Daily Genesis

Webers_Home · Dec 11, 2009

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. Gen 15:1a . . Some time later, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

It might be important to note that The Lord himself isn't the one said to come to Abram. It was His word.

This is the very first record of a vision in the Bible. Visions occur in various ways. Sometimes in dreams, and sometimes while the recipient is in a trance; very much like hypnosis. A vision is a very realistic apparition wherein God's word comes to the recipient not only in audible speech; but oftentimes in a situational setting very similar to a brief interactive movie; somewhat like virtual reality.

Trances and dreams are often necessary because most people don't do well with the supernatural. And besides, God frightens people. No one has ever actually seen Him in person, nor even heard His real voice. All they've seen and heard are visions and dreams and apparitions and angels: never actually Himself in person. In a trance or a dream, a person's fear can be controlled so they don't panic and drop dead. Daniel almost died from shock just from seeing an angel. Do you think you would like to meet God some evening? Trust me; you don't.

. Gen 15:1b . . Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you;

Quite possibly, Abram at this time was feeling a bit anxious that a counter attack might be organized up in Shinar and return to Canaan for revenge with a much larger force than the one recently defeated.

. Gen 15:1c . .Your reward shall be very great.

It's odd sometimes how God can cut right to the chase and focus upon the very thoughts of one's heart. According to ancient Judaism, Abram was not only concerned for his safety, but also whether or not pious living was really worth his while; especially since it just might cost him his life in the process. Here's another version of Abram's vision from the Targums.

T. Thereupon was the word of the Lord with Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not; for if these men should gather together in legions and come against thee, My Word will be thy shield: and also if these fall before thee in this world, the reward of thy good works shall be kept, and be prepared before Me in the world to come, great exceedingly. (Targum Jonathan)

Abram at this time is still in a trance; yet fully cognizant and able to participate in this scene just as if he were awake. Hypnosis is a strange mental state. It's very useful for treating certain medical problems, and even some bad habits; also an excellent way to communicate too. Some of us just can't be transparent unless we get hypnotized first because, involuntarily, the subconscious part of our minds puts up a strong defense and won't permit honest rapport. Abram's reactions, and his dialogue, during this trance, are all the more important because in all likelihood, he is being very truly candid, and very honest.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 12, 2009

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†. Gen 15:2a . . But Abram said: O Lord God, what can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless,

tsk tsk. I tell you; it is sometimes very difficult to believe that Abram was a man of faith.

Abram had everything a man could want: wealth, health, fame, and a beautiful wife. But he had no biological children. This has been gnawing on Abram; but till now, he hasn't complained about it. I think he was just a little bit upset with The Lord too. God promised him an heir way back at Shechem; but it never happened: and now he's becoming just a little disillusioned.

†. Gen 15:2b-3 . . and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

Eliezer wasn't Abram's blood kin; however, by common law in that day, he was Abram's default heir apparent in the absence of natural offspring.

†. Gen 15:3 . . Abram said further: Since You have granted me no offspring, my steward will be my heir.

When a man without children died in that day, contemporary culture stipulated that his chief steward got it all and had a legal right to pass it all on to his own son— ergo: Sarai would get very little of all the servants, and the livestock, and the tents, and the provisions, and the weapons, and the clothing, and the riches that Abram accumulated over the years. Abram had no real estate, but if he did, then Eliezer would get that too in the event Abram died with no blood heir.

Abram is as much as saying: "El Shadday; I am very disappointed in you. How could you lead me on like this?" I don't think Abram would normally have ever been so insolent; but in a trance, he's letting his hair down and obviously very disappointed in the performance of his god. Will The Almighty be angry with Abram for that? No. He was ready for it.

†. Gen 15:4 . .The word of The Lord came to him in reply: That one shall not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir.

This is now the third time God promised Abram a child of his own. The other two were Gen 12:7, and Gen 13:15

†. Gen 15:5 . . He took him outside and said: Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He added: So shall your offspring be.

On a good clear night, it's possible to see roughly 6,000 stars with the naked eye; but don't bother to try and count them because you will certainly lose track before you're done; especially if the Milky Way is overhead. Well . . Abram looked up there, and then he thought about what God said, and then he looked up in the sky again, and then he thought some more about what God said; and decided maybe it was true after all. Maybe God really was going to give him an heir. Anyway, he decided to put all his money on The Lord's integrity.

