Friday, October 29, 2010

Women of the Word, Oct. 28



Genesis14-16

--Abram defeated Kedorlaomer. After this the kings (which were minor-type kings of small tribes) allied with Abram who refused to take gifts as Abram only wanted people. We read for the first time the term "a tenth of everything" which will remind us of the term, "tithe" which we will hear more about in the New Testament.

-- In Chapter 15, the important thing to remember is the term "Covenant". Unlike in modern day law, covenant in the Old Testament means something different as it relates to God's covenant relationship with His people. There were two types of covenants. The one that God had with Noah was one kind. But, Noah did not respond back to God in the same positive way that God was in covenant with Noah.
In the second kind of covenant, we have to actually do something that God commands us to doto be in a covenant relationship with God.

-- God made a promise and we HAVE TO BELIEVE THIS PROMISE (vs.6) to be considered righteous in His eyes.
We learned about the animal sacrifice to complete the contract with God. The flaming torch and fire pot were symbolic in a vision that Abram had and these two things represented God sealing the covenant with Abram.

--In chapter 16, we learned about Abram's wife (Sarai) being infertile and how very important it was in early Biblical times that women give birth and give birth often. It was common practice then for an infertile woman to allow her servant woman (Hagar in this case) to become pregnant by her husband. By allowing Hagar to bear an heir showed that Abram was impatient and did not want to wait for God's promise to be fulfilled. Sarai then mistreats Hagar who runs away. An angel appears to Hagar and tells her that she needs to return to her mistress and that she will have "descendants too numerous to count". Ishmael would later lay the foundation for the beginning of Islam. Hagar did give birth to a son and he was named Ishmael which means "under God's domain".

Submitted by Vicky Steinwender

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