This section was mostly about Abram aka Abraham, the future father of Judaism. God chooses Abram and has great plans for him. Abram leaves the land of Haran and wonders around awhile, along with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their peoples. Egypt is one of the places they wonder to and Abram tells the Egyptians that Sarai is his sister because she is so beautiful he fears they will kill him to get her if they knew she was his wife. Side note, this is a half truth because Sarai is actually his half sister, anyways moving on. This idea of his was kinda stupid, and the King was like, why didn't you just tell me she was your wife? Take her and go. I'm not going to get into the whole story.
They wonder some more. Lot goes on his own path away from Abram because their groups of peoples and possessions had grown so that they needed their own space. Lot ends up getting in trouble and Abram comes and rescues him. God is still in contact with Abram, and part of the great plans He has for him include making a great nation from him (Abram and Sarai are to have kids). The thing that makes this interesting is that Abram and Sarai kinda don't believe it because they are so old and Sarai is barren. Abram ends up having a kid with Sarai's servant because both Sarai and Abram think this is the only way to fulfill God's plan...sigh. Also, God changes Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah. Okay, that all took us quickly through Ch.12 -16. Ch. 17 was mostly about circumcision... Which then brings us to Ch. 18, which I thought was the coolest and most interesting.
Ch. 18. The three visitors section. Ch. 18 starts out by saying that the Lord appears to Abraham. Then it says that Abraham looks up and sees three visitors. I am curious, the passage flows in such a way that it almost makes it sound like the Lord is among the flesh and blood visitors? Or, that Abraham was talking with the Lord, then was interrupted by visitors, and rushed to them leaving the Lord waiting...but why would he do that? The Lord then also speaks in the passage several times. In a conversational tone, mixed in with the visitors. I don't know, Abraham also refers to himself as the visitors servant, honored by their visit. He makes a very big to do about making them comfortable and getting them food. But, it seems these men are holy. Also, they aren't really seen as individuals, but rather speak as one unit. Is it going out on a limb to think these three visitors are God in three persons? It's a thought.
It always makes me laugh when it comes to the part about Sarah laughing, denying it, and then God saying, "yes, you did laugh". I don't know why, but I love that part. The last bit of Ch. 18 is foreshadowing the doom and gloom coming to Sodom and Gomorrah. So, anyways, I'm interested in hearing what others think about the three visitors. I should read it over again soon and think on it more. I haven't even had time to ask Rob his thoughts on this passage. Comments are welcome.
It's Monday and I'm behind on blogging. To catch you up...
Sat I read Genesis 19 through 21
Sun I read Genesis 22 through 24
Today (Mon) read Genesis 25 and 26
Tues will be Genesis 27 through 29
I will try to blog Tues or Wed over the above passages. Again, I'm bad at keeping exact dates lol, so you can always follow along with the reading plan that YouVersion has so you don't have to rely on me posting the future readings.
Night Night.
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