Who needs a fortune when God will tell you it all.

So after Abram’s big battle in the last chapter and turning down any reward, God is now telling Abram about the reward he has in store for him.  In the very first verse God says he is a shield and a very great reward.  I find this interesting but very true that God is a great reward.  Often I don’t think about the fact that knowing God and having him in my life is a great reward all in its self, because it is through that that all our blessings come from.  However in the next part Abram like many of us doubts God’s power and thinks in worldly view that all his riches will go to his servant since he doesn’t have his own child to be heir.  God instead says that’s not his plan and that a child will come from Abram and to top it off his offspring will be as numerous as the stars.  Thinking of today’s times I don’t see that as crazy, I mean there are billions of people and it seems that if you go back far enough we all end up being related.  Abram didn’t know this though and having a name that lasted back then was a crucial thing and I think about how even now people will mention how we are children of Abraham, which in my head just keeps that promise.  When God has said this Abram believes him which is just another time to look at his faith being strong.  Then God says he is going to give Abram all this land and for some reason Abram instead of just believing it like he did the offspring he wants to know it can be.  I think this is funny that he believes God will give him tons of descendants but as for all the land that’s pushing it. God decides to appease him so asks Abram to bring a cow, goat, and ram and also a dove and pigeon.   Abram does so and then cuts the three bigger ones in half and chases some birds of prey away from the offering.  When the sun sets Abram falls into a deep sleep and God reveals his future plan to Abram.  He tells him that his descendants will become enslaved and that will last 400 years, but God will punish the enslaver and bring the people out with great possessions.  Then he says that the fourth generation will return to where Abram is and receive that land he was promised.  I find it crazy that God is just telling Abram about what we know as Exodus-Joshua.  He lets Abram know that he will die in peace.  I also find it interesting that God says the Amorites haven’t reached their full measure of sin yet.  I see this as God is giving the Amorites as much time to discover him and turn from their ways before his people come with Joshua and bring battle.  It’s like many other times where God waits to the absolute worse before he takes action, in the hopes of saving a few more.  This makes me think about how the return of Christ won’t be until our world is just at its absolute worse.  I feel God’s love is yearning for us to turn to him so he is going to wait until the very last person turns to Christ and at that time God will say, “Finally all my children are accounted for its time to bring all of them home.”  Anyways back to this chapter.  Night has come and a blazing pot and torch pass through the offerings and making the covenant that Abram’s descendants would receive that land from God and then ends with saying what that boundary is.

I think Abram might make the next best fight movie

Well this chapters starts off by talking all about the kings in the surrounding area and how war has begun. It even gives a little background on the whole situation about how five of the kings were under one of them and so they rebelled. So he has to go get some of his king buddies to put these other five kings in their place. So we end up with it being four against five and the four are just kicking butt and taking over everything. It all came down to a battle in the Valley of Siddim, where they all met to battle. Of course The four kings did what they have been doing and defeat the five and if that wasn’t enough as they try to escape into the hills some fall into tar pits, that where common to the valley. Now at this point of the chapter you might wonder, if it’s your first time to hear this story, what in the world is going on weren’t we just with Abram. Well I left out the part that one of the losing side kings happen to be Sodom where Lot just happen to be staying near in the last chapter. It is interesting because at least in my version here it now says Lot was living in Sodom now that could still mean he was just close or maybe with the war going on he moved into the city for protection, but whatever it means by him being in Sodom the point is because of it Lot is captured along with all he has and taken as spoils of war. Next is another interesting part because a man escapes and comes to Abram to tell him what has happened. This I find strange because unless this man escaped from Lot’s group then he is just another prisoner of war and for some reason thought that Abram could help. Maybe Abram already had a big name going for him or maybe the prisoner was from Lot either way this guy escapes to tell Abram about his nephew. Well as soon as he hears this Abram with his own allies gathers 318 men together to go rescue Lot. At this point I had pictured a smooth rescue op where they were going in and out quickly so as not to be noticed since they only have 318 men, but I’m mistaken because it says he attacked them at night by splitting his group up and attacking all over and that they chased them back. At the end of it he recovers Lot and all that was taken from the other kings and returns after defeating the king. Now this to me is movie worthy because we have a rebellion, a war, tar pits, an escape, a small band of men, a strong leader, and they defeat what had to be some big odds. But really I wonder how big the other side had to be, they were made up of four kings, who were considered to be the bigger guys, and they already beat five other kings and their armies so I have to assume to a degree that this army has to be pretty big. Abram though goes in with his 318 just to prove that God doesn’t need big numbers to accomplish what he wants. So Abram returns and the king of Sodom comes out to thank him and then Melchizedek king of Salem comes and he is known as the priest of God Most High. That’s right a priest of our God is a king and not even associated with anything else with Abram and this is the first time we have even heard of a priest. He blesses Abram and then Abram gives him a tenth of all the spoils and that is all we get of this priest of God. Then the King of Sodom tries to gives the spoils to Abram, but he says that he only wants the people returned because he doesn’t want anyone to think that it was this act of the king that will make him rich in the future, but that it was God who will make him great. However those allies of his that came along he did let them take their share. It then just ends the chapter. I must say that this is an incredible story of how God concurs all and that this needs to be made into a movie.

