Canaan and surrounding areas.  However, Abram's descendants will first be enslaved for 400 years before claiming this land as their own.  

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 15:1 - ...Do not be afraid, Abram.  I am your shield; your reward will be very great.
• Genesis 15:6 - Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
• Genesis 15:18-21 - On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I give this land to your offspring, from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River:  the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this passage Abram demonstrates extreme faith.  Abram believes God.  Abraham believes God will give him and Sarai a son, and Abram believes that God will give his descendants a huge piece of land that will one day be the country of Israel.  Abram believed even though there was going to be hardship along with God's blessing.  Sometimes God's blessing or reward for us will be delayed.  Sometimes there will be much hardship that comes before or after God's blessing.  In Abram's case, he didn't experience God's full blessing in his lifetime!  It would take 400 years of enslavement and oppression before God gave the Israelites the Promised Land.  As Christians we may have to endure and persevere through some bad times before God blesses us with the good times.  Our true faith in God is revealed during the bad times of our life.  Will we believe in God during these times, or will we give up, not believing that God works all things for our good?  God will lead us through the darkness into the light; God will lead us through the terror into the joy of salvation; God will lead us through trials, temptations, and hardships and give us a reward. I need to learn how to believe in God as Abram believed in God.
• A miracle happens in this chapter.  Abram brings a sacrificial offering to the Lord.  When it was dark a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the divided animals.  How cool is that!  God may be the one responsible for paranormal activity.  Maybe it's not a ghost.  Maybe it is God.
• God has a close relationship with Abram.  God literally speaks with Abram.  God also gives Abram visions, dreams, blessings, signs, and wonders.  On top of this God makes a personal promise, or Covenant, to Abram.  God is a personal God.  He cares for all the people on earth.  He cares for us so much, that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins.  God has made it possible to put our sin, shame, and regret behind us and come to know him personally.  God is awesome!  Here is God's new covenant with us.  From Hebrews 8: 10-12 -...I will put My laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.  I will be their God, and they will be My people. And each person will not teach his fellow citizen,and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”because they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.  For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.

Chapter 16:  Hagar and Ishmael

Summary

After ten years of living in the land of Canaan, Abram and Sarai still have not had a child.  So, they decide that Abram should take Hagar (an Egyptian slave they owned) as his wife.  Hagar becomes pregnant and conflict breaks out between her and Sarai.  Sarai mistreats Hagar so much, that she runs away.  An angel comes to Hagar and tells her to return to Sarai and Abram.  She returns, gives birth to Abram's son, and his name is Ishmael.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 16:11-12 - Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:  You have conceived and will have a son.  You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.  This man will be like a wild ass.  His hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him; he will live at odds with all his brothers.

Thoughts on the Text

• Abram and Sarai's faith in God falter in this chapter.  In the previous chapter, Abram believes that God will give him and Sarai a child.  After ten years of trying to have a child, they have had no success.  Ten years is a long time by human standards, and not to mention, Abram and Sarai were getting kind of old.  Abram was 85 years old.  By today's standards, this is way passed child rearing age.  It is reasonable to see why they doubted God.  We probably all would in that situation.  When we doubt God, what do we do?  We take matters into our own hands.  When we do this, we usually just make matters worse.  Back to the story.  Sarai and Abram agree to commit adultery with Hagar in order to have a child.  This is a good analogy.  Whenever we lose faith and doubt God, we typically turn to sinful behavior whether we think it is sinful or not.  This sin created enmity and jealousy between Sarai and Hagar and damaged Sarai and Abram's marriage.  Also, Abram's illegitimate son, Ishmael, would turn out to be like a wild ass with everyone against him.  That one sin, adultery, created many negative consequences in all the character's lives in this story.  Therefore, one sin can be a curse that propels a negative consequence for generations to come.  
• In order to not commit a sin, think about all the negative consequences that will happen after the sin has been committed.  You will have shame and regret, you may damage a relationship, you will grow farther away from God, the sin will take away your eternal joy, you will be left feeling empty, your faith in God is diminished, and so many more bad things.  The sin isn't worth it.  The temporary pleasure isn't worth it.  Sin doesn't pay off.
• God does give hope to Hagar and tells her that her offspring through the line of Ishmael will be too many to count.  All in all, God makes the best of every situation.  God can turn a bad situation into a good outcome later on.  God is perfect.  We are not perfect, but God is able to mold our imperfection into the story of His masterpiece.  God is constantly creating us, and we just tend to mess up his creation.  God forgives us, gives us second chances, and makes something great out of us anyway.  Abram and Sarai are a prime example.  God uses the sinner to carry out his good, perfect, and pleasing will.  So, if you are a sinner, know that we all are.  If you are a sinner, God can use you for his glory!
• Hagar names God "The God Who Sees" or El Roi.  Another way to escape the temptation of sin is to know that your sin can never be hidden.  God sees everything that you do.  You can't hide your sin from God.  So, whatever you do, do what is pure, right, and honorable.  God will see you do the good things as well, and positive outcomes go with good actions.

Chapter 17:  Covenant Circumcision

Summary

God makes another covenant with Abram, saying that he will be the father of many nations.  God changes Abram's name to Abraham.  God reaffirms his previous covenant with Abraham.  God will give Abraham the lands of Canaan.  God establishes a new covenant with Abraham, saying that all the Abrahamic males both slave and free must be circumcised.  This will be a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God.  God changes Sarai's name to Sarah and tells Abraham that He will give her a son.  Abraham doubts God as he and Sarah are very old.  However, God affirms that she will bear a son, and his name shall be Isaac.  Isaac means "he laughs."  After speaking with God, Abraham immediately honors the covenant and has every male in his household, slave and free, circumcised.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 17:1-2 - When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, "I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly"
• Genesis 17:19 - But God said, "No.  Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.  I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."

Thoughts on the Text

• When God makes a covenant, that covenant lasts forever.  God is eternal and God's will is unchanging.  When God does something or makes a promise, that action is set in stone.  God is going to carry through on that promise forever.  The same goes with the covenant God made with Abraham.  In verses 7 & 8 of this chapter God says, "I will keep My covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, an everlasting covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.  And to you and your offspring after you I will give the land where you are residing--all the land of Canaan--as an eternal possession, and I will be their God."  God will always be God.  No amount of technology or knowledge will change that truth.  Over and above this fact, God gives the perfect promise, and that promise lasts forever.  Therefore, I believe once God saves you, you are always saved.  Once your sins are forgiven, they are wiped clean for eternity.  God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
• Abram means "the father is exalted."  Abraham means "father of a multitude."  Sarah means "princess."
• Abraham laughs at God in this chapter.  How absurd.  A 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman having a child.  This couldn't happen in a million years!  What I like about Abraham, is that even though he doubts God, he stays devout to God's will.  Abraham does what God wants him to do no matter how far fetched it may seem.  So, without hesitation, Abraham has all the males circumcised including him and Ishmael.  In order to hear God's will for our life, and in order for us to mature spiritually we must live in God's presence and be devout.  Devout means to be devoted to divine worship or service.  It also means to be earnest or sincere.  What does it mean to live in God's presence?  I believe we can be devout on our own, but we can't live in God's presence on our own.  To live in God's presence would mean that we would have to be perfect and holy, since God is perfect and holy.  So, Jesus comes to the rescue.  Jesus was fully man and fully God.  Jesus never sinned.  Jesus was perfect, holy, and righteous.  Jesus died on the cross for all of mankind's sins.  He did this, so that we can be forgiven of our sins, put on the righteousness of God, and truly live in God's presence while on earth and in eternity to come.

 

Chapter 18:  Abraham's Three Visitors, Sarah Laughs, and Abraham's Plea for Sodom

Summary

Three visitors from the Lord visit Abraham at the oaks of Mamre where his tent is at.  Abraham prepares a meal for the men, so they can get sustenance to continue on their journey.  The three visitors reassure Abraham that Sarah will indeed have a son.  Sarah hears this and laughs about it. She thinks there is no way she will ever bear a child in her old age.  The three visitors get up and go to visit Sodom and Gomorrah.  Sin is rampant in these cities, and no one in these two cities follows the Lord.  The Lord contemplates destroying Sodom and Gomorrah if everyone there has become wicked.  Abraham asks the Lord to spare the city if only ten good people are found.  God agrees to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if ten good people are found within the cities.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 18:14 - "Is anything impossible for the Lord?  At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son."
• Genesis 18:18-19 - Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him.  For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just.  This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what He promised him.

Thoughts on the Text

• Abraham receives three visitors at his tent in Mamre.  These three visitors are kind of reminiscent of the three wise men that visit Jesus at his birthplace in Bethlehem.  In any case, these three visitors appear to be messengers of God, and they are on a mission for God.  They deliver the message that Abraham and Sarah will have a son.  Their main mission, however, is to find out if there are any righteous people in the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham immediately recognized these three visitors as very important people.  When Abraham meets these men he bows to the ground, and he scrambles to make them a large meal.  The scripture even says that the Lord appeared to Abraham right as these three visitors arrived.  So it could be that the three men were angels and the spirit of God was with them.  It could be that one of the men was God in the form of a man, and the other two were angels in the form of men.  Was one of these men Jesus Christ?  Were the three men the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all in the form of men?  It could very well be.  We do know that the Lord spoke to Abraham at length in this chapter and that the three men were god-sent.  They were either angels or God Himself.
• Abraham treated these men very well because he knew that they were God-sent.  If they weren't God-sent, I wonder how Abraham would have treated them.  Would he have bowed down at their arrival, or would he have prepared such a sumptuous meal?  Would he even have given them the time of day if they were ordinary men?  As human beings we should strive to treat others as we want to be treated.  Even more so, we should treat others as if they are God-sent.  A lot of times we deal with people, and we have no idea who they are.  Maybe we are dealing with someone who is very important.  Maybe we aren't.  The key is to treat everyone the same.  We should treat this person just as good as the next person, regardless of who they are.
• Abraham bargains with the Lord in this chapter.  At first, he asks God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah if 50 righteous people are found there.  The Lord agrees, and this process continues until Abraham asks the Lord to spare the cities if ten righteous people are found there.  The Lord agrees.  God was giving the people in Sodom and Gomorrah the benefit of the doubt.  God would spare all the wicked people in these cities if only ten good men were found in them.  The Judge of the whole earth is more than just.  God is gracious and merciful.  This shows me that Jesus would have died on the cross for humanity's sins for only one person.  God would have came to earth and died even if only one person were to get saved.  God cares and loves his creation.  God literally died to save me and you.  Likewise, God did everything in his power to save the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. 

Chapter 19:  The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Origin of Moab and Ammon

Summary

Ten good men can not be found in Sodom and Gomorrah.  Two angels rescue Lot, his wife, and his two daughters.  They flea to a small town called Zoar.  God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah with burning sulfur falling from the sky.  Despite the angel's command, Lot's wife looks back upon the city as it is being destroyed.  She turns into a pillar of salt.  Lot leaves Zoar to live in the caves of a mountain with his family.  There is no one else around.  To preserve their father's line both of his daughters get him drunk on two different nights, sleep with him, and become pregnant by him.  The older daughter has a son named Moab.  He becomes the father of the Moabite clan.  The younger daughter has a son named Ben-ammi.  He becomes the father of the Ammonite clan.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 19:29 - So it was, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham and brought Lot out of the middle of the upheaval when He overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

Thoughts on the Text

• Sodom and Gomorrah were evil cities.  The word Sodom is the root word of Sodomy.  Sodomy means perverted copulation with a member of the opposite sex, copulation with a member of the same sex, and bestiality.  It is more than likely that the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah were engaged in all kinds of sodomy.  They even wanted to rape the two angels that just entered the city.  Lot's righteousness is questionable as well as he was going to give up his daughters to the crowd outside his door in order to save the angels.  All of these people came from the family lines of either Ham, Shem, or Japheth.  It wasn't too long ago since God destroyed the whole world because of the corruption of man.  It is incredible and sad how fast we forget the shame and punishment of our sin.  The people of Sodom and Gomorrah obviously did not even think that God would punish them for their sins.  The Bible says that Lot's son-in-laws even laughed at him thinking that he was telling a joke about God destroying the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is imperative that we don't forget our sins and the punishment that coincides with them.  If we forget the sin, the punishment, and the consequences we will fall right back into the same habits of committing the same sins over and over again.  History will repeat itself.  It could even get to the point to where we are desensitized and do not care that we are sinning anymore.  Sinning can become commonplace.  If you are living in sin, you are not living in the presence of God.  This is corruption.  Sin was common in Sodom and Gomorrah.  No one called on the name of the Lord.  God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their corruption.
• The three visitors that showed up at Abraham's doorstep are now referred to as angels in Chapter 19 of Genesis.  Two of the visitors must have went to Sodom and the other visitor must have went to Gomorrah.  Lot greets these two "angels" the same way that Abraham did.  He bows with his face to the ground.  He also prepared a feast for them.  The two angels grab Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand, and they lead Lot's family to safety right before the cities are destroyed.  This confirms that the three visitors, or three angels, were God-sent.  This confirms that angels are literally real.  Who knows?  You may have met an angel already and not even know it.
• When God gives us instructions, we need to make sure to follow those instructions to a "T."  The angels who save Lot and his family instruct them to leave the city of Sodom, escape to the small town of Zoar, and don't look back on the destruction of the cities.  Unfortunately, Lot's wife looks back on the destruction of the cities and she turns into a pillar of salt.  Lot's wife did one small thing that the Lord told he strictly not to do.  It cost her life.  Therefore, we should strive to follow all of the commandments and precepts as best at we can.  If we don't, there will be punishment, and it may even cost us our life.
• Lot and his two daughters are all that remain of Sodom and Gomorrah.  They are not the upmost standing citizens, however.  They may have been saved simply because they were Abraham's family.  I say this because immediately following the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters engage in wicked behavior.  Lot gets drunk twice, and sleeps with both of his daughters.  He gets both of them pregnant, too.  What can you do?  If God were to destroy the whole human race based on our sins, we would have been destroyed long ago.  Thank God that He extends his grace and mercy to us for we are all on the same boat. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  God loves us despite our flaws.  If we become too wicked, however, God will rain down destruction on us.  Bear in mind that this punishment can come down in the form of burning sulfur falling from the sky.  So, let's be good and follow the instructions of the King!

Chapter 20:  Sarah Rescued from Abimelech

Summary

Abraham travels back to the Negev and settles between Kadesh and Shur in a place called Gerar.  Abraham once again tells the people of Gerar that Sarah is his sister.  The king of Gerar, Abimelech, takes Sarah from Abraham.  God tells king Abimelech in a dream that Sarah is Abraham's wife.  If he sleeps with her, he will certainly die.  Abraham tells Abimelech the full truth that she is his wife and his sister at the same time.  Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, cattle, slaves, and returns Sarah.  He also lets Abraham settle wherever he pleases in the land.  Abraham prays to God, and God heals Abimelecch, his wife, and his female slaves so that they can bear children again.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 20:4-5 - Now Abimelech had not approached her, so he said, "Lord, would you destroy a nation even though it is innocent?  Didn't he himself say to me, 'She is my sister'?  And she herself said, 'He is my brother.'  I did this with a clear conscience and clean hands."
• Genesis 20:11-12 - Abraham replied, "I thought, 'There is absolutely no fear of God in this place.  They will kill me because of my wife.'  Besides, she really is my sister,...and she became my wife."
• Genesis 20:16 - And to Sarah he said, "Look, I am giving yoour brother 1,000 pieces of silver.  It is a verification of your honor to all who are with you.  You are fully vindicated."
• Genesis 20:17 - Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech...

Thoughts on the Text

• Abraham has the bright idea to call his wife his sister again.  The same thing happens as what happened in Egypt.  The king of Gerar, Abimelech, wants to have her because she is a beautiful old woman.  Abimelech, in this case, has a clear conscience and is not guilty.  After all, Abraham and Sarah are the two who lied.  God knows this and keeps Abimelech from sinning against Him.  This reveals that man has always had a conscience; the holy spirit has always indwelt within man.  So, even without the law and without the Ten Commandments, mankind prior to Moses innately knew the difference between right and wrong.  Even Adam and Eve knew they had done something wrong after eating the forbidden fruit.   They felt ashamed to be naked afterward.  They also hid from God.  Just as Abimelech knew if he was innocent or guilty, we can too.  You can hide your sin from others, but you can not escape your conscience.  When you do something wrong, you will know it.  When you are in the right, your conscience will be clear.  The Holy Spirit will guide you along the narrow path of life.
• Abimelech forgave Abraham for lying to him and bringing guilt on him and his kingdom.  We should likewise be willing to forgive others.  Sometimes we may hold a grudge against someone who has done nothing wrong to us.  It may just be a simple misunderstanding caused by miscommunication or lack of information.  So, it is necessary to communicate and get everything out in the open.  Also, we should always tell the whole truth.  The truth will clear up any confusion and help get to the bottom of the problem.  From there the problem can be remedied, and everyone can go about their merry way all the wiser.
• Friends trust one another, they are hospitable, and they give of themselves.  After Abimelech and Abraham cleared up their misunderstanding by telling the truth, they became friends.  Abimelech gives Abraham sheep, cattle, slaves, silver, and land privileges.  On the flip side, Abraham prays for God to heal Abimelech and his house.  We should heed their example.  For example, we can help a friend do yard work or clean his car.  We can give a gift to a friend or take them out to dinner and a movie.  Get creative with your giving and hospitality.  Most importantly, we should always tell the truth to our friends and pray for them on a daily basis.  Pray for their success, their health, and anything else that is happening in their lives.  Pray for God to give them wisdom.  If they are not saved, it is extremely important to pray for their salvation, invite them to church, and witness to them as often as possible.  This is a true friend.
• Half truths are no truths at all.  Half truths are lies no matter how you put them.  These lies can cause great harm to come to others.  In this story, Abraham and Sarah's lie could have killed a king and all those in his house.  Likewise, small sins are still sins.  All sins are equal in God's sight.  All the sins in your life need attention, and they need to be dealt with.  We must ask forgiveness for our sins, and be sure to repent from them.  This is so we will not keep sinning against God the same way, over and over again.  Like a half-truth, there is no such thing as a half-sin.  You are either guilty or you are innocent.
• If we ask God to forgive our sins and enter into our lives, God will forgive us, save us, and fully vindicate us.  If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and savior, God will bless us with the ultimate gift:  salvation and a personal relationship with the creator of the universe!  What sin is holding you and me back?  What desire are we holding onto in this temporal world that is keeping us from taking hold of our eternal birthright given from God?  Abraham and Sarah were forgiven and vindicated by Abimelech.  How much more will God forgive us and bless us if we truly turn our lives over to Him. 

Chapter 21:  The Birth of Isaac, Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away, and Abraham's Covenant with Abimelech

Summary

Sarah bears a son to Abraham.  The name of their son is Isaac.  Abraham is 100 years old when Isaac is born, and Isaac is circumcised at eight days old.  Sarah has negative feelings towards Hagar and Ishmael.  At Sarah's request, Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away.  Hagar and Ishmael leave and wander in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.  Hagar thinks that she and the boy will die, but God opens her eyes and she finds a well of water.  They both survive and settle in the wilderness of Paran.  Ishmael becomes a great archer, and he marries a woman from Egypt.  

Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelech at Beer-sheba swearing by God that he will not break an agreement with Abimelech or with his children and descendants.  Abraham gives Abimelech sheep, cattle, and seven ewe lambs.  In exchange he asks Abimelech to declare a water well he dug in Beer-sheba as his own.  Abraham plants a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and he worships God there.  Abraham and his household continue to live in the land of the Philistines.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 21:1-2 - The Lord came to Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what He had promised.  Sarah became pregnant and bore aa son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him.
• Genesis 21:12-13 - ...your (Abraham's) offspring will be traced through Isaac.  But I will also make a nation of the slave's son because he is your offspring.
• Genesis 21:17-18 - God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What's wrong, Hagar?  Don't be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy from the place where he is.  Get up, help the boy up, and sustain him, for I will make him a great nation."
• Genesis 21:22-23 - At that time Abimelech...said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.  Now swear to me here by God that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants.  As I have kept faith with you, so you will keep faith with me and with the country where you are a resident alien."

Thoughts on the Text

• The birth of Isaac is a miraculous birth just like the birth of Jesus Christ.  No matter how much they tried on their own, Abraham and Sarah could not have a child.  They were too old.  Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when the had Isaac.  God was the one responsible for planting the seed of life in the womb Sarah just as God was responsible for planting the seed of life in the womb of Mary.  As Jesus said in Matthew 19:26, "...With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Isaacs birth was a miracle, and the twelve tribes of Israel would come from his lineage.  Jesus would later be a descendant of Isaac.  In Genesis 17:19 God says, "I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his future offspring."  Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant.
• In this chapter, we see what happens when sin and doubt enter the picture.  We have the birth of Ishmael through adultery with Hagar, and we have the promise of God that Sarah would have a child named Isaac.  The adultery with Hagar required no faith, but disobedience, and sin.  The birth of Isaac took great faith, confession, and obedience.  This is similar to the two lives we live:  we can live by the world's old sin nature or we can live by God's new spiritual nature.  Many times we straddle the fence.  I know I have the tendency to live by the sin nature from time to time, and then I will repent and live by God's spiritual nature.  This vicious cycle can and will repeat itself.  You can find your self going back and forth living between the two natures.  This is crazy!  In essence, this is what Abraham was doing.  He was trying to live a double life devoted to both Hagar and Sarah; to both sin and righteousness.  God finally convicted Abraham, and this caused him great pain.  He knew that he was going to have to send away Hagar and Ishmael for good.  Abraham had to repent from his sin nature for good.  Abraham, pained by the decision, listened to God's instruction.  Abraham and Sarah's marriage is healed, Abraham is forgiven and puts his sin in the past, and God blesses their family and their descendants.  I believe God wants to bless us to.  We just have to be willing to repent from our old sin nature for good.  
• Abraham metaphorically repents from his sin nature by sending Hagar and Ishmael away.  They are sent into the wilderness to die.  They run out of water in the desert, and Hagar gives up hope.  She sits down, weeps, and prepares for death.  As she sits weeping, God calls out to her and tells her to take heart.  God opens her eyes, and miraculously, there is a water well nearby.  Hagar and Ishmael are saved.  His descendants would turn out to be a mighty nation one day.  This reveals to me that when we are at our lowest, in the deepest, darkest pit, when all hope is lost, and we are utterly tangled in sin, God can reach down and save us.  God brings life out of death, and God heals the broken.  Even the greatest of sinners are no match to the love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness God will give them.  Take heart.  You are never too low, lost, and debased.  God can save you!
• This chapter confirms that Abraham and Abimelech are good friends.  They both will help each other out in times of need.  They both hold each other accountable.  This is a good friend.  A good friend is not simply someone you go out and have a good time with.  A good friend will hold you accountable for your actions, promises, oaths, and agreements.  If you do something that is wrong, a good friend should confront you about it and let you know why your actions go against God's precepts.  If you miss church, a good friend will give you a call to see why you missed.  If you fall away from God, a good friend will witness to you and urge you to come back into the fold.  A good friend is with you through the hard times and the bad.  A good friend is someone you can trust and lean on for support.  A good friend will pray for you.  A good friend is someone you can call a brother in Christ.  We can all learn from Abraham and Abimelech from this chapter.

Chapter 22:  The Sacrifice of Isaac and Rebekah's Family

Summary

God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on a mountain in the land of Moriah.  The Angel of the Lord prevents Abraham from sacrificing his son just in the nick of time.  The Angel said, "Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him.  For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me."  Abraham sacrifices a ram in place of his son.  Abraham names that place "the Lord Will Provide" or Yahweh-yireh.

Abraham's brother Nahor father's eight sons by Milcah and four sons by his concubine, Reumah.  His youngest son from Milcah is Bethuel.  Bethuel fathers Rebekah.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 22:2 - "Take your son," He said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
• Genesis 22:14 - And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said:  "It will be provided on the Lord's mountain.
• Genesis 22:18 - "And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed My command."

Thoughts on the Text

•  In this chapter, God tests Abraham to the extreme.  God asks Abraham to offer up his son, Isaac, as a burnt offering.  That's right.  God asks Abraham to sacrifice, or kill his one and only son that he waited so long to receive from God.  This is a perfect parallel and prophetic foreshadowing of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Abraham offered to give the life of his one and only son.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, Jesus Christ.  Isaac was made to carry the wood for the burnt offering up the mountain in Moriah.  Jesus was made to carry the cross to Golgotha.  Isaac was going to be sacrificed to prove Abraham's love and faith for the Father.  Jesus was sacrificed for the sins of the world showing the Father's love for mankind.  Abraham and Isaac traveled for three days to get to the place where Isaac was to be sacrificed.  God stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son.  A ram was substituted in place of Isaac for the burnt offering.  Jesus Christ bled and died on the cross for the sins of the world.  Jesus Christ took our place on the cross.  Jesus Christ rose from the dead after three days.  Again, the story of Abraham committing to sacrifice his son Issac is a perfect parallel to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.   Some people even believe that the mountain in Moriah where Abraham offered up Isaac is the future site of the City of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple.  This is the approximate location of where Jesus would be crucified.  Abraham called this place 'Yahweh-yireh', or The Lord Will Provide.  This points to the coming of the Messiah whom God provided later on in the future.  Jesus would come to the earth about 2000 years later.  God came down in the form of man to provide the ultimate sacrifice in order to save mankind.  God, indeed did provide!
• Abraham's faith in God has grown tremendously.  We saw Abraham doubt God earlier on in the book of Genesis when lying to the Pharaoh and Abimelech.  He also stumbled when he slept with Hagar because he did not believe God would provide him a son through Sarah.  Everything in Abraham's life brought him to this point in time.  God gives Abraham the ultimate test, and Abraham passes.  Abraham loves and has a deep faith in God.  Even when he doesn't understand the commands of the Father, Abraham still obeys God.  I personally would never sacrifice my son to God.  Human sacrifices are wrong as the Ten Commandments state 'thou shall not kill'.  However, the Ten Commandments were not yet written in Abraham's time.  I am truly blown away by Abraham's faith demonstrated in this chapter.  This chapter makes me question my faith in God.  Do I listen to and obey God in the small things?  Much less the large things?  Would I pass God's test like Abraham?  I pray that through this daily Bible study I can grow closer to God, learn more about the Word, and strengthen my faith in God and Jesus Christ.
• After the "final" test, God once again reaffirms the blessing Abraham and his descendants will receive.  Abraham has proven his faith in God by works, and now that Abraham is fully committed to God, God will bless him and his offspring.  The blessing comes when we are fully devoted followers of Christ.  If there is still sin in our life, God will not impart to us his full and awesome blessing.

Chapter 23:  Sarah's Burial 

Summary

Sarah dies in Hebron at the age of 127 years old.  Abraham buries his wife Sarah in a cave in Machpelah near Mamre; this location is in Hebron in the land of Canaan.  This place passed possession from the Hittites to Abraham as a burial place.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 23:1 - Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.
• Genesis 23:5-6 - The Hittites replied to Abraham, "Listen to us, lord.  You are God's chosen one among us.  Bury your dead in our finest burial place.  None of us will withhold from you his burial place for burying your dead."

Thoughts on the Text

• Abraham says that he is a resident alien living in the land of Canaan.  Abraham calls himself a foreigner in the land even though God has promised him that the land of Canaan would one day be his land.  Abraham knows that this is a promise that will take place in the future.  So, he sees that it is important for him to bury his dead in the land of Canaan; not where he came from in Ur.  Abraham looks forward to the future, and he has faith in God that the land where he buries his wife, the land where he will be buried, will be his land and his descendants land one day.  Abraham trusts in the Lord and knows that God's covenant with him will be fulfilled.
• The Hittites living in Hebron in the land of Canaan were kind people.  They were willing to give Abraham whatever piece of land he wanted as a burial site for Sarah.  Abraham wants a field and cave in Machpelah that belongs to Ephron.  Ephron is so kind, he is willing to give Abraham the piece of land.  Abraham turns down the gift, and says that he will buy the piece of land from Ephron.  Ephron wants to give the land to Abraham, but Abraham insists on paying for it.  Abraham finally pays for the land in the presence of the Hittites and the land passes possession from Ephron to him.  The Hittites showed kindness and respect to a foreigner, and likewise, Abraham was fair and respected the Hittites.  Abraham didn't take the land for free.  He paid for the land.  I wonder if at that time he questioned how the land of Canaan would be his land one day.  After all, clans of people were living all over the land.  Abraham at that time did not know how the land would become his and his descendants.  So, he paid for the land.  He did not take it like the land already belonged to him.  God would work that out in time.  Again, Abraham had to trust in the Lord and have faith in the covenant God gave him.
• There is a valuable lesson to be learned here.  We should be kind to strangers in need.  We should help those people who need and ask for help even if we don't know them.  We should help those who are poor, dirty, and have no home.  Who knows, we may end up in their shoes one day, alone in a foreign land, and in need.  If we all had love for each other like Abraham and the Hittites had love for one another, this world would be a much better place.

Chapter 24:  A Wife for Isaac

Summary

Abraham asks the manager of his household to find a wife for his son Isaac.  Isaac's future wife is to be from Abraham's land and his family; Isaac's wife should not come from the Canaanites.  Abraham's manager sets out for the town of Nahor.  Once he gets there, he waits for the women of the town to draw water from the well.  The manager prays to the Lord, asking God to reveal the woman who will be Isaac's wife.  The woman who gives the manager along with his camels water from the well to drink will be the chosen one for Isaac.  The first woman to come to the well is Rebekah--daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor.  Rebekah gives the manager something to drink and gives water to the camels as well.   Abraham's manager asks Rebekah to be wed to Isaac.  Rebekah and her family agree to the proposition, and the manager gives Rebekah and her family gifts.  Rebekah's family send her away with the manager to be wed to Isaac.  When the manager returned to the land of Canaan, he told Isaac everything that transpired.  Isaac brings Rebekah into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he takes her to be his wife.  Isaac loves Rebekah.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 24:7 - The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from my native land, who spoke to me and swore to me, 'I will give this land to your offspring'--He will send His angel before you, and you can take a wife for my son from there.
• Genesis 24:12 - "Lord, God of my master Abraham," he prayed, "grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham."
• Genesis 24:48 - Then, I bowed down, worshipped the Lord, and praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who guided me on the right way to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son.
• Genesis 24:50 - Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from the Lord; we have no choice in the matter.  Rebekah is here in front of you.  Take her and go, and let her be a wife for your master's son, just as the Lord has spoken."
• Genesis 24:60 - They blessed Rebekah, saying to her:  Our sister, may you become thousands upon ten thousands.  may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.

Thoughts on the Text

• This story to me is a beautiful love story that is ordained by God.  God cares and should have a decision in the man or woman that you marry.  If God is not in the picture there is no love story.  Without God in a marriage, the marriage will eventually fall apart.  God leads all the people involved in this love story.  First, God leads Abraham to find a wife from his own people; not from the Canaanites.  Abraham's family puts the one true God first in their lives, while the Canaanites didn't.  Also, Abraham believes God will deliver a wife for Isaac.  He has no doubts.  Second, Abraham's household manager lets God lead in his life.  He prays to God, and asks for a sign that he has found the right woman.  The first woman that comes before him is God's chosen woman, Rebekah.  In addition, Abraham and his manager have faith that they will find the right woman for Isaac.  This is seen because the manager takes with him ten camels and many gifts on the journey.  So, he is going to give the gifts to someone, and someone is going to be riding those camels back home to Isaac.  He has faith that he is not taking those camels all the way to Nahor for nothing.  Third, Rebekah lets the Lord lead her as well.  Rebekah is beautiful, but not spoiled.  She is polite, courteous, and a hard worker.  Also, she is faithful as she is still a virgin despite her beauty.  She has so much faith in the Lord that she simply goes to an unknown land with a stranger to marry a stranger that she has never met before.  Rebekah lets God lead her in this love story.  Rebekah follows the Lord without hesitation.  Fourth, Laban, Bethuel and Rebekah's mother let God lead them in this love story.  They know that Abraham's manager and his proposition is from the Lord.  They have so much faith that they even say 'they have no choice in the matter; take Rebekah and go; let her be a wife for Isaac just as God has spoken.'  Finally, Isaac lets God lead him in this love story.  Upon seeing his new bride for the first time, he takes her into his mother's tent and makes love to her.  They are both strangers, but he loves her like he's known her his whole life.  He loves her and he is comforted by her.  They are ordained by God as husband and wife; they come together as one flesh and follow God together throughout their life.  Wow!  What a mysteriously awesome, goosebumps-giving love story this is!  God is good, all the time, and God was good to Isaac and Rebekah.  Goodness would also come out of their union!  God's covenant with Abraham is still to be fulfilled!
• Just an interesting note:  they made oaths in a strange way back then.  Today we make oaths by putting our right hand on the Bible and swearing to tell the truth.  Handshakes are also followed by oaths or contracts between people.  Back then, they did oaths differently, but the oath still meant the same thing.  The oath between Abraham and his household manager is strange by today's standards.  The manager was to place his hand under Abraham's thigh and swear to the Lord.  Again, the oath meant the same thing as a handshake or signed contract, but it was done in a different manner.  These cultural differences are always interesting, unique, and insightful!
• When the Bible states that you are beautiful, you must really be drop dead gorgeous.  The Bible states Rebekah was very beautiful.  Just being facetious here, but it is no wonder why Isaac accepted Rebekah as his wife without a second thought.  And to think, the first thing that he does is take her to bed.  I wonder if he even got her name beforehand?  The Bible doesn't say, but I would like to think that Isaac and Rebekah got to know each other first.  In either case, I guess they really did fall in love with one another at first sight.  This is a match made in heaven!

Chapter 25:  Abraham's Other Wife and Sons, Abraham's Death, Ishmael's Family Records, The Birth of Jacob and Esau, and Esau Sells His Birthright

Summary

Abraham takes another wife named Keturah.  She gives birth to six sons from Abraham.  The sons of Keturah also have more sons.  Abraham gave everything he owned to Isaac.  Abraham gives gifts to
the sons of his concubines, and he sends them to the land of the East.  Abraham dies at 175 years of age.  Isaac and Ishmael bury Abraham in the cave of Machpelah next to his wife Sarah.  Ishmael and his descendants live in opposition to all his brothers.  Ishmael has twelve sons that are leaders of their respective clans.  Ishmael dies at 137 years of age.  Isaac is wed to his wife Rebekah at 40 years of age.  Isaac prays for Rebekah because she is barren.  The Lord answers Isaac's prayer and Rebekah conceives twins:  Esau and Jacob.  Esau becomes an expert hunter and an outdoors man, while Jacob is a quiet man who stays at home.  Jacob convinces Esau to sell his birthright to him for a meal.  Esau agrees because he is famished.  Esau despises his birthright.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 25:21 - Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren.  The Lord heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
• Genesis 25:23 - And the Lord said to her:  "Two nations are in your womb; two people will come from you and be separated.  One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
• Genesis 25:33-34 - Jacob said, "Swear to me first."  So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him.  Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away.  So Esau despised his birthright.

Thoughts on the Text

• Abraham is getting very old and dies in this chapter, but God continues to fulfill his promise to Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of the sky.  Abraham remarries and his wife gives birth to six more sons.  We do not know how many daughters Abraham had.  Also, this chapter said that Abraham had 'concubines.'  We do not know how many concubines Abraham had, and we do not know how many children came from these concubines.  To put it short, Abraham had a lot of children, and God fulfilled His promise to him.
• It is important to remember that the Bible follows the family line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  These men had many other sons and daughters, but those people are not followed in the Bible.  For example, Ishmael had 12 sons that were leaders of 12 tribes from the land of Havilah to Shur.  These 12 tribes would not become the 12 tribes of Israel, however, so they are only noted in passing.  This leads to a few good questions.  Why did God choose Jacob to be the father of the 12 tribes of Israel?  Also, why is the land of Israel God's chosen land?  There are so many other people groups that came down from Noah, and there is so much more land on the Earth that God could have chosen.  Why did this tiny piece of land, known as Israel become so important to God?  Why didn't Egypt become God's chosen land?  The only reason I can see why the "Israelites" became God's chosen people is because all the patriarchs dating all the way back to Noah worshipped the one true God and kept God first in their life.  Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Pelg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob must have kept God first in their lives!  This is why God chose their family line out of all the family lines branching off from Noah.  This is incredible, to think that God chooses us to be his people.  It is up to us to follow God, but God chooses his people before the foundations of the world were created.  God is awesome, and it is a privilege and honor to be a Christian.  As a Christian, you and I are God's chosen people!  God has delivered us from evil and saved us from our sin!  The only reason I see why Israel is God's chosen land is because God told the Israelites that this would one day be their land.  Out of all the land on earth, Israel would be their land.  It makes since as all the Patriarchs lived close by the land of Israel.  Dear reader, what are your thoughts on this?
• Isaac and Rebekah's story is similar to Abraham and Sarah's story.  Rebekah is barren, and Isaac prays to the Lord because of this just like Abraham talked with God because Sarah was barren.  God Answered Abraham's prayers, and the same one true God answered Isaac's prayers as well.  Rebekah gives birth to twins.  This brings me to the conclusion that prayer works.  If something is wrong in your life, don't be afraid to pray to God.  I need to ask God for help and peace in my life.  I need to pray more for others in need.  The same God back then is the same God today.  God will answer our prayers.  We just have to believe and sincerely pray to our Creator!
• When Rebekah was pregnant there was a struggle within her.  She didn't know that she had twins at the time, so she asked God why this was happening to her.  She must have been uncomfortable and in pain.  I can't imagine what it must be like to be pregnant with one child, much less two children that are fighting in the womb.  God tells Rebekah that she will have twins.  This is way before the days of ultrasound.  This whole situation is symbolic of the two natures that are struggling within us to gain prominence.  There is our good, Christlike nature and there is our sin nature.  We decide which of these natures takes the lead.  Some people turn out to be evil, and some people turn out to be good.  The decision lies within us.  Everyone must go through the struggle, and we pray that God is victorious within us.   
• Esau and Jacob are polar opposites.  One is a mama's boy and one is a daddy's boy.  Esau likes to be outdoors and do physical activities while Jacob likes to cook and do indoor activities.  Isaac favors Esau and Rebekah favors Jacob.  Esau is straightforward, while Jacob is cunning and clever.  Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright.  When I read the passage I feel as though Esau doesn't believe Jacob when he asks for his birthright in exchange for a meal.  I mean, come on, this has to be a joke.  Unfortunately, Jacob is not joking.  These two boys remind me of Cain and Abel.  Instead of killing Esau, Jacob takes his birthright unfairly.  On the other hand, it seems as though Esau doesn't care for the birthright.  Esau doesn't mind giving away his birthright for a bowl of Jacob's stew.  So, what was a birthright in those times.  According to Bible Study Tools, "Birthright is the right which naturally belonged to the firstborn son. Where there were more wives than one, the firstborn was the son who in point of time was born before the others, apparently whether his mother was a wife or a concubine.  The birthright of the firstborn consisted in the first place of a double portion of what his father had to leave. This probably means that he had a double share of such property as could be divided. We have no certain knowledge of the manner in which property was inherited in the patriarchal age, but it seems probable that the lands and flocks which were the possession of the family as a whole, remained so after the death of the father. The firstborn became head of the family and thus succeeded to the charge of the family property, becoming responsible for the maintenance of the younger sons, the widow or widows, and the unmarried daughters. He also, as head, succeeded to a considerable amount of authority over the other members. Further, he generally received the blessing, which placed him in close and favored covenant-relationship with Yahweh."  https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/birthright.html  To me it would seem that Esau would not have wanted to give up all of the benefits of his birthright simply for a bowl of soup.  In my opinion, he made a very rash decision that he would later regret.  Then again, the Bible does say that Esau despised his birthright.  I don't know why entirely.  Possibly because there was extra responsibility involved and maybe he was not a spiritual man of God.  For some reason he despised his birthright so much that he gave it up to his brother Jacob.  I believe he simply mad a very rash decision on the spur of the moment.  Dear reader, why did Esau despise his birthright and give it up so easily?  What are your thoughts?  

