August 10, 2006

• Last chapter, Genesis 35, was a chapter about deaths, we lost Rachel; Jacob’s son, Reuben, had an incestuous relationship with his father’s concubine; and then Isaac, Jacob’s father, died at one hundred and eighty years.

  
  

  Beth Moore comments in her book the Patriarchs, that death takes us from a relative cocoon of our thus-far existence into an inconceivably larger world. She then wonders what possessed Reuben to sleep with Bilhah. He surrendered to evil and disturbing desires. According to Beth, one commentator states, “Whatever his actual motives, Reuben’s deed represents a powerful challenge to Jacob’s authority. He simultaneously exacts revenge for the humiliation of his mother, prevents Rachel’s concubine from again usurping his mother’s place as Jacob’s (primary) wife, lays premature claim to his inheritance, and most important, directly challenges his father for leadership by assertion of greater sexual prowess and preeminence over his own wives. Reuben’s incestuous act is, in its inner meaning, an act of patricide, the removal of father as father.” This comes from the Beginning of Wisdom by Kass.

  
  

  Beth then mentions Rachel’s labor and comments about the difficult labor and the birth that led to Rachel’s death. Rachel named the child Ben-oni (son of my trouble/sorrow), and Jacob renamed the child Ben-jamin (son of my right hand). This is the only child that Jacob named, so his choice to change the name cannot be taken lightly. They have one syllable in common – “ben” which means son. Beth Moore says on page 165 “Who in the world knew the power of a name more vividly than Jacob? He was named Jacob because he grabbed his brother’s heel, but the name also implied meanings like cheater, supplanter, and deceiver. And he lived up to the broader implications, how often do you think Jacob felt mocked by his name? Surely the self-fulfilling, dark power of his name motivated the following dialogue as Jacob wrestled with the divine by the Jabbok.

  
  

  But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
  The man answered him, “What is your name?”
  “Jacob,” he answered.
  Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Gen 32:26-28

  
  

  Beth continues p. 165 “Overcome what, I ask you? His own name, for starters. He’d learned to fight fair, and God in His mercy released him from the noose of his own name.”

  
  

  It is funny. When I was born neither parent wanted me, so the naming of me fell to my sister. She named me Shirley Pauline – Shirley after Shirley Temple, and Pauline so I would have a middle name. She never had a middle name and resents that fact to this day. I have always hated my name – first of all I can’t carry a tune and I have two left feet. During my “hippie” days, after I decided to live and not die, I gave myself the nick-name, Heather Dawn, Heather being a plant that is growing, alive and living, Dawn being a rebirth, a reawakening, a coming anew. It stuck. I am far more a Heather than I am a Shirley. We have to remember to call me Shirley to my relatives but all the people that matter in my life call me Heather.

  
  

  I remember picking the title wondering04 for the blog – 04 I started the blog in November 2004. But I picked “wondering” because at the time I was wondering where God was. Now I wonder what wonderful things He is going to do in my life and in the lives of my Xanga friends. I always love learning why people pick their Xanga names.

  
  

  Names are powerful, and they are spoken often. Remember God changed Abraham’s name from Abram. Abraham means father of many nations. Can you imagine having to introduce yourself as Abraham and then being asked how many children you have, none…. Not an easy thing to do. But by changing his name, God had Abraham speak into existence his son.

  
  

  Beth Moore reminds us of 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 and Jabez, which means I bore him in pain. Jabez asks God to enlarge his territory and make him free from causing any more pain.

  
  

  Beth then asked a question: What kinds of circumstances can haunt a child today? And some of our group’s answers were being unwanted, death of a parent, and an accident of conception.

  
  

  Beth then said on p. 165-166 “Deliver us, Lord. Deliver us from these negative events or emotions that may have somehow identified us. Deliver us from inheriting some else’s sorrow and taking ownership over something that wasn’t our fault. Even if we’ve not been named after difficult circumstances, we may have felt the heavy burden of association. Jabez needed a dad like Jacob: A dad who refused to let his son become saddled with his mother’s sorrow. A father could as easily saddle a child with guilt as a mother. Maybe checks and balances is another reason God wisely assigned two parents to each child. You and I have a heavenly Father who refuses to call us by our old identities. God temporarily reversed His own Son’s identity that ours might be reversed. The Son of His right hand descended to this broken world to become a Son of sorrows so that you and I might “be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) How great is the love the Father has lavished on us.”

  
  

  Genesis Chapter 36

  
  

  I think we could give Chapter 36 the title,  the folly of the flesh. Our flesh says, “I want what I want when I want it. It is contrary to the Spirit. The flesh lives outside of the presence of God. The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Inspired means God breathed life into each and every word He spoke. So, while it might seem easier to bypass chapter 36, God included all the lineage information for a purpose. There are lessons to be learned even from the “begats.”

  
  

  We are now going to see the genealogy of Esau – remember Esau is Jacob’s twin brother, the elder one. But Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, and also was tricked out of Isaac’s blessing.

  
  

  Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan, these were pagan women. Esau’s parents were not happy with these marriages, and they troubled his mother. Esau settled in Edom, which is outside of the promised land. It is funny that Esau’s children were born within the Promised Land that God gave Abraham, and Esau made a decision to leave the land and settle outside of the land of promise. Jacob, on the other hand, had his children outside the Promised Land, and brought his family back to the Promised Land. This is another example of Esau despising his birthright, and leaving.

  
  

  Deuteronomy 7 the Israelites will be instructed not to marry Cananites.

  
  

  The following is notes from a teaching of Jon Courson on this chapter.

