Hebrews part fifteen

We are now at Hebrews 11:17. It's time to read more about Abraham's faith. Abraham's faith was so great that he offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice when god tested him. God was being a sadistic bastard. He had previously  told Abraham that the promise of numerous offspring would be fulfilled through Isaac. The Hebrews author claims Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac because he "reasoned" that god could raise the dead. Baloney. The author of Hebrews is trying to use the old testament story to prove that belief in resurrection has always been part of Hebrew beliefs. There is actually no indication in most of the old testament that anyone of the ancient Abrahamic tradition believed in a resurrection of the dead. Sheol was the fate of every dead person. The author of Hebrews goes on to say that "figuratively speaking, he (Abraham) did receive Isaac back from the dead." Just so you know, figurative speech doesn't have any more substance than faith.

Next, the author says, that by faith Isaac blessed Jacob's and Esau's future. In other words, he said magical words at them that were supposed to have some mystical power over their lives. By faith, Jacob also "blessed" Joseph's sons. By faith, Joseph spoke of the exodus from egypt and what he wanted done with his bones. Joseph did speak of the Israelites leaving Egypt, going to the promised land, and taking his bones with them, in Genesis 50,  but there were no other specifics. We are not going to go into the fact that none of the stuff we are reading about actually happened. So, it doesn't matter what these supposed patriarchs supposedly said or did and why they did it. It's the same as if we would take the Iliad and the Odyssey seriously.

The author goes on to say, "by faith Moses's parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw that he was no ordinary child, and they were afraid of the king's edict." Any parent worth being called a parent would try to do anything they could to save their child from death. Faith has nothing to do with it.

 We are also told that "by faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of god rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." Again, this never actually happened, but let's look at what Exodus says. Did Moses refuse to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter? Nope, can't find that. Did Moses choose to be mistreated along with the people of god? Nope, can't find that either. In fact, Exodus 2:11 says Moses went out and watched his people doing hard labor.

In Hebrews 11:26, the author says, Moses "regarded disgrace for the sake of christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward." This is blatant nonsense. Go back and read Exodus 2. Moses killed a man and became a fugitive, eventually going incognito as a shepherd. He had no eternal reward in mind only saving his own skin. Moses had no christ in mind.

Next, the author says, "By faith (Moses) left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger, because he saw him who is invisible." At least that part is true to the Exodus story. The reader is also told,"By faith (Moses) kept the passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel." That also happened in the story. Plus, Moses never pleaded on behalf of all the innocent children that would die that night. Nice guy.

Some more things that supposedly happened by faith: the people walked through the Red Sea on dry land, the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab welcomed spies and was not killed. These are all stories that most likely never happened, so faith had nothing to do with them. Besides, if faith was a factor, it wasn't faith in Jesus or a resurrection, was it?

Till next time.

Hebrews part fourteen

We are now at Hebrews chapter eleven, verse 4. Will the famous faith chapter convince us to have faith in Jesus our heavenly high priest? We shall see. The reader is now going to be told about various old testament characters who had faith. First up is Abel. According to the author, faith made Able give a better sacrifice than Cain did. What was different about Abel's sacrifice? It was a Blood sacrifice. The Hebrews author has already told us blood needs to be shed for god to keep his promises. Cain didn't get the blood sacrifice thing so he offered grain. God liked Abel's sacrifice better. As we all know, Cain killed Abel. Now Abel is dead. (Genesis 4)However, according to Hebrews, Abel still speaks by faith. I can't hear him. Can you?

The next faithful person mentioned is Enoch. Enoch didn't die. The old testament tells us god took him away. (Genesis 5) Enoch pleased god because he had faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please god....Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." You gotta believe, or you get nutthin'. And sometimes you get nothing even when you believe.

Next up: Noah. He built the ark by faith when he was warned about the future flood. By faith he saved his family and condemned the rest of the world. That way he became one of the heirs of righteousness. Great job Noah! It's so righteous to watch everyone die while you float away to safety.

