Monday Reading Notes –– Genesis 23:1 – 24:66 (January 15)
Genesis 23 – It is interesting to note that though Abraham was rich, he was still a nomad, with no land to call his own. The only property he ever purchased in Canaan was for a tomb for his wife. Rather than go back to their homeland for burial, he desired for Sarah to be buried in the land that God had promised him and his descendents, no doubt understanding that this same property might be used for many of his descendants for years to come.
Hittites – The Hittites were one of the people groups who were occupying Canaan when the children of Israel came there from Egypt some 700 years later. The best known Hittite was Uriah, one of King David’s 30 mightiest soldiers. It was his wife Bathsheba who caught David’s eye. After they committed adultery together, David had Uriah killed in battle so he could take Bathsheba as his own wife. The Hittites in Abraham’s time seemed to be of noble character, and Uriah turned out to be more noble, in that instance, than the otherwise godly King David.
Genesis 24 – This longest chapter of Genesis has been seen as symbolic of the marriage of Christ and his bride, the church. Isaac, the child of the promise, must have a wife suitable for the important work of continuing to build a God-fearing nation that would lead eventually to the Christ. Abraham’s servant was to go and prayerfully seek this wife of special qualities. She must be a believer in Yahweh, the true God (when you see “the Lord” in small capital letters, it is a translation of the divine name of God, Yahweh). For that, this servant would have to go out of the land of Canaan and back to Abraham’s own family. She must be willing to accompany this servant back to Canaan to marry a man she had never met. It would truly be a faith journey. Likewise, we in the church are called by faith to give ourselves wholly to Jesus Christ, and be willing to follow him wherever He would lead.
Genesis 24:2 –“Put your hand under my thigh…” This was a way of taking a most solemn oath. The only other time it is mentioned is in Genesis 47:29 when Jacob asked Joseph to make sure he would not be buried in Egypt, but Canaan. “Under the thigh” is most likely a euphemism for placing the hand next to the reproductive organs. That is the place God chose, through circumcision, to be a sign of his solemn and continuing covenant with Abraham. It was a sign between Abraham and his servant of a binding and solemn oath. Why would Abraham send his servant on this important mission? Abraham was 140 years old, too old to make the 500 mile trip himself. Abraham did not want Isaac to go either. Canaan was Isaac’s home – Abraham didn’t want there to be any reason for Isaac to think of living elsewhere.
Genesis 24:12-15 – It looks as if Abraham chose this servant well. He begins his task with prayer, and before he had finished praying, God answers his prayer. How many clear answers to prayer would we receive if we began every task in prayer in this way?
Genesis 24:33 – Abraham’s servant was so focused on his mission, it even came before eating.
Genesis 24:34-51 – The servant gave witness to how God had worked in this situation, and Rebekah’s brother and father were completely convinced that Rebekah was to become Isaac’s wife. There’s a good lesson here for those of us who have seen God at work in our own lives to tell of that to others.
Genesis 24:56 – It seems a little uncaring of Abraham’s servant to demand that Rebekah return with him to Canaan immediately. Doubtless he was anxious to go back and report his success to Abraham. It also draws a parallel to the call of God on someone’s life. When that call comes, there isn’t room to sit around and wait to act. God’s call is always a call to immediate action, because God’s timing is always right. Rebekah, the truly God-fearing woman Abraham was seeking for Isaac, had the faith to understand that. She was willing to go (v. 58).
Genesis 24:62-67 – Many comparisons can be made between the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the life of Christ. Henry Morris, in his book “The Genesis Record” compares the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah to Christ and the church.
“Isaac is, as we have seen, a type of Christ, awaiting the union with His bride when she comes to Him, and in the meantime preparing a place for here (John 14:3) as she approaches. Rebekah represents the Church, the chaste Bride (2 Corinthians 11:2), who is preparing to meet her heavenly Bridegroom (John 3:29; Romans 7:4). There are various ways in which Rebekah foreshadows the Christian believer. For example: (1) her marriage was planned long before she knew about it (Ephesians 1:3-4); (2) she was necessary for the accomplishment and completion of God’s purpose (Ephesians 1:23); (3) she was to share the glory of the son (John 17:22, 23); (4) she learned of the son through his emissary and her comforter; (5) she immediately left all, to go to the son, loving him before she saw him, and rejoicing with unspeakable joy (1 Peter 1:8); (6) she journeyed through the wilderness to meet him, guided by the servant (1 Peter 1:3-9); (7) she was loved by, and finally united forever to, the son (Ephesians 5:26, 27; Revelation 19:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:17).” (The Genesis Record, Henry M. Morris, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1976. p. 405.)
