Review:

• Genesis 1 – Creation
• Genesis 2 – Adam & Eve
• Genesis 3 – Fall of Man
• Genesis 4 – Cain killed Abel
• Genesis 5 – Seth
• 1 This is the document containing the family records of Adam. On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God; 2 he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind.
• 3 Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. 4 Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters. 5 So Adam’s life lasted 930 years; then he died. [1]
• Genesis 6-9 – Noah’s Ark
• Genesis 11 – Tower of Babylon
• Genesis 12-15 – Abraham and Covenant
• Genesis 16 – Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael
• Genesis 17 – Circumcision covenant
• Genesis 18 – Abraham & Sarah told about birth
• Genesis 19 – Sodom & Gomorah destruction
• Genesis 21 – Birth of Isaac to Abraham & Sarah
• Genesis 22 – Sacrifice of Isaac

 
GENESIS 23
1 Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life. 2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. [2]

• Sarah is the only woman whose age at death ("127 years" old) the Scriptures record.
• She is also the only woman whose name God changed (17:15).
• Abraham buys land in Mamre to bury Sarah there.

 
A WIFE FOR ISAAC
GENESIS 24

• Covenant between Abraham & servant
• The thigh, being close to the reproductive organs, represented the continuation of Abraham's lineage and the seriousness of the promise related to his descendants.[3]
• This act of placing the hand under the thigh was a way to signify the gravity and sacredness of the oath, emphasizing the importance of the task at hand.
• Putting a hand under another's thigh was a solemn way of signifying that if the oath were violated, the children, yet unborn, would avenge the act of disloyalty.
• Abraham’s servant retrieves Rebekah as Isaac’s wife.
• Rebekah's name means "Ensnaring Beauty," and Moses commented on her beauty.
• She was Isaac's second cousin.
• Her grandfather was Abraham's brother.

62 Now Isaac was returning from Beer-lahai-roi, for he was living in the Negev region. 63 In the early evening Isaac went out to walk in the field, and looking up he saw camels coming. 64 Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she got down from her camel 65 and asked the servant, “Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?”
The servant answered, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66 Then the servant told Isaac everything he had done.
67 And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah and took Rebekah to be his wife. Isaac loved her, and he was comforted after his mother’s death.[4]
 
ABRAHAM’S DEATH
GENESIS 25
7 This is the length of Abraham’s life: 175 years. 8 He took his last breath and died at a good old age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hethite. 10 This was the field that Abraham bought from the Hethites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah. 11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who lived near Beer-lahai-roi.[5]

• Isaac would have been 75 years old, and Jacob 15, when Abraham died (v. 7; cf. 21:5; 25:26).
• Abraham lived 100 years in the Promised Land (cf. 12:4).

 
…
THE BIRTH OF JACOB AND ESAU
19 These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. 20 Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. 22 But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her:
Two nations are in your womb;
two peoples will come from you and be separated.
One people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.
24 When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. 25 The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau (hairy one). 26 After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob (El will protect). Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.

• It took 20 years for Rebekah to give birth.

 
ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT
27 When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home.

• Abraham died when the twins were 15 years old.

28 Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

• When one parent is partial to one child and the other parent is partial to the other child, you have trouble.
• That is exactly what took place here.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. 30 He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom.
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

• The "birthright" was the privilege of being chief of the tribe and head of the family (27:29).
• In Isaac's family, it entitled the bearer to the blessing of Yahweh's promises (27:4, 27-29), which included the possession of Canaan and covenant fellowship with God (28:4).

32 “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?”
33 Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. 34 Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.[6]

• The writer showed that the natures of the two sons were very different: they were not identical twins, obviously.
• Esau cared only for physical and material things, whereas Jacob valued the spiritual.
• Esau gave priority to the immediate satisfaction of his sensual desires, but Jacob was willing to wait for something better that God had promised for the future (cf. Heb. 12:16).

 
GENESIS 26
1 There was another famine in the land in addition to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, at Gerar. 2 The Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land that I tell you about; 3 stay in this land as an alien, and I will be with you and bless you. For I will give all these lands to you and your offspring, and I will confirm the oath that I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, I will give your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, 5 because Abraham listened to me and kept my mandate, my commands, my statutes, and my instructions.” 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar.[7]

• Isaac’s deception to Abimelech was similar to Abraham’s concerning Sarah… famine and all.
• Isaac kept digging wells and was blessed.