Ok well I want the best spot.

Abram now leaves Egypt and with both wife and Lot to Negev, which to me blows me away because that means lot was there the whole time and could have said something but was just as much a fool as Abram was when it had come to the mistakes made in Egypt.  Anyways Abram is now getting to be wealthy with both animals and gold and the first fruits of God’s blessing are now being seen.  Abram moves back to where his first spot where he had built one of his alters and again praises the Lord.  Now Abram isn’t the only one that is doing good because Lot also has been growing in wealth to the point that living with and around his uncle is now getting a little crowded.  Both their herdsman are beginning to argue back and forth.  Abram realizes that the time has come to part ways due to their growth and so asks Lot to choose where he would like to go and explains that he will go the opposite way to give them space.  He even allows him the choice of choosing where he would like to go.  So Lot decides he is going to take the plains of Jordan because they look the best leaving Abram with anything else.  So Abram lived in Canaan while Lot lived near Sodom, which already has a reputation for being a place of great sin.  Lot it looks even tries a little not to associate with them by living outside of the city.  Now we come back to Abram talking with God and how God again explains that Abram will be blessed to the point of having more descendents than anyone will ever be able to count and that the land that Abram has been traveling will all be theirs forever.  Abram then decides that he wants to live around the great trees of Mamre, which sounds like it would be a nice place to settle down.  Again the first thing he does is build an alter to praise the Lord.  Now that’s it for the chapter and I don’t have much to say other than I think it must have been awesome to live back in that time and have a promise like that given to you by the God that you try so hard to please and follow.

So remember your my sister.