Abraham is fourth on the faithful list. Abraham went to a far away land because a voice in his head told him that the land would eventually be his. He believed it. Abraham lived in the foreign land. So did his son Isaac and grandson Jacob. They were also supposed to be  heirs of the promise that had been given to Abraham. I don't remember if they  heard the voice in their heads too. Abraham's faith made him believe the voice in his head when it told him he would have descendants that were as numerous as stars or grains of sand. Even though his wife was barren and Abraham was no spring chicken, his faith in the voice enabled him to become a father. Is that how babies are made, through faith?

Each of the faithful people mentioned are said to have remained faithful till they died. (Let that be a lesson to you.) They never actually got what the voice in their heads promised them. They just "saw and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth." Except, the Old testament never says that those faithful people  saw and welcomed a promise from a distance. And the only time any of them said they were aliens and strangers was in Genesis 23:4, when Abraham told the Hittites that he was a stranger among them.

Even though those people never said those things, the Hebrews author says that people who do say those things are "looking for a country of their own." (Or one that they can take away from someone else?) Otherwise, they would have taken the opportunity to return to the country they had left. He must be talking just  about Abraham, because this doesn't apply to all the others. The author goes on to say "They (Who's they?) were looking for a better country-- a heavenly one." Of course they were. That's why they never actually mentioned it. Must have slipped their minds.Nevertheless, that''s why god has prepared a (heavenly) city for them. Lucky dogs.

Till next time.

Resurrection part one

I feel like we need to cover resurrection in the bible as a natural segue to the study of heaven. First I want to note that the word resurrection does not appear at all in the Old Testament. What do you make of that? In the New Testament, the Greek word usually translated resurrection is anastasis, which according to Strong's concordance, means "standing up again" or a literal resurrection from the dead. It can also be used in a figurative sense. We will see how that works as we go through the scriptures.

We first encounter the word resurrection in Matthew 22. Verse 23 tells us that the Jewish sect of the Saducees did not believe in a resurrection. That would make sense, since the Hebrew scriptures do not contain the word. In verse 28, Jesus is asked a trick question about marriage after the resurrection by the Saducees. Jesus replied, "silly Saducees, marriage is not for the resurrected." Instead, Jesus goes on to say, the resurrected dead will have bodies like angels. Jesus's proof of the resurrection is that god said he is the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since god is not the god of the dead, but the living, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, must be alive. How can they be alive, unless they are resurrected? Gotcha! Does this mean Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were already resurrected, before the final judgment? The book of Revelation skipped that part. Does this mean they were resurrected before Jesus? I thought he was supposed to be the first.

In Matthew 27:51-53, after Jesus died on the cross, there was an earthquake. "The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. (Before Jesus?) They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people." Strangely, there is no other record of this extraordinary event.

Mark chapter 12 also tells the story of the Sadducees asking about marriage for the resurrected. So does Luke chapter 20. Luke adds that the resurrected will no longer die and they are god's children. Luke also adds that to god, everyone is alive, which is interesting. If everyone is alive to god, what's the resurrection for?

In Luke 14:13-14, Jesus says, "when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Did Jesus appeal to empathy and say that all people need to eat and that it's good to feed those less fortunate, because if they were in that situation, the listeners would need food also. No, he did not. Instead, he appealed to their selfishness. They would get a reward from god...eventually.

We are now at John chapter 5. Here we get new resurrection information. Jesus tells the Jews who are persecuting him that he is the son of god the father. Verses 21-22 say, "Just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the son." In Revelation 20:11 is unclear about who s sitting on the throne of judgment. It says things like "he who is seated on the throne." Revelation 22 calls it the throne of god and the lamb, as though the two are melded together.

John 5:24-29 goes on to say, "whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. (Sounds a bit metaphorical there.) ...a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the son of god and those who hear will live....Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned." Wait, no baptism requirement?

More to come.

