Genesis, Start To Finish

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● Gen 10:21a . . Sons were also born to Shem, ancestor of all the descendants of
Eber

Descendants of Eber (most notably Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) became known as
Eberites: a.k.a. Hebrews.

● Gen 10:32 . .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

What I find very interesting about the nations divided in the earth is their diversity
of progress. When Europeans came to the continental US, they found indigenous
peoples who were, from all appearances, perpetual cave men. They never had an
iron age. Heck, no metal age at all; except maybe copper picked up here and there.

Long, long after the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons evolved into Egyptians,
Romans, Greeks, Spaniards, and Portuguese; the American Indian was still using
stone tools, living in rudimentary shelters, and walking everywhere he went. His
greatest obstacle to travel was distance because they had neither horses nor
wheels. It was like they were a people whom time forgot.
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● Gen 11:1 . . Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.

Spoken languages are a combination of words and lips; viz: vocabulary and
pronunciation, i.e. accent and inflection. It's one thing to know the words of a
language, but it is quite another to speak them with the correct pronunciation. In
that day, everyone used the same words and spoke them alike.

● Gen 11:2 . . And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a valley in the
land of Shinar and settled there.

The name "Shinar" was of course given later because these early migrations were
to lands heretofore uninhabited. According to Gen 10:10, Shinar became Nimrod's
turf.

The amount of time elapsed between Noah's bender and this migration isn't stated
in the Bible-- plus; there's really no way to tell which part of the world was "the
east" in the author's day.

Here in the USA, the Great Continental Divide is an east/west determinant. Funny
thing is, if you're located in Phoenix Arizona, then Billings Montana is to your
continental east even though geographically, it's almost directly north; so when you
see directions like "east" and/or "west" in the Bible, it's probably best to NOT think
cardinal points on a compass.

For example in the case of the Magi of Matt 2:1. As best as we can tell, their city
was somewhere east of the meridian that runs north/south through the Jordan
River Valley but that kind of an east is continental rather than geographical so
there's really no telling where they came from.

This particular migration was "from" the east; which means pioneers from among
Noah's progeny, whose numbers at this point are totally unknown, went out west
looking for greener pastures. Although the region of Shinar has not yet been
precisely pinpointed, we can take a relatively educated guess at it.

"In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of
Babylon came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it. The Lord delivered King Jehoiakim
of Judah into his power, together with some of the vessels of the House of God, and
he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god; he deposited the
vessels in the treasury of his god." (Dan 1:1-2)

The "Shinar" of Daniel's day is apparently the region where ancient Babylon was
located. Babylon's location today is marked by a broad area of ruins just east of the
Euphrates River, approximately 90 km (56 mi) south of Baghdad, Iraq. It's part of
an area commonly known as the Fertile Crescent; a very large region arching
across the northern part of the Syrian Desert and extending from the Nile Valley to
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the early post-Flood years, this region was very
lush. But today much of it is arid wasteland.

● Gen 11:3a . .They said to one another: Come, let us make bricks and burn them
hard. (Brick served them as stone).

Brick are blocks of clay or other ceramic used for construction and decorative
facing. Bricks may be dried in the sun but are more usually baked in a kiln. They
cost relatively little, resist dampness and heat, and can actually last longer than
some kinds of stone.

Brick was the chief building material of ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine. The
inhabitants of Jericho in Palestine were building with brick about 9,000 years ago
(7,000 bc). That's about 5,000 years before Abraham's day.

Sumerian and Babylonian builders constructed ziggurats, palaces, and city walls of
sun-dried brick and covered them with more durable kiln-baked, often brilliantly
glazed brick, arranged in decorative pictorial friezes. Later the Persians and the
Chinese built in brick, for example, the Great Wall of China. The Romans built large
structures such as baths, amphitheaters, and aqueducts in brick, which they often
covered with marble facing.
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● Gen 11:3b . . and bitumen served them as mortar.

According to Webster's, bitumen is any of various mixtures of hydrocarbons (as tar)
often together with their nonmetallic derivatives that occur naturally or are
obtained as residues after heat-refining natural substances (e.g. petroleum).

The stuff can be deadly if one isn't careful because once your feet become stuck,
they are very difficult to extract; as the museum at the La Brea tar pits in Los
Angeles attests. But it's a handy building material too. Noah sealed the ark with a
bituminous material, and Moses owed his life to it. (Ex 2:1-10)

● Gen 11:4 . . And they said: Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top
in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the
world.

Magnificent cities have a way of attracting tourism, commerce, and industry. People
want to come and visit, and to live there. Politically, their scheme made good
sense. More people equals more prosperity; resulting in more power and control
over the region-- and of course the larger their tax base the more city services they
could provide citizens; including an effective civil defense program.

There's nothing really intrinsically wrong in building a large beautiful city. But in
their case, it wasn't the right time for it. God wanted the post-Flooders to move out
and populate the entire globe, rather than accumulate in one local region.

Towers served a variety of purposes in the ancient world. Some were used as look
outs, others were used as tombs, and yet others were used as bloody altars for
human sacrifices.

The purpose intended for the tower of Gen 11:4 isn't stated but guessing from the
wording, I'd say it was intended to be a grand monument; sort of like the 630 foot
stainless steel Gateway Arch in Ste. Louis Missouri, or a magnificent minaret like
the 239-foot Qutab Minar in Delhi India. Something like that would certainly go a
long ways towards getting the Shinarians the renown they sought.

But their wish that the tower's top be in the sky suggests their primary motive was
to use its facade to display a variety of gods popular in that day. There's towers like
that right now that in the city of Madurai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu,
located on the banks of River Vaigai.

The towers are literally festooned with hundreds of gods. So if your favorite god is
up there somewhere, there's no need for you to leave town and go on a pilgrimage
elsewhere to worship. People are fond of their religions. So if you give them the
liberty and the means to practice it; they'll love you forever. Tolerance is good
politics; except of course in systems where human rights abuses are essential
management practices, e.g. fascism, communism, and totalitarianism.

● Gen 11:5 . .The Lord came down to look at the city and tower that man had built,

That verse presents an interesting theological problem. Wouldn't it make better
sense by saying Jehovah looked down, instead of saying He "came" down? Why
bother to come down? Doesn't the Bible's God see all and know all? Isn't God
omniscient and isn't His spirit omnipresent? Can't He see everything from right
where He is?

Well; fact of the matter is, yes, The Lord could see the city and the tower from
Heaven, but He wasn't satisfied. It was His wish to inspect everything up close and
personal; to actually visit the city and the tower in person as an on-site eye
witness. He'll do it that way again with Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen 18:20-21)
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● Gen 11:6 . . and The Lord said: If, as one people with one language for all, this is
how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out
of their reach.

I don't think The Lord objected to the people's unity per se. I mean, after all; it's
Christ's wish that his church be unified (John 17:1-26, 1Cor 1:10). I think what He
objected to was the direction that humanity's unity was taking; and it was no doubt
similar to the direction depicted below.

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth
take their stand and the rulers gather together against Yhvh and against His
anointed. Let us break their chains-- they say --and throw off their fetters." (Ps
2:1-3)

● Gen 11:7 . . Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they
shall not understand one another's speech.

The Lord speaks of Himself by the plural pronoun "us" in that passage.

Up to this point, Genesis has revealed The Lord in only three aspects as Himself,
His spirit, and His voice. Since that's the case; then I'm confident there's sufficient
reason to believe that those three aspects of God are sentient beings, i.e. persons.
ergo: the plural pronoun.