This chapter begins the story of the patriarch Abraham who at this moment is still known as Abram and begins with him being called by God.  God tells him to leave pretty much everything because God wants to bless him and make him a father of a great nation.  It even gives foreshadowing of Christ here by saying that this will be a blessing for all nations, because we now see that he is of the lineage of Jesus.  Now obviously Abram is a very faithful guy, but others who are more pessimistic then me have argued that here he is already messing up.  God gave simple instructions of leave country, people, and father’s household and some would argue that taking lot and his servants broke that.  I don’t think that is necessarily true since his servants were of his household and Lot might have been a mistake but he was family.  So they all head out to Canaan where God has promised to bless them, which to me is amazing because to be told just up and leave and I will show you the way means I have to trust that there is somewhere I’m going and that once I’m there that there is actually a plan.  Call me crazy but that would be just a little hard for me to swallow.  As they travel out God tells Abram that all the land that they are seeing will be for his descendents.  So Abram builds an alter there to remind himself of God’s promise and to praise God.  He then settles down in places pitching his tent and praising the Lord.  Now a famine comes through and forces Abram to have to go down to Egypt, but before they get there he realizes that people might try and take his wife.  See Sarai is a very beautiful woman and so he decides to not trust God and tells her to call him her sister instead, because he thinks they will kill him and take her.  Well Sarai being the obedient woman agrees to this crazy plan and sure enough they get to Egypt and the pharaoh himself likes her.  Now I think at this point at least as Abram I would have said something but he doesn’t.  I myself think this is crazy, because I have a very beautiful woman and never once do I think to call her my sister, but then again these are different times.  Anyways pharaoh takes her for his own and gives Abram a bunch of gifts out of it from animals to servants.   But as soon as he has her God put disease over Pharaoh and his people and so he calls Abram in.  All the pharaoh says is why in the world have you done this to me and that if he had known they weren’t siblings but spouses that none of this would have happened.  Abram isn’t even given the chance to speak because Pharaoh tells him to leave taking everything he has and most importantly to take back his wife he never should have given up in the first place.  I think this is the end to a very weird story because not only does the man of faith not show faith but then he shows that he values his life more than his wife and that somehow he gets to keep all his spoils at the end of it.  To me this just shows that it doesn’t matter who you are because we all have faults and no matter what those faults are God still has a plan for you if you would only return to him.  Sometimes, just like in the story, God even steps in and helps get you on the right path.

I wonder how far they actually got.

So the whole world has a common language which to me is like the coolest thing because I am a people person so the idea of being able to talk with everyone sounds great.  The people find a field and like many humans they decide that it would be better to build on it.  They decide that they want to make a name for themselves so they want to build a city with a tower that reaches the heavens and so that they won’t be scattered across the earth.  This is weird to me because usually so many are trying to get away so at least at this point humans understand the need for community and want to be all together.  The Lord comes to visit the city and this is where my stories differ from what is written and what I was taught.  See I have always heard God confused them for trying to reach heaven in their arrogance, but from what I have read it seems more that they just wanted a huge sky scraper that would hold all the extended family and that God didn’t like that they could do so much when working together.  Now I put all my faith in God and believe that his will is best, but when I see something good I don’t understand when God says no.  In the same way I don’t really understand why God is against us working together.  He says that nothing would be impossible if people were to work together and I understand that completely.  So many battles, difficulties, and obstacles have been overcome when men and women come together for a common purpose.  God I guess saw that that would only lead them to destruction so he decides to do exactly what they didn’t want and scatters them across the earth also changing their languages.  So the great city is given the name Babel, and to my knowledge it is the last time that all mankind has ever rallied together to do anything.  At this point we have like a scene change and the story follows Shem son of Noah and his family line showing us that his descendent is Abram.  Now Abram’s dad is Terah and his brothers are Nahor and Haran.  We have Haran die and Nahor marries his niece and then.  Terah decides to move to Canaan from Ur with Abram and Sarai and Lot son of Haran, but they get to Harran and decide to just stay there.  There Terah dies and there ends the chapter.  It intrigues me that Terah wanted to move to Canaan because at this point God has not called them and yet being a Godly man even Terah must have felt that God was leading his family some where else.

This about sums it up!!!!!!!!

Well chapter 11 is going to be really short because most of it is genealogy of the three sons.  Each son has many sons and those sons have sons and it shows how they started to spread out and become the cities and territories that we hear of in the bible.  Each as they grow it even says started their own languages, which seems funny to me since they all started with the same why would they even need new language.  So like I was saying you have all these really cool names being said and then we even get to one that they decide to brag on a bit and that is Nimrod.  Nimrod is this great warrior, which makes me wonder how they knew this since they shouldn’t have anyone to fight against, but anyways he is a great warrior.  Now he was said to be a mighty hunter before the Lord and now we have changed titles from warrior to hunter so maybe it was warrior against animals.  Anyways he is so great that they make the phrase, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.”  So next time I meet some hunters I am going to tell them to strive to be like Nimrod.  I wonder if that phrase was common for Moses since he was the author or if it is mentioned somewhere else in the bible.  My last thing is that Canaan was cursed in the last chapter  and yet it is his people that become the land of Canaan so is that part of the slave thing on how both Shem and Japheth’s lands will come to conquer his land or at least shadowing of how God promises that land to Abraham.  Well I doubt it or if it is I got lucky.  Anyways that’s all I got about this chapter.