Tomorrows study will be on...

Chapter 26:  The Promise Reaffirmed to Isaac, Isaac's Deception, Conflicts over Wells, Theophany at Beer-sheba, Covenant with Abimelech, and Esau's Wives

Summary

Another famine begins in the land.  Isaac goes to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, for food and water.  God tells Isaac not to go to Egypt, but to stay in the region of the promised land.  God reaffirms His covenant with Isaac.  Isaac, like Abraham, tells the Philistines that Rebekah is his sister and not his wife.  Abimelech finds out that Rebekah is Isaac's wife, and he warns the Philistines that whoever harms Isaac or Rebekah will die.  God blesses Isaac with abundant crops and he becomes very rich.  He has flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, and many slaves.  The Philistines become envious of him, and they fill Isaac's water well with dirt.  King Abimelech tells Isaac to leave on account of his blessing.  Isaac goes to the land of Gerar.  Isaac digs more water wells and the herdsman of Gerar take those wells from him as well.  Isaac leaves Gerar and moves to Beer-sheba.  God appears to Isaac the night he arrives, and He tells him that He will bless him and multiply his offspring.  Isaac digs a water well, makes an altar to worship God, and pitches a tents to dwell there.  Abimelech comes to Isaac and makes an oath with him, saying, "You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace."  The slaves of Isaac find water in the well and Isaac calls the well Oath.  Therefore the name of the city is Beer-Shebaa (well of the oath) to this day.  When Esau is 40 years old he takes two wives, Judith and Basemath.  They make life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 26:2-5 - The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt.  Live in the land that I tell you about; stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.  I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My mandate, My commands, My statutes, and My instructions.”
• Genesis 26:12 - Isaac sowed seed in that land, and in that year he reaped aa hundred times what was sown.  The Lord blessed him.
• Genesis 26:28-29 - They replied, “We have clearly seen how the Lord has been with you. We think there should be an oath between two parties—between us and you. Let us make a covenant with you:  You will not harm us, just as we have not harmed you but have only done what was good to you, sending you away in peace. You are now blessed by the Lord.”

Thoughts on the Text

• God stops Isaac from making the same mistake that his father did.  God tells Isaac not to go to the land of Egypt.  So, instead, Isaac goes to the land of the Philistines in Gerar.  God gives Isaac the same promise that he gave Abraham:  I will give you the promised land, your offspring will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring!  God has not changed his covenant with Isaac.  What God says goes!  Also, God gives Isaac great advice on why God will fulfill the covenant, and on how to live a righteous life while on the earth.  God gives Abraham as an example.  Abraham "listened" to the voice of God, kept God's mandate, commands, statutes, and instructions.  As followers of Christ this is what we need to do.  We need to be like Abraham.  We need to believe God in everything.  We need to listen to everything God says to us.  We need to read the Word and write it on our hearts and minds so that we can follow His mandate, commands, and statutes.  If we only follow God half-heartedly, God will not be able to work through us.  We won't be able to bless others.  Let us strive to be the same kind of man as Abraham.  This is what God was telling Isaac.
• Like father like son.  Isaac tells the same lie that his father told:  my wife is really my sister.  They were both afraid for their lives, so they came up with this lie.  In both instances their lie was found out, and their sin was exposed.  This reminds me that no matter what we do, we can't hide our sin from God.  So, we should strive our best to follow God's will and commands, and not sin.  This is pleasing to God and will be beneficial to others.
• Isaac is truly blessed.  He is a very wealthy man, and people become envious of him.  How can this foreigner be better than we are?  Why does God bless him instead of us?  And so forth.  The Philistines kick Isaac out of Gerar and the herdsman of Gerar take Isaac's wells on multiple occasions.  Isaac is a wise man.  Instead of turning a mountain into a mole hill, he simply moves on to another place.  He doesn't fight back.  Some may consider this a weakness, but Isaac reveals that he is a man of God.  He is a man of peace and a man with great patience.  This is something that I need to work on in my life.  Too many times I get upset over things that don't go my way.  I lose my cool, and get mad.  I have a lot to learn from Isaac.
• God literally appears to Isaac when he arrives in Beer-sheba.  This is known as a Theophany.  According to Bible Study tools, a theophany is a "Manifestation of God that is tangible to the human senses. In its most restrictive sense, it is a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament period often, but not always, in human form...The Lord appears to people...to reveal his plans for them or to unveil mysteries for the future.  The Lord appears in theophanies both to bless and to judge."  https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical-dictionary/theophany.html  God appeared to Isaac to tell him that He will lead him in his life.  Also, he reaffirms His covenant with Isaac.
• We see Isaac make an oath with Abimelech, his adviser, Ahuzzath, and the commander of his army, Phicol.  They make a peace treaty.  In essence, here is a peace treaty between the Israelites and the Philistines.  We already see that the Philistines are jealous of the blessings of Isaac and how God favors Isaac.  Later this jealousy will be reignited when the Israelites come to claim the promised land.  Eventually, the Israelites and the Philistines become great enemies of each other.  Sin, namely jealousy, envy, and the desire for power being the cause of the conflict.  Peace can only last when we have faith in the one true God, knowledge of His Word, and live in obedience to His commands.  We are all in the same boat together whether we like it or not.  We have to believe in Jesus, or the boat could very well sink.

Chapter 27:  The Stolen Blessing and Esau's Anger

Summary

Jacob deceives Isaac on his deathbed and steals a blessing that was for Esau.  Now Jacob has taken Esau's birthright and his blessing.  Esau weeps because he is made to serve his brother and does not get a blessing.  As a result, Esau holds a grudge against Jacob, so Esau determines to kill Jacob.  Rebekah tells Jacob of Esau's plan and tells him to flee to her brother, Laban's, house in Haran.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 27:28-29 (Jacob's blessing) - May God give to your--from the dew of the sky and from the richness of the land--an abundance of grain and new wine.  May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you.  Be master over your brothers; may your mother's sons bow down to you.  Those who curse you will be cursed and those who bless you will be blessed.
• Genesis 27:39-40 (What Isaac tells Esau) - Look, your dwelling place will be away from the richness of the land, away from the dew of the sky above.  You will live by your sword and you will serve your brother.  But when you rebel, you will break his yoke from your neck.
• Genesis 27:42-44 - …"Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.  So now, my son, listen to me.  Flee at once to y brother Laban in Haran, and stay with him for a few days until your brother's anger subsides."

Thoughts on the Text

• This chapter brings about more family strife.  Isaac planned to give the blessing to Jacob, but Rebekah and Jacob concoct a plan to steal it out from underneath Esau.  The Lord already told Isaac and Rebekah who will receive the blessing in Genesis 25:23, "Two nations are in your womb; two people will come from you and be separated.  One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."  Neither Isaac or Rebekah listened fully to the Lord.  Isaac was going to give the blessing to Esau even though God told him that the younger son, Jacob, will have the family blessing.  Rebekah, on the other hand, not trusting the Lord, tries to take matters into her own hands.  She must think that she is bending the situation to the will of God.  What her and Jacob are really doing is committing a sin:  lying, stealing, and deceiving.  This act of deception propagates more strife in the family.  Esau weeps bitterly because he lost his father's blessing.  He gets so mad he plans to kill Jacob after his father dies.  Now, Jacob must be on the run in order to save his life. So we see that sin leads to more sin, and trying to manipulate a situation does not always work out in your favor.  I mean, what kind of blessing is it to be on the run from your own brother.  The blessing that he stole from his brother turns out to be a curse.  At least for the next few chapters of his life.  Now Jacob will be separated from his family for a long time, and he will never see his mother alive again.  Will his relationship with Esau ever be the same again?  We find these things out in the next few chapters of Genesis.
• In order to get Jacob to safety, Rebekah gives Isaac an excuse for him to leave.  Rebekah complains about the Hittite woman in the region of Canaan where they live.  She does not want Jacob to marry a Hittite woman as Esau has already done.  Instead, she wants Jacob to marry a woman from their immediate family or clan, just as Isaac and Rebekah were married.  We will find out later that the children that Jacob has eventually become the 12 tribes of Israel.
• From Bible Gateway, Jacob sounds like the Hebrew word for "heel" and "deceiver."

Chapter 28:  Jacob's Departure and Jacob at Bethel

Summary

Isaac blesses Jacob again before he leaves for Paddan-aram.  Isaac tells Jacob to marry one of Laban's daughters, and he tells him not to marry a Canaanite woman.  Esau hears about this, and to show contempt towards his father, he marries another Canaanite woman in addition to his other two wives.  Jacob has a dream from God along his journey to Haran.  God reaffirms the covenant he originally made with Abraham and Isaac to Jacob.  Upon waking, Jacob takes a stone marker, pours oil on top of it, and named the place, where he had the dream from God, Bethel, or the House of God.  Then, Jacob makes a vow with God, saying "If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, if He provides me with food to eat and clothing to wear, and if I return safely to my father's house, then the Lord will be my God.  This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God's house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that you give me."

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 28:13-15 - "The Lord was standing there beside him, saying, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you and your offspring the land that you are now sleeping on.  Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south.  All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you are your offspring.  Look, I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.  I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised."

Thoughts on the Text

• This is an awesome chapter in the Bible.  We see that, even though he is a sinner, Jacob is striving to grow closer to God and do what his parents tell him to do.  On the other hand, Esau, out of spite, disobeys his parents and is entangled in sexual immorality with women that his parents forbid.  Jacob is panning out to be a spiritual man of God while Esau is turning out to be more of a wild, sinful, irreverent man.  We see God's favor on Jacob in this chapter.  Jacob has an awakening from God in his dream.  God speaks directly to Jacob in his dreams.  Even the words God spoke to him are remembered and passed down from one generation to the next.  These words of God were even put in the Bible.  How miraculous God is!  To speak to his children, and those willing to follow Him, His instructions and commands.  That is why it is important to read the Bible.  After all, God's Words to us are in there!  Back to the story.  God reaffirms the threefold covenant with Jacob:  a promise from God of 1) promised land that will belong to Jacob and his offspring, 2) bountiful offspring that spreads out across the land, and 3) all the peoples of earth will be blessed because of Jacob's offspring.  The cherry on top of the cake comes next.  God tells Jacob that He will be with him and watch over him wherever he goes.  God will make sure His promise is fulfilled to Jacob.  This is incredible, and this can apply to our lives.  It is unlikely that we, in the modern day, are going to inherit a promised land from God, our offspring probably won't be as bountiful as Jacob's, and our offspring will not bless all the people's of the Earth.  However, if we are a child of God, He will be with us and watch over us wherever we go!  It is important for us to remember this in our everyday lives.  When we are feeling down and out, busted and disgusted, tired and worn out, tried and tempted, when no one is there to lend us a hand and we have no friends that can be trusted, God is there by our side.  He is patiently waiting for us to lay our burdens on him.  He will lead us through the darkness into the daylight.  Whatever situation we find ourselves in, God will lead us, and tell us what to do.  God is our navigator in this life.  It is vitally important to grow closer to God because otherwise we are steering our ship without navigation.  Without God, we really don't know where we are going.  We don't know where we will end up.  God does!  I believe Jacob realized this after he awoke from his dream.  After that dream, Jacob gave the helm of his life to the Lord.  He said, 'God, you steer my ship.'  And God obliged.
• After Abraham rescued Lot from the warfare that was going on in those days, he gives Melchizedek, king of Salem and a priest to God Most High, a tenth of his possessions.  This is the first time we see a tithe being given in the Bible.  Fast forward to chapter 28 of Genesis, and Jacob promises to give God a ten percent tithe.  In fact, Jacob, in a way, establishes the first church in the Bible at Bethel, or the House of God.  Where did the ten percent tithe come from?  Is this an arbitrary number or is there significance to the ten percent tithe?  Regardless, it is important for us to give a tithe to the Lord.  Our tithe helps further the kingdom of God.  Also, we should bear in mind that all the things we have were given to us by God. So, giving back to the Lord blesses us and others, while putting our greedy sin nature in check.
• One of the first churches in the Bible was a stone in the city of Bethel.  This should remind us that a church does not need to be a huge, fancy building, with all kinds of programs, and many people.  A church can be the place of a stone in the wilderness.  A church is wherever we come face-to-face with God.  A place where we talk with and worship our creator, and where our creator talks with us.  Jacob sets this precedent by establishing a House of God in Bethel.
• In Jacob's dream there is a stairwell reaching from the ground on earth to heaven.  Angels are ascending and descending the stairwell.  What does this signify?  It could foreshadow the coming of Christ.  How we have to come to know Christ as our personal Lord and savior in order to come before God the Father..  From John 14:6 Jesus says, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man comes unto the Father, but by me."  Jesus is our stairwell to heaven!
• Jacob kind of bargains with the Lord in this chapter.  If you do this for me, then I'll do that.  As an exaggeration, if you make me the richest man on Earth, then the Lord will be my God.  We shouldn't bargain with God.  God knows what's best for us.  We don't.  We should simply have faith in God and follow Him and His Word.  Jacob is still young here, and has a lot more to learn in order to grow spiritually closer to God.  Don't we all!  Even in our old age, we are still young compared with God, and we have so much more to learn from our creator.

Chapter 29:  Jacob Meets Rachel, Jacob Deceived, and Jacob's Sons.

Summary

Jacob travels to Haran in the eastern country.  He comes upon a well near Haran.  Rachel has brought her father Laban's sheep there to water them.  Jacob helps her, and they kiss.  Jacob tells Rachel that he is her cousin, Rebekah's son.  Rachel runs back home to tell her father that Jacob has arrived.  Laban gives Jacob a warm welcome.  Jacob starts working for Laban, and after one month Laban offers to pay him for his work.  Jacob replies that he will work for seven years in order to marry Rachel.  Laban agrees, and Jacob works for seven years on Laban's land.  After the seven years of work, Laban deceives Jacob by giving his older daughter Leah to him in marriage.  Laban gives an excuse to Jacob after the fact, saying the older daughter must be married before the younger daughter.  Laban says that if Jacob works for him another seven years he can marry Rachel after all.  Jacob agrees, marries Rachel, and works for Laban another seven years.  Jacob loves Rachel, but she is barren at the start of their marriage.  Leah is unloved by Jacob, but God opens her womb.  Leah has four sons by Jacob:  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah.  Leah stopped having children after this.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 29:20 - So Jacob worked seven years for Rachel, and they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.  
• Genesis 29:26-27 - Laban answered, "It is not the custom in this place to give the younger daughter in marriage before the firstborn.  Complete this week of wedding celebration, and we will also give you this younger one in return for working yet another seven years for me."
• Genesis 29:30 - Jacob slept with Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah.  And he worked for Laban another seven years.
• Genesis 29:31 - When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

Thoughts on the Text

• This is also another beautiful, yet odd love story from the Bible similar to Isaac and Rebekah.  This is also a learning lesson for Jacob.  In this love story the trickster gets tricked, or if you want to put it another way, the deceiver gets deceived.  Jacob makes the long journey from Beer-sheba to Haran.  This is a long walk, and I'm sure it gave plenty of time to Jacob to think about how his deception was wrong.  After all, his deception caused him to be separated from his family for many years and caused severe animosity with his brother Esau.  Jacob never gets to see his mother or father alive again because of his deception.  Upon getting to the well in Haran, Jacob meets Rachel.  Rachel is a shepherdess and she brings the sheep to the well to water them.  Jacob and Rachel fall in love at first sight and they kiss each other at the well.  This is a good example of kissing cousins in the Bible.  Laban and Jacob come to an agreement.  If Jacob works for Laban for seven years, then he can marry Rachel.  So, Jacob agrees and is engaged to Rachel for seven years.  Jacob is madly in love with Rachel; he works for a long time for her hand in marriage.  This is the beautiful part of the love story.  At the end of the seven years, Laban deceives Jacob and gives Leah to him in marriage instead.  Now, Jacob sees what it feels like to be deceived.  He waited and worked for seven years of his life to get Rachel's hand in marriage, and now this happens.  With this deception, Laban "tricks" Jacob into working for him another seven years, so that he can marry both Leah and Rachel.  Jacob agrees, marries Rachel, and works another seven years for Laban.  This is the odd part of the love story.  Now, Jacob has two wives and he has to work for his uncle even longer.  In this story, Jacob now knows what it is like to deceive and be deceived.  He gets a taste of his own medicine.  In this chapter alone, he works fourteen years for Laban, seven years of which are because of a deception.  So, it can be said that sin causes toil and strife.  Sin makes you feel uneasy, doubtful, cheated, and mistreated.  Before we deceive or lie to anyone, we should know what it feels like for someone deceive or lie to us.  If we know this, we won't do this to others.  The Golden Rule rings true.  You should always do unto others as you would want them to do unto you.
• Maintaining a marriage with one wife is hard enough.  I'm sure that having many wives, polygamy, would be a nightmare.  In fact, a happy marriage with multiple wives is impossible.  One of the wives will always feel unloved, there is bound to be jealousy and envy, and overall it is a big heartache.  In Jacob's case, Leah feels unloved, but she is the one who is fertile and has many children by Jacob.  In fact, Leah's line through Judah leads to King David and the Messiah, Jesus.  You could almost say, that Leah's sons are the most important out of all of Jacob's sons.  Of course, this will cause strife and jealousy for Rachel as she can have no children.  So, both wives are let down in some way.  This leads to some kind of conflict within the family.  Simply put, polygamy is wrong.  As men, we should only have one wife.  Two were meant to become one flesh under this spiritual contract.  Later on, when God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses, one of the commandments states, Thou shalt not commit adultery.  Having multiple wives is adultery.  Jacob and other people from the Old Testament did not know about this.  They had to learn the hard way.
• When we do wrong to others, we should expect others to treat us wrongly as well.  If you lie to your friends, you will eventually have no friends.  If you kill someone you will go to jail for the rest of your life.  Whatever we sow, that we shall reap.  From Galatians 6:7-8 the Bible states, "Don't be deceived:  God is not mocked.  For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit."  On the flipside, if we do good to others, good things will come our way.  If we tell the truth and help our friends, we will keep our friends.  They will be there for us as well.  If we bless others, we will be blessed.  Jacob's story is an example of karma in the Bible.  Karma may not always be true.  Sometimes you can be the best person you can be, but bad things come your way.  However, most of the time, you do reap what you sow.  Jacob had to find this out on his own.
• Sometimes the hard way is the only way to learn.  Some of us are hardheaded and we only learn by doing and by experience.  When you are young, the wisdom of the Bible and from our elders is overlooked.  We want to do it our way.  If only we could listen to God and advice from people who have already been there and done that.  Life would go much smoother, we would be blessed and be more of a blessing to others.    