NOTE: God's voice is well-known to informed Christians as the Word (John 1:1-3)
translated from the Greek noun logos (log'-os) which basically refers to speech
rather than thoughts. For example Gen 1:3 where "God said" viz: God spoke.

● Gen 11:8 . .Thus The Lord scattered them from there over the face of the whole
earth; and they stopped building the city.

The language barrier was only a temporary delay because later on the city of
Babylon was eventually built. But at this point in time, the world had no choice. It
was just impossible to continue. Incidentally; the entire world has never again been
unified in a singular endeavor like it was on that tower.

● Gen 11:9 . .That is why it was called Babel, because there The Lord confounded
the speech of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them over the
face of the whole earth.

In time, people branched out and colonized the entire planet. But barely anything is
said in the Bible about the world in the years between Babel and Abraham.

● Gen 11:10a . .This is the line of Shem.

Well; that's pretty much about it for the other Noah brothers. From now on, the
Bible will direct its focus mainly upon the adventures of Shem's line. But not all.
Just specific ones that are connected to Abraham's covenant; and ultimately to
Messiah.

Noah was a pretty simple kind of guy. He probably tore apart the ark for its wood
and built a home, and barns, and whittled fence posts and split rails to corral his
livestock. The rest of the ark's lumber he could distribute to his sons and
grandchildren for their own ranches after setting aside enough firewood for many
years to come.

He more than likely stayed pretty close to where the ark went aground and
remained behind when the others migrated out west. After all, if Noah could raise
food right where he was, plus his grapes, then why move away? He'd seen it all
anyway and lived the adventure of a lifetime.

● Gen 11:10b . . Shem was 100 years old when he begot Arpachshad, two years
after the Flood.

That would make Shem about 97 years old when the flood began.

● Gen 11:11 . . After the birth of Arpachshad, Shem lived 500 years and begot sons
and daughters.

Each of the patriarchs probably had at least as many daughters as well as sons
even though girls' names are rarely listed in the record.
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● Gen 11:12-25 . .When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he begot Shelah. After the
birth of Shelah, Arpachshad lived 403 years and begot sons and daughters . .When
Nahor had lived 29 years, he begot Terah. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived 119
years and begot sons and daughters.

Included in the genealogy of Gen 11:12-25 was a man named Eber. His name
carries on to this day in a people well known as Hebrews; for the Old Testament
word for Hebrew is 'Ibriy (ib-ree'); which means an Eberite; viz: a descendant of
Eber.

At that point in time, the human life span was noticeably decreasing.

Noah lived 950 years (about the same as his antediluvian forebears), but Shem
lived only 600. It became even worse by the time of Nahor; who only lived to 148.
Today, even the healthiest among us begins to decline as early as our mid thirties;
with an average life expectancy of not even 80. This problem has baffled scientists
for years and no one seems to know yet just why our body cells age and
deteriorate so fast. Whoever solves that problem will get very rich from it, that's for
sure.

God introduced tongues during the Tower Of Babel incident to break up world
unification. Apparently it was God's judgment that world unification in those days
was not a good thing. Well; the language barrier remains in place today; so I'm
assuming that world unification in our day is still not a good thing.

In other words: today's world is an imperfect world. But according to 2Pet 3:1-13
and the 21st chapter of Revelation, a new world order is on its way; a perfect world
that can be trusted with unification so there will be no need for a control measure
to thwart global rebellions against God and all that He stands for.

● Gen 11:26-27 . .When Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and
Haran. Now this is the line of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and
Haran begot Lot.

By the time of Terah, Shem's line had slipped away and no longer worshipped
humanity's creator in spite of their solid spiritual heritage.

"Then Joshua said to all the people: Thus said the Lord, the God of Israel; "In olden
times, your forefathers-- Terah, father of Abraham and father of Nahor --lived
beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods." (Josh 24:2)

Because their dad worshipped other gods, the two brothers, Abram and Nahor,
grew up as idolaters until Noah's god stepped in and broke the chain: appearing to
Abram, and instructing him to leave his relatives, and get out of Ur.

One has to wonder what happened with Terah. His grandfathers Shem and Noah
actually came off the ark and saw the Flood for themselves but that was waaaaay
back when. Time has a way of turning history into legend; and anon into myth,
folklore, and superstition.

NOTE: One of the difficulties associated with the Flood's credibility is finding
scientific evidence for it; and a significant portion of that problem is related to the
Flood's duration. The actual downpour lasted a mere forty days; and the standing
water was gone within a year; which just isn't enough time. It takes water millennia
to erode permanent features in the earth's lithosphere.

And on top of that, once the rain stopped, the Flood's waters were essentially static
like a lake or a swimming pool. In order to cause erosion of any significance, water
has to move; as a river or a stream, or as waves along the sea shore; not stand
still.

When I was a kid, the presence of sea shells and fossils way up on the sides and
tops of mountains was thought to be evidence of the Flood, but now we know that
they got up there by tectonic forces rather than by the Flood.

You know it hasn't been all that long ago that people began putting some faith in
continental drift. It's been barely a century since German meteorologist Alfred
Wegner proposed that Earth's dry land had once been a single continent then
gradually began separating. He was soundly mocked and dismissed by his
contemporary scientific community.

Now pretty near all the geological scientists are in agreement that the earth's
prominent mountain ranges were produced by the grinding, colliding, buckling, and
subduction of massive sections of the earth's crust.
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● Gen 11:28 . . Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his native land, Ur
of the Chaldeans.

The Grim Reaper cares not for the age of its victims, whether young or whether old.
Haran died before his dad. Many a parent has buried their children before they even
had a chance to live.

You know, anybody can die; it's not all that difficult; and people don't have to be
old nor do they have to be especially intelligent. Even the young, the inexperienced,
and the stupid do it all the time.

"For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered: in days to come both
will be forgotten. Like the fool, the wise man too must die." (Ecc 2:16)

"For the time of mischance comes to all. And a man cannot even know his time. As
fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so men are
caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning." (Ecc
9:10-12)

"Your ancestors, where are they? and the prophets: do they live for ever?" (Zech
1:5)

● Gen 11:29 . . Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram's
wife being Sarai and that of Nahor's wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father
of Milcah and Iscah.

Nahor married a niece; the daughter of his brother Haran. And Abram, according to
Gen 20:12, married a half sister; the daughter of his father Terah. Such close
marriages were later forbidden in the covenant that Moses' people agreed upon
with God as per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

But as Genesis has shown all along, at this early date close marriages were neither
forbidden nor particularly dangerous from a genetic point of view, and so were not
uncommon. Adam's family married among themselves; and so did Noah's. His kin
really had no choice about it. There just weren't any other people available for
spouses at the time.

Inbreeding was neither a sin nor a problem in those days. But it sure is now. You
wouldn't dare engender children with a sister or a brother or a niece nowadays. The
risk of birth defects is just too high. It's notable that as longevity decreased, so did
the margin of safety in marrying relatives. The quality of the human body was
seriously deteriorating.

● Gen 11:30 . . Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.

This is the very first recorded incident of a human reproductive malfunction. Other
than the reduction in longevity; the human body seems to have been running on all
eight cylinders up to this point. But who was the problem; was it Abram or Sarai? It
was Sarai because Abram later engendered a child by one of Sarai's servant girls.

