Part 11 Book of Genesis

 

 

Abraham’s death and descendants

25.1-6Abraham takes another wife named Keturah and has six sons with her. Their descendants are listed. Abraham gives all of these sons gifts and sends them away from Isaac’s region. He honorably discharges them with gifts.

25.7-11
Abraham is 175 years old when he dies. Ishmael and Isaac bury him in the cave of Machpelah which Abraham has previously purchased from Ephron. After his death God blessed Isaac and Isaac settles at the well of Lahairoi.

If Abraham was 175 years old when he died, was 100 years old when Isaac was born (21.5), and Isaac was 60 years old when Jacob and Esau were born (26.26) then Abraham passed away when Esau and Jacob were 15 years old.

25.12-18
Ishmael’s twelve sons are named--they are twelve tribes. Ishmael dies at 137 years old and his kin lived in the area from Egypt to what is now Saudi Arabia.

ISAAC 25.19-26.35

The brief history of Isaac is told in this short section.

25.19-26 Isaac is 40 yrs old when he takes Rebekah as his wife. Isaac pleads for Rebekah to have a son because she is barren. She conceives twins and feels them struggling in her womb. The Lord tells her there are two nations in her womb and that the older shall serve the younger. At birth the first one out is red and hairy, so they name him Esau (Hebrew play on red “admoni“ and “Edom“, another name for Esau‘s descendants). When Jacob emerges he is holding onto Esau’s heel, so they name him Jacob (Hebrew play on “heel.”) Isaac is 60 years old.

25.27-34
Esau grows up to be a skillful hunter and Jacob a mother’s boy. Isaac favored Esau because he enjoyed eating game, Rebekah favors Jacob. Once when Jacob is cooking a stew his brother Esau comes in from hunting and is famished. He tells Jacob to give him some of the stew and Jacob says, “First sell me your birthright.” Esau is so hungry he cavalierly says OK because he is, “at the point of death” for hunger. Jacob makes him swear to it and Esau swears. Thus did Esau spurn his birthright.

Jacob’s mother must have been telling him over and over that he would receive the birthright blessing. When an opportune time arose, Jacob took advantage of his brother. He was unwilling to wait for God to bring this about in His manner. As for Esau, he did not take his birthright seriously and swore it away. Making a solemn vow in near eastern culture is very serious--he did not appreciate his birthright and should have never made such a vow. We are seeing the beginnings of a very dysfunctional family with Jacob and his deviousness.

 26.1-5
There is a famine in the land and Isaac goes to King Abimelech’s area in Gerar. The Lord had appeared to Isaac and told him not to go to Egypt, to stay in the land God will point out to him. Isaac is told to stay in this land and God will be with him always, bless him, and give all this land to his heirs. God tells him his descendants will be as numerous as the stars of heaven, his heirs will inherit the land, and all nations will be blessed by his heirs.

26.6-11 So Isaac stays in Gerar with Abimelech the Philistine and when asked about his wife he says she is his sister. He fears they might kill him because she is beautiful and some man would want her. As time passed one day Abimelech sees Isaac fondling his wife. He sends for Isaac and scolds him for pretending. Abimelech says that someone might have taken her and that Isaac would be to blame. He instructs his men to not touch Isaac or Rebekah or they will be put to death.

We see Isaac repeating the same action as his father Abraham--pretending his wife is his sister. Abimelech must have rolled his eyes and thought, “Like father like son.” The lesson here is that each generation must learn and go through their own growing pains. Spiritually we must each learn our lessons. We must each have our personal salvation experience with God. Our father, mother, brother, sister, or friend cannot save us--we need to have our individual decision for or against God. Isaac was growing in the Lord through his missteps.

26.12-16 Isaac sowed in the land and reaps a hundred fold. He grows very wealthy as he is blessed in all that he does. He acquires flocks and herds and a large household of servants. The Philistines are jealous of his wealth and begin to stop up the wells his father dug, filling them with earth. Abimelech tells him to relocate to another area as Isaac is overtaking them in the land.

26.17-22 Isaac departs and settles nearby. He re-digs his father’s wells and names them with the same names as his father had given them. The herdsmen of Gerar quarrel with him over two wells and Isaac moves from those areas. He digs a third well and they did not quarrel over it--so that is where he stayed.

Isaac had to keep moving until he got to the place the Lord wanted him to be. Sometimes the Lord moves us through outside pressure until we are in the place He desires for us.

26.23-33 From this location Isaac moves to Beer-sheba where the Lord appears to him and restates the covenant with Isaac and his father Abraham. He is going to be blessed and will increase because God has sworn to his father Abraham. Isaac builds an altar there and begins to dig a new well.

Abimelech now comes to Isaac and asks for a covenant of peace between them. Isaac is concerned but Abimelech sees how God has blessed Isaac and wants to make a pact. They both promise to do no harm to each other. They bless Isaac in the name of the Lord and cut covenant with a feast. After Abimelech leaves Isaac’s servants report the new well has struck water. Isaac names the well “An oath”.

Isaac, even though greater than Abimelech, moved away. Finally he is located where God wants him to be. Then Abimelech understands that Isaac is blessed of the Lord--he is a light to the world. Abimelech comes to Isaac and makes peace with him. When we stand fast with the Lord many unbelievers will be turned. That turning is like a well of living water that springs forth. This is what this mini story is revealing.

26.34-35 The narrative now speaks of Esau, who is now 40 years old, intermarrying with the people around him. Abraham had taken great pains to see that Isaac took a wife from among the clan. This action of Esau is a source of bitterness to his mother and father and shows Esau’s unworthiness to serve as the next patriarch of the family.


Next: Part 12



Part 10 Book of Genesis

 

 

 

Abraham acquires a burial ground

23.1-9 Sarah dies in Hebron at the age of 127. After a period of mourning Abraham goes to the Hittites to purchase a burial site. He explains to the Hittites that he is a resident alien in the land, to which they reply that he is the elect of God among them. They tell him to bury his dead in the area he chooses. Abraham bows low to them and asks them to help him purchase land for Ephron the son of Zoar for the full price.

Abraham is now a humble servant of the Lord and presumes nothing. He sees himself as a sojourner in the land and asks permission to buy a burial place for his family. The people of the land recognize him as the anointed of the Lord.

23.10-16
Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!”
Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.” And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants.

A classic bargaining session!

23.17-20 Ephron’s cave now is deeded to Abraham in the presence of the Hittites. Sarah is buried there in Mamre, now Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

This purchase agreement is still referred to unto this day as a reminder to the Jews that they purchased this land in ancient times.

Abraham procures a proper wife for Isaac
24.1-9 Abraham is now very old and blessed in all things. He calls his senior servant who is in charge of all he owns and makes him swear by the Lord that he will not take a wife of the Canaanites for his son Isaac. The servant is to go back to the land from which Abraham came to procure a wife for Isaac from his kin. The servant is to bring the woman back to where Abraham is, not take Isaac back to that land either. Abraham tells him the angel of the Lord will guide him to the right woman. If the woman refuses to come back with him leave her there--Isaac is not to go there.

24.10-14 The servant travels to Mesopotamia and once there he stops by the well outside the city of Nahor. He prays that when the women come out to draw water that the one who he asks for a drink will offer to also water his camels--that will be the one who God wants for Isaac.

24.15-20 The servant had hardly stopped praying and Rebekah, a beautiful woman daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, comes out with her jar on her shoulder. When she comes up from the spring the Abraham’s servant asks her for a drink and she gladly complies and then offers to water his camels!

24.21-27 The servant watches as Rebekah waters the camel wondering if this is the girl. When the camels finish drinking he takes a gold nose ring and two gold bands for her and asked her whose daughter she is. When she tells him he realizes they are Abraham’s kin. He asks her if he can spend the night at her father’s house and she says it will be fine.

24.28-33 Rebekah runs and tells all this to her mother’s household and her brother Laban when he sees the gold items runs out to speak to the servant. He eagerly invites him into the house for relaxation and food. Abraham’s servant says before he eats he must tell them why he is here.

Laban’s instant notice of the expensive jewelry suggests his stinginess and materialism he will display in dealing with his future son-in-law Jacob. This is in contrast to Rebekah’s true generosity.

