Wednesday, January 9

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Genesis 23, 24     and     Matthew 7

23:1  Sarah died at 127.  That is a long time.  Isaac would have been 37.

23:2-20  The rest of the chapter is Abraham bargaining for a burial place for his wife. 

24  This is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible.  It shows God's people trusting Him in the affairs of daily life and God very ably working things out in a wonderful way.  Notice in verse 7 that Abraham tells his servant that God will work everything out before the servant arrives there.  That is exactly what happened.  The trip from Hebron to Aram was about 400 miles.  Did the servant fret all the way about he could get things to work out well for his master?  Or did he trust that things would work out?  As soon as he arrived he prayed.  Do we trust God to guide us?  Do we believe we believe He cares?

24:15  We are not told how far Rebekah had to walk.  The prayer was short.  The answer to the prayer had to start walking to the one who prayed even before he started to pray!  Will God do that for us?  Will we allow Him the opportunity to work on our behalf?

24:19 Rebekah must have been very energetic.  How much water can a camel drink?  Besides that there were several men and ten camels I found this on the internet.

20-25 gallons in ten minutes
Up to 40 gallons in one session
Up to 50 gallons in one day
Rebekah many have drawn as much as 400 gallons of water, if the camels had not had any water for a while!

A well in those days was often a pit dug down to the water level with steps along the wall of the pit.  The bigger the jar the fewer trips, but the heavier the jar each time down and back up.  The smaller the jar the less the water would weigh, but then more trips.  Either way it was a lot of work.  This shows much about the customs of hospitality in those days.  Would anyone today in America do such a thing?  Would today's Christian be that helpful?

24:29-30  Laban was very interested in the man when he saw the jewelry!  We know from how the story unfolds that Laban was a shrewd man wanting to make a profit any possible way.

24:42-46  This is how the writers of the Bible emphasized things. They would repeat it.  Notice how these verses repeat (though not exactly) 12-19.

24:60  This blessing has come true.  There are millions of Jews today.

24:67  I have wondered about this verse.  Did they just move in together?  Was there a ceremony of some kind?

Matthew 7:1  To the extent that other Christians watch over me I want them to judge me.  When there are ways I go wrong I want to be told.  Also, then that is how I must judge others.  We should be our brother's keeper, and our sister's keeper.  That is one purpose of the church.

7:6  I have visited a prisoner who said he must be very aware of this verse.  There are those other prisoners who react very violently against anyone who displays any Christianity.

7:7  Abraham's servant was not hesitant to ask, seek, and knock when he needed guidance.  And God answered in a wonderful way.

7:13-14  The latest theory, even among some preachers, is that there is no hell, everyone ends up in heaven, love finally wins.  If those preachers are correct then Jesus is a liar.  Heaven forbid!  Jesus is the way the truth and the life.  There is a way that leads to destruction and many people take that way.  Many people reject Jesus and the way that leads to life.

7:15  It is interesting that Jesus talks about false prophets immediately after talking about something about which many preachers give a false witness.

7:15-20  In 7:1 Jesus cannot mean that we are to never discern the reliability of a fellow Christian.  Because here He is saying we must know the difference between the wolf that looks like a sheep and a real sheep.  He is telling us to watch the fruit carefully enough to know whether the fruit is good or bad.  We MUST judge.  But we must not be judgmental, harsh, and condemning.

7:21-23  In 15-20 we are watching others.  In 21-23 we are judging ourselves.  We must be sure that we produce good fruit.  It might seem that prophesying in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  It might seem that driving out demons in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  It might seem that performing many miracles in Jesus' name would be good fruit.  Apparently that is not necessarily true.

7:24-27  The one who builds his life on the teachings of Jesus is the one who will be accepted by Jesus at the judgment.  Hearing the word does not matter.  This means, as Jesus says elsewhere, that we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

7:28-29  Yes they were amazed.  The teachers of their day came up with very little that was new.  They merely repeated what someone before them had said about some topic.  Jesus had authority within Himself to say what was needed and what was correct without any reference to previous teachers.  He was the Master Teacher.

God's blessings.

May your Bible study be very beneficial.

Larry