Reading for March 8th

Read Genesis Jacob steals Esau's blessing.
Jacob deceives his old and blind father Isaac.
Jacob pretends to be his older brother Esau so that he can receive the blessing and
inheritance that belong to the firstborn son.
In verses 26.34-35 Esau marries two Hittite or native Canaanite women who bring
trouble to the family.
This comment places Esau in a negative light.
In verses 27.34-38 the grief and anger of Isaac and Esau presuppose that the words
and power of a blessing cannot be taken back once they have been spoken.
In verse 39 Esau can only receive the opposite of what Jacob already received.
Jacob will recive of (the Hebrew preposition "min") the fatness of the earth (v. 28)
while Esau will live away from (the same preposition "min") the fatness of the earth.
The land of Edom was not an agriculturally rich area.
In verse 41 I will kill my brother Jacob: these are the last words we hear from Esau
concerning Jacob until they meet many years later in ch. 33.
In verse 46 Rebekah's excuse to Isaac for sending Jacob away is to avoid Jacob's
marrying one of the Hittite or Canaanite women of the land as Esau had done (26.34-35).
Her real reason is to stop Esau from murdering his brother Jacob (vv. 42-45).
In verses 28.1-5 Isaac instructs Jacob to return to the original homeland of Abraham and of his mother Rebekah in Mesopotamia to obtain a wife as Isaac had done (ch. 24; 25.20).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 7th

Read Genesis 26.1-33 Stories about Isaac and Abimelech.
Several incidents in Isaac's life repeat similar events in the life of his father Abraham.
Examples include divine promises of land and descendants (12.1-3; 26.1-5, 24), the building of altars (12.7-8; 13.18; 26.25), a wife-sister incident with Abimelech (20.1-18; 26.6-11), conflicts over the ownership of wells (21.25-34; 26.17-25), and a covenant of peace with Amibelech
(21.22-24; 26.26-31).
In verse 8 the writer again puns on the name Isaac: the king saw Isaac ("yitshaq") fondling ("metsaheq") his wife.
In verse 33 Shibah is a wordplay on the Hebrew verb "to exchange an oath" ("shb," v. 31).
Shibah is an alternate place name for Beer-sheba ("Well of the oath," 21.31).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 6th

Read Genesis 25.19-34 The birth and rivalry of Jacob and Esau.
The twin boys in Rebekah's womb represent the two nations of Israel (Jacob; 32.28)
and Edom (Esau; 36.1).
Esau is the elder son.
Thus, according to the LORD'S prediction, the nation of Edom will be less powerful and serve Israel.
In verse 25 the first baby born is Esau, whose body is red (Hebrew "admoni").
This is a wordplay on the name "Edom" (v. 30).
In verse 26 the name Jacob may have two meanings, both of which describe Jacob's character throughout his life.
The name may mean "he takes by the heel" in line with Jacob's tendency to take advantage
of others for his own self-interest.
The other meaning is "he supplants"; Jacob the younger brother will supplant or take over the privileged position of his elder brother Esau by stealing his birthright and blessing.
In verse 30 a famished Esau asks for Jacob's stew, that red stuff ("adom"),
a pun on Esau's other name, Edom.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 5th

Read Genesis 25.1-18 Abraham's death and the family he leaves behind.
In verses 1-6 Abraham takes another wife, Keturah.
She is a concubine (v. 6), a woman servant with whom he has additional children.
However, Isaac remains the favored son (v. 5).
The sons of Midian are associated with nomadic tribes call Midianites who live eastward from Canaan (vv. 4, 6).
In verse 10 the story of the field purchased from the Hittites is told in 23.1-20.
In verse 16 Ishmael's descendants form twelve tribes, a grouping similar to the twelve tribes of Israel.
They dwell in Arabia (v. 18).
Comments of Questions...

