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C O M M E N T A R I E S

O N

T H E

P E N T A T E U C H

Genesis

ROUSAS JOHN RUSHDOONY

V A L L E C I T O ,

C A L I F O R N I A

Copyright 2002 Dorothy Rushdoony and the Rushdoony Irrevocable Trust Ross House Books PO Box 67 Vallecito, CA 95251

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise — except for brief quotations for the purpose of review or comment, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 00-090838 ISBN: 1-879998-19-X Printed in the United States of America

This publication was underwritten by a gift from the Taylor Family Trust.

Other books by Rousas John Rushdoony The Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. I The Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. II, Law & Society The Institutes of Biblical Law, Vol. III, The Intent of the Law Systematic Theology (2 volumes) The Gospel of John Hebrews, James, & Jude Thy Kingdom Come Romans & Galatians The Biblical Philosophy of History The Mythology of Science Foundations of Social Order The “Atheism” of the Early Church The Messianic Character of American Education This Independent Republic The Nature of the American System The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum Christianity and the State Salvation and Godly Rule God’s Plan for Victory Politics of Guilt and Pity Roots of Reconstruction The One and the Many Revolt Against Maturity By What Standard? Law & Liberty For a complete listing of available books by Rousas John Rushdoony and other Christian reconstructionists, contact:

ROSS HOUSE BOOKS PO Box 67 Vallecito, CA 95251 www.rosshouebooks.org

Table of Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. Genesis 1: The Source (Genesis 1:1-31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Genesis 1: The Purpose of Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3. Genesis 1: Created Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 4. The Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 5. The Creation of Man (Genesis 2:4-7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6. The Test (Genesis 2:8-25). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 7. Marriage (Genesis 2:21-25) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 8. The Temptation (Genesis 3:1-6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 9. The Fall of Man and the Curse (Genesis 3:7-21). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 10. The Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22-24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 11. Cain (Genesis 4:1-15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43 12. Lamech and Seth (Genesis 4:16-26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 13. Adam, Seth, and Enos (Genesis 5:1-8). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 14. From Cainan to Noah (Genesis 5:9-32) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 15. Mixed Marriages (Genesis 6:1-4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 16. Noah and Eschatology (Genesis 6:5-22) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 17. The Judgment of the Old World (Genesis 7:1-24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 18. The Flood Ends (Genesis 8:1-22). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 19. Be Fruitful, and Multiply (Genesis 9:1-7). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 20. The Covenant (Genesis 9:7-17) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 21. The Curse of Canaan (Genesis 9:18-29). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 22. The Warfare Renewed (Genesis 10:1-14). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 23. Canaan’s Line (Genesis 10:15-20). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

24. The Unity of Mankind (Genesis 10:21-32). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 25. The Society of Satan (Genesis 11:1-9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 26. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 27. The Tower of Babel, 2 (Genesis 11:1-9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 28. The Focus (Genesis 11:10-32) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 29. The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 30. Abram in Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 31. Abram and Lot (Genesis 13:1-18) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 32. Abram and Melchizedek (Genesis 14:1-24) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 33. The Great Covenant (Genesis 15:1-21) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 34. Hagar (Genesis 16:1-16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 35. The Promise: Father of Many Nations (Genesis 17:1-27). . . . . . . . . . . . 145 36. The Justice of God (Genesis 18:1-33) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 37. Lot’s Rescue (Genesis 19:1-38). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 38. Abimelech of Gerar (Genesis 20:1-18). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 39. The Covenant with Abimelech (Genesis 21:1-34) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 40. The Expanded Promise (Genesis 22:1-24). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 41. The Death of Sarah (Genesis 23:1-20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 42. Rebekah and God’s Particularity (Genesis 24:1-67) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 43. Keturah and Esau (Genesis 25:1-34) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 44. Isaac at Gerar (Genesis 26:1-35). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 45. The Blessing (Genesis 27:1-46). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 46. Jacob’s Ladder (Genesis 28:1-22) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 47. Jacob in Haran (Genesis 29:1-35) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 48. Jacob’s Way (Genesis 30:1-43) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

49. Jacob’s Departure (Genesis 31:1-55) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 50. The Prince of God (Genesis 32:1-32) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 51. The Meeting with Esau (Genesis 33:1-20) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 52. The Rape of Dinah (Genesis 34:1-31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 53. A Cleansing and a Funeral (Genesis 35:1-29) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 54. The Family Records of Esau (Genesis 36:1-43). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 55. Joseph is Sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:1-36) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 56. Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38:1-30) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 57. Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 39:1-23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 58. Dreams and God (Genesis 40:1-23) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 59. Joseph as Vizier, or Prime Minister (Genesis 41:1-57) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 60. The First Journey to Egypt (Genesis 42:1-38) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 61. Approaching the Nourisher (Genesis 43:1-34) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 62. Benjamin and His Brothers (Genesis 44:1-34). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 63. Joseph Reveals Himself (Genesis 45:1-28). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273 64. The Journey of Israel into Egypt (Genesis 46:1-34) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 65. Jacob Meets the Pharaoh (Genesis 47:1-31) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 66. Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:1-22). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285 67. Jacob’s Blessing (Genesis 49:1-33) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 68. The Death of Joseph (Genesis 50:1-26) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Afterword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .299 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313

INTRODUCTION Genesis not only begins the Bible, but it is also foundational to it. In recent years, it has become commonplace for both humanists and churchmen to sneer at anyone who takes Genesis 1-11 as historical. I recall a prominent pastor of some 50 years ago who expressed shock that anyone “intelligent and educated” as myself would take Genesis 1-11 as actually an historical record when it was so “primitive.” When I was an expert witness in church and state trials, at least once a state attorney sought to discredit me for my view of Genesis. Well, I have routinely returned the “compliment.” For anyone to believe in the myth of evolution is to accept trillions of miracles to account for our cosmos. I simply lack that kind of faith, in spontaneous generation, in the development of something out of nothing, the blind belief in the miraculous powers of chance, and more. Darwinism is irrationality and insanity compounded. Of late, many critiques of evolution have been published by noncreationists. William R. Fix, in The Bone Peddlers, Selling Evolution (1984), whose telling critique I have just read, takes pains to separate himself from creationists, as do others. I have no hesitation in identifying myself as a sixday creationist. Theology without creationism becomes alien to the God of Scripture because it turns from the God who acts and whose word is the creative word and the word of power, to a belief in process as god. The god of the non-creationists is the creation of man and a figment of their imagination. They must play games with the Bible to vindicate their position, like the homosexuals who justify their practice from the Bible. One scholar insisted, with respect to Genesis 1, that there are “many ways” the text can be read. True enough, but are the “many ways” all valid? I hold that the evolutionists are the naive believers and irrationalists compounded. They violate the scientific canons they profess by their fanatical and intolerant belief in evolution. Genesis 1-11 is basic to Biblical theology. The church needs to re-study this text to recognize its truth and its important place in theology. It troubles me not at all to hear the “reproach” and “infamy” of affirming creation as truth. It troubles me greatly that so many churchmen disbelieve Genesis 1-11 and have joined the ranks of the “cultured despisers” of Christianity. So much the worse for them. Rousas John Rushdoony Vallecito, California June 12, 1996

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Chapter One Genesis 1: The Source (Genesis 1:1-31) 1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13. And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 3

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Genesis 23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. (Genesis 1:1-31)

If Christianity does not take Genesis 1 very seriously and literally, it is suicidal. The foundation of its faith has been effectively undermined, and whatever claims the church makes for its faith are undercut and devolved. The source of things is all-important. If the triune God by His sovereign and just acts created all things, then all things are derivative from God’s act, dependent on His Being, and subject to His total government and predestination. If God is the Creator, He is also the determiner and the lawgiver. If the universe was “created” by an accident, out of nothing, then nothing external to it can determine it. Whatever possibility there is of any determination in the cosmos must then come from that cosmos. The title of a book published in the mid-twentieth century and long in print, Man Makes Himself, by V. G. Childe, states the matter clearly. If the origin of things is from within the cosmos, then, possibly, the control of all things can come from something within that cosmos. This faith leads to man playing God, to man attempting to control evolution, to a belief in a world state controlling all things, and to a religious belief in the powers of time and process. Evolution is a belief that violates a variety of scientific concepts. It posits spontaneous generation, the emergence of something out of nothing, miraculous changes such as a non-eye somehow becoming an eye, and so on. For God’s creative act, it substitutes time and process and endows both with Godlike powers. Somehow the mindless churnings of process for billions of years

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work amazing miracles. Somehow, out of total nothing, a single atom emerged, and that single atom had all the potentialities of a universe; in brief, it had amazing god-like powers! Evolution requires belief in miracles greater than any described in the Bible! It is not only the faith of those who hate God but also of those whose premises are irrational ones. The issue is process versus act, and the difference is a vast one. If the source of being is process, then very important things flow necessarily from that fact. Process originates in an ultimate nothingness, and then a chaos, out of which the cosmos evolved. Given such a premise, the source of power must be from below. AntiChristian scholars make much of the witchcraft trials in Christendom. These came with the Renaissance and its humanism. They were a product of a reviving faith in power from below. Faithful Christian thinking sees power, which in the Christian world is essentially grace, as coming from above, from the triune God. Man must look above for the source of grace, mercy, love, power, and more. Such a faith will logically regard any power from below as impotent and predestined to defeat. A strong and faithful belief in creation by the triune God in six days will regard all powers other than this God of Scripture as derivative, limited, and totally circumscribed by God’s decree of predestination. It is not a natural process which determines all things but rather the triune God. Nothing occurs apart from His will and determination. The seasons, the weather, time, and all things else serve Him. In the telling words of the prophet Zechariah, Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. (Zechariah 10:4) While Zechariah’s immediate reference here is God’s messianic purpose in and through Israel, it means also that God’s planning or predestination includes and circumscribes all things. A predestinarian faith cannot long-endure without a strict creationism. The issue is process versus act. Our choice is important. If the truth be process, power and grace come from below. Not surprisingly, the culture of evolutionism has led to a revival of occultism and magic. Magic is the belief that power resides in the natural world and is amenable to control by man. NonBiblical sciences are closely related to magic and represent sophisticated versions thereof. Magic is a search for lawless power. When geneticists talk of genetic engineering, their ideas at times are more related to magic than medicine. If we recognize God as the Creator, then for us the source of all power, grace, law, and morality is from above. Situational ethics is then, for us, evil: it is an attempt to play god. Virtue for us, in the sense of strength and morality, is from God alone, not man. An evolutionary premise and faith will mean that we will seek virtue from below. Quite logically, Emile Durkheim, in The Rules of Sociological Method, saw the criminal as an evolutionary pioneer. Durkheim, in terms of his faith, saw, first, the criminal as a potent force because he came from

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below, from the underworld of man, and second, he saw the criminal as the vanguard of man’s evolutionary future because the criminal challenges the existing order. The evolutionist will logically see virtue and power as emanating from below. In practical terms, he will favor those who are socially “from below.” He will see virtue in criminals, in street people, in ghetto blacks (but not in Japanese, because they excel), and he will work for criminal “rights,” feminism, and so on and on. The result is the religion of revolution. Revolutions, usually the work of antiChristian intellectuals, are done in the name of the people, by which is meant those socially at the bottom level. These supposedly incarnate virtue, which must come from below. Revolutions have been either pagan, as the fifth century A.D. Mazdakite revolution in Persia, which made all property, money, and women into common property, or they are anti-Christian. Virtue for revolutionists resides at the bottom, in chaos, and it institutes chaos to destroy the old order and the men and women belonging to it. Mass murders become a virtue. The word purge before the French Revolution meant an enema to eliminate feces; it has since gained as its primary meaning the elimination of leading citizens, capitalists, and Christians. Revolutions and purges are inescapable in non-Christian orders: their faith requires it. Such mindless mass murders cannot be eliminated unless creationism replaces evolution. We cannot understand the twentieth century unless we recognize the determining influence of Charles Darwin on men like Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Stalin, Trotsky, Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, Dewey, F.D. Roosevelt, Mussolini, Churchill, and others. I have twice had criminals argue with me on the invalidity of any judgment of them because of the “truth” of evolution. The revitalization of society for evolutionists is from below, out of revolution, chaos, and anarchy. The upheavals of the twentieth century are the logical products of Rousseau, Hegel, and Darwin, who idealized and enthroned power from below. We are undergoing what Cornelius Van Til called integration downward into the void. The vision of God has been replaced in the twentieth century by the vision of chaos, of integration downward. Genesis 1 defines God as the Creator: vv. 26-28 define man as created in the image of God. According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 10, “How did God create man?” “God created man, male and female, after his own image (Gen. 1:27), in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24), with dominion over the creatures (Gen. 1:28).” The definition of man is the definition of man’s life. It is dangerous to overlook this fact. Men no longer see themselves as God’s creation, made in His image. They see humanity in Darwinian terms. Over the years, I have heard a variety of

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such definitions, from man defined as a perpetually rutting animal, to man as an example of evolutionary error. To define man in Darwinian terms as a “higher ape” is to strip man of his high seriousness. To declare man to be a creature made in God’s image, but fallen, is both to stress his high potential as well as his present depravity outside of Christ. Even as Adam defines the old humanity of fallen man, so Jesus Christ, in His perfect and sinless humanity, defines the goal for redeemed man. Genesis 1 makes clear that the creation of man was God’s sovereign act. According to Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” In our time, people are so schooled in terms of evolutionary process that they can only view the future in like terms. Growth and process are related terms, and they are sometimes used interchangeably, but they are not the same. Growth implies life and development, whereas process implies mechanical or mindless changes which can include death and decay. Process thinking tends to exclude God’s power and grace and man’s purposeful activity. Process thinking views the future in Darwinian terms, as slow change, not as God’s work in history. It views possible changes in history in biological or mechanical terms. Examples of this are the beliefs that, like organisms, cultures rise and decay, or that some mechanical pendulum will bring about social reversals. Process thinking is the antithesis of Biblical faith and thought. Not only has Darwinian process thinking infected sociology and psychology, but we now have process theologies. Once creationism is dropped, process replaces grace in theology and life. A humanistic pastoral psychology replaces Biblical counselling. Creation must be viewed as the act of the personal and triune God, not as a process of nature. Although process and revolution seem to be contradictory concepts, they are related. Both presuppose power from below: their premises are identical; the outworking thereof is different. The Biblical doctrine of origins declares that the creative act and power come from above, from God. We must therefore look to God for all that follows. God saw His creation as “very good” (Gen. 1:31), and the disorder that followed came about because man sought to shift the motivation and power to himself (Gen. 3:1-5). The essential premises of sound thinking are in Genesis 1. To neglect this chapter as foundational to life and theology is to create a false religion. Before man and the universe, there is God. To understand man and the universe, we must look to God and His infallible word.

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Chapter Two Genesis 1: The Purpose of Creation Why did God create the heavens and the earth? What was His purpose in creation? There was no need in God, and His Being and His life from all eternity were complete. Revelation 4:11 tells us what the answer is: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Psalm 19:1 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Psalm 145:10 says, “All thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD,” and Revelation 15:3 gives us a heavenly song: Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Creation is not viewed from the perspective of man but from God’s perspective. This requires us in every area of life and thought to see all things from a Godcentered, not a man-centered, perspective. The six days of creation are literally days, not ages, not eons. The language is specific: evening and morning day one (Gen. 1:5; 8; 13; 19; 23; 31). When God created living things, from the least up to man, He blessed them. The Hebrew word blessed (barak) means that God, by blessing something, establishes a relationship between Himself and the person or thing blessed. This is the heart of a blessing: a relationship is created by God’s sovereign grace. The relationship may bring such results as prosperity, fertility, advancement, and power, but its essential aspect is that God establishes a relationship with the person or thing blessed. It becomes set apart and holy to Him. God’s blessing establishes the relationship; when man praises or blesses God, He celebrates the relationship. Genesis 1:22 and 28 tell us that God, having created all things, and having created some as living things, blessed them with life, life to be lived under Him. Man’s sin brought in death for himself and for all things else, for “by man came death”(1 Cor. 15:21); therefore, by the last Adam, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:45) came life and also the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:21). To doubt creationism is to remain under the curse because it is the denial of God as the Creator by His sovereign act. To deny faith as understanding is to affirm irrationality and to resort to the absurdities of Darwin and his followers. Faith, we are told in Hebrews 11:1 “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith here does not mean easy believism but the supernatural grace of God ordering our minds and lives. Hebrews 11:3 tells us, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 9

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God created by a word, remati, a spoken word. Psalm 33:8-9 tells us of God’s speaking, Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. God created all things very good (v. 31). As Calvin observed in his commentary on Genesis, “man was rich before he was born.” God had created as man’s dwelling place a glorious world and had blessed all living things. Man by his disobedience brought the curse of death into the world. There can be no understanding of the God of Scripture, nor of Scripture, without an acceptance of creationism. The goal of the evolutionists is not to present assured and substantiated facts but, first, to replace God with chance. Any god permitted in their scheme of things is a struggling, evolving god, who, like man, evolved as a product. Second, Darwinism in all its forms seeks to replace order and design with mindless coincidences. Order and design are too indicative of the hand of God and must be scornfully derided. Third, the Darwinians hate God, they fear God, and they war against God. Their contempt does not make God go away! But to assume the Darwinian position is to posit a vast potentiality in the universe which makes it a mindless force equal to God! Some men seek to affirm both God and evolution, both a vast, primeval chaos and some kind of god. But if the universe developed out of its own potentiality, then whatever god may exist is peripheral to that universe and helpless in the face of it, because that evolving cosmos has its own potentiality and inherent law. There is a widespread belief in God as the source of the ideal, as existing in isolation from a world He never made but which He seeks to inspire and direct. Such a God is essentially impotent: He can inspire, but He can neither create nor command. The God of Scripture, however, not only has created all things but also totally governs them. The total government of the triune God is such that God the Son could say, 29. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. 30. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Matt. 10:29-31) The God of the modernists cannot work miracles, nor create, nor do anything more than merely exist, possibly only as an idea, if the modernist is logical in his faith. Faith in creation by God’s sovereign act means that the triune God is Lord and Sovereign over all, with all things dependent on His providence and grace. God the Creator is not an outsider to our lives; in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Every atom of our being is His creation, and He is closer to us than we are to ourselves. Our history moves in Him and in terms of His decree,

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so that all things serve His purpose and glory. All history works out the purpose and decrees of God. Only the Creator God can hear and answer prayer, because He alone is sovereign and all powerful. Translations of the Bible are theological as well as linguistic works. Protestant translators who are modernist have rendered Genesis 1:1-3 as a single sentence. This is also true of Roman Catholic and Jewish translations of late, as witness the following: When God began to create the heaven and the earth—the earth being unformed and void, with darkness over the surface of the deep and a wind from God sweeping over the water—God said, “let there be light”; and there was light. The Torah, a new translation (1962). In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The New American Bible (1970), Confraternity of Christian Doctrine. In such versions, a primeval chaos coexists with God, who then works upon it. This implies the eternal coexistence of God and matter, so that not only is there something other than God pre-existing, but this matter, chaos, or void can have its own potentialities working in contradiction to God. The result is not a Biblical religion. Because “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (v. 1), this means that the eternal God created all things at a particular moment. Creation has a beginning, but God does not. Time and space have a beginning, but God does not. They are creations of God, the Uncreated. Genesis 2:1-3 emphasizes the fact that creation is an act of God by declaring that on the seventh day He rested “from all his work which God had made” (Gen. 2:2). The act of creation was stressed; it was not a process. Creation was the work of the triune God: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:3). Christ was central to the purpose of creation, which was to be His Kingdom and is such now. If, however, the universe is a product of evolution, then it is a closed naturalistic order, totally governed by things within it. As a result, either natural forces, heredity, environment, and the like control us, or some human agency, such as the state, tries to impose its will, with the help of science, on the blind natural order. The universe is then closed to anything beyond it. Ultimate and proximate authority are then one, and they are in the natural order. Darwinism is the recipe for tyranny. In an evolved or evolving cosmos, there is no divine Supreme Court for man to appeal to; there is nothing but a cosmic silence. A closed universe means tyranny, and evolutionary thinking has been the recipe for the return of dehumanizing tyrannies. A closed universe, one closed to God, means a closed state, one closed to a moral law beyond and over man. Modern thinkers speak of their Darwinism as a belief in an open universe, by which they

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mean incomplete and evolving; it is, however, closed to God and any absolute moral law. Moreover, to deny God means also to deny the universe in favor of a multiverse. It follows logically from the evolutionary faith that a variety of evolutions have taken place, having created very diverse and contradictory systems. There is then not only no God, but also no over-arching truth. All things are then possible except the God of Scripture and His law-word. The only truth then is existential truth: what is valid for me, here and now? We are then in the world of the Marquis de Sade. We saw earlier that God blessed what He had created: He established thereby a good relationship to Himself. The alternative to being blessed is to be cursed: there is no neutral ground. To be in this world is to be in the realm of fallen and accursed peoples; this is unavoidable in history because it is the battleground between good and evil. There are no sidelines in this battle, and the casualties are grim, but the victory of the Kingdom of God is inevitable and inescapable.

Chapter Three Genesis 1: Created Man Implicit or explicit in all non-Biblical views of the universe is the concept or doctrine of the continuity of being. All the cosmos is one being, it is held, with a common potentiality. From the lowest one-celled being up to man, the same potentiality exists, and we have no knowledge of what unchanging limitations there may be. We are aware of some limitations on us, i.e., aging and death, but we cannot say, these humanists hold, that there are necessarily unchanging ones. If evolution be true, this means that at every stage of being, life has transcended itself, and there is no reason to doubt, first, that this will continue to happen, or, second, that scientific man will make it happen. For such true believers in evolution, man can be, to use Biblical language, his own god in due time (Gen. 3:5). Progress then means that man will transcend his humanity and its limitations, even as the first semblance of life that once came into being has been transcended. In this perspective, the state of being a human being is one to be transcended in time; creatureliness then becomes a kind of disease to be overcome. Non-Biblical faiths are almost uniformly given to the continuity of being concept. Such forms of paganism affirm in some form an ascetic desire to transcend creatureliness. Hinduism is vegetarian; meats are not eaten. But now some Hindu scientists claim that they have demonstrated pain in vegetables when plucked for eating. The desire to escape creatureliness is very strong. In the Western world, many humanists now oppose killing animals on any ground, or cutting down trees, and are of course vegetarians as well. For such people, humanity is a very trying burden. I have encountered people who refuse to believe in a God who made man with a necessity for defecation and urination. If they were god, they would do better! For us, as Christians, it is our glory to be human, to be men and women under God. For us, in terms of Scripture, sin is disobedience to God and means trying to be god ourselves (Gen. 3:1-5). Creation and evolution are here as everywhere radically different: what is sin for the one is virtue for the other. Adam means mould, arable soil, top soil. Genesis 3:19 tells fallen man, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The Biblical doctrine is of the discontinuity of being between God and man. God is eternal and uncreated Being, whereas man is finite and created being, totally the work of God, and totally subject to the decrees of God. As both Isaiah and Paul tell us, the creature cannot resist the will of the Creator, nor “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Rom. 9:19-20; Isa. 45:9; 29:16; 64:8). Kierkegaard and the neo-orthodox churchmen have seen finitude as man’s problem because they hold to the continuity of being, explicitly or implicitly. 13

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The Biblical doctrine tells us plainly that we are material beings. We are made out of the dust of the earth (Gen. 2:7). It is not our eternal goal to be more than creatures. Our glory is the resurrection of the body (1 Cor. 15:12-23). We are freed in Christ and the general resurrection from sin and death, not from our bodies. We are not made into angels but become fully redeemed men. For Scripture, sin and death are unnatural things; they are an evil invasion of God’s glorious creation rather than a normal fact. We are not to view sin and death as normal, natural facts. Understanding sin and death as unnatural will give a radically different approach to medical practice. For the evolutionist, the body is an imperfect mechanism, and man may in future millennia evolve into a better body, or even out of a body. (Such a view assumes no devolution.) Medical practice is thus experimental; it sees no hard boundaries created by God, and it seeks to transcend man’s limitations. For a Biblical approach to medicine, regeneration is the beginning of the restoration to be accomplished in eternity. Health and life are man’s Godordained natural states, damaged by the Fall, but to be overcome by the ministry of the word of God, and by medical practice. The center of gravity in thinking and practice is not on overcoming limitations but on God’s order and purpose. Our center is not this life and this world but God and His plan for us. For us, there is one world, God-created and God-governed. It is a finite realm and totally subject to its Creator, as is man. This world was created “very good,” and, with the restoration of all things in the new heavens and the new earth, it will be eternally so, in perfection. Because man is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-29), he is responsible to God his Maker. He cannot with validity operate as though he alone exists, as though he is responsible to no higher Being. His life is created life, and man is not his own (1 Cor. 6:19). He is under the law of God because God is his Creator. To tamper with strict creationism is to destroy human responsibility. If men are taught that responsibility to God and His law is not valid, why should they be responsible to or obey family, church, state, or employer? The consequences of Darwinism can be seen in criminal statistics. Because man is created by God, and in His image, man is under authority, under law, under God’s authority and law. Man is not the source of law as the tempter claims (Gen. 3:1-5). Creationism thus undermines tyranny in every sphere. A world without God’s authority becomes a lawless tyranny. For evolution there is no God nor any higher law. Every man thus can do what is right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). Man is his own lawmaker, either through the state or by his own fiat will, for himself. The logical end of a denial of God’s law is finally no law at all, only the existential fiat will of man and the state.

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If man is created in God’s image, as Scripture declares, then Christ, as the God-man, is not only truly God and truly man, but He is the true man. He is the greater and last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) who recreates us in His image and guides us into true humanity. There is in creation a God-given order. In the words of Cornelius Van Til, If the creation doctrine is thus taken seriously, it follows that the various aspects of created reality must sustain such relations to one another as have been ordained between them by the Creator, as superiors, inferiors or equals. All aspects being equally created, no one aspect of reality may be regarded as more ultimate than another. Thus the created one and many may in this be said to be equal to one another; they are equally derived and equally dependent upon God who sustains them both. The particulars or facts of the universe do and must act in accord with universals or laws. Thus there is order in the created universe. On the other hand, the laws may not and can never reduce the particulars to abstract particulars or reduce their individuality in any manner. The laws are but generalizations of God’s method of working with the particulars. God may at any time take one fact and set it into a new relation to created law.... Thus there is a basic equality between the created one and the created many, or between the various aspects of created reality. On the other hand, there is a relation of subordination between them as ordained by God. The “mechanical” laws are lower than the “teleological” laws. Of course, both the “mechanical” and the “teleological” laws are teleological in the sense that both obey God’s will. So also the facts of the physical aspect of the universe are lower than the facts of the will and intellect of man. It is this subordination of one fact and law to other facts and laws that is spoken of in Scripture as man’s government over nature. According to Scripture man was set as king over nature. He was to subdue it. Yet he was to subdue it for God. In order to subdue it under God man had to interpret it; he was therefore prophet as well as priest and king under God.1 Creationism, Van Til also pointed out, is basic to knowledge. Instead of a “universe” of brute and unrelated, meaningless facts, we have by virtue of creationism a universe of meaning. The same purpose underwrites all things and gives them a common purpose and goal. Creation was out of nothing. God declares emphatically in Isaiah that “there is none beside me” (Isa. 45:21), and “I am God, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:22). Autonomous man is man who denies his createdness.2 He assumes that his reason is the sufficient judge over all things, and for him “the God concept” is unnecessary. Evolutionary thinking rests, not on any scientific facts, but on religious premises that are anti-Biblical and humanistic. It is arrogance for evolutionists 1. Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1955), 44. 2. Ibid., 247.

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to claim scientific validity for their religious faith. Theirs is an anti-intellectual and anti-scientific faith resting on the supposed miracles almost endless time is said to produce. They ascribe to time and chance the miracles of creation. It is true indeed that “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps. 14:1).

Chapter Four The Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3) 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3) According to Ezekiel 20:12-21, God gave the sabbath as a sign to Israel. The Hebrew word translated as sign means evidence, a signal, or a monument. The sabbath is a continuing witness established by God. But a witness to what? Humanly speaking, a sabbath is wasted time. Revolutionary regimes, such as the Russian Revolution, have been hostile to the sabbath rest. They have viewed it as an irrational waste of time, an unwarranted intrusion into the work routine. The Sabbath in Scripture is a day ordained by God for rest, to rest in Him. Worship is secondary to rest, and the rest is a separation unto God. While our faith must govern every day and hour of our lives, the Sabbath rest introduces a discontinuity and separation. The triune God is discontinuous with creation. He made it but is totally separate from it. There is no continuity of being between God and man. The Sabbath rest establishes a weekly discontinuity in time, but it is a discontinuity which compels us to look beyond time and beyond creation to our Creator and Redeemer. The sabbath discontinuity is also a pattern in time, a regular “break” with time and the world. Our work is not sufficient: only God’s providence and mercy can enable us to advance and prevail in time. Some religions, notably Hinduism and Buddhism, are overwhelmed by time past. The burden of the past, Karma, oppresses man, whose only hope becomes escape from time into nirvana. Time is seen as the arena of defeat. For Christians, while the past is irrevocable, it is redeemable. Sin must be atoned for, and this the Lord of the sabbath, Jesus Christ, does for us. While there is a discontinuity of being between God and His creation, there is a continuity of mercy, grace, and providence. From our redemption, Christ’s atonement, we gain a continuity of community but not of essence. The sabbath establishes a community of moral life between man and man, and man and God. The separation from work signifies also a moral separation from the fallen world, a world to be redeemed by God’s kingdom and purpose. That moral community must include everyone in the household, aliens, and work animals (Ex. 20:8-11). God’s holy purpose includes all His creation, and we must honor His total community. 17

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The sabbath is a sign of the covenant. Having received grace and law from God, the covenant people surrender themselves to Him, not only in worship but in the giving of time to God. To yield fifty-two days in the year, on a regular weekly basis, is a covenant act, an acknowledging to God that it is not our power over time but His power on which we depend. We cannot master time and history apart from God. Therefore, by removing ourselves from time, by resting one day in seven, we acknowledge that the determination of all things belongs to God. We do not work on the Lord’s Day unless it be works of necessity and works of mercy. When our Lord healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, He said to His accusers, 11. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. (Matt. 12:11-12) On the sabbath, we rest from our labors, our efforts to govern or to control our lives, because we know that God’s predestination and providence govern us totally. Therefore to cease from labor but to spend time planning on the Lord’s Day is a serious offense. Such planning is a direct assault on God’s government. To avoid a little manual labor while insisting on planning our future is to say that the Lord’s Day is no more than a rest from work, when it is in fact a radical declaration, when understood, that the government is on our Lord’s shoulders now (Isa. 9:6). The Lord’s Day is thus an affirmation of the Lordship of Christ, of His sovereignty and rule. We declare that we have a King, and His name is Jesus. The rest days of pagan antiquity were usually days, whether yearly, monthly, or more often, celebrating the king’s birthday, reign day, or some like event. They acknowledged the king’s sovereignty and rule. Far more radically, the Lord’s Day celebrates the total, providential, and predestinating government of our triune God. To rest on His terms is to acknowledge His rule. Moreover, the Lord’s Day has an eschatological meaning. Since the days of the Hebrews, this has been acknowledged. Hebrews 4 states it plainly. The sabbath rest was foreshadowed in the conquest of the Promised Land, but its fullness is in Jesus Christ and the new creation. The Christian must conquer the world for Christ, and then, in the new heavens and a new earth, he will have the fullness of His rest and eternal Sabbath. Worship, with the proclamation of God’s word, prepares us for both the conquest and the rest. Ezekiel reveals that God declares the sabbath to be 1) a sign between God and His covenant people; 2) it is to be kept holy; and 3) by means of this they shall “know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezek. 20:20):

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12. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.... 19. I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20. And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. (Ezek. 20:20) To keep the sabbath or the Lord’s Day truly means to keep God’s law. This is the precondition to keeping the day holy and knowing God. Clearly, we are told that such knowledge is not simply intellectual: it has a moral basis. The covenant is a covenant of grace and law; apart from God’s redeeming grace and His sanctifying law, we cannot know Him. Knowledge in the Biblical sense is not mere cognition: it involves the total life of man. Rationalizations and rationalism cannot give us the knowledge of God because sin clouds our minds. Since man’s basic and original sin is his attempt to be his own god (Gen. 3:5), his fallen mind refuses to acknowledge that God is God. The Lord’s Day is then no more than a day of cessation of labor rather than a means to the knowledge of God. Such true knowledge requires covenant grace and obedience, keeping the Lord’s Day holy because we know that He who redeemed us will also care for us: He is able. There is another aspect to the sabbath rest which must be stressed. It is a day of joy for those who are God’s covenant people. According to Isaiah 58:13-14, 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. The Berkeley Version renders v. 13 thus: If you do not tramp upon the Sabbath by doing your business on My holy day, but call the Sabbath an enjoyment, in order that the LORD might be sacredly honored; and if you honor it by not doing your business, not seeking your own pleasure, nor talking idle talk; (v. 14) then you shall find your delight in the LORD.... This enjoyment is only possible with a mature understanding of grace, law, and the Lord’s Day. The sabbath is a joy because it tells us that the government of all things is on Christ’s shoulders, not ours. It tells us that God’s grace governs us, not Karma. Hinduism speaks of man’s total responsibility in a godlike sense and hence requires endless reincarnations to make atonement. Our Lord tells us that the sabbath was made for man (Mark 2:27): it is a witness to our creatureliness, to the fact that we can rest because the government of all things is not on our shoulders, and our Lord is King over all creation. The sabbath thus is a glorious fact, a witness to our victory in and through Christ.

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Chapter Five The Creation of Man (Genesis 2:4-7) 4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. 6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. 7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:4-7) Verse 4 begins with the statement that these, i.e., “Genesis 1:1 - 2:4,” are the records of God’s creation of the heavens and of the earth. Genesis is a series of records collected into one volume: Genesis 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12; 25:19; 36:9; and 37:2. Except in this instance, the word translated as generation means family records. Genesis is thus a collection of docu-ments contemporary with the facts reported. In v. 4, two terms are emphatically used to describe creation: created and made. The word translated created is bara, and made in the Hebrew is casah, appointed. There is a double stress on the deliberate act whereby God brought the cosmos into being. In vv. 5-7 we are given specifics about creation not mentioned in Genesis 1. Verse 5 takes us back to Genesis 1:9, the beginning of the third day of creation, when no plant as yet existed and no herb had yet sprung up. From the beginning, and apparently until the Flood, there were no rains. This, if so, would make Noah’s prediction of a flood all the more absurd to his contemporaries. A heavy mist or dew watered all the earth. Conditions in the pre-Flood era apparently also made for longevity. The entrance of sin and death into the world with Adam’s fall did not fully erase the glory of the original creation. This came with the Flood. In v. 7 we have an account of the creation of man. In Genesis 1:26-28, we are told that God created man in His image. Here, we are given the rest of the story. Man is indeed an image bearer. Whereas all things else were fiat creations, in man’s case God did something other than create out of nothing. He made man, He molded man out of arable earth. Thus, while man is God’s image bearer, he is also reminded that he is dust, and he shall return to dust. At his fall, man is reminded, “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19).

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Herman Bavinck ably analyzed the doctrine of man’s origin, essence, and purpose in Our Reasonable Faith. Man was created, according to Genesis 1: 26-28, to exercise dominion over God’s earth, to be God’s vice-gerunt in applying God’s rule and law to all things. Man is called to be a child of God by the adoption of grace and king over God’s world in Him. “Being children of God and heirs of the world are two things already closely related to each other, and inseparably related to each other, in the creation.”1 Bavinck called attention to three particular emphases in Genesis 2. First, there is a statement of man’s original home, the Garden of Eden. Here man is assigned a particular task. Second, man is given a probationary command. His task defines his relationship to God, because man is given a command and a warning against disobedience. His task also defines his relationship to the earth over which he must rule. He is, until Genesis 4:25, called the man (ha-adam) because in Eden he represents humanity. Third, Genesis 2 gives us the institution of marriage. 2 Calvin said, on the creation of man, Concerning other animals, it had before been said, Let the earth produce every living creature; but, on the other hand, the body of Adam is formed of clay, and destitute of sense; to the end that no one should exult beyond measure in his flesh. He must be excessively stupid who does not hence learn humility. That which is afterwards added from another quarter, lays us under just so much obligation to God. Nevertheless, he at the same time designed to distinguish man by some mark of excellence from brute animals: for these arose out of the earth in a moment; but the peculiar dignity of man is shown in this, that he was gradually formed. For why did not God command him immediately to spring alive out of the earth, unless that, by a special privilege, he might outshine all the creatures which the earth produced?3 God first formed man, and then He gave man the breath of life. Luther used the expression, in his translation, a “lump of earth.”4 Verse 7 stresses that apart from God we are dead men, merely clay or earth. There is an interesting fact about v. 7: it reads literally, “And the LORD God formed man (the) dust of the ground.” Strictly thus, man was not formed from the earth but made a formed earth. As Parker reminded us, “We are not responsible for our own existence,” 5 but we are responsible to God for our conduct: He is our Creator and Lord. The word translated in v. 7 as formed usually describes in the Old Testament the work of a potter. A living soul means a living creature, a person or personality. The word soul does not mean what modern thought conceives it to be. It means 1. Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), 185. 2. Ibid., 186f. 3. John Calvin, Commentaries on the First Book of Moses called Genesis, vol. I (Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 111. 4. H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Columbus, Ohio: The Wartburg Press, 1942), 115. 5. Joseph Parker, The People’s Bible, vol.I, The Book of Genesis (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, n.d.), 115.

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life, vitality. The word created, bara, means ex nihilo, out of nothing, so that in making man, God created him out of nothing to be as earth, and then made him alive. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:47, refers to this verse: “The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.” Geerhardus von Rad observed, “When God withdraws his breath (Ps. 104:29f,; Job 34:14f.), man reverts to dead corporeity.” 6 Man lives only by the breath given by God, who at any time can, by His sovereign will, withdraw it. This creating act is repeated by our Lord. In John 20:22, we read, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” In the Septuagint, the Greek in Genesis 2:7 uses the same word as in John 20:22, emphusase (emphusao). The first creation of man looks forward to his regeneration. The new man, re-created by Christ’s atonement and justification, is made alive by the Holy Spirit. “Receive ye (the) Holy Ghost” is “labete pneuma hagion.” This word receive is translated from the Greek as take (Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:17) in the accounts of the institution of communion. The word means in these instances that a gift was bestowed upon them. The lump of earth God made in Genesis 2:7 was totally passive. The new man is again passive as the Lord gives him life to regenerate him. The life given to the first man, Adam, was a revocable gift; the life given to us by the last Adam is an irrevocable gift. Man, while created out of earth, is still separate from all animals because he is a special creation of God, and His image bearer. Man is a creature, made out of earth, but he is also God’s image bearer with a task that sets him apart from every other living thing. Psalm 8 is a celebration of man’s calling to dominion, an obvious echo of Genesis 1: 1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4. What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7. All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8. The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! 6. Geerhardus von Rad, Genesis, A Commentary (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1961), 75.

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Chapter Six The Test (Genesis 2:8-25) 8. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. 11. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12. And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. 14. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. 15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18. And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:8-25) We cannot understand the meaning of the Garden of Eden unless we see it as a pilot project where God placed man to test him and to enable man to acquire the skills of dominion. Man was created sinless but not perfect or mature. He was created to exercise dominion and to subdue the earth and make it God’s fruitful kingdom. Out of 25

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the glory of the newly created earth, one area was set aside and somehow fenced or separated to make it a pilot project. Man was there to learn how to exercise dominion. The location of this Garden is unknown to us. The geography of the earth was radically altered by the flood. Old names were reused, but the topography was now changed. Man was sinless, but untrained and untooled. He was also naked. His task was to till the soil and prune the fruit trees of the Garden of Eden and to name the animals, a scientific task, since naming in the Bible means accurate description or classification. Adam’s task was a great one. He did have an unfallen nature, so that his mind was much more capable than our fallen minds. Our redemption begins our restoration, which heaven completes. Adam had a problem. Eden had wild animals, great and small. These would quickly reduce the fruit trees and vegetable gardens to nothing, so fencing of some sort was necessary. But Adam was naked and without tools. His task was a heavy one, but somehow he accomplished something. He was naked and had no shelter. According to v. 6, a very heavy dew watered the earth nightly. This made it difficult and unpleasant for a very tired naked man to rest at night. Thus it was urgently necessary for Adam to build some kind of primitive shelter, probably a lean-to, for sleeping purposes. Clearly, Adam’s life was one of hard work. God was testing him to enable man to learn how to use his abilities and to exercise dominion in a hard, primitive sense. To do so required knowledge. To do his job faithfully meant obeying God and recognizing the righteousness or justice of God’s plan. All this meant a radical separation unto God and His calling; this was Adam’s holiness. From the first day, man had a choice: he could obey or disobey God. If he took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (v. 17), it meant death. Eat of it, you shall die, Adam was told: the process of death would begin in him. He could serve God, or Adam could seek freedom from God. The Garden of Eden was a pilot project in how man was to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. Man began his life naked, with no shelter, and with no tools. His task was to develop the earth and to create wealth. There are three ways that men can gain wealth. First, they can inherit it. Adam had inherited from God, on a trial basis, a magnificent property, far more beautiful and rich than any man’s estate since then. Adam was an heir. Second, wealth can be created by intelligence and work. Adam had to use his mind to make tools, fencing, and other things to protect the Garden. The animals were not yet fallen, but they were animals, and they could turn the orchards and garden easily and quickly into a shamble. We can safely assume that more than once they broke through Adam’s barricades and destroyed things. There was no sin in Adam’s world, but there was hard, hard work.

The Test (Genesis 2:8-25)

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Third, wealth can be gained by theft, and this is the most popular method. It is applied in common thievery, and also in socialistic schemes to take from some to give to others. Theft is an avoidance of work. Its premise is, I have a right to these things, or, I deserve them more than the possessors do. Theft is a quick means to wealth. It is, however, destructive of both the thief and society. Instead of creating wealth, theft destroys it. Theft is more than a transfer of wealth: it is an attack on the legitimate means of gaining wealth, i.e., inheritance and work. By various means, including taxation, both inheritance and work are curtailed and damaged. But theft offers itself as a short-cut to wealth. It seeks to base the good society on expropriation, not on inheritance and work. James, at the council of Jerusalem, declared, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). God ordained that man, from Eden onward, face the alternatives for gaining wealth: inheritance and work, or theft. Man has always had a choice. We are told that the various areas of the Garden of Eden were rich in a variety of gemstones and also in gold (v. 11). God had provided man with all the ingredients for a rich life, but He had also made work mandatory to the legitimate gaining of wealth. Life was sinless in Eden, but not easy. To be naked and shoeless on rough ground in not easy. To work with trees, shrubs, and vegetation with no protective clothing means scratches and bruises. Adam’s first priority was tools. In Genesis 4:22, we are told of Tubal-cain, who worked in bronze and iron. This was not too many generations after Adam, and tool making apparently began in Adam’s lifetime, although we cannot be sure. Adam did live 930 years (Gen. 5:5), so that he most likely lived to see the primitive technology he developed in Eden mature and become highly advanced. Then a point was reached when God gave a wife to Adam, Eve (vv. 18-25). She was to be his helpmeet in his calling. This was a joy to Adam, but we can safely assume that it added to his work. The first night together, when Adam led Eve to his lean-to shelter, she probably looked at it and said, Adam, this will never do. This meant more work for Adam, again with severe limitations. Rightly, of course, a good shelter against the heavy nightly dew was a necessity. We are not told how long a time elapsed from creation to the Fall. We should assume a substantial lapse of time, since all of Adam’s tasks, classifying the animals, caring for the Garden, and developing tools, all took time and required years to accomplish. These were years of hard work. This helps us to understand why Adam was receptive to temptation. An idealistic short-cut to wealth and power was appealing to the hard-working man, and no less appealing to Eve, whose duties were not simple ones, given the severe limitations of their primitive condition. Adam and Eve were not fallen, but they were capable of sinning. The key sin would be a short-cut to wealth and power. Even as God by His fiat word had created all things, perhaps man, as God’s image bearer, could, by his own fiat word, bypass inheritance and work to create wealth.

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This makes clear why Eden was a pilot project. The problem man faced there is with us still, but with a difference. First, Adam was not fallen and we are born sinners. We are seriously handicapped. Second, we have an advantage over Adam in knowing of his failure, and of being a new creation in Christ. Our Kingdom work is thus on a different basis and with a sure hope.

Chapter Seven Marriage (Genesis 2:21-25) 21. And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22. And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:21-25) What was implicit earlier in Genesis 2 now becomes explicit. Adam had heard and understood God, and he had named the animals. He was created a speaking person. Now, in v. 23, Adam names his wife and says that she shall be called woman (ishah), because she was taken out of man (ish). In brief, Adam was no grunter; he was created with the knowledge and ability to speak. This at once divides the Bible from all humanistic doctrines of origins. Man is not a higher ape who developed speech out of his grunting habits. Adam was no grunter. He was created to speak and to sing, and his abilities were not primitive but superior. Being unfallen, he was better than we are in his physical and intellectual abilities. This fact accentuates the horror of the Fall. Again, it tells us much about the fallacies of modern education. The child is not a primitive but a fallen specimen of a great creation. Our potentialities as child and adult are far beyond our imagination. Our text is basic to the doctrine of marriage. Marriage was not established by God to be a perpetual war zone. Male and female were not created to be in conflict but in harmony under God. For a man or a woman to view the other with distrust is to create serious problems. This does not mean that, as sinners, men and women do not do wrong and create trouble for themselves and for one another. If, however, their direction is Godly, even their sins and shortcomings can be used to bring them closer together (Rom. 8:28). In v. 24, God’s summation of the marital life is given: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall both be one flesh.” Very obviously, the woman leaves her family to unite with her husband and his family. This has very often meant moving into another community and becoming a part of her husband’s larger family. In our time, the man after marriage very often remains closer to his family — in the same business, or farming the same or a nearby farm. Although still physically close to his family, he must see himself and his wife as a new family. Emotionally and psychologically, he must leave his parents and cleave unto his wife, even though 29

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his parents live next door. The Hebrew word for cleave (dawbak) means to cling, to be joined to, stick, to be joined together. The husband is commanded to have a new loyalty. The wife is to be a helpmeet (v. 20). This is an interesting term. The Hebrew word for helpmeet (ayzer) comes from a root (awzar) meaning to surround, protect, or aid. R. Payne Smith commented She is described as “a helpmeet for him:” Heb., a help as his front, his reflected image, or, as the Syriac translates it, a helper similar to him. 1 The man must cleave to his wife in order to have her as a helpmeet. “And they shall be one flesh.” This means to become a community of life. The man and the woman remain two separate persons, and yet a oneness ensues. In time, biologists may discover the ways in which marriage creates some kind of physical unity. One flesh has ramifications far beyond anything we are currently able to comprehend or are willing to try to understand. Because of our emphasis on individuality, we are unwilling to explore all the avenues of physical and spiritual unity. Adam describes something of this meaning: “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (v. 23). According to Herbert E. Ryle, “‘This is now’ is the equivalent of ‘here at last.’”2 “Bone of my bones” means that the structure of her life is like mine, given to the service of God the Creator. Adam had come to know his calling and his place in God’s creation. He quickly found in Eve a like dedication. She was thus truly a part of him, physically and religiously. There was a joyful community at once apparent. “Flesh of my flesh” means a community of life. Bones are the structure, the skeleton, whereas flesh is the living tissue. Adam found the fullness of his life in serving God with a woman in the happy communion of marriage. They were, the two of them in the Garden of Eden, “naked... and were not ashamed” (v. 25). Because sin had not yet entered the world, their sexuality was innocent. They lacked any guilt before God and were hence without shame. Shame is the “correlative of sin and guilt.” Shame destroys a person’s inner harmony and supplants it with a sense of disgrace and fearfulness. It is the loss of God’s favor, and a loss of esteem before one’s fellow men. The Old Testament depicts the crowning shame as idolatry (Jer. 2:26; Isa. 42:17; 44:11; etc.). Shame also means the exposure of our guilt. Psalm 25:3 tells us, Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Other texts on shame include, 1. R. Payne Smith, “Genesis,” in Charles John Ellicott, Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), 21. 2. Herbert E. Ryle, Genesis (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press [1914] 1921), 38.

Marriage (Genesis 2:21-25)

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Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments. (Ps.119:6) Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed. (Ps. 119:80) They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. (Isa. 45:16) O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. (Jer. 17:13) On the other hand, Romans 10:11 tells us “Whosever believeth on him shall not be ashamed,” an emphasis made also in Joel 2:26-27, and Romans 5:5 and 9:33. Shame is a consequence of the Fall, and it is common to all mankind, although its manifestations may vary greatly. It is even apparent among animals that are close to people. In the late 1970’s, our German Shepherd, Juno, quite old and failing, was aroused late one night when I entered the house. She charged me, barking savagely. On discovering her mistake, she ran off, ashamed, to hide. According to E.G. Ames, “shame involves a sense of unworthiness and demerit,”3 Shame is the awareness of exposure, disgrace, or failure, or a fearfulness that it is about to occur. Adam and Eve “were both naked... and were not ashamed” (v. 25). They had nothing to hide mentally or physically because they were not fallen. Their innocence was total because their faithfulness to God was total. We began with the fact that Adam was no grunter; he was a speaking, totally coherent man. It was the Fall that brought about physical and mental evasion and coverings. Both Adam and Eve evaded the fact of their guilt, so that their hiding from God was mental, moral, and physical. Modern man sees his origins in pre-historic grunters. As a result, his whole life is one of evasion, the evasion of the moral context of all life. His lies and evasions cannot cover the reality that he is God’s creation and totally responsible to His Maker. The context of human life is God’s calling. This calling is addressed to all men, and women are their helpmeets in that calling. If man were no more than an advanced grunter, any sexual coupling with a member of the opposite sex would be acceptable. But man is a creature made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28), and his calling is to develop that image and exercise dominion under God. This means that unequal yoking, which is forbidden by Scripture (2 Cor. 6:14), is wrong. The unequal yoking can be with respect to the faith and also with respect to talents and age, although exceptions here are possible in the case of the latter two. If a marriage is contracted prior to conversion, and no trouble is made if 3. E.G. Ames, “Shame,” in James Hastings, editor, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. XI (Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark [1920] 1934), 446.

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one partner converts, then the marriage is to continue; but if the unbeliever departs, then the believer is free.