†. Gen 15:6a . . And because he put his trust in the Lord,

Does this mean that Abram was finally confident in God's promises? No, I don't think so; not yet anyway. Very soon now we are going to see just how weak Abram's faith really was. But he did do something extremely important. He began to rely upon God's word; viz: he pinned his hopes on the Almighty's integrity; and he decided right then and there to hold God to what He said.

It's been my experience, that faith is a progressive development. First you accept something as fact. That would be the belief stage. Then you begin to rely upon it. That would be the trust stage. Then, you become assured of it. That would be the confidence stage. We could say that Belief + Trust + Confidence = Bible Faith; and Bible faith is not as easy to come by as it sounds. Let me show you.

†. John 5:24 . . I assure you, those who heed my message, and trust in God who sent me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from Death into Life.

Do you heed Jesus' message? Do you trust God? If your answer was YES to those questions, then according to John 5:24, you are supposed to have eternal life right now this very moment, no delay and no waiting period; you have escaped the judgment, and crossed over from Death to Life. And you should be able to say, in all honesty, boldness, and good conscience; "I am not going to Hell! Ever! Not even God can make me go there now!"

See? That's Bible faith— that's the combination of Belief, Trust, and Confidence in God's testimony; because Bible faith includes the elements of Trust and Confidence.

What was God's response to Abram's reliance upon His promises? In the holy ledgers of Heaven, where The Almighty God keeps tabs on the good and the bad in our lives— both the debits and the credits —God entered a credit to Abram's account. I think most of us, most of the time, get debits instead of credits; so that when we come to the end of our life, we owe more than we're worth.

†. Gen 15:6b . . He reckoned it unto him as righteousness.

That is a very easy way to get credits placed in our records. Anybody can rely upon God's word and thus accumulate some righteousness credits. In fact, God has made it possible for everybody, the pious and the impious; to earn some lasting righteousness credits by doing nothing in the world but taking Him at His word like Abram did.

†. Rom 3:21-22 . . But now God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight— not by obeying the commandments, but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can obtain righteousness in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

†. Rom 4:18-25 . . But it was not for [Abraham's] sake alone that it was written that [righteousness] was credited to him— it was written also for us, to whom righteousness will be credited, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over for our transgressions and was raised for our acquittal.

Abram hadn't quite reached the Confidence stage at this point; but he was well on his way towards it; and we'll see it proved in action when he offers his son Isaac for a burnt offering on up ahead in chapter 22.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 13, 2009

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. Gen 15:7a . .Then He said to him: I am The Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans

God here identifies Himself as Yhvh. That may seem unimportant but there are those who claim Abram was unaware of that name because of Ex 6:3. But it just goes to show you that sometimes the Bible is not all that easy to understand.

One thing we should never overlook about Abram is that, although he was a Hebrew, he was never a Jew. He and his wife Sarai were both Gentiles whom God selected to engender the people of Israel. There was nothing particularly special about Abram. In fact he came from a city, and a family, of idolaters.

So God began by reminding Abram of his roots. Abram was a Babylonian; and it was God who took an interest in him, and the one who got him out of there and gave him a future. It wasn't Abram's idea to change; nor was it Abram's idea to pack up and leave his native country. Actually, if not for God's interference, Abram would've still been back at Ur, living like a pagan.

. Gen 15:7b . . to assign this land to you as a possession.

God gave this man a future. Abram was a nobody, going nowhere in Ur. Of His own sovereign volition, God moved into Abram's life and made a difference. He'll do the very same thing again later on with Jacob.

Some Gentile Christians are way too puffed up with religious pride. It wouldn't hurt a few of them to consider their own roots once in a while too because they have absolutely nothing to brag about.

. Eph 2:1-7 . . As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

. . But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

. Eph 2:11-13 . .Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men) remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

. Titus 3:3-7 . . At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 14, 2009

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. Gen 15:8 . . And he said: O Lord God, how shall I know that I am to possess it?

Abram as much as said to The Supreme Almighty God: "How do I know you will keep that promise? What assurance can you offer me?

