I’ve
also decided that working ahead is a good idea, so reading a number
of chapters was the first project of our recent trip to Munich. All
the thoughts and questions that come up as I read remind me again of
why I believe it is good to read the Bible through.
These
are some of the thoughts from the first few readings:
1.
Ephesians 4: 14 (NLT) – “Then we will no longer be like children,
forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has
told us something different or because someone has cleverly lied to
us and made the lie sound like the truth.”
The
use of the word “then” indicates that there is a basis for this
statement: what (then) is the secret to not being fickle or deceived?
I’ll get back to this in a later blog entry (feel free to look up
the text yourself).
2.
Genesis 11-12
I’ve
always seen Abram’s going to Canaan as such a huge step of faith –
leaving his country, his relatives and his father’s house (Gen
12:1). Yet, Gen 11:31 indicates that Terah, Abram’s father, had
already brought the family – himself, Abram, Sarai, and Lot –
away from Ur with the plan to go to Canaan! They just stopped part
way in Haran instead of going all the way. Abram received the call
(to continue?) to go to Canaan after his father passed away.
On
one hand, these details in Genesis 11 make Abram’s response to
God’s call seem less significant. After
all, what did he have to lose? However, perhaps there’s also
something to appreciate about how things
were set in place (through Abram’s father) so that Abram was more
likely (and more open) to respond to God’s call.
3.
The genealogy of Genesis 11. Like most people, I
tend to skip over the genealogies as being one of the most boring
aspects of reading the Bible today. However, two things struck me
when reading this genealogy and looking at the ages.
1.
God says (before the flood) in Gen 6:3 “My Spirit will not put up
with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In
the future, they will live no more than 120 years. Nonetheless in the
list of Shem (son of Noah) and his descendents, people live 400+
years.
2.
If you look at the dates and do a quick calculation, you can come to
the conclusion that, with everyone bearing children before they turn
40 while living 400 years in the first generation and only 200 years
in the later generations, some of the older generations would then
outlive the younger generations.
4. In Genesis 9, Noah
curses Ham’s family, so why then is he the father of all the
nations that become so powerful later on? The curse Noah puts on
Ham’s family is: “A curse on the Canaanites! May they be the
lowest of servants to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.” (Gen
9:25)
Ham
becomes the father of the builders of the foundations of Babylonia
and Nineveh. He is also ancestor of theCanaanites, Philistines, Jebusites,
Amorites, Hivites, and ‘lots more unpleasant people’ (Matthijs’s
words). None
of the other sons had any ‘peoples,’ although obviously Shem
becomes the great grandfather of Abram and the Israelites who later
annihilate the Canaanites (see the book of Joshua). Japheth
only becomes the ancestor of all the people mightily involved in the
sea trade.
Thus
all these people who cause many difficulties for the Israelites (and overpower them at times) in the future are descendants of Ham, which doesn't seem to make sense from the original curse. How is that then possible?
Matthijs pointed out that animosity could be projected through one's ancestors –
the greatest insult being that you are a descendent of Ham. (later
on, also Moab, the people from Lot's daughters).
Any other thoughts?
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