Chapter 30:  Jacob's Sons and Jacob's Flocks Multiply

Summary

Rachel is distraught because she is barren.  She envies her sister Leah, and she wants a son of her own.  In a rash decision, Rachel tells Jacob to sleep with her slave, Bilhah, in order to have a child.  Jacob sleeps with Bilhah, and she bears Jacob two sons:  Dan and Naphtali.  Leah also sees that she is no longer bearing children, so she gives Jacob her slave, Zilpah, to sleep with as a wife.  Jacob and Zilpah have two sons:  Gad and Asher.  Rachel makes a deal with Leah.  In exchange for some mandrakes that Reuben found, Leah can once again sleep with Jacob.  Jacob and Leah sleep together again, and she bears him two more sons and a daughter:  Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah.  Also, God remembers Rachel and opens her womb.  Rachel bears a son named Joseph.  So far, Jacob with Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah have eleven sons:  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph.  Jacob asks Laban to return to his homeland with his wives and children.  Laban doesn't want to see Jacob leave because the Lord has blessed him with Jacob at his side.  Laban tells Jacob he will increase his wages if he decides to stay.  Jacob asks for the off-breeds of the cattle; the speckled, spotted, or dark-colored sheep and goats.  For this Jacob will shepherd the rest of Laban's flock.  Jacob becomes very rich, and he has many flocks, male and female slaves, camels, and donkeys.

Jacob's twelve sons that will comprise the twelve tribes of Israel:

• Born to Leah
• Reuben
• Simeon
• Levi
• Judah
• Issachar
• Zebulun
• Born to Bilhah (Rachel's maid)
• Dan
• Naphtali
• Born to Zilpah (Leah's main)
• Gad
• Asher
• Born to Rachel
• Joseph
• Benjamin

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 30:1-2 - When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she envied her sister.  "Give me sons, or I will die!" she said to Jacob.  Jacob became angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in God's place, who has withheld children from you?"
• Genesis 30:25-26 - After Rachel gave birth to Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me on my way so that I can return to my homeland.  Give me my wives and my children that I have worked for, and let me go.  You know how hard I have worked for you."
• Genesis 30:27-28 - But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, stay.  I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you."  Then Laban said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."
• Genesis 30:30 - "For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased.  The Lord has blessed you because of me.  And now, when will I also do something for my own family?"

Thoughts on the Text

• The first half of this chapter tells us about Jacob's family and the sons that were born to him.  Jacob now has a total of eleven sons after this chapter, and he has four wives that bear the children.  Each of the children's names mean something.  Reuben's name comes from the Hebrew word that sounds like "has seen my affliction.  Simeon sounds like the Hebrew word "has heard."  Levi sounds like the Hebrew word "attached to."  Judah sounds like the Hebrew word "praise."  Issachar sounds like the Hebrew word "reward."  Zebulun sounds like the Hebrew word "honored."  Dan sounds like the Hebrew word "has vindicated" or "has judged."  Naphtali sounds like the Hebrew word "my wrestling."  Gad means "good fortune."  Asher means "happy."  Joseph means "he adds."  Each of their son's names relates to what is going on in their life at the time.  Refer to the chapter for examples.  In a later chapter, Rachel has another son, Benjamin, that completes the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Rachel wanted some mandrakes pretty bad in this chapter.  She is willing to let her sister, Leah, sleep with Jacob in exchange for these interesting mandrakes.  From Bible study tools, "The mandrake is closely allied to the well-known deadly nightshade and to the tomato, and belongs to the potato family. It grows in Palestine and Mesopotamia. It grows low, like lettuce, which its leaves somewhat resemble, except that they are of a dark green. The flowers are purple, and the root is usually forked. Its fruit when ripe (early in May) is about the size of a small apple, 24 inches in diameter, ruddy or yellow and of a most agreeable odor (to Orientals more than to Europeans) and an equally agreeable taste. The Arabs call it "devils apple," from its power to excite voluptuousness. Dr. Richardson ("Lectures on Alcohol," 1881) tried some experiments with wine made of the root of mandrake, and found it narcotic, causing sleep, so that the ancients used it as an anesthetic. Used in small quantities like opium, it excites the nerves, and is a stimulant."  I wonder what Rachel was using these mandrakes for.  Why did they mean so much to her at the time?
• We see Jacob committing the same sin as Abraham and Sarah did.  Abraham slept with Sarah's slave Hagar, and Jacob sleeps with both Leah's and Rachel's slaves, Bilhah and Zilpah.  Even though Jacob is mixed up in a sinful lifestyle by committing adultery with so many woman, God still uses Jacob for his glory.  God moves and works in our lives despite our sin.  God is able to see the sin, forgive us for the sin, and work his plan regardless of our sins.  God's plan prevails!  When God has made a covenant, you can guarantee that God will fulfill that covenant no matter what.  This is exactly what God does in Jacob's situation.  Even though Jacob and his wives are struggling with sin, God uses them all.  With Jacob and his four wives comes the twelve tribes of Israel!  From this we see that God uses imperfect people to complete his perfect purpose and plan.  We don't have to be perfect.  Jesus came to the earth, fully God and fully man, lived a perfect sinless life, and He was crucified on the cross for our sins.  If we believe on Jesus Christ, God will forgive our sins, and then God can start truly working in our lives despite our failures and flaws.
• The second half of the chapter is about Laban trying to keep Jacob from going back to his native land.  Laban knows that God has blessed his household because of Jacob.  After all Jacob has worked for Laban for over 14 years.  Jacob wants to start his own family and move away from Laban's authority.  Jacob has four wives and eleven sons (not sure how many daughters he has;  we know that Leah had one daughter named Dinah from this chapter).  Jacob probably thought, it is now or never.  Laban tells Jacob he will increase his wages if he stays.  Jacob turns down the offer.  Instead, Jacob asks for the "off-breeds" of all Laban's cattle.  Laban will keep all the pure-breeds.  If Laban agrees, Jacob will stay and shepherd Laban's flock.  Laban agrees.  In the final part of the chapter we see Jacob doing some kind of hocus pocus, so that the weaker cattle will belong to Laban and the stronger cattle will belong to him.  Again, we see Jacob using trickery and shrewd practices to get the upper hand.  It seems like the "hocus pocus" is an old wives' tale, but if you have any ideas as to what he was doing, please leave a comment below.  How will this trickery work out for Jacob? 

We will find out in tomorrow's study on...

Chapter 31:  Jacob Separates from Laban, Laban Overtakes Jacob, and Jacob's Covenant with Laban

Summary

Laban's sons think that Jacob has unfairly taken their father's wealth.  On the other hand, Jacob thinks that Laban has cheated and changed his wages many times.  Jacob believes that God has taken Laban's herds and given them to him (God has made all the off-breed cattle mate instead of the purebred cattle).  Jacob has a dream where the Angel of God tells him to leave Paddan-aram and return to the land of his father Isaac in Canaan.  Rachel and Leah take sides with Jacob and are willing to leave their father.  When there is a chance, Jacob deceives Laban, and he flees Paddan-aram with his wives, children, camels, livestock, and possessions.  He crosses the Euphrates and heads for the hill country of Gilead.  Before leaving, Rachel steals her father's household idols.

Jacob has a three day head start until Laban hears word that he has fled Paddan-aram.  Laban, along with his relatives, pursue Jacob for seven days.  They overtake Jacob at Mount Gilead.  God comes to Laban in a dream at night, and He tells him not to make any rash decisions against Jacob.  Laban confronts Jacob and asks him why he left with his daughters and grandchildren without telling him.  If Jacob would have told Laban, he would have sent him away in celebration.  Laban promises not to harm Jacob as God told him in the dream.  Laban also questions why Jacob has stole his gods/idols.  Jacob gives reasoning to Laban for his leaving in deception.  He was afraid that Laban would not let his daughters and grandchildren go with him.  Jacob does not know that Rachel has stolen the idols, so he tells Laban that if anyone in his company has the idols they will not live. Laban searches through Jacob's, Rachels, and Leah's possessions.  Rachel continues hiding the idols, and Laban does not find them.

Jacob proclaims his innocence and claims that he has nothing that belongs to Laban.  Everything that is in Jacob's outfit belongs to him fairly.  After all, he has worked for Laban for 20 long years.  Laban sees things differently, but nonetheless, he wants to make a covenant with Jacob.  They make a mound of stones, and they eat by it.  Laban named the mound Jegar-sahadutha and Jacob named it Galeed.  Both names mean 'mound of witness'. In the covenant Laban tells Jacob not to mistreat his daughters or take other wives, and neither Jacob or Laban is to go beyond the mound of stones to do one another harm.  The covenant is a peace treaty between Laban and Jacob that is witnessed by God.  The next day, Laban returns back home.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 31:3 - Then the Lord said to him, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."
• Genesis 31:9 - God has taken your father's hers and give them to me.
• Genesis 31:13 - I am the God of Bethel, where you poured oil on the stone marker and made a solemn vow to Me.  Get up, leave this land, and return to your native land.
• Genesis 31:16 - In fact, all the wealth that God has taken from our father belongs to us and to our children.  So do whatever God has said to you."
• Genesis 31:24 - But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night.  "Watch yourself!"  God warned him.  "Don't say anything to Jacob, either good or bad."
• Genesis 31:42 - "If the God of my father, the God off Abraham, the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, certainly now you would have sent me off empty-handed.  But God has seen my affliction and my hard work, and He issued His verdict last night."
• Genesis 31: 43 - Then Laban answered Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters; the sons, my sons; and the flocks, my flocks!  Everything you see is mine!  But what can I do today for these daughters of mine or for the children they have borne?  Come now, let's make a covenant, you and I.  Let it be a witness between the two of us."
• Genesis 31:49-50 - ..."May the Lord watch between you and me when we are out of each other's sight.  If you mistreat my daughters or take other wives, though no one is with us, understand that God will be a witness between you and me."
• Genesis 31:53 - The God of Abraham, and the gods of Nahor--the gods of their father--will judge between us.

Thoughts on the Text

• Here we see God intervening in Jacob's life again.  If God did not appear to Jacob, he would have kept on staying in Haran.  God wants Jacob to leave Haran and return to the promised land, the Land he swore to give to the descendants of Abraham.  So far, Jacob has eleven sons, and God wants them to become eleven of the twelve tribes of Israel one day.  If they stay in Haran, this will never happen.  Also, as we have seen in this chapter, Laban worships the gods of his father Nahor.  So, Laban does not worship the one true God.  If Jacob's sons stay in Haran any longer they may turn away from the one true God and worship the gods of Nahor as well.  This is not God's plan, so God comes to Jacob in a dream and tells him to return to the land of his father Isaac in Canaan.  Jacob does not hesitate, and instantly prepares to leave.
• Jacob once again stoops to deception instead of outright telling his uncle Laban that he is going to leave.  From the text we learn that Jacob is afraid that Laban will not let his daughters and grandchildren leave with him.  Also, he is probably afraid that Laban will not let him leave with the cattle and possessions that God has blessed him with.  On the other hand, Jacob's wives support his decision to leave.  They feel cheated by their father as well.  They even tell Jacob to do whatever God has told him to do.  This is how we need to live our lives.  We have a direct line to God through Jesus Christ, through God's Word, and through prayer and visions.  God will tell us what to do.  It is up to us to do exactly what God wants us to do.  It is more than likely that Laban wouldn't have let Jacob leave with his daughters, grandchildren, and possessions.  He already talked Jacob into watching over his flocks for another six years.  The deception, however, made things worse.  Laban probably wanted to kill Jacob.  And if it weren't for God intervening on Jacob's behalf, Laban and his brothers may have killed Jacob.  This all could have been solved beforehand if Jacob had told Laban the truth and stood firm up front.  We know that is not how the story goes, and Laban is forced to overtake Jacob at Mount Gilead.  Here the truth comes out on both sides, no one is killed, and a covenant of peace is made.  Laban heads back to Haran and Jacob heads back to the promised land.
• We see from this chapter that Rachel believes in the gods of her grandfather Nahor.  This is why she steals the idols from her father, Laban.  She wants the gods to be with her and bless her when she journeys to a new land.  Praise the Lord, that our God is with us wherever we go.  We can go to the furthest reaches of the universe and God will still be right by our side.  We have no use in idols, and later we find that one of the Ten Commandments strictly forbids idol worship of all kinds.
• The covenant that Jacob and Laban make between each other is sometimes referred to as the Mizpah Covenant.  Mizpah is the Hebrew word for 'watchtower'.  People still make this covenant with one another when they want God to watch over the two parties when they are out of sight of each other.  God is to be the judge in a Mizpah Covenant.  This holds both parties accountable to each other and to God for their actions.
• Jacob swears by the Fear of his father Isaac when he agrees to the Mizpah Covenant.  This "Fear" is the fear that Isaac had of the one true God.  This is one of the first times in the Bible where we see that man has a fear of God.  Jacob also fears the Lord.  God has allowed Jacob to be disciplined with hard Labor for 20 years, God let Jacob narrowly escape the wrath of Esau, and now Jacob narrowly escapes the wrath of his Uncle Laban.  God has put Jacob in his place, and he now knows to fear the one true God with reverential awe and respect.  We, in the modern day, should fear the Lord.  The Lord is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere all the time.  We can not escape God, and we can be sure that God will judge us for our sins against him and humanity. In Proverbs 9:10 it is said, that "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

Chapter 32:  Preparing to Meet Esau and Jacob Wrestles with an Angel

Summary

After leaving Laban, God's angels meet him at Mahanaim.  Jacob sends out messengers to meet Esau in the land of Seir.  Esau along with his party of 400 men decide to meet Jacob.  Jacob is afraid that Esau is going to attack his camp with good reason.  Jacob divides his camp into two camps, so that one camp can escape if Esau decides to attack the other.  Jacob prays to the Lord to rescue him from the hand of his brother Esau.  Jacob decides to make a peace offering with Esau by giving him many of the cattle and animals he has brought with him on the journey from Haran.  This peace offering is to go ahead of Jacob, so that Esau will know Jacob's apologetic intentions.  Hopefully Esau will forgive his brother Jacob.

At some point in time during the night, Jacob is alone.  He ends up wrestling with an Angel of God/man.  The Angel can not defeat Jacob, so he strikes Jacob in the hip and dislocates his hip socket.  Jacob will still not let the Angel go until he has been blessed by God.  The Angel changes Jacobs name to Israel, and He blesses him.  Jacob renames this place Peniel or Face of God.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 32:10-12 - "I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant.  Indeed, I crossed over this Jordan with my staff, and now I have become two camps.  Please rescue me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid of him; otherwise, he may come and attack me, the mothers, and their children.  you have said, 'I will cause you to prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"
• Genesis 32:20 - You are to also say, 'Look, your servant Jacob is right behind us.'"  For he thought, "I want to appease Esau with the gift that is going ahead of me.  After that, I can face him, and perhaps he will forgive me."
• Genesis 32:28 - "Your name will no longer be Jacob," He said.  "It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."
• Genesis 32:30 - Jacob then named the place Peniel, "For," he said, "I have seen God face to face, and I have been delivered."

Thoughts on the Text

• The last time Jacob saw Esau, Esau was plotting to kill him.  That is the main reason why Jacob left Beer-sheba in the first place.  Now, after 20 years of service under Laban, he is finally returning back home to Canaan.  Before he gets there, he must face his brother Esau.  Esau has a large party of 400 men, so Jacob prepares for the worst case scenario.  Will Esau and his men slaughter Jacob's party, or will his peace offering appease Esau?  I could only imagine the fear and stress that was going through Jacob's mind.  He really thought that Esau had held a grudge against him for over 20 years.  Jacob thinks he may be meeting his end, so he assembles a huge gift to give Esau: 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their young, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys, and 10 male donkeys.  This is over 550 head of cattle.  Jacob had worked for 20 years to accumulate this much cattle, and he was willing to give it all away in an attempt to make right the harm he caused his brother when he stole Esau's birthright and Isaac's blessing.  This is Jacob's last ditch effort.  If this doesn't appease Esau, then nothing will.  As a contingency plan, Jacob splits his party into two camps.  If the first camp is destroyed by Esau, then the second camp can at least flee.  We shall see what happens in the next chapter.
• In this chapter, Jacob meets God face to face.  God comes down in the form of a man.  This is another Theophany.  Jacob wrestles with 'God' (possible the preincarnate Christ) from the nighttime until daybreak.  The man of God can not defeat Jacob, so He dislocates his hip.  Jacob still won't let go until the man of God blesses him.  The man of God blesses him and changes Jacob's name to Israel.  Israel sounds like the Hebrew word for "he struggled with God."  Jacob must think that if God blesses him one more time he will be spared from the wrath of Esau.  To me, this wrestling match is the point of conversion for Jacob.  We saw Jacob grow up in the previous chapters.  At first Jacob lived by the sin nature.  He stole his brother's birthright, he stole Isaac's blessing, He married four different wives, he tries to deceive Laban, and more.  During these times, we see Jacob as a man controlled by his sin nature.  Now, Jacob has to go back home.  Jacob has to face the sins of his past.  Jacob comes to the realization that he is a sinner, and he literally fights God.  This fight with God is metaphorical for the inner struggle that Jacob is going through.  Jacob is trying to overcome his sin nature.  He may die because of what he did.  During the wrestling match with God he is wounded.  He eventually just holds onto God.  He says, 'have mercy on me God.  Bless me."  At this point Jacob yields to God.  He yields to God in the wrestling match and he yields his inner nature over to the Lord.  Jacob, the old nature, is finished.  Now God makes Jacob new.  He is now Israel.  Israel is a man of faith.  Israel calls out to God for help.  Israel listens to God and obeys God.  Israel is God's chosen man and people.  In this chapter Jacob/Israel is saved.  Will Jacob be forgiven by his brother Esau.  God forgave Jacob even though he struggled with sin for the longest time.  This sounds a lot like my story.  How long did I have to struggle with my sin and fight God before I yielded to His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and Love.
• There is an interesting note in the text about the Israelites.  Israelites do not eat the thigh muscle that is at the hip socket because God struck Jacob's hip socket at the thigh muscle.

Chapter 33:  Jacob Meets Esau

Summary

As a peace offering, Jacob decides to send Esau a gift of many livestock.  Esau forgives Jacob for the things that happened in the past.  They greet each other as long lost brothers.  The hug each other, give a brotherly kiss, and weep tears of joy.  Jacob introduces his family to Esau.  After much urging, Esau accepts Jacobs very large gift.  After finding favor with Esau, Jacob says that he will follow Esau to his home in Seir.  Instead, Jacob goes to Succoth and builds a homestead there for his family and remaining livestock.  Then, he goes on to Shechem, buys land from the sons of Hamor, pitches his tent there, and builds an altar to the Lord.  He calls the altar El-Elohe-Israel, or God, the God of Israel.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 33:4 - But Esau ran to meet him, hugged him, threw his arms around him, and kissed him  Then they wept.
• Genesis 33:10-11 - But Jacob said, "No, please!  If I have found favor with you, take this gift from my hand.  For indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing God's face, since you have accepted me.  Please take my present that was brought to you, because God has been gracious to me and I have everything I need."  So Jacob urged him until he accepted.
• Genesis 33:20 - And he set up an altar there and called it "God, the God of Israel."

