Posts Tagged ‘Genesis 6’

Genesis Chapter 16 and 17

March 7th, 2011

Welcome back to bible study, I hope you have enjoyed the previous posts on Genesis. Remember that you can leave a comment with questions after this post in the comment section. Or if you feel what I have said is not right or I have left something out, we can discuss it in the comment section.

Chapter 16:

Genesis 16:1-5 tells us that Sarai, Abram’s wife had not born him any children. So, Sarai gave Abram her maidservant who was an Egyptian named Hagar, so that Hagar could get pregnant and then Sarai would just lay claim to the children – as her own. Abram agreed to do as his wife Sarai said. Sarai and Abram only did this because they had waited 10 years for what God had promised, but it had not been fulfilled yet.

Abram was about 85 years old and Sarai was about 75 years old at this time. Hagar, ended up pregnant by Abram.  When Hagar learned she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress. This possibly was because Hagar was Egyptian and the practice of baring children for your master was not an Egyptian practice? Or it could have been that Hagar was a young woman and of course Abram was an old man? It does not say how old Hagar was at this time. Hagar was abusive toward Sarai belittling her and hating Sarai for doing what was accepted in those days – using a surrogate mother.

Then Saraia got upset with Abram and said it was his fault for the reason she could not have children. She told Abram it was his fault that she was suffering the abuse from her maidservant, Hagar.

Genesis 16:6-12 says that Sarai and Abram were having a “fight” over using Hagar as a surrogate mother and Abram told Sarai that Hagar was her problem not his. Sarai became abusive toward Hagar, and she ran away, and was sitting by a spring in the dessert on the road to Shur.

An angel of God found her sitting there and said, “Hagar, maid of Sarai, what are you doing here?” And Hagar answered, “I’m running away from Sarai my mistress.” The angel of God said, “Go back to your mistress. Put up with her abuse.” He continued, “I’m going to give you a big family, children past counting, you’ll get a son: Name him Ishmael;  for God heard you, God answered you. He’ll be a bucking bronco of a man,  a real fighter, fighting and being fought, Always stirring up trouble,  always at odds with his family.”

Genesis 16:13-16 She answered God by name, praying to the God who spoke to her, “You’re the God who sees me! “Yes! He saw me; and then I saw him!” That’s how that desert spring got named “God-Alive-Sees-Me Spring.” That spring is still there, between Kadesh and Bered. Hagar gave Abram a son.  Abram named him Ishmael.  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave him his son, Ishmael.

Chapter 17:

Genesis 17:1-8 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, “I am The Almighty God,  live entirely before me, live life blameless and to the fullest! I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll give you a huge family.” Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face. Then God said to Abram,

“This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the father of many nations.’ I’ll make you a father of fathers – I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I’m giving you and your descendants this land where you’re just a stranger, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I’ll be their God.”

Genesis 17:9-14 And God continued telling Abraham, “You will honor my covenant, you and your descendants, generation after generation. This is the covenant that you are to honor, the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.”

God continued on, “Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old, generation after generation – this also includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are not blood kin.  Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone brought in from the outside.”

“That way my covenant will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my permanent covenant. An uncircumcised male, will be cut off from his people – he has broken my covenant.”

Genesis 17:15-19 God continued telling Abraham, And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her – yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.”

Abraham fell to the ground and then he laughed, thinking, “Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, can she have a baby? Abraham said to God, “Oh, keep Ishmael alive and well before you!”

God said, “That’s not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac, I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

Genesis 17:20-27 “Now what about Ishmael,” God said?  “Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I’ll also bless him; I’ll make sure he has plenty of children – a huge family. He’ll father twelve princes; I’ll make him a great nation. But I’ll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year.” After this God was done talking and left.

Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether house-born or purchased – every male in his household – and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him. That was really shows a lot of control and power over these people – for Abraham to be able to just go and say come on, every male will be circumcised today – and it happened.

Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised.  His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised.  Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day together – with all the other male members of Abraham’s household.

I hope you have enjoyed this bible study, and remember you can always comment on this if you feel I have not explained it well, or if you want to add to it. Stay tuned and God Bless!