During this dialogue, Abram has been calling God by the title 'Adonay (ad-o-noy') which means Lord and/or Master (as a proper name for only God) This is, in point of fact, the very first instance in the Bible of somebody addressing God by that title. It is precisely what everyone should call God only when they are serious about living in compliance with His will. So please don't ever address your maker as Lord unless you mean it. It is very insulting, and quite meaningless, to refer to someone as your master when you have no intention of doing what they say or if you're going about it in a half-hearted manner.

. Gen 15:9-10 . . He answered: Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young bird. He brought Him all these and cut them in two, placing each half opposite the other; but he did not divide the [young] bird.

The turtledove is a towr (tore), a full grown bird. The young bird is a gowzal (go-zawl'); a nestling, quite possibly still covered in chick down. Of all the animals that God specified, the gowzal is the only one that wasn't mature. How Abram knew to cut the mature ones in two pieces is not stated. The ritual that is about to take place amounted to a notary public. Abram wanted God's name on the dotted line and this is the way God chose to do it. This ritual may look silly and barbarous to modern Man, but it was serious business and may very well have been a common custom in the Canaan of that day to seal pacts.

. Gen 15:11 . . Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

The only responsibility that Abram had in this ritual was to set it up. So it was his job to protect the carcasses from damage and keep the scene clear of interference from people and critters who had no business there.

. Gen 15:12 . . As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great dark dread descended upon him.

Now Abram is placed in a condition that is much more powerful than a trance. It's the sleep of anesthesia the very same kind of sleep that God put Adam into when he amputated flesh and bone from his side to make the woman at Gen 2:21-22.

In this condition, Abram is totally powerless to either participate or to interfere; nor would he want to anyway. It's God who's putting His name on the dotted line; not Abram. This entire ritual is for Abram's benefit; and his alone, because Abram didn't have to reciprocate and promise God one single thing in return. God is the one who voluntarily obligated Himself, and now He is going to notarize his word per Abram's request; to set Abram's mind at ease regarding a biological heir, and the heir's possession of Canaan.

This pact, that God made with Abram, was totally unconditional. No matter what Abram did from now on, nothing to place himself in breach of contract because God alone is in obligation. There is nothing in the pact for Abram to live up to; therefore it was impossible for Abram to endanger either his own, or his posterity's, permanent possession of the land of Palestine. They may lose their occupation of it from time to time, but never their possession.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 15, 2009

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. Gen 15:13 . . And He said to Abram: Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

God predicted three things concerning Abram's offspring (not Abram himself) that would occur over a 400 year period: 1) They would be resident aliens, 2) They would be oppressed, and 3) They would be slaves.

From the time Jacob moved his family down to Egypt, until the day they left under Moses' leadership, was only about 210 years. But according to Exodus, the people of Israel were supposed to have dwelled in Egypt 430 years.

. Ex 12:40-41 . .The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.

Paul said that Moses' covenant, (enacted about a month after the people of Israel were liberated from Egypt) came 430 years after Abram's covenant.

. Gal 3:16-18 . .The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on a promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.

The data is somewhat sketchy and ambiguous, but from what exists, it appears that an all inclusive 430 year period began with Abram's covenant scene in Gen 15. But God didn't say Abraham himself would be effected by the prediction. He said Abram's posterity would be. Ishmael doesn't count as Abram's posterity in respect to the land. So the holy posterity began with the birth of Isaac; which occurred about 30 years after Abram's covenant was ratified. So the 400 year period of Gen 15:13 apparently began with Isaac. Even though he himself was never a slave in Egypt, Isaac was nevertheless an alien in lands not belonging to him; and later, his son Jacob would be too.

Abram's posterity were resident aliens in at least three places Canaan, Egypt, and Babylonia. Jacob lived, not only in Canaan and Egypt, but also on his uncle Laban's ranch in Haran which is up in Turkey along with his wives and his twelve sons with him.

Precisely why the entire 430 year period is reckoned in Ex 12:40-41 as "the length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt" is totally unknown; except that it reflects the Septuagint's version; which is a Greek derivative of ancient Hebrew texts no longer available.

The term "lived in Egypt" has special significance aside from the physical geographic country itself. According to Ex 17:16, the people of Israel, as a unit, are never to live in Egypt ever again.

It was in Egypt where God's people were promoted from the rank of servant nation to a nation with the rank of Divine sonship.