Chapter Eight The Temptation (Genesis 3:1-6) 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:1-6) The goal and fundamental faith of Satan is clearly stated in Genesis 3:5: “God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods (or God), knowing good and evil.” To submit to this temptation, Eve was told, and, through her, Adam, meant enlightenment. “Then your eyes shall be opened,” and understanding and growth shall be at least possible, if not quickly attained. Their status would be one of deity, the ultimate power of determination and definition. Humanity would then know good and evil, and to know here means to establish or determine. Instead of an absolute and eternal moral law, all reality would be subject to the redefinition given it by man. This autonomy would be the basic ingredient of their deity. The temptation was to autonomy from God, a declaration of independence from Him. This did not mean necessarily a rejection of God nor a denial of His existence. God could still be a co-worker or another resource in the cosmos, or, if He proved troublesome, He could be rejected. This acceptance or rejection was a human option. Long before Arminius, Satan set forth the basic premise of Arminianism: priority of choice and determination belongs to man, and God must see Himself as a human resource, not as Sovereign. The false concept of the church as the Body of Christ, as an extension of the incarnation and a manifestation of both His deity and His humanity, means that salvation can be seen as deification. Very early in church history, some very superior fathers of the church fell into this trap. It was held, admittedly with variations of meaning, that “God became man, so that we might become gods,” or, “men might become gods.” Chalcedon was a major obstacle to this notion. The thinkers whose works led to the Tome of Leo and the Formula of Chalcedon in 451 A.D. were wiser than they knew, or than we appreciate. To block any role in the determination of 33

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things absolute has far-reaching implications. If men are not gods, then they have no right to determine what is law and morality either as individuals or as institutions. Neither church nor state can see itself as a lawmaker. To do so is to usurp God’s prerogative and to set itself up as god. As C. N. Cochrane pointed out in Christianity and Classical Culture, a key issue in the battle between Christianity and Greco-Roman philosophers was over determination. GrecoRoman thought placed determination within the realm of creation, whereas Biblical thought set forth God’s predestination. Men since Adam have insisted on being the lawmakers. They have insisted that the realm of contingency is the supernatural, not the natural, that God does not ordain things but rather that man does. This belief has been, of course, basic to the modern age. The Enlightenment exalted Reason into God’s place; the respect for Reason was not on the use of intelligence in human affairs but on the priority and determinative power of Reason over all things. God was haled before the bar of Reason to meet its inquisition, and the test of what is real or possible became Reason. The ultimate order was the rational order. Hegel’s thinking was the logical outcome: the rational is the real. Within the medieval church, the concept of the church as the extension of the incarnation led logically to extravagant claims by lawyers and others for the papacy: “The Pope can do whatever God can do.”1 The pope assumed some aspects of a supernatural being, “no longer man, not yet wholly God,” and as such had the symbols of “divine omnipotence.”2 What was claimed for the pope were powers also exercised by emperors and kings, who saw themselves as God’s power on earth. The human lust for power led to an evasion of Chalcedon by the medieval and later churches and churchmen, because Chalcedon bars the door to man’s enthronement as a god and determiner. But we can understand neither man nor history apart from Genesis 3:1-5. Man’s lust to be his own god is the consuming passion of the sons of Adam. It is viewed as the great charter of man’s salvation, and most civic institutions, and too many churches, should engrave it on their walls: it is clearly their standard. The tempter’s starting point, which is commended to Eve, is skepticism: “Yea, hath God said...?(v. 1). He assumes that the perspective of reason is to begin by questioning all things, including God. E. J. Carnell stated this position clearly: Bring on your revelations! Let them make their peace with the law of contradiction and the facts of history, and they will deserve a rational man's assent.3 1.

Friedrich Heer, The Medieval World, Europe, 1100-1350 (Cleveland, Ohio: The World Publishing Company [1961] 1962), 277. 33. Edward John Carnell, An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 178. 2. Ibid., 3.

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Again, the tempter objects to any limitation being placed upon man. His question is, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (v. 1). Robert Young's literal rendering of this verse is this: “Is it true that God hath said, Ye do not eat of every tree in the garden?” The wording implies a vast forbidden realm rather than a great realm of freedom. The tempter not only confuses the issue but his identity. Revelation 12:9 identifies him as the devil and Satan, and Revelation 20:2 confirms this. The words serpent and Rahab are identified in Job 26:12-13 and in Psalm 89:10 in particular, where Rahab is another name for Egypt. Serpent and Rahab mean enmity to God. All God's enemies agree in challenging the sovereignty and authority of God. When Eve cites God’s statement that disobedience will introduce death into their lives, i.e., that the process of death will begin, the tempter promptly contradicts her: “Ye shall not surely die” (v. 4); death is no certainty. On the contrary, disobedience means not death but illumination. “Your eyes shall be opened.” It will be the beginning of wisdom, because you will then, having declared your independence from God, become “as gods (or, as God), knowing (or, determining for yourselves) good and evil” (v. 5). God wrongly claims the exclusive power to determine good and evil, to make laws, and to establish morality. This monopoly will be broken by their rebellion. Eve then looked at the positive side of disobedience: the fruit of the tree was good for food; it was pleasant to the eyes; and it was to be desired to make one wise; she took and ate it, and she gave it also to Adam to eat (v. 6). Paul tells us that Adam was not deceived, although Eve was (1 Tim. 2:14). Adam sinned with knowledge. He was perhaps weary of the hard work required by his dominion mandate. Any alternative seemed preferable, and he took it. Since then, man’s original sin is his desire to be his own god. This colors every aspect of his being, so that he is totally depraved, i.e., his sin permeates all his being. He prefers his own word and law to God’s word and law. Man relishes his own will while finding God’s will repressive and hostile to his being. Fallen man reorders his life and world and all reality in defiance of God; he insists on a universe without God and His law, and any myth that denies God is science and wisdom to him. This is an aspect of man’s dying. “To be as God” is still as ever fundamental to man’s being in his fallen estate. The modern state, by supplanting God’s law with man’s law, is playing god. In the Orthodox churches, salvation means deification, theosis. In the Roman Catholic church, the church is the extension of the incarnation. Many Protestants in speaking of the church as the Body of Christ mean thereby not His humanity but His deity, or, both His divinity and his humanity, which is false. Paganism is rife with ideas of self-deification. In Mormonism, or the Church of Latter Day Saints, men become gods in the other world. The horrifying lengths some go to in this regard is seen in a self-styled prophet of the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints.4

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4.

See Pete Earley, Prophet of Death (New York: William Morrow, 1991).

Chapter Nine The Fall of Man and the Curse (Genesis 3:7-21) 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12. And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14. And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20. And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:7-21) In vv. 7 and 21, we see an immediate consequence of the Fall: man went from God-consciousness to self-consciousness. “They knew that they were naked, and they clothed themselves with “aprons” or coverings of fig leaves. Guilt leads man to seek a covering, and the meaning of atonement is a covering. In atonement by God, man’s sinful person is covered by God’s grace. In self-atonement, all kinds of subterfuges and masks are used to hide man’s inner being. The mask becomes a necessity because self-revelation is deadly. In some fallen men, self-revelation becomes an exercise in self-justification. Lenny Bruce, in How to Talk Dirty and 37

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Influence People, flaunted certain things, boasting of his fearless openness, while indignantly denying other things. Self-justification can mean bragging about one’s ostensible honesty. In v. 21, God clothes Adam and Eve with coats of skin to cover their sense of shame. The use of animal skins indicates some kind of sacrifice, so, not without reason, even some who are not orthodox have suggested the institution of the sacrificial system. In Genesis 4:3-4, Cain and Abel have some real awareness of the meaning of sacrifices. The penalty for sin is death. The remedy for sin and death is atonement. We can therefore assume that, death having entered the world because of their sin, God taught Adam and Eve the remedy for sin and death. The immediate and continuing consequence of sin is guilt. Guilt is the great and world-wide penalty for sin, and, apart from atonement, there is no remedy for sin nor for guilt. A key figure in the twentieth century was Albert Schweitzer, whose philosophy and religion of reverence for life is closely linked with environmentalism and the religious exaltation of plant and animal life. Since to stay alive we constantly consume plants and animals, we cannot escape the kind of guilt that makes us permanently guilty in Schweitzer’s thinking. By his own admission, man is perpetually, continually, guilty.1 We must make atonement to the environment and to “minority” or subordinate peoples,2 but it is an atonement which is never efficacious and thus never sufficient to end guilt. Modern man’s substitutes for Christ ensure perpetual guilt. But guilty men are impotent and easily controlled, so the modern state is ready to create and use guilt to control people. “Laying a guilt trip” on people is a popular device. It is an interesting fact that animals as close to people as pets so commonly acquire a sense of guilt. Because of guilt, Adam and Eve hid themselves from God (v. 8). God called to Adam, “Where art thou?” (v. 9), knowing that Adam was hiding because of his sin. He called to Adam as the responsible person, as head of the first family. Adam confessed his fear of God, a fear caused by his disobedience and sin. According to 1 John 4:18, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. The fear of the sinner is not a clean fear, i.e., of doing wrong, but a guilty fear. Adam confesses to fear because he is guilty and knows it (v. 11), and for this reason he hid himself. He admits to fear but not to sin. In effect, Adam was saying that it was the majesty of God that caused him to fear and to hide himself rather than his sin and guilt. He was naked and therefore ashamed before God. In so excusing himself Adam was in effect commending himself to God for his sensitivity to the Presence of God. 1. James 2.

Bently, Albert Schweitzer, The Enigma (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), 145. Ibid., 163.

The Fall of Man and the Curse (Genesis 3:7-21)

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God’s question, a challenge rather than a query, was, “Who told thee that thou wast naked?” Until now, Adam had lacked self-consciousness. “Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?” (v. 11). Adam’s shame declares him to be a sinner. Adam’s answer is a classic of self-justification: “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (v. 12). Instead of admitting his sin, Adam blames Eve, and then he blames God for giving him Eve: “The woman thou gavest to be with me....” God, Adam says, is the root cause of his sin! Mankind has not changed since then. Heredity, environment, any and every excuse is made for sin, except to say with David, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Ps. 51:4). As Herbert E. Ryle observed, “Guilt makes the man first a coward, and then insolent.”3 Eve’s answer is no better: she blames the tempter and pleads innocence by laying the guilt on him (v. 13). Judgment is now delivered by God in reverse order. No question is asked of the tempter, because no valid answer can ever be given by him. Adam and Eve will repent, but the tempter never, so he is simply condemned. The animal he used is condemned; enmity is placed between it and all the woman’s seed. Both the physical serpents and the tempter are able to bruise the heels of men, i.e., to cripple but not to destroy people theologically, but the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, will crush the serpent’s head (v. 15). Christ will destroy the works of the devil and the power of sin and death. God tells Eve and all women after her, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception.” Sorrow here means pain. The woman’s great joy in childbearing will be marked by pain, not merely in birth-pangs but in seeing the effects of the Fall, of sin and guilt, in her children and grand-children. The pain of seeing the working out of the Fall in those whom we love is referred to here. Moreover, “thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee” (v. 16). Man’s headship began with creation; after the Fall, sin makes it often a burden rather than a blessing. The curse on man is really a curse on the ground (v. 17), on his work. Man must seek his livelihood henceforth in a frustrating natural realm. Only hard work will make the ground productive. “Thorns also and thistles,” weeds, will proliferate, whereas the life-giving herbs will require more work and cultivation (v. 18). Hard work, “the sweat of thy brow,” will be necessary to produce food, and death will take back man’s body into the ground: “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (v. 19). Man, created in the image of God, returns to dust because of the Fall. Man then faced a bleak future, but he was now apparently humbled and chastised. He named his wife Eve, or Havvah, meaning living, or life, “because she 3. Herbert. E Ryle, Genesis (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, [1914] 1921), 53.

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was the mother of all living” (v. 20). By so naming her, he sets forth his hope that together they will affirm God’s purpose, life in Him, rather than a course of eternal death. As against the curse, Adam affirmed life, but the Fall led both the man and the woman to plead victimhood, and the plea of victimhood is basic to the Fall. It is an insistence that one is not responsible, that evil things are done to us. This view sees man as passive. Now it is true that people are often victimized, but, both before and after, we have a responsibility not to dwell on that fact but to work to overcome it. We are called to be, in all things, “more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Rom. 8:37).

Chapter Ten The Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22-24) 22. And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23. Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24) Few texts in the Bible have for the many years of church history more baffled readers and commentators than v. 22. Some have held that the words are used ironically, a view we also find among the ancient rabbis.1 To gain some understanding, we must begin by recognizing that some things are beyond our understanding this side of heaven. Also, we must see that our vision of things is limited. The tree of life is Jesus Christ, and yet in Eden it is also a literal tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was an actual tree, and yet it set forth the choice for men of either submitting to God’s definitions of good and evil, or seeking to know or to determine for oneself what is right and wrong as a god, as the great definer (Gen. 3:5). The reality was thus both the sign and the fact or reality it set forth. Jesus Christ declares Himself to be life (John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4; 1 John 5:20) and the true vine (John 15:1). The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were two actual trees in Eden. Their purpose was moral. Would man be obedient to God, or would he try to be his own god? The two trees placed a choice before man: life in God, or autonomy from God? To live under God’s law and command meant dependence, responsibility, and work: the whole earth was to be developed as God’s kingdom. There would be no escape from accountability and labor. As against this, the tempter offered a work-free world wherein man’s fiat word would be creative because man would became a god. We must begin by accepting the sincerity of Satan. In his hostility to God, he believes that the creature should have the same powers by right. Satan believes in creaturely and human rights. His goal therefore is to push men into rebellion to test his theory in the hopes that man, as civilization develops, will triumph. Modern man dreams of defeating death and creating a divine-human order in which men are as god, autonomous and creative. The urge to create new life forms is expressive of the hope. 1.

Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz, Bereishis, Genesis, vol. 1 (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, [1977] 1980), 137.

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The triune God declares, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil” (v. 22). However falsely, men were now beginning a course through Adam and Eve of being their own source of law and of defining good and evil apart from God and His law. All over the world today, politics is an example of this: the man-god through civil government establishes his independent law; he defines good and evil apart from God. Something must be done, the triune God declares, “lest he (man) put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” (v. 22). The actual tree in the Garden of Eden could enable Adam and Eve to live endlessly if they could continue eating its fruit. But their access to that tree had been conditional upon their obedience. By cutting mankind from access to the tree of life, by barring access to it, men could then be prepared to receive the true tree of life, Jesus Christ. They could now be engrafted into the true vine (John 15:18). We are not accustomed to thinking of life forever in this body, as v. 22 indicates, but the doctrine of the resurrection of the body simply states that a glorified body shall so live (1 Cor. 15:39ff.). Some hold that man had never eaten previously of the tree of life, because, having been obedient, he was not subject to death. This may well be true or it may not be, no matter. What is important for us to know is that man in sin must be subject to sin and death. Man was sent out of the garden to till the ground in a now fallen world, the ground from whence he was taken, and which his sin had cursed (v. 23). He was driven out (v. 24); he had no desire to go. The cherubim were placed at the east of the Garden. Perhaps the four rivers of Eden (Gen. 2:10-14) provided a natural boundary in all directions except on the east. In addition to the cherubim guarding the Garden of Eden, “a flaming sword” kept the way to the tree of life. Man was thus barred from Eden. Man was now in a hopeless condition, with sin and death as his estate. He had no access to life, and he was now totally dependent in a very obvious way on God’s grace for his redemption. It is opened to man by Jesus Christ, of whom we are told in Galatians 3:13 that He was crucified on a tree. This was in fact a common practice, and Roman crucifixions were associated with trees. The tree of life is crucified “on a tree,” a grimly ironic fact. All the sons of the first Adam are barred from the tree of life except through the atonement made on the cross or tree by the last Adam, Jesus Christ, the tree of life. This text tells us of an essential link between the spiritual and material realms which we will fully understand in the world to come.

Chapter Eleven Cain (Genesis 4:1-15) 1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. 2. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5. But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6. And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. 8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. 9. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? 10. And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; 12. When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. 13. And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 15. And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:1-15) Our text begins with the statement that “Adam knew Eve his wife” (v. 1). This usage of knew to mean sexual intercourse is radically Biblical and alien to modern thought. For mankind, sexual intercourse is, according to the Bible, a conscious and knowing act, whether done with love or with evil intent. This usage is totally at odds with the modern view that sex is an uncontrollable urge that governs man and his activities. This view, while having deep roots in pagan thought, and present over the centuries as an undercurrent, came into its own with the Romantic movement. The Biblical word stresses the cognitive element. Certainly in the current plague of pornography among older men, and the occurrences of child molestation by elderly men, we must recognize the key part 43

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of the mind in sexuality. Sexuality is a physical fact with a mental control, and that mental control can be good or evil. The physical urge is under a mental governance. The Biblical use of the word knew is thus not an accidental or a casual one. Eve “conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD” (v. 1). This is certainly a sad statement; apparently Eve assumed that this son was God’s promised Redeemer who would crush the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). The second birth was of Abel, “a keeper of sheep,” whereas Cain was a farmer, “a tiller of the ground” (v. 2). Many other children were born to Adam and Eve: Genesis 5:4 tells that sons and daughters were born to them. In vv. 3-4, we are told that in time both Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord. Calvin, in his commentary on Genesis, saw no problem in seeing these two offerings in terms of the sacrificial system of Exodus through Deuteronomy. Those who hold to an evolutionary view insist on seeing the Genesis account as a primitive form of sacrifice. But the same God is present in Adam’s day as in Moses’ time, and atonement has always meant the same thing. Abel’s sacrifice was an atonement; Cain offered a thank offering, apparently feeling no need for atonement. Cain was outraged at his rejection (v. 5). God confronted Cain, saying simply, “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” In Stigers’ translation this phrase is rendered, “but if you do not do well, at the door sin will be a besieger and it desires you, but you must gain dominion over it.”1 This sentence is again revealing, like v. 1, that Adam knew Eve, an act of conscious choice. Sin, however, besieges us and desires us: its goal is dominion. Sin is personalized as an aspect of the tempter’s active work and plan. Cain had not sought atonement and justification by sacrifice to God. He sought it rather by self-justification. He was angry with God for rejecting his offering. Unable to strike at God, Cain struck and killed Abel his brother (v. 8). We must recognize that God’s people are often the target of man’s hatred for God. To murder, Cain now added a lie. To God’s question, “Where is Abel thy brother?,” Cain answered, “I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?” (v. 9). God had not asked Cain to be his brother’s keeper but his brother’s brother. Cain’s answer has the arrogance of modern statists who see themselves as every man’s keeper, not a brother. God now confronted Cain with his murder and his judgment. Because his brother’s blood cries to God from the ground, Cain is doubly cursed in that the ground will now even further frustrate him. On top of that, whether wandering or settled, Cain will know himself to be a fugitive and a vagabond (vv. 10-12).

1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 86f.

Cain (Genesis 4:1-15)

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All guilty men have the sense of being fugitives. Their consciences accuse them, and their way of life becomes a continual hiding from themselves. In vv. 13-14, Cain whines about his punishment. He feels no sorrow over his murder, nor for the grief of his parents, who have such great hopes for him. He is full of self-pity. There is no sorrow comparable to his sorrow. The world’s first child became a revelation of the horror of man’s fall: sin and self-pity marked his being. Only his family, his parents, brothers, and sisters existed at the time, yet Cain feared vengeance from all sides. Verse 14 does not tell us that Cain would become a nomad but rather that he would feel hunted. A bad conscience would give him no rest. God therefore banned the killing of Cain. At this time, all people living were sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. They were all a family. The power of the death penalty does not belong to the family, so that none could legitimately have killed Cain. It was Cain’s conscience that was killing him. We are not told what the mark of Cain was, so speculation is futile. Whatever it was, it was a sufficient deterrent. We are not told how long Cain lived. The genealogies omit this fact. We are simply left with the knowledge that he lived and died full of self-pity, feeling always hunted, and was the first builder, in time, of a city. The city was a walled area. God’s assurance of protection was not enough for Cain, even as the atonement prescribed by God was bypassed by Cain. He began with selfjustification and continued with self-pity. Because sin is so very much still with us, Cain is also very much a modern (and post-modern) person.

Chapter Twelve Lamech and Seth (Genesis 4:16-26) 16. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch. 18. And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech. 19. And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20. And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. 21. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. 23. And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. 24. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold. 25. And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. 26. And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. (Genesis 4:16-26) The question raised by many concerning this text is about Cain’s wife: who was she and where did she come from? The answer is that in that era and for centuries later marriages in incestuous degrees did not have the very serious genetic consequences which now prevail. Both Adam and Eve had within them all the genetic potentialities for all mankind, so that marriage within the family did not have the clear dangers that now prevail.1 One can perhaps say that the genetic character of two Danes or two Poles is more homogeneous than that of two members of the line of Adam in the early centuries, and long thereafter. “Cain went out from the presence of the LORD” (v. 16). According to H.C. Leupold, this expression is similar to Cain’s complaint in v. 11 that he is “driven forth from the ground.”2 Man is an alien on the earth when he is alien to God. No place can give him true shelter. He went eastward, seeking refuge in “the land of Nod,” the land of wandering (v. 16). 1.

See R.J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, vol. 1 (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co. [1973] 1994), 386-375. 2. H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Wartburg Press, 1942), 213.

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He “knew his wife,” and she gave birth to Enoch, meaning dedication, a good name, but, for Cain, it no doubt meant dedication to his anti-God faith, his will to be his own god. He also built the first “city.” A city here means a walled area, and for most of history a city has been so defined. As such, it was a place of safety. For Cain, it was an attempt to wall out his conscience and guilt, since God had marked him for protection. Cain felt “driven out” and hounded, and so he built a walled city to protect himself. He called the city, like his firstborn son, Enoch, meaning again dedication. Cain’s life was now dedicated to self-protection and survival. Guilty men forever feel hunted and persecuted. We are then given the names of those in the line of Adam through Cain, and Lamech is the seventh in the line. After Lamech, we have Jabal, the father of cattlemen; prior to him, men kept cattle, but Jabal did so exclusively. Jubal, his brother, became the father of musicians, in particular of those who play the harp and organ. The organ later became a temple instrument, as did the harp. TubalCain became the teacher of all workers in brass and iron. A sister is mentioned, Naamah, meaning pleasant. We are told these things to remind us that evil people are not thereby lacking in talent. In v. 23 and 24, we have the Song of Lamech, called by some the Song of the Sword, a song of vengeance. In v. 15, God, having given His protection to Cain, says of anyone who kills Cain, “vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold.” Now man’s original sin is to try to be his own god. For Lamech, this means surpassing God: “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold” (v. 24). The contempt for God is obvious. Lamech boasts of his ability to outdo God in exacting vengeance. Lamech boasts of his ability to exact vengeance: “for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt” (v. 23). We are not told whether or not one or two killings are indicated, but, given the parallelism of such writing, it perhaps refers to one killing. James Moffatt paraphrased it to refer to two killings: The man who wounds me, him I slay, I slay a boy for a blow. In any case, Lamech brags that he is more dangerous than God! In effect, knowing the reality of God, Lamech was defying God to do His worst. For Lamech, God’s law was a trifle, and Lamech’s will the hard reality. God declares, through Moses, To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. (Deut. 32:35) St. Paul tells us,

Lamech and Seth (Genesis 4:16-26)

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Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the LORD. (Rom. 12:19) (“Give place unto wrath” probably means, “Let the Wrath of God have its way,” as James Moffatt renders it.) In brief, God declares that He, in His justice, brings vengeance or recompense to all sinners. If we take the law into our hands, we deny God and affirm ourselves. We declare that our idea of justice is better than God’s. Men often exact such an evil justice in the name of God, as have some murderers of abortionists in 1994. We cannot break God’s law in the name of God. In vv. 25-26, we are told of Seth’s birth as Cain’s replacement as the firstborn. Seth means foundation; he was to be their hope in God, the foundation of a Godly and in time Messianic seed. Many other sons and daughters were born to Adam and Eve (Genesis 5:3-5). At this point, a clarification is necessary. Cain had called his first son Enoch or Chanokh, “dedication.” Seth’s son’s name in English is again Enoch, but, in the Hebrew, Enosh, meaning “the frail one,” or “the mortal.” Seth recognized the frailty of man’s life.3 The line of Cain very early excelled in some of the arts, perhaps because their hope was so intensely dedicated to the city of man. We are told, as against this, that in Seth’s day, “then began men to call upon the name of the LORD” (v. 26). If we take this clause in a narrow and modern sense, we will see it as meaning simply that men then began to worship God. The name of God means His nature and being; it can mean that they began to think seriously of the creation mandate to exercise dominion and to make this world the Kingdom of God. It would thus mean that the dominion mandate again governed the line of Adam.

3.

Ibid, 277.

Chapter Thirteen Adam, Seth, and Enos (Genesis 5:1-8) 1. This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; 2. Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. 3. And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth: 4. And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters: 5. And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. 6. And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: 7. And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters: 8. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died. (Genesis 5:1-8) In this chapter, we are given the genealogy of Adam to Noah, covering many centuries, a total of 1656 years according to the Hebrew Massoretic text, from Adam to the Flood. The name of the book, Genesis, is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word for generations. The Hebrew word dor, translated “generation” 123 times in the Old Testament, is not the same as the word we have here, toledot, which means history.1 This means that v.1 tells us, “This is the book of the history, or records, of Adam.” Such a rendering makes Genesis a collection of family histories and records, all contemporary with the things recorded. As we read Genesis, we find these records: These are the generations of the heavens and the earth. (2:4) This is the book of the generations of Adam. (5:1) These are the generations of Noah. (6:9) These are the generations of the sons of Noah. (10:1) These are the generations of Shem. (11:10) These are the generations of Terah. (11:27) These are the generations of Ishmael. (25:12) These are the generations of Isaac. (25:19) These are the generations of Esau. (36:1)  These are the generations of Esau. (36:9) These are the generations of Jacob. (37:2) 2 Each section concludes the preceding text. In Genesis 5:1, we are told “This is the book of the generations of Adam,” book meaning “written narrative” or “finished writing.”3 1.

P.J. Wiseman, edited by D.J. Wiseman, Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, [1936] 1985), 61f. 2. Ibid., 60.

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The first verse makes an important statement that must be linked to the third verse. Adam was created in the image of God, and Seth was created in Adam’s image. Adam in his creation reflected the unfallen image of God, but Seth reflected the fallen image of Adam. Knowledge was now tainted knowledge; justice or righteousness was replaced by wilful injustice and self-will; holiness, or dedication to God, in fallen man means a separation to self-indulgence and evil; and dominion has given way to a lust for domination. Thus, even the Godly seed begins life with a handicap. Seth began life with an evil and fallen nature; his presence in the line of faith reflects God’s grace, not Seth’s nature. Adam and Eve are alike called “Adam,” meaning man. Adam thus is both the name of the first man and also the name of his kind. In v. 5, we have a phrase, “And he died,” which is used repeatedly in the genealogy, in vv. 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, and 31. Death, an outsider to man’s history in Eden, is now inevitable and universal. It is inherent now to man’s fallen estate. As Paul tells us in Romans 5:14-21, death reigned from Adam to Moses and thereafter, or “sin hath reigned unto death” (v. 21), and this reign can only be broken by Jesus Christ. The “last enemy” to be destroyed by Christ at His second coming is death (1 Cor. 15:26). The condition of the earth prior to the Flood was more congenial to longevity than that of the era that followed. The ages of the patriarchs after the Flood decreased steadily until man’s life span became the abbreviated one we know. In Isaiah 65:20 we are told that, as sin is pushed back, and the Messiah’s reign is extended, so too death is pushed back and longevity returns. Seth was the head after Adam of the Godly line. His name means appointed, placed, or firmly founded. Eve “called his name Seth; for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Genesis 4:25). Seth’s son in this line is Enos (Enoshe), meaning mortal, implying frailty, affliction. In English, this name resembles Enoch (Khanoke), which means initiated, dedicated, but the names are different in the Hebrew. In v. 2, we are told that God blessed man at the time of his creation. This was a fatherly act of endowing a child for success in life. In Genesis, we see many examples of this: Genesis 9:26-27; 27:27; 49:1-28. We see also God’s blessing on man in Genesis 1:28; 5:2; 9:1, and 12:3. In Ephesians 1:3 we are told that God blesses us in and through Jesus Christ. The blessing intended by God at the beginning is restored to us through Christ. Man’s purpose in God’s plan is that he serve his Creator-Redeemer with all his heart, mind, and being. The history of man in Christ is one of sin, then salvation from sin, and salvation unto service to the Lord. If man sees himself, rather than the kingdom of God, as the end product, he will maintain that the goal of God’s work in Christ is man’s salvation, and service will be forgotten. As a result, there will be no blessing, and there will be curses laid upon him. 3.

Ibid., 67.

Adam, Seth, and Enos (Genesis 5:1-8)

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In these eight verses, we are only given three generations: Adam, Seth, and Enos. We are told that mankind has deteriorated from the unfallen image of God to the fallen image of Adam. Their days are many, but they all die. They beget many sons and daughters, but the Kingdom of God is not gained by generation but by regeneration. We have been given the Godly line, an apparently besieged and lonely line, but it is alone the line of promise.

Chapter Fourteen From Cainan to Noah (Genesis 5:9-32) 9. And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan: 10. And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters: 11. And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died. 12. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel: 13. And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters: 14. And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died. 15. And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared: 16. And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters: 17. And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died. 18. And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: 19. And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 20. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died. 21. And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 22. And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 23. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: 24. And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. 25. And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech: 26. And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: 27. And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. 28. And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: 29. And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed. 30. And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters: 31. And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died. 32. And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:9-32) We have here the line of Adam through Seth, and an account of their longevity. More than one ancient account speaks of the great longevity of men before the Flood. Obviously, some of these accounts are exaggerations, whereas for us the Biblical account is historical. It indicates to us that, even outside of Eden, the conditions of life were such that men had superior health and a longer 55

56

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life span. The Flood brought these advantages to a decline and an end. Human vitality, at its highest point after the Fall and before the Flood, was steadily diminished as the Fall and the Flood took their toll. There was apparently some kind of promise from God of relief after the birth of Noah, according to v. 29. The relief was not from the curse of the ground but from the curse of the ungodly men in the line of Cain and defectors from the line of Seth. The Bible regards genealogy as important because, first, the family is important, and second, it traces the messianic line carefully. One such genealogy reads as follows: AN. HOM.

B.C.

0

4046

Adam’s age at birth of Seth

130

3916

Add Seth’s age at birth of Enos (105)

235

3811

Add Enos’ age at birth of Cainan (90)

325

3721

Add Cainan’s age at birth of Mahalaleel (70)

395

3651

Add Mahalaleel’s age at birth of Jared (65)

460

3586

Add Jared’s age at birth of Enoch (162)

622

3424

Add Enoch’s age at birth of Methuselah (65)

687

3359

Add Methuselah’s age at birth of Lamech (187)

874

3172

Add Lamech’s age at birth of Noah (182)

1056

2990

Add Noah’s age at the time of the flood (600)

1656

2390

Adam created

57

From Cainan to Noah (Genesis 5:9-32) 1

THE MEANING OF THE NAMES

MAY BE ROUGHLY TRANSLATED AS FOLLOWS:

Seth

appointed one

Enos

mortal frailty

Cainan

smith

Mahalaleel

God be praised

Jared

descent

Enoch

dedication

Methuselah

when he dies, judgment

Lamech

conqueror

Noah

rest

2

THE CAINITE GENEALOGY 1. (Adam) 2. Cain 3. Enoch 4. Irad 5. Mehujael 6. Methushael 7. Lamech, who had three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-Cain. The line of Seth also ends with three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

1.

Philip Mauro, The Wonders of Bible Chronology (Swengel, Pennsylvania: Bible Truth Depot, 1961), 14. 2. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (San Diego: Creation-Life Publishers, 1976), 155.

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The chronology given above is from the Massoretic (Hebrew) text of the Bible (Old Testament).

LONGEVITY, BEFORE AND AFTER THE FLOOD: Adam

930

Seth

912

Noah

950

Shem

600

Arpachshad

408

Terah

205

Abraham

175

Isaac

180

Jacob

147

Joseph

110

Moses

120

Joshua

110

There is no agreement as to the meaning of Methuselah; Morris gives it as, “when he dies, judgment,” but most read it as “man of the weapon.” We do know from the chronology that he died in the year of the Flood, apparently shortly before it occurred. Lamech died five years before the Flood. We are told about Enoch, first, that “Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him” (v. 24). This fact has attracted much attention over the centuries and has led to apocryphal writings being ascribed to Enoch. The belief was that a man who was taken to heaven without dying had to be a prophet. In reality, Enoch’s status was due to holiness, not to prophetic powers. Jude 14-15 does tell us of a prophecy of judgment by Enoch, but it is simply a declaration of judgment upon sin rather than any specific forecast of future time. The emphasis in our text is on Enoch’s holiness, his walk with God. Second, in v. 22 we are told that Enoch “begat sons and daughters”; clearly holiness includes marriage and family responsibilities. Such a stress is fully Biblical; sacerdotal celibacy has no place in the Bible.

From Cainan to Noah (Genesis 5:9-32)

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Lamech, the father of Noah, made a prediction concerning his son: “This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed” (v. 29). The name Noah means rest. The Hebrew reads “from our work and from the toil of our hands.” This curse comes from the ground. However much misunderstood, God had given a prophecy concerning a great change to come in Noah’s day. The hope was for deliverance from the curse on the earth. Instead, the deliverance was from, first, the vast humanity which was radically dedicated to evil. The curse on the earth would remain. Second, the deliverance would be from the longevity of peoples in the world before the Flood. This was in itself a great curse. When men could live 900 or more years, God’s judgments and death were very remote to them. Who would fear death if it were normally centuries away, and therefore judgment was remote? The reduction of the lifespan of man was thus both a judgment and a blessing. In the 1990’s, term limits became a means of restraining entrenched evil by political office-holders. Think of the evil consequences if such men could hold office for a few centuries! There is a curious fact about Noah. He was 500 years old before his sons were born, first Shem, and later Ham and Japheth. In Genesis 6:10, the same order is given for the sons. The name Shem means name, renown, authority, and he was the eldest, and he was in the messianic line. There is a parallel in the lines of Seth and Cain. Enoch in Seth’s line is the seventh from Adam, and Lamech is the seventh from Adam in Cain’s line. There is a contrast between the holiness of Enoch and the Cainite Lamech, a bigamist, murderer, and braggart. Those who are anti-God have a life terminating in judgment. Those who are Godly inherit eternal life.

Chapter Fifteen Mixed Marriages (Genesis 6:1-4) 1. And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. 4. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4) This is a text which has been subjected to much fanciful interpretation. Supposedly, “the sons of God” in v. 2 were angels who married “the daughters of men.” But our Lord tells us that angels do not marry, nor are they given in marriage (Matt. 22:29-30; Mark 12:24f.; Luke 20:34-36). Shall we believe our Lord, or shall we agree with foolish readers? Moreover, if “the sons of God” refers to angels and not men, then why would God punish men, as v. 3 and the Flood make clear that He did? The Jewish reading is a very clear one. The expression in the text is “the sons of Elohim,” and “Elohim” always implies rulership.1 While it is wrong to hold that words have an identical meaning in their every use, the translation “sons of the rulers” makes sense, and no other rendering does. The text then tells us that the sons of Godly rulers married without reference to the faith and purely in terms of sexual attraction. “They took them wives of all which they chose” (v. 2), meaning that religious and moral standards had no influence on their choices of wives. These women were “the daughters of men,” descendants of fallen Adam and of Cain. This is the first text in the Bible to condemn mixed marriage, i.e., religiously mixed marriages. Over the centuries, the church has wisely stressed marrying within the faith. Mixed marriages were forbidden by God’s law (Deut. 7:3f.; Ezra 9:12; Nehemiah 10:30; etc.); because the family is God’s basic community, to introduce a religious division at this level is to endanger the fabric of society. H. C. Leupold titled this section of his commentary, Exposition of Genesis (1942), “The Commingling of the Two Races (6:1-8).” The title is an apt one, because the racial division which is basic to Biblical history is between the covenant people and all covenant breakers. For Leupold, the “sons of God” are “without a shadow of a doubt, the Sethites.”2 Zlotowitz translates v. 3 thus: 1.

Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz and Rabbi Nosson Scherman, Bereishis, Genesis, vol. 1, (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications [1977] 1980), 180.

61

62

Genesis

“And HASHEM said, My spirit shall not contend evermore concerning man since he is but flesh; his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.”3 God declares that His patience with man is ending. Man is refusing to submit to God’s rule. Since men had seen Adam, and knew his story, they were very familiar with God’s creation mandate. In spite of this knowledge, men were refusing to submit to God’s will. Their longevity made them arrogant, and judgment seemed remote. “His days shall be a hundred and twenty years” (v. 3) has also been variously interpreted. Some have held that this refers to the human life span. Certainly, after the Flood man’s longevity gradually decreased, but it became not much more than half of 120 years in due time. Most likely, only 120 years would elapse to the judgment of the Flood. “There were giants in the earth in those days” (v. 4). Besides Biblical references to giant peoples, we have the historical evidences. The Watusis of the Congo, a branch of the Bahima, are such a people surviving into the twentieth century. These peoples, called Nephilim, were present not only before the Flood but also afterwards (v. 4). The genetic potentiality of Noah and his family included such a possibility. The Canaanites in the days of Joshua included such people (Num. 13:33; Deut. 1:28). Deuteronomy 3:11 describes Og, king of Bashan, as a giant, and later, Goliath is such a man, in his case over nine feet tall. In 2 Samuel 21:16-22 and 1 Chronicles 20:4-8, we are told of other Philistine giants. In 1 Chronicles 11:23 we are told of an Egyptian seven and a half feet in height. We are told that these were “mighty men of renown” (v. 4). Zlotowitz saw the literal meaning as “men of name,” “men of renown,” or “men of distinction.” He rendered it as “men of devastation.”4 Robert Young’s Literal Translation reads “men of name.” Old Testament references such as Numbers 13:33 do indicate that the Nephilim were mighty men in their rebellion against God, and this was their renown. The Hebrew root naphal means to fall upon, to attack.5 This means that the true focus should not be on their physical size but on their religious and moral hostility to God. Their attack was directed against God above all else.6 It should be clear now that popular interpretations have shifted the meaning from a theological and moral one to a mythological one. Nephilim does mean an attacker, a tyrant in effect. Aalders preferred to translate the word as “violent men.” 7

2. H.C. Leupold, Exposition 3. Zlotowitz, 183-195. 4. Ibid., I, 197. 5. Leupold, 258. 6. Ibid., 259. 7.

of Genesis (Columbus, Ohio: The Wartburg Press, 1942), 250.

G. Ch. Aalders, Genesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981), 157.

Mixed Marriages (Genesis 6:1-4)

63

Because God decreed judgment would come in 120 years, He thereby in effect withdrew from all opposition to man’s destructive course. Man had become sinful and suicidal, and God decreed man’s end. We can assume that man, in the many centuries before the Flood, made important strides in technology. With the Flood, much of this would be lost. Man’s long lifespan had been important in his ability to develop technologically, but was devastating to his religious and moral estate. God through Haggai tells us that “cleanness” is not contagious, but “uncleanness” is (Haggai 2:11-14). This is why mixed marriages are at best very often difficult. Our redemption is a gift from God; it is not a contagion acquired from men. Evil, on the other hand, is contagious and polluting. Returning to the marriages of the Godly men to ungodly women, basic to it was the women’s beauty. Marriage was reduced to the sexual dimension and was therefore made into an anarchistic factor. God’s law, given orally and in part in this era, no doubt had a stipulation regarding marriage, because ungodly marriage is here condemned. God’s law requires a dowry for wives (undowered wives are legally concubines). This gives stability to marriage as an institution. The dowry was normally equal to about three years’ wages. A young man did not lightly enter into marriage, nor did he easily abuse his wife; if she then divorced him, he lost the dowry as an inheritance for his children. The abuse of wives was thus costly. Likewise, the wife knew that she could lose the dowry for misconduct and face the anger of her father and brothers. The dowry system thus was a major check on the conduct of both men and women. In a culture given to romantic ideas of marriage, there is no brake of the behavior on husbands and wives, or very little.

Chapter Sixteen Noah and Eschatology (Genesis 6:5-22) 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. 8. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. 10. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. 13. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 19. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. 22. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he. (Genesis 6:5-22) Our text concerns God’s order to Noah that he build an ark and prepare for a great flood. First, in v. 5, we are told that God saw the wickedness of man in word, thought, and deed. The whole imagination of man’s being was “only evil continually.” The Cainites had prevailed, and the Sethites, except for a single family, had been corrupted. Second, we are also told that “it repented the LORD 65

66

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that He had made man,” and it grieved Him. Although the Bible often tells us that God “repented,” as in Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 18:7-8; 26:3; Jonah 3:10, 1 Samuel 15:29, etc., it also tells us that God does not repent (Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29) because “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). Because language is too limited, and because it is beyond man to comprehend God, revelation uses anthropomorphic language at times. (Philosophical language would be equally impotent.) We must therefore understand that what we see here is a stress by revelation on God’s justice, i.e., that God’s justice brings forth judgment against sin. We are told two things at once about Noah. First, “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (v. 8). Second, we are told that “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God” (v. 9). He exercised justice in terms of God’s law. He was just or righteous. There are three Hebrew words formed from the same root, meaning justice: These are tsaddik, a righteous person; tsedek, justice in a court of law; and tsedakah, charity.1 The three words are essentially related. Noah was a tsaddik, a righteous man, versed in God’s law and in charity. Because Noah was a just or righteous man, he knew that judgment must follow as God the Great Judge has decreed it. This was an act of grace and charity to Noah and his family. In v. 18, the word covenant is used, its first usage in Scripture, but the concept is implicit from the beginning, and it was not unknown to Noah. God’s covenant with Noah, a treaty of law, was also an act of grace, because God as the Great King entered into a treaty of law with mankind in order to bless man. The bad news of the Flood is also the good news of the covenant; God gives His grace and law to mankind in the person of Noah. In v. 13, God declares: “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” Man’s longevity did not protect him from violent death. Men became violent and murderous in their life-styles, and they corrupted every relationship. There are two events in the Old Testament which our Lord cites as representative of judgment: 26. And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. 28. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 1.

Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz and Rabbi Nossore Scherman, Bereishis, Genesis, vol. 1 (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publication, (1977) 1980), 198.

Noah and Eschatology (Genesis 6:5-22)

67

30. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30) Our Lord here speaks of the coming fall of Jerusalem; we say that all God’s judgments in history have a similar unexpected element because of man’s arrogance in his sin and his heedlessness to all warnings. God commands Noah to prepare by building an ark. The dimensions are given as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high (v. 15). There are differing opinions as to the length of the ancient cubit. More important for us are the dimensions. This was a large vessel, made for floating on flood waters, not steering. Ancient ships had a ten to one ratio in length and width; this made them fast but unstable, easily capsized in a storm. In Columbus’ day, the ratio was four to one, which increased safety but eliminated speed. The modern ratio, which gives the best advantages, is six to one, like Noah’s, as Harry Rimmer pointed out. In vv. 19-20, Noah is told that he must plan to house every non-aquatic creature in the ark. In terms of space, this was not as great a task as it might appear to be. It meant two of each species; all dogs, for example, were potentially in the two taken by Noah, all breeds of cows, and so on. The number of species larger than a mouse is a limited one. The task was not an impossible one. There is another very important aspect to Noah’s mandate that must be considered. God here ordains judgment, so that the Flood is eschatological. Eschatology is the doctrine of the last things, and the Flood was the end of the old world and a judgment upon it. Only the family of just or righteous Noah was saved. God’s judgments in history are cleansing in their purpose. In Psalm 37:1822 we are told, 18. The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. 19. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away. 21. The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. 22. For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off. Earlier in the same psalm, we read: 9. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. This same promise appears in the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:5.

68

Genesis

Given this fact, the Flood and every subsequent judgment, including those of our own time and times to come, have as their purpose the preparation of the earth to become God’s Holy Kingdom under man’s direction. The fact of judgment is a promise of deliverance.

Chapter Seventeen The Judgment of the Old World (Genesis 7:1-24) 1. And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3. Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. 5. And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him. 6. And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. 7. And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8. Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, 9. There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah. 10. And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. 11. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. 12. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 13. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark; 14. They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort. 15. And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life. 16. And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in. 17. And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18. And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20. Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. 21. And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22. All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry 69

70

Genesis land, died. 23. And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. (Genesis 7:1-24)

Noah was ordered to take on board the ark two of every unclean animal and seven of the clean (v. 2f.); this was to include birds as well. More than a few writers object that the distinction between clean and unclean animals was not made until Moses’ day. This is to assume that no verbal revelation had been given prior to the written, which is nonsense. How the animals came, we do not know; perhaps Noah had used the 120 years before the Flood to collect them; perhaps God moved the animals to come. We do not know, but they were collected. In v. 11, the Flood’s beginning is dated in terms of Noah’s life, the 600th year, month 2, day 17, of the calendar then in use. Most ancient calendars began in the late fall. Josephus tells us (Ant. I, 3, 3) that it was in that time we would call the very end of October and the beginning of November. We are also told in v. 11 that the Flood began when all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and then the rains began. This points, as Henry M. Morris has pointed out, to volcanic activity that led to explosions and eruptions that poured forth great tidal waves of water, both hot and cold, over all the earth. Expanding and cooling gases, with endless ash and dust in the air, led to torrential downpours of rain all over the earth.1 The words in v. 11, “broken up” are in the Hebrew “cleaving open.” Such volcanic activity, and the gasses from it, would have killed all who were in the areas of occurrence. The high waters which covered the earth, very hot in some areas, radically cold in others, killed the rest. The source of the Flood waters was thus both subterranean and atmospheric. The New Testament, instead of using the Greek word for flood, uses kataklusmos, cataclysm, to describe this event (Matt. 24:39; Luke 17:27; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6).2 Thus, while it was a flood, it was much more. The rains came for forty days and forty nights (vv. 12, 17), but we are told that during that time the waters increased (v. 17), which suggests that volcanic activity and earthquakes pushed the waters higher. All the mountains were covered, although it is possible that, as the waters were subsiding, some areas were pushed higher by the volcanic activity and the earthquakes. But, for a time, all things were covered by water. Later, the ark rested on a mountain of Ararat, specifically on Massis, now commonly known by the name of the range, Ararat. Massis is 17,000 feet high 1. Henry 2.

M. Morris, The Genesis Record (San Diego: Creation-Life Publishers, 1976), 196f. Ibid., 203.

Judgment on the Old World (Genesis 7:1-24)

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and is still subject to very frequent tremors. The waters prevailed for 150 days, during which time they continued to rise. Obviously, this was no local flood, as some skeptics insist. Its pervasive nature is also attested to in the stories of peoples all over the world. After the Flood, it was more than a year before Noah and his family could leave the ark. Prior to the Flood, Noah had time to collect and store food for himself and the animals. In their inactive state, their need for food was limited. Noah and his family were kept active cleaning stalls and cages and feeding the animals. Leupold tells us that in 1609-1621 a Dutchman, Peter Janson, built as an experiment a ship corresponding to the Biblical dimensions. He found it to be seaworthy, and also possessing a high storage capacity.3 When we are told in v. 24 that the waters “prevailed on the earth 150 days,” the Hebrew loses it force because our word “prevail” has weakened. It is, literally, “were strong.” Only after 150 days did the destructive cataclysm subside. In vv. 21-23, great stress is laid on the totality of the destruction, and the passage concludes with the words, “and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark” (v. 23). In v. 1, we are told that Noah was a righteous man. We are then told that the rest of the world was evil. God gives us a moral reason for saving Noah and for destroying all others. He invites Noah now to enter the ark: “Come thou and all thy house” (v. 1). We are also told, “And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him” (v. 5). It is bad theology to hold that professions of faith can replace moral obedience. As our Lord’s brother, James, tells us, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). Thomas Whitelaw has given us a chronology of the Flood, reckoning from the first day of the year.4

3. H.C. 4.

Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Columbus, Ohio: Wartburg Press, 1942), 272. Thomas Whitelaw in Canon H.D. Spence and Rev. Joseph S. Exell, editors, The Pulpit Commentary, Thomas Whitelaw, Genesis (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, n.d.), 127.

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I.

II. III.

IV. V.

Beginning of the Flood

months

days

1

17

days =

47

Continuance of Rain

+

40

Prevalence of Waters

+

140

=

197

=

270

Raven sent after 40 days

+

310

Dove sent after 7 days

+

317

Dove sent after 7 days

+

324

Dove sent after 7 days

+

331

+

360

+

417

The ark touches Ararat

6

The Mountains seen

9

The waters dried up

12

The Earth dry

13

17

27

J. P. Lange rightly said of the Flood, “The right belief in the judgment is, at the same time, a belief in the deliverance of God.” 5 Every judgment by God is also an occasion for deliverance and salvation. The Flood, the events in Egypt and the plagues, the captivity in Babylon, and more, all these events were judgments, times of cleansing, and then deliverance. In the cross, we have the supreme coincidence of judgment and salvation: our sins are judged and we are delivered. To lose interest in Noah is to lose interest in both judgment and salvation. The Flood requires us to recognize that judgment precedes salvation. To ask for God’s deliverance from our present evil order is to ask for His judgment.

5.

John Peter Lange, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d), 302.

Chapter Eighteen The Flood Ends (Genesis 8:1-22) 1. And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; 2. The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3. And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. 4. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. 6. And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7. And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8. Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11. And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12. And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. 13. And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. 15. And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16. Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17. Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. 18. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19. Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. 20. And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean 73

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Genesis beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21. And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8: 1-22)

Great space is given to Noah and his family, chapters 6-9 in particular; the focus is not simply on the Flood but on Noah and his family, and all the animals, birds, and insects. In the midst of a cataclysmic judgment, God’s particular providence is stressed. Just as fiat creation marked Genesis 1, so too God could have created again from nothing all living creatures for Noah’s use and dominion. Instead, judgment is balanced with a particular providence. We are told in v. 1, “And God remembered Noah.” This does not mean that, after a period of forgetfulness, Noah suddenly came to God’s mind. Rather, through all the devastation of the Flood, God was continuously mindful of Noah. Again, God’s particular providence was stressed. As rapidly as they had arisen, the waters abated, and the ark rested on the highest of the Ararat peaks, known as Massis to Armenians, but generally called Ararat (vv. 2-5). Some scholars, determined to make a naturalistic event of the Flood, see it as a local event because they reject the idea that it was God’s doing. The idea of a local flood has no support in the text, and its conclusion leaves God out of the picture when logically pursued. Those who reject such things as the Flood had better write themselves a new bible, because the old one is from beginning to end incompatible with their humanistic theologies. After the ark had rested on the mountain’s side for forty days, Noah sent out a raven, which simply flew back and forth until the waters dried up (vv. 6-7). There was enough debris on the face of the waters for the raven to rest on, and enough floating trees and logs with perhaps insects therein for the raven to feed. Also, the waters would be full of edible matter. Noah next sent forth a dove. The dove soon returned, and Noah waited another seven days (vv. 8-9). After a week, the dove was sent out again, and this time returned with an olive leaf in its beak. After another seven days, the dove was again released, this time to stay away permanently (vv. 10-12). No plants or trees had been included in the ark’s cargo. Enough of the trees would survive the Flood, and enough seeds of plants, to reseed and restock the earth. It was in the 601st year of Noah’s life, in the first month and the first day of the month, that Noah removed the great door and saw the earth dry and ready for the inhabitants of the ark (v. 13). A month and 26 days later, the earth was dry enough for the inhabitants to move freely (v. 14). Because the olive tree is

The Flood Ends (Genesis 8:1-22)

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not a high altitude tree, the dove, in bringing it to Noah, made him realize that the ground at lower altitudes was now producing life. A sprig of an olive branch in a dove’s mouth or beak has ever since been a symbol of peace and reconciliation. All this was a part of God’s providential purpose. Because God is God, there is nothing outside of Him and His will, so that every leaf and every drop of water comes from His ordination. In Lange’s words, “God’s dominion (is) as great as God himself.”1 The Flood remade the face of the earth, so that the geographical references prior to the Flood have little correlation to those that followed it. The continents, oceans, and mountains were altered by the gigantic eruptions and upheavals. The land below the ice, for example, in Siberia and Antarctica indicates a once semi-tropical climate. The environment was now more hostile, as was the weather, and man’s lifespan soon decreased. The fossil record points to a flood. As Morris said of evolutionary ideas, “Thus the theory of evolution is assumed in building up the geological column, and then the latter is taken as the main proof of the theory of evolution!”2 In vv. 15-20, we are told that God told Noah at this time to leave the ark and to release all the creatures that had been aboard the ark. These could all have been in a semi-hibernating condition; now they left the ark to spread out over the earth. Noah’s next step was to build an altar to make a sacrifice of every clean beast and fowl, of which he had brought in seven of each. These were burnt offerings. Burnt offerings mean complete surrender to God. Noah, having seen God’s complete judgment on an apostate world, now showed his gratitude for deliverance. His is a sacrifice to signify his readiness to submit completely to the will of God. His salvation was a great one, and his gratefulness was commensurate, as far as he could humanly manifest it. God found the sacrifice completely acceptable. It had been made without command by Noah. God’s decision is of especial interest. First, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake.” The reference is to the curse of the Flood. The curse of Genesis 3:17 remains, and only the new earth of Revelation 22:3 will see it removed. There will not again be a worldwide judgment like the Flood. Second, as the reason for this forbearance, God says of man, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” Man is a fallen creation, totally depraved in his natural condition in that every aspect of his being is governed by his will to be his own god and his own source of all law (Gen. 3:5). Now that man no longer has his earlier longevity, the scope of his sin and his evil imagination is diminished. 1. John 2.

Peter Lange, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), 306. Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Record (San Diego: Creation-Life Publishers, 1976), 213.

