Tag: genesis

• H2 Names of God 1 – In the Beginning

  

  Names have fascinated me since the 7th grade when I found out they had meanings. We were all supposed to ask our parents what our family names meant. One boy’s was easy–‘Johnson’ meant ‘son of John.’ My parents were divorced, so I wasn’t able to ask my dad what our name meant, and as it turned out, he didn’t know anyway.

  

  It wasn’t until 50 years later, when I had a DNA test and found out where my ancestors had come from, that I was able to match our family name with a common name from that country. It made me feel connected with the past, to know my family carried a name over 1,200 years old.

  As I was composing the last blog, looking at the 10 times God ‘showed up’ for Abram / Abraham, I noticed the names God called Himself or that Abram/Abraham called Him. This woke my curiosity about the Names of God again, so I’ve put together these next blogs looking at the Names of God in the Old Testament.

  

  God revealed Himself to many people at many times, as recorded in the Bible, by several Names. He is also called by many other names by Biblical writers. Sometimes these are revealednames combined with an appropriate description, such as ‘The LORD God of Israel.” Sometimes Biblical writers personalize God’s Name like a metaphor, “God is my Rock, my Fortress.”

  What difference does it matter what Name we call Him? Isn’t ‘God’ good enough?

  The third of the Ten Commandments the LORD gave to Israel via Moses was:

  

  If a commandment related to the Name God revealed to Moses, to use to refer to Him by (written as all caps ‘LORD,’ in English) is in the top three Commandments, it seems it must be important, right?

  

  So, why IS the Name of God important? Well, we need to call Him SOMETHING, don’t we?

  I came across an interesting article about the Names of God by a Jewish scholar.  He stated that YHWH was NOT God’s name  like ‘Moses’ name. Moses was given this name by his foster mother based on an event, i.e. ‘drawing’ him out of the water, and it was always used to identify and refer to him.
  On the other hand, there is no greater authority to say to God, ‘This is Your Name and You will always be referred to by it.’

  

  Instead, God, being an infinite being, reveals a facet of Himself related to what He is doing with/for a particular person or group at a particular place and time. Some implications of these limited revelations of God are:

  1. A revealed Name is not God’s only name.

  2. God is not limited to act just within the confines of what a single name means.

  

  3. We do not know, nor may ever know, all of God’s possible Names, as they are infinite, as He is infinite, and we, along with our language, are VERY finite.

  There are many other implications, I’m sure, but to dispel a myth about Names:

  4. Knowing a Name of God does not give us control of Him where we can force Him to do as we ask. 

  

  BUT there are implications for us in our prayers. The advantage of knowing the different Names of God is to focus our thoughts and faith when we meditate on a particular Name that matches up with our need. It gives us a greater freeling of connection to Him. And it’s not necessary to know God’s Names in Hebrew because the ‘word’ for the Name has no special power. As pointed out in Hebrews 11:6: 

  

  Meditation on the appropriate Name of God to match your need can help you bolster your faith in Who He is and that you can expect Him to reward your faith as you seek Him in prayer. THAT is the importance of praying God’s different Names.

  

  How to Pray the Names of God:

  1. Read a Bible passage lintked to the specific Name.

  2. Reflect: Think about what that Name reveals about:
  • God’s nature,
  • His character and
  • His interaction with us.

  3. Repeat: Speak the Name back to God in your requests. Use it to help align your heart, your mind and your soul with God’s revealed nature.

  

  Let’s look at the seven major Names for God from Genesis, see what we can learn about God from them, and how we can use them to pray. I’ve set them up as separate blogs so you can use one each day as part of your daily devotions to become familiar with them.

  Later, you might be drawn to a particular Name when you feel a particular need. To help you in the ‘Repeat’ section, I’ll start a prayer based on the meaning of the Name.

  The seven Names of God from Genesis that are included:

  1. Elohim = God The Creator.
  2. El-Elyon = The Most High God.
  3. El-Roi = The God Who Sees.
  4. El-Shaddai = God Almighty.
  5. Adonai = My Lord.
  6. El-Olam = The Eternal God.
  7. Jehovah Jireh = The LORD Will Provide.

  

  The next blog I’ll look at the first Name of God in the Bible–Elohim–“The Gods.”

  August 30, 2026

  bible, christianity, faith, genesis, Names of God

  ---

• H1e. When God Showed Up-Abram/Abraham

  

  Up until now, I’ve been focusing on the dysfunctional effects of sin as it worked itself out in the lives of the people who God had chosen as the lineage for His promised Redeemer. As a result, I’ve essentially been ignoring how God is insuring things come out the way He plans for them to.

  Exactly how does God do that? Understanding His techniques from my original study was very enlightening. See Blog D2, Genesis, Part 2, Introduction for an overview. https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/07/25/d3-genesis-part-2-introduction-long-lives/

  In this blog, let’s look at the 10 times God showed up in Abram/Abraham’s life, (or eleven if you count the last two around the sacrifice of Isaac as separate) since that was the most until Moses, and see what we can learn about WHEN GOD SHOWS UP!

  

  God’s Seven Promises:
  1. God would make Abram a great nation.
  2. God would bless him.
  3. God would make his name great.
  4. Abram would be a blessing.
  5. God would bless those who blessed Abram.
  6  God would curse those who cursed Abram.
  7. All families on Earth would be blessed through Abram.

  

  

  

  NOTE that God acted unilaterally without Abram praying to Him. For whatever reason, GOD had chosen Abram and Sarai specifically, but they weren’t quite ready yet for the promised son. GOD acted when part of His plan was threatened by their fumbling, bumbling actions. I can’t help but think God is also teaching Abram and Sarai about Himself, and how to have a faith relationship with Him.

  For a deeper treatment of these events, see blog D9 Genesis 26 and 12 – Generational Sin 1 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/08/25/d9-genesis-26-and-12-generational-sin-1/

  

  I see this appearance partially to reassure Abram as he was probably very hurt and discouraged about what had happened with his nephew. GOD KNOWS, and GOD CARES!

  

  

  

  For a closer look at Isaac the Son Promised by God, see blog C2.
  https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/14/isaac-the-son-promised-by-god/

  

  

  

  

  

  As the messengers prepared to continue their journey, the (2) Lord decided to reveal to Abraham the impending judgment of destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham bargained with God, finally getting Him to agree that the cities would not be destroyed if 10 righteous men could be found in them. Ten were not found, so the next day, before God rained down destruction,(3) He had the three angels rescue Abraham’s nephew, Lot, his wife and their two daughters.

  

  

  Abimelech rebuked Abraham for the dangerous deception, and Abraham explained it was a half-truth born of his fear. Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham, and gave him sheep, oxen, and servants as recompense, and then offered him choice land to live in, as long as it was somewhere else!  Abimelech also gave Sarah 1,000 pieces of silver as a sign of her vindication. Abraham then prayed for Abimelech, and (3) God healed the king and his household.

  For a more detailed look at this story, see blog D10 – Generational sin 2 – Genesis 20 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/09/01/d10-generational-sin-2-genesis-20/

  

  

  

  For a more in depth treatment, see the following story blogs:

  B1. Origin Stories –
  THE SACRIFICE, part 1 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/08/origin-stories-the-sacrifice-part-1/

  THE SACRIFICE, part 2 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/09/origin-stories-the-sacrifice-part-2/

  THE SACRIFICE, part 3 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/10/origin-stories-the-sacrifice-part-3/

  THE SACRIFICE, part 4 https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/11/origin-stories-the-sacrifice-part-4/

  THE SACRIFICE, epilogue https://billsbibleblog2.blog/2025/05/12/origin-stories-the-sacrifice-epilogue/

  

  The next blog:

  In Genesis 12:2-3, God tells Abram,

  • “I will make you into a great nation, and
  I will bless you;
  • I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
  • I will bless those who bless you, and
  • whoever curses you I will curse; and
  • all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

  Note the repetition of the word ‘bless,’ (four statements) offset by it’s opposite ‘curse’ (one statement). In the ten times when ‘God showed up’ in Abram/Abraham’s life, what were the ‘blessings’ he or others received from God, and what were the ‘curses’?

  If this is an accurate ratio, then there should be a ratio of 4 to 1 out of 5 instances. In my next blog, I’m going to run through the ten events again when God showed up with an eye on ‘blessings’ and ‘cursings.’

  

  August 14, 2026

  Abraham, bible, faith, genesis, God shows up

  ---

• H1c. Love Triangle #1 – Abram, Sarai and Hagar

  

  There are many examples of dysfunction as we move from one origin story to another in Genesis. But since the focus of this series is going to be on the story of Joseph, I’m going to jump ahead to his great-grandfather, Abraham and look at the story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar and Ishmael.