. Ex 4:22-23 . .Then you shall say to Pharaoh: Thus says the Lord: Israel is My first-born son. I have said to you, Let My son go, that he may worship Me

. Hos 11:1 . . I fell in love with Israel when he was still a child; and I have called [him] My son ever since Egypt.

From the time of the covenant in Gen 15 until the exodus, the people of Israel weren't God's son. So you could say, in a manner of speaking, that during those 400 years, from the birth of Isaac until their adoption, Abraham's people were orphans and indeed they were because they had no country of their own to call home. So we could say that to "live in Egypt" is to be a homeless vagrant rather than to be a boy with a room of his own in his dad's house.

A big plus for Abram's people is that the rank of first-born son indicates a child who not only outranks every one of his siblings, but also has first dibs on inheritance rights among all the nations of the earth. So that, all in all, the people of Israel are in a very advantageous position. It may not look that way for now, but Abram's people have a great future out ahead of them.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 16, 2009

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†. Gen 15:14a . . but I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve,

The most famous part of that action was the slaying of Egypt's first-born offspring while God spared those who were in houses with the protective blood of a Passover lamb painted on their door frames. When the destroying angel saw the blood, it passed over the house. The angel didn't care what brand of religion was in the house, nor did it care if they were Bible believers, nor did it even care if they were Jews or non Jews— in fact many non Jews privy to this information were spared right along with the Jews. The only element deciding between the living and the dead was the blood; and nothing else: neither race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, criminal past, marital status, nor anything else made any difference.

†. Ex 11:4-7 . . Moses said: Thus says the Lord: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians, and every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; and all the first-born of the cattle. And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again; but not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at man or beast—in order that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

†. Ex 12:3-7 . . Speak to the whole community of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household. But if the household is too small for a lamb, let him share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it.

†. Ex 12:12-13 . . For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord. And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

†. Ex 12:21-23 . . Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them: Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover offering. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For when the Lord goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and the Lord will pass over the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.

†. Ex 12:29-30 . . In the middle of the night the Lord struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle. And Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians— because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead.

It wasn't a lashing out of the anger of a peevish god that brought on all that death. It was the decision of a righteous Judge pushed to the limits of reasonable patience. Egypt was a very wicked country in Moses' day and got just what, in the wisdom of God, it fully deserved.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 17, 2009

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†. Gen 15:14b . . and in the end they shall go free

Slavery can be both a blessing and a curse. At least a slave has shelter and a source of food and clothing. I met men in the Army who made it a career for that very reason. It was security. They had to surrender a measure of their freedom to get it, but I guess they figured it was better than scratchin' and survivin' on the outside.

But Israel's slavery was not the US Army. Anybody who's read the book of Exodus can attest to that. Their lot was bitter, and their masters were cruel and insensitive.

†. Ex 1:8-14 . . A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people: Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground. So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

. . But the more they were oppressed, the more they increased and spread out, so that the [Egyptians] came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians ruthlessly imposed upon the Israelites the various labors that they made them perform. Ruthlessly they made life bitter for them with harsh labor at mortar and bricks and with all sorts of tasks in the field.

Egypt even attempted to exterminate all the little Israeli baby boys.

†. Ex 1:15-22 . .The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah: When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. … Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.

(Pharaoh's edict was rash, and not in the best interests of his country. If only female Hebrews were permitted to live, then it would only be a matter of time before he would have no male Hebrews to work in the fields, manage the herds, and contribute labor to Egypt's ambitious construction projects.)

The Nile harbored crocodiles, so I guess you know what that meant. Shiphrah and Puah had a difficult decision to make. Should they comply with Pharaoh's edict, or should they respect the sanctity of Israeli life?

†. Ex 1:17-19 . .The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them: Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live? The midwives said to Pharaoh: Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.

(chuckle) I think there might have been just a touch of ethnic pride reflected in the tone of Shiphrah and Puah. At any rate, the ladies lied through their teeth. But isn't lying a sin? Shouldn't they be punished for it?

†. Ex 1:20-21. . And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. And because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.

To "establish households for them" means God rewarded Shiphrah and Puah with children of their own.

That incident set a Biblical precedent, and ended the debate about honesty being always the best policy. Lying is not always a bad thing, especially when it's done to protect life (cf. Josh 2:1-21). To their credit, many Europeans defied the Fascist government in WWII and aided Jesus' countrymen in whatever way they could with daily necessities and hiding places.