  
  

  The first wife Esau married was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. We have seen the name Adah before, Genesis 4:19 where Lamech took two wives, one of whom was Adah – this was before the flood. Lamech was a descendant of the family of Cain (the one who killed Abel).

  
  

  I know the next two paragraphs are a mouthful, but there is a lesson in this. And we might see where the Spice Girls got their name (just kidding).

  
  

  Esau married Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Aholibaman the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter. Notice that in Genesis 26:34 that Esau changed her name to Basemath (which means – no kidding- Spice Girl). When he met a Basemath later on in life, he had to change her name so that there were not two Basemath’s. 

  
  

  He also took Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite as a wife. I believe he renamed her Judith, a Jewish name, but that name did not seem to stick. If you look at Genesis 36:41 you see that she is mentioned as Chief Aholibamah (or Duke), and he may have married her for the power.

  
  

  But one thing we can see is that Esau learned the power of changing names. But unfortunately the flesh has a tendency to change the name of a sin into something that seems more palatable.

  
  

  For example today instead of adultery we have an affair, instead of fornication we have a fling, instead of sodomy we are gay. The sin is the same, no matter the name it is called.

  
  

  Esau chose not to marry within the nation of Israel, again he chooses to disregard God’s guidance, and not honor his birthright.

  
  

  When Esau saw that his choice of wives did not please his parents, he then went to Ishmael and selected Mahalath (whose original name was Basemath- but that was the name he changed one of his former wives to, so he had to change Basemath’s name).

  
  

  I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!!! What a string of confusion the flesh can make us go into.

  
  

  Don’t forget Ishmael was Abraham’s son by Hagar, and God did not recognize that “marriage” or that Ishmael was the first born. So Ishmael probably was stewing in the wilderness, feeling that Isaac had stolen his birthright, and now with this marriage, I am certain seeds of dissension were sowed.

  
  

  Verse 6-7 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock.

  
  

  This is similar to what happened between Lot and Abraham, where they had to divide because the land could not support both groups.

  
  

  Verse 8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is EDOM.

  
  

  Remember that this is where the Edomites come from, and we will see that the Edomites continue to torment Jacob and the Israelites.

  
  

  Then follows a detailed description of the genealogy of all the sons of Esau. In this we can see how the flesh proliferates and begins to gain control.

  
  

  One famous name is Eliphaz mentioned in verse 11 – this could be the same Eliphaz that is mentioned in the book of Job.

  
  

  Then the chapter talks about chiefs of Edom, one of them is mentioned in verse 15 Chief Teman – who was from the AMALEKITES – yet again another enemy of Israel.

  
  

  Then there were the sons of Seir. Verse 24 These were the sons of Zibeon: both Ajah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon. He was made famous for finding water, springs and water in this arid land was like gold.

  
  

  I have not studied all the meanings of the names in the above chapter, but did touch on some of them that are most important. I wonder whether there is an embedded message in the names. Pastor Don frequently points out that no one speaks Moabite, Jebusite, Amalekite, or any other language from the tribes of Esau, only the Hebrew language remains from this time.

  
  

  Beth Moore comments on page 166 about the descendants of Esau, “Scholars believe the positioning of Esau’s descendants in Genesis 36 may be a deliberate divider between the Jacob-Esau saga of recent chapters and the Jacob-Joseph saga to come. The spotlight of the narrative will now shift its gaze from the third generation to the fourth as Joseph takes center stage.”

  
  

  Jon Courson stated that in this chapter are 8 things that depict the flesh.

  
  

  1. The flesh is pious – Esau changed the names of his wives so that they sounded acceptable, religious, but underneath all they were the same.

  
  

  2. The flesh is prolific -the groups of people who were descendants of Esau multiplied. When we sow to the flesh, we plant a seed that will multiply and grow, and soon there is a large crop from one tiny seed sown to the flesh. (Of course, the same thing can be said if we sow to God).

  
  

  3. The flesh is prosperous. Sometimes it seems that those who are not godly seem to prosper. God will prosper the just and the unjust.

  
  

  4. The flesh is persuasive. Eliphaz (Genesis 36:11) was one of the people who sat with Job and argued with him to try and convince him that Job had sinned.

  
  

  5. The flesh is pernicious. verse 16 – the Amalekites would be a perpetual problem for Israel.

  
  

  6. The flesh is powerful. Deuteronomy 2:12 – Esau dispossessed the Horites who dwelt in Seir, and destroyed them just like Israel did with the land God gave him to possess.

  
  

  7. The flesh is persistent. verse 31-35 there was many kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel.

  
  

  8. The flesh is proud, boastful of what it has brought about. We have seen this with the meeting of Esau and Jacob after their father’s death, where Esau stated that “I have enough.” and Jacob showed Esau, “What God gave him.”

  
  

  But given the supposed power of Esau, today we know of no Edomites, Hittites, Jebusites, or any other ite that still is in existence. The language that they spoke is dead, and one of their best cities, Petra is right now empty with no sign of what happened to the people. They were totally wiped out and obliterated.  Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

  
  

  Tomorrow we begin a great study, Joseph, whose life takes up about 1/4 of the book of Genesis. His life is a picture of Jesus in so many ways. I have heard speakers say that in over 100 ways Joseph is a picture of Jesus, but I haven’t catalogued all those ways.

  
  

   

  
  

  Hope you have a blessed day, and I just got back from Bible study – are you going to be blessed when I start transcribing the notes tomorrow. Incredible is an understatement.

  
  

  Heather

  • 12:33 am
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