The Argument Clinic

I could work through lunch today but I am deciding to read my Bible instead (won’t have time later tonight anyways).  Today’s reading is Genesis 21-25, so here goes…

Chapter 21

“Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba” Its a good thing that Abraham was pretty experienced in the whole hearing from God thing at this point because, if I were him, I would be a little uncomfortable sending my kid off into the desert with just a little food and water otherwise.

Its interesting that the passage points out that the angel of God spoke to Hagar, rather than God specifically.  When a voice is calling from heaven though, how would she know it was an angel of God and not God Himself?  Did she see something as well?

Chapter 22

Again there is a distinction between the angel of the Lord calling down from heaven and God Himself speaking.  I know there is no way I will find out the difference really…but am still pretty curious why it is described differently…especially since the angel of the Lord speaks about God in the first person as well (in both chapter 21 and 22, actually).

The story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac, like so many other stories, confuses me.  Because God had already made a covenant with Abraham to make him into a great nation, right?  At the time He didn’t mention that sacrificing his son would be a condition of that (and, actually, it would technically be impossible for Isaac to be sacrificed now and build a great nation later, for obvious reasons).  So why in this chapter does He say that He would bless Abraham because of his willingness to sacrifice Isaac after the covenant was already made?  Does that mean that if Abraham had decided not to the covenant would be broken (even if this wasn’t part of the original covenant) or did God make the covenant with Abraham earlier knowing already that Abraham would obey him in this?  And if Abraham chose not to do this and the covenant was broken, would he think to himself “crap, I got circumcised for nothing then”?  And how does this all work into the whole free will thing?  So many questions, so few answers…  Sigh…

Chapter 23

Not really many comments on this chapter. 

Chapter 24

“This is from the LORD; we can say nothing to you one way or the other. Here is Rebekah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has directed.” Even though I obviously believe that God did lead Abraham’s servant to Rebekah, its a little odd to me that Laban believed the guy’s story so quickly - enough to send his daughter off with him.  Couldn’t the guy have made up the story about the whole camel watering thing after the girl already said it (I don’t think he did, this is hypothetical)?  It seems that there is a theme throughout Genesis so far of being a little flippant about who you are willing to send your daughter off with.  But I’m sure God was working through the situation though and maybe Laban’s attitude was somewhat different because he could sense that somehow?

“Then they said, “Let’s call the girl and ask her about it.” So they called Rebekah and asked her, “Will you go with this man?”" Yeah, took them long enough to ask her.  Though I guess, given the times, she was pretty lucky that they asked at all.

Chapter 25

“Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” and “Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.” Is it always about food with guys?

Ok, that’s it for my comments today (and my lunch hour as well)…

Last night at no shoes required, our pastor, Kate, pointed out during discussion that Jesus would have only been about 5′ to 5′2″ tall based on how tall men were at the time in that area.  It is really difficult for me to get rid of the mental image of Jesus being taller than that though (probably about 6′ in my mental picture).  It shouldn’t seem odd to me that He would have actually been pretty short relative to the average height of people in the US now, but for some reason it really is…

Ok, time for today’s reading (I love days off by the way, 3 day weekends are so nice   But I digress…).  Today I’m going through Genesis 16-20.  So here goes…

Chapter 16

Interesting that Sarai says to Abram that “The Lord has kept me from having children.”, I guess its the gut reaction of a lot of people to blame God for what they are going through (and not saying I have never done it)…but doesn’t really make it right/true I suppose.  There is always a bigger plan, even if we can’t see it.

I wonder what Hagar saw when the Lord appeared to her…she says that “I have now seen the One who sees me.”.  Did He appear as an angel or something else?  Assuming it was something out of the ordinary for her to know that it was Him though.

“And he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.”  I wonder what Hagar felt when she heard that? 

Chapter 17

Sure, the idea of a 100 year old man and a 90 year old woman having a child is a little out of the ordinary.  But, don’t you think that if you were so overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence that you fall facedown that you might be able to stifle your laughter and listen to what He had to say with an open mind?  Not that I have a clue how I would react, but come on God created the heavens and the earth, I think He can handle creating another kid…but maybe its just easier for me to say that given that I am in a different time and place and I already know how their story ends up. Who knows.