†. Acts 5:29-30 . . Peter and the other apostles replied: We must obey God rather than men.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 18, 2009

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†. Gen 15:14c . . with great wealth.

That must have puzzled Abram just a little. How do slaves get rich? Certainly not on a slave's pay. However, if you frighten the bejabbers out of a slave's master, then a slave might fare better.

†. Ex 11:1-3 . . And the Lord said to Moses: I will bring but one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; after that he shall let you go from here; indeed, when he lets you go, he will drive you out of here one and all. Tell the people to borrow, each man from his neighbor and each woman from hers, objects of silver and gold. The Lord disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people. Moreover, Moses himself was much esteemed in the land of Egypt, among Pharaoh’s courtiers and among the people.

They didn't actually "borrow" things from the Egyptians as if intending to pay them back some day. The word for borrow is from sha'al (shaw-al') and/or sha'el (shaw-ale') which means: to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand. Egypt owed the people of Israel back wages and now it was time to pay up. The Egyptians all knew their country was in ruins because of Moses. Do you think anyone complained or argued with the Jews' demands? No way. The Egyptians were more than happy to pay if it meant Moses would go away and leave them alone.

†. Ex 12:33-36 . .The Egyptians urged the people on, impatient to have them leave the country, for they said, "We shall all be dead." The Israelites had done Moses’ bidding and demanded from the Egyptians objects of silver and gold, and clothing. And the Lord had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request; thus they plundered the Egyptians.

†. Gen 14:15a . . As for you,

Abram must have begun to wonder if maybe he too was in danger of oppression and slavery.

†. Gen 15:15b . .You shall go to your fathers in peace;

Have you ever wondered how you'll die— by accident, poison, in a violent mugging, disease, cancer, car wreck, a fall, hit in the head by a tree limb, or from a random bullet in a drive-by shooting? People often die suddenly and totally unexpected. Many people die a very unhappy death; miserable, alone, unloved, and unfulfilled. God promised Abram that he would not die like that. His death would be tranquil and calm and actually quite satisfactory. He would experience no anxiety, nor regrets, nor any fear about it whatsoever.

†. Gen 15:15c . .You shall be buried at a ripe old age.

Death stalks each and every one of us like a hungry predator, waiting for its chance to do us in. We just never know.

†. John 7:6 . . Jesus told them: The right time for me has not yet come; but for you any time is right.

Abram had the envious advantage of knowing he would live a full life before he died. Everyone should be so lucky!

†. Gen 15:16 . . And they shall return here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.

God mentioned only one of the nations living in Canaan. Why was He going to delay transferring possession of the land until the iniquity of the Amorites was brimming— why them and not the others? I think I know. It was because God promised Abram that He would bless those who blessed him. The Amorite men— Mamre, Eshkol, and Aner —were Abram's friends and allies during the recent military campaign to rescue Lot; so that the ultimate destiny of Canaan hinged upon the decadence of just one tribe: the Amorites. Some times it really pays to have God-fearing friends in this world; for example:

†. Gen 30:27 . . And Laban said to him: Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that Yhvh has blessed me for your sake.

†. Gen 30:30 . .The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and Yhvh has blessed you wherever I have been.

†. Gen 39:3-5 . . When Joseph's master saw that Yhvh was with him and that Yhvh gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, Yhvh blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of Yhvh was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.

†. 1Cor 7:12-14 . . If any brother has an unbelieving wife who is content to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has an unbelieving husband who is content to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is connected with God through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is connected with God through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are now under God's kindly auspices.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 19, 2009

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. Gen 15:17 . .When the sun set and it was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven, and a flaming torch which passed between those pieces.

God waited until the natural light was gone before going through this ritual. The primary light now illuminating the scene was the light of a supernatural torch.

The Hebrew word for oven is tannuwr (tan-noor') which means: a fire-pot. But it's not just a simple bucket of coals. It was actually kitchen equipment, especially for baking fresh bread. There are several passages in the Old Testament where ovens are connected with Divine judgment, and with Divine warfare.

. Ps 21:9-10 . .Your hand is equal to all Your enemies; Your right hand overpowers Your foes. You set them ablaze like a furnace when You show Your presence. The Lord in anger destroys them; fire consumes them.