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Tuesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 25:1 – 26:35 (January 16)
Genesis 25:1-6 – It is troubling for many people that Abraham, this godly man, could have had multiple wives, as verse six explicitly mentions sons Abraham had with “his concubines.” It is unlikely that Abraham took Keturah as a wife until Sarah died because (1) it is not mentioned until after Sarah’s death, and (2) Abraham was hesitant even to have sexual relations with Hagar to give birth to Ishmael. This statement about sending the sons of his concubines (plural) away I think is most likely a summary statement referring to the son of Hagar and the sons of Keturah. The root word for “concubine” comes from the Hebrew word “divide,” so it is possible the word was also used as a general term for any time a person’s attention was “divided” among multiple partners, even if a second marriage took place after the death of his first wife. It might also be a word to show that Keturah was not on equal footing with Sarah in terms of importance to Abraham, or in terms of her role in the plan of God’s people.
Genesis 25:13 – Abraham is the father of many, as his name says. His son Ishmael was also blessed with many descendents, as his twelve sons indicate. True to the promise made about him, that he would be “a wild donkey of a man,” his descendants lived “in hostility to all his brothers.”
Genesis 25:21 – A barren wife and a miraculous birth seems to be an ongoing theme in Abraham’s family. Perhaps it was a continual reminder that God was the one who made the promise of descendants, and it would be up to him to keep it.
Genesis 25:22 – Rebekah “went to inquire of the Lord” regarding what was happening in her womb. How this was done is not known. Was it simply her prayer? Did she go to the local prophet (remember Melchizedek in Genesis 14:8 – a type of priest-king type person). Later, beginning in the book of Exodus, we’re told about a way of casting lots that was sanctioned by the Lord to determine his will. Here, however, there is a specifically worded prophecy about her children, probably given to her by an unnamed prophet. (The prophecy in verse 23 came true in the later nations of Israel, named after Jacob whose name was later changed to Israel, and Edom, named after Esau who was also called by that name, Edom.)
Genesis 25:34 – This comment by the author of Genesis makes pronounces a certain degree of judgment on Esau for his lack of concern about his birthright – the right of the firstborn to inherit the property and family name, and presumably also the messianic line, though that was not always the case. Though what Rebekah and Jacob would do in the next chapter – taking Isaac’s blessing by deception – was not the right way to go about it, the book on Esau is that he was not deserving of the blessing.
Genesis 26:1 – During Isaac’s time, the king of the Philistines is also named Abimelech. Either it is the same man as in Abraham’s time (younger than Abraham, but older than Isaac), or Abimelech was an assumed name of royalty in the land.
Genesis 26:7 – Isaac has the same difficulty trusting God as his father Abraham did on two earlier occasions, pretending Rebekah was his sister, as Abraham did with Sarah. Although, as I been pointed out in those instances, there must have been a reason for that fear. Killing a foreigner for his wife must have been commonplace to the Philistines.
Genesis 26:10-11 – When Abimelech learned the truth, he reacted strongly, possibly due to a frightening experience that happened in connection with the Abraham incident (see Genesis 20:3).
Genesis 26:12-16 – Isaac’s experience with the Philistines is a metaphor of Christian witnessing. The Philistines noticed how Isaac was blessed, but rather than ask him why and learn from him, they sent him away. Many unbelievers will look at believers and be curious about the comfort and faith they have, but won’t be willing to look into the source.
Genesis 26:19-22 – It says a lot about Isaac’s character that he chose not to fight over the wells. If he had grown so powerful that the Philistines were afraid of him, it stands to reason that he could have taken the wells by force, but that was not his way. He was a man of peace.
Genesis 26:34 – Unlike the arranged marriage with a godly woman for Isaac (see chapter 24), Esau went out and married who he chose – two women, as a matter of fact – a further indication of Esau’s character flaws.
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Wednesday Reading Notes –– Genesis 27:1 – 28:22 (January 17)
Genesis 27 – Many questions on Jacob’s deception. Why did Isaac not catch on when: he heard his voice; tasted domestic meat rather than wild meat; remarked about how brief a time it had been to hunt down game? Two thoughts – Isaac was not a guileful man, preferring to keep peace rather than get what my have been rightfully his (26:19-21). He would not have been expecting deception. That, combined with the senses of an aged man (known all too well to his wife – see verse 15-17), allowed the deception to be successful. Rebekah probably thought she was acting in line with God’s will prophesied before Jacob and Esau’s birth (25:23), but she should not have deceived her husband to accomplish it. Yet, God used their human frailty and poor choices to do His will.
