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Summary of Exodus, Chapters 15 - 23

2010-04-30T20:38:00.004-05:00

It looks like I slipped a little on my attempt to post something at least every ten days. Good thing there was no money-back guarantee with that . . .

Here is my summary of Exodus chapters 15 - 23:

After the Egyptian army was destroyed in the Red Sea, Moses led the Israelites into the Desert of Shur, where they cold not find any water for three days. When they finally found some water in Marah they could not drink it because it was bitter. God showed Moses a stick, which he threw into the water and made it sweet. God then told the people if they listen to him and pay attention to his commands, he will not send any sickness on them like he sent on the Egyptians.

About 75 days after they left Egypt, the Israelites came to the Desert of Sin. They complained to Moses and Aaron about lack of food, so God told Moses he would rain down bread from heaven that the people would have to gather in the mornings. However, God said on the sixth day they had to gather twice as much as on the other days, so they could rest on the seventh day and keep the Sabbath holy. God also gave them meat (quail) to eat in the evenings. The bread they baked was called manna, and they lived on that for 40 years until they came to the land of Canaan.

The Israelites traveled from place to place, and when they camped at Rephidim there was no water to drink. Moses asked God for help, and God told Moses to take some of the elders and hit the rock at Mount Horeb with his wooden staff, which would make water flow from it. Also while at Rephidim, the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites. Joshua and some of the men defeated the Amalekites, then God said he would completely erase the memory of Amalekites from the earth.

Moses' father-in-law Jethro came to visit Moses in the desert. After Moses told Jethro what happened to the Egyptians because God loved Israel so much, Jethro was delighted and said he now knows that the Lord is greater than all the other gods. The next day Jethro watched Moses serve as judge all day. Jethro told Moses he should choose some men to serve as judges over smaller groups of people, so they can decide the easy cases and only bring the hard cases to Moses.

Three months after they left Egypt, the Israelites camped in the Desert of Sinai, in front of the mountain. God called to Moses from the mountain and told Moses to tell the people they had seen what he did to Egypt and how he brought them out of Egypt. God said if they obeyed him and kept his covenant, they would be his holy nation. After Moses told this to the Israelites and reported back to God that they would obey, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, which are (Exodus Chapter 20):

You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not worship false idols. (God said he would punish four generations of descendents of those who hated him.)
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy (no working).
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony againsty your neighbor.
You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Over the next several chapters (21 - 23), God gave Moses some additional laws on various subjects. These laws dealt with Hebrew servants, personal injuries, protection of property, social responsibility, justice and mercy, Sabbath laws, and three annual festivals. At the end of chapter 23, God tells the Israelites he is sending an angel ahead of them to help drive out their enemies in Canaan. God tells the Israelites not to worship any of the Gods of their enemies, and in return he would bless their food and water, and take away sickness, miscarriages and infertility. God also describes the borders he will establish for their land.

Summary of Exodus, Chapters 6 - 14

2010-04-15T20:21:00.003-05:00

My summary of Exodus continues, after Pharaoh refuese to let the Israelites go, and instead makes them work harder as slaves.

Plague, plague, everywhere a plague

Moses went back to God and asked him why he had brought so much trouble on the Israelites and hadn't saved them. God once again said he would remember his covenant and bring the Israelites out of slavery, to the promised land of Canaan. God had Aaron and Moses perform miracles for Pharaoh, but God made Pharaoh's heart stubborn so he still did not listen to them. They performed the following miracles: Aaron's wooden staff became a snake; they turned the water of the Nile river to blood; plagues of frogs, gnats and flies covered Egypt; all livestock in Egypt died, except the animals owned by the Israelites; boils broke out on people and animals all over Egypt; the worst hail storm in Egypt's history beat down everything that was growing in the fields; a plague of locusts ate everything that was left after the hail storm; complete darkness fell over Egypt for three days, except for the Israelites.

Passover

The tenth plague was the plague of the firstborn, when God killed the oldest son of every person and animal in Egypt. But he did not kill the firstborn of the Israelites because he gave them instructions for putting blood on their door frames so he would pass over their houses. Pharaoh finally told Moses and Aaron the Israelites could go and take their flocks and herds with them. The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years when they marched out like an army. God led the Israelites toward the Red Sea. God went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

Parting of the Red Sea

Pharaoh decided to chase the Israelites after realizing they had lost all of their slaves. God told Moses to tell the Israelites to camp by the sea. When the Egyptian army approached the Israelites, God told Moses to reach his hand out over the Red Sea to part the waters. Moses parted the waters, and the Israelites went through on dry ground, with a wall of water on each side. When the Egyptian army tried to chase them through the Red Sea, God told Moses to reach his hand out over the sea so the waters would flow back. All of the Egyptians were destroyed. The Israelites then put their trust in God and his servant Moses.

Coming up: Desert Life

Summary of Exodus, Chapters 1 - 5

2010-04-05T22:08:00.005-05:00

Rather than summarize Exodus 10 chapters at a time, I'm going to summarize one or two stories at a time. This method should flow a little better.

The descendants of Jacob (Israel) multiplied and greatly increased their numbers, spreading out all over Egypt. Long after all of Israel's children and grandchildren died, a new king came to power in Egypt. He was afraid of how many Israelites there were, and that they might join the enemies of Egypt in case of war, so he decided to enslave them. But the Israelites still increased their numbers and spread out. The king of Egypt then instructed his people to throw every Hebrew baby boy in the Nile river, but let every baby girl live.

And then along came Moses . . .