  THE STORY:

  1. Abraham, Sarah and their Maid, Hagar.

  

  

  This was dysfunction number 2. First, a lack of faith on Sarai’s part–she had given up hope and thought SHE was the problem, but that her husband–10 years older–could still engender a child.

  The second part of the dysfunction was a cultural one–following a pagan custom from other, ungodly people rather than trusting and obeying God. God’s ways are perfect, even if difficult to wait for. Man’s ways are dysfunctional and always result in creating more problems than they solve.

  

  

  D. God intervened and appeared to Hagar, calling her back from her precipitous flight away from Sarai’s persecution and encouraging her to return to Abram’s household. This was God acting as ‘anti-entropy,’ putting things back to the right.

  

  

  

  E. Sarah demanded of Abraham that Hagar and Ishmael be exiled. This was the result of the dysfunction of jealousy where we make people choose between two things or people that they love. “It’s either me or them!”

  

  

  📋 SUMMARY
  Children learn what they live. So, to summarize, these are some of the dysfunctions that Isaac grew up with, which would have set his functional moral compass.🧭

  1. It’s not okay to not have children. If you can’t have them with your wife, it’s okay to have them with someone else.

  

  2. It’s okay to mistreate and persecute those who are less powerful or less privileged than you are.

  

  3. Passivity instead of leadership. It’s okay not to intervene in family problems, but take a ‘let them settle it between themselves’ approach. Then when the wife makes a demand, the husband acquiesces with a “Yes, dear.” This is not Christian leadership as God intends and as the Bible teaches.

  

  4. If you can’t stand someone for whatever reason and you are in the more powerful position, it’s okay to exile them, kick them out, send them away from the family, to let them take their chances on their own in the unfriendly world, maybe secretly hoping that they will die and no longer be a problem? Just so long as they’re “out of sight, out of mind.”

  

  God actually instituted the practice of exile instead of execution, not because it was a good thing to do, but because it was the best option available in a Fallen, sinful world when dealing with Fallen, sinful people.

  

  Note that even though God said that the day they ate of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil they would die, He didn’t execute them. The first death was the animals killed by God to use their skins as coverings for Adam and Eve’s sin and shame. This was the first substitutionary death.

  

  Abel mimicked God’s act of substitutionary sacrifice when he offered a lamb to God. God accepted it as a substitution for him and his sin, and killed and consumed it as an indication of His acceptance.

  The first death of a person wasn’t until Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy.

  

  Instead of immediate death, God exiled Adam and Eve from the easy living in the blessed garden. They did eventually die, which leaves us with the question, might they still have died before sinning? Or could it have been that they would have been allowed to eat the fruit of the Tree of Eternal Life when senescence approached?

  

  Of course, we’ll never know, BUT WE who believe through Jesus Christ WILL eat from the ‘Tree of Eternal Life,’ and thus live forever.

  🍎 APPLICATION

  What moral values did you grow up with that have unknowingly set your 🧭 moral compass differently than how God intends?

  I think that’s why there is such an emphasis in the New Testament on the death of the old person and ‘rebirth’ as a new person 👶. For example:

  

  

  

  In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul uses the language of rebirth to describe how the old passes away and new things come to replace them.

  

  

  

  In essence, Christian growth is a shared responsibility–God makes change possible, we would never be able to do it on our own–and then we have to obey in faith, make an effort to change, and keep at it in faith.

  

  

  A ‘Trickster’ is featured in many cultural myths around the world. A trickster is usually someone who crosses social and cultural boundaries, is morally ambiguous, and often a shapeshifer. 

  • ‘Tricksters’ tend to be rule breakers. They defy social norms, cosmic laws, and divine authority, sometimes just for the fun of it, but at other times to prompt needed change. 🚫

  • ‘Tricksters’ often are capable of shape-shifting for the purpose of disguise. 🐵

  • ‘Tricksters’ are both creators and destroyers: They bring gifts to humanity, like fire or wisdom, while simultaneously causing disruptions and chaos. ☄️

  Some examples:

  

  

  Coyote or Raven are Indigenous North American heroes who shape the earth and teach people hard lessons through their  mistakes.

  

  In East Asian mythology, the Monkey King rebelled against heavenly beings using cleverness and a magical staff.

  

  
  Jacob, son of Isaac, meaning “The Supplanter,” exhibits some of the characteristics of a trickster and has been called such. Check out my next blog for his story and see what you think.

  July 31, 2026

  god, faith, bible, christianity, Abraham, Isaac, genesis, Hagar, Ishmael

  ---

• H1b. The Next Generation–Cain and Abel

  

  From paradise to poverty, from blessed to cursed, from naivete’ to shame, how did the traumatic tragedy of the Fall affect the first children born into the cursed world?

  

  My look at the development of dysfunctional families in Genesis leading up to the story of Joseph continues with the story of Cain and Abel.

  

  PRINCIPLE: Modeling and Imprinting.
  Have you read the poem, “Children Learn What They Live”?  It lists some negative (dysfunctional) qualities that children may grow up experiencing, as well as some positive qualities, and how they affect the children.

  

  This poem embodies the basic psychological qualities of modeling and imprinting. When we’re born and throughout much of our young life, our developmental instincts cause us to imprint on the models around us as a guide for our developing psyche. Everything from the physical–such as food preferences–to the psychological–such as how we react to people and things–become imprinted into our subconscious and guides our behavior.

  

  But it’s not just ‘nurture’ that determines our values and behaviors, scientists used to say that who we are is determined by our innate ‘nature.’ Others said who a person became was based on their upbringing, the ‘nurture’ they received. ‘Nature’ versus ‘nurture’ was one of the longest running debates about the driving force of human behavior.

  

  Modern psychologist say it is BOTH, AND the interaction of our ‘nurture’ with our ‘nature.’ This three-part determinant of who we become causes each of us to be unique and to uniquely respond to things in life. Let’s look at how the children of Adam and Eve responded to their heritage.

  THE STORY:

  

  After the Fall, the dysfunction of sin became worse.

  

  

  2. Cain stewed in his disappointment until it became angry jealousy toward his brother, Abel. DYSFUNCTION: negative, self-centered thoughts and feelings.

  

  

  

  COMMENTARY 📖

  There has been a lot of discussion over the centuries as to why the offering of the lamb from Abel’s flock was accepted by God, but Cain’s offering of fruit and vegetables was not.  After all, one of the offerings instituted by God in the Law was the Offering of Firstfruits.

  

  To be honest, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about these offerings. Since these are the first offerings to God mentioned in the Bible, I had these questions:

  • Why were they offering anything?
  • What was the offering supposed to accomplish? 
  • If offerings to God had been instituted, wouldn’t what would be an acceptable offering have been included in the instructions?

  Lacking those answers and going on the available information in Genesis 3, leads to these possibilities.

  

  Since God made more permanent coverings from animal skins to replace the temporary coverings of leaves Adam and Eve had made for themselves, the implication here is that some animals were killed to provide the skins. This first animal sacrifice might well be the basis for animal sacrifice being established by God, and thus why Abel’s sacrifice from his flock was approved by God.

  

  

  On the other hand, God had cursed the ground as part of the punishment for Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Cain had to work very hard to get the cursed ground to produce a crop. One might surmise that he brought the sacrifice of the fruit and vegetables he had grown from his efforts with great pride, “Hey God, look what I’ve accomplished!”

  

  

  The New Testament “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 states that the difference was not one of KIND, but one of FAITH. This statement is the most authoritative about the reason based on the principle that the New Testament interprets the Old. The key to remember is that God looks on the heart, not the outward form.

  

  One thing that bothers me about the story of Cain and Abel is, “Where were Adam and Eve?” “Where were the parents?” We have to be careful about reading too much into the silences of Scripture, but I was wondering if there was some absentee parenting here? Were they so traumatized or feeling guilty by what had happened, by what they had casually thrown away, by what they had lost, that they were emotionally unavailable to their children?  If so, that would be another dysfunction.

  

  This is an interesting perspective, it might be better that parents who are so traumatized that they are dysfunctional NOT be involved in their children’s lives, because they would do more harm than good. Sadly, having been in such a family with a manic-depressive parent before effective treatment was developed, I can see the point. Just another example of the dysfunction caused by sin and carried to an extreme by entropy.

