20.) Genesis 25:1 – 34

Abraham by Edwin Muir (1887–1959).

The rivulet-loving wanderer Abraham
Through waterless wastes tracing his fields of pasture
Led his Chaldean herds and fattening flocks
With the meandering art of wavering water
That seeks and finds, yet does not know its way.
He came, rested and prospered, and went on,
Scattering behind him little pastoral kingdoms,
And over each one its own particular sky,
Not the great rounded sky through which he journeyed,
That went with him but when he rested changed.
His mind was full of names
Learned from strange peoples speaking alien tongues,
And all that was theirs one day he would inherit.
He died content and full of years, though still
The Promise had not come, and left his bones,
Far from his father’s house, in alien Canaan.

Genesis 25:1-26:35   (NRSV)

Abraham Marries Keturah

25) Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ²She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. ³Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah.

⁵Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. ⁶But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.

The Death of Abraham

The Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, built over the site of the tomb of Abraham

⁷This is the length of Abraham’s life, one hundred seventy-five years. ⁸Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, ¹⁰the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with his wife Sarah. ¹¹After the death of Abraham God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

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More pictures:

of the Great Mosque of Hebron and the tombs of Abraham and Isaac:    http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/Hebron_Cave_of_Machpelah_ceiling_tb_n112799b.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bibleplaces.com/hebron.htm&usg=__kK9VTPpbH1tRphpnde1picUImhk=&h=300&w=400&sz=39&hl=en&start=15&tbnid=DJCYY08WALLaVM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Bgreat%2Bmosque%2Bof%2Bhebron%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

Poetry:

Gary F. Gordon, With Love to Isaac and Ishmael. http://traubman.igc.org/isaac.htm

Music:

“Father Abraham had many sons,” a camp song sung by the Cedarmont Kids.   

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Ishmael’s Descendants

¹²These are the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s slave-girl, bore to Abraham. ¹³These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. ¹⁷(This is the length of the life of Ishmael, one hundred thirty-seven years; he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) ¹⁸They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria; he settled down alongside of all his people.

The Birth and Youth of Esau and Jacob

¹⁹These are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham was the father of Isaac, ²⁰and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. ²²The children struggled together within her; and she said, “If it is to be this way, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

²³And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the elder shall serve the younger.”

²⁴When her time to give birth was at hand, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵The first came out red, all his body like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau. ²⁶Afterward his brother came out, with his hand gripping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

²⁷When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. ²⁸Isaac loved Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah loved Jacob.

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Book:

Bruce Feiler: Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses (Book I, Chapter 3 “A Pillow of Stones”).

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Esau Sells His Birthright

lentil stew

²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was famished. ³⁰Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, for I am famished!” (Therefore he was called Edom.)

³¹Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

³²Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

³³Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, and rose and went his way.

Thus Esau despised his birthright.

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Recipe for Curried Lamb and Lentil Stew (above), from Cooking Light. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/ck/97/10/lamb-stew-ck-222618-x.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/gallery/0,28548,1685842_1488500,00.html&usg=___7oa9G_SNTRV0kHvPdIzFc1xgd0=&h=420&w=420&sz=31&hl=en&start=8&tbnid=xXUVKNHM-gT6lM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=125&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlentil%2Bstew%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Mosque at Hebron.  http://www.imemc.org/attachments/oct2008/alharam_ibrahimi.jpg

Ratner.   http://www.ratnermuseum.com/includes/images/photos/genesis/birth-of-jacob.jpg

lentil stew.  http://img.timeinc.net/recipes/i/recipes/ck/97/10/lamb-stew-ck-222618-x.jpg

19.) Genesis 24:1 – 67

"Isaac and Rebecca" (better known as "The Jewish Bride") by Rembrandt van Rijn (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Genesis 24:1 – 67   (NRSV)

The Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah

24) Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. ²Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his house, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh ³and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, ⁴but will go to my country and to my kindred and get a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman may not be willing to follow me to this land; must I then take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶Abraham said to him, “See to it that you do not take my son back there. ⁷The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ he will send his angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine; only you must not take my son back there.” ⁹So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed, taking all kinds of choice gifts from his master; and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water; it was toward evening, the time when women go out to draw water.

¹²And he said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham.

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Devotional from Amy Carmichael, Whispers of His Power:

Gen. 24:12 (KJV) — O Lord God . . . I pray Thee, send me good speed this day.

Matt. 6:7-8 (KJV) — But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do:  for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.  Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him.

