Readings for January 9-15, 2025

In the pre flood period people lived much longer, typically between 700 and 950 years, as reported in the genealogies of Genesis; The Earth contained many more people pre flood, some have speculated as many as 500 million humans based on assumptions about lifespans and fertility rates; There were no clouds or rain. Instead, the earth was watered by mists which rose from the Earth. Earth was covered completely by a global cloud layer (vapor canopy), which was the upper waters mentioned in the Creation, which contributed to the long life spans.. 

Before the flood people were experiencing the transition from a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle to settled agricultural communities  These communities mastered the art of farming, cultivating crops and domesticating animals, and led to the establishment of permanent settlements. 

The early period of human history may have been far more advanced technologically than we may have previously assumed. For centuries before Noah, people developed bronze tools and pottery. They were able to forge metal tools that would have allowed them to build buildings, ships, farming equipment, weapons, and all sorts of inventions. Another clue that would have allowed the early humans before the Flood to advance quite quickly is the ease of communication due to a one language world. which allowed them to work more effectively with one another. Most societies worshipped multiple gods. 

JANUARY 9

A note of caution...in the commentary in the Chronological Bible for today, as it relates to God's request for Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, is the phrase, "...causes Abraham to wonder about God's righteousness..." There is no evidence in Scripture that Abraham ever wondered about God's righteousness!

Genesis 22:1-2 - God told Abraham to take his ONLY son. Even though Abraham had another son, Ishmael, by Hagar, Isaac was the only son of promise.

Interestingly, Scripture doesn't tell us how old Isaac was at this time.  We most often imagine that he was just a young boy.  The book of Jasher records that Isaac was 37 at the time. The Jewish historian Josephus records that Isaac was 25.  Given Abraham's age at the time of Isaac's birth, even a 37 year old would have been considered a boy.  Jasher adds numerous details of the story.  

Abraham says to the servants who are with him...

Genesis 22:5 "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.  We will worship and then we will come back to you."

Abraham tells the servants, ..."we (plural) will come back to you." Abraham fully expected that both he and Isaac would return.

Hebrews 11:19 

Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Notice all the parallels to Jesus in the sacrificing of Isaac. 

*It was a three day journey for Abraham and Isaac. It was a three day journey for Jesus from the cross to the resurrection. 

*Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice. Jesus carried the wooden crossbeam for His sacrifice. 

*Isaac submitted to the will of his father. Jesus submitted to the will of His Father.

*Isaac was saved by the substitution of another sacrifice. We are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus. 

*The place of Isaac's near sacrifice was Mount Moriah, the same place that Solomon built the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1), and the same area where Jesus was crucified, Jerusalem. 

Rather a strange way of bargaining when Abraham purchased the field and cave for Sarah's burial.  This was the customary way of arranging for the sale of property.  However, the offer from Ephron was for Abraham to use the cave for a burial tomb, which he may have understood to be temporary.  Another custom then (as it is in some places today) was to place the body in a tomb, seal the entrance, and then return after the flesh had decayed from the bones, gather the bones and place them in a box, called an ossuary. A Muslim mosque covers the entrance to this tomb today.

Abraham was certainly obedient to the Lord in his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. And equally obedient were the actions of Isaac.  He willingly allowed his father Abraham to prepare him for the sacrifice. 

JANUARY 10

Abraham commissions Eliezer from Damascus to find a wife for his son Isaac and confirms this commission with an oath.  This ancient custom of confirming a solemn oath is described in the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, called the Jerusalem Targum.

The ceremony used on this occasion of the servant putting his hand under the thigh of the person to whom he was to be bound means that he put his hand on the part that bore the mark of circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant.  While this may seem vulgar or profane to us today, it was the sign of the covenant between God and man and confirming a covenant in this way was actually a sentiment of reverence and godly respect.  We must understand that there is a drastic difference between our culture today and their culture at that time.

Abraham sent his servant quite a distance to find a wife for Isaac. Nahor was about 600 miles north from where Abraham was living. It was between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers near the present day Turkey border.  No doubt when Eliezer made this journey he passed near his ancestral home in Damascus.

Abraham's servant prayed a very specific prayer for the requirements of choosing a wife for Isaac. He prayed that the future wife for Isaac would not only offer him a drink of water but would offer to water his camels as well. The hospitality of the day required that women at the well offered water to travelers, but it was not the custom to offer to water the animals. When Rebekah offered to water the ten camels, she understood how many camels there were and how much water it would take to satisfy that many thirsty camels.  And she didn't offer to just give each camel a sip.  She offered to water the camels until they had finished drinking.  Estimates are that it would take about 25 gallons of water per camel after a week's journey. Wonder how many trips she made back down into that well.  Later on in the reading we are told that Rebekah had several servant girls attending her...so why was she going to the well instead of the servant girls?  Or did the servant girls lend a hand in watering the camels? Could she have been overseeing the servant girls and/or was an active participant or was this just another example of God's providence?

