Genesis

[sealcomm]

Hey Guys

I was sitting reading genesis last night doind sums in column

here's some interseting thoughts.

Noahs father was alive when adam died. So noah was the first generation NOT to physically know adam, yet his father would have imparted anything to him he needed to know.

Also this.

When abraham was born, and until his 60's noah was still alive. In fact Abram was the first who went to leave to go to a far off land.

So the passing on of correct information at that time, even if it was only from word of mouth, was still mostly first hand, or one generation away(noah) from getting the facts from the horses mouth.

Pretty cool.

sealcomm

 

[SSquared]

In addition, I believe Methuselah died in the year of the flood.

 

[Kidan]

Day 16 Genesis 12 - 15

Jumping back from Job to Genesis we get into the stories on Abram.

These are the stories of Abram prior to his children.

Basicly these stories tell of Abram's and Lot's falling out (though they parted in good faith) and Abram's battles and a few other nifty things.

So let's look at the important stories here...
first off we have Abram, Sarai and Lot staying in Egypt. Now Sarai was a beautiful woman, so Abram (Father of the Jews that he is, he wasn't very bright here) told Sarai to say she was Abram's sister (he was afraid if the Egyptians found out she was his wife, they would kill him). Now this brilliant plan of Abram's got Sarai taken in by the Pharoah as the Pharoah's wife, which in turn made the Pharoah's household fall under a plague from God. (Brilliant Plan here, notice that Abram didn't ask God His advice)
See this is what happens when we take this world on with our thoughts and plans. We can hurt ourselves, our loved ones, and even those around us.

The second story of importance we deal with tonite is Abram's battle. What happens is Lot is taken captive when some folks raid the area where he was living. So Abram grabbed some folks and went and whooped up on them. He freed Lot, the other captives and got bunch of stuff. But what did he do with this stuff??

two things:
1)

Quote[/b] ]Gen 14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.
Gen 14:19 He blessed him, and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:
Gen 14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of all.

and 2)

Quote[/b] ]Gen 14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
Gen 14:23 that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'

WOW. How many folks would do that? How many of us could say that having all that gold an whatnot that they would give it back? But let's go back an look at that first thing again

Quote[/b] ]Gen 14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.

Now, how did Melchizedek become a priest? Remember this is years and years before Levi was even born, yet alone have children. The thing is we don't know. He's not a part of the Jewish tradition, which is why we call Jesus a priest of the Melchizedek order. This is a man that Abram, the blessed of God, who God said

Quote[/b] ]Gen 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. In you will all of the families of the earth be blessed."

AND Abram gives his tithes to Melchizedek. Interesting....



anyways, we're onto the 3rd and final story of the evening...

Now remember, God had promised all of Canaan as a inheritance for him and his children. Abram's like old. So he asks God "Hey are u gonna give me kids?" and God says "yup" and Abram believes Him

Quote[/b] ]Gen 15:6 He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

But note this. belief in God = righteousness
A simple equation. And it's just as simple today.

belief in Jesus = righteousness.

This is THE simplicity that God desires from His creation. This is THE simplicity that God provides through His son. I do love that verse. It's not quite my favorite but it's well up there

and I think nothing I could say, can close these thoughts as well as that verse

Quote[/b] ]Gen 15:6 He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

 

[SSquared]

Some other important notes.

To me, there are two extremely important passages in today's reading. The Melchizedek passage, as Kidan pointed out is one of them. But I think the most important part is the Abrahamic Convenant (Genesis 12:2-3) God has set in place.

Talking about the covenant can cover quite a bit, but I will shorten it to just two points. First of all, this covenant is one way. Abraham has to do nothing...zippo...nada. God will do it all, and it's a promise. God WILL make him into a great nation (Israel). Secondly, and a huge eye opener for me, is where God says, "all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you." Abraham's descendants, the Jews, know the truths of the One True God. God's plan was for the Jews to proclaim Him through the world/nations. We will see in several books the other nations (Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, etc.) God places before them. We will also see whether they choose to proclaim God or hide it. In addition, Jesus comes through the line of Abraham, and He is of course the best blessing of all.

