Bookmark Daily Bible Reading Calendar By: Ehimwenma E. Aimiuwu – Please LIKE us on Facebook
Genesis 13:
Abram (Arab) left Egypt (Africa) and returned to where he built an alter for God earlier in Canaan (Africa). He called on God and God blessed him and Lot, his nephew, with many animals that they had to go their separate ways. Abram stayed in Canaan (current day Israel), while Lot moved east towards the Jordan Valley to settle in Sodom (Sodom and Gomorrah). The people of Sodom were wicked and great sinners against God. God then promised Abram that he was going to give Canaan to him as well as his descendants, who were going to be a great multitude. Are the European Jews of today in Israel actually descendants of Abram or just Europeans that practice Judaism? The answer is the latter.
Genesis 14:
There were great wars in the land between many kings, and Sodom and Gomorrah were conquered. Lot, with all he had, was captured. Abram ran after them to save them and even other kings (including Sodom and Gomorrah) were rescued as well. The King of Salem (old word for Jerusalem), Melchizedek (who was also a priest of God), came and blessed Abram for his victory in God’s name, and Abram gave him a tenth of all he had. So Melchizedek basically thanked Abram for fighting off other kings who may have sacked Salem, his kingdom, later. The King of Sodom offer Abram goods for rescuing him, but Abram refused because he did not want anything from Sodom or allowing the king to claim later he made Abram rich. So Abram gave a tenth to Melchizedek not because God demanded it from him, but because Melchizedek gave him a prayer of gratitude.
Genesis 15:
God called on Abram to assure him that God was always with him and that Abram’s reward will be great, but Abram asked God what reward was greater than a child for a childless man. God then showed him the stars of heaven as the number of his descendants, he believed, and it was counted as righteous. So righteousness is the believe that God exists and that God can do the impossible for you (as long as you are not harming or oppressing others). Abram then asked God for a sign of his promise and God demanded a sacrifice. After offering the sacrifice, Abram fell into a deep sleep where God told him that his descendants will be in a foreign land for 400 years as slaves, but God will punish their masters and deliver them to the land of Canaan after four generations. So the Jews must have stayed in Egypt for more than 400 years. This is because they are to spend 400 years in slavery, but the Pharaoh that enslaved them came centuries after Joseph and did not know Joseph and the great things Joseph did generations ago.
Genesis 16:
After 10 years living in Canaan, Sarai told Abram to sleep with her Egyptian servant, Hagar, because God had not opened her womb. Sarai married Hagar to Abram to make babies for her. Hagar soon got pregnant. Sarai became very jealous and oppressed Hagar severely. Hagar ran away from Sarai into the wilderness and the angel of God appeared to her. The angel asked Hagar to return to Sarai and submit to her because he was going to bless her son, who should be named Ishmael. Ishmael shall be wild and will dominate his kinsmen. Hagar called on God’s name and blessed God for protecting her. Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. So Hagar was a godly and chosen woman by God, and it was God that named her child Ishmael. God welcomed Ishmael into the world as a blessing and a leader. Sometimes, God approves suffering and oppression for a greater good for the oppressed. Ishmael is not a bad Arab son or father of the Arabs today. He is probably close to Egypt like is mother and not Arab like the church teaches. God wanted him for a purpose too.