Galatians chapter 4 part 2

*In verses 21-31, Paul is trying to redeem his metaphor of God and God's relationship to the jews and gentiles by comparing it to Abraham's relationship to his two sons, born of Sarah and Hagar. Hagar was a slave, Sarah was a free woman. Abraham's son by Hagar was "born in the ordinary way." That is Abraham consented to have sex with his wife's slave, at his wife's urging. Whether the slave consented doesn't enter into the matter. The child that was born would have been a slave also. The children of slave women, even by their masters, were slaves. This has been a fact of slavery even up to the age of American enslavement of Africans. Let's be clear, "Biblical slavery" was not any different than the slavery that was fought against in more modern times. It certainly wasn't a kinder more humane slavery. Slaves were only treated as well as their masters wanted to treat them.

*According to Paul, Sarah's son was not born in the ordinary way, but was born as the result of a promise. Well, folks, in case you didn't know, there is only one way for children to be born. That is pretty ordinary, promise or no promise. Abraham was a man. Sarah was a woman. If they actually lived and had a child, he was born in the ordinary way. What did god do to cause this birth? Guide the sperm to the right egg? Produce a one time egg in a dried up old woman? Let's not forget that Sarah was ninety years old  and have a little chuckle at the thought. Human female fertility ends well before the age of sixty. If I found out I was pregnant at ninety, I would probably die from the shock. I would probably die laughing if a 100 year old man tried to have sex with me when I am 90.

*Paul says, in a round about way, that  his metaphor is equating the children of the slave woman Hagar with the present day Israelites, who are children of the covenant friom Mount Sinai (the law of Moses). This is how the metaphor works so far:  Abraham= father/god. Hagar= Slave Mother/Mount Sinai/Jerusalem. Hagar's children=Jews/slave children born in the ordinary way. This is turning the tables on the Israelite identity. The Israelites banked on being the legitimate children of god and Abraham, the children of the promise. Paul is saying that may have been the physical reality, but not the spiritual one. I'm sure this did not go over well with the Jews.

*Paul goes on to say that there is a "Jerusalem that is above" that is free. If you follow the metaphor, Sarah=Free (non-slave) mother/spiritual Jerusalem. Isaac=Galatian christians/ gentile christians/ all christians/ children of promise born by the power of the spirit. In the Abrahamic story, the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the spirit. "It is the same now." Wow. Is Paul actually saying the Jews are persecuting the  christians? Well, he did it himself once, didn't he? (Gal. 1:13) Wait. It gets even more interesting.

*Paul goes on to ask, "What does the scripture say?" Then he claims scripture says," Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son" (!!!) It's true. Genesis 21:10 does say this. It is Sarah speaking, not God. Paul knows this. He goes on to say "we" (christians) are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.  Do you realize what Paul is implying here, in light of his extended metaphor? Spiritual Jerusalem (Sarah) advocates getting rid of physical Jerusalem's (Hagar's) children (the jews) in favor of her own children (christians.) He says the slave woman's son (Jews) will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son (christians.)

I'm blown away by today's reading. This is something I never heard in church. Sure we read this passage, but it was usually not dissected the way I've done here. Hagar was usually associated with every non believer, not just Jews. But I think it is quite clear that Paul is advocating a complete separation with Judaism, even going so far as to say Jews will not recieve the promised inheritance. We haven't been told what that inheritance is yet, but maybe that is to come.

Genesis wrap up

What have we learned from the book of Genesis?

*We don't know who wrote this book or exactly when. Historians place its origin long after Moses would have lived. Nowhere does the book of Genesis claim it is God's word, or is inspired by God. Nor does it claim to be the words of Moses. The Hebrew language  in which Genesis is written comes from approximately the 6th  century B.C.E., about a thousand years after the last events recorded in the book. There are few place name anachronisms.

*We are not told anything about an afterlife, Hell, Satan, or demons. Everybody died and stayed dead, except Enoch.

*The God of Genesis is very powerful but not  omnicient or omnipresent. He is able to do human activities like walking, talking, seeing, smelling, wrestling, and eating. He comes down to earth from some unknown place in the sky where he lives with some unknown others and angels. He likes dead animals, and the smell of roasting meat. He doesn't like grain sacrifices, tall towers, or clueless Pharoah's and kings. He doesn't seem to mind deceit, slavery, or the mistreatment of women. He needs to be reminded of his promises. His powers seem to be limited to being able to manipulate people and nature. He can be overpowered by a man. (Jacob) After God wrestles with Jacob, he no longer appears in physical form as a man. For the rest of the book, he is only seen in visions.