Reading for March 4th

Read Genesis 24.1-67 Isaac secures a wife, Rebekah.
In verse 2 Abraham's command to the servant to put your hand under my thigh,
near his reproductive organs, was a customary way of taking an intimate and solemn oath.
In verse 10 Aramnaharaim and Nahor are part of Abraham's original home territory in
Mesopotamia where he and his family lived before migrating to Canaan (11.31).
Most of his extended family apparently remained there.
In verses 12-14 the servant asks the LORD to guide the selection process for Isaac's wife.
Rebekah fulfills the conditions perfectly (vv. 15-21).
In verse 62 Isaac comes from Beer-lahai-roi, the place where the LORD had guided
and comforted Hagar (16.14).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 3rd

Read Genesis 23.1-20 Abraham buys a piece of the promised land.
Sarah dies and Abraham buys a cave and field in Canaan as a burial place for her.
In the indirect style of Near Eastern bargaining, the Hittites' extravagant offers of generosity
(vv. 6, 11, 15) mean that the price Abraham will have to pay for the land will be very high.
But, in the end, Abraham does hold title to at least a small piece of the land God
had promised (15.18-21).
In verse 15 four hundred shekels of silver is a very high price for the field.
The prophet Jeremiah bought a field for only seventeen shekels (Jer 32.9).
In verse 19 the land becomes the burial place for Sarah.
It will also be the burial place for Abraham (25.8-10), Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah (49.29-31).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 2nd

Read Genesis 22.1-24 God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
God puts Abraham through a remarkable test of his obedience and trust in God.
God commands Abraham to sacrifice his only remaining son, an act that seems to deny
everything God had promised concerning a great nation and many descendants (12.2; 15.5).
The location of Mount Moriah is not known.
A later tradition identified Moriah with the mountain on which the Temple in the
city of Jerusalem stood (2 Chr 3.1).
In verse 14 the phrase the LORD will provide plays on the verb "to see" and may be translated
"the LORD will see to it" or "the LORD will be seen."
In verses 15-18 God reaffirms the earlier promises of many descendants because of Abraham's extraordinary obedience and trust in God.
In verses 20-24 the list of children born to Abraham's extended family includes Rebekah (v. 23),
who will eventually become the wife of his son Isaac (24.1-67),
Comments or Questions...

Reading for March 1st

Read Genesis 21.22-34 Abraham reconciles with Abimelech.
The Canaanite king Abimelech, who Abraham had earlier thought had no "fear of God" (20.11), shows a remarkable reverence toward Abraham's God and a willingness to reconcile a
human conflict with Abraham.
In verse 31 Beer-sheba can mean either "well of the oath" (referring to the  loyalty oath between Abraham and Abimelech in vv. 22-24) or "well of seven" (referring to the seven ewe lambs Abraham gave to Abimelech in return for acknowledging that the well belonged to Abraham in vv. 28-30).
In verse 33 the planting of the tamarisk tree establishes the site as a holy place of worship.
Everlasting god ("El Olam") may have been the name of an earlier deity worshiped
at the site that the story now appropriates as an additional title for the LORD.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 28th

Read Genesis 21.8-21 Abraham and Sarah send Hagar and Ishmael away.
This episode contains elements similar to the earlier story of Hagar and Ishmael in 16.1-16:
conflict between Sarah and Hagar, journey into the desert, encounter with a divine angel, a well of water, promises concerning Ishmael, and a play on the word "hear" related to the name Ishmael.
A key difference this time is that Hagar if forcibly expelled by Sarah,
whereas before Hagar had left voluntarily.
In verses 10-13 Sarah's demand to send Hagar and Ishmael away is very distressing to
Abraham because it will mean giving up his son Ishmael.
But God commands Abraham to send Ishmael away, and Abraham obeys.
In 22.2, God will similarly command Abraham to give up his only remaining son Isaac.
In verse 16 Hagar's words Do not let me look reflect the theme of seeing
and not seeing in the story (21.9, 16, 19).
In verse 17 that God heard and has heard ("shm") is a pun on the child's name,
Ishmael, which means "God hears."
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 27th

Read Genesis 21.1-7 The birth of Isaac. 
At long last, the LORD begins to fulfill the promises of a great nation
and many descendants
(12.2; 15.5) through the birth of Isaac.
In verse 4 circumcision is the ritual cutting off of the foreskin of the male penis.
It is a physical sign of a male's belonging to God's covenant people (17.9-14).
The verse 6 the words laughter and laugh ("tshq") are puns on the child's name Isaac
("yitshaq") in v. 4.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 26th