One of the first horrors the human family witnessed was Abel's death. No one had
ever seen a human being dead before. And now this. A woman who couldn't
conceive. It must have been stunning and unbelievable. All the women in history up
to this point were cranking out babies like rabbits and mice. Sarai was a gorgeous
piece of work, but her womb had no more life in it than a stack of 8½ x 11 Xerox
paper.

I'm a man; so how can I possibly understand Sarai's personal grief? Only another
barren woman can understand what Sarai must have felt. There are women who
don't care about children. But Sarai doesn't strike me as one of those. And even if
she didn't care for children, it would have still been a comfort in her mind to know
that at least she could have some if she wanted to.

"There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not; "It is
enough" -- the grave; the barren womb, the earth that is not filled with water; and
the fire." (Prov 30:15-16)
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● Gen 11:31a . .Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and
his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together
from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan;

Ur's ruins are located approximately midway between the modern city of Baghdad
Iraq, and the head of the Persian Gulf, south of the Euphrates River, on the edge of
the Al Hajarah Desert. The site of Ur is known today as Tall al Muqayyar.

In antiquity, the Euphrates River flowed near the city walls; and thus Ur was
favorably located for the development of commerce and for attaining political
dominance. The biblical name "Ur of the Chaldees" refers to the Chaldeans, who
settled in the area about 900 BC. By the 4th century BC, the city was practically
forgotten, possibly as a result of a shift in the course of the Euphrates River.

Water played an important role in the location of ancient civilizations. The Sahara
desert, for example, was once a pluvial region with lakes. When geological forces
caused the loss of rainfall and surface water, the Sahara became the dry waste it's
famed for today and consequently its inhabitants had to relocate.

Ur was enclosed by oval walls thirty feet high, which protected not only the city, but
two harbors as well. Sir Leonard Woolley discovered that the inhabitants benefited
from well-planned streets, and houses with high standards of sanitation. They
appear to have been constructed to remain cool in the hot summers and some may
have been two-storied. House walls adjoined the streets. Homes featured an inner
courtyard onto which their rooms faced; just like Judah's home in the Charlton
Heston movie Ben Hur.

● Gen 11:31b . . but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.

According to Gen 12:1, God took an interest in Abram while he was in Ur, before he
left with Terah to travel to Haran. After sharing his vision with Terah, the dad quite
possibly became interested in a new life himself, having recently lost a son. The
land where he then lived held bad memories and, probably not wanting to lose
touch with any more of his family if Abram were to move away, he suggested that
they all travel together; which is a perfectly good idea considering the dangers they
were likely to encounter en route.

But the dad didn't have the heart for it really. The old gentleman decided to settle
in Haran instead of going all the way to Canaan like the original plan called for.

From Ur, Canaan is dead west and just about the same distance as Haran. But
instead of going directly to Canaan, they went north, following the trade routes. I
think I would have too. Terah's family was a lot safer going from town to town
along the fertile crescent. It would take longer to get to Canaan, but they would be
in better shape upon arrival.

There are some who like to keep their foot on the gas and push on through when
they travel. But that is very tiring. It's far better to stop often, eat, and rest before
moving on. The towns along the northern route could provide them with needed
supplies for the journey too.

But Haran (modern Charran or Haraan) is too far out of the way really. It's clear up
in Urfa Turkey on the trade route to Nineveh. Terah could have turned south a lot
sooner and gone on down to Canaan via Damascus. But I think that by then, he'd
lost interest in Canaan and decided that Haran was the place for him. And Abram,
probably not wanting to leave his dad alone there, stayed on too.

● Gen 11:32 . .The days of Terah came to 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

Terah lived a relatively long life for his day. His son Abram only lived to 175.

But I sometimes wonder if Terah didn't cut his life short by staying in Haran. Did he
forget about God's call to Abram to go to Canaan?

Seeing as how Terah didn't serve Noah's god, rather, other gods (Josh 24:2), it's
only natural that he wouldn't take Jehovah's call seriously. Noah's god wanted
Abram to live down in Canaan. But because of his dad, Abram didn't go there; an
example how parents can actually be a hindrance to their children associating with
God whole heartedly. (cf. Luke 14:26)
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● Gen 12:1. .The Lord said to Abram: Go forth from your native land and from your
father's house to the land that I will show you.

Stephen said Abram was still living in Ur, and hadn't moved up to Haran yet when
God called him to leave his kin (Acts 7:2-3). There's no record of any interaction
with God all the while that Abram lived in Haran. Jehovah was silent, and waiting
for Abram to get with the program and do as He said-- leave his kin and head on
out to a country of God's choosing. When he finally departed, Abram was not yet
informed of his precise destination. (Heb 11:8)

The Lord made several promises to Abram at this time.

● Gen 12:2a . . I will make of you a great nation,

Greatness is arbitrary. Some say numbers best represent greatness, while others
feel that accomplishments, prosperity, health, and contributions to mankind define
greatness. In that last aspect; no other nation on earth has contributed more to the
benefit of mankind than the people of Israel. It is through them that sinful men of
all nations may obtain a full ransom from the wrath of God. Israel is also destined
to become the seat of world power, economic prosperity, and the center for
religious studies.

● Gen 12:2b . . And I will bless you;

Abram became a very wealthy man; with enough male servants to field a
respectable army. He also enjoyed long life and good health; and the admiration of
his neighbors.

● Gen 12:2c . . I will make your name great,

Nobody is more famous than Abram. Even people who never heard of George
Washington, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, or Genghis Khan, know about Abram.
He is connected to the three most prominent religions in the world: Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam. And his name is always held in the very highest regard.
Abram isn't known for nefarious deeds nor bloody conquests. He is known as the
friend of God, and as a role model for all decent God-fearing people everywhere all
over the world.

● Gen 12:2d . . And you shall be a blessing.

There are some people that the world is well rid of like conceited entertainers,
neighbors from hell, thin skinned defensive people with raging tempers, habitual
liars, cry babies, people who falsify information and sully reputations, ruthless
businessmen, con and scam artists, unscrupulous lawyers, crooked cops and
dishonest politicians, insurance frauds, Wall Street sociopaths, managers on a
power trip, hackers, and the like.

But Abram was none of those. He was a very gracious, honorable man; the kind of
guy you would thank God for. But most of all, Abram is the progenitor of Messiah--
the savior of the world.

"A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham"
(Matt 1:1)

Messiah is the one who makes it possible for sinners to escape the judgment of
God. You can't be a better blessing than that.

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted
up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so cared for
the world that he donated His one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to
condemn the world, but to rescue the world through him." (John 3:14-17)

NOTE: The reference to Moses' serpent is located at Num 21:4-9

Just as Moses' people were spared certain death by doing no more nor less than
looking to Moses' serpent; so believers today are spared certain death in the
reservoir of brimstone depicted at Rev 20:11-15 by doing no more nor less than
looking to Christ's crucifixion.
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● Gen 12:3a . . I will bless those who bless you, and curse him that curses you;

The promise above doesn't apply to all of Abram's posterity. We can be sure that's
true because the convent that Abram's posterity agreed upon under oath with God
per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy specifies a number of curses
upon them for non compliance. (The curses are on public display at Ex 34:6-7, Lev
26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26 & Deut 28:1-69) God dare not curse Abram himself for any
reason, any at all, because then He would have to level a curse right back at
Himself.