*Nothing derogatory is said about other gods. There are no prohibitions against worshiping other gods. Yahweh ( the lord) is said to be "Abraham's God, " not the only God.

*Angels look and act like regular people. They have a few powers. Sometimes they speak for God. We aren't told why he can't speak for himself.

*Circumcision is an everlasting covenant with all of Abraham's descendants who want to be part of the family and in on the promise of owning the land of Canaan. I underlined everlasting because about 2,000 years in the future a person named Paul will claim it is no longer necessary, and that it was actually just a metaphor. There is no indication in Genesis that circumcision is a metaphor for a spiritual state. It is an act of obedience, pure and simple.

*Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are all enriched, with God's support, at the expense of others, by deceit.

*We are given the supposed names of dozens of rulers of petty Canaanite kingdoms, who lack any proof of their existence.  We are not given any of the names of the at least three Pharoah's of Egypt mentioned in Genesis. This is in spite of the fact that Hebrew writing would not have existed in the time frame of Genesis and that Egypt is a rich source of recorded ancient history.

*The first few chapters are obviously mythological, containing completely unrealistic and magical creation events.

*There are no concrete extra biblical evidences for any of the main characters in the stories contained in Genesis. Many of the place names and people groups are also unknown to history, with a few notable exceptions. The events themselves are also impossible to verify. In fact, it is very reasonable to accept Genesis as an etiological story, written as folk lore for a people (Israelites) trying to forge an identity and explain how their world came to be the way it was at the time of the story's writing. Other people groups had their own explanations of the world and humanity. Today, we know that the history of humanity didn't really revolve around the Middle East. It just happened to have very effective propaganda.

Genesis chapter 45

After reading chapter 45:

*After Judah pleads with Joseph, Joseph orders all his attendants to leave the room. He emotionally reveals himself to his brothers and they are terrified. He tells them not to worry about what they did to him in the past, God planned it that way so Joseph could save them from the famine that God created. (Gen. 21:28-32) God's ultimate goal was to "preserve a remnant" of this family, a theme that is echoed in other bible books.

*Joseph tells them that he is  ruler over all of Egypt. The brothers must go get their father and bring him back, along with all their family members and possessions. They will live in the land of Goshen and Joseph will  take care of them because there are still five years of famine left. He charges them to tell their father everything about his high position. Then everyone weeps and hugs and kisses each other.

*Pharoah is told of these events and is pleased. He offers the brothers help traveling to Canaan to get their father,  and promises them everything they need and more. Everyone was loaded with gifts and sent on their way with an admonition not to quarrel along the way. When they got back to Canaan and told Jacob everything, he was stunned. At first he didn't believe them, but the rich gifts convinced him. He agreed to go to Egypt.

*This continues the pattern of each of the patriarchs of this family spending time in Egypt during famines, first Abraham, then Isaac, now Jacob (Israel). Abraham and Isaac were asked to leave. Joseph has been asked to stay.

Genesis chapter 35

After reading chapter 35:

*After the Dinah episode, God conveniently tells Jacob to move to Bethel. Before they leave, Jacob gathers up all the idols and earrings his household has and buries them under the oak at Shechem. Remember his household now contains all the women and children of Shechem as slaves. The tree is most likely one of the "great trees" that were found near each town. They were where the people of those places went to consult their gods.

*As they pass through the land, nobody bothers them because the "terror of God" was upon them. If this actually happened, it would be more likely they had heard about the massacre and were afraid they would be next. When they got to Bethel, Jacob built an altar. Then Deborah, Rebekah's nurse dies and is buried. What she is doing with them is anybody's guess.

* Verses 9-15 are weirdly redundant and don't seem to fit in the story. There is reiteration of Jacob being named Israel, the promise of the land of Canaan for his descendants, and Jacob naming the place where God talked to him Bethel.

