Genesis Chapter 26 ~ The Covenant Passes to Isaac

Genesis Chapter 26

In chapter 25 the attention moved pretty quickly from Abraham and then down to Esau and Jacob. In this chapter we come back in and focus in on the current generation of promise, Isaac and Rebekah.

There was a famine in Beer-lahai-roi where Isaac and Rebekah lived. It was similar to the famine in Abraham's time when they fled to sojourn in Egypt (Gen. 12). Isaac went to Gerar where Abimelech, the king of Philistines was. There the LORD appeared to him and said the following:

“Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Gen. 26:2-5, my emphasis)

What did Isaac do? He obeyed and settled in Gerar. The men there asked him about Rebekah and he said she was his sister, because he feared they would kill him because of her. After he was there a long time Abimelech, king of the Philistines saw Isaac and Rebekah laughing, so he confronted Isaac asking why he lied. Isaac told him, and Abimelech conveyed that someone could have slept with her and brought guilt upon the people. This is very similar to the two episodes almost identical to this that Abraham had been involved in (Gen. 12 and even more like Gen. 20). Here again, God makes His covenant with Isaac, and then Isaac is faced with a trial and seems to be taking things into his own hands to preserve his life in order to fulfill the covenant on his own. He ends up sinning against God, himself, his family, and the people in the community that he did this in. So Abimelech warned the people not to touch Isaac or his wife or they will be put to death.

So they settled there, and Isaac farmed and harvested without losing any (remember this is amazing because they are in the midst of a famine!). The LORD blessed him and he became rich to the point that even Philistines served him. Abimelech finally asked him to go away from there because Isaac was so much mightier than him.

Isaac left then and camped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. He redug the wells that his father dug but that had been filled back in. When Isaac's servants dug and found a spring of water, named Esek (meaning "contention"), a fight quarrel broke out between Isaac's herdsmen and the herdsmen of Gerar. So they dug another, named Sitnah (meaning "enmity"), but a fight broke out over that one too. So they dug a third well and no fight broke out, so they named it Rehoboth (meaning "broad places" or "room").

From the Valley of Gerar Isaac went up to Beersheba. The LORD appeared to him that night and said the following:

“I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake.” (Gen. 26:24)

Here again, similar to his father Abraham, God re-affirms his covenant to Isaac. Because of this he built an altar there in Beersheba, and "called up on the name of the Lord," (Gen. 26:25) pitched his tent, and his servants dug a well there. By saying he, "called upon the name of the LORD," it basically means that he is worshipping the one true and living God. The altar was a place of worship, probably where sacrifices were made as well. He's clearly doing what his father taught him (Gen. 12:7, 8; 13:18; 22:9) in regard to the proper manner men may approach and engage in relationship to Yahweh. Calling upon the name of the LORD brings back to mind the worship people engaged in during Seth's time (Gen. 4:26), Abraham's worship of Yahweh (Gen. 12:8; 13:4), and even the New Testament church's worship of Jesus the Christ as being Yahweh (1 Cor. 2).

Abimelech then went to Isaac from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and the commander of his army, Phicol. Isaac asked why they came, and they said it was because they have seen that the LORD is was with him. They wanted to make a covenant with Isaac, not unlike the covenant Abraham made with Abimelech in Genesis 21:17 (it's difficult to tell if this is the same Abimelech, it probably wasn't and it was the name of whomever reigned the same kingdom). So they made a covenant with Isaac that he would not harm them in the same way that they have not harmed him. Isaac made them a feast and they made the covenant, so they all departed in peace.

The same day Isaac's servants came to him to inform him that they found water and dug another well, and he called it Shibah (meaning "oath"), and to this day that Moses wrote this Beersheba was still there. In fact there is still a Beersheba in Gaza.

The chapter ends outlining Isaac's son, Esau's marriage at age 40 to Judith the daughter of Beeri, and the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Basemath, and how they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Did you notice the four descriptions of God in this passage? (1) The LORD appeared, (2) the LORD blessed, (3) the LORD appeared, and (4) the LORD was with. This is no passive God. He is meticulously working to reveal Himself to His people. He will not sit back and not receive the credit and the glory that He is due as He works in this world. He will reveal Himself in some fashion, and here we see this as He constantly appears to His chosen one, Isaac. Further, He is working to bless his covenantal chosen one, Isaac. And last He was with his chosen one. If we are reconciled to God through Christ, we can have this kind of hope by being knit into God's chosen covenantal family. We can know that He has appeared to us through Christ, and now in His Word. We know that He will bless us as heirs of the promise of eternal life in His joy, but primarily through the reconciliation we have because Jesus died for our sins. We can know that He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is for us, not against us if we are in His covenant. Praise God!

The specific salvation-historical point of this in Isaac's life is that the covenant promise has been passed down to him and those who would come from his immediate family, namely Jacob. Then the chapter ends by showing us the one who is not of God's elect, Esau, and how his marriage to Judith and Basemath made Isaac and Rebekah's life very bitter. We see here that Esau seems to have married without family involvement, and into a fully polygamous situation, and further he married among the Canaanites, not from the Hebrews. He is marrying into the Hittites who are part of the forbidden Canaanites, those forbidden by God (at least in the patriarchal days). It's interesting that despite the bitterness that Esau caused, Isaac still wanted to give him the blessing, in the next chapter. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here, again, we see that neither Isaac, nor Esau are the promised Messiah that was to come, but next we'll see that our focus is drawn the blessing given to Jacob in Genesis 27.

Genesis Chapter 25 ~ Abraham's Death & The Birth of Esau and Jacob

Genesis Chapter 25

In chapter 23 we saw Sarah's death, then in chapter 24 we saw Isaac's marriage and the family through whom God's covenant would carry on, so now here in chapter 25 we see the end of Abraham's life. This chapter is divided into two parts; verses 1-18 outline the end of Abraham and Ishmael's lives and their children. Then, verses 19-34 focus in on God's elect line, God's chosen covenantal family: Isaac and his sons Jacob and Esau.

First (verses 1-18), it says that Abraham took another wife, Keturah. Here is the lineage of the children Abraham had with Keturah:

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac and to the sons of his concubines he gave gifts and he sent them away from Isaac to the east country (Gen. 25:6). Abraham died at 175 years old, and the text describes it like this, "Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people." (Gen. 25:8) Isaac and Ishmael buried him where Sarah was buried, the cave of Machpelah, and after this Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi (where he met Rebekah, this is the well named "the well of the Living One who sees me").

Ishmael lived to be 137 years old and died and was gathered to his people (Gen. 25:17), and his people settled from Havilah to Shur, opposite of Egypt in the direction of Assyria. The text describes, "He settled over against all his kinsmen." (Gen. 25:18) Here is Ishmael's lineage, 12 princes.

Ishmael's lineage: (1) Nebaioth, (2) Kedar, (3) Adbeel, (4) Mibsam, (5) Mishma, (6) Dumah, (7) Massa, (8) Hadad, (9) Tema, (10) Jetur, (11) Naphish, and (12) Kedemah.

It is clear to see that what Scripture spoke of Ishmael is coming true. His lineage is being made into a great kingdom, but they are also always against Isaac's seed as they assumed Ishmael's posture of being, "over against all his kinsmen." The pronoun "He" in verse 18 is not referring to Ishmael himself, but to his offspring, the nations that came from him. Ishmael is the head of these nations, not unlike describing Adam as the head of the human race. Another way to translate this would be, "His descendants lived in hostility." This is a clear fulfillment of Genesis 16:12.

Second (verses 19-34), the narrator (Moses) then turns his focus to the chosen seed, those who would inherit God's promise, namely Isaac and his progeny.

Isaac was 40 years old when he married Rebekah (so the marriage in chapter 24 was about 3 years after Sarah, his mother's, death). Rebekah was barren and unable to have children, so Isaac prayed for her, and the LORD granted his prayer. She conceived twins, and they struggled together within her, and she said, "If it is thus, why is this happening to me?" and she basically asked the LORD what was happening to me. This was His response:

“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other,
the older shall serve the younger.” (Gen. 25:23)

In the New Testament Paul writes of God's disposition to these two in Rebekah's womb, "Jacob I have loved, and Esau I have hated." (see Rom. 9:11-13). So it seems the younger is God's chosen one from conception. So, Rebekah approached labor and the first came out red and he was all hairy so they named him Esau (which probably alludes to the Hebrew word Seir meaning "hairy"). Then his brother came out holding Esau's heel so he was called Jacob. The name "Jacob" alludes to a Hebrew pun/synonym 'aqab meaning "he takes the heel" or "he cheats". The etymology of the name "Jacob" probably means "May El protect" or "El Protects/Rewards" though (see Waltke, 358). Isaac was 60 years old when they were born.