One married couple from the tribe of Levi hid their son for three months, then set him afloat on the Nile river. The baby boy was discovered by Pharaoh's daughter, who named the baby boy Moses and made him her son. When Moses grew up, he killed an Egyptian man he saw hitting a Hebrew man. When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses but Moses escaped and went to live in Midian.

God tells Moses to talk like an Egyptian

One day while taking care of his father-in-law's flock, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. God told Moses he was concerned about the suffering of his people in Egypt and was going to take them out of Egypt and into a good land. God told Moses to go to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God showed Moses some miraculous signs he could use to prove he had been sent by God. Moses asked God to send someone else because he did not consider himself a good speaker, so God suggested Moses take his brother Aaron.

Moses and Aaron went to Egypt. Aaron spoke to the elders of Israel, and Moses performed miracles. The elders believed God was concerned about them. But when Moses and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh and told him God wanted Pharaoh to let his people go, Pharaoh refused. Instead of letting the Hebrews go, Pharaoh told his slave drivers to make the Hebrews work harder.

Coming up: Pharaoh is hard to convince

Summary of Genesis

2010-03-26T21:16:00.002-05:00

Here is my summary of the book of Genesis.

Genesis begins with the story of God creating the heavens and the earth in six days. The first humans were Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so God drove them out of the Garden of Eden. The descendants of Adam and Eve are listed down to Noah. God saw how much people were sinning when Noah was alive that he told Noah to build an ark to save his family and two of each type of animal, then God flooded the earth and killed all living creatures. After the flood waters receded, Noah's descendants began repopulating the earth.

One of Noah's descendants was Abraham (originally named Abram). God told Abraham that his descendants would be treated badly as slaves for 400 years, but God would punish the nation that enslaved them. He also promised a certain stretch of land to Abraham's children. When God made a covenant with Abraham to give him and his children the land of Canaan to own forever, he said the mark of the covenant would be that all males must be circumcised. God later tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac. God stopped Abraham right before he killed Isaac, and said since Abraham obeyed God he would be blessed with many descendants who would take over the cities of their enemies. Abraham's son Isaac became very rich and powerful because God blessed him.

Isaac's son Jacob had 12 sons, who eventually started the 12 tribes of Israel. Joseph was Jacob's favorite son. Joseph's brothers hated him, and they sold him to some traders on their way to Egypt, where Joseph had great success because God was with him. Joseph became very successful because he helped Egypt through seven years of famine that occurred after seven years with plenty of food, which Joseph predicted by interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph reunited with his father Jacob and his brothers in Egypt before Jacob died. Before Joseph died, he told his brothers that God would help them leave Egypt and bring them to the land he had promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Brap

Genesis chapters 41 - 50

2010-03-17T07:09:00.003-05:00

Here is my summary of Genesis chapters 41-50:

Chapter 41: Two years later, Pharaoh had two dreams but nobody could tell him what they meant. The wine taster told Pharaoh about Joseph interpreting his dream, so Pharaoh sent for Joseph and asked him to explain what his dreams meant. Joseph told Pharaoh he couldn't, but God could. So Pharaoh told Joseph about his dreams, and Joseph told him what they meant. Both dreams meant that Egypt would have seven years with plenty of food in all of Egypt, followed by seven years of terrible hunger in all of Egypt. Joseph said God gave Pharaoh these dreams to show Pharaoh what he was about to do. Joseph told Pharaoh he should put someone in charge of Egypt and store one fifth of the harvest during each of the seven years when there is plenty of food, so that food can be used later when there isn't enough food. Pharaoh put Joseph in charge, and Joseph did just that. People from other countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph.

Chapter 42: Jacob sent ten of his sons (Joseph's brothers) to Egypt to buy grain. He did not send his son Benjamin. Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him. Joseph accused them of being spies and said he was putting them to the test. He put all but one of them in prison while one of them went back to get his youngest brother. After three days, Joseph said he would let all but one of them go, but they must bring back their youngest brother. Joseph gave orders to have their bags filled with grain, and also to have their money put back in their sacks. When the brothers got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan the told him the story. He would not let them take Benjamin back to Egypt.

Chapter 43: After awhile Jacob's family needed more food, so he told his sons to go back to Egypt and buy some more. Jacob's sons eventually convinced him to let them bring Benjamin, and Jacob also told them to bring gifts and twice as much money for the man who sold them the food. When they got to Egypt, Joseph arranged for them all to eat in his house.

Chapter 44: Joseph told the manager of his house to give his brothers all the food they could carry, plus their money. He also told the manager to hide Joseph's silver cup in the youngest one's (Benjamin's) sack. The manager did that, and after the men left the city, Joseph told the manager to catch up with them and ask them why they stole Joseph's cup after all he had done for them. The brothers denied taking the cup, but the manager found it in Benjamin's sack. There was some disagreement about whether the brother found with the cup would be killed and the rest become slaves, or the brother found with the cup would become a slave and the rest would be free to go. So all the brothers went back to the city and talked to Joseph about it. Joseph said only the man found with the cup would be his slave, but Judah tried to get Joseph to take Judah as his slave instead of Benjamin, for fear it would kill their father if Benjamin did not come back.

Chapter 45: Joseph then had everyone except his brothers leave, and he told his brothers who he really was. He told them not to be upset that they had sold him into Egypt, because God sent him ahead of his brothers to take care of them. They were two years into the seven year period of famine, and Joseph told them there would be another five years. When Pharaoh heard that Joseph's brothers were there, he told Joseph to tell his brothers to go back to Egypt and bring back their father, and he would give them the best land in Egypt. Joseph's brothers went back to the land of Canaan and told Jacob (Israel) about Joseph.