Our Lord told His disciples that there was no need for many words when they prayed.  A brief prayer goes straight to the heart of God.  Abraham’s servant teaches us a prayer we can pray at all times, however pressed for time we may be.  It covers everything.  O Lord God, send me good speed this day. Give me success today, in my prayer life, in my work, in what I think and say and do, in what I am.

It is a telegram prayer.  Let us use it at moments of sudden need.  We know it will be answered, for “our Father knows” our needs long before we ask Him.

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¹³I am standing here by the spring of water, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴Let the girl to whom I shall say, ‘Please offer your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’ —let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.”

“Rebecca” by contemporary Israeli-American artist Orit Arfa

¹⁵Before he had finished speaking, there was Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, coming out with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶The girl was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me sip a little water from your jar.”

¹⁸“Drink, my lord,” she said, and quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and gave him a drink.

¹⁹When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ²¹The man gazed at her in silence to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey successful.

²²When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose-ring weighing a half shekel, and two bracelets for her arms weighing ten gold shekels, ²³and said, “Tell me whose daughter you are. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

²⁴She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵She added, “We have plenty of straw and fodder and a place to spend the night.”

²⁶The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord ²⁷and said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his steadfast love and his faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the way to the house of my master’s kin.”

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Art:

Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well, by Nicolas Poussin, 1648 (The Louvre, Paris).  Notice the looks on some of the other girls’ faces!   http://artyzm.com/obrazy/poussin_rebecca.jpg

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²⁸Then the girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the spring. ³⁰As soon as he had seen the nose-ring, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and there he was, standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹He said, “Come in, O blessed of the Lord. Why do you stand outside when I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?”

³²So the man came into the house; and Laban unloaded the camels, and gave him straw and fodder for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³Then food was set before him to eat; but he said, “I will not eat until I have told my errand.” He said, “Speak on.”

³⁴So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. ³⁵The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. ³⁷My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; ³⁸but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’

³⁹I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ ⁴⁰But he said to me, ‘The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and make your way successful. You shall get a wife for my son from my kindred, from my father’s house. ⁴¹Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my kindred; even if they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴²“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! ⁴³I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” ⁴⁴and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also” —let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’

⁴⁶She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels.

⁴⁷Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’

She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’

“Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well’, by Carlo Maratti, 1655 (Indianapolis Museum of Art)

“So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. ⁴⁸Then I bowed my head and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. ⁴⁹Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered, “The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you anything bad or good. ⁵¹Look, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the Lord has spoken.”

⁵²When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself to the ground before the Lord. ⁵³And the servant brought out jewelry of silver and of gold, and garments, and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave to her brother and to her mother costly ornaments.

⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank, and they spent the night there. When they rose in the morning, he said, “Send me back to my master.”

⁵⁵Her brother and her mother said, “Let the girl remain with us a while, at least ten days; after that she may go.”

⁵⁶But he said to them, “Do not delay me, since the Lord has made my journey successful; let me go that I may go to my master.”

⁵⁷They said, “We will call the girl, and ask her.” ⁵⁸And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.”

⁵⁹So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,

“May you, our sister,
become thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”

⁶¹Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

⁶²Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. ⁶³Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, ⁶⁵and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?”

The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself.

⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

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Proverbs 18:22 (New International Version)

He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the LORD.

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“Landscape with Marriage of Isaac and Rebekah,” by Claude Lorrain, 1648 (National Gallery, London)

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Music:

“The Wedding Song (There Is Love)” sung by Noel Paul Stookey, the “Paul” of “Peter, Paul & Mary,” the mid-century folk-singing group.  A real golden-oldie, but my daughter Maureen chose it to be sung at her wedding earlier this month!  

Art:

The Meeting of Rebekah and Isaac, by G. B. Castiglione, c. 1640.  http://www.wga.hu/art/c/castigli/meeting.jpg

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Rembrandt.  http://kcfac.kilgore.edu/aafh/JewishBride.jpg

Arfa.  http://www.oritarfa.net/images/rebecca1.jpg

Maratti.  http://www.bible-art.info/images/Rebecca_and_Eliezer_at_the_Well_Maratti_Carlo.jpg

Lorrain.   http://www.cksinfo.com/clipart/art/famouspaintings/gellee/Claude-Gell_c3_a9e-Landscape-with-the-Marriage-of-Isaac-and-Rebecca.png

18.) Genesis 23:1 – 20

Genesis 23: 1 – 20   (NRSV)

Sarah’s Death and Burial

23) Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah’s life. ²And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

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Mourner’s Kaddish:

Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.