This well was probably not the "Jack went up the hill" kind of well with a bucket on a rope to haul up water.   Most likely there was a subterranean pool or spring and a cavern was dug down to the spring with manmade, carved steps leading down to the water.

When the servant prayed, his prayer was answered even before he had finished praying. Can we be sure that as soon as we begin to pray that God will hear and answer our prayers? Are there some things that may hinder our prayers?

Abraham's servant's motives were pure. It was an unselfish prayer on his part. He didn't ask for success for himself, only that God would show kindness to his master.

JANUARY 11

The second wife of Abraham is often forgotten. After the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife named Keturah and she bore him six sons. He even had sons by his concubines. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and then he fathered more children after age 100! Keturah and her offspring were not a part of the covenant promises God made to Abraham.

Abraham died and was gathered to his people. This gathering means his bones were gathered up after his flesh had decayed and placed in boxes called ossuaries. 

An interesting side note -Abraham and Sarah's burial site at Hebron is a place of contention among Muslims, Jews, and Christians. No surprise there, Scripture tells us that the descendants of Ishmael "lived in hostility toward all their brothers." Genesis 25:18 And so they do...even now.

Isaac and Rebekah waited 20 years for the birth of their only sons, Esau and Jacob.  Isaac was 60 when the sons were born to Rebekah.

Rebekah was concerned that the babies were jostling each other in the womb and she went to inquire of the Lord. The Chumach says that she went to the academy of Shem who would inquire of the Lord for her. That would be Shem, the son of Noah.  Jacob also spent time in the study tents of Shem and Eber.

Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. This was a legitimate transaction, unfair though it may seem to us today.

Genesis 25:34 So Esau despised his birthright.

Some ancient writings state that Esau was afraid he wouldn’t handle the responsibilities that would come with the birthright.

When there is another famine in the land Isaac heads south toward Egypt. Sound familiar? Isaac stayed in Gerar which is near Egypt in southern Israel. There Isaac lies to the men in the land telling them that Rebekah is his sister. Sound familiar?  Even though she was not his sister, Isaac and Rebekah were blood related.  Rebekah was the daughter of Isaac's cousin Bethuel. To his credit, Isaac obeys God's instructions to stay away from Egypt. And Isaac is blessed tremendously.

Genesis 26:24
That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."

JANUARY 12

Esau, the firstborn of Isaac, marries Hittite women.  Genesis 26 tells us that the women were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.  These women worshiped false gods and no doubt lured Esau into pagan practices as well.  God repeatedly warns His people to stay away from alliances with pagans.

Jacob received the birthright earlier when Esau bargained for a bowl of soup. The birthright was the scepter promise which gave Jacob the right for future generations to be kings. Jacob deceitfully received the blessing promise, which gave him and his future descendants riches and power. The birthright was a legitimate purchase from Esau. The blessing promise was stolen. Not all statements made by people in the Bible are true.

When Isaac wonders at the speed at which the game meat is served, Jacob justifies the deceit by lying and giving credit to God for the deceitful thing.  Hmmm...not a good thing!

The blessing promises given to Jacob are extremely significant prophetically, both literally (physically) and spiritually (figuratively).   Jacob later will be known as Israel, father of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Genesis 27:28-29
May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness - an abundance of grain and new wine.  May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.  May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed.

May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. While nations will not serve the man, Jacob, nations will serve Israel.  During portions of the reign of King David, and in the days of King Solomon nations did serve and honor the nation of Israel.  In our day, some nations honor Israel, but most do not.  However, during the millennial kingdom, ALL nations will serve and honor Israel and be delighted to do so.

Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.  Jacob had only one brother so the plural use of the word brothers must mean brothers in a figurative sense.  The nation of Israel will one day be lord over all the other nations.  Interestingly, Esau's descendants will settle in Edom and be known as Edomites, in the land now known as Jordan. 

Esau discovers the deception of Jacob and pleads with his father to bless him as well.  Since Isaac had already given the great blessing promises to Jacob, there appears to be practically nothing left.  While in today's business and family inheritance dealings, if inheritance was received through fraud, it can easily be retracted. Not so in the culture and customs of those days. Once the words were spoken by a leader or the patriarch of the family, the blessing could not be rescinded.  Because of this deception, Esau determines to kill his brother Jacob, but not until Isaac is dead, which at that time, Esau believes is imminent. Not so.