. Mal 3:19-21 . . For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming testified the Lord of Hosts shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise to bring healing. You shall go forth and kick up your heels like stall-fed calves, and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing testified the Lord of Hosts.

. Isa 66:23-24 . . All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month. And as they go out, they will see the corpses of those who have rebelled against me. For the worms that devour them will never die, and the fire that burns them will never go out. All who pass by will view them with utter horror.

. Matt 13:40-43 . . As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Before the invention of lanterns, people used torches in the dark to find their way around. The flaming torch indicates that The Almighty is His own source of illumination; He doesn't need any of Man's light nor any natural light to find His way. The Light of God is a beacon to lead His own in the way they should go.

. Ps 119:104-105 . . I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

. John 8:12 . .When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

The Bible's God is actually secluded in light.

. Ps 104:2 . . He wraps himself in light as with a garment

. 1Tim 6:16 . . He alone can never die, and He lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No one has ever seen Him, nor ever will. To Him be honor and power forever. Amen.

A burning object in this next case, a flaming angel is how God first appeared to Moses.

. Ps 104:4 . . He makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.

. Ex 3:1-6 . . Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. Moses said: I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn't the bush burn up?

. . When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered: Here I am. And He said: Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am; He said, the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Ezekiel saw visions of God in the fashion of a burning object too.

. Ezek 1:1-4 . . In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, when I was in the community of exiles by the Chebar Canal, the heavens opened and I saw visions of God . . I looked, and lo, a stormy wind came sweeping out of the north a huge cloud and flashing fire, surrounded by a radiance; and in the center of it, in the center of the fire, a gleam as of amber.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 20, 2009

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. Gen 15:18a . . On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram,

This is now the second covenant that God made with His creation. The first one was with every living creature back in chapter 9. That one is often called Noah's Covenant. But this covenant, well known as Abraham's Covenant, is somewhat different. It's more like a pledge than an agreement; and it's not made between God and every living creature, but between God and one specific human being.

God alone is obligated in Abraham's Covenant. No one else has any responsibilities to fulfill. Abram can neither annul it, nor can he breach it by failure to live up to his own end of the deal because Abram has no end to live up to. God is the only one putting Himself out on a limb; therefore God is the one who is solely responsible to make Abraham's Covenant happen. Covenants like this are very advantageous from Man's point of view because any promises God makes in an unconditional covenant can never be lost by Man's bungling.

Abraham's Covenant is iron clad; and cannot be jeopardized by his posterity's failure to faithfully meet the terms and conditions of the later covenant well known as Moses' Covenant because The Law doesn't have ex post facto jurisdiction.

. Gal 3:8-18 . . the commandments, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, do not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to cancel the promise. For if the inheritance comes from the law, it is no longer from a promise; but God bestowed it on Abraham through a promise.

However, only very select Jews will be allowed to live in the land during Messiah's administration.

. Eze 20:33-38 . . As I live declares the Lord God I will reign over you with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with overflowing fury. With a strong hand and an outstretched arm and overflowing fury I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples; and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

. . As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with youdeclares the Lord God. I will make you pass under the shepherds staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. I will remove from you those who rebel and transgress against Me; I will take them out of the countries where they sojourn, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

. Mtt 8:11-12 . . And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

. Mtt 13:40-43 . . Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 21, 2009

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. Gen 15:18b saying: To your offspring I assign this land,

The word for offspring is zera` (zeh'-rah) which means: seed; figuratively, fruit, plant, sowing-time, and posterity. Zera` is one of those words that is both plural and singular like the words sheep and fish. One sheep is a sheep, and a flock of them are called sheep too. So the context has to be taken into consideration; and even then there can still be ambiguity.

Here's an instance where the meaning of zera` is obviously one child.

. Gen 4:25 . . Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, meaning: God has provided me with another offspring in place of Abel. For Cain had killed him.

Here's an instance where the meaning is clearly more than one child.

. Gen 15:13 . . And He said to Abram: Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years;

Sometimes the context contains both the singular and the plural.

. Gen 15:3-5 . . Abram said further: Since You have granted me no offspring, my steward will be my heir. The word of the Lord came to him in reply: That one shall not be your heir; none but your very own issue shall be your heir. Yhvh took him outside and said: Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He added: So shall your offspring be.