Abraham is exempt from the curses catalogued in the covenant primarily because
he wasn't included in it, viz: that covenant wasn't his agreement with God, rather,
it's his posterity's agreement. (Deut 5:2-3 & Gal 3:17)

● Gen 12:3b . . And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

The Hebrew word translated "in you" is a bit ambiguous. It can also mean "through
you" and/or "by means of you".

Abram eventually found out that the above prediction concerned a great grandson
of his.

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." (John
8:56-57)

The "blessing" in focus is no doubt the one below.

"And now The Lord says-- He who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to
bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in
the eyes of The Lord, and my God shall be my strength) --Indeed He says: It is too
small a thing that you should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to
restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles,
that you should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." (Isa 49:5-6)

● Gen 12:4a . . Abram went forth as the Lord had commanded him,

Abram didn't go forth exactly when God told him to, but he finally did; and that's
what counts. Jonah didn't go forth when he was told to go either, but God prepared
a large fish to persuade him to stop fooling around and get a move on; and he
finally complied.

● Gen 12:4b . . and Lot went with him.

That was an err on Abram's part. He was told to leave his native land and to leave
his father's house. He wasn't supposed to take any relatives along with him: and
Lot wasn't a child; he was a grown man capable of operating a ranch on his own so
it's not like Abram would have abandoned Lot an orphan.

● Gen 12:4c . . Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

That hardly seems like a sensible age to reinvent one's self and begin a new life;
but Abram was relatively young yet in his own day, and still had 100 years of life
left to go.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:5 . . Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother's son Lot, and all the
wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran;
and they set out for the land of Canaan; and they arrived there.

I'm pretty sure Sarai anticipated this move. Abram had probably been talking about
it ever since God appeared to him in Ur so I seriously doubt it disrupted her life like
a bolt out of the blue.

From Haran (Haraan Turkey) it's well over 400 miles south to the West Bank in
Palestine. You can imagine the difficulty of making such a trip what with no
automobiles, no trains, no buses, no taxi cabs, no airplanes, no paved-surface
highways, and no graded roads. It was all trails and dirt paths; and all on foot, or
on the back of an animal, or in a cart pulled by an animal.

People traveled like that for millennia before powered conveyances were invented
and became widespread. Practically all modern means of travel were invented in
the 20th century AD.

In only just the last 120 years or so of Man's existence has there been airplanes
and horseless carriages. Man went from the Wright Brothers to the moon in just
sixty-six years.

The previous thousands of years before Karl Benz's production of gasoline-powered
motorwagens; people were very slow moving, and travel was arduous,
inconvenient, and totally earth-bound. In those days, a pioneer's greatest obstacle
to migration was distance.

It's significant that Abram wasn't required to dispose of his worldly goods in order
to follow God. Abram later became an exceedingly rich man and God never once
asked him to give it all away to charity.

Riches are bad only if they have such a hold upon a person that they must
compromise their integrity to hang on to it. For that person, it's better to be poor.
But it would be wrong to impose poverty upon everyone because not everyone is
consumed with grasping, avarice, and greed.

● Gen 12:6 . . Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree
of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

The Canaanites were Canaan's descendants-- Noah's bad-apple grandson.

The Canaanites probably didn't have complete control of the land at this time,
merely a presence, same as Abram. But they were definitely in progress of getting
control. By the time Joshua invaded, roughly four hundred years later, Canaan's
clan was pretty well rooted in Palestine.

Abram's welfare wasn't improved by coming out west to Canaan. His home town Ur
was a modern city with decent accommodations. But out on the frontier, it was
rugged. Palestine in that day was no Utopia. It was more like the conditions which
faced our own early day American pioneers and settlers. There were communities
scattered here and there, but for the most part, it was wild, wooly, and untamed.

Abram, now paying attention to God, is going where he's told and moving in all the
right directions. The next two moves are preceded by altars; upon which, we can
safely assume, were offered the traditional Noah-style burnt offering. Altar sites
were hot-spots; viz: locations for making wireless contact with God; sort of like
what the Temple at Jerusalem became in later years.

● Gen 12:7a . .The Lord appeared to Abram

Exactly how or in what form God appeared to Abram isn't said. God's appearances
aren't always visual. Sometimes an appearance is merely an audible voice; or a
dream, an angel, a burning bush, a breeze, a column of smoke, or even an eerie
glow.

● Gen 12:7b . . and said: I will assign this land to your heirs.

This is the very first instance of a Divine promise made to Abram regarding
ownership of Palestine; and it probably bounced right off his skull like a sonar ping.
But later on, God will repeat that promise again and again until it finally sinks in.
Repetition is, after all, a proven learning aid.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:7c-8 . . And he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with
Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to the Lord and
invoked the Lord by name.

Eusebius Onomasticon, placed Bethel twelve Roman miles north from Jerusalem, on
the road to Neapolis. The site today is represented by the modern town of Beitin, a
village which stands on a knoll east of the road to Nablus; roughly 2½ miles
northeast of Ramallah El-Bira.

Ai hasn't really been pinpointed yet but is identified either with the modern Haiyan,
just south of the village Deir Dibwan or with a mound, El-Tell, to the north.

This is only the second time in Scripture where it's said human beings called upon
God by a name. The first was Gen 4:26. What name might Abram have used to
invoke God? The name Jehovah (a.k.a. Yahweh) was well known by this time, and
Abram addressed God by it on numerous occasions. (e.g. Gen 13:4, 14:22, 15:8,
21:33, and 24:3)

God's demeanor towards Abram was sometimes that of an officer in wartime who
doesn't tell his troops in advance the location of their next bivouac. Instead he
orders them to march in a certain direction, only later telling them when to stop
and set up camp. So Abram went in the direction he was commanded to go; not
really knowing his destination or the why. For the time being, Abram didn't need to
know the why-- he only needed to know which way.

Free now from the harmful influence of his dad's pagan idolatry, Abram revived the
religion of his sacred ancestors and began calling upon God the same way they did;
and he got his travel orders that way too. Each time he worshipped at the altars,
God told him what to do, where to go next; and sometimes even shared some
personal data along with His big plans for Abram's future.

Abram was doing pretty much what Adam did in the garden; meeting with God in
the cool of the day; so to speak. Only Abram did it differently because he was a
sinful being, whereas, in the beginning, Adam wasn't; so he didn't need an altar, at
first.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:9 . .Then Abram journeyed by stages toward the Negev.

The Negev's region is located today in the southern district of Judah; generally
considered as beginning south of Dhahiriya; which is right in between Hevron and
Be'ér Sheva; and as stretching south in a series of rolling hills until the actual
wilderness begins, a distance of perhaps 70 miles.

To the east, the Negev is bounded by the Dead Sea and the Arabah, and to the
west the boundaries are generally Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea. It's a land of
scanty springs and sparse rainfall. The character of its soil is a transition from the
fertility of Canaan to the wilderness of the desert-- essentially a pastoral land,
where grazing is plentiful in the early months and where camels and goats can
survive, even through the long summer drought.

Today, as through most periods of history, the Negev is a land for the nomad rather
than the settled inhabitant, although abundant ruins in many spots testify to better
physical conditions at some periods. The east and west directions of the valleys, the
general dryness, and the character of the inhabitants, have always made it a more
or less isolated region without thoroughfare.

The great routes passed along the coast to the west or up the Arabah to the east.
Against all who would lead an army up from the south, this southern frontier of
Judah presented a tough obstacle in the old days. The Negev is slated for a make
over when the Jews return to their homeland.