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Third, God’s subsequent judgments will not only never again be so total (before the end of history), but He will never again destroy every living thing, men, animals, etc., as He had just done. This expands the promise that He will not again curse the world as He had just done (v. 21). A fourth promise by God is that the seasons, the weather changes, and day and night “shall not cease” as long as “the earth remaineth” (v. 22). God’s judgment is followed by God’s mercy. God’s providence is both general and particular. Major events and trends are in His general providence, and, in His particular providence, the very hairs of our head are all numbered (Matt. 10:30). We are thus never alone. We must always remember the words of Moses: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them” (Deut. 33:27).

Chapter Nineteen Be Fruitful, and Multiply (Genesis 9:1-7) 1. And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. 6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. (Genesis 9:1-7) Noah is like another Adam now: man’s history begins anew in him and his family. Genesis 1:28-29 are echoed here. God establishes His covenant with Noah as the new head of the human race. He begins by blessing Noah. This means conferring good upon him, giving Noah God’s providential care. He is to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the earth (v. 1). Man will have a privileged place on earth: the animals will fear and dread man because God has given man a status which normally animals will be wary of challenging. This is something new, not mentioned prior to the Flood, although it could have existed then. We cannot push arguments from silence too far. God has given man charge over the world, including all animal life, which he shall use as God’s steward (v. 2). In v. 3, we have a much disputed text. Was man a vegetarian prior to this time, or is this again an argument from silence? If we insist on being overly literal, we can read v. 3 as permission to eat cats, dogs, pigs, etc. But the distinction between clean and unclean animals precedes the Fall, and the animals aboard the ark were in these two classes. The permission to eat vegetation did not include poisonous plants. In v. 4, we have the prohibition against eating blood. This is stated later in the law, as in Leviticus 17:10-14 and Deuteronomy 12:16, 23. The Hebrew word nephesh is translated into English as both life and soul. Verse 5 is a prohibition of murder. First, if an animal kills a man, it must be killed unless the man’s behavior was a cause of his death. In Exodus 21:28 we are told that animals that kill a man must be killed. If the animal is a clean animal, such as an ox, its flesh cannot be eaten.

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Second, if a man be killed, his killer must be executed. Capital punishment is here strongly required, as it is throughout the Bible. For shed blood, God will exact it of the whole culture. The general premise is, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (v. 6). This important statement, first, requires capital punishment for murder. It is a grim and ironic fact that God values human life far more than man does. He requires the execution of murderers. Second, the basis for this requirement is that man is made in the image of God, and murder is thereby especially an offense against God. An age that does not believe in God will not believe that man is made in God’s image. The vicious mass murderers of the twentieth century, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao Tse-tung, and others were not believers in creationism. Man was therefore to them an expendable animal. One of the illusions of the twentieth century held by many has been the idea that humane actions could exist without Christianity. With the Ten Commandments barred from state schools, the schools have been producing a generation of lawless youth. Murders have become commonplace. In v. 7, God says specifically to Noah and mankind, “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.” Those who believe in the myth of over-population find this requirement offensive. Nothing in the Bible hints that God ever felt that time would nullify the validity of this commandment. The perspective of the believers in over-population, from the days of Plato to the present, has been, first, a fear of life and fertility. Champions of this myth have, since World War II, been predicting massive starvation and death; some expected it by 1975! No matter how much events have disproved their hypothesis, they insist on retaining it, and the false prophets continue to be honored. Such people hate life and are afraid of uncontrolled life. Second, they believe that life is dangerous unless man is fully in control of it. It is no accident that the proponents of the myth of over-population are socialists and one-worlders. They cannot trust God, only socialist man. Uncontrolled man and uncontrolled fertility are to them like a mad dog on the loose. They passionately resent all who try to counter their myth. It would require them to have the humility to recognize that they are men, creatures, not God. Third, hating life and fertility, they hate God. They resent being told that the Providence of the Almighty governs all things. They believe in a total government by men, not by all men, but in the select few like themselves. They believe in predestination by man, elite men like themselves. The hatred of God governs much education, science, and government in our time. The hatred of God pretends to wisdom when it is stupidity and folly. Over the centuries, men have more than a few times believed that the world is over-populated, meaning thereby that there are too many people out there who refuse to be governed by self-styled elite leaders.

Be Fruitful, and Multiply (Genesis 9:1-7)

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Chapter Twenty The Covenant (Genesis 9:7-17) 7. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 8. And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9. And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10. And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. 11. And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. 12. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: 15. And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. (Genesis 9:7-17) Noah is addressed by God as a new Adam. He bears the disabilities created by Adam’s fall, sin, and death, but he marks a step forward towards the last Adam, Jesus Christ. As God had spoken to Adam in Genesis 1:26-28, so He speaks to Noah in Genesis 9:1, 7. He is to be fruitful and multiply, and to fill the earth. But God also, in vv. 1-7, speaks concerning the human-animal relationships. Man’s relationship to the animal creation is apparently a changed one. Henceforth, the fear, dread, and terror of man will mark the animals. Whatever vestige of Adam’s protective and custodial care remained after the Fall is now gone. The animals have left the ark, and their progeny will see man as an enemy. The world had changed. The animals that are clean will be food for man. The clean-unclean distinction is presupposed. Animals were used in sacrifices before the flood, and some sacrifices were consumed by the worshippers in every age. “Just like the green herb I have given all to you.” The fact that now the green herbs are mentioned 81

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does not mean that men did not eat them prior to their mention or before the Flood. The eating of blood is forbidden (Lev. 17:10, 11, 14, 19:26; Deut. 12:23). It is absurd to assume that this ban did not previously exist. God’s standards do not change, and men before the Flood were not primitive grunters to whom God could not explain such a fact. “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17:11), and to eat blood is to try to seize life. Diverse cultures all over the world have associated blood with life and potency and have eaten blood to gain power.1 Diet from the beginning of history has been a religious matter. Since food sustains life, the maintenance and furtherance of life, food, becomes a religious concern. Not only the eating of blood but its shedding must be governed by God’s law. The shedding of man’s blood by animals must be punished by the death of the animal. In God’s law given through Moses, this is found in Exodus 21:28-32. The shedding of man’s blood by man requires the death penalty if it be murder and not self-defense. The general premise is, “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (v. 5). The foundation of civil government rests in this fact, the protection of life and the punishment of those who violate God’s law. If civil government does not serve God’s purpose, it will work against God. There is no other alternative, no neutral ground. Then, in vv. 8-17, God re-establishes His covenant with man and gives to man the rainbow to indicate that there will be no repetition of the Flood. Almost nothing has been written about rainbows, although stories about them are common to many cultures. The rainbow was given as a blessing to mankind, to the animals, and to the earth. It is a blessing, a sign of grace and peace. Besides being a beautiful sight, it should be a religious reminder of God’s grace to us, and of His covenant. A covenant can be between equals with an agreed upon law, because a covenant is a treaty of law. However, a covenant between unequals, as here between God the Creator and man His creature, is still a law treaty, but it is an act of grace also whereby the greater partner blesses the lesser. God’s covenant is thus at one and the same time both law and grace. For Him to deign to give us His law is an act of grace whereby we become not only His Kingdom and people but also His Household, the royal family. Verses 8-12 tell us that the covenant is with Noah and all his posterity to the end of time. It is also with every kind of animal that was with Noah in the ark. It is a covenant with total coverage whereby God declares that man and the earth 1. H. Wheeler Robinson, “Blood,” in James Hastings, editor, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. II (Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark, (1909) 1939), 714-719.

The Covenant (Genesis 9:7-17)

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and its animals are now within God’s covenant. Man can thus only be a covenant-keeper or a covenant-breaker: there is no realm of neutrality. Whatever future judgments against covenant-breakers there may be, these will not include a total judgment like the Flood until the world’s end (v. 12). This covenant is with all to the end of time, and the token of God’s covenant between God and “the earth” (v. 13) is the rainbow (v. 14). Men may forget, or they may come to regard the rainbow as “another natural fact,” forgetting that all natural facts are God-created, but God will not forget the meaning of the rainbow (vv. 15-16). God told Noah that the rainbow was a token of the covenant, but men are too “wise” now to believe God said so. This fault on man’s part invalidates nothing. Noah’s world is God’s world. It is the only real world, although modern man prefers his imaginary realms, as did the men before the Flood. The Flood will not be repeated, but history is a series of judgments culminating in the Last Judgment. In vv. 1-7, the law of the covenant is given in summary fashion: the Lord of this covenant of grace can expand the law because its every jot and tittle is an act of grace, until the King arrives to put the covenant fully into force with His own blood. In Romans 8:19-23, we have a reference to the animal creation in God’s covenant, waiting for the manifestation of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Since they are included in the covenant promises, they look forward to their deliverance. Animals were to be held responsible for their actions, as Genesis 9:5 makes clear, and Exodus 21:28-32 gives us this law more specifically. Calvin, in his commentary on Romans 8:19-23, recognized, while stating that idle speculation is wrong, that animals have a place in the new creation.

Chapter Twenty-One The Curse of Canaan (Genesis 9:18-29) 18. And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan. 19. These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20. And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21. And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 28. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. 29. And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. (Genesis 9:18-29) Verses 18 and 19 are almost an introduction to Noah and his sons. Because there is now a different world, we are reminded of the men who peopled it: they are survivors of the old world, and they carry its genetic taint, original sin, the will to be one’s own god. The focus of this text is not on Noah’s drunkenness. Too many commentators and preachers center their attention on that fact rather than on Ham’s attitude. Taking the fact of Noah’s drunkenness at its worst, it is indicative of people’s standards that a son’s contempt for his father is seen as less serious than a man’s intoxicated condition. A man’s single episode of drunkenness affects his life for part of a day; the contempt for a parent warps a person’s entire life. Noah became a farmer, and he planted a vineyard (v. 20). He may have planted orchards as well, but the narrative’s concern was and is the vineyard. Noah made wine, and the wine made him drunk, and he lay naked within his tent. Some scholars have held that Noah did not know of the character of fermentation and therefore was not aware that the wine would make him drunk. On the other hand, the semi-tropical conditions before the Flood would have made wine-making likely. We do not know; moreover, the purpose of the narrative 85

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is not to make us hostile to wine, or censorious at Noah’s drinking to excess. It is a serious misinterpretation to say so. In v. 22, we see the focus: Ham saw his father’s drunken, naked condition, and he reported it to his brothers, evidently with satisfaction. Where Noah’s wife and others were at the time, we do not know. We do know that Shem and Japheth immediately took a garment, walked backwards, and, on seeing Noah’s head or feet, covered him at once (v. 21). When Noah awoke, he knew what had happened, and what his “younger,” or, more correctly, youngest son had done. Verses 25-27 have an important history; they have been used to justify black slavery, to indict the Bible as a racist book, and to attack Christianity as a religion of racial supremacy. The meaning of these verses is usually overlooked, and the relevance to our time is overlooked. First of all, Ham, the guilty party, is not even mentioned. This fact is very important. The curse has a future reference, and one that is valid always, so that to limit its scope is an error. Second, the curse is on Canaan, Ham’s son: “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren” (v. 25). Ham’s punishment is that he will be punished in one of his sons; as a bad son, he received as judgment a bad son. Third, because the family is God’s basic institution, the severe judgment for dishonoring a parent comes through the family. This cannot be held to be always true. No sin on Noah’s part merited a Ham; this episode was an aspect of a fallen world full of sin on all sides. The judgment of Ham was to have a son like himself. The family is the area of the most painful conflicts because of sin, but is also the area of the richest blessings of grace. Fourth, Noah says, “God shall enlarge Japheth” (v. 27). The descendants of Japheth became rulers and conquerors. This blessing is for his faithfulness in honoring his father. Fifth, Japheth “shall dwell in the tents of Shem” (v. 27). The messianic line of Shem shall provide the true faith for the descendants of Japheth. “The tents of Shem” represent the heritage of the true faith. The strength of Japheth will thus be the faith. Sixth, “and Canaan shall be his servant” (v. 27). The rise and fall of men and nations will be in terms of the faith. The Canaanites of history, of whatever race they may be, will end up as the servants of God’s people. Whatever their race or color, the Canaanites, whatever their ancestry, are the enemies of the family and of God’s law. Today, both Western “white” culture and “black” culture are Canaanite in character, and, barring repentance and change, their heritage will be enslavement. Men pass from slavery to sin into slavery to men. This curse thus is valid for all time, and certainly in our era.

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In vv. 28f., we are told that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood, for a total of 950 years. The sin of Adam was a contempt for God’s authority and a desire to be his own god and law. Ham’s contempt for his father was likewise a contempt for authority. Noah’s drunkenness simply gave Ham the opportunity to show his contempt openly. The goal of many in every era is to find some pretext whereby they can vindicate their contempt for men in authority. Their justification for themselves consists in calling attention to the real or imaginary sins of others. They are especially full of malice towards those superior to them. The validity of this curse for all time rests in this fact of the continuing hostility of fallen man for all authorities, God Himself first of all, and all Godordained authorities. The world after the Flood is marked by this curse, because the whole human order, to have any progress, must have godly authority.

Chapter Twenty-Two The Warfare Renewed (Genesis 10:1-14) 1. Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood. 2. The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. 3. And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. 4. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. 6. And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7. And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12. And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 13. And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14. And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim. (Genesis 10-:1-14) Chapters like this are favored by scholars because they are a gold mine of information about ancient peoples. We are told, for example, of Resen, located between Nineveh and Calnah, that it is the chief city of that realm. The place is unknown to us. James R. Davila has listed the possibilities, none of which are satisfactory.1 Names like this in the various tables have been a fertile source of information at times for archeological research. Many are useful in correlating a variety of scraps of information. We are told that Noah’s sons did not become parents until after the Flood. We are further told by 1 Peter 3:20 that there were only eight persons on the ark, Noah and his three sons, and their wives. In v. 2, the first son of Japheth is Gomer, whose descendants were the Cimmerians. The Cimmerians were an Indo-European nomadic people. They were for some centuries in the Caucasus mountains. They attacked Urartu, the kingdom of Ararat, during the reign of Rousas I (734-714 B.C.), and again in 707 B.C., at which time they went through Urartu into what is now eastern Turkey. After wars with Assyria, they moved into central Anatolia. In c. 676 B.C. they 1. James R. Davila, “Resen,” in David Noel Freedman, editor and chief, The Anchor Bible Dictionary, vol. 5 (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 678.

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destroyed Phrygia, and King Midas of Mrygra committed suicide. Assyria may have finally destroyed their independence, with the survivors apparently settling in Cappadocia.2 The next son of Japheth is Magog. The Magog peoples are associated with the north. It is possible that Magog means the place of Gog. Josephus identified them with the Scythians, and Jerome with the Goths.3 Madai, another of Japheth’s sons, again was the head of an Indo-European people whom we know best as the Medes of Persia. Madai, pronounced Maday, became absorbed into Persia by Cyrus.4 The fourth of Japheth’s seven sons was Javan, an ancestor of a maritime people in Aegean and eastern Mediterranean seas. These people are referred to in Ezekiel 27:13, 19 and Isaiah 66:19. Baker identified Javan with Ionia, and the name later identified all of Greece. Daniel 8:21, 10:20; 11:2 also refer to this group.5 Tubal’s descendants were located to the north of Israel in northern Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece. There are references to them by the prophets (Ezek. 27:13; 32:26; this last reference is to a terroristic people). (See also Ezek. 38:2; 39:1).6 Meshech is usually described as a non-Semitic people also, and it is referred to in Ezekiel 27:13; 1 Kings 7:13f.; Ezekiel 32:17-32; 38:14-16; 39:3. Their location was Cappadocia according to Herodotus and Josephus. Herodotus sees them as Phrygians.7 The last of Japheth’s seven sons is Tiras, a name less known to us. He appears also in the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 1:5, but there is no other mention of him in the Bible.8 In v. 3, we have the sons of Gomer listed. Ashkenaz is referred to in Jeremiah 51:27 as one of the kingdoms, together with Ararat (or, Urartu) and Minni, summoned to oppose Babylon. They were, in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., located between the Black and Caspian Seas. Apparently they were also known as Scythians, and, as such, left their marks in great areas of central Asia and as far northwest as Scotland. 9 Riphath is cited in 1 Chronicles 1:6 as Diphath. The descendants of Riphath were a nation in north central Asia Minor. The Riphian Mountains gain their name from him, and Josephus (Antiq. 1:6:1) refers to him.10 2. John D. Wineland, “Cimmerians,” in Freedman, vol. 1, 3. David W. Baker, “Magog,” in Freedman, vol. 4, 47. 4. David W. Baker, “Madai,” in Freedman, vol. 4, 462. 5. David W. Baker, “Javan,” in Freedman, vol. 3, 650. 6. David W. Baker, “Tubal,” in Freedman, vol. 6, 670. 7. David W. Baker, “Meshech,” in Freedman, vol. 4, 711. 8. David W. Baker, “Tiras,” in Freedman, vol. 6, 571f. 9.

1025.

Francis William Buckler, “In Anthropological Approach to the Origins of Protestantism,” in Vergilius Ferm, editor, The Protestant Credo (New York: Philosophical Library, 1953), 147; Richard S. Hess, “Ashkenaz,” in Freedman, op. cit., vol. I, 490; Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 122.

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Togarmah is referred to as a people in Ezekiel 27:14; neo-Assyrian and Hittite sources refer to them.11 The four sons of Javan are next cited, beginning with Elishah (v. 4). He is referred to in Ezekiel 27:7. An island realm, the center of the Alashia was Cyprus. These people were known for their colored fabrics, and as exporters of copper.12 Next is Tarshish, v. 4, people associated with various areas of the Mediterranean by Baker, and with Sardinia by Stigers because of inscriptional evidence. They were a sea-faring people, and sea trade is the context of references to them, as in 1 Kings 10:22 and 2 Chronicles 9:21. Among the references to them are 1 Kings 9:26f., 1 Kings 22:48; Psalm 48:8, 2 Chronicles 20:36f., Ezekiel 27:25; Isaiah 23:1, 14; 2:16; 60:9.13 Kittim, v. 4, was a city state, now known as Canarka. Kittim refers also to a seacoast place, Chittim in Numbers 24:24 (cf. Dan. 11:30). Kittim was on the south-central coast of Cyprus. There are references to it in Isaiah 23:1 and Ezekiel 27:6. The name came to refer also to Greece.14 Dodanim (v. 4) headed a later ethnic group identified by Stigers with Rhodes and its neighboring island, but Hess is not certain of the proper location.15 In v. 6, the sons of Ham, four in number, are listed. Stigers traces the ancient Kishites of Mesopotamia to Cush because the cities of Nimrod, his son, are located there.16 It is significant that Ham’s descendants were apparently prominent in the renewed war against God. Mizraim (v. 6) is Egypt, both upper and lower, and it means “two Egypts.”17 The name Mizraim is still in use in Egypt as a name for the land. Phut (v. 6) or Put is given no place in the genealogy, so that his descendants are unnamed. There are references to them in the Bible: in Jeremiah 46:9, “the Libyans” are in the Hebrew Put, as in Ezekiel 38:5 it is in the English as Libya.18 Canaan (v. 6) is the last of Ham’s sons. He is the one on whom Noah’s curse rests. The history of the Canaanites has not been properly written, nor their depravity honestly described. They were peoples upon whom God’s judgment rested, but His amazing patience led to a deferment of judgment for generations (Genesis 15:16). If judgment followed automatically after sin, men would have no freedom. But God requires that men bring immediate judgment upon sin in order that men may recognize what constitutes order in a society. Our failures 10. Stigers, 122f. 11. Stigers, 123; David W. Baker, “Togormah,” in Freedman, op. cit; vol. 12. Stigers, vol. 2, 473. 13. David W. Baker, “Tarshish,” in Freedman, vol. 6, 93. 14. David W. Baker, “Kittim,” in Freedman, vol. 4, 93. 15. Stigers, 123; Richard S. Hess, “Dodanim,” in Freedman, vol. 2, 219. 16. Stigers, 124. 17. Ibid., 125. 18.

David W. Baker, “Put,” in Freedman, vol. 5, 560.

3, p. 594f.

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to enforce God’s law bring the judgment of lawlessness upon us, and, finally, God’s radical condemnation. The patience of God with evil-doers is an aspect of His amazing patience with those who claim to be His people and yet despise His law. In v. 7, we have a selective genealogy again, in that the sons of Cush listed are Seba, Havilah, and Sabtah, also Raamah and Sabtechah. Then two sons of Raamah are listed, Sheba and Dedan. Seba was the head of a people located either in the southern part of Arabia or in Ethiopia. Both areas may have been Sabean at one time.19 Havilah is still the name, in slightly different form, of two tribal groups in the Yemen who are known as the Havilan.20 Sabtah’s descendants were in Arabia or Ethiopia and held power in an area important as a trade route.21 Sabtechah, or Sabteca, fathered a people located either in south Arabia or Ethiopia, or both. Their power was their location on the ancient trade route. The name of Sabteca appears in the Ethiopian dynasty that ruled in Egypt.22 The sons of Raamah are Sheba and Dedan. In Ezekiel 27:22, Raamah and Sheba are partners in commerce with Tyre. More precise information on Raamah is lacking.23 There are varying identifications for Sheba.24 There is confusion with regard to Dedan, because Abraham and Keturah had grandsons named Sheba and Dedan (Gen. 25:3). Dedan was the name of an important commercial center. It is referred to in Isaiah 21:13 and Ezekiel 38:13.25 Before continuing with the account about Nimrod, it is necessary to consider the genealogy a bit more. Scripture gives much space to the family; God’s law stresses the family as an institution and as a law center. God Himself uses the family to typify the church (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19); He Himself is the Father, and the second person of the Trinity is the Son. The Messiah comes through a family, and the imagery of the family is basic to the Bible. Not all the names mentioned in vv. 1-7 are given space beyond mention. The sons of some are not cited at all, although some of the evil descendants are listed simply because their future, in an evil way, was part of the history of redemption. The family histories are given to indicate the importance of family and inheritance, but, at the same time, we see in Genesis a disregard for priorities of blood in favor of grace. Esau is set aside for Jacob, even as earlier Ishmael was replaced by Isaac. Joseph and Judah took priority over Reuben because the natural, however important, can never replace the order of grace.

19. W.W. Muller, “Siba,” in Freedman, vol. 4, 1064. 20. W.W. Muller, “Havilah,” in Freedman, vol. 3, 81. 21. W.W. Muller, “Sabtah,” in Freedman, vol. 5, 861f. 22. W.W. Muller, “Sabteca,” in Freedman, vol. 5, 862f. 23. W.W. Muller, “Raamah,” in Freedman, vol. 5, 597. 24. David Salter Williams, “Sheba,” in Freedman, vol. 5, 25.

1170. David F. Gref, “Dedan,” in Freedman, vol. 2, 121-123.

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In v. 5, we are told that the sons of Japheth in the early centuries took possession of the islands of the Mediterranean Sea. This is an historical note concerning families, islands, languages, and nationalities. There is no excuse for an unconcern with history and philology and related subjects. The Bible routinely calls our attention to such matters. There is no Biblical foundation for the “spiritual” religion which despises scholarship and learning. In vv. 8-12, we are told of Nimrod and his heir, Asshur. Nimrod is described as “a mighty one on the earth” and as “a mighty hunter before the LORD.” There are disagreements about the meaning of these expressions and of Nimrod’s name. “Mighty hunter” can be rendered “tyrant,” and Nimrod means “rebel,” or “let us revolt.” His revolt was against God. He was not a hunter of animals but of men.26 He established a kingdom consisting of four city-states, Accad, Babel, Erech, and Calneh. He then went into Assyria to build Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen. Tyranny, rule without God and radical hostility to God, had thus an early start. Its origin was the line of Ham, whose grandson Nimrod was. In v. 13, the sons of Mizraim are listed: Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, also Pathrusun, Casluhim, the father of the Philistines, and Caphtorim. Ludim is mentioned in the prophets, in Isaiah 66:19 and Ezekiel 27:10. The Libahim are probably Lybians. The Pathrusim were the people of Upper Egypt. The Caphtorim are the people of Crete. The anti-God temper looms large over Noah’s time, but however much, age after age, this warfare persists and grows, the Kingdom of God grows even more: it persists and increases because God is God, and only His purpose can prevail. The Bible gives us an account of the growth of the Kingdom of Evil, the kingdom of man. It is the development of the meaning of the Fall (Gen. 3:5). It is also the development of death. As Proverbs 8:36 declares, “But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” The suicidal nature of the rejection of God must be recognized if we are to understand the Bible. As against this, the Kingdom of God develops its meaning as life, life in Christ and under the triune God. To war against God is to war against life.

26. Stigers, 125; H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Columbus, Ohio: Wartburg Press, 1942), 366.

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Chapter Twenty-Three Canaan’s Line (Genesis 10:15-20) 15. And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16. And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17. And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18. And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha. 20. These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations. (Genesis 10:15-20) There are some very interesting things in these verses. First, Canaan’s descendants are curiously listed. Two sons are cited, Sidon and Heth. Heth is the father of the Hittite nation. Apparently the peoples who follow, e.g., the Jebusites, descended from Jebus, the Amorites from Amor, etc., represent descendants from other sons of Canaan. At this point, the author of this section of Genesis, a family record, decided that more notice of Canaan’s sons was unnecessary. We are simply informed of the nations that they founded. Second, in v. 19, the cities of the plains, notably Sodom and Gomorrah, had not yet been destroyed when this verse was written. Their destruction later was one aspect of the curse on Canaan. As it stands, this verse was obviously written well before those cities were obliterated by God’s judgment. We are reading a contemporary account, and this gives us an idea of the antiquity of the text. Third, this account was written after the Tower of Babel, because it was at that time that the confusion of tongues took place. Our text refers to the various “tongues” of the descendants of Ham and Canaan. The scattering, and the confusion, was an added factor leading to a family record. We forget, in our somewhat rootless cultures, how important the remembrance of family members is to many peoples. I recall someone from Syria telling me of his home valley having been settled by his family from Benjamin in the first century A.D. Given my own background, his statement was commonplace to me. Fourth, Charles T. Fritsch, who called this “one of the most interesting chapters in Genesis,” has cited its theological importance. The promise of Genesis 9:1, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,” is here shown to be in process. All nations came from one origin, Adam and Noah. The nations are many, but the messianic line is single, and the prophetic line is close to that of the promised seed.1 1.

Charles T. Fritsch, The Layman’s Bible Commentary, vol. 1, Genesis (Atlanta, Georgia: John Knox Press, 1959, 1976), 48.

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Fifth, this chapter is “unparalleled among ancient documents for its accurate description and broad understanding of the geography, history, and culture of the world of that time.”2 Sixth, God blessed for a time even the line of Canaan. Sidon became a powerful seafaring state. The Hittites had an empire in Asia Minor as well as settlements in Palestine. Their empire was a great power of antiquity, as excavation has made very clear. All the sons of Canaan had time and occasion to alter their ways, but they did not. Seventh, in v. 19, Admah and Zeboim (or Zeboam) are mentioned, and they appear also in Genesis 14:2 and 8, Deuteronomy 29:23, and Hosea 11:8. Deuteronomy 29:23 refers to their destruction together with Sodom and Gomorrah. Hosea 11:8 reminds Israel of the destruction of Admah and Zeboim at the same time as Sodom and Gomorrah. God asks, “How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim?” Like the cities of the plain, Israel deserves judgment. But Lasha is totally unknown to us apart from Genesis 10:19. Eighth, some of the peoples here classed as Hamitic spoke Semitic languages. As Howard F. Vos noted, “That fact presents no real problem, because language is not necessarily an indication of nationality.” 3 Ninth, Shem and Japheth are mentioned only once after this chapter, in 1 Chronicles 1. It is Canaan that is concentrated on, because it is from Canaan’s descendants that the Promised Land must be taken. History is a long warfare between good and evil, and it is the evil which the Godly must confront that we face again and again in Genesis. Tenth, this is an ethnological table, not a genealogical one, i.e., it is concerned with the origins of various peoples rather than with individuals. The concern at this point is with the origins of the nations, not the history of families. The grouping by families in this chapter is to relate them to Noah and Ham, not to stress their personal histories. Eleventh, Genesis 10:6-14 gives us the descendants of Ham exclusive of Canaan’s progeny. Ham’s other three sons quickly became notable, particularly Cush’s sons, in that Nimrod was his son. With Nimrod, organized tyranny and hostility to God again made its appearance. Sin was not a unique attribute of Ham’s descendants: it was common to all fallen men. Some of Ham’s descendants made a virtue of sin, and a way of life. We have today, as in every era of decadence, a resurgence of the will to evil, the determination to turn sin into a moral good. Twelfth, this table is of great interest to scholars because it is a very valuable source of information. At the same time, it is becoming bypassed because the modern perspective is to classify peoples in terms of their languages rather than 2. Ibid., 3.

p. 48f. Howard F. Vos, Genesis (Chicago: Moody Press, 1982), 53.

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their origins, or by races, a concept rejected by many. Whether or not the information is valid is discounted in terms of linguistic groupings. It is possible that we lack the knowledge and the competence to classify peoples in terms of origins, or even races, if that term is accepted. Our limited knowledge does not invalidate the fact of origins.

Chapter Twenty-Four The Unity of Mankind (Genesis 10:21-32) 21. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born. 22. The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. 23. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. 26. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27. And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28. And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 29. And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 30. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31. These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:21-32) Our text begins by defining Shem as the father of all the descendants of Eber, or the Hebrew. In Hebrew, Eber and Hebrew are the same. The name means from the opposite side, i.e., the man who comes from across the river, or, from the east (v. 21). The children of Shem are given in v. 22. Elam was the father of the Elamites, a people once the greatest power in Western Asia, so that Shem’s sons, beginning with the oldest, created powerful nations. Asshur was the father of the Assyrians, the most powerful of the Semitic nations. Arphaxad was the father of the Chaldeans. Lud was the father of the Lydeans of Asia Minor, and Aram, of the Arameans of Syria and Mesopotamia. In v. 23, we have the sons of Aram, four in number. In this section we are not given all the names of descendants for reasons not stated. The cause cannot be lack of importance, but simply God’s sovereign decision to pass them by. Aram thus is bypassed, not because of his unimportance to history but because God so determined it. In v. 24, Arphaxad’s son Salah is alone cited because he was the father of Eber. Verse 25 tells us of Eber’s two sons, Peleg and Joktan. Then, curiously, Joktan’s descendants are cited in vv. 26-30, and their location. Peleg’s descendants are listed in Genesis 11:16-29, an important line which culminates in Abraham. Verse 21 identified Shem as Japheth’s older brother, the eldest of the three brothers. His progeny is listed after Ham and Japheth because the rest 99

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of Genesis, except for Genesis 11:1-9, the story of the Tower of Babel, will concentrate on Shem’s descendants. Because families are the foundation of human society, the Bible stresses family history. In Basil F.C. Atkinson’s words, “As the generations pass on, families may become nations, but the family still remains the basis of all healthy human life.”1 The final society in God’s purpose will be a single universal family in Christ. The divisions in mankind must be seen as products of man’s separation from God.2 Peleg is the name of central interest in this genealogy. His name means division, because it was in his time that the nations and peoples were divided. Obviously, this has reference to the confusion of tongues and the scattering of peoples who sought to build the Tower of Babel. We do not know why the ‘dating’ of the event is tied to Peleg. It could be that Peleg, more than other contemporaries, was used by God to condemn that one-world dream. We do not know anything but this: God ties that disaster to Peleg’s lifetime. Peleg was Shem’s great-greatgreat-grandson. The line was from Noah, to Shem, to Arphaxad, to Salah, to Eber, to Peleg. The reference to Peleg makes clear that what we read here is a prelude to the Tower of Babel, a one-world dream of humanistic man. The tempter’s plan in Genesis 3:5, every man as his own god and as his own determiner of good and evil, is never relinquished nor abated. It is as intensely in evidence at Babel as today, and it is the same plan; God is to be replaced by man. The dispersion and the confounding of this one-world dream was the work of God, not of man, nor the work of the man Peleg. It is mainly dated by his lifetime. We see the evil working passionately and intensely to realize their dream, and the Godly ones apparently indifferent to the threat. But God divided up the peoples, and by His providence ordained that a man in the line of Shem be named (or renamed) in terms of this event. The confusion of the peoples was not the doing of man, but of God. The anti-God forces, with every man seeking to be his own god, have confusion inherent in their being. What God did at the Tower of Babel all sinners regularly do to themselves and their anti-God goals. Division is inherent to their dream of radical union, because sin is always divisive. Atkinson was correct in seeing the family as basic to human life, but it is only the Godly family that is efficacious. The fallen man’s family does not unite except by coercion. In v. 32, we are told emphatically that all the families and nations are descended from Noah and his three sons. Attempts by some to find some other origin for the races they see as evil are anti-Scriptural and racist. Their popularity is morally wrong because they lead directly to doctrines of salvation by race 1. Basil 2.

F.C. Atkinson, The Book of Genesis (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Press, 1957), 106. Ibid., 107.

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instead of grace. These ideas appear often in pseudo-Biblical guise but they are in essence emphatically anti-Biblical. The Bible is clear: all mankind is descended from Adam through Noah and his three sons. Any other doctrine is evil and rubbish. Mankind is one in origin; its division into good and evil is in terms of the triune God.

Chapter Twenty-Five The Society of Satan (Genesis 11:1-9) 1. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis11:1-9) Man is inescapably religious. He may deny God, but all the categories of his life remain religious, and all are categories borrowed from the triune God. Since the only world man lives in is the world God created, his thinking even in apostasy is inevitably conditioned and governed by a God-given framework. Men may deny God’s sovereignty, but they cannot stop believing in sovereignty; they merely transfer it to man or to the State. Total law and planning, i.e., predestination, is inescapable; denied to God, it is simply transferred to the scientific socialist State, which predestines or totally governs and plans all things. If deity be denied to the God of Scripture, it merely reappears in man or the State. And if the church ceases proclaiming the Gospel, then religion does not perish; it reappears as politics or economics, and salvation continues to be offered to inescapably religious man. Salvation is a necessity of man’s being, and the goal of salvation is new life and freedom. If salvation be not accepted in God through Christ, then it is accepted in man, or in an order of man such as the State. From the beginning of history, God instituted a Holy Society, a City of God, indicating its foundations in the institution of sacrifice, by calling the line of Seth, Noah, Shem, and Abraham, instituting the law of Moses, and confirming the Covenant in Christ. But another Society has been in history from the beginning also, the Society of Satan, whose foundation was stated by the tempter to Eve, manifested in the 103

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Fall, proclaimed at Babel, continuing long as mankind’s secret church and increasingly manifested openly. Let us examine two important passages of Scripture with reference to this Society. Genesis 3:7-17, in its main outlines, is simplicity itself. Confronted by God, Adam and Eve seek refuge in a feeble covering for their guilt and shame. The Hebrew word for cover, kaphar, is also the word for atonement. Atonement is thus a covering for sin, and it can be an evasive covering or the covering provided by God; it can be self-righteousness, or the righteousness of God in Christ. Man constantly seeks a covering for his guilt and shame in institutional facades, and one of the most popular of hiding places from God is the institutional church. Cultural anthropologists have divided societies in terms of guilt and shame cultures, and with reason. We can add that man seeks in institutional structures an “apron” or covering for his sin, and the deeper the guilt and shame the greater the structural development. Atonement as basic to institutional and especially civil structures is an important fact of man’s history. Citizenship was once a religious act, and politics rested on atonement. The Greek polis was a religious entity, and modern politics has no less a religious frame of reference in that it is still concerned with neutralizing sin and evil by means of institutional structures. Sinful men, united by the State, are expected to create a good society, i.e., a good omelet out of bad eggs. The United Nations, that modern Tower of Babel, is the epitome of this faith. Man’s basic and original sin is “to be as God, knowing good and evil.” “Knowing” here has the force of determining, establishing, so that man’s essential sin is to attempt to play God and to legislate creatively and substantively on the nature of morality in terms of his own godhead. Man, seeking to be God, became less the man. Adam’s response to God’s question is to evade responsibility: It is the woman’s fault. He says in effect: Poor, innocent man that I am, how could I resist the woman’s wiles? In my innocence, I have been led astray. More than that, the fault is Yours, God, for giving me the woman: “The woman Thou gavest me.” Had You not given her, I would not have sinned. Eve is no less evasive of responsibility: Poor innocent woman that I am, how could I withstand the serpent’s guile? Not for all the world would she deliberately have done wrong: the guilt lies elsewhere. Guilt is thus transferred. It is projected on the environment, made part of the ultimate frame of things, passed on to others, evaded by transference and projection. Guilt is denied to the individual in the name of social and natural forces. Concretely, juvenile delinquency is blamed on the parents, the home, or the environment, and it is commonplace for judges with a smattering of psychiatry and welfare theory at their command to excoriate already burdened parents with

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a fearful burden of misplaced guilt. Again, crime is blamed on the environment, on heredity, on any number of natural and social forces, so that, as Henry Miller has put it, punishment is criminal. The guilt is society’s, and especially, somehow, the non-criminal’s, for having fostered this tragic chain of reactions we call crime. Let the “good men” pay the price, therefore, and let the havenations pay off the have-nots for the affront of their success and affluence. Our foreign aid program is premised on an anti-Christian theology in which failure is rewarded and success penalized. Its essence is hostile to missions and charity, which speak of mercy and offer regeneration on the assumption that a Godly reordering is required. The Negro problem gives us a similar picture. The Christian cannot consistently believe in either racism or equality. God has made of one blood all nations, we are clearly told, and all are descendants of Adam. On the other hand, equality is a non-Biblical concept, imported from mathematics into human relationships, where both equality and inequality are inappropriate concepts. The Biblical concept is Calling, and in orientation it is not democratic but divisive. Dewey was right, in a Common Faith, in calling Christianity’s basic division between Heaven and hell, saved and lost, sheep and goats, antidemocratic. “I cannot understand how any realization of the democratic ideal as a vital moral and spiritual ideal in human affairs is possible without surrender of the conception of the basic division to which supernatural Christianity is committed.” The implication of Dewey’s position is clear-cut: Grading by God or man is anti-democratic. Moral and spiritual distinctions are by nature aristocratic. Exactly so. Our faith is clearly anti-democratic and holds to an aristocracy, not of works, nor of blood inheritance, but of Grace. And, instead of a transference of guilt, it is the essence of Biblical Faith to confess it, declaring with David that sin is primarily and essentially an offense against God: “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in Thy sight.” Since every fact is a created fact, then every fact is a God-given factuality, a totally personal universe. The Society or City of God is thus marked by a radically different approach to every fact in all creation. Another society was offered to man and introduced into history by the Fall, a society again proffered to man in its fullness by Satan in the Wilderness Temptation of Christ. What is the nature of this Society of Satan? First, it is held that man is not guilty of his sin, not responsible for his lawlessness, for the sources of his guilt are not personal but social and natural. In the ultimate sense, the guilt is God’s, for having dared to create so difficult a cosmos, and God, as well as God’s people, must be made to pay for this cosmic insolence. Second, a society is demanded in which it is unnecessary for man to be good. Everything is to be provided so that man might attain true blessedness, a problem-free life. The Beatitudes, in pronouncing a blessing on suffering, persecution, tears, and trials for Christ’s sake, are thus the epitome of perversion.

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A good God must make it unnecessary for men to be good, and, having failed to do so, the good State, the true welfare state, must now make it unnecessary for man to be tested, unnecessary for man to be good. Man has all rights and no responsibilities. The duties are God’s, Who has failed in His duty to man. Third, a society is demanded in which it is impossible for men to be bad. This is the logical concomitant of the second demand. It is a demand that there be no testing. How cruel of God to test Adam and to test us. The world must be trouble-free and test-free. The goal of most politics and sociology is to provide us with such a world. Is anyone bad? Let this fact be concealed from him, and the world be so ordered that self-knowledge never comes out. And, because every man is god in his own eyes, and god in terms of this sociology of Satan, then every man must be preserved from any testing that might shatter this illusion. Let politics and social planning operate on the premise of human omnipotence. Thus there are no insoluble problems: man shall conquer all things, the cosmos and death included. Let no testing shatter his delusions of grandeur. Fourth, a society is demanded in which it is impossible for men to fail. There must be no failure in Heaven or on earth. All men must be saved, all students must pass, all men are employable, all men are entitled to all rights. As Satan stated it baldly in the wilderness, giving in short form the program for the “good” State, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Make it unnecessary for man to work, unnecessary for man to be good, impossible for man to be bad. Provide man with such a cushion of social planning, the tempter asserted, that man might neither hunger not thirst, work or suffer, believe or disbelieve, succeed or fail, be good or evil. Let his every need be met and his world be ordered in terms of his wishes. Let it be a trouble-free world, cradle-to-grave security; let there be no failure. No failure is tolerable, and none is recognized, save one, God’s, for having dared to create a world in which we can suffer for our sins, in which we can be tried and tested, in which we can be good or evil, in which we can and must be men. Let us through communism, socialism, or our welfare states construct a world better than God’s, a world in which failure is impossible and man is beyond good and evil. The result of Adam’s fall was thus the birth of sociology, of religions and politics, which seek to create this Society of Satan, the City of Man. Against all this, the truth remains that man is created in the image of God, has fallen, is a sinner, and can never escape the fact except by means of regeneration and sanctification in Jesus Christ, except by becoming a member of Him and of His new humanity, a new, responsible man, a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In whose image are we trying to remake ourselves, our children, and our society? In God’s image through Jesus Christ? Or in the image of man as proposed by Satan?

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Chapter Twenty-Six The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) 1. And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9) At this time, all men spoke a common tongue, so that mankind had an easy unity in speech. This, however, was not enough for them. They sought an even closer unity against God (vv. 1,4). God’s name and His person are not mentioned even obliquely. All the same, men’s thinking was anti-God. The Death of God school of thought of the early 1970s did not say that God was actually dead, but merely that He was dead for them because they refused to acknowledge His existence as relevant for them. So too with mankind at this point: God was to be ignored and an order built apart from Him. Men settled in Shinar, later known as Mesopotamia. At that time, the climate was less dry and more adapted to a variety of uses. They had pitch there in abundance, and the materials for bricks. This area later became Babylonia. “Go to” in vv. 4 and 7 means “Come,” i.e., let us unite in this venture, which they did. The objects of construction were two, a city and a tower. The tower in question is a ziggurat, a stepped pyramid. Each successive story is recessed, so that a ziggurat begun on a base of some acres ascends to a considerable height. The top floor is then a smaller area, one used at times for astronomical and astrological purposes, and also as the center for the rulers of the highest degree. Freemasonry has deliberately aped the Babel ideas to create successively higher degrees of membership in the lodge.

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There is a difference with respect to the meaning of the word Babel. The Bible tells us (v. 9) that it means confusion, whereas in ancient Akkadian it means “gate of god, bab-ilu.” The tower meant one thing to God, another to men seeking to be their own god in terms of Genesis 3:5. Men decided to build “a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” (v. 4). This idiom does not mean a literal skyscraper reaching up to heaven physically: it is an idiom for a power center equalling God. Apart from Scripture, men have many false assumptions concerning reality, one common belief being that life is a common property shared by men and whatever gods may be. The goal of many scientists then becomes the conquest of death and therefore the possession of god-like powers. The tower was to be a governmental and scientific center for man to make himself the new god over all the earth. Then the plan was this: “Let us make us a name” (v. 4), or, a shem, meaning let us define ourselves, fix and establish our authority so that we are what we declare ourselves to be. Instead of being defined by the image of God (Gen. 1: 26-28), man now held that he would be his own creature and creation and would define himself. If man becomes a self-definer, he then, like a god, names or defines everything else. He can then define God, or define Him out of existence, supposedly. The reason for this resolve was, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (v. 4). A basic doctrine of theology is the unity of the Godhead. No god can be truly a god if he is divided within himself. Every humanistic attempt to replace God with a one-world humanistic order leads to efforts to bring all mankind under a common civil government. This is a theological necessity: the ultimate power cannot be a divided power. Every effort is made to compel human unity in the name of the new faith. In vv. 5-9 we have a grim and ironic response from God. It is also sardonically humorous. God surveys what man has done and is doing (v. 5). The people are one in this new world order; their language is one, and now they are creating a world government to play god over mankind (v. 6). With such a power over mankind, “nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” (v. 6). Total power will mean total government and control. When men play god, they primarily seek to dominate other men. They then turn science and knowledge into strategies of control in every sphere of life and thought. God therefore declared that He would “go down,” i.e., be present in their midst in judgment. He would so confound their speech that in time, whether at once or over a span of years or generations, they would be unable to understand one another and would be scattered (v. 7). The builders “left off to build the city” (v. 8). They began to scatter over all the face of the earth. The name of the place is thus Babel, because God there brought confusion to man’s language and thereby scattered mankind over all the earth (v. 9). The Hebrew word for scatter means not only to disperse but also to break into pieces, to smash.

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Revelation tells us that this dream of the Tower of Babel is endemic to man in his sin. We see repeated efforts to recreate this anti-God order, but in Revelation 14:8 and 17:5 we are told of God’s final judgment in history against this evil dream. The Babel-Babylon dream is allowed by God to come to some kind of final fruition before it is destroyed forever.

Chapter Twenty-Seven The Tower of Babel, 2 (Genesis 11:1-9) The Tower of Babel has a continuing problem, as the meaning of its name, Babel, indicates. Does it mean, as the Hebrew text indicates, confusion, or, as the ancient Akkadian would tell us, the gate of god? This disagreement is still with us, in that modern one-world order dreamers do see it as in some sense the apotheosis of man, his attainment of stature and self-divination. What to Christians is a symbol of man’s evil dream is to the humanist the hope of mankind. Lange’s comment is important, because he recognizes that two differing views of unity are at war here and throughout all history. He notes, Delitzsch says correctly (p. 310): “the unity which had hitherto bound together the human family was the community of one God, and of one divine worship. This unity did not satisfy them; inwardly they had already lost it; and therefore they strove for another. There is, therefore, an ungodly unity, which they sought to reach through such self-invented, sensual, outward means, whilst the very thing they feared they predicted as their punishment. In its essence, therefore, it was a Titanic heaven-defying undertaking.” The inward unity of faith ought to have been the center of gravity, the rule and the measure of their outward unity. The historical form of their true unity was the religion of Shem; its concrete middle point was Shem himself. It sounds, therefore, like a derisive allusion to the despised blessing of Shem, when they say: Go to, let us build a tower for us, and make unto ourselves a name (a Shem). When, therefore, the towerbuilding, the false outward idea of unity is frustrated, then it is that Abraham must appear upon the stage as the effective middle point of humanity, and the preparer of the way for the unity that was to come. Abraham forms the theocratic contrast to the heathen tower-building. Since that time, however, the striving of human nature has ever taken the other direction, namely, to establish by force the outward unity of humanity at the expense of the inward, and in contradiction to it; this has appeared as well in the history of the world monarchies as in that of the hierarchies. The history of Babel had its presignal in the city of Cain, its symbol in the building of the tower, its beginning in the Babylonian worldmonarchy; but its end, according to Rev. 16:7, falls in the “last time.” The contrast to this history of an outward force-unity is formed by Shem, Abraham, Zion, Christ, the Church of believers, the bride of Christ, according to Rev. 21:2,9.1 Turning again to the differing meanings of Babel, confusion versus gate of god, we see two different world views and hopes for humanity. The two meanings are totally at odds. They represent antagonistic plans of salvation, the one by human action, the other by the grace of God. Two views of sovereignty are in conflict, 1.

John Peter Lange, Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, reprint, n.d.), 359f.

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the sovereignty of God versus the sovereignty of man in a world state. One rests on the promise, “Ye shall be as god, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5); the other on our Lord’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, “not my will, but thine be done” (Luke 22:42). We have two rival doctrines of what constitutes the good, one of which is evil. The goal of the builders is to make us a Name, a Shem (v. 4). God’s definition of the good, of authority and power, was for them wrong, and it was time for a redefinition in terms of man’s ability and potential. If every man is his own god and lawmaker, there can be no universally binding doctrine of law and morality. There is, however, an insistence that any valid doctrine of law and morality must be man-made. As a result, many twentieth century thinkers have specifically chosen the Marquis de Sade over Jesus Christ. Donald Thomas summed up the Sadean dream: In this new order of the Sadean universe, it seemed that there was to be no God, no morality, no affection, and no hope—only the extinction of mankind in a final erotic and homicidal frenzy. Murder, theft, rape, sodomy, incest and prostitution were to be the reasonable means to that end. 2 Behind the cry, “Let us make us a name,” is a great hatred of God. We miss the point of much of man’s history if we fail to see it as a war against God. The Marquis de Sade relished the idea of killing God as the ultimate crime and pleasure. Nietzsche delighted in thinking of himself as the God-slayer. The reason for the Tower was, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (v. 4). Scattering is seen as the great evil. At the same time, nothing divides men more than sin. Thus, without any action from God, the builders of Babel would have scattered in time. God’s division and scattering represented an act of both judgment and mercy, because His immediate scattering forstalled major conflicts and killings. The Tower was a symbol of man’s defiance of God, but, God being defied and hated, there was nothing to prevent their hatred and defiant contempt for one another. If all men are gods, we then have the murderous wars of the wouldbe gods. The fear of being scattered indicated an inward separation. Men do not worry about being separated from those whom they love if no problems or conditions exist to separate them. The fear of dispersion existed because sin had already made clear their lack of unity. If the scattering took place in Peleg’s lifetime, we can get some idea of what was involved. Peleg was born 100 years after the Flood. According to Keil and Delitzsch, given the longer life span, if we estimate four male and four female births per marriage, there would be perhaps 30,000 people living in Peleg’s day. (Of course, it could be three or four times that amount.)3 2.

Donald Thomas, The Marquis de Sade (New York: The Citadel Press, 1992), 6.

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The Tower of Babel is ancient history, but it is equally obvious that it is contemporary history, very much a part of our present day politics. Men outside of God have not surrendered the dream of the original builders. Andre Parrot held that the Tower of Babel was not “a clenched fist raised in defiance of Heaven,” but “rather as a hand stretched in supplication, a cry to Heaven for help.”4 He gives no evidence for this opinion, because there is none. He is more accurate in stating, “the Tower of Babel is the cathedral of antiquity.”5 Parrot held: And then let us admit it, this idea of an angry God who comes and with His own hands sows discord—the source of all wars and of all hate—in the very heart of a united and therefore peaceful humanity, raises a theological problem the gravity of which we ought seriously to consider.6 For Parrot, then, the problem is a simple one. At Babel, mankind was the victim and God was the sinner. If we fail to understand this moral reversal of all standards, we will not grasp the meaning of the Tower of Babel then or now. The Tower was not only anti-God, it was an indictment of God, as are all attempts since then to create a one-world order apart from God.

3.

C.F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, The Pentateuch, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Erdmans, 1949 reprint), 176. 4. Andre Parrot, The Tower of Babel (New York: The Philosophical Library,1954, 1955), 9. 5. Ibid., 68. 6. Ibid.

