Day 12

Genesis 25:1-26:35

Sarah is dead so Abraham takes another wife.  Her name is Keturah.  (She is probably a young woman even though Abraham is now nearing 175 years.  Keturah, this new wife gives him some more sons: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.  (Pretty cool names lol)  Some of these had sons of there own mentioned.

They are called descendents of Keturah (this is quite strange as usually it would be said that they were descended from their father, but here Abraham’s descendent is Isaac, he is to be the only son to get any of Abraham’s inheritance.)

Abraham leaves everything he owns to Isaac, but while he is living in his last days he gives some gifts to the sons of his other wife and then sends them away (a bit like he did with Hagar and Ishmael) to keep them apart from Isaac.  They go into the east.

Abraham lives 175 years and then he dies.  Isaac and Ishmael bury him together in the same patch of land that Abraham had bought many years ago to bury Sarah.  He is buried next to Sarah.  It is after Abraham’s death that God comes and he blesses Isaac. 

Ishmael, the son of Hagar (who was Egyptian) and Abraham, had many sons.  Their names are these: Nebaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.  Ishmael lived 137 years and then died.  His people (his family) move near to the border of Egypt and they were always violent and hostile.

When Isaac was forty he married Rebekah.  Isaac prays to God for his wife, because Rebekah can’t have kids.  After he prays Rebekah becomes pregnant.  As the babies grow inside her she feels them jostling each other and she says “Why is this happening to me?”  So she goes and asks God and God says to her “Inside you there are two different countries.  One will be stronger than the other and the one that is older will be a slave to the one who is the younger.”

The time comes for her to give birth and she does so, but it is a strange birth.  The first son comes out and he is red and hairy, so they call him Esau.  The second baby comes out, but his hand is grasping Esau’s heel and they name him Jacob.  Isaac is sixty years old at this point.

The boys grow up and they become very different.  Esau goes out hunting lots and is extremely good at hunting.  Jacob stays around the tents more and it quieter.  So Isaac comes to love Esau more and Rebekah comes to love Jacob more.

Then one day Esau comes in from hunting and goes to Jacob, who is cooking a stew.  He says to his brother: “Brother!  Give me some stew to eat because I am starving!”  (Jacob probably looked at Esau with a frown, he has grown up with Esau and knows that Esau is disrespectful of his family and ancestors.)  So Jacob says “I’ll give you some stew… IF you’ll sell me the birthright which means you get more than I do of our father’s land when he dies.  It will also mean that you give up the right to be the leader of our family after he dies and I will be the leader instead.”  Esau doesn’t think about it, he say, “I’m DYING of starvation! (can you hear the exaggeration and sarcasm?) Have my birthright, it means nothing to me.”  But Jacob wants to be sure, so he says “Make an unbreakable promise first.”  So Esau makes an unbreakable promise and Jacob gives him soup and some bread.

Esau completely spat on his birthright, which was an incredible privilege.

Then a famine comes and Isaac takes his family and they go to Abimelech (this is a different Abimelech to the one that Abraham had become friends with.  It is possible that every ruler of the Philistines would be called Abimelech.)  Abimelech lived in Gerar.

God appears to Isaac and says “Don’t go to Egypt, live exactly where I tell you to live.  Stay in this place for a while and I will be with you and bless you.  I will continue the unbreakable promise I gave to your father, Abraham, and make sure that your descendants are as many as the stars in the sky.  Oh and I’ll let everyone in the world be blessed because of one of your offspring.  This is all because Abraham kept my commands and my laws and my rules.”  SO because God said this Isaac stays in Gerar.

However he knows that Rebekah is beautiful and that the philistine might kill him in order to get Rebekah as on of their wives so he tells them that Rebekah is his sister… (sound familiar?)  However after a long time has passed the King, Abimelech, looks down from his window and sees Isaac “caressing” Rebekah and he realises that Isaac lied and that Rebekah is actually his wife. 

Abimelech summons Isaac to him and says “That women is really your wife! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Isaac says something like, “because I thought I might my killed so that some other man could have Rebekah.”  Abimelech says “Why?  Why do this to us?  One of us might have slept with your wife and that would have made us all guilty and could have brought a punishment upon us!”  Abimelech then gives orders “this man Isaac is to be left well alone.  If anyone threatens him or his wife then whoever does it will be put to death!”

Isaac plants crops in the land he has and reaps 100 times more than he planted (that’s a LOT.)  He became richer and richer until the Philistines actually envied him!  So in their envy they filled in the wells that had been dug when Abraham was alive they filled with earth so that they were useless.

Abimelech comes to Isaac after that and says “You have become too powerful.  You have to move away from us.

So Isaac does move away.  But the first place he stops the people who live there already say: “Nope, this is our land, you can’t stay here.”  And at the second place they stop at the people who live there already say the same thing.  But in the third place they stop at no one complains and so they settle down there and start living there and Isaac says “Now God has given us room to live in and we will flourish in this land.”

That night God appeared to Isaac and said “I am the same God that you father, Abraham, followed.  Do not ever be afraid because I am with you.  I will bless you and will make increase your descendents because of your father, Abraham.”  So Isaac built an alter there and he prayed to God.  He put his tent up there and his servants dug a well there. (A well was a source of water which was a source of life, a good source of water was extremely important)

While Isaac was doing this Abimelech comes from Gerar (where Isaac had lived) and Isaac meets him and says “Why have you come to me.  Didn’t you kick me out of my house in Gerar and make me go away from you?  SO why do you now come to me?”

Abimelech says “Look, Isaac, I can see that God is with you and so I think that we had better make an unbreakable promise together that we will live in peace together.  Did I not make sure that NO ONE in my kingdom hurt you or your wife?  Also we did not drive you out, but we let you leave in peace.  We don’t want to hurt you, but I want to formalise that and make it official.”

