Genesis 19-21

Genesis 19-21

This year, I plan on reading the Old Testament of the Bible within the 2012 calendar year. Follow me on this journey! Please, if you have questions of comments... let me know! 

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 19:

Lot entertains holy men, but before they are able to lay down at night, men from Sodom encircle the house and demand to see the holy men. Lot tells them that they cannot come in, but if they were to leave, he could offer then his daughters (Genesis 19:8). Those men that were demanding to see the holy men are stricken with blindness, giving Lot, his wife and his daughters time to leave. Because angels had told them the city of Sodom would be destroyed by the hand of God. They were commanded to leave and go to the city of Zoar, they were also commanded to not "...look not behind..." (Genesis 19:17).

                Lot and his family narrowly escape Sodom when "...the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven... but his wife (Lot's wife) looked back from behind him, and she became as a pillar of salt." (Genesis 19:24-26)

                Abraham woke up in the morning and saw Sodom and Gomorrah as "...the smoke of a furnace." (Genesis 19:28). God remembered Abraham by removing Lot before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah.

                When Lot arrives in Zoar, he and his daughters take shelter in a cave at the top of a mountain. Lot's daughters come up with a plan to save Lot's "seed" by getting him drunk and then "lying" with him to "preserve" his seed. The first night, Lot's oldest daughter lies with him and then the next day she tells her younger sister to do the same thing. (Genesis 19:30-34).

                In my scriptures I have Genesis 19:30-32 marked as "What?" which is an entire list of "What?" scripture stories/verses in the Bible that make you stop and think, maybe even wonder why these things are in the Bible. As we read more of the Old Testament, I will make sure to point out the odd things that you can find in the Bible. Honestly if the Bible were to be made into a movie, it would easily have an R rating. This along with other oddities that you can find in the Bible, give me reason to believe that the Bible is not the complete written work of God. The Bible has passed through so many hands, it is hard to know what is really part of the Bible and what was added by men. Now, this particular story probably did happen, and we can see that it was probably for good reasoning, so as to preserve mankind.

                Anyways, They both get pregnant and bare Lot sons, the oldest has a son and names her son; Moab, who later becomes the father of the Moabites. The younger daughter has a son as well and names her son; Benmmi, who is the father of the children of Ammon.

Chapter 20:

Abraham and Sarah travel to Gerar, between Kadesh and Shur. After arriving in Gerar, the king of Gerar sent for and took Sarah, because Abraham had told them that she was his sister.

                But God comes to Abimelech (the king of Gerar) in a dream and tells him that he will be comitting sin if he touches Sarah, because she is another man's wife. Abimelech tells God "Said he not unto me, She is my sister?"  (Genesis 20:5), God tells him the truth and promises him that he will not be cursed because of what he had done, because he acted in ignorance. But he commands him to restore Sarah to Abraham because he is a prophet.

                In the morning, Abimelech calls for Abraham and asks him;

Abimelech: "...What has thou done unto us?... that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin?..." (Genesis 20:9)

Abraham: "...Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wifes sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife" (Genesis 20:11-12)

                Abimelech then took sheep, oxen, men and women servants and gave them to Abraham, also restoring Sarah to him and allowing him to stay anywhere that it pleased Abraham throughout the kings land.

                Abraham then prayed unto God, and God healed Abimelech and caused that his wife and his servants to bare children.

Chapter 21:

                Sarah is visited by the Lord and caused that Sarah in her ripe old age to have a child. She bares Abraham a son and calls him Isaac. Isaac is circumcised by Abraham at the age of 8 days old. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. We learn that promises of Abraham will be preserved through Isaac and not through Abraham's other son Ishmael, who was conceived through Hagar. Hagar and her son Ishmael are cast out of Abraham's household. Abraham gives Hagar a bottle of water and sends her and Ishmael on a journey through the wilderness of Beer-sheba. But during this journey, Hagar runs out of water and places Ishmael on the ground nearby, and starts weeping, because she does not want to watch her son die. God hears the voice/cry of Ishmael and calls out to Hagar; "...What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink." (Genesis 21:17-19)

                Ishmael grows up in the wilderness and becomes an archer. Hagar and Ishmael dwell in the wilderness of Paran and Ishmael marries a woman from Egypt.

                Abraham and Abimelech deal justly with each other and make a covenant to each other to continue to deal justly.