May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.

Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.

May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.

(The Kaddish is one of the most important and central prayers of the Jewish liturgy, and is said at funerals.  Note that the prayer does not mention death at all, but instead praises God.  This English translation is from the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.)

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³Abraham rose up from beside his dead, and said to the Hittites, ⁴“I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

⁵The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶“Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead.”

⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. ⁸He said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, ⁹so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, ¹¹“No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.”

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. ¹³He said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “If you only will listen to me! I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”

¹⁶Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants. ¹⁷So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, passed ¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying place.

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1 Peter 3:1-6 (The Message)

The same goes for you wives: Be good wives to your husbands, responsive to their needs. There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty. What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. Sarah, for instance, taking care of Abraham, would address him as “my dear husband.” You’ll be true daughters of Sarah if you do the same, unanxious and unintimidated.

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Music:

Mark Schultz singing “Walking Her Home.”    

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

casket spray.   http://www.funderburkflowers.com/images/casket_spray.jpg

cemetery.   http://www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov/news/MOphotogallery/Scenic/rural%20cemetery1.jpg

17.) Genesis 22:1 – 24

"The Sacrifice of Isaac" by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1635 (The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia)

Genesis 22:1 – 24   (NRSV)

The Command to Sacrifice Isaac

22) After these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

²He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”

³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went to the place in the distance that God had shown him.

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Reflection:

God’s command is– Take now, not presently.  It is extraordinary how we debate!  We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once.  To climb to the height God shows can never be done presently, it must be done now.  The sacrifice is gone through in will, before it is performed actually.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning . . . and went unto the place of which God had told him” (v. 3).  The wonderful simplicity of Abraham!  When God spoke, he did not confer with flesh and blood.  Beware when you want to confer with flesh and blood, i.e., your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship with God.  These are the things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
–from My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers

What is hindering you from being obedient to God?  How can we be more like Abraham in his “simplicity” of faith?

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⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place far away. ⁵Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there; we will worship, and then we will come back to you.”

⁶Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

⁷Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

He said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

"The Binding of Isaac" by Israeli painter Roni Pinto, 2008.

⁹When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

"The Binding of Isaac" by Marc Chagall, 1975 (Nice, France)

¹¹But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

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Music:

Lamb of God, sung by Twila Paris.

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^{John 3:16 (KJV)}

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Art:

He Qi, Sacrifice of Abraham.   http://www.heqigallery.com/GALLERY%20OT%20B/images/57sacrifice_of_abraham.jpg

Music:

^{He Is Jehovah, recorded in Israel.} 

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¹⁵The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, ¹⁸and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”

¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham lived at Beer-sheba.

The Dome of the Rock, erected in A.D. 691, on top of Mount Moriah today. Photograph by Mike Levin.

The Children of Nahor

²⁰Now after these things it was told Abraham, “Milcah also has borne children, to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram, ²²Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.” ²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴Moreover, his concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

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a quick review of Genesis 1 – 22!  

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Rembrandt.   http://www.poetryresourcepage.com/images/rembrandt6.jpg

Pinto.  http://www.jewcy.com/files/images/isaac.jpg

Chagall.  (Notice the crucifixion scene, upper right corner, also on Mount Moriah.)  http://www.jesuswalk.com/abraham/images/chagall_slaying_isaac432x355.jpg

Levin photograph.  http://www.mikelevin.com/JerusalemDomeOfTheRock.jpg

16.) Genesis 21:1 – 34

Genesis 21: 1 – 34   (NRSV)

The Birth of Isaac

21) The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. ²Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. ⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

⁶Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” ⁷And she said, “Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

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Galatians 4:28 (New Living Translation)

And you, dear brothers and sisters, are children of the promise, just like Isaac.

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Another Isaac . . . Isaac Watts

a brief biography about Watts and his hymn writing.   

“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”  (based on Galatians 6:14)   

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Book:

Bruce Feiler: Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land through the Five Books of Moses (Book I, Chapter 2 “Take Now thy Son”).

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Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

"Son of Hagar," by Indian Christian artist Frank Wesley (1923-2002)

⁸The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. ¹⁰So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.”

¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. ¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, “Do not let me look on the death of the child.” And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink. ²⁰God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

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Poetry:

Hagar by Hartley Coleridge (1796-1849)

Lone in the wilderness, her child and she
Sits the dark beauty, and her fierce-eyed boy,
A heavy burden and no winsome toy
To such as she, a hanging babe must be;
A slave without a master–wild, nor free,
With anger in her heart!  and in her face
Shame for foul wrong and undeserved disgrace.
Poor Hagar mourns her lost virginity!
Oh woman fear not–God is everywhere;
The silent tears, thy thirsty infant’s moan,
Are known to Him whose never-absent care
Still wakes to make all hearts and souls his own;
He sends an angel from beneath his throne
To cheer the outcast in the desert bare.

Art:

Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael, Il Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), 1657.   http://static.artbible.info/large/hagar_ismael.jpg

–

The Expulsion of Hagar, Claude Lorrain, 1668 (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). http://www.artunframed.com/images/artmis48/lorrain13.jpg

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Abraham and Abimelech Make a Covenant

well and tamarisk tree near the outer wall of Beersheba

²²At that time Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in all that you do; ²³now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but as I have dealt loyally with you, you will deal with me and with the land where you have resided as an alien.”

²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.”

²⁵When Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized, ²⁶Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this; you did not tell me, and I have not heard of it until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a covenant. ²⁸Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock. ²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

³⁰He said, “These seven ewe lambs you shall accept from my hand, in order that you may be a witness for me that I dug this well.”

³¹Therefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there both of them swore an oath. ³²When they had made a covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, left and returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham resided as an alien many days in the land of the Philistines.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

balloon.  http://76design.com/shiftcontrol/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/327-its_a_boy_balloon.jpg

“The Birth of Isaac” from The Ratner Museum, Bethesda. MD.  http://www.biblical-art.com/R%5Cratner%5Cratner0064.jpg

Wesley.  http://www.onemindonevoice.org/mentors/sonofhagar.jpg

Beersheba well.  http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/Beersheba_gate_well_and_tamarisk_tree_tb_n062400_wr.jpg

15.) Genesis 19:1 – 20:18

The Dead Sea. Sodom was known as a Dead Sea city.

Genesis 19: 1 – 20:18   (NRSV)

The Depravity of Sodom

19)  The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. ²He said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way.”

They said, “No; we will spend the night in the square.”

³But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; ⁵and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”

⁶Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, ⁷and said, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. ⁸Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

⁹But they replied, “Stand back!” And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them.” Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. ¹¹And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.

Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

¹²Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city—bring them out of the place. ¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up, get out of this place; for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.

¹⁵When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

¹⁶But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. ¹⁷When they had brought them outside, they said, “Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed.”

¹⁸And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my lords; ¹⁹your servant has found favor with you, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life; but I cannot flee to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I die. ²⁰Look, that city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there—is it not a little one? —and my life will be saved!”

²¹He said to him, “Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. ²²Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar. ²³The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.

²⁴Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven; ²⁵and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

"Lot's Wife Looked Back" by Chicago artist David Detzner

²⁷Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord; ²⁸and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.

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Reflection:

“Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.”
–Ezekiel 16: 49-50  (NIV)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
–James 1:27   (NIV)

How painful it is to look back on our lives and see where we have been “arrogant, overfed and unconcerned . . .”  What can you and I do even more intentionally to “help the poor and needy” and “look after orphans and widows in their distress”?

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The Shameful Origin of Moab and Ammon

³⁰Now Lot went up out of Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar; so he lived in a cave with his two daughters. ³¹And the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is not a man on earth to come in to us after the manner of all the world. ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”

³³So they made their father drink wine that night; and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

³⁴On the next day, the firstborn said to the younger, “Look, I lay last night with my father; let us make him drink wine tonight also; then you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.” ³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also; and the younger rose, and lay with him; and he did not know when she lay down or when she rose.

³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. ³⁷The firstborn bore a son, and named him Moab; he is the ancestor of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸The younger also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi; he is the ancestor of the Ammonites to this day.

"Lot and His Daughters" by Orazio Gentileschi, 1623 (National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa)

Abraham and Sarah at Gerar

20) From there Abraham journeyed toward the region of the Negeb, and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While residing in Gerar as an alien, ²Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” And King Abimelech of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

³But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, “You are about to die because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a married woman.”

⁴Now Abimelech had not approached her; so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent people? ⁵Did he not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I did this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”

⁶Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart; furthermore it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her. ⁷Now then, return the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all that are yours.”

⁸So Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants and told them all these things; and the men were very much afraid. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such great guilt on me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that ought not to be done.” ¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What were you thinking of, that you did this thing?”

