That was a lot of information about a very minor tribal warfare! But Lot was captured.
This was a long pursuit, all the way to north of Damascus!
Back to Salem, which means “peace”. It is now called Jerusalem.
Melchizedek came out of nowhere! He is mentioned in the Psalms:
But the best description of him is found in Hebrews 7:
Now back to Genesis 14:
By taking the easy way, Lot became vulnerable to temptations and bad influences.
But Abram stayed true to the promises of the LORD.
The great oaks of Mamre:
The command came with a promise:
This promise is valid even for us Christians. It is the blessing that comes with faith:
And not Abraham’s offspring, but to all that has come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as is written in
This is interesting. Abraham went in faith. Yet, when trouble started he did not have faith that God would protect him through the famine, but resorted to deceit to stay alive. It caused trouble, and God had to bail him out. This is one strong argument why I believe the Bible. It shows even Abraham with faults and failing faith.
One candidate for the location of the tower of Babel is the tower in Babylon, located in the middle of the walled city:
This is one suggestion what the tower used to look like.
And Babylon is being restored, complete with the Ishtar gate.
To finance the building of the tower the oldest profession did its part. The temple of Ishtar was full of temple prostitutes, and to organize it more effectively the use of money in the form of coins was first used in Babylon as payment for transactions.
Ishtar is having a resurgence in modern western culture, promoting whatever was going on in old Babylon. There is nothing new under the sun.
This did end a predictable way
In the genealogy of Shem the Septuagint accord differs from Masoretic text. I do not know why, except that the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew original seems to be more complete.
The timeline from Adam in table form:
After the flood people did not live as long. Could sun exposure have something to do with it? Or was it viruses? Anyhow, here is the
Yes, Dan could never take possession of their allotment in the promised land, the land of the Philistines, which is now Gaza, and this continues even to this day.
And from this people went into all the world.
Notice it doesn’t say the top of Mt. Ararat. The mountains of Ararat covers the whole region.
Noah sent out a raven, and the raven did what ravens do. Was this the reference that inspired Edgar Allan Poe in his poem “The Raven”? Here is one verse from it:
Now Noah showed his thankfulness and sacrificed on the altar he built. That’s why he took with him seven pairs of all clean and sacrifice-able animals.
After Jesus Christ final sacrifice of himself on the cross, there are no more physical sacrifices. Here are some of the acceptable sacrifices for today:
“Sons of God” is the literal translation of the Hebrew “ben Elohim,” but in Job 1:6 it is translated “angels”. Other translations call it “divine beings”.
Jude hints the “Sons of God” are angels.
After Jesus died on the cross, but was made alive in the spirit He did this:
In fact the Ark was so big that it was the largest wooden ship ever built. Larger ships, made of steel were not made until the 1880’s.
Has anyone found the Ark? Many have searched for it. Here is a drawing from someone claming to have seen it from a retreating glacier near Mount Ararat.
Notice, in chapter 6 it claims that you only take 2 of every animal. Stay tuned in following chapters.
The Old Testament is full of genealogies, and this is interesting for three things: People lived a long time, Methuselah lived 969 years and died in the flood, and Enoch did not see death, like Elijah was taken directly to God.
Sounds pretty good to me. Cain worked the soil, and with the sweat of his brow he gave thanks to the Lord for it. Notice it does not say first fruits, only some of the fruits of the soil.
Abel offered the firstborn of his flock.
It takes faith to do the right thing. think of it! To sacrifice the firstborn!
And God ordained it so, that the acceptable perfect offer is the firstborn of the flock of sheep or goats. This got later codified in Leviticus.
This is a little jewel from the story of Gideon.
The expression “my brothers keeper” is used often, but how many really know where the expression is coming from in this increasingly Bible illiterate world.
Yet, in the New Testament, after Jesus there is even better things promised.
Where is Nod? Here is a map from 1702. Nod is what is now Iran.
And with Abel dead and Cain gone, Adam and Eve started over.
Why the serpent? It has since the fall of man become the symbol of sin and Moses used this symbol during the Hebrews wandering in the desert when a disease broke out.
And Jesus himself used this symbol to explain its messianic and redemptive value.
And the serpent figures most prominently in Revelation, the last book of the New Testament.
Back to Genesis 3:
Satan quotes God, but changes one vital detail. Eve corrects the snake, but adds one touch.
Satan’s approach is always the same, repeated in the temptation of Jesus 40 days after His baptism:
The approach is: First flatter and appeal to vanity. If that doesn’t work, quote scripture to test God’s promises. Finally, if that doesn’t work, promise power and authority.
Fig leaves are lousy. They break very easily and does not cover well.
No, Adam and Eve did not die physically, but they both died spiritually, their perfect communication and trust in God was broken.
Yes, the human mitochondria and RNA tend to suggest we all come from one mother.
And people have been dreaming of finding the tree of life ever since.
Len Bilén's blog, a blog about faith, politics and the environment. 