Everyone likes a vineyard.

This chapter is really great because it is full of how even the best of men can go astray, which teaches us that God can use all of us not just the best.  The chapter starts with God blessing Noah and telling him that all creatures will now fear humans.  Here we have the point where animals will always scurry away when humans get close.  This means that it is natural for animals to fear us and that even beast as ferocious as the lion or tiger are simply acting on their fear of us.  Then God says that they are for us all to eat as long as we drain the blood from it all first.  So here already God has called all animals food for us and all he asks is that you cook it well done.  Then he starts off on this whole thing on life blood or actually just the fact that you shouldn’t shed human life.  I think God is saying this because so far since the garden the only sins we have heard of is murder, corruption, and violence.  Since two of them would be tied to shedding blood I am just guessing that God might be fed up with all the fighting.  God wants them to be fruitful and multiply, but also wants to make a promise with them that he will never again flood the world to destroy all life.  Now that doesn’t mean no more floods it just means never again to the point of all life ending.  God then sets a rainbow in the sky and says that this will be his own little reminder of his promise so that if he ever gets in that wrathful mood again he knows that he can’t use water.  So I guess it’s to the classic hellfire and brimstone now for those he wants to do in.  So the story goes on and talks about Noah and his family and how they will all together become the population of the entire world.  It is fun though to notice that it mentions Canaan the son of Ham which is interesting because it makes me think that Canaan was born on the boat during the flood and how fun that must off been not only having all those animals but dealing with a pregnant woman and then a new infant.  It’s like things weren’t fun enough so they had to throw in a baby too.  Anyways so they start to go about life and Noah plants himself a little vineyard and after awhile has some wine.  Here is where we see that Noah the faithful one who was saved by God is not perfect, but struggles with alcohol to the point where he is getting drunk and passing out naked in his tent.  Ham comes in see this and instead of being a good son and covering him up and just leaving he goes and tells his brothers.  Now I picture it as not just telling them but more of him joking about it saying “Guys you won’t believe it dad is passed out naked and he looks so ridiculous.” Now the other two brothers know better and so they grab a blanket and walk in, in a way that they don’t look at the dad that still covers him with their blanket.  Well Noah wakes up and finding the blanket starts asking questions and finds out what happens and he is so angry with his other son that he doesn’t even curse him, no he does what every father would hate to have happen.  He curses Ham’s son Canaan and says that he will be a slave to both Shem and Japheth.  Now you would think being the first kid around you would have it easy but no then your dad has to go and screw all that up for you.  Both Shem and Japheth are blessed and again told that Canaan is their slave and then Noah lives few hundred more years and dies at age 950 ending this chapter and the story of Noah.

All those animals for a whole year... ughhh.