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Memo #2 to Abraham:

As a dog returns to its vomit,
so a fool repeats his folly.

–Proverbs 26:11  (NIV)

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¹¹Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. ¹²Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ¹³And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.’“

¹⁴Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham, and restored his wife Sarah to him. ¹⁵Abimelech said, “My land is before you; settle where it pleases you.”

¹⁶To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver; it is your exoneration before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”

¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wife and female slaves so that they bore children. ¹⁸For the Lord had closed fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Dead Sea.   http://www.ianandwendy.com/Israel/Dead_Sea/Dead%20Sea-9.jpg

Destruction of Sodom.  http://www.aboutkhai.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/windowslivewriterbiggsodomgomorrahandblogging-f65bimage03.png

Detzner.   http://www.burkhartstudios.com/gallery/painters/detzner/lots_wife.jpg

Gentileschi.  http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_9l2lhz6XYkA/SaFO11oGn6I/AAAAAAAAAFg/bo_Be9zNyVQ/s1600-h/Lot,+daughters.jpg

14.) Genesis 18:1 – 33

"Abraham and the Three Visitors" by Israeli Hassidic artist David Avisar

Genesis 18:1 – 33   (NRSV)

A Son Promised to Abraham and Sarah

18) The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. ²He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.

³He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. ⁴Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”

So they said, “Do as you have said.”

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Music:

As Abraham did before the angels, so we also bow down.  “We Bow Down,” written by Viola Grafstrom.  

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⁶And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” ⁷Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. ⁸Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

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Hebrews 13:2 (New American Standard Bible)

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

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Music:

“Entertaining Angels”  by the Australian Christian pop rock band Newsboys, released in 1998 and a big hit. 

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⁹They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”

And he said, “There, in the tent.”

¹⁰Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”

And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?”

¹³The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ ¹⁴Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁵But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid.

He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

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Art:

“Abraham Welcoming the Three Angels,” by contemporary Israeli artist Boruch Nachson.   http://www.kesser.org/gallery/nachshon/angels.jpg

Mosaic of Abraham from Ravenna, 6th century.   http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs002/Images/Christian/abraham.jpg

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How the angels must have enjoyed cake from Sara(h)!

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Judgement Pronounced on Sodom

¹⁶Then the men set out from there, and they looked toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹No, for I have chosen him, that he may charge his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice; so that the Lord may bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰Then the Lord said, “How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! ²¹I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know.” ²²So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

²³Then Abraham came near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

²⁶And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham answered, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”

And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹Again he spoke to him, “Suppose forty are found there.”

He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.”

³⁰Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there.”

He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

³¹He said, “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.”

He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.”

³²Then he said, “Oh do not let the Lord be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there.”

He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Avisar.   http://www.jewish-art-and-gifts.com/images/Abraham%20and%203%20visitors%20lg.jpg

Sara Lee cake.   http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_92_cipUxhGw/SFUbpr5soKI/AAAAAAAAAak/KliCizEux5Y/s320/sara%2Blee.png

Sodom in black and white.  http://sewhttkr.home.comcast.net/~sewhttkr/bibleWS/bibleWS/12_sodom1.gif

13.) Genesis 17:1 – 27

Circumcision Procedure Tray

Genesis 17:1 – 27   (NRSV)

The Sign of the Covenant

17) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”

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Music:

“God Almighty” in verse 1 is, in Hebrew, El Shaddai. Amy Grant sings it.  

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³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴“As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”

⁹God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. ¹³Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

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Galatians 5:6 (New International Version)

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

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¹⁵God said to Abraham, “As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

¹⁷Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!”

¹⁹God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” ²²And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.

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Reflection:

New names!  God identifies Himself for the first time as El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough.  And Abraham and Sarah get new names, to signify the new direction their lives would soon be taking.  Jesus says that you will have a new name, too!  In Revelation 2:17, the promise is given that “to the one who overcomes . . .  I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.”

What new name, what new direction, might God have for you?

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"The Circumcision," by Marc Chagall, 1956

²³Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; ²⁷and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

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Humor:

Two little kids are in a hospital, lying on stretchers next to each other, outside the operating room. The first kid leans over and asks, “What are you in here for?”

The second kid says, “I’m in here to get my tonsils out and I’m a little nervous.” The first kid says, “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I had that done when I was four. They put you to sleep, and when you wake up they give you lots of Jell-O and ice cream. It’s a breeze!”

The second kid then asks, “What are you here for?” The first kid says, “A circumcision.” And the second kid says, “Whoa! I had that done when I was born. I couldn’t walk for a year!”

