July 16th, 2022

Our ‘walk’ continues this Sunday through that central and significant portion of the Gospel according to Luke [10:38-42], and with the Old Testament text we arrive at what is often considered the most significant book of the Old Testament, the book of Genesis. (The text is Genesis 18:1-10a, with the optional addition of 10b-14.) And we will be staying in Genesis for a little while.

Last week’s writing made the point that the first words of Adam at Genesis 2:23 had the same beginning, middle, and end. And there is a somewhat-similar theme that shows up at the beginning, middle, and end of Genesis. At the Fall into sin, the serpent said to the woman that to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would become like God (3:5). And after the Fall into sin, both Adam and Eve, along with all their descendants, have had to deal with the problem of sin and trying to be like God.

As the nation of Israel slowly began to grow, Rachel, the wife of Jacob (Israel) who is without any children, strongly demands some children from her husband. And Jacob’s response was ‘Am I in the place of God (Genesis 30:1-2)?’ That very same response is said by Joseph very near the end of the book, when he ending up having a lot of power in Egypt, and his brothers—the mean brothers who were almost going to kill him years ago—fell down before him (a very significant position), and they basically said that they would agree to be his slaves. And Joseph said, ‘Do not be afraid; am I in the place of God (Genesis 50:18-19)?’

These three significant points help to keep one’s perspective on the situation that is being laid out in the text, especially since the original text did not have chapter or verse divisions. You might think of the entire book as basically one EXTREMELY long chapter.
Last week I also mentioned that things in the middle can easily be overlooked. And that happens especially when something is confusing. At the beginning of the account, at the creation of the universe, the One who is doing everything is obviously God. But things can get somewhat confusing soon afterwards.

This happens in the text when sometimes it seems like God, the LORD, is doing the action in some instances. And then it seems like, at other times, a person (or an angel, a messenger) is doing the action.

Below are four instances in Genesis where this happens [the texts are, for the most part, summaries; when there is a quotation, as it was above, the words will be a somewhat-literal translation of the original text]. The contrasts are given in the order in which the verses appear in the text. And an attempt was made to show the most significant contrasts between a ‘God emphasis’ and a ‘man emphasis’. This may help get you ready for the next week’s text—which is also from the rest of Genesis 18. And this may also get you ready for God to come down and also to be a true man in Jesus Christ. He is the descendent of Adam and Eve who dealt with that huge problem of sin and our wanting to be like God. And hopefully you have already heard about the ending of that situation.

Genesis 16:
The text says that the angel of the LORD finds Hagar, the Egyptian maidservant of Sarah/Sarai, the wife of Abraham/Abram). The angel tells her that he is going to greatly increase her descendants, and he also tells her what her son is going to do. Then the text says this: She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her. “You are the God who sees me. I saw the back of the One seeing me.”

Genesis 18-19
The chapter (and the reading for this Sunday) starts out by saying that the LORD appeared to Abraham. Then the text goes on to say that three men meet Abraham. Then, a little while later, the text says that the LORD spoke to Abraham. The LORD said that he knew that Sarah laughed. And the text says in 18:22 that Abraham remained standing before the face of the LORD. At 19:27 Abraham goes to the place where it says ‘he stood there, at the face of the LORD’.

Genesis 24
Abraham is, at this point, VERY old, and his son, Isaac, still does not have a wife. Abraham is convinced that, in a very similar way to the LORD bringing him to this Promised Land, the LORD would ‘send his angel before his [the servant’s] face and get a wife (v. 7)’ for his son. Later, the servant finds one and says that ‘the LORD has led me… (v. 27). When permission is given for Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife, the text says that the servant ‘bowed to the ground to the LORD (v. 52).’
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Genesis 32
Jacob, Isaac’s younger son, was having issues with his older brother, Esau, and before he meets him again, with Isaac’s huge family, he wrestles with a strange man through the night. When that man saw that he was not going to overcome him, he touched the socket of his hip and wrenched it out. The ‘man’ gives a blessing to Jacob, and he renames him Israel, for ‘you struggled with God and with men, and you overcame (v. 29).’ Israel ends up naming that place Peniel, because, he said, ‘I saw God, face to face, and my life was spared (v. 31).’