Genesis 23-27

Regarding God's covenant with Abraham and the Temple Mount:

Notes from "Living & Dying by Faith" by Jack Abeelen

Salem--little town at the foot of the hill, Mount Moriah
Jebusites took it.
David came and took it.
Solomon built temple somewhere up the hill.
Second temple rebuilt temple, still not at top.
Here Herod leveled out 35 acres---Temple Mount (Mount of Olives)
still not the top of the hill of Moriah
have to go north outside the city walls, Golgotha---nothing higher on that mountain range
place of sacrifice is at the top of the hill

Note: I've done a bit of research on this--the location of Golgotha is contested. I feel like it's a stretch for him to tie such a neat bow on the package.

"In your seed"

1. reference to Abraham's natural seed (DNA--genealogy)
2. reference to Abraham's spiritual seed (Jews)
3. apply to spiritual but not physical descendants (Christians)
4. Jesus Christ

*************************************************************************

"The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD." Genesis 25:22

Rebekah asked God why they were struggling inside her, and God shared with her that two nations were in her womb, and the older would serve the younger.

********************************************************
Genesis 26

"When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah." Genesis 26:34-35

**********************************
Genesis 27

"God does not condone Jacob's wheeling and dealing, but one thing is apparent—Jacob valued the birthright and a place in the godly line, while Esau preferred the gratification of his physical appetite to spiritual blessings." -Believer's Bible

"Esau’s marriages to two Hittite women (Judith and Basemath) were a grief to his parents. This note demonstrates how unfit Esau was for God’s blessing, and how foolish was Isaac’s later attempt to bless Esau (Gen_27:1-40). Esau later married a third wife, Mahalath (Gen_28:9)."-BKC


Jack Abeelen--Lessons from a Dysfunctional Family

Isaac--43 years before he goes he thinks he's going at age 137, he gives the blessing to Jacob. 122 years from Mount Moriah.d

Both Esau and Isaac are 77 years old here.

"The cool lesson in all of this weirdness, and you’ll see how weird it gets, is that God is able to function in it to accomplish His will. So, on the one hand it’s a pretty sad story of a family that doesn’t do very well. On the other hand, there is this glorious truth that God uses messed-up people and overrules their weirdness and still has His will." -Jack Abeelen

"It’s all about submitting to the will of God. And now she believes if she [Rebekah] doesn’t intervene, God’s will will not be accomplished. Absolute stupidity. Of course God will accomplish His will. Like I said, He doesn’t need us at all...Learn from this, if nothing else, that if you know the will of God, you should never set out to accomplish the will of God by a work of the flesh. Those never fit together."

"You just can’t make that happen for yourself. We see that a lot of times. People go, “Well, I believe God’s called me to music.” And you’ll say, “Well, great. I’m sure the Lord will open doors.” And then they start calling everybody and marketing themselves and pushing themselves forward and not waiting at all upon the Lord. And they may get where they want to be, but are they right where God wants them to be? Probably not. Because if the Lord is in something, the Lord will open the doors. It’s harder to wait. It’s just the right thing to do, you know? It’s just the right thing to do." -JA

"In fact, if you go back and read the story there, David had these men take six steps – just six steps – one, two, three, four, five, six; stopped, built an altar, offered a sacrifice, worshiped the Lord. Went six more steps. They did this for six miles. David’s taking no chances. But he wanted to do it right, you know? Was it efficient? No. Took a long time. Was it effective? Absolutely. Why? Because His will doesn’t need your help. You need His help. Right." -JA

His descriptors:
*unspiritual father-Isaac
*unsurrendered mother--Rebekah
*unscrupulous brother--Jacob

"And, look what he says here in verse 12, “If my father feels for me, I might seem to be a deceiver to him.” You might SEEM to be a deceiver to him?! (Laughing) And not only that, “I’m going to lose that blessing. I’m going to get a curse. I’m not going to get a blessing.” I love the fact that Jacob doesn’t seem to mind being a deceiver. He just doesn’t want to be seen as one. Now, we laugh at that, but I’m thinking there’s a lot of people like that, aren’t there?  They are more interested in what they seem to be than what they really are. And, “What will people think of me?” And the bottom line is, who cares what people think of you? What does the Lord think of you? What matters is what God thinks of you." -JA