Genesis 28 – Isaac sent Jacob back to his relatives to get a wife, as his father had done for him. As it turned out, Jacob’s wives, Leah and Rachel, were his cousins on his mother’s side, and his second cousins on his father’s side. This intermarriage was possible in those days, because human genetics had not yet been “watered down” to the point where close relations could no longer safely marry, as is the case today. (See notes on Genesis 4-11 for a more thorough treatment of this topic.) Esau, seeing that his Canaanite wives displeased his parents, tried to make matters better by taking a third wife (his cousin on Ishmael’s side), but polygamy was not God’s will either. On his way to his relatives in Aram (northeast of Canaan – in the region of the Syria-Iraq border), Jacob received his famous “Jacob’s Ladder” vision from God, assuring him of God’s presence. Jacob named that place Bethel, which means “House of God.” Previously (12:8 and 13:3), a place named Bethel is spoken of twice. This could be a different Bethel, or the same place. Since a later editor (like Moses as tradition tells us) would have been compiling previous writings, he may have referred to places by their common names even before that naming had taken place. This happens pretty regularly in the Old Testament.
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Thursday Reading Notes –– Genesis 29:1 – 30:43 (January 18)
Genesis 29 – Jacob apparently knew something about shepherding sheep (v. 7), having done it for his father. It is unknown why the shepherds gathered at the well were waiting to water their sheep. The stone may have been in place to prevent other unauthorized people from using the water, or to prevent evaporation. Whatever the case, they were either unable or too lazy to move the stone, which Jacob did by himself when he saw his cousin Rachel. What is meant by Leah’s “weak” eyes (v. 17)? There is no indication elsewhere that eyesight was a problem for her. It may simply be that her eyes were not dark and beautiful like Rachel’s, and she was not as attractive. Therefore, it seems Laban had had trouble marrying them off, since both girls were of marrying age (at least as of 7 years later.) How could Laban pull of the deception of substituting Leah for Rachel? Who knows, but he did. She would have been wearing a veil for the wedding. It is unlikely she would have spoken much. And being Rachel’s sister, their body shape may have been similar. The marriage night chambers would also have been dark, so Jacob did not discover the deception until the morning. Laban was a shrewd and deceitful man, seeing a way to get cheap labor from Jacob (who must have been a good worker – as Laban had approached him for hire in v. 15) and marrying off both of his daughters, the oldest first. Jacob, in a sense, was forced into polygamy as his only option. To marry Leah but not Rachel would have been heartbreaking for him. He could not have divorced Leah, because Laban then would not have given him Rachel, and he probably didn’t want Leah to be disgraced either. It was a bad situation that God used for good, as will be discussed in the next chapter.
Genesis 30 – The trials of a polygamous household quickly commenced. Leah quickly had four children, but Rachel had none. Common sense tells us that Jacob probably spent more time in Rachel’s bed than Leah’s, yet Leah was blessed by God with children. Since she was not loved by her husband (it’s hard to blame Jacob), God gave her children to love. Rachel’s jealousy prompted her to give Jacob her maidservant. Leah countered with her maidservant, since she had stopped having children. So now Jacob has 8 sons – 4 with Leah, 2 with Rachel’s servant and 2 with Leah’s servant. Later, young Reuben, maybe 8-10 at the time, found some mandrake plants he brought home to his mother. The mandrake was prized as a fertility plant and aphrodisiac. Rachel wanted it to help her have children, so she agreed to let Jacob spend the night with Leah, which had apparently become rare. The words Leah used when she told Jacob the arrangements that had been made for him were, “I have hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” Such were the struggles of a polygamous household. Leah then had 2 more sons and a daughter. Rachel finally had a son of her own. In a later chapter, Rachel had one more son. So Jacob’s 12 sons, the later 12 tribes of Israel, came from 4 different women. Though this polygamous arrangement was far from ideal, through it God grew up for himself a strong and vital nation. The genetic diversity of these 4 women helped a more healthy and genetically varied nation continue as the Israelites intermarried with each other over the years.
The next part of chapter 30 is difficult to understand, and commentators are in disagreement. Some see it as Jacob cheating Laban; that he has this ace up his sleeve all along of a supernatural way to get sheep and cattle to produce speckled or spotted offspring. It doesn’t, however, seem as if there is any intent to cheat Laban on Jacob’s part. The plants he used (in verse 37) are known to contain chemicals that can affect fertility, but merely looking at them will not cause sheep to have certain colored offspring. The most likely explanation is that Jacob used this breeding technique (the ancients had a lot of tricks that have been lost to us today) to make the whole flock more hearty and healthy, and God stepped in to see to it that Jacob was blessed and Laban got what he deserved for continually cheating Jacob. Of course it is possible that Jacob knowingly planned this way of transferring Laban’s wealth in sheep and livestock to himself. Technically speaking, he was honest with Laban. It might have seemed like the only way he could extract any kind of fair pay from this man who had “changed his wages ten times (31:7)” over the years.