*The storyline continues with verse 16. They are  on the move from Bethel when Rachel gives birth to another son named Benjamin. The birth was difficult and Rachel died. She was buried and Jacob set up a pillar to mark her tomb. They moved on again and while they are in Migdal Eder, Reuben sleeps with his father's concubine Bilhah. Bilhah had been Rachel's slave and was the mother of two of Reuben's brothers, Dan and Naphtali. Here it says she was a concubine, before she was described as a wife.

*Jacob finally reaches his father in Hebron. Isaac had lived 180 years when he dies and Esau and Jacob bury him. The year would be about 1777 B.C.E. , if we attempt to follow biblical chronology.

Genesis chapter 28

After reading chapter 28:

*Because Rebekah did not want Jacob to marry a Hittite woman, Isaac sent Jacob, with his blessing, to Laban to chose a wife from among his cousins. When Esau heard about this, he realized his parents didn't like Canaanite women, so he took another wife. This time it was his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael.

*On his journey, Jacob stopped for the night to sleep. He had a vivid dream of angels going up and down a stairway to heaven ( the sky ). Yahweh, whom no one has ever seen, stood at the top and spoke, renewing the promises he had made to Abraham and Isaac of giving the land to his descendants and blessing the earth through them.

*When Jacob awoke, he thought the dream must have been real because people took dreams very seriously back then. Not like today, when we know dreams are just our own random subconscious thoughts. He believed that spot was the gateway to heaven and named it Beth-el which means house of God. Then he made a vow that if God helped him accomplish his goal and return safely, the stone pillar he set up would be God's house (as if a God needs a house) and he would give him a tenth of everything he owned. The question is: What would God do with all that stuff?

Genesis chapter 27

After reading chapter 27:

*Isaac was getting old and growing blind. He wanted to settle his estate. So, he called his favorite son Esau and asked him to go hunt and cook some wild game for him, just the way he liked it. Then he would give Esau the all important blessing. Rebekah was listening and told Jacob all about it. She suggested they trick Isaac into thinking Jacob was Esau, so he could get the blessing instead. Jacob didn't want to be caught impersonating his brother and get a curse instead of a blessing. Rebekah said if that happened, the curse would fall on her. (More likely, being a smart woman, she knew that curses had no power.)

*So, Jacob and Rebekah prepared some meat. Jacob dressed up in Esau's clothes and tied goat skins on his body to make himself hairy like Esau. Jacob manages to convince Isaac he is Esau, even though he is a little unsure. All that rich, goaty smell finally convinced him. He blesses Jacob. Not only that, he says Jacob, who he thinks is Esau, will be lord over his brothers, too.

*As soon as Jacob leaves, Esau enters and tries to receive the blessing. Isaac figures out what happened and is very upset, because once those words are out of your mouth you can't take them back. Esau is understandably upset and begs for any blessing left over. What's left is pretty pitiful, because there is a magical blessing meter that measures how how many blessings can be given by one person. Apparently Isaac's blessing meant Jacob will be well fed, protected from curses, and have power over others. Esau will lose the outdoor life he loves, live by the sword, and will serve his brother, all because of some words spoken by a feeble old man.

*After Jacob and his mother tricked Isaac and Esau, Rebekah wanted Jacob to go to her brother Laban because she was afraid Esau would kill him. To accomplish this task, she manipulated Isaac by telling him Hittite women were disgusting and she did not want Jacob to marry one.

Genesis chapter 26

After reading chapter 26:

*There was a famine. God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but to stay in that area so God could bless him. So, he went to Abimelech, King of the Philistines. The study bible says this must have been a descendant of the Abimelech Abraham dealt with, but we have no way of knowing. Just like his father, Isaac told the people that Rebekah was his sister because he was afraid they would kill him for her. However, this time it wasn't even a half truth. Abimelech saw Isaac and Rebekah in a public display of affection and said, "what's up with that?" Isaac explained and Abimelech gave orders that they were to be left alone.

*Isaac became very prosperous and the Philistines became very jealous. Abimelech told him it was time to go. So he took his family back to the area where his father had dug some wells. There were disputes with other nomadic groups over those wells and some other wells Isaac dug. Finally, he dug a well that nobody else wanted.