A little side note: The name Abram means 'exalted father'. Can you imagine being called 'exalted father' and you're in your 70's and 80's without ANY children? That didn't look good, especially in their society. We'll see God change his name later to Abraham, which means 'father of multitudes/many'. He still had no children at that point.

 

[Ultima Avatar]

So.....if all those immediately preceeding Noah, say his dad, were around in the time of the Flood, Noah was the righteous man alive?
Another point: was man created on the second day or the sixth day? It says after the heavens and the earth and before the vegetation had sprouted in one passage in Genesis 2 and in another passage it says on Day 6. HELP!

 

[Thaddius]

I "think" what it is saying is that before anything had grown. I guess that when God created all the plants, ect. he created them fully developed and none had produced seedlings yet. Man was created on the 6th day but before the cycles of growth of the plants had started. Kidan or someone more versed might be able to clarify this more though...

Cory

 

[Kidan]

ok folks first i'm going to answer a question, then I get into today's readings

Ulitma Avatar
order of creation:
day 1 light
day 2 create the atmosphere
day 3 create the dry land and vegetation
day 4 stars, sun, and moon, other astronimical bodies
day 5 sea creatures
day 6 land creatures and man
day 7 rest

Note that God had created vegetation BUT it had had not down anything yet.  No rain, and noone to till the ground etc..etc..

Quote[/b] ]n 1:11  God said, "Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit after their kind, with its seed in it, on the earth," and it was so.

God says the earth will bring forth these things.  Genesis Chapter 2 is more of a detailed description behind HOW God made man and vegetation, without breaking down into the day sections and the WHEN God made these things..

2:5 Vegetation
2:7 man formed from dust
it's just this version of creation is just dealing with plants animals and man, and man's placement over the earth, his job of tilling and keeping the earth, and his dominion of the earth.

ssquared
That's a very important aspect that I didn't deal with last nite, because it's worked into the scriptures for tonite in greater details....


Now folks!  Here's the scriptures for today!
Day 17  Genesis 16 - 18

Here's the first thing to note

Quote[/b] ]Gen 16:2  Sarai said to Abram," See now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing. Please go in to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.

You know, the more I read about Abram, the more I think he's not that smart.  Instead of just trusting in God, he listens to his wife, which in turn ends up being that nice family fued we have currently in the middle east.  But it gets better, after Abram (listening to his wife) goes into Hagar and beds her, knocks her up, Sarai goes "This is wrong, and your fault!"  So we end up with Sarai running Hagar off.
God sees Hagar running away, and sends her back to Abram.

The next thing we come to is the covenant between God and Abram

Quote[/b] ]
Gen 17:10  This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised.

The covenant is God will make Abram the father of nations, and all his children will be circumcised.
Note that this covenant is sealed in blood.  All covenants between God and His people are sealed in blood.  
  Noahaic --blood offering
  abrahamic -- circumcision
  mosaic -- annual blood sin offerings
  New --Jesus death
The spilling of blood is a sign of finality.  On a side note, this is why it's so important to remain a virgin.  Marriages are covenants between a man, woman and God.  Also covenants between man and God always end up with more benefits for man.  with the new, we get eternal life, with the marriage it's healthier for man for Noahaic God doesn't destroy us with water...the list goes on...

anyways enough about covenants....

Quote[/b] ]Gen 18:1  Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day.
Gen 18:2  He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,

 Hmm....anyone see a trinity here?  Notice it says Yahweh appeared to him (Abraham), and when he lifted his eyes he saw 3 men.  Anyways, the discussion on trinity is not for this forum, and if you want to discuss it, go to the religion forum and create a topic there....


So we get Sarah finding out about the child coming soon, and what does she do?  She LAUGHS!, what's more she laughs at GOD!  Just because she has already passed through menopause.  
So what does God do?

Quote[/b] ]Gen 18:14  Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son."

 Ahh...but we find that Sarah has the same disease as Adam, and she says "It wasn't me! I didn't laugh"   Hmm....I'm starting to think she's about as smart as her husband....