"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and
blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout
for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of The Lord, the excellency of our God." (Isa 35:1-2)

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning
sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where
jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow." (Isa 35:6-7)

Lebanon's glory of old was timber; especially cedars (1Kng 4:33). Sharon was
known for its flowers (Song 2:1) and Carmel for its orchards (Isa 33:9). How God
will get timber, flowers, and orchards to flourish in the Negev should be interesting.

NOTE: The modern State of Israel has managed to make a percentage of its
badlands productive by means of bore holes, diversion, desalinized water, recycled
effluent, and drip irrigation. But those are desperate measures rather than
miraculous providence. Israel has accomplished amazing things via technology, but
their technology is no more supernatural than the science and industry that took
men to the moon and back.

Technology is not the ideal solution to Israel's lack of adequate rain and arable soil.
And I just don't think hydroponic gardening is God's idea of the best way to grow
food. I'm pretty sure He prefers food grown in dirt rather than liquid, and the use of
natural fertilizers rather than chemicals, and prefers His people nourish themselves
with organic foods instead of GMO.

● Gen 12:10 . .There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to
sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.

Famines were usually the result of things like low humidity, lack of rain, and/or
plagues of insects and plant diseases.

Abram fully intended to return to Canaan just as soon as the famine ended. The
move to Egypt was a temporary expedient, rather than the result of irrational
panic. Famine might seem to some as an excuse for Abram to return to Haran. But
Abram wasn't retreating. His destiny did not lie in Haran. It lay in Palestine--
period! --no going back.

I've heard more than one commentator say that Abram was out of God's will when
he left Canaan and moved to Egypt. It is really impossible to know that for sure.
Compare Gen 46:2-4 where God instructed Jacob to migrate to Egypt during a
severe famine.

So, I'm inclined to give Abram the benefit of the doubt. Back at Shechem, Abram
began the practice of erecting altars and calling on grandpa Noah's god. Each time
he moved, he built a new altar. And each time he did that, God gave him new
travel orders. Since the text doesn't suggest otherwise; it should be okay to
assume Abram went down to Egypt under the very same divine guidance as the
other places he moved
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:11 . . As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai: I know
what a beautiful woman you are.

Abram was about nine years older than Sarai; so she was over 66 years-old when
this event occurred because according to Gen 12:4, Abram was seventy-five when
they left Haran. Sarai was amazing. Even at 66+ years she drew admiring glances.

Abram's acknowledgement of Sarai's beauty appears to have been somewhat out of
the ordinary; but that's no surprise. After a number of years of marriage, it isn't
uncommon for men to take their wives for granted; and to stop taking notice of
them after a while.

● Gen 12:12 . . If the Egyptians see you, and think "She is his wife" they will kill me
and let you live.

Egypt had an active presence up in and around Canaan prior to Abram's day and
perhaps the conduct of their frontier consulates was somewhat less than honorable
at times. So of course the people of Canaan would quite naturally assume all
Egyptians were pigs just like many people today assume that all Muslims are
vicious because of the Muslim hijackers who flew airplanes into the World Trade
Center.

● Gen 12:13 . . I beseech you; say that you are my sister, that it may go well with
me because of you, and that I may remain alive thanks to you.

Abram didn't have to entreat Sarai to go along with his scheme. According to Gen
18:12 and 1Pet 3:6, she regarded her husband's authority above her own.

This scene is useful for exemplifying the gracious nature of this amazing man of
God. Though he was a king in his own home, Abram wasn't a callous despot like
Kim Jong Un and/or Robert Mugabe who care little for either the feelings or the
welfare of their citizens.

Abram was shrewd. He was not only concerned about saving his skin, but also
about taking advantage of his being Sarai's kin; and actually that part of it did work
out pretty well. However, I would have to scold him on this point because his
conduct reveals a lack of confidence in God's promises back in Gen 12:2-3 and Gen
12:7.

He has to be kept alive to engender heirs so God can make good on His promise to
give them the land of Canaan. No one could kill Abram at this point; not even a
Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Not even The Almighty God Himself could kill Abram at this
point because it was too late for that.

God passed His word back at Shechem that he would make of Abram a great nation
and He can't go back on it without seriously compromising His own integrity. Some
people might be inclined to call that a character weakness; but to those of us
relying upon God to honor His word, His integrity is the very basis of our
confidence. God's promises-- especially His unconditional promises --are not only
human-proof; but God-proof too.

● Gen 12:14 . .When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful
the woman was.

When men talk about a woman's beauty, they're not talking about the sterling
character of a woman like Ruth; no, they're talking about the physical attributes of
a woman like Queen Vashti in the book of Esther. (Est 1:10-11 cf. Gen 6:1-2)

How did the Egyptians see Sarai was a looker? Well, the dress code for women in
her day was nothing like the totally unflattering burqas that Islam imposes upon
women in our day.

Depicted in a wall painting in the tomb of an Egyptian nobleman named Khnum
hotpe, at Beni-Hasen on the Nile river, dating from about 1900 BC, is a Semitic
troupe passing customs to enter Egypt. The women are wearing form-fitting, highly
colored, sleeveless wrap-around dresses whose hems stop at mid calf. Their
décolletage swoops from the left shoulder to just under the opposite armpit, leaving
that side's shoulder completely bare.

Their hair-- fastened by a thin white ribbon around the forehead and covered with
neither a shawl, nor a scarf, nor a hijab --falls loosely over bosoms and shoulders,
and there are stylish little curls just in front of the ears. Adorning their feet are dark
brown, half-length boots. In attire like that, a woman filled out in all the right
places would be very easy to notice.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:15a . . Pharaoh's courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh,

Webster's has a couple of definitions for "courtiers". They are people in attendance
at a royal court; and they are also people who practice flattery. Apparently
Pharaoh's toadies kept their eyes out for appealing women to add to their
sovereign's harem; and thus gain for themselves his favor and approval.

Their sighting of Sarai wasn't just happenstance. Entry into Egypt in those days was
tightly controlled and the only way in was past specified check points. At one time
in Egypt's past, there existed a long chain of forts, watchtowers, and strong points
designed to watch over immigration and possible invasions by the Sand People from
the east. The "wall" stretched north and south across the desert approximately
along the same path as today's Suez Canal. Each check point was manned by
armed soldiers accompanied by officials of the Egyptian government; sort of like
the customs agents and border patrols of the modern world today.

● Gen 12:15b . . and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's palace.

Not good. A woman in the harems of that day would never have a home of her own
nor freedom to travel. Never would she be allowed to pursue romance nor to
associate with her friends and relatives ever again.

● Gen 12:16 . . And because of her, it went well with Abram; he acquired sheep,
oxen, jack donkeys, male and female slaves, jenny donkeys, and camels.

Life is much better when you're connected. Because of Sarai, Abram was a bit of a
celebrity and thus treated very well.

So Abram is getting rich. After all, his sister is in the White House. You think
anyone is going to cheat him or make him pay full price for goods and services? No
way. If anything, people were more than willing to give him lots of expensive gifts
and deep discounts, hoping to remain in Pharaoh's good graces by doing so.

But what's going on in Pharaoh's boudoir at night? There is just no way Abram
could block that out of his mind. If only he had believed God's promise, Sarai's
honor wouldn't be in such immediate danger of compromise. Abram could have
swaggered into Egypt totally fearless of Pharaoh and his country; and kept his wife
within her own camp, safe and snug among her own people.