Read Genesis 20.1-18 Abraham again pretends Sarah is his sister and not his wife.
Abraham had earlier lied about Sarah's being his wife in 12.10-20.
It was not at that point clear that Sarah was supposed to be the mother of the child promised to Abraham.
However, now Sarah will be the mother of the child (18.10).
Thus, Abraham's willingness to endanger his wife Sarah and the promise of God in this case is a much more serious matter.
In this story, Abraham appears much less righteous than his hosts.
In verses 3-7 the narrator wants to make clear that there is absolutely no possibility that the child born to Sarah in the next chapter (ch 21) is King Abimelech's child rather than Abraham's child.
He is a prophet: the only time Abraham is called a prophet (v. 7).
In verse 11 Abraham's concern that Abimelech and the people of Gerar would have no fear of God is directly contradicted by 20.8.
In verse 12 Abraham tries, weakly, to justify his lie by indicating that technically
Sarah is his half-sister.
Later biblical laws prohibited such marriages (Lev 18.9-11).
In verse 16 the payment of money is an exoneration designed to compensate
Sarah's family for any injury to her family's honor.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 25th

Read Genesis 19.30-38 Lot becomes the ancestor of Moab and Ammon.
The unflattering story of drunkenness and incest explains the origins of two nations
that border Canaan on the east, Moab and Ammon.
In verses 31-32 come in to us and lie with him describe sexual intercourse.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 24th

Read Genesis 19.12-29 The LORD destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.
In verse 24 this area southeast of the Dead Sea is an arid desert region with extensive
sulfur and other mineral deposits.
This story explains why the area is not longer the green "garden of the LORD"
that Lot first saw (13.10).
In verse 26 this comment probably explained a certain salt formation in the area.
In verse 29 Abraham again plays a role in saving his nephew Lot and Lot's two daughters.
Abraham continues to be a blessing to other families of the earth (12.3).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 23rd

Read Genesis 19.1-11 The wickedness of Sodom.
The generous hospitality that the visitors received from Abraham and Sarah in 18.1-15
contrasts sharply with the incredible lack of hospitality shown by the inhabitants of Sodom.
In verse 1 two angels come to Sodom.
The angels are divine messengers who look like ordinary human beings.
They are apparently two of the same "men" who visited Abraham and Sarah (18.22).
In verse 5 the men of Sodom desire to know the visitors sexually.
They threaten homosexual rape.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 22nd

Read Genesis 18. 16-33 Dialogue about Sodom.
In verses 16-21 after reflecting on the promises already made to Abraham,
the LORD tells Abraham why he is concerned about Sodom.
In verses 22-33 Abraham addresses the LORD six times,
pleading for the fate of the righteous people in a sinful city.
God clarifies the status of Sodom, should some righteous people be found in it.
There is talk of forgiveness (v. 26)  but, more frequently,
simply the absence of destruction is indicated.
Abraham may be negotiating on behalf of his nephew, Lot, who lives in Sodom.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 21st

Read Genesis 18.1-15 The LORD visits Abraham and Sarah.
This epiphany occurs at the oaks of Mamre, namely, "a tree shrine at Mamre," a holy place.
The depiction of the deity is ambiguous.
Is the LORD one among the three men?
Or is the LORD symbolized by all three individuals?
In verses 4-5 Abraham's description, little water and little bread,
understates the lavish feast that Abraham and Sarah actually prepare for the guests (vv. 7-8).
In verses 9-15 Sarah's laughter at the apparently impossible promise of a child
appears to provoke the deity.
Laugh ("tshq") puns on the name Isaac ("yitshaq").
Comments and Questions...

Reading for February 20th

Read Genesis 17.1-27 Another covenant promise to Abraham and Sarah.
God provides another version of the covenant promise, similar to the one made in Gen 15.
For the first time, however, god clearly names both Abraham and Sarah
as the parents of the promised child.
The names of Abram and Sarai are changed to mark the importance of this new promise.
God also introduces the ritual of circumcision as a physical sign of belonging
to the covenant people of God.
In verse 1 Abram is 99 years old, which makes his son Ishmael 13 years old (16.16).
In verse 5 God changes the name Abram (meaning "exalted ancestor") to Abraham (meaning "ancestor of a multitude") as a further guarantee that God will keep the promise of many descendants.
In verses 7-8 God introduces a new element of assurance involving time.
The covenant is everlasting, and Abraham's family will possess the land of Canaan
as a perpetual holding.
God also promises a continuing relationship: I will be their God.
In verses 9-14 the ritual of circumcision involves cutting off the foreskin of the male penis.
The ritual was practiced by neighboring cultures around Israel as well as by Israel itself.
It continues to be practiced by Jews and Muslims today.
Circumcision is a physical sign for males that they are members of the covenant people of God.
The story in Ex. 4.24-26 apparently alludes to the rite of circumcision, although the story is somewhat unclear.
In verses 15-16 God changes Sarai's name to Sarah to indicate that she is now
clearly part of the promise.
She will be the mother of the long expected child and of future kings.
In verses 17-22 Abraham laughs at the thought that he and Sarah will have a child
at their ages of 100 and 90 years old.
Abraham pleads with God to keep Ishmael, who is now 13 years old,
as the promised son rather than wait for yet another son (v. 18).
But God insists that Sarah will have another son whose name will be Isaac, which means "he laughs."
The theme of laughter and Isaac will come up again (18.12-15; 21.5-6).
God also responds to Abraham's concern for Ishmael.
God promises to bless him, make him exceedingly numerous, and a great nation.
These are the same promises that Abraham originally received (12.1-3)
and that now extend to Isaac as the child of promise.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 19th

