Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 12-15.

When Abram returned to Canaan from Egypt with Lot, he realized that between them he and Lot had too many flocks and herds to continue together.  Instead of sending Lot away, Abram offered Lot the choice of where to settle, while Abram would move away from there.  Lot chose the area which he believed to offer the better opportunities.  Abram did not insist on what he thought was the better territory, even though most would have thought him entitled to do so.  Of course, we know how that worked out.  We get the first indication that Lot chose poorly when he, and his family, were taken captive (probably to be enslaved).  Abram, because of the choice he made, became a force to be reckoned with, with allies who were also forces to be reckoned with, and was able to rescue Lot and his family.  So, Abram trusted God to provide and did not believe it necessary to seize the main chance.  We also should trust God to provide and not feel like we must outcompete those around us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 12-15.

I have included the last few verses from yesterday’s passage in today’s reading because I do not think we properly understand Abram’s story without them.  Abram’s story actually begins with his father, Terah.  Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran.  I had always thought that Haran was Terah’s eldest son, but today I realized that the passage does not tell us the order of birth for Terah’s sons. I had just assumed that Haran was the eldest because he died before Terah took his family and left Ur.  However the main reason that I want to start with these couple of verses from chapter 11 is because they tell us that Terah left Ur intending to relocate to Canaan, but decided to stop in the city of Harran for reasons which are not explained.  Interestingly, Terah would have left Ur about the time when historians believe that the Epic of Gilgamesh was composed.  The Epic of Gilgamesh contains a flood story which is thought to be the source for the flood story in Genesis, but perhaps it went the other way around.  So, perhaps Terah left Ur because a corrupted version of the stories of Creation which he knew were being used by those in power to consolidate their control. (Hmmm, where else have we seen political leaders corrupt the facts people believe in order to consolidate power? How about repeatedly throughout history?).  Further, when I did my blog post for January 1 of this year I came across an article which made the argument that the Garden of Eden would have been somewhere close to Canaan (perhaps even in Canaan).  Which puts an entirely new light on why God gave Canaan to the descendants of Abram.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Genesis 12-15.

I am not sure there is much to make of this, but it strikes me as interesting.  When Abram set out from the city of Haran to complete the journey to Canaan which his father had begun, Lot went with him.  Why did Lot go with his Uncle Abram rather than stay with his Uncle Nahor?  It suggests to me that Lot’s grandfather, Abram’s father, had a deeper reason to set out for Canaan than we are given by the Bible.  Of course, that also raises the question of why Nahor stayed in Haran.  I believe that the answers to these questions are closely related to why later Abraham was so vehement that Isaac was not to travel to Haran for his wife.  I find these questions interesting.  I also find it interesting that they do not appear to be answered.  There is just one more hint about the answers to this question.  When God spoke to Abram and told him to go to Canaan, Abram was no longer living in Ur, but when God made His covenant with Abram He said that He had brought him out of Ur.  There is no contradiction here, but it does tell us that God’s hand played a role in the decision of Terah, Abram’s father, choosing to leave Ur.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 12-15. I have decided to switch from suing the New Living Translation to using the New International Version because, all in all, I prefer the NIV.

As I was reading today’s passage I started to wonder why the detailed description of the kings allied on either side of the battle which led to the capture of Lot and of the geopolitics which led to that battle.  Those listening to the story around the time it was first written down would not have known who any of these kings were, and would have barely known anything about the cities involved.  Then it struck me, this detail is evidence that the account is about an actual historical event.  Yes, by the time this story was written down many of those who were mentioned had been lost in the mists of time, and it is possible that at some point one or two of those mentioned had been substituted for those who were actually there due to someone’s flawed memory, but those telling it were not just telling a story, they were recounting an event which had actually happened.  As I think about this further, the account about Melchizedek’s encounter with Abraham suggests to me that Abraham had an ongoing relationship with Melchizedek.  Nothing particularly noteworthy, merely that they had friendly encounters from time to time, which were never important enough to mention in the stories about Abraham.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 12-15.

Last year when I read this passage I commented about the fact that Abraham’s father left Ur on his way to Canaan, but never got further than Haran.  When I did so I began exploring the idea of looking at the Genesis accounts as  true from a secular perspective.  One might wonder what led Terah to leave Ur, and Abraham some years later to leave Haran.  As I noted then, the Epic of Gilgamesh, which contains an account very similar to the account of Noah and the Flood, appeared in Ur about the time that Terah and Abraham left that city.  If those ruling Ur had begun using a retelling of the Flood story to consolidate their power (which appears to have been at least one of the purposes of the Epic of Gilgamesh), they would have made life very uncomfortable for anyone believing the original story.

I find several aspects of today’s passage interesting.  Today I want to look at the major changes in Abram’s fortune over the course of today’s passage.  Early on, when Abraham went to Egypt he was worried that the rulers there would have him killed so that they could take his wife.  Later, when the king of Elam, who was powerful enough to demand tribute from most of the cities in the area, sacked Sodom and took Lot captive, Abraham put together an alliance, tracked down the forces of the King of Elam, freed the captives and captured the loot which Elam’s forces had acquired.  At this point, Abram was wealthy enough and powerful enough to be a player in world affairs.  Certainly part of Abram’s ability to accomplish this came from the fact that he was a nomad and did not have to protect a specific location from attack.