Day 15

II The Age of The Patriarchs - 1967-1606 B.C. ~ cont.

B. Abram ~ cont.

6. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ~ cont.

b. Intercession for Sodom - Genesis 18:23-33

c. Angels visit Lot to warn - Genesis 19:23

d. Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Dead Sea formed - Genesis 19:24-29

7. Abraham and his family

a. Lies to Abimelech - Genesis 20:-1-18

b. Birth of Isaac (44th Gen) - Genesis 21:1-7; 1 Chronicles 1:34

c. Lot's daughters bare his sons, Moab and Benammi - Genesis 19:30-38

d. Conflict of Isaac and Ishmael - Genesis 21:13

e. Hagar and Ishmael cast out - Genesis 21:21

And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took her.  (Genesis 20:2)

I'm always amazed when I come to this portion of scripture...Sarah was not a 'youngster' though she died at the ripe 'old' age of 127 - she is about 90 here, give or take a few months.  I find it amazing that at her age the king would want to add her to his harem.  Father providentially protected and kept Sarah (and the king) from any mischief.

And unto Sarah he (the king) said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.  (Genesis 20:16)

Abraham lies - gets 1000 pieces of silver, Sarah gets rebuked....for obeying.  What is up with that?

rebuke - H3198 - A primitive root; to be right (that is, correct); reciprocally to argue; causatively to decide, justify or convict.

First usage of the word represented by H3198 is in Genesis 20:16, last usage in Habakkuk 1:12 and translated as correction.  Used in Genesis 24:44 as 'appointed out' which is speaking of Rebekah whom Abraham's servant prayed for God to reveal.

In Job 5:17 Behold happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the of the Almighty.

I have spent almost a year wrestling out the issue of headship, submission, covering etc.  Obviously the phrase "he is to thee a covering of the eyes" caught my attention and was in need of a tad more research.

covering - H3682 - From H3680; a cover (garment); figuratively a veiling.

• H3680 - A primitive root; properly to plump, that is, fill up hollows; by implication to cover (for clothing or secrecy).

I checked the commentaries - thought this one from Wesley was interesting:  "Thy brother is to thee a covering of the eyes - Thou must look at no other, nor desire to be looked at by any other. Yoke - fellows must be to each other for a covering of the eyes. The marriage - covenant is a covenant with the eyes, like Job's, Job_31:1."

Women can and do seduce with their eyes...I had not thought about how covering the eyes of a married woman would be beneficial.  The practicality in literally having the eyes veiled is not probable, though I do think women can and should guard their eyes.  I will have to think upon that a bit more.

Poole's commentary:  i.e. a protection to thee from the wanton eyes and attempts of others, whilst they know thee to be the wife of another man, and he such a one whom they reverence and fear; and therefore thou didst take a very wrong course to disown him, whereby thou didst expose thyself to great danger. Or, this is to thee, &c., i.e. this I give to thee to buy thee a veil, wherewith thou mayest cover thy face, as it is fit and usual for married persons to do. Compare Genesis 24:65; 1 Corinthians 11:3, 6, 7, 10.

I saved Gill's for last...I have read it several times...his turn of words in a particular phrase are somewhat vexatious.  I am pasting his commentary on just the phrase:

behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee; a protection of her person and chastity: so an husband, in our language, is said to be a cover to his wife, and she under a cover: thus Abraham being now known to be the husband of Sarah, would for the future be a covering to her, that no one should look upon her, and desire her, and take her to be his wife; and he would also be a protection to her maidens that were with her, the wives of his servants, that these also might not be taken from him: but it seems best to refer this to the gift of the thousand pieces of silver, and read the words, "behold, this is to thee (h) a covering of the eyes"; so the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; for the words are a continued biting sarcasm on Sarah; as Abimelech twits her with calling Abraham her brother in the preceding clause, so in this he tells her that he had given him so much money to buy her a veil with, and to supply her with veils from time to time to cover her eyes, that nobody might be tempted to lust after her, and that it might be known she was a married woman; for in these countries married women wore veils for distinction, Gen_24:65; and so not to be had by another, nor would any be deceived by her; and not only was this money given to buy veils for her, but for her female servants also that were married, that they might be knows to be another's property; though this latter phrase "unto", or "with all that are with thee" (i), may be understood, not of persons, but of things, even of all the girls which Abimelech had given her while in his house; these he did not, take back again, but continued them with her, either for the above use, or whatever she pleased; and the following phrase:

That they might be known to be another's property?  In our 'modern' world, with our enlightened and feministic society, the thought of being someone else's property boggles my mind.  Whether it is true or not (in the eyes of God) I have not fully wrestled myself to any particular conclusion.  Praying that Father will guide and direct me in this area and give me understanding and wisdom to see it how HE sees it.

