Deuteronomy 30

More discourse today about the covenant God gave the Israelites - both the life it would bring if they obeyed, and the death if they turned aside. There is also a description of how God would gather the Israelites again if they fell away and then turned to follow the Lord again. Given that the Israelites have been dispossed from the promised land and then eventually returned multiple times I can only assume that they have been through this cycle more than once.

Deuteronomy 29

This book is starting to draw to a close, and we have a recap today of the covenant and the brief history of the Exodus. It looks like the covenant is expanded a bit as well, and futher warnings are given against straying and worshiping other gods. There isn't much to say beyond that.

Deuteronomy 6

This chapter continues Moses' teaching about the covenant, with special emphasis on following the Lord only, and passing that command and the whole of the laws on to future generations. Not a ton else to say, really.

Deuteronomy 4

The chapter today largely was a recap of the ideas behind the Abrahamic covenant - that the Lord is the one true God, that He has selected the Israelites as His people, and that they were not to make or bow to any shape made by man or any part of creation. I especially like the affirmations of God's power and sovereignty, and the warnings that foretold of Israels fate should they disobey were (of course) a perfect prediction of what has happened throughout history to their people.

It looks like the end of this section is setting up the following passages to contain a more comprehensive review of the covenant and the laws that God gave to Moses. I wonder how much more of the book those will take up; perhaps 'deuteronomy' itself means something about law or covenant. Ah, indeed that is correct - Wikipedia indicates that the term is from the Greek and Latin for "second law".

Leviticus 26

Wow, this chapter describes both beautiful blessings for the Israelites if they obey God and horrifying punishments if they turn against Him. As we will see later on, they do indeed fall away from God from time to time throughout their history - and many sadnesses befall because of that. In fact, I sometimes wonder if things as recent as the Holocaust might have been a portion of this; the imagery about fleeing constantly and being consumed in the lands of their enemies in particular remind me of the stories from the oppressed Jews in World War II. They are now back in their land, though, the land God promised them so many ages ago. I am pretty sure that God's hand can be seen in that too :)

Genesis 35

In today's reading we once more have an affirmation of the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants, along with a second proclamation that Jacob's name shall be changed to Israel (the first was when he wrestled with God). Prior to this Jacob/Israel instructed his family and followers to dispose of all the old idols and pagan symbols they had, which he buried; I guess Laban never got his 'household gods' back!

There is also a lot of death in this chapter: Rachel's nurse, then Rachel in childbirth, and finally Isaac at a good old age. Poor Israel - Rachel was the woman he fell in love with, and yet she was the first of his wives/concubines to die. It definitely explains why Benjamin, the son she had as she passed away, became his favorite: he was his last memory of her, and also his youngest son.

Genesis 28

Here we have yet another instance of a favored son being instructed to take a wife from among Abraham's relatives, rather than the locals. This time, though, instead of sending a servant to find the bride Isaac sends the one to be married - Jacob. Along the way he has a bit of a dream, in which he sees and hears God speak to him.

It seems that God re-affirms his covenant with Abraham's bloodline over and over, but here we have the first occurrence of it with Jacob specifically. This shows, officially, that Jacob will be the heir of Issac through whom the covenant will be fulfilled - just as it came through Isaac rather than Ishmael.

A few interesting things to note from the passage:

- When Esau realizes that his parents dislike the women he married (due to their ancestry), he goes and marries another woman - a daughter of Ishmael. This is closer in to the family line, and so presumably an attempt to curry favor again with his father. I guess I am a little surprised, given all the events that transpired in the last chapter, that he is still concerned about impressing his father.

- After the dream that Jacob has, he promises to obey and serve God - but on the condition that he is kept safe on his journey. Given the vision he had just woken from, one would think that he would be best served not to try and 'make a deal' with God. I wonder what God thought of that...

