Rachel is going to have a second son, giving Jacob a total of 12, but dies in child birth. Isaac also dies at the end of this chapter but he was 180 years old; he lived to see Jacob return and be reconciled to his older brother Esau.
Genesis 35
Continue readingAs we have gone through the book of Genesis one chapter at a time, this series has been a work in progress. I started Read the Bible as something of an experiment, not sure how well things would work out. There have been changes in an effort to get better; the goal is to settle down at some point once we have the bugs worked out. I know that some of you would like to read along as I read out loud. What I am reading begins with the KJV text and then I make adjustments to update some of the archaic language. It is not a published translation, I have no desire to create my own paraphrase; but I cannot read any modern translation in its entirety because of copyright laws nor do I want to read a public domain text such as the KJV or ASV. But what if, for the benefit of those who wish to see what I am saying, the text was included with each post?
Continue readingWe could call this section Like Father, Like Son. Isaac built his wealth and was blessed by God, and promised that his offspring would possess the nations they were living in. He redug wells that Abraham had dug and gave them the same names. But this chapter begins with Isaac lying to Abimelech about his wife being his sister. Abraham not only did that twice, and got caught both times, but one of the kings he did it to was Abimelech.
I’ve been thinking today about the difference between teaching and preaching. A preacher should be able to teach, but a teacher should be able to teach without preaching. Teaching is about explaining things in ways that people can understand. The Read the Bible series isn’t really about teaching the Bible; the stated goal is to read the text and discuss it’s just I’m the only one doing the discussing. Anytime someone wants to jump in just start leaving comments and we can interact. Preaching involves not only reading the text and doing some teaching but giving application. It starts with “what do we learn from this passage” and transitions into “what are we going to do about it.” When you leave church after hearing a good sermon you should have some goals for the upcoming week. There should be one or more action points; you should be able to answer the question What does the pastor/preacher want me to do? Sometimes a well-taught lesson will lead us to do things differently or take action but a good sermon will provide application. Some of the passages as we read through the Old Testament, I’m not sure how I would preach those from the perspective of how should we respond? You can learn a lot about God by reading the Old Testament so I hope you hang in there and find it worthwhile.
In some ways, Abraham is like God the Father in that he was willing to offer up his only son. In some ways, Isaac is like Jesus in that he was the son of promise. At some point every analogy breaks down. The plan of salvation was God’s design and while Abraham was faithfully doing what he was told but it was a blind faith. Jesus willingly laid down his life; Isaac may have been an unwilling participant in this exercise. Substitutionary sacrifice is illustrated here when Abraham slays the ram… oh, spoilers. Maybe you better play the audio.
Genesis 22 tells the story of Abraham sacrificing his son Isaac. For clarity’s sake perhaps we should say almost sacrificing his son. Abraham was willing, able and just about to offer his son Isaac when he was stopped by the Angel of the Lord.
Abraham believed God and that belief was counted to him as righteousness in Genesis 15:6. Isaac had been born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age, so Abraham had no reason to question God’s instructions. Hebrews 11 commends his faithfulness, so great that he believed God could restore Isaac to life. An interesting conversation took place as they hiked up the mountain together. Isaac noted they had wood and fire but asked about a lamb to sacrifice. Abraham said that “God will provide himself a lamb.” When Isaac was spared at the last moment, Abraham saw a ram caught by its horns and sacrificed that as an offering of thanksgiving. He named the place Jehovah-jireh or the LORD will provide.
As we prepare to celebrate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ it’s hard to miss the parallels. We have in the Genesis account a father that is willing to sacrifice the son that he loves. They walked up the mountain together. And even though Isaac is ultimately spared we see the ram serve as substitute sacrifice. It was guilty of nothing but its blood was poured out. Now consider the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and recall the words of Abraham; God will provide himself with a sacrifice.
After 5 posts on Abraham I have decided it’s time to move on. There are a lot more stories there, but Bible Survey kind of turned into a lifetime in Genesis on me. Perhaps I should write a book on Abraham; can’t imagine that making the New York Times Bestseller List.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob looks at two aspects of that title. When the Bible uses that phrase (15 times in the ESV) it is for one of two reasons; to either remind the Hebrews who they are and whose they are, or to explain to others outside the Hebrew nation which God it is we are talking about. Head over to Bible Survey and check it out.
I still think starting Bible Survey was a great idea. I wish we were halfway through the New Testament right now instead of still in Genesis, but when were promised everything we want, right?
There is just so much to say about Abraham. His story runs from Genesis 12 to 25, and I’ve found it hard to summarize or skip anything. In Genesis 22, Abraham is willing to and almost does sacrifice Isaac. There are some good lessons in the story about God, and they are all about his love and mercy toward sinners, not about him being vicious, cruel or scary.
Read Abraham Sacrifices Isaac at Bible Survey.
There’s a lot of negative things to say about topical preaching, but I know two things: 1) Father’s Day will be one of the most searched terms today on the Internet, and 2) No matter what “topic” I begin with, before the sermon is over I will preach the Gospel.
“Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.” So goes the old children’s song. While we recognize Abraham as the primogenitor of the Jewish nation, like any member our fallen race he was far from perfect. One danger of celebrating historic lives is that we elevate a person too high by never mentioning certain shortcomings or character flaws. Historians have to be careful in their presentation of certain figures, particularly the ones they like. Continue reading
The Master's Table 