"This guy is a spiritual fraud, now, that is bringing the name of the Lord into his conversation to further his agenda. Right? In every biblical sense, this is taking the name of the Lord in vain. More than swearing, this is it. This is using God’s supposed involvement to move forward your own agenda." -JA

"He goes by what he feels - not by what he senses in his heart, by what he hears. Your feelings will let you down a lot. God’s Word will never let you down. So, if you’re looking to grow spiritually, you certainly want to establish your heart, not based on how you feel but upon what God says, because feelings tend to change with circumstance." -JA

"You can’t live by your feelings. Isaac went by his feelings. He felt. He went, “Oh, oh, yeah. All right. I guess I can put the fact that he’s got a squeaky voice out of my head. And he doesn’t sound a bit like Esau. He sounds like that little pansy, Jacob, mama likes so much.” (Laughing) It’s how he felt about him, right? But, you know, he feels like he’s the right guy so “I gotta go by that.” And how difficult for us to grow spiritually, but how easy it is to go by your feelings when you’re separated from God in your heart. So, you hear people sometimes sharing what they believe about God, but it isn’t based upon the Scriptures. It’s based upon how they felt last night at the meeting." -JA

"Now, you read this, and you want to say to yourself, “Well it sure sounds like Jacob and Rebekah had their way. Lies and deception worked.” Well, Hebrews says it is now an action of faith upon Isaac’s part that he leaves the blessing the way it was. He could have retracted it because it was deceptive. He could have said, “Okay, I was fooled. That was my intention. You can’t hold me to that.” But he doesn’t. He leaves it the way that it is solely because he realizes that God is in this thing."-JA

"Herod was the last Edomite, so that’s the Edomite line."-JA

"There’s a Scripture in Malachi 1:1-4a where we read these words, “The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. ‘I have loved you,’ says the LORD. ‘Yet you say, “In what way have You loved us?” ‘Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?’ says the LORD. ‘Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness.’ Even though Edom has said, ‘We have been impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places.’ ” And people have a problem with that. They say, “Well the Lord said he loved Jacob and hated Esau.” I’ve got a problem with it too. I’ve got a problem with ‘He loved Jacob.’ This guy’s a crook. Jacob is just an absolute crook. People that get too worried about Esau…….”Well, how could you hate Esau?” How could He love Jacob? That’s my problem right there. I’m just trying to clear that 18 up for you."-JA

"And like I said, by the time you get to the end of chapter 27, only Isaac is sure that God would have His way. Nice to leave Isaac in that condition because the only thing we learn of him beyond this is that he dies. But the rest are off, still scheming, plotting of their own ways."-JA

Genesis 16-21

Just my notes....

"But faith doesn't always see things clearly, it just sees God." -Jack Abeelen

Isaac & Ishmael

Ishmael--about 16 when Isaac born
Ishmael represents the flesh.
The flesh always hates what the spirit is doing.
Ishmael had been raised in a godly home, but it meant nothing to Ishmael.
Hagar got his wife from Egypt.
Viewed independence as far more impt. than the faith of his father.
Ishmael sent into the wilderness
Code of Hammurabi---slave given this when emancipated by care.

Make Me Cry, Make Me Laugh
90 years old, "father of many nations"
Sarai to Sarah


Garer--Philistines--growing group

integrity---first time used, comes from an unbelieving Philistine

"There's no safeguard. But the word integrity here found in the heart of this wicked man, not salvation.  There now, but just God's keeping of those who would do that which is right, is an interesting concept.  But He says to him there in verse 5, "I've withheld you from sinning against Me.  I know that you did this in the integrity of your heart.  You didn't know.  People say, "Well, what if you didn't know?" "Well, look, if you didn't know, look at what the Lord says. "I'll keep you." -Jack Abeelen

He knows far more than you do.  God knows better. Even at 100, Abraham forgot that he had to pass it through "God knows." But what we lack more often than not isn't information---we have plenty of information, this is information overload....you can't remember it all...but we lack prayer.

It's all about "I thought." Very little about what God says. There are two forms o

Assumption is the lowest form of communication; you should avoid it.
Most sin is a vulnerability that we don't deal with over time.