  

  Genesis 4:7 contains 3 words used for the first time in the Bible:

  • Sin = an offense and its penalty.
  • Crouching = laying down on folded legs, like a recumbent animal. By implication waiting, lurking.
  • Door = an opening for entering, a gate.

  

  

  “Waiting at the door” sounds like a colloquism–a local turn of phrase. The interesting thing about it is there are no previous references to any structures requiring a door, such as a tent, a hut or a pen for the animals, but the use of ‘door’ implies those things now existed.

  

  

  So, the important point is that dysfunctional attitudes make us vulnerable to sin, similar to what happened to Eve, except she was led down the road of vulnerability by deception. Cain was led down that road by his dysfunctional emotions.

  

  An interesting point about Genesis 3 was that the ‘serpent’ is not identified as Satan there, although Jewish tradition from between the Testaments identifies the serpent as Satan, and Revelation 12:9  indicates it was him.

  

  Here in Genesis 4 we have something similar in that the reference says, ‘sin is crouching at the door,’ whereas tradition once again identifies ‘sin’ as a personification of the devil.

  CONCLUSIONS‼️

  Paul points out that:

  

  In addition to making us dysfunctional people, our sin causes us to do and say bad things, thus affecting relationships that run the gamut from almost perfectly functioning to almost totally dysfunctional. In other words, we’re talking about dysfunctional people interacting dysfunctionally. There just isn’t any other option open to sinful people apart from God’s redemptive power.

  

  “Children learn what they live ” is a simple  everyday expression of a psychological truth. That is, we tend to emulate the examples and models we imprint upon as children. But in addition to repeating the ‘sins of the fathers,’ our individual sinful nature tends to cause us to add to the dysfunction list and even to skew those dysfunctions we learned into different, individual expressions.

  Some comparisons between Genesis chapters 3 and 4 show the similarities and the differences:

  • Eve was deceived into thinking she didn’t have something she should have.
  • Cain did not receive God’s approval for his offering when he thought he should have.

  

  • Eve listened to the serpent and was deceived into disobeying God.
  • Cain listened to his sinful emotions and was incited to commit murder.

  

  • God exiled Adam and Eve from the Garden, set a guard of angels so they could not return, and cursed the land.
  • God exiled Cain from his family’s homestead and cursed him with a mark so that he could not return.

  🍎 APPLICATION:

  From Genesis 3 we learned that we need to control the messages we listen to from others if we’re going to keep from being deceived and led into taking a sinful action.

  

  In Genesis 4 we see a similar lesson–we  need to also control our inner narrative. Because of the Fall, we now have a voice inside us inciting us to wrong thoughts and wrong emotions. As a result, we need to beware of negative emotions that can lead us astray. Some of those from Genesis chapter 4 could be:

  • Pride
  • Jealousy
  • Envy
  • Anger
  • Hatred
  • Bitterness

  The Bible spends a lot of time warning us about these types of dysfunctionalemotions. There must be a reason. Paul talks about these ideas in Romans 6:14-18:

  

  

  

  I think the lesson from Cain, the first murderer, shows why it is so important for us to “master” the sin crouching at the door of our heart. Negative emotions allow sin to come in and influence us to say and do wrong things.

  

  But Paul’s message of grace in Romans 6 teaches us that we have a choice in Jesus Christ–to turn in obedience to Him. When He is our Master, then sin cannot exert mastery over us. I don’t know about you, but that is MUCH easier SAID than DONE!!!

  THE NEXT BLOG:

  There are many other examples of dysfunction as we move from one origin story to another in Genesis. But since the focus of this series is going to be on the story of Joseph, I’m going to jump ahead to his great-grandfather, Abraham, and look at the story of Abram, Sarai, Hagar and Ishmael next.

  

  July 24, 2026

  bible, Cain and Abel, christianity, Dysfunctional, faith, genesis, god, Sin

  ---

• H1a. Dysfunction-In the Beginning

  

  I think in order to understand some of the dysfunction that affected Joseph as perpetuated by his 10 older brothers, as well as by his father and even by himself, we should look back at when the dysfunction began…in the beginning.

  

  Principle 1. Dysfunction = Sin:
  ‘Dysfunction’ is really just another word for ‘sin.’ But ‘sin’ is a word used more in religious contexts and it’s meaning is not always clear outside of those contexts. Using ‘dysfunction’ to describe the ‘sinful’ actions of the players in Genesis has been helpful to me to see these actions in a new light.

  

  The dictionary defines ‘dysfunction’ as “abnormal or unhealthy interpersonal behavior or interaction within a group.”
  I’ve more often heard the term as part of ‘dysfunctional family.’ I grew up in one of those. The focus was on making it look like everything was normal to our neighbors and the outside world, but in the secret privacy of our home, things were very, very far from okay.

  

  Principle 2. Sin = Entropy:
  The second part of the Law of Entropy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics from physics, stated simply says:

  •  Things naturally move from a more highly ordered state toward disorder (entropy) over time without an intervention of energy specifically applied according to an intelligent plan.

  In the above example, if you toss a bunch of bricks into the air, you will most likely end up with the pile of randomly ordered–i.e., disordered– bricks on the right.

  

  If instead you want a highly ordered brick structure, such as a barbecue, you will have to apply focused effort in assembling the bricks according to a specific plan.

  Put into social experiential terms:

  

  

  

  3. Things that are at their worst can be improved by the application of specific efforts according to an intelligent plan, but only by God’s grace and with His specific help. He is the source of “anti-entropy.”

  In other words, intentionality and diligence are constantly needed or things will naturally go from good to bad, then from bad to worse, until they are at their worst.

  

  Principle 3. Sin = God’s Curse
  Dysfunction and entropy are the effect of SIN in the world.  As Paul stated it from a Biblical standpoint in Romans:

  

  But exactly how far back does it go? Essentially, dysfunctional people and families go all the way back to the Fall–it started with Adam and Eve…

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  🍎 APPLICATIONS: The lessons we can learn from Adam and Eve’s mistakes seem kind of obvious–

  

  

  

  

  

  

  Not so much directly at this time in history, because we’re in the Age of Grace–when God is withholding His judgment in order to give everyone an opportunity to come to Him via the Savior, Jesus Christ.

  However, there are still natural judgments built into Creation–natural cause-and-effect consequences:

       -built into the physical world,
       -built into the social world, and even
       -built into the psychological world within ourselves–

  Remember,  if we break the laws of God…

  

  NEXT BLOG:

  

  From paradise to poverty, from blessed to cursed, from naivete’ to shame, how did this traumatic tragedy affect the first children born into the world?

  

  My look at the development of dysfunctional families in Genesis leading up to the story of Joseph continues in the next blog: Cain and Abel.

  July 18, 2026

  Adam & Eve, bible, christianity, Dysfunction, faith, genesis, god, jesus, Sin, The Fall

  ---

• H0 – Introduction to the Life of Joseph

  

  The life of Jacob’s 10th son, Joseph, meaning ‘God has given him’, is one of the favorites from Genesis. From the ‘coat of many colors,’ to slave, to prisoner, to a ruler in Egypt–the story seems to span the entire spectrum of human experience–kind of a ‘from rags to riches’ story that we in America like.

  

  Joseph’s story is used as an example in many sermons about trusting God, about waiting patiently for God’s plan, about maintaining one’s faith in difficult situations. I’ve heard many of these types of sermons in the 50+ years I’ve been a Christian.

  

  A couple of years ago, our men’s discipleship group studied the first part of the life of Joseph in Part 2 of a study of the Book of Genesis. The study was a typical look at what the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did, with the aim of becoming more godly men.

  For part 1 of Joseph’s story, the focus was on his patience and trust in God while obeying His moral laws, even in the face of great personal difficulties. 

  However, during my personal studies of the weekly passages, another viewpoint of these historical stories, very different than any I had ever seen or heard of, began to emerge.

  

  Have you heard the saying, that Biblical history is really ‘HIS-story’? That what we read in the Old Testament is really about God’s promised Messiah–Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World? THAT was the perspective that began to emerge as we studied part 2 of Genesis. For Joseph’s section, I began to see how it wasn’t so much Joseph’s story as it was God’s. It was HIS-Story.

  🍎 Personal Application:

  

  I don’t know what your experience of God is, but in my life, He has been very subtle. His voice has been very quiet when He speaks to me, so quiet that I have to get away from all the noise of the world to hear it. And if I actually want to understand what He’s saying, I have to quiet my inner voices until His is the only voice I hear. All of this takes time that I often don’t spend doing as I should.

