Tag Archives: 01/04/15 Bible Study

Daily Bible Study

January 4, 2016 Bible Study — Abram Becomes a Force to Be Reckoned With

Starting on New Year’s Day (well, technically, on New Year’s Ever), I switched from using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible reading to the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net”.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 11:27-15:21.

    At the end of chapter 11 we read that Terah, Abram’s father, left Ur and started to move to Canaan. However, he stopped in Haran and settled there. We are not told why he began the move, nor why he settled in Haran. The only clue we have is that his son Haran died in Ur before Terah left Ur, which suggests it might have been related to his motive to leave Ur. Despite the fact that the name of Terah’s son who died in Ur and the town where he settled are the same in English, they are actually completely unrelated in the original Hebrew. Whatever the reasons, upon Terah’s death God instructs Abram to complete the migration which his father began. When Abram arrived in the land of Canaan, God promised him that his descendants would possess the land.

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    Sometime after Abram arrived in Canaan there was a famine. As a result, Abraham moved to Egypt. When he got to Egypt, Abram was afraid that someone would kill him because they desired Sarai, his wife. So, he got her to agree that they would tell everyone that she was his sister. As a result of this lie, the Pharaoh gave Abram great wealth in order to take Sarai as his wife. The result was that God sent plagues on Pharaoh and his household. It is worth noting that Abram had sufficient faith in God to leave the land of his father’s family, but not sufficient faith to trust God to protect him from those who wanted to take his wife. God punished those who took his wife anyway.

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    When Abram returned to Canaan, he realized that between them he and Lot had too many flocks to stay together. So, they chose to go separate ways. Abram gave Lot first choice and Lot chose the plains of the Jordan valley. Lot settled near the city of Sodom. Shortly after this war broke out between the kings of the Jordan valley, including Sodom, and kings from the vicinity of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The kings of the Jordan valley lost and their enemies plundered the region. Among the plunder was Lot and his household. When Abram learned that Lot had been taken captive, he mobilized his men, and his allies. He overtook the force which had plundered the Jordan valley and taken Lot captive. He defeated the army and recovered the goods which had been taken. Reading this account we realize that Abram was a force to be reckoned with in the region. The army which he defeated was one which had been able to successfully demand tribute from the local kings, taking that tribute by force when they refused to give it.

Daily Bible Study

January 4, 2015 Bible Study

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 1:20-23

    Wisdom is there to be found by any who seek her. It is not hidden and we do not have to go to far away exotic places to find it. Wisdom is there in our every day life just waiting for us to pay attention. No one is condemned to remaining foolish unless they choose to be so. It is up to us, we can choose to listen to wisdom or choose to ignore it.

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Psalm 4:1-8

    The psalmist calls out to God when he needs relief from his troubles. He reminds us that God sets aside His faithful servants. Let us stop turning God’s glory into shame. It is time to give up delusions and false gods, those things which promise to give us what we want if only we turn to them rather than God. I will spend my nights searching my heart and seeking how I can better serve God tomorrow, rather than let my mind wander on to how I can satisfy my own pleasure.
    The people of this world are seeking to follow the one who will give them prosperity and worldly pleasures. I will follow God because the joy of doing His will is greater than what I can get from material things. I will not let prosperity nor poverty distract me from seeking God’s face.

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Matthew 4:12-25

    As I read the passage today, I saw something that had never really registered before. The passage tells us that when Jesus heard that Herod had arrested John the Baptist, He left Judea (where Herod ruled). I had read that before, but it was always just a comment about the order in which things happened. However, today I realized that Jesus left Judea because He (and probably His disciples) thought that Herod might follow up the arrest of John the Baptist by arresting Him. This tells us more than just that. Why would Jesus (and others) think that Herod might follow up John’s arrest by arresting Jesus? The answer is because people at the time viewed Jesus as being a leader of the same movement of which John was also a leader. There are other indications later in the New Testament that suggest that the followers of Jesus and the followers of John the Baptist considered themselves part of the same movement well after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

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Genesis 8-10:32

    Five months after the flood began, the Ark came to rest. It was another two and a half months before other mountain tops became visible. After forty more days, Noah released birds to see if there was dry ground. Seven days later, he released a dove. This dove did not return until the end of the day. When it returned it was carrying an olive branch. After another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time it did not come back. At this point, Noah has been in the Ark, with his wife, three sons, and their wives (and maybe grandchildren) for over nine months. The passage tells us that Noah stayed in the Ark for over a year, until God told him it was time to leave it. I am not sure I would have been able to wait any longer after I saw that the ground was basically dry at around ten months. This passage reminds us of the importance of patience and waiting until God tells us that it is time to act.