● Gen 12:17 . . But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty
plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

I, for one, don't blame Pharaoh for any of that. It was totally Abram's fault.
Pharaoh and his courtiers were duped into thinking Sarai was available. How could
they have known she was spoken for?

Our hero didn't tell the Egyptians about his adventures with The Lord. All he could
think about was how to survive and stay alive. ¡Error! If he had instead been a
faithful witness for God, rather than looking out for his own skin, I think things
would have gone much better for Abram and Sarai down there in Egypt.

But now they will be forcibly deported; in shame and disgrace. So, instead of being
a positive influence for their god, they became a very bad one. God's people are
supposed to believe in their god, and reflect that confidence to others; and at the
very least they ought to be honest. And God's people should never be reluctant to
tell others about their religion even if those others appear to be pagan heathens.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 12:18-20 . . Pharaoh sent for Abram and said: What is this you have done to
me! Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say "She is my
sister" so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife; take her and begone!
And Pharaoh put men in charge of him, and they sent him off with his wife and all
that he possessed.

One can scarcely blame Mr. Pharaoh for blowing his top. Nobody likes to be duped,
especially monarchs.

Just exactly how Pharaoh found out that Sarai was Abram's wife is not said.
Probably the very same way King Abimelech discovered the truth about her in a
later incident. Here's how that will go when we get there later on. (Gen 20:1-7)

From a totally humanistic point of view, it would appear that God is terribly unfair. I
mean, after all, Pharaoh and Abimelech couldn't possibly have known that Sarai
was married, especially when both she and her husband were telling people
otherwise. But these incidents are valuable to reveal that sin is just a wee bit more
complicated than Man's inadequate little sense of right and wrong and fairness is
able to fully comprehend.

Well anyway; as the texts says: Abram acquired female slaves during this brief
stopover in Egypt; and quite possibly one of their names was-- you guessed it --Ms.
Hagar: the mother of Ishmael, the father of the Arab world; from whence ultimately
came Muhammad and the religion of Islam. Just goes to show that chaos theory
may not be 100% right, but it isn't 100% wrong either.

● Gen 13:1-2 . . From Egypt, Abram went up into the Negeb, with his wife and all
that he possessed, together with Lot. Now Abram was very rich in cattle, silver, and
gold.

The word translated "rich" basically means to be heavy, i.e. in either a bad sense
(burdensome, severe, dull) or in a good sense (numerous, rich, honorable);
causatively, to make weighty (in the same two senses); viz: which is why, I guess,
we call the rich "loaded"

So the rich are not only wealthy, but weighted down too. It was a piece of cake for
Abram to pull up stakes and move around wherever God wanted before he got so
wealthy. Now it will be an undertaking especially without power tools and
mechanized conveyances.

NOTE: Though it's not stated, I think it's probably pretty safe to assume that Lot
enjoyed the very same privileged status in Egypt that his uncle Abram did due to
their mutual relationship to Sarai; so that Lot came up out of Egypt a very
prosperous cattle baron.

● Gen 13:3-6 . . And he proceeded by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to
the place where his tent had been formerly, between Bethel and Ai, the site of the
altar that he had built there at first; and there Abram invoked the Lord by name.

. . . Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the
land could not support them staying together; for their possessions were so great
that they could not remain together.

Pasture can support only so many head of cattle per acre, and the land was just
recently recovering from a famine. Lot's drovers were squabbling with Abram's over
available grass; and probably the available water too. If those men had barbed wire
in that day, I'm sure they would have strung it. Then the shootin' would have really
started up!

● Gen 13:7 . . And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle
and those of Lot's cattle. The Canaanites and Perizzites were then dwelling in the
land.

How do you suppose that squabbling looked to the pagans? When God's people
can't get along, outsiders become disgusted with them and they sure won't be
influenced for God in a good way when there's fighting amongst themselves like
that.

Years ago, when I was a young welder just starting out on my own, I rented a small
room in a daylight basement from a man who was the senior pastor of a medium
sized church in the Portland Oregon area. He and his wife radiated the luster of
polished spirituality whenever I spoke with them out in the yard, but in my location
under the floor of the house, I could overhear their bitter quarrels upstairs behind
closed doors. Was I favorably inclined to attend their church? No.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 13:8-9a . . Abram said to Lot: Let there be no strife between you and me,
between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before
you?

Palestine was still pretty much a wild frontier in the 20th century BC. Actually very
little of it was private property. And what with no Bureau of Land Management, the
land out west from Ur was pretty much up for grabs to anyone who had the moxie
to take it. Abram and Lot remind me very much of early day American pioneers and
cattle barons.

● Gen 13:9b . . Let us separate.

It wasn't an easy thing for Abram to be firm with his kin, and it was a weakness in
his spiritual life from day-one. He and Sarai were supposed to leave their kin and
come to Canaan alone. He wasn't supposed to take along a nephew. But Abram just
couldn't leave Lot behind. So now he and Lot are separating with bad blood
between them. And Lot's future is very uncertain down in that God-less country
away from his uncle Abram's patronage.

● Gen 13:9c . . if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.

Even though there was some bad blood now between Abram and Lot, the old boy
remained a gracious man. Being the senior of the two, Abram could have claimed
first dibs on the land. But he waived the privileges of rank, and gave his nephew
the choice. But, in point of fact, Abram made Lot a promise that he could in no way
guarantee to honor; because it was God who ultimately dictated where Abram was
to dwell in the land.

● Gen 13:10 . . Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was the whole
plain of the Jordan, all of it-- this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah --all the way to Zoar, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.

The Jordan Valley slopes southward like a ramp from an altitude of roughly 685 feet
below sea level at the Sea of Galilee to an elevation of 1,384 feet below sea level at
the Dead Sea. Water was Lot's primary interest and there was plenty of it down
there in that valley 4,000 years ago. Along with overflow from the Sea of Galilee,
was an abundance of wadis and streams draining into the Jordan Valley from the
highlands.

In its heyday, the Jordan poured about 1.3 billion cubic feet of water per year into
the Dead Sea. Today-- due to dams, diversions, and pumping --only about 2 or 3
percent of those ancient billions reach the sea. In the last century alone, the Sea's
level declined 80 feet in just the sixty years between 1939 and 1999.

Eighty feet may not seem like much depth, but when it's considered that the
surface area of the Dead Sea is roughly 235 square miles; we're looking at
something like 3.56 cubic miles of water. If all that water were to be packed into a
single cube, it's sides would be 1.527 miles in length, i.e. 8,062 feet. There are
currently no man-made structures on earth that tall.

In Abram's day, the Jordan Valley in the region between the Dead Sea and the Sea
of Galilee was well watered, fertile, and very appealing to a cattle baron like Lot. It
had some pretty good jungles too: home to lots of fierce lions at one time.

NOTE: The Israel of today is just a dried up husk of its former environmental glory.
For example: Israel's lions, now extinct, once inhabited forests (Jer 5:6) mountain
caves (Nahum 2:12) and the Jordan Valley (Jer 49:19). Israel's bears (2Kgs 2:24)
were eradicated in the early 20th century. The closest kin to the bears that once
roamed wild there are the Syrian brown bears kept in the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem.

What the world sees today in Palestine little resembles the land of milk and honey
into which Joshua brought Moses' people some 3,500 years ago; and there's their
own breaches of the covenant to thank for it.