  

  His touch on my life and on those around me is subtle too. There’s always the question, “Did God cause this, or did it happen randomly?” I pray and ask for a change and it happens. Was it God? Sometimes I’m not sure because there was no big fanfare, there wasn’t anything flashy. No “Presto change-o” magic words; the answer just kind of happened, or at least that’s how it seemed from my perspective.

  

  And God doesn’t just answer our prayers like making wishes on a genie in a bottle. He’s the Sovereign Lord, Creator and Ruler of the Universe. He has His own plans–not only for His creation outside of us, but for us–His creations made in His own image.

  

  For these questions about how God acts and carries out His plans, we can see at least a glimpse of an answer in the life of Joseph. It’s not the only historical story in Genesis, but it’s the longest one and the one where we can see God at work clearest on an individual level.

  One answer to these questions is–it comes down to faith. The writer of Hebrews put it this way in chapter 11:

  

  

  

  

  

  

  The second element of faith in this verse is we believe that God will reward us, if we ‘diligently seek Him.’  What does that kind of faith and waiting look like?

  I believe Joseph’s example answers these questions about faith in God and more.

  

  I invite you to join me over the next two months or so as I work from Genesis 37 to the end about the Life of Joseph, but first touching on the earlier passages as part of the rest of my introduction. I previously covered some of the other stories of the Patriarchs we looked at in my blog series, and links to those blogs will be provided.

  CONCLUSION 🏁

  😯 I was astounded by what emerged from my study of part two of Genesis two years ago!  I anticipate many more revelations about God and ‘HIS-story’ as I prayerfully study through the full life of Joseph. 👏

  Bill 🤓
  _____________________

  PREVIEW 👀

  1. Key verse 🔑

  

  2. Major players 🎭

  

  

  

  4. Many people =

  

  

  🍎 APPLICATION:  What I learned from this study.

  God is gracious!  He’s willing to include everyone around us when He blesses because He CARES about everyone and He wants everyone to KNOW that He cares.

  

  July 15, 2026

  bible, christianity, faith, genesis, god, Joseph, prayer

  ---

• E2, Mark 1:12-13 Temptations

  

  12 At once the Spirit sent (Jesus) out into the wilderness, 13 and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted/tested by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended Him.

  

  Cross references: There were others who spent 40 days with God without additional sustenance, Moses and Elijah.

  

  

  There are two significant aspects to the temptation of Jesus. First is that He can be sympathetic toward us when we’re going through difficulties, because He’s been there:

  

  Second is that Jesus came through His time of testing victorious, which qualified Him to be the sacrifice for the redemption of humankind. In comparison, our penultimate ancestors were NOT victorious when they were tested by Satan and that is why we are in the mess the world is in.

  But thanks be to God,” to quote Paul (1 Corinthians 15:57), God has not left us in this mess, He had a plan–a plan for redemption, a plan for salvation, a plan reaching its climax here in Mark with God’s Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Let’s look more in depth at temptation/testing starting in Genesis.

  Genesis 3:1-15, New International Version

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • Lust of the flesh: Bodily desires, appetites, and sexual immorality. 

  • Lust of the eyes: Craving or longing for pretty things, possessions, which can be seen as a desire for more. Also called ‘covetousness’ in the Bible.

  • Pride of life: Boastful confidence in oneself, one’s resources, or earthly things. Jesus referred to it as ‘Mammon,’ a Middle Eastern concept of His time that referred to anything of value one depends on in place of God.

  

  Pulling together the accounts of the temptation / testing of Jesus from the other synoptic gospels, let’s see how Jesus also faced each of these three threats and how He dealt with them.

  

  Lust of the flesh: Jesus had been fasting in the wilderness for 40 days and He was hungry. Satan came and tested/tempted Him saying, “If you are really the Son of God, turn these stones into loaves of bread!”

  Jesus replied, “It is written, mankind shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

  

  Lust of the eyes: For the next test/temptation, Satan took Jesus to a high place and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. Then he said, “All these kingdoms can be yours if you will just bow down and worship me!”

  Jesus replied, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD thy God and serve only Him.’”

  

  Pride of life: Finally Satan took Jesus to the highest point of the temple for His last test/temptation. While they were looking down at the thousands of people in the courtyard, Satan said, “It is written, ‘God’s angels shall bear up His Annointed lest He strike His foot against a stone.’  IF you are God’s Annointed, throw yourself down from here!”
  
  Jesus replied, “Get out of here Satan! It is written, ‘You shall not test/tempt the Lord thy God!‘”

  

  Jesus successfully passed the three tests/temptations that Adam and Eve failed. Lessons we can learned:

  1. Jesus accurately quoted what God had said in the past as it pertained to each test. Eve misquoted what God had said by adding, ‘…or touch it.’ Which gave the Serpent an opportunity to deceive her when she touched a fruit and nothing happened.

  2. THE FLESH Jesus prioritized obeying
  God over His natural physical needs. He taught in Matthew 6:33 that we should do this too.

  

  3. THE EYES Jesus refused to be impressed or distracted by seeing all the kingdoms of the world. He focused on the key point of worshipping/serving God versus anyone or anything else. (In other words, He avoided idolatry)

  4. PRIDE The whole aspect of Jesus’ coming was in humility. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself even further, to be obedient to God’s plan and die on a cross.

  

  To participate in such an ostentatious miracle as Satan suggested, even if he did appear to have a Scripture to back him up, would have been the exact opposite of humility.

  SUMMARY

  I can summarize where Jesus was in this situation by one concept–a personal, submitted relationship with God:

  Who? Jesus chose God over His fleshly needs. He put God’s needs first–God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.

  Who? Jesus chose God over His psychological needs and desires for fame, for significance, for personal glory. He chose to serve and follow God’s ways and God’s plan rather than take what was offered as an easier shortcut.

  Who? Jesus chose God over his own self-exaltation. Whenever we start to tell others about ourselves, to let others know how great we think we are, we are failing this test. (Ouch!)

  John knew what he was saying when he called it the “Boastful” pride of life. That’s because when you start boasting about yourself, your people, your possessions, your accomplishments, etc., you’re bring prideful.

  

  APPLICATIONS, Mark 1:1-13:

  1.a. Who is Jesus to me? He is the Savior that makes it possible for me to go to heaven when I die, where I will live forever with God and Jesus. My response to that salvation is best expressed in this classic hymn, My Jesus I Love Thee.

  

  1.b. What kind of Savior has Jesus been to me? He has been persistent in seeking relationship with me. Even when I’ve slipped away or strayed from Him, He has always gently called me back into fellowship with Him and with His Body, the Church.

  My feelings about the grace of Jesus in my life, to have never given up on me, is best expressed by the classic hymn, Softly and Tenderly (Jesus is Calling).

  

  1.c. What do I want Jesus to be in my life? I want Him to be the everything to me I’ve heard from so many others. I want Him to be what this classic hymn expresses, to be All the World to Me.

  

  2. Has Mark convinced you of the uniqueness of Jesus, how He is qualified to be the Savior of the World? What more should he include?

  Intellectually I know these things, but emotionally I got nothing. Jesus coming in humility makes it difficult for me to be amazed and astounded about who He is and what He did. Jesus constantly strove to keep things low key. The dialogue in Mark seems so dispassionate, so emotionless, it’s almost like it is being delivered deadpan.

  There’s nothing to stir the heart, wow the mind, to awaken that sense of wonder that these are not just historically momentous events, these are eternally momentous events. It seems like the eternal significance is just beyond my ability to perceive and comprehend. Hoping for more later!

  

  3. How does your faith background affect the way you see Jesus? Are you aware of any potential blind spots, beliefs or practices that might be missing in your Christian faith and practice, having grown up in a certain tradition?

  

  I know that my traditional conservative  Protestant upbringing had lots of gaps– things that were a little off center from the truths of the Bible, even some things that were outright wrong–but I can’t see the what and where of how to change, how to move away from that background, even when I think I can see what new direction I need to move in.

  

  It is as if those childhood beliefs are so deeply ingrained in my psyche that it is who I am. I’ve made some changes in my faith and practice over my lifetime as I’ve learned more and different things, but they have just been baby steps.

  

  The only path ahead I see is to keep grinding it out day-by-day, to keep seeking God, to stay in God’s Word and prayer, to be in fellowship with God’s people, to keep believing that God will work His will in me and through me. But it’s tough!

  

  The three things I heard the most from others in church while growing up in my traditional faith were, ‘maybe,’ ‘it might be,’ and ‘nobody can know for sure.’

  These words are not enough for me anymore, and they haven’t been for a long, Iong time. My hope is that as we look at the story of Jesus in Mark, that my uncertainty will be replaced by certainty, that my doubts will be replaced by convictions, that what I’ve always heard as speculations will be replaced by belief in the truth. Amen!