24.34-49 Abraham’s servant proceeds to tell his story about coming there to choose a wife for Abraham’s son Isaac. He tells them how God has led him to their house--Abraham’s kin and how wealthy Abraham has become. Now, will they allow Rebekah to return with him to marry Isaac or should he leave without her?

24.50-61 Laban and his father agree to let Rebekah go with the servant. He gives the family members more presents of gold and garments. After his men eat and drink the servant is ready to leave the next morning. Rebekah’s family asks him to wait ten days. He wishes to leave right away so the family calls for Rebekah and they ask her. She says she will go immediately. The family blesses her saying, “Oh sister, may you grow into thousands and myriads and may your offspring seize the gates of their enemies.” Off they go!

24.62-67 As they approach Isaac’s home he is out walking and sees them coming. Rebekah sees Isaac and asks who he is. She is told that is the man she is to marry. She gets off her camel and puts on her veil. Isaac is told about the selection process and takes Rebekah into the tent of his deceased mother and takes her as his wife. Isaac loved her and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.


Next: Part 11



Part 9 Book of Genesis

 

 

God’s promise to Sarah fulfilled, Abraham and Abimelech make a pact

21.1-8 God fulfills His promise to Sarah and she has a son whom she names Isaac which means “Laughter.” They circumcise Isaac on the eighth day. Abraham is 100 years old. The child is weaned and a great feast is held.

21.9-13
Sarah sees Ishmael the son of Hagar playing and tells Abraham to“cast out that slave woman and her son,” because she is concerned about Isaac’s inheritance. Abraham is distressed, but God tells him to do as Sarah has asked, because it is in Isaac “Thy seed shall be called.” God assures Abraham that Ishmael will become a great nation because he also is Abraham’s seed.

“In Isaac shall they seed be called.” We see throughout history this root word Isaac upon the lost tribes of Israel.

12.14-21
The next morning Abraham took some bread and skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, sending her and the boy away. She wandered about the wilderness and when the water was gone she left Ishmael under a bush to die, and she sat down and began to cry. An angel of the Lord calls to her and asks why she is crying. The angel tells her not to fear--Ishmael is going to become a great nation. God opens her eyes and she sees a well of water and refills the skin. They drink and continue on. They dwell in the wilderness and Ishmael becomes a bowman in the region of Paran. His mother gets him an Egyptian wife.

They most likely stayed in the area of the well and Ishmael who was about 16 by now became a hunter with a bow. Ishmael was 13 when Isaac was born (17.25) and it says Isaac was weaned (21.8). This weaning is a three year period which would make Ishmael 16 years old.

12.22-24
Abimelech sees that God is with Abraham in everything he does and asks Abraham to swear that he will not harm him or his family since he has always treated Abraham fairly. Abraham swears it.

12.25-34
Abraham reproaches Abimelech for his servants stealing a well Abraham had dug. Abimelech denies any knowledge of this event. Abraham gives Abimelech sheep and oxen and the two of them “cut covenant.” Abraham sets aside seven ewes and tells Abimelech this is payment and proof that Abraham dug the well. Abimelech agrees. They part ways and Abraham dwells in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Abraham acquires land rights and Abimelech is seen as an important figure who recognizes Abraham’s special status with God.

Abraham’s last and greatest test

22.1-5
Now God is going to put Abraham to the test. God tells him to take his favored and loved son Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering. The next day Abraham saddles his ass and took two servants and Isaac on this journey. He takes along the wood he will need for the burnt offering and on the third day he sees the appointed place. Abraham tells his servants to wait for him and Isaac, they will return after worshipping the Lord.

In Judaism this story is known as the “Akedah” or “binding.” It is the tenth and climatic test of Abraham, the first Jew. In the Hebrew text there is much tension here. Abraham’s response, “Here I am” indicates readiness and alertness to instructions.

In this section we see Abraham immediately obeying without argument. Abraham travels and on the third day arrives. I believe Abraham believed God would raise Isaac from the dead. Arriving on the third day is a shadow of Jesus rising from the dead on the third day. Abraham has learned to obey--he is focused and believes God will keep His promise of his seed being “called through Isaac.” Mount Moriah is the current location of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

22.6-8 Abraham and Isaac walk together, with Isaac carrying the wood, and Isaac asks his father, “where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham tells him, “God will provide the lamb.”

Here we see Isaac carrying the wood on which he is to be burned. This is a shadow of Jesus carrying his own wooden cross.

22.9-14
They arrive at the place and Abraham builds and altar, lays out the wood, binds Isaac ,and lays him on the wood. As he raises his knife to kill Isaac the angel of the Lord calls out from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am,” is Abraham’s reply. The angel tells him not to harm the boy, God sees that he has not withheld his only beloved son from Him. Abraham sees a ram caught in the thicket and takes it and offers it as the sacrifice in place of Isaac. Abraham names the place, “On the mount of the Lord there is vision.”

Abraham’s obedience is rewarded. He does not have to sacrifice his only son. This is a shadow of God sending Jesus to atone for our sins.

22.15-19
The angel calls out to Abraham again and says, By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

The Lord swears by Himself! There is no one greater to swear by. God’s promises to Abraham and his descendants is repeated. They shall possess the gates of their enemies.

22.20-24 The lineage of Abraham’s brother Nahor is mentioned with Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife mentioned.

Next: Part 10



Part 8 Book of Genesis

 

 

Destruction of Sodom

 

19.1-3
Meanwhile the two angels arrive in Sodom that evening where they find Lot sitting at the gate to the city. When Lot sees them he rises and bows low with his face to the ground. He invites them to his house to spend the night and bathe their feet. They decline the offer, but Lot urges strongly that they come with him. They agree and enter Lot’s house where he prepares unleavened bread for them.

There is a contrast between Lot and Abraham. Lot is only visited by the angels, not the Lord Himself. Lot rises and bows whereas Abraham ran to meet them. Abraham offered a feast, Lot offers unleavened bread. Unleavened bread symbolizes a life free from sin. Perhaps Lot wanted to justify himself for living in such a sinful place.

19.4-11...After the angels are in Lot’s home the men of Sodom gather outside his door, both young and old, and demand that Lot bring the visitors out to them so they can have sex with them. Lot goes out and quietly begs them as “brethren” not to do this. He even offers his daughters to them in exchange. They tell Lot he came here as a stranger and now he wants to be their ruler. As they are about to break into the house the angels pull Lot back in and cause blindness to strike all those outside so they cannot find the entrance.

We see the sin of homosexuality in this section (Lev 18.22) and a lack of hospitality! Lot’s offer of his daughters is strange, and ironic when see in the light of their actions with their father which are still to happen. Why would Lot want to live in such a place? The Lord is going to save Lot not because of his own character, but because of His commitment to Abraham (Gen 19.29).

19.12-14...The angels tell Lot to get his sons, sons in law, daughters and anyone else he has in this city and bring them out of the place as they are about to destroy it. Lot goes to his sons in law and tells them the Lord is about to destroy the city, but they think he is joking.

Be ready for the Lord comes as a thief in the night! Abraham took the impending destruction seriously--Lot’s family looks on him as a buffoon. In our personal lives we need to yield to the dealings of the Lord or we may be found lacking.

19.15-22...As dawn breaks the angels urge Lot to flee with his wife and two unmarried daughters. They seize him by the hand and take them outside the city. They tell Lot to flee to the hills and not to even look back. Lot begs them not to make him flee to the hills or he will die, “please let me go to that small town over there!” They agree and tell him to hurry--they can’t do anything till Lot is safe. Lot goes to Zoar which means “little place.”

Lot does not want to flee to the hills--he refuses to allow the Lord to take him through a “wilderness” experience. He would rather have things comfortable in the city then to yield to the spirit. How often have we resisted the Lord’s dealing in our lives? Rather than allow God to enlarge us through His dealings, we choose to live in a “small place.”

19.23-29...Lot and family flee to Zoar and the Lord rains down sulfurous fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot’s wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. The next morning Abraham hurries to the place where he pleaded with the Lord for the two cities and sees the smoke of destruction rising. Then the scripture says that God saved Lot and family because of Abraham’s intercession.

