02/21/2010 Genesis 15-19

Including summary of last week with detailed notes from this week.

Discussed variety of ways God presented himself to Abraham.

The LORD said, told, appeared, brought, gave, covenanted/promised; the word of the LORD came to Abram and the word of the LORD came to him in a vision; Then the Angel of the Lord appears to Hagar; then in both chapters 17 and 18 – the LORD appears to Abraham, renames him and Sarah, and restates the promise.

In chapter 14 – the LORD empowered Abram, 3 locals and 318 trained men defeated Kedorlaomer and several kings’ armies to rescue Lot.

Abram gives the tithe to Melchizedek, dishonors the king of Sodom and then ???

I think after that great conquest – Abram reevaluated where he was, what he was doing, he tried to look at the big picture. Apparently, he said “I’m supposed to have descendants as numerous as particles of dust; I’m supposed to have land; Instead I’m an old man and my wife is barren.”

Later in the Bible we see Elijah, just after the great scene where all the priests of Ba’al are consumed in fire and the rain comes and what should have been a high point – he becomes depressed. I think that happens all the time. Something really good happens and our mind starts playing it and asking, “Is that all? Is that as good as it gets? Shouldn’t there be something more?”

So if Abram is in this kind of funk – then it makes sense that the next thing that happens is 15:1 – The LORD reassures Abram…

"Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield, your very great reward. "

Then for the first time, we have a direct statement spoken by Abram to God. Abram is still uncertain, he asks God what he can give him, since he hasn’t given him children.

The LORD reiterates the promise, even saying it in a more positive way – I the creator of the universe promise you descendants as numerous as the stars. I am in control.

15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Romans 4 spends time discussing this simple statement. Abram believed, his faith in God’s promise never wavered – his thoughts as to how it might play out were all over the place.

We’ve all been there – we expect God to do this, this, and this, in this length of time so that everything will be perfect and we can live the rest of our lives forgetting about God because we no longer need Him. We really know He cares, but we don’t understand why He doesn’t do it the way I told Him to….

Abram never wavered in His faith that God would give him land, descendants and blessings.

It is also important to remember that God made His promise with Abram long before he gave him any rules. The promise was there before Melchizedek , before circumcision, before Abraham did anything to prove himself worthy.

We have the cutting covenant that Tony described last week, then Abram and Sarai decide that the LORD really is serious about Abram have numerous descendants and land so they better do something about it. We briefly discussed the pain Sarai felt – constantly being reminded that she was barren, so possibly in frustration she gives her servant Hagar to Abram, and she conceived. Sarai regretted that decision almost immediately and sent a pregnant Hagar off into the wilderness.

The angel of the LORD appears to Hagar, sends her back to Abram and Sarai

So now Hagar’s son is born, is named Ishmael – which means God Hears.

Thirteen years later, when Abram is 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him, doesn’t say in a vision either.

Told to circumcise all males at 8 days old. Why???

Because it was the covenant with Abraham.

Today, we don’t understand the same. It was a blood sacrifice. The Jewish Bris ceremony still collects that blood. I read about circumcision for several hours this week so that I could give you an absolutely accurate answer as to what it was all about. Moses’ wife, Zipporah, calls it bridegroom of blood in Exodus 4:24.

Circumcision was intended as an expression of faith, a belief in a promise. A sign of identification, obedience, purity, righteousness, a covenant commitment. A putting off of the sinful nature (Col 2:11). It follows shortly after that cutting covenant in the text and may have some overlap with that. There are definitely overtones of the importance of circumcision obvious in our beliefs regarding baptism and marriage.

Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. (1 Corinthians 7:19) is probably the closest to a good explanation as I can offer.

For more detail, see Romans 2-4. I am not going to read all three chapters aloud to the class, but I hope you read it sometime this week. Listen to these two excerpts:

Romans 2:25-29

25 Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. 26 If those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? 27 The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

Romans 4:7-13

"Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
⁸Blessed is the man
whose sin the Lord will never count against him."^F18
9Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. ¹⁰Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. ¹²And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
¹³It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

As part of this covenant – Abram will now be physically different, he has met with the LORD, so we expect him to be spiritually different, and accordingly – he gets a new name.