Chapter Twenty-Eight The Focus (Genesis 11:10-32) 10. These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 12. And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 13. And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14. And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15. And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 16. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17. And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 18. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19. And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 20. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21. And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 22. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23. And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. 24. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25. And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27. Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30. But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. (Genesis 11:10-32) Dating is a curious fact at times, in that our thinking is not always numerical. Key events often dominate our dating. Thus, we live in A.D., the year of our Lord, and in Genesis 11:10 we read that Shem, “two years after the flood,” begat Arphaxad. 117

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The genealogy of the patriarchs from Shem to Abraham is given in these verses. We see a gradual decrease in longevity after the Flood, as conditions changed and life expectancy decreased. Shem, who was 100 when the Flood began, lived 600 years; Arphaxad, his son, lived 438 years, but Nahor, Abraham’s grandfather, lived only 148 years. Human vitality was at its greatest prior to the Flood, and, when Christians prevail and God’s law governs, it will again be restored (Isa. 65:17-23). It is interesting that, because of the centrality of the family, graves were honored and respected. Josephus (Ant. I. 151) reported on the respect still given to the grave of Haran in the first century A.D. Haran was a brother of Abraham and the father of Lot. Haran was buried in Ur of the Chaldees. The importance of ancestral graves was related to the fact that the basic and continuing government over men was by families. Heber in v. 14 was the ancestor of the Hebrews. He was apparently sufficiently important that his descendants took their name from him. From Genesis 11:27 to 25:11 the focus is mainly on Abraham. Eber may have given the people his name, but Abraham gave them their faith and calling. In v. 28, we are given the locale of Haran, and apparently the family and its forbears, Ur of the Chaldees. Ur was then a wealthy center of high culture. Sumerian society was divided into three separate legal classes. The upper-class freemen were the ruling elite, the priests, state officials, and army members. They carried certain personal immunities, and acts of violence against them bore higher penalties than against the middle class and slaves. Religious and civil duties were their responsibilities. It was the upper-class man who fought and died for his country. When he went to doctors, lawyers, and others, he paid double the fee of the middle class. Because of his greater responsibilities, he had greater privileges and freedom. The middle class was free but was not required to serve as soldiers except in case of an invasion. The middle class was made up of traders, doctors, professional men, farmers, and the like. Although personally responsible and accountable, their social duties were limited, and so too was their power. Slaves were military prisoners, debtors, victims of debt and poverty, or were born into slavery. They had no part in the life of the state, and no personal responsibility therein. They had certain securities: they could protest in court against their sale. They could carry on business on the side and save money. They could purchase their freedom if they chose. The slave had maximum security under the law but almost no social responsibility, and little freedom. In Ur, freedom meant responsibility, whereas security meant little responsibility. A price was paid for freedom. Ur thus had developed a workable social order, balancing freedom and security. It was a working pragmatic answer, but a somewhat pagan one. We do find the line of Shem closely tied to Ur, but Ur was also a center of the moon-god faith.1 God chose to remove Abraham

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from Ur to Palestine, to a more confrontational place, because He wanted, not a congenial setting for His people but a place for growth. In v. 29, we have a reference to the wives of Abram and Nahor. Since genetically the penalties of close marriages had not yet set in, and since the law on this was not given until Moses, such marriages were still licit. In Genesis 11:2-10a, we have the family history, or family record, of Shem. Then in Genesis 11:10b-27a we have the family record of Terah. Terah started out towards the Promised Land with Abraham and with Lot, Haran’s son and Terah’s grandson. Terah got no further than the city of Haran, where he died. Terah’s son Abraham continued the journey with Lot. We do not know why God chose to allow Terah to die after the first stage of his journey, despite all the conjectures made by some commentators. We do know that when God commands us to go, we are to go whether or not we are likely to finish our mission. Rabbis debated as to whether or not Terah was saved, and churchmen have theorized on why he went no further, or why he died. The obvious fact is that we do not know. Joshua 24:2 says that the forefathers of the Hebrews once served “other gods,” and it names Abraham’s father, Terah, but this can mean no more than that Terah, earlier in life, had been idolatrous before being recalled to the faith of Shem. Sarah is mentioned in v. 29. Her name means princess. We now associate the word “princess” with royal families; it once meant a daughter of a very powerful family, and names such as queen and princess were given to the daughters of great clan leaders. When government was essentially family oriented, the key titles were family ones. In the 1980’s, when the head of a powerful family in the mountains and valleys of Syria died, Middle Eastern heads of state or their representatives attended the funeral of this man, whom they called a prince. The focus is on Abraham, however, not on Terah or Sarah. He is the key to redemptive history. From a history of creation and the fall of man, we come to a single person, Abraham, the father of the faithful.

1. R. J. Rushdoony, “Freedom and Security in Ur of the Chaldees,” in The Freeman, July, 1957, 44-46.

Chapter Twenty-Nine The Call of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-9) 1. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. 4. So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran. 5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came. 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him. 8. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. 9. And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. (Genesis 12:1-9) When Abram was 75 years old, and Sarai 65 (v. 4), God called him to leave Haran for Palestine. The call was a very specific one: First, Get out of Haran. Second, leave your relatives and your father’s house. Third, go to “a land that I will shew thee” (v. 1). Abram is told that if he does this, first, “I will make of thee a great nation;” second, “I will bless thee and make thy name great,” third, the conclusion of v. 2 is more accurately rendered, “be thou a blessing.” Fourth, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee,” and fifth, “in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (v. 3). God not only tells Abram that he will be greatly blessed, but He also declares that nations (as well as men) will be blessed or cursed by God in terms of their relationship to Abraham; the whole world will in time be blessed because of Abraham. As a counterpart to this outpouring of blessings, Abram is commanded in v. 2, “be thou a blessing.” In every calling by God this command remains: we are blessed, but we must also be a blessing to others and to the world around us. The promise of the land, Canaan, is this, “Unto thy seed will I give this land” (v. 7). It would provide a burial place for Abraham, but it would be his 121

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descendants who would inherit the land. What God required of Abraham was faith, faith in God, and faith that God would keep His word. Hebrews 11:8-10 tells us: 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Abram was not chosen by God because he was a better man than his forefathers, but because God in His sovereign grace had chosen to use Abraham. This calling, and the covenant that followed, gave no proprietary right or title to God’s promise to anyone in Israel or in the church, because a covenant requires obedience, faithfulness. At any time, God can replace the covenant-breakers with another people. God through Amos speaks of this: Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? (Amos 9:7) It is a great evil for men to assume that God is bound by covenants men break at will. God spoke, and Abram departed from Haran as he was ordered to do (v. 4). He took with him his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all their substance, and all the “souls” or persons who were a part of their family. These “souls” could be called slaves, but the term does not fit because they were family members because of their bondage. In that era, a slave could be a friend or a relative, and he could inherit even though he was not blood kin. Prior to the birth of either Ishmael or Isaac, Abraham’s heir was such a man, Eliezer of Damascus (Gen. 15:2). Because the culture was familistic, the orientation of all things was to the family. The state was then a minor thing, often an extended family, tribe, or clan. Families then as always could be good or bad, but the centrality of the family to life as a whole placed a restraint on irresponsible family government. The fact of a dowry was also a restraint on careless marriages. There was always too much at stake. All such “souls” or slaves could, under the Mosaic law, and apparently before it, go free if they converted, or on payment of the debt that led to their bondage. Since all of Abraham’s household were apparently believers, all were included in the covenant, and all males were circumcised (Gen. 17:9-14). The uncircumcised were to be abolished from Abraham’s household for their unbelief (Gen. 17:14). It was a violation of God’s covenant. Now when Abram was called by God to leave his family and migrate to God’s appointed place, Abram was leaving behind vast wealth and a comfortable way

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of life. Both Ur and Haran were substantial communities, and Abram’s family a wealthy one. The purely personal wealth he took was enough to classify him as an important man. In Genesis 14:14, when Abram pursues the army that took his nephew Lot captive, he fielded a force of 318 men from his own household. This meant that he left at home approximately as many older men to care for the sheep and cattle, and a like number of young boys, so that the males in his household numbered about one thousand, with an equal number of females, young and old. The original family wealth, of which Abraham would have been heir, was probably much greater. All this Abraham forsook for a promise from God. While asking Abram to leave the family wealth behind, He also says, “Be thou a blessing” (v. 2). What God had promised to do through Noah and Shem He now tells Abram is his inheritance. Great or small, however, if God blesses us, we must in turn be a blessing. Unhappily, too many seem to believe that God’s calling is, Be thou a stinker. Abram, in reaching Palestine or Canaan, went to Shechem, Moreh, and then to the South. It was in Canaan that God appeared to Abram to say, “Unto thy seed will I give this land,” and Abram built an altar and there worshipped God (v. 8). It is often noted that this is the first theophany or manifestation of God’s presence in some form after the Fall. It is certainly the first record of such an event, but this does not mean that it did not occur previously. In Genesis 11:1-9, we have the Tower of Babel and God’s judgment on mankind. In Genesis 12:1-9, we have the calling of Abram. Men may place their hope in great international efforts which are no more than minor Towers of Babel, whereas God brings the world under His dominion one person at a time. The political hope is a trust in a false community as salvation, and its consequence is continuing disaster. A very striking fact in this text is that God orders Abram to leave his family, a startling fact given the culture of the time, in order to be a blessing to all the families of a future era. The family was and is central to God, but He is over all and before all, and He must be served above all else.

Chapter Thirty Abram in Egypt (Genesis 12:10-20) 10. And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land. 11. And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon: 12. Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. 13. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. 14. And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. 15. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house. 16. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels. 17. And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife. 18. And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife? 19. Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. 20. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had. (Genesis 12:10-20) Abram went to Canaan, and, we are told, “there was a famine in the land” (v. 10). He had arrived at the Promised Land only to be met with a drought that made it impossible for him to remain there with his herds and flocks. Owning no land, and without grazing rights except in the now barren common hills, he had to move on to Egypt. At the moment God’s promise did not look very good, but, by faith, Abraham persevered, and he moved his men and his livestock into Egypt. The episode which follows has commonly led to condemnations of Abram. Scofield, himself both antinomian and lawless, could still call this “Abraham’s lapse.” Let us begin, however, by taking Abraham’s comments (vv. 11-13) seriously. First, Abraham’s comment that the Egyptians would kill Abram in order to seize his wife must be taken very seriously. In a familistic culture, adultery is a capital offense, even more consequential than murder. Adultery puts alien seed into a family, and, in a familistic culture, this is, humanly speaking, the most grievous offense. Murder takes a man’s life, but adultery can shatter his future and give him false heirs.

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Second, the nature of treason varies from culture to culture. In a familistic culture, it is adultery. In an ecclesiastically oriented culture, it is heresy and blasphemy. In a statist culture, it means giving aid and comfort to the enemy. When a culture shifts, so too does its definition of treason. Thus, in the United States not too long after World War II, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to death for treason. In recent years, Pollard and Ames have not faced the death penalty because the centrality of the state is a waning doctrine at the present time. Third, Sarai was closely related to Abram, and, in the terminology of the day, close female relatives could be called sisters. In some cultures, I have known “brother” and “cousin” to be used interchangeably. Fourth, what would Abraham’s critics have him do? Should he have defied the Egyptians and said, “You will have to kill me first before you can take Sarai?” They would have killed him on the spot. Then what good could he do to save Sarai? Abram was no fool. He knew that he was helpless, so that all he could do was to commit the matter to God. Foolhardiness never commends itself to God. Fifth, the obvious fact remains that God delivered Abram and Sarai here and later, and also Isaac in a like situation. He did not rebuke him, although the commentators do so freely. What Abram feared did happen. No doubt he had told Sarai to remain secluded as much as possible, but she was spotted by some Egyptian princes. They commended Sarai’s beauty to the pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. This does not mean that she was at once sexually used. In some countries, then and later, women taken into a palace often went through a long process of physical and ritual purification. Even then, some girls and women lived and died in harems without even being called to the ruler’s bed. Meanwhile, Pharaoh, or his men, gave Abram considerable wealth for Sarai in the form of sheep, oxen, donkeys, and camels, and also “menservants, and maidservants” (v. 16). Abram was now vastly richer. But God plagues Pharaoh’s house “with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife” (v. 17). Pharaoh somehow learned the cause of this and at once sent for Abram. He accused Abram of deception (vv. 18-20), but the significant fact is that he asked no return of any of the wealth he had given Abram. Also, he warned his people against doing any harm to Abram. Clearly, he knew that, had Abram not done what he did, Abram would have been killed by Pharaoh’s men. There is another important fact here. It would be absurd and unrealistic to believe that what had been done to Abram had not been done to many a man before Abram arrived. Both Abram and Pharaoh knew this. In this case, however, God intervened, and Pharaoh wanted no further judgment from God. Clearly, this man Abram was a prophet or seer of some sort, and was not to be meddled with.

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Egypt at this time was already of powerful stature and military rank. All the same, Egypt still regarded the family as a power not to be readily disrupted. Egypt had moved more quickly than other countries from familism to statism, but it was still sensitive to the importance of the family. Some fine scholars have here resorted to abusive language in describing Abram, one man calling him “base and despicable.” What do they want Abraham to do, to be killed? How would that have helped Sarai? Abraham had more sense and much more faith in God than all his critics. We do not owe the truth to men who seek to do evil. A court of law requires truth, and we must pray there for God’s justice. But when confronted by evil men, we owe them nothing, for such men want our truth to further their evil. Abraham told the truth only up to a point.

Chapter Thirty-One Abram and Lot (Genesis 13:1-18) 1. And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. 3. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; 4. Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. 5. And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. 7. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. 9. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. 10. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. 11. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. 12. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. 14. And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18. Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD. (Genesis 13:1-18) The centuries have altered both the face and the climate of many areas of the world. The Sahara was once a productive area, well-watered, and fertile. Of the Dead Sea area, we are told in v. 10 that it was once comparable to the Garden of Eden, and also ancient Egypt, once also very different from what it is now. 129

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Apparently, too, prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, there was no Dead Sea. In Genesis 19:5, the homosexuality of Sodom is cited. In Ezekiel 16:46-56, Sodom is described as proud, having fullness of bread, but thoroughly uncharitable and contemptuous of the poor and needy. In Genesis 12:1-3, and confirmed in 12:7, God promises to Abraham a great future as the heir of the promise through Shem. In Genesis 13:14-17, the promise is confirmed once more, after the separation from Lot. A little reflection will tell us why. Abram was over 75 and childless. He was obviously very fond of Lot, his nephew. No conflict had occurred between them. The problem was between their herdsman, their cattle keepers or cowhands (vv. 5-7). These men were looking after their master’s interests and were hostile one to another. All felt that they were in the right. No doubt Abram and Lot did all that they could to settle the problems, but to no avail. Abram took the lead in seeking a solution. Having no heir, he was in effect depending on Lot, whom he loved, to be his heir. He now offered to Lot first choice over the available grazing lands (vv. 8-9). There is no evidence that Abram felt that Lot had gained an advantage over his uncle. For Lot to attempt to reject his uncle’s generosity would have been ungracious, and, in terms of Near Eastern manners, it would have been seen as trying to outdo a benefactor’s generosity. Lot did what Abram wanted him to do. Abram had left Egypt greatly enriched by Pharaoh. We are told that he returned to Canaan “very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” (v.2). Both Abram and Lot did what good manners and family tradition required of them. In such cases, the greater blesses the lesser. Abram was giving Lot an opportunity to increase his wealth and Lot accepted it. They then separated themselves. The hand of God was in all of this. Lot was not to be Abram’s heir, nor, later, Eliezer, nor Ishmael. Lot was now separated from Abram. This saddened Abram, and at this point (vv. 14-18) God again reminded Abram of His promises to him. First, all of Canaan would be given to Abram’s posterity, as yet non-existent. This was thus a promise that a son would be born to him (vv. 14-15). Second, his seed would be so numerous that they would be innumerable, like the dust of the earth (v. 16). Third, go over the land and view it as an inheritance your seed will in time receive (v. 17). Fourth, this is an inheritance “to thy seed forever,” or, for all time. Since Abraham’s seed is primarily Jesus Christ, then all who are in Him (Gal. 3:6-8, 16, 29) are also Abraham’s seed, and this promise applies to them. All men and nations shall in time be His (Ps. 82:8; 86:9; etc.). Already Abram was “very rich” or “weighty with possessions,” so that he was a powerful and important man. Harold G. Stigers translates the word that describes the Sodomites as a wicked people (v. 13) as vicious.1

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John H. Sailhamer made an interesting observation about Abram’s offer to Lot, to choose either one area or another. He believes that Abram was “on the verge of giving the Promised Land to Lot.”2 This is to assume something impossible, that man can frustrate God’s sovereign decree and purpose. That no man can do. Twice in these eighteen verses we have reference to altars. The first is to Abram’s visit to the place where he had built an altar on first arriving in Canaan. This altar he had built between Bethel and Ai (Hai), v. 4. In v. 18, we are told that Abram built an altar at Mamre, near Hebron. Abram was a devout man, and, facing decisions, or because he was grateful, again and again sacrificed to the Lord. Stigers translated the word watered in v. 10 as irrigated, or, well-irrigated, or wholly irrigated.3 If his translation is correct, then this area was probably the first irrigated area of antiquity. This would indicate an area advanced in wealth and in their ability to develop agriculturally and in other ways. The result was pride and arrogance toward God and man. God subjected Abram, after his calling, to one difficulty after another, to a life of trials. We see the reason why in Hebrews 12:4-11: chastening is evidence of fatherly love. To be unchastened is to be a bastard, and too many parents today treat their children as bastards by their ungodly indulgences.

1. Harold 2.

G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 146. John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in Frank E. Gaebelein, editor, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Regency, 1990), 188f. 3. Harold G. Stigers, 145.

Chapter Thirty-Two Abram and Melchizedek (Genesis 14:1-24) 1. And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations; 2. That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. 3. All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. 4. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. 5. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, and the Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 6. And the Horites in their mount Seir, unto Elparan, which is by the wilderness. 7. And they returned, and came to Enmishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazezontamar. 8. And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar;) and they joined battle with them in the vale of Siddim; 9. With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five. 10. And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain. 11. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. 12. And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. 13. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram. 14. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. 17. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. 18. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 133

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Genesis 19. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. 21. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 22. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 23. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich: 24. Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion. (Genesis 14:1-24)

According to John Calvin’s reckoning, when the warfare described in Genesis 14 occurred, Ham, Shem, and Japheth were still alive.1 It was very obvious to at least Shem and Japheth that man’s salvation was not in fallen man, but in the Promised One to come. They lived to see much evil and little good. We meet in this chapter Melchizedek, the priest of El Elyon, the Most High God (vv. 18, 22), whom Abram calls also Jehovah, or Yahweh (v. 22). The reference to Melchizedek in Hebrews 7:1-3 is both important and unintentionally misleading to casual reading: 1. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace; 3. Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually. Everything said in this text had reference not to Melchizedek’s person, but to his status as God’s priest. Many priesthoods then were hereditary, gained by descent from either one’s father or mother. The subsequent priesthood of Israel was by male descent from Aaron; there were, of course, other requirements. Melchizedek’s priesthood came directly from God, and we are told that none other like it existed apart from the Son of God. He is mentioned in Psalm 110:4. A war occurred between four kings, Amraphel, king of Shimare, a region between Elam and Babylonia; Chedorlaomar, king of Elzlam; Arioch, king of Ellasar; and Tidal, king of the Goyim, and the five kings of the plains. These were the rulers: Bera king of Sodom; Birsha, the king of Gomorrah; Shinab, king of Admah; Shemeber, king of Zeboiim; and the king of Beleh, or Zoar (v. 2). The battle occurred in the valley of Siddim, which became the Salt Sea, or the Dead Sea (v. 3). 1. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of Genesis, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948 reprint), 380.

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The cities of the plain had served the eastern kings for twelve years, and in the thirteenth they rebelled (v. 14). In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and his allies came not only to suppress the rebellion, but also to conquer adjacent areas, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, the Horites in Mount Seir, and the Elparam area. They also conquered En-mispat, the Amorites, and the Amalekites. They then crushed the five-king coalition headed by the king of Sodom; the kings fled, and they fell into slime-pits in so doing (vv. 5-10). Taking their booty, the kings of the east went their way. Their booty included Lot and his household and possessions (vv. 11-12). A man who escaped went to Abram to tell him what had happened to Lot (v. 13). With Abram were three Amorites who were in league with him, Mamre, Eschol, and Aner (v. 13). All four men no doubt had friends and relatives among the captives, and we know that Abram did. They combined their forces and went in pursuit, Abram having 318 men under him (v. 14). They divided their forces and attacked by night, and they crushed the enemy and recaptured the spoils (vv. 15-16), including Lot, his family, and others. The four kings had been killed (v. 17). On his return, two kings greeted Abram, the king of Sodom and Melchizedek, the king of Salem. Melchizedek gave to the returning men bread and wine. Although these are now communion elements, their meaning in this context is quick refreshment to weary men, black bread and wine for nourishment. Melchizedek pronounced a blessing on Abram in particular as the deliverer. The king of Sodom asked for his people who had been captured, and he offered the loot to Abram, i.e., all the wealth seized from Sodom. Abram refused, stating that he had sworn an oath to God to take nothing. He thus asked only that Aner, Eschol, and Mamre be allowed to take their portions, and that whatever the soldiers or warriors had eaten be exempted (vv. 21-24). Abram also gave a tithe of all they had taken to Melchizedek (v. 20, Heb. 7:2). In v. 13, we are told that the man who had escaped came to “Abram the Hebrew.” The name Hebrew had now attached itself to Abram and his household. To return to Melchizedek, the great priest, he is clearly connected with Jesus Christ in his priesthood. He is also connected with us. We have all been made a royal priesthood by Jesus Christ (Rev. 1:6). We have the privilege of direct access to God in and through the Name of Jesus Christ. Our priesthood is without a human ancestry of blood: we do not gain it from our family. It, however, gives us no freedom of action apart from Christ and His law-word. We are also introduced to the tithe as an established aspect of the life of faith. The tithe is God’s tax and was apparently in existence from the beginning as God’s requirement.

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Chapter Thirty-Three The Great Covenant (Genesis 15:1-21) 1. After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3. And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7. And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9. And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. 12. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 17. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19. The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20. And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21. And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. (Genesis 15:1-21) 137

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This is a very remarkable chapter, and an awe-inspiring one. Abram had left friends and family at God’s command. He had undergone a famine, the humiliating experience in Egypt, separation from Lot, and more. God therefore spoke to Abram in a vision to strengthen him: “Fear not Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” (v. 1). Obviously, Abram had fears about his future and what God might still have in store for him. Clearly, God was not a soft-hearted grandfather but the eternal and absolute Lord whose ways are beyond man’s conceiving. Abram’s response was plainspoken: What will you give me, since I am childless, and my heir is now my steward, Eliezer of Damascus? Where is the promised seed? (vv. 2-3). God had already told Abram, “I am thy shield,” your protector, and your “exceeding great reward” (v. 1). Now God says, you will have an heir of your own blood and line (v. 4). God then pointed Abram to the sky: as innumerable as the stars were and are, so innumerable would his seed be (v. 5). We are then told, Abram “believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (v. 6). This verse is cited in Romans 4:9 and 22, and, in Galatians 3:6, it is basic to Paul’s letter. We see it also in Romans 4:3 as the premise of that chapter, and in James 2:23 it is used to show that faith without works is dead. The Hebrew word translated is aman, and it is closely related to the Hebrew and English word, amen. Abraham said amen to God; he trusted Him totally; God had spoken, and Abraham trusted in God’s every word. Given what Abram had undergone, and would still undergo, his was not an easy-believism but a total trust in God. The closest approximation we have to this is Job’s statement, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him” (Job 13:15). This is the first use of the word believe in the Bible. It means far more than assent or agreement: it is total faithfulness and trust. After God says to Abram, “I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it,” Abram asks, “Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (vv. 7-8). The verses that follow (vv. 9-21) describe the covenant that follows, a most startling one. Covenants are basically of two kinds. The first is between equals. Two parties agree on a law that will bind them both. The penalty for any violation is death. This is a covenant of law. The second kind of covenant is between unequals, in Scripture between God and man. The superior gives His law to the other party as an act of grace, so that it is again a covenant of law. Any covenant with God is inevitably a covenant of both grace and law, and to deny the law any validity is to reject God’s grace in giving it. Because the covenant is a treaty with a death penalty for violation, it is also a covenant in blood. It requires animal sacrifices to set forth this fact; the sacrifices not only ratify the covenant at its inception, but are also a continuing reminder of the penalty of death for the violations of the covenant. Thus a covenant with God in particular is a witness to the gift of life and grace as well as to judgment

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and death. Scripture tells us that ours is a covenantal life, so that all our activities are totally consequential. The covenant of God with Abram in Genesis 15:9-21 is particularly startling because here it is God who initiates it, but He does more also: He sets forth the consequences for the Godhead. But, first, God orders Abram to prepare for the making or cutting of the covenant. He was to take a heifer of three years, a she-goat of the same age, a ram of the same age, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon (v. 19). These he was to cut into two pieces each, except for the birds, placing one on each side (v. 10). Abram then stood there to drive away the birds that sought to seize the meat (v. 11). Now, normally, in the making of a covenant, both parties would walk between the two rows of sacrificed animals, saying, in effect, so may I be destroyed if I am faithless to the covenant bond between us and its law. Abram is not asked to do this, although God had ordered the covenant sacrifice. Instead, a deep sleep fell on Abram, and “an horror of great darkness” (v. 12). Second, this covenant did not require Abram to walk between the sacrifice because God, who ordered it, would provide the sacrificial victim who would pay the death penalty for man’s sin. This would be God’s Son and Abram’s seed. Abram’s vision for the time filled him with great horror (v. 12). Later, as he became aware of what it meant for man’s salvation, he was able to be joyful because of it. Our Lord says, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56). Peter was horrified when our Lord spoke of the cross (Matt. 16:21-23), but he later rejoiced in it (1 Peter 1:2-4). Third, God here reveals to Abram that God the Son would take upon Himself the death penalty for the transgression of the covenant law by men. This means much more than death for mankind. The Creator of all things is revealed as the Redeemer of all things. This sets forth both the greatness of grace and the seriousness of the law. No man who sees the seriousness of God’s covenant can take the covenant grace and law lightly, which is the reason men refuse to think seriously about the implications of either. Pious gush passes as a substitute for understanding and faith. Abram’s horror and joy both revealed his faith and knowledge. Abram also knew that the God who would redeem man by the incarnation and crucifixion would not hesitate to prepare Abram (and us) for our life in His eternal Kingdom by much tribulation (John 16:33). What passed between the pieces of the sacrificed animals when it was dark was a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire (v. 7). These signified the presence of God (Ex. 3:6; 19:18; etc.), as did the pillar of fire and the cloud in the wilderness. He was assuming the responsibility for covenant violations in the person of the Son.

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Meanwhile, Abram was told that his posterity would spend 400 years in captivity in another land. God would then judge that land and deliver Abram’s posterity to the possession of Canaan. In the meantime, God would permit the viciousness of the people of the land of Canaan to reach its fulness (vv. 13-16). Abram’s posterity would be granted all the land from Egypt to the river Euphrates (v. 18). They approximated this in Solomon’s day. They would also conquer the peoples of Canaan and the adjacent area (vv. 19-21). There is a reference to the divided sacrifices and the princes of Judah passing between them in Jeremiah 34:18-20.

Chapter Thirty-Four Hagar (Genesis 16:1-16) 1. Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3. And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. 4. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 5. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee. 6. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. 7. And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. 8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. 10. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. 11. And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 12. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. 13. And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? 14. Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. 15. And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. 16. And Abram was fourscore and six years old, when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. (Genesis 16:1-16) After ten years in Canaan, Abram and Sarai were still childless. Abram was now 85 years old, and perhaps Sarai had undergone her menopause and so despaired of having a child. As a result, Sarai took the initiative and urged Abram to take her handmaid, Hagar, to wife as a concubine. A concubine was a wife without a dowry, i.e., legal, financial security. We do know that, much later, some rabbis held that after ten childless years, a man could take another woman to 141

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bear him seed. Perhaps this belief went back to ancient times and was simply reflected by Sarai; we do not know. At least some aspects of what followed had ancient origins and were later used by Leah and Rachel with their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah; these two aspects were, first, the power of the wife over her handmaid and, second, the child born of such a union was legally the child of the wife. Sarai cites this by stating the hope, “that I may obtain children by her” (v. 3). Such a plan was standard procedure, so that apparently there was a simple agreement on Abram’s part. From start to finish, he was passive. It was, in the cultures of the day, an accepted fact. It was not an idea original with Sarai. It was commonplace, as Nuzi tablets have shown. The Code of Hammurabi forbad the handmaid, or the slave girl, to assert equality with her mistress on pain of reduction to slavery.1 In this instance, the handmaid, Hagar, was Egyptian, no doubt a gift of Pharaoh (Genesis 12:16). The Egyptians, great and small, were prone to look down on all foreigners, especially people who raised sheep. Hagar’s flight was an attempted return to Egypt, because her stopping point, Shur, was on the route going South. In v. 4, the meaning in Hebrew is that Hagar conceived at once when Abram went in unto her, so that it was at once obvious that the failure of Sarai to conceive was not Abram’s lack of fertility. Hagar’s reaction was to despise Sarai. In a camp of 2000 people, there were many women who regularly worked and visited together. There were other Egyptian women who had been given to Abram by Pharaoh (Gen. 12:16). Hagar’s pregnancy by the overlord of all made her not only happy but also proud and arrogant. We are told, “when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes” (v. 4). Sarai’s reaction was an angry one. She had honored a young slave girl by her own choice, and we can assume that Hagar had up to this point been highly pleasing to her. Twice the word despised is used to describe Hagar’s attitude toward Sarai (vv. 4, 5). The Hebrew word (kawlal) means to express contempt. In Genesis 25:34, the same word is used when we are told that Esau despised his birthright. It means treating something or someone deserving respect casually, lightly, and disrespectfully. Hagar obviously assumed that her position was a secure one, and she therefore counted on Abram to be so overjoyed at imminent parenthood that she would be free to act as she pleased towards Sarai. Sarai went to Abram to tell him of the situation without any equivocation (v. 5). Abram at once acknowledged her authority over Hagar saying, “Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee.” And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, “she fled from her face” (v. 5). Hagar had obviously expected Abram 1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1976), 160f.

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to side with her. Shocked by Abram’s refusal to condone her behavior, she fled southward towards Egypt. We can safely assume that Hagar was quite young, and had been a child when given to Abram ten years earlier. Her behavior was immature and unplanned, a hasty and emotional response. At Shur, by a spring, she stopped. The way ahead was a very difficult one, and she was pregnant. It was there that “the angel of the LORD,” God the Son in His pre-incarnation appearance, found her and spoke to her. He asked her from whence she came and where she was going. Without making any excuses, she admitted that she was running away from “my mistress Sarai” (v. 8). By acknowledging Sarai as her mistress, and by making no excuses, we see another side of Hagar. The angel of the LORD then commands her, first, “Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands” (v. 9). We know, of course, that she did this, and we know therefore that Sarai had not been unwise in choosing Hagar. She was a woman of character. Second, Hagar is told that her seed, like Abram’s, will be multiplied greatly, “that it shall not be numbered for multitude” (v. 10). This is important because this great blessing is pronounced on Hagar, not here on Ishmael nor on Abram. God honors her specifically (as should we). Third, a prophecy is made concerning her seed. “The LORD hath heard thy affliction,” so that she, Hagar, is in particular honored and blessed apart from the blessings on Sarai and Abram. Her son, Ishmael, meaning God shall hear, shall flourish, even though he is alone, against all, and all against him. Stigers translates the first clause of v. 12, “And he shall be a choice man,” others a “wild man.” Hagar then defined God as “Thou God seest me,” and she recognized that she had seen God briefly, and that He was always mindful of her. The name of the well was called after that by her descendants, Beerlahai-roi, “The well of Him that liveth and seeth me” (v. 14). On her return, at some point in time, Hagar bore Abram a son. Clearly, she had shared her vision or theophany with both Abram and Sarai, and Abram therefore called the boy’s name Ishmael (v. 15). At this time, Abram was 86 years of age. Properly read, this is a comforting and rewarding episode. God, the Creator of all things in heaven and earth, is affectionately mindful of a slave girl named Hagar. Her pride and foolishness are forgiven, and the repentant girl is given a great place in God’s history, one not yet over. The human reaction to Hagar would have been to nag her for her sorry reaction to Sarai. God, who loved both Sarai and Hagar, is patient and kindly. This episode tells us much about God. It is sad that too many people want to throw verbal stones at Hagar.

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Chapter Thirty-Five The Promise: Father of Many Nations (Genesis 17:1-27) 1. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 9. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. 15. And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18. And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19. And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

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Genesis 20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22. And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. 24. And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26. In the selfsame day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son. 27. And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him. (Genesis 17:1-27)

At the age of 99, Abram received a remarkable revelation from God, who first identifies Himself, saying “I am the Almighty God,” and then, second, commands Abram saying, “walk before me, and be thou perfect” (v. 1). Third, God tells Abram, “And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly” (v. 2). But a covenant had already been made, so that this promise is at first glance a strange one. The difference appears when we learn that the promised line is to be through Sarai, and the promised child is to be named Isaac (vv. 15-19). Abram had come to regard Ishmael as his child of promise, and he loved Ishmael dearly. Ishmael had his faults, but he was obviously a good son, so that Abram cries out, “O that Ishmael might live before Thee!” (v. 18). We cannot doubt that God’s promise was well known in the entire household and therefore familiar to Ishmael, who even as a boy regarded himself as a forbear of the Messiah. God’s revelation was thus a shock to Abram and also to the young Ishmael. God tells Abram, first, that he shall be a father of many nations, a declaration made before but now focused on the line of descent through Isaac (v. 4). Second, a name change accompanies this revelation: Abram will now be Abraham because he will be the father of a multitude of peoples. Nations and kings will come out of his seed in time (vv. 5-6). Third, God’s covenant is now localized in the line of Abraham, his progeny by faith. The “everlasting covenant” is a matter of faith in essence, although it will for a time parallel his seed (v. 7). The land of Canaan will be given to his seed, again as an everlasting possession, which means it will in time be again as in the past, a Christian realm (v. 8). Then, fourth, the sign of covenant membership is circumcision on the eighth day for all males, and later for uncircumcised adults. On the eighth day, the child’s blood coagulates, making circumcision safe. Everyone in Abraham’s household who is a male must be circumcised, because all, whether members by

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birth or by purchase, must be under the covenant of life (vv. 9-14). Circumcision as a rite meant that man’s hope was not in generation but in regeneration. The act is a confession that in generation there is neither hope nor salvation, and that man’s future is assured only in regeneration. To reject circumcision is to reject the covenant, Abraham is told. Fifth, Abraham is told that Sarai’s name is to be changed to Sarah, from “my princess” to “princess,” because her standing is to be more than personal. Sixth, Sarah will give birth to a son; she shall be blessed and be a mother of nations and kings (v. 16). This promise caused Abraham to fall on his face, laughing. Physically, both he and Sarah were now past time for bringing forth a child. But God declares that a son shall be born, and his name is to be Isaac. God’s everlasting covenant will be established through Isaac (v. 19). Seventh, God’s love of Abraham is shown clearly in His word concerning Ishmael. He will be blessed and multiplied, and twelve princes will be born to him. “I will make him a great nation” (v. 20). In Genesis 25:12-16, we learn that twelve sons were born to Ishmael. These became princes of small city-states or nations. But God’s covenant would be through Sarah and Isaac. Abraham at once began the circumcision of his male entourage (v. 23). At the time, Abraham was 99 years of age and Sarah 89 (v. 24). Ishmael, age 13, was also circumcised (v. 25). As we have seen earlier, there were probably about a thousand males and an equal number of females in Abraham’s household. All males became members of the covenant and Hebrews, whatever their racial background, when they were circumcised. Their faith made them not slaves but family members. Ishmael was later separated and Isaac replaced him. This meant that the Abrahamic blood in the chosen people was about one two thousandth. The foreigners incorporated into Israel on departing from Egypt and the numbers of aliens from the conquest of Canaan on were very great. Thus any attempt to align the covenant with blood is obviously contrary to the Biblical evidence. Abraham’s place in the covenant was by faith; all who accepted circumcision in his day did so by faith. To claim that Israel, a religious term, referred to a blood line is to misread Scripture. The ancestry of Jesus is traceable to Abraham, but it includes foreigners. The modern practice of Jews is to consider as Jewish all who have a Jewish mother. This standard would have excluded King David, Solomon, almost all other kings, as well as Jesus because of His ancestry. With respect to circumcision, many pagan examples of it can be cited. It was a common rite of initiation. As far as is known, infant circumcision did not exist before God’s instructions to Abraham. Adult rites of circumcision were by choice, a form of entrance or membership, whereas circumcision made mandatory for male children and adults stresses God’s priority and His decision. A child, whether in circumcision or baptism, does not choose: he is chosen, or,

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better, given to God in the hopes that the covenant promises and blessings will be his or hers. The covenant does not rest on Abraham. He is long dead and gone. It rests on God’s promise through Abraham to all generations to the end of time and beyond: it is an everlasting covenant. God who cannot die remains faithful: He is the covenant God. The promise to Abraham had a double meaning. He was, literally, the father of many nations. However, as John Calvin noted, the true and necessary meaning of the promise to Abraham that he would be the father of many nations was that “many nations were to be gathered together unto him.”1 As the nations are brought to Jesus Christ, this prediction finds fulfillment. A further note about pagan circumcision: it is of adults or young men. God’s requirement is for babes. The choice is God’s, not man’s. His salvation is His sovereign decision, not man’s.

1.

John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of Genesis, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948), 447.

Chapter Thirty-Six The Justice of God (Genesis 18:1-33) 1. And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2. And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4. Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 9. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10. And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13. And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14. Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15. Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh. 16. And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. 17. And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19. For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 20. And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; 149

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Genesis 21. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. 22. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. 23. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24. Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25. That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 26. And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. 27. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: 28. Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. 29. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. 30. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. 31. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. 32. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. 33. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place. (Genesis 18:1-33)

This well-known chapter is a vivid glimpse of life in Abraham’s day and in like eras of history. We see the readiness to extend hospitality, for at one time, instead of every man living in isolation, they lived with a sense of community. The alternative to community was hostility and even warfare. Hospitality was a duty, and it was unhurried. Food was prepared and, in this instance, Abraham not only had Sarah prepare or supervise the preparation of bread and more, but he had a calf butchered and roasted for his guests. This took time, and such time was spent in extended conversation as a means of knowing one another. Such hospitality was generous. The common meal could take hours. Abraham had Sarah prepare a bushel of bread, which provided enough for the meal, for the guests to take with them on their journey, and for those who helped prepare and serve the meal. It is an ancient premise of Biblical faith that the laborer is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7; 1Tim. 5:18). It goes back to the law in Deuteronomy 25:4, cited by Paul to Timothy, “Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.”

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By the way of contrast to the patriarchal hospitality, we see in Genesis 19:5 the Sodomite reception of strangers, the insistence on homosexual rape. Romans 1:20-32 tells us that the fullness of the hatred of God and His law is manifested in homosexuality, which reverses all Godly order. Its perversity is such that it replaces hospitality with rape. The antitheses is very clear and sharply depicted. In no way can it be overlooked. Abraham and his guests sat, visited, and ate under a shade tree (v. 8). At some point during their conversation, it was apparent to Abraham that the three strangers were God and two angels (19:1); God early on identified Himself to Abraham. The first statement by God to Abraham was that Abraham would have a son by Sarah (v. 10). Some time earlier, God had made a like statement to Abraham, who had laughed, apparently with great delight (17:17). Now Sarah laughed, with amusement and unbelief (vv. 9-15), because the idea of an old and impotent husband becoming again potent and fertile struck her as amusing. Perhaps in such matters men are more hopeful than women! God, however, treated Sarah’s amusement with humor. Even as He had been gracious to Hagar, so He was with Sarah. When Sarah, embarrassed, said, “I laughed not,” God said, “Nay, but thou didst laugh” (v. 15). Second, after the dinner, the three arose to leave. As per custom, Abraham walked a short distance with them on their way. This was once a common custom, but now it is limited to seeing people to the door, or to their automobile. God then spoke to Abraham in a remarkable way, almost as an associate. He says that He will not hide from Abraham what He is about to do since Abraham is the man through whom He will bring His purposes to pass (vv. 17-19). The offense of Sodom is to be dealt with because God’s patience is at an end (vv. 2021). The two angels or men go towards Sodom, but God stays with Abraham for a time. Abraham is deeply concerned, not for Sodom but for Lot and his family. He asks God if He would spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous men. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?,” or in Harold G. Stigers’ translation, “Shall not the judge of the whole earth administer justice?” Abraham knows that justice requires judgment, but what constitutes a saving remnant? God’s answer was that He would spare Sodom if there were 50 righteous persons (vv. 23-26). His basic question was this: “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (v. 23). As we see in Genesis 19, God does spare the righteous, but only if they use the opportunity to separate themselves from evil. Abraham persisted: Would God spare Sodom if there were 45 righteous persons? (v. 28). We cannot reduce this to 45 decent people: righteous means wholly given to justice. It does not include the lukewarm, of whom our Lord speaks with especial contempt in Revelation 3:15-16. God’s response is, He will not destroy it if 45 righteous persons are there. Abraham then asked about 40 persons, or 30, or 20, always with the same answer from God. Finally, Abraham

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asked if the city would be spared for the sake of 10 men, and again God promises mercy. Abraham then “returned unto his place” (v. 33), confident in God’s mercy, having been assured of its extent. In v. 20, we are told that “the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, because their sin is very grievous.” Although Abraham’s concern is with Sodom, God’s judgment was on the cities of the plain, of which Sodom and Gomorrah were the most important. Abraham recognizes that God’s purpose is total judgment, and he uses the word consume, meaning utter destruction, to show that he recognizes what God has in mind. Calvin made clear that, while God was ready to spare Sodom for the sake of ten righteous men, He was by no means ready to do the same for Jerusalem in our Lord’s day.1 Jerusalem crucified the incarnate God the Son, and its offense was greater. Abraham may have been aware of the identity of his visitors from the beginning, since the text appears to indicate their sudden appearance before him. The question raised by Abraham is with respect to the justice of God: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? By raising this question, Abraham makes clear his faith that justice is the very nature of God, and he expects it from Him. The problem for Abraham as for us is, do we understand the nature of God’s justice, and do we believe in it and accept it? Abraham’s question presupposed two things: First, because God is the God of justice, judgment on Sodom is necessary. Second, because God is the righteous Lord, He will save the just persons in Sodom; again, this is necessary because God reveals Himself as God in all His ways and acts; God is always God.

1. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of Genesis, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948 reprint), 488.

Chapter Thirty-Seven Lot’s Rescue (Genesis 19:1-38) 1. And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; 2. And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. 3. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. 4. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: 5. And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. 6. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, 7. And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. 8. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof. 9. And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door. 10. But the men put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. 11. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. 12. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. 14. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. 15. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 153

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Genesis 17. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19. Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: 20. Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. 24. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25. And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. 27. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: 28. And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. 29. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. 30. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32. Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33. And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 34. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 35. And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose. 36. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. 37. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day. 38. And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Benammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day. (Genesis 19:1-38)

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This chapter is grim reading because we see man in his depravity and also in his weakness and vacillation. The three strangers are now two: God leaves the two angels to rescue Lot and bring on the judgment, or, at least, announce it. 2 Peter 2:4-8 refers to this chapter, but it singles out Lot for praise. He is called “just Lot;” the word just translates the Greek dikaion, meaning righteous, innocent, or just. Since this is God’s verdict concerning Lot, we cannot charge him when God has refused to do so. Because this is an ugly story, we are not thereby commissioned to be judges. God remains the judge forever. Lot was an elder at the gate, a city judge, and as such he was resented (vv. 1, 9). Being at the gate, Lot saw the two angels, in the appearance of men, enter Sodom at even (v. 1). The two offered to camp in the open that night (v. 2), but Lot insisted that they stay with him, and he had a dinner prepared for them (v. 3). But before they could all go to bed, “the men of Sodom compassed the house,” and “these were both old and young from every quarter of the city” (v. 4). Precisely because Lot, as 2 Peter 2:7-8 makes clear, stood against the city’s depravity, they were determined to shame and humiliate him in front of his guests. On the last night of their existence, the men of Sodom revealed the extent of their depravity and their hatred for morality and justice. They demanded that Lot turn over his visitors to be sodomized. Romans 1:21-32 tells us that homosexuality is the culmination or full expression of unbelief in and hatred for God. Suddenly now all the forms of civility were dropped, and the Sodomites openly expressed their hatred for Lot. Lot has been very much condemned for what he proposed in vv. 7-8, to give his two virgin daughters to the mob rather than his guests. The laws of hospitality required that he do everything possible to protect his guests. These men have “come under the shadow of my roof,” he said. He could have added what the mob knew, that they had broken bread with him, and Lot was dutybound to protect them. It was an ugly decision to offer his daughters, but all Lot’s decisions were ugly alternatives. In v. 9, the mob shouts, “Stand back.” They then shouted that Lot, an outsider, had come to Sodom to sojourn, and now he judges them. “Now will we deal worse with thee, than with them.” They crowded up to the door and almost broke it down (v. 9). Their real target was now more obvious: it was Lot. The two angels pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door (v. 10). At the same time, “they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great,” and these men staggered about still determined to destroy Lot (v. 11). The two men, or angels, asked Lot to round up all his family to escape from Sodom and the area, because it was to be destroyed (vv. 12-13). Lot spoke to his sons-in-law and daughters, and to his sons, but they treated his urgent plea as a joke (v. 15).

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In the morning, therefore, very early, the two men hastened Lot, who was paralyzed with horror. He had seen the full depravity of the men of Sodom, and he also knew that judgment was due, because he pleaded with his family to leave. The two men took charge and led Lot, his wife, and his two unmarried daughters out of the city (v. 15). At this point, Lot was on his own, but first the angels gave him a warning. He was to leave the entire area and head for the mountains to escape for his life (v. 16-17). Otherwise he would be consumed by the fiery end of the cities of the plain. Lot had no doubt been awake all night, and he was exhausted, so he pleaded, after thanking them for their mercy (v. 19), for permission to rest at Zoar (vv. 20-23). This was to be a stop in their flight. It was fully daylight when they reached Zoar (v. 23). The name Zoar means small in Hebrew. The angels promised to withhold judgment on the cities of the plain until Lot was safely in Zoar (v. 22). This fact should make us hesitate to condemn Lot. Granted it was Abraham’s plea that was the primary cause, all the same we must recognize God’s regard for Lot. Will God ever spare a city for your sake or mine? Then, Lot being in Zoar, God rained fire and brimstone on the cities and all the plain (vv. 24-25). Early that morning, Abraham, knowing that God would destroy those cities, looked toward the plain and saw the smoke (vv. 27-28). Meanwhile, Lot’s wife, not sharing his faith and apparently contemptuous of the warnings given (v. 26), “looked back,” or lagged behind in order to return to her home. The explosions reduced her, or oxidized her, to a charred pillar. Lot, however, was protected because of God’s promise to Abraham (v. 29). Apparently on the next day, Lot left Zoar for the nearest mountain, together with his two daughters; he was afraid to remain in Zoar. A cave was located as a temporary dwelling place (v. 30). The older of the two daughters then assessed the situation from her perspective. Her conclusion was, first, that Lot their father was old. This meant there was little likelihood of marriage for them. Lot’s wealth was gone, also his wife, sons, and other daughters. Who would marry either of the two exceedingly poor girls? Second, they believed that their father was a good and important man. They saw it as important that Lot’s line did not die out. They were thus girls with a great respect for their father. To “preserve seed of our father” (v. 32) was more important to them than anything else. Third, the plan proposed by the elder sister and accepted by the younger was to use their supply of wine to get their father drunk and to lie with him. This they did, the elder the first night and the younger the second night. The exhausted and intoxicated or drugged Lot was unaware of what the girls did (vv. 33-35). Thus the girls became pregnant by their father (v. 36). At this time, the genetic pool was so diverse that incest did not have the serious consequences that appeared later. It was not forbidden until the time of Moses, although it was practiced for many subsequent centuries in other

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cultures. The horror of it rightly developed as the consequences became apparent in later eras. The firstborn daughter’s son was named Moab, meaning “from the father.” The other girl’s son was named Ben-Ammi, “son of my people,” and from him the Ammonite people developed (vv. 37-38) What is clear from the narrative is that neither daughter tried to conceal what she did; the names given to their sons indicate this. Although arguments from silence are tenuous at times, in this instance we have no record of other children born to these girls. Their concern was to perpetuate their father’s seed, and no more. The Bible records this without blame or praise. We cannot justifiably read our own reactions into the narrative. A note about incest: The Renaissance era apparently saw extensive incest by fathers with daughters, if Brantome’s comments are correct. Certainly the extensive and deliberate inbreeding for dynastic purposes by the royal families of Europe was a considerable factor in their decline and fall. In recent years, incest has become more common in a certain element of modern society as a means of expressing contempt for God and His law. Some have urged its legalization as a part of the process of de-Christianization. In the incident with Lot’s daughters, the motivation, whether erroneous or not, was the preservation of Lot’s line.

Chapter Thirty-Eight Abimelech of Gerar (Genesis 20:1-18) 1. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. 2. And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. 3. But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4. But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5. Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6. And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7. Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine. 8. Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9. Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? 11. And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. 14. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. 15. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. 17. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18. For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife. (Genesis 20:1-18) 159

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This episode reminds us of the similar one in Egypt (Gen. 12:10-30) and a later like occurrence to Isaac and Rebekah at Gerar (Gen. 26:6-11). It is not necessary to maintain, as many do, that Sarah, having been rejuvenated, was again very attractive. Abimelech, king of Gerar, had an incentive in the fact that Abraham had a sizable army of men in his entourage, was a proven military man in his war against the kings of the east, and therefore was a valuable man to have as an ally. Except for great powers like Egypt, most rulers took wives to create a network of alliances. Alliances were made through marriages. Abraham, when approached, said of Sarah, “She is my sister” (v. 2); as he explained later, Sarah was a half-sister, by his father and not by his mother (v. 12). He explained his act in terms of his belief that “the fear of God is not in this place” (v. 11). It would have been easy, in terms of common practice, to kill Abraham and then to absorb all of his entourage into Abimelech’s family by choosing a leader from among Abraham’s men. Here again, Abraham is commonly abused as a coward and a liar, but there is no condemnation in the text. In fact, God clearly stands supportive of Abraham. Abimelech pleads innocence: “Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation” as well as me (v. 4)? Abimelech would have taken Sarah whatever Abraham had said, and he never denies that fact. God tells Abimelech he is a dead man for his act, potential adultery, even though he had not yet taken Sarah sexually (v. 4). It had not been lust which had motivated taking her, or else he would have taken her sexually. Abimelech’s essential motivation was political, the desire for additional military man-power of a tested variety. God tells Abimelech that He recognizes that he acted with integrity insofar as the sexual aspect was concerned. He says further, “I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her” (v. 6). God does not allow Abimelech to claim too much moral merit for not taking Sarah sexually. In all that happened, God was protecting both Abraham and Sarah. He then warns Abimelech, restore Sarah, or else you and your people shall surely die. The reason for this kind of vengeance on any transgression against Abraham is then stated: “for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live” (v. 7). This is the first time in the Bible that anyone is called a prophet. The implications are enormous. First, God makes it clear that Abraham is His prophet, His man. This is very far from the condemnation most commentators are prone to indulge in. Precisely at this humiliating point in Abraham’s life God calls him a prophet in speaking to Abimelech. Second, Abimelech is prompted by this honor God accords to Abraham to reward Abraham rightly with sheep and oxen, menservants and womenservants, and a thousand pieces of silver (vv. 14, 16). Abraham is also told, “my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee” (v. 15). Third, to protect himself, Abimelech most certainly warned his people against ever molesting Abraham, or any of his people, or his property. The people were

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no doubt warned that Abraham was a prophet of God, and a dangerous man to harm in any way. Abimelech’s own gifts to Abraham certainly became common knowledge, thereby increasing the fear of Abraham (v. 8). God had in some way prevented conception by Abimelech’s wife and maidservants. When Abraham prayed for them, God healed them all (v. 17-18). All this is very far from the usual treatment of Abraham by commentators and preachers. We are given instead God’s commendation and protecting care. Herbert E. Ryle, in The Book of Genesis (1914), speaks of Abraham’s “cowardice and dissimulation,” and others are equally harsh. In v. 16, Abimelech speaks to Sarah to claim that he has attained a position of equity with Abraham by his many gifts. Abimelech has a double concern, first, to be in the clear with God, and, second, to be in the clear with Abraham. Since Abimelech had no desire to deal further with either God or Abraham, he speaks to Sarah. Her answer is not recorded. In terms of “the custom of that day,” a ruler could claim any unmarried woman, even if she was a temporary visitor in his land, for his harem.1 Such a custom no man could fight against, but God here undertakes the battle for His prophet. That God’s law was then known even by pagans is evident in v. 3, where God tells Abimelech that he is under sentence of death for seizing another man’s wife, even though no sexual contact had yet taken place. Abraham emerges from this incident greatly enriched and with no small protection as well. He is now marked for protection and known as a prophet. This does not jibe with all the condemnation most commentators heap on Abraham. In doing so, they are implicitly condemning God for tolerating and blessing Abraham’s acts. Either the commentators are wrong, or God is. But if God is right, we have not rightly understood who and what He is. Abimelech of Gerar knew better.