Half truth---same father, different mothers.  He has a pattern.  Abraham has fouled his reputation with Abimelech.  Makes his wife vulnerable.  Man of God through his own behavior where he will never be able to preach to this man, reach him.  But he could still pray for him.  God began to heal those who he affected.
You can always pray.  It's a bad episode, but it comes with a good ending.

"But God..." It's a great phrase, right?

Abraham...25 years passes,
Delay develops faith.  That's the part we dislike the most. The lag between promise and delivery.
"Whoever believes shall not make haste" stone, sure foundation....Isaiah 28
I love the fact that God will come through.
Waiting is preferable to sinking...God help us be able to wait.
We need to learn to wait without frustration and fuming.
Itsah--laughter--Yitz'chak.
The result is a heart filled with laughter.
I don't think we laugh enough.

Abimelech--according
Let the Lord be the Lord in their lives.
Lord, they are yours.
It's the boy that's praying as Hagar cries.
What Abraham knew in faith, she didn't know.
He became an archer and grows.
He dwelt in the land of Paran.
Hagar took a wife for him from Egypt.
Genesis 21-22

Genesis 22--Summit of Faith, Abraham 125 years old,
Hillary--Everest, lots of planning and $
Abraham had been climbing the mountains of faith

It came to pass after these things (25 years)...God said "Here I am..."
Marriage--tear up picture in your head or tear up the person...one or the other
It's the same when you come to the Lord....
Church too?
You have certain expectations--you have to lay down your will for His or lay down Him for the cares of the world.
Satan tempts you to destroy you
God tests you--not tempt you.  He seeks to put us under pressure so that our faith may be genuine.
Is it the Lord? The Enemy? Both?
It doesn't really matter because your response to the pressure should be the same.  Ex. Joseph:  "You meant it for evil, God meant it for good."
God tests to prove, strengthen, mature
NASA tests materials with the hope that they will hold up.

Human sacrifice for human sin
This chapter tells you what the cross meant to the father.
The life of an individual with an old son who waited for 24 years.
Moriah--"God sees," or "God foresees"  God knew it would end up here
Revelation 13:8  From the foundations of the world
first time love used...and used for an only father for his son

polysyndedon--v. 3 to 13  and...and...and
continual action...he immediately moved on it (similar to Genesis 1?)
connecting many words of thought and action
We will go worship and we will come back (bow down--word of surrender)  first time you see the word worship used.

took the wood of the burnt offering and lay it on his son
"God will provide for Himself the lamb."
Jesus carries his cross, Isaac carries his wood.
When Jesus prayed for the cup to pass, God sent more angels.

James references this chapter--Abraham and faith.
Place: "The Lord will provide"  Jehovah Jireh
There is little difference for God between vision and provision
series of caves, makes place look like a skull,
Damascus gate, Herod's gate---see hill above Jerusalem.  Solomon built temple

50 years with Abraham & Sarah

Genesis 15

Genesis 15--notes from Jack Abeelen, Morningstar Christian Chapel

Everything has a beginning...except God.  Genesis is full of beginnings...world, marriage, sin, the idea of salvation.

Abraham is a peace making man.

Four kings from the north formed a coalition and subjugated five kingdoms from the south (Shem)...then they finally said enough.  Fall of Sodom came out of this.  Sometimes you fight for the right reasons.  Abraham gives chase with his 318 people, chases five kings and the King of Salem is tied to this (Melchizedek).
Bera--King of Sodom--offered Abram $, Abram walks away.

"After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision" v. 1

First thing God says..."Don't be afraid"  Joshua: Be strong.  Be of good courage.  Don't be afraid of them. Ephesians 6--shield

Eliezer--God's help, servant of Abram

The Beginnings of "Faith"

The Lord's response to Abram's doubt is to continue to present God's promises.  In crisis, people don't need explanation, just the promises.

"and he, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and got it accounted to him as righteousness." v 6
Aman--Hebrew word means believe, Amen, "so be it"
this small act of faith is the pivot on which the scriptures teach salvation by grace alone.  Romans 4, Galatians 3, James 2.

Read Romans 4 before bedtime. 24 verses

Abraham said "amen" to the promises of God---that's it.

Why does the Lord reintroduce Himself?  It's a commonplace
autocorigma--self proclamation of God.  underscores presence of God, grab kid and look in the face.