  

  
  

  September 21, 2025

  bible, christianity, faith, genesis, god, jesus

  ---

• D10 – Generational sin 2 – Genesis 20

  

  This blog is dedicated to my dear Christian brother Marcus, who has finally found his “Sarah,” and her name means “Blessedly Beautiful.” On their journey together with God, may they find joy, even in difficulties; may they always support each other, even when not exactly in the right; and may they give each other the courage to follow where God leads them, especially when the way seems frightening. Amen.

  Genesis chapter 20 – The Story

  After witnessing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham journeyed toward the fertile territory of the Negeb and lived between Kadesh and Shur. One day he decided to visit the city state of Gerar, ruled by King Abimelech, taking his wife, Sarah, with him.

  

  When they entered the city, Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” When Abimelech, king of Gerar, heard about this new beautiful woman in his city, he sent some soldiers and took Sarah for his own harem.

  

  But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, “Behold, you are as good as dead because of the woman who you have taken as one of your wives, because she is another man’s wife.” 

  Now Abimelech had not yet gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you kill a righteous person? Did he himself not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she herself not say, ‘He is my brother.’  In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.” 

  Then God answered him in the dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against Me. Therefore, I did not let you touch her. 

  Now then, return the man’s wife to him, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours, even to your kingdom.”

  

  So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his people and his manservants together, and told them all these things. And the men were very much afraid. 

  Then Abimelech called Abraham to join them and said to him, “What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and my kingdom such a great curse? You have done things to me that should not to be done to another man.” And further, Abimelech said to Abraham, “What did you see in us that caused you to do this thing?” 

  

  Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, ‘There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my beautiful wife.’ Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. 

  And when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the favor you must do for me: at every place to which we come, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

  

  Then Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and male and female servants to tend them, and gave them to Abraham as recompense, and returned Sarah his wife to him. And Abimelech said, “Behold, my entire land is before you; live in it wherever you please.” (Just not here.)

  

  To Sarah he said, “See this?  I have given you and your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is a sign of your innocence in the eyes of all who are with you, and a sign before everyone here that you are vindicated.” 

  

  Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wives and servants so that they bore children again. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the women in the household of Abimelech, because he had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, to be his own.

  SUMMARY:

  

  As mentioned in the last blog, Abraham and Sarah (renamed since Genesis chapter 12) faced 10 tests of their faith in God. This chapter details test number 8 – The abduction of Sarah by a Philistine king named Abimelech. (From Inspired Scripture, (open source) see more at inspiredscripture.com)

  Although Abraham’s faith had grown, he failed this test. Even worse, this was a repeat of his prior failure when Pharaoh Senusret III abducted Sarah. Abraham showed that he had not learned from his prior mistake. (Sometimes it takes more than once to get it for all of us, right?)

  In my introduction to this Genesis series, I mentioned that I had noticed a few things in our Bible study. Let’s look at those general observations as they apply to Genesis chapter 20.

  

  1. We shouldn’t be surprised that sinful people act sinfully. Abraham and Sarah were not any kind of special sanctified saints who lived completely holy and blameless lives. They were sinners, like the rest of us, that God had chosen as the Patriarch and Matriarch of His promised nation that would eventually produce His Annointed One, who would bring God’s blessing to all the nations.So, why did Abraham decide to go to the big city? Was he tired of sitting around and watching his sheep, goats, donkeys, camels and cattle eat grass? Was he tired of settling the squabbles between his servants who were tired of sitting around watching Abraham’s sheep, goats donkeys, camels, etc…?

  

  Also, Abraham had just been through a very stressful and traumatic event trying to save the city where his nephew Lot lived from God’s judgment and destruction, but instead, having to settle for just saving Lot’s family. Maybe Abraham needed something to replace the horror in his mind of watching God rain down destruction on the two sinful cities. I suspect this was a side of God, the judgmental and vengeful side, that Abraham had not seen in action before.

  Maybe the memory of the trip to Pharaoh’s city–the hustle and bustle, the excitement of new sights, sounds and smells, the myriad riches, the unexpected wonders around the next corner–had stayed with Abraham and he craved some of that excitement amid the boredom of life out on the sameness of the open plains? If so, there was some serious selective memory going on!

  For whatever reason, like his prior trip to Egypt that was unsanctioned by God, Abraham made an unsanctioned trip to the nearby city in southern Canaan, Gerar, capital of the local king. In both places, the theft of wives was common. In both places, Abraham had Sarah lie to protect himself. Abraham had apparently failed to learn his lesson in Egypt. Are we any different?

  

  2. The second thing I realized is, Genesis isn’t just about the characters, it is really ‘His-story.’ The real story in Genesis is about God shepherding those He chose from one generation to the next as He furthered His plan for salvation of the world along. Therefore  to really understand what is going on, look for when God ‘shows up.’

  

  The first thing that stuck out to me in Genesis chapters 12 and 20 was how and when God acted. Here in Chapter 20, I kept wondering, where was God? For example:

  

  A. Abraham decided to take Sarah and go to what he knew was a “godless city’ where his life would be in danger because of his beautiful wife, and she would be in danger of abduction. No excuse of a famine this time. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  

  B. Abraham and Sarah lied about their relationship when they reached the city. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  

  C. The king took Sarah from Abraham to be his own wife. GOD DID/SAID NOTHING.

  God (finally) showed up im the night in a dream to the king. I’m sure it gets your attention when God speaks to you in a dream, but when God leads off with, “YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!”, it really gets your attention. So, let’s look at the dialogue between God and the king again.

  

  GOD: Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is the man’s wife.KING: (Now Abimelech had not yet gone near her, so he replied ) “Lord, will you kill an innocent person?  Did the man not himself say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And did she not herself say, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.GOD: Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. Now then, restore the man’s wife to him, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.POSTSCRIPT: After the king returned Sarah, his wife, to Abraham, then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and also healed his wives and female servants so that they bore children again. For the Lord had closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.WOW! Are you as blown away by the things God said and did as I am? When the king took Sarah to be his latest wife, it didn’t look like God was doing anything about it, but we now can see God did two things behind the scenes:First, God supernaturally restrained the king from becoming intimate with Sarah.Second, God also supernaturally prevented the King’s wives and female servants from conceiving any more children.

  

  First let me say that the punishment very well fit the crime. God’s sense of justice is appropriate, maybe even a little ironic. The king had grabbed up another beautiful woman for his pleasure, but also for the purpose of having quality children. You can get a hint as to how important having children was to them at that time in history by their reaction to their women losing the ability to conceive. So, first, the king was prevented by God from having that pleasure. King 0, God 1.

  Next, God prevented every woman there from being able to conceive. King 0, God 2.

  

  So, not only was the King’s immediate purpose thwarted, but his long-term purpose was thwarted, and because everyone under his authority was included in the judgment, he was penalized maybe a thousand times. Moral of the story? You you don’t mess with those who God has chosen for Himself, because then, you’ll find out you’re messing with God, and He wins, every time. King -1,000, God wins!

  It is also suggestive here that the events stretched over a longer period than the brief narrative seems to indicate if they had realized that none of the women were conceiving, then after Abraham prayed for their healing, that the women had begun conceiving again.

  But the whole thing about supernaturally restraining the king from intimate relations with Sarah says a lot more than that.

  

  In our modern ‘enlightened’ society, people say that premarital and even extramarital sexual relationships don’t matter–they’re okay, they don’t mean a thing. However, it is very clear that the sanctity of Sarah’s womb was important to God.

  ‘Why was it important to Him that Sarah not have sexual relations with anyone but her husband,’ you might ask?
  I think partly because that is the way God made things to be between a man and a woman who join in ‘holy matrimony.’ Not only does God sanctify the couple as man and wife, but everything unique to a marriage; i.e., having sexual relations and producing children, becomes holy to Him too.

  But I think there was also the element that God had chosen the couple for His Divine purpose. That apparently meant protecting them not only from dangers outside of them, but it also meant protecting them from the dangers of their own sinful self within them!

  

  3. My third takeaway from Genesis last Spring was that we should not spend a lot of time condemning the characters if God doesn’t condemn them. Note in the exchange between God and Abimelich that God never mentions a word of condemnation for Abraham or Sarah. In fact, God actually honored Abraham by calling him His prophet and then by placing the means of healing God’s curse in his hands. I’m sure this elevated Abraham very highly in the King’s estimation.