Thoughts on the Text

• This is the first chapter where we see the new Jacob, or Israel.  He has completely changed his attitude and demeanor.  When he was young he stole his brother's birthright for a meal.  Now, he is willing to give a humungous gift of cattle to his brother for nothing in return.  Also, he bows down to his brother multiple times.  He makes sure his wives all bow down to Esau.  He calls his brother Esau 'my lord,' and he addresses himself as 'your servant.'  After all these years of hard labor and the good and bad experiences he has had in his life, he is finally humbled and yielded to the will of God.  Now that he has humbled himself before God, he is finally going to receive the blessing from God.  He and his family are back in the promised land of Canaan.  One of the first things he does is set up an altar to God in a field in Shechem.  Little does Jacob/Israel know that one day this land will be named after him.  The land will be known as the land of Israel!  This is the land that Jacob's descendants will own at some point in the future.  God's covenant will come to fruition.
• Jacob bought a piece of land in Shechem for 100 qesitahs.  A qesitah was a medium of exchange or currency of that time.  We do not know its value.  This purchase of land reminds me of the land in Machpelah that Abraham purchased to bury Sarah.  For the land in Machpelah, Abraham paid 400 shekels of silver.  Jacob bought the land in Shechem for 100 qesitahs.  If the value of these two pieces of land are the same, then one qesitah is worth four shekels.  Not sure about this, as different pieces of land fetch a different price.  This is just food for thought.
• This chapter is a great reunion between brothers; not to mention they are twins!  I think that it shows how both Jacob and Esau have changed.  Esau forgives Jacob, and Jacob respects Esau.  When they reunite here after all these years, it shows that they really love each other as brothers.  I believe from here on out, they will help each other out when one of them is in need of the other.  They will not simply be brothers; they will act like brothers.  As Hebrews 13:1 states, "Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters."  And as Luke 15:32 says, "But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."  Both of these brothers were lost for so many years, but by this chapter, they found each other, they found they light, and God found and saved them.

Chapter 34:  Dinah Defiled

Summary

Dinah, Jacob's daughter, goes out to meet the young women in the area of Shechem.  Shechem, son of Hamor, sees her in the city, takes her, and rapes her.  After raping her, Shechem wants Dinah to be his wife.  Hamor pleads with Jacob to let Dinah marry Shechem.  Hamor also asks Jacob to have all the males and females intermarry between the two families.  Jacob's sons give a deceitful conditional agreement to Shechem and Hamor.  Shechem can marry Dinah, and all of Hamor's family can intermarry with all of Jacob's family to become one people if all of Hamor's sons are circumcised.  Hamor and Shechem agree to Jacob's proposal, and all the males of Shechem are circumcised.  On the third day after the circumcision, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, go into the city where Hamor and his family live.  They kill every male in the city along with Hamor and Shechem.  They take Dinah and leave the city.  Jacob's other sons then loot and plunder the city, taking everything of value including cattle, children, and women.  Jacob now begins to worry, and he scorns his sons.  He believes the people of the land will now unite against him and destroy his household.  The sons of Jacob believe they are justified for their actions because Dinah was raped by Shechem.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 34:2 - When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her.
• Genesis 34:7 - Jacob's sons returned from the field when they heard about the incident and were deeply grieved and angry.  For Shechem had committed an outrage against Israel by sleeping with Jacob's daughter, and such a thing should not be done.
• Genesis 34:9 - Intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.
• Genesis 34:13 - But Jacob's sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully because he had defied their sister Dinah.
• Genesis 34:24-25 - All the able-bodied men listened to Hamor and his son Shechem, and all the able-bodied men were circumcised.  On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and killed every male.
• Genesis 34:30 - Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me, making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.  We are few in number; if they united against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed."

Thoughts on the Text

• This is a very sad a brutal chapter in the book of Genesis.  Right after Jacob builds an altar to the One true God, two of his sons from Leah unjustifiably slaughter a whole city of men.  This is a tragic story in Jacob's life and for his whole household.  There have been family struggles in Abraham's life, in Isaac's life, and now in Jacob's and his children's life.  If it's not one thing, it is another.  This chapter documents the worst sin and family strife since before Abraham.  Today, Simeon and Levi would be considered mass murderers.  And Jacob knew then, that what his children had done would put a dark blot on the family name.  Possibly the whole family would be in life threatening jeopardy.  Let's not forget that Dinah is raped.  That is inexcusable on Shechem's part as well.  However, the crime of rape did not justify the punishment and revenge that Jacob's sons took out on Hamor and the sons of Hamor.
• Two of Leah's children were responsible for the deceit and bloodshed in this chapter. Could Jacob's sin of deceit and adultery have passed down to his children?  Could it be possible that the children may turn out just as bad or worse than the father?  I believe so.  Your children will turn out very similar to you.  So, whatever wrong you do, expect your children to do the same sin.  Jacob did not kill anyone, but he did have multiple wives.  This adultery could be a curse on his offspring.  It just so happens that Leah's children, the wife that he wed by deceit and the wife that he didn't love, are the worst in the family.  This could show that God does not approve of polygamy.  Maybe Jacob's sin of adultery was a curse that fueled the sin nature in his children's lives.  In any case, there is horrendous family strife and sin in Jacob's family.
• This chapter reminds me that we should not take vengeance or revenge out on others.  Like the Lord's prayer says, we should forgive others who trespass against us.  We should trust God to deal out the necessary judgement, and in the modern-day, we should trust the law to punish those who have committed a crime.  If someone were to rape your daughter in the present day, and then you were to go and kill that person,  you would be the one going to prison for life.  This is right in the eyes of our judicial system.  The life sentence in jail would be the law's punishment and God's judgement on us for our sin.  This brings me to a verse from scriptures.  Romans 12:19-21 says, "Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath.  For it is written:  Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.  But If your enemy is hungry, feed him.  If he is thirsty, give him something to drink.  For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head.  Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good."  Therefore, we should do good and show kindness to those who do us harm.  This is to be as Christ.  This is the good nature of a true Christian.  
• In this chapter, Jacob did not act as the leader of his family.  It could be said that Jacob's sons circumvented Jacob's leadership.  They went around Jacob, and did what they wanted to do regardless of Jacob's decision in the matter.  This is what Jacob had been doing to God.  Jacob had been doing whatever he wanted instead of waiting on the will of the Lord.  Jacob stole the birthright and the blessing.  Jacob marries four wives.  Jacob decides to settle in the land of the Hivites even though God told him to go back to the land of his father Isaac in Bethel/Beer-sheba.  The same thing that Jacob did to the Lord,  Jacob's sons do to him.  They bypass his instruction, leadership, and wisdom, and they take matters into their own hands.  This leads to the tragedy of this chapter.  If we follow the instruction and leadership of God, this Christlike ethic will be instilled in our children.  Following the ideals of Christ is true leadership.  This is the way to lead your sons and daughters down the right path in life.
• Jacob's sons deceive the men of Shechem saying that they will intermarry with them if all the men of Shechem get circumcised.  We know they had no intentions of intermarrying with the men of Shechem.  Instead they planned to kill them all.  This is a strange thing to tell the Hivites nonetheless.  They basically told them that if they get circumcised, their people will be one with the Israelites.  This is not the case.  Circumcision will not make one a follower of God just like baptism or joining a church won't make you a Christian.  The men of Shechem did not follow the one true God, the God of Israel.  Therefore, they would get circumcised simply to sleep with the daughters of Israel.  The fact that they did this probably fueled the rage of Simeon and Levi.  We know the rest of the story.
• Another thing that shook me to the core concerning this story, besides the rape and mass murder, is the fact that Jacob or his sons did not take this to the Lord.  Not one time after Dinah is raped does Jacob or his sons ask God's leadership as to what to do in this situation.  This is another tragic failing of the Israelites that led to this heinous act written in the Bible.  As Christians, we should ask God for guidance in our day-to-day decisions and our short-term and long-term goals.  God may even set some goals for us to attain in our life if we listen to him more and more.  God will never tell us to kill others or break any of his commandments.  I can guarantee that.  God is a God of love, and he wants us to follow his law, so that we will live fruitful lives, free from the burden and consequences of sin. 
• It seems to me that Jacob and his family will have to be on the run again, even though they are in the land that God promised to them.  They have much more trials and tribulations to go through before this land becomes the land of Israel.

Chapter 35:  Return to Bethel and Rachel's Death

Summary

God tells Jacob to return to his hometown of Bethel, settle there, and build an altar to God.  Jacob tells his family to get rid of their idols, turn back to God, and that they are going to return home.  God keeps Jacob and his family safe on their return trip home by inflicting a terror on the cities from Shechem to Bethel.  No one pursued after Jacob and his family.  They return to Bethel safely and Jacob builds an alter to God called El-bethel.  God appears to Jacob in Bethel and blesses him saying, "Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but Israel will be your name."  Therefore, the land of Israel is named after Jacob.  Jacob's family leaves Bethel to go to Ephrath.  On the way, Rachel begins to give birth, and she dies during childbirth.  With her dying breath she names her son Ben-oni or Son of My Sorrow.  Jacob renames him Benjamin or Son of the Right hand.  Rachel is buried on the way to Ephrath.  From there, they continue on to Eder and then later on to his father Isaac at Mamre in Hebron.  Isaac dies in the land of Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac lived, at 180 years old.  Jacob and Esau bury him.  Jacob now has twelve sons, later to become the twelve tribes of Israel:

• Leah's sons were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
• Rachel's sons were Joseph and Benjamin.
• The sons of Rachel's slave Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali.
• The sons of Leah's slave Zilpah were Gad and Asher.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 35:1 - God said to Jacob, "Get up!  Go to Bethel and settle there.  Build an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau."
• Genesis 35:9-10 - God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan-aram, and He blessed him.  God said to him:  Your name is Jacob; you will no longer be named Jacob, but Israel will be your name.  So He named him Israel.
• Genesis 35:18 - With her last breath--for she was dying--she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.
• Genesis 35:28-29 - Isaac lived 180 years.  He took his last breath and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days.  His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Thoughts on the Text

• Jacob is finally taking the spiritual leadership in his family, and actually listening to God.  Jacob even says in the scriptures that God has been with him everywhere he has gone.  God is still with Jacob and will lead him back to Bethel.  Jacob stands up for what is right in this chapter.  He tells all of his children to get rid of their idols and foreign gods.  He tells them all to purify themselves.  This purification is the Christian equivalent of confession of sins, asking for forgiveness, and repentance.  1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  Before Jacob could go back to the place where he met God for the first time in his life, his whole family had to purify themselves of the sin in their life.  After this purification, Jacob listens to God, he goes to Bethel, and he builds an altar there.  After all the trials and tribulations Jacob has gone through, he is finally listening to God and leading his family down the right path.  
• This chapter is filled with death and hints of death.  First, there is the death of all the men of Shechem.  God must protect Jacob's family on their journey to Bethel by inflicting a terror on the cities around them.  If God did not protect them from the Canaanites, they would have attacked Jacob and his family for killing all the men at Shechem.  Second, the Bible tells about the death and burial of Deborah, Rebekah's nurse.  Third, this also hints at the death of Rebekah.  Jacob never did get to see his mother again after she sent him away to her brother Laban all those years ago.  Fourth, there is the death of Rachel, Jacob's first and only true love.  Jacob loses Rachel but gains a son who he truly loves and calls the son of the right hand.  Fifth and finally, this chapter tells about the death of Jacob's father Isaac.  It took the death of their father to bring these two brothers, Jacob and Esau, back together.  They come together and bury their father.  Death is near for all of us.  This life is short and temporary.  Life is but a vapor.  We are here one day and gone the next.  This alone should cause us to draw close to God, repent, ask God to save us, and secure our eternity with our Creator.

Chapter 36:  Esau's Family, Seir's Family, and Rulers of Edom

Summary

Written in this chapter is the family lineage of Esau and Seir.  Also written in this chapter are the kings who ruled in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites.  All of Esau's wives were Canaanite women.  Esau had five sons from three different wives.  Adah's son was Eliphaz, Basemath's son was Reuel, and Oholibamah's sons were Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.  Esau lived away from his brother and family; he settled with his family in the mountains of Seir.  Esau was the father of the Edomites.

https://truthsnitch.com/the-holy-bible-tiffsnotes/genesis/chapter-36/#sthash.DoUn21LQ.dpbs

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 36:1 - These are the family records of Esau (that is, Edom).
• Genesis 36:6 - Esau took his wives, sons daughters, and all the people of his household, as well as his herds, all his livestock, and all the property he had acquired in Canaan; he went to a land away from his brother Jacob.
• Genesis 36:8 - So Esau (that is, Edom) lived in the mountains of Seir.

Thoughts on the Text

• The nation of Edom (the Edomites) came from Esau.  Edom is south east of the Dead Sea.  It is a mountainous area, and the capital of Edom is Petra.  The city of Petra is still in existence today, and the people that descended from Esau still live in this area.  The reason why Esau moved to Edom is because the land of Canaan could not support the cattle and livestock of both Jacob and Esau.  Not to mention, they really didn't like each other too much if you recall.  This is similar to what happened between Abraham and Lot; there was conflict among the herdsman so they went their separate ways.  So, Esau leaves the Promised Land and Jacob, after many long years, finally moves back to the Promised Land.
• Many of the descendants of Esau will go on to form many people groups that we will run into later on in the Bible.  For example, Genesis 36 verse 12 states, "Timna, a concubine of Esau's son Eliphaz bore Amalek to Eliphaz."  Amalek would one day be the father of the Amalekites.
• This is the first chapter where we see titles added to the names of people.  These people took on the title of either chiefs or dukes.  Some of these descendants had the boldness to take on the name of king.  These descendants of Esau form royal lines that continue on throughout the Edomite family tree.

Chapter 37:  Joseph's Dreams and Joseph Sold into Slavery

Summary

At the age of 17, Joseph along with his older brothers are shepherds.  Joseph brings a bad report about some of his brothers to his father, Jacob.  Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because he was Rachel's child and he was born to him in his old age.  Jacob loved Joseph so much, he gave him a coat of many colors.  Joseph's brothers became jealous of him.  Joseph has a dream that contains symbolism of him ruling over his brothers.  Joseph's brothers begin to hate him even more.  Joseph has another dream where the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to him.  His father rebukes him, and his brothers grow even more jealous.  Israel sends Joseph to help his brothers pasture the flocks at Shechem and to bring back word about how they are doing.  Joseph finds his brothers at Dothan.  Upon seeing Joseph approaching from a distance, the brothers plot to kill him and blame his death on a vicious animal.  Reuben, the oldest brother, was the only one opposed to killing Joseph.  Upon his arrival, the brothers strip Joseph of his robe and throw him into a pit.  The pit was empty and there was no water in it.  Instead of leaving Joseph to die they take him out of the pit and sell him to Midianite traders for 20 pieces of silver.  Then, Joseph's brothers fake his death by slaughtering a goat and putting the blood on his coat of many colors.  They return to Israel with the news of Joseph's death.  Israel mourns for his son for many days.  The Midianites sell Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 37:3-4 - Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a robe of many colors for him.  When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceable to him.
• Genesis 37:23-24 - When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his robe the robe of many colors that he had on.  Then they took him and threw him into the pit.  The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
• Genesis 37:28 - When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for 20 pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took Joseph to Egypt.
• Genesis 37:33 - His father recognized it (Joseph's coat of many colors).  "It is my son's robe," he said.  "A vicious animal has devoured him.  Joseph has been torn to pieces!"
• Genesis 37:36 - Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.

Thoughts on the Text

• The rest of the book of Genesis deals with Joseph.  There are more chapters devoted to the story of Joseph than to any other character in all of Genesis, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Joseph has been given much importance in the book of Genesis.  This is because Joseph is a good, godly man and he is an Old Testament parallel to Christ in many ways.  Joseph had a miraculous birth like Jesus.  Joseph's birth was an answer to prayer.  Jesus obviously had a miraculous virgin birth.  Joseph was deeply loved by his father, and Jesus was loved by God the father.  Joseph was set apart from his brothers because of his coat of many colors.  Jesus was set apart because he was perfect and set apart from sinners.  Joseph dreams that he will rule over his brothers.  Jesus proclaimed that he was the Messiah.  Both Joseph and Jesus were ridiculed.  Joseph was thrown into a pit and sold into slavery.  Jesus was nailed to a cross and bore all the sin of the world.  Both Joseph and Jesus were hated without a just cause.  Cn you think of any more parallels of Jesus and Joseph?
• Jacob makes the same mistake that his mother and father, Isaac and Rebekah, made in the past.  Jacob favors Joseph over all of his other sons.  He loves Joseph more.  So, he makes him a coat of many colors.  This favoritism creates animosity and hatred in the brothers towards Joseph.  They hate Joseph so much that they even plot to kill him, and they actually sell Joseph into slavery.  Once again there is strife in the family of Israel.  The cause of this strife is sin.  If there is a problem in the family, sin is to blame.  If there is problem in a nation, sin is the leading cause.  Sin is the cause of most of out problems.  The Israelites of the Old Testament faced the same sin, trials, and temptations as we do today.  We all fall into sin at some point in our lives.  No one is perfect except for Jesus.  The redemption comes when we turn back to God from the pit of sin.
• Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors.  From the Bible footnotes, this coat of many colors may very well have been a long-sleeved robe.
• Joseph has two dreams in this chapter.  Each of the dreams foreshadow what will eventually take place in the life of Joseph.  Joseph's family will bow down to him at some point in the future when he becomes a ruler in Egypt.  This happens much later.  For now, his family thinks his dreams are ridiculous, and these dreams fuel his brothers' hatred towards him.
• Jacob is deceived by his sons in exactly the same way that he deceived his father Isaac.  What comes around goes around, and whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.  Just as his father Isaac was deceived into thinking that he was giving his blessing to his son Esau,  Jacob is deceived by his sons into believing that Joseph has been devoured by a wild animal.  This reveals that the sin that you commit will come back to haunt you.  The ramifications of sin may not affect you today, tomorrow, or even a year from now.  Eventually, however, the sin that you commit will carry just consequences.  I am reminded of a song:  Power in the Blood by Lewis E. Jones

1 Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o'er evil a victory win?
There's wonderful power in the blood.

Chorus:

There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the blood of the Lamb.
There is power, power, wonder-working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

2 Would you be free from your passion and pride?

There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide;
There's wonderful power in the blood.[Chorus]

3 Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?

There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow;
There's wonderful power in the blood.[Chorus]

4 Would you do service for Jesus your King?

There's power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There's wonderful power in the blood.[Chorus]

Chapter 38:  Judah and Tamar

Summary

Jacob's son Judah left his brothers at about the same time that Joseph was sold into slavery.  Judah settled near an Adullamite named Hirah.  There Judah takes the daughter of Shua to be his wife, and she has three sons:  Er, Onan, and Shelah.  Later on, Judah finds a wife, Tamar, for his first born son, Er.  Following this, Er dies because he was evil in the Lord's sight.  Judah tells his second born, Onan, to produce offspring with Tamar.  Onan sleeps with Tamar but does not impregnate her because he pulls out before ejaculation.  Onan did not want to produce offspring with his brother's wife.  What he did was evil in the Lord's sight, so God puts him to death also.  At that time, Tamar remains a widow at her father's house and she waits for Judah's youngest, Shelah, to grow up.  After a long time, Judah's wife dies.  Tamar dresses like a prostitute, and Judah sleeps with her not knowing that she is his daughter-in-law.  In exchange for sleeping with her, Judah promises to give her a young goat.  Tamar asks for collateral until she receives the goat.  Judah gives her his signet ring, cord, and staff.  Tamar gets pregnant by Judah.  It is later known that Tamar is pregnant.  Judah wants her to be burned to death for acting like a prostitute.  Before this happens, Tamar returns Judah's signet ring, cord, and staff.  Judah then realizes what he had done.  At this point, Judah says that she is in the right more than him because he did not give Shelah to her in marriage.  Judah does not sleep with her again.  Tamar has twins by Judah.  Their names are Perez and Zerah.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 38:26 - Judah recognized them and said, "she is more in the right than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah."  And he did not know her intimately again.
• Genesis 38:27-30 - When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.  As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand, and the midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread around it, announcing, "This one came out first."  But then the pulled his hand back, and his brother came out.  Then she said, "You have broken out first!"  So he was named Perez.  Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread tied to his hand, came out, and was named Zerah.