Lot’s wife looked back--she longed for the sinful ways of the past. In our flesh is no good thing. We need to look up at the Lord and not back to our own way of doing things. It is a difficult lesson to learn. Abraham pleaded, but sometimes the sin is so great and men refuse to repent. We should have a heart of mercy and plead with the Lord--but sometimes judgment must come.

19.30-36...Lot then leaves Zoar in fear and goes and lives in a cave with his two daughters! While in the cave the daughters see their father is old and they have no children. They conceive a plot to get their father drunk on two successive nights and go in to him and get pregnant. They each bear a son. The oldest daughter names her son Moab which means, “from my father” and the youngest calls hers Ben-ammi, which means “son of my kindred.” They are the fathers of both the Moabites and Ammonites, two of Israel’s traditional enemies.

Lot didn’t want to obey God and go to the hills. He goes to the city and regrets it and runs to the hills! He missed his calling. We need to learn to respond to God when He calls. Instead of repenting and asking God for up to date instructions, Lot did it his way. We need to be tuned into God and seek his direction.

As for the two incestuous sons becoming Israel’s enemies, we also see God’s redemption in this squalid event. David and Yeshua are from the line which includes the Moabite Ruth (Ruth 4.13-22) and the Ammonite wife of King Solomon, Naamah, was the mother of Rehoboam, Solomon’s successor and son (1 Kings 14.21). Our God is merciful toward all!

 
Abraham and Sarah in Abimelech’s court
20.1-7
Abraham journeys from where he was to the region of the Negev. He tells Sarah to say she is his sister because he is again worried about being killed. King Abimelech takes Sarah with plans to marry her. In a dream, the Lord tells Abimelech that Sarah is Abraham’s wife and that he die for taking her. Abimelech protest’s God’s action, saying he is innocent and was told by Abraham that Sarah was his sister. God tells Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham and that Abraham the prophet will pray to save his life. If Abimelech refuses he is told he and all his household will die.

Again, Abraham shows weakness and a lack of trust in God’s protection of him.

20.8-13...Abimelech tells his servants about his dream and they are all afraid. Abimelech summons Abraham and scolds him for lying to him. Abraham replies he was afraid there was no “fear of God” in this place and was seeking to preserve his life. Then he says that Sarah is in truth his sister or half sister through his father’s daughter and a different mother.

Abraham’s lack of faith at this point is perplexing but how often have we felt God lead us in a certain direction and then begin to have doubts? It is a human failing we all have or will probably experience at some point in our walk. Biblically there is no evidence of Sarah being Abraham’s half sister. Was he lying? We don’t know for sure.

20.14-17...Abimelech gives sheep, oxen, a thousand pieces of silver, and Sarah to Abraham as vindication before everyone. Abraham prays for Abimelech and his wife because every womb in his family had been closed. They are healed. Abimelech tells Abraham to settle anywhere in the land he wants to.

Abraham is the first person in the bible called a prophet and he intercedes for Abimelech.

Next: Part 9





Part 7 - Book of Genesis

 

 

 

A story of two women

16.1-6 Sarai, Abram’s wife has been with Abram in Canaan for ten years and she has not borne him a son. She is worried by this and tells Abram to take her servant/maid and conceive an heir. Abram takes her maid, Hagar, and she bears him a son. After bearing Abram a son, Hagar now has feelings of superiority towards Sarai. Now Sarai blames Abram for making this mess! She demands Abram choose between her and Hagar. Abram tells Sarai that Hagar is her slave and she should do what she thinks is right. Sarai treats Hagar harshly and she runs away.

Abram was promised by God that he would have a son from his own issue, but Abram does not wait for Sarai to give birth, but listens to her and takes her slave. He had a moment of doubt and he acted on his own rather than waiting. In Proverbs 30.21,23 it says “the earth shudders” at three things, one of which is a slave girl who supplants her mistress. This was an earth shaking event as this child, Ishmael, is the father of the Arab nations which still are at odds with the nation of Israel unto this day. How many times have we acted on our own, not waiting for God, and made a mess of things like Abram did here?

16.7-11 Hagar runs away, and as she sits by a spring of water, an angel of the Lord appears to her and asks her where she is going. She tells him she has run away from her mistress Sarai. The angel tells her to go back and submit herself to Sarai. He tells her she shall have offspring too numerous to count if she obeys, that she should name her son Ishmael ,“God heeds”, as god has paid heed to her suffering.

God shows compassion and mercy on Hagar and tells her to return to her difficult situation. If she obeys, her offspring will be too numerous to count and she will be blessed. She is told to name the child Ishmael. From him would come the twelve tribes of today’s modern Arabs (Gen 25.12-18).


16.12-16 The angel continues to tell Hagar that Ishmael will be a wild ass of a man and will fight against everyone and everyone will fight with him as he dwells among his kinsmen. Hagar proclaims that she has seen God and lived! From then on that well or spring was known as “The well of him that lives and sees me.” Hagar goes back and bears Abram’s son Ishmael. Abram is eighty-six years old when Ishmael is born.

God blesses Abram’s offspring through Hagar. There is a blessing and a purpose for the Arab people’s through this promise of God that will yet be fulfilled.

It is also true that the Arabs are wild and even fight among themselves unto this day. Shiite and Sunni Muslims are always at odds.

Abrahamic covenant

17.1-3 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appears to him and says, I am El Shaddai, Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:

El Shaddai also means, “God, the One of the Mountain.” God tells Abram to walk blamelessly--to obey and not try to make things work out the way you think it should be worked out. (Hagar and Ishmael.)

17.4-8 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

The change in name from Abram to Abraham also signifies a change in destiny. The childless couple will now become the ancestors of many nations, including royalty. Abraham means, “father of a multitude.”

17.9-14 God tells Abraham that he and his descendants are to keep covenant with Him. The sign of this covenant will be circumcision of the male foreskin. This will be the sign of the covenant between Abraham and God and all Abraham’s offspring. Throughout the generations the male child shall be circumcised on the eighth day of life. In addition, all slaves and strangers bought with money in the household must be circumcised. This is the mark of the covenant--those who refuse shall be cut off from their kin.

God continues to make covenant with Abraham, now passing a covenant sign down to the coming generations. I have read that it is medically proven that a baby is most healthy on the eighth day of life and that this is the best time to circumcise a child.

The eighth day

Shemini Atzeret literally means "the assembly of the eighth (day)." Rabbinic literature explains the holiday this way: our Creator is like a host, who invites us as visitors for a limited time, but when the time comes for us to leave, He has enjoyed himself so much that He asks us to stay another day. Another related explanation: Sukkot is a holiday intended for all of mankind, but when Sukkot is over, the Creator invites the Jewish people to stay for an extra day, for a more intimate celebration.

In a traditional Jewish wedding, the bride and bridegroom spend an extra day to “linger together” after the wedding guests have left. This symbolizes the bride (church) and bridegroom (Jesus) spending time together at the end of the age. We see the eighth day has many other shadow meanings.

17.15-17 God tells Abraham that He is changing Sarai’s name to Sarah which means “princess.” God is going to bless her and her offspring will give rise to nations and kings. Abraham throws himself face down on the ground before God and laughs to himself, “Can a man who is 100 years old have a baby with a woman who is 90 years old?”

17.18-22 Abraham asks God if Ishmael might live by His favor and God tells him Sarah’s son will be named Isaac and the everlasting covenant shall be with him. The Lord tells Abraham he is going to bless Ishmael and that he will have 12 tribes of descendants--but the covenant is to be maintained through Isaac. Then God was gone from Abraham--he left.

Ishmael is blessed--but we know the covenant is with what today we call the Jewish people. Ishmael inherits a large portion of the Abrahamic promise--but only Isaac inherits the covenant and the promise of the land.

17.23-27 Abraham takes Ishmael at the age of 13, and all his household and they are all circumcised on that day--even Abraham at the age of 99 years old.