They grew, and Esau was a man of the field, a hunter, and Jacob was quiet and dwelled in tents. Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. Note that their favoritism/partiality is not something we should be doing with our children! (i.e. Deut. 16:19; 1 Chron. 19:7; Prov. 28:21; Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6; Jas. 2:1, 9).

One day Jacob was cooking stew, and Esau came in from the field tired and asked to eat what Jacob had made. Jacob told him to sell him his birthright, and he did it and swore on it, so then Jacob gave him the food. So he despised and disposed of his birthright for a bowl of stew and bread! It seems Proverb 28:21 has an example to attach itself to!

The first thing to note is that this text describes Keturah as another wife to Abraham (Gen. 25:1), but then later she and Hagar seem to be assumed in the word "concubines" (Gen. 25:6), further in 1 Chronicles 1:32 it says, "The sons of Keturah, Abraham's concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan." (my emphasis) What's going on here? Well, it appears that she was not his wife in the full sense of what marriage is. This is probably a similar way of speaking as when Abraham laid with Hagar (Gen. 16:3). So, in a similar manner of his relationship to Hagar, Abraham, "Had Keturah as a wife." Another way to phrase this would be, he had a relationship with Keturah in such a way that men should only have with a woman who is his wife (see my comments on Gen. 16:3). This isn't really polygamy, in that he married these women, but it is a perverted practice of being in an intimate relationship with someone that isn't a covenanental wife. We do see God's people later in polygamous relationships, but I think the description of these women as Abraham's concubines restrains our ability to say that these women were counted as true "wives" to Abraham. Rather, he behaved with them as a man should only behave with a woman who would be his wife.

It should also be noticed that here all of Abraham's generations are important, because they are the beginning of nations that will surround Israel throughout the Old Testament. Also, we see God holding true to His promise to Ishmael from Genesis 17:20. But notice God is also faithful to His promise to Abraham about Isaac. Everything was given to the promised covenant son, Isaac. Everything was given to Abraham's heir. So when the Bible speaks of an inheritance that only is given to sons that means that the son gets everything. When believers (both men and women) are said to be adopted and treated as sons it is quite significant. Daughters were not heirs, but if their status is the same as sons this means they are heirs. Consider this truth as you read Galatians 4:1-7:

Galatians 4:1-7

"1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave,though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

The chosen seed of the promised Messiah carries on. We see that Abraham wasn't the Messiah promised to Eve, and neither is Isaac, for they have children (the following chapters bear this out too). As we follow the genealogies in Genesis we see the beginning of nations, but we see the story zoom in and focus on following one line, and that focus now turns from Isaac to Esau and Jacob.

This brings us to the birthright fiasco. How should we understand this? Well, it is no small thing that Esau sold his birthright. It wasn't simply something from men, but the birthright of being part of the lineage of the promised one to crush the head of sin and death, Satan. While they probably didn't know all the implications of their status, Isaac's family was well aware of their covenant with God. Further, they would have known that it was through their family that all nations would be blessed. And still, Esau gives all of this up for some bread and stew. This is more than a mere warning to us that we are easily self-deceived. We cannot listen to our passions and desires in the "heat of the moment". Too often they lie to us. Too often we want immediate gratification of our desires, and lacking faith we seek to fulfill it in our own power. We can't let our circumstances cloud what we know to be true from Scripture, God's very Word. This story shows that, but it's more than a mere morality tale. Esau sold the promise of God's covenant, of His election, for a bowl of stew. This reminds me of what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:18-20 about how the enemies of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, serve the god of their stomach. It appears that Esau was one of the first to model this brand of foolishness. He despised or hated the covenant of God that extended to him as Isaac's heir, and it's as if he threw it in the trash for temporary gratification. Jacob effectively swindled the promises of the covenant to himself, and we'll see this clearly in the future deceiving of Isaac for the blessing that was meant for Esau (Gen. 27:26-29). These events would come to fulfill what God told Rebekah at their birth, that the older will serve the younger (Gen. 25:23).

So the covenant appears to be passing on to Jacob. Will Jacob the the Messiah promised in Genesis 3:15? Probably not if he's a low-down swindler and deceiver; however, the hope in the promise for a Messiah is carrying on in Jacob. Jesus Christ is that perfect fulfillment of Jacob's name, "May El protect!" Jacob, merely twists it into a pun "he cheats." Praise God, that the hope remains alive, even despite Jacob's depravity.

Marriage ~ Gleanings in Genesis 24

I love weddings, and I love this chapter because it's one long marriage ceremony.

First, it's quite public. Biblically marriage is a public institution in a lot of ways, not merely private. Both families are very involved in the process, not to mention household servants. We can see that God is ordering all the events in His providence in fulfillment of the covenant that He made to Abraham. Also, the public exchange of good's in a dowry and bride-price took place (Gen. 24:22, 53; 34:12; Exod. 22:16-17). One other way that it was public was that their communities would have been aware of what was going on, being able to observe Rebekah travel with Abraham's servant, and possibly seeing her with her veil. Not only was it visibly public, but it was felt to be public by both the community and the family in an economic sense. It would have been easy to observe that the caravan that set out originally came back home with less goods and with women they didn't have before. Not only that Bethuel, Rebekah's father, now had more means, but also this economic reality would have been felt in the community. Further, Rebekah's family all the sudden had costly jewelry, goods, and clothes that they may not have had before. All of this would have made this arrangement of a marriage covenant public knowledge to at least two communities. Further, both Isaac and Rebekah were willing to marry each other, but their families also gave them into the marriage. They were given into marriage, not merely taken (e.g. Matt. 24:38; Luke 17:27). We see that Rebekah was given in marriage by her family, and we also see that Isaac is given in marriage by his father's intentions for his servant to find him a bride.

Second, it is clearly covenantal in line with the first marriage we observed in Genesis 2:23-24. Rebekah is leaving her parents and cleaving to Isaac. It is not primarily a public legal agreement; rather, it is primarily relational. It is a relational, ontological covenant that also has all the public and legal hallmarks of marriage as the rest of the Bible outlines about a marriage. Two are being fused from their current families to become one in uniting in a marriage covenant.

Third, the covenantal aspect can be seen also by the covenant sign of marriage, knowing each other intimately. We see the marriage sealed with the conjugal act of consummation. Isaac "takes" Rebekah in sexual union. We see that sexual relations here does not have the power to effectually create their marriage, rather that sex is a physical sealing, binding, and consummating of the marriage agreed to in the events prior to this intimacy. Notice that this aspect of marriage is quite private; however, it is public in some ways. First, sex is an indicator that the marriage is healthy. A marriage that does not include intimacy may not be as strong as it could be. In fact, a lack of intimacy in a marriage may be a symptom of problems inter-personally that may be observed by others. Second, sexual intimacy in marriage normally produces children. This is also a public affect of the covenant sign of sexual intimacy.

Does Sex Equate to Marriage Here?
From what I've written so far you can probably anticipate that I'm going to argue that the answer is, "No!" One may try to make an argument from Genesis 24:62-67 that it does, but to come to that conclusion would be to ignore not only the context of the chapter, but also what Genesis teaches about what marriage is. Further, it would ignore what all of Scripture has to say. I remember hearing this argument before from friends when I was in college. Marriage includes sex, but marriage is always more than just sex. Let's look at the passage again:

Genesis 24:62-67

"62 Now Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb. 63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. And he lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there were camels coming. 64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she dismounted from the camel 65 and said to the servant, 'Who is that man, walking in the field to meet us?' The servant said, 'It is my master.' So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67 Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."

Can you feel the build up and anticipation for their meeting? This is a really romantic description. The journey that Abraham's servant took to find Rebekah would have taken approximately a month. The journey from Beersheba of Canaan (Gen. 24:10) to Nahor (Gen. 24:11) would have been approximately a month (Hamilton, 145; Speiser, 183). So it was about a month since Araham's servant was sent out with the bride price and having made an oath to Abraham. He had orders to bring a bride home to Isaac and everyone knew it.

The text then sets the scene. It was probably a beautiful evening, and Isaac had gone out into the field in the evening to meditate. Then as he lifted his eyes he saw the caravan coming along. Then the attention of the narrator (Moses) quickly turns to Rebekah, she lifted her eyes up as well and when she saw Isaac she quickly jumped off of the camel and asked who the man was that was coming. Abraham's servant said, "My master," regarding Isaac. She quickly veiled herself. Hebrew women were not normally veiled (Gen. 12:14; 38:14-15), so the veil symbolized that she was in fact the bride that he had been anticipating. It was a custom for Hebrew brides to veil themselves in a marriage ceremony (Waltke, 333). The servant's journey had been prospered because of God's grace.

