Several times in today’s Bible reading*, Moses brings out that the LORD was with Joseph. Moses uses God’s Covenant-making, Covenant-keeping name Yahweh to emphasize that even though it seemed that Joseph’s world was falling apart, God was right there with him in the midst of it all. God was with Joseph when he was put…
In today’s Bible reading*, we see that Jacob is an early Geneticist. When most people think of the Father of Genetics, they think of Gregor Mendel, the mid-nineteenth-century scientist who experimented with pea plants. He observed that in cross-pollinating the plants, predictable results would follow. But Mendel was not the first person to experiment with…
In today’s Bible reading*, we read the story of when Rebekah falls in love with Isaac. The culture of the twenty-first-century Western World is very different than that of Isaac’s day. Abraham sends his servant to the land of his relatives to find a wife for his “firstborn son” Isaac. Abraham was concerned that Isaac…
Abraham offers his only son in today’s Bible reading*. Yes, you read that correctly: “his only son”. But didn’t Abraham have a son by Sarah’s servant Hagar? Yes, he did. Ishmael was born fourteen years before Isaac. So why does Moses refer to Isaac as Abraham’s “only” son? Elsewhere we’re told that Isaac was Abraham’s…
In today’s Bible reading*, we read about the depths of depravity of the citizens of Sodom, Lot, and Lot’s daughters. At the same time, we see Abraham’s intercession on behalf of the citizens of Sodom. Much has been said about the sin of the people of Sodom. But as you read the story, you see…
In today’s Bible reading*, Abram follows God’s call to leave his home in modern-day Southern Iraq, up the Fertile Crescent into modern-day Syria and down through modern-day Lebanon, Israel, across to Egypt, and back up into Israel, settling in Hebron. The trip was over 3000 miles. On foot. And Abram had a lot of stuff…