Conception of Isaac and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah

18.1-8 As the day grew hot Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent when the Lord appears to him. Looking up, Abraham sees three men standing near him. Abraham runs over and greets them and bowing down he invites them to stay and bath, eat, and drink. He tells them he will bring them a “morsel” to eat. The men agree and Abraham hastens to tell Sarah to quickly make cakes of flour. Then he has a servant prepare a calf and sets curds and milk (yogurt) in front of them to eat as they wait for the main course.

Abraham knows the Lord when he sees him! He is excited and has them stay and refresh. The three men represent the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--the triune God. Abraham tells them he will bring them a “morsel” to eat but runs and makes elaborate preparations. He is expecting a word from God.

18.9-15 The men ask where Sarah is. Abraham says she is in the tent. One of the men say they will return next year and Sarah will have a son. Sarah, who is quite old, is listening near the tent door and laughs when she hears she will have a son next year (she is about 90 years old). The Lord says to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? She will truly bear a child--is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sarah denies she laughed but the Lord says, “You did laugh.”

18.16-21 When the men leave Abraham walks a ways to see them off. They look of towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the Lord decides to tell Abraham something. The Lord is going to speak to Abraham because Abraham is to become a great and prosperous nation and has been singled out to instruct his children the way of the Lord. The Lord tells him that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is so bad that they may have to be destroyed.

God is treating Abraham as a prophet and is revealing His secrets to him. God is looking for a specific reaction from Abraham.

18.22-33 The two men continue and Abraham and the Lord have a conversation. Abraham humbly asks the Lord if He is going to destroy the innocent with the guilty? Abraham pleads with the Lord for justice and mercy. Abraham starts out asking if fifty innocent are in the cities will God spare them? God replies the for fifty innocent He will spare all. Abraham continues pleading for mercy until he has God promise not to destroy the cities if a mere ten innocent people are there. God agrees to spare them if ten innocent people live there.

The Lord wanted to see if Abraham had a heart of mercy. Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah. He pleaded for God’s mercy on the innocent. The Lord must have been pleased with Abraham’s heart. The Lord desires that we too plead in prayer for our country and for His mercy on mankind. The righteous effect deliverance for the entire community.


Next: Part 8

Part 6 - Book of Genesis

 

 

 

Lot and Abram separate

13.1-13 Abram and family depart Egypt back toward where Abram has built an altar before. Lot is with Abram and he too has many cattle and possessions. Abram realizes the land cannot support both of them and he tells Lot to choose which land area he would like and then Abram says he will go in the opposite direction. Lot looks up and sees that the plain of Jordan is like the garden of God and like Egypt and chooses for himself the land to the east. Abram says OK and stays in the land of promise--Canaan. Lot leaves and pitches his tent in the area near Sodom were wicked pagans dwell.

Lot “chooses for himself” and goes to an area of wickedness. He did not ask the Lord for direction but choose an area that reminded him of the Nile area in Egypt. This is a great lesson in obedience and to ask the Lord for direction when making decisions. Abram stays in the promised land that God has given him and his descendants forever--Lot chooses for himself and follows the desire of the eyes and flesh as Adam and Eve did in the garden.

13.14-18 After Lot departs, the Lord appears to Abram and tells him that as far as he can see will be the land his offspring will inherit. God also tells him he will have descendants so numerous they will not be able to be counted. The Lord tells Abram to move about the entire land and understand how great this gift is. Abram moves and eventually comes to dwell at Hebron where he builds an altar to the Lord.

Abram building an altar to the Lord shows the process of him trusting in and obeying the Lord. His faith is growing as he obeys and walks accordingly--just as ours does when we seek the Lord and walk accordingly.

Abram’s heroic campaign

14.1-12 A war between four kings led by Chedorlaomer king of Elam against five kings including the kings of Sodom/Gomorrah results in Lot and his family and possessions being taken captive because Lot lived in that area.

14.13-16 Abram, the Hebrew, gets news of this and takes 318 trained servants and pursues these kings and rescues Lot and recovers all his family and possessions and those of the Sodomites. This is the first place that Abram is called a Hebrew. Is this in honor of his forefather Eber as discussed earlier?

14.17-20 When Abram returns from this victory the king of Sodom came out to meet him. King Melchizedek of Salem brought bread and wine, he was a priest of God Most High, and blessed Abram saying,“ Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of the spoils.


The king of Sodom came out, but King Melchizedek brought wine and bread and had a covenant meal with Abram. Then Melchizedek blessed Abram and was given 10 percent of the spoils. This Melchizedek is/was a priest forever, according to Heb 7.17. This is a type of Jesus who is a Melchizedek priest. In the millennium we will be kings and priests. The bread and wine indicate the two had a covenant meal with Abram recognizing that Melchizedek is perhaps God, tithes to him.

14.21-24 The king of Sodom tells Abram to keep the spoils and he will take back the men and women. Abram refuses to take any spoil. He doesn’t want it said that he became wealthy because of the king of Sodom. Abram gives glory to God for the victory. He has just covenanted with Melchizedek and has been in the presence of God. His faith is growing.


Abram promised an heir.

15.1-6 Some time later God visits Abram and tells him not to fear, for God is his shield. God tells Abram He is his great reward. Abram replies that he has no son to be his heir. The Lord tells him that his heir will be of his own issue. Then God tells Abram to look up at heaven and gaze at the multitude of stars. God tells him his descendants will out number the stars. Abram believed and it counted to him as righteousness.

In the Bible faith does not mean believing in spite of the evidence. It means trusting in God who has made promises to us.

15.7-16 God reminds Abram how He brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans and has promised this land to him. Abram asks, “ How will I know I am to possess it?” God tells him to prepare a sacrifice of a three year old heifer, she goat, ram, and a turtle dove and a young bird. Abram cuts them in two, except for the bird, presenting them as an offering to the Lord. Birds of prey try to eat the carcasses, but Abram drives them away. As the sun is setting Abram falls asleep. In sleep, God tells Abram that his descendants will be strangers in a land not theirs, and shall be enslaved for 400 years, but God will execute judgment on the nation that enslaves them and in the end they shall come free with great wealth. He also tells Abram he will die peacefully in his old age. Later his descendants will return here. For now the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God was again, confirming His covenant with Abram and revealing His secrets to His prophet. The later bondage and exodus from Egypt was shown to Abram as he slept. The Israelites coming out and taking the land was also a judgment on the sinful pagan nations that were currently living in the land.

15.17-21 As Abram slept, God passed between the sacrificed animals with a torch of fire making a covenant with Abram and his offspring. God assigns the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonties, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and the Jebusites. All are going to be judged when Israel takes possession.

As Abram slept God made an everlasting covenant with Abram. God walking through the pieces of the sacrifice was God literally making a covenant with Himself for Abram. In other words God swore by Himself that He would keep all these promises with Abram forever.

The reference to the river of Egypt is a river or wadi that is between the Negev and Sinai Desert. This is why Menachem Begin gave the Sinai back to Egypt when he agreed to a peace treaty with Egypt. He understood that was the Biblical border and that the Sinai did not belong to Israel!


Next: Part 7





Part 5 - The Book of Genesis

 

 

 

The seventy nations of the world

10.1-5
The lineage of the three sons of Noah are discussed. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

The Jewish Study Bible translates coastland peoples as maritime nations. Ashkenaz refers to Scythians, who migrated to the Black Sea area. In the middle ages Jews referred to Scythians as Germans and later as the Jewish communities in central and northeastern Europe.

10.6-20 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).
Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).

Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

With Ham we see Nimrod and the tower of Babel and the beginnings of Mystery Babylon. We also see the seeds of Assyria and their capital Nineveh. We see Sidon, of Tyre and Sidon, a later alliance with the united kingdom of Israel. From Ham’s line we see ancient enemies of Israel; the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgashite, Hivite, Philistines, and Canaanites. These were all pagan nations with sexual rites, that could explain the event in Gen 9.22-28 above. We also see Sodom and Gomorrah from this heritage.

 
10.21-32
And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the descendants of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.  The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,  Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. 31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.
These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

Eber or Heber is the root word for Hebrew. This forefather named Eber would have lived long enough to see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob’s twelve sons became known as “Hebrews” in honor of this long lived member of the lineage of Shem to Jacob. Because Eber lived so long he would have had communications with the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The term Iberian comes from the root Eber and was the word used to identify Spain. Iberian or Iberia literally means ‘Hebrews.”