Chapter 46: Jacob (Israel) headed toward Egypt with his entire family. Along the way, God spoke to Jacob in a vision one night and told him not to be afraid to go to Egypt, because God was going with him and would make him a great nation. All of Jacob's descendants at that time are then listed. Jacob's family stopped in the area of Goshen, and Joseph told them he would speak to Pharaoh and tell him they were all shepherds, and Pharaoh would then let them settle in Goshen.

Chapter 47: Joseph took some of his brothers to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh let them live in Goshen. Pharaoh also blessed Joseph's father Jacob (Israel). Joseph gave his family the best part of the land, and he provided for his family. Joseph continued to collect all the money from the people of Egypt and Canaan in exchange for food. When their money ran out, Joseph collected their livestock. After the livestock and money were both gone, Joseph bought all of the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, and Joseph made them slaves. But Joseph did not buy the land that belonged to the priests. Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt, to the age of 147. As the time of his death approached, Jacob asked Joseph not to bury him in Egypt, but to instead bury him with members of his family.

Chapter 48: Joseph took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to see Jacob. Jacob blessed them, but he placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, although Ephraim was the younger son. Joseph tried to correct him, but Jacob said the younger brother would become greater than the older one. Jacob then told Joseph he was giving him the range of hills he took from the Amorites.

Chapter 49: Jacob gathered his 12 sons around him and told them what would happen to them in the days to come. He said some would be great, some not so great. They are the 12 tribes of Israel. Just before Jacob died, he told his sons to bury him in the cave that Abraham bought from the Hittites. Then Jacob died.

Chapter 50: After Jacob's body was prepared for burial, all of Pharaoh's officials went with Joseph to bury his father, along with all of Joseph's family and his brother's families. After burying Jacob in the cave that Abraham had bought from the Hittites, they returned to Egypt. Joseph's brothers were afraid of what Joseph would do to them now that Jacob was dead, but Joseph told them not to worry. Joseph lived to be 110. Before he died, he told his brothers that God would come to help them leave this land (Egypt) and bring him to the land he promised with an oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

No points to ponder here, other than ending this book with another mention of God promising land to some of Abraham's descendants.

Brap

Genesis chapters 31 - 40

2010-03-09T20:56:00.004-06:00

Here is my summary of Genesis Chapters 31 - 40:

Chapter 31: After Jacob became rich, God told Jacob to go back to his father's land. Jacob told Rachel and Leah that their father Laban had cheated him and adjusted his pay multiple times, so Jacob ran away with his family and all that he had. Rachel also stole the statues of family gods that belonged to Laban. Laban chased Jacob and caught up with him in Gilead. God told Laban not to say anything to Jacob, whether it is good or bad. Laban asked Jacob why he tricked him and ran away without talking first. Jacob was angry with Laban, but they made a covenant and agreed not to harm each other. Laban went home the next morning.

Chapter 32: On the way to meet his brother Esau, Jacob separated his people into two groups. He was afraid Esau would attack them, so he sent servants ahead of him to tell Esau that the animals were a gift to Esau from his servant Jacob. Jacob sent his family and servants ahead of him one night, so he was left alone. He struggled with a man until morning. The man saw that he couldn't win so he touched the inside of Jacob's hip, which was then twisted. Jacob wouldn't let the man go unless he blessed him. The man told Jacob his name would not be Jacob any more. Instead it will be Israel. Then the man blessed Jacob. Jacob was then limping because of his hip. The people of Israel still do not eat the meat attached to the inside of the hip because the inside of Jacob's hip was touched.

Chapter 33: Jacob met Esau, and Esau was very happy to see him. Esau did not want to accept any livestock gifts from Jacob, but Jacob insisted. Esau suggested they head back to Seir together, but Jacob said he would need to go slowly because of the young cows and sheep. So Esau went ahead of Jacob, but Jacob went to Succoth, then to the city of Shechem in Canaan. Jacob bought some land and set up an altar there.

Chapter 34: Hamor was the ruler of that area. His son Shechem raped Jabob and Leah's daughter Dinah, and then Shechem fell in love with Dinah and told his father he wanted to marry her. Hamor and Shechem asked Jacob and his sons to let Dinah marry Shechem, and said they would give anything they asked. Jacob's sons told Hamor and Shechem that they would agree to give them their daughters as wives only if all their males were circumcised. Hamor and Shechem then convinced all the men of their city to be circumcised. Three days later they were all still in pain. Then Dinah's brothers Simeon and Levi attacked the city and killed all the males, robbed the city, and took all of the women and children. Jacob told Simeon and Levi they had brought trouble upon him and his family.

Chapter 35: God told Jacob to go to Bethel and settle there, and to build an altar. Jacob told his family to get rid of their strange gods before they went. Jacob and all of his people came to Luz, which was also called Bethel. God then told Jacob he would not be called Jacob anymore, but would be called Israel. God told him to increase his numbers, and he was giving him the land he gave to Abraham and Isaac. God said he would give the land to his children, too. They moved on from Bethel and were on the road to Ephrath when Rachel died while having another son, Benjamin. Israel (formerly Jacob) has 12 sons. Israel's father Isaac died at the age of 180.

Chapter 36: Esau married Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath. Esau moved out of Canaan because he and his brother Jacob owned so much they could not remain together. Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. The family line of Esau, who was also called Edom, is listed in this chapter. Then the kings who ruled in Edom are listed, as are the chiefs in Esau's family line who ruled over their settlements.