1.

G Ch. Aalders, Genesis, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, Regency; 1981), 28.

Chapter Thirty-Nine The Covenant with Abimelech (Genesis 21:1-34) 1. And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. 2. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5. And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. 8. And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed. 14. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. 15. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. 16. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. 17. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. 18. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. 19. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. 20. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. 163

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Genesis 21. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. 22. And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: 23. Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. 24. And Abraham said, I will swear. 25. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away. 26. And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. 27. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. 28. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. 29. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? 30. And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. 31. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 32. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God. 34. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines’ land many days. (Genesis 21:1-34)

In this chapter we again meet Abimelech. The name Abimelech means king’s father. It is a name we find in this chapter and the previous one, in Judges 8, 9, and 10, in 2 Samuel 11:21, 1 Chronicles 18:16, and in the title to Psalm 34. The name has been translated also as “The (Divine) King is Father,” or “The (Divine) Father is King.” The Abimelech of Genesis 20 and 21 was apparently a true believer, as was of course Melchizedek, whom we encountered earlier. The best evidence of this is the fact that Abraham entered into a covenant with Abimelech. The covenant, always a treaty of law, was also evidence of a common faith between the two parties. It is significant that Abimelech does not consider this covenant an act of grace on his part, because he stated, “God is with thee in all that thou doest” (v. 22). The special and particular providence of God was plainly with Abraham, and Abimelech saw this clearly. Abimelech was a Philistine; the main invasion by the Philistines came later, but this Abimelech represented an early settlement and a substantial city-state. This episode is tied to the Hagar-Ishmael episode and the birth of Isaac. The birth of a son by the wife, Sarah, greatly strengthened Abraham’s power because in that era the family’s priority was clear, and a birth

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by the wife consolidated power. There was a focus now for the loyalty of more than 2000 persons. On the eighth day, the infant Isaac was circumcised (v. 4). The continuity of the covenant with God in this seed of Abraham and Sarah was celebrated by this circumcision, a covenantal act. The covenant with Abimelech extended to their sons, and their sons’ sons (v. 23), and it was so specified. With Isaac, there was now someone born to carry on the covenantal obligations which fall most on the blood heir. In vv. 1-5, we are told that, when Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The name Isaac means laughter, even amazed and mocking laughter. It recalls the happy laughter of Abraham and the amused laughter of Sarah. Isaac was born at the time named and appointed by God. Sarah happily recalls her laughter, now a joyful one because Isaac is born. Who would have thought it, she asks with delight (vv. 6-7). The child was circumcised on the eighth day (v. 4) as a joyful covenantal act. Such an occasion was commonly a religious festival and a celebration of the family’s faith and future. However, as Isaac grew and was weaned, another occasion for a feast, (v. 8), Ishmael mocked Isaac (v. 9), i.e., made fun of him. Sarah saw this, and she at once recognized that Ishmael resented being displaced as the heir. She at once ordered Abraham to cast out both Ishmael and Hagar. Legally, Ishmael was her son, but the strong bond between Hagar and Ishmael outweighed the legal fact (vv. 9-10). The idea of casting out Ishmael, a son he loved, was at the least repellent to Abraham (vv. 11-13). God, however, tells Abraham to obey Sarah’s requirement. He will protect both Hagar and Ishmael and make a great nation of Ishmael’s family. There is every reason to believe that Abraham provided generous sustenance for Hagar and Ishmael’s journey, but we are told that they “wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba” (v. 14). Because of this, their water was soon used up (v. 15). Placing Ishmael under a shrub, Hagar walked a little way so as not to see her son’s death, and she wept (v. 16). God then spoke to Hagar to comfort her. Ishmael had apparently prayed (v. 17), and God was now coming to their rescue. He once again assured Hagar that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation (v. 18). Moreover, God opened her eyes to see a nearby well of water, whereby they were revivified (v. 19). God blessed Ishmael and prospered him (vv. 20-21). Meanwhile, Abimelech, seeing God’s obvious blessing on Abraham, whom God had called a prophet earlier, now wanted to tie himself to Abraham by covenant in order to share in Abraham’s blessings (vv. 22-23). To this Abraham agreed (v. 24), but he added a condition. Abimelech’s men had violently taken a well away from Abraham’s men (v. 25). Abimelech was ignorant of this, but he promised to restore the well (v. 26).

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Abraham gave sheep and oxen to Abimelech to strengthen the covenantal bond. He also separated seven ewe lambs as a gift and as a token whereby he backed his word that his own men had dug the well (vv. 28-30). At this well, the covenant oath was made, and the place was named Beersheba, meaning “the well of the oath” (v. 30). Abraham planted a tree there to commemorate the covenant oath (v. 33). Abraham now felt secure to sojourn in Philistine territory (v. 34). The covenant oath had been made at Beersheba. Abraham “called on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God” (v. 33). The Name of the Lord was not used with Abimelech: it was the covenant name of God in His covenant with Israel. The tardy birth of Isaac made clear that the line of the Promised Seed was more than a natural line: it was a line that stressed God’s mercy and grace. Other men and women had many children, as would be the case with Abraham’s grandsons, Esau and Jacob, but not so at this point with Abraham. He could not take for granted a natural promise but was compelled to wait on a supernatural hope. Abimelech had every natural reason to dislike Abraham for the incident involving Sarah (Gen. 20:1-18) Instead, Abimelech not only enriched Abraham but entered into a covenant with him. He was clearly a Godly man, and one who believed God when God called Abraham a prophet.

Chapter Forty The Expanded Promise (Genesis 22:1-24) 1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. 3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 11. And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. 15. And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16. And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17. That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. 167

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Genesis 19. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. 20. And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor; 21. Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, 22. And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23. And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. 24. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah. (Genesis 22:1-24)

We have now a very remarkable episode that again tells us that God was preparing Abraham to be the father of the faithful. Hebrews 11:17-19 tells us that Abraham so trusted God that he believed God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead. Such a faith was essential in God’s eye’s for Abraham. We are told in v. 1 that “God did tempt” Abraham, meaning “made a trial of” or “put to the test.” It was not that God was ignorant of Abraham and his faith, but rather that God by this test brought home to Abraham and to us what faith means and requires. God tells Abraham to take his only son into the land of Moriah nearby and there offer him up as a burnt offering. God knew, of course, that Ishmael was also Abraham’s son, but Isaac is the son of the covenant and its promised hope, and Isaac was the only son linked to this hope. Abraham was thus asked to surrender his hope for the future because God required this of him. Abraham was prompt to obey. Nothing other than obedience occurred to him. He took two young men with him and Isaac; the required wood for a burnt offering was considerable. On the third day, they saw the appointed place. The two young men were told to wait, and Abraham and Isaac went up the mountain with the wood (vv. 3-6). At this point, Isaac asked a logical question: they had the wood for the fire, but where was the lamb for a burnt offering (v. 7)? Abraham’s answer was that God would provide the sacrifice, an expression of his hope and faith (v. 8). When they came to the appointed place, Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar. We have no word of protest from Isaac. Then Abraham reached with his knife to kill Isaac (vv. 9-10). At this point “the Angel of the LORD” intervened, stopping the sacrifice and saying, “now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me” (v. 12). When Abraham looked up, he saw a ram caught in a thicket; he took it and sacrificed it instead (v. 13). He called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh, meaning, the Lord will see, or, provide (v. 14). God then tells Abraham that he will be even more richly rewarded for his faith in blessings to his posterity (vv. 15-18). Abraham then returns to Beersheba. What God tells us in this episode is that the sacrifice He does not require of man He Himself makes in giving His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the atonement of our sins. Theologically, God bars all attempts by man to make atonement because man can offer nothing that can take away sin, nor can man

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in any way effect the necessary concomitant of atonement, regeneration. Atonement and regeneration alike require an act of God. Sinful man’s efforts at atonement only compound sin; they are either acts of masochism or sadism; they lay the guilt of sin either on oneself or on others, but in neither case can they remove either sin or guilt. God does this through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son. Isaac is thus a type of Christ. We are here told that what God does not ask of man, He does Himself. In vv. 15-18, the “Angel of the LORD” speaks plainly as God Himself. In vv. 20-24, we have the genealogy of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Milcah was Nahor’s niece (Gen. 11:27, 29). Our knowledge of these peoples is limited, but it is an important reference all the same. God in vv. 15-18 promises to make great Abraham’s family. This note tells us that God in His grace is mindful even of his brother and his brother’s family. In 1 Corinthians 7:14 we are told that an unbelieving marital partner who does not cause problems for the believer is separated unto blessings and God’s protecting care. Here we are told that God is mindful of Abraham’s relatives. God is gracious to the relatives of Abraham because Abraham is the forefather of Jesus Christ, and we by faith are the children of Abraham. With this in mind, we can look again at v. 17, which culminates with the promise, “thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” Seed is here singular. Not only shall the Promised Seed be the great King over all kings, (1 Tim. 6:15), but He shall take over all the realms of His enemies. This is a promise of total victory. None shall be able to withstand His power and kingdom. The Old Testament contains many prophecies of the universality of Christ’s Kingdom. All nations shall flow into it; all nations will be represented in it. Malachi 1:11 predicts the universal worship of the God of Scripture. Matthew 5:5 tells us that the meek shall inherit, not merely the Promised Land, but the earth. There is no restriction on the conversion of the enemies who shall become a part of the realm of Abraham’s Promised Seed. It is the whole earth that Christ and His people shall inherit.

Chapter Forty-One The Death of Sarah (Genesis 23:1-20) 1. And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. 3. And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 4. I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. 5. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 6. Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. 7. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. 8. And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 9. That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a buryingplace amongst you. 10. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, 11. Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead. 12. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. 13. And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. 14. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 15. My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. 16. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. 17. And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure 18. Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. 19. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. 20. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth. (Genesis 23:1-20) 171

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This chapter is of interest because it is concerned with burial ground. “Spiritual” religion looks down on such concerns. One person recently advocated cremation because it was held that things material are unimportant, and, on environmental grounds, burial was unethical. The answer given by a young woman was to the point. “God made the human body, and it must be treated with respect.” Abraham’s action had future consequences. Not only were Sarah and Abraham buried there (Gen. 25:9), but also Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah (Gen. 49:31), and, later on, Jacob (Gen. 50:13). The mosque of Hebron now stands over the site because Arabs, like Jews, claim descent from Abraham.1 A decent burial was seen as a religious fact. One of the curses on disobedience pronounced by God in Deuteronomy 28:26 it this: “And thy carcass shall be meat unto all the fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.” Jeremiah pronounced judgment on King Jehoiakim in these words: “He shall be buried with the burials of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem” (Jer. 22:19). Many texts tell us that a good and honorable burial was important (Josh. 24:30, etc.), whereas the leprous king Uzziah was buried in the same field but separately from his fathers (2 Chron. 26:23). In the Apocrypha, in the Book of Tobit, we see that one aspect of charity was to provide a decent burial to the needy and to the victims of oppression: In the time of Shalmaneser I used to do many acts of charity for my brothers. I would give my bread to the hungry and my clothes to the naked, and if I saw one of my people dead and thrown outside the wall of Nineveh, I would bury him. And if Sennacherib the king killed anyone who had come as a fugitive from Judea, I buried them secretly, for he killed many in his anger, and their bodies were looked for by the king and could not be found.2 Unlike pagan cultures, which either exalted the dead to an amazing degree at times, or else feared the dead, and sought to avoid or placate them, the Bible shows us that the Godly respected their dead and cared for their remains. Jacob, when dying in Egypt, said to his sons, “I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite” (Gen. 49:29). The New Testament tells us something also about covenant burials. Myrrh and aloes, with spices, were used to bury the dead (John 19:40). Burials did not take place on the Sabbath (Mark 16:1; Luke 23:56).3 In Bible times and later, respect for the dead required that, if a funeral procession passed by, everyone

1. Howard F. Vos, Genesis (Chicago: Moody Press, 1982), 90. 2. Tobit 1:16-18; in Edgar J. Goodspeed, The Apocrypha (New York: Vintage Books, Ran-

dom House, 1938, 1959), 110. 3. Delbert Roy Hillers, “Burial,” in Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 4, B (Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Probe Co., 1971), 1515f.

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along the way went with the mourners for a short distance. A wedding procession took precedence over a funeral, life over death. The text tells us that the area was in Hittite hands, i.e., the sons of Heth (v. 3). It refers to Ephron the Hittite in v. 10. Some commentators have denied a Hittite presence in Canaan at this time, but, as Stigers has shown, the text can only be understood in terms of Hittite law. In the Hittite law code, number 47, lands held as gifts from the king had no feudal obligations, whereas lands purchased from craftsmen carried such duties.4 This tells us much about the transaction. Abraham wanted only the cave, Machpelah, the name of which indicated a double cave which could serve as a burial place for several generations. Ephron wanted to sell the land around the cave in order to be rid of the feudal obligations. In such a transaction, the land would be very specifically described in the deed of sale, and the reference to the field, the cave, the trees and the borders, as well as to the 400 shekels or weights of silver, indicate that the deed was in mind when this text was written (vv. 1617). In v. 18, we have the deed recorded at the gate of the city, the place where court was held, and also where the city council met. According to Stigers, neither the code of Hammurabi nor the Nuzu law covered the terms of this transaction, whereas Hittite law fully covered it.5 Burial sites meant the home place, so Abraham by this act formally recognized that Canaan was his and his descendants’ home. The Hittites (vv. 5-6) described Abraham as a mighty prince, and they indicated a willingness to give him the cave. This was in part respectful courtesy and a way of prompting Abraham to do what a prince should do, be generous. It was, it is true, Eastern custom, but the formal courtesies had as their purpose the opportunity to assess one another’s character. Apparently the field gave legal access to the cave, and therefore the two were tied together by Ephron. In the bargaining, Ephron cites a price in v. 15, “a piece of land worth four hundred shekels; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.” Ephron says thereby, you, Abraham, are rich, and I am not, so what is 400 shekels to you? Pay it, and bury your dead. This Abraham did. Christians have not been allowed to visit this cave, with but two exceptions. In 1869, the Prussian Crown Price Frederick, and in 1881 the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, received permission from the Moslems to visit the grave. Verses 1-3 tell us that Sarah died at age 127, at Hebron, and Abraham, who apparently was elsewhere at the time, came and wept. It is possible that Sarah had been ailing for a time and so Abraham had found an urban house for her instead of his encampment in the fields. Some people are not happy that the Bible gives space to this episode. For them, it is unspiritual, and it is for them part of the Old Testament’s unspiritual 4. Harold 5.

Ibid.

J. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 193.

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nature in great measure. Of course, once this attitude prevails, it soon works on the New Testament and on Christian history. It is a mask of impotence because God’s word and law covers all of life, and to become as “spiritual” as some demand means to secede from history and to show contempt for God’s law word. The Bible does not give us a way of life abstracted from this world, but one in command of it.

Chapter Forty-Two Rebekah and God’s Particularity (Genesis 24:1-67) 1. And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: 3. And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: 4. But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. 5. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? 6. And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again. 7. The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. 8. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. 9. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter. 10. And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. 11. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. 12. And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. 13. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: 14. And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master. 15. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. 16. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. 17. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. 175

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Genesis 18. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. 19. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. 20. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. 21. And the man wondering at her held his peace, to wit whether the LORD had made his journey prosperous or not. 22. And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; 23. And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in? 24. And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. 25. She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. 26. And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped the LORD. 27. And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren. 28. And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother’s house these things. 29. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. 30. And it came to pass, when he saw the earring and bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. 31. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of the LORD; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. 32. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with him. 33. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. 34. And he said, I am Abraham’s servant. 35. And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. 36. And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. 37. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell: 38. But thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. 39. And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. 40. And he said unto me, The LORD, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house: 41. Then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath.

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42. And I came this day unto the well, and said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go: 43. Behold, I stand by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; 44. And she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom the LORD hath appointed out for my master’s son. 45. And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee. 46. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also. 47. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. 48. And I bowed down my head, and worshipped the LORD, and blessed the LORD God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter unto his son. 49. And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. 50. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. 51. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as the LORD hath spoken. 52. And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he worshipped the LORD, bowing himself to the earth. 53. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things. 54. And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. 55. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. 56. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. 57. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. 58. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. 59. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men. 60. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. 61. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. 62. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahairoi; for he dwelt in the south country. 63. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.

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Genesis 64. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. 65. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master: therefore she took a veil, and covered herself. 66. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. 67. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. (Genesis 24:1-67)

In v. 1, we are told that Abraham had been richly blessed in all things by God, but he was also “old and well stricken in age.” Although we see later the rejuvenation of Abraham, at this point he felt both the loss of Sarah and the infirmities of age. As a result, he felt an urgency in getting Isaac married to the right woman. This meant a Godly wife, and the only ones he knew were his kinfolk, some distance away. This does not mean there were no Godly women in Canaan, related, for example, to Melchizedek or to Abimelech, but marriage to them would have meant the absorption of Abraham’s family into more powerful ones. For this reason, Abraham sent his steward, Eliezer, to his relatives to seek a bride for Isaac (vv. 3-4). Abraham’s two conditions were, first, although the bride is from outside Canaan, she must be willing to live there. She must not be a Canaanite. This meant that the bride would be totally separated from her family and friends to become exclusively a part of Isaac’s family and locale. Second, she must be a worshipper of the true God. The steward raises a third point. What if the girl is willing to marry Isaac but wants to live in her home country? Abraham is very firm on this. Canaan is the land of promise, and Isaac must not leave it. The steward is freed from his oath if the woman will not leave home (vv. 3-8). In vv. 1 and 9, the servant is ordered to swear an oath by placing his hand under Abraham’s thigh. This has led to speculations as to whether or not this was a fertility cult act or survival, whereas in truth it is covenantal. It invoked the covenant and the sign of the covenant, circumcision. It invoked death and no posterity for the one who broke such an oath. For Abraham, the future of the covenant was at stake; he therefore required an oath wherein his steward placed his posterity at stake for God’s judgment and obliteration if he were false to his oath. If the steward’s action led to the betrayal of the covenant and Isaac’s future, then by his covenant oath he invoked a like judgment on himself. The oath deeply concerned the faithful steward, so he asked God’s help in being true to it. So he left for “the city of Nahor” (v. 10), or Haran (Gen. 27:43; 28:10; 29:4; Acts 7:2). He asked God’s help in identifying the right girl. There would be many relatives in Haran, because Nahor’s family was prolific, but which girl would be the right one? He prayed that the right girl would offer him water from the well, and also water for his entourage and camels. He had with him some of Abraham’s men (v. 32), all able to draw water. This was, however,

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a well belonging to Haran, and good behavior called for waiting for a local woman or man to offer the water. This would be a mark of hospitality on the town’s part, whereas to take the water without an invitation would be an act of presumption. All of life had rules. The steward prayed that the right girl help him. This helpful girl proved to be Rebekah, who gave him water, also the men, and the camels too. This satisfied the old man, who at once gave her earrings and a bracelet of gold, ten and a half shekels of gold, a very costly and wealthy gift. Rebekah ran home, after identifying herself and her family, and after inviting Eliezer and his men to stay with her family. The steward was overjoyed to find that this girl was descended from Nahor (vv. 10-28). Rebekah’s brother, Laban, seeing the wealthy gifts, ran out to greet the men and to urge them to come to their home (vv. 29-30). After the men and the camels were fed, the steward was to speak, but he insisted on speaking before eating (vv. 31-33). This was again an act of courtesy. Before partaking of their hospitality, he wanted to be assured that they would accept his mission. The steward identified himself as Abraham’s servant, and he spoke of Abraham’s power and wealth. “The LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great” (v. 35). He spoke of Isaac, and how God led Rebekah to him (vv. 36-49). Laban and Bethuel agreed to the marriage at once (vv. 50-52). Very costly jewels of silver, and gold, and raiment were at that moment given to Rebekah, who shared some with her family (v. 53). There was then an all-night celebration of the betrothal. In the morning, the steward asked to be sent away, i.e., to be allowed to leave with Rebekah (v. 54). The brother and mother left the decision up to Rebekah, who agreed to go at once rather than after as much as ten days of celebration (vv. 55-58). Rebekah, with her nursemaid, was then given leave to go, with the family’s blessing and their wishes for a numerous progeny and posterity (vv. 59-61). On their return, Rebekah saw Isaac and veiled herself; the servant made his report, and Isaac gave to Rebekah his mother’s tent, a very superior one, which now marked Rebekah as the governing woman (vv. 62-67). In Genesis 25:20, we are told that Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. In terms of the lifespan of the patriarchs, this was more comparable to twenty in our terms. Again, the Bible gives much space to what some scholars would see as trivia, i.e., the details of locating the bride. Obviously God feels differently! The details are aspects of His total providential care for us. Life is a collection of details, and God is in the details. To despise details is to lose God and to make of Him no more than an idea. Greek philosophy dealt with abstractions, ideas, and the Greek mindset then and now is contemptuous of the Bible’s particularity. The Hindu “holy” books, for example, deal in generalities, whereas the Bible is

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particular and specific. Our Lord, God the Son, stresses this particularity by telling us that God is mindful of the sparrows, and the very hairs of our head are all numbered (Matt. 10:29-31). This is a particularity that exceeds the capability of the mind of man to fathom, and it is one of the glories of Biblical faith. Our lives are continual masses of details rather than glittering generalities, and it is the detail that means life and individuality; abstractions are not real. The Bible revels in details, and for us to despise them is to hate life. This chapter is at times the subject of strange typological interpretations by some who “believe the Bible.” At least one scholar, a modernist who rejected its historicity, spoke of its accurate description of folk customs!

Chapter Forty-Three Keturah and Esau (Genesis 25:1-34) 1. Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. 3. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. 4. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. 6. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country. 7. And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. 9. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; 10. The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife. 11. And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi. 12. Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham: 13. And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, 14. And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, 15. Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: 16. These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations. 17. And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people. 18. And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur, that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: and he died in the presence of all his brethren. 19. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac: 20. And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. 21. And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the LORD. 23. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people 181

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Genesis shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. 24. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. 26. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them. 27. And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. 28. And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint: 30. And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. 31. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. 32. And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? 33. And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. 34. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:1-34)

Perhaps more than half a century ago, I heard an older pastor comment on Genesis 25:1-6, on Abraham’s wife or concubine—for she is called both (vv. 1, 6)— Keturah. The pastor expressed annoyance at such passages, and he wondered why the Bible included them. God loved Abraham, and He had tested and tried him as few men have been. Abraham had met the tests marvelously, and now, rejuvenated, God blessed him with a young woman. Earlier (Gen. 24:1), we see Abraham “old, and well stricken in age.” Now he marries Keturah and fathers six sons, and he sees them grow to maturity. More than what this tells us about Abraham is what it tells us about God. God does not bless Abraham by finding some ancient, unknown monastery for him. Rather, God provides for His friend (James 2:23) a fresh bride in his old age. Failure to see this means a failure to know the God of Scripture. The chapter tells us that we do not live for heaven alone. The distressed minister felt God should have taken Abraham to heaven. After all, what more should we want? But God makes clear that Abraham was to be blessed in the face of men and personally rewarded with a young bride in his old age. Was this “unspiritual” of God, as this minister inferred? Or was it not rather a clear act, indication that God’s ways far transcend our concepts of spirituality? Other old men have had young brides, and, as Calvin observed, this was commonly a ludicrous match. But not so that of Abraham and Keturah. There was also a side effect. With Abraham busy with a young bride and a growing family, it kept him out of the way where Isaac and Rebekah were

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concerned. So strong a man could have been an intimidating influence in the lives of the young couple. A concubine was a wife without a dowry. Keturah may have been one of the many women in Abraham’s clan. All the same, Abraham did provide generously for Ishmael, Hagar’s son, and Keturah’s six sons, and sent them eastward into what was then good country (v. 6). All were enriched, but the entourage and the main body of livestock went to Isaac. Abraham lived to be 175 years of age. Isaac and Ishmael were in charge of his funeral, Ishmael as the eldest, and Isaac as the heir. Abraham was buried in the cave of Machpelah, where Sarah had been interred (vv. 8-10). Ishmael’s presence indicates his reconciliation with Abraham and Isaac, and his covenant faith. God blessed Isaac after Abraham’s death. Isaac lived by the well Lahai-roi (Gen. 24:62; 25:11), “the well of the Living One who beholds me.” We have then in vv. 12-28 the family records of Ishmael, who lived 137 years, and who “died in the presence of all his brethren” (v. 18). Isaac survived him by 58 years. Although some give a strange reading to the final clause of v. 18, it does seem that the brothers were united, and they came together when Ishmael was dying. In vv. 19ff., we have the family records of Isaac. Isaac had married at age 40, but, as with his fathers, barrenness marked his marriage for some years. When he prayed to God, conception followed (v. 21). Rebekah was pregnant with twins, but she at first was afraid that her pregnancy might be abnormal. God told her that two nations were in her womb. The elder would serve the younger, and the one would be stronger than the other, i.e., the younger would in time prevail as the stronger (vv. 22-23). When the twins were delivered, the firstborn, Esau, was hairy; the other, Jacob, had hold on Esau’s heel (vv. 25-26). At this time, Isaac was 60 years old (v. 26); at this time also Abraham was still living, and Abraham was 160; thus Abraham lived to see the twins reach the age of 15. Esau was a skilled hunter, while Jacob was a plain, simple person, content to do his duty and to do what was expected of him (v. 27). “Isaac loved Esau” and relished the venison Esau provided him, but Rebekah loved Jacob, whom she knew was in the line of promise (v. 28). On one occasion, Esau came home from a hunt hungry and faint, and he demanded of Jacob some of his red lentils because he was famished (vv. 29-30). Esau’s name, meaning red, came in part from this request. Like his mother, Jacob saw his brother’s superficiality, and he asked, “Sell me this day thy birthright” (v. 31). In terms of the current Hurrian law, the eldest son had the birthright or right of inheritance, a practice not followed by Abraham, although God had to correct Abraham here (Gen. 17:18). Esau’s answer is revelatory of his impulsive and thoughtless character. “Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?” (v. 32). But Jacob required Esau to transfer the birthright to him by an oath, which Esau did (v.

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33). “Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way; thus Esau despised his birthright” (v. 34). What the Bible tells us clearly is that Esau was so contemptuous of his privileged status with his father that he could thoughtlessly sell his birthright, of which he was clearly unworthy. There is no condemnation in the text for Jacob, only for Esau. His action was contemptuous of his father and of his birthright. Esau was childish to the extreme. To despise his birthright, as the text tells us, meant that he was clearly undeserving of any place in God’s promised line. However we may feel about Jacob’s action, it was basically God who set Esau aside in an open way. In Hebrews 12:16 Esau is described as a fornicator and a profane person “who for one morsel (or, portion) of meat sold his birthright.” Some try to describe Esau as only “spiritually” a fornicator. But how can a man contemptuous of his birthright have been so moral as to avoid fornication? Esau was a profane person, and profane means to lack all affinity to God, to be an outsider to God’s law and way. This is not a gentle or kindly statement: it states that Esau’s way of life was outside of God. Esau was a good hunter; he was perhaps often a pleasant person to be near because of his impulsive ways. But his life was outside of God’s law and alien to God’s purposes. Therefore God separated Esau from the promise. But too many are predisposed to excuse sinners and find fault with God’s appointed ones. Of course, if we ourselves are faultless, we can do so, no doubt. If Keturah is a problem to us, and Esau an innocent victim, perhaps we need to know God better. Esau despised the birthright because He despised God.

Chapter Forty-Four Isaac at Gerar (Genesis 26:1-35) 1. And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. 2. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: 3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; 4. And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; 5. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. 6. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: 7. And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. 8. And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. 9. And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. 10. And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. 11. And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. 12. Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. 13. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: 14. For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him. 15. For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. 16. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. 17. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. 18. And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. 185

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Genesis 19. And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. 20. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. 21. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. 22. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. 23. And he went up from thence to Beersheba. 24. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake. 25. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well. 26. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. 27. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? 28. And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; 29. That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of the LORD. 30. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. 31. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. 32. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water. 33. And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day. 34. And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite: 35. Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah. (Genesis 26:1-35)

Our text concerns, among other things, a famine which led Isaac to plan a migration to Egypt. This God forbad and ordered Isaac to remain in Canaan in Philistine territory, in Gerar. Abraham had previously resided in Gerar and had been involved in a ‘seizure’ by Abimelech of his wife Sarah. The seizure was a routine event whereby powerful princes allied themselves to important families by taking one of their women into a harem. Whether it pleased the family of the women or not, it afforded them protection and princely favors. God told Isaac to remain in Canaan, where God would bless him (vv. 1-4). Isaac therefore remained in Gerar instead of moving on to Egypt. When local men inquired of Rebekah, for she was beautiful, Isaac used his father’s excuse, saying, she is my sister, which was not true. According to Stigers’

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calculations, some sixty years had passed since the incident reported in Genesis 20:1-18. This was not the same Abimelech.1 After Isaac had been in Gerar “a long time,” Abimelech looked out of a palace window and saw, in an area apparently taken over by campers, Isaac fondling Rebekah in a way which made it clear that they were not brother and sister but man and wife. Abimelech at once summoned Isaac into his presence to demand why he had lied. Isaac answered, “Because I said, lest I die for her” (v. 8-9). Abimelech not only rebuked Isaac but also charged his people, stating that any man who touched Rebekah would be put to death (vv. 10-11). God, however, clearly blessed Isaac by giving him a hundredfold harvest when he sowed grain in that area (v. 12). We are told, “the LORD blessed him.” Isaac had acted defensively, as had Abraham. His decision to lie was not a happy one, but God protected and blessed him whether we like it or not. We are told that Isaac “waxed great” and that he became “very great” (v. 13). He increased his flocks, herds, and possessions so much that the Philistines envied him (v. 14). At this point they were apparently unwilling to remember the covenant made with Abraham. Abimelech, in fact, asked Isaac to leave, saying, “Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we” (v. 16). This refers to God’s obvious blessings on Isaac, not to military prowess. Abraham’s entourage, by the time of his death, may have numbered three thousand persons. Since then, Isaac’s wealth and man-power had increased. Isaac left for a nearby valley. Abraham had dug many wells in the area, which, after his death, the Philistines had filled up out of envy and hatred. Isaac renamed the wells with the names his father had used. In addition, in one excavation, Isaac’s men uncovered a spring (vv. 17-19). This, in a time of drought, pointed to God’s obvious blessing. It would be unwise to judge Isaac, whom God richly blessed; the Bible is God’s book, not ours. Isaac’s men dug a well also, named Sitnah, hatred, because the Philistine herdmen had seized the spring, Esek (contention). Isaac, determined to keep the peace, moved on and had his men dig another well, named Rehoboth, room, because the Philistines now left him alone. His comment was, “For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land” (v. 22). He then returned to Beersheba (v. 23). At Beersheba “the LORD appeared unto him the same night,” saying, “I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake” (v. 24). God does not demand of Isaac an abstract and ideal ethical conduct; He does not rebuke Isaac for his lie in Gerar; instead, He promises great blessings “for my servant Abraham’s sake.” This is the essential fact: it does not belittle Isaac, but it does 1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 212.

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give priority to the one who made the covenant with God, the man whom God chose. At Beersheba, Isaac built an altar, i.e., collected stones to make an altar that showed no human artifice but was simply an unsophisticated and unadorned place for sacrifice. Such an altar was devoid of man’s works. There also Isaac’s men dug a well. Abimelech came from Gerar to meet with Isaac. Phicol, the chief captain of his army, came also; the name Phicol (meaning perhaps great) may have been a hereditary name or title for the military leader, and the name Abimelech for the king. With them was a friend of Abimelech, Ahuzzah (v. 26). Isaac was blunt with them. Having sent him away, why did they want to see him? (v. 27). The response was similar to that made to Abraham (Gen. 21:22). God was obviously with Isaac. Remarkably, they used God’s covenant name, Jehovah, or Yahweh (v. 28). They wanted a covenant with Isaac, an oath of faithfulness, and a bond between themselves and a man so clearly protected and blessed by God. They asked that Isaac do them no “hurt” (v. 29). They saw clearly that he was “the blessed of the LORD.” A covenant meal followed (v. 30), and a covenant oath, and they separated in peace (v. 31). On the same day, Isaac’s servants reported that they had dug another well and found water (v. 32). The name of the well was called Shebah, and, later, the city of Beersheba was located there (v. 33). Esau meanwhile, at age forty, married two women, both Hittites, Judith and Bashemath (v. 34). This was a source of great grief to Isaac and to Rebekah (v. 35). Stigers has pointed out that, in terms of Nuzu law, a wife was an adopted sister.2 This is true enough, but the fact is that Isaac’s lie was a defensive measure to avoid being murdered. God protects and blesses Isaac in this situation. Do modern commentators have a superior morality to God, or have they failed to read God’s word with God’s word and purposes in mind? The God who knows the number of hairs on our head (Matt. 10:30) is a better judge of men and their morals than we are, and He does not condemn Isaac. He knows our frailties, and He remembers that we are dust (Ps. 103:14). For the dust He has created to judge Him is most evil. If we fail to understand Him, we can hold our peace and rejoice in His mercies. For those who will receive it, this chapter is a comforting and strengthening one. It tells us about the covenant faithfulness of our God. Reference has been made to the Nuzu law whereby a wife becomes an adopted sister. This witnesses also to the priority of the family. A wife became a member of a new family with a new unity. She was to see herself primarily as a member of her husband’s family and clan. Her loyalties were to be to the new unit, not to the old. In some ancient cultures, a wife always saw herself as forever 2.

Ibid., 213.

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a member of her original family and would steal from her husband and his family to carry food and various articles to her own, original family. Biblical law even more than Nuzu law made a wife a full member of her husband’s family. Only very serious misconduct could end that tie. Not all cultures perhaps followed Nuzu law. Abraham’s family did because it reinforced God’s revelation to them, i.e., the verbal presentation of God’s order to them. Our problem today is a radical individualism whereby the individual essentially stands alone. This means a social anarchism in which every family and person is the loser.

Chapter Forty-Five The Blessing (Genesis 27:1-46) 1. And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I. 2. And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death: 3. Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison; 4. And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die. 5. And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. 6. And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying, 7. Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death. 8. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. 9. Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth: 10. And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 11. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man: 12. My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. 13. And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them. 14. And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved. 15. And Rebekah took goodly raiment of her eldest son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son: 16. And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck: 17. And she gave the savoury meat and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18. And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son? 19. And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. 20. And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me. 21. And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. 22. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. 191

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Genesis 23. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him. 24. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. 25. And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. 26. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. 27. And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed: 28. Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine: 29. Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee. 30. And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31. And he also had made savoury meat, and brought it unto his father, and said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me. 32. And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn Esau. 33. And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed. 34. And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. 35. And he said, Thy brother came with subtlety, and hath taken away thy blessing. 36. And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me? 37. And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son? 38. And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. 39. And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; 40. And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck. 41. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob. 42. And these words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah: and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy

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brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee. 43. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran; 44. And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away; 45. Until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day? 46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me? (Genesis 27:1-46) This chapter is a sad one; it begins with Isaac old and blind, or nearly so, and determined to confirm Esau as his main heir and as the line of promise. It is not likely that he was unaware of the Lord’s declaration concerning Jacob (Gen. 25:23). Humanly speaking, Esau was far more appealing to Isaac than Jacob, and Isaac was apparently trying to over rule God by his own choice. Isaac, to make an occasion of the blessing of Esau, asked him to bring a deer to and prepare his father a dish of venison (vv. 1-4). Rebekah heard this conversation. Determined to prevent her husband from sinning by trying to replace God’s choice with his, she ordered Jacob to bring in two kids. She knew how to prepare them so as to fool Isaac, so that the blessing would go to Jacob (vv. 5-10). Jacob doubted whether such a deception would succeed. Esau was a hairy man, Jacob smooth of skin (v. 11). The blind Isaac, in placing a hand on Jacob, would know the difference, and he would then curse Jacob as a deceiver (v. 12). Rebekah’s answer was, “Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them” (v. 13). At this point, it is important to understand what Rebekah meant when she said, “Upon me be thy curse.” Curses and blessings are covenant facts, blessings for covenant faithfulness, and curses for disobedience. An oath is a personal invocation of blessings and curses for obedience or disobedience. We can only understand Rebekah and Jacob in terms of a knowledge of the meaning of blessings and curses. Rebekah did not expect to be cursed; she sought to prevent Isaac from bringing down a curse on his own head. Loving Isaac, she wanted to prevent him from coming under God’s curse. Loving Jacob, she encouraged him to be bold because he was ordained by God to be blessed. Rebekah feared God and His possible judgment on Isaac, and also on Jacob. Accordingly, the meat was prepared in the way Isaac relished it. Esau’s garments were placed on Jacob, and the kid skins were placed on Jacob’s hands and neck. Isaac was blind and feeble, and he could thereby be fooled, as he was (vv. 15-17).

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When Jacob went in to see Isaac, the old man was surprised by the speedy return of the supposed Esau. He remarked, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau” (v. 22). After eating, Isaac blessed Jacob, assuming he was Esau. His blessing was that dominion be exercised; the earth would enrich him; and his brethren or kinsmen would be under his power. “Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee” (v. 29). Once again, we are faced with the covenantal curses and blessings. The blessing of Isaac had gone to Jacob, and Isaac was preserved from God’s judgment or curse. Shortly thereafter, Esau returned to find that Jacob had received the blessing (vv. 29-33). Esau’s response at the moment was grief, not anger towards Jacob: he knew that he had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. Esau begged for a blessing also, which Isaac gave, but it gave Esau a subordinate role (vv. 34-40). Afterwards, Esau decided that he would soon kill Jacob; he assumed that his ailing father would shortly die, and then he could kill his brother with impunity (v. 41). Rebekah then decided that Jacob must leave for his safety, and to look for a wife in her homeland. Isaac concurred in this (Gen. 28:1). Isaac and Rebekah needed a better daughter-in-law than Esau’s marriages had provided (vv. 42-46). In Genesis 28:1-4, we see a renewed Isaac giving counsel to Jacob. Disobedience in the form of favoring an ungodly son had not given him God’s blessing. Now, the renewed Isaac assumed a commanding position. Stigers’ calculation is that Isaac lived 37 years more after this event.1 His vigor and renewal may have included a restored vision. Rebekah had saved him from the curse. Rebekah’s purposes included, first, preventing Isaac from bringing God’s curse on himself. The fact that Isaac was now concerned about Jacob’s safety is a sure indication of a change in his stance. Second, Rebekah had enabled Jacob to make a stand, not only to get a blessing already ordained by God for him, but against his ruthless brother. Third, Rebekah wanted a Godly wife for Jacob. She was not aware of the religious decline of her family, but its daughters were better than local girls. What Rebekah did was to stand unequivocally for the covenant and its integrity. She feared God’s judgment on Isaac and Jacob. To apply present day perspectives to the events of this chapter is commonplace, but for Rebekah God’s covenantal promise was paramount, and she acted accordingly. It will not do to say that her favoritism to Jacob was the reason; her concern was covenantal, and God’s promise concerning Jacob was no doubt basic to her partiality to Jacob.

1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 217.

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Chapter Forty-Six Jacob’s Ladder (Genesis 28:1-22) 1. And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. 2. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother. 3. And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; 4. And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham. 5. And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother. 6. When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan; 7. And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram; 8. And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father; 9. Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife. 10. And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. 11. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. 12. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. 13. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. 16. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. 17. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. 18. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. 197

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Genesis 19. And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. 20. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 21. So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: 22. And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. (Genesis 28:1-22)

It is always easy to criticize dead men, and Jacob, among others, has been generously condemned by scholars in the Christian camp while being unduly exalted by the rabbis, as witness Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz.1 This chapter begins with a changed Isaac, no doubt well informed by his wife Rebekah. He takes the initiative now, calling in Jacob to charge him, first, not to marry a Canaanite woman, and, second¸ to go to Padan-aram to marry someone from his mother’s family (vv. 1-2). Isaac then prays that God bless Jacob, make him fruitful, “and give thee the blessing of Abraham” (vv. 3-4). Clearly, Isaac had come to realize that Jacob, not Esau, was the chosen man. Jacob was then sent on his journey (v. 5). Esau, seeing that his parents felt so strongly about the need for a Godly marriage, decided to please them by marrying a daughter of Ishmael. (vv. 6-9). Jacob, on his way towards Haran, stopped at night at a place later known as Bethel (v. 11). He had little more than stones for a pillow (v. 11). As Jacob slept God gave him a vision of a “ladder,” or, actually, an incline or passageway from earth to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it (v. 12). “And, behold, the LORD stood above it.” (v. 13). The angelic activity was not specified as occurring for Jacob’s benefit or for him exclusively. What it clearly showed was that God is no absentee landlord. He is totally active in all His creation, and the angelic hosts serve Him in this involvement. Jacob is alone, as we are often, and yet not alone, because the heavenly hosts are forever active. We cannot normally see them, but they accomplish God’s purposes, and we are among them. With this vision, Jacob could endure the hard years in Padan-aram. But there was more, as we have seen: God stood above the “ladder.” There is nothing impersonal in all God’s creation, nor in Him. The activities of heaven and earth are totally under His care and government. More than angels are involved in our lives and world: the Almighty and Triune God is always there and always mindful of us. As Psalm 121:4 tells us, “Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep,” and we are the Israel of God in Christ (Gal. 6:16).

1.

Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, Bereishis, Genesis, vol. IV (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, 1979), 1177-1203.

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This is the first of seven visions of God given to Jacob: Genesis 28:12-15; 31:3; 32:1, 2; 32:24-30; 35:1; 35:9-13; 46:1-4. Obviously, Jacob was greatly blessed and honored by God. That he underwent severe trials means no more than what Paul endured in the way of brutal experiences. It was a part of God’s schooling in terms of time and eternity. In what follows, Jacob is badly abused by scholars for ostensibly bargaining with God. Jacob’s promise to give God a tithe (v. 22) is seen as crass materialism on Jacob’s part, as though he said to God, if you will give me what you promise, I will tithe to you. But the obvious fact is that we are in the world of the covenant. In a covenant, both parties have duties and obligations. The covenant until now had been directly in the names of Abraham and Isaac as executors, to use a modern term, but now Jacob is the covenant representative for God’s chosen or covenant people. Covenants between equals are covenants of law. But this is a covenant between unequals, between God and man, and it is a covenant of grace and law. The terms can only be established by God. It is therefore an error to see Jacob’s promise to tithe as one made on his initiative: it reflects God’s requirement, among other things, of Jacob. If one objects that no covenant was cut here, the answer is that the covenant already existed from Abraham’s day, and this was a covenant theophany. It made clear to a troubled Jacob, in flight from his brother, that he was God’s covenant man. Covenant promises are renewed to Jacob specifically. First, the land he was lying on would in time belong to his seed. Second, his seed would possess the land on all sides, north, south, east, and west. Third, in “thy seed,” singular, i.e., the person of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, “shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (vv. 13-14). Fourth, God will keep him in safety wherever he goes, and God will then return Jacob safely home (v. 15). Jacob then awoke, fully aware of the vision and God’s providential care. The place thus had a supernatural meaning for Jacob as God’s house, and was in effect for Jacob the gate to heaven (v. 16-17). He therefore used the stones he had used as a pillow towards building an altar, and he poured oil upon it as an offering (v. 18). The location of this place was near Luz, but Jacob renamed it Bethel, the house of God, and he promised to make a sanctuary there (vv. 19-22). What Jacob says in vv. 20-21 is usually seen as bargaining, but such a statement is absurd. Jacob is repeating God’s promise in the vision, of which we are given only the larger promises. Jacob now knows that God will care for him, and he repeats the promises and says amen to God’s requirements, the tithe in particular.

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To read this chapter, or the Bible, apart from the covenant, is to warp it and to misunderstand its meaning. Jacob was not trying to bargain with God: he was saying amen to Him. Moreover, as against his powerful brother, Jacob did not see himself as God’s chosen line. Despite gaining the birthright from a moment’s opportunity, Jacob was unsure of himself. His mother and his father confirmed his status, but it required God’s revelation fully to convince Jacob. When Jacob made his vow (v. 20), he said that if God’s revelation is true, and I am to be preserved and blessed as the chosen line, then indeed I will be God’s covenant man. Rather than a calculating man, Jacob was a man unsure of himself. Patient and stubborn Jacob certainly was, but he was not the cold planner some hold him to be. When Laban gave Jacob Leah rather than Rachel, had it been Esau who was so deceived, both Laban and Esau might well have been dead in the explosion of the following morning. Jacob was realistic and patient, and he worked another seven years. Much Pharisaism has gone into criticism of the patriarchs by lesser men.

Chapter Forty-Seven Jacob in Haran (Genesis 29:1-35) 1. Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. 2. And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and a great stone was upon the well’s mouth. 3. And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in his place. 4. And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. 5. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6. And he said unto them, Is he well? And they said, He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep. 7. And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. 8. And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and till they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep. 9. And while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep: for she kept them. 10. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother. 11. And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 12. And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son: and she ran and told her father. 13. And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. 14. And Laban said to him, Surely thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. 15. And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be? 16. And Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. 17. Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and well favoured. 18. And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. 19. And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me. 20. And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her. 21. And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her. 22. And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. 201

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Genesis 23. And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her. 24. And Laban gave unto his daughter Leah Zilpah his maid for an handmaid. 25. And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me? 26. And Laban said, It must not be so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn. 27. Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years. 28. And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also. 29. And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid. 30. And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. 31. And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren. 32. And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the LORD hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me. 33. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon. 34. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be joined unto me, because I have born him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi. 35. And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, Now will I praise the LORD: therefore she called his name Judah; and left bearing. (Genesis 29: 1-35)

When Eliezer went to Haran to bring back a bride for Isaac, he went laden with jewels of silver and gold for a dowry, Rebekah’s dowry (Gen. 24:53). Jacob left home alone, without Eliezer’s entourage. We are not told why. There was no lack of wealth in the family, so this was not the reason. Perhaps it was necessary for Jacob to run off alone, lest Esau learn of it and have him killed. A train of camels would have been quickly spotted, but Jacob going off alone aroused no alarms; he could have been checking on some herdsmen. When Jacob arrived in the area of Haran, he saw a well with three flocks of sheep and the boys who tended them, three in number most likely. Young boys normally tended sheep, and sometimes girls as well. (My father, at about five or six, was assigned a few sheep to tend, but, in his case, streams were near for watering.) Apparently the water table was low, a drought under way, and the sun hot, and so a large flat rock capped the well to prevent evaporation. The boys could not by themselves move the rock; they were waiting for Rachel and probably others to help move the rock. This Jacob did for them. Before that, he asked about Laban, his mother’s brother, and was told that Laban’s daughter, Rachel, was coming near with her family’s sheep (v. 6). Jacob

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first moved the stone, and then with tears of joy kissed Rachel and identified himself (vv. 10-11). Rachel ran and told her father, who came to escort Jacob to his house (v. 13). Laban said to Jacob, “Surely thou art my bone and my flesh” (v. 14). Jacob, in the next month, worked with Laban, who offered to pay him (v. 15). This gave Jacob the opportunity to raise the question of a bride, and he asked for Rachel, who was beautiful; Leah, the older sister, was “tender eyed,” meaning that her eyes were not dark. The preference then was against blue and greenish eyes (vv. 16-18) In what follows, Laban is commonly abused by commentators. It is true that Laban deceived Jacob, but this is not the whole story. Rebekah had been given a very generous dowry by Eliezer for Isaac; obviously, wealth was in the family. Whatever story Jacob could tell could not erase the fact that he had come with nothing. There was no assurance that, when Jacob returned, his parents might not be dead and Esau in possession of everything. It would have been unwise for any father to entrust his daughter to a man in such a plight. Laban clearly wanted to keep Jacob and his daughters in Haran. His actions were those of a good father. It was his hope that after fourteen years, Jacob would prefer to remain. It was Jacob who offered to serve Laban seven years as a dowry for Rachel (vv. 19-20). He perhaps reasoned that, after seven years, Esau might be less hostile. At the end of seven years, Jacob asked for his bride, and the wedding was celebrated with a feast (v. 21-22). It was a custom to veil the bride, and so Jacob did not see that it was Leah who had been brought to his bed. In the morning, to his dismay and anger, Jacob saw that he had taken Leah. He angrily confronted his father-in-law, who said that custom required the older daughter to marry first (vv. 23-27). This was indeed a common custom in many countries, and, while perhaps not mandatory in Haran, was apparently enough well known that Jacob had no response. Laban suggested another seven years of labor as a dowry for Rachel. Jacob agreed, and he was given Rachel as a bride the following week. Laban by this time knew that Jacob was a man of his word. Laban then gave Leah Zilpah as a handmaid, and to Rachel he gave Bilhah (vv. 27-30). Both these handmaidens subsequently became Jacob’s concubines, as Laban probably expected, and this would further tie Jacob down and make his continuance at Haran more likely. He no doubt suspected that Jacob’s return to Canaan could mean his death, and this he did not want. We are told that Leah was hated by Jacob (vv. 31, 33). The word hated in Hebrew means utterly odious. Jacob felt trapped by the situation, and some of his resentment was against Leah for her part in the deception. This hatred later disappeared, and he, while preferring Rachel, came to love and trust Leah, because when he decided to flee from Haran, he called Leah and Rachel both out to the pasture-land to tell them of his plan (Gen. 31:4ff.). He now knew that he

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could trust Leah. Leah may have agreed to the marriage deception out of love for Jacob. When God saw that Leah was hated, He gave her, and not Rachel, children. Leah bore first Reuben, meaning, “See, a son,” then Simeon, or “hearing,” for God had heard her prayer. Levi was next born; Levi means “attachment,” for she hoped that these births would attach Jacob to her. Then Judah was born, the name meaning “praised,” and Leah said, “Now I will praise the LORD” (vv. 3135). As we know, the Messiah came through the line of Leah, through Judah. Leah was the wife favored by God, if not by Jacob. Leah’s clear devotion to Jacob is always apparent, and God’s grace to her is also obvious. Rachel’s sons were Joseph and Benjamin, good sons both, but God passed over them to choose Judah for the messianic line. There was no communication between Jacob and his family as far as we know. Esau was apparently kept in the dark as to Jacob’s whereabouts, and he did not know whether Jacob was alive or dead. This no doubt helped dull his hatred for Jacob. Isaac and Rebekah had committed Jacob to God’s care as God’s man, and they lived their faith.