Rebekah fears for Jacob's life and sends him away to Haren. This was not a short journey. It was between 600 and 700 miles away.  When Jacob left, Esau essentially took over all that Isaac had.  But as far as Esau knew, Jacob would return shortly with a wife and claim the inheritance and the blessings.

After Jacob left, Esau married the daughter of Ishmael, Isaac's half-brother. Esau did this to spite his parents even more.

Jacob stops at a place that he will later name Bethel (house of God) about 10  miles north of Jerusalem.  This land now where Bethel is located is in the present day "West Bank" in occupied territory where Christians and Messianic Jews are unwelcome.

What is the significance of angels ascending and descending from heaven in the dream that Jacob had? Does it have something to do with angels interacting with humans now? Jesus told the disciple Nathanael that he too would see something similar.

John 1:51
He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Jacob names the place Bethel, which means house of God. It is here that God confirms the promise that He made earlier to Abraham and He offers this same promise to Jacob.  God promises that Jacob's descendants will spread north, south, east, and west.  He wasn't speaking of just that area of the mid-east but much farther than that.

Bethel became an important center for worship but later became a center for idol worship, which the prophet Hosea condemned. Isn't that just like Satan? He takes a place for worship of God and turns it into something evil. This should make us want to guard closely our places of worship and be careful to keep evil from slipping in.

JANUARY 13

Jacob makes his way to the land of the eastern peoples and sees a well with a large stone rolled over the entrance.  It took more than one shepherd to move the stone and yet later, Jacob himself alone is able to move the stone so that Rachael can water her father's sheep.  Therefore Jacob was a strong man.

This stone rolled over the entrance was to keep animals out and children and objects from falling in.

Jacob agrees to work seven years for Laban, his mother's brother, in exchange for the hand of Laban's daughter Rachel in marriage.  This was not an uncommon practice.  Once the deal had been made, Rachel and Jacob were betrothed, which means they were legally married but could not consummate the marriage until Jacob had worked for seven years, which was part of the bargain. Jacob kept his end of the bargain but Laban did not.  At the end of the seven years, Laban ordered a feast to celebrate the consummation of the marriage but instead of giving Jacob Rachel, Laban gave his older daughter Leah instead. Leah was never Jacob’s legitimate wife. 

In response to Jacob’s cry of deception concerning the substitution of Leah for Rachel, Laban responds with “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one.”

It seems, however, as if it is the custom to lie and misrepresent for seven years. When we look at all the times that God bypasses the firstborn in favor of younger sons, it seems as if God says repeatedly that man’s ways are not His ways. God is telling us He doesn’t play by our rules.

Leah gave Jacob 6 sons, half the number of the 12 tribes.  After the first four sons, Leah stopped having children and asked her son Reuben to find some mandrake plants for her.  This is a rare plant thought to increase fertility.  Apparently it worked and Leah gave birth to two more sons and at least one daughter.

God set down the rules of marriage in the Garden of Eden to be between one man and one woman. Even though the custom of the day allowed multiple wives and concubines, it was still contrary to God's plan. Another example of how God's people are called to be different from the world around them. No matter what the custom of our day is, we should always seek God's ways and not the ways of the world. However, as usual, God used Jacob to fulfill His plans anyway!

Laban obviously was influenced by pagan gods because he used divination to determine that he was being blessed because of Jacob.  He was giving the idols credit for his understanding of what God was doing through Jacob instead of giving God the credit. Later it becomes even more obvious just how greatly influenced Laban really was by the idols and pagan gods.

The manipulation of the animals was purely a matter of dominant and recessive genes. Jacob received more of the speckled and spotted lambs, goats, and sheep simply because that was in the genetic code. (see Mendel's pea chart of dominant and recessive genes http://anthro.palomar.edu/mendel/mendel_1.htm)

This also can be used to explain the development of different races after God confused the language at the Tower of Babel.

The striped branches had nothing to do with it, except for the fact that Jacob appears to be superstitious. Not a good thing!  Or was he merely playing into the hands of Laban, who was superstitious?

JANUARY 14

God tells Jacob to leave the land where Laban, his family, and flocks are.  Jacob leaves secretly.  Interestingly, in only thirteen years, Jacob has fathered at least 12 children, one of whom is a daughter.  All these children were very young.

Before leaving her homeland Rachel steals her father’s household "gods". Was it because she believed that the household "gods" had powers and she thought her father could find out from these "gods" where she had gone with Jacob?  Or was Rachel having difficulty turning loose completely? Or maybe a little of both?