Once again, I wonder what he saw when the Lord appeared to him.  Since it isn’t really described in words very often when God does appear to people, I assume it is something that we just don’t have the capability of expressing in words to begin with.

Chapter 18

Hmmm…”quick get three seahs of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread”  If Abraham knows how to bake bread, isn’t it pretty likely that Sarah does as well and probably doesn’t need instructions from him?  I wonder if she rolled his eyes at him after he left the tent

Maybe Sarah doesn’t understand the whole all-knowing concept too well or else I’m guessing she wouldn’t have lied to God and said “I didn’t laugh” and think she could actually get away with it.

“I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.  If not, I will know.”  This passage really confuses me…any idea why God needed to come down and see?  Where was He exactly that He couldn’t already see what was happening?  And how does news “reach him” exactly?

Chapter 19

In all seriousness, if a righteous man at that time offers his daughters up to men outside his door to protect his guests in the name of hospitality…that’s pretty scary and I don’t really want to think about how un-righteous men treated their daughters at the time…

Not going to comment on the rest of this chapter (life in the cave).  Next…

Chapter 20

Ok, really, didn’t Abraham notice that claiming Sarah was his sister the last time wasn’t the greatest idea?  I think he was a bit of a slow learner if you ask me.  Another reminder that you really don’t need to be perfect for God to work through you (or to bless you, apparently).  And no, its not ok just because Sarah technically is his sister - that doesn’t make what he said any less of a lie because there is such a thing as a lie of omission.  And Abraham was completely conscious of the fact that he was leaving out some important information when he was introducing Sarah. 

I think that closing the wombs of the people in Abimelech’s household was a little harsh considering he was completely in the dark about the fact that Abraham and Sarah were married…but who am I to question God’s decision-making abilities, after all.  He did re-open them though, so at least it was only temporary.

General Thoughts

I am finding that this time through Genesis is reminding me that, from my very limited understanding as a human, God’s decisions can seem to be a little…hmmm…quirky?  Like I said though, its not like I can pretend to understand/predict Him though.  Just going to have to stick with the whole “trusting Him and trying to see where He wants me to go next”-approach and leave the “trying to figure Him out completely”-approach to people who don’t mind engaging in futile activities :)

Today’s passage is Genesis 11-15.  Here are my comments…

Chapter 11

Hmmm…the Tower of Babel.  A story I have never quite understood, especially verse 6 (”If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”).  Would we really be able to achieve anything if we spoke the same language?  I can see how things would be easier, but it seems like there would still be a lot of limitations.  Always seemed kind of odd to me that God would actually be concerned that we would be able to achieve too much.  Just one of those stories I have to accept and not think about too much, I guess.

Yep, more descendants.  Next…

Chapter 12

“Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.  “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”" - I always wonder what Abram’s initial reaction was when he heard that.  Obviously he decided to go where told him to go, but I still wonder what he was thinking throughout that time. 

The story of Abram lying about Sarai being his sister and not his wife is a reminder that God can still use us even when we make poor decisions…which I think is a good reminder for all of us.

Chapter 13

Not much to say about this chapter really.

Chapter 14

The verse where Abram refuses to take anything from the king of Sodom so that the king wouldn’t be able to say that he made Abram rich was interesting.  Was that because Abram would refuse to take anything from anyone or was it specifically because of the reputation that Sodom had?

Chapter 15

“Look up at the heavens and count the stars…so shall your offspring be.” - hmm…I wouldn’t be too thrilled with that if I were sarai   At least God was including descendants in that estimate…

It seems to me that God was being pretty patient with Abram - how many times did He need to tell Abram that the land would be for him and his descendants?  But then, of course, its not like I catch onto what God is trying to tell me really quickly or anything either, so I can’t fault Abram for that.