The last part of these scriptures we're dealing with is God turning his attentions to Sodom.  Now, Abraham knowing that Lot lives there asks God, (making the story shorter mind u) "Hey will you save Sodom, if you can find 10 righteous people there?"  God answers

Quote[/b] ]He said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."

Now Sodom is a teeming city on a par with....well I'm not sure..but it's supposed to be pretty big, and God says if He finds 10 people righteous in that city then He will spare it.  Of coures we know how that turns out, and we'll discuss it either tomorrow...

 

[Kidan]

Day 18  Genesis 19 - 21

Well we get some interesting things today.  None too good.

We have the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the raping of Lot, More stupidity from Abraham and some other minor things....so on with the...well...hmm..


First we have the destruction.  Story is simple a couple of angels go wondering through Sodom, and they stop at Lot's house, and the men of the city (remember also angels are masculine) go and say "Hey Lot, give us the strangers, we wanna have our way with them." Lot makes a stupid promise, which is denied, and the angels end up saving Lot from the crowd.  So the angels tell Lot "Hey get outta here, God's gonna destroy this place"  So what does Lot do?  He waits around.  It seems that Abraham's stupidity gene is from his father's side and it's apparently dominant as evidenced from Lot's actions.

So the angels finally convince Lot to go and the angels tell him and those with him "Don't look back"  So what does Lot's wife do?  of course she looks back, and she's punished for it.  So Lot and his 2 daughters are living in Zoar, and Lot moves them into a cave up above Zoar.  And the brillance of intellect is once again passed down the family line, and his 2 daughters start to think "Hey! there's no men here! what are we going to do??"  So of course they rape their dad.  

Now we get back to Abraham.  Abraham and Sarah go to some new country, so what does Abraham do?  Not learning from his experience in Egypt, he tells Sarah to say she's his "Sister"  Not exactly a lie, but definitely not exactly the truth. And definitely not a bright idea.  Sarah is taken in as a wife by the king yet again, the king is told via a dream "hey if you don't give Abraham's wife back you'll die."  Like I said, brilliant actions here.

The final chapter in today's reading is about Isaac's conception, birth, and circumcision and the casting out of Ishmael and Hagar.  Sarah finally gets rid of Hagar after Isaac's weaning and yet God still takes care of them, and tells Hagar (and Abraham btw) that Ishmael will also become a great nation.

The stupidity of these things is noones fault but Lot's and Abraham's respectively.  So let's look at this two and see why the fault is theirs

First Lot. He failed because he KNEW what type of city he was moving his family into.  He CHOSE it, and then he CHOSE to stay.  Such stupidity has no excuse.  It was an extreme failing on Lot's fault and his entire family suffered from it, running from the death of his daughters and sons and the turning of his wife into salt.  Even up to his being raped by his two remaining daughters.

Now onto Abraham.  First he does the same thing in Gerar that he did in Egypt which makes it all the more inexcusable.  While not really lying outrightly, he was definitely saying this with the intent of deceiving all those he came into contact with.  So his wife gets taken by another man (AGAIN mind you) and God has to intercede on Abraham's behalf (AGAIN mind you).  The incredible thing here is that this is the SECOND time Abraham has done this, you think he would have learned his lesson when he got kicked out of Egypt for this.  

The next thing we run into is Sarah's extreme dislike of HAgar.  Sarah's whining about Hagar and Ishmael finally pay off, so they get kicked out of Abraham's camp, with God ensuring Hagar that He will ensure Ishmeals life.

I've wrote in another post today about the importance and responsibilities of a Christian husband.  IMO both Lot and Abraham failed in this.  As a Christian husband and teacher this is one of the things I try to stress.  The important roles of husband and wife are just that IMPORTANT.  If either husband or wife fails in their duties that failure can damage the relationship.  Both Lot's and Abraham's failure damaged their relationships with their families.  In our society the family is a brow-beaten damaged institution.  Yet the family is a GOD-GIVEN institution.  As Christians we should do our part to restore the family to the forefront of all institutions in our soceity.  Our religion demands it.  The marriage bed needs to be undefiled with fornication and adultrey.  The family needs to be undestroyed by hate and divorce.  As Christians, when we marry, it is a life-long covenant betwen a man, woman, and God.  Remember this when you are planning your relationship, and when you take your vows, or even when you go on a date.  To lie, cheat, or commit any form of fornication is a step in the destruction of the marriage covenant.  Let us uphold ourselves to the standard of purity that God wants us to hold