 
THE STOLEN BLESSING
GENESIS 27
1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could not see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
2 He said, “Look, I am old and do not know the day of my death. 3 So now take your hunting gear, your quiver and bow, and go out in the field to hunt some game for me. 4 Then make me a delicious meal that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I can bless you before I die.”
5 Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac said to his son Esau. So while Esau went to the field to hunt some game to bring in, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, 7 ‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ 8 Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves. 10 Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.”
11 Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin. 12 Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.”
13 His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.”
14 So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. 16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck.

• People used the black, silk-like hair of the camel-goat of the East ("young goats," v. 16) as a substitute for human hair as late as the Roman period.

17 Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob.
18 When he came to his father, he said, “My father.”
And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.”
20 But Isaac said to his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”
He replied, “Because the Lord your God made it happen for me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau or not?”
22 So Jacob came closer to his father Isaac. When he touched him, he said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. 24 Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”
And he replied, “I am.”
25 Then he said, “Bring it closer to me, and let me eat some of my son’s game so that I can bless you.” Jacob brought it closer to him, and he ate; he brought him wine, and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come closer and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came closer and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothes, he blessed him and said:
Ah, the smell of my son
is like the smell of a field
that the Lord has blessed.
28 May God give to you--
from the dew of the sky
and from the richness of the land--
an abundance of grain and new wine.
29 May peoples serve you
and nations bow in worship to you.
Be master over your relatives;
may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you.
Those who curse you will be cursed,
and those who bless you will be blessed.
30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left the presence of his father Isaac, his brother Esau arrived from his hunting. 31 He had also made some delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father get up and eat some of his son’s game, so that you may bless me.”
32 But his father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am Esau your firstborn son.”
33 Isaac began to tremble uncontrollably. “Who was it then,” he said, “who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came in, and I blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed!”
34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out with a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
35 But he replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”
36 So he said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and look, now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him a master over you, have given him all of his relatives as his servants, and have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” And Esau wept loudly.
39 His father Isaac answered him,
Look, your dwelling place will be
away from the richness of the land,
away from the dew of the sky above.
40 You will live by your sword,
and you will serve your brother.
But when you rebel,
you will break his yoke from your neck.
 
ESAU’S ANGER
41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
42 When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you. 43 So now, my son, listen to me. Flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran, 44 and stay with him for a few days until your brother’s anger subsides--45 until your brother’s rage turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?”
46 So Rebekah said to Isaac, “I’m sick of my life because of these Hethite girls. If Jacob marries someone from around here, like these Hethite girls, what good is my life?”[8]
 
GENESIS 28
1 So Isaac summoned Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, “Do not marry a Canaanite girl. 2 Go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother. 3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you so that you become an assembly of peoples. 4 May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as a foreigner, the land God gave to Abraham.” 5 So Isaac sent Jacob to Paddan-aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. [9]

• Jacob ended up staying with Laban 20 years.
• As far as Genesis records, Rebekah never saw him again.
• This great story of Jacob's deception teaches that, when God's people know His will, they should not resort to deceptive, manipulative schemes to attain spiritual success, but should pursue God's will righteously.
• Every member of Isaac's family behaved in a self-centered and unprincipled manner, yet God graciously overcame their sins.
• This reminds us that His mercy is the ultimate ground of salvation (cf. Romans 5:20 - 20 The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more[10]).

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 5:1–5.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 23:1–2.
[3] https://www.planobiblechapel.org/tcon/notes/html/ot/genesis/genesis.htm
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 24:62–67.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 25:7–11.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 25:19–34.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 26:1–6.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 27:1–46.
[9] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 28:1–5.
[10] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ro 5:20.

ABRAHAM’S THREE VISITORS
GENESIS 18
1 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2 He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him.

• The Angel of Yahweh and 2 other angels.

When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground, 3 and said, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.”
“Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.” 7 Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it. 8 Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.
 
SARAH LAUGHS
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

• Similar question he asked Adam & Eve.
• “Where are you?”
• “Where’s your brother Abel?” to Cain

“There, in the tent,” he answered.