Chapter 37: Joseph was Israel's (Jacob's) favorite son, and Israel made him a beautiful robe. Joseph's brothers hated Joseph because he was their father's favorite. Joseph told his brothers about two dreams he had, which made them hate him even more. Israel sent Joseph to check on the flocks his brothers were taking care of near Shechem. Joseph found them near Dothan, but they saw him coming before he reached them and they made plans to kill him. Rueben convinced his brothers to throw Joseph into an empty well at first, instead of killing him. Rueben hoped he could save Joseph. The brothers threw Joseph into the well, but then they sold him to some traders who were on their way to Egypt. Then they took Joseph's beautiful robe, dipped it into the blood from a goat, and took it back to their father, Israel. Israel mourned his son's death. The traders sold Joseph to Potiphar, who was the captain of the palace guard in Egypt.

Chapter 38: Judah left his brothers and went to Adullam, where he got married and had three sons named Er, Onan and Shelah. Er was evil in God's eyes, so God had him put to death. Judah then told Onan to make love to Er's widow (Tamar) so he would produce children. When Onan made love to her, though, he spilled his semen so he would not produce children. God put Onan to death for doing that. Judah then told Tamar to live as a widow in her father's home. After Judah's wife died, Judah went to Timnah. Tamar heard he was coming and went to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. She covered her face with a veil so nobody would know who she was, and Judah had sex with her because he thought she was a prostitute. Tamar became pregnant with Judah's child. Three months later, Judah was told that his daughter-in-law was guilty of being a prostitute. Judah said to burn her, but Tamar convinced Judah that he was the father, so Judah did not have her burned to death. Tamar had twin boys, Perez and Zerah.

Chapter 39: Joseph lived in Potiphar's house and had great success because God was with him. Potiphar was pleased with Joseph and put him in charge of everything he owned. Potiphar's wife told Joseph to make love to her, but Joseph refused day after day. She asked again one day when they were alone, and Joseph ran out of the house, leaving his coat in her hand. She told Potiphar that Joseph tried to force her to have sex with him, but she screamed and he ran away, leaving his coat. Potiphar believed his wife, so he put Joseph in prison. God was with Joseph in prison, so Joseph was successful in prison, too.

Chapter 40: After Joseph had been in prison for awhile, Pharaoh became angry with his wine taster and chief baker, so he put them in prison. Some time later, they each had dreams the same night but they didn't know what they meant. Joseph told them only God knows what dreams mean, then they told Joseph their dreams, and Joseph told them what their dreams meant. Joseph told the wine taster his dream meant Pharaoh would release him from prison in three days and give him his position back. Joseph asked the wint taster to speak to Pharaoh about him and try to get him out of prison. Joseph told the chief baker his dream meant Pharaoh would cut off his head in three days, stick a pole through his body and set the pole up so birds would eat his body. Three days later, on Pharaoh's birthday, everything happened as Joseph said it would. But the wine taster forgot all about Joseph.

Points to ponder after reading these chapters of Genesis:

Isaac died at the age of 180, but didn't God declare in Genesis Chapter 6, around the time of Noah, that people would only live to be 120?

If God killed Onan for not wanting to father children with his sister-in-law, I wonder what Er did that made God put him to death?

How successful would Joseph have been if God had not been with him? How do we know God had anything to do with Joseph's success? Was anybody at this time successful without God's assistance?

Brap

Genesis Chapters 21-30

2010-02-22T22:17:00.005-06:00

I think Blogger will give this post a date of February 22, which is the date it was created in draft mode. It was actually posted February 28. I'll create a new post from older draft posts in the future to avoid this discrepancy.

Here is my summary of Genesis chapters 21-30:

Chapter 21: Sarah gave birth to Isaac, and after Isaac grew a little, Sarah told Abraham to get rid of Hagar and Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar. Abraham sent them away, and they wandered the desert of Beersheba. Hagar got Ishmael a wife from Egypt. Abraham and Abimelech made a peace treaty in Beersheba, and Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Chapter 22: God tested Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Just as Abraham was about to kill Isaac with his knife, God told Abraham not to kill him. Instead, God provided a ram for sacrifice that was caught in the bushes. Since Abraham obeyed God, God told Abraham he would be blessed with many descendants, who would take over the cities of their enemies. God said all nations on earth would be blessed because of Abraham's children. Descendants of Abraham's brother Nahor are then listed.

Chapter 23: Abraham's wife Sarah died at the age of 127. Abraham asked the Hittites if he could buy some land for a family tomb, since he was a stranger there. Abraham bought a field with a cave in Machpelah near Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the tomb.

Chapter 24: Abraham asked his best servant to get a wife for his son Isaac not from Canaan, where Abraham was living, but from his country, from among his own relatives. The servant set out for Aram Naharaim, and stopped at a well outside the town of Nahor. Rebekah came out to the well, and the servant knew she was chosen by God for Isaac because she offered water for his camels, too. The servant told Rebekah's father and brother the story, then he took Rebekah back to Isaac, and Isaac married Rebekah.

Chapter 25: Abraham married a woman named Keturah, and they had some more children before Abraham died at the age of 175. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah with his wife Sarah. Ishmael had 12 sons who became rulers of 12 tribes which settled near the eastern border of Egypt and were not friendly toward each other. Rebekah and Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Esau, the oldest, was Isaac's favorite, but Jacob was Rebekah's favorite. One day Jacob was cooking some stew when Esau came in from the open country and was very hungry. Jacob made Esau promise to sell him his rights as the oldest child before he would feed him.