Once Laban discovers the flight of Jacob and family, he pursues and catches up with them.  There is a confrontation between Jacob and Laban, resulting in a covenant agreement between the two.  In that culture, the custom was to honor the "Godfather" concept. As long as the patriarch of the family was alive, he ruled over the entire family.  

As a witness to the covenant between Jacob and Laban, a stone pillar is placed as a monument. This monument stone is a remembrance.  Memories are elusive, but a stone monument will remain.  Whenever the monument is seen, memories resurface.  Without the monument, memories fade.  Having a witness to a covenant relationship between us and God is why we are commanded to honor God's Holy Days (Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles). These Holy Days (if we even knew they existed at all) have so faded from our memories, it's as if they never existed.  Yet we are told to honor and remember them forever.  God's Holy Days are our monuments as a witness to Jesus' fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Covenant as He instituted the New Covenant.

Amazing example of an encounter with God the Son when Jacob wrestles with the “man”. He wrestled with God to secure a blessing. (Genesis 32:22-32)  Do we wrestle with God to secure a blessing or do we wrestle with God in defiance in order to get away from His authority? 

It is more than obvious that Jacob was concerned about the reaction of his brother Esau on his return to his native land.  Jacob sent major gifts ahead of him to appease his brother.  Jacob bowed seven times to Esau when he met him face to face.  This was a customary exhibition of submission.  The interaction between Jacob and Esau concerning the gifts given was another example of the culture of the day in regard to doing business.

Esau tells Jacob to keep his gift of animals. ”I already have plenty.” The Chumash states that the word plenty, emphasizing the abundance of his possessions, claiming that he has everything he could possibly want.  Jacob however righteously gives credit to the graciousness of God and says, “I have all I need.”

It will be discovered later in the reading that even though Esau seemed amicable toward Jacob, in reality he was concealing his hatred toward Jacob.  Jacob was wise in keeping some distance between himself and Esau.

Earlier we read that after Jacob wrestled with God, his name was changed to Israel. When there is a change of name there is a change of character. When we become believers we take on His name. When we take on His name, we take on His character. That of course means we change our way of doing things, we change our character, we become a new creation, His creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

JANUARY 15

WOW!  Dinah’s brothers certainly took some drastic measures in their response to the violation of their sister. First of all they bargained with the men of Shechem to be circumcised, then while the men were still in pain, Dinah's brothers killed them. They will pay for this later when their father Jacob gives out the blessings.  These brothers, Simeon and Levi have the same mother (Leah) as Dinah.  Simeon was a very young man and Levi was even younger.

By using circumcision in this way, they defiled the symbol of the covenant between God and Abraham. The brothers Simeon and Levi lost part of their inheritance because of this.

However, the men of Shechem had ulterior motives.  They wanted all the wealth of Jacob and his descendants, which the union of marriage with Dinah would bring. 

We have often wondered how old Dinah was when this rape happened. The word "girl" is used to describe her.  The Hebrew word for girl is "naarah" and means "a girl from infancy to adolescence".  This may mean that Dinah had not yet reached adolescence.  If this were the case, it would explain why the brothers took such offense at the violation of their sister.  It was not uncommon to ask for a girl in marriage before the age of adolescence, but it was not acceptable to have sexual relations with a girl that young.  Once this took place, Dinah was considered defiled - or unclean, unfit for marriage later because she was not a virgin.  

 

To his credit, Jacob tells his people to rid themselves of all the foreign gods they have with them, which they do. However, instead of destroying them, he buries them under the oak at Shechem.  Bad idea!  Were these the gods that Rachel brought with her from Paddam Aram or did Jacob's family acquire more gods?

God reemphasizes Jacob's name change to Israel. Did Jacob forget? Or did Jacob slip back into some old ways of doing things and God had to remind him that with the change of name comes a change in character?

Rachel had great difficulty in giving birth to Benjamin. Interesting that this birth took place near Bethlehem. Another significant birth also took place in Bethlehem.

Genesis 35 lists the names of Jacob's sons along with a sentence that says "These were the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddam Aram."  However, Benjamin was born near Bethlehem.  Is this a contradiction in Scripture???  Ponder this...life begins at conception. For counting one's age, the people of that day (as we should today) count age from conception.  So, it appears that all Jacob's sons were conceived in Paddam Aram. Also, there were other daughters besides Dinah, supported by other Scripture.

Reuben sins with Jacob's concubine. Later Jacob takes away part of Reuben's inheritance. Just another example that sin has consequences.

Also interesting that Isaac lived many years after his "dying" blessing to Jacob.  It says he was "old and full of years."  The words "old" and "full of years" seem to go together.  But, quite possibly the "full of years" may refer to the quality of life.

What a great epitaph...to die "old and full of years"!