"Even all nations shall say: Wherefore hath The Lord done thus unto this land? What
meaneth the heat of this great anger?

. . .Then men shall say: Because they have forsaken the covenant of The Lord God
of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt: for they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods
whom they knew not, and whom He had not given unto them: and the anger of The
Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in
this book" (Deut 29:24-27)

A menu of the curses is on public display at Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26, and Deut
28:1-69.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 13:11a . . So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan, and Lot
journeyed eastward.

Today a descent down to Jericho from Bethel (modern Beitin) would be close to a
4,000 foot drop in elevation. Whooee! That'll sure make your ears pop!

● Gen 13:11b . .Thus they parted from each other;

To me, it would have made better horse sense in a foreign land to consolidate their
holdings-- sort of an Abraham & Lot Inc. --instead of maintaining two separate
independent enterprises. But I guess Lot had ambitions and wanted to be his own
man.

Either Lot had more mettle than uncle Abram; or was just downright reckless
because he had the moxie to go off on his own into a totally strange region with
absolutely no assurance that God would travel with him.

Explorers like Columbus, Cortez, Balboa, and Magellan had that kind of nerve; they
were strong, arrogant, and confident. But I don't think Abram ever was like that. I
seriously doubt he would have left Haran at all had not God called him to it. I
believe it was only the assurance of divine patronage that gave Abram the courage
to travel far from home in that day.

● Gen 13:12a . . Abram remained in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the
cities of the Plain,

Cities in that day didn't in any way resemble the huge sprawling metropolises of the
present. We would no doubt regard them as little more than fortified hamlets.
Some of the cities of the plain were Sodom, Admah, Zeboiim, Gomorrah, and Bela;
which is Zoar. Jericho was in existence then too and no doubt a major population
center in those parts.

● Gen 13:12b . . pitching his tents near Sodom.

Logistically that was a pretty sensible arrangement. By living amongst those cities,
Lot had a ready market for his livestock; and a source of goods and services he
could use out on the ranch. There was something special about Sodom that
magnetized him though because he eventually moved his family into town.

I think Mrs. Lot may have had a little something to do with that. Not too many
women enjoy rough-country living out in the middle of nowhere. Most prefer being
near the conveniences of neighbors, shopping, and services.

● Gen 13:13 . . Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked sinners against
The Lord.

The precise location of ancient Sodom is uncertain. Some feel it was sited at the
south end of the Dead Sea; but it's difficult to know for sure. According to Gen
14:1-3, the communities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar were
situated in an area of the Jordan Valley the Bible labels "the vale of Siddim; which
is the salt sea". Meaning of course that it was the salt sea when somebody wrote
that section but wasn't always inundated in the ancient past.

The Hebrew word for Siddim means flats; viz: a flood plain; for example river
valleys; which are of course subject to seasonal flooding. Personally, if it were me;
I would have emplaced my community at the north end of the vale rather than
south since the north end was the better location for a ready supply of fresh water
from the Jordan River for homes and farming.

The author's choice of words is curious. The flatlanders weren't just sinners; they
were "very wicked" sinners; and not just very wicked sinners, but very wicked
sinners "against" The Lord; which suggests outright insolence, impudence, and
defiance; viz: standing up to God and asserting one's independence.

FAQ: Were the people of the vale aware that God disapproved their conduct? And if
so; how?

REPLY: According to Rom 2:14-15, God instilled within mankind a natural
understanding of certain matters pertaining to good and evil. In other words; the
Sodomites were aware within their own conscience that their conduct was
unbecoming without a preacher having to come along and tell them. (cf. Gen 3:22)
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

.
● Gen 13:14-15 . . And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him:
Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the
east and west, for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever.

Oh the irony of it! If Lot went off only to the Jordan Valley to stake a claim for his
own progeny, then he didn't go far enough away because from Abram's vantage he
could see eastward clear across the Jordan valley and over into Moab (the
Hashemite kingdom of Jordan) and far past the five cities of the Plain. So Abram,
and his progeny, were promised eternal ownership of not only the highlands of
Canaan, but in addition, also the whole Jordan Valley where Lot moved-- and
beyond.

● Gen 13:16 . . I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one
can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted.

I just hope Abram remembers what God said the next time he feels inclined to fib in
order to save his skin. Will he never catch on that he cannot die until God makes
good on the promises regarding his progeny?

Abram's biological progeny descend not only from Isaac, but also from Ishmael and
the other boys too. But his progeny shouldn't be construed to be exactly equal to
the number of bits of dust that make up the earth's soil. The expression is a
common Old Testament idiom for very large quantities, e.g. Gen 41:49, Josh 11:4,
Judg 7:12, 1Sam 13:5, 2Sam 17:11, 1Kgs 4:29, Job 29:18, Ps 78:27; et al.

The meaning is that they would simply become too numerous to count. Later God
will liken the number of Abram's offspring to the sand at the beach. Same thing
there too-- not the precise number of grains, but a number so great that any
attempt to count them would be futile; and the stars too, e.g. Gen 15:5.

Abram lived somewhere in the neighborhood of the 20th century BC; roughly five
hundred years after completion of the Pyramid of Khafre at Giza. So Abram lived
about 4,000 years ago. Millions and millions of Abram's kin have lived and died
since then. And it's not over yet, not by a long sea mile.

NOTE: Not only were civilizations in Egypt great at this time, but elsewhere too; for
example the ancient city of Harappa that was once located in the Indus River Valley
of northwest India: a site now located in Pakistan. Harappa was a fairly large city of
something like 23,500 people; and still in its heyday during the time of Abram. And
the Maya, famous for their apocalyptic calendar; were blooming in and around what
is now the Yucatán Peninsula. By the time of Abram, people had really spread out
from the tower of Babel; and world development was happening by leaps and
bounds.

In Messiah's future millennial kingdom, Abram's people will multiply exceedingly
because they will all enjoy very long life spans and engender large families. The
Bible says that a man of 100 years age in Israel will be regarded as a mere child in
that era. (Isa 65:20)

Abram's offspring truly cannot be tallied; not now or ever. Only The Almighty could
ever get the number right because all the souls belonging to Abram, among both
the dead and the living, have become so numerous.

● Gen 13:17 . . Up, walk about the land, through its length and its breadth, for I
give it to you.

It's notable that God said: I give it to you. The land was Abram's possession right
then and there and no one can ever take it away from him. Not even Almighty God
can take it away from Abram now because once The Lord gives His word, He is
bound to it like a ball and chain (Rom 11:28-29). That should be a comfort to
Moses' people, throughout all the ages, that once God gives His word on something,
He has to make good on it.

"May your steadfast love reach me, O Lord, your deliverance, as you have
promised. I shall have an answer for those who taunt me, for I have put my trust in
your word." (Ps 119:41-42)

Although Abram lacked sovereign control over his real estate at the time, it was his
possession nevertheless.

NOTE: God gave Abram a real hope: i.e. something wonderful to expect as opposed
to wishful thinking and/or crossing his fingers. (Heb 11:10)
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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● Gen 13:18a . . And Abram moved his tent, and came to dwell at the terebinths of
Mamre, which are in Hebron;

Hebron (Hevron) itself is today a city of over 70,000 people located about 20 miles
south of Jerusalem at an elevation of 3,050 feet above sea level. Hebron is sacred
in Jewish history; but a very dangerous place to live today what with all the
Palestinian troubles going on in Israel.