• What does “in the tent” mean?

10 The Lord said, “I will certainly come back to you in about a year’s time, and your wife Sarah will have a son!” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.

• It doesn’t say that she was hiding.

11 Abraham and Sarah were old and getting on in years. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 So she laughed to herself: “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have delight?”

• Doubt?
• Cynical?
• Delight?
• Sarah denied that she had laughed either from fear of the LORD's power or from fear of offending Him.

13 But the Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Can I really have a baby when I’m old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord?

• Defending himself?
• Again, God built confidence in His word.
• If the LORD could read Sarah's thoughts, could He not also open her womb?
• Believers should never doubt God's promises, because nothing is impossible for Him.

At the appointed time I will come back to you, and in about a year she will have a son.”
15 Sarah denied it. “I did not laugh,” she said, because she was afraid.
But he replied, “No, you did laugh.”[1]

• Can you imagine that confrontation?

 
ABRAHAM’S PLEA FOR SODOM
16 The men got up from there and looked out over Sodom, and Abraham was walking with them to see them off. 17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide what I am about to do from Abraham? 18 Abraham is to become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him so that he will command his children and his house after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. This is how the Lord will fulfill to Abraham what he promised him.”

• Words recorded by Moses

20 Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense, and their sin is extremely serious. 21 I will go down to see if what they have done justifies the cry that has come up to me. If not, I will find out.”
22 The men turned from there and went toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Lord. 23 Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away instead of sparing the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people who are in it? 25 You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?”
26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

• Just who is Abraham trying to save?
• The city? Or the righteous people?

27 Then Abraham answered, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord—even though I am dust and ashes--28 suppose the fifty righteous lack five. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?”
He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
29 Then he spoke to him again, “Suppose forty are found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it on account of forty.”
30 Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak further. Suppose thirty are found there?”
He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
31 Then he said, “Since I have ventured to speak to my lord, suppose twenty are found there?”
He replied, “I will not destroy it on account of twenty.”
32 Then he said, “Let my lord not be angry, and I will speak one more time. Suppose ten are found there?”
He answered, “I will not destroy it on account of ten.”

• Evidently, Abraham was not trying to wear God down by pressuring Him.
• Instead, he sought clarification from God as to the extent of His mercy.
• He wanted to find out just how merciful God would be in judging Sodom.
• Why did Abraham stop with 10 righteous people?
• Perhaps he had learned that the LORD would be merciful regardless of the number.
• Perhaps he thought there would be at least 10 righteous people in Sodom.
• If so, he underestimated the wickedness of the Sodomites, and perhaps, he overestimated "righteous" Lot's influence over his neighbors.

33 When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he departed, and Abraham returned to his place. [2]
 
THE BIRTH OF ISAAC
GENESIS 21
1 The Lord came to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. 2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son who was born to him—the one Sarah bore to him—Isaac. 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears will laugh with me.”, 7 She also said, “Who would have told Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne a son for him in his old age.” [3]
 
THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
GENESIS 22
1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!”

• The family test, when he had to leave his loved ones and step out to a new land.
• The famine test, when he went down into Egypt.
• The fellowship test, when Lot separated from him.
• The fight test, when he defeated the Mesopotamian kings.
• The fortune test, when he said no to Sodom's wealth.
• The fatherhood test, when Sarah got impatient with God.
• The farewell test, when Ishmael left him.

“Here I am,” he answered.
2 “Take your son,” he said, “your only son Isaac, whom you love, go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
3 So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took with him two of his young men and his son Isaac. He split wood for a burnt offering and set out to go to the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there to worship; then we’ll come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. In his hand he took the fire and the knife, and the two of them walked on together.
7 Then Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father.”
And he replied, “Here I am, my son.”
Isaac said, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide, the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” Then the two of them walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place that God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
He replied, “Here I am.”
12 Then he said, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

• This is the first explicit mention in the Bible of the substitutionary sacrifice of one life for another.

14 And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said, “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”

• Same place as the Holy of Holies.
• Where the curtain was torn on Good Friday.

15 Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn,” this is the Lord’s declaration: “Because you have done this thing and have not withheld your only son,

• God did not withhold His only Son.