Thoughts on the Text

• This chapter seems to be getting off topic.  After all, shouldn't we be following the story of Joseph.  Is this chapter even necessary in the Bible.  To be honest it is a pretty raunchy story with unspeakable sin making up the plot.  I see this as a necessary chapter in the Bible simply because the line of Judah leads to the birth of Jesus.  That's right folks.  The people that made up Jesus's family lineage were very sinful people.  Jesus came from a sinful line.  All the people in the line of Jesus sinned, yet Jesus was born as a man, and he was without sin.  For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, except one man who was fully God.  His name is Jesus.  2 Corinthians 5:21 states, "He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
• This chapter deals with the sin and shame of Judah and his sons.  Er is evil in the Lord's sight, and God kills him.  Onan is evil in the Lord's sight, and God kills him.  Judah sleeps with his daughter-in-law thinking that she is a prostitute.  He is very ashamed and in the wrong for what he had done.  He has two twins by Tamar to remind him of his sin.  Even though this story is about Judah's short comings, Judah's line will be the kingly line among the tribes of Israel.  More importantly, Jesus will come from the line of Judah.
• We see the sins of the past come back to haunt Judah here.  Judah was involved in the plot to sell Joseph into slavery.  Also, he was part of the deception that was used to fool Jacob into believing that his precious son, Joseph, had been devoured by a wild animal.  Now, Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law, deceives Judah into believing that she is an unknown, veiled cult prostitute.  The deceiver has been deceived.  Sin will always bite you in the butt, in one way or another.  
• Just because these major characters in the word of God are involved in horrendous sins, does not mean that it is ok to commit such heinous acts.  The sins of the Bible are to be used as a teaching lesson.  If we can learn from the Bible, we in the present day can avoid making the same mistakes that the characters in the Bible made during their lives.  God is instructing us through bad decisions and repercussions.  God does not approve of sin.  We should make sure to listen!
• Judah is quick to judge Tamar for acting like a prostitute.  He even wants to burn her to death.  Once he realizes that she was the prostitute he slept with, he then becomes ashamed and knows that he is in the wrong more than her.  We can all see sin so clearly in the lives of other people, but most of the time we don't see the sin that is in our life.  Matthew 7:3-5 rings true, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."  Let us worry about our own sin and relationship with the Lord before we worry about the sin problems of other people.
• The Bible states in Matthew Chapter 1, "Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, ^r Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar,...and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah."  Again, the line of Judah leads to Jesus.  This is the reason why this chapter was purposely placed in the Bible.

Chapter 39:  Joseph in Potiphar's House and Joseph in Prison

Summary

In Egypt Joseph is sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard.  Joseph becomes a successful man serving Potiphar.  He becomes Potiphar's personal attendant.  The Lord was with Joseph and made everything he did successful.  Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of his household and all that he owns.  Potiphar's wife wants to sleep with Joseph.  Joseph declines her advances several times because he is a man of God, and he doesn't want to do Potiphar wrong.  Potiphar's wife continues to try and convince Joseph to sleep with her.  One day, she is very forward with Joseph, and she grabs his garment to try and sleep with him.  Joseph pulls away, and his garment rips.  Potiphar's wife remains clutching the ripped garment, and Joseph runs away.  he ends up telling a lie saying that Joseph tried to rape her.  Potiphar has Joseph thrown in prison where the king's prisoners are confined.  God was with Joseph, so he gains favor with the prison warden.  The warden places him in a position of authority.  Joseph is responsible for all the other prisoners and prison management.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 39:1 - Now Joseph had been taken to Egypt.  An Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
• Genesis 39:3-4 - When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful, Joseph found favor in his master's sight and became his personal attendant.
• Genesis 39:5 - From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph.  The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.
• Genesis 39:7 - After some time his master's wife looked longingly at Joseph and said, "Sleep with me."
• Genesis 39:19-20 - When his master heard the story his wife told him--"These are the things your slave did to me" he was furious and had him thrown into prison, where the king's prisoners were confined.  So Joseph was there in prison.
• Genesis 39:21 - But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him.  He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
• Genesis 39:23 - The warden did not bother with anything under Joseph's authority because the Lord was with him, and the Lord made everything that he did successful.

Thoughts on the Text

• Here we come back to the story of Joseph in this chapter.  Joseph's brothers have just revealed their hatred toward him, and they sold him into slavery.  By good fortune, one of Egypt's main leaders, Potiphar, buys Joseph from the Ishmaelite traders.  God's hand is leading and guiding in Joseph's life.  God takes the bad things that are happening and makes the best out of them.  Even when Potiphar's wife lies about Joseph and gets him thrown into prison, God still shows kindness to Joseph.  This reveals to me that if we are the children of God, in the will of God, nothing will come our way without God's permission.  Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Even our misfortunes, setbacks, heartbreaks, and sufferings are for our good and God's glory.  The Bible states several times in this chapter that the Lord was with Joseph and the Lord made everything that he did successful.  Joseph, unlike his brothers, is indeed a man of God; a man after God's own heart.
• Joseph reveals that he is a man of God in this chapter.  He is a man that can be trusted.  Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of his household and all that he owned; no questions asked.  Potiphar saw that Joseph was a man of his word; a man of integrity; a man who feared the one true God, the God of Israel.  Even when Potiphar's wife tries to get Joseph to sleep with her, he turns her down every time.  The reason is that she is Potiphar's wife and doing so would be a sin against God.  We see that Joseph values the sanctity of marriage.  It just so happens that Joseph is persecuted because of his faith.  Potiphar's wife frames him and gets him thrown into prison.  As Christians we will be persecuted for our faith at one point or another.  We must endure and persevere through these hardships and God will bring us through them.  Let us remember and take to heart Hebrews 12:11, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Chapter 40:  Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners' Dreams

Summary

The king of Egypt throws a cupbearer and a baker into the same prison with Joseph.  They offended the king in some way.  Joseph becomes their personal attendant while they are in custody.  Both the cupbearer and the baker have a dream on the same night while in prison.  Joseph interprets the dreams for the cupbearer and the baker.  The cupbearer is restored to his position, and the baker is hanged.  This is just as Joseph predicted in the interpretations of the dreams.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 40:8 - "We had dreams," they said to him, "but there is no one to interpret them."  Then Joseph said to them, "Don't interpretations belong to God?  Tell me your dreams."
• Genesis 40:21-23 - He restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them.  Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Thoughts on the Text

• We find in this chapter of the book of Genesis that Joseph has a gift of dream interpretation.  Joseph can interpret the meanings of dreams.  Joseph is not only a dreamer but a dream interpreter.  Joseph gives God all the glory for his ability.  Joseph tells the cupbearer and the baker that interpretations belong to God.  God has given this ability to Joseph, and Joseph praises the Lord for it.  Anything good that we do while in this world, whether for the Lord or otherwise, should be done to the praise of God.  We should make sure that God gets the glory for our good works and our blessings.
• This story of Joseph is reminiscent to the scene of Jesus on the cross.  Joseph was placed in prison with transgressors even though he was innocent and had committed no crime.  Jesus was crucified on the cross even though he was innocent and committed no crime.  Joseph interprets the dreams of a cupbearer and a baker.  The cupbearer was blessed by Joseph's interpretation, and he is restored to his position.  On the other hand, the baker was cursed or judged by Joseph's interpretation, and he was hanged to death.  Likewise, Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  One of the thieves was judged and the other thief was blessed.  From Luke 23:39-43, the Bible says, "One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”  But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!”  And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”  Again, Joseph foreshadows the coming of the Messiah, and he is a similar character as Jesus.
• Joseph gives some of his history to the cupbearer, saying that he was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and he was wrongfully placed into prison by Potiphar.  He asks that the cupbearer remember him whenever he is restored to his position as cupbearer.  It turns out that the cupbearer is restored to his position, but he forgets all about Joseph.  So, Joseph is left in prison to rot, or so it seems.  We must remember that Joseph is still in the will of God even though his circumstances look so bleak.  It is easy for us to see how God is preparing Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's dreams because hindsight is always twenty-twenty.  For Joseph, however, he probably believed that he would rot away in jail.  God is in control, even in the harshest of circumstances.  God is always in control; in the good times and the bad.  We must try out best to remain faithful to the Lord no matter what is happening in our lives at the present.  If we put God first in all we say and do, there will be no despair, sadness, or hardship that is too great for us to handle, because God will be with us through thick and thin.  God is always right by our side, and He will lead us to fulfill our purpose in this life.

 Chapter 41:  Joseph Interprets Pharaoh's Dreams, Joseph Exalted, and Joseph's Administration

Summary

The Pharaoh of Egypt has two dreams that trouble him.  He summons all the wise men and magicians of the land but no one is able to interpret his dreams.  The cupbearer tells Pharaoh about Joseph's ability to interpret dreams.  Pharaoh brings Joseph out of the dungeon and gets him to interpret his dreams.  Joseph gives God the glory for his ability to interpret dreams.  Joseph tells Pharaoh that both of the dreams mean the same thing.  Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt.  After them, seven years of famine will devastate the land.  After Joseph gives his interpretation, he offers advice to Pharaoh.  The Pharaoh should appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.  Let them gather all the excess food in the good years, store it, and preserve it for the seven years of famine.  This will save the people of Egypt from certain death.  Pharaoh not only takes Joseph out of prison, but he appoints him as ruler over his household and all the people of the land of Egypt.  Joseph becomes second in command in Egypt overruled only by Pharaoh himself.  Pharaoh then gives Joseph a new name, Zaphenath-paneah, and he gives Joseph a wife, Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest at On.  Joseph gains authority over the land of Egypt.  Joseph is 30 years old at this time, and he travels throughout the land of Egypt.  He helps gather excess grain during the seven good years and stores it in the various cities throughout Egypt.  Two sons are born to Joseph by his wife Asenath before the famine arrives:  Manasseh (the 1st born) and Ephraim.  Manasseh means "God has made me forget all my hardship in my father's house."  Ephraim means "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."  The famine arrived after seven years of abundance, and the famine is sever over all of the known world.  The whole world comes to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain in order to survive.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 41:12-13 - "Now a young Hebrew, a slave of the captain of the guards, was with us there.  We told him our dreams, he interpreted our dreams for us, and each had its own interpretation.  It turned out just the way he interpreted them to us:  I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged."
• Genesis 41:15-16 - Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have had a dream and no one can interpret it.  But I have heard it said about you that you can hear a dream and interpret it."  "I am not able to," Joseph answered Pharaoh.  "It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."
• Genesis 41:28-30 - "It is just as I told Pharaoh:  God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.  Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt.  After them, seven years of famine will take place, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten.  The famine will devastate the land."
• Genesis 41:38-40 - Then Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find anyone like this, a man who has the spirit of God in him?"  So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you.  You will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands."
• Genesis 41:45 - Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah and gave him a wife, Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest at On.  And Joseph went throughout the land of Egypt.
• Genesis 41:50 - Two sons were born to Joseph before the years of famine arrived...
• Genesis 41:53-54 - Then the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said.  There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter God's purpose for Joseph comes to fruition.  Joseph had been sold into slavery and thrown into jail without a just cause for at least a few years.  Even though Joseph has gone through so much hardship, it is a miracle that he is even still alive, and now God is going to exalt him.  The hand of God is working in Joseph's life in this chapter, and Joseph gives God all the glory.  The cupbearer that Joseph interpreted his dream finally remembers Joseph after two years.  For two whole years Joseph has been in a dungeon, and finally Pharaoh calls on Joseph to interpret his dreams.  Joseph is released from prison, interprets Pharaohs dreams, gives Pharaoh sound advice as to how to prepare for the coming famine, goes from rags to riches, becomes second in command and overseer of the entire land of Egypt, marries an Egyptian wife named Asenath, and they have two sons named Manasseh and Ephraim.  This reminds me of a Cinderella fictitious fairy tale, and this is only the beginning.  When God works in our life, he constantly creates our life and path into the most beautiful story.  If only we could trust God with our life more and more.
• Joseph is becoming a great man of God.  One of the fruits of the Spirit that he has learned throughout his trials and tribulations is patience.  From Romans 5:3, "And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance."
• Here we find another similarity between Joseph and Jesus Christ.  Joseph is raised up out of prison, he changes out of his prison clothes into fresh new garbs, he is finally clean shaven and he goes before the king of the gentiles, Pharaoh himself.  Likewise, Jesus was resurrected after three days.  This resurrection is a symbolism of a new life where all sins are forgotten and one is made new.  Then, before ascending to heaven, Jesus gives the disciples the Great Commission to go and share the gospel with all people including the gentiles of the world.  Matthew 28:16-20 states, "The 11 disciples traveled to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them. When they saw Him, they worshiped, but some doubted.  Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• Joseph once again gives God the glory for his ability to interpret people's dreams with precision.  In Genesis 41: 16, Joseph replies to Pharaoh saying, "I am not able to (interpret dreams).  It is God who will give Pharaoh a favorable answer."  Joseph was making sure that the one true God, the God of Israel, would get the glory for his actions and ability.  As Christians we should make sure to do the same thing.  We should always give God the glory for our actions, abilities and talents.  After all, God is the one who gives us life, talents, abilities, and He is the one who accomplishes things through us.
• Pharaoh places Joseph second in command over all of Egypt.  Joseph is now royalty!  Pharaoh even gives Joseph his signet ring.  This basically allowed Joseph to use the king's signature, and to authorize important activities throughout the land of Egypt.  Pharaoh also changes Joseph's name to Zaphenath-paneah.  This is a coptic name meaning "the revealer of secret things."  Pharaoh also gives Joseph a bride named Asenath.  She is a gentile bride and her name means "dedicated to Neith" (the Egyptian Minerva).  Joseph had a gentile bride just as the church of God is the Gentile bride of Christ.
• Joseph is 30 years old in this chapter.  He has spent at least three years in prison and he ruled in Potiphar's house for approximately 10 years.  Remember that Joseph was only 17 years old when he was sold into slavery.  He has been in Egypt now for about 13 years.  Joseph stands before Potiphar at the age of 30 years old, and Jesus began his ministry at the age of 30 years old.  So many details of Joseph's life parallel those of Jesus.  It is no coincidence.  It is part of God's perfect plan!  For the next seven years, Joseph becomes the manager of the food surplus.  He begins preparing for the famine after the years of plenty are predicted to end.  When the famine begins, Joseph is 37 years old.
• Joseph has two sons by his Egyptian Bride Asenath:  Manasseh and Ephraim.  Joseph's firstborn is named Manasseh.  Manasseh means "God has made me forget all my hardship in my father's house." Manasseh's name is symbolic of Joseph's resurrection.  Joseph has finally set aside his old life as a Hebrew, and he has taken on the new life as a full-fledged Egyptian.  God has indeed made Joseph forget about all the hardship in his father Jacob's house.  Joseph's second son is Ephraim.  This name means "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."  Joseph gathers grain throughout the land of Egypt.  The Bible says that Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, the grain is like the sand of the sea.  The stored grain was beyond measure.  Indeed, Joseph, with the power of God working in and through him, was fruitful.  This brings up another similarity between Joseph and Jesus Christ.  Joseph gathered a tremendous amount of grain for the coming famine while Jesus said that he is the bread of life here to take away the spiritual famine of sin in the lives of all people on earth.  Both famines, the famine in Joseph's day and the famine of sin, are world wide!

 Chapter 42:  Joseph's Brothers in Egypt and the Brothers Return Home

Summary

Jacob tells his sons to go to Egypt to buy grain because they will starve to death from the famine if they don't.  Ten off Joseph's brothers go to Egypt.  Benjamin stayed behind with Jacob.  Joseph recognizes his ten brothers when they come to buy grain, but they don't recognize him.  Joseph has nine of the brothers imprisoned claiming they are spies.  One of the brothers must go and get Benjamin to prove that they are not spies.  After three days of being imprisoned, Joseph lightens up on them, and he allows all but one of the brothers to take grain back home to their family.  Still yet, they must bring back Benjamin to get the other brother, Simeon, out of prison.  The brothers return to Jacob in the land of Canaan.  Jacob doesn't want Benjamin to go to Egypt in fear that something will happen to him like it did to Joseph.  They wait, eat all the grain, and the whole family is starving again.  They now have no choice but to return to Egypt for more grain.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 42:1 - When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at each other?
• Genesis 42:3 - So 10 of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
• Genesis 42:6 - Joseph was in charge of the country; he sold grain to all its people.  His brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
• Genesis 42:16 - Send one of your number to get your brother  The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true.  If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"
• Genesis 42:On the third day Joseph said to them, "I fear God--do this and you will live."
• Genesis 42:21 - Then they said to each other, "It is plain that we are being punished for what we did to our brother.  We saw his dee distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen.  That is why this trouble has come to us."
• Genesis 42:24 - He turned away from them and wept...
• Genesis 42:35 - As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his bag of money!  When they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid.
• Genesis 42:36 - Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my sons.  Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone.  Now you want to take Benjamin.  Everything happens to me!"

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter, the dreams that Joseph had as a 17 year old boy are fulfilled.  Joseph has been waiting on his brothers to come to Egypt to buy grain.  They arrive, he notices them, and they don't notice him.  The first thing they do is bow down before Joseph with their faces to the ground.  Joseph's dream and interpretation is true.  Then, Joseph treats the brothers harshly and says they are spies.  I believe this is a little payback for all the hardship he had to endure because his brothers sold him into slavery.  Joseph accuses them of being spies three times, and then he places all but one of the brothers in jail.  After the third day, Joseph lets all but one of the brothers out of prison because he fears God.  Joseph keeps Simeon in jail and allows the other brothers to return back home with grain and their money bags.  They must bring back Benjamin in order to get Simeon out of jail.
• Joseph looks and acts the part of an Egyptian.  It has been over 20 years since his brothers have seen him, so it is no wonder that they do not recognize him.  Who would have ever thought that a Hebrew sold as a slave would turn out to be the second in command in all the land of Egypt.  When his brothers are in front of him, they begin to speak in Hebrew to one another.  They don't think that Joseph, or Zaphenath-paneah, can hear them.  Joseph plays along, and the brothers basically make a confession of their guilt concerning selling Joseph into slavery.  They now think that he is most likely dead, but low and behold, Joseph is standing right in front of them!  The brothers feel that the vengeance of God is upon them for their past sins.  The brothers are actually repentant at this part of the story.  Joseph is emotionally moved and weeps; he can't believe this is actually happening.
• Upon their return home, the brothers find that all their money bags have been returned in the sacks of grain.  They think that the judgement of God is upon them.  Now, when they return to Egypt the ruler that sold them grain will see them as spies and thieves.  To top this off, Jacob has no intentions of letting Benjamin return to Egypt with the other brothers.  Jacob loves his son Benjamin like he loved Joseph.  He shows favoritism towards him because he is the second born son of his one true love, Rachel.  Now, Jacob doesn't have Rachel or Joseph, so he is making sure that nothing bad will happen to Benjamin.  After all, he is the son of his right hand!  What will happen in this epic tale?  The grain won't last forever, and they must return soon to buy more.  Will Benjamin return with the brothers?  Will Joseph reveal his true identity?  There is much more to come in this exciting tale!