 

[Kidan]

sorry i didn't get to post today's readings up. but i forgot ot do it prior to joining the CS server and now it's after midnite and I need to go to beddy bye

 

[Kidan]

yesterday's reading was
Day 19  Genesis 22 - 24
which dealt with the death of Sarah, and the gaining of Rebekah for Isaac's wife

but I didn't post anything, an now i'm not going to. cos we're on....
Day 20  Genesis 25 - 26

well nothing much happens today
Rebekah has twins, and they dig a couple wells.

oh my.

But one thing sticks out in my mind.

Quote[/b] ]Gen 26:34  When Esau was forty years old, he took as wife Judith, the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Gen 26:35  They grieved Isaac and Rebekah's spirits.

Esau get's married, much to the grief of Isaac and Rebekah.  Now why is this?  Why does this marriage cause such greif to the parents?

First off, he married two women.  That's a sure sign of.....I don't want to say 'outright stupidity' but that's the words that keep coming to my mind.  But also that these two girls where Caananites, and what worse Hittites.  These were an idolatrous people.  They were not part of Abraham's blessing.  They were under Noah's curse.  Also, does it say anywhere that Esau asked for their advice? Nope.  We are told to be equally yoked.  Believers should marry believers.  To do less you run into troubles, to do less you run into heartache, to do less you are disobeying God.

On a side note, While Isaac and Rebekah go to live in Gerar for a bit, he does the same stupidity as Abraham.  He tells the people there "Hey Rebekah is my sister."  I tell you, the stupidity runs in the family.  Well Abimelech sees them "careesing" figures it out, and throws a fit.  Now Isaac's doing this is even worse than Abraham's, because it's in no way possible at being true.   I guess it's really, really good that God loves these people because they sure don't get anything on their own.

 

[SSquared]

I want to mention some stuff regarding Genesis 22.  This is talking about Abraham sacrificing Isaac.  The chapter is significant in its rich meaning and actions, but I want to tell you about a personal challenge regarding this chapter.

One of the most significant movements in my Christian walk was when my discipleship leader challenged us with the question, "What is your Isaac?"  Nothing more needed to be said.  I knew exactly what he was asking.  "What is one thing in your life that you just can't turn over to the Lord?"  And without hesitation, I said "music, of course."

To be real short, music was my life.  I had a large collection of LPs and CDs as well as some synthesizers.  I thought many times that if something ever happened to any of it, I would probably be devastated.  I would be crushed.  In fact, during college I even told myself I would never play in the church.

Well, the challenge to me was significant.  We prayed about it and God answered.  It turned out, the Jr. High worship leader had stepped down and there was an opening.  So I very shyly asked to be the worship leader.  Gosh!  I had NEVER led worship.  I had no idea what I was doing.  Well, God started developing my skills and my heart for worship.  A few months later, I stepped out again.  The old Jr. High worship leader had been doing the college worship.  It was just him on guitar.  I asked him if he would like me to help out on piano/synths and he said, "Oh.  I just started praying for someone to help me in worship."  I nearly fell over.  I couldn't believe it.

Well, I think you get the idea.  I won't bother you with the rest of the details, but God has changed my attitude and my heart through the challenge.  And music has a different meaning and feeling in my life.  That was all a little over 10 years ago.

 

[Kidan]

Day 21 Genesis 27 - 29
Well, today we have the stealing of Esau's blessing, and the beginings of Jacob's trouble with women.

first things first, in 27, Isaac is an old man, and sends Esau to get some venison for him, so what happens? Rebekah fixes a stew and gives it to Jacob to turn in as Esau. Which of course makes Esau want to kill his brother. Now that's love.

So, Isaac and Rebekah send Jacob off to Laban to find a wife from their family.
First thing that happens is that Jacob has a vision of a stairway to Heaven with angels going up and down, and God reiterates his promise, made to Abraham, to Jacob.
So Jacob makes a vow about staying in good health he'll serve God, and give Him a tenth of all he has. Simplicity, except we should give God a tenth for the sake of giving it in sacrifice, not for blessings we receive.