Renaming – Abram means exalted father, but Abram and Sarai had no children. Ishmael born when Abram was 86. Thirteen years later, renamed Abraham, father of many, and promised a true son. Sarai is also renamed – from governess or princess to governess of all.

Thinking about the meaning of the name change and circumcision – I think of the song:

I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast
Lonely or afraid

I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness
Overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks my face

(DJ Butler, copyright 1987, Mercy Publishing)

Abraham’s journey of faith has moved him geographically – but from when we first meet Abram until the binding of Isaac in chapter 22 – we see a significant movement in Abraham’s character as well. The man who carries the fire and the knife up the mountain is completely different than the man who told Pharaoh that Sarai was his sister and received a reward for sending her to the harem.

Questions - Comments

I find Chapter 18 to be as fascinating as anything we have studied so far in Genesis. The language of the narrative really comes to life in this section. But I like word studies.

I wish I had more knowledge of Hebrew but have really appreciated Jeff, Jesse and Charles’ comments in the teacher training class. The difference between plural and singular pronouns and the name translated LORD or god or gods or angel is real interesting. So are some of the verbs used to describe the reactions of Abraham and Lot. Such a contrast in intensity. And really pay attention to the word SEE.

To begin with the term the LORD is used ten times in this section. Similar to how the LORD appeared to him when he received the instructions for circumcision, the LORD appeared to him while he was sitting in his tent.

18:2 says “Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.”

Compare that with Lot in 19:1 where it says “The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.”

These are two similar stories to compare – the differences may seem subtle – but I think they really are significant, and when you hear this account being read aloud, being told – not just read – the differences really stand out.

Abraham looks up and sees, he hurries, he bows low.

Lot looks down from the gateway, sees, more casually gets up, he bows.

Both men recognize that these are not ordinary travelers.

Then Abraham gets water to wash their feet, sets them down to rest in the shade, hurries into the tent, tells Sarah to hurry and quickly bake bread, ran to the herd, selected a choice calf, brought curds, milk, prepared the meat, and served the guests.

Lot offers hospitality, tells them they can wash their feet, and spend the night. He prepares a meal of bread without yeast, and it sounds like he eats along with the guests. Nothing like the meal Abraham prepared with urgency and then served – standing at the ready to take care of his guests. Throughout Genesis – we don’t see Lot doing anything with much urgency except choosing which section of land he wanted.

Back to Chapter 18 – Abraham’s response. They asked about Sarah by name, her new name. They announce the culmination of 25 years of anticipation – that 90 year old Sarah will now have a child. Everyone in this class is probably old enough to realize that a 90 year old barren, post-menapausal women having a child without hormone therapy and modern medical shenanigans is as significant a miracle as a young single mother having a baby without sleeping with a man in the days before artificial insemination. It would have been impossible to happen in a purely natural world, so there is nothing surprising in the fact that Sarah would laugh to herself. Not disrespectful to the visitors – just a ‘you’ve got to be kidding – 25 years ago it would have been tough – today it is impossible!’ type laugh.

Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Remember our themes – sin, judgment, grace, punishment?

It has been punctuated lately with a new theme of blessing – reward – certainty.

But it is time to revisit the judgment, grace and punishment themes – because sin has been and continues to be committed just down the road from Abraham’s tent.

The LORD continues to speak, reiterating the blessing upon Abraham and his descendants once again, then passing judgment on Sodom.

18:20 "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

But Abraham intercedes – not only for his nephew Lot, but anybody, everybody in the cities. Abraham shows compassion, willingly putting his own standing on the line after so carefully trying to please the LORD and serve His physical needs, now he is publically opposing His plan.

God is willing to negotiate with Abraham, going from 50 down to a measly 10 individuals being required to save the city. We assume Lot, his wife, two daughters, two fiancés and any four others in the whole city…. But it doesn’t happen. 10 righteous people can’t be found.

So much that can be discussed about Sodom and Gomorrah – what sin was causing the outcry, why Abraham didn’t personally go to rescue Lot again, who counted and how did they determine righteousness, when and why had Lot moved from the plains near Sodom into sitting in the gateway?

Then the punishment phase, eerily similar to the flood narrative in several ways. Being wiped out because of evil – not the whole world this time, just two cities. One familial unit saved. Pulled through a door rather than shutting a door. Preaching to people who don’t believe, then an alcohol induced state leading to shameful behavior.