From Shem’s line then we see the Hebrew lineage emerge and later the word Semite.


 
THE TOWER OF BABEL 11.1-32

11.1-9
All peoples spoke the same language as they settled in the land of Shinar. The peoples decide to make bricks and use them instead of stones to build a great tower up to heaven lest they be scattered. God sees this and says, “we must” go down and confound their speech or man will soon do whatever they want. Their languages are confounded and man is scattered from Babel, which means Babylon, and the building is stopped.

Already man is rebelling from God and reaching beyond his boundaries. This is man saying to his Creator that he doesn’t need the Creator. They use bricks rather than stone because they can make bricks all the same size. That makes it easier to build with. Stones are all shapes and sizes and are harder to build with. This symbolizes the “spirit of this world” aka Satan and his ultimate rebellion towards God. The spirit of this world infuses man to create a “new world order” where there is no sovereignty of the individual or nation--but all comes under one authority--that of Satan. This is the New World Order also known as Mystery Babylon in the book of Revelation.

The “We” is God talking to Himself in the person of Jesus Christ who will come to save the world.

11.10-26 These verses review the line of Shem from which the Hebrew patriarchs and nation will emerge. This lineage is followed all the way to Abram (Abraham) and Lot. It also speaks of Eber the forefather of the Hebrews who would have lived long enough to know Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

10.27-32 Abram takes Sarai as his wife--she was barren. Terah, Abram’s father and Lot’s grandfather, takes his clan out from Ur of the Chaldees (Babylon) to go to the land of Canaan. They only get as far as Haran and settle there. Terah lives to be 205 and will die in Haran.


2. THE PATRIARCHS 12.1-50.26The final 39 chapters of Genesis will follow the lives of the three patriarchs of the nation to be.

 
ABRAHAM 12.1-25.1 Exile and danger

12.1-3
Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This is God’s great promise to Abram and his descendants forever.

12.4-6 Abram obeys God and goes to Canaan taking his wife Sarai nephew Lot, and everything he owned with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran for Canaan.

12.7-20 The Lord appears to Abram and tells him his descendants will inherit the land and Abram builds an altar to the Lord. Abram then wanders around the land, builds another altar and invokes the Lord by name. He slowly moves toward the Negev.

There is a famine in the land and Abram moves to Egypt. He tells his wife to pretend she is his sister so they don’t kill him and take her away. They arrive in Egypt and Pharaoh sees how beautiful Sarai is and takes her into his palace. Abraham is blessed and grows in possession of cattle and slaves.

Pharaoh is afflicted with various plagues and finds out Sarai is Abram’s wife. He returns Sarai to Abram and scolds Abram for lying to him and bringing these plagues upon him. Pharaoh sends them away.

In this section Abram tours the land he and his descendants have been given. Then due to famine he must go down into Egypt. The Egyptians, to Abram’s mind, are sexual predators and he devises a plan keep them from harming him or his wife. We see that early in his relationship with the Lord, Abram’s faith was not that great--he tried to work things out his own way and did not fully trust the Lord.

This story foreshadows the story of Joseph and the Exodus as Abram goes to Egypt because of a famine, death is feared at Egyptian hands, and plagues come down on Pharaoh before Abram is told to go. All of the events that would later happen to the descendants happened to Abram the father. 

 

 

Next: Part Six

 

 

 



Part 4 - The Book of Genesis

 

 

 

The flood comes

7.1-5 (6.17-22) Now God tells Noah to go into the ark with his family because they are the only righteous people on earth. God again tells Noah to take two of every animal into the ark, but now clarifies, “Take seven pairs of every clean animal into the ark, and just two pair of every unclean animal. We will see why later. Noah is told to do all this now because in seven days it is going to rain for forty days and forty nights. Noah obeys.

7.6-12 Noah is 600 years old when he enters the ark. He goes in with his family and it says again, two of all unclean and clean animals, and on the seventh day the deep burst open and the sky burst open with rain (first time it ever rained) for forty nights and forty days.

7.13-16 Noah and his family enter the ark with the beasts of every kind. Then the Lord shut him in.

It is significant to note that “the Lord shut him in.” Noah probably would have opened the door and let in the people who were outside crying for entrance, so the Lord locked the door from outside!

7.17-24 The earth is covered with water and all flesh dies except for Noah and those inside. The waters “swelled” for 150 days.

The flood ends

8.1-14 God remembers Noah and the narrative continues to explain how the waters receded over a period of months. Noah sends out a raven, and a dove twice. The second time the dove came back with a twig, and the next time Noah leaves it go it does not return. Finally on the second month on the 27^th day the earth is dry. If we base the calendar on 30 days per month, we find Noah in the ark for 1 year and 10 days.

On the first day of the first month Noah sees the waters begin to dry. In rabbinic law this is one of four New Year’s Days, the most familiar being Rosh Hashanah (September, Feast of Trumpets). It is also significant that on the first day of the month the tabernacle in the wilderness went up (Exodus 40.2, 17).

8.15-19 God tells Noah to come out of the ark with the family and all the animals.

8.20-22 Noah now builds an altar unto the Lord and makes burnt offerings of every clean animal and bird on it. The Lord smells the burnt offering and is pleased and promises to never destroy the earth with water again.

Now we see why Noah took seven pairs of clean animals into the ark as God commanded (7.1-5). God was going to demand a blood sacrifice of clean animals and instructed Noah to take extra pairs for this purpose. So we see a pattern of God teaching man that He requires blood sacrifice for sin long before Moses instituted the temple sacrifices. This of course is pointing to Jesus sacrificing Himself on the cross.


  NOAH’S LATER LIFE, HIS DESCENDANTS - 9.1-10.32
In the following passages we will see God make an everlasting covenant with Noah and seal it with a rainbow. God also made a covenant with Abraham in Gen 17 which was sealed with circumcision. We will see the sin of Ham and the cursing of his son Canaan. Then we will see the table of 70 nations come from Noah’s three sons.

9.1-7 God blesses Noah and his sons and tells them to be fertile, increase and fill the earth. All animals, fish, and birds will fear them and are given into their hand. Every creature is theirs to eat, along with the green herbs. Blood, they are told, is not to be eaten because the blood is the life. (They are not to be like the pagan nations that will spring up. This is the origin of koshering, the Jewish practice of salting meat so as to absorb the blood before cooking.) Noah is told that God will require a reckoning for every man who takes another man’s life, because man is created in God’s image.

In the Talmud verse 5 is interpreted as a prohibition of killing oneself. Jewish law strictly forbids suicide. Verse 6 is cited in support of the prohibition of abortion.

9.8-17 God says to Noah and his sons that he is establishing a covenant with them and their offspring--and with all the living creatures--that He will never again destroy the earth with flood waters. The sign for all of them will be the rainbow in the sky. God says He will see it and remember this covenant.

Up until then there had been no rain. Now the rainbow will appear when it rains and God will remember.

In the Talmud it says the descendants of Noah--all mankind--are obligated to live by seven commandments. They are: 1. Establish courts of justice. 2. Refrain from blaspheming the God of Israel. 3. Refrain from idolatry. 4. Refrain from sexual perversion. 5. No bloodshed, murder. 6. No robbery, stealing. 7. Not to eat meat cut from a living animal. It is said that Gentiles who observe these “seven commandments of the descendants of Noah” can meet with God’s full approval.

Traditionally, Jews have 613 commandments in total. Here we see the “wall” or “fence” around the Torah beginning to be set up. This is what Jesus scolded the religious leaders of His time for doing. The original reason for setting up these walls or fences was supposed to “help” man not to sin. It got out of hand and became an unnecessary burden on the people. They soon forgot the spirit of the law.

9.18-21 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. From these three the whole world branched out. Noah was a farmer who grew grapes and he was the first to plant a vineyard. He drank of the wine he made and became drunk and passed out naked in his tent.

9.22-28 Ham, the father of Canaan, sees his father’s nakedness and tells his brothers who are outside. Shem and Japheth take a cloth and walk in backwards and cover their father’s nakedness, without seeing it. When Noah wakes up and finds out what Ham had done he curses Ham’s son Canaan and blesses Shem and Japheth. Then it says Noah lived 350 years after the flood and died at the age of 950.