Chapter 26: There was very little food available, so Isaac moved to Gerar. God told Isaac not to go to Egypt, but to stay where he was and that he would bless Isaac and his children by giving them all of these lands. God said he would do these things because Abraham had obeyed God and kept his commands, rules, and laws. Isaac became very rich and powerful in Gerar because God blessed him. The Philistines became jealous of him so they stopped up all of his wells. Abimelech, king of the Philistines, told Isaac to move away because he had become too powerful. Isaac moved away and settled in the Valley of Gerar, and had several disputes with the local Philistines over wells. Eventually Abimelech made a peace treaty with Isaac. Isaac's son Esau married two Hittite women, which upset Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27: When Isaac became old and blind he told his son Esau to hunt some wild animals and prepare a meal so Isaac could give him his blessing. Rebekah heard this and told her son Jacob, then she helped him trick Isaac into blessing Jacob. The blessing included ruling over his brothers. Esau was upset when he learned Isaac had blessed Jacob. Isaac told Esau he would live by the sword, far away from the richness of the earth. Rebekah was told that Esau said he would kill Jacob after Isaac died, so she told Jacob to say with her brother Laban in Haran until Esau calms down. Rebekah told Isaac she was sick because of Esau's Hittite wives, and did not want Jacob to marry a Hittite woman.

Chapter 28: Isaac blessed Jacob and told him not to marry a woman from Canaan, but instead to go to Paddan Aram to find a wife among the daughters of Rebekah's brother Laban. Esau learned Isaac had sent Jacob to Paddan Aram because he disliked the women of Canaan so much, so he married Mahalath, the daughter of Abraham's son Ishmael. On the way to Haran, Jacob had a dream while sleeping one night, in which God told him he would give him and his children the land on which he was lying, and all nations on earth would be blessed because of Jacob and his descendants. The next morning Jacob set up the stone he had slept on as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. He named the place Bethel (formerly Luz), and promised to give God a tenth of everything God gives him.

Chapter 29: Jacob continued his journey to where Rebekah's brother Laban lived. He had two daughers, Rachel and Leah. Jacob stayed with Laban for a month, then Laban asked him what his pay should be. Jacob was in love with Rachel, Laban's younger daughter, so he told Laban he would work for seven years to get Rachel. After seven years passed, Laban gave his older daughter Leah to Jacob instead. Jacob asked Laban why, and Laban said it is not their practice to give the younger daughter before the older one. Laban said after Jacob completed the wedding week with Leah, he would be given Rachel, but he had to work another seven years for Laban. Jacob agreed. God saw that Jacob did not love Leah as much as he loved Rachel, so he let Leah have children but Rachel could not. Leah had four sons.

Chapter 30: Rachel was upset that she was not having children, so she gave Jacob her servant Bilhah as a wife. Bilhah had two sons by Jacob. Leah saw that she was not having children, so she gave Jacob her servant Zilpah as a wife. Zilpah also had two sons by Jacob. Leah's son Reuben brought her some mandrake plants, and Rachel wanted them, so she told Leah she could make love to Jacob that night if Leah gave her the mandrake plants. Leah then became pregnant and had two more sons and a daughter. Then God made it possible for Rachel to have children, which she did. Jacob then told Laban to send him back to his own home and country. Instead of leaving, Jacob and Laban agreed to divide Laban's livestock, with Jacob taking care of some and Laban's sons taking care of the rest.

Points to ponder from Genesis chapters 21-30:

There seems to be a lot of emphasis in these chapters on God promising land to people, and triumph over their enemies, in exchange for obeying him.

If Esau gave up his rights as the oldest child just for a meal, does that mean both of his parents would have let Esau starve if Jacob had refused to share the meal? Was Esau tricked by Jacob, or was Esau just stupid?

Brap

Genesis, Chapters 11 - 20

2010-02-15T20:39:00.010-06:00

Here is my summary of Genesis chapters 11 through 20:

Chapter 11: At some point the people of the world spoke only one language, and they all lived in Babylonia. There were in the process of building a tower that reached to the sky when God saw what they were doing and realized they could do anything as long as they spoke the same language. So God scattered the people over the face of the earth, and made them speak different languages. Chapter 11 then continues to list the descendants of Noah's son Shem, some of whom settled in Haran.

Chapter 12: God told Shem's descendant Abram to leave the country and his people, and God would make him and his nation great. Abram left, taking his wife Sarai and nephew Lot with him, and arrived in Canaan. When Abram reached the large tree of Moreh at Shechem, God appeared to him and said he would give this land to his children. Abram then went east of Bethel, between Bethel and Ai, and built an altar. Abram eventually entered Egypt, but told his wife Sarai to say she was his sister in order to spare his life. Sarai was taken to the Pharaoh's palace to be his wife, and Abram was treated well because of her. But God sent terrible sicknesses on Pharaoh and everyone in his palace because of Sarai, so Pharaoh told Abram to leave with Sarai and all of his belongings.

Chapter 13: Abram, Sarai and Lot went from Egypt to the Negev Desert to a place between Bethel and Ai, where he had previously built an altar. Lot and Abram both had flocks and herds and tents, but the land did not have enough food for both of them. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in this area. Abram and Lot decided to divide the land, with Lot taking the whole Jordan River valley, and Abram living in the land of Canaan. Lot lived near Sodom, whose men were evil and sinning greatly against the Lord. God spoke to Abram after Lot left and told Abram he was giving him all the land he could see, so Abram moved his tents and went to live near the large trees of mamre at Hebron.