17 I will indeed bless you and make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the city gates of their enemies. 18 And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command.”
19 Abraham went back to his young men, and they got up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham settled in Beer-sheba. [4]

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 18:1–15.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 18:16–33.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 21:1–7.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 22:1–19.

Genesis 7:7 - So Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives entered the ark because of the floodwaters.[1]
 
Genesis 9:28-29 - Now Noah lived 350 years after the flood. 29 So Noah’s life lasted 950 years; then he died.[2]
 

• Genesis 10 – Genealogy of Noah’s sons (Shem Ham & Japheth)

 

• Tower of Babylon – Genesis 11:1-9
• From Noah to Abraham

1. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 5:32).
2. Shem was one of Noah's sons; his lineage is traced in Genesis 11.
3. Arphaxad was Shem's son (Genesis 11:10-11).
4. Shelah was Arphaxad's son (Genesis 11:12).
5. Eber was Shelah's son (Genesis 11:14).
6. Peleg was Eber's son (Genesis 11:16).
7. Reu was Peleg's son (Genesis 11:18).
8. Serug was Reu's son (Genesis 11:20).
9. Nahor was Serug's son (Genesis 11:22).
10. Terah was Nahor's son (Genesis 11:24).
11. Abram (later named Abraham) was Terah's son (Genesis 11:26).

 

• The Bible does not provide specific details about the origin of different skin colors.
• However, it does emphasize that all humans are descended from a common ancestry, starting with Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:27) and later through Noah and his family after the flood (Genesis 9:19).
• The diversity in skin color and other physical traits can be understood as part of the genetic variation that God built into humanity.
• From a biblical perspective, the dispersion of people groups at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is a significant event that led to the spread of humanity across the earth.
• As people migrated and settled in different regions, they adapted to various environmental conditions.
• Over time, genetic variations, including those affecting skin color, became more pronounced in different populations.

 
THE CALL OF ABRAM
GENESIS 12
1 The Lord said to Abram:
Go from your land,
your relatives,
and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
2 I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. 5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the site of Shechem, at the oak of Moreh. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring, I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar to the Lord there, and he called on the name of the Lord. 9 Then Abram journeyed by stages to the Negev. [3]

• Genesis 12:10-20 – Famine in the land
• Abram & Sarah went to Egypt
• Abram said Sarah was his sister
• Pharoah was pleased with Sarah and gave Abram food, livestock, silver & gold.
• Severe plagues came upon Pharoah and men.
• Pharoah confronted Abram about lying and sent him away… back to Canaan.

 

• Genesis 13 – Abram and Lot (nephew) had so much wealth between them, they began to argue.
• Lot took his stuff to Jordan and settled in Sodom.

 

• Genesis 14:1-16 – 5 kings of the north battled with 4 kings of the south.
• Lot ended up being captured and taken to the north
• Abram took his 318 trained men (Born in his household) and went and rescued Lot… his wife… and all the other people… and their stuff… and brought them back to their land.

 
MELCHIZEDEK’S BLESSING
Genesis 14:17-24 - After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer (ka-door-la-o-meer) and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley (that is, the King’s Valley). 18 Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. 19 He blessed him and said:
Abram is blessed by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth,
20 and blessed be God Most High
who has handed over your enemies to you.
And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the possessions for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand in an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23 that I will not take a thread or sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so you can never say, ‘I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will take nothing except what the servants have eaten. But as for the share of the men who came with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre—they can take their share.” [4]
 
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
GENESIS 15:1-6
1 After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield;
your reward will be very great.
2 But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, since I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house will be my heir.”
4 Now the word of the Lord came to him: “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5 He took him outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.[5]
HAGAR AND ISHMAEL
GENESIS 16
1 Abram’s wife, Sarai, had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So Abram’s wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress became contemptible to her. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering! I put my slave in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, I became contemptible to her. May the Lord judge between me and you.”
6 Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your power; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”
She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 The angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her authority.” 10 The angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too many to count.”
11 The angel of the Lord said to her, “You have conceived and will have a son. You will name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction. 12 This man will be like a wild donkey. His hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; he will settle near all his relatives.”
13 So she named the Lord who spoke to her: “You are El-roi,” for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen the one who sees me?” 14 That is why the well is called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, and Abram named his son (whom Hagar bore) Ishmael. 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.[6]