Day 2

I. From the creation to the flood 3975-2319 B.C. ~ cont.

B. Fall of man and its consequences ~ cont.

1. Temptation and fall - Genesis 3:1-7

(Second Dispensation - Conscience)

2. Judgement and Curse - Genesis 3:8-19

3. Expulsion from Eden - Genesis 3:21-24

C. History of the first civilization

1. Cain and Abel

a. Birth of Cain - Genesis 4:1

b. Birth of Abel - Genesis 4:2

c. Cain kills Able (124 years) - Genesis 4:3-10

d. Cain is marked - Genesis 4:11-15

Begin Parallel Passages

2. Descendants of Seth and Cain

Genealogy of Righteousness                                                    Genealogy of Wickedness
a. Birth of Seth (63rd Gen) - 1 Chronicles 1:1;                    Line of Cain - Genesis 4:16-24
    Genesis 4:25; 5:3
b. Birth of Enos (62nd Gen) - Genesis 4:26; 5:6
c. Birth of Caian (61st Gen) - Genesis 5:9
d. Birth of Mahalaleel (60th Gen) - 1 Chronicles 1:2;
    Genesis 5:12
e. Birth of Jared (59th Gen) - Genesis 5:15
f. Birth of Enoch (58th Gen) - Genesis 5:18)

End Parallel Passages

3. Adam's descendants continued
a. Birth of Methuselah (57th Gen) - 1 Chronicles 1:3; Genesis 5:21

b. Birth of Lamech (56th Gen) - Genesis 5:25
c. Death of Adam (930 years) - Genesis 5:4-5
d. Enoch's walk with God - Genesis 5:22-23
e. Translation of Enoch (365 years) - Genesis 5:24
f. Death of Seth (912 years) - Genesis 5:7-8
g. Birth of Noah (55th Gen) - Genesis 5:28-29
h. Death of Enos (905 years) - Genesis 5:10-11
i. Death of Cainan (910 years) - Genesis 5:13-14
j. Death of Mahalaleel (895 years) - Genesis 5:16-17
k. Death of Jared (962 years) - Genesis 5:19-20

I was reflecting upon several things as I read through. The first nugget was one I discovered during a discussion which brought up headship, that men are to be a covering for their wives.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.  (Genesis 3:6)

And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.  (Genesis 3:7)

The bold words are the ones which I am focusing on at the present moment.  Adam was the covering for his wife.  I do not know what would have happened had he NOT eaten the fruit and it would be pointless to speculate - it is what it is - but the emphasis for me was in his COVERING her.  He was her protector, their eyes were not opened until he willingly disobeyed.

Then Adam opts out of the responsibility - that woman.  The woman admits she was beguiled.

Beguiled - H5377 - נשׁא -nâshâ' - naw-shaw' - A primitive root; to lead astray, that is, (mentally) to delude, or (morally) to seduce.

Used 16x in 15 verses - I liked the one in 2 Kings 18:29, Rabshakeh (Assyria) telling the Jews that Hezekiah (King of Israel) is deceiving them in telling them that God will deliver them from the hand of the king of Assyria.

I like Father's admonishment to Adam:  "Because thou has hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and has eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for they sake: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of they life; (Genesis 3:17)

Hearkened - H8085 - שׁמע - shâma‛ - shaw-mah' - A primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively to tell, etc.).

Used 1158x in 1072 verses - okay, I am way to lazy to look at all those verses.  If memory serves me correctly, Hear O Israel, that hear is the same as this one in Genesis 3:17.  A quick search of the key words Hear O Israel resulted in 72 hits within 22 verses.  Same Hebrew word.

This is also the same word that Adam and Eve "heard" the voice of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

An admonishment to us, as women, to take great care in what comes forth from our lips.

Father told Adam "no eating" - I do not know whether Eve was privy to the conversation or not, but Adam definitely had the greater responsibility.

One final thing to share and I will close out this day's postings.  The lineage of Adam down to Noah.  It has been commented that Enosh would have been alive when Noah was born.  I found a couple of charts which show the birth and death of the patriarchs.  Enjoy!

To view this chart and the information about it, check out Answers in Genesis.  To view another one try this link.