*Then Isaac went to Beersheba and had his own personal revelation from his father's God. He built an altar, dug another well, and settled down there. Abimelech came to him to make a peace treaty and there was a party to celebrate.

*Verse 33 is very confusing. It says Beersheba got its name because of the well Isaac dug. However, it was called that before he dug the well. His father had also been to Beersheba  long before.

*As an afterthought, we are told that at the age of 40 Esau married two Hittite women, which made Isaac And Rebekah unhappy.

Genesis chapter 25

After reading chapter 25:

*Abraham marries again when he is over 137 years old. In spite of his advanced age, he fathers 6 sons by his new wife. He had more sons by concubines. While he was alive, he gave his concubine's sons gifts and sent them to live in the East, away from Isaac.

* Abraham dies at 175 years of age. Isaac and Ishmael bury him with Sarah. Isaac inherits everything. The year is about 1880 B. C. E., according to Biblical chronology. Shem, the son of Noah would still be alive until 1846 B.C.E.

*We are given the names of the twelve sons/tribes of Ishmael. Ishmael died at the age of 137, which would have been about 1833 B.C.E. His descendents settle in land to the east, which some people believe was the Arabian peninsula. There is no concrete evidence supporting this.

*Isaac had married Rebekah at the age of 40. She didn't have children until Isaac prayed for them. (Barrenness, and praying for a child who is granted by God, who then becomes something special, is another theme we see throughout scripture. ) Rebekah found she was going to have twins, and they were wrestling inside her. Yahweh told her that her boys would be the fathers of two nations and the older would serve the Younger Brother. The first boy was red and hairy, they named him Esau. The second boy was born holding on to his brother's foot, they named him Jacob. Thier names are puns associated with their birth. In fact, so many bible names are so punny, it makes you wonder if they were made up to fit the story.

*Esau became a hunter and daddy's boy. Jacob was quiet and stayed at home with mom, who loved him best. One day, Esau came home from a hunt famished and saw Jacob cooking stew. Esau begged for some stew and Jacob said he would give Esau stew in return for the right to inherit the firstborn's portion of their father's estate. Esau agreed, which was awfully stupid. Here, we see an etiological story that plays right into the theme of the book of Genesis. Later descendants of Esau will encounter descendants of Jacob and the reader will look back and say, look there is the reason life is the way it is today. The storyteller knows all this in advance, of course.

*Esau swore to give his birthright to Jacob. Jacob gave him stew. According to the text, Esau despised His birthright. Clearly, Jacob despised Esau. A person who thought he was a descendant of Jacob wrote this story.

Genesis chapter 24

After reading chapter 24:

*Abraham is getting old, so he makes his chief servant swear he will see Isaac gets a wife from among Abraham's relatives, not the Canaanites. Isaac is not to go back to Abraham's homeland himself because he must maintain a presence in Canaan to insure that God's promise to give him the land is not annulled. The servant swears the oath while putting his hand under Abraham's "thigh." The study bible politely informs us that thigh is an euphamism for the organ of procreation.

* So, the servant takes his camels and travels to the land of Abraham's relatives in Mesopotamia. He prays to Yahweh, Abraham's God, for success in finding a wife for Isaac. In spite of the forced circumcision, Abraham's God must not be the servant's god. The servant asks God to show him who  will marry Isaac by having one of the girls who is coming to draw water from the well offer him and his camels a drink.

*He had immediate results.  A beautiful virgin offered him and his camel some water. The servant gave her some gold jewelry.  She came from the right family, and they had room for him to stay with them. Then the servant bowed down and worshipped Abraham's God for such speedy service.

*The girl ran home to tell her family. Her brother, who had seen the gold, went to fetch Abraham's servant and provide everything he needed. Before he ate,  the servant insisted on telling the whole story of why he was there and how he had prayed when he got to the well. Rebekah's brother and father are sure it must be Yahweh's doing, so they say sure, take her away. The servant then showers them with gifts.

*The next morning, Abraham's servant is ready to leave. The  family is not in a hurry, but they decide to ask Rebekah what she wants to do. She's willing to go, so they send her off with blessings. When they get back, Isaac and Rebekah are married, and Isaac is comforted after the death of his mother.