Read Genesis 16.1-16 Hagar, Sarai, and the birth of Ishmael.
In verse 2 because Sarai could have no children on her own, ancient custom allowed her to have a child through one of her women servants (10.3, 9).
In verse 6 Sarai dealt harshly with the Egyptian slave-girl, Hagar.
The same Hebrew verb meaning "to deal harshly, oppress" is used to describe the Egyptians' treatment of the Israelite slaves in Ex. 1.11.
Israel was capable of the same oppression it would experience at the hands of the Egyptians.
In verse 10 the angel of the LORD gives a promise to Hagar that is virtually identical to the
promise the LORD made to Abram (15.5).
In verse 11 the name of Hagar's son will be Ishmael, which means "God hears."
The LORD has given heed to or heard Hagar's cry for help.
God responds to the cry of the oppressed, including Israelites like Hagar.
In verse 12 Ishmael will be the ancestor of a people known for their defiance and conflict.
In verse 13 Hagar names the LORD: "You are El-roi," which means "You are a God who sees."
This is the only example in the Old Testament of a human being giving a name to God.
In all other cases, God is the one who reveals the divine name to humans.
In verse 14 place names in Genesis often recall important stories or events.
Here Beer-lahai-roi means "the well of the living one who sees me."
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 18th

Read Genesis 15.1-21 God's covenant with Abram.
This story probably developed over a long period of time.
It contains a very ancient covenant ceremony (vv. 7-10, 17) and later additions that point to future events in the exodus out of Egypt and the conquest of Canaan (vv. 12-16).
In verses 2-3 Abram complains to God that the promise of many children and descendants shows no sign of being fulfilled.
Abram's only apparent heir is his household slave, Eliezer, which reflects a custom that a chief servant could inherit the possessions of a couple who died without children.
In verse 6 this key verse is the basis for Abram's reputation as a man of great trust in God (Gal 3.6-9).
He believed the LORD means Abram trusted God to make good on the promise.
The LORD in turn reckoned or evaluated Abram's trust in God as righteousness.
Righteousness denotes a relationship that is in good order.
In verses 7-8 the topic turns from a promise of children to the promise of land.
Again, Abram pleads for a sign of reassurance.
In verses 9-10 God responds to Abram's request for a sign by setting up an
ancient covenant ceremony.
The bodies of animals are cut in two and laid out on two sides with a path between them.
by walking down the path, the one making the covenant promise apparently pledges that
he will be cut in two like the animals if he does not fulfill the promise made.
Jeremiah 34.18 mentions a similar covenant ceremony.
In verse 11 the hovering birds of prey symbolize future obstacles that will threaten
the fulfillment of the promise.
In verses 12-16 the general future threat symbolized in v. 11 is specified in Abram's dream.
Abram's offspring shall be aliens and slaves in a land that is not theirs (v. 13),
a reference to Israel's future slavery in Egypt (Ex. 1-15).
The LORD promises that Abram's family will eventually return and settle
in the land of Canaan (v. 16).
Amorites (v. 16) is an alternate name for Canaanites.
In verses 17-21 the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch represent the LORD
walking down the path between the animal carcasses.
In effect, the LORD's action means, "I will be spit in tow like these animals
if I do not fulfill the promise."
Abram does not walk through the animals.
This is a one-sided and unconditional promise from God to Abram.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 17th