First the ancient Rabbi’s saw this as a lesson on the dangers of intoxication. The rest of the passage is difficult to understand. It serves as an explanation of the sexual perverseness typical of the pagan and Canaanite tribes Israel would later encounter. The identity of the act in question is murky. Canaan is cursed rather than Ham. To “uncover a man’s nakedness” can mean to have sexual relations with his wife (Leviticus 20.11). That would make Ham guilty of incest. In Lev 20.17, the less common expression, “to see nakedness” means to have sex. That would mean Ham was guilty of homosexual rape.

The midrash sees Ham as castrating his father. That would mean Noah could not have a fourth son, so Ham’s fourth son will be cursed (Gen 10.6). It is a difficult passage to understand but the point is that sexual sin is harmful to those who desire a holy walk.


Next: Part 5



Part 3 - The Book of Genesis

 

 

THE TWO BROTHERS, CAIN AND ABEL 4.1-26

4.1-7 Eve bears two sons, Cain first and Abel second. Cain becomes a tiller of the soil (farmer) and Abel becomes a keeper of sheep. In the course of time the two brothers each bring an offering to the Lord. Cain brings the fruit of the soil while Abel brings a choice firstling of the flock. God accepted Abel’s offering, but was not pleased with Cain’s. Cain was upset and God tells him not to be upset, but to do what is right. God tells him that if he does not do right it will be sinful, but that he has the ability to overcome sin if he does right.

The Lord accepted Abel’s offering because it was a blood offering. Abel shed the blood of a lamb as his sacrifice. God told Cain that only blood sacrifice is worthy. In the garden, God had clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins. God teaching Adam and Eve that sin must be covered by blood sacrifice. They had presumably taught Cain and Abel this concept. The Lord was not happy with Cain because he had not offered the proper sacrifice. God told him to go back and bring the correct offering and all would be well.

4.8-16 Cain takes his brother Abel out to the field and murders him instead of bringing the correct offering to the Lord. The Lord asks him where Abel is and Cain replies, “I don’t know, am I my brothers keeper?” God tells Cain he knows what happened and that Abel’s blood is crying out from the ground. God tells Cain that the soil will no longer yield its fruit to him and he will be a wanderer on earth.

Cain pleads that the punishment is too great, that anyone who meets him will kill him. God puts a mark on Cain and promises anyone who kills him will be judged sevenfold. Cain the leaves the presence of the Lord and goes to the land of Nod.

Cain choose the rebellious and jealous way rather than the righteous way by murdering his brother. God shows Cain mercy and allows him to live--but he will be a wanderer. Ironically, Cain will now have to hunt animals and shed their blood in order to survive. His lesson was to learn that God requires a blood sacrifice. It is the blood of the lamb that covers our sin.
We also see the first instance of God’s preference for the younger son rather than the first born.

4.17-24 Cain and his wife bear a son named Enoch and build a city they call Enoch. Enoch bears sons of which the last one is named Lamech. The man Lamech takes two wives and has sons who emerge as the founders of various occupations; Jabal is the ancestor of herders who live in tents, Jubal the ancestor of musicians, and Tubal-cain who is the ancestor of blacksmithing and metal work.

Lamech states he has killed a man for wounding him and that if Cain was avenged seven times, anyone who kills him will be avenged seventy times.

We could call this section the growth of culture or society as these occupations begin to arise. The dark poem of Lamech about violence associated with his ancestor Cain speaks to the rising increasing evil of the human race which will lead to Noah’s story.

4.25-26 Adam and Eve have a son that provides them a righteous offspring to replace Abel. They name him Seth, meaning, “God has provided.” Seth has a son named Enosh and it was then that men began to invoke the name of the Lord.

Seth’s birth is important as we will see in the next chapter. Seth’s line seeks the Lord.

D. SETH AND HIS DESCENDANTS 5.1-32
This chapter chronicles Adam’s genealogy from the birth of Shem. It does not mention anything about Cain’s line. The line is chronicled up to Noah and his sons.

Cain’s murderous line will be destroyed in the flood and not survive. The people of Israel will emerge from the lineage of Abel’s replacement, Shem. The name Shem is also the root word for Semitic. The Jews and Arabs are a Semitic people. God doesn’t miss any detail, does He?

SIN AND THE FLOOD 6.1-8.22

6.1-4 Men and women begin to increase on the earth and daughters were born unto them. Divine beings or “the sons of God” see this and begin to take wives from those that pleased them. The Lord limits the age span of man to 120 years. At his time the Nephilim begin to appear. They were the offspring of the divine beings and daughters of men.

I don’t have great knowledge in this area but it seems that the fallen angels of Satan, after being thrown out of heaven, came to earth and intermarried with the daughters of men. This offspring produced men of renown or giants. They are also probably responsible for the wickedness on the earth that is going to cause God to destroy the world by the flood waters. There are teachers who have much to say about this, but I have not pursued this line of study.

6.5-8 The Lord now is regretting the evilness of men and decides to blot them out along with the animal world. But Noah found favor with the Lord.

If the Nephilim were fallen angels who had mixed with man and caused the wickedness in the earth--this would be a good reason for God to take the action He did. The rebellion in heaven by Satan and his angels would have created a dire situation on earth as Satan is the spirit of the world and is temporarily in control of the earthly realm. In Hebrew Noah’s name spelled backwards means “favor.”

6.9-16 Noah’s lineage is reviewed: Three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Noah walked with God and was blameless. Meanwhile, the earth has become corrupt and lawless before God. Satan is doing his work. God decides to wipe out this lawless flesh and tells Noah to build a three story ark with an opening for light at the top and an entrance on the side.

6.17-22 God tells Noah He is going to destroy the earth and that He is going to establish His covenant with Noah. He tells Noah only his family will survive. He is to take two of every living thing into the ark to preserve them, male and female. Two of every creature, male and female will come out on the other side alive. Remember this, because Noah is actually taking more than two of each as we will see and understand later.


Next: Part 4



Part 2 - Book of Genesis

 

 

Creation of Adam and Eve

2.1-4 The heaven and earth are finished and on the seventh day He ceased and rested from all the work He had done. God blessed the seventh day and declares it holy, because on it He ceased from the work of creation.

In Jewish liturgy, this passage serves as an introduction to the Kiddush, the prayer over wine that is recited just before the first meal of the Shabbat, on Friday evening. Remember, the Hebrew day begins at dusk (6 PM) in the evening, not at twelve midnight.

2.5-7 At this time, it is explained there was no grass or herbs because there was no rain. God creates a mist that rises up from the earth for watering. It is mentioned that at this time man is not tilling the soil. Then it says God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into man the breath of life--and man became a living being (soul).

God said earlier that man would be created in the image of Himself, now He tells us the material which He used to create us. God then breathes life into us.

In the Hebrew writings in verses 5-6 we now see the first instance of the unspeakable name of God--YHVH-- or Jehovah. In English we say “Lord” and in Hebrew “Adonai”, or “Ha-shem.”

2.8-9 God plants the garden in Eden, in the east for the man to care for. God then causes the trees that are pleasing and good for food to grow there. In the middle of the garden are the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The root meaning of “Eden” is fertility. Adam’s job is to farm the garden and tend to it. This would not have been a difficult task due to the miraculous fertility of Eden.

2.10-14 Water from rivers issues from Eden. The four rivers are: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.

2.15-17 The man is placed in the garden to tend to it. He is told he is free to eat from all trees except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He is told he will die if he eats of that tree.

In Hebrew the forbidden tree also means the difference between “moral good and moral evil.” The tree offers an experience that is both pleasant and painful; it awakens those who partake of it to the higher knowledge and the pain that both come with moral choice.

2.18-25 God sees man needs a partner. First, however, He has all the beasts of the earth pass by Adam and Adam gives them all names. It is obvious to Adam that the beasts of the earth are not fit to be his helpmate. God causes Adam to sleep and takes one of his ribs to create woman, and brings her to Adam. Adam states that she is, “bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Hence the scripture says a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, so that they become one. Both of them were naked.