Chapter eight begins with God remembering that the only thing on earth is this boat of every animal and eight people in this world of water.  So he decides that the world has been in rinse cycle long enough and so he starts drying up the place by causing wind and having the springs closed up.  So after five months the waters start to go down. And so the ark hits what begins to be shallow water, a mountain. The waters continue to go down and after another couple months the mountains can now be seen verse the shallow part of water.  Then we have the smartest idea ever when it come to the world flooding, Noah opens the window and being able to see mountain tops decides to send out a raven to see if it will come back but it just flies around and then comes back.  Noah here obviously decided he doesn’t like the raven so he tries a dove same thing happens so he waits tries again with the dove and this time he gets a branch and so he waits again and this time it doesn’t even come back.  Noah again is a genius for thinking about using a bird to figure out if there is dry land.  So Noah being a cautious man waits a little longer and then looks to find that the land is dry. And waits even a little more to make sure the entire earth is dry and so almost a full year after entering the boat Noah comes out, which means I was wrong in the last chapter cause it wasn’t half a year but a full year.  This had to be an amazing feat because to be stuck on a boat with every animal must have been load and crazy.  Maybe God put all the animals to sleep so that they wouldn’t get hungry or go crazy.  My guess is that it really was that crazy and Noah and his family after that ride never want to ride on a boat or see an animal again after that.  Anyways God then calls them to come out and they come off the boat probably the more grateful for getting off the boat then being saved at that point.  God also says for them to start having babies so that they can repopulate the earth.  This time the animals are said to have come out two by two and so I can see this mass line coming out of the ark.  So Noah of coarse being a faithful man does what any person should do after being saved by God and that is offer sacrifice on an alter or at least for us it would be give thanks to God.  Since Noah was saved from total annihilation he sacrifices some of every clean animal and bird just to make sure he would thank God enough.  Then God takes a whiff and loves the smell so much and is so pleased that he promises that he will never curse the ground or destroy all living creatures.  God even does it kind of grudgingly because he declares this while saying that humans are still mostly evil natured from childhood.  That is interesting to me because God is saying that even from childhood sin is a big part of our lives and that is true but what does that fully mean.  Does this mean we are born with sin or the early on sin creeps into our heart or is it that there is always evil in the world and just somewhere when growing up we recognize this evil and then when we decide to do the evil that is when sin comes.  So as long the earth endures God says that day and night, seasons, weather, and all other aspects of the earth will continue.  Now what exactly determines that the earth has no longer endured, I have no idea, but I do know that as long as things are going good in the world that it must mean that we are not near the end of days.  So that’s all I have for this I hope it all makes since.

Man what a site to see!!!

This chapter is the very basic Noah story with only a few minor notices in it, but it starts off with reminding us that Noah has been chosen because of his righteousness.  He then gives Noah a command of taking one pair of every animal into the ark and seven pairs of every clean animal.  This threw me off a bit because I had always learned that he took two unclean and seven clean I didn’t realize it was a pair so that we had fourteen.  That makes more since though since those were the animals that were eaten.  Then he again says seven pairs of all birds, which I had never realized.  I guess that’s why I see birds all the time because they had extra tickets to the ark.  God then explains that in seven days the flood is going to come so prepare for all the animals coming and prepare themselves cause God isn’t waiting anymore he is going to destroy it all.  I have seen so many pictures of what it must have been like for the animals to enter the ark and yet I don’t think we can do it justice for this seven day process of every animal coming by land or air to enter the ark.  As an animal lover I would have loved to been Noah or one of his sons and be in charge of making sure all the animals go where they need.  Plus if you think about it only because of zoos and tv and internet do I even know about all these animals, so for Noah and his family some of these animals they had probably never seen before and were probably amazed by them.  Then there are animals like tigers and lions that you have to think had to be a scary thing to have an animal that you know could tear you apart walk beside you as you show it its spot.  Anyways then the time comes and God himself shuts the door as springs under the earth burst out and the skies above pour down for the next forty days.  Now I have had it rain for three days straight before and I have seen fields become lakes and to think of it not only raining forty days but it is also coming up from the ground just shows the power of God.  It then tells us that the waters rose over all the mountains and that after forty days the rain stopped, and that even after that it was flooded for 150 days.  That to me is something amazing because now Noah has been on this boat for 190 days so a little over half a year.  There has to be a lot of trust to be able to trust God to deliver you from this world of water, I mean after about two months I would have started to get a little antsy.  Well I know this one was shorter but it was very repetitive and also a story everyone knows well so there wasn’t a lot to me that just struck me other than the protection of God and the faithfulness of Noah.