At the end of class, Eddie mentioned that Lot was saved, not of his own righteousness, but because of Abraham's righteousness. This is a whole study in itself - thanks Eddie for pointing out this additional parallel that resurfaces later in the Bible.

02/07/2010 - Genesis 13-14

So what do you think of Abram? Has he demonstrated unwavering faith up to this moment? He was told to leave Ur and all family, but he starts the trip with his dad and nephew. He experienced a drought and so went south to Egypt, essentially sold his wife into Pharaoh's harem and got sent packing, and then risks losing the land promise by giving Lot his choice of which parcel he wants.

To Abram's credit, he was the one who called upon the Lord and hopefully acted the way he was supposed to regarding the land. Then comes the victory over the foreign kings. Abram and his 318 + neighbors routed the invaders and freed Lot and rescued all the captive people and possessions.

Then the King of Sodom comes out to meet him in the valley of the kings and Abram is rather disrespectful; but the King of Salem also comes out and Abram offers 10%. Yes Tony was right that this was the first Biblical reference to "priest" but the next eight references after this in Genesis and the first part of Exodus refer to Joseph's father in law and the Egyptian priests who were not monotheistic servants of the creator who would be revealed as Yahweh. Even when that term is used to describe Moses father in law later in Exodus we don't know what kind of priest he is in Midian.

So the question - What do you think of Abram so far? We will see a change begin (if it hasn't already) in Chapter 15 - but Abram is very human, very normal, very imperfect up until he separates from Lot. But he is blessed by God. He is the vehicle of the promise.

01/31/2010 - Genesis 12 - FB Class

Really starting to get into life of Abraham now.
Tony compared Hebrew narrative to modern literature. Expanding upon that some, if Genesis would have been a modern story, we would have had many descriptions about how tall Adam was, skin color, muscular build, hair color, many snippets of dialogue so we knew how he thought and similar comments about Eve. By the time we reached the flood narrative we would have had multiple vignettes about the lives of people who died in the flood and heard repeatedly from Noah as he preached to his neighbors and interaction and strife between daughters in law and Mrs Noah about everything imaginable and what everybody else thought about Noah's message from God.

But a classic Hebrew narrative does not include any of those elements. We are told only bare facts and what is important to the story. Therefore when we get into this story of Abram and we start finding out things about his nephew Lot, the fact that Sarai was barren, Abram's possessions, etc we know that something is different. Why are we getting this detail? How will it factor into the story?

Then I want to jump to the Egypt story - we concentrated mainly on Abram's failings, how verse one said leave family and everything but we read of him leaving with dad, nephew, 'people', and a whole slew of possessions. Then we read about him telling untruth's to save his own neck and getting lots more possessions in the process. Not at all the honorable forefather we usually associate with him, but something we alluded to but did not really discuss was some of the foreshadowing - looking forward to the Joseph narrative. Went into Egypt, and left basically being chased out, with the possessions of the Egyptians, after a period of plagues and pestilence... did you note the similarities? The question - Why?

Scott pointed out that we should see Jesus on every page of the Old Testament. Obviously Jesus is the fulfillment of the sin-judgment-grace-punishment variation on a theme message, but why speifically do we see this foreshadowing of Moses in Abram? Are we supposed to see Abram as a savior model? He is so imperfect - why is he blessed by God?

01/24/2010 - Genesis 9-11 - FB Class

Thanks Susan for good comments last week.

This week Tony elaborated on the time Noah and his family were in the ark, totally dependent upon God, seeing His wrath and His grace played out simultaneously. Awesome experience and the saving water, dying to unrighteousness, motifs that continue to play out throughout the Bible are established. My math comes up to 316 days on board the ark.

Tony pointed out how the seed survived. Re-creation, new world, new growth, purity but soon Ham/Noah incident. Disgraced. Quite a bit more to this story that I want to research sometime, I've heard too many conflicting statements but all come to same conclusion ... sin continues in new creation.

Babel narrative.... tower = power. Same sin as Eve, wanted to make name for self, achieve power of God, stepping behind appointed position. Variation on a theme, aka same second second verse, a little bit louder and a little bit worse....