Man’s fulfillment requires companionship. The creation of the woman from Adam’s side, his rib, indicates equality. Man has a deeper relationship with his wife than animals do with their mates. The two become one, caring for each other and procreating. This is a shadow of Christ and His church. The nakedness indicates purity, innocence and ignorance of sin.


THE TEMPTATION AND FALL 3.1-24

3.1-7 The serpent, subtle and shrewd, now says to the woman, “Did God really say not to eat of any tree in the garden?” The woman replies that they may eat the fruit of all trees but that they are not to eat or touch the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tells her that they won’t die if they eat it, but they will become like divine beings, knowing the difference between good and evil. The woman sees that the tree is a delight to the eyes, was good for eating, and a tree that would be desirable as a source of wisdom and eats. She goes and offers some to Adam who takes it and eats. Then their eyes are opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

We see the subtleness of the serpent (who represents Satan) when he asked, “Did God really say?” How many times have we heard this kind of question? “Are you kidding? Did he really tell you that!” When Eve answers she also adds that they are not to even touch it. Did Adam tell her that or was it something she thought he said? Communication is important. We see Satan attacking God’s word right from the beginning. First he questions, then he denies God’s word.

The serpent scoffs and tells her, “You aren’t going to die, come on. You will be like God, he doesn’t want you to know all he knows, just eat it.” Her fleshly lusts, it was appealing to the eyes, and her desire to intellectually assert herself, compel her to eat. When she offers it to Adam he just takes it and eats it--doesn’t even reprimand her! Immediately their eyes are “opened” and they understand that they have disobeyed and they are ashamed of themselves. They now have enhanced knowledge--and the pain that goes with it. Their rebellion, their desire to do it their way, rather than obey God, has cost them their spiritual relationship with the Creator.

3.8-12 Now they hear the sound of the Lord moving in the garden and they hide. He asks where they are and Adam says they are hiding because they are naked. God asks who told them they were naked and did they eat of the forbidden tree. Adam blames Eve for giving him the fruit to eat.

Suddenly Adam and Eve are afraid of God and hide. They realize they have sinned and broken the commandment of God. They recognize their nakedness and newfound separation from God. They exercised their free will. God allows us to do that. He gives us instruction on how to live in His blessing, but man always feel that they know a better way and rebels. The word of God is mocked and men do as they please. Sin creates death in our lives. We desire to be like God and refuse to yield to the Creator’s wisdom. God allows us to do that--he wants us to desire to walk in His ways.

As the Creator, God must keep His word. Disobedience (sin) brings death. Now God must have justice served. The penalty is death.

Adam blames Eve for eating, but he made the choice on his own rather than obey God. How many times do we go along with the crowd and fail to obey God in our own lives?

3.13-19 The woman tells God she was deceived. The Lord looks at the serpent (Satan) and curses him. The serpent will crawl on his belly and eat dust forever. God is going to put enmity between him and the woman and her offspring. The seed of the woman will strike at the serpent’s head and he will strike at the heel of the woman’s offspring’s. Then God tells the woman she will have pain in giving birth, will cling to her husband, and he shall rule over her. To the man God says the ground will be cursed and man will have to toil all the days of his life. Thorns and thistles shall hamper him in his work and he will sweat to get the bread he eats until he again turns to the dust he was created from.

Because God demands justice, a curse had to be given. The spiritual battle (Eph 6.10-18) begins here. The ultimate offspring of the woman will be Jesus Christ who will defeat the serpent by His death on the cross. This is the punishment for sin--death. Jesus will pay our debt to God by His death for our sins. God ultimately will sacrifice Himself to make a way for us.

The woman now will have pain in the birth process, but can take hope in the fact that her offspring will be victorious through Jesus Christ. The man will toil and face many hardships throughout his life. “As the sparks fly upward, so man is born unto trouble.” Job 5.7

3.20-24 The man names his wife Eve, because she is the mother of the living. The Lord makes garments of skins for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. God says, now that man has gained the knowledge of good and evil and can become like God, they are to be banished from the garden. A cherubim then guards the entrance and man is not allowed back into the garden.

This is a difficult scripture to understand. God does not want man to live forever like Him. Jewish rabbinic thought believes that man was not originally created to be immortal, nor did his disobedience deny him immortality. They believe that wisdom is now available through the Torah. The Torah, then, is the antidote. “The Holy One created the evil inclination and has created the Torah as the antidote.” In Proverbs 3.18 Torah is referred to as the tree of life, bringing life to all who embrace her.

I believe that God is saying that He did want man to live with Him forever, but His hate for sin cannot allow Him to allow man to live forever in a sinful and rebellious state. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin, therefore, He has to make a way for man to now have immortality--that is through the blood of Jesus. The animal skins used to clothe Adam and Eve represent the blood sacrifice that is necessary for the cleansing of sin. As Genesis progresses we will see God’s provision for sin developing. Since Jesus is the living Torah, the Jews are technically correct about the Torah being the way of life--they just have not be able to see Jesus as the Messiah and living Torah.


Next: Part 3


 





THE BOOK OF GENESIS

The Book of Genesis received its English name from the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “toledot,” which is used thirteen times in Genesis and is translated as “story” (2.4), “record” (5.1), or “line” (10.1). In Hebrew, Genesis is know by its first word, bereishit, which means, “In the beginning.” Genesis is about beginnings--the beginning of the natural world, the beginning of human culture, and the beginning of the people of Israel, whose story occupies most of this book and will dominate the rest of the Torah. In the ancient Near Eastern world in which Israel emerged, beginnings were deemed to be crucial, for the origins of things were thought to disclose their character and purpose.

Genesis takes the reader to the moment when the Creator spoke into being the matchless wonders of sun, moon, stars, planets, galaxies, plants, and moving creatures, and the one he made in His own image. These fifty chapters tell us how sin came stealthily and relentlessly to bring ruin, disfigurement, and death. They reveal the tragic fruits of sin in defeat; and later, how the accumulated wickedness of men almost brought annihilation to human society. The growth of humanity, and later, the lives of the Hebrew patriarchs are traced to the death of Joseph in Egypt.

Over time the authorship of Genesis has been credited to Moses. It would be difficult to find a man better qualified to write the book than Moses. Trained in the wisdom of the Egyptians, he would have understood available records, manuscripts, and oral narratives. As a prophet he was granted the unusual privilege of unhurried hours of communion with God in the desert and on Mount Sinai. He was well equipped to record for all generations the Lord’s portrayal of his activities through the ages. Sources: The Jewish Study Bible and the Open Bible.


1. EARLY BEGINNINGS 1.1-11.32From the creation through the building of the tower of Babel (Mystery Babylon).


A. THE CREATION 1.1-2.25
1.1-5 Day one…God creates the heaven and earth. The earth is without form and void. Darkness is upon the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the waters. God said “let there be light” and there was light. God sees that the light is good and separates it from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness Night. The evening and morning were Day One.

The void was chaos, desolation, and confusion. This was due to Satan’s rebellion in heaven at the time. When God said, “let there be light” this was the recreation of earth after Satan’s rebellion had created the chaos. God is light--His light will separate from darkness. God saw (knows) that light is good. It is the dividing sword between goodness and evil. God calls the light Day and the darkness Night. The Hebrew day begins at dusk (6 PM) and ends the following evening at dusk (6 PM). That is why God called evening and morning Day One. (Greco-Roman day begins at midnight.)

In science, photons colliding with electrons keep light from breaking free. When photons break free and are able to freely travel there is light. Light was held within the primeval mass (darkness) until God set it free. “Let there be light.” The division by God between light, which is totally composed of photons, and darkness takes on a significance consistent with its literal meaning…“and God separated between the light and the darkness.” Gen 1:4

The text does not say, and that was the “first day”, it says “and that was Day One.” This indicates there was no day as we know days before this Day One.

The first letter of the first word in the sacred writings (Genesis) is the Hebrew letter Beth. It is on this first letter that the ancient sages base their understanding of creation--that any knowledge of what preceded the beginning of creation before Adam’s creation is unattainable by investigation. That is, the investigation of the mere mind of man.