Read Genesis 14.1-24 The rescue of Lot and the blessing of Abram.
In verses 1-11 a coalition of kings from the east attacks the area around Sodom and Gomorrah.
Shinar (v. 1) is probably Babylon (10.10; 11.2).
Most of these names of kings are not known historically from other ancient sources.
In verse 12 the mention of Lot the son of Abram's brother, gives the reason the story is included.
The story suggests that Lot's choice of this initially attractive land
may not have been so wise (13.10-11).
In verses 13-16 Abram's small band of 318 fighters is able to defeat the coalition
of forces from the east.
Abram rescues Lot and his family.
Abram's concern for Lot is an example of Abram as a blessing to other families of the earth (12.3).
In verses 17-18 two kings of Sodom and Salem come out to thank Abram for defeating the eastern kings who had attacked them.
Salem is another name for the city of Jerusalem (Ps 76.2).
The Canaanite king, Melchizedek of Salem, was also a Canaanite priest of a god named
God Most High (v. 18).
The title "Most High" or "God Most High" is an ancient divine title used also for the LORD
in the Old Testament (Num 24.16: Deut 32.8) and especially in the Psalms (Ps 57.2).
Abram himself links Melchizedek's God Most High with the LORD in 14.22.
The king-priest Melchizedek is not known from other historical sources.
He is mentioned only once elsewhere in the Old Testament, in a psalm or blessing
addressed to one of Israel's later kings (Ps 110.4).
In verses 19-24 Abram again show great generosity to people of other nations.
He is a blessing to other families of the earth (12.3).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 16th

Read Genesis 13.1-18 Abram and his nephew Lot separate into different territories.
In verse 3 after the famine is over, Abram and Sarai return to Canaan
where his tent had been at the beginning (12.8).
In verses 8-9 as the elder uncle, Abram could have chosen whatever land he wished.
Instead, Abram graciously allows his young nephew Lot to select land first.
In verse 10 the green and lush plain of the Jordan looked like the garden of the LORD,
an allusion to the garden of Eden in Gen 2.
Like the land of Egypt points forward to Israel's experience in Egypt where the Nile River
provides fertile crops.
But the lush appearance of the area is deceptive: The people of the area are wicked,
great sinners (v. 13).
Genesis 19 will tell the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
This destruction will dramatically change the lush land into a dry desert (19.24-25).
In verse 11 Lot will become the ancestor of two nations that will border Canaan or Israel
on its eastern boundary, Moab and Ammon (19.30-38).
In verses 14-18 the first promise to Abram had not specified the exact land God
would give him (12.2).
But now God invites Abraham to lay claim to a specific piece of real estate
by making a full survey of it.
God also reaffirms that Abram will have descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth (v. 16).
God's promises of land and children become more visible and real to Abram.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 15th

Read Genesis 12.10-20 Abram pretends Sarai is his sister and not his wife.
In verse 10 a famine in the land of Canaan forces Abram and Sarai to travel to Egypt.
The same situation will occur later with Abraham's descendants when Jacob's sons come to
Egypt looking for food (41.53-2.3).
An alien is a traveler who lives for a time in a foreign land.
Such a person has no rights as a citizen and thus is vulnerable to abuse.
In verses 11-16 Sarai is so beautiful in appearance that Abram is convinced that the Egyptians
will take Sarai and kill Abram if they find out they are husband and wife.
Therefore, Abram instructs Sarai to lie and say that she is Abram's sister.
Abram endangers Sarai's life in order to save his own.
In verses 17-20 the LORD afflicts the Egyptian Pharaoh with plagues to force him to let go of Sarai.
During the Israelite exodus out of Egypt, the LORD will again send plagues on Egypt and Pharaoh, which will cause him to set free the Israelite slaves (Ex 11.1).
This wife-sister story will reappear with Abraham and Sarai in 20.1-17 and with Isaac and Rebekah in 26.6-11.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 14th

Read Genesis 12.1-9 god calls Abram and promises great blessing.
In verses 1-3 this first promise to Abram of land, many descendants in the form of a great nation,
and blessings that will extend to all the families of the earth is a foundation for all of God's future promises to Israel.
The promise of land and descendants will run like a thread throughout Genesis (13.15-17; 15.5-7,
18-21; 17.1-8; 22.15-18; 26.2-4; 28.1-4, 13-15) and beyond (Ex 6.4, 8; Deut 34.4).
God promises Abram to make your name great as one who will be a blessing to other nations (v.2).
This element stands in contrast to the tower builders of Babel, who sought to make a name for themselves by their own selfish efforts (11.4).
In verse 4 Abram immediately obeys God's command to leave his homeland and go to a place where he will receive great blessing.
Later God will call Abraham a second time to go and sacrifice is son and apparently give up his blessing (22.1-3).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 13th