It's as if the servant's retrieving Isaac's bride and then bringing her back over the course of a month was one long wedding procession. Then they meet, but she quickly veils herself as if to say, "You cannot see me yet, because at this time I am not fully yours; your eyes cannot behold my beauty at this time, but the time will be soon." This is romance! Then Abraham's servant tells everything he did to Isaac. It's as if Isaac observes from this that all the details of the covenant had been properly taken care of and that they were indeed husband and wife.

Then we are given a high level sparse commentary of Isaac and Rebekah's consummating the marriage covenant, "Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." (Gen. 24:66-67) This passage shows how Rebekah assumes the role that the recently deceased Sarah had in salvation history as the new mother of the chosen seed of God. It is through Rebekah now that the covenant God made with Abraham will be propagated. This isn't just saying, "Isaac took her to the bedroom that Sarah used to have." This is part of what can be drawn out from this, but it is much more than this too. Then it says that Isaac took her and she became his wife. The consummating seal of the marriage covenant that was in the works between the two families over the course of the last month finally took place. They became united as one. He took her and she fully became his wife. To make a spiritual analogy, this is similar to the marriage of the church to Christ. The covenant has already been made, His blood has already been shed for His bride, the price has already been paid. So we are already His church, His bride. But one day at the "marriage supper of the Lamb" the full consummation of the marriage will take place.

This event in Genesis 24 and the circumstances surrounding it couldn't be further from the context of two consenting adults becoming inflamed in lustful passions for each other and justifying their sleeping together because there's a simple drawn out description of a marriage here in Genesis 24. I'm not defending all the pomp and ceremony surrounding many weddings these days. In the United States many weddings are more materialistic than covenantal. Many weddings don't consider the sobriety of a vow before God that they will be bound to this man or woman for the rest of their life. Too many weddings forget the typological and metaphorical function of marriage as representing the union of Christ with His church. That said, one cannot appeal to this text or any text in Scripture to legitimately argue that a marriage can be created by the act of sex. Sex never comes first, and it's never given the power to generate a marriage covenant (Consider these texts if you'd like to tease out this topic a little more: Exod. 20:14; Deut. 5:18; John 4:17-18; 1 Cor. 6:15-16; Matt. 1:18-25; 1 Cor. 7:2-5; Song of Songs 2:7; 3:5).

Marrying Within the Family

How should we think about Abraham's making his servant swear an oath to find a wife for Isaac from his family? John Sailhamer has spoken to this a little in his commentary:

"First, they were not to be mixed with the inhabitants of Canaan (v. 3). Though no explanation is given, Abraham's desire that Isaac not take a wife from the Canaanites appears to be a further expression of the notion of the two lines of blessing and curse seen in Genesis 9:25-27: 'Cursed be Canaan!' but 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem.' As has been the case throughout the narratives thus far, the inhabitants of Canaan are considered to be under a divine curse for their iniquity (e.g., 15:16). The seed of Abrahan is to be kept separate from the seed of Canaan. Second, the point is made in this section that Abraham's descendants are not to return to the land of their fathers. The Promised Land is their home, and Abraham is careful to ensure that Isaac not be taken back to the place of his father." (

Sailhamer, 176

)

Abraham's limiting of Isaac's bride to be taken from his family is meant to serve a very specific purpose in redemptive history. You can't argue from this text that we must forbid inter-ethnic marriages. Further, this text is not a justification for incestuous relationships. Isaac and Rebekah were cousins, and in God's plan it was through this family that all nations would be blessed. God had a plan to begin all nations through them, and the trajectory of this was more of beginning a marriage within God's chosen people. This would be a charge for the nation of Israel (Deut. 7:3, 4; 1 Kings 11:4; Ezra 9), but also for God's new covenant people who are forbidden to marry unbelievers (1 Cor. 7:39). (Kidner, 157)

Genesis Chapter 24 ~ Isaac Marries Rebekah

Genesis Chapter 24

Abraham was old and the LORD blessed him in everything, and he had his oldest household servant who was in charge of everything he had put his hand under his “thigh” (Gen. 24:2) and swear an oath to take a wife for Isaac from his family, not the Canaanites. The reason I put thigh in parenthesis is because it is probably a euphemism for Abraham's private parts; the literal translation is, "those coming out of his body." (yereko). I'm not pointing this out because it's gross, but because it's important. This is an oath that his servant would take, not by merely putting his hand under Abraham's leg, but a much more personal area (see Gen. 46:26, Ex. 1:5, and Josh. 8:30 as examples where children are described to come from a man's "thigh" as well). This is also what Jacob would do later in Genesis 47:29. If you or I had to swear an oath by putting our hand there we would probably take it pretty seriously, and one thing is for sure; we wouldn't forget what we swore! There may be something more to this having to do with fertility and the burden of prolonging the lineage of his family (Abraham was old here, and later Jacob would be too), or even the covenant as this is the place where the covenant sign is marked through circumcision. I'll leave that speculation to you and the commentaries. On with the story...

His servant doubted that a woman would follow him back to Canaan, but Abraham said the LORD would send His angel before him, but if the woman won’t follow him back he would be free from his oath. So the servant put his hand under Abraham’s “thigh” and swore to him that he would do this (Gen. 24:9).

The servant set out with 10 camels and he took many gifts and they went to Mesopotamia (or Aram Naharaim) to the city of Abraham’s brother Nahor. It’s becoming more clear now why Nahor’s family line was laid out for us in Genesis 22. That lineage was laid out to show where Isaac's wife would come from. The servant made the camels kneel outside the city by a well in the evening (that’s when the women went to draw water). And there he prayed to God:

“O LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show steadfast love to my master Abraham. Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down 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.” (Gen. 24:12-14)

Nahor and Milcah’s granddaughter, by Bethuel, Rebekah, came out to get water while he was still praying. She was very attractive and a virgin. She filled her jar with water and came back up. The servant did just as he prayed saying, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” (Gen. 24:17) She told him to drink and drew water for his camels too (Gen. 24:19), and he watched her to see if the LORD had prospered him by bringing Rebekah as a wife for Isaac. He then gave her gifts and asked her who her father was, and he asked if they could stay with her father for the night. She said she was Bethuel’s daughter who is the son of Nahor and Milcah and that they definitely had a place he could stay the night.

So the servant bowed his head and worshiped the LORD:

"The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD and 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 in the way to the house of my master's kinsmen.'" (Gen. 24:26-27)

Her brother Laban ran out to Abraham’s servant and invited him in saying, “Come in, O blessed of the LORD…” (Gen. 24:30) He went and they gave a full display of hospitality to him and his camels, but Abraham’s servant wouldn’t eat until he said what he had to say. So he told them about Abraham and how the LORD had blessed him with wealth, but also a son, Isaac, by Sarah. He then told them how he swore to Abraham that he would find Isaac a wife from his family. He told them how he had prayed to the LORD for a the woman to do certain things, and that Rebekah seemed to be the perfect fulfillment of what he swore to find, and a specific answer to his prayers. He also described his reaction:

“Then 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 take the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son. Now then, if you are going to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left.” (Gen. 24:48-49)

Abraham’s servant clearly did not boast in himself in finding Rebekah, but clearly boasted in God and how He provided all along the way. Her brother, Laban, and her father, Bethuel, gave her to Abraham’s servant to be Isaac’s wife saying to let it be as the LORD has spoken. (Gen. 24:50-51) This elicited worship to God again from the servant, and he brought out more jewelry and garments and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave costly ornaments to Laban and her mom (who is not named here). So they celebrated.

When morning came the servant asked to be sent back to Abraham with Rebekah, and Laban and her mom asked that she remain for 10 days and then she could go. He asked them not to delay him though, and they asked Rebekah how she felt about it, and she said she was willing to leave, so they sent her with her nurse, Abraham’s servant and his men, and they blessed Rebekah and said, “Our sister may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate him!” (Gen. 24:60) So they went away.

Isaac had returned from Beer-lahai-roi and was dwelling in the Negeb (Remember back to Gen. 16:14? This is the place where the well named Beer-lahai-roi, meaning "The well of the Living One who sees me" that Hagar went to, is located). Note that he is about 37 years old. He was born when Sarah was 90 (Gen. 17:17; 21:5) and Sarah just died at age 127 (Gen. 23:1).

Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening, and as he lifted up his eyes he saw camels coming. Rebekah saw him and asked who he was, and Abraham's servant said it was Isaac, so she covered herself with a veil. The servant told Isaac everything that took place, and Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother, Sarah, and took her, and she became his wife, and he loved her. He was comforted after his mother’s death in his marriage to Rebekah.

Notice first that this is the longest chapter in Genesis, and what does it focus on? Marriage! (Victor Hamilton, 138) This is an important marriage, because it is the second phase of God's fulfilling of His covenant with Abraham made back in Genesis 12. This is the second marriage that we see in the Bible (I'll write a little more about the nature of marriage later today).

The main thing I'd like to draw out is not necessarily the faithfulness of Abraham or his servant, not the hospitality of Rebekah's family, not Abraham's servants prophesying and powerful prayer, and not Rebekah's humility to go with a stranger to marry a man she never knew. Did you notice the activity of God in this passage? Yes, the people were faithful and largely displayed honorable character, but this is a picture of God at work. Abraham's servant realized it to the point that he gives all the recognition and glory to God alone for leading him to Rebekah. Yahweh did not abandon his creation after Genesis 1-2, and He never abandons His chosen people. Likewise, God did not make a covenant with Abraham to give him countless children and to bless the world through them only to let him and other men fulfill it by their own means. God will fulfill His covenant. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. He is a promise-keeper. He is sufficient to be relied upon. Even though Sarah died in the last chapter, and we have yet to see God's promised Messiah, here we see that the hope in the certain promise of a Messiah carries on as Isaac marries Rebekah. By God's power, strength, and grace the beat goes on.

Genesis Chapter 23 ~ The Death and Burial of Sarah

Genesis Chapter 23

Sarah lived to be 127 years old, and she died at Kiriath-arba or Hebron, which is in Canaan, and Abraham mourned and wept for her. When he rose he asked the Hittites to give him land to bury Sarah, "out of my sight." (Gen. 23:4) I think this just means that he wanted to bury her, not that he was disgusted with her for some reason or that there was a way of burying in one's sight. They told him he could bury her in their best burying places. Abraham asked them to entreat Ephron the son of Zohar to let him to bury her at the end of his field in the cave of Machpelah for the full price that it would cost.

Ephron was with the Hittites, so he answered Abraham and tried to give him the field and cave to bury Sarah for free. Abraham bowed down insisting that he pay the proper price for the field. Ephron told him that the land was worth 400 shekels of silver, and asked, "What is that between you and me? Bury your dead." (Gen. 23:15) Abraham insisted on paying and gave the price to Ephron with all the Hittites witnessing it, and he paid Ephron in the currency that they used.

The cave of Machpelah was east of Mamre, and the field and cave then belonged to Abraham. So he buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of Machpelah east of Mamre (Hebron) in Canaan.

In this chapter we see how much Abraham honored his wife, and we also see the death of a very important woman in God's plan of redemption. This is the beginning of the close of one generation, making way for God's plan to continue to work through the next generation. Also, we see that Abraham is still a sojourner in this world. He has been sojourning for about 62 years. He started sojourning with Lot at age 75 (Gen. 12:4), and he is about 10 years older than Sarah, so he would have been about 137 years old (Abraham was about 10 years older than Sarah Gen. 17:17; 21:5). So from age 75 to 137 he sojourned, that's 62 years of being without a home and it's in this manner of life that here he loses his wife. This is a vivid example of how even when God makes covenant promises to His people they will live in this world in a manner that it is not their home. This only builds our hope for our eternal home which is accessed only through the gospel of Jesus Christ, a city whose designer and builder is God! Consider the outcome of Abraham and Sarah's faith in Hebrews 11:10-11, "For [Abraham] was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him [God] faithful who had promised." God provided in their sojourning, so even as we sojourn let us look forward to our true home with Christ forever!

Genesis Chapter 22 ~ Child Sacrifice - The Gospel

Genesis Chapter 22

The Sacrifice of Isaac... After the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah God tested Abraham. Here’s what God told him:

“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 of which I shall tell you.” (Gen. 22:2)

What would you do if you were Abraham? Would you obey God? Here’s what Abraham did, he rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two young men with him, and took Isaac as well and went to Mount Moriah. Once there Abraham cut wood for the burnt offering of his son. On the third day (a typical period of time in Scripture to prepare for something important)[1] he saw the place and told the men he brought to stay with the donkey while he and Isaac, “go over there and worship and come again to you.” (Gen. 22:5) Isaac carried the wood, and Abraham carried the fire and the knife. You can only imagine the pain Abraham is feeling to have to carry the instruments he will have to kill his son with. Further, since it was three days after God spoke to Abraham we know that he had to have mulled over this again and again. The three days preparation removes any thought that this was just a quick action of obedience. No, Abraham had to think about this, travel someplace to do it. It wasn't as simple as quickly deciding to do something and getting it over with. Isaac then asked where the sacrifice for the burnt offering was, and Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Gen. 22:8)

They arrived at the place, and Abraham built an offering. He laid the wood there, bound Isaac and put him on the wood on the altar. Then he took out the knife to slaughter Isaac. Can you feel the tension at this moment? Then, suddenly the angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven and told him not to go through with it, because now He knows that Abraham fears God, because he wouldn’t even withhold his son from Him. And as Abraham looked up he saw a ram caught in a thicket by it’s horns, so Abraham offered it as a burnt offering instead of Isaac. So Abraham called that place, “The LORD will provide.” Then Moses adds a comment, “as it is said to this day, ‘On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.’” (Gen. 22:14) Then the angel of the Lord re-affirmed the covenant promises to Abraham:

“I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Gen. 22:17-18)

After this they went back to where they lived in Beersheba.

Then at the end of this chapter we hear of the children of Abraham’s brother Nahor and his wife Milcah, and his concubine Reumah:
This chapter continues to show the family in which the LORD will work redemption and salvation. We'll soon see why Nahor's family is detailed here. We see also that God is continuing to establish His covenant with Abraham.

Further, in this chapter God is showing what truly following Him will look like, and what love looks like. We have to forsake all, not just homelands, not just possessions and offerings, but even our own children. This is what love for God looks like. I wonder if when you read this you think, "What is God asking of Abraham? This is deplorable!" Well, in our economy of thinking it is, and to a certain extent it should be. When a man seeks to take the life of another on an unjusifiable basis it is patently wrong, and this is especially the case if someone did this with their child. Further, it is just like us to forget that God has proven over 21 chapters already that He is just and right in all that He does. Even though we don't know His intentions beyond that He is testing Abraham, we should not assume that His intentions are evil and depraved. In God's economy, since He is the Creator and Ruler of all things, He can make requests of His creation that if the creation were to make on it's own it may be wrong. He can do however He pleases. Besides, God knows that He won't let Abraham go through with it. Also, in His wisdom He is teaching us something about true love, obedience, and sacrifice. We must forsake all to follow and worship Him! Even if God didn't stop Abraham He would still be just in His requests and decrees.

This event serves another purpose. It is a foreshadow of what it will cost in order to appease God's wrath and reconcile us to Him. It will take not the death of our children as a sacrifice, but the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice on Calvary, which is in the, "land of Moriah." (Gen. 22:2) This is a foreshadow of the sacrificial system that will be instituted in Israel to point to the one who would become the true sacrificial lamb (John 1:29; 36; Heb. 9:11-28; Rev. 5:6; 7:17; 14:10; 15:3; 19:9; 21:23; 22:1; 22:3), the Messiah Jesus! This is a strong pointing at the sacrificial system partly because of where it occurs, on a mountain in the land of Moriah. It was probably Mount Moriah. This place is spoken of in one other place in Scripture, 2 Chronicles 3:1, "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite." This is where Israel's temple would be built where God would meet with the High Priest in the Holy of Holies. This is the city of the King of Israel. It is amazing that even here, during Abraham's time, God is foreshadowing all that would come after him in this event in this specific place. It is a foreshadow and picture of what God's love looks like to His chosen people. God loves us so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him might have eternal life. Read how the New Testament puts it:

John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."

1 John 3:16: "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

When we read this we should be repulsed by what God asked Abraham to do to his only son, the one through whom the Messiah would come to save the human race from sin, Satan, and death. But then, we realize that God doesn't let Abraham go through with it. We can breath a sigh of relief, but that disgust we felt at first, that's how God knew He would feel when He poured out His wrath on Christ for our sake. Ultimately, what should repulse us and disgust us is our sin, that a sacrifice of God's Son was necessary to redeem us. Can you see what God is doing in this event in Abraham and Isaac's life? He's showing us a glimpse of the gospel. God is asking Abraham to sacrifice his only son in a just and righteous way, but we see in the gospel that God willingly sacrifices His own Son for our sin, so that we might be saved. Again, a right and just decree of which we are invited to be the beneficiaries of. Isn't it amazing that something so terrible can become something so beautiful? Praise God!
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[1] cf. Gen. 31:22; 42:18; Ex. 3:18; 15:22; 19:11, 15, 16; Num. 10:33; 19:12, 19; 31:19; 33:8; Esth. 5:1; Hosea 6:2; Jonah 3:3; Matt. 12:40; 1 Cor. 15:4. See Bruce Waltke, 307.