Judgment is also a promise. "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." (Gen 11:6-7) Unlimited potential when working in concert and understanding each other. Goal should be spreading truth, love and grace of God, doing His will - not trying to be equal or superior to Him. Problem with many self actualization/realization/empowerment philosophies. In serving God we have unlimited power, in trying to lift ourselves up to His level we end up with nothing. Another recurring theme in the overall story.

In final few minutes Tony started into the story of Abraham. Start reading Genesis 12-14 for next week. Keep the good comments flowing, and James, we were blessed to have you back in class this week after your recent heart surgery.

1/17/2010 - Genesis 6-9 - FB Class

Tony took a different path this week, and much like Genesis introduces God and creation and gives numerous histories, Tony introduced himself and then gave the class an opportunity to introduce themselves. I had no idea what a large percentage of the class had been here less than five years. This made me think of the days when James Johnston had one family each week introduce themselves and do a poster so that we had a closer relationship as a class.

Hearing the relationship between the different families (like the Gurley’s and the Day’s) was an appropriate reference to the tol’doth (Strong’s 08435), the Hebrew word for histories, genealogies, or accounts – translated generations in the KJV.

We understand people having genealogies, but did you think about earth having one?
See Genesis 2:4. Here are the first 8 of 39 uses of that word in the Old Testament.

Ge 2:4 - These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Ge 5:1 - This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Ge 6:9 - These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
Ge 10:1 - Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Ge 10:32 - These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Ge 11:10 - These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
Ge 11:27 - Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

It is a special word. God created the earth, created man in His likeness, Noah was perfect in his generations (open to interpretation – look up some of the online references to Nephilim, Noah might have been the only pureblood human left). We see an unbroken generational line from Adam to Abram.

Tony’s question had more to do with Noah’s faith and lifestyle than his lineage. He asked, what does it mean to be righteous and faithful?

What did it mean in Noah’s day and what does it mean personally to us, in the 21st century?

1/10/2010 - Genesis 3-5 - FB Class

Tony Parnell continued this weeks’ class with a “Variations On A Theme” statement. He elaborated upon the recurring patterns by labeling them:

1. Human Sin
2. Statement of Judgment of God
3. Theme of Grace
4. Judgment

Briefly showed first few repetitions/variations through the narratives regarding Adam/Eve, Cain, and Noah. Each time man gets further removed from God, has more rules and greater intervention by God.

Adam & Eve had one rule, were directly in the presence of God, were given coverings but were not destroyed.

Cain had a very direct warning, (Gen 4:6-7) if you do not master this sin, it is waiting to attack you, yet still committed premeditated murder, given mark to protect him while banished.

The people of Noah’s era had years of preaching and warning during construction of the ark to change from their murderous, evil ways, Noah and family were saved.

Charlie voiced a question that many have thought, regarding last weeks’ lesson – Why was the tree of knowledge of good and evil even in the garden in the first place? Kathy responded that God wanted man to obey/worship Him of his own free will and without choice/rules there is no free will.

We also got into a brief discussion on the Sons of god and daughters of men discussion that is mentioned in Genesis, Numbers and Jude.

01/03/2010 - Genesis 1-3 - FB Class

Tony Parnell started the series on Genesis – Canaan Bound today by giving some excellent background material on the book.

Jim’s sermon utilized questions and answers. Made me think we should revisit the five questions Tony asked the class to think about in this study (hopefully I copied down with reasonable accuracy).

1. What does it mean to believe the Old Testament is the word of God?
2. What did the book of Genesis have to the audience then, and what (if any) claim does it make to its readers today?
3. Was the Old Testament written only for the Old Testament people of Israel?
4. Was the Old Testament written to confront its readers now as then with the imperative to live a life of faith exemplified by Abraham’s walk with God in the Old Testament?
5. How can anyone today read and understand its [Genesis and/or the Old Testament] meaning for his or her life?

Tony emphasized Genesis as a resource or example of the importance of living by faith as well as being the story or origins. He also stated that time was irrelevant. He asked us to consider who creation was for, who benefited, who controlled (had dominion), and who was serving whom in the initial story of creation.

He also asked us to read the first seven chapters for next week’s class. I would like to hear some feedback from the class and carry on a simple blog of comments to enhance this study.