Chapter 14: This chapter describes battles and wars among many different kings. At one point Sodom was defeated, and Abram's nephew Lot was among the people captured and taken away. Abram, with the help of his 318 trained men, chased the enemy and took back everything they had taken, including Lot. The king of Jerusalem gave a blessing to Abram, and the king of Sodom told Abram to give him the people and keep everything else for himself. Abram said he could not accept anything other than the food his men have eaten.

Chapter 15: Abram was concerned his servant would inherit everything of his because he did not have any children, but God told Abram that he would have as many children as there were stars in the sky. God also told Abram he wanted to give him this land to take as his own. He told Abram to bring him some animal sacrifices, which Abram did. Then God told Abram that his descendants would be strangers in a country that does not belong to them, and they will be slaves and be treated badly for 400 years. God said he would punish the nation that makes them slaves. God made a covenant with Abram that day. He said he was giving to Abram's children the land that reached from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates. It included the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

Chapter 16: Abram's wife Sarai could not have children, so she gave him her female servant Hagar to be his wife. When Hagar became pregnant she began to look down on Sarai. Sarai began treating Hagar badly, so Hagar ran away. God found Sarai and told her to go back to Sarai and obey her, and God said he would greatly increase the number of her children. God said she was now pregnant with a son that will be named Ishmael, who will use his power against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael when Abram was 86 years old.

Chapter 17: When Abram was 99, God made another covenant with him. He said his name would now be Abraham, and he will be the father of many nations. This covenant will last forever, between God and all of Abraham's descendants. God said that although Abraham was now living in Canaan as an outsider, he would give Abraham the whole land of Canaan for him and his children to own forever. God said the mark of this covenant would be that all males must be circumcised when they are eight days old, including not only those born in his house but also any bought with his money. Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people for breaking this covenant. God then said Abraham's wife is now Sarah instead of Sarai. God promised to give Abraham a son by Sarah, who was 89 years old. God told Abraham to name his son Isaac, and God would establish a covenant with him that would last forever. God also said he would bless Abraham's first son Ishmael, and he would be the father of 12 rulers. On that day, Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael at the age of 13, and all other males who were born in his house or bought with his money. Abraham was also circumcised at the age of 99.

Chapter 18: God and two men appeared to Abraham. God told Abraham he would have a son by Sarah. God was heading toward Sodom because he had heard their sin was bad. Abraham asked God if he would sweep away godly people along with evil people in Sodom. He asked God if he would spare Sodom if he found 50 godly people there, then 40, 30, 20 and 10. God told Abraham he would not destroy Sodom if there were 10 godly people there.

Chapter 19: The two angels (who were men in Chapter 18) arrived at Sodom and met Lot, who insisted they spend the night in his house. Before they went to bed, men from all over the city came to Lot's house and said they wanted to have sex with the two men (angels). Lot told them no and offered his two daughters to them instead. The two men (angels) pulled Lot inside the house, closed the door, then made all the men who were outside the house blind. They told Lot to take his family away from the city and don't look back because they were going to destroy it. Lot's future sons-in-law did not believe Lot, so they stayed. Lot fled Sodom with his wife and two daughters, and stopped in a small town named Zoar. Then God sent down burning sulfur and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters then went to live in a cave. Both his daughters got Lot drunk so they could make love to him and become pregnant. Lot's older daughter had a son named Moab, who became father of the Moabites. Lot's younger daughter had a son named Ben-Ammi, who became the father of the Ammonites.

Chapter 20: Abraham and Sarah moved to Gerar, and told the king of Gerar, Abimelech, that Sarah was his sister. Abimelech took Sarah as his wife. God told Abimelech in a dream to give Sarah back to Abraham or he would die. Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and also gave him sheep, cattle, slaves and silver. Then God healed Abimelech, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again.

Points to ponder from Chapters 11 - 20 of Genesis:

Assuming a person is either godly or evil, I wonder why God didn't find at least 10 godly babies or toddlers in Sodom.

Brap

Genesis, Chapters 1 - 10

2010-02-09T20:43:00.009-06:00

Here's my summary of Genesis chapters 1 through 10:

Chapter 1: God created the heavens and the earth. On day 1, the earth was covered with water, and God separated light from darkness, calling them day and night. On day 2, God created the sky, which separated the water below it (earth) from the water above it. On day 3, God created land, plants, and trees. On day 4, God created the sun, moon and stars. On day 5, God created birds and the creatures of the ocean. On day 6, God created land animals (wild animals and livestock), and he created mankind in his own likeness. He told them to have children and increase their numbers, and rule over all creatures on earth.

Chapter 2: On day 7 God rested, blessed the seventh day and made it holy. When God initially made the earth and the heavens, there were no bushes, no plants in the fields, and no rain. But there were streams. God formed the first man, Adam, out of the dust on the ground. God planted a garden in Eden and put Adam there to take care of it. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden and separated into four other rivers, named Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates. God told Adam he could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Doing that would cause Adam to die. God tried to make a helper for Adam, so he formed all of the wild animals and birds out of the ground. He brought each living creature to Adam, who gave each one a name. Adam didn't find a helper that was right for him, so God put Adam to sleep, removed a rib from Adam, and made a woman from Adam's rib.

Chapter 3: The serpent talked the woman into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil by telling her she would know things she had never known before and be like God. She ate the fruit and gave some to Adam, who also ate it. They then realized they were naked and sewed fig leaves together to make clothes. Then they hid from God, who they heard walking in the garden. God asked where they were, and Adam said he hid because he was naked. God asked how they knew they were naked. Had they eaten the fruit of the tree they were told not to eat? Adam said the woman gave it to him. The woman said the serpend tricked her. God told the serpent he was putting a curse on him such that he would crawl and the ground and eat dust, and the serpent and mankind would be enemies. God told the woman that he was greatly increasing her pain during childbirth. God told the man that he would now have to work hard to get food from the ground. Adam named the woman Eve. God made clothes for Adam and Eve, then drove them out of the Garden of Eden so they would not eat from the tree of life, because that would allow them to live forever. He then placed cherubim and a flaming sword on the east side of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life.