 

 

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Genesis Chapter Twelve and Thirteen

February 21st, 2011

Welcome back to bible study, I hope you have enjoyed the previous posts on Genesis.

Remember that you can leave a comment with questions after this post in the comment section.

Or if you feel what I have said is not right or I have left something out, we can discuss it in the comment section.

Genesis Chapter 12

Genesis 12:1-3 We learn in these first verses the promises that God made to Abram. God tells Abram to leave the place that he was living, to leave his father’s house, and go to a place that God is going to show him to go to. God promises to Abram that he will make him a great nation, and God is going to bless him, and make his name great. God also promises to bless the one’s that bless Abram, and to curse the one’s that curse Abram. God also promised Abram that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him, the Jewish people who are descended from Abram.

Genesis 12:4-6 We learn that Abram was motivated by God’s promises to leave, so he took Sarai and his brother’s son Lot went with them. Abram was 75 years old at this time, and it was a fairly young age but it was significant as we will see, this testifies to God’s mighty works in Abram’s life in his advanced age later on. Abram took Sarai and Lot and all their possessions they had gathered in Haran and headed for the land of Canaan – this is the first time in the Bible that Canaan is mentioned – Canaan is a geographical stage for God’s acts of salvation – and was populated with people whom were involved in gross idolatry. But God had promised this land to Abram and Sarai.

We learn that Abram was passing through this land to reach his destination of Shechem, this ancient site was in the center of the land and later we will learn that under Joshua’s leadership the people would commemorate the Lord’s covenant there Joshua 24:1. They went as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. A terebinth or ancient oak tree would serve as a lasting marker for future generations to observe.

Genesis 12:7-9 We learn that God appeared unto Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” Abram then built an alter to God, and moved on to the mountain east of Bethel. He called on the name of the Lord: And this was not a private prayer, but a public proclamation. Abram was evangelizing – telling others about the Lord. God had commanded him to be a blessing to the nations and he was doing it. But still the Canaanites were here too, so Abram continued south until he found room enough for his flocks and herds.

Genesis 12:10-13 We learn that sometime after Abram arrived at Canaan a famine struck and he moved again, this time into Egypt. Before they arrived in Egypt Abram talked with his wife (whom was his half sister) that she should say that he was her brother and he should say that she was his sister. He told her that if they knew that she was his wife that they would kill him and take her, but if they told she was just a sister then they would spare his life and still take her from him.

Genesis 12:14-16 We learn that the Egyptians did take notice to Sarai, and that the princes of Pharaoh commended her to Pharaoh and she was taken from Abram to Pharaoh’s house. He gave Abram sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male and female servants, female donkeys, and camels for Sarai and Abram accepted this. This made Abram to be about as much a low-life as one could be.

Genesis 12:17-20 We learn that God made good on one of the promises to Abram, here is the first example of the cursing and blessing element of God’s promise to Abram. God plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. John our minister suggest here that Pharaoh found out that Sarai was really Abram’s wife from one of Abram’s servants. Because Pharaoh called out to Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?” Why did you tell me she was your sister? I might have taken her for a wife. Pharaoh told Abram to take his wife and all of their possessions and leave his land.

Genesis Chapter 13

Genesis 13:1-4 We learn that Abram left Egypt with his wife and all that he had and Lot and all that he had also, and traveled south. They ended up back at the same place as before, where Abram had built an alter and called upon the God.

Genesis 13:5-11 Lot shared in his uncle Abram’s prosperity to some degree. He too had flocks and herds and tents. Now there was not room for all of them together. The crowding of range lands led to disputes and strife between their herdsmen. The Canaanites and the Perizzites both dwelt here as well – there was not enough food and water for all the herds and flocks, someone would have to move on. So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.”

So Lot looked around and he decided to head for the plains of Jordan as it was well watered and had a lot of food sources. This of course was all before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot headed east, and they left each other.

Genesis 13:12-18 We learn that Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot settled in the city of Sodom. This place that Lot called home – Sodom – was exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD. The Lord reaffirmed the promise to Abram after his lack of faith in Egypt and his separation from Lot. None of the land was outside the promise. Abram’s descendants or seed (s) of Abram. At times this term refers to many descendants and at other times to a unique individual, the Coming One.