Chapter Forty-Eight Jacob’s Way (Genesis 30:1-43) 1. And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 2. And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 3. And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. 4. And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 5. And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son. 6. And Rachel said, God hath judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan. 7. And Bilhah Rachel’s maid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son. 8. And Rachel said, With great wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali. 9. When Leah saw that she had left bearing, she took Zilpah her maid, and gave her Jacob to wife. 10. And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a son. 11. And Leah said, A troop cometh: and she called his name Gad. 12. And Zilpah Leah’s maid bare Jacob a second son. 13. And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher. 14. And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes. 15. And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee to night for thy son’s mandrakes. 16. And Jacob came out of the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me; for surely I have hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. 17. And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob the fifth son. 18. And Leah said, God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband: and she called his name Issachar. 19. And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son. 20. And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun. 21. And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah. 22. And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. 23. And she conceived, and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: 24. And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son. 205

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Genesis 25. And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. 26. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service which I have done thee. 27. And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. 28. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it. 29. And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me. 30. For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also? 31. And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me any thing: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy flock. 32. I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire. 33. So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted stolen with me. 34. And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word. 35. And he removed that day the he goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she goats that were speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. 36. And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. 37. And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chestnut tree; and pilled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods. 38. And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink. 39. And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. 40. And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle. 41. And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods. 42. But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. 43. And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses. (Genesis 30:1-43)

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Jacob was obviously partial to Rachel, and God therefore showed partiality to Leah, as Genesis 29:31 tells us. The two sisters were engaged in a sorry competition for Jacob’s love, a common problem in polygamy, despite Mormon propaganda to the contrary. Some of the saddest stories about polygamy come out of the Mormon practice. While Leah was bearing sons to Jacob, Rachel’s envy grew. She finally turned on her husband as though her childlessness was his fault. Jacob angrily responded to her tantrum. She said, “Give me children, or else I die.” Jacob, very angrily, if correctly, answered, “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of thy womb?” (vv. 1-2). Rachel then offered her maid, Bilhah, to Jacob. Again, this was a legal practice in the society out of which Abraham’s family came. It was common to Nuzu and Hurrian law.1 The child of the union when the concubine was given to the husband by the wife, was legally the wife’s son, as Rachel’s comment in v. 3 makes clear. In antiquity, women saw the children under their care as their own children. If, as Hagar did, someone created a division, that was another matter. Sarah’s bitterness was due to the fact that Hagar created a break where harmony and gratitude should have existed. Leah bore Jacob six sons, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, and a daughter, Dinah. Her maid, Zilpah, bore two sons, Gad and Asher. Rachel bore Joseph and Benjamin, and Bilhah two also, Dan and Naphthali. The names given to all these sons reflect the conflict. Reuben: see, a son; Simeon: hearing, i.e., God has heard me; Levi: joined, i.e., this will join me to my husband; Judah: praise, I will praise the LORD; Issachar, a hire, or pay; Zebulun: dwelling, hoping that God would now endue her with her husband’s favoritism. Zilpah’s sons were Gad: a troop or company; Asher: happy. Rachel bore Joseph, meaning adding, because she now expected another son; Benjamin means the son of the right hand. Bilhah’s sons were Dan, meaning judging, because Rachel saw his birth as a judgment in her favor; Naphthali means my wrestling, i.e., with her sister. The competition between the sisters had as its primary victim Jacob. Apparently nothing he could do or say altered the matter. We have seen how bluntly he had spoken to Rachel (vv. 1-2). The sisters were in an intense competition, and, at one point, Rachel gave her bed-right to Leah in exchange for Reuben’s mandrakes. Mandrakes are a tasty root of the same family as potatoes. They are edible raw, very prized in many cultures, and, in antiquity, they were believed to help conception. In Leah’s case, gaining Jacob for the night subsequently led to Issachar’s birth. The time came when Jacob, having served Laban for fourteen years for Leah and Rachel, asked to be allowed to leave. Laban was reluctant to see Jacob leave. Esau could well be awaiting Jacob’s return to kill him and the children and seize the inheritance. There was no reason to believe otherwise. Also, Laban frankly 1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 232.

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admitted that Jacob’s presence had meant, “the LORD blessed me for thy sake” (v. 27). He urged Jacob to remain and asked him to set his own wages (v. 28). Jacob asked only the speckled, spotted, and brown births of the cattle, sheep, and goats (vv. 30-33). To this Laban agreed, but he then removed all such animals from those tended by Jacob and placed them in the hands of his sons, three days’ journey away from where Jacob was tending the flocks and herds (vv. 34-36). Jacob then resorted to a folk custom, hoping to mark the animals before birth. He used debarked branches, and the results were prolific births favoring him (vv. 37-43). In Genesis 31:12f., God lets Jacob know that it was He, not Jacob’s device, that led to the births of animals favoring Jacob. By so informing Jacob, God let him know that it was not Jacob’s devising but God’s providence that was prospering him. Jacob was in a very difficult bind. At home, his brother wanted to kill him. In Haran, his father-in-law wanted to keep him because he was a great asset, and also because he did not want to lose his daughters and grandchildren. Jacob, however, had no desire to be Laban’s heir, and hence his request for the freedom to develop his own herds and flocks. This request made obvious the fact that Jacob was refusing to become a part of Laban’s household and family. It did create a breach. For Laban, it meant losing his daughters and grandchildren to at least an uncertain future and possible death. It was not unreasonable for Laban to oppose in one way or another their departure. On the other hand, for Jacob this was not a matter of being reasonable or sensible but an act of faith. The land of Canaan and the promised Messiah were to be his future, and he stood on that faith. Jacob was a man of stubborn and unbending faith, and nothing was going to shake him or deter him from his God-ordained course. He was God’s man, not Laban’s, or Leah’s, or Rachel’s. Jacob had begun as the hesitant and timid son of Isaac and Rebekah. Step by step, God was compelling Jacob to stand in terms of his calling and not to be overly hesitant in terms of his necessary requirements. Justice was and is no matter for hesitancy and modesty. This God was requiring Jacob to learn.

Chapter Forty-Nine Jacob’s Departure (Genesis 31:1-55) 1. And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory. 2. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as before. 3. And the LORD said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. 4. And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock, 5. And said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as before; but the God of my father hath been with me. 6. And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. 7. And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me. 8. If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy hire; then bare all the cattle ringstreaked. 9. Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. 10. And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstreaked, speckled, and grisled. 11. And the angel of God spake unto me in a dream, saying, Jacob: And I said, Here am I. 12. And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the rams which leap upon the cattle are ringstreaked, speckled, and grisled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee. 13. I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred. 14. And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? 15. Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money. 16. For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. 17. Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; 18. And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan. 19. And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s. 20. And Jacob stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled. 21. So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face toward the mount Gilead. 22. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. 209

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Genesis 23. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and they overtook him in the mount Gilead. 24. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said unto him, Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 25. Then Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mount: and Laban with his brethren pitched in the mount of Gilead. 26. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword? 27. Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harp? 28. And hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? thou hast now done foolishly in so doing. 29. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. 30. And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods? 31. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me. 32. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, let him not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. 33. And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the two maidservants’ tents; but he found them not. Then went he out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent. 34. Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel’s furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not. 35. And she said to her father, Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise up before thee; for the custom of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the images. 36. And Jacob was wroth, and chided with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me? 37. Whereas thou hast searched all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff ? set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us both. 38. This twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 39. That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. 40. Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep departed from mine eyes. 41. Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times. 42. Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst sent me away now empty. God

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hath seen mine affliction and the labour of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight. 43. And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These daughters are my daughters, and these children are my children, and these cattle are my cattle, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children which they have born? 44. Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. 45. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. 46. And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made an heap: and they did eat there upon the heap. 47. And Laban called it Jegarsahadutha: but Jacob called it Galeed. 48. And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; 49. And Mizpah; for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another. 50. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. 51. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold this pillar, which I have cast betwixt me and thee; 52. This heap be witness, and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. 53. The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac. 54. Then Jacob offered sacrifice upon the mount, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mount. 55. And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place. (Genesis 31: 1-55) This chapter tells us, first, that Jacob’s obvious blessing by God rankled with Laban and his sons. During Jacob’s stay, fourteen years for Rachel and Leah, and six years to earn something for himself, Laban changed the terms of employment “ten times,” i.e., very, very often. God so obviously favored Jacob, no matter what the terms were, that it was apparent to all that Jacob was God’s man. Up to this point, Laban was circumspect. Now his faulty premises began to appear. Had he rejoiced in the success of his son-in-law, God would have blessed him also. Instead, he did all that he could to cheat Jacob. Second, God made it clear to Jacob that he had prospered, not because of his silly devices at breeding time for the animals, but because God blessed him no matter what Laban did: God made known to Jacob that it was not Jacob’s doing but God’s that had prospered him. Whatever kind of cattle Laban said would be Jacob’s, those varieties predominated at birthing time (vv. 7-13). Third, Jacob was ordered by God in a vision to return to Canaan (v. 13). Jacob’s schooling by God at Haran was now over. There would be more training in Canaan.

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Fourth, both Rachel and Leah were agreed with Jacob that their father had wronged them and Jacob (vv. 14-16). They recognized their father’s duplicity and were totally with their husband in his decision to leave. In order to prevent serious conflict, it was decided that they would leave secretly when Laban and his sons were far out in the hills with their livestock (vv. 17-24). The distance from Padan-aram to Canaan was some 300 miles, not an easy journey with herds of livestock that had to be fed and watered along the way. Progress would be slow. It is noteworthy that both Rachel and Leah not only sided with Jacob but were also strongly against their father’s conduct (vv. 14-16). This tells us much about Jacob. Normally then, and even now in many cultures, the father and the brothers were a woman’s defenders against any abuse by her husband. Women maintained the best possible relationship to their father and brothers in order to keep their husbands in line. Their security against spousal abuse depended on keeping close ties to their own family. Leah and Rachel make clear that they want to break such ties. Fifth, as against his daughters, Laban insisted on seeing his sons and himself as their protectors. This was one of the purposes of his pursuit of Jacob. Laban accuses Jacob of carrying “away with my daughters, as captives taken with the sword” (v. 26). Had Jacob sought to leave openly, there could have been a party first, music and feasting (v. 27). Now, if he had not caught up with Jacob, Laban would not have been able to bid farewell to his grandchildren (v. 28). Sixth, Laban accuses Jacob of stealing his household gods (v. 30). This was a matter of importance. Laban, a syncretist, recognized both the living God and the local gods. The possession of these images meant that the possessor was the true heir of the family’s wealth, the new head of the household. Laban thus accuses Jacob of a double theft, of his daughters and of his gods. Their possession would make Jacob Laban’s heir. The matter was thus very important because it separated the estate from Laban’s control. Jacob was then angry and showed it. He invited Laban and his men to go through all his possessions to search for the idols (vv. 32-36). In fact, Jacob was ready to see the thief killed, so sure was he of his and his household’s innocence. He did not know that Rachel was the thief (v. 32). When the search was conducted, Laban himself searched the tents of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah (vv. 33-34). Rachel, pretending to be menstruating and ill, sat on a camel’s saddle wherein the gods were hidden. Her father did not ask her to get up, and so the gods were not discovered (v. 35). Jacob then gave vent to his anger, and he went over the indignities he had suffered at Laban’s hands (vv. 36-42). It had only been tolerable for Jacob because his covenant with God had sustained him. Seventh, God had warned Laban that Jacob was His man, and that Laban was not to speak either good or bad to him (v. 24). Whatever Laban said was thus limited by this fact. His purpose in the chase was thus to say good-bye to his

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daughters and grandchildren and to recover the household gods. There was a problem now, in that these images were not located, and Jacob was apparently innocent. Anyone in the family could have stolen the images and hidden them as Laban approached. Laban, to protect his heirs, now proposed a covenant. Stones were gathered for an altar, called “the heap of witness” (v. 46f.). The covenant made, the altar was seen also as a beacon or watch tower, Mizpah. The covenant concluded with the statement, “The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another” (vv. 48-49). The terms are given to us in vv. 50-53. They require that neither side will pass beyond the altar to do harm to the other. This precluded Jacob from any claim to Laban’s estate. By invoking God to watch over him, Jacob promised to treat Leah and Rachel in a Godly manner. This safeguarded Laban’s concerns, and it protected Jacob from interference. After a covenant meal together, Laban kissed his daughters and grandchildren and left. Eighth, Jacob is cautious in what he does. In v. 1, we see that the real problem is more Laban’s sons than Laban. They held that Jacob was profiting at their father’s expense, meaning at their own. Their hostility began to affect Laban (v. 2) and altered his attitude towards Jacob. At the same time, Leah and Rachel resented the terms on which they had been given to Jacob. They felt that their father had treated them as “strangers; for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our money” (v. 5). God had righted this theft by blessing Jacob (v. 16). We are told no more of this, but there is no reason to doubt what Rachel and Leah said. Jacob had worked to provide a dowry, a very high one, and no dowry was given to the girls by Laban in recompense for Jacob’s fourteen years of service. In this matter, Laban was clearly at fault. Moreover, Jacob had bent over backwards to be favorable to Laban. A herd or flock will have certain losses due to wild animals. Jacob had absorbed all such losses (v. 39), more than honorable conduct on his part. Normally, the killed animal was sent to the rancher as proof that a wild animal was responsible. The Hebrew word for sons can also mean grandchildren. In chapter 29, there is no mention of any sons of Laban. Genesis 31:23 speaks of Laban’s brothers or kinsmen, but not sons. Speiser thus held that Laban had no sons, only male kinfolk, grandsons, or the like.1 This would mean that Laban, seeing that Jacob was not planning to stay, would favor others over Jacob. Rachel, in stealing the household images (and it was theft), obviously saw it as reclaiming what was rightfully hers, Leah’s, and Jacob’s property. Speiser sees this chapter as very important and “a key witness on the subject of patriarchal traditions in general.”2 Under Nuzu and Hurrian law, all that Jacob had could be claimed by Laban; without the household gods, whose guardian owned all, Laban owned nothing. Rachel had destroyed any legal claim by Laban 1. E.A. 2.

Speiser, Genesis (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1964), 244. Ibid., 248.

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over Jacob and his possessions. It was not paganism on Rachel’s part to take the images, but a decision, however wrong, to protect her husband’s property. Earlier, Isaac’s wealth had made the Philistines jealous; now, Jacob’s wealth made Laban and his family angry and jealous.3 If Speiser is right, and Laban had no sons, it does explain Laban’s urgent desire to keep Jacob with him one way or another: he wanted a reliable and able heir. In the process, however, he alienated his daughters and Jacob and lost his grandsons by Jacob. It was an ugly situation, and Laban’s call for a covenant provided the only safe way out of it. Jacob was ignorant of what Rachel had done. He had pinned his hope on flight, but the slow movement of his herds and flocks enabled Laban to catch up with him. Possibly he had hoped that Laban would not be informed of his flight in time to catch up with him, but, clearly, Laban had been hastily informed. Persons at the home base would quickly recognize that, however much they may have preferred Jacob, their future was with Laban.

3.

Frank E. Gaebelein, editor, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Regency, 1990), 204.

Chapter Fifty The Prince of God (Genesis 32:1-32) 1. And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2. And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim. 3. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom. 4. And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5. And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6. And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. 7. Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; 8. And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape. 9. And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 11. Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12. And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. 13. And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14. Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15. Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. 16. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17. And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18. Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. 19. And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. 215

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Genesis 20. And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me. 21. So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. 24. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. 32. Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank. (Genesis 32:1-32)

When Jacob began his journey to Haran, he had at Bethel a vision of angels ascending and descending. Now, on his return, he is met by the angels of God (v. 1). He recognized them, and he named the place Mahanaim, meaning “two hosts” (v. 2). The one host or company was his family, the other being the angels. Jacob had recognized that he was not alone, the Lord God was with him. Given this fact, Jacob decided against sneaking into the land. He could have gone home quietly to get his father’s protection. He sent messengers to his brother Esau, who was in Edom, to inform Esau of his return (v. 3). Esau was to be told of Jacob’s prosperity and wealth (vv. 4, 5). There was to be no evasion. The messengers returned to tell Jacob that Esau was coming to meet him with four hundred men (v. 6). It is possible that the size of this company of men had as its purpose to impress Jacob with Esau’s power. This is likely, with the added proviso that Esau could easily overwhelm Jacob with his men. The impulsive Esau may not have been entirely sure what course to take. Jacob’s reaction was to prepare for disaster. Jacob had his family and livestock divided into two companies, so that if Esau attacked, some at least would escape (vv. 7-8).

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Esau’s four hundred men were perhaps only a part of his forces, since Seir, latter Edom, was the old domain of the Horites. Jacob also sent ahead of his family presents for his brother Esau: 200 shegoats; 20 he-goats; 200 ewes and 20 rams; 30 milk camels with their colts; 40 cows and 10 bulls; and 20 she asses and 10 foals. This was a total of 550 animals divided into 5 groups, each to announce itself as a present for Esau (vv. 13-20). Jacob knew his brother, and he knew how to please him. Jacob’s gifts alone were enough to make Esau wealthy. In Genesis 36:6-8, we read that Esau still lived at least part time with or close to his parents. Seir was not yet fully his possession. Because the home land could not support both Jacob and Esau, Esau left for Seir. From this it is clear that the two brothers lived together in peace for a time. Before this precautionary step was taken, Jacob prayed earnestly to God (vv. 9-12). He reminded God of His promises, but Jacob began by confessing his unworthiness and God’s grace. The words of v. 10 are especially wonderful: I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. In his prayer, Jacob asks, first, for deliverance from Esau’s plan to kill him. He says honestly, “I fear him;” Jacob does not lie to God. He fears also for his wives and children. Second, he reminds God of His promises, covenant promises, because the covenant is his future and the source of contention with Esau. Jacob sent his servants, with the gifts for Esau, ahead of him in five groups. Then the womenfolk and children were sent over the ford Jabbok. Jacob was now alone. In vv. 24-30, we have an account of Jacob’s wrestling with someone, i.e., with God, through the night. We have an interpretation of the episode in Hosea 12:3-5: 3. He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4. Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; 5. Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial. In these verses, Hosea, speaking to the covenant people, asks them to look to their forefather Jacob and emulate him. Before his birth, he seized his brother’s heel, eager to gain the promise of God to Abraham.1 This, then, is the strength of Jacob which God respects, his tenacity. It is in this sense that Jacob prevailed with God in what is described as wrestling. God, in confronting Jacob, “would not overthrow his faith and constancy.”2 Hosea tells us that Jacob “wept and made supplication unto” God. He, with all his being, asked God, cried out to 1. Theodore 2.

Laetsch, The Minor Prophets (Saint Louis, Missouri: Concordia, 1956), 96. E.B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1880, 1956), 118.

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God, implored God to sustain him and to use him as His covenant man. This was a remarkable faith. Jacob could live and die a rich man, a happy man, and an honored man, but his intense and passionate hope was to be the ancestor of the Messiah. Jacob at Bethel had seen his mother’s word confirmed. In subsequent revelations, the promises were repeated and detailed. Now, faced with possible death, Jacob wanted an open confirmation from God in the face of his rival, Esau. He received it, as v. 5 tells us, in the fact of God’s “Name” (Ex. 3:14). The God who does not change (Mal. 3:6) would sustain and bless Jacob. There, in this strange wrestling, God “spake with us” (Hosea 12:4) and assured us also of His constancy. We change, but God does not. The details of this strange event are beyond us; we cannot conceive of them. Their meaning, however, is clear. Like Jacob, we must seek God’s blessings and work and fight for them without ceasing. The tenacity of Jacob was such that, in this encounter, he would not end things unless he be blessed (vv. 24-26). Jacob’s Wrestler asked, “What is thy name?,” and when Jacob gave his name, he was told, “Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed” (vv. 27-28). A prince in antiquity was not so by blood but by the adoption of grace. Jacob was such a prince. Predestination, taught throughout the Bible, or, better, assumed, does not negate responsibility but requires it, and therefore Jacob’s tenacity was a manifestation of his calling and ordination. All struggle exacts a price, and Jacob came out of this one with a shrunken sinew in his thigh. We pay a price in our struggle to manifest God’s calling, and, in terms of this world we often cripple ourselves. But for Jacob it was a triumph, and he named the place Penuel, meaning the face of God, “for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (v. 30). He was thereafter a bit crippled (v. 31). Awed by this event, his descendants thereafter would not eat that particular sinew in animals (v. 32). This practice has no necessity attached to it in God’s law. The Penuel experience is, past a certain point, beyond our comprehension, and deliberately so. Some things are not for us fully to understand, but we can grow in terms of them. We cannot accept God and His grace as a kind of natural endowment but must recognize that His grace is sovereign, and our response must be one of determined struggle and growth therein. Jacob met the Angel of the Lord first as an enemy of some kind, perhaps, but later saw Him as the only hope of his life and sought His blessing. Rebekah had not sent for Jacob, as she had promised to do when and if Esau relented of his plan to kill Jacob. God had still ordered Jacob to return, but to what? Jacob obeyed, but what was God’s purpose for him? God’s purpose was revealed in Jacob’s new name, Israel, because he had struggled with both God and man and had prevailed (v. 28).

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If God calls Jacob His prince, we had better be careful of being disrespectful of one whom God so honors.

Chapter Fifty-One The Meeting with Esau (Genesis 33:1-20) 1. And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids. 2. And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. 3. And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4. And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept. 5. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. 6. Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. 7. And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. 8. And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. 9. And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself. 10. And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me. 11. Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. 12. And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. 13. And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die. 14. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir. 15. And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord. 16. So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir. 17. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. 18. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. 19. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. 221

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Genesis 20. And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel. (Genesis 33: 1-20)

Esau had come hastily to confront Jacob, and Jacob at once placed the handmaids and their children first, then Leah and her children, and last Rachel and Joseph. He preceded them, bowing to the ground seven times before his brother (vv. 1-3). In v. 7, we see Jacob greeting Esau and thanking him for his merciful graces. “I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.” The bowing and the words echo the letters in Amarna tablets on the procedure used by subject princes before Pharaoh.1 Jacob’s action was realistic. Esau was now a ruler who could command 400 men on short notice; he might see Jacob as a brother, but he was also a ruler with military power. Jacob was giving Esau his due honor as a small but real prince. Esau’s response to this was apparently joy and pride in his brother. He ran to meet, embrace, and kiss Jacob, and both men wept. All of Jacob’s family were introduced to Esau, and all bowed to him (vv. 4-7). As the elder brother and a lord, he was given the honor which he was due, and Esau was moved by this. No doubt Rebekah had made known to Esau Jacob’s religious preeminence, but Jacob was acknowledging Esau’s personal power and priority. It was a sincere tribute, but also a fully correct one in terms of ancient rules of conduct. Esau then asked about the five herds of livestock that he had met, to see if they were truly a gift to him. Jacob answered, “These are to find grace in the sight of my lord” (v. 8). Esau was overwhelmed. He knew that his mother had prompted the deception of Isaac, and he was not about to fight his mother. Now Jacob was overwhelming him with his gifts and deferential respect. His response to the gifts was, “I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast to thyself” (v. 9). This Jacob refused to do and urged Esau to accept the gifts, which he did. Jacob gave two reasons, saying, first, “God hath dealt graciously with me.” God had given Esau power, but His grace and prospering hand were with Jacob. This was a quiet reminder that God’s choice was real, although it did not detract from Esau’s blessings. Second, Jacob added, “I have enough” (v. 11). So Esau accepted the gifts and thereby shared in God’s blessings, as Jacob intended he should. Esau then offered to accompany Jacob on the rest of his journey, but Jacob said this was not necessary. The slow movement of his herds would limit Esau’s faster pace (vv. 12-15). Many commentators have seen Jacob as fearful of too close a tie to Esau, but, while this is possible, it is not a necessary interpretation. Jacob was right: the pace of the two groups was too ill-matched for a good trip together. Esau then returned to Seir, or Edom (v. 16). In Genesis 36:6-8, we see Esau, who until then spent part of his time in residence with his parents, move all his “substance” and livestock to Seir. Their cattle could not coexist in the same area. 1.

W.H. Bennett, Genesis (New York: Henry Frowde, n.d.), 316.

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Until then, most likely, Esau had helped his aged father manage his holdings as well as caring for his own. We are not told at what point Jacob returned home. What we are told in v. 17 is that Jacob, having met Esau, and apparently his parents, recrossed the Jordan to build a house at Succoth, and there to make enclosed and shaded areas for his livestock (v. 17). Because the herds Jacob possessed were grazed by his men over a wide area, Jacob felt the need for an additional site, a camping location, and he purchased land near Shechem. This was bought from Hamor’s family, and Hamor was Shechem’s father. The price was a hundred pieces of money, or metal, although we are not told whether it was gold or silver. According to Joshua 24:32, the embalmed body of Joseph was brought from Egypt and buried on this property. Since perhaps 500 years passed between Jacob’s purchase to Joseph’s burial, this time gap tells us that property then was neither taxed nor confiscated. In gratitude to God, Jacob there erected an altar and worshipped God (v. 20). The altar was named El-elohe-Israel, God, the God of Israel. This calls attention to God as the covenant God. Other peoples may speak of God, El, but the living God is the covenant God, not the god of the philosophers. He is not an idea but the supreme and ultimate person. In v. 3, we see Jacob’s strong trust in God. He divided his women and children into three companies (vv. 1-2). Jacob, however, went before them to make sure that he first met Esau. He thereby made sure that the confrontation would be directly between himself and Esau. We have a mature Jacob, a responsible man, who has been prepared to deal with the difficult problems soon to confront him. From Abraham’s day to Jacob’s, Canaan had gone downhill morally and religiously. It would soon be necessary for God to remove His covenant people from a degenerating people to keep them for His calling. Jacob’s return was notable, and the Canaanites could clearly see his wealth and power. Added to this was the wealth of Abraham and Isaac. Jacob was clearly a man of powerful standing, and the Canaanites did not trouble him as they had his father. A final note: Esau’s success was very prominent, and he may well have believed that, in spite of his brother’s deception, the birthright was his in fact and in actual fulfillment. Certainly in New Testament times, the Idumeans and Herod so believed. In light of Esau’s power, his reception of his brother constitutes a very impressive fact: Esau, in offering Jacob his protection (v. 12) was thereby stating his acceptance of Jacob’s homage. This fact no doubt became well know as Esau’s 400 men reported it on the way home. In Genesis 36:15, we see Esau’s descendants listed as dukes, (later, as kings), meaning chieftans. The unity of the brothers meant that few men would dare to cross them. Jacob was content to

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leave present priority to Esau, and to recognize his power and over-lordship. Esau was happy with this, and he apparently believed that his success was evidence that the messianic promise was his also. We see evidence of this erroneous belief in Herod (Acts 12:21-23).

Chapter Fifty-Two The Rape of Dinah (Genesis 34:1-31) 1. And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. 3. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. 4. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. 5. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. 6. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. 7. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done. 8. And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. 9. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. 10. And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. 11. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. 12. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. 13. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: 14. And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: 15. But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; 16. Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. 17. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. 18. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son. 19. And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was more honourable than all the house of his father. 20. And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying, 21. These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for the land, behold, it is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. 225

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Genesis 22. Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. 23. Shall not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us. 24. And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city. 25. And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. 26. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went out. 27. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. 28. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, 29. And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. 30. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? (Genesis 34: 1-31)

In this chapter, we have the account of the rape of Dinah and the murder of the men of Shechem by Simeon and Levi. Very commonly, blame is readily laid on many in this episode: Dinah, for gadding about; Jacob, for doing a poor job of rearing his sons, and so on. The text has none of this. Dinah, who was probably in her early teens, went out to visit other girls in the area. She apparently had become acquainted with them. This was not a foolhardy thing on her part, and no doubt both Leah and Jacob knew what she was doing. It was an immoral era, but there were customs which normally protected a girl like Dinah. Persons who were members of a powerful family were not normally molested. Abraham commanded 318 trained fighting men (Gen. 14:14). Under Isaac, their number had doubtless increased, and they were now available to Jacob, who had his own men. Then too there was Esau, with 400 men readily available. Under normal circumstances, a girl like Dinah would have as protection the general knowledge of her family’s power. (I recall as a high school student, when families were stronger, one youth telling another about a girl, “Don’t fool around with her; don’t you know who her family is?” In that case, it was a prosperous Portuguese family.) Normally, Dinah would have been safe. Shechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of that area, a Hivite, believed, however, that his position and his father would give him protection. Then and now, in some areas of the world, daughters of unimportant men have no

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protection, whereas being a member of a powerful family is a very powerful safeguard. But senseless Shechem, Hamor’s son, “took her (Dinah), and lay with her, and defiled (or, humbled) her” (v. 2). Shechem found himself at once so attracted to his victim that “he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel” (v. 3). The Jewish Publication Society of America, in its translation of the Massoretic text, gives us this reading: Shechem “spoke comfortingly unto the damsel.” His goal now became marriage, and he spoke to his father so as to arrange it. Normally, marriages then and throughout much of history involved the whole family because the bride was brought into an important position in the family (v. 4). For Hamor, a dangerous act by his son offered a potential for great gain. The inhabitants of Shechem were apparently of sufficient numbers to absorb Jacob’s family so that it would disappear into their population. In addition, the great wealth of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be a very great asset. Hamar therefore proposed a union of the peoples as a part of the marriage (vv. 8-12). Marriages have at times not only made peace between tribes and clans but have also been steps towards mergers. For Hamor, a potential disaster could be turned into a major advantage. Jacob had waited until his sons, who were afield with the livestock, could return before making a decision. This was necessary on his part. A major family crisis required a family council, and the decision, as expressed by his sons (v. 13), was that marriages and a clan merger were for them religious acts. Would the Shechemites be ready to accept circumcision and the covenant and its law? Would they change their religion? The men of Shechem were agreeable because the advantages were considerable. Such a union would have meant, of course, replacing the covenant people with another. Behind their words, the sons of Jacob concealed their fury. We are told that “the men were very grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done” (v. 7). We are aware of Hamor’s self-promoting goal; Jacob was not. For his sons, there was anger at the affront to family honor. They rightly saw it as “folly,” nebaylaw in the Hebrew, wickedness. Hamor’s plan, if they grasped it, would have topped Dinah’s rape with the “rape” of Jacob’s tribe. Shechem himself, for all his evil in raping Dinah, was, we are told, “more honourable than all the house of his father” (v. 19), which does not say too much for the Shechemites. As a result of Jacob’s assent and Hamor’s agreement, all the male Shechemites were circumcised (v. 24). In adults, circumcision can incapacitate a man for a week. On the third day, when all the males were most handicapped and barely able to get around, Simeon and Levi killed all the males of Shechem and took

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Dinah and left (vv. 25-27). Not only so, they took all their livestock, their wealth, and their womenfolk, young and old (vv. 28-29). The reaction of Jacob was one of horror. First, he tells them, you have made me to stink in all the land; you have fouled my reputation. Second, what is to prevent others, since we are fewer in number than the Canaanites and the Perizzites, from waiting to destroy us? Jacob assumed that others would react with the same moral outrage as he did. It was assuming too much; nothing happened because such an act was more likely to gain admiration than anger from an evil people. The answer of Levi and Simeon was, “Should he deal with our sister as a harlot?” (v. 31). Family codes have had their evils, and this was an aspect of that evil because its doctrine of righteousness was narrow and unjust. Jacob never recovered from his moral indignation and horror over this episode. On his death-bed, he refers to it and curses the anger of the two sons (Gen. 49:4-7). He still burned with shame over the incident. It was the way of Canaan, not of Israel. Jacob had called in his sons, on learning of the rape, but the family council was not a covenant council. The family is God’s basic unit of government, but the family is no more immune to the Fall and human depravity than any man or institution. As a covenant man, Jacob, Israel, a prince with God, now saw his sons as covenant-breakers. Jacob’s fear, however, of Canaanite vengeance was not realized. The manpower resources of Isaac, Esau, and Jacob were so great that few would dare attack them. Levi and Simeon were apparently more keenly aware of this because, as sinners, they thought pragmatically, whereas their father thought morally.

Chapter Fifty-Three A Cleansing and a Funeral (Genesis 35:1-29) 1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. 2. Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: 3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5. And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7. And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. 8. But Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth. 9. And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him. 10. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel. 11. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; 12. And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13. And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon. 15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel. 16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. 17. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. 18. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. 19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. 20. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day. 229

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Genesis 21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar. 22. And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve: 23. The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun: 24. The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin: 25. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali: 26. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padanaram. 27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28. And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years. 29. And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. (Genesis 35: 1-29)

At this point, God ordered a return to Bethel, where God met Jacob with the vision of angels (v. 1). His family needed to be confronted with God and the covenant. Having spent 20 years with Laban, Jacob’s family had not been confronted with a clear division between covenant-keepers and covenantbreakers. Their faith had become syncretistic, i.e., it involved contradictory beliefs and alliances. We know that God now required that, whether or not they received it, Jacob’s family had to know the difference between God and what Jacob calls “strange gods” (v. 2). These gods are called “strange” or foreign because they are alien to God’s covenant. These were to be “put away.” They were to “be clean,” i.e., freshly bathed, and to wear a newly washed change of clothing (Ex. 19:10). Respect for God from the time of Genesis to the present has meant such cleanliness as a sign of respect. As a result, all who had any “strange gods” gave them up. These would be small “lucky pieces” that would fit in the hand. Also surrendered would be all the earrings; these would not be ones belonging to the women but those used by men. Jacob’s household included numerous servants, and this applied to them as well. Male earrings have meant over the centuries slavery on their part, so that a male with earrings was indicating bondage to a man or to a god. (Such usage has also meant that the user is a passive homosexual and was commonly so used by pirates in the eighteenth century.) Jacob buried the idols and the earrings under an oak near Shechem; he did this secretly. As Jacob moved towards Bethel, none dared attack him for “the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob” (v. 5). This was not because of any fear of Simeon and Levi but because God had for other reasons put terror in their hearts. Jacob went to Bethel with all his people, built an altar, and worshipped God (vv. 6-7). At this time, Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried there under an oak, named “the oak of weeping” (v. 8).

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God then spoke to Jacob, first, reminding him that his name was Israel, a prince with God. The conduct of Levi and Simeon in murdering the Shechemites had left Jacob horrified and depressed. The girls and womenfolk of the Shechemites had been seized by Levi and Simeon, some perhaps sold, others taken into their households. This alone brought in paganism. Jacob needed to be reminded who and what he was in God’s sight. Second, the covenant blessing of fertility is again set forth. One more son would soon be born to Jacob, so the promise was mainly for his posterity. Third, nations and kings would be born from his line, and God’s promise of the land to Abraham and Isaac applied to Jacob also. It is worth noting that the key people did not derive their name from Abraham and Isaac but from Jacob and Israel (vv. 9-13). When Jacob left Bethel, Rachel, who was pregnant, gave birth to Benjamin. She died in childbirth, and she called her son Ben-oni, meaning son of my sorrow, but Jacob changed it to Benjamin, the son of the right hand (vv. 16-18). Rachel was buried at Bethlehem. Jacob marked the grave with a pillar (vv. 19-20). Jacob went off to a remote area with his herds, and, while gone, Reuben, his eldest son, an unstable person (Gen. 49:4), “went and lay with Bilhah” (v. 22). Nothing more is said other than that “Israel heard it” (v. 22). We are not told whether or not this occurred in an isolated place and was in effect rape, or whether Bilhah was guilty as well. Two things can be said: First, Bilhah was Rachel’s handmaid and thus dear to Jacob, so that it destroyed that relationship. Second, while the sisters had ceased their rivalry, the sons clearly had not. Reuben’s act was to obliterate the Rachel tie by polluting Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid. Jacob never forgot nor forgave this act. Then, in vv. 23-26, we are given a list of the twelve sons by their mothers. Jacob went to see his father Isaac at Hebron, where both Abraham and Isaac had lived. There Isaac died at age 180. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him (vv. 27-29), a fact which indicated that there was peace between them and some element of the covenant faith in Esau, however formal. Two facts about death need to be noted. First, death and burial have always been a family rite. Historically, in many cultures it is a time of family gatherings, and, today, in many Christian countries, a time of reunions, dinners, and a renewing of family ties. In the United States, less traditional than many countries, such family gatherings are still quite important. Second, even more, funerals are religious events. Without the religious faith, the funeral soon disappears. Cremation and a scattering of the ashes is done without ceremony. Funerals are family events because of their religious nature. As a result, syncretism in a funeral was a very serious matter. In Psalm 106:28, God indicts Israel for flagrant waywardness, declaring, “They joined themselves unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.”

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In very recent years, the importance of the funeral as religious act was such that some, even in the 1950s, sorrowfully abstained from attending the funeral of a friend or relative on religious grounds. This could mean the “wrong” church was in charge because of a son’s divergent faith, or it could be, as in one instance, because an atheistic group was conducting the service. The rise of funeral chapels was a convenience to the mortician, but it also “neutralized” the religious problem by taking the funeral service out of a particular church. Unless Esau had in some sense recognized the priority of the covenant God, his presence at the funeral would have been a very serious breach of conduct. For untold ages, presence at a funeral has normally been a religious act first, a family act second. Our narrative begins with a religious cleansing and ends with a funeral. The two events are not dissimilar.

Chapter Fifty-Four The Family Records of Esau (Genesis 36:1-43) 1. Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom. 2. Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan; Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite; 3. And Bashemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebajoth. 4. And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Bashemath bare Reuel; 5. And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, which were born unto him in the land of Canaan. 6. And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob. 7. For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle. 8. Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom. 9. And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: 10. These are the names of Esau’s sons; Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Bashemath the wife of Esau. 11. And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. 12. And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these were the sons of Adah Esau’s wife. 13. And these are the sons of Reuel; Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife. 14. And these were the sons of Aholibamah, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. 15. These were dukes of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn son of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz, 16. Duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek: these are the dukes that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these were the sons of Adah. 17. And these are the sons of Reuel Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah: these are the dukes that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Bashemath Esau’s wife. 18. And these are the sons of Aholibamah Esau’s wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah: these were the dukes that came of Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife. 19. These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes. 20. These are the sons of Seir the Horite, who inhabited the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, 21. And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan: these are the dukes of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom. 22. And the children of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna. 233

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Genesis 23. And the children of Shobal were these; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24. And these are the children of Zibeon; both Ajah, and Anah: this was that Anah that found the mules in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father. 25. And the children of Anah were these; Dishon, and Aholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26. And these are the children of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. 27. The children of Ezer are these; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan. 28. The children of Dishan are these; Uz, and Aran. 29. These are the dukes that came of the Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah, 30. Duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan: these are the dukes that came of Hori, among their dukes in the land of Seir. 31. And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel. 32. And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom: and the name of his city was Dinhabah. 33. And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. 34. And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of Temani reigned in his stead. 35. And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith. 36. And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. 37. And Samlah died, and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his stead. 38. And Saul died, and Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. 39. And Baalhanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab. 40. And these are the names of the dukes that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth, 41. Duke Aholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon, 42. Duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar, 43. Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites. (Genesis 36:1-43)

This is for many a baffling chapter because it gives us a detailed account of Esau’s family, and also the family of Seir the Horite. We know next to nothing about Seir, nor are we interested in him, but God is, for His own reasons. We find references to the people of Seir, or perhaps the inhabitants of Seir, in Ezekiel 25:8 and Numbers 24:18. Edom is also called Seir in the Bible. According to Deuteronomy 2:12, the Edomites not only conquered Seir but also destroyed them totally. It is likely, however, that the women of Seir were absorbed into the Edomite community, so that Seir and Edom in that sense merged. Seir and Edom then became synonymous in the Bible.

The Family Records of Esau (Genesis 36:1-43)

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We can then ask, why Esau’s genealogical history? Esau was of the line of Abraham, and, however faulty his character at times, he apparently did in time come vaguely to the covenant faith and therefore took part in his father’s funeral with Jacob (Gen. 35:29). The fact that participation in the funeral service has no meaning for us should not blind us to the fact that it was once a radically religious rite. It will help us to understand this chapter if we remember that the words, “Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom,” tell us that these are the family records of Esau. Jacob, in compiling the family records for his household, gained from Esau his records. The section including vv. 31-43 was apparently added by Moses, giving later data. This inclusion tells us that it is likely that Esau had to some degree conformed to the covenant faith and was close to Jacob. The reference in Hebrews 12:16-17 to Esau as a “profane person” has to do with inheriting the blessing. There are differences in some of the names here, as of Esau’s wives, from previous references, but differing names in terms of differing languages is common in the Bible. The reference to “mules” in v. 24 is an error, because the word used had lost its meaning but perhaps means “hot springs.” In v. 20, Seir is called “the Horite,” and in v. 29 the dukes of the Horites are mentioned. Horite may refer to cave dweller, which, since Darwin, has come to mean “primitive man.” But Petra, the capital of Edom, was a city whose central buildings were carved out of rock. In origin, the Seirites may have begun the work of constructing these remarkable and advanced centers of state administration, so that the term may witness to their superior nature. There are seven sections in this chapter: 1) Esau’s wives and children, vv. 15; 2)Esau’s migration into Seir, vv. 6-8; 3)the genealogy of the sons of Esau, vv. 9-14; 4) the chiefs of the house of Esau, vv. 15-19; 5) the Horites genealogy and their chiefs, vv. 20-30; 6) the kings of Edom, vv. 31-39; and 7) other Edomite chiefs, vv. 40-43. Esau’s migration was a gracious act on his part. While he was already lord over Edom, he still had some right to remain in Canaan proper, but he ceded this to Jacob because together their livestock numbered more than the land could bear (v. 7). It does no justice to the text to see Esau as simply an evil man. Edom developed a monarchy very early in its history. In. v. 31, a note tells us that, long before the days of Saul, there was a monarchy in Edom. This note was added by one of the prophets, as a custodian of God’s word, perhaps Samuel. The reference to Amalek in v. 12 is not to the nation of that name necessarily; it means simply “warlike.” In v. 35, we have a Hadad, again a common name. It was also the name, in later times, of a Canaanite and Syrian storm-god. In part, the purpose of this chapter is to tell us that God keeps His promises. In Genesis 25:23, the pregnant Rebekah is told that two nations are in her womb, and Edom is early evidence that this promise is already fulfilled in Esau.

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If God keeps His promise concerning Esau, He will be no less faithful to Jacob, or to us. In vv. 31-39, we have a series of kings, and we are told of the various cities they came from. This means that the kingship then was not hereditary and could even have been elective. This has not been uncommon in history, and, in the medieval Holy Roman Empire, the emperor was normally elected. The references to Edomite idolatry do exist in its later history, but they are not many. In fact, the prophets tell us much more about the idolatry of Judah and Israel. 1 Kings 11:1 warns us of the threat of unbelieving wives and mentions Edomites. We have a reference also to Edomite idolatry in 2 Chronicles 25:14, which tells us that King Amaziah imported Edomite gods after defeating Edom. God, however, warned Israel that Edom was under His care, and they were not to “meddle” with them (Deut. 2:4-5). Again, Edom is mentioned favorably in the law, in Deuteronomy 23:7-8: 7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land. 8. The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation. Edomites as a related people are to be respected. The Egyptians, who had enslaved the Israelites and for a time killed off their male children, were to be remembered all the same with gratitude because Israel had lived for generations on Egyptian soil. However, both Edomites and Egyptians could not be full-fledged covenant members until the third generation of covenant faithfulness. This was to protect the covenant from being casually regarded. Since God chooses His own covenant heirs, He allows no man the option of boasting or glorying in his status. Those who see themselves as self-chosen can become arrogant in their status, and pharisaical, but to be chosen by God’s grace is an incentive to humility and gratitude.

Chapter Fifty-Five Joseph is Sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:1-36) 1. And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan. 2. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. 3. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. 4. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7. For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11. And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. 12. And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13. And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14. And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15. And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? 16. And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. 17. And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 237

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Genesis 20. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again. 23. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24. And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 25. And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27. Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29. And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? 31. And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32. And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. 33. And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36. And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard. (Genesis 37:1-36)

The narrative now grows very grim. The sons of Jacob were not only in Canaan, but Canaan was in them. The providence of God will soon remove them from Canaan to a long stay in Egypt. Ultimately, however, it is not the people’s virtue that comes through but God’s grace. All other ground is taken from them.

Joseph is Sold into Egypt (Genesis 37:1-36)

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In v. 2, we are told that this is the family history of Jacob. This is an unusual family history in that it is no boast of family heritage but an account of sin and grace. Joseph, seventeen years old, worked in the pastures with his brothers. In v. 2, these are the sons of Zilpah, Gad and Asher; and Bilhah’s sons, Dan and Naphthali. These men were irresponsible in their duties, and Joseph reported this to his father. Joseph may have been in part assigned by his father to work with these brothers because Jacob had reason to mistrust them, and Joseph’s report confirmed this fact. We are told that Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons because “he was the son of his old age” (v. 3). It is our natural inclination to give Joseph priority as Rachel’s son, but the text does not say so. Apparently for this and other reasons, Jacob decided to make Joseph his primary heir. He made for Joseph what Stigers has called “a regal robe.” It was a status robe (cf. 2 Samuel 13:1819), and its meaning was not missed by the other ten brothers. Jacob was a small prince, and it was appropriate for his heir to wear such a robe.1 This at once aroused the hostility of all ten brothers. Joseph shared with his brothers two dreams that he had. In the first, all were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and his brothers’ sheaves made obeisance to Joseph’s sheaf. His brothers state the meaning: Joseph would have dominion over them (vv. 6-8). In a second dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars made obeisance to him (v. 10). When he reported this dream to his father also, Jacob rebuked him. The meaning was obvious: his parents and brothers would in due time bow down before him (v. 11). Joseph is not shown as boasting in this dream, but rather sharing it out of amazement. His brethren envied him, but his father kept the dream in mind as a portent (v. 11). Not long after, all the brothers were feeding their father’s flock near Shechem, and Jacob sent Joseph there to check up on them and to bring him a report (vv. 12-14). Jacob already had good reason to distrust Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. Joseph had confirmed his suspicions about Gad, Asher, Dan, and Naphthali; which left only Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun as possibly trustworthy. At this point, Benjamin was an infant. Jacob was thus suspicious of his sons. They may well have been selling some of the livestock for their personal profit. We do know that Joseph “brought unto his father their evil report” (v. 2), or, “account of their evil.” This could also have meant adulteries such as Judah’s in Genesis 38:15-18. As Joseph went to the place where the brothers and the livestock should have been, he found no one, but a stranger told him where they had gone with their flocks. Joseph then found them in the area of Dothan (vv. 14-16). The brothers saw him coming and decided to kill him. Their first plan was to kill him and to throw his body into a pit, but there was some uncertainty as to 1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1976), 271.

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what precisely should be done. Reuben in particular objected, hoping secretly to save Joseph and then deliver him up to Jacob. He hoped perhaps by this act to regain his status as the main heir. Joseph was stripped of his princely robe and cast into an empty pit, perhaps a dry well. As they ate, a caravan of Ishmaelite traders approached and passed; Judah suggested selling Joseph into slavery, and the brothers agreed (vv. 21-27). Apparently, by the time they agreed, the Ishmaelite caravan had passed, and Midianite merchantmen approached, and Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver (v. 28). When Reuben returned from a duty with the livestock, he was shocked to find Joseph gone (vv. 30-31). The brothers then agreed to a common story: some wild animal had apparently killed Joseph, and hence his blood-stained robe (v. 32). Jacob recognized Joseph’s robe and said, “Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces,” and he went into mourning and would not be comforted (vv. 33-35). Meanwhile, the Midianite merchantmen reached Egypt and there sold Joseph to “an officer of Pharaoh’s, a captain of the guard” (v. 36). The term used for Potiphar can mean eunuch, but it is also a word then used by Egyptians then for any high-ranking official. His captaincy made him also an executioner. Some see Potiphar as a eunuch to account for his wife’s sexual overtures to Joseph, but an urge to sin is enough to explain Potiphar’s wife. This story is remarkable in that it obviously sets forth God’s total predestination of all things. For example, Rabbi Meir Zlotowicz titles this section in his commentary “Predestined Event.”2 It is that, clearly, and we misread Genesis (and all of the Bible) if we fail to see God’s total determination and governance of all things. Joseph goes to Egypt to prepare a place for all Israel during the times of Canaan’s radical degeneration. God had so ordained and effected it, in total harmony with the lives of all involved and in terms of their character.

2. Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz, Bereishis Genesis, vol. V 1579. (Brooklyn, New York: Mesora Publications, 1980, 1981), 1579.

Chapter Fifty-Six Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38:1-30) 1. And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2. And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her. 3. And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er. 4. And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan. 5. And she yet again conceived, and bare a son; and called his name Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bare him. 6. And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar. 7. And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him. 8. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. 9. And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. 11. Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house. 12. And in process of time the daughter of Shuah Judah’s wife died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheepshearers to Timnath, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13. And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep. 14. And she put her widow’s garments off from her, and covered her with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife. 15. When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot; because she had covered her face. 16. And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Go to, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee; (for he knew not that she was his daughter in law.) And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me? 17. And he said, I will send thee a kid from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? 18. And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet, and thy bracelets, and thy staff that is in thine hand. And he gave it her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him. 19. And she arose, and went away, and laid by her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. 20. And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not. 241

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Genesis 21. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place. 22. And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. 23. And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her. 24. And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. 25. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. 26. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. 27. And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. 28. And it came to pass, when she travailed, that the one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. 29. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. 30. And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah. (Genesis 38: 1-30)

In v. 1, we are told that Judah left his brothers or went away from them. He was apparently sufficiently disgusted with his brothers over their treatment of Joseph that he separated himself from them. All the same, he neither denounced them nor condemned them. His suggestion had been enslavement (Gen. 37:2628), so that his hands were not clean. In his separate estate, Judah married a Canaanite woman, the daughter of Shuah, and sons Er, Onam, and Shelah were born. We do not know how long his isolation from his father and brothers continued. We later see him again in contact with them all. When Er matured, Judah “took a wife for Er his firstborn, whose name was Tamar” (v. 6). This is very interesting, because Judah had chosen his own wife, and he had some evil results in his sons. As we see later, Tamar was a woman of strong character. We are then told that, because Er was wicked, God “slew him” (v. 7). In terms of the levirate law, the next son had the duty to provide seed for his dead brother. Onan, however, had no desire to provide Tamar with a son to inherit the major part of their father’s estate, so that he, in going in to Tamar, withdrew his penis in time to allow the seed to be wasted, “lest that he should give seed to his brother” (v. 9). As a result, God took Onan’s life also (v. 10). Now Shelah, the youngest son, was not fully of age, although apparently old enough to provide seed to Tamar. Judah, however, apparently feared that Shelah

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would die also, as his brothers had, as a man of bad character. Tamar was sent back to her father’s house (v. 11). In time, Judah’s wife, Shuah’s daughter, died. Judah then left to join his sheepshearers (v. 12). Tamar, meanwhile, knew that Shelah was matured, but no step towards a levirate union had been taken by Judah, and she had apparently recognized the reason for it (vv. 12-13). She accordingly took off her widow’s robes, dressed as a sacred prostitute, veiled her face, and went to a place where she knew she would meet Judah (vv. 14-15). Various forms of sacred prostitution were then common and also widespread in some areas over the centuries. A prostitute is someone who has sex for money, and, over the centuries, there have been both male and female prostitutes. A cultic or sacred prostitute was one whose hire went to the support of a pagan sanctuary or temple. When the people of Timnath told Judah, “there was no harlot in this place” (v. 22), the word used means a sacred prostitute. Judah had assumed that he was dealing with an ordinary prostitute, zona, not a quedesah, a sacred whore. However, in v. 21, he asks, “where is the qedesah that was openly by the wayside?” In any case, Judah comes out looking very much like another Canaanite. He has become a part of the landscape instead of a lord over it. From Abraham to Judah, we have a real decline. When Judah bargained for the prostitute’s service, the price agreed upon was a kid from the flock. Tamar asked for security, and she was given a signet ring, some male bracelets, and Judah’s staff (vv. 16-19). From this relationship, Tamar became pregnant. When Judah later attempted to pay for the sexual service, no prostitute of any kind could be found (v. 20). He could only conclude, let her keep what I gave her lest I be shamed, or, literally “we” become ashamed for failing to pay up. Some three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law was pregnant. He ordered her to be brought to him, “and let her be burnt” (v. 24), the common punishment for adultery at that time, although not Biblical. “When she was brought forth,” she sent to Judah the pledged items with the statement that the father of her child was their owner (v. 25). Judah recognized them. He knew that he had broken his promise to her to marry her to Shelah. He had tied her to the family but in no way fulfilled his pledge to her. Judah publicly admitted his guilt and said, “She hath been more righteous than I; because I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more” (v. 26). Two sons were born to Tamar by Judah, Pharez and Zarah (v. 30). Pharez became the ancestor of King David and of Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:3; Luke 3:33). A clear fact that emerges from this incident is the greater severity of God towards his own. In those decadent times, the sins of Er and Onan were mild compared to those of the Canaanites. But, as members of the covenant, more

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was required of them than of the Canaanites. Membership in the covenant means greater blessings and greater judgments. Tamar comes through as a woman of character, more a part of the covenant than Judah and his sons. If a widow had children, she remained with her husband’s family; if not, she returned to her father’s house (Lev. 22:13; Ruth 1:8). Judah had returned her to her father but tied her to his youngest son. Tamar was an intelligent and perceptive woman. She knew that she could depend on Judah to acknowledge his paternity, and she staked her life on his integrity, and she was right. The subject of this chapter is Judah and his family, but, even more, it is Tamar. Some ancient rabbis rightly praised her. A strong-willed woman, with an intense sense of justice, she triumphed in an unusual situation and took her place among the notable persons of Biblical history, an ancestress of Jesus Christ. Tamar knew Judah’s character, and she risked her life in the confidence that Judah would vindicate her. She had not asked to be relieved of her levirate obligations to marry someone else. She clearly wanted to be a member of Judah’s line, perhaps fully aware of the messianic promise. Clearly, she chose a dangerous course of action out of a sense of justice as well as in terms of faith.