COVENANT CIRCUMCISION
GENESIS 17
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty. Live in my presence and be blameless. 2 I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”
3 Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: 4 “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. 5 Your name will no longer be Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations. 6 I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant to be your God and the God of your offspring after you. 8 And to you and your future offspring I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession, and I will be their God.”
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. 10 This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant. 14 If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, do not call her Sarai, for Sarah will be her name. 16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown. Then he laughed and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael were acceptable to you!”
19 But God said, “No. Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a permanent covenant for his future offspring. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will certainly bless him; I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father twelve tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will confirm my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” 22 When he finished talking with him, God withdrew from Abraham.
23 So Abraham took his son Ishmael and those born in his household or purchased—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day, just as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised. 26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. 27 And all the men of his household—whether born in his household or purchased from a foreigner—were circumcised with him. [7]
 
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART
ROMANS 2 (NLT)
28 For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision. 29 No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.[8]

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 7:7.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 9:28–29.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 12:1–9.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 14:17–24.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 15:1–6.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 16:1–16.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 17:1–27.
[8] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ro 2:28–29.

THE FLOOD RECEDES
GENESIS 8
1 God remembered Noah,

• - When Moses wrote that "God remembered" someone, in this case Noah, he meant that God extended mercy to him or her by delivering that person from death or destruction.
• God's rescue of Noah foreshadows His deliverance of Israel in the Exodus.

as well as all the wildlife and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water began to subside. 2 The sources of the watery depths and the floodgates of the sky were closed, and the rain from the sky stopped. 3 The water steadily receded from the earth, and by the end of 150 days the water had decreased significantly. 4 The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat.

• This verse does not specify a peak and refers generally to its location as the 'mountains of Ararat.
• The search for the ark's artifacts has been both a medieval and a modern occupation; but to the skeptic such evidence is not convincing, and to the believer, while not irrelevant, it is not necessary to faith.
• Modern Mt. Ararat lies on the border between Turkey and Armenia, near the center of the ancient world.
• From this general region Noah's descendants spread out over the earth.

5 The water continued to recede until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were visible. 6 After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made, 7 and he sent out a raven. It went back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent out a dove to see whether the water on the earth’s surface had gone down, 9 but the dove found no resting place for its foot. It returned to him in the ark because water covered the surface of the whole earth. He reached out and brought it into the ark to himself.

• The raven in seeking food settles upon every carcass it sees, whereas the dove will only settle on what is dry and clean.
• The dove which is a light-colored, clean animal (Lev. 1:14; 12:6; et al.), in contrast to dark-colored, unclean animals (Lev. 11:15; Deut. 14:14), returns to its home when it finds no place to land.

10 So Noah waited seven more days and sent out the dove from the ark again. 11 When the dove came to him at evening, there was a plucked olive leaf in its beak. So Noah knew that the water on the earth’s surface had gone down.

• The olive tree will put out leaves even under water.

12 After he had waited another seven days, he sent out the dove, but it did not return to him again. 13 In the six hundred first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the water that had covered the earth was dried up. Then Noah removed the ark’s cover and saw that the surface of the ground was drying. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.
 
THE LORD’S PROMISE
15 Then God spoke to Noah, 16 “Come out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the earth—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

• There are many interesting thematic parallels between God calling Noah out of the ark, and God later calling Abraham out of Ur (cf. 8:15 and 12:1; 8:16 and 12:1; 8:18 and 12:4; 8:20 and 12:7; 9:1 and 12:2; 9:9 and 12:7).
• Both Noah and Abraham represent new beginnings in the course of events recorded in Genesis.
• Both are marked by God's promise of blessing and his gift of the covenant.

18 So Noah, along with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, came out. 19 All the animals, all the creatures that crawl, and all the flying creatures—everything that moves on the earth—came out of the ark by their families.

• These verses may seem like needless repetition to the modern reader, but they underline Noah's obedience to God's words, which Moses stressed in the entire Flood narrative.

20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, he said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of human beings, even though the inclination of the human heart is evil from youth onward. And I will never again strike down every living thing as I have done.