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

medical supplies.    https://www.healthmegamall.com/ProdImages/MLE/21672.jpg

Chagall.  http://www.franklinbowlesgallery.com/NY/Artists/Chagall/Pages/Etchings/bible/CHAG0722P_Plate_6.jpg

12.) Genesis 16:1 – 16

"Hagar," a chromogenic print by Israeli photographer Adi Nes, 2006

Genesis 16:1 – 16  (NRSV)

The Birth of Ishmael

16)  Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bore him no children. She had an Egyptian slave-girl whose name was Hagar, ²and Sarai said to Abram, “You see that the Lord has prevented me from bearing children; go in to my slave-girl; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. ³So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave-girl, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.

⁴He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. ⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my slave-girl to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, “Your slave-girl is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she ran away from her.

"Hagar and the Angel in the Desert," by James Tissot, 1896 (The Jewish Museum, New York)

⁷The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, “Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit to her.”

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Reflection:

“Where have you come from and where are you going?”
How would you answer the angel of the Lord’s question if it were addressed to you?

“Return to your mistress, and submit to her.”
What difficult situation are you facing which requires that you persevere and see it through?

“You have conceived and shall bear a son.”
What gracious hope is God offering you?

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¹⁰The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will so greatly multiply your offspring that they cannot be counted for multitude.” ¹¹And the angel of the Lord said to her, “Now you have conceived and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for the Lord has given heed to your affliction. ¹²He shall be a wild ass of a man, with his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; and he shall live at odds with all his kin.” ¹³So she named the Lord who spoke to her, “You are El-roi”; for she said, “Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?” ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.

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A short devotional on Genesis 16:13a — “You are the God who sees me” — by Ray Stedman. http://www.raystedman.org/power/0611.html

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¹⁵Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

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Music:

In honor of Hagar and all the people  who do what they are told to do, only to find that it isn’t enough — and to “all the lonely people” who cannot seem to find their place in the world:   “Eleanor Rigby,” originally released by the Beatles in 1966.

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Hagar photograph.  http://www.jackshainman.com/dynamic/images/detail/Adi_Nes_Hagar_2006_695_539.jpg

Tissot.  http://oneyearbibleimages.com/hagar_desert.jpg

11.) Genesis 14:1 – 15:21

Genesis 14:1 – 15:21   (NRSV)

Lot’s Captivity and Rescue

14) In the days of King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of Goiim, ²these kings made war with King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ³All these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Dead Sea). ⁴Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

⁵In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and subdued the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites in the hill country of Seir as far as El-paran on the edge of the wilderness; ⁷then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.

⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹with King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar, four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. ¹¹So the enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way; ¹²they also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹³Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. ¹⁵He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot with his goods, and the women and the people.

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Music:

“The Battle Belongs to the Lord,”  words and music by Jamie Owens-Collins, 1985,  performed by the Maranatha Singers.  

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Abram Blessed by Melchizedek

"Abraham and Melchizedek" (also known as "The Knight's Communion"), Reims Cathedral, c. 1250

¹⁷After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High.

¹⁹He blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; ²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him one tenth of everything.

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"The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek" by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1626 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)

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Hebrews 5: 7-10 (ESV)

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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²¹Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself.”

²²But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have sworn to the Lord, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, ²³that I would not take a thread or a sandal-thong or anything that is yours, so that you might not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will take nothing but what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”

God’s Covenant with Abram

15) After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

²But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” ⁵He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

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Romans 4:18-24 (New Living Translation)

Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.

Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.  He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.  And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.  And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded  for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.

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⁷Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.”

⁸But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”

⁹He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. ¹³Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs, and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years; ¹⁴but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And they shall come back here in the fourth generation; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

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Reflection:

Until the time was right, God’s people were to wait — through four hundred years of slavery and the hair-raising exodus; they were to wait even though the waiting was long, difficult, and painful.  Are you ever frustrated because God does not immediately act to meet your need or fulfill your expectation?  What purposes might God have in allowing you to wait?

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¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, ¹⁹the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

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The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Abraham looks at the stars.   http://www.pix8.net/pro/pic.php?u=2144tKkQH&i=932869

Knight’s Communion.   http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Cities/wld/01530/01530h.jpg

Rubens.    http://nga.gov/fcgi-bin/timage_f?object=4564o&image=8282&c=

Abraham and stars.  http://www.loder.cz/bible/abram/V054.jpg