Chapter 43:  Decision to Return to Egypt and the Return to Egypt

Summary

Jacob and his sons do not go back to Egypt immediately.  Instead, they wait, eat all the grain, and the whole family is going to starve again because the famine is still severe.  They have no choice but to return back to Egypt with Benjamin or they will all die.  The sons of Jacob convince him to let all the brothers return back to Egypt including Benjamin.  Jacob tells his sons to take gifts to Joseph in hopes that he will be lenient and fulfill what he has promised them.  The brothers take the gift, they double the amount of money that was returned to their sacks, and they bring Benjamin along to Egypt.  Jacob is worried and prays to God for mercy and their safe return.  The brothers make their way back to Egypt and stand before Joseph once again.  The brothers are taken to Joseph's house, and Joseph has a feast prepared for them.  The brothers are worried that they are going to be taken prisoners because of the returned money in their grain sacks.  They tell Joseph's steward the truth about what happened.  Surprisingly, the steward says that they received the brothers' money, and there is nothing to fear.  Simeon is brought out to the brothers.  The brothers give Joseph the gifts that they brought from the land of Canaan.  Joseph sees his younger brother Benjamin, is overcome with emotion, and goes into an inner room to weep.  He regains his composure and orders that the meal be served to his brothers.  An amazing feast is served, and they get drunk with Joseph as well.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 43:3-4 - But Judah said to him, "The man specifically warned us: 'You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.'  if you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you."
• Genesis 43:14 - "May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you.  As for me, if I m deprived of my sons, then I am deprived."
• Genesis 43:15 - The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin.  They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
• Genesis 43:23 - Then the steward said, "May you be well.  Don't be afraid.  Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags.  I received your money."  Then he brought Simeon out to them.
• Genesis 43:26 - When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.
• Genesis 43:29 - When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, he asked, "Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?"  Then he said, " May God be gracious to you, my son."
• Genesis 43:34 - Portions were served to them from Joseph's table, and Benjamin's portion was five times larger than any of theirs.  They drank, and they got drunk with Joseph.

Thoughts on the Text

• In the first part of this chapter, it is doubtful whether or not the brothers will return to Egypt after all.  Jacob doesn't want to let Benjamin go with them, and they are worried that their heads will roll if they return to Israel without Benjamin and with the accidentally stolen money.  It makes one wonder.  If the famine would have ended, would the brothers have returned to Egypt?  After all, they already sold one brother into slavery.  What would it matter to them if another brother was left in an Egyptian jail.  This is not how the story pans out, however.  The famine is severe, and they will all die if they do not return to Egypt to buy more food.  The brothers finally convince Jacob to allow Benjamin to come along, even though he feels as though so much trouble always befalls on him.  Why does everything happen to Jacob?  As a way to appease the Egyptian leader (Joseph), Jacob comes up with the Idea to send gifts and to return the money that was in their sacks along with more money to buy more grain.  The gifts that they send are balsam, honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios, and almonds.  These gifts are first-rate, exceptional gifts of that time.  One must remember that there were no grocery stores back in Old Testament times.  This reveals to me how we, in the modern age, take so much for granted.  This gift wouldn't mean much to us in this day and age because many of us, if not all of us, are spoiled to some degree.  The men and women of the Old Testament did not have an easy life.  Could you imagine walking a 400 mile round trip just to go to the grocery store in order to survive.  Oh yeah, by the way, the only item at the grocery store is grain.  These people were tough, and worked tooth and nail for everything that they had.  These people came up with the phrase, "blood, sweat, and tears."  Let us remember their suffering and always be grateful and thankful for everything we have.  Let us try our hardest to give to those who have not.  
• In order to convince Jacob to let Benjamin come with them back to Egypt, Judah comes forward and says that Jacob can hold him personally accountable if something bad happens to Benjamin.  In essence, Judah becomes a surety for Benjamin.  A surety is (1) security against loss or damage or for the fulfillment of an obligation, the payment of a debt, etc., (2) a person who had made himself or herself responsible for another, as a sponsor, godparent, or bondsman, (3) the state or quality of being sure, and (4) a person who is legally responsible for the debt, default, or delinquency of another.  From J. Vernon McGee's series called Thru the Bible with J Vernon McGee:  "Then Judah comes forward as a surety for Benjamin.  Friend, you and I have a Surety today, ad He came from the tribe of Judah.  The Lord Jesus took that place and became my Shepherd, took my place and took my penalty.  I was not able to meet His standard.  I was not able to come up to His level.  But the Lord Jesus stepped in and became my Surety and gave His life for me.  What a picture of Christ we have here!"  So Judah is going to be Benjamin's surety, and it just so happens that the brothers all need the bread of life in order to survive.  Excellent foreshadowing for the need of Jesus in our lives!
• The brothers have a guilt complex.  Instead of experiencing joy at the invitation to eat with one of the prime leaders of Egypt, they experience fear that he is going to take them all captive and put them in jail.  The guilt of sin can change your joy into grief.  These brothers had to repent of their sins in order to eat at the masters table.  This is the same way in which we take communion at church.  If there is any burden or sin on your heart or in you life, you are to confess and ask forgiveness before taking communion.  Otherwise, you may be cursed.  God still welcomes us to his table regardless of who we are or what we have done.  Joseph has an omnipotent view point in this situation, and he does the same thing.  Jesus welcomes those who crucified him to be saved.  Likewise, Joseph welcomes his brothers to the table even though they tried to kill him and sell him into slavery.
• Joseph's childhood dreams are once again fulfilled in this chapter.  The brothers present Joseph a gift and bow down to the ground again.  Joseph has a touching moment.  His brothers bow down in reverence and respect, and he gets to see his full brother Benjamin again.  I could not imagine the mixture of feelings welling up inside of him.  It is no wonder that the whole situation was too overwhelming, so he dismissed himself went into an inner room and wept.  Then he regains his composure and serves a feast to his brothers.  He is trying to restore their relationship even though the brothers do not know who Joseph is just yet.
• We should take notice in the Bible that Joseph did not eat with the Egyptians, and the Egyptians did not eat with the Hebrews.  The Egyptians ate alone; they did not eat with Joseph or his brothers.  Also, Joseph arranged the seating order of the brothers so that they were in their right order from oldest to youngest.  The brothers look at each other in astonishment at how this Egyptian ruler would know such a thing.  I still don't think they had an inkling at who this man was.  Last, Joseph gives Benjamin, his full brother whom he loved the most, a portion that was five times as large as any of the other brothers' portion.  Merriment was had at this awe-inspiring, miraculous reunion.

Chapter 44:  Joseph's Final Test and Judah's Plea for Benjamin

Summary

After the feast, Joseph fills his brothers' bags with grain and gives them their money back.  Joseph plants a silver divination cup in Benjamin's bag.  When the brothers leave to go home, Joseph has his guards search their bags for the planted stolen cup.  It's a set up.  Benjamin is framed, and it appears as though he stole the cup.  Joseph says that Benjamin must now be his slave, and the rest of the brothers can return back home to their father.  Judah pleas for Benjamin's freedom.  He tries to convince Joseph that if the boy stays as a slave in Egypt, their father will die of sorrow.  Judah is even willing to trade places with Benjamin and become Joseph's slave if Joseph releases Benjamin.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 44:2 - "Put y cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one's bag, along with his grain money..."
• Genesis 44:4-5 - They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Get up.  Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid evil for good?  Isn't this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination?  What you have done is wrong!'"
• Genesis 44:10 - The steward replied, "What you have said is proper, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless."  
• Genesis 44:12 - The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.  
• Genesis 44:32-33 - "Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, 'If I do not return him yo you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against you, my father.'  Now please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave, in place of the boy.  Let him go back with his brothers.  For how can I go back to my father without the boy?  I could not bear to see the grief that would overwhelm my father."

Thoughts on the Text

• This chapter covers Joseph's final test of his brothers.  Joseph wants to completely restore his relationship with his brothers.  Before he does so, he wants to make sure they are repentant and completely changed.  How much does Joseph's brothers really care for Benjamin and their father Jacob?  That is what this test will answer.  Joseph is trying to see if the brothers are willing to let Benjamin become an Egyptian slave just to save themselves.  He is also testing them to see how much they care and are concerned for their father Jacob.  The brothers have changed, and they prove it.  First, when it is found out that Benjamin has the cup in his grain sack, all the brothers go back to Joseph.  They don't let the guards take Benjamin back by himself.  Second, they make a plea for Benjamin's freedom.  Third, they are worried about the mental health of their father Jacob, and how his soul would dive into a pit of grief if Benjamin does not come home.  Fourth, Judah is willing to trade places with Benjamin in order to send the boy back home safely to Jacob.  Fifth, they are at the point of despair because they are actually worried about their brother and father.  They are dismayed at what is happening.  They aren't the same brothers who wanted to kill Joseph, and the ones who sold him into slavery without a second thought.    I believe Joseph's mind is satisfied with the results of the test.  What will happen next in this exciting tale of brotherly hatred turned to brotherly love?  God's hand is always guiding this never ending story!
• Jesus Christ comes from the Israelite tribe of Judah.  Jesus Christ laid down his life to save all the people in the world from their sins.  Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and he is our surety!  Likewise, in this gripping tale in the Bible, Judah is willing to lay his life down for his brother Benjamin.  Benjamin is the one guilty of stealing the silver cup, not Judah.  Judah is blameless just like Jesus Christ.  Judah is trying to guarantee Benjamin's freedom by taking on his guilt and taking his punishment.  Jesus did the same for us on the cross.  He that knew no sin became sin.  Therefore, our sins have been covered by the blood of the lamb, and we, the guilty have become pure, innocent, and free from sin.  Romans 5:8 states, "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!"   This is absolutely amazing!  This is literally the perfect story unfolding before our eyes.  God's hand is writing this story, yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forevermore!
• In this chapter, the brothers finally tell Joseph how they lied and deceived their father Jacob.  Judah recounts history and tells Joseph that Benjamin's older brother, who is Joseph, was devoured by a vicious animal in the wilderness.  Their mother Rachel has passed away, so now Jacob only has Benjamin left.  Joseph knows this is a lie.  It is not an honest confession even though Joseph is the one listening to the brothers' story.  This is kind of like trying to hide your sin.  You can hide your sin from other people, but ultimately, God knows about all your sin.  You can't hide your sin from God.  Joseph, in this instance, has an omnipotent viewpoint, so he knows the exact sin and full true story of what happened so long ago.  I believe that Joseph can see that the brothers have come a long way in their spiritual walk.  He can see that God has saved them, and they are changed!     

Chapter 45:  Joseph Reveals His Identity and The Return for Jacob

Summary

Joseph sends everyone out of the dining room of his house except his brothers.  He weeps loudly and tells them that he is Joseph.  He forgives his brothers and said that everything that happened in the past was ordained and planned by God.  Joseph tells them that they can move everything they own to Egypt in the land of Goshen.  They will be able to survive the next five years of famine there.  Joseph tells his brothers to deliver this message to their father, Israel, and to bring him back to Egypt.  Pharaoh, upon hearing about Joseph's story, tells Joseph that Israel's family can live on the best land in Egypt, and can eat from the richness of the land.  Pharaoh gives Joseph's brothers wagons to help with the move.  He also gave them provisions for the journey, clothes, silver, 20 donkeys, and various products and food.  Israel is revived to see his sons along with the message from Joseph that they have brought back.  Jacob is stunned to hear that Joseph is still alive!  Jacob is overjoyed to go see Joseph in Egypt before he dies.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 45:3 - Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph!  Is my father still living?"  But his brothers were too terrified to answer him.
• Genesis 45:5 - "And now don't be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
• Genesis 45:7-8 - "God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.  Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God.  He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt."
• Genesis 45:9-10 - Return quickly to my father and say to him, 'This is what you son Joseph says:  "God has made me lord of all Egypt.  Come down to me without delay.  You can settle in the land of Goshen and be near me--you, your children, and grandchildren, your sheep, cattle, and all you have.'"
• Genesis 45:14-15 - Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder.  Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept, and afterward his brothers talked with him.
• Genesis 45:28 - Then Israel said, "Enough!  My son Joseph is still alive.  I will go to see him before I die."

Thoughts on the Text

• Joseph can't take it anymore.  He has to tell his brothers who he is.  He reveals his identity to them and he and his brothers have a heartwarming, tear-jerking reunion.  They all weep, hug and kiss one another, and talk.  After all, it has been a long time, and they have a tremendous amount of catching up to do.  This identity reveal of Joseph is similar to the identity reveal of Christ Jesus in his second coming to Earth.  From "Thru the Bible with J Vernon McGee, "Let me repeat that the day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to make Himself known unto His brethren, the Jews.  When He came the first time, "he came unto his own, and his own received him not (John1:11).  In fact, they delivered Him up to be crucified.  But when He comes the second time, He will make Himself known to His own people.  "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?  Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6).  Christ will make Himself known to His brethren.  And "in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. 13:1).  It will be a family affair between the Lord Jesus and His brethren.  The episode of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers gives us a little inkling of how wonderful that day of Christ's revelation will be."
• It's amazing that Joseph does not seek revenge for the torment and misery that he has been through.  Instead, Joseph credits God for the path his life has gone down.  It is almost as if his brothers selling him into slavery was a good thing.  If they didn't, Joseph would not have been in Egypt to interpret Pharaoh's dream and deliver the whole known world from a deadly famine.  Joseph's life is a miracle of God.  Joseph gives God the glory, and he seeks a completely restored relationship with all his brothers; even those brothers that sinned against him some 25 years ago.  
• This episode in Joseph's life took place two years into the famine.  According to Joseph's interpretation, there is going to be another five years of famine.  Joseph's brothers, his father, and his father's household will not be able to survive if they decide to stay in Canaan.  Joseph invited them to live in the best land of Egypt, Goshen.  Even the Pharaoh says, "Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours."  Pharaoh even orders that wagons be sent back with the brothers to get the rest of their family and household.  The people of Canaan did not have wagons.  The wheel was a marvelous invention and a wagon must have been like a Rolls Royce or a Cadillac Escalade!  Any friend of Joseph's was a friend of the Pharaoh's.  Pharaoh gave the brothers and all of Joseph's family treatment fit for a king.  This brings me back to the point that I made yesterday.  The poverty of Americans would be kingly riches compared with most of the people mentioned in Old Testament times.  We don't have wagons unless you want to consider a station wagon a wagon; most every family, rich and poor, in America has an automobile.  We have several grocery stores in every city.  Starvation is the least of our concerns.  We are living in a land of extreme plenty and overabundance.  A land literally flowing with milk, honey, and uncountable delicacies.  What can we do, as such a rich nation, to help those truly in need here in the U.S. and around the world?  How can we be part of God's perfect plan?  Do we really believe that God's hand is guiding us like God guided the life of Joseph?   How can we make God proud, and how can we share the love of Christ around the world?  
• In the previous chapter, Jacob was worried that if he lost another son, such as Benjamin and Simeon, his gray hairs would be brought down to Sheol (grave, hell , or pit) in sorrow.  When Jacob's sons return home, the exact opposite thing happens.  All eleven brothers return, and he gains a 12th son.  It is like Joseph comes back to life from the dead!  This is very similar to Jesus's resurrection!  To Jacob, it is like Joseph is raised from the dead.  He is stunned; his heart is numb in disbelief, just as many people are in disbelief over Christ's resurrection.  Once all this wonderful news sinks in, Jacob is revived!  It is almost like he is born again, and joy returns to him at once.  He must go to see his son Joseph immediately.  His son who has been dead for all these years is alive.  I'm sure he praised the Lord and wept tears of joy.  When we believe upon Jesus, we are born again as well; we are revived from the pit of sin.  After our rebirth, we start anew and take on the fruits of the spirit.  We want to draw near the son of God immediately.  For our God is not dead;  He is alive, and He lives in you and I!

Chapter 46:  Jacob Leaves for Egypt, Jacob's Family, and Jacob Arrives in Egypt

Summary

God speaks to Jacob in a dream, and He tells him to travel to the land of Egypt to be with Joseph.  God tells him do not be afraid for God will be with him until his descendants are brought out of the land of Egypt.  Israel, all his family, and his belongings move to the land of Egypt as soon as possible.  They go without delay.  This chapter lists the males in Jacob's family.  The chapter lists the names of the Israelites; Jacob and his descendants, who went to Egypt.

• 33 descendants from Leah are listed.
• 16 descendants from Zilpah are listed
• 14 descendants from Rachel are listed
• 7 descendants from Bilhah are listed

The total number of persons belonging to Jacob--his direct male descendants, not including the wives of Jacob's sons--who came to Egypt:  66 people.  Joseph's sons who were born in Egypt:  Manasseh and Ephraim.  All of Jacob's household, including himself, who had come to Egypt are 70 persons.  Jacob arrives in the land of Goshen, and Joseph meets him there.  They have a family reunion.  Israel can now die a happy man knowing that Joseph is still alive.  Joseph prepares Jacob and his family to meet the Pharaoh, so that they will be on good terms with him.  They will be able to stay in the land of Goshen as ranchers/shepherds.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 46:3-4 - God said, "I am God, the God of your father.  Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.  I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you back.  Joseph will put his hands on your eyes."
• Genesis 46:27 - And Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt:  two persons.  All those of Jacob's household who had come to Egypt:  70 persons.
• Genesis 46:30 - Then Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen your face and know you are still alive!"
• Genesis 46:33-34 - When Pharaoh addresses you and asks, 'What is your occupation?'  you are to say, 'Your servants, both we and our fathers, have raised livestock from our youth until now.'  Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians."

Thoughts on the Text

• God gives Jacob the go ahead to go down to the land of Egypt.  This is after God had instructed Abraham and Isaac to stay out of the land of Egypt.  God gives Jacob a clear green light to go with his whole household to Egypt.  There God would make Israel and his household into a great nation.  This is the first chapter in the book of Genesis where Jacob's household are known as Israelites.  This chapter gives birth to the rise of Israel, even though the Israelites are leaving the promised land, the land of Canaan, later to be known as the land of Israel.  The first thing that we see in this chapter is Jacob/Israel going to Beer-sheba.  This is the land of his father Isaac.  After all this time, since he was a child that fled from his home, Israel finally returns to the hometown of his father, Isaac.  The first and only thing Israel does there is offer sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.  Israel drew close to the Lord.  This was Israel's way of praying to the Lord, looking forward to the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  Jacob drew close to the Lord, and the Lord came to Joseph in a dream.  If only Jacob had done this sooner in his life, he could have avoided much hardship, strife, pain, and consequences.  God does not want our lives to be easy, but he doesn't want our lives to be full of misery because of sin.  The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.  Here we finally see Israel fearing God.  Instead of running away from God, he turns to God and asks for advice.  God graciously tells Israel exactly what to do:  "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there."  Will God fulfill his promise to Israel?  We will find out in the book of Exodus.
• The genealogy of Jacob is listed in this chapter.  This genealogy is important because it is part of the genealogy that leads to the nation of Israel and the birth of Jesus Christ!  70 sons that came from Israel's loins are now living in the land of Goshen in Egypt.  These 70 sons and grandsons would be responsible for the birth of the nation of Israel.
• It is now obvious to us.  God led Joseph to the land of Egypt in a harsh way.  He did this so all the Israelites could come down to the land of Egypt to survive, thrive, and grow into a great nation.  The nation of Israel was born in Egypt, not in Israel, or the land of Canaan.  This epic story showcases the providence of God.  Providence is (1) the foreseeing care and guidance of God or nature over the creatures of the earth., (2) God, especially when conceived as omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of human kind with wise benevolence, and (3) a manifestation of divine care or direction.  God is the epitome of wisdom.  God knows what is best for us.  For us to understand a tidbit of that wisdom we have to have faith in the providence of God.  We have to seek God's direction for our lives.  We have to fear the Lord!  Again, according to Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  God will use us for his glory if we fear, listen, and obey him.  Israel listened to the voice and calling of God.  God made Israel into a great nation.  Imagine what God will do in our lives if only we fear, listen, and obey him.  God will do great things through us for his glory.  This life is so short.  We need to be wise while we can.  Let's do things on this earth that will help those in need, make a difference for eternity, and glorify the father in heaven.  "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corinthians 1:25).