Chapter Fifty-Seven Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 39:1-23) 1. And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither. 2. And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. 3. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand. 4. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. 5. And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field. 6. And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and he knew not ought he had, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person, and well favoured. 7. And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. 8. But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand; 9. There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? 10. And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her. 11. And it came to pass about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his business; and there was none of the men of the house there within. 12. And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out. 13. And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, 14. That she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in an Hebrew unto us to mock us; he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice: 15. And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled, and got him out. 16. And she laid up his garment by her, until his lord came home. 17. And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me: 18. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled out. 19. And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. 245

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Genesis 20. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. 21. But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 23. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper. (Genesis 39:1-23)

The Ishmaelites brought Joseph to Egypt, and he was there sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and a captain of the guard (v. 1). Potiphar’s title was one borne by eunuchs, but it applied to many others, whole men, with important offices. Joseph’s abilities were blessed by God to such an extent that Potiphar soon turned the entire management of his estate over to Joseph. God prospered Joseph in Potiphar’s service, and Potiphar was also greatly blessed (vv. 2-6). Joseph was obviously a trustworthy young man as well a an attractive one. Potiphar’s wife very plainly demanded sex from Joseph. Since he was a slave, she commanded it (v. 7). Joseph’s response was a moral and religious one. He refused on the ground that it was a sin against God and his master. He then avoided the woman and stayed away from her when she was alone (vv. 8-10). On one occasion, when he entered the house on business, none were present save Potiphar’s wife, who at once took the opportunity to demand Joseph’s sexual compliance. Joseph beat a hasty retreat, but she was able to seize his outer garment, perhaps removed because of the heat (vv. 11-12). This she took it to the men of the house, i.e., other servants, telling them that Joseph had attempted to rape her. She invented a story of attempted rape, rehearsed it with the other servants, and she then confronted Potiphar with it. In essence, she blamed her husband for bringing Joseph into the house and trusting him (vv. 13-19). We are told that Potiphar was angry (v. 19), “that his wrath was kindled.” This is a curious statement. We are not told that he was angry at Joseph. He was losing a man whose presence had prospered him, and this was naturally upsetting to Potiphar. We can assume that Joseph said he was innocent, but Potiphar could not take the word of a slave over his wife. Dr. A.S. Yahuda, in Accuracy of the Bible, noted the severity of Egyptian punishment, but Joseph received only a prison sentence. But this is not all. It was the king’s prison, and Potiphar most likely had some jurisdiction over it. We are told that again God showed favor to Joseph, so that the keeper of the prison gave him a position of trust. He left Joseph unsupervised in his duties and was content to do so (vv. 20-23). Perhaps indirectly, Potiphar may well have commanded Joseph’s managerial abilities. What we do see is that, both in Potiphar’s estate and in prison, while the problems were serious, so too were the opportunities: they were real and effectual for his future.

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Harold G. Stigers rendered the reaction of Potiphar thus: “he was enraged.”1 If anyone had a right to be enraged, it was Joseph. His brothers and now Potiphar’s wife were working for his destruction, but what marked him in Potiphar’s house and in prison was a strong sense of moral responsibility. He could have told God, as Jonah did later, “I do well to be angry, even unto death” (Jonah 4:9). Instead, he worked faithfully and honestly. The Joseph story from start to finish is an account of God’s predestination and of a young man’s faithfulness to God in the face of hellish circumstances. It tells us that there is more to God’s plan than we can see. We are told plainly in v. 2, “the LORD was with Joseph.” This Joseph must have believed in some sense also. Certainly his faith and morality remained unshaken. His answer to Potiphar’s wife is a strong one: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (v. 9). He could have said, “God has forgotten me and cast me aside.” He could have told himself, “This woman can do more for me than God is ready to do,” but he did not. Joseph had been subjected to one crushing blow after another. His brothers had turned against him, and, as he lay in the pit, he could hear them first plan to kill him, then sell him as a slave. Then his faithful service to Potiphar is rewarded with imprisonment. As a slave, he had no rights and no future. His reaction is again to work as a responsible man.

1.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 285.

Chapter Fifty-Eight Dreams and God (Genesis 40:1-23) 1. And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. 2. And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. 3. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. 4. And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward. 5. And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. 6. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. 7. And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? 8. And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you. 9. And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me; 10. And in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes: 11. And Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand: and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. 12. And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days: 13. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler. 14. But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15. For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. 16. When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head: 17. And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of bakemeats for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head. 18. And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: The three baskets are three days: 19. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.

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Genesis 20. And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21. And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand: 22. But he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23. Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him. (Genesis 40:1-23)

According to A.S. Yahuda, the prison in which Joseph was incarcerated was a very special and dangerous place because the inmates were political prisoners. It was the fortress Saru on the Palestinian border, a place for slave labor by political prisoners “under the supervision of the chief executioner.”1 The fact that the chief butler and the chief baker were sent there seems to indicate that Yahuda was right. Joseph’s consignment to this prison was apparently Potiphar’s work, and his quick rise to a responsible post indicates Potiphar’s hand again. The two new inmates were there because Pharaoh “was wroth against” them (v. 2). In Egypt, Pharaoh’s will was justice, and to displease him was to do injustice, and be guilty of an offense against a living and present god. All offenses against God the Creator are personal offenses against our maker. When the state claims to be god on earth, all offenses against the state and its men are made personal affronts, and no moral law need be broken. Dreams and their interpretation are important in the life of Joseph, and in other specific cases in the Bible. Dreams can, in rare cases, be prophetic or visionary, but in other cases are meaningless. The interpretation of dreams, Joseph says, is from God, and both the chief butler and chief baker had dreamed strange dreams. The chief butler or cup-bearer was a highly trusted man who brought in to Pharaoh his drink and tasted it to ensure that no poison was in it. Because his own life was at stake, the chief butler made sure that no drink was prepared for the ruler except by himself. The butler’s dream was of a vine with three branches which brought forth ripe grapes; he himself squeezed these into Pharaoh’s cup and gave it to him to drink (vv. 9-11). Joseph told the butler that the dream meant that in three days he would be restored to his position. Joseph explained his own history and asked the butler to intercede for him on his return to Pharaoh’s side (vv. 12-15). The chief baker then told Joseph his dream. There were three white baskets on his head in the dream, and the top basket was full of baked items for Pharaoh, but birds devoured them before he reached his destination (v. 16). There was a serious problem with his dream: the baked items never reached their destination. The dream was realistic in that Egyptian men carried burdens on their head, while women carried them on their shoulders.2 1.

A.S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 4f.

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In v. 3, we are told that these two prisoners were placed in the custody of “the captain of the guard.” This would be Potiphar.3 Potiphar himself charged Joseph with the care of these two men. They were apparently as unjustly imprisoned as was Joseph, and Joseph could best understand their plight. But the baker’s dream indicated death in three days, not release, and Joseph told him the truth plainly and directly (vv. 16-19). The third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and a royal birthday in antiquity, and since then also, has commonly been a holiday, or, more accurately, a holy day. This meant that the birthday they celebrated was that of their savior king. For this reason, early Christians could only celebrate the birthday of Jesus secretly. As the persecutions ended, the birthday of Jesus was openly celebrated. There is an interesting expression in v. 11. The butler says, “I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand,” or, placed it on his hand. The Egyptians of antiquity did not use handles on cups; their cups were small bowls which they held in their hand by way of preference. In v. 8, Joseph says, “Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me then (your dreams), I pray you.” Because God is the Lord, He alone can know the future because He alone determines it. Joseph’s statement thus forbids any humanistic attempt to interpret dreams and foretell the future. Thus, Joseph tells these two troubled men that no humanistic interpretation of dreams is valid. Then, by asking them to tell him their dreams, Joseph simply and calmly tells them the he is a prophet of the true God. By God’s grace, he can tell them the meaning of their dreams. In one sense, Joseph is a young and bewildered man. Despite all his sufferings, he still knows himself to be, somehow, God’s appointed man. His father and his brothers understood the meaning of Joseph’s own two dreams. Joseph was too intelligent not to have understood them himself. He tells the butler and the baker, the living God who made all things and who totally predestines all things, will give me the wisdom to explain your dreams. Joseph is calm and matter-of-fact about it. His one concern and plea is, to the butler, remember me when you are free, and work for my release (v. 23). The butler, however, forgot. He may have reasoned that any reference to his imprisonment would be indelicate in Pharaoh’s eyes, and unwise. Whatever his reason, he forgot Joseph until God ordained that he should remember him. Had he at once secured Joseph’s release, Joseph would have been free to return to Canaan, but to what purpose? For a family war? God kept Joseph in prison until his release made him Egypt’s ruler. The butler’s lapse of gratitude was thus providential for Joseph, his family, and 2. C.

F. Keil, F. Delitzsch, The Pentateuch, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949 reprint), 347. G. Ch. Aalders, Genesis, vol. II, William Heynen, trans. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Regency Library, 1981), 206. 3.

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all of Egypt. Thus, we are again reminded of the amazing pattern of God’s predestination.

Chapter Fifty-Nine Joseph as Vizier, or Prime Minister (Genesis 41:1-57) 1. And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. 2. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven well favoured kine and fatfleshed; and they fed in a meadow. 3. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river. 4. And the ill favoured and leanfleshed kine did eat up the seven well favoured and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke. 5. And he slept and dreamed the second time: and, behold, seven ears of corn came up upon one stalk, rank and good. 6. And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. 7. And the seven thin ears devoured the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 8. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh. 9. Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day: 10. Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker: 11. And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. 12. And there was there with us a young man, an Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret. 13. And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged. 14. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. 15. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 16. And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. 17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank of the river: 18. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fatfleshed and well favoured; and they fed in a meadow: 19. And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill favoured and leanfleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness: 20. And the lean and the ill favoured kine did eat up the first seven fat kine: 253

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Genesis 21. And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill favoured, as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22. And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: 23. And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: 24. And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears: and I told this unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me. 25. And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do. 26. The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. 27. And the seven thin and ill favoured kine that came up after them are seven years; and the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind shall be seven years of famine. 28. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he showeth unto Pharaoh. 29. Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: 30. And there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land; 31. And the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following; for it shall be very grievous. 32. And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. 33. Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. 35. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine. 37. And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. 38. And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? 39. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art: 40. Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou. 41. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 42. And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; 43. And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

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44. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. 46. And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47. And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. 48. And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 49. And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. 50. And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 51. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. 52. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. 53. And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. 54. And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55. And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. 56. And the famine was over all the face of the earth: And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57. And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands. (Genesis 41:1-57) “Two full years” passed after the butler returned to his post, and Joseph remained forgotten (v. 1). After that time, Pharaoh dreamed a strange dream. For Egyptians, dreams were important, and they were seen as messages from the other world. In his dream, seven fat and healthy heads of cattle came out of the river Nile and fed in a meadow. Then seven starving heads of cattle also came out of the river and devoured the fat ones. Then Pharaoh awoke (vv. 1-4). This dream was a very troubling one because in Egypt the goddess Hathor was worshipped in the form of a cow. The troubled ruler went back to sleep to have another disturbing dream. He saw seven ears of corn or grain on a single stalk, fat and good grain. Then seven thin ears, blasted by the hot east wind, sprang up and devoured the good ears (vv. 5-7). Since dreams were seen as messages from the other world, and since Hathor, the goddess, seemed to be involved, those men who were experts in dream interpretation were sent for, but none could see what message had been sent to

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Pharaoh (v. 8). In the Book of the Dead, seven cows appear in an offering scene, and in the temple of Hatochepset seven cows are portrayed feeding in a meadow.1 At this point, the butler remembered Joseph and commended him to Pharaoh (vv. 9-13). Very hastily, Joseph was sent for, bathed, and shaved. Egyptians disliked body hair, and Joseph had to be prepared for the presentation (v. 14). Pharaoh then told Joseph his dreams. Joseph made clear that he had no personal power in interpreting dreams, but God could give His answer through Joseph (v. 15). Pharaoh then recounted his dream (vv. 18-24). The Egyptians had sought a meaning in terms of the other world, but Joseph, who gave all the credit to God, gave a this-worldly meaning. By making clear God’s determining part, Joseph gave credibility to his words. Joseph interpreted the dreams and also provided the remedy. First, Joseph said, the seven fat cows and the seven good ears of corn signify that seven years of great and plentiful harvests are about to come. Then seven years of famine will follow, years so bad that the good years will be forgotten. Second, preparation must be made for the coming crisis. This must begin with the appointment of a man who will take twenty percent of the annual harvest, or a fifth, to be stored as a food reserve for the seven years of famine, so that the country may be saved. Third, this requires the appointment of a man to govern this solution, a man granted all the necessary powers (vv. 2536). Both Pharaoh and his court were pleased with Joseph’s answer. Pharaoh recognized that God, however Pharaoh saw Him, was working in Joseph. Since God had shown Joseph all this, Joseph was obviously God’s man for the task ahead (vv. 37-42). Pharaoh gave his signet ring to Joseph, a gold chain as his mark of authority, and fine linen to mark his office (vv. 41f.). Joseph was taken through the capitol in Pharaoh’s second chariot for people to bow the knee to Joseph, who was now ruler over all of Egypt. Pharaoh told Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt” (v. 44). Joseph was renamed Zaphnathpaaneah, meaning “the revealer of secrets” (v. 45). Joseph at this time was 30 years old (v. 46). At the time of his enslavement, he was 17 (Gen. 37:2). He had been 13 years a slave, and part of that time he had spent in prison. Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On (or, prince of On) was given to him as a wife by Pharaoh (v. 45). By making Joseph the son-in-law of the religious leader, Pharaoh forestalled hostility to Joseph from that quarter. Moreover, since in Egyptian belief Pharaoh was a god, Joseph in effect had to have a high rank as a priest to serve him.2 Two sons were born to Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim (v. 51f.).

1. A.S. 2.

Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 7f. Ibid., 19.

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As Joseph had predicted, seven years of drought and famine followed seven years of plenty. Food shortages resulted, and Pharaoh referred all who came petitioning for help to Joseph (vv. 47-49, 53-55). The famine was general, so that many foreign countries sent buyers to Egypt to buy grain. The names Joseph gave his sons are revealing. Manasseh means, “God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my Father’s house.” Ephraim means, “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (v. 51f.). His bitterness was gone, and he was a great and productive man. He had not forgotten his family, but, for the time, he was content to let God order his future relationship to them. He does call Egypt “the land of my affliction,” so that his heart is still tied to Canaan. There is something more to Joseph’s situation. He was convicted for attempted rape, and he was legally a slave. We can be sure that Potiphar gave him to Pharaoh. Pharaoh gave Joseph his wife; however prominent her family was, Pharaoh made the marriage. As Stigers noted, “This is in conformity with the custom of an owner giving his slave a wife.”3 A slave grand vizier was not unusual. Joseph answered Pharaoh in part by saying, “God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (v. 16). Joseph shows a confidence in God’s providence and Pharaoh’s response. Joseph was now the second most important man in Egypt, with vast powers. He used those powers to further Egypt, not himself. He made no attempt, for example, to avenge himself against Potiphar’s wife. We can be sure that Joseph’s elevation left her a rather fearful and nervous woman! In v. 51, Joseph thanks God for enabling him to forget his past and its sufferings, i.e., to have no thoughts of vengeance. He could most easily have avenged himself on Potiphar’s wife, and we can very safely assume that she knew it. Her days were no doubt filled with fear. Was Joseph delaying vengeance to punish her? Potiphar himself may have reminded her of her evil. Her life was surely one of dread and misery.

3.

Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976), 293.

Chapter Sixty The First Journey to Egypt (Genesis 42:1-38) 1. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? 2. And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. 3. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. 4. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. 5. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 6. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. 7. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. 8. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. 9. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 10. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. 11. We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. 12. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 13. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. 14. And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: 15. Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 17. And he put them all together into ward three days. 18. And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: 19. If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: 20. But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

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Genesis 21. And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. 22. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. 23. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. 24. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. 25. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them. 26. And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence. 27. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack’s mouth. 28. And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us? 29. And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying, 30. The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31. And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies: 32. We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. 33. And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone: 34. And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. 35. And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. 36. And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me. 37. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. 38. And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. (Genesis 42: 1-38)

In Genesis 45:8, Joseph tells his fearful brothers, first, that not they but God had sent him to Egypt. Second, he had been made by God “a father to Pharaoh,”

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which meant that Joseph was the great father-priest to Pharaoh. Third, Joseph was ruler over all Pharaoh’s house, the court chamberlain. Fourth, Joseph was “a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.” The language of the text reveals an Egyptian origin, according to Yahuda.1 It is important to bear this in mind as the story develops, because we see Joseph exercise total power with great freedom. The famine Joseph predicted began, and it affected much more than Egypt, and, specifically, it included Canaan. But the brothers of Joseph were unwilling to go to Egypt for food. Having sold their brother into slavery in that country, the thought of going there troubled them. Jacob had to insist on their going (vv. 1-2). Finally, the ten brothers left, with Benjamin remaining with Jacob. Jacob was fearful that something might happen to the remaining son of Rachel (v. 3). Jacob had perhaps become suspicious of the ten brothers, as v. 38 hints. When the ten brothers arrived, Joseph was present at the granary and recognized them, although they failed to recognize him (vv. 5-6). The brothers bowed before Joseph when he entered, and Joseph remembered his dream (vv. 6-9). Joseph spoke harshly to his brothers, treating them as possibly Canaanite spies come to scout Egypt in its distress, perhaps to invade the country (vv. 79). This was not an unreasonable assumption: Egypt over the generations sought and sometimes held a controlling power over Canaan, and, for a time, the Hyksos or shepherd kings from the north ruled over Egypt. Joseph did not reveal himself to his brothers because he was not sure they had changed or were repentant. He had to deal harshly with them to test them and see if they had indeed changed. The brothers spoke honestly. They were twelve brothers, one with their father, “and one is not” (v. 13). Joseph still insisted that they were spies. To prove their honesty, he at first demanded that one of them go home and return with with their youngest brother. Pending a decision, he imprisoned all ten of them for three days (vv. 14-17). After three days, Joseph permitted nine of the brothers to purchase grain, with one remaining as hostage until they returned with their youngest brother. Joseph promised to keep his word: “This do, and live: for I fear God” (v. 18). Joseph spoke through an interpreter at all times (v. 23). The brothers were fully aware of their guilt. They had sold their brother into slavery in Egypt, and now God was using Egypt to remind them of their guilt. Joseph had to leave the sales area to hide his tears. On his return, Simeon was bound and imprisoned as the hostage (v. 24). The strange behavior of the prime minister must have shaken the brothers. Why had he taken such a hostile interest in them during a routine sale? Many

1.

A. S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 18ff.

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other foreigners were buying grain. They knew their guilt and feared that God’s vengeance was at work. Joseph supplied them with provisions for their return journey while also quietly ordering each man’s payment to be included in one of his sacks. On their way home, when one of them opened a sack to feed his ass, he discovered his money in the sack. All the brothers were afraid, saying one to another, “What is this that God hath done unto us?” (v. 28). They clearly were guilt-ridden and fearful of judgment. On their return, the brothers told Jacob all that had happened. They also discovered their money in their sacks. We are told, “they were afraid” (v 35). It was God whom they feared. Was God paying them back for their sin? Jacob was filled with grief. He too sensed some kind of guilt in the brothers: “Me ye have bereaved” (v. 36). Joseph was gone, now Simeon, and “ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.” Jacob saw sin as basic to his bereavement, his sons’ sin, whatever it was. But he saw it all as against himself, when it was against Joseph, and, most of all, against God. As David says in Psalm 51:4, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” Because all sin violates God’s law, it is primarily and essentially against God. Reuben offered his two sons as hostages to be killed if Simeon and Benjamin were not safely returned (v. 37). This was intemperate and absurd, since a moment’s reflection would have told him that Jacob would never kill his grandsons. Jacob simply said, Benjamin will not go to Egypt with you. I cannot take the loss of Benjamin in addition to that of Joseph (v. 38). It is worthy to note that in v. 1 we see that is was Jacob who insisted on his sons going to Egypt for grain. The ten brothers were surely as well aware of the fact as their father, but Egypt was to them a reminder of their evil. Very little rain falls normally in Egypt. The Nile River depends on the heavy rains of its high mountain sources. Thus, Canaanites who were experiencing a drought would have no way of knowing, short of seeing low waters in the Nile, that Egypt’s water supply had failed. The fact that near the Mediterranean Sea full granaries were selling grain could mean that Egypt in the south was doing well. Because of its wealth, ancient Egypt was a frequent target of desert peoples. Joseph’s suspicions would have been appreciated by Egyptians. Reuben as the oldest might perhaps have been the logical hostage held by Joseph. However, Reuben (v. 22) spoke to his brothers in Joseph’s presence, saying, “Spoke I not unto you, saying, ‘do not sin against this child?’” Simeon was next oldest, and so he was held as the hostage.

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[The critics who divide the Pentateuch into four (J, E, D, P) or more sources are a strange lot. How can a narrative such as the Joseph story be other than it is, a seamless garment?]

Chapter Sixty-One Approaching the Nourisher (Genesis 43:1-34) 1. And the famine was sore in the land. 2. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. 3. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. 4. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food: 5. But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. 6. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? 7. And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? 8. And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. 9. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: 10. For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time. 11. And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: 12. And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: 13. Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: 14. And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. 15. And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 16. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon. 17. And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18. And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses. 265

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Genesis 19. And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house, 20. And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food: 21. And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand. 22. And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. 23. And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them. 24. And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender. 25. And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there. 26. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. 27. And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? 28. And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. 29. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. 30. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 31. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. 32. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 33. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. 34. And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him. (Genesis 43:1-34)

When I was very, very young, the Joseph story was my favorite. I could not hear it enough, and then, as I learned to read, read it too much. This story was my textbook on predestination and God’s marvelous providence, even as years later the Book of Job made clear to me that theology and life must be Godcentered. How can people read about Joseph and be unmoved? Jacob’s fears delayed a return to Egypt. Already bereft, he feared further loss. Thus far, the first trip to Egypt seemed to mean more grief for him. He therefore feared each further step as an invitation to disaster. As Judah said, we could have made two trips in the time we have wasted delaying our trip (v. 10). Jacob finally gave in, because “it must be” (v. 11). Special gifts were to be taken to the grand vizier: balm, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds, also double the

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amount of silver (vv. 11-14). Even in a drought, there is sometimes some harvest, so that these items were obtainable but very costly. At first, Jacob blamed the brothers for telling the grand vizier too much, but they pointed out that they had simply told the truth. They had no reason to believe that any evil use might be made of it. And how could they lie to a man who controlled the food they badly needed? Jacob finally agreed to allow Benjamin to go with the brothers. Benjamin was about 16 years younger than Joseph, who had last seen him as an infant. Joseph in Genesis 42:6 is described as “the governor over the land,” meaning the feeder or Nourisher, a title sometimes given to Egyptian pharaohs.1 Clearly, Joseph’s status was very high. In Canaan, Judah was now his father’s mainstay. He took the lead in speaking, and he was the one whom Jacob trusted. The Tamar episode of Genesis 38 is now in focus, because it tells us that, in a discreditable incident, Judah came through as a responsible man. Jacob knew he could trust in Judah to be honest with him. On their return, the brothers attempted to restore the money found in their sacks (vv. 20-22). They were told that God had restored it to them. They had paid for their grain, and “your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks” (v. 23), is an important statement. A true faith is a rich inheritance, and the Biblical stress on this is important. Men are born rich when they are born into a family of faith. The brothers were taken to Joseph’s house, their asses fed, their feet washed, and they were given water to drink (v. 24). When Joseph came into the room, they bowed themselves to him to the ground and gave him their presents (v. 25f.). Joseph asked about their welfare, and their father, and he was told that Jacob was alive and in good health (v. 27f.). When Benjamin was presented to him, Joseph left the room, entered his chamber to weep, and then, having washed his face, returned to them (vv. 29-31). When food was served, Joseph ate separately, because Egyptians never sat at the same table with foreigners, whom they regarded as unclean (v. 32). The table was set for the brothers in their order of birth, but Benjamin, the youngest, received five times as much as any of the other brothers (v. 34). This was in itself a startling fact. To be given food in superabundance was to be treated as a man of high rank, even royalty. In doing so, Joseph was testing his brothers. Would they be envious of Benjamin? The brothers were simply amazed that the vizier’s staff knew their order of birth. Had Simeon been questioned about this? They had no opportunity as this time to ask him. They no doubt were grateful that they had been honest with the grand vizier, who was now acknowledging their integrity. 1.

A. S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 25.

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It is important to turn again to the gifts brought to the grand vizier by the brothers at Jacob’s request (v. 11). Such gifts were obligatory. No man could enter into the presence of a man of power without bearing gifts. A good ruler was in very real sense the feeder or nourisher of his people. As a result, the protocol of gratitude called for a symbolic gift. The good ruler made life tenable, and the gifts given to him acknowledged him to be the feeder or nourisher. This premise underlies tithing. God, as no human ruler can do, undergirds our whole existence and provides for us in ways beyond our ability to fathom. The tithe is God’s due, our rent for our time and space on earth. Our gifts represent giving above and over the tithe, our expression of thanksgiving to Him in whom we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). To approach God emptyhanded is in effect to say that God’s requirements are less important than our needs, an arrogant assumption. But arrogance marks too many of modern man’s approaches to God. Men recognize that banks, supervisors, landlords, and superiors generally tolerate little in the way of an arrogant contempt of rules and regulations. At the same time, they demand total tolerance from God for all their arrogant sins, their sins of negligence, and their sins of indifference. Despite the famine, Jacob knew that the right approach to authority had to be made.

Chapter Sixty-Two Benjamin and His Brothers (Genesis 44:1-34) 1. And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth. 2. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. 4. And when they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? 5. Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing. 6. And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words. 7. And they said unto him, Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing: 8. Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold? 9. With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen. 10. And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant; and ye shall be blameless. 11. Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. 12. And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13. Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city. 14. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; for he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground. 15. And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine? 16. And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found. 17. And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. 18. Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh. 19. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? 20. And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. 269

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Genesis 21. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 22. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. 23. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 24. And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25. And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. 26. And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us. 27. And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: 28. And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: 29. And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. 30. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life; 31. It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. 32. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. 33. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. 34. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.  (Genesis 44: 1-34)

As we have seen, the Joseph narrative is a very powerful statement of God’s total predestination of all things. The only two logical views of time, history, and creation are predestination and chance. God is the presupposition of predestination, and chance is the negation of all meaning and reason. Most men who deny predestination all the same “borrow” some of its implications of order and meaning. Implicit in such a denial is the rejection of God; all too many refuse to follow the logic of their rejection of predestination; they want “God without thunder,” or the idea, some of the power of God, but not all of God. It is revelatory that Biblical scholars will write on Joseph without admitting that predestination is basic to the entire account. The total interlock of events and circumstances is so total that such an omission is startling, although commonplace. Events move unerringly to their predestined conclusion. There is an important aspect to this predestination that must not be overlooked. In v. 16, Judah comments on this: “What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” Now the goblet had been deliberately planted, on

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Joseph’s orders, in Benjamin’s sack. Judah and his brothers did not know this. They saw it as a mysterious work of God to avenge Joseph’s enslavement. The guilty consciences of the ten brothers led them to see an unerring predestination by God to punish them for their guilt. In this they were, to a degree, right. Apart from atonement and forgiveness thereby, men are inescapably guilt-ridden, and their reactions are masochistic (self atonement by self-punishment) or sadistic (self-atonement by punishing others). In either case, God’s predestination or man’s guilt-ridden view of events as moving against him, there is no brute or meaningless factuality. Everything carries a full load of meaning. It is of interest that a moral order of authority has appeared among the brothers. Reuben’s act of incest had led to the loss of his headship. Levi and Simeon had forfeited their place by shaming their father and making Jacob’s word of no account by their massacre of the Shechemites. None questioned Judah’s right to be the firstborn in authority although born fourth. The cup sown into Benjamin’s sack was a part of Joseph’s office, to be a diviner. This meant pouring water into the bowl, staring into it until some kind of vision appeared, and then forecasting in terms of it. Joseph himself had no need for such a device, but it was a part of his priestly paraphernalia. The brothers were sure of their innocence this time, and ready to surrender for execution the one who had the bowl (v. 9). They could not imagine that Benjamin could be held guilty, since Benjamin had the least to do with the loading of the sacks of grain. But Benjamin had been favored by the prime minister, which could mean greater opportunity to steal, a ‘fact’ that did not occur to the brothers. They were sure of his innocence. The ten knew themselves to be guilty men. They were not unwilling to recognize that, in some mysterious way, God would avenge Joseph on one of them, but never on Benjamin. When the bowl was found in Benjamin’s sack, the horror-stricken brothers rent their clothes in grief, and all returned with Benjamin to the city. Judah then told the prime minister their family history, all save their guilt with respect to the supposedly dead brother. They could not return to Canaan without Benjamin: the shock of his loss would kill Jacob, their father. Judah was ready to replace Benjamin as the bondman to the prime minister (v. 33). He could not face his father without Benjamin (v. 34). The ten brothers had met the test. They did not desert Benjamin: all had returned with him, although all save Benjamin were free to go their way. They now had very tender consciences and an obvious love of their father. Whatever shortcoming they might otherwise have, their regard for their father was very great. The ten brothers now obviously recognized something they had earlier resented, namely, that for Jacob, Rachel was his first love and his ‘real’ wife, and

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therefore Joseph and Benjamin were his sons in a particular way. However much the relationship between Rachel and Leah had healed by the time they left Laban, it had not healed where Leah’s sons, and the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, were concerned, until they lived with their father’s grief. The fact that Jacob loved Joseph and Benjamin more did not mean that he did not love his other sons. In v. 10, we are told that only the one whose sack contained the divining bowl would be held as slave or bondman to the prime minister; the rest would be free to go. This meant, when the bowl was found in Benjamin’s sack, that Benjamin, like Joseph, would become a slave in Egypt, a grim and ironic fact that the other brothers could not miss. It was somehow God working to avenge Joseph. All ten went to the prime minister’s house and prostrated themselves on the ground in supplication (v. 14). Joseph told the ten they were free to go, but Judah spoke for all in saying that they could not so mistreat their father. Their conduct was now very different from their earlier treatment of Joseph.

Chapter Sixty-Three Joseph Reveals Himself (Genesis 45:1-28) 1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. 2. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. 4. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9. Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: 10. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11. And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty. 12. And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 14. And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15. Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him. 16. And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 18. And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 19. Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. 273

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Genesis 21. And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22. To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23. And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way. 24. So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. 25. And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, 26. And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. 27. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28. And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die. (Genesis 45:1-28)

Because history is the word of the sovereign and predestinating God, it sometimes gives us the clearest theology. To separate theology and life is to posit a random and meaningless creation, a junk-heap cosmos. Theology is essentially related to history because both find their true meaning in the triune God and His sovereign work and decree. The Bible itself is witness to this unity, and it gives us no clearly demarcated theology nor a history separated from God’s plan. Attempts to separate history and theology are not Christian. This unity is clearly apparent in the life of Joseph. Genesis gives us history and theology. The sovereign plan of God is opened up to us with a powerful emotional impact. How can anyone read this account without sharing Joseph’s faith and tears? I have never been able to do so, from childhood to the present. The ten brothers had sold Joseph into slavery. Now they had an opportunity to eliminate Rachel’s surviving son, Benjamin, by leaving him in Egypt as a slave. Instead, they reacted with horror at the thought of it. This was enough to convince Joseph that his brothers had changed. Joseph, deeply moved, ordered all to leave the room save his brothers. He could not refrain from weeping aloud. Men of his household, being essentially Pharaoh’s men, quickly reported to Pharaoh what was happening (v. 1f.). Joseph said to the brothers, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?” All that the ten brothers had said indicated that Jacob was alive, and a horror of hurting him further governed them. Joseph knew this, but he had to ask. His love of his father was very great. His brothers were troubled or terrified to know that the prime minister was Joseph (v. 3). What they had seen of the prime minister thus far indicated a deeply suspicious man who had put them through serious trials, and they were very much afraid.

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Joseph recognized this; he asked them to come closer, something normally not allowed, for as prime minister he was almost unapproachable. Again he said, “I am Joseph your brother,” adding, in case they had any doubt, “whom ye sold into Egypt” (v. 4). Then, in vv. 5-8, Joseph speaks to them of the meaning of all that had happened. He sets aside the horrors of his enslavement, and of their evil, to urge them, “Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me hither.” Their sin was real, and his sufferings great, but a higher power and purpose was at work. God’s purpose was “to preserve life” (v. 5), theirs and others. There had been two years of famine, with five more to come, during which there will be neither planting nor harvesting (v. 6). God, said Joseph, “sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (v. 7). Joseph views his life and his sufferings theologically, not personally. Few would have had more justification for stressing the personal aspect, his suffering and grief, than Joseph, but he saw all things in terms of God and His purpose. He now urges his brothers to do the same. It was not they but God who sent him to Egypt and made him great there to save them all (v. 8). God used their sin to bring forth good. This did not acquit them of evil, but it did set forth God’s providence. Then Joseph urged them to hurry back, tell their father everything, and return to Egypt with all their possessions (v. 9). Joseph already had in mind an area for them to settle in, Goshen. We do not know now where Goshen was specifically. According to Derek Kidner, it was near Tanis, in the eastern part of the Nile delta.1 Joseph urges them to move to Egypt to avoid extreme poverty (v. 10f.). The brothers were in shock. Was this indeed Joseph? Look at me, he asked, and at your brother Benjamin, and recognize me (v. 12). Tell my father “of all my glory in Egypt” and make haste to bring him here (v. 13). Joseph, with tears, said good-bye to his brothers (v. 14f.). Meanwhile, Joseph’s servants had reported the reunion to Pharaoh, who summoned Joseph and gave him Egyptian wagons to use in transporting the family and its possessions to Egypt (vv. 16-20). The Asiatic fashion in travel was for men to ride on donkeys and for women to travel on foot.2 In Canaan, the donkey was the preferred mode of transport. Pharaoh intended that Joseph’s family come in as Egyptians, with status. Joseph, before his brothers left, gave them full provisions for their journey, a change of raiment for each man, five changes to Benjamin plus three hundred pieces of silver, and to his father ten asses with various luxury items, and ten she asses laden with food (vv. 21-23). 1. Derek 2.

Kidner, Genesis (Chicago: Inter-Varsity Press, 1967), 207. A. S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: Dutton, 1935), 27f.

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As they left, Joseph warned them, “See that ye fall not out by the way” (v. 24). He knew their sense of guilt; they might try to blame one another as the major guilty party. They arrived at Canaan and at their father’s house to tell him, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” Jacob could not at first believe this: he had grown so accustomed to grief (vv. 25-26). They told him of all that Joseph had said, and no doubt of what they had done to him. They showed him Pharaoh’s wagons and Joseph’s gifts. Then Jacob revived. He is in v. 28 again called Israel, a prince with God: he sees God’s hand and design in all this. Instead of anger at the ten brothers, he says simply, “It is enough; Joseph my son is alive: I will go and see him before I die” (vv. 27-28). Jacob made no attempt to rebuke his sons. Events had sufficiently rebuked them, and God had dealt with them in His own way. Ochler observed of all this, “Man’s sin cannot thwart the divine purpose of salvation; it must rather serve to the realization thereof.”3 Predestination and providence are not abstract doctrines. They are more relevant to our daily lives than anything else because in them lies the direction and meaning of our lives. Joseph was no stoic in all his sufferings; his tears and grief tell us how intensely he felt. But Joseph was not governed by his feelings, but rather by God’s will. He was truly himself also a prince with God.

3.

Gustav Ochler, Theology of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), 122.

Chapter Sixty-Four The Journey of Israel into Egypt (Genesis 46:1-34) 1. And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac. 2. And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. 3. And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4. I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. 5. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6. And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: 7. His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt. 8. And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9. And the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10. And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman. 11. And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12. And the sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah: but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul. 13. And the sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron. 14. And the sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 15. These be the sons of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob in Padanaram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. 16. And the sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 17. And the sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah, and Serah their sister: and the sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel. 18. These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19. The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin. 20. And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bare unto him. 21. And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. 22. These are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. 23. And the sons of Dan; Hushim. 24. And the sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 277

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Genesis 25. These are the sons of Bilhah, which Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and she bare these unto Jacob: all the souls were seven. 26. All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; 27. And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten. 28. And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive. 31. And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and show Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me; 32. And the men are shepherds, for their trade hath been to feed cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. 33. And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? 34. That ye shall say, Thy servants’ trade hath been about cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and also our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. (Genesis 46: 1-34)

We have in this chapter (vv. 8-27) further family records of Israel’s twelve sons. In v. 21, we are told that Benjamin had ten sons. Numbers 26:38-40 and 1 Chronicles 7:6ff. and 8:1ff. indicate that some of these were in fact grandsons.1 The Hebraic form of reckoning differs from ours. It is a strict accounting but on premises alien to us. Moreover, we know that Abraham had about 2000 persons in his establishment, and their numbers had increased greatly under Isaac and Jacob. The Hebrews were thus a small nation of many thousands. In v. 27, we are told that Jacob’s family numbered 70 when they came into Egypt; in terms of the manner of reckoning in New Testament times, the family total was 75 (Acts 7:14). Our present state of knowledge is incomplete, so we cannot settle this matter. We do know that their numbers were such that a separate area, Goshen, was given to them. The royal wagons given by Pharaoh for the family’s use set apart Jacob’s sons and families from the great throngs who were a part of the entourage of Israel. The others came Asiatic fashion, on foot and donkey-back. This added to the prestige of Jacob as a lord among men. On arriving at Beersheba, Jacob offered sacrifices to God, as he had done before at that place (Gen. 21:14, 31-33; 22:19; 26:23, 33; 28:10), for Beer-sheba was connected with events in the lives of Abraham and Ishmael, as well as of 1.

Derek Kidner, Genesis (Chicago: Inter-Varsity Press, 1967), 209.

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Isaac and Jacob. At Beersheba, God spoke to Jacob in the night. For the second time in his life, Jacob had to leave Canaan, the Promised Land, first to escape from Esau’s plan to kill him, and now to escape from famine. Obviously, the double departure from Canaan concerned him, however great his joy at the prospect of seeing Joseph again. God tells Jacob, whom He calls by name, first, that He is the God of his father, the God who created him and promised him great things in time through his seed. He is the covenant God. Second, he is not to fear that the journey to Egypt will deflect Jacob from God’s appointed purpose. Obviously, this was a concern to Jacob, and God therefore spoke to it. With Joseph’s great power, it was apparently Jacob’s fear that the Hebrews would in time merge into Egypt. God says, I am going down into Egypt with you; it is My purpose for you. I will also in time surely bring you back to the Promised Land. Third, “Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (v. 4), i.e., when you die, Joseph will care for your body and burial. Jacob was indeed buried in the family’s own ground with great ceremony (Gen. 50:1-13). Jacob’s entourage went to Goshen. Jacob had sent Judah ahead to get the correct information as to where they should settle (v. 28). Joseph at once went to Goshen to meet his father in a happy and tearful reunion (v. 29). Jacob was then ready to die, having seen a happy ending to his long grief (v. 30). Joseph then prepared his family for a meeting with Pharaoh (vv. 31-34). In the family record (vv. 8-27), Joseph is not included in the total, nor are Er and Onan, who died earlier (v. 12). We are given a legal account of Jacob’s blood line, not an account of all the peoples under his authority. The journey began at Hebron, went to Beersheba, and then on to Egypt. We are told that shepherds were “an abomination to the Egyptians” (v. 34). Some say this was due to Egypt’s time of servitude under the Hyksos or shepherd kings who invaded and conquered Egypt. It may well be that this episode came before the Hyksos era. We do know that sheepherders have commonly been resented by farmers and cattlemen. Sheep can be hard on a land, and goats are even worse. In the United States, in earlier years, there were hostilities between cattlemen and sheepherders that led to murders. A shepherd is a far more responsible man than a cowboy, but sheep strip a land of vegetation and are thus hated. Cows cannot survive in sheep-grazed lands. In Egypt, men were clean-shaven, whereas sheepherders were in that era bearded, as were many Asiatics. This made sheep men doubly offensive to Egyptians. The Egyptians tended to dislike foreigners. However, because of its great power, over the centuries Egypt was a magnet drawing peoples to it. There was a rigidity to Egypt’s position that led in time to a hatred of the Hebrews as aliens. This was a weakness in Egypt and a hindrance to its development. Immigrants are in part a compliment to a people; they indicate that the success of the host country is widely known and draws many peoples to it.

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This very success may well have been a source of fear to Jacob. Would his descendants in time forget who they were? Hence the need for reassurance by God that His calling and election would prevail.

Chapter Sixty-Five Jacob Meets the Pharaoh (Genesis 47:1-31) 1. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 2. And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 3. And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. 4. They said moreover unto Pharaoh, For to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 5. And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 6. The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. 7. And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How old art thou? 9. And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. 11. And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12. And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families. 13. And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14. And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15. And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. 16. And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17. And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. 281

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Genesis 18. When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19. Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 20. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. 21. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22. Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. 23. Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 24. And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. 25. And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. 26. And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s. 27. And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 28. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. 29. And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: 30. But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. 31. And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head. (Genesis 47:1-31)

This is a chapter used by many to sharply criticize Joseph as a socialist who seized the land of starving peasants to make them royal possessions. To understand what Joseph did, we need to see clearly what the text tells us. First, the peasants had exhausted all the money they had to buy grain from Joseph’s granaries (vv. 14-19). They also sold him their cattle and their donkeys and like possessions. Second, they finally sold him their land. Now land is normally not a people’s possession, except briefly in America. The state claims prior ownership and by taxation takes a rent for the land. The state’s power to control land and land use, to exercise eminent domain, and to

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tax the land rests on its claim to be the true owner thereof. The private property owner is given limited uses of the land subject to the state’s absolute ownership.1 Especially in ancient Egypt, the peasants were not private owners of their farms. We need to recognize, third, that Egyptian land was routinely given to the priests and temples. In so many cultures, the temples and priests in time come to own vast portions of the country. Sometimes this is beneficial, but often it is not. Particularly in antiquity, it meant the religious powers were more in control of things than were the civil rulers. How much of the peasant’s income went to the priests, we do not know, but their gratitude at Joseph’s modest requirement is revealing. Fourth, Joseph, called a socialist by some modern clergymen, was modest in his requirements for Pharaoh. He asked for “a fifth part,” or a 20% tax, and no more (vv. 23-26). When we compare this to the c. 51% tax total for modern Americans in 1996, it is indeed modest! But this is not all. As Yahuda discovered in his research, the Hebrew tebu’oth means here the increase of the grain crops. The Egyptians alternated with wheat, barley, and grass, or greens like onions, wisely caring for the crops and the soil by diversification. This means the tax of 20% only applied to grain years, something Joseph and the peasants knew.2 Fifth, Joseph made an exception of the lands of the priests and of the temples (v. 26), which certainly won their favor. The reaction of the people was intensely favorable. They hailed Joseph, saying, “Thou hast saved our lives” (v. 25). The position of Pharaoh was also strengthened in that he was freed from too great a religious power in the land. Joseph took five of his brothers and his father to present them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh then asked these men to select out of their entourages men who could manage Pharaoh’s livestock in the land of Goshen or Ramses. This made them a part of the controlling leadership of Egypt. At this time, Jacob was 130 years of age. He lived 17 years more, beyond the famine into prosperous times. Abraham had lived to 175, and Isaac to 180. It has been questioned whether Jacob actually blessed Pharaoh, since the key word can be rendered greeted. However, in much of history age has been respected, and to be blessed by an aged person has been highly regarded. In v. 5, we see that Pharaoh does not answer the five brothers except through Joseph, but his relationship to Jacob is one of respect. The brothers asked permission to sojourn in Egypt (v. 4). They saw their stay as both temporary and brief, and they clearly saw Canaan as their home.

1. See Jonathan R. T. Hughes, The Government Habit (New York: Basic Books, 1977), and Social Control in the Colonial Economy (Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1976. 2. A. S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 59f.

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We are told of the priests that Joseph’s provision for them was a daily allowance of actual food, perhaps even prepared (v. 22). Joseph ensured the cooperation of the priesthood by giving them security. Herodotus referred to this as a continuing custom. J. H. Breasted, in his History of Egypt (p. 189), said that a legal revolution had at some point transferred ownership of the land from the hands of powerful lords to Pharaoh.3 Whether lords or priests, the land ownership ended in Pharaoh’s hands with a lesser tax. The area of Goshen gave Israel various advantages, good grazing lands, and a plentiful supply of fish from the Nile according to Numbers 11:5. Because Pharaoh highly valued Joseph’s services, he clearly wanted to give his family the best area available. Thus the Hebrews went from a famine area to privileged status in the only affected area which remained capable of surviving the long drought. The chapter ends with Jacob, at 147, becoming aware of approaching death. He sends for Joseph, the other sons being already around him. Joseph is asked to make an oath by placing his hand under his father’s thigh, i.e., to swear by the Messiah to come, to bury his father in the family plot in Canaan. This Joseph swore to do (vv. 28-31). We are told that, during the 17 years before Jacob’s death, he saw his family grow and prosper mightily, so that they were a wealthy and powerful people (v. 27). This was the reason for his concern about the future. The young nation was privileged, wealthy, and powerful in Egypt, the great power of that day. It was necessary to see Canaan as their home, and therefore the burial of Jacob in their burying place had a significance for all.

3.

Albertus Pieters, Notes on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1943), 175.

Chapter Sixty-Six Ephraim and Manasseh (Genesis 48:1-22) 1. And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2. And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. 3. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4. And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. 5. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6. And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. 7. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem. 8. And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these? 9. And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them. 10. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath showed me also thy seed. 12. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13. And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. 14. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15. And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 17. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head. 18. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. 285

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Genesis 19. And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. 20. And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. 22. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. (Genesis 48:1-22)

The final illness of Jacob (Gen. 47:28-31) did not take him away immediately. Joseph had returned to his home and work when he received word that his father was not far from death. He went to his father, taking his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him (v. 1). Currently, children are usually excluded from a deathbed scene; at one time, they were routinely present, to be blessed. When Jacob was told that Joseph and his sons had arrived, he strengthened himself to sit up in bed (v. 2). He reminded Joseph of God’s revelation of Himself at Luz, and of His promise to give Jacob Canaan (vv. 3-4). He then told Joseph that Joseph’s two sons were now his, to share equally with the other eleven in Jacob’s estate. Any other sons of Joseph could share in Joseph’s estate. Manasseh and Ephraim were to become tribal or clan leaders in Israel (vv. 5-6). Rachel had died at Bethlehem, and she had been buried there, the dying man recalled (v. 7).Now Jacob turned his attention to Joseph’s sons, whom he kissed and embraced. He was virtually blind, and his hands needed guiding as he prepared to bless the two. But Jacob, despite Joseph’s objection, placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, rather than on Manasseh, the first born (vv. 8-12). Joseph tried to correct Jacob, but Jacob corrected Joseph, telling him that he knew what he was doing (vv. 13-14). Jacob did two things of note. First, he adopted his grandsons as his heirs. Joseph, with his great wealth, needed nothing. Second, he reversed their order of priority, making the younger the main heir. Joseph was told by Jacob that this was intentional. Isaac had been given priority over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau. God’s priorities are not man’s. Even in the appointed line of the coming one, there were displacements and replacements. God did not allow anyone to see an automatic succession as valid. God always retained the priority in His purpose (vv. 15-20). Jacob invoked the God of his fathers, the Angel of His presence, to bless the two grandsons. This Angel had “redeemed from all evil” (v. 16) Jacob and his family. Looking back, Jacob sees only God’s providential care. Jacob then assured Joseph that God would be with him. In due time, God would return them to Canaan (v. 21).

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When in v. 5 Jacob says that Ephraim and Manasseh would be “as Reuben and Simeon,” he meant that they would now be as his first and second born, with Ephraim as the primary heir. Reuben and Simeon had previously been supplanted, so it was now Judah who was replaced as main heir by the boys. In v. 22, Jacob refers to a battle with the Amorites and an area of land he took from them. We have no other reference to this, except perhaps John 4:5. In v. 12, we see that Jacob had his two grandsons either on his knees, or between his knees, and Joseph then removed them, lest they burden his father. This was a legal act. It signified that either the child or children were being formally adopted, or, in other cases, that they were legitimate.1 There would therefore be witnesses present. In v. 7, when Jacob says, “Rachel died by me,” he is saying, in modern idiom, she died in my arms. In the next chapter, we have the blessings on the others. Such an act involves a review of the lives of all concerned, their sins and their virtues, and the experience was an emotional one for Jacob. It revived memories, good and bad, and this recollection begins in v. 7, Jacob remembering Rachel’s death. Deathbed blessings and warnings were once seen as almost a moral necessity, and it was regarded as a misfortune for anyone to die unexpectedly, or in their sleep. Such scenes were family milestones. They were possible when the family, as a moral and a religious entity, saw it as a duty to warn, reprove, direct, and bless the coming generations. If the family is not a religious and moral entity, but merely a biological one, then such gatherings are superfluous, and they have disappeared. Now even funerals are in some cases disappearing, and the dead are disposed of without ceremony. Meanwhile, political events gain in ceremony, and awards ceremonies for popular singers and actors are pretentious and seemingly national events.

1.

E. A. Speiser, Genesis (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1964), 357.

Chapter Sixty-Seven Jacob’s Blessing (Genesis 49:1-33) 1. And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. 2. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. 3. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: 4. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. 5. Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 6. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. 7. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 8. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. 9. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12. His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. 13. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. 14. Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: 15. And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. 16. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. 18. I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. 19. Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. 20. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. 21. Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: 23. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: 24. But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) 289

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Genesis 25. Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: 26. The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. 27. Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. 28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30. In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 33. And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. (Genesis 49:1-33)

Having adopted Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob summoned all twelve brothers. He speaks to them as a prophet of God (vv. 1-2). He begins with Reuben. The firstborn should represent the father’s strength, dignity, and power. Very early, he should be his father’s right hand man. But, with bitterness, Jacob recalls Reuben’s incest with Bilhah (v. 3). From our perspective, this is neither prophecy nor a blessing. However, to prophesy means to speak for God, whether or not one foretells the future, and it is God’s judgment Jacob pronounces. The truth, moreover, in its own way is a blessing if we receive it properly. Simeon and Levi are then cited as “instruments of cruelty” in their massacre of the Shechemites. Their anger is cursed, and they are divided and scattered in Israel (vv. 5-7). Levi’s scattering became a blessing as they became the servants of God. Simeon’s later faithfulness to God led them to unite themselves to Judah. Both tribes turned a curse into a blessing. A long blessing (vv. 8-12) is pronounced on Judah. His shall be the royal and messianic line. Shiloh, meaning he whose power it is, the Messiah, shall come through Judah. Judah shall be a conquering people. The royal sceptor shall remain with Judah until Shiloh comes. Zebulun is then blessed in v. 13. It shall be a people grown rich on seafaring men and traders. We have no historical record for or against this.