Chapter 4: Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord, but he was not pleased with Cain's offering. Cain became angry, then killed Abel. God put a curse on Cain for killing Abel, saying the ground would not produce crops for him any more, and he would wander around the earth. God also put a mark on Cain, saying anyone who killed Cain would be paid back seven times. Cain went to the land of Nod and made love to his wife. They had a son named Enoch. Enoch had a son named Irad, who had Mehujael, who had Methushael, who had Lamech. Lamech had two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal and Jubal. Zillah had a son named Tubal-Cain, and a daughter named Naaman. Adam and Eve had another son and named him Seth. Seth had a son named Enosh. Then people began to worship the Lord.

Chapter 5: Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old. Adam lived to be 930, and had other sons and daughters. Seth lived to be 912, and had Enosh when he was 105. Enosh lived to be 905, and had Kenan when he was 90. Kenan lived to be 910, and had Mahalalel when he was 70. Mahalalel lived to be 895, and had Jared when he was 65. Jared lived to be 962, and had Enoch when he was 162. Enoch lived to be 365, and had Methuselah when he was 65. Methuselah lived to be 969, and had Lamech when he was 187. Lamech lived to be 777, and had Noah when he was 182. After Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Chapter 6: God decided that men will only live for 120 years. As the number of people on earth increased, God saw how bad the sins of man were and decided to destroy all the people on earth, except Noah and his family, because Noah was a godly man. God told Noah to build an ark because he was going to flood the earth and destroy all living creatures. God told Noah to bring two of every living thing onto the ark, and to bring the food they would need. Noah built the ark as instructed.

Chapter 7: God told Noah to go into the ark with his family, along with male and female of every animal. Seven days later it rained for 40 days and 40 nights. Noah was 600 years old at this time. Water covered the earth, including the highest mountains, killing all living creatures on the earth. The earth was flooded for 150 days.

Chapter 8: God sent a wind over the earth, and the waters started to go down. The ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. After the waters went down, God told Noah to come out of the ark, and bring all of his family and the animals, so they could multiply and increase their numbers. Noah built an altar to honor the Lord, and God said to himself that he would never put a curse on the ground and destroy all living things again because of man, even though the heart of man is always directed toward evil and his thoughts are evil from the time he is young.

Chapter 9: God told Noah and his sons to have children and fill the earth. He told them all plants and animals will be food for them, but they must not eat meat that still has blood in it. God said he would hold anyone or any animal accountable who murders a person. God made a covenant with all living creatures, that a flood would never destroy life again. The rainbow would be a sign of that covenant. Noah planted a vineyard, got drunk from its wine, and lay down naked in his tent. His son Ham saw him, and told his brothers Shem and Japheth. Shem and Japheth walked backwards into the tent and covered Noah's naked body. Noah found out what Ham and done, and put a curse upon Ham's son Canaan, that he would be a slave to his Shem and to Japheth.

Chapter 10: This chapter lists the descendents of each of Noah's sons, and where they settled. The sons of Japheth lived by the sea and spread out into their own territories. The descendants of Ham include Nimrod, Egypt, and Canaan. Their tribes and kingdoms are listed, along with some geographical information. The descendants of Shem are listed. They lived in the eastern hill country, which stretched from Mesha toward Sephar.

Points to ponder after reading the first ten chapters of Genesis:

God made the solar system, the earth, and all plants and animals in just six days. Very impressive.
I wonder what earth would be like if Eve had never eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
People lived a really long time (upwards of 900 years) up until the time of Noah.
I wonder how big the ark really was if it held all of those animals plus enough food for six months.

Brap

Who wrote the Bible, and when did they write it?

2010-02-07T22:15:00.004-06:00

The Bible can be divided into two sections, usually referred to as the old testament and the new testament. Judaism considers the old testament to be the Hebrew Bible. The new testament was written after the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The Bible is actually a collection of books believed to have been written over a period of just under 2000 years. The earliest estimates of the creation dates for some parts of the old testament go as far back as the 16th century BC, and the latest estimates of the creation dates for some parts of the new testament are as recent as the 2nd century AD.

Authorship of some books of the Bible is also a subject of much debate, given its age and the time span over which it was written.

Rather than perform an exhaustive or scholarly review of the origins of every book of the Bible, I think I will start at the beginning and work my way forward, going as in depth as necessary. So. here we go . . .

The first five books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) make up the Torah, which is the first of three parts of the Hebrew Bible. The Torah is the founding religious document of Judaism, hence it is very important to Christianity. Moses was accepted as the author of the Torah until the 17th century, but the majority of modern scholars believe the Torah was written by several different authors, only reaching its final form around the 6th or 5th century BC.

Regardless of who actually wrote these books or when they were written, Christians believe the Bible was inspired by God, and therefore infallible and inerrant. I'll take a look at Genesis in my next post.