Chapter 47:  Pharaoh Welcomes Jacob, The Land Becomes Pharaoh's, and Israel Settles in Goshen

Summary

Joseph tells Pharaoh of his family's arrival to Egypt.  Pharaoh meets with Joseph's family and tells them that they are welcome to live in the land of Goshen.  Jacob blesses Pharaoh.  Then, Joseph settles his father and family in the land of Egypt.  Pharaoh gives the Israelites the best part of the land, the land of Rameses.  Joseph also provides his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food for their dependents.  The famine gets worse in the land of Egypt, and the food and money is now scarce in Canaan and in Egypt.  People from all over the land sell themselves into slavery to receive just enough food to stay alive.  They have already sold everything, including cattle and land, that they own in order to buy food.  In this way, Joseph acquires all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh.  All the people are moved into the cities of Egypt.  Joseph then gives all the people seed to sow in the confiscated land.  1/5th of the harvest goes to Pharaoh and 4/5th of the harvest is theirs to keep for a food supply for their families.  The people become slaves to Pharaoh, and Joseph establishes a law that a 1/5th of all produce belongs to Pharaoh.  Israel and his family are able to survive in the land of Goshen for 17 years thus far.  Israel is 147 years old, and he feels that he will die soon.  Israel tells Joseph to bury him in his family's burial place in Canaan.  Joseph swears that he will do this for his father.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 47:5-6 - Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your father and brothers have come to you, the land of Egypt is open before you; settle your father and brothers in the best part of the lad.  They can live in the land of Goshen.  If you know of any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock."
• Genesis 47:10 - So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and departed from Pharaoh's presence.
• Genesis 47:11-12 - Then Joseph settled his father and brothers in the land of Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.  And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food for their dependents.
• Genesis 47:13 - But there was no food in that entire region, for the famine was very severe.  The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted by the famine.
• Genesis 47:19 - "Why should we perish here in front of you--both us and our land?  Buy us and our land in exchange for food.  Then we with our land will become Pharaoh's slaves.  Give us seed so that we can live and not die, and so that the land won't become desolate."
• Genesis 47:20-21 - In this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field since the famine was so severe for them  The land became Pharaoh's, and Joseph moved the people to the cities from one end of Egypt to the other.
• Genesis 47:26 - So Joseph made it a law, still in effect today in the land of Egypt, that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh.  Only the priests' land does not belong to Pharaoh.
• Genesis 47:30 - "When I lie down with my fathers, carry me away from Egypt and bury me in their burial place."
• Genesis 47:31 - And Jacob said, "Swear to me."  So Joseph swore to him.  Then Israel bowed in thanks at the head of his bed.

Thoughts on the Text

• In this chapter the Israelites settle in the land of Egypt.  Particularly, they make their home in Goshen.  According to the Bible, this was the richest land in all of Egypt and was perfect for grazing sheep and cattle.  So, Pharaoh personally gives the Israelites the best that Egypt has to offer.  This is how much Pharaoh loves and respects Joseph.  Not only does Pharaoh do this, but he gives audience to five of Joseph's brothers and Israel.  Earlier on in scriptures we learned that Egyptians weren't to keen on shepherding flocks and cattle.  To them, this job was abhorrent.  So, Pharaoh gets Joseph's brothers to look after his cattle.  Pharaoh personally speaks with Israel and Israel blesses Pharaoh for all the help, transportation, food, and land.  Pharaoh saved the Israelites lives, so the least Israel could do was bless the Pharaoh.  Israel is now a witness for God, and he is walking by faith.  I'm sure during this blessing Israel told Pharaoh about the God of his fathers Isaac and Abraham.  As Christians we should all share the good news of Christ, our savior, and our faith in God to others.  This is what Israel was sharing with the most mighty man in all of Egypt!  Instead of boasting about himself, Israel boasts about the almighty God of his fathers Isaac and Abraham.
• The famine lasts for a very long time.  I think it lasts longer than seven years.  It lasts so long that all the people of Egypt have given Pharaoh all their money.  Now, they have to sell Joseph all of their cattle.  Finally, they have to sell themselves and their land in order to acquire food from Pharaoh.  In essence, the people of Egypt become the slaves of Pharaoh in order to survive.  All the people are moved into the cities of Egypt, and they are given seed to plant in what is now Pharaoh's land.  20% of the harvest goes to Pharaoh and the people get to keep 80% of the harvest.  One could criticize Joseph for what is happening.  I don't think he is taking advantage of the people here.  This is just the way events panned out.  After all, this must have been one of the most severe famines in Egyptian history.  Even though the people of Egypt are now slaves and they own nothing, they are still alive and able to reap 80% of the harvest.  The people even tell Joseph, "You have saved our lives.  We have found favor in our lord's eyes and will be Pharaoh's slaves."  So the people were joyful to be slaves in order to stay alive.  Joseph does not take advantage of the people.  Joseph saves the people of Egypt and other lands devastated by the famine.
• By the end of this chapter, the Israelites have lived in the land of Egypt for 17 years.  They have acquired property, become fruitful, and have had many more children.  The Israelite population is growing in the land of Goshen.  Israel is now 147 years old and he feels as though he will die soon.  His final request is to be buried in the land of Canaan where his fathers are buried; in the cave of Machpelah near the city of Hebron.  Israel wants to return to the Promised Land after he dies.  This one of Israel's last actions of faith.  Israel knows that Egypt will not be the land of the Israelites.  The land of the Israelites, God's Promised Land, is in the land of Canaan to the east.  The nation of Israel may be born in the land of Egypt, but the nation of Israel will dwell at some point in the land of Canaan, later to be called Israel!  Israel knows that God's covenant with him and his fathers will come to fruition at some point in the future.  Israel has faith and believes in God.  Israel has come a long way in his life, and he is now a man of faith.

Chapter 48:  Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh and Ephraim's Greater Blessing

Summary

Joseph visits Israel on his death bed in the land of Goshen.  Israel tells Joseph of his story after he was sold into slavery, and he tells Joseph about how Rachel, Joseph's mother, died while Israel was traveling to Ephrath (AKA Bethlehem).  Joseph introduces his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to Israel.  Israel blesses them.  Israel blesses Ephraim (the 2nd born) more than Manasseh (the 1st born) saying Manasseh will become a tribe, and he too will be great; nevertheless, his younger brother, Ephraim, will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a populous nation.  Israel tells Joseph that God will bring him and his brothers, via their descendants, back to the land of their fathers in Canaan.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 48:3-4 - Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.  He said to me, 'I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you , and I will give this land as an eternal possession to your descendants to come.'"
• Genesis 48:11-12 - Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, but now God has even let me see your offspring."  Then Joseph took them from his father's knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
• Genesis 48:15-16 - Then he blessed Joseph and said:  The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all mu life to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm--may He bless these boys.  And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow to be numerous within the land.
• Genesis 48:21 - The Israel said to Joseph, "Look!  I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers."

Thoughts on the Text

• This chapter is about Israel blessing Joseph and the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh.  Hebrews 11:21 states, "By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff."  This chapter also sheds light on the spiritual maturity of Israel.  Israel has come a long way from the deceptive days of his youth.  In his old age, Israel fully trusts and has faith in God.  He remembers the times when God appeared to him at Bethel.  God blessed him there.  Now it is his time to bless Joseph and Joseph's sons the same way in which his father Isaac had blessed him.  If we remember the story, Jacob deceived his father into giving him the firstborn blessing.  Jacob stole Esau's blessing.  As a result, Jacob was forced to flee his family so Esau wouldn't kill him.  He would be gone away from his family in a foreign land for over 20 years because of this sin.  God intended to give the blessing to Jacob regardless, but Rebekah and Jacob concocted a devious plan to steal it anyways.  In his old age, Jacob has been blessed.  All of Jacob's sons are still alive, he has been reunited with Joseph and his two sons, he has many possessions, he lives in the richlest land in all of Egypt, and God's future covenant with Jacob is yet to be fully fulfilled.  God indeed blessed Jacob.  Now, God tells Israel to give the greater blessing to the younger son of Joseph, Ephraim.  Israel crosses his arms, but there is no deception this time.  The greaater blessing goes to the son whom God wants it to go to; the yougest son, Ephraim.  This is how it should have gone with Isaac, Esau, and Jacob.  In both circumstances, God wanted the younger son to receive the blessing.  Instead of fleeing from his family here, Israel brings his family together and gives the blessing to the rightful heir!  Israel has grown to spiritual maturity here.  This spiritual growth has taken his whole life!  This helps me realize that most of the time, spiritual growth in the Lord is a slow process.  Wisdom and spiritual maturity doesn't come upon us overnight.  This spiritual maturity takes place over our whole life.  You are the most spiritually mature right before you pass away.  God is patient with us, and we should be patient with God.  It takes time to acquire that patience, and it takes time to acquire all the fruits of the spirit.  We have to be aware of our shortfalls and realize that we are not there yet, and we never will be in this life.  We will be complete when we meet Jesus face to face in heaven.  Then and only then will our spirit reach its full maturity!
• Here is some Bible history and factoids as explained by J. Vernon McGee in his book 'Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee':
• These two grandsons, the two sons of Joseph, will each become a tribe.  One would conclude that there are thirteen tribes of Israel, since there are twelve sons, and now the two sons of Joseph are each to become a tribe.  There was no tribe of Joseph, but there were the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and that makes thirteen in any man's mathematics.  Yet the Bible counts twelve tribes.  You see, the tribe of Levi was not counted as a tribe.  They became the high priestly tribe and were not given any land or territory but were scattered as priests throughout the other tribes.  So they were not counted as a tribe.  You may consider that to be a rather devious way of counting, but I didn't do it.  The word of God counts it that way.  That is the way God wanted it to be, and so that is the way God made it.
• We see here that Israel was very much like Isaac.  Both of them were almost blind in their old age.  Neither of them could hardly see their children and grandchildren when they were giving the blessing to them.  In both cases the greater blessing goes to the youngest son.  Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, and Israel gave the greater blessing to Ephraim.  God can use anyone that he choses.  Many times, the person that God chooses to use is unexpected.  God uses the ordinary and turns them into the extraordinary!
• Israel gives a double portion of the inheritance that he is giving all his sons.  "That is, Joseph, through his two sons, would have a greater inheritance than the other brothers would have" (Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee).  Joseph would consist of two tribes of Israel, Ephraim and Manasseh, whereas all the other brothers would consist of only one tribe.  Therefore, Joseph, through his two sons, would be given more territory in the Promised Land.  Also, we see Israel giving Joseph a "mountain slope."  This piece of land would be Shechem, which is 

Chapter 49:  Jacob's Last Words and Jacob's Burial Instructions

Summary

Israel gathers his sons to his dying bed, and he blesses all 12 of them.  Israel gives a prophetic blessing, and he tells about the 12 tribes of Israel that will descend from their loins.  After blessing them, Israel commands his sons to bury him with his fathers Abraham and Isaac.  They are to bury him in the cave in the field of Machpelah in the land of Canaan.  When Israel finished instructing his sons, he passed away.  Israel was gathered to his people.

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 49:1 - Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to ou in the days to come."
• Genesis 49:8 - "Judah, your brothers will praise you.  Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you."
• Genesis 49:18 - "I wait for Your salvation, Lord."
• Genesis 49:28 - These are the tribbes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them.  He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
• Genesis 49:29 -30 - Then he commanded them:  "I am about to be gathered to my people.  Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.  The caave is in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan.  This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
• Genesis 49:33 - When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died.  He was gathered to his people.

Thoughts on the Text

• This chapter concerns Jacob's last words and burial instructions to his sons before dying.  Jacob blesses all 12 of his sons from the oldest down to the youngest.  Jacob blesses Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin.  Any words a man says on his deathbed is usually important.  This scene is no exception.  Israel last words to his sons are prophetic, and they tell what will come of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Most of these prophetic blessings that Israel bestows on his children will later be fulfilled in the Bible.  What Israel says before his death is important, even though some of the blessings seem kind of strange and out of place.  It was said that Reuben would no lnger excel because he defiled Israel's bed byy sleeping with one of his wives.  Simeon and Levi are to be scattered thoughout Israel because of their furious anger and cruelty; let us not forget the massacre that took place in a city in Shechem.  We will later see that Levi becomes the priestly tribe of Israel.  The tribe of Levi has no land of their own.  They are scattered and live with all the other tribes of Israel.  Judah is given the most praise and exaltation.  Judah will defeat their enemies, their brothers will praise them, and Israel's sons will bow down to them.  Judah is seen as a lion.  The lion is the king of the jungle.  Likewise, the kind of the world, Jesus Christ, will descend from the line of Judah.  The whole world will praise, exalt, and bow down to Jesus, the Lion of Judah, our Lord and Savior!  Zebulun will live on the coast of Israel and they will be a harbor for many ships.  Issachar is to become the working class of Israel; manual laborers will come from this line.  Dan is seen as snake that bites a horse and causes the horseman to fall backwards.  One interpretation of this is that Dan is one of the tribes that lead in rebellion against the Lord.  This tribe needs God's salvation, hence why Israel says "I wait for Your salvation, Lord," after blessing Dan.  Gad will be attaccked by Marauding clans, but he will persevere.  Asher's food will be rich and they will make many delicacies.  Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.  Joseph is given the greatest blessing from his father and from God Almighty.  Benjamin is seen as a wolf that devours his prey and divides the plunder of the kill.  This, in a nutshell, are the blessing that Israel bestowed upon his 12 sons, later to become the 12 tribes of Israel.
• The last part of the chapter deals with Israel's burial instructions to his sons.  Israel did no want to be buried in Egypt.  Israel wanted to be buried with his fathers and family in the Promised Land.  Israel acts on his faith in God.  Israel believes without a shadow of a doubt that one day, the Promised Land would belong to the 12 tribes of Israel.  The descendants of his sons would live in this land of milk and honey.  God's promise would be fulfilled!  As it is said in Hebrews 11:13, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."  After all these years, Israel has become a solid man of faith.  I believe the one thing he wants for his children the most is to have faith and believe in the one true God.  Salvation, our hope, and our strength come from the Lord.  I believe this is what Israel was trying to teach his children for their whole life.  This belief in God was what he wanted to leave behind to his children the most after he died.

Chapter 50:  Jacob's Burial, Joseph's Kindness, and Joseph's Death

Summary

Joseph weeps over his father's dead body and kisses him.  Joseph has his father, Israel, embalmed (mummified).  This process takes 40 days, and the Egyptians mourned Israel for 70 days.  Joseph gets permission from Pharaoh to go and bury his father in the land of Canaan.  Israel's sons have a funeral procession all the way to the cave in the field of Machpelah in the land of Canaan from Egypt.  Then Joseph, his brothers, and the rest of the procession return to Egypt after the burial and seven days of mourning.  Upon their return to Egypt, Joseph's brothers fear for their lives because their father is now dead.  Joseph may have a grudge and want to seek revenge on them.  So, the brothers ask forgiveness from Joseph, bow down to Joseph, and tell him that they are his slaves.  Joseph forgives them, and they reunite as brothers.  Joseph says that God has been in control for the whole time, and that all of them and their children will be taken care of.  Joseph remains in the land of Egypt until his death at 110 years old.  He is embalmed and buried in a coffin in Egypt.  Right before his death, Joseph tells his brothers, now known as Israelites or the 12 tribes of Israel, that God will certainly come to their aid.  God will bring them up from Egypt to the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Joseph tells his brothers to take his remains to the promised land during the Exodus!

Verses of Interest

• Genesis 50:12-13 - So Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them.  They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
• Genesis 50:19-21 - But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid.  Am I in the place of God?  You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result--the survival of many people.  Therefore don't' be afraid.  I will take care of you and your little ones."  And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
• Genesis 50:24 - Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Thoughts on the Text

• Chapter 50 is the final chapter in the book of Genesis.  Here we see the conclusion of both Jacob's and Joseph's story; two strong men of the faith and heralds of the Word of God!  This chapter starts with Jacob's burial.  Israel is embalmed.  This process takes 40 days, and the Egyptians mourn for Israel for 70 days.  I find this time of mourning as very impressive.  70 days is a long time to mourn for someone's death.  It is a custom of today to mourn the passing of someone for one to two days maximum; there is usually a wake and then the burial/funeral.  The people of Egypt must have held Israel in very high regard.  After the Egyptians mourned for Israel, then there was an extremely impressive funeral procession consisting of Joseph, Pharaoh's servants, the elders of the household, all the elders of the land of Egypt, along with all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household.  Israel was an important and prominent figure in the Word of God and in history.  The Egyptians knew that he was a man of God, and they must have knew that from the loins of this man would come God's chosen people and the land of Israel, God's chosen land!  During this procession, they come to Atad and mourn seven days.  They weep so loudly there that the Canaanite inhabitants renamed the place Abel-mizraim, or Mourning of Egypt.  The procession finally reaches the cave at Machpelah in the land of Canaan, and they bury this legend, named Jacob or Israel.  We are too busy with our lives in the modern day to mourn like this for a loved one.  We mourn for a couple days, but then we must get back to our everyday fast-paced lives.  In doing so, we do not revere and cherish our loved ones like we should.  Do our loved ones mean as much to us as the ancient ones of the passed?  In this modern world, the family is scattered all over the land.  We do not mourn for loved ones like the days of old because the family is lost.  The family is lost because we are a world living in sin.  We do not revere or exalt God like we should.  What we truly need is an exodus from our bondage; from the sin that so easily ensnares us.  Then, we will truly love our family once again; we will love ourselves and others; we will love God.  God will bless us.  And while we will mourn for lost loved ones, we will know without a shadow of a doubt that the ones that have passed away from this earthly domain are with the father and Jesus Christ in heaven, everlasting, eternal!
• There is a lot of birth and a lot of death in the book of Genesis.  In the beginning of Genesis God created man and woman.  Man and woman sin in the Garden.  Death results.  At the end of Genesis we are saddened by the deaths of two great men--Israel and Jacob.  The book of Genesis brings to light the reality of life and death, and it reveals how we are all sinners in need of a savior because our sin equals death.  This book has shown the consequences of sin, but it has shown the life that is in God the father and Christ our Lord.  We are all sinners, and we are all in need of a savior.  God has come to the earth in the form of a man and He has given us a way to escape the death of sin.  God has provided for our salvation, our forgiveness, and everlasting life.  God has provided us a way in this life.  We can navigate the darkness of this world by applying the Word of God to our everyday lives.
• Here we see the mummification process of both Israel and Jacob.  I believe this gives the biblical story more credence as this custom of the day correlates to ancient history of mummification in Egypt.  It is a possibility that the remains of Israel and Jacob are still in tact to this day if one were able to find the exact location of their burial sites.
• Joseph is kind to his brothers.  Here we see the brothers afraid that Joseph has been holding a grudge against them  Joseph is so powerful he probably could have them all thrown into prison, turned into slaves, or killed.  However, Joseph loves his brothers, and he truly forgives his brothers.  Once again, Joseph gives God the glory and says, "Am I in the place of God?  You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result--the survival of many people."  The brothers truly repent of their sin against Joseph, and now they are one big happy family living in the lush land of Egypt.  In times of doubt we must always remember the providence of God.  God means our suffering for good.  We simply must persevere and have faith that God will see us through.
• At the end of Genesis we are faced with the death of Joseph.  At the time, Joseph's remains are not taken to the Promised Land.  However, Joseph commands his people to take his bones with them to the Promised Land whenever they make their Exodus.  Joseph displays the same faith as Israel.  Joseph knows that God will make good on his promise and covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!  God will give the Israelites the land of Canaan as an eternal possession sometime in the future.  Hebrews 11:22 states, "By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones."  We will find out when the exodus happens, Moses and the children of Israel take Joseph's bones with them to the Promised Land!