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In vv. 14-15, Isaachar becomes a type of a powerful but peaceable trading people, and this made it important to its enemies and meant at times that alien powers ruled over it. Dan (vv. 16-17) became a tribe of judges and also like a serpent “in the path,” striking at its enemies. As the northern tribe, Dan was in a strategic position for attacks against invaders. Samson was a Danite. In v. 18, Jacob exclaims, “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.” He looks ahead to the fullness of the messianic salvation. In v. 19, we are told that when the enemy presses Gad, Gad will finally overcome them. In v. 20, Asher was settled in the seacoast north of Carmel, a rich area where Asher prospered and provided delicacies for royal tables. Naphthali (v. 21) is like a freed deer, as apt at goodly speech as at quick flight and defensive action. In vv. 22-27, Joseph is described as a fruitful bough, although some render it as bull or calf. This is the longest part of the blessing, although Judah’s blessing is very long and even stronger. He is presented as a man who cannot be kept down, a God-ordained power that men cannot control or destroy. In this blessing, God is strongly invoked, and Joseph is declared to be “separate from his brethren,” singled out by God (v. 26). God’s blessing on Joseph has confounded all his enemies. Then comes the strange blessing on Benjamin (v. 27). He is compared to a beast of prey, a savage wolf. Militarily, Benjamin proved to be a fierce warrior tribe, active against the evil doers of Gilead (Judges 20); fighting to overthrow the tyrant Sisera (Judges 4-5); noted for its archers and slingers (Judges 20:16; 1 Chronicles 7:40f. et al.); and active with Saul and Jonathan against the Philistines (1 Samuel 13:1ff.). Jacob then charged all his sons with the responsibility for his burial in the family plot where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Leah were buried (vv. 30-32). Having done this, Jacob pulled his feet up into the bed and then died, “gathered unto his people” (v. 33). The statement concerning Reuben is of interest because Jacob speaks of him as “unstable as water” (v. 4). James Moffett paraphrased this as “lost by surging lust,” and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz rendered it as “water-like impetuosity,” and he described it as an act of anger.1 With Rachel dead, Reuben tried to destroy any tie between Jacob and Rachel’s maid Bilhah by rendering her unfit for Jacob by an incestuous act. The bitterness of Jacob remained to the end. 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 tells us that the birthright was given to Joseph, and, in a sense, also to Judah, through whom the Messiah was to come. 1.

Rabbi Meier Zlotowitz, and Rabbi Nosson Scherman, Bereishis, Genesis, vol. VI (Brooklyn, New York: Mesorah Publications, 1981), 2135.

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Sailhamer rendered “unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (v. 10) as “and the obedience of the nations is his.” This would indicate a rule far beyond Israel.2 The word obedience is a better translation than “gathering.”3 The prosperity of Judah’s descendants is described by the expression, “his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white as milk” (v. 12). For the sons to listen to this from their father could not have been easy, but it was a more than an ordinary religious rite. Jacob’s hard life had its moments of revelation from God. He was, in fact, a prophet. Joseph had been greatly used by God and was the more powerful person, but Jacob had experiences unknown for some generations beyond his day, not until Moses, in fact.

2. John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in Frank E. Gaebelein, general editor, The Expositor’s Bi-

ble Commentary, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Regency, 1990), 274, 276. 3. R. Payne Smith, “Genesis,” in Charles John Ellicott, editor, Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. I (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, reprint, n.d.), 170.

Chapter Sixty-Eight The Death of Joseph (Genesis 50:1-26) 1. And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3. And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. 4. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5. My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6. And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7. And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8. And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10. And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan. 12. And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13. For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. 14. And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15. And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. 16. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17. So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. 293

294

Genesis 18. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. 19. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20. But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. 22. And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. 23. And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph’s knees. 24. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. (Genesis 50:1-26)

When Jacob died, Joseph was 56 years of age.1 Since Joseph died at 110, almost half his life still remained at the time of Jacob’s death. His longevity was a fact highly respected in Egypt. At Jacob’s death, the ceremonies were very great. The father of Pharaoh’s great prime minister had to be honored. Jacob was embalmed or mummified. This took 40 days, then 70 days of mourning in Egypt. The mourning for a pharaoh was 72 days, so that we can see thereby the honor given to Joseph’s father.2 Pharaoh then granted permission for the burial to take place in Canaan, and he had the body accompanied by chariots and horsemen, “a very great company” (v. 9). Because of Joseph’s importance and his very great work for Pharaoh, his father’s death required signal observances, both in Egypt and in Canaan. Joseph requested permission to bury his father in Canaan, “in the cave of the field of Machpelah” (v. 13), through intermediaries. This was proper Near Eastern form; in case Pharaoh felt it necessary to refuse or to alter the proposal, he would thereby embarrass neither himself nor Joseph. Moreover, mourners were not allowed to approach Pharaoh until their dead were buried. In v. 7, we have reference to the elders of Pharaoh’s house, men of high court rank, and elders of the land of Egypt, “the high councilors representing all districts of Egypt who had seats in the supreme council of the King.”3 These all went with Joseph to bury his father. This tells us of Joseph’s importance and also of Pharaoh’s high regard for him. 1. Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (Grand Rapids: 2. Derek Kidner, Genesis (Chicago: Inter-Varsity, 1967), 223. 3.

Zondervan, 1976), 336.

A. S. Yahuda, The Accuracy of the Bible (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1935), 33.

The Death of Joseph (Genesis 50:1-26)

295

All this made a very great impression on the Canaanites (vv. 9-13). Their memory of Jacob was still fresh, and it was now apparent that Jacob was respected and honored as few men were by Pharaoh. The burial place still survives and is held in respect by Jews, Moslems, and Christians. After Joseph returned, his brothers, i.e., the 10, approached him fearfully. Perhaps Joseph out of love for his father had refrained from reprisals against them. Now, with Jacob gone, perhaps he would get his revenge (vv. 14-17). Joseph wept when they asked for mercy. He at once answered, “Fear not: for am I in the place of God?” (v. 19). Vengeance was not his prerogative but God’s, and he had no intention of playing God. But Joseph does not gloss over their sin: “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good” and used it to save the lives of many peoples (v. 20). Joseph refused to question God’s predestination, but he also did not understate their sin. He then comforted them, knowing their consciences troubled them, and he spoke to their hearts. He promised, “I will nourish you, and your little ones” (v. 21). Joseph lived to see “Ephraim’s children of the third generation,” and also his great grandson by Manasseh (v. 23). Before his death, Joseph called in “his brethren,” which can mean his surviving brothers plus their children and grandchildren. He told them, first, that somehow God would surely take them back to the Promised Land. They had a position of power as the “rulers” over all of Pharaoh’s cattle, but the problem with this was that it was not a responsibility they could walk away from. What Pharaoh gave, only Pharaoh could take away. This meant that their “permission” to leave could only come from God. Second, Joseph made them promise to keep his embalmed body for the time of their exodus from Egypt (vv. 24-26). In Exodus 13:19, we read that Moses took Joseph’s body in a coffin with him when they left Egypt. Joseph’s body remained for some generations a silent witness to Israel of God’s promise and purpose. In Exodus 1:8, we are told that, in time, a king came to power in Egypt “which knew not Joseph.” Joseph was ancient history, and the new pharaoh saw no need to honor something in Egypt’s now remote past. His measures led, step by step, to his expulsion of Israel in terms of God’s plan. Dr. Albertus Pieters cited in a few sentences something on the importance of Genesis, saying in part, Whoever has well learned the Genesis stories has learned all the chief things that can be known about God, apart form the incarnation of God in Christ. Genesis contains also a very definite anthropology. Man is represented as having been originally created in a state of innocence—as having fallen through deliberate transgression—as henceforth totally depraved—as capable of salvation through divine help—and as certain in the end to triumph over evil.

296

Genesis Of permanent institutions for the well-being of mankind, we have here the institution of the Sabbath—marriage—government—and worship. Sex relations are presented under various aspects, as divinely instituted and therefore right and normal, as providing for a monogamous and indissoluble relation, as desecrated by polygamy, and as falling into the lowest depths of indecency through sin.4

There is no separation of history and theology in Genesis, nor in all the Bible. Those who attempt such a separation must rewrite all of the Bible to meet their requirements. To do so, they must bring a radically alien faith to reinterpret all things. They have then ceased to be Christians.

4.

Albertus Pieters, Notes on Genesis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1943), 177f.

AFTERWORD There is no separation of history and theology in Genesis, nor in all the Bible. Our choice is between God and chance, between total meaning and total meaninglessness. Many years ago, I recall a doctor telling us that in his medical school days it was grounds for expulsion if one believed that stress could cause stomach ulcers. Now it is well known that there is a connection between mental stress and physical problems. Because history is not meaningless but Godordained, all of history is purposeful and has a theological meaning. Any attempt to understand history apart from God is an exercise in futility. History cannot be separated from theology, and any attempt to study the Bible from a non-theological perspective is not only misguided but perverse. But too many scholars who profess to be evangelical or reformed insist on studying the Bible non-theologically. Their premises are Hegelian and Darwinian rather than Biblical and Christian. Quite logically, these scholars via the seminaries are undermining the church and the faith. They are gravediggers of the church, not scholars for Christ our King. Genesis is not a collection of primitive tales but a highly literate theological work. Supposedly, redactors collected and put together the entire Pentateuch. Anyone who believes that will be a ready believer of any kind of nonsense, and he begins by exalting his mind to the role of a discerning judge over God’s word and an elite possessor of intelligence. Genesis is the starting point of sound theology because it declares God to be the Creator and therefore the determiner of all things. Without this premise, Christianity begins to disintegrate, as it has in this century. The restoration of a strong faith begins with the recognition of the centrality of Genesis to theology.

297

Scripture Index Genesis 1— 23, 74 1-11— 1 1:1— 11 1:1-13— 3–4 1:1-2:4— 21 1:1-3— 11 1:5— 9 1:8— 9 1:9— 21 1:13— 9 1:19— 9 1:22— 9 1:23— 9 1:26-28— 6, 21–22, 31, 81, 110 1:26-29— 14 1:27— 6 1:28— 6, 9, 52 1:28-29— 77 1:31— 7, 9–10 2— 22 2:1-3— 11, 17 2:2— 11 2:4— 21, 51 2:4-7— 21 2:5-7— 21 2:6— 26 2:7— 14, 21–23 2:8-25— 25 2:10-14— 42 2:11— 27 2:17— 26 2:18-25— 27 2:20— 30 2:21-25— 29 2:23— 29–30 2:24— 29 2:25— 30–31 3:1— 34–35 3:1-5— 7, 13–14, 34 3:1-6— 33

3:4— 35 3:5— 13, 19, 33, 35, 41, 75, 93, 100, 110, 114 3:6— 35 3:7— 37 3:7-17— 104 3:7-21— 37 3:8— 38 3:9— 38 3:11— 38–39 3:12— 39 3:13— 39 3:15— 39, 44 3:16— 39 3:17— 39, 75 3:18— 39 3:19— 13, 21, 39 3:20— 40 3:21— 37–38 3:22— 41–42 3:22-24— 41 3:23— 42 3:24— 42 4:1— 43–44 4:1-15— 43 4:2— 44 4:3-4— 38, 44 4:5— 44 4:8— 44 4:9— 44 4:10-12— 44 4:11— 47 4:13-14— 45 4:14— 45 4:15— 48 4:16— 47 4:16-26— 47 4:22— 27 4:23— 48 4:23, 24— 48 4:24— 48 299

300

4:25— 22, 52 4:25-26— 49 4:26— 49 5:1— 21, 51 5:1-8— 51 5:2— 52 5:3-5— 49 5:4— 44 5:5— 27, 52 5:8— 52 5:9-32— 55 5:11— 52 5:14— 52 5:17— 52 5:20— 52 5:22— 58 5:24— 58 5:27— 52 5:29— 56, 59 5:31— 52 6:1-4— 61 6:2— 61 6:3— 61 6:4— 62 6:5— 65 6:5-22— 65 6:8— 66 6:9— 21, 51, 66 6:10— 59 6:13— 66 6:15— 67 6:18— 61, 66 6:19-20— 67 7:1— 71 7:1-24— 69–70 7:2— 70 7:5— 71 7:11— 70 7:12, 17— 70 7:17— 70 7:21-23— 71 7:23— 71 7:24— 71

Genesis 8:1— 74 8:1-22— 73–74 8:2-5— 74 8:6-7— 74 8:8-9— 74 8:10-12— 74 8:13— 74 8:14— 74 8:15-20— 75 8:21— 76 8:22— 76 9:1— 52, 77, 95 9:1, 7— 81 9:1-7— 77, 83 9:2-3— 77 9:4— 77 9:5— 77, 82–83 9:6— 78 9:7— 78 9:7-17— 81 9:8-12— 82 9:8-17— 82 9:12— 83 9:13— 83 9:14— 83 9:15-16— 83 9:18-19— 85 9:18-29— 85 9:20— 85 9:21— 86 9:22— 86 9:25— 86 9:25-27— 86 9:26-27— 52 9:27— 86 9:28— 87 10:1— 51 10:1-14— 89 10:1-7— 92 10:2— 89 10:3— 90 10:4— 91 10:5— 93

Scripture Index 10:6— 91 10:6-14— 96 10:7— 92 10:8-12— 93 10:13— 93 10:15-20— 95 10:19— 95–96 10:21— 99 10:21-32— 99 10:22— 99 10:23— 99 10:24— 99 10:25— 99 10:26-30— 99 10:32— 100 11:1, 4— 109 11:1-9— 100, 103, 109, 113, 123 11:2-10a— 119 11:4— 109–110, 114 11:5— 110 11:5-9— 110 11:6— 110 11:7— 109–110 11:8— 110 11:9— 110 11:10— 21, 51, 117 11:10b-27a— 119 11:10-32— 117 11:14— 118 11:16-29— 99 11:27— 21, 51 11:27 - 25:11— 118 11:27, 29— 169 11:28— 118 11:29— 119 12:1— 121 12:1-3— 130 12:1-9— 121, 123 12:2— 121, 123 12:3— 52, 121 12:4— 121–122 12:7— 121, 130 12:8— 123

12:10— 125 12:10-20— 125 12:10-30— 160 12:11-13— 125 12:16— 126, 142 12:17— 126 12:18-20— 126 13:1-18— 129 13:4— 131 13:5-7— 130 13:8-9— 130 13:10— 131 13:13— 130 13:14-15— 130 13:14-17— 130 13:14-18— 130 13:16— 130 13:17— 130 13:18— 131 14— 134 14:1-24— 133–134 14:2— 96, 134 14:3— 134 14:5-104— 135 14:8— 96 14:11-12— 135 14:13— 135 14:14— 135, 226 14:15-16— 135 14:17— 135 14:18, 22— 134 14:20— 135 14:21-24— 135 14:22— 134 15:1— 138 15:1-21— 137 15:2— 122 15:2-3— 138 15:4— 138 15:6— 138 15:7— 139 15:7-8— 138 15:9-21— 138–139

301

302

15:10— 139 15:11— 139 15:12— 139 15:13-16— 140 15:16— 91 15:18— 140 15:19— 139 15:19-21— 140 16:1-16— 141 16:3— 142 16:4— 142 16:4-5— 142 16:5— 142 16:8— 143 16:9— 143 16:10— 143 16:12— 143 16:14— 143 16:15— 143 17:1— 146 17:1-27— 145–146 17:2— 146 17:4— 146 17:5-6— 146 17:7— 146 17:8— 146 17:9-14— 147 17:14— 122 17:15-19— 146 17:16— 147 17:17— 151 17:18— 146, 183 17:19— 147 17:20— 147 17:23— 147 17:24— 147 17:25— 147 18:1-33— 149–150 18:8— 151 18:9-15— 151 18:10— 151 18:15— 151 18:17-19— 151

Genesis 18:20— 152 18:20-21— 151 18:23— 151 18:23-26— 151 18:33— 152 19— 151 19:1— 151, 155 19:1, 9— 155 19:1-38— 153–155 19:2— 155 19:3— 155 19:5— 130, 151 19:7-8— 155 19:9— 155 19:10— 155 19:11— 155 19:12-13— 155 19:15— 155 19:16-17— 156 19:19— 156 19:20-23— 156 19:22— 156 19:23— 156 19:24-25— 156 19:26— 156 19:27-28— 156 19:29— 156 19:30— 156 19:32— 156 19:33-35— 156 19:36— 156 19:37-38— 157 20‚ 21— 164 20:1-18— 159, 166, 187 20:2— 160 20:3— 161 20:4— 160 20:6— 160 20:7— 160 20:8— 161 20:11— 160 20:12— 160 20:14, 16— 160

Scripture Index 20:15— 160 20:16— 161 20:17-18— 161 21:1-34— 163–164 21:1-5— 165 21:4— 165 21:6-7— 165 21:8— 165 21:9— 165 21:9-10— 165 21:11-13— 165 21:14— 165, 278 21:15— 165 21:16— 165 21:17— 165 21:18— 165 21:19— 165 21:20-21— 165 21:22— 164, 188 21:22-23— 165 21:23— 165 21:24— 165 21:25— 165 21:26— 165 21:28-30— 166 21:30— 166 21:31-33— 278 21:33— 166 21:34— 166 22:1— 168 22:1-24— 167–168 22:3-6— 168 22:7— 168 22:8— 168 22:9-10— 168 22:12— 168 22:13— 168 22:14— 168 22:15-18— 168–169 22:17— 169 22:19— 278 22:20-24— 169 23:1-20— 171

23:1-3— 173 23:3— 173 23:5-6— 173 23:10— 173 23:15— 173 23:16-17— 173 23:18— 173 24:1— 178, 182 24:1-67— 175, 178 24:3-4— 178 24:3-8— 178 24:9— 178 24:10— 178 24:10-28— 179 24:29-30— 179 24:31-33— 179 24:32— 178 24:35— 179 24:36-49— 179 24:50-52— 179 24:53— 179, 202 24:54— 179 24:55-58— 179 24:59-61— 179 24:62-67— 179 25:1— 182 25:1-34— 181–182 25:1-6— 182 25:3— 92 25:6— 182–183 25:8-10— 183 25:9— 172 25:12— 21, 51 25:12-16— 147 25:12-28— 183 25:18— 183 25:19— 21, 51 25:19ff.— 183 25:20— 179 25:21— 183 25:22-23— 183 25:23— 193, 235 25:25-26— 183

303

304

25:26— 183 25:27— 183 25:28— 183 25:29-30— 183 25:31— 183 25:32— 183 25:33— 183 25:34— 142, 184 26:1-35— 185–186 26:1-4— 186 26:6-11— 160 26:8-9— 187 26:10-11— 187 26:12— 187 26:13— 187 26:14— 187 26:17-19— 187 26:22— 187 26:23— 187, 278 26:24— 187 26:26— 188 26:27— 188 26:28— 188 26:29— 188 26:30— 188 26:31— 188 26:32— 188 26:33— 188, 278 26:34— 188 26:35— 188 27:1-4— 193 27:1-46— 191, 193 27:5-10— 193 27:11— 193 27:12— 193 27:13— 193 27:15-17— 193 27:22— 194 27:27— 52 27:29— 194 27:29-33— 194 27:34-40— 194 27:41— 194

Genesis 27:42— 194 27:43— 178 28:1— 194 28:1-2— 198 28:1-22— 197–198 28:1-4— 194 28:3-4— 198 28:5— 198 28:6-9— 198 28:10— 178, 278 28:11— 198 28:12— 198 28:12-15— 199 28:13— 198 28:13-14— 199 28:15— 199 28:16-17— 199 28:18— 199 28:19-22— 199 28:20— 200 28:20-21— 199 28:22— 199 29— 213 29:1-35— 201–202 29:4— 178 29:6— 202 29:10-11— 203 29:13— 203 29:14— 203 29:15— 203 29:16-18— 203 29:19-20— 203 29:21-22— 203 29:23-27— 203 29:27-30— 203 29:31— 207 29:31, 33— 203 29:31-35— 204 30:1-2— 207 30:1-43— 205–206 30:3— 207 30:27— 208 30:128— 208

Scripture Index 30:30-33— 208 30:34-36— 208 30:37-43— 208 31:1— 213 31:1-55— 209, 211 31:2— 213 31:3— 199 31:4— 203 31:5— 213 31:7-13— 211 31:12f.— 208 31:13— 211 31:14-16— 212 31:16— 213 31:17-24— 212 31:23— 213 31:24— 212 31:26— 212 31:27— 212 31:28— 212 31:30— 212 31:32— 212 31:32-36— 212 31:33-34— 212 31:35— 212 31:36-42— 212 31:39— 213 31:46f.— 213 31:48-49— 213 31:50-53— 213 32:1— 216 32:1, 2— 199 32:1-32— 215–216 32:2— 216 32:3— 216 32:4, 5— 216 32:5— 218 32:6— 216 32:7-8— 216 32:9-12— 217 32:10— 217 32:13-20— 217 32:24-26— 218

32:24-30— 199, 217 32:27-28— 218 32:28— 218 32:30— 218 32:31— 218 32:32— 218 33:1-20— 221–222 33:1-3— 222–223 33:7— 222 33:8— 222 33:9— 222 33:11— 222 33:12— 223 33:12-15— 222 33:16— 222 33:17— 223 33:20— 223 34:1-31— 225–226 34:2— 227 34:3— 227 34:4— 227 34:7— 227 34:8— 227 34:8-12— 227 34:19— 227 34:24— 227 34:25-27— 228 34:28-29— 228 34:31— 228 35:1— 199, 230 35:1-29— 229–230 35:2— 230 35:5— 230 35:6-7— 230 35:8— 230 35:9-13— 199, 231 35:16-18— 231 35:19-20— 231 35:22— 231 35:23-26— 231 35:27-29— 231 35:29— 235 36:1— 51

305

306

36:1-43— 233–234 36:4-7— 222 36:6-8— 217, 222, 235 36:7— 235 36:9— 21, 51 36:9-14— 235 36:12— 235 36:15— 223 36:15-19— 235 36:20— 235 36:20-30— 235 36:24— 235 36:29— 235 36:31— 235 36:31-39— 235–236 36:31-43— 235 36:35— 235 36:40-43— 235 37:1-36— 237–238 37:2— 21, 51, 239, 256 37:3— 239 37:6-8— 239 37:10— 239 37:11— 239 37:12-14— 239 37:14-16— 239 37:21-27— 240 37:26-28— 242 37:28— 240 37:30-31— 240 37:32— 240 37:33-35— 240 37:36— 240 38— 267 38:1— 242 38:1-30— 241–242 38:6— 242 38:7— 242 38:9— 242 38:10— 242 38:11— 243 38:12— 243 38:12-13— 243

Genesis 38:14-15— 243 38:15-18— 239 38:16-19— 243 38:20— 243 38:21— 243 38:22— 243 38:24— 243 38:25— 243 38:26— 243 38:30— 243 39:1— 246 39:1-23— 245–246 39:2— 247 39:2-6— 246 39:7— 246 39:8-10— 246 39:9— 247 39:11-12— 246 39:13-19— 246 39:19— 246 39:20-23— 246 40:1-23— 249–250 40:2— 250 40:3— 251 40:8— 251 40:9-11— 250 40:11— 251 40:12-15— 250 40:16— 250 40:16-19— 251 40:23— 251 41:1— 255 41:1-4— 255 41:1-57— 253, 255 41:5-7— 255 41:8— 256 41:9-13— 256 41:14— 256 41:15— 256 41:16— 257 41:18-24— 256 41:25-36— 256 41:37-42— 256

Scripture Index 41:41f.— 256 41:44— 256 41:45— 256 41:46— 256 41:47-49— 257 41:51— 257 41:51f.— 256–257 41:53-55— 257 42:1-2— 261 42:1-38— 259–260 42:3— 261 42:5-6— 261 42:6— 267 42:6-9— 261 42:7-9— 261 42:13— 261 42:14-17— 261 42:18— 261 42:22— 262 42:23— 261 42:24— 261 42:28— 262 42:35— 262 42:36— 262 42:37— 262 42:38— 261–262 43:1-34— 265–266 43:10— 266 43:11— 266, 268 43:11-14— 267 43:20-22— 267 43:23— 267 43:24— 267 43:25f.— 267 43:27f.— 267 43:29-31— 267 43:32— 267 43:34— 267 44:1-34— 269–270 44:9— 271 44:10— 272 44:14— 272 44:16— 270

44:33— 271 44:34— 271 45:1f.— 274 45:1-28— 273–274 45:3— 274 45:4— 275 45:5— 275 45:5-8— 275 45:6— 275 45:7— 275 45:8— 260, 275 45:9— 275 45:10f.— 275 45:12— 275 45:13— 275 45:14f.— 275 45:16-20— 275 45:21-23— 275 45:24— 276 45:25-26— 276 45:27-28— 276 45:28— 276 46:1-34— 277–278 46:1-4— 199 46:4— 279 46:8-27— 278–279 46:12— 279 46:21— 278 46:27— 278 46:28— 279 46:29— 279 46:30— 279 46:31-34— 279 46:34— 279 47:1-31— 281–282 47:4— 283 47:5— 283 47:14-19— 282 47:22— 284 47:23-26— 283 47:25— 283 47:26— 283 47:27— 284

307

308

47:28-31— 284, 286 48:1— 286 48:1-22— 285–286 48:2— 286 48:3-4— 286 48:5— 287 48:5-6— 286 48:7— 286–287 48:8-12— 286 48:12— 287 48:13-14— 286 48:15-20— 286 48:16— 286 48:21— 286 48:22— 287 49:1-2— 290 49:1-28— 52 49:1-33— 289–290 49:4— 231, 291 49:4-7— 228 49:5-7— 290 49:8-12— 290 49:10— 292 49:12— 292 49:13— 290 49:14-15— 291 49:16-17— 291 49:18— 291 49:19— 291 49:20— 291 49:21— 291 49:22-27— 291 49:26— 291 49:27— 291 49:29— 172 49:30-32— 291 49:31— 172 49:33— 291 50:1-13— 279 50:1-26— 293–294 50:7— 294 50:9— 294 50:9-13— 295

Genesis 50:13— 172, 294 50:14-17— 295 50:19— 295 50:20— 295 50:21— 295 50:23— 295 50:24-26— 295 Exodus 1:8— 295 3:6— 139 3:14— 218 13:1— 295 19:10— 230 19:18— 139 21:28— 77 21:28-3— 83 21:28-32— 82 32:14— 66 Leviticus 17:10, 11— 82 17:10-14— 77 17:14— 82 17:19— 82 19:26— 82 22:13— 244 Numbers 11:5— 284 13:33— 62 23:19— 66 24:18— 234 24:24— 91 26:38-4— 278 Deuteronomy 1:2— 62 2:4-5— 236 2:12— 234 3:11— 62 7:3— 61 12:16, 23— 77 12:23— 82 23:7-8— 236 25:4— 150 28:26— 172

Scripture Index 29:23— 96 32:35— 48 33:27— 76 Joshua 24:2— 119 24:32— 223 Judges 4- 5— 291 8‚ 9 & 10— 164 20— 291 20:16— 291 21:25— 14 Ruth 1:8— 244 1 Samuel 13:1— 291 15:29— 66 2 Samuel 11:21— 164 13:18-19— 239 21:16-22— 62 1 Kings 7:13— 90 9:26— 91 10:22— 91 11:1— 236 22:48— 91 1 Chronicles 1— 96 1:5— 90 1:6— 90 5:1-2— 291 7:6ff— 278 7:40— 291 8:1ff— 278 11:23— 62 18:16— 164 20:4-8— 62 2 Chronicles 9:21— 91 20:36— 91 25:14— 236

26:23— 172 Ezra 9:12— 61 Nehemiah 10:30— 61 Job 13:15— 138 26:12-13— 35 34:14— 23 Psalms 8:1-9— 23 14:1— 16 19:1— 9 25:3— 30 33:8-9— 10 34— 164 37:9-11— 67 37:18-22— 67 48:8— 91 51:4— 39, 262 82:8— 130 86:9— 130 89:10— 35 103:14— 188 104:29— 23 106:28— 231 110:4— 134 119:6— 31 119:80— 31 121:4— 198 145:10— 9 Proverbs 8:36— 93 Isaiah 2:16— 91 9:6— 18 21:13— 92 23:1— 91 23:1, 14— 91 29:16— 13 42:17— 30 44:11— 30

309

310

45:9— 13 45:16— 31 45:21-22— 15 58:13-14— 19 60:9— 91 64:8— 13 65:17-23— 118 65:20— 52 66:19— 90, 93 Jeremiah 2:26— 30 17:13— 31 18:7, 8— 66 Jeremiah 18 7-8— 66 Jeremiah 22:19— 172 26:3— 66 34:18-20— 140 46:9— 91 51:27— 90 Ezekiel 16:46-56— 130 20:12-21— 17 20:20— 18 25:8— 234 27:6— 91 27:7— 91 27:10— 93 27:13— 90 27:13, 19— 90 27:14— 91 27:22— 92 32:17-32— 90 32:26— 90 38:2— 90 38:5— 91 38:13— 92 38:14— 90 39:1— 90 39:3— 90 27:25— 91

Genesis Daniel 8:21— 90 10:20— 90 11:2— 90 11:3— 91 Hosea 11:8— 96 12:3-5— 217 12:4— 218 Joel 2:26-27— 31 Amos 9:7— 122 Jonah 3:1— 66 4:9— 247 Haggai 2:11-14— 63 Zechariah 10:4— 5 Malachi 1:11— 169 3:6— 66, 218 Matthew 1:3— 243 5:5— 67, 169 10:29-31— 10, 180 10:30— 76, 188 12:11-12— 18 16:21-23— 139 22:29-30— 61 24:39— 70 26:26— 23 Mark 2:27— 19 12:24— 61 14:22— 23 16:1— 172 Luke 3:33— 243 10:7— 150 17:26-30— 67

Scripture Index 17:27— 70 20:34-36— 61 22:17— 23 22:42— 114 23:56— 172 John 1:3— 11 4:5— 287 8:56— 139 11:25— 41 14:6— 41 15:1— 41 15:1-8— 42 16:33— 139 19:40— 172 20:22— 23 Acts 7:2— 178 7:14— 278 12:21-23— 224 15:18— 27 17:28— 268 Romans 1:20-32— 151 1:21-32— 155 4:3— 138 4:9— 138 4:22— 138 5:5— 31 5:14-21— 52 5:21— 52 8:19-23— 83 8:28— 29 8:37— 40 9:19-20— 13 9:33— 31 10:11— 31 12:19— 49 1 Corinthians 6:19— 14 7:14— 169 15:12-23— 14 15:21— 9

15:26— 52 15:39— 42 15:45— 9, 15 15:47— 23 2 Corinthians 6:14— 31 Galatians 3:6— 138 3:6-8— 130 3:13— 42 3:16— 130 3:29— 130 6:10— 92 6:16— 198 Ephesians 1:3— 52 2:8— 7 2:19— 92 4:2— 6 Colossians 3:4— 41 3:10— 6 1 Timothy 2:14— 35 5:18— 150 6:15— 169 Hebrews 4— 18 7:1-3— 134 7:2— 135 11:1— 9 11:3— 9 11:8-10— 122 11:17-19— 168 12:4-11— 131 12:16— 184 12:16-17— 235 James 2:19— 71 2:23— 138 1 Peter 1:2-4— 139

311

312

3:20— 89 2 Peter 2:4-8— 155 2:5— 70 2:7-8— 155 3:6— 70 1 John 4:18— 38 5:20— 41 Jude 14-15— 58

Genesis Revelation 1:6— 135 3:15-16— 151 4:11— 9 12:9— 35 14:8— 111 15:3— 9 17:5— 111 20:2— 35 21:2, 9— 113 22:3— 75

Index Aalders, G. Ch., 63, 251 Abimelech, 160, 164, 166, 188 Abraham, 99, 113, 118–119, 130, 146, 160, 166, 168, 178, 182 call of, 121–123 death of, 183 name change, 146 negotiates with God, 151 testing of, 168 abstractions, 180 accountability, 41 Accuracy of the Bible (Yahuda), 246, 250, 256, 261, 267, 276, 283, 295 Adam, 29, 35, 38–39, 47, 52, 95, 104 as federal head, 38 as representative of humanity, 22 fallen image of, 53 adoption, 22, 286–287 adultery, 125, 160, 243 Albert Schweitzer, The Enigma (Bently), 38 altars, 75, 131, 188, 223, 231 Amarna tablets, 222 Ames, E. G., 31 An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Carnell), 35 Anchor Bible Dictionary (Freedman), 89 Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis (Wiseman), 51 Angel of God, 287 Angel of the Lord, 219 angels, 198, 230 animals, 77 clean and unclean, 70, 81 held responsible for actions, 83 anthropology, 296 anthropomorphism, 66 antinomianism, 125 Antiquities (Josephus), 70, 118 Apocrypha, 172 Apocrypha (Goodspeed), 172

Aram, 99 Ararat, 71, 74, 89, 90 ark, 67, 71, 74 Arminianism, 33 Arminius, Jacob, 33 Arphaxad, 99 Asenath, 257 Asher, 291 Ashkenaz, 90 Asshur, 99 Assyria, 89 Atkinson, Basil F.C., 100 atonement, 17, 20, 37–38, 44, 104, 169, 271 authority, 87 automatic succession, 286 Babel, 110–111, 113–114 Babylon, 90 Baker, David W., 90, 91 Bavinck, Herman, 22 Beatitudes, 68, 106 Beersheba, 188, 279 believe first mention of, 138 Benjamin, 231, 267, 274, 291 Bennett, W. H., 222 Bereishis (Zlotowitz & Scherman), 41, 61, 66 Bereishis, Genesis (Zlotowitz), 198, 240, 291 Bethel, 198–199, 216, 230 Bible translations, 11 birthright, 184 blood eating of forbidden, 77, 82 shedding of, 82 blood line, 147 Bone Peddlers, Selling Evolution (Fix), 1 Book of Genesis (Atkinson), 100 Book of Genesis (Ryle), 161 313

314

Genesis

Book of the Dead, 256 Brantome, 157 Breasted, J. H., 284 Buckler, Francis William, 90 burial, 291 as religious fact, 172 family rite, 231 burial place, 284 burnt offerings, 75 Cain, 43–45, 48 calling, 32, 105, 121 Calvin, John, 10, 22, 44, 83, 134, 148, 152, 183 Canaan, 92, 130, 178, 223, 238, 279, 294 capital offense, 125 capital punishment, 78 captivity, 140 Carnell, Edward John, 35 celibacy, 59 Chalcedon, 34 Chalcedon, Formula of, 34 chance, 270, 297 chaos, 6, 11 charity, 66 chastening, 131 childbearing, 39 Childe, V.G., 4 Christ Abraham’s seed, 130 as Creator and Redeemer, 139 as destroyer of Satan’s works, 39 as last Adam, 9, 81 as the tree of life, 41–42 Lordship of, 18 pre-incarnation appearance, 143 Christianity, 105 Christianity and Classical Culture (Cochrane), 34 church, 33–34 Churchill, 6 Cimmerians, 89

circumcision, 146, 148 as covenantal act, 165, 178 demanded of Shechem, 228 citizenship, 104 city, 45 place of safety, 48 City of God, 103, 105 class society, 118 cleanliness, 230 Cochrane, C. N., 34 coming generations, 287 Commentaries on the Book of Genesis (Calvin), 22, 134, 148, 152 Commentary on Genesis (Stigers), 44, 90, 131, 142, 173, 187, 194, 207, 239, 247, 294 Commentary on the Whole Bible (Ellicott), 292 Commentary on the Whole Bible (Smith), 30 Common Faith (Dewey), 105 communal property, 6 communion elements, 135 community, 17, 30 competition between Rachel & Leah, 207 conception, 39 confession, 105 conflict, 29 confounded speech, 110 confusion of tongues, 100 conscience, 45, 271, 295 continuity of being, 13–14, 17 cosmos, determination of, 4 covenant, 18–19, 66, 77, 81–83, 122, 138–139, 164, 188, 195, 199, 213, 217, 223, 231, 244 as treaty of law, 82 faithfulness, 236 with Abraham, 122, 146 covenant-breakers, 228, 230 coverings, 37 creation, 4, 11, 17, 270

Index act, not process, 5, 7, 21 literal days, 9 mandate, 49, 62, 77 purpose, 9 purpose of, 9–12 creationism, 6, 14–15, 78 crime, 14 criminals, and "rights", 6 cross, 72 crucifixion, 140 curse, 39, 53, 56, 59, 75, 95 of Canaan, 85–87 curse, the, 37–40 Cush, 91 Dan, 291 Darwinism, 297 consequences of, 14 Davila, James R., 89 de Sade, Marquis, 114 Dead Sea, 130, 135 death, 9, 10, 14, 26, 35, 38, 52 Death of God school, 109 death penalty, 45 for murder, 82 deathbed scenes, 287 Defense of the Faith (Van Til), 15 deification, 33, 36 Delitzsch, Franz, 113–114, 251 deliverance, 83 and judgment, 72 depravity, 155–156 total, 76 Dewey, John, 6, 105 Dinah, 228 rape of, 225–228 discontinuity of being, 13, 17 disobedience, 10, 35 dominion, 18, 22, 25–26, 32, 35, 41, 44, 49, 52, 123 dowry system, 63, 122, 213 dreams, 239, 250–252, 255 interpretation of, 256

315

drunkenness, 85 Durkheim, Emile, 6 Earley, Pete, 36 earrings, meaning of, 230 Eden, 25–27, 41, 130 as pilot project, 28 Edomites, 236 Egypt, 91 election, 280 election, of kings, 236 Eliezer, 178, 202 Elohim, 61 embalming, 295 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Hastings), 31, 82 Encyclopedia Judaica, 173 Enlightenment, the, 34 Enoch, 58 Enos, 51, 53 environmentalism, 38 Ephraim, 257, 286, 290 Esau, 93, 183, 188, 193, 198, 216, 222–224, 231–232, 234–236 eschatology, 65–68 Eve, 40 evil, 66 evolution, 13, 75 and tyranny, 12 closed universe, 11 goal of, 10 non-scientific basis of, 4, 16 of cultures, 7 time and process vs. act, 5 view of criminals, 6 ex nihilo, 23 Exposition of Genesis (Leupold), 22, 47, 61, 71, 93 Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Gaebelein), 131, 214, 292 faith, 168 denial of, 9

316

Genesis

Fall, the, 14, 29, 31, 36–40, 42, 56, 107 familism, 127 family, 100, 118 God’s basic institution, 86 government, 122 imagery of, 93 used to typify the church, 92 famine, 186, 256, 261, 275 fertility, 231 finitude, 14 firstborn, 271 Fix, Wm. R., 1 Flood, the, 21, 52, 56, 66, 67, 73–76, 82–83, 89, 118 source of waters, 70 world-wide, 71 foreign aid, 105 forgiveness, 271 fossil record, 75 freedom, 118 Freeman (July, 1957), 119 Freemasonry, 110 Freud, 6 Fritsch, Charles T., 95 fugitives, 45 funerals, 232 Gaebelein, Frank E., 214 genealogy, 56 Genesis literal interpretation of, 4 Genesis (Aalders), 63, 161, 251 Genesis (Bennett), 222 Genesis (Kidner), 275, 278, 294 Genesis (Lange), 72, 75, 113 Genesis (Ryle), 30, 39 Genesis (Speiser), 214, 287 Genesis (Vos), 96, 172 Genesis Record (Morris), 57, 70, 75 Genesis, A Commentary (von Rad), 23 Genesis, book of, 274, 296 genetic engineering, 5 genetics, 47

Gethsemane, 114 giants, 62 God as Creator, 297 blessing of, 9 image of, 6, 107, 110 Kingdom of, 94 priorities of, 286 Providence of, 78 purpose of, 275 rejection of as suicide, 94 sovereign plan of, 274 sovereignty of, 33 Godhead, 110 Gomer, 89 good and evil, determination of, 33 Goths, 90 government, 82, 118 Government Habit (Hughes), 283 grace, 42, 66, 82 priority of, 93 grace and law, 138–139 Greece, 90 Gref, David F., 92 guilt, 31, 38, 104 Hagar, 141–144, 165 Ham, 59, 86, 91 contempt of, 87 Hammurabi, 142 Code of, 173 Haran, 179 harmony, 29 Hatochepset, 256 hatred, 114 headship, 39 heaven, 182 Hebrew, 99, 135 Hebrews, 278–279 Heer, Friedrich, 34 Hegel, 34 Hegelianism, 297 helpmeet, 27, 30, 32

Index herbs, 81 Herod, 224 Herodotus, 90, 284 Hess, Richard S., 90 Hillers, Delbert Roy, 173 history, 114, 274, 296–297 History of Egypt (Breasted), 284 Hitler, 6, 78 Hittites, 173 holiness, 58 homosexuality, 130, 151, 230 hospitality, 150 Hughes, Jonathan R. T., 283 humanism, 74, 100, 110 humility, 236 Hurrian law, 207, 214 husband, 30 Hyksos, 261 idolatry, 31, 212, 236 illumination, 35 immigrants, 280 incarnation, 33, 36, 296 incest, 47, 157, 290 inheritance, 27, 169 Institutes of Biblical Law (Rushdoony), 47 institutions, 296 integration downward, 6 interpretation of dreams, 250 Isaac, 93, 147, 165, 168, 183, 187, 188, 198, 231 saved from curse, 194 type of Christ, 169 Isaachar, 291 Ishmael, 93, 143, 146, 165, 183 Israel, 147, 231 Prince of God, 218 Jacob, 93, 183, 199–200, 208, 216, 222–223, 267, 279, 283, 286, 290 "ladder" to heaven, 198 as prophet, 292

317

called Israel, 218 death of, 291, 294 twelve sons of, 290 Janson, Peter, 71 Japheth, 59, 86, 89, 93 Javan, 90 Jehovah, 134 Jehovah-jirah, 168 Jesus, birthday of, 251 Joseph, 93, 239–240, 246–247, 257, 274, 287, 291, 295 as governor in Egypt, 267 death of, 294, 295 not a socialist, 283 reunion with Jacob, 279 swears by Messiah, 284 Josephus, 70, 90, 118 Judah, 93, 242, 267, 287 as firstborn, 271 descendants, 292 judge, 297 judgment, 63, 66–68, 72, 74, 76, 83, 92 as cleansing, 67 of Old World, 69–72 justice, 66, 150–152 Karma, 17, 20 Keil, C. F., 114, 251 Keturah, 182 Kidner, Derek, 275, 278, 294 Kierkegaard, 14 Kingdom of God, 53, 68, 169 kingdom, of man, 93 knowledge, 15, 52 Laban, 179, 203, 208, 211 labor, 41 Laetsch, Theodore, 218 Lamech, 47–48 Lange, J. P., 72, 75, 113 last Adam, 9, 15, 23, 42, 81 law, 14, 48, 161

318

as act of grace, 82–83 comes from source, 4 of nature, 15 lawlessness, 92 law-word, 136 Layman’s Bible Commentary (Fritsch), 96 Leah, 204, 207 Lenin, 78 Leupold, H. C., 22, 47, 61, 71, 93 Levi, 226, 228, 290 life, 94 lifespans, 52, 55, 58, 59, 62 limitations, 14 Literal Translation (Young), 62 Lord’s Day, eschatological meaning of, 18 Lot, 130, 135, 151, 155 Lot’s wife, 156 Lud, 99 Machpelah, 173, 294 magic, 5 Magog, 90 man as creature, 13–16 as definer of good and evil, 42 as God’s image bearer, 21, 23 as head of family, 39 as image of God, 40 creation of, 21–23 definition of, 7 fall of, 7 in God’s image, 78 limitations on, 35 orginal task of, 22 relationship to animals, 81 religious nature of, 103 self definition of, 110 testing of, 25 Man Makes Himself (Childe), 4 Manasseh, 257, 287, 290 mandrakes, 207

Genesis mankind, 101 Mao Tse-tung, 6, 78 Marquis de Sade (Thomas), 114 marriage, 29–32, 119, 296 doctrine of, 29 mixed, 61–63 one flesh union, 30 prior to conversion, 32 Marx, 6 Massoretic text, 58, 227 Mauro, Philip, 57 Mazdakite revolution, 6 meaning, 274, 297 negation of, 270 Medes, 90 medicine, 14 Medieval World, Europe (Heer), 34 Melchizedek, 134–135, 164 Meshech, 90 Messiah, 93, 134, 204, 218, 284 Messianic line, 56, 96, 244, 290, 292 Miller, Henry, 105 Minor Prophets (Laetsch), 218 Minor Prophets (Pusey), 218 Mizpah, 213 Mizraim (Egypt), 91 modernism, 10 Moffatt, James, 48, 49 monogamy, 296 Mormonism, 36 Morris, Henry M., 57, 70, 75 Moses, 76 Muller, W. W., 92 multiverse, 12 murder, 44, 78, 82, 125 Mussolini, 6 Naphthali, 291 neutrality, 12, 82 new humanity, 107 Nietzsche, 6, 114 Nimrod, 91–93 Noah, 55, 66–67, 70–72, 74–75, 77,

Index 85, 95 and the creation mandate, 81 non-agression pact, 213 Notes on Genesis (Pieters), 284, 296 Nuzu law, 142, 188–189, 214 Ochler, Gustav, 276 omnipotence, 106 one and many, 15 one-world, 100, 110, 113, 115 original sin, 35, 104 Our Reasonable Faith (Bavinck), 22 over-population, 78–79 ownership claims by state, 283 Padan-aram, 198 pagans, 161 Parker, Joseph, 22 Parrot, Andre, 115 Peleg, 100, 114 Pentateuch, 297 source theory, 263 Pentateuch (Keil & Delitzsch), 115, 251 Penuel, 218 peoples and origins, 97 Peoples Bible (Parker), 23 Pharaoh, 256, 283, 294 Pharisaism, 200 Philistines, 93 Phrygia, 90 Pieters, Albertus, 284, 295 plagues, 126 politics, 42, 104, 106 polygamy, 207, 296 population control, 78 pornography, 44 post-modernism, 45 Potiphar, 240, 246, 250 power, 5, 6, 7 prayer, 11 predestination, 34, 78, 103, 218, 240, 252, 270, 276, 295

319

priesthood, of all believers, 136 process and revolution, 7 as god, 1 theology, 7 progress, 87 Promised Land, 96, 119, 295 Promised Seed, 166, 169 property, 283 prophet, 160 Prophet of Death (Earley), 36 prostitution, sacred and profane, 243 protection, 48 Protestant Credo (Ferm), 90 providence, 208, 252, 257, 276 general and particular, 76 Pulpit Commentary (Spence & Exell), 71 purpose, of God, 275 Pusey, E. B., 218 Rachel, 203, 207, 214, 231, 286 racism, 86, 101, 105 rainbow, 82–83 rape, 227 reason, 16, 34 Rebekah, 179, 183, 194, 236 rebellion, 35, 41 Redeemer, 44 redemption, 17, 26, 63 regeneration, 23, 107 reincarnation, 20 rejection, 44 remnant, 151 Renaissance and humanism, 5 repentance, 66 responsibility, 14, 41, 118 restoration, 26, 118 resurrection, 42 Reuben, 93, 204, 231, 262, 287 revelation, oral, 70 "reverence for life", 38

320

Genesis

revolution and process, 7 religion of, 6 use of chaos, 6 righteousness, 66, 138 Rimmer, Harry, 67 Robinson, H. Wheeler, 82 Romantic movement, 43 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 6 Rousas I, 89 rulers, 268 rulership, 61 Rules of Sociological Method (Durkheim), 6 Rushdoony, R. J., 47, 119 Ryle, Herbert E., 30, 39, 161 sabbath, 17–20 as sign of covenant, 18 works permitted, 18 sacrifice, 38, 75, 81, 131, 169 as ratificaiton of covenants, 139 of Abel, 44 pledge of faithfulness, 139 Sailhamer, John H., 131, 292 salvation, 36, 53, 72, 103 Samson, 291 sanctification, 107 Sarah, 119, 151 death of, 174 name change, 147 Satan, 33–34, 39, 41, 44, 100 society of, 103–107 Scherman, Rabbi Nosson, 61, 66, 291 Schweitzer, Albert, 38 Scofield, C. R., 125 Scythians, 90 seasons, 76 seed, 199 Seed, of Abraham, 169 Seir, 235 self-consciousness, 37 self-defense, 82

self-deification, 36 self-indulgence, 52 self-justification, 39, 44 self-pity, 45 self-punishment, 271 seminaries, 297 Seth, 47–49, 52 sex, 43 sexual relations, 296 shame, 30 Shechem, 223, 226–227 sheepherders, 279 Shem, 59, 99, 113–114, 118–119 messianic line, 86 Shiloh, 290 Shinar, 109 ships, 67 Sidon, 96 Simeon, 226, 228, 262, 287, 290 sin, 13, 14, 19, 26–28, 42, 44–45, 53, 76, 100, 110, 114, 262 consequence of, 38 situational ethics, 5 six day Creation, 5 slavery, 86–87, 230 Smith, R. Payne, 30, 292 Social Control in the Colonial Economy (Hughes), 283 social planning, 106 socialism, 78 Sodom, 130, 135, 155 Sodom and Gomorrah, 95 sodomy, 155 Solomon, 140 Song of Lamech, 48 soul, 23 sound thinking, 8 sovereign grace, 122 sovereignty, 103, 114 speech, 29 Speiser, E. A., 214, 287 Spence, H. D., 71 spousal abuse, 212

Index Stalin, 6, 78 State, the, 103 statism, 44, 127 stewardship, 77 Stigers, Harold G., 44, 90–91, 93, 131, 151, 173, 187–188, 194, 207, 239, 247, 257, 294 strange gods, 230 struggle, 218 syncretism, 230, 232 Table of Nations, 96 Tamar, 242, 244 Tarshish, 91 taxation, 27, 283 temptation, 28, 33–36 Ten Commandments, 78 Terah, 119 The Wonders of Bible (Mauro), 57 theft, 27 theology, 274, 296, 297 Theology of the Old Testament (Ochler), 276 theophany, 123, 143 Thomas, Donald, 114 tithe, 135, 136, 199, 268 Tobit, Book of, 172 Tome of Leo, 34 total depravity, 35 Tower of Babel, 100, 104, 111, 113, 115, 123 Tower of Babel (Parrot), 115 transference, 104 treason, 126 Tree of Life, 41–42 Trotsky, 6 trust, 138 truth, 12, 127 Tubal, 90

321

tyranny, 14 United Nations, 104 unity, 113 universal language, 109 Ur of the Chaldees, 118, 138 Van Til, Cornelius, 6, 15 vegetarianism, 77 vengeance, 48, 257, 262 victimhood, 40 von Rad, Geerhardus, 23 Vos, Howard F., 96, 172 warfare, 89–94 wealth, 26 short-cuts to, 27 welfare state, 106 Westminster Shorter Catechism, 6 Whitelaw, Thomas, 71 wife, 30, 189 Williams, David Salter, 92 wine, 85 Wineland, John D., 90 Wiseman, P. J., 51 work, 27 works, 18 world views, 113 worship, 17–18 universal, 169 Yahuda, A. S., 246, 250, 256, 261, 267, 276, 283, 295 Young, Robert, 62 Zebulun, 291 ziggurat, 109 Zlotowitz, Rabbi Meier, 41, 61, 62, 66, 198, 240, 291

The Author Rousas John Rushdoony (1916-2001) was a well-known American scholar, writer, and author of over thirty books. He held B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of California and received his theological training at the Pacific School of Religion. An ordained minister, he worked as a missionary among Paiute and Shoshone Indians as well as a pastor to two California churches. He founded the Chalcedon Foundation, an educational organization devoted to research, publishing, and cogent communication of a distinctively Christian scholarship to the world at large. His writing in the Chalcedon Report and his numerous books spawned a generation of believers active in reconstructing the world to the glory of Jesus Christ. He resided in Vallecito, California until his death, where he engaged in research, lecturing, and assisting others in developing programs to put the Christian Faith into action.

The Ministry of Chalcedon CHALCEDON (kal•see•don) is a Christian educational organization devoted exclusively to research, publishing, and cogent communication of a distinctively Christian scholarship to the world at large. It makes available a variety of services and programs, all geared to the needs of interested ministers, scholars, and laymen who understand the propositions that Jesus Christ speaks to the mind as well as the heart, and that His claims extend beyond the narrow confines of the various institutional churches. We exist in order to support the efforts of all orthodox denominations and churches. Chalcedon derives its name from the great ecclesiastical Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451), which produced the crucial Christological definition: “Therefore, following the holy Fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man....” This formula directly challenges every false claim of divinity by any human institution: state, church, cult, school, or human assembly. Christ alone is both God and man, the unique link between heaven and earth. All human power is therefore derivative: Christ alone can announce that “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Historically, the Chalcedonian creed is therefore the foundation of Western liberty, for it sets limits on all authoritarian human institutions by acknowledging the validity of the claims of the One who is the source of true human freedom (Galatians 5:1). The Chalcedon Report is published monthly and is sent to all who request it. All gifts to Chalcedon are tax deductible. Chalcedon Box 158 Vallecito, CA 95251 U.S.A.