The particular offspring to whom God referred to in Gen 15:18 is not plural. The promise didn't extend to every person descending from Abraham, but to a singular special offspring: Isaac. The promise then passed to Jacob, then to Judah, then on down through his line until it finally reached Messiah himself being the ultimate, and the final, recipient of the promise.

. Gal 3:16 . . Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant. It does not say "And to descendants," as referring to many, but as referring to one: "And to your descendant" who is Christ.

(The titles Christ and Messiah both mean the same thing: one's derived from Greek and the other's from Hebrew.)

Messiah didn't engender any male descendants (Isa 53:8). Therefore the promise stopped with Christ; and because he rose from the dead, it still remains in his possession.

. Acts 2:25-32 . .For David (Psalm 16) says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.

. . My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses.

. 1Cor 15:20 . . But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Jesus is called the firstfruits of them that slept. How can that true since numbers of people came back from death before he did? Answer: none of them came back with immortality. In other words, they all failed to overcome death and were taken by it yet again. But not Jesus. No, he abolished death's control over his body by coming back immortal.

. Rom 6:9 . . For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has any control over him.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 22, 2009

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. Gen 15:18c-21 . . from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

If you have a map handy, it's instantly apparent just how huge a piece of real estate that God assigned to Abram's offspring. It's very difficult to precisely outline the whole area but it seems to encompass a chunk of Africa east of the Nile, (including the delta), the Sinai Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Onan, U.A.E., Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

The "river of Egypt" is very likely the Nile since there was no Suez Canal in that day. The Euphrates is Iraq's eastern border. The distance from Cairo Egypt to Al Basrah Iraq is about 983 miles as the crow flies. That's roughly the distance from San Diego to Abilene Tx. The distance from Aden Yemen to Hilab Syria is about 1,698 miles as the crow flies; which is just a tad under the crow-distance from Los Angeles to Chicago.

I'm talking about some serious square mileage roughly 1,538,370 of them; which is more than Ireland, United Kingdom, Scotland, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Finland combined! Currently, Israel, at its widest east to west dimension, across the Negev, is less than 70 miles; and south to north from the Gulf Of Aqaba to Shemona, about 260; comprising a square mileage of only 8,473: a mere .551% of the original land covenanted to Abraham.

In order for Yhvh to protect His reputation as a person of impeccable honesty, He has to make good on His promise to Abraham. If for some reason any reason at all that Jacob's people never do not take possession of all 1,538,370 square miles of the land covenanted to Abraham, then Yhvh will lose His reputation as a Jurist of the highest possible ethical integrity and be found out a liar in whom people are fools to put their trust.

God has yet to give the people of Israel complete control over all of their covenanted land. In point of fact, the boundaries were very early on temporarily reduced for the time being.

. Num 34:1-12 . .The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Instruct the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as your portion, the land of Canaan with its various boundaries:

. .Your southern sector shall extend from the wilderness of Zin alongside Edom. Your southern boundary shall start on the east from the tip of the Dead Sea. Your boundary shall then turn to pass south of the ascent of Akrabbim and continue to Zin, and its limits shall be south of Kadesh-barnea, reaching Hazar-addar and continuing to Azmon. From Azmon the boundary shall turn toward the Wadi of Egypt and terminate at the Sea.

. . For the western boundary you shall have the coast of the Great Sea; that shall serve as your western boundary.

. .This shall be your northern boundary: Draw a line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor; from Mount Hor draw a line to Lebo-hamath, and let the boundary reach Zedad. The boundary shall then run to Ziphron and terminate at Hazar-enan. That shall be your northern boundary.

. . For your eastern boundary you shall draw a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham. From Shepham the boundary shall descend to Riblah on the east side of Ain; from there the boundary shall continue downward and abut on the eastern slopes of the Sea of Chinnereth. The boundary shall then descend along the Jordan and terminate at the Dead Sea.

. .That shall be your land as defined by its boundaries on all sides.

The temporary boundaries run from the Mediterranean Sea eastward to the Jordan River; and from the southern tip of the Dead Sea northward to a geographic location which has not yet really been quite accurately identified. Ezek 47:15 says the northern border passes along "the way of Hethlon" which some feel is very likely the valley of the Nahr al Kubbir river which roughly parallels the northern border of modern day Lebanon, and through which a railroad track lies between An Naqib on the Mediterranean coast to Hims Syria.

