The following entry represents my notes and observations as I read ‘Zondervan’s NASB Study Bible’. The text of the entry is my best attempt to summarize a large volume of text for easier reference in the future. As I go, I will compare and contrast the text of the NASB with ‘The Jewish Study Bible’ by Oxford University Press. If a passage is not specified as referring to either the Jewish or Christian version of the Bible then it can be assumed that it applies to both works. Passages specific to one or the other will be marked with either [NASB] or [JSB] as appropriate. Any person who differs with any detail of interpretation is invited to comment and include specifics and I’ll be happy to reexamine the passage(s) at issue.
Chapter 11
After the flood, everyone spoke the same language. People migrated west and settled in a valley in Shinar. In humanity’s last true cooperative effort, they built themselves a great city [Babylon] and proposed to build themselves a great tower [a ziggurat, a typical Mesopotamian stepped temple tower meant symbolically to represent a stairway to heaven] that was so tall that its head would be in the sky [JSB] or would reach heaven [NASB]. God, looking on from above, is displeased and says “…this is what they have begun to do, and now nothing which they propose to do will be impossible to them.” So in order to protect his superiority as God of men, he confounds them all by splitting the languages of man so that they can no longer communicate effectively and progress on the tower ostensibly stops. Since that time of course, mankind has spent more of its collective time and energy thinking of new ways to kill people. Thanks, God.
So far, God has made man in his own image. Fine.
Man has been naughty and needed cleaning out. Fine.
Man was born anew from the line of Noah but even these good people apparently did things that God didn’t like. Fine.
But the things that man did this last time seem pretty natural. Man was made in God’s image with some God-like attributes. He’s intelligent, curious and relentlessly self-improving so he wants to build; he wants to create just as God created. In Genesis chapter 11 though, we get a clear sign that this makes God nervous. He outright says, “Nothing they propose will be impossible.” So in response, God makes everyone speak different languages so that they can apply all that God-given ingenuity towards killing each other and general chaos?!? Would it not be better to let man do what man does best? If man were intended to simply follow God like a sheep, then why give him the intelligence to do more? Why give him the curiosity to seek out new things? Why give him this drive to build and achieve? It seems a hopelessly flawed plan to create a creature that is apparently collectively smart enough to do anything and yet expect them to simply follow you about mindlessly like sheep. So far, the God of the Old Testament seems either downright evil or perpetually stupid.
Next we get the genealogy of Shem (one of Noah’s boys). Through ten generations in which the lifespan of man goes from 602 years for Shem to 119 and 70 years for the two generations that have died by the end of the current genealogy. The genealogy ends with Abram and Nahor, sons of Terah. Abram married Sarai who bore him no children and Nahor married Milcah who bore him Haran, Milcah and Iscah. Haran had a son Lot.
Terah took Abram and Lot and Sarai to Harn and settled there where Terah died at the age of 205.
Chapter 12
The Lord commanded Abram [later, Abraham] to leave Haran and in exchange he would bless him and make him the leader of a great nation. Abram does as the Lord commands and takes Lot and his wife Sarai [later, Sarah] along with all they own first to Canaan, then to Shechem and finally Negeb building altars to God the whole way.
In Negeb, there is famine so Abram journeys to Egypt but instructs his wife that since she is so beautiful, she must never tell the Egyptians that she is his wife but instead insist she is his sister. If the Pharaoh were to see her then he would kill Abram first so that he could incorporate Sarai into his harem. In Egypt, as expected, Sarai is noticed and the lie is perpetrated. Rather than trust in the Lord’s protection, Abram lies and Sarai is taken by Pharaoh who showers Abram with material wealth.
This does not go unnoticed by God however, who brings mighty plagues on Pharaoh’s house. Pharaoh determines the cause of the problem and sends Sarai back to Abram and they are both sent off with an armed escort.
Chapter 13
Abram and Sarai journey from Egypt to Negeb and they’re rich from all the gifts Pharaoh piled on Abram in exchange for his ‘sister.’ It would seem that prostitution paid well in this era. When Lot and Abram finally arrive at their destination between Bethel and Ai they bicker. They both have so much livestock that there’s not enough forage for all the animals within the amount of land their herdsmen can police. Abram begs peace from Lot and tells him to choose whatever land he would have and they’ll separate. Lot greedily chooses the Jordan river valley near the city of Sodom thinking it the best despite the fact that it has a very poor reputation.
Abram settles in Canaan and as soon as Lot is out of earshot the Lord speaks to Abram. He tells Abram that all the land he sees about him will be his and that his people will be as plentiful as the dust-specks of the Earth. Abram concludes the chapter by taking up residence in Hebron and builds yet another altar to the Lord.
Chapter 14
Years pass and history finds our anti-hero, Lot, living in Sodom. He’s still a righteous man, but he’s surrounded by temptation. Unfortunately, war comes to Sodom and Sodom is on the losing end; the losers carry off the contents of their cities including Lot and his own possessions. Abram, hearing that his nephew was a prisoner, musters his personal army of 318 men [he is extraordinarily rich after all from that affair with the Pharaoh], frees Lot and brings him back with all his possessions.
After the rescue, Abram breaks bread with a couple of the losing kings. Finding that the King of Salem worships the same God he does, he offers the King a tithe of [10%] of the goods taken. The King of Sodom offers Abram an exchange of goods but Abram refuses bluntly that he has entered a covenant with God and cannot accept so much as a thread from him. Ostensibly, this is to ensure that Abram does not become indentured to the King in any way.
Chapter 15
Later, the Lord comes to Abram in a vision. “Fear not,” God says and goes on to tell Abram that he is with him and his reward shall be great. Abram objects, “what can you give me seeing that I shall be childless?” [recall that Sarai his wife is barren]. Abram goes on to state that since he has no children his steward Dammesek Eliezer will be his heir. God replies that Abram will have his heir and that his line will be as numerous as the stars themselves. Abram said no more on that topic, he trusted in the Lord.
Later, God says that he has brought Abram here to possess this land. Abram asks how he will know that it is truly his. To seal the contract between them, God asks Abram to bring a three-year-old heifer, she-goat, ram and two birds. Abram cuts each in two and stood between the two halves sealing the deal in traditional Mesopotamian fashion. After the covenant is complete, God tells Abram that while his offspring will be many, they will be “strangers in a land not theirs” and that they will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years. It is promised though, that God will look after them and “execute judgment” on the enslaving nation. God then decrees that Abram’s offspring will receive all the land from the “river of Egypt” [no such river known, some arm of the Nile possibly] to the great river Euphrates.
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