• Noah's "altar" is the first altar mentioned in the Bible.
• His "burnt offerings" were for worship.
• Some of the burnt offerings in the Mosaic cultus (system of worship) were for the same purpose.
• Specifically, a burnt offering made atonement and expressed the offerer's complete personal devotion to God (cf. Lev. 1; Rom. 12:1-2).
• As the head of the new humanity, Noah, with his sacrifice, represented all humankind.
• To sacrifice seems as 'natural' to man as to pray; the one indicates what he feels about himself, the other what he feels about God.
• The one means a felt need of propitiation [a felt need to satisfy God]; the other a felt sense of dependence."

22 As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest, cold and heat,
summer and winter, and day and night
will not cease.”

• God's promise in this verse guarantees a certain degree of reliability in earth's climate system.
• There are good theological and scientific reasons to think Earth's climate is stable and global warming alarmism is unwarranted.
• Climate alarmism is distracting people—both Christians and non-Christians—from much weightier issues.
• Biblical religion explained that the seasonal cycle was the consequence of Yahweh's pronouncement and, moreover, evidence of a divine dominion that transcends the elements of the earth.
• There is no place for Mother-earth in biblical ideology.
• Earth owes its powers (not her powers!) to the divine command.

 
GOD’S COVENANT WITH NOAH
9 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

• At this new beginning of the human family God again commanded Noah and his sons to "fill the earth" with their descendants.
• God established human life anew on the earth, showing His high regard for it.

2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority.

• The phrases "The fear of you" and "the terror of you" express the same idea.
• Evidently at this point animals began to have a greater fear of human beings than they had previously.
• The exceeding sinfulness of mankind that resulted in the Flood did not wipe out God's original commands regarding human reproduction and dominion.

3 Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything.

• God gave Noah permission to eat animals.
• Until now evidently people had eaten only plants.
• Now humanity received the power of life and death over the animal kingdom ("I have given everything to you").
• Whether or not early man could eat meat by permission from the beginning, now it is stated formally in the Noahic covenant."
• Until the Mosaic Law, God made no distinction between clean and unclean animals with regard to human consumption.
• Under the Mosaic Law, the Israelites could not eat certain foods.
• Under the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2), we may again eat any foods (Rom. 14:14; 1 Tim. 4:3).
• These changes illustrate the fact that God has changed some of the rules, for human conduct at various strategic times in history.
• These changes are significant features that help us identify the various dispensations (economies) by which God has ruled historically.

4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it.

• As with Adam, He also gave them dominion over the animals and permission to eat any animal or "moving thing" for food, with only one prohibition: the animal's blood.
• God did prohibit the eating of animal "blood" in order to instill respect for the sacredness of life, since blood is a symbol of life, and it is the life-giving fluid (cf. Lev. 3:17; 7:2-27; 19:26; Deut. 12:1-24; 1 Sam. 14:32-34; Acts 15:20, 29).
• Visited with Sam’s grandparents on Monday Night and Frank said, “There is definitely life in the blood.”
• This was after his recent blood transfusion.
• "The implication [of New Testament references to eating blood] seems very clear that we are still to respect the sanctify of the blood, since God has appointed it to be a symbol of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.
• Therefore it is not to be consumed by any believer who wishes to be obedient to Scripture."
• During my years of seminary teaching I had the privilege of ministering to many students from Africa.
• Some of them asked me about this prohibition against eating blood, because in their tribal cultures eating solidified blood was practiced.
• Since Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), and Paul taught that all foods are acceptable for the Christian (Rom. 14:20; 1 Cor. 8:8; cf. Acts 10:13), I told them that I thought eating blood was all right, unless it was part of a pagan ceremony.
  In that case participation would probably imply approval of the paganism (cf. 1 Cor. 10:14-33).
• God not only reasserted the cultural mandate to reproduce, and subdue the earth, and modified the food law, but He also reasserted the sanctity of human life (cf. ch. 4).