Abram’s walk in the land is a symbolic act of taking possession. Abram himself would not take possession of the land however his descendants would later on. So Abram moved and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which was in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD.

I hope you have enjoyed this bible study, and remember you can always comment on this if you feel I have not explained it well, or if you want to add to it. Stay tuned and God Bless!

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Genesis Chapter Six and Seven

January 25th, 2011

Welcome back to bible study, I hope you have enjoyed the previous posts on Genesis. Remember you can leave a comment with questions, or if you feel what I have said is not right or I have left something out, we can discuss it in the comment section.

Genesis 6:1-7 Chapter 6 starts off by telling us that when the human race was beginning that men were having more and more daughters and they grew to become beautiful women. The sons of God which were fallen angles from heaven and had fallen with Satan, saw that these women were beautiful, and they looked them over and took them as wives.

God saw what was happening and he said, “My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” If man was so full of sin then he wasn’t going to allow them to live but 120 years. This was in the days of the giants which were the children of the sons of god, and daughters of man. God could see that there was much evil and wickedness throughout the land, he could see every thought was evil and it was getting worse instead of getting better.

This grieved God, that all this sin was happening, and that no one was following in his foot steps and living like God had intended the human race to live like. God said that he would just destroy it all and start again, wiping the slate clean of all man kind and animals and trees all things living.

Genesis 6:8-13 But God saw Noah and he liked him, he could see the good within Noah. Was Noah perfect? No, we later find out he got drunk. But, Noah was perfect in his generation, unlike the others on the earth. But God still saw the good within Noah, and he walked with God, and Noah had three sons; Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

Genesis 6:14-22 But God was going to spare Noah and his son’s and their wives life if they would build a ark. God told Noah to build it from “gopher” wood which ironically is only mentioned one time in the bible. No one knows exactly what “gopher” wood is, but many speculate it was cypress – but there is no evidence to back this up. The Bible doesn’t provide us any information on where Noah lived at the time of the flood, so there is really no way to be certain what type of wood “gopher” was.

God told Noah to build the ark three hundred cubits long, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits or 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. God told him to cover it with pitch or resin inside and out. He also told Noah to put a roof on it put in a window a cubit from the top; put in a door on the side of the ark; and make three decks, lower, middle, and upper.

God told Noah again he was going to bring a flood to destroy all living things in the earth and start over, and he wanted the ark filled with Noah and his family, and You are also to take two of each living creature, a male and a female, on board the ship, to preserve their lives with you: two of every species of bird, mammal, and reptile – two of everything so as to preserve their lives along with yours. Also get all the food you’ll need and store it up for you and them. Noah obeyed God and did everything just as God had told him to do.

Genesis 7:1-5 starts off telling us that God told Noah to build the ark and to put his family and the animals in the ark, because the flood was coming. God intended to destroy every living thing on the world because of all the sin that had been in the world. One thing I forgot to mention in the previous chapter was how old was the earth when God decided to destroy it? The earth was about 1500 to 2000 years old, so you can imagine how much of a population there was on the earth.

Genesis 7:6-12 Noah was 600 years old when this was all taking place. Him and his wife and children and their wives and all the animals went into the ark, because God told him that in seven days the flood waters were coming, and this would be the only way they could survive the flood. When the rain started, I’m sure it was like nothing we have ever seen as far as rain storms occur. This would be the storm of all storms we have witnessed. The ground even broke open and water gushed from below and above, so I’m sure that it happened this way so no one except for who was on the ark was going to survive. God made it rain for 40 days and 40 nights like this non-stop so we cannot even imagine how much water there was, it covered everything.

Genesis 7:13-20 Tells us that Noah did as God commanded him to do, and then the Lord shut and sealed the door of the ark, and for 40 days and nights it rained and then the flood waters raised, and the ark was lifted above the waters and it continued to rise and the ark stayed afloat. The waters covered everything including the highest mountains by at least 20 feet.