Read Genesis 11.10-32 The family line from Shem to Abraham.
The genealogy in Gen 10, before the tower of Babel story, had named all the siblings of a given generation.
These siblings had represented the spread of God's blessing over all peoples of the earth.
A major transition occurs with the genealogy in Gen 11.
The family line of promises becomes more narrowly focused on one person in each generation.
The family line begins with Noah's son Shem (v. 10 and extends for ten generations until
we come to Abram (later called Abraham; 17.4 and Sarai (later called Sarah; 17.15).
This genealogy bulds the literary bridge from stories about all humanity in Gen 1-11
to the more narrowly focused stories on the one family of Abraham and Sarah,
the ancestors of Israel, in Gen 12-50.
In verse 28 the memory of this family includes the tragedy of a son (Haran)
who died at a young age, while his father was still living.
The theme of a son's premature death will continue to haunt this family line.
The young sons of Abraham (22.2), Isaac (27.41), and Jacob (37.29-36) will all be
endangered or presumed to be dead.
In verse 30 Abram's wife, Sarai, was barren and unable to have children.
This condition will become a major obstacle and cause for suspense when God promises
Abram and Sarai that they will have many descendants and become a great nation (12.2; 17.16).
The theme of the barren mother unable to have children will also be repeated in succeeding generations with Rebekah (25.21) and Rachel (29.31).
In verse 31 Haran, a city in northern Mesopotamia, is the place where Abraham grew up.
Abraham will later see to it that his son Isaac obtains a wife from his hometown of Haran,
also known as the city of Nahor (24.10).
Abraham's grandson, Jacob, will likewise return to Haran to work for his
uncle Laban and marry Laban's tow daughters (29.4).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 12th

Read Genesis 11.1-9 The tower of Babel and the confusion of human language.
This story of the tower of Babel explains the geographical scattering of humans
and the division of human speech into many different languages (Gen 10).
Like that of the garden of Eden, the story continues the theme of God's limits on
excessive human pride and presumption.
In verse 2 the land of Shinar is Babylon (10.10).
In verse 4 a tower with its top in the heavens probably alludes to a very high
pyramid-like structure called a ziggurat.
The tall structure functioned as a temple in which to worship the gods in ancient Babylon.
In the story, however, the humans' root desire is not to worship the gods
but to make a name for themselves.
In verse 7 God says, Let us go down.
He is speaking to a divine council of advisers as in 1.26.
In verse 9 the name Babel in the language of Babylon means "Gate of God,"
which would be appropriate for a temple.
However, the Hebrew storyteller links the name instead with the Hebrew word "balal" ("to confuse').
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 11th

Read Genesis 10.1-32 A list of nations descended from Noah's three sons.
This genealogy traces the family line of all the known peoples of the earth back to the
three sons of Noah: Japheth, Ham, and Shem.
Each of the peoples or groups listed have their own families, their languages,
their lands, and their nations: This refrain is repeated three times (10.5, 20, 31).
In verses 2-5 the descendants of Japheth include peoples to the north and west of Canaan in
Greece and Asia Minor and the coastland peoples of the Mediterranean Sea such as the Philistines.
In verses 6-20 the descendants of Ham represent the nations under Egypt's influence at the time in Africa and Mesopotamia, including the land in and around Canaan itself (vv. 15-20).
The list of nations contains an old legend about a great warrior names Nimrod.
Nimrod conquered the land of Shinar or Babylon (see Babel in v. 10) and the land of
Assyria with its great city of Nineveh (vv. 11-12; see Mic 5.5-6).
The story of the tower of Babel will be set in the land of Shinar (11.2).
In verses 21-31 Shem is the ancestor of the Semitic peoples who lived in and around Assyria
and the Arabian Peninsula.
Shem is the father of all the children of Eber (v. 21).
Eber may be related to the word "Hebrew," which describes a number of wandering peoples
on the margins of society.
One of these groups formed the core of the Hebrew or Israelite people (14.13; Ex 9.13).
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 10th