Covenant Between Abram & God

Covenant between God and man, walk between split offering and verbalize covenant

"Thus the fulfillment of the promises to Abram involves a retributive judgment on the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. Abram’s seed would get the land - but not one hour before absolute justice required it. God had much to do before fulfilling His promise - including disciplining His nation to make it fit for receiving the promise. Abram’s seeing this in advance was horrible - like watching birds of prey." -BKC

"Then after sunset God revealed Himself in connection with the image of an oven (smoking fire pot) and a torch, two elements that were connected with sacrificial ritual in the ancient world. These images are part of the “burning” motif that describes God’s zeal and judgment in the world. Fire represents the consuming, cleansing zeal of Yahweh as well as His unapproachable holiness, which are interrelated (cf. Isa_6:3-7). In the darkness (Gen_15:17) Abram saw nothing else in the vision except these fiery elements that passed between the pieces of the slaughtered animals." -BKC

"Now Abram prepared the place of covenant that God had asked him to prepare, and no doubt it took quite a while. He sat down to wait. The Lord didn’t come. Eventually he got tired, and after chasing the vultures off from trying to eat the dead flesh, Abram just went to sleep; he couldn’t stay awake any more. And the Lord was still not there. And when he fell asleep, fear gripped his heart. “What can I do?” Only in that kind of condition – verse 13 – do we find the Lord then speaking to Abram and telling him of his descendants who will eventually inherit the land, but He gives him lots of information that we verify as we read forward." -Jack Abeelen

"Notice God’s view of death for Abram is different than ours. He says, “You’ll live to be a good old age, and then you’ll come to be with Me.” That’s not bad." -Jack Abeelen

Genesis 12-14

Call of Abraham
Jack Abeelen

25 years on border

1-11  2,000 years of history
God writes with prejudice and purpose.
Formation
Fall
Flood
Fallout

12-5  400 years  Abraham through three generations
descendants of Shem
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph

testimony and testing of Abraham
take Isaac out, but Ishmael into sacrifice

Al' Kahlil--friend of God

Ur of Chaldeans--Ziggurats, university, royal cemetery, animists, worshiped moon God--Nana/Sin, "moonie"

Joshua 24
No indication that he turned from that
Chapter 11:28 last brother, life-changing event--Haran
Sarai--barren   Abram "exalted father"
women who were unable to bear children were cursed
superstition
15-44---12% of population inability to have children

3x's "Friend of God" NT
exulted father
father of many nations

God "had spoken" to Abram prior to this...stopped before they hit the desert.  Lived there for years until his father died--Terah.  Ur to Canaan 600 miles, Ur to Haran 600 miles then another 400 to Haran.

only Stephen mentions weakness in Abraham.  We also tend to excuse ourselves by our lack of abilities.

Haran--dry, parched
Terah--to delay

God says "I will, I will, I will...."
Sarai--argumentative, contentious
50% of world's Jews live in Israel, 6 million, 70 Billion budget, 24th economy, citrus, flowers,
"I will make of you a great nation" --God did it with a 75 year old guy who's not coming quickly.
13 million on planet, 7 Billion
25% nobel peace prize to Jews
Without the Jews, we have no Old Testament, no Messiah.

childhood marked by huge faith and huge doubts....so with Abraham

Hagar--young slave girl
Chapters 13 to 17  Abram and Lot intertwined, parallel and different lives

Money itself is neutral.  It depends upon how you are affected by it.
money---"the love of money" is the root of all evil.
You don't have to have it to let you be consumed by it.  You can have it and not be dominated by it.
extremes tend to settle with maturity
Do you have wealth or does your wealth have you?

He came out of Egypt with a lot more than he came in with---but he came out without Egypt in his heart.  In contrast, Lot came out being gripped by it. Cites 29 out of 30 of these lottery people say it brought more trouble.

Bethel--house of God  Ai--Heap of Ruin  That's kind of where we are...in between.

Abram goes back to the basics with God--we can always do so too.
Problems came from Egypt---arose out of "stuff" and grazing land. Lot and Abram led parallel

The founding father of our faith (Abraham) was off to a slow start which should encourage us; we don't always get out of the blocks.

Stopped in Sheckem (Nablus) Abraham stopped. Encounters God 7 times total.

Kids develop faith quickly, but they also doubt quickly...Abraham is growing by leaps and bounds, but the extremes tend to settle with maturity.