Genesis 7:21-24 The flood destroyed all living things that were not on the ark, every animal, every plant and tree, and every man and woman and child that was upon the earth because of all the corruption and sin. Noah and his family and the animals that were on the ark were the only survivors of this flood. Speaking of which – how many animals were on the ark? A lot of people/scientist who believe in evolution say there is no way that Noah could have gotten two of every animal on the ark when there is over 1 million species of animals in the world.

But see the Bible doesn’t say whether these were adult animals or young animals. Remember we only have just a handful of “large” animals. Plus the fact that there is 21,000 species of fish and the 1,700 tunicates (marine chordates like sea squirts) found throughout the seas of the world, or the 600 echinoderms including star fish and sea urchins, or the 107,000 mollusks such as mussels, clams and oysters, or the 10,000 coelenterates like corals and sea anemones, jelly fish and hydroids or the 5,000 species of sponges, or the 30,000 protozoans, the microscopic single-celled creatures that are included in the 1 million number. These would not have been on the ark as they could live in the water.

As few as 2,000 animals may have only been on the ark, and that would have only covered about 35% of the ark’s total volume. So I’m sure there was plenty of room for everything else. So for all you skeptics out there think about those numbers for a while. Anyway the flood waters remained on the earth for 150 days. I hope you have enjoyed this bible study, and remember you can always comment on this if you feel I have not explained it well, or if you want to add to it. Stay tuned and God Bless!

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Genesis Chapter Two

January 17th, 2011

Welcome back to bible study, I hope you enjoyed the previous post on Genesis Chapter One.

Now we will move on to Genesis chapter two, so bear with me as I try to explain in my own words what the chapters talk about.

I also would like to encourage you to comment if you feel I have explained something wrong or inaccurate. I promise you I am not perfect – only God perfect.

Genesis 2:1-4 explains to us that God has finished both the heavens and the earth and all the host of them. So that means God also was finished creating man, animals, marine life, birds, and all the plants, grass, and fruit yielding trees. It also tells us that God rested on the seventh day and that he blessed it which in-turn means the Sabbath Day or Saturday.

But most Christians take Sunday as the day to gather together in church and give praises to Jesus Christ and God – but God blessed Saturday or the Sabbath Day. So why don’t we go to church on Saturday? I want to add here that in bible study at church we discussed this and have come with the conclusion that after Jesus Christ came along and died on the cross for all of our sins on “Good Friday” and then arose from the dead three days later (counting good Friday) which would be on Sunday.

While Jesus was here on earth teaching the Pharisees accused Him of breaking the Sabbath on several occasions Matthew 12:2 there are other scriptures. Matthew 12:11 explains to us that things changed after Jesus came along and that it was okay to “work” on the Sabbath day. Times change and we as Christians must change with the times, the bible tells us that God worked six days and rested on the seventh. So we as Christians work six and we rest and keep the seventh day holy. But that we also do it on Sunday as this was day that Jesus arose from the dead.

Genesis 2:5-6 tells us that God had made sure that all the plants and trees had grown because of God because he had not allowed it to rain upon the earth, yet. And also there was not a man on the earth yet to till the ground. So God made a mist of water fall upon the earth to water all the plants and trees so they grow.

Genesis 2:7-9 tells us that God formed man out of the earth (dust) and breathed through his nose the breath of life. And man became a living thing. It also tells us of the garden of Edan which was planted eastward. Can you imagine how this garden must have looked? If God created it I bet it was the most beautiful garden ever made. God put man in the garden of Edan and out the ground God made the garden grow every tree that was pleasant to look at and had good fruit to eat for man. God also put the tree of life in the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:10-14 tells of how God had a river that ran through the garden of Edan so that it may water the garden to allow it to keep growing. And the great river parted into four different rivers. The name of the first river was Pison and that it flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there was gold of that land and is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. Sounded like it was rich with gold and bdellium (a nice smelling gum) and jewels. The name of the second river is Gihon, and it surround the land of Ethiopia. The third river was named Hiddekel and it flowed east of Assyria. And the name of the fourth river was Euphrates.

Genesis 2:15-17 tells us that God placed man in the garden so that he may take care of it. God told man that he could eat from every tree in the garden except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil because if he eat from the tree of knowledge that he would die. Now with that said how could man die physically when he was just created? I don’t believe God meant that he would die a physical death at this point, but that he would die a spiritual death.