Genesis Chapter 21 ~ Hagar & Ishmael Depart, God Fulfills His Promise in Isaac

Genesis Chapter 21

Then the LORD visited Sarah and she became pregnant with Abraham’s child at the exact time He promised them. They called him Isaac, and he was circumcised 8 days after birth. Abraham was 100 years old!

Isaac grew and Abraham had a great feast the day Isaac was weaned, but Sarah saw Ishmael laughing, so she had Abraham cast Ishmael and Hagar out because Ishmael wouldn’t be an heir with Isaac. Abraham was troubled because of his son Ishmael, but God spoke to him and told him to not be displeased and to do what Sarah said to do, because it is through Isaac that Abraham’s offspring will be named (Gen. 21:12). Then He reminded Abraham of His promise to bless Ishmael (Gen. 21:13). So in the morning Abraham gave Hagar and Ishmael some bread and water and sent them away into the wilderness of Beersheba.

After the food and water ran out Hagar feared the death of Ishmael and she cried out to God, and He heard the voice of the boy. So the angel of God comforted her with God’s promise to bless him (Gen. 21:18-19). They did as the angel said and Ishmael grew up in the wilderness of Paran, and Hagar took him a wife from Egypt.

Now, back to Abraham. Abimelech and Phicol (the commander of Abimelech’s army) from the land of the Philistines saw that Abraham was always blessed with success so they made a treaty with him that Abraham would deal honestly and kindly with them as they had with him. Abraham agreed. Abraham admonished Abimelech about a well that his servants took, and he hadn’t heard of it and seemed sorry, and they made a covenant with each other (Gen. 21:27). Abraham gave Abimelech 7 ewe lambs as a witness that Abraham dug the well. This place was called Beersheba. So Abimelech and Phicol went home, and Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God, and Abraham sojourned many days in the land of the Philistines.

Here we see God's gracious gift of a son in Isaac, but we see more than that. Again, we see that God is steadfast to keep His promises and we also see that He is completely trustworthy. Who has a child when he's 100 and his wife is 89 or 90? (see Gen. 17:17 for Sarahs' approximate age) Those whom God says will! God is unstoppable in His promise to bless the nations through Abraham, and He is unstoppable to continue the line through which He will bring the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Not only is God being kind to give Abraham a son, but He is being kind ad infinitum in sustaining Eve's seed so that we might all be blessed to be able to be saved through Jesus' atoning work on the cross to justify sinners. I hope as we move through these stories you're seeing that this is relevant to you, because it's the family history of how Yahweh, the one true and living God, brought about a Savior so that we might be reconciled to God!

Genesis Chapter 20 ~ An Attempt to Rely on Self Rather Than God

Genesis Chapter 20

In this chapter we come to an event that is really similar to Genesis chapter 12 when the then Abram and Sarai sojourned in Egypt in the face of famine. Only this time they were sojourning near Gerar where king Abimelech was in power. Also, this time they are commissioned in covenant with God with the sign of circumcision and new names (as we considered in Genesis Chapter 17), which speak to their new identities which are rooted in God’s existence, power, and commission to them. Tension is introduced too, because of the looming promise of a son to Abraham and Sarah.

So Abraham and Sarah journeyed to the Negeb and were living between Kadesh and Shur, and they were journeying in Gerar. Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister and Abimelech took her. God came to Abimelech in a dream though telling him he was a dead man because he took a man’s wife. He was deceived and plead innocence to God, and God told him that He knew he did it in innocence and that’s why God didn’t allow them to become intimate. God told Abilmelech to return Sarah to her husband, because he is His prophet, and if he prays for Abimelech he will live. If he didn’t return her he would die. So Abimelech returned her early in the morning, and asked Abraham why he did this. Abraham explained that he did it because there was no fear of God in that place and he thought they’d kill him because of Sarah. Then he explained that she is technically his sister as the daughter of his father but not his mother. Genesis 20:13 illustrates that this was he and Sarah’s plan for when they would come across these kinds of circumstances, this wasn't purely reactionary...it was premeditated.

It does seem that Abraham is trying to fulfill God’s covenant to make him into a great nation by himself. He knows that if he would die in Gerar the fulfillment of God’s promise of a son named Isaac through him and Sarah would be thwarted. Abraham seems to take self-preservation into his own hands in order to fulfill the promises God has made to him. He doesn’t seem to understand that God is trustworthy to fulfill His promises without him needing to take matters into his own hands.

So after Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, livestock, servants, 1,000 pieces of silver (indicating her innocence), and he also gave him the opportunity to settle in his land wherever it would please Abraham. (Gen. 20:15) Abraham then prayed for Abimelech as God’s prophet, and God healed Abimelech’s house, and He opened the wombs of the women in Abimelech’s house, because he had closed them because of Sarah being taken into his house.

Here again we see that God is continuing to sustain Abraham and Sarah to fulfill His covenant to them, and to give them a son, Isaac. Further, we see the drama with all the tensions and resolutions that surround the prolonging of Eve's seed through Abraham and Sarah's family to ultimately bring a Savior to the the World in Jesus Christ. Even when we, like Abraham and Sarah, try to take things into our own hands in sin, we know that God will keep His covenant to save His people through the messiah. The beauty is that we know who that Messiah is, because we live in a time after He has been fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

Genesis Chapter 19 ~ Judgment for Sin on Sodom & Gomorrah

Genesis Chapter 19

In this chapter the angels came to Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting in the gate and his response to their arrival was very similar to Abraham’s, he rose to meet them and bowed down before them (Gen. 19:1-2). He offered them the same hospitality that Abraham did as well, but they refused it and said they wanted to spend the night in the town square. He warned them about this, so they went to his house. This reminds me of a conversation we had once with an elderly member at our church. She was telling us how when it was hot outside in the summers, when she was a young girl, people in the community used to take their bedding out and sleep under the stars in Lincoln Park. No one in his or her right mind would make a practice of that in Washington, D.C. now. When the depravity of this fallen world invades our communities the town squares that should be safe to sleep in become a howling wilderness.

Before they went to bed all the young and old men in Sodom surrounded Lot’s house. They asked Lot to bring the two men/angels to them so they could, “know them.” (Gen. 19:5) This is a Hebrew idiom that means to have intimacy in relation toward, and it even means sexual relations. It’s pretty clear that these men wanted to commit homosexual acts with the men/angels that Lot was hosting. Lot went to them and asked them to stop acting wickedly and offered his two virgin daughters to them in order to spare the men/angels. Quite frankly this is a horridly sinful and confused response by Lot. It seems that first, he wanted to protect his guests, but second, he may have thought the acts would be less repugnant if they were in a heterosexual manner. The first response is honorable. The second response is just confused. While heterosexuality in marriage is the sexual relationship that God blesses, He in no way endorses rape. Heterosexual and homosexual rape are both evil biblically speaking, and there isn’t any room to argue degrees of toleration in rape. Both are a perversion. The men of Sodom were offended, because what they proposed to do with/to the men was wrong, so they attacked Lot, but the two men/angels saved him by bringing him back in the house and shutting the men of Sodom out. The men/angels struck the men of the city with blindness and they became exhausted as the groped for the door that night.

The angels told Lot to get all of his family out of the city because they were going to destroy it. It appears that this is going to be the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah that Moses alluded to in Genesis 13:10. Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was joking and ignored him, and as the sun arose the next day the angels told Lot to get out of the city with his wife and two daughters, but he lingered. By God’s grace they then forcefully brought them out of the city (Gen. 19:16). One of the angels told him to escape and not look back or else they will be swept away. Lot begged to be able to go to Zoar and the angels allowed him. This is absolutely incredible. Lot is being spared the judgment that God is unleashing on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and yet Lot lingered. It’s even more amazing that the angels through whom God would bring destruction didn’t wait for Lot to keep lingering, but they physically, forcefully, and it seems quickly took him and his family outside the city. You could compare this to lingering while a fire is engulfing your house. Firefighters come and rescue you by having to knock you out and forcefully dragging you out! God is determined to save those who He desires to save. He's unstoppable!