Genesis chapter 22, part 3

At the end of the chapter we have an update on Abraham's brother Nahor who was married to their niece Milcah. Nahor and Milcah had eight sons. Nahor had four more sons by his concubine, making a total of twelve sons. Ishmael was said to become the father of twelve rulers. (Gen. 17:20) and we know there will be 12 sons born  to Jacob in the future. They will become the twelve tribes of Israel. Number patterns are fun.

One of Nahor's sons, Bethuel, became the father of Rebekah, who will marry Isaac in chapter 24. So, Isaac will marry his cousin's daughter, who also happens to be another cousin's (Milcah's) granddaughter. But, hey, his father was married to his half  sister, so what's the big deal? We will call this story "All in the Family."

Genesis chapter 22, part 2

*So, God tests Abraham's obedience by asking him to take his son Isaac to a certain mountain place and sacrifice him. Abraham is to slit Isaac's throat, then burn his body on an altar. Because God likes the smell of burning children?

*Abraham appears to have no problem with this. He is ready and willing. Isaac is full of questions about their journey, but Abraham puts him off with half truths. When they get to the area God indicated, Abraham asks the servants to stay behind while he takes Isaac to the place where the altar will be built. No witnesses please, and no people who might stop him from doing something that looks insane. Did Sarah know?

*Just in the nick of time, an angel up in heaven,  speaking for God, tells Abraham not to kill his son. It was just a test, and he passed. Instead, they sacrifice a ram that God made appear for that purpose.

*The angel speaks again and predicts great and terrible things for Abraham's descendants. Notice that they "will take possession of the cities of their enemies." Even so, all the nations on earth will be blessed because Abraham was willing to kill his favorite child for God.

*Whenever you see the word "heaven(s)" in the book of Genesis, the Hebrew word just means sky and is sometimes translated that way.  It isn't a magical place in another dimension with streets of gold, not till later. At that time God was up in the sky somewhere, a place people couldn't go. Now that they can, he had to move.

*This chapter is very important to the Abrahamic religions. Because of its wording, Jews have been inclined to associate the place of the sacrifice with the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It  holds many symbolic meanings for Christians,  who believe that God sacrificed his son for them. Muslims say this story is not the true version. It was really Ishmael who was almost sacrificed on a hill in Mecca. For more   complete information, see the Wikipedia article on Moriah.

Genesis chapter 22, part 1

After reading chapter 22:

Now it is time to get serious.

*If someone told you they were hearing voices in their head, what would you think?

*If someone told you they heard voices coming out of the sky, what would you think?

*If someone told you their God told them to slaughter their child, what would you think?

*If you saw an old man with a sharp knife getting ready to kill a child who was tied up and laying on some kindling, what would you think?

*If a voice in your head that called itself God told you to kill your own child what would you think? Would you do it?

* If you were a child and were tied up by your father so he could sacrifice you to a god, what would you think? Would it matter which god it was?

*Do we even need to ask these questions?

Genesis chapter 21

After reading chapter 21:

* Now, the promised child is born to Abraham and Sarah when they are about 100 and 91 years old. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles! He is named Isacc and circumcised at eight days.

*Isaac grew, and on the day of the celebration of Isaac's weaning, teenager Ishmael was being rude. Sarah told Abraham to get rid of Ishmael and his mother. There was no way her son would share an inheritance with him.

*Abraham actually showed some feeling for Ishmael. God, however, tells him to do what Sarah says. It's okay because both Isaac's and Ishmael's descendents will become great nations. So it doesn't matter how Ishmael and his mother feel about it. Off they were sent into the desert with only some water. Every thing worked out though, because an angel called out from heaven and told them God heard them crying.

*Abraham and Abimelech make a treaty of mutual cooperation and Abimelech acknowledges Abraham's ownership of the well at Beersheba, which will appear again later. Abraham plants a tree there and calls upon the name of the name of the lord (Yahweh) the eternal God (El). He stayed in that land of the Philistines a long time.

*This is the first mention of Philistines. There is no clear historical record of who the Philistines were, but there is lots of speculation.