That’s it for today’s passage…

So, today’s reading is Genesis chapters 6-10.  I am finding that I like keeping track of my thoughts this way, it helps me to make sure I don’t skim through familiar passages too quickly.  So here goes…

Chapter 6

Verse 3 is interesting…seems odd to me that God waited until this point to decide that humans were living too long…I find myself wondering what made Him decide that and why He didn’t decide it earlier (because He knew what was going to happen, right?) and then I find myself thinking “Yep, parts of the Old Testament sure are tough for me to figure out.  Sure am glad I am not really expected to have it all figured out anyways” and then I proceed to the rest of the chapter

I wonder what it meant for Noah to walk with God…how did he know how to do that in a pre-Old Testament, pre-Ten commandments time?  How did he know what would be expected of him?  How did he know how to walk with God?  Did he know he was doing it before God came and asked him to build the ark?  Was God there prompting him and speaking with him on a regular basis before He told Noah about the flood, ark, etc.?  If not, how did Noah know what it meant to do what God wanted him to each day?

There are other comments I could make/discussions I could have about how I don’t really understand the concept of the flood, how much of the earth it really covered (because there seem to be arguments about that going on out there), why God did it when He knew when we re-populated the earth that we would still be just as screwed up and need His grace just as badly, but, as an engineer who likes to be efficient in my thought processes as much as possible, I try not to dwell on questions I will never figure out.  Sure, I could read books people have written on the subject but, let’s face it, just because people spend more time thinking about these things and more time writing about them doesn’t make them any closer to “figuring out God” than anyone else (anymore than getting a paycheck every 2 weeks brings me any closer to seeing the # infinity on my bank statement ).  So I am not going to spend my time that way

Chapter 7

Not too much to say about this chapter really (refer to paragraph #3 of Chapter 6 above), except that I never noticed verse 16 before: ”The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah.  Then the Lord shut him in.”  So God shut the door behind Noah and the animals?  That just seems odd to me…how exactly did that work and why didn’t I notice that verse before?  Hmm…

Chapter 8

The whole sending out the dove thing always seemed odd to me…I can see why the dove coming back with the olive leaf was encouraging…but just because the other birds didn’t return with anything, wouldn’t really signal to me that they didn’t find anything.  What if the particular bird he sent the first time wasn’t fond of olive leaves and came back to the ark for food that was more to its liking?  What if the last dove that didn’t come back simply died during its travel?  Couldn’t he tell that it wasn’t raining anymore (like didn’t he stop hearing rain beating down on the cover of the ark at some point) and wouldn’t it follow logically that it would start to dry up eventually?  Did sending out birds make that happen any faster?  Hmmm…I guess maybe just knowing that some trees were visible helped him during the period of waiting for the waters to recede…I’m sure he was getting pretty impatient and if getting an olive leaf helped to get him through that, who I am to begrudge him that?

Chapter 9

During a worship gathering for no shoes required in the fall was the first time I really noticed that the covenant wasn’t just between God and man, but that all living creatures were included…does that include spiders too?  I really don’t like spiders much…or snakes for that matter (but that was yesterday’s reading )…

Verse 13 (”I have set a rainbow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth”) is a favorite of mine…I’m sure that sounds a little odd.  I have noticed in my life though that during times when I am particularly stressed out and really feel like I need to feel more connected with God that I always see a rainbow around somewhere…and they always comfort me.  I saw one a short time after my grandpa died back in ‘03, I saw one during the summer before I started my full time job and didn’t really know what I would do with my life, and, in general, I have seen them during the times when I am most depressed.  And the interesting thing is, I never see them the rest of the time…for some reason God seems to reserve these sightings for when I need them most.

That makes me think of something my mom told me recently about a diner near where they live, where people see rainbows outside so often that the waiters/waitresses are fairly indifferent to them, that they really aren’t special anymore to them.  And I wonder about the things in my life that should be beautiful and a source of comfort to me but that, because I see them so often, that I take for granted, especially on days when I would rather just feel sorry for myself.  Hmmm…

Chapter 10

Ok…once again, I really don’t have much to say about chapters that list descendants…not saying they aren’t important, just not much to comment on.

Well, that wraps up my comments on today’s reading…