  

  We learn in the Bible that the three highest positions in a God-centered society–equal, but very different in their functions–are Prophet, Priest and King. By naming Abraham as a prophet, God elevated him to be equal to the king in God’s eyes, and in the eyes of those who revere and honor God, which it seems Abimelech did more than Abraham had thought.

  

  It’s also interesting that there is no record of Abraham having done anything exactly like this before. We saw Abraham negotiate with God’s angel to save Sodom and Gomorrah from punishment, for his nephew Lot’s sake. (Although that didn’t turn out well.) That conversation between Abraham and the angel was not dissimilar from the pushback the king showed when God was speaking to him in that dream.

  But for that same God to say that Abraham, once he got his wife back, could pray for the king and his household to be delivered from the curse and then for it to happen! Well, I suspect that not only the king was impressed.

  So, it seems interesting that God used the situation that was caused by Abraham’s sin to show him a new supernatural ability that came with God’s calling. I guess it’s really true that God does not waste our suffering. As a result, at the end of Genesis 20, we also get a glimpse of something other than ‘sinners being sinful’–we saw a man whose voice God would listen to. We saw a man of compassion who prayed for the needs and hurts of others. At the end of Genesis 20, we got a glimpse of what a godly man should look like.

  

  The question still remains, though, why no condemnation for Abraham and Sarah? From my previous blog, the answer was that God had chosen them for His plan. There are some implications for that choosing explained by Paul in Romans 8:30 (New Living Translation):

  “And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.”

  Paul is saying this about us as Christians, but I think we can see the same things here in God’s relationship with Abraham and Sarah:

  

  First, God chose Abraham and Sarah, and then He called them to leave Haran and go to an unrevealed land.

  

  Second, Abraham believed the promise of God and God counted it as righteousness. Even these two times that Abraham and Sarah were deceitful, there was no condemnation from God, because He had awarded them right-standing with Him.

  

  And third, God gave Abraham part of His glory when He allowed him to pray for the healing of Abimelich and the cursed women, and then did heal them after Abraham prayed for them.

  APPLICATION:

  

  So, who are you going to follow in your life? Are you going to live life based on your fears? Are you going to live a life of lies and deceit? Are you going to live for personal gain, no matter what the cost to others? Or are you going to follow Jesus?

  

  If you follow the call of God in Jesus Christ, you have to deny your fears, you have to give up lies and deceit, you have to give up seeking to benefit yourself. You have to follow Jesus willingly, joyfully, obediently and selflessly. Not an easy thing to do, one might say impossible, but all things are possible with God. And the greatest thing is, even when you fail, THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION FROM GOD!

  

  Instead there is forgiveness, there is a chance to learn and grow, there is still a chance to be used by God in His plan. Can you think of anything more awesome than that to give your life to?

  THIS WEEK’S SONG:

  Godliness for us is defined as ‘Christlikeness.’ Jesus calls us to follow Him, to become like Him. Just like Abraham was called by God and followed that call to Canaan, so too must we follow wherever Jesus leads us.

  Here is a simple song of dedication to do just that from my favorite worship song writer. Listen to his message in an attitude of commitment to following our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

  

  September 1, 2025

  Abraham, bible, christianity, faith, genesis, god

  ---

• D9 Genesis 26 and 12 – Generational Sin 1

  

  When we studied Genesis chapter 26 last Spring, we focused on the similarity between a failed ploy Isaac used to protect himself from the Canaanite King, Abimelich, and a similar ploy his father, Abraham, used to protect himself from the Pharaoh of Egypt and also from King Abimelich; that is, trying to protect their lives by concealing their marriages and saying their wives were their sisters.

  So, why did Isaac emulate this ploy of his father, which in fact failed TWICE? Isaac wasn’t even born yet when Abraham did those things. Maybe the stories were passed among the servants and that is what gave Isaac the idea. If so, shouldn’t the failure have also been told as part of the story? That should have given Isaac pause before repeating the failed strategy.

  

  What we talked about in our study was a concept called ‘Generational Sin.’ That is, somehow children tend to repeat the sins of their parents. Why is that? Is it a case of “Children learn what they live?” There are also similar concepts called Generational Curses and Generational Trauma. The differences as I understand them are:

  1. Generational sins are the repetition of sinful actions by the adult children that they observed their parents doing while growing up. That might be a simple case of modeling and emulation without realizing there may be other options for behavior. People who are caught in generationally repetitive sins can only be delivered by Jesus Christ.

  

  2. Generational curses are similar to the above except it takes into account the curse of original sin, as well as the consequences of individual sin. We as cursed, sinful creatures just keep repeating the same sins generation after generation, and experiencing the same negative consequences of those sins, those are the ‘curses.’ People who are caught in the curse of Adam’s sin as it has mutated through the generations and in different family lines can also only be delivered by Jesus Christ.

  

  3. While doing my research on the concept of Generational Sins last Spring, I ran across a slightly different concept called ‘Generational Trauma.’ The first two concepts were developed by Christian theologians trying to understand and explain Exodus 34:7.

  

  Generational Trauma, on the other hand, is a concept developed by psychologists to explain how trauma to one generation, necessitating extremes of behavior in order to cope, are then passed on to the next generation, even if social or personal circumstances have changed and the extreme behavior is no longer necessary.

  Before we delve deeper into these concepts, though, I’ll spend the next three blogs telling those three stories in Genesis and see where that takes us.

  THE STORY: Genesis 12

  I. God Calls Abram

  

  Now the Lord said to Abram, “Leave your country and your kinfolk and your father’s house, and go to the land that I will show you. And I will make of 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 he who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

  

  So Abram left, as the Lord had told him, and Lot, Abram’s nephew, also went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 

  

  And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the servants that they had acquired in Haran, and they traveled to the land of Canaan.

  

  When they came to the land, Abram passed through to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites inhabited the land. 

  

  Then the Lord appeared to Abram again and said, “I will give this land to your offspring.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him and called that place ‘Bethel,’ meaning the House of God. From there Abram moved his flocks and herds to the hill country to the east of Bethel, where there was better grazing, and pitched his tents there, with Bethel on the west and the nation of Ai on the east.

  

  There Abram built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord in daily worship and sacrifices. Eventually, Abram moved everyone on, still going southward toward the fertile valley of the Negeb.

  

  II. Abram and Sarai in Egypt

  Now there was a famine in the land of Canaan, but not in Egypt. Because of the seasonal flooding of the Nile, Egypt was rarely affected by famines. So Abram and Sarai and all who were theirs, went down to Egypt to live there for a while, because the famine had become very severe in Canaan. 

  

  When Abram and Sarai went down to Pharaoh’s city, Abram pulled Sarai aside and said to his wife, “I know that you are a very beautiful woman, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘Who is this beautiful woman, is this his wife?’ If I say ‘yes,’ then they will kill me and they will take you by force, for that is how they do things in the godless nations. If we say you are my ‘sister,’ then it may go well with me because of you, and then my life may be spared for your sake.”

  

  When Abram entered the city, the Egyptians indeed saw that Sarai was very beautiful, and the princes of Pharaoh went and praised her to Pharaoh Senusret III.* Then Pharoah Senusert sent for the couple and Sarai was taken into the Pharaoh’s harem. For her sake, Pharoah Senusret dealt well with Abram; giving him sheep, oxen, donkeys, servants, and camels as a bride price.

  * Historical research identifies Khakaure Senusret III (also written as Senwosret III or the Greek form, Sesostris III) as the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time of Abram and Sarai’s sojourn there in 1876 BC. He ruled from 1878 BC to 1839 BC during a time of great power and prosperity in Egypt. He would have been ruling for only about two years at the time of Genesis 12, so he would probably have been a young and vigorous man as witnessed by his military victories in extending Egypt’s southern border. (Source, Wikipedia)

  

  Senusret III was famous for his realistic portraiture, compared to the idealized portraits of Pharaohs before him. His busts and statues are so realistic that you can see signs of his aging on those made later in his reign. Enough of these survive to this day that a realistic reconstruction is possible.

  

  But the Lord afflicted the Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. When divination revealed the cause of the plagues as his newest wife, the wife and not the sister of the man, Pharaoh Senusret sent for Abram and said to him, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife back, take her and go!” 

  

  Then Pharaoh Senusret gave his princes orders concerning Abram, that they send him away with his wife, Sarai, and all that he had with him. And so they escorted him to the border and saw them on their way back to Canaan.

  COMMENTARY and APPLICATIONS:

  It is said that Abram and Sarai, later renamed Abraham and Sarah, faced 10 tests in their life. The first three are in this passage.

