Genesis 12-26

One Sunday afternoon, I went ahead and read through Genesis 12-26..I tried to jot some notes down about what I noticed in the text.. Might as well share some of the highlights.

Genesis 12-15:

Abraham had to leave his family behind, in order to receive God's blessings.
What if we needed to leave our family behind in a sense to fulfill God's purposes for our lives? Also, affecting our blessings..
Abraham did not leave behind Lot. Lot went. Abram and Lot parted ways.
Lot faces issues. Leaves Gomorrah. His wife disobeys God and dies.
God promises to give Abram the land, and Abram will have a son who will get everything Abraham owns.

Genesis 16-18

Sarai gives Abraham her maidservant to bear his child. Snowball effect. Haggai thinks she's better than Sarai once she conceives her boss' husband's kid. Sarai gets mad at Abram. Sarai is cruel to Hagar, Hagar runs off. Angel speaks to Hagai, and she goes back, because God can see her even there were she was.. in the middle of nowhere.Ishmael will be his name. Many will be his descendants.

God promises to give Abram the land and make him the father of many nations. The way to prove his faithfulness: him and other males must be circumcised on the eighth day as a symbol of their faithfulness to God. It is keeping the agreement that was made. God told Abram that he and Sarai will have a son (Isaac) in one year. Sarai laughed at the idea of having a baby in her old age. God goes to Sodom and Gomorrah, and his plan is to get Abraham's descendants to obey Him and seek to do what is right, then the promise is purposed.

Genesis 19-21

Lot welcomes the angels in, they see the wickedness of the land, save Lot before he can get hurt. They were told to not look back. Lot's wife looks back (daughters would not leave the land), and she dies (turned into a grain of salt). Things will happen to make us keep looking back. Our powerful past will always be there, but we need to look and move forward not backwards. Lot's daughters pondered finding a husband and having children. They got their father drunk, and impregnated themselves. Their children becomes Ammorites and Moabites. King took Sarah, because she lied about being Abraham's sister again. King was warned by God in a dream, so he gave Sarah back to Abraham plus gave slaves, animals, and land. The king sought to respect God and live right. Sarah had Isaac, and he was circumcised as a reminder of the agreement between Abraham and God. They partied. Sarah wanted Hagar and Ishmael gone. Abraham gave them food and water. They moved to the desert. God constantly provided for them. God heard Haggi's cry, and provided a well for them. Hagar found a wife for her son, and they continued to live there in the desert.

Genesis 22-24

God tests Abraham. He has to take Isaac up to the mountain to sacrifice him. Abraham showed himself faithful, and did not have to sacrifice his son. Abraham's faith was there. Sometimes, we need to be tested. We need to be brought to the place of "where is our faith really?" This was the case for Abraham, and his faith was enough. A ram appears and becomes the sacrifice. Sarah dies, Abraham cries and buries her. God prepared peoples' hearts, and they were very generous to Abraham---giving him land in addition to the cave to bury Sarah in. Abraham sends his head servant on a mission to find a wife for Isaac. He goes, prays, and finds Rebekah who would be Isaac's wife. God is praised for answering the servant's prayer and showing him exactly who Isaac's wife should be.

Genesis 25-26

Abraham remarries, and has more children. He lived a full life and died to go "with his people". Isaac and Ishmael bury him in the cave next to Sarah. Isaac gets everything except what is given to his children of his slave women. Issac marries Rebekah. She was unable to have children, until Isaac prayed for her. (Never underestimate the power of praying for one another!) Then, God allows her to become pregnant. Jacob and Esau are born. (leaders for two separate nations that would fight w/ one another) Esau was Isaac's favorite. Jacob was Rebekah's favorite. Esau sold his birth right to Jacob. Isaac and family moves. He tells everyone that Rebekah is his sister. He is caught in trouble for lying again. His lying could have caused others to sin! Isaac begins to harvest, becomes very rich, and the king asks him to leave the land. Esau marries two women. These marriages make Rebekah and Isaac very unhappy.

Lots of things happened in the line of Abraham in just 14-15 chapters!