The Hebrew word for "terebinths" basically means an oak, or other strong tree.
Oaks, especially the very old large ones, were important meeting places. Near
where I live in Oregon, there's a site called Five Oaks, named after the five oak
trees that once thrived there. In pre white man days, local Native Americans met at
those trees for pow-wows.

Mamre, an Amorite named up ahead in Gen 14:24, was one of Abram's allies. The
oaks of Mamre were apparently named after him; who some believe was a local
sheik or a chieftain.

In Abram's day; Canaan was thinly populated. It was in fact a land of no law and no
order. The inhabitants lived in a state of constant readiness. The widely scattered
townships were veritable islands in the middle of nowhere; and vulnerable to daring
attacks by the desert nomads. Suddenly, and when least expected, those predatory
nomads sprang upon unwary people with indiscriminate butchery, carrying off cattle
and crops. It was probably for that very reason that Abram was allied with Mamre.

● Gen 13:18b . . and he built an altar there to The Lord.

Abram's altars testify to the fact that his worship wasn't restricted to a special
location. Later; Israel's covenanted law would do that very thing; but Abram wasn't
under its jurisdiction so he was at liberty to sacrifice wherever it pleased him. This
is an important Bible axiom; viz: law cannot be broken where it doesn't exist. (Rom
4:15, Rom 5:13, Gal 3:17)

NOTE: It was in the interests of trade that Egypt, in 3,000 BC, was the first great
power to stretch out its tentacles towards Canaan. A hard diorite tablet, listing the
details of a ship's cargo of timber for Pharaoh Snefru, is stored in the museum at
Palermo. Its date is 2,700 BC. Dense woods covered the slopes of Lebanon then.
The excellent wood from its cedars and meru (a kind of conifer) were just what the
Pharaohs needed for their elaborate building schemes.

Five hundred years prior to Abram's day, there was already a flourishing import and
export trade on the Canaanite coast. Egypt exchanged gold and spices from Nubia,
copper and turquoise from the mines at Sinai, and linen and ivory for silver from
Taurus, leather goods from Byblos, and painted vases from Crete. In the great
Phoenician dye works, well to do Egyptians had their robes dyed purple. For their
society women, they bought lapis-lazuli blue-- eyelids dyed blue were all the rage
-and stibium, a cosmetic which was highly prized by the ladies for touching up their
eyelashes.

The coastal communities of Canaan presented a picture of cosmopolitan life which
was busy, prosperous, and even luxurious; but just a few miles inland lay a world
of glaring contrast. Bedouin attacks, insurrections, and feuds between towns were
common.

A much more profitable enterprise than pillaging villages in malicious and barbaric
fashion, was to hold them hostage; kind of like the plight of the villagers in the
movie: The Magnificent Seven. To avoid being murdered and ravaged, the villagers
gave the lion's share of their Gross National Product to the bullies. It was just that
sort of scenario that resulted in the capture of the cities of the Plain while Lot was
living down there among them.

NOTE: Though I would not care to live in Abram's day minus our many modern
conveniences; I can't help but envy some of his advantages. There was no light
pollution, no air pollution, no water pollution, no soil pollution, and no aquifer
pollution. All water everywhere was safe to drink without special filtration.

Abram's foods were locally raised and mostly fresh; none were processed, frozen,
refrigerated, or imported. All livestock was grass-fed outdoors on open pasture
lands, and all his fruits and vegetables, all of them, were 100% organic.
_

 

[Odë:hgöd]

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● Gen 14:1 . . Now, when King Amraphel of Shinar, King Arioch of Ellasar, King
Chedorlaomer of Elam, and King Tidal of nations.

Shinar was the whole of Babylonia; Ellasar was the leading tribe in its southern
part; and Elam was the original kingdom of Persia.

The Hebrew word for "nations" is gowy (go'-ee) a word wielded by some Jews as a
racial epithet to indicate non-Jewish peoples, i.e. Gentiles. But gowy isn't really all
that specific. The people of Israel are called gowy at Gen 18:18, and Jacob, the
father of the twelve tribes, is called a gowy at Gen 25:23. Gowy really just simply
indicates a massing; e.g. a herd of animals and/or a horde of locusts; which when
extended, indicates a particular people; e.g. Iroquois, Maya, Inuit, Chinese, Pacific
Islanders, Japanese, and/or Arabs, et al.

Mr. Tidal was probably the chief of a large confederacy consisting of mongrel, multi
racial people; possibly a tribal area in northeastern Babylonia. America is a perfect
example of Tidal's confederacy because it's a melting pot of assimilation,
intermarriage, and diverse races, cultures, languages, and nationalities. The only
true Americans in America are its indigenous peoples. Everybody else is either an
immigrant or the posterity of an immigrant.

At one time, Amraphel was thought to be Hammurabi; the great king of Babylon.
But it's now widely agreed that Hammurabi didn't arrive on the scene until many
years later. The other kings remain a mystery too, having not yet been
archaeologically identified.

● Gen 14:2 . . made war on King Bera of Sodom, King Birsha of Gomorrah, King
Shinab of Admah, King Shemeber of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar,

None of these men were "kings" in the fashion that we today think of royalty. They
were more like mayors, sheiks, or chieftains. And they didn't actually have
extensive realms; nor very much jurisdiction beyond the very community each one
dominated.

Canaanite cities weren't really serious municipalities; but rather more like fortified
hamlets-- much like the strategic villages in Viet Nam; except that just about all
Canaanite towns were enclosed within stone walls made of rough boulders about six
feet in diameter. Archaeologists call this type of wall a Cyclops wall. The boulder
walls were usually combined with an escarpment and reinforced with earthen
revetments.

Canaanite towns doubled as forts; places of refuge in time of danger, whether from
sudden attack by nomadic bands or from civil wars among the Canaanites
themselves. Towering perimeter walls invariably enclosed small areas, not much
bigger than Ste. Peter's Square in Rome. Each of these town-forts had a water
supply, but weren't really suitable for housing large populations in permanent
homes.

Inside the walls lived only the chieftain, the aristocracy, wealthy merchants, and
even sometimes Egyptian representatives. The rest of the inhabitants of the
township-- the ranchers and farmers, the vassals and the servants and the serfs--
lived outside the walls; often in tents or simple mud hogans or wattle huts.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all lived in tents; viz: pavilions.

In Tell el-Hesi, probably Eglon, the town proper was just over an acre. In Tell es
Safi, formerly Gath, it was twelve acres. In Tell el-Zakariyah, formerly Megiddo, the
same amount. Gezer, on the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa, occupied just over
twenty acres. Even in the more built up area of Jericho, the inner fortified wall, the
Acropolis proper, enclosed a space of little more than five acres; yet Jericho was an
important city and one of the strongest fortresses in the country.

So the five cities of the Plain were nothing to brag about-- well, maybe in their day
they might have been notable enough amongst their contemporaries.

● Gen 14:3 . . all the latter joined forces at the Valley of Siddim, now the Salt Sea.

In its early geological history; the valley was home to the Sedom Lagoon. Back
then, water from the Red Sea was able to ebb in and out of the lagoon because the
region hasn't always been land-locked like it is today. At one time the Jordan River
had an easy outlet to the gulf of Aqaba. But over time, tectonic forces altered the
region; preventing drainage into the gulf and trapping water in a huge basin from
which they cannot now escape.
_