Isaac prepares a feast for them and they have a great time.  Then early the next morning they make an unbreakable promise with each other to be peaceful to each other and Abimelech goes away in peace.

That very day Isaac’s servants come to him and say “Master, we have found water!”  So Isaac called it Shibah (which means unbreakable promise) and the place around it is then known as Beersheba (the town of the unbreakable promise) because of the unbreakable promise that Isaac and Abimelech made there :D

One last thing: when Esau was forty years old he married two women.  They were both Hittites though and this caused Isaac and Rebekah to cry because Isaac had married foreigners.

Matthew 10:1-31

Jesus called his disciples together and then gave them the power to drive out demons from people and to heal every kind of sickness and disease.   The names of the twelve disciples were these: Simon Peter, Andrew, James (Zebedee’s Son), John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew (a tax collector), James (Alphaeus’s Son), Thaddeus, Simon (who was a bit like a terrorist), and Judas Iscariot (who betrayed Jesus)

Jesus sent those twelve out to do miracles, but first he spoke to them and said:

“Only go and heal Jews.  Stay away from all the people who aren’t Jews.  What I want you to tell the Jews as you heal them is this: the kingdom of Heaven is VERY near.  Got that?  Right what I want you to do is this: heal those people who are sick, bring those who are dead back to life, those who have diseases which make them ungodly I want you to make godly, and the last thing you should do is drive out demons.  Please remember that I have given you all of this without any fee or charge.  SO because you have been given it for free make sure that you do not charge people when you do this, YOU must do this for free.”

Then he continued…

“Do not take money with you or any object that you can trade with like a bag, an extra tunic, a belt or a staff or you may be tempted to give it as payment, however wherever you stay you should not pay to stay there because you are working for the kingdom of heaven and that worth enough to pay for all your accommodation.  So when you enter a town or village I want you to look around and find somebody who is worthy and stay at his house until you leave.  Don’t stay at lots of different people’s houses, just choose one person who is godly and live with him.  Remember that when you go into the home you should bless the house with the power I’ve given you and ask that it is peaceful.  If you find that it is an ungodly house then you may take that blessing back.”

And he still went on…

“Here’s what to do if NO ONE in the town will listen to you: shake the dust that has got on your feet from the town off of your feet to show that you’re leaving it behind completely.  You know how Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed back in the time of Abraham?  Well those evil people will get less punishment than any town that doesn’t welcome you.  But be careful, because you are like sheep and there are people who are like wolves about.  You have to be shrewd, like a snake is, and you have to be innocent, like a dove is.  Do not let your guard down because men will hand you over to the local councils and they will whip you in their churches.  Because of me you will be thrown before Kings and it will be your job at those times to tell them about me and be a witness.”

The disciples must have been looking pretty freaked out and scared at this point (with the talk of whipping and standing before Kings – they were mostly poor men with low statuses who would never dream of even seeing a king) because Jesus then says…

“But don’t be afraid because at these times the spirit of God, who is your father, will speak through you and it will not actually be you speaking.”

Then Jesus moved on to another topic…

“Brothers will betray one another so that one will die.  A father will betray his own child so that it will be killed.  Children are going to rebel against their parents and have them put to death.  ALL men will hate you because of me, but if you stand firm and keep believing in me then you WILL be saved.  If you are persecuted in a town then run away to another town and try telling them about me.  But I’m saying the truth when I say that before I come (and do my final rescue) you guys will not have got through all the cities of Israel.  There’s not that much time left before my move is made.

“But let me tell you this: A student is not above his teacher.  You know this and you know that a servant is not above his master.  They can only try and be LIKE their teacher or master.  If a father has been called Satan then his family must be even more like Satan.  But don’t be afraid of them.  There is NOTHING that is hidden or concealed hat will not be made known.  I tell you things in the dark at the moment, but there will come a time and you’ll speak it out in the daylight.  I whisper things in your ears, but in time it will be your task to shout those whispers from the rooftops.”

And Jesus then went on…

“So don’t be afraid of those guys who can kill your body, but they can’t hurt your soul.  But DO be afraid of the One who can destroy your body AND your soul.  Sparrows are the cheapest things you can buy, but they won’t die unless God wills it.  God even knows how many hairs are on your head.  So don’t be afraid because he looks after the sparrows which are cheap and you’re worth more to him than millions of sparrows.”

Proverbs 1:20-33

True wisdom is like a woman who stands in the street and calls out loudly in the middle of Redhill

In the Belfry on a Saturday she cries out

At the doors to busy shops she makes her speech:

“How long will you “simple” people continue with your “simple” ways?

You who mock others, how long will you do that?

How long will you idiots hate knowledge?

“If you had made a response to when I told you that you were going wrong!  Wisdom would have shown you that you were doing wrong!

I would have told you many things.  Wisdom could have told you lots of things.

I would have told you my own thoughts! You would have had the thoughts of wisdom!

But you rejected me (Wisdom) when I called out to you

And though I reached out my hand to help you, because Wisdom could help you, you ignored it!

You ignored all of my advice, (though it was Wisdom)

And you would not let me tell you when I was going wrong.

So when you come to disaster I will laugh

When bad things happen to you I will mock you

When terrible things happen

When you are scared and you feel like life is crushing you

Those people will call to me but I will not answer

They will look for me (wisdom) but they will not find me.

They hated knowledge

And they chose not to be respectful of God

They would not accept my wise advice

And they spurned me when I tried to tell them they were being stupid

It’s like they are planting seeds of bad things when they are being stupid

They will eat the fruit of badness

The silliness of the unwise will kill them

Their complacency will destroy them

BUT if you listen to me you will live in safety

You will not have to fear harm.