Christianity - The Basics

2010-02-06T20:50:00.002-06:00

Based on some reading about Christianity at Wikipedia and http://www.christianity.com/, here are a few things I've learned about Christianity:

Christianity has its roots in Judaism. It began as a Jewish sect.
Christians believe a book called the Bible is God's inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. It is the ultimate source for knowledge about God, as well as the definitive guide for our daily lives.
The central figure in the Christian faith is Jesus Christ, who, according to the Bible, is the son of God who came to earth and died for the sins of mankind, and was then resurrected and rose to Heaven. (believed to be in the year 33)
Christians believe that Jesus is still alive and will one day return to judge the world and deliver his people to the kingdom of Heaven.
Christians believe that the only way an individual can escape eternal damnation is through faith in Jesus Christ, not by the individual's actions while living. Christianity is open to all people.

I'm sure I have only touched on the highlights of Christianity, and given the multitude of denomination I may have written something above that conflicts with the beliefs of a particular denomination. Corrections are welcome.

I think my next task is to learn some more about the Bible.

Christianity - So many flavors

2010-02-05T20:26:00.004-06:00

Well, I started looking into Christianity and quickly discovered there are quite a few variations, depending on how you want to group them. (Wikipedia says there may be up to 34,000 denominations of Christianity.) Three grouping options offered on the http://www.adherents.com/ web site are below. Each list is sorted by approximate number of adherents, in descending order.

Major Traditional Branches of Christianity

Catholic
Protestant
Other
Orthodox
Anglicans

Major Denominational Families of Christianity

Catholic
Orthodox/Eastern Christian
African Indigenous Sects
Pentecostal
Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United
Anglican
Baptist
Methodist
Lutheran
Jehovah's Witnesses
Adventist
Latter Day Saints
Apostolic/New Apostolic
Stone-Campbell ("Restoration Movement")
New Thought (Unity, Christian Science, etc.)
Brethren (including Plymouth)
Mennonite
Friends (Quakers)

Significant Sociologically Distinct Branches of Christianity (real differences with regard to culture, practice, doctrine, and history)

Catholic
Orthodox/Eastern Christian
Conservative Protestant
Liberal Protestant
African Indigenous Sects
Pentecostal
Anglican
Jehovah's Witnesses
Latter Day Saints
New Thought (Unity, Christian Science, etc.)
Friends (Quakers)

Points to ponder after looking at these lists:

Why are there so many different denominations or branches of Christianity?
Are there major disagreements among the denominations?
Did these different denominations develop over time as denominations split into two or more denominations, or did geographically separate groups evolve distinct denominations over time?

Rather than try to answer all those questions, I think what I will do initially is try to get a basic understanding of Christianity in general, such as its beliefs, origin, history, etc. I assume I'll get to the multiple denomination questions somewhere along the way.

Where to start?

2010-02-04T21:17:00.004-06:00

So, which religion should I start researching first? Should I start with the oldest one, the most popular one, or use some other criteria?

According to www.adherents.com, the top ten religions in terms of number of adherents are:

Christianity
Islam
Hinduism*
Chinese Traditional Religion
Buddhism
primal-indigenous
African Traditional and Diasporic
Sikhism
Juche
Spiritism

* Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist is actually in third place, but since that group is what I consider a religious choice instead of a religion, they don't count.

According to www.sacred-texts.com, the timeline of the 12 major religions of the world is as follows (all dates approximate). The number in parenthesis is where that religion ranks in terms of number of adherents.

2000 BC: Hinduism (3)
1500 BC: Judaism (11)
628 BC: Zoroastrianism (16)
599 BC: Jainism (13)
580 BC: Taoism (subset of Chinese Traditional) (4)
563 BC: Buddhism (5)
551 BC: Confucianism (subset of Chinese Traditional) (4)
33: Christianity (1)
100: Shinto (14)
570: Islam (2)
1469: Sikhism (8)
1817: Baha'i (12)

Some points to ponder after initially looking at this data:

The most popular religion today (Christianity) was the 8th major religion that was "started" (for lack of a better word). And it was started approximately 2000 years after the first one, Hinduism.
The second, third and fourth major religions that were started aren't even in the top ten today.

As an outsider, I have to wonder why you humans need so many different religions to satisfy everyone. You've been trying to figure out this religion thing for 4000 years, yet you still needed to create two new major religions within the last 600 years, with one of them originating less than 200 years ago. It will be interesting to see if new religions usually develop because of additional data that becomes available, important events occur to justify the creation of a new religion, disagreements among the adherents cause them to divide into multiple groups, or something else entirely.

I'll be the last entity to say the majority is always right, but I think I'll start my research with the most popular religion, Christianity. I'm sure I'll be jumping around between religions as my research progresses, but let's start with Christianity.

Introduction

2010-02-03T21:46:00.002-06:00

Welcome to my blog. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brap Gronk, but you can call me Brap. I am from a planet in a distant part of what you earthlings call the Milky Way Galaxy. I have been sent here on a mission to research the religions practiced on your planet, so that I may choose one religion and bring its teachings back to my planet.

I believe this blog will serve two purposes:

First, it will chronicle my research. In addition to documenting my thoughts and questions periodically, I will also be summarizing and reviewing various resources I come across, such as books and Internet articles.
Second, I would like to get input from you on what religions to consider, what religions not to consider, and how to find information on various religions. I would rather not get input from atheists, agnostics, humanists, or anyone else who does not believe in a Supreme Being. Since those types of people are against all religions, they won't be for any religions. I would much rather hear from people currently practicing religion who can explain the beliefs, history and practices of their religion, and can also honestly explain what, if anything, is wrong with the religions they do not practice.

So here are some rules I am setting for myself at the beginning of this journey.

Post something at least every 10 days.
Post a summary, sort of a "where my head is now" entry, twice a year. For now I'll plan on doing those semi-annual summaries the first post in January and the first post in July.

That's it for now. I'll probably be back in less than 10 days.

Brap