January 4 Genesis 11:1-14:27 & 1 Chronicles 1:24-27
This reading was mostly genealogy, which I am sad to say I still often skim over, then I am confused later on as to who these people are. Do I learn my lesson this time around? Nope, luckily for me there is still much more genealogy to go.
In Genesis 12:10-20 we read about Abram and Sarai going to Egypt and Abram telling the Pharaoh that she is his sister. This perplexed me, he says he is doing it so they won't kill him and take his 'beautiful' wife away. P says it is so he can extort money from them. I pretty much let this one slide as being an odd little encounter, until we got to January 6 (something to look forward to).
January 5 Genesis 15:1-17:27
The major verse from this passage for me was the first one:
1 Some time later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.”
Abram is concerned that he will not receive blessings because he does not have a son, but God assures him that he will have as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Yet Abram still is worried and impregnates his servant. God comes back and makes a covenant with him that he will have descendants, and he still is unable to trust. Gosh I love the old testament. It is such a picture of our lives even today. We give something to God, tell hi, we trust him and then turn around and try to do things ourselves (just wait until January 6th's reading) I am so frustrated with Abram right now, yet it is exactly what I do myself.
Oh and Abram now = Abraham and Sarai now = Sarah. Also, God wants men to be circumcised to show their covenant with God. This is supposed to happen on the 8th day, oops we dropped the ball on that one. P wants to know how they performed this procedure back then, I want to know how traumatic it must have been for the men who had to be "retrofitted".
January 6th (The day you have all been waiting for!) Genesis 18:1-21:7
Highlights:
The LORD appears and tells Abraham that Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs at this, when the confronts her about it she denies laughing.
Abraham sticks up for the righteous people in Sodom so the angels remove Lot and his family from Sodom before they destroy it. God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah because the people are evil.
Lot's daughters get him drunk and bear children from him so they can carry on the family lineage. Apparently their children will be problems for Israel in the future. I can kinda see why they did this bit can't at the same time. According to my study Bible it was bad news if you had no descendants. I know this issue comes up again in future stories.
Now for the best part.........Abraham deceives Abimelech Genesis 20:1-18
When I first started reading this part I thought I had gone back in my readings instead of forward. Abraham doesn't trust God again and lies to try to keep his family together. I reiterate “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” So frustrating!
We wrap up this section with the birth of Isaac When she was about 90! I hoped on Wikipedia (because everything on there is absolutely true) to check on how old people have given birth lately, and he is the story:
Age 67 to 70
- 2008: Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in India via emergency cesarean section at the age of 70. The babies weighed 2 pounds each. Omkari became pregnant through IVF treatment, which she and her husband pursued in order to produce a male heir. Omkari has two adult daughters and five grandchildren. Omkari does not have a birth certificate, her age has been estimated by her claim that she was nine years old when the British Raj left India in 1947. In response to hearing that she'd possibly broken the record for world's oldest mother, Omkari stated, "If I am the world's oldest mother it means nothing to me. I just want to see my new babies and care for them while I am still able."[94]
- 2008: Rajo Devi Lohan gave birth to a daughter at the age of 70. Lohan's health soon deteriorated and she claimed she had not been informed of any dangers. Her doctor said, "Even though Rajo's health is deteriorating, at least she will die in peace. She does not have to face the stigma of being barren. She had an ovarian cyst that was causing her problems but that has now been removed. The IVF treatment is completely safe. Rajo is an old woman and her life expectancy was only about five to seven years."[95]
All I have to say to that is "No Thank You!!"
Well this was a long one. I will try to keep up better!
P is asleep and he didn't proof this, hopefully I didn't say anything too crazy!
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