Well, he finally comes to his mother's homeland and finds his mother's brother Laban. Now Laban is slime. He contracts Jacob to work for seven years for his daughter Rachel, and at the end of that seven years, he gives his firstborn daughter Leah, so come morning when Jacob sees what happen, he throws a fit, and Laban says "Hey, work seven more years and I'll really give you Rachel" But you must admire that single-mindedness toward achieving a goal.

Finally we have Leah giving birth to her first 4 sons: Reubon, Simeon, Levi, and Judah

 

[SSquared]

Some other notes.

Jacob's name means 'take by the heal', but a pun on it (in Hebrew) is deceiver. As we've read today, Jacob used deception. The funny thing is, as Kidan pointed out, Jacob was later deceived by Laban.

Esau giving up his birthright is extremely significant. Forget about all the inheritance that goes with it...he was giving up God's blessing He gave to Abraham and Isaac. Ouch! He was willing to give up the eternal blessing God gave to the family. Now that Jacob got the birthright, it is now through Jacob that all the world will be blessed.

When Isaac was going to give Esau his blessing, it was Rebekah who told Jacob what to do. Rebekah had overheard Isaac telling Esau he was going to give him a blessing. Well, in the previous day's reading (Gen. 25), the Lord told Rebekah 'the older will serve the younger.' Now, I don't know if Rebekah did this because she remembered what the Lord had told her, but it's possible. If so, then she was taking into her own hands what God would have accomplished anyway.

Another thing to point out is, even through all these circumstances, in Malachi 1:2-3, the Lord says "Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated."

 

[sealcomm]

Hey how's it going. I'ts been a while since i've taken a moment to get here....sigh.

I guess that even though we have moved on from this book to exodus theres still great wisdom to be had from the book of genesis.

I think the reason why esau was despised was because he despised his birth right, for a meal. In the spare of the moment he made a bad decision. He felt pressured into it, and said careless words without regarding the Lord, and His plan for esau's life. So EVERYTHING had passed to jacob, including the favour of God.

be cool

sealcomm

 

[SSquared]

Actually, we are still in Genesis. We've been following the chronological version and we went through Job at one point.

If you are in Exodus you must be reading straight through. You should still feel free to ask questions.

 

[Kidan]

It's been an interesting week, had my 3rd wedding aniversery on Wednesday, and spent the entire evening with my wife last nite also, so I haven't put anything up these past two days. Now on to today's reading....


Genesis 35 - 37
Today we got 2 interesting chapters and 1 chapter of basically 'begats'

the first interesting chapter is Ch 35. This is the continuing story of Jacob and his family. Jacob finally demands that all those who live with him throw away the false idols and worship only God. Also we have Rebekah's death, and her burial, at the future spot of Bethlehem.

the other chapter is ch:37 this is the various stories of Joshua and his dreams and selling. This chapter is a prime example that God uses all things to His will. Once He assigns something to happen, it will. This thing that needs to happen is that Joshua's family will bow down to him and worship him, now this is fulfilled in two ways. The first way is because they sold him into slavery he was in Egypt and they came and bowed themselves down to him when they came seeking grain (more bout this tomorrow) and it's fulfilled secondly because it's through his tribe that Jesus comes. Since all we bow down before the Lord the dreams are fulfilled ina second way through this.

it's after midnite now, and time to retire for the evening.

 

[SSquared]

Kidan, I started getting worried about ya. Glad your back.

There were lots of meaty stuff in the last few days, but one thing I didn't know, and thought was pretty cool, is the play on words used in Chapter 32. God wrestled with Jacob near the Jabbok river. Below are the English words and their Hebrew counterpart.

wrestle - ye'abeq
Jacob - ya'aqob
Jabbok - yabboq

Anyway, I thought that was interesting. The passage itself has always struck me as strange and I always have to restudy it each time I read it. It's confusing as to why God sort of lets Jacob win out, although God does wound his hip. And it blows me away when Jacob sort of demands God to bless him.