Genesis 18

The passage I read today is split into two sections, but the two are tied together by the appearance of three men - one of whom is clearly identified (mid-way through the passage, in verse 13) as the Lord - to Abraham. At first they talk with Abraham about the covenant God has with him, making a very personal impression on him as well as his wife, Sarah. She also tries to sneak in a lie, but God calls her on it. We've all lied at some point, and though many of us have been caught at some point or another it usually isn't in quite such a dramatic and straight-to-the-point way. Plus it generally isn't the God of all the universe doing the (very literal) rebuke. Ouch!

The second half of this chapter deals with the Lord's investigation of Sodom and Gomorrah for the evil deeds that He has heard they've committed. It is rather interesting that God is taking the time here to physically check out a situation when He certainly knows exactly what has and has not happened everywhere; given the way that He broaches the topic I suspect it was done just so that a dialog is opened with Abraham on the subject. Abraham pleads with God for Him to spare Sodom (but maybe not Gomorrah?), arguing that if there are some godly people living there it would not be 'right' to kill them along with the wicked. I presume this is Abraham trying to save the life of his nephew, Lot, who went to live near Sodom - but if so he falls short. I wonder why Abraham left the discussion standing at the presence of 10 godly people being enough to spare Sodom; did he think there were that many living there? Was he afraid to narrow all the way down to the one he did know was there (Lot)? Hmm...

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Genesis 17

This chapter is full of the beautiful promises God made to Abram, as part of His covenant, along with the change of name for Abram and his wife Sarai - to Abraham and Sarah respectively. I imagine it must have been hard to get used to a new name, similar though it may be, at age 100 (or 90, for Sarai/h). Of course getting yourself circumcised, along with all of the male members of your household, would be even harder to do! My wife and I are about to have our new son circumcised, probably tomorrow, and while I'm sure it will hurt him a bit at least it will not be a memory when he grows up. Kudos to Abraham for his faith and follow through!

In this passage we also see that Ishmael is not included in the main covenant between God and Abraham. Sorry Arabs, but this means that the Israelites are the ones who have rights to the Promised Land.

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Genesis 15

This section of scripture contains further interaction between God and Abram, where we see Abram's faith in God and His promises. As I've mentioned before, it must have been absolutely amazing to have such a relationship with the Lord - where he not only speaks through written words but in dreams and even directly in the waking day! I cannot imagine it, but it encourages me to look forward to Heaven with great expectations.

Toward the end of this passage, God also gives a physical description of the lands which are promised to Abram and his descendants: "From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates" (NAS). If I read that correctly, it means that the current boarders of Israel are far smaller than they should be! I'd say that the Israeli people have a right to all of Lebanon, as well as a few other countries or parts of countries in that region.

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Genesis 13

Despite Abram's shortcomings in the previous chapter, we see here that he also has many admirable qualities. He worships the Lord, he tries to be a peacemaker, and he is generous in letting his nephew Lot have the first choice of where to live. In a bit of a contrast, we see Lot choosing poorly who his neighbors are by pitching his tents near the evil city of Sodom. In doing so he chose land that looked nicer from the outside, but proved bad in the end.

We also get a reaffirmation here of God's promise of land and a heirs to Abram. How amazing it must have been to have God talk directly to you so often, and make such vast promises! I suppose we as heirs of Christ have been given even greater things, which I at least take for granted far more than I should :/

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Genesis 8

And the Flood is over! Noah and his family spent one year and ten days inside the ark, which seems like a very long time to be bottled up. My wife and I haven't spent more than a year living in any single location since we got married! From the description of how Noah sent out birds to scout for dry land, and his reaction when he finally opened the covering on the ark, it appears that they didn't have a deck they walked on or even windows that could see out to the sides of the ship. So much for all of those cartoon depictions I saw growing up.

I also like the promise God makes at the end of the chapter:

"While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease." (NAS)

So no ice ages, no massive global warming - no need to be concerned about such things! Mind you, I think we should still be good stewards of the earth and all that God has given us... but it is ever so nice to be able to sit and laugh when folks on TV start to freak out over "global warming" :)

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