I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 12-15.

    This passage begins with God calling Abram to continue the journey his father had begun. I have always been curious as to why Terah started the journey to Canaan, but never completed it. However, today I noticed something for the first time. God called Abram to leave his father’s household, yet this call appears to come after his father had died. Furthermore, Abram’s father traveled from Ur with Abram, Abram’s wife Sarai, and Abram’s nephew, Lot. Sarai and Lot went with Abram when he left Haran. So, who else was part of Terah’s household? (Abram’s other surviving brother had remained behind in Ur). I have long suspected that the reason that Terah left Ur was because his family was one of the few remaining who remembered the stories passed down from the time of Noah and that he wanted to find a place where his descendants would not be corrupted by the stories which had replaced them. Perhaps the remaining servants in Terah’s household were believers in the religion of Ur, rather than the traditions of the Bible.

    When Abram was called by God to leave Haran and travel on to Canaan he was 75 years old. Think about that, Abram set out to start a new life in a new land at 75 years of age. Despite what we would consider his advanced age, Abram was able to mount a military campaign to rescue Lot and the other captives from Sodom and Gomorrah. Think about that, Abram, who was now at least 80 years old and living as a nomad, led the armed men of his household and defeated the forces which had defeated the armies of Sodom and Gomorrah. Next time you think that you are too old for the task to which God has called you, think about Abram at 80 (this is a theme which comes up again before we get to the end of Genesis).

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 8-11.

    I mentioned in my New Year’s Day post that in the Garden of Eden all animals, including humans, were plant eaters. While there were several indications before this that people ate animals, after The Flood, God explicitly told Noah and his sons that animals have been given to them as food, just as He had given us grain and fruit as food. This puts an end to the idea, based on that earlier passage here in Genesis, that Christians should be vegans.

    There are two stories in today’s passage which lend themselves to reading between the lines. The first is the story of Noah cursing Canaan for what his father did (I am not sure why Noah cursed only Canaan, rather than all of Ham’s sons). In this story, Ham found his father passed out drunk and naked. He immediately went and told his brothers, who went and covered their father careful to avoid embarrassing him further. Reading between the lines, we realize that Ham told his brothers in order to diminish their respect for their father, which is why Noah cursed his son. The second story is how mankind came together to build the Tower of Babel, resulting in their languages becoming mutually incomprehensible. Reading between the lines, when people attempt to undertake complex projects they become divided as separate individuals and groups attempt to take credit for the successes and assign blame to others for the failures. It is only with God’s guidance that we can overcome this consequence of sin.