5 And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life.
6 Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans his blood will be shed,
for God made humans in his image.
7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”

• The reason for capital punishment for murder is that God made man in His own image.
• This is one reason, therefore, that murder is so serious.
• A person extinguishes a revelation of God—which God takes very personally when he or she murders someone.
• Before the Flood, the lack of capital punishment led to bloody vendettas. – Genesis 4:23-24 - 23 Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words. For I killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times over, then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times! [1]
• The Mosaic Law prescribed the death penalty for several other crimes, in addition to murder: working on the sabbath (Exod. 35:2), cursing father or mother (Lev. 20:9), adultery (Lev. 20:10), incest (Lev. 20:11-12), sodomy (Lev. 20:13, 15-16), false prophesying (Deut. 13:1-10), Idolatry (Deut. 17:2-7), incorrigible juvenile delinquency (Deut. 21:18-21), rape (Deut. 22:25), keeping an ox that had killed a human being (Exod. 21:29), kidnapping (Exod. 21:16), and intrusion of an alien into a sacred place or office (Num. 1:51; 3:10, 38; 17:7). These punishments ended with the end of the Mosaic Law, but the punishment for murder continued, since it antedated the Mosaic Law.
• This command laid the foundation for all civil government.
• The human government and the governors that existed previously—as in the city which Cain established (4:17), or in the case of the mighty men (6:4)—existed solely on human authority. Now, however, divine authority was conferred on human government to exercise oversight over those who lived under its jurisdiction.
• Sometimes those who argue against capital punishment, today, appeal to Jesus' statement in the Sermon on the Mount: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I say to you, do not show opposition against an evil person" (Matt. 5:38-39).
• Jesus was not cancelling God's command to execute murderers when He said this, but was teaching self-restraint and non-retaliation in interpersonal conflicts, as is clear from the context.
• These verses introduce the another dispensation, the dispensation of Human Government.
• When Noah and his family stepped out of the ark to begin life on earth anew, God laid down new rules for humanity, including a new test.
• Previously no one had the right to take another human life (cf. 4:10-11, 14-15, 23-24). Now, though man's direct moral responsibility to God continued, God delegated to man certain areas of His authority, including capital punishment (the death penalty for a crime).
• God now specified that human beings were to practice capital punishment in order to safeguard the sanctity of human life.

8 Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, 9 “Understand that I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you—birds, livestock, and all wildlife of the earth that are with you—all the animals of the earth that came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you that never again will every creature be wiped out by floodwaters; there will never again be a flood to destroy the earth.”

• The Noahic Covenant was a treaty that God made with humankind through Noah.
• In it He promised to "never again" destroy all flesh with "the waters of a flood.

12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all future generations: 13 I have placed my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I form clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all the living creatures: water will never again become a flood to destroy every creature. 16 The bow will be in the clouds, and I will look at it and remember the permanent covenant between God and all the living creatures on earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and every creature on earth.” [2]

• The sign that God appointed to remind people of this promise, and to guarantee it, was the rainbow.
• There may have been rainbows before this pronouncement, but now God attached significance to the rainbow.
• In later years God gave other signs in connection with other covenants: physical circumcision with the Abrahamic Covenant, Sabbath observance with the Mosaic Covenant, and the Lord's Supper with the New Covenant.
• The rainbow arcs like a battle bow hung against the clouds.
• The Hebrew word for rainbow, qeset, is also the word for a battle bow.
• The bow is now 'put away,' hung in place by the clouds, suggesting that the 'battle,' the storm, is over.
• Thus the rainbow speaks of peace.
• This covenant would remain for "all future generations”.
• People have no responsibility to guarantee the perpetuity of this covenant.
• God will do all that He promised (v. 9).
• Observe the recurrence of "I," "Myself," and "My" in these verses.
• God was making His promise—to all living creatures for all time going forward—very personal.
• Note that He said that the rainbow would remind Him of His promise; it was primarily a reminder to God and secondarily to human beings.
• Finally, this covenant is unconditional (v. 9), universal (v. 11), and everlasting (v. 12).
• The covenant with Noah [6:18; 9:9-16] is entirely unconditional rather than a conditional covenant, as in the situation in Eden.
• The certainty of the fulfillment of the covenant with Noah rested entirely with God and not with Noah.

God promised not to judge humanity again with a universal flood of water (8:21; 9:11-16).

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 4:23–24.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ge 8:1–9:17.