One of the key steps to continuing to grow is to be aware of God's presence.  He's with you.  You are hanging out with the God of the Universe.

"Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD." Genesis 13:4

Doesn't say here that Abram talked with God, just that he called on Him.

Lot and Abram
Lot and Abram began to have problems because of "stuff."  Division drives them apart because of stuff.  God can use division to further His plans. Paul and Silas, Paul and John Mark,

Lot--man of "sight," somewhat like Peter when he denied Christ. He was a  tag-along kind of guy.  Lot chose for himself, that's what the flesh does. Lot is a far away kind of guy. He doesn’t have any spiritual eyes.

Lot--not mentioned that he had an altar.  Thoughts dominated by flesh.  Dwelt in the cities of the plains.  Living in Sodom.  Chapter 19:1--ruling in the gates of Sodom.  Loses wife and children. Frustrated with Sodom but lives there anyway.

Abram--man of faith. Let God choose for him.
Trusting in God is never a raw deal.

v. 14 Abram alone again for first time in many years (alone as in away from Lot.) God makes His promises to Abram more specific.

Abraham was $$$, had 318 servants in his own house.

Appropriation of Faith
"First, look by faith; now, walk by faith. It’s an important issue in the Scriptures. We’ll run into it a lot, that one of the definitions of faith is an appropriation of what God has given. In other words, you’ve got to take what God says, and live it out. Right? If He says, “Don’t worry,” hey you ought to commit yourself, “I’m not going to worry.” And when you start worrying, go, “Lord, I’m sorry. I don’t want to worry. I trust You.” And reaffirm."

Abram as peacemaker
"Abram is a peacemaker in the Bible, not a troublemaker. He is slow to leave his father. He seeks peace with Lot as Lot goes down in a different direction. He makes peace with the people he lives with enough to be allies with them. And yet I would point out to you who are peaceniks, even men of peace sometimes have to fight to keep that peace, and there is no easier way out when there’s conflict than to all of a sudden become a pacifist. Get a “coexist” sign on your car. It sounds noble, it’s just not biblical. Abram loved peace enough, and his family enough, to fight for it. Francis Schaeffer, if you’ve been around as a Christian for any length of time, is kind of a modern-day thinker. He’s not with us anymore, but he wrote lots of books on philosophy and theology. He wrote on this idea of pacifism, “I am not a pacifist for this reason - to be a pacifist in a fallen, broken and evil world would mean I have to desert the people who need me the most.” I think Abram would have agreed with that."-JA

Melchizedek
"Here is a priest before the Levitical priesthood ever began. He comes out of nowhere. You don’t get an introduction – here he comes. There’s nobody going, “Check out the next chapter. There’s a guy there you’re going to want to meet!” Nothing. He just kind of pops up here as Abram returns. We will read nothing more about him for 1000 years. In 1000 years from now, as you go 1000 years historically in your Bible, you will come to David in Psalm 110, writing about the coming Messiah. And you will read in Psalm 110:4, “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek,’ ” speaking about the Messiah to come, that the Messiah’s relationship to the priesthood was going to go not through Levi, not through Aaron but through Melchizedek." -JA

"The question naturally becomes, then, who is this Melchizedek? And my answer to you is, I have no idea. Many folks teach that it is a theophany - that means an appearance of God in the Old Testament in some kind of human form. Or a Christophany, Christ in hidden form. There are good arguments for both." -JA


I like the fact that Abram is growing in his faith. “I don’t want any credit. I don’t want any honor. I just want to glorify the Lord. You don’t want to ever take any bows for the work of God.

Live by Faith not Sight, Pick the Tent
"So, Lot returns home. Now, you would have thought losing your goods and being in danger of losing your life, except for the intervention of your uncle again and the hand of God, would have taught him a lesson. It didn’t. He fails to learn that associating with the world can lead to your destruction. He goes right back to Sodom. Moves right back in. But look at Abram. He’s trusting the Lord. He’s walking by faith. He’s learning God is faithful to His Word. He’s begun to demonstrate to the nations, to the cities, to the kings around him, who God was - put Him on display. Be careful with your vision. Look up. Don’t look around. Abram was a fellow that came to learn this by experience. Lot, unfortunately, did not. And be careful, not only of your vision, but be careful of your values. Because Lot longed for the plains." -JA