Kidan, Jesus is from the tribe of Judah. As we'll read soon, Jacob takes Joseph's two sons (Manasseh and Ephraim) as his own and gives them blessings. Instead of there being a tribe of Joseph, these two sons become tribes of their own.

 

[Kidan]

see, that's what's happens when your doing study notes while half-asleep. You get Judah and Joshua mixed up.

oh well....As I always tell my Sunday School class "Always check what I tell you, never just take my word for it."

ssquared
but at the same time this is what Christ wants of us.  We are to wrestle with Him, seeking His blessings and His will.  We are to seek Him in regards to our faith and our beliefs.  If we don't wrestle with what the Bible says through prayer and reading, we don't truly KNOW what we say we believe.  If we dont' wrestle, we can't show ourselves knowledgable of the Word.  The Bible commands us a few things, one of those is to figure out our faith with fear and trembling before the Lord and another is to be able to answer questions about said faith on a moment's notice.  
Also for Jacob demanding a blessing.  Well we are to ask for what we desire clearly and concisely.  Jacob wanted God's blessing, he refused to let go until it was given.  When we desire something we are to ask for that exactly and then not let go of our faith that He will provide.




anyways onto today's reading...
Day 25  Genesis 38 - 40
Interesting chapters today,  Judah getting married, his two eldest sons dying and the first instance of onanism. The death of Judah's wife, and his decision to partake of a prostitute, with said prostitute ending up being his daughter-in-law (when he would never give his last son to her, so he could bear a child in the eldest sons name)

Now what's interesting is that this is the tribe of which Jesus decided to come into the world.  These are Jesus' ancestors.  It just goes to show that He choose to do this, not for those who are perfect (although none can claim that title) but rather those of us who have failed, those of us who have wallowed in sin and are truly unworthy of a relationship with Christ.  YET it's through His grace that we have that relationship with Him.

Now the last two chapters are the beginnings of Joshua's trails and tribulations  in Egypt.  The thing is wherever Joshua is working, the Lord blesses him.  Whatever he puts his hands on, it comes out good.  But he ends up in jail.  Why?  Because his owner's wife wanted to sleep with him (guess this could be the first recorded instance of sexual harrasment).  But remember that this entire thing is for God's will.  There is famine coming, and Joseph's dream must still be fulfilled.
Just as Christian's today go through trails, temptations and tribulations, so did Joseph, and likewise Joseph is a good role model for us.  Even though Joseph was cast into prison, even though those he helped forgot him, Joseph remained true to God, and God's plan was carried out to fruitation.



*******************************************************************
on an entirely side note, my wife's due date fast approaches and our child could make his entrance to this world at any time.   When this happens I'll be at the hospital for however long they keep her so I will not post for a couple days.  If I disappear for a few days, that is the reason, also pictures and various and sundry news can be found at here or here
God bless you all, and please keep my wife and myself in your prayers as this blessing and responsibilty is delivered to us.

 

[SSquared]

Quote[/b] ]when he would never give his last son to her, so he could bear a child in the eldest sons name

For those who didn't quite understand the seriousness of what happened here, you need to understand the custom that goes along with this. If the eldest son had no children before he died, it then became the responsibility of the next son to bear a child with the eldest's wife. In this way, they felt the eldest son would still maintain his hertiage.

Quote[/b] ]my wife's due date fast approaches and our child could make his entrance to this world at any time

FANTASTIC!!!! Is this your first?

 

[Kidan]

y'know, this is gonna be harder after we get out of January and the date doesn't match up with the day number...but onto the reading....

Day 26 Genesis 41 - 42

Today we get Joseph's dream beginning to come to fruitation. But first we have the onset of 7 years of goodness then 7 years of famine in all the land.

simple things, General showing of God's divine will, His power to raise those who faithfully serve Him and His divine power over His creation.

We have Joseph going from the prison to being the second in command of Egypt in 1 day. Quite amazing eh?

Then we just get around to the famine, and Joseph beginning to bring his family to Egypt.

I don't see that much below the surface of this history, but it has been a long frustrating day and it could just be me. God bless you all.