Gen. 12:1-9, Thoughts from Genesis (1)

For the next few posts we will share some thoughts, and sometimes questions, that might be helpful as you read through Genesis.  It is not a verse-by-verse approach.  We have taken a more detailed approach previously (online at https://ronandcindy.blogspot.com/ Gen. 12-25, The Life of Abraham, March 31-May 5, 2015; and Gen. 25-50, The Life of Jacob, Joseph, May 6-June 12, 2015).  You will be benefited if you read the particular verse along with the note.

·       An outline of Genesis can be based on the phrase, “this is the book of the generation of ….” (2:4: heaven/earth; 5:1: Adam; 6:9: Noah; 10:1: sons of Noah; 11:10: Shem; 11:27: Terah; 25:12: Ishmael; 25:19: Isaac; 36:1: Esau; 37:2: Jacob).

·       Genesis 1-2: There simply does not need to be a conflict between the two stories of the creation of Man.  One is without detail; one is with detail.  No conflict.

·       Gen. 2:18: Thank you, Father, for my “comparable helper.”  One year as I read this passage I had seen a Denver newspaper article about a man who was fired from his job for arguing there were two sexes.  What foolishness!  Of course there’s only two: XX or XY chromosome.

·       Gen. 6:4: “in those days.”  There were some significant differences between the environment before and after the flood.  Before there were giants, people lived longer, and the large animals were more plentiful.  Perhaps the existence of a rainbow in the sky is one of those environmental differences.

o   Gen. 9 introduces other differences before and after.  The fear of man in animals (9:2) and the joy of eating a steak (9:3-4).  “Capital punishment” became universal (9:5-7). 

·       Gen. 6:22; 7:5: “Noah did all that the LORD commanded him.”  Noah was also the “bondservant” of the LORD, like His Son Jesus (Phil. 2:5-11), like Paul (Rom. 1:1, etc.), like Moses (Deut. 34:5; Josh. 1:2, etc), and every other man or woman of God.  It is our blessing, as “sons of God,” to be “slaves to God” (Rom. 6:22).

·       Gen. 12:1-9; 13:18: Highway 60 in Israel is often called the “way of the Patriarchs” (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob).  It runs from Beersheba in the Negev to Shechem in Samaria (that is the part the Patriarchs traveled) and on to Nazareth on the north side of the Valley of Jezreel.  It runs down the middle of the mountains of Ephraim (Samaria) and Judah.  Here we see that Abram entered the land on that route, coming to Shechem from the NE, the way from Haran. There are many important cities along the way: Bethel, Shiloh, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron.

·       Gen. 12:6: Abram’s first stop was at the “terebinth” (“oak”) tree of Moreh, which was near Mtns. Ebal and Gerizim (Dt. 11:30).  We have been up Mt. Gerizim on several occasions, and part way up there is a sign pointing to an “Atlantic Terebinth Forest.” 

·       Gen. 12:8: Today, as in Abram’s day, Hwy. 60 runs by the east side of Bethel.  Ai (a city significant in Joshua 7, whose name meant “Ruin”) was further east.  Abram pitched his tent between the two and built an altar.