Chapter 17 is a very cool chapter to me. Yes, it is also a painful chapter to read as it talks about circumcision, but that's beside the point. The part that is very cool to me is the name changes that take place in this chapter. God changes Abram's name to Abraham and changes Sarai's name to Sarah. Just that might not be that exciting or cool. But the reasoning behind it is very cool. You see, this is not the only time we are going to see God changing someone's name throughout our reading over the next 3 months. In fact, in the next couple of days we are going to see at least one more name change, but I'll mention that when we get there. The reason I think the name changes make this chapter cool is because of what the name changes mean or signify. When God changes the name of someone or something in the Bible, it never fails that He does something great with that person's life. God changes names because God changes people. Let's briefly look at Abraham and Sarah. They are the parents of an entire nation! I would say that is something great! They also become parents and the young age of (Abraham) over 100 and (Sarah) over 90. I would say God had something great planned for them in their lives.
Chapters 18 and 19 are really exciting as well. Abraham meets 3 visitors, one of which turns out to be God and the other two turn out to be angels of God. He gets to meet these three "people" face to face. Wow! That would be really cool and really scary at the same time. We also see Abraham pleading to God for the salvation of an evil city for the sake of 10 people. This really shows Abraham's heart for people as well as for his relative Lot, who is living in Sodom. God agrees to spare Sodom if there are only 10 righteous people found in the city. When the angels of God arrive in Sodom, it is clear that there are not 10 righteous to be found. The men of the city basically try to rape the "men" (angels) that have just come into the city. Lot and his family are spared, at least those who are smart enough to listen. His daughters future husbands don't believe Lot and Lot's wife looks back, probably longing after the city, and turns into a pillar of salt. That leaves only Lot and his two daughters that make it completely out of Sodom and Gomorrah alive. You would think this would be because they are righteous people, but then we read that Lot's daughters are so desperate to have children and keep the family going, that twice they get their father drunk and each become pregnant by him. Whoever said the Bible was dull?
Something I didn't point out yesterday was Abraham saying that Sarah was his sister in Egypt instead of his wife. Well he does that again in chapter 20. Does he not learn? Well I can't really say much. I can't tell you how many times it has taken me multiple times of making the same mistake before I finally learned. This must be a family problem because Isaac makes the same mistake with the same king later on in today's reading.
Chapter 22 is another exciting and hard to comprehend chapter. There is also a lot of "foreshadowing" in this chapter. If you don't understand foreshadowing, ask and I will explain it to you. Abraham is called to sacrifice his one and only son to God. What sticks out to me greatly in this story is Abraham's answer to Isaac's question about where the offering was. Verse 8 reads, "Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son.' and the two of them went on together". That had to be so hard to say for Abraham. Here he was, getting ready to sacrifice his own son, and he tells Isaac that God will provide. Wow! And you know what, God provided!
In chapter 24, I have a feeling that some of you will be confused by the "put your hand under my thigh" comment from Abraham in verse 2. That is simply one of the ways they made oaths during this time period.
Isaac marries a relative (which was normal back then) and Rebekah gives him twin boys. Esau was the first born and Jacob came out right after Esau. This would mean that Esau should get the birthright and the blessing from his father. Both are taking away from him by his brother Jacob and this causes a lot of family stress (we will see that even more in tomorrow's reading). God tells Isaac and Rebekah that their twins will become two nations and that the older will serve the younger.
The last thing I really want to point out from today's reading is what Esau did to get back at his father for giving away his birthright and his blessing. He knew that Isaac did not approve of his sons marrying Canaanite women, so he goes to Ishmael, his father's brother, who was a Canaanite, and marries one of his relatives. That is spiteful, but I guess when your brother ruins your chance at getting a blessing, that is a logical response.
What stuck out to you?
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