Read Genesis 9.1-29 God's covenant with creation and Noah's curse of Canaan.
In verses 3-4 God expands the original vegetarian diet for humans (1.29) to include the meat of animals,which shall be food for you.
However, the blood of any animal is to be drained from it before its flesh is eaten (Deut 12.23-25).
The blood represents life, and returning it to the ground acknowledges that life belongs to God.
In verses 5-6 every killing of a human being is a serious threat to the social and moral order of society since it crosses the created boundary between life and death.
In addition, God requires a reckoning or severe consequence (a life for a life)
because humans are created in God's own image (1.26-27).
God requires a reckoning even from an animal that kills human (v.5; Ex 21.28-32).
In verses 8-17 God establishes a covenant relationship with Noah and with all living creatures.
God promises never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth (v. 11).
This promise fills out the contents of the earlier covenant mentioned in 6.18.
The sign of the covenant is the rainbow in the sky.
The bow will be  sign to jog the divine memory so that God will remember the
everlasting covenant between God and every living creature (v. 16).
In the ancient world, the rainbow was associated with the bow used by God to
shoot arrows of lightning (Ps 7.12-13).
To hang up the bow in the sky symbolized peace.
Worldwide destruction would no longer be a strategy used by God.
In verses 18-19 the three sons of Noah become the ancestors of all living human beings
because all other humans had died in the flood (7.21-23).
In verse 20 Noah becomes the world's fist winemaker.
The intoxicating effect of wine fulfills the words Noah's father spoke at his birth concerning
Noah's role in producing something that would bring relief from work (5.29).
In verses 21-23 Noah overindulges in the intoxicating fruits of his own labors and lies
uncovered in his tent.
Noah's son Ham, the father of Canaan, sees the nakedness of his father.
This may suggest some form of incest or other improper sexual activity (Lev 18.6-8, 24-30).
In verses 24-27 although Ham is the one who acted improperly,
it is Ham's son Canaan who is cursed to be a slave and Shem who is blessed.
As the following genealogy, or family tree, in Gen 10 shows, these sons Noah represent
geographical nations and peoples in the known world of the ancient Near east.
Ham represents the Hamitic peoples associated with Egypt and areas under Egyptian control, including at some time the land of Canaan.
Shem represents the Semitic people, which will eventually include Israel and other related nations.
Japheth included a number of groups from Asia Minor.
The cursing of Canaan and the blessing of Shem provide a backdrop and justification
for the eventual conquest of the Canaanites and the settlement of the Israelites
into the land of Canaan in the book of Joshua.
Comments or Questions...

Reading for February 9th

Read Genesis 8.1-22
In verse 1 the great turning point in the story is the phrase, God remembered
Noah and all the animals that were with him in the ark.
God remembered the covenant promises made to Noah in 6.18 and shifted from
destruction to reconstruction.
God's remembering previous covenant promises is often the signal of a major positive change in the fortunes of his people (Ex 2.24).
God begins a whole new creation.
He makes a wind blow over the watery chaos, just as God's wind over
the deep had begun the first creation (1.2).
In verses 2-12 the destroying flood of 7.11-24 is gradually reversed.
The mountains of Ararat are located in a region in modern-day southeast Turkey and northwest Iran.
The raven and the dove are sent out to test whether they find dry land.
The dove is sent out three times.
The first time the dove returns with nothing, then returns with an olive leaf or branch (v.11),
and finally does not return at all (v. 12).
The dove with an olive branch has become a symbol of peace, hope, and new life.
In the story, the dove with the olive branch is a sign of hope that the waters have
partially receded below the level of olive trees.
In verse 17 the phrase be fruitful and multiply calls to mind the same words
used in the first creation story in 1.28.
In verses 20-22 Noah's first building project after leaving the ark is an altar.
Noah offers ritually clean animals (7.2-3) upon the altar as burnt offerings to give thanks to God.
God smells the pleasing odor of the burnt offerings as the smoke rises to the heavens (Lev 1.9).
God resolves never again to curse the ground as he had done before (3.17; 4.11)
and never again to destroy every living creature (v.21).
The flood is not successful in changing the basic problem: the inclination of the
human heart is evil from youth (v.21) .
From here on, God will have to live with that fact and work within its reality.
In the meantime, God promises not to disrupt the basic created order of the seasons
and the agricultural rhythms of life (v.22).
Comments or Questions...