Day 2: Genesis 17:1-Genesis 28:19 - 90 Day Bible Challenge

If you thought yesterday's reading was crazy...

This one reads like an episode of Game of Thrones. 

Let's get to it. 

Quick Summary: 

1. God visits Abram and Sarai with two angels and promises them a child. He changes their names to Abraham and Sarah, and states that there will be many nations from them and from Abraham and Hagar's son, Ishmael.
2. The men of Sodom try to break into Lot's family home, where the two visitors who came with God had stayed, after being commanded to destroy Sodom, the city where Lot lived. Genesis 19:1-13 is where the description of the Sin of Sodom is located. However, there are a variety of interpretations of what the Sin of Sodom was. It is never clearly defined in Genesis 18 or Genesis 19. Many say that the Sin of Sodom is homosexuality, but it may be the fact that an entire village came together to try to break into a man's house and viciously gang-rape his angelic guests. As this is very controversial I personally do not want to delve into this thoroughly, however this video does a good job of exploring some possibilities and deeply explores the subject of homosexuality in the Bible, if you're interested (This story in particular is talked about from 5:00 to 8:00).  
3. God saved Lot and his family before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and they fled to a small town called Zoar. Eventually they moved to the mountains where both of Lot's daughters had an incestuous relationship with their father and both became pregnant. (I told you, this stuff gets wild.)
4. Abraham told a visiting nation that Sarah was his wife (again, just like yesterday), and God called a plague of infertility upon all the women in Abimelech's household (who had tried to take Sarah as a wife). Abimelech returned Sarah to Abraham and gave him livestock and money to compensate. God made the women in Abimelech's house fertile again. 
5. Sarah and Abraham finally have a child, whom they named Isaac. However, Sarah gets jealous of Hagar and Ishmael (again) and has them banished. This distresses Abraham, but God promises he will make a nation of Ishmael. 
6. Hagar and Ishmael travel through a desert, where Ishmael begins to die of dehydration. But GOD PROVIDES! God provided water for Hagar and Ishmael and stayed with them as Ishmael grew. 
7. God tests Abraham's love by commanding him to sacrifice his son, Isaac on a mountain. When God saw that Abraham truly feared God and would sacrifice anything to show his love, he sent an angel to stop Abraham and provided a ram for sacrifice, and blesses Abraham for his devotion. 
8. Abraham's wife, Sarah dies and is buried.
9. Abraham becomes old and sends a servant back to his homeland to find a wife for his son, Isaac. The servant asks God to give him a sign of which woman should be Isaac's wife, and the one who offered the servant and his camels was it. Rebekah did this and was brought back to Canaan where she married Isaac. 
10. Abraham remarried, had several more children, and then was buried next to Sarah by Isaac and Ishmael, his first two sons. 
11. Rebekah and Isaac had twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau was a hunter and was loved by Isaac, while Jacob worked in the home and was loved by Rebekah. Esau returned from a hunt starved one day, and Jacob offered to provide him food, only if he sold his birthright as the eldest. 
12. Isaac lied to Abimelech and told him that Rebekah was his sister, thinking he would be killed if people thought Rebekah was his wife, since she was so beautiful (like father, like son.) Abimelech returns Rebekah and says anyone who harms Rebekah or Isaac will be put to death. 
13. Jacob and Rebekah plot against Esau to gain Isaac's blessing before his death, which he intended to bestow upon Esau. They prepared a meal with two goats from the herd (which Isaac had asked Esau to do, except using wild game, before he blessed him) and used goat skins to cover Jacob, so he would be hairy like Esau to trick his father, Isaac. 
14. Isaac blessed Jacob, and later, Esau came in with the meal he had prepared to receive his blessing, which had already been given to Jacob. Esau vows to kill Jacob after his father's death, so Rebekah tells Jacob to flee back to her home land and stay with her brother. 
15. Jacob and Esau are both commanded to take wives from Abraham and Rebekah's homeland.

That was a lot to process, right?? Did you miss any of it? I had to reread multiple sections to make sure I was getting the full story (and I still might have missed parts!)

So many crazy things happened in today's reading. Babies were born. God destroyed a city. There were incestuous relationships. Abraham nearly kills his son. Twin brothers are prophesied to be warring nations. Isaac blesses the wrong twin on his death bed after the mother and son devise an evil plot.

That's just the Old Testament for you!  

However, 

Do not be afraid, and do not begin questioning your faith. This passage was crazy. This passage does feel wrong. But at the end of each crazy, messed up story, we see how God provides and how God is love. This concept is further solidified in the New Testament--so hold on! We're going to get through all of this, together. 

What shocked you the most? Is there anything you'd like to have clarified? Opinions to share? Leave some comments letting me know!

Tomorrow we will be reading Genesis 28:20-Genesis 40:11.

Have a wonderful day!

Jill Jafarace

Director of Youth Ministry

New Leaf UMC