Then God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining sulfur and fire from the, “LORD out of heaven.” (Gen. 19:24) The angels weren’t doing this, God was! Further, it wasn't coming from the heavens. It was coming from God alone! Everyone in those cities died, and while fleeing Lot’s wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. Abraham looked down the valley in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and saw, “the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace.” (Gen. 19:28) Can you imagine looking down toward a town or a city where you knew folks, had family and friends that lived there, and just saw smoke rolling into the heavens? It would be terrible. Then we see that it was because of Abraham’s pleading with God to relent from judgment on the righteous, that we considered yesterday, that He relented from destroying Lot (Gen. 19:29). God answers the prayers of His chosen people. We may not ever know it, but God is showing Himself again to be responsive to the prayers of His people. In answering Abraham’s prayer to relent from pouring out His wrath on the righteous He is showing Himself to be fully trustworthy. He hears and answers our prayers if we trust in His provision through Christ alone.

Lot and his two daughters then lived in a cave in the hills outside of Zoar, because Lot was afraid to live there (the implication may be that his fear was of God’s wrath that could come upon Zoar). His daughters desired to further Lot’s lineage so they got him drunk and laid with him and conceived children. They became pregnant by their father Lot without his knowledge of it because he was so inebriated. The son his older daughter had was named Moab (meaning “from father”) who was the father of the Moabites, and his younger daughter had a son named Ben-Ammi (meaning “son of my people”), who was the father of the Ammonites. We see here the sinful origins of two nations who will become constant enemies of God’s chosen people. God is kind to save Lot in answering Abraham’s prayers, but this doesn’t mean that Lot’s progeny is part of God’s chosen people.

In this chapter we see more of the affects of sin; namely, rebellion against God and the provoking Him to wrath. But we also see God’s grace. We see God’s grace in the answered prayers of Abraham, we see God’s grace in preserving Lot because of Abraham, and we see that God is holding to His covenant not to wipe out every person on the planet because of sin like in the flood. He only destroys two cities, not the entire creation. Don’t miss this in the passage. God would be perfectly justified to destroy every person and every community, because all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Yet, God is being kind here to only destroy two communities in His wrath against sin. Further, in His kindness God is giving us yet another warning to turn from sin and flee to God in repentance while there is still time. Since we now live in an age after the revelation of Jesus Christ as the messiah, we should flee our sin and the wrath of God to Christ for safety.

Genesis Chapter 18 ~ A Hearing God Who Is Just in His Judgment

Genesis Chapter 18

The Lord appeared to Abraham here for the third time (first in Gen. 12:7; then 17:1; and now 18:1), and this time it was by the Oaks of Mamre (or “terebinths”). Abraham was sitting in the heat of the day just outside his door when men were standing right in front of him as he looked up. When he saw them he ran to them and bowed before them. They must have seemed to be worthy of reverence, but this also shows how hospitable God’s chosen should be as they serve the LORD. Abraham spoke to them and said:

“O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” (Gen. 18:3-5)

The LORD seems to have been one of the three men in the form of the Angel of the Lord (Gen. 19:1 makes it clear the other two men were “angels”), which was referred to in Genesis chapter 16 (specifically verses 7, 9, 10, and 11). This is a little confusing because it appears that the three told Abraham to go right ahead, as if the plural, three angels, were answering in the singular on behalf of God. It’s less confusing after we see that one of the three was the LORD and the other two were angels. It appears that the LORD was speaking on behalf of the three. The LORD told Abraham that he could get water, and food to let them rest and wash up. He summoned his household to make a fine meal and then he gave it to them and stood by them under a tree while they ate. You can’t help but think that this might be a passage that the author of Hebrews had in mind when writing about Christian hospitality to believers and believers in prison, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Heb. 13:1-2)

He asked Abraham where his wife Sarah was, and told him that the same time next year she would have a son. Sarah was eavesdropping at the door. Abraham and Sarah were old and the passage says that, “the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah.” (Gen. 18:11) This basically means she was beyond the years that women have a menstrual cycle. By all natural indicators she was beyond childbearing years. She laughed, and said, “After I am worn out, and my lord [i.e. her husband, Abraham] is old, shall I have pleasure?” (Gen. 18:12) Namely, the pleasure of having and enjoying children. This is not unlike Abraham’s first response of falling over in laughter (Gen. 17:17). Sarah’s response of laughter elicits a response from God as if something is too hard for the LORD (probably the combination of Abraham and Sarah’s laughter elicits God’s response), and then God reaffirms that she will have a child by this time next year. After all of this she denies that she laughed. This is just like something we would do. Our sinful hearts are prone to doubt the LORD’s wisdom, and even though He knows all things we still lie to His face like Sarah did about her laughter. God corrected her and said, “No, but you did laugh.” (Gen. 18:16) God will correct His us in the midst of our sin.

Then the men (actually only two of them as we see in Gen. 19:1) left toward Sodom where Lot was living, and as they left, Abraham still stood there before the LORD (Gen. 18:22). This chapter makes it sound like the three men are speaking with the same voice of the singular LORD at times, but in verse 22 it seems that the LORD is actually only one of the men/angels among them. Verses 17 through 21 seem to be an inner-dialogue in the LORD’s mind, not between the three men/angels. It is tempting to look for the Trinity in this passage, but it’s not clear that this passage is alluding to the Trinity. This dialogue between the LORD (Gen. 18:17) and the LORD (Gen. 18:20) could be between the persons of the Trinity (not the three men/angels but the triune One who stays behind with Abraham), but it could also be the LORD expressing this thought process out loud for Abraham to hear so that Abraham knows how to advocate wisely or justly for or against Sodom in the debate that follows (I lean toward this second interpretation). However we read this it doesn’t seem that this is being expressed by the three men as a group because of the distinction between them and the LORD seen in verse 22 (although verse 22 doesn’t specify that only two went down toward Sodom so this passage is a little vague at times).

God is revealing this inner conversation, not because He cannot decide what to do, but in order that Abraham might step into the role as a prophet with wisdom in what follows. By God’s grace Abraham is listening in on God’s thought process, which only underscores the veracity and trustworthiness of the covenant promise He made back in Genesis 12. What would transpire next would show how Abraham’s doing of righteousness and justice might bless the nations in fulfillment of God’s promise. God is helping Abraham see the thought process behind justice and righteousness. God intends for Abraham to learn what righteousness and justice is by letting him hear this soliloquy.

So in verse 21 the LORD goes to Sodom to see if what He has heard about their injustice and wickedness was true. If the outcry against Sodom is untrue the LORD will know (Gen. 18:21).

The two men/angels then went to Sodom as Abraham stayed and stood before the LORD. Somehow, Abraham knew that the LORD would destroy Sodom and his heart and mind seems to conclude that God’s judgment on the people would be unjust if all are judged on account of the wickedness of a few. So Abraham actually speaks with God, almost bartering and debating with Him. He asks God if He would destroy Sodom if there were fifty, then forty-five, then thirty, then twenty, and lastly ten righteous people. Five times God says that He will relent from destroying Sodom, first (1) for the sake of the fifty, (2) then the forty-five, (3) then the thirty, (4) then the twenty, and (5) then the ten righteous people. It’s almost as if Abraham knows that when the two men/angels reach Sodom God’s judgment will fall, so he asks if He will relent for the sake of the fifty, and God says He will. But Abraham is uneasy because the men/angels keep approaching the city, and Abraham says, “No, no, Lord stop...what about forty-five.” The Lord promises, “No, for the sake of the forty-five.” But then the men/angels keep moving toward the city, and they do this all the way down to ten people. Then they departed company and the LORD went His way when the LORD was finished talking with Abraham, and Abraham went back home.

Abraham is assuming the role of a prophet/priest by interceding with God on behalf of the people in Sodom, specifically for the righteous people. Notice here that Abraham is not asking God to relent from meting out judgment on those who deserve it, but for the sake of those who bear the righteousness of God, those who are chosen of God. Abraham knows that if God destroys those whom the LORD has set His name upon it doesn’t speak well of the LORD’s name, and it seems to say that God is inconsistent in His own nature. The amazing thing here is that God seems to hear Abraham again, not unlike how He heard Abraham when he was begging for God to bless Ishmael. God is responsive to the prayers and requests of His chosen ones (see Gen. 17:20 “I have heard you”). It must be noted though that while God heard Abraham regarding Ishmael, he didn’t grant Abraham’s desire to include Ishmael in the covenant, but chose to give a four-fold blessing (see the post from yesterday). Similarly here, God hears and interacts with Abraham regarding Sodom, but that doesn’t mean that God will relent (as we will see there were less than 10 who were righteous there). We don’t always get what we ask for, but we can know that God hears and will take the pleas of His covenant children into account. In the end He will do what is right, good, just, and best.