  1. The first test was God’s call to leave both their home and their families, and go to a new land that God would show Abram later. They passed this test. They gathered up their household and belongings and headed south, accompanied only by a nephew, Lot, and his family.

  

  God affirmed Abram’s obedience by appearing to him again when he reached Canaan and made a promise that all the land Abram had seen would be given to His descendents. Abram responded appropriately and sacrificed to God and worshipped Him. Even though the Old Testament is very Patriarchical in its presentation, you can be sure that Sarai was involved in worshipping God together with her husband.

  

  This is often the same first test we face in our lives as Christians. Whether it’s after high school, college or some later time in life, God often calls us to leave everyone and everything that we’re familiar with and depend on, and go to a new place. I believe God does this in order to help us turn from depending on the familiar in our lives and turn to depending on Him. After all, that is what having a relationship with God is all about.

  I think that if we are also obedient to go when and where called, that God will affirm our decision to go in faith. That is, after all, the meaning of one of the key verses about faith:

  

  Faith and faithful obedience please God, and He will reward us.

  2. The next test was the famine in Canaan. Abram elected to go to Egypt, which was almost famine proof. However, he neglected to do one very important thing, that is, ask God what he and Sarai should do because of the famine. There are several reasons why Abram could be excused for not thinking to ask God first. His relationship with God so far had been to worship Him and live according to his understanding of what God wanted His worshippers to do, as passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next since Noah. God actually speaking to him was a new thing, and had only happened twice, so far.

  Also, God had only appeared to Abram at a time of His choosing. It might have never occurred to Abram that he could ask God for guidance and expect that he would receive supernatural guidance in response.

  

  It might well be that the anxiety of dealing with the famine–as he watched his flocks and herds and servants and their children slowly starve, as he struggled with the decision about what to do, maybe even questioning his decision to follow God into what now seemed to be a god-forsaken land–that all of this stress and anxiety gave him ‘brain lock,’ where he couldn’t decide what to do, where he couldn’t see a way out from a slow, but certain death, and he was just completely filled with anxiety and fear of losing everyone and everything.

  I know I’m reading a lot into what was going on here, but I’m drawing from my life and from seeing similar situations in the lives of others. This situation just cries out as one where Abram should have sought God, day and night, on his knees, on his face, sacrificing from his dwindling flocks–whatever it took–until he reached a place of desperate faith and God broke through his miasma of fear and anxiety to reassure him of being protected and also telling him what to do next.

  God made the promise to do this for the nation of Israel in Isaiah 41:10. Someone cleverly showed how the foundationsl idea of this promise is F.A.I.T.H:

  

  We as Christians have a similar promise:

  

  3. If Abram had sought God’s will, and going to Egypt was still the plan, the difference would have been that Abram and Sarai would have gone there trusting in God to take care of them. The third test, ‘Pharoah taking Sarai as his wife,’ might have been handled differently. Going with faith/trust in God, there would have been less fear. Granted, it was still a scary situation–two simple shepherds going to the seat of a highly sophisticated civilization–but it would have been easier to cope with that fear knowing your actions were being supported by your God.

  

  So, instead of going to Egypt in faith and confidence in God, Abram went there in fear for his life because of the beauty of his wife. There is a phrase in Abram’s justification of his strategy of deceit where he said, “Say you are my sister… that my life may be spared for your sake.” Maybe Abram was still wrapped up in the fear he had just experienced facing possible death from the famine?

  God had promised to give Canaan to Abram’s descendents. So far Abram and Sarai did not have even one child. If Abram was really understanding and trusting in God’s promise, then he should have realized that God would preserve his life. One wonders if Abram had thought that implication through? But not having done that, one failed test led to another test of faith.

  

  Not to imply that God was just throwing one test of faith at Abram and Sarai after another. The tests will still come in life, no Divine source needed. That’s the fallen world we live in.

  The difference is, in my opinion, that if we successfully negotiate one trial, that should put us in a better place in our faith to successfully negotiate the next one.

  The opposite is true too, I think. When we’ve been unsuccessful in dealing with one trial, then it will be all that much harder to trust God in the next one. 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a key verse about dealing with trials. Following afterward is my paraphrase of it.**

  

  **In the advanced Bible study class I took many years ago, we were taught to paraphrase a verse or passage at the end of our study of it as a way of showing our understanding of it. Here’s mine for this verse:

  Every trial and difficulty that comes your way is the same thing that everyone else goes through. But YOU CAN TRUST GOD! God will NEVER allow you to be tested beyond what you can handle. Along with the difficulty, God will make a path through it. If you’ll just trust and follow Him, you can be confident that you will be able to hang in there and make it through to the end.

  In Abram and Sarai’s case, God didn’t forget His promise. One phrase of God’s promise was, “…he who dishonors you, I will curse.” And that is what we saw Him do in Egypt. Pharoah dishonored Abram by taking his wife to be his own, even though Abram and Sarai had lied about their relationship, but that didn’t matter to God. God’s actions are not based on our imperfect obedience to His commands. What God has promised, He will fulfill. As He said in Isaiah 55:11

  

  So, Abram failed his third test of faith–he chose the course of fear and deceit, rather than trust in God and in His promise. What about us? Do we remember to ask God for His wisdom and guidance when difficulties arise? Do we trust God will fulfill His promises? As the Bible says:

  

  When we ask, do we then wait for an answer? Waiting for God is mentioned 34 times in the Old Testament. The most famous verse is Isaiah 40:31:

  

  Let’s make sure we grab hold of these promises from God when we find ourselves in anxiety-causing situations in our own lives, follow the pattern–pray, trust, wait, follow. There is a time to wait on God, and there is a time to act in obedience, with faith and confidence in God’s provision of strength, guidance and protection. I’m praying that we can all learn to tell the difference!

  

  THIS WEEK’S SONG:

  When I think about Abram and Sarai wandering through an unfamiliar land, looking forward to some future promised by God, I’m reminded of this 19th century folk gospel song. Even though the lyrics actually refer to the Israelites crossing the Jordan River to claim the rest of the land promised by God, I think the plaintive sound well captures how alone Abram and Sarai might have felt sometimes in their life-long wanderings, and how lonely I have sometimes felt in this world too. At least they had each other!

  Wayfaring Stranger, performed by the Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra.

  Lyrics

  I’m just a poor wayfaring stranger,
  Traveling through this world alone.
  Yet there’s no sickness, no toil, no danger,
  In that bright land to which I go.
  I’m going there to see my father,
  I’m going there no more to roam.

  I’m only going over Jordan,
  I’m only going over home.

  I know dark clouds will gather ’round me,
  I know my way is rough and steep;
  Yet beauteous fields rise up before me,
  Where God’s redeemed, their vigils keep.
  I’m going there to see my mother,
  She said she’d meet me when I come.

  I’m only going over Jordan
  I’m only going over home.

  August 25, 2025

  Abraham, bible, faith, genesis, god, sarah

  ---

• D8 – Genesis 25, Esau and Jacob.

  Allow me to review what I felt were a couple of key points from my study of the second half of Genesis before we continue.

  1. I realized that these origin stories, passed down orally and then written down by Moses or under his direction, were less about the historical figures, and more about ‘His-story ‘ that is, God’s shepherding of His plan from one generation to the next that would eventually produce the promised innumerable, great nation, AND produce He who would bring God’s blessing to ALL the nations, His Annointed Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

  2. With that in mind, we should look for when God ‘shows up.’ Realizing that God is accomplishing His purpose through flawed, sinful people, I noticed that He used a gentle, but firm hand, in guiding His chosen people in the direction He needed them to go in order to advance His plan. And we shouldn’t be surprised when we see normal, sinful people act sinfully, but since God doesn’t condemn them (there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus), then neither should we waste time condemning their sinfulness.

  So, let’s keep an eye out for these things in the next section of Genesis, chapter 25,  where we are introduced to the next generation, Jacob and Esau. Now for the story.

  

  Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 

  NOTE: Most of the following drawings (c) Free Bible Images, artist Jim Padgett, used by permission.

  

  Rebekah and Isaac had been married for twenty years and she had not yet conceived.

  

  Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. The Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (God shows up #1)

  

  The baby kicked and struggled within Rebekah more than she had ever heard of happening, and she thought, “Why is this happening to me? Is it going to be like this the whole pregnancy?” 

  

  So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,“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.” (God showing up #2)

  

  When her days to give birth were completed, just as God had said, there were twins in her womb. 

  The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau, meaning “hairy.”

  

  Next his brother came out with his hand grasping Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob,  meaning “heel catcher.”