The shape of the letter Beth is that it is closed on three sides and open only in the forward direction. It’s shape is similar to our C, but with the opening facing left, like this ב. Hebrew is written from right to left. The sages saw the meaning of this opening letter, the Bet or Beth, as being bounded on all sides except forward (the opening faces forward). Therefore all events that occur after the beginning (the creation of Adam) are those which are accessible to human investigation (the open end of the bet). Those that precede the beginning, the time of creation, the back of the bet, are not open to investigation--only God has knowledge of these events and how they unfolded.

Hebrews count time, as we know it from the creation of man, Adam. Therefore in the year 2014 on the Gregorian calendar it is 5774 on the Hebrew calendar. This is calculated by using the genealogy’s which are written in the Bible. According to that calculation, since Adam was created 5,774 years have passed. What went on prior to Adam is calculated by God, but not in time as we know it. That time is on God’s clock.

1.6-8 And God said, “let there be an expanse in the midst of the water.” This is to divide the waters from the waters. God makes the “expanse” and it separated the water which was below the expanse from those above the expanse. God called the expanse (firmament) Heaven or Sky. The evening and morning were the second day.

The function of the heaven or sky is to separate the waters above, which fall as rain, from the subterranean waters which rise as springs. (See Gen 7.11, this was the first time it rained.)

1.9-13 God says, “Let the water below the heavens (sky) be gathered into one area, that dry land may appear.” God calls the dry land Earth and the waters Seas. God sees that this is good and tells the earth to sprout vegetation, seed bearing plants, and fruit trees. God saw this was good and called the evening and morning, a third day.

God speaks and the land and seas separate, vegetation grows. How long did it take? This all happens behind the opening of the Bet, or Beth so it could have taken millions of years according to Hebrew tradition. Hebrews do not count time as we do until after Adam is created. Everything prior is God’s day. A day is as a thousand years to the Lord.

In the Jewish view, and I have spoken to Jewish scholars about this, the first six days of creation are in a “time” that only God understands. These first six days are a period of unknown time they say, therefore it can be billions of years in our understanding but a mere blip to God.

Time is relative to location. Clocks run faster on the moon because gravity has an effect on the passage of time. A plane traveling in the direction of the earth’s rotation will cause a clock to gain time. Flying in the opposite direction the clock looses time. From our vantage point in the universe time appears to stand still--the stars appear stationary. They are in reality moving away from us at great speed.

Creation was six days in God’s time frame--but 15 billion in ours--both are correct. In the science of cosmology, the big bang theory and Einstein’s theory of relativity confirm that 6 days and 15 billion years are one and the same. If science and the sacred writings (the Bible) take the time to examine each other they line up together. The differences in motions and gravitational forces among the various galaxies, or even among stars in a single galaxy, make the absolute passage of time a very local affair. Time differs from place to place as we saw above on the moon. Until Adam was created on the sixth day, God alone was watching the clock--and that is the key.

1.14-19 God creates lights in the heavens to separate day from night. They are to serve as signs for the set times--the days and the years (calendar), and to shine on the earth. God makes two great lights, the greater to dominate the day and the lesser to dominate the night. God saw that this was good, and there was evening and morning, a fourth day.

The sun and moon are created on the fourth day and are not named, only referred to as the greater and lesser light. This may be an implicit word against the worship of astral bodies, see 2 Kings 23.5.


1.20-23 God creates great whales, sea creatures, and winged fowl after their kind. God saw that this was good and blessed them saying, “Be fertile and multiply, fill the waters and the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth. This was the morning and evening of the fifth day.

It is key to understand that as God began creating life He created them after their own kind. This aims directly at the theory of evolution. Life is created after its own kind--it doesn’t morph into something else.

1.24-25 God creates all kinds of living creatures after their kind; cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind, and sees that it is good.

1.26-28 God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” God creates male and female, blesses them and tells them to be fertile and increase, fill the earth, and master it; rule the fish of the sea, birds of the sky, and all living things on the earth.

When God said, “Let us make…” He was talking to Jesus. He already knew that He would be coming to earth in human form as Jesus Christ. We are made in the image and likeness of God. You are not a “monkey’s uncle.” Man is given “stewardship” over the earth--to take care of it. Later, Adam will be given care of the garden. This is the first mention of God creating man and women. Later we will be given more details.

1.29-31 God gives every seed bearing plant, fruit bearing tree to be food for man and beast. God sees this is all very good. There was evening and morning the sixth day.

Apparently man was a vegetarian or frugivores eating the seeds of plants and trees.


Next: Part 2


 

WHO WE ARE - THE FUTURE OF JERUSALEM - MILLENNIAL REST

And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do….1 Chronicles 12:32

WHO WE ARE 

Additional scriptures to support the Ezekiel Temple study, let the Word of God do the convincing:


Brought Near by His Blood - Ephesians 2.11-3.7--Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.


Christ Our Peace--For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.


Christ Our Cornerstone--Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.


Sons and Heirs Gal 3.26-29-- For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.


Jews who have accepted Yeshua: Romans 11:5-7 -- Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Speaking about Jews who have come to Yeshua.


Romans 11:15--For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Resurrection of the dead at the end of the age.


Romans 11:17-- And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,


Romans 11:23-- And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.


Romans 11:25-27--For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” (Is 59-20-21)


Romans 2:28-29--For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.


Heart Circumcision...

Jeremiah 31:31-34--A New Covenant--In the Heart
“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”


Revelation 6:9-11 Fifth Seal: The Cry of the Martyrs - Could many be Jewish?--When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.


COMING EVENTS - YESHUA’S RETURN

Isaiah 63:17 -Tribes-- O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Isaiah 62.8; 11-12 - The Lord Brings Salvation - The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast labored…Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

Zechariah 12:1-3 The Coming Deliverance of Judah
The burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.

Zechariah 12:6-12 - In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a fire pan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place--Jerusalem. “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first (Gen 49.10), so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah.

In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.


Mourning for the Pierced One-- “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves….


Zechariah 13:6-9--And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms? Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’


The Shepherd Savior--“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, Against the Man who is My Companion,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, And the sheep will be scattered; Then I will turn My hand against the little ones. And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one–third shall be left in it:
I will bring the one–third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”


Zechariah 14:1-3 --Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.


Zechariah 14:5-9 - And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; and ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah; and the LORD my God shall come, and all his saints with him. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear, nor dark; (Shekinah Glory-every eye sees) but it shall be one day which is known to the LORD, not day, nor night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light. ¶ And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter it shall be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD shall be one, and his name one.


NUCLEAR WAR
Zechariah 14:12-13 - Nuclear War And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will smite all the peoples that fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great destruction from the LORD shall be in them, for they shall lay hold each one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.

Isaiah 66:15-18: Nuclear War - For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

2 Peter 3.7 --But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.


MILLENNIAL KINGDOM - CELEBRATING THE FEASTS AND SHABBAT

Isaiah 64.4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. 1 Corinthians 2.9

Zech 14.16-19 Millennial - ¶ And every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of the hosts, and to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles.

And it shall be that whoever will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of the hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. Torah from a high place to a low - blessings

And if the family of Egypt does not go up and does not come, there shall be no rain upon them; instead there shall be the plague, with which the LORD will smite the Gentiles that do not come up to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of the sin of Egypt and of the sin of all the Gentiles that do not come up to celebrate the feast of the tabernacles.

Luke 22:15-18 Passover-- And he said unto them, With desire I have greatly desired to eat this passover lamb with you before I suffer; for I say unto you, I will not eat any more thereof until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And taking the cup, having given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I say unto you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come.

Isaiah 66:23 - Sabbath - And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. Sabbath a sign: Exodus 31.13

We are shown in the above verses that we will be celebrating the feasts of the Lord in the millennium as we see both Tabernacles and Passover mentioned. We will be celebrating the Sabbath on the 7^th day of the week, and we will be celebrating the new moon each month. Ref: the previous two part study on Ezekiel’s Millennial Temple

Song of Solomon 4 - How He Sees Us As His Bride

Hebrews 4:1-14--Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. MK is a time of rest--the seventh day.

6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.