Genesis 2:18-25 tells us that God had made every living animal and bird on earth and God allowed Adam to give them all names, and whatever Adam named them that was what we called them. God also saw that man needed some help with the garden and that he needed a companion. So God caused a deep sleep to come over Adam and he removed a rib from Adam and then healed the cut and formed Adams companion and brought the companion to Adam. And Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

These scriptures tell us this why we should leave our parents to be with our companions and that we should become as one flesh – or in other words know each other exactly, and act as if it were just one person. We also learn that because Adam and Eve had not yet eaten from the tree of knowledge that they were both naked and were not ashamed because they didn’t know the difference between right and wrong yet.

I hope that you have enjoyed this bible study and that you might want to share it with someone else. Also if you have any comments you may do so, if you feel I have left something out or that I have not explained something right please don’t hesitate to tell me. Thanks and God Bless!

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Genesis Chapter One

January 17th, 2011

Welcome, I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.

I figured it would just be as simple to start off with the first book of the bible to study. I’m going to try and do a few verses at a time.

Sometimes it makes it a little more easy to understand when doing it this way.

Genesis 1:1-5 It tells us right off the bat that God is the creator of the heavens and of the earth. Some people disagree with this very statement but I have no real proof to back it up either – at least we as Christians have proof and faith. The second verse tells us that the earth was without shape or void. The dictionary meaning of void is – an empty space; emptiness – so the earth was without shape and it was also empty. This verse also explains to us that it was dark and all water.

The third verse tells us that God commanded that there be light – and it happened. Everything that God does he made sure that it was good – he saw to it that it was good. The fourth verse goes on to tell us that God divided the light from the darkness. Verse five tells us that God named the light day, and the darkness night. And through the evening and into the morning was the first day.

What is not explained is the time, how long was God’s day? I read not too long ago a website that listed 26,000 years was equivalent to one of God’s days. I don’t believe that at all – and BTW I have never heard that one before either. I believe that God’s days were much the same as ours are – I think it was evening to evening as ours is morning to evening – anyway it is very similar to what we have today.

Genesis 1:6-8 verse six tells us that on the second day God expanded the heavens from the water and called it a firmament and let it divide the water from the water. God called the firmament Heaven.

Genesis 1:9-13 on the third day God made the dry land appear and allowed the waters to gather together and called them seas and as before God always saw that it was good. Sounds like he was a perfectionist – like any good carpenter measures once and then measures twice to make sure of his first measurement. After God made the dry land appear he also called on to the Earth to produce grass and fruit yielding trees that had the seeds within themselves – so they would continue to grow as always he made it good.

Genesis 1:14-19 on the fourth day God created lights in the heavens so that we could tell the difference in day and night and for us to be able to tell the different seasons – for days, and for years. God knew before hand that we would need to be able to tell time, and dates, and months and years God is such an amazing God! Then God went on and created two stars a big one to rule over the day and a smaller one to rule over the night – in other words he created the sun and the moon. He then took the two stars and placed them into the heavens in order to give light onto the earth – so that the grass and the trees could grow.

Genesis 1:20-23 on the fifth day God created the marine life and the birds and of course the fish went into the seas and the birds he allowed to fly above the earth and in the heavens. God created great whales to live in the seas and the birds in the air and allowed them to multiply by blessing them and of course he made sure they were good.

Genesis 1:24-31 on the sixth day God created every living creature, cows and creeping things, and beast. And then God created man and gave him dominion over all animals God created man and female in his own image – like God himself. God blessed all the animals and man and female and told them to multiply and replenish the earth.

That is an interesting word – replenish. The definition is to fill or build up, again. Again? Here is a thought, maybe this old world is a lot older than we think. It may have been used before by God and he just destroyed it before our time-line.

Could that explain the dinosaurs? I don’t recall ever reading about dinosaurs in the bible – this could explain why. I truly believe that God doesn’t want us to know all the answers before we meet with him in Heaven. It is kind of like our incentive to know that all things will be answered once we get to meet God and Jesus Christ in Heaven.

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