Further, God is omniscient. In other words, He knows everything in the past, present and future (Isa. 46:10; 1 John 3:20; Heb. 4:13). When the text says He will, “go down to see whether [Sodom has] done altogether according to the outcry that has come to [Him]. And if not, [He] will know,” (Gen. 18:21) that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t know what’s going on in Sodom prior to going there. He’s going to examine the evidence of what He knows to be true of Sodom. He’s showing that He doesn’t judge and destroy without full knowledge of the offense. He is in essence showing that He is just in His investigation and judgment. The LORD is being kind to let Abraham, and us as readers, see that God is indeed just and righteous. The Lord would not be guilty of injustice if He gave no reason for destroying Sodom. However, if the LORD destroyed Sodom without going there first we would not come to see the wickedness of Sodom that will be displayed in the coming chapter. Further, if the LORD destroyed Sodom without going there first we might be sinfully inclined not to trust Him because we don’t have evidence of His just consideration and investigation of every crime with perceptible first hand knowledge. We can be assured in the knowledge that God will right every wrong and judge every sin partly because of His kindness to show us precedence for this aspect of His character in here Scripture. God doesn’t need to show precedence. He has authority to do what He wants when He wants, here and now, yet he is kind to cater to our fallen doubts by giving us examples of His past faithfulness to His covenant people and how He is perfectly just in His judgments. This passage isn’t showing a limitation on God’s knowledge, it is showing His condescension to show us more of what wickedness is, that He is just and righteous, that He will in fact judge the wicked according to what they deserve. He’s doing all of this in a way that we can understand so that we can trust Him and know even a little more about Him.

I’ve alluded to the answer already (and in fact Moses gave us a footnote in Genesis 13:10 that Sodom would be destroyed, so we know what’s coming), but we are left at the end of this chapter thinking, “What’s going to happen? Will God relent because of ten righteous people? What about Lot, doesn’t he live in Sodom? (Gen. 13:12) In light of the fact that Moses told us Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed, is this the time that it will be destroyed? How is God going to do this?” We’re left hanging in the air. We’ll have to see what happens tomorrow.

Genesis Chapter 17 ~ New Names & Circumcision

Genesis Chapter 17

God had a different plan than Sarai or Abram could have conceived of when they tried to take matters into their own hands in trying to fulfill God’s promise that they would have children from chapter 15 by having children through Hagar. It turns out that the continuance of the lineage of Eve’s offspring through which a messiah would come to bruise Satan’s head would not be through the line of Ishmael, but a son born to Abram through Sarai. In this chapter God is reaffirming His covenant with Abram from chapter 15.

Abram was 99 years old, and the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” (Gen. 17:1-2)

Abram was humbled and fell on his face, then God said:

“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I 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. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” (Gen. 17:4-8)

God’s covenant promise entails two things: (1) multitude of offspring and (2) the land of Canaan, which will be fulfilled (Neh. 9:7-8). Notice that along with the covenant of God that here God gives Abram a new name, Abraham. This is the first time in Scripture when God changes someone’s name in connection with a covenant. What’s going on here? Well, the Hebrew meaning of Abram is “ab” or father combined with “ram” or to be high. This spoke of Abram’s noble God, his noble ancestry, or his own highness. The Hebrew meaning of Abraham is thought to be “ab” or father combined with “raham” likely derived from “hamon” meaning crowd. This etymology would seem to be a stretch, but this is the meaning of his name as God defines it, “for I have made you a father of a multitude of nations.” (see Bruce Waltke, 259-60 and Victor Hamilton, 464). His new name marks off a new identity. Man no longer defines him, and Abraham himself is not the author of his own destiny. In essence, God is saying, “You are mine, and your life will now be defined by me...your life is now defined by the promise and commission I have given you to become the father of many nations.”

It turns out that God’s covenant with Abram wasn’t only for Abram but for his offspring as well. God continued to speak:

“As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Gen. 17:9-14)

Offerings and sacrifices of grain and animals were used in the worship of God up until this time, but not by the direct command of God (at least from what Scripture tells us up to this point). Beyond merely offering animal sacrifices as a means of worshipping God it seems that here God requires more, the very blood of men in circumcision. God made a covenant with Abram in Genesis 15, and Abram was completely passive in that covenant. However, here Abraham is being called to an active participation in the covenant through circumcision. To be in covenant with God sacrifice not only of material possessions is required, but also personal physical mutilation is required for males. Is this for the sake of cleanliness? Well, that may be an affect, but circumcision doesn’t seem to be merely a pragmatic command in order to prevent infection and disease. God’s people are to be marked off in some way. They are different. Circumcision is the outward sign of what should be an inward reality, a life consecrated to God in one’s heart, mind, and strength.

God further constitutes the covenant He is making with Abraham, and his wife. Sarai, is now to be called Sarah. Sarai and Sarah are just older and newer ways of saying princess (see Derek Kidner, 141). Then God specifically outlines His plan:

“I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” (Gen. 17:16)

What’s Abraham’s response? He falls over, but not in humility this time like in verse 3, rather he falls over in laughter questioning God’s plan. After this he asks God to use Ishmael in this way, but God said ,"No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac," which means “he laughs” almost as if God is playing off of Abraham’s (Gen. 17:17) and later Sarah’s laughter (18:12-15). God then told Abraham that he was going to further establish His covenant with Isaac (Gen. 17:19). God told Abraham that He heard him regarding Ishmael and promised that He would (1) bless Ishmael, (2) give him many descendants, (3) that 12 princes would come from him (Gen. 17:20; 25:12-18), and (4) that from Ishmael would come a great nation. It’s clear that God is choosing to bless Isaac’s line in a uniquely covenantal way, not Ishmael’s. There is promise of blessing here for Ishmael, but no covenant. Then God told Abraham Isaac would be born in the next year.

After this conversation with God Abraham took all in his household and had them circumcised the same day. So Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael was 13 years old. Circumcision from here forward became the physical sign of the covenant of God. God is determined to bless the nations through Abraham, and we see that the specific plan will be through Isaac. God chose to maintain or further establish His covenant through Isaac’s lineage and not Ishmael’s. Isaac is God’s chosen one, not Ishmael (despite what Islam teaches). This is the line through which God would bless the nations through Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:2; Luke 3:34). The one true and living God is Yahweh, who is often described as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; not, Abraham, Ishmael, and Nebaioth (Gen. 25:13). This doesn’t mean that Ishmael was not part of the sign of the covenant through Abraham’s family, but it does mean that unless Ishmael and his offspring would follow God along with Isaac’s offspring (which never happened) that they would be cut off. Isaac is elect and Ishmael is not. God is progressively revealing Himself through His covenant with His people.

Genesis Chapter 16 ~ Surrogate Pregnancy: Hagar and Ishmael

Genesis Chapter 16

Sarai had a maidservant named Hagar, and she told Abram to lay with Hagar so he could have children. Abram listened and had Hagar as a wife (vs. 3) and she conceived. As soon as Hagar conceived she looked at Sarai with contempt toward her. And Sarai blamed Abram. Abram told Sarai to deal with Hagar however she pleased, so she was harsh with her and Hagar fled.

The angel of the LORD found Hagar in the wilderness by a well (Beer-lahai-roi which means, "well of the Living One who sees me.") and told her to return to Sarai and He will surely multiply her offspring so that they cannot be numbered. The angel of the LORD told her to name her son Ishmael and that he would be a wild donkey of a man, and he will be against everyone. So Hagar bore Ishmael when Abram was 86.

Sarai and Abram appear to have good intentions here, but they are mixed with sinful actions. Marriage was set up to be between one man and one woman, and to lay with someone outside of marriage not only causes conflict between the women, but it is a false witness to the relationship God has between His people. There is only one God, no others. Therefore a marriage is with one other person, not many others. When it says, "Abram...had Hagar as a wife," it doesn't mean she was his wife, but that he behaved with her in a manner that a man should only behave with his wife. This distrust that God would fulfill his promise to give Abram children through His divine means led to sin, and then to a generation through Ishmael who caused strife and unbelief among the nations that we even feel the effects of to this day. After all, this is where Islam claims a heritage from. Islam falsely believes that Ishmael was God’s chosen line to bless the nations. This seemingly small decision has had ramifications on people throughout the history of the world, and until Jesus returns it probably will continue.