  

  As the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled hunter, spending his time chasing game in the wildlands, while Jacob became a sedate man, spending his time on tasks around the encampment.

  

  Isaac came to love Esau more because he brought the choicest of his game for his father to eat, but Rebekah loved Jacob more because they spent more time together and he was so helpful around the home.

  Esau Sells His Birthright:

  

  One evening, when Jacob was cooking a red lentil stew, Esau came in from a day running after game in the wildlands with nothing to show for it, and he was very tired and hungry.  Esau came over to Jacob and said, in his usual gruff way, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am starving!” (Therefore his name was called Edom afterward, meaning “red”.)  

  

  Jacob replied in his quiet way, still stirring the pot, “Surrender your birthright to me from this day on and I will give you some of my stew.”

  

  Esau said, “I am about to die from hunger! Of what use is a birthright to me right now?” Jacob looked at his brother with an unusual intensity and said, “Swear to me right now, that the birthright is mine from this day forward!”

  

  So Esau swore to Jacob and surrendered his birthright to him. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and a bowl of his lentil stew. Esau ate and drank hungrily, like a man who had not eaten all day, and then he rose and went on his way as though nothing unusual had happened.

  Thus Esau did not esteem his birthright.

  COMMENTARY: The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible. As I said in my introductory blog, we should interpret the historical books at the beginning of the Old Testament by what God said later about the people and events through the Prophets. Then, we should interpret ALL of the OT by what Jesus and the Apostles said about it in the New Testament. Here are some of those verses related to Genesis chapter 25:

  

  A. GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY AND ELECTION. This is related to the prophecy about how the younger twin will rule over the older twin. Paul describes it this way in Romans 9.

       “When Rebekah had conceived children by our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of choosing might continue, not because of works, but because of Him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  

  If you’ve ever read through Romans or listened to a series on it, you might have noticed that it’s complicated and Paul goes into some deep theology. I’ve been looking over some commentaries on Romans 9, so let me try to uncomplicated Paul’s point here.

  Paul is talking about the sovereignty of God’s choice for who He will use in accomplishing His purpose and who to offer His bmessings to. God chose Abraham, we’re not told why, and made a promise to produce innumerable descendents from him, especially One who will “bless all nations.”

  Abraham and Sarah, having lost faith in God’s promise, had a son by her maid, who was named Ishmael. But afterward, some visiting angels promised Sarah would be pregnant by that same time next year, and so she was, and Isaac was born. Paul’s point is that God chose Isaac over Ishmael to continue His plan because Isaac was the ‘son promised’ by God. It was God’s choice again.

  Paul’s next point brings us to Isaac’s twins. God chose the younger one (Jacob) and made a promise about him to Rebecca, that he would rule over His older brother. Because Jacob and Esau were still in the womb when God made this declaration, Paul points out that God’s choice was not based on anything they had done–either good or bad. It was God’s choice, again.

  The choice that Paul is ultimately addressing is, why didn’t all of the Jews (Israelites) accept Jesus as the Messiah? And, why did God chose to start saving Gentiles when they started believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ?

  Paul’s point here is, just because the Israelites are physically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Patriarchs to whom God made and confirmed His promise, it is no guarantee they will experience redemption through Jesus Christ at that time.

  Because God is Sovereign, He was perfectly justified to have Paul and other missionary teams carry the gospel to the Gentiles and to confirm the Gentiles’ acceptance into God’s Kingdom, after the Jews started rejecting the gospel. That is, God has made them (and us!) honorary Israelites, and thus joint heirs of God’s salvation with the nation of Israel. After all, that was part of God’s original promise, to be a ‘blessing to all nations.’ (The Greek word interpreted ‘Gentiles ‘ ‘ethnos,’  actually means ‘nations.”)

  So, Paul’s point, in part, is that God’s choices are not based on ‘works,’ that is, what a person has done good or bad, (for example, God’s choice of Jacob in the womb.) God’s choice about who to offer salvation to is not dependent on one’s ancestry as being descended from Abraham (for example God chose Isaac over Ishmael.) BUT God’s choices are made by His own decision, that is, His Sovereign will, and God’s choices have always been proven to be the right ones and the best ones to carry out His eternal plan of salvation for humankind.

  Whew! I don’t know if I uncomplicated that or not!  My take on this is, God is saying through Paul, ‘So, you’re a Jew and you think that entitles you to special treatment from God over everyone else? NOT!’ I chose who, what, when, where and how   BECAUSE I AM GOD!

  Paul’s concludes his argument in Romans chapter 9 by quoting from Exodus 33:19, where God proclaims His goodnes, that God will have compassion on whoever He chooses to have compassion on. And God will have mercy on whoever He chooses to have mercy on.

  

  B. As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (also quoted in Romans 10:13)

  The Hebrew word translated “hated” here means to be hostile to and consider someone an enemy. The reference is to some prophecies about the country founded by Esau and his descendents, called ‘Edom.’

  When God brought the descendents of Jacob back from Egypt to the land He had promised them, He instructed them to be  careful not to take any land from Edom,  because of the relationship between their founders, Jacob and Esau. However, when the Israelites were entering their promised land, they wanted to take a shortcut through Edom. They promised they wouldn’t take anything, they would stay on the highway, and if any of their animals drank any water, they would pay for it.

  The Edomites not only said, ‘No!,’ they said ‘H#!! no,’ and lined up their army to attack the Israelites if they tried to cross. (See Numbers 20:14-21)

  Again, at a later time in history, when Israel and Judah were being besieged by Assyria, leading to their defeat and exile, Edom joined the enemy of Israel by fighting their relatives, sacking Jerusalem and taking refugees captive and making them slaves. (See 2 Chronicles 28:17)

  Therefore, God cursed the nation of Edom (Esau) for their treachery, and promised to completely destroy it, as He did. (See Joel 3:19, Amos 1:11, Obadiah 1:11-14, and there’s more in Ezekiel 25, 35 and 36.)

  So, there wasn’t anything Esau did that caused God to ‘hate’ him.  God actually honored his descendents. Instead, it was what the nation founded by his descendents did that caused God to declare them as enemies and then He become hostile to them.

  Prophetic language frequently uses the name of the founder of a nation to refer to the nation, as ‘Jacob’ and ‘Esau’ are used in prophecies to refer to the nations Israel and Edom. Hence, when God says “Jacob I have loved” (feels a deep affection for), He’s referring to the nation of Israel. When He says, “Esau I have hated,” (declared a hostile enemy), He’s referring to the nation of Edom. It’s easy to get confused!

  C. PROFANE / GODLESS / UNGODLY:

  

  The Greek word used to describe Esau in this verse means the opposite of holy or sanctified. It is variously translated as profane, godless or ungodly. Godly people set apart the things of God as being special and important in how they treat them, talk about them, etc. Godless, ungodly or profane people treat what belongs to God as though it were ordinary or unimportant.

  “This Greek word is used to label conduct, speech, or people that treat divine realities as common, trivial, or contemptible. While Scripture plainly identifies unbelief and immorality as characteristic of the profane, the term also warns believers that holiness may be undermined by careless attitudes, empty talk, and a willingness to trade eternal privilege for fleeting satisfaction.” (The Bible Hub)

  That last is specifically what Esau did in reference to the Divine birthright that was his as the firstborn. Thus, we see Esau’s surrendering his birthright for one meal is condemned in Scripture, but not Jacob’s actions of wheedling it from Esau.

  APPLICATIONS:

  So, in light of these three Biblical commentaries, there are three (kind of obvious) applications:

  1. Let us as ‘Gentiles’ thank God that He hasn’t left us out of His plan, that He has chosen to show compassion and mercy to us, and that we all have had the opportunity to be saved and redeemed from this world of sin and death, and from our own sinful self. AMEN!

  2. Always remember to treat others, especially God’s chosen and blessed people, with kindness, acceptance and generosity. This is what the Bible calls ‘hospitality.’

  3. Remember to treat everything having to do with God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, His Holy Bible, especially the Gospel, Christ’s Body, the Church, and God’s ordained ministers and pastors, as special and important. Never put anything above them in how you esteem them and speak about them. Remember to honor God in everything you do and say, more than what you think, more than how you feel, more than anything you might want, and even more than a anything you need. Quite a lofty goal, isn’t it?  I know you fall short, so do I, but let’s TRY.

  

  Considering the sovereignty of God reminds me of this worship song. I hope it carries you into an attitude and heart of worship as it does me. Song: How Great is Our God, by Chris Tomlin.

  August 19, 2025

  bible, esau, faith, genesis, god, jacob

  ---