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Friday Reading Notes –– Genesis 31:1 – 33:20 (January 19)
Genesis 31 – When Jacob decided to leave Laban and return home (having been told by the Lord it was time to go), he found his wives to be willing participants. They, too, were apparently fed up at their father’s dishonesty, and felt disowned by him (v. 14-15). When they left, Rachel stole idols from her father’s house, probably to spite him and to bring them good fortune in the future. It is clear that Rachel was not yet free of the pagan background of her family. They worshipped the Lord, but many ancient people’s also carried on worship of other gods to cover all the bases.
Verse 49 has grown famous as a passage for a shared necklace or friendship bracelet. “The Lord keep watch between you and me when we are away from each other.” The context of these words is far from friendship. They were spoken by the angry Laban to Jacob when he was upset about losing his flocks, daughters and grandchildren all in one day. Laban spoke these words to Jacob as a warning that the Lord would be watching, not out of fondness.
Genesis 32 – Knowing Jacob would soon be confronting his brother Esau (remember, Esau had vowed to kill Jacob last he knew), God sent angels to him as a sign of His presence. Jacob, fearful of Esau and the 400 men who were coming with him, prayed to God, but in addition relied on large gifts of sheep and cattle to pacify him. The night before Jacob was to meet Esau, he spent the night in an area by himself, and “a man” wrestled with him. It was clear to Jacob that this man was indeed God (v. 30) – perhaps the pre-incarnate Christ – when he was able to incapacitate Jacob’s hip with a simple touch. His name was changed to Israel, because, as the “man” said, “You have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” Jacob truly did struggle with God in his deception of his father and reluctance to rely on God for protection from Esau. He had also struggle with men, leaving a perplexed father, vengeful brother and angry father-in-law in his wake. Ultimately, however, his faith remained in tact and he cam through it all with God’s help. The fact that God’s chosen nation took its name from Jacob (now Israel) is important. I believe God not only knew this group of people would struggle with him continually over the years, but He wanted it to happen. He knows that this life will be a continual struggle for His followers. What He doesn’t want is for us to give up or to have such a shallow faith that struggle with God is not a part of our faith walk. As Jesus himself said, “In this world you will have trouble.” If the church is truly the new Israel, then we are to be the new strugglers. And as we look back at the struggles of the man Israel and the nation Israel, we see a continual story of struggle and triumph for those who continually trust in God.
Genesis 33 – How many times do we build up a possible confrontation into more than it turns out to be? We sometimes will ask God for the right words to diffuse anger, or the right strategy to tackle a problem. Most often it is best simply to ask God to take care of the problem. God had worked on the heart of Esau. He no longer was angry at his brother. Yet in spite of this happy meeting, there seems to be an uneasiness with them. Jacob elects not to accompany his brother and their men. Is he suspicious of them? Or it could be that he knows his brother’s lifestyle, and understands that with Esau will not be the place for him and his family to live and serve Yahweh, the LORD. So Jacob settled in his own place, remaining separate from Esau.
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Saturday Reading Notes –– Genesis 34:1 – 35:29 (January 20)
Genesis 34 – Many years have passed between chapter 33 and 34. In chapter 33, Dinah could not have been more than 7 or 8 years old at the most. Now she is at least in her teens, meaning her oldest brother Reuben was probably in his 20s. It is not known if Shechem raped her or if their relationship was consensual, but at any rate, he was considered the responsible party, probably because he was older. While this kind of behavior may have been the norm for Shechem’s town, it was not for Jacob and his family. Dinah’s brothers were incensed, and plotted revenge. They demanded circumcision for all males in the city of Shechem as a condition for Dinah to intermarry. Shechem and his father, Hamor, had the clout to make it happen. It must have seemed like a good arrangement to intermarry with such a powerful family, so they and the whole town were willing to do it. It was all a rouse, though, to destroy every man in the city while they were still in pain. The text says it only took Simeon and Levi to do it – perhaps at night, quietly going from house to house in the unsuspecting city. Obviously, Simeon and Levi were wrong to do this, taking into their own hands judgment that should have been left up to God. Even God’s chosen family has its problems.
Genesis 35 – God had his purposes for moving Jacob to Bethel. Perhaps He wanted him to always be reminded of the special dream he had there, and the vow he made to serve Yahweh always. It might have been for practical purposes too – so that any people in the area who wanted to avenge the slaughter in Shechem wouldn’t be able to. However, Bethel was only some 20 miles away, so hardly an obstacle for someone bent on revenge. Along the way, God put fear in the Canaanites to protect Jacob’s large and vulnerable procession. God reiterates the special name Israel for Jacob. There is no doubt that God wanted the name Israel to be a permanent testimony for the character He was looking for in His people – people who would wrestle with God in persistent prayer and relationship – and, as happened with Jacob, would be blessed by God as a result.
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