Genesis Chapter 15 ~ God's Covenant with Abram, Part 2

Genesis Chapter 15

The Word of the LORD then came to Abram in a vision that God is Abram’s shield and his reward will be great. Abram responds how this can’t be because he is childless. The Word of the LORD came again saying that Abram will have a son. God took him outside and told him his offspring will be as numerous as the stars. Abram then believed the LORD and the LORD counted/credited it to him as righteousness.

Abram asked how he was to believe that the LORD would give this promise to him. God told him to bring a heifer a female goat a ram a turtledove and a young pigeon, and Abram did. Abram cut them all in half and laid each of them against each other (he didn’t cut the birds in half).

As the sun was going down a deep sleep came upon Abram and a dreadful darkness fell upon him. God told him that Abam’s people will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs for 400 years (prophesying about being in Egypt from Joseph to Moses!). God promised judgment on the nation they will be in though. He told him his offspring would come back to Canaan in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. What does this phrase mean? Well, as I noted yesterday, the Amorites are from Noah's son Ham (Gen. 10:16), and you'll remember Canaan, Ham's son, was cursed by God through Noah's prophesying. This is a foreshadow of God's judgment that will come on the nations listed in Genesis 15:19-21. He won't drive these nations out only because He has made a promise to Abram, but also as an act of judgment on them because of their sin. This is kind of like saying God is relenting from pouring out His wrath until the time is right to show Himself in perfectly just judgment/punishment. Their morality and sin would be so terrible that it merits God's just wrath. This is a foreshadow of God's final endless punishment of those who reject Him as well. This begins setting the scene for when Joshua would lead Israel into the promised land, Canaan. This passage is the beginning of establishing that Israel's conquering of Canaan would be just, not merely senseless brutality and attack.

Then after the sun had gone down a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passed between the pieces of the animals. And on this day the LORD made a covenant with Abram saying he would give Canaan to his offspring.

This is an absolutely incredible passage. God tells Abram the future, promises Abram offspring, and makes a promise in a self-maledictory fashion that if God would ever break His covenant with Abram that what has happened to these animals should then happen to Him (see Jeremiah 34:17-22 for another example of this). This is a testimony to the fact that God is making a promise that He will not break! Similar to us God is a promise maker, but unlike us God is always a promise keeper! In fact, Jesus Christ was pierced, not because God broke His end of the covenant, but because we broke our end of the covenant. This is absolutely staggering that this God would condescend to us in such a way.

Genesis Chapter 14 ~ The Priest Melchizedek & The Introduction of the Tithe

Genesis Chapter 14

4 kings:

(1) Amraphel of Shinar
(2) Arioch of Ellasar
(3) Chedorlaomer of Elam
(4) Tidal of Goiim

made war with 5 kings:

(1) Bera of Sodom
(2) Birsha of Gomorrah
(3) Shinab of Admah
(4) Shemeber of Zeboiim
(5) Bela of Zoar

They fought in the valley of Siddim of the Salt Sea. They had served Chedorlaomer but then rebelled. So those with Chedorlaomer began defeating all of the areas including the country of the Amalekites (unknown origin) and the Amorites (from Noah's son, Ham's, lineage through Canaan).

Then the 5 kings who rebelled fought with the 4 kings in the Valley of Siddim. As the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled some fell into bitumin pits. The 4 kings then took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah including Lot. One escaped and told Abram the Hebrew (first time this word "Hebrew"appears in Scripture) and his allies. Abram led his men in pursuit of the 4 kings and they defeated them and brought back all the possessions and Lot.

The king of Sodom went out to meet Abram at the Valley of Shaveh, and Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine and he blessed Abram. There Abram gave Melchizedek a 10th of everything. The king of Sodom told Abram to take the possessions but Abram refused.

In this chapter we see the introduction of the concept of giving a tithe or a tenth (10th) of all one has to a priest of God Most High! This is the first that the name Melchizedek is mentioned in the Bible. He is a priest without description of Yahweh. He has no beginning and no end, this is the priesthood that Jesus Christ would come in the order of (Hebrews 5-7). Jesus would be the great intercessor and priest who’s priesthood has no beginning and no end, and who is able to make a way for people to come before God clothed in His righteousness.

Genesis Chapter 13 ~ Abram in Canaan & Lot in Sodom

Genesis Chapter 13

Abram moved then to the Negeb. He journeyed on to Bethel where he was before and he called upon the name of the LORD. Lot also had many resources and the land couldn’t support Abram and Lot, so they separated. Lot saw the Jordan Valley and liked what he saw, so he chose it for himself and settled in Sodom. Abram then settled in the land of Canaan.

Then God made a promise to Abram that all the land he saw would be for him and his offspring forever. Also, He promised He would make Abram’s offspring as the dust of the earth so that there would be so many that they could not be counted. Abram then settled by the oaks of Mamre which was at Hebron and there he built an altar to the LORD.

This shows that there is wisdom in separating to keep peace between kinsmen and others; but, this passage is primarily meant to show that God is making promises to Abram as the head of a people. God promises to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring. Now we know the family line, but also the geography of where God is going to play out His purposes to save a people through His only Son, Jesus Christ.

Genesis Chapter 12 ~ God's Covenant with Abram

Genesis Chapter 12

God said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 12:1-3) This is the beginning of Israel! This is the beginning of God's particular covenant with an elect people.

Abram obeyed God, and when he went he took Sarai and his nephew Lot with him and set out for Canaan (he was 75). When they arrived he passed through Shechem to the oak of Moreh and God said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” (Gen. 12:7). Here Abram built an altar to the LORD. Then he moved to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built another altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the LORD. Then he journeyed toward the Negeb.

A famine came upon the land, so he went to Egypt to sojourn there. He thought the Egyptians would kill him because Sarai was beautiful, so he told her to say she was his sister so that they’d live and it would go well with them. Sure enough they thought she was beautiful and she was taken into Pharoah’s house. Abram then became wealthy with many resources. The LORD afflicted Pharoah though with plagues because of Sarai. Somehow, because of the plagues, Pharoah knew she was Abram’s wife, so he called Abram and asked him why he did this. Pharoah then gave her back to Abram and ordered his men to send them away with all their possessions.

This is the fourth covenant we see God making so far in Scripture. It's often called the Abrahamic covenant. In this chapter we see God’s great blessing of choosing a nation through Abram, yet we see the sinfulness of Abram seeking to deceive mankind for his benefit or at least his self-preservation. It’s as if Abram is seeking to live to fulfill the promise that God made to him by himself, “Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.” (Gen. 12:12) In the process of seeking to fulfill God’s promise through his means he sins against God, his wife Sarai, and Pharoah. God is fulfilling His promise, however, to make Abram a great nation and sustains him even when his intentions are found out. Further, in the process Abram amasses resources and wealth and then is sent away with all of this. God is working even through sinful intentions to fulfill his promise to make him a great nation.

Genesis Chapters 10-11 ~ The Noah Tree

I was reading Jim Hamilton's blog earlier today, and as God's providence would have it he put this great graphic up illustrating Noah's family tree from Genesis 10 through 11. Thanks to Jim and to Jerod Harper for this great illustration to go along with what we've been meditating on about the lineage of Jesus Christ through the seed of Eve from Genesis! Check out the picture below (just click the picture to go to a website where you zoom in):

Genesis Chapter 11 ~ Terah to Abram

Genesis Chapter 11

At this time the whole earth had one language, and the people said to build a city and a tower to reach the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. God again refers to himself in the first person plural “us” (see also Gen. 1:20, 26; 3:22) and says, “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” (11:7) Then the Lord dispersed the people all over the earth. The city wasn’t finished and it was called “Babel” because the LORD confused their language there.

Shem’s descendents are then listed out. Shem (500 years); (1) Arpachshad (403 years); (2) Shelah (403 years); (3) Eber (430 years); (4) Peleg (209 years); (5) Reu (207 years); (6) Serug (200 years); (7) Nahor (119); (8) Terah (205 years).

When Terah was 70 years he fathered (1) Abram, (2) Nahor, and (3) Haran.

Then Terah’s descendents are listed out:
Terah: (1) Abram, (2) Nahor, (3) Haran

Haran: (1) Lot, (2) Milcah (daughter), (3) Iscah (probably a daughter too). [Haran died in his father’s land, Ur of the Chaldeans]
Abram: Took Sarai as his wife (she was barren).
Nahor: Took his niece Milcah as his wife.

Terah then took Abram and Sarai, and Lot and they went away from the Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But they settled in when they came to Haran.

This chapter again goes through a genealogy, but begins to settle on the next man who God would make a covenant with, Abram. Abram’s family is the generation that God will again make his glory visible by further extending His promise that through the seed of Eve the head of the serpent, Satan, will be crushed (Gen. 3:15).