You know what the secret to permanent peace in the Mideast is? It's the utter eradication of the religion of Islam, along with Israel's complete domination of the entire region.

. Isa 11:6-10 . .The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

. .They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Yhvh, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

At that time, the land won't be divided into several autonomous states; but rather, one nation under Messiah's jurisdiction.

The next event in Abram's life has repercussions all the way to the World Trade Center September 11, 2001. The son produced by his union with Hagar went on to become the father of the Arab world; and ultimately, Muhammad: the inventor of Islam.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 23, 2009

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†. Gen 16:1 . . Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.

The word for maidservant is shiphchah (shif-khaw') which is a female slave (as a member of the household).

Hagar wasn't just another skull in the slave pool. As a member of the household staff, she held a measure of status. Some believe that she was a going-away gift to Sarai from Pharaoh. Others suggest that Abram purchased Hagar while they were all down in Egypt during the famine in chapter 12. Being a member of the household; she probably seemed like a daughter to ol' Abram in spite of her slave status.

†. Gen 16:2a . . And Sarai said to Abram: Look, the Lord has kept me from bearing.

Sarai's logic, at least from a certain point of view, was reasonable. She was likely familiar with Gen 1:22 and 1:28, where fertility was stated to be a blessing. Without fertility, living things cannot reproduce. Although reproductive systems were built into all living things when they were created; those systems were merely plumbing until an act of God enabled them to reproduce life.

Sarai's condition was no doubt not because God was withholding children from her; but the result of a natural birth defect; although without the benefit of modern medical science, she had no way of knowing that at the time.

†. Gen 16:2b . . Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.

This is the very first instance in the Bible of the principle of adoption. According to the customs of that day, a woman had the right, and the option, to keep a female slave's children as her own if the woman's husband sired them. No one bothered to ask Hagar how she might feel about it because slaves had no say in such arrangements.

†. Gen 16:2c . . And Abram heeded Sarai’s request.

Sarai wasn't specifically named in God's original promise of offspring; so Abram may have figured that any son he produced could qualify as the promised seed. This is one time he really should have gone to his altar and inquired of The Lord what to do. But it was an innocent mistake, and totally blindsided Abram because what he and Sarai did wasn't out of the ordinary in their own day.

So then, why didn't God step in and stop Abram from making a mistake? Well, what for? Ishmael's birth in no way had the power to short-circuit God's plans for Isaac any more than the rest of Abram's sons. And anyway, the Bible's God isn't "big brother". For the most part, Man is autonomous and generally at liberty to conduct his affairs as he pleases.

†. Gen 1:26-28 . . And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

. . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Man is master of his domain; and it's the exception rather than the rule when God meddles in Man's affairs.

†. Gen 16:3 . . So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian— after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years —and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine.

Abram was 75 when he departed Haran for Canaan (Gen 12:4). So Hagar was forced to sleep with an 85 year-old man. That may seem gross, but reckoning by modern life expectancy, Abram was only about the equivalent of 36. Still, the tryst was not very romantic. Hagar no doubt was attracted to any one of a number of fine unattached young men in Abram's community; but due to circumstances beyond her control, she was doomed to a lonely limbo of unrequited love. Her lot in life, though very comfortable and secure, was, nonetheless, probably tinged with an unfulfilled longing that robbed her of true peace and contentment.

The word for concubine is 'ishshah (ish-shaw') which is a nondescript word for women (cf. Gen 2:22-23). Concubines weren't quite as low on the food chain as a mistress. They at least had some measure of respectability and social acceptance; and they had a legitimate place in their man's home too. But, at the same time, they were not a real wife. They were, in fact, quite expendable. When a man was tired of a concubine, he could send her away with nothing. They shared no community property, and concubines didn't have the right to inherit any portion of a man's estate when he died.

I honestly do not know how a single girl can sleep with another woman's husband and not be an adulteress.

†. Ex 20:14 . .Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Webster's defines adultery as: voluntary sexual intercourse between a married man and someone other than his wife and/or between a married woman and someone other than her husband.

None of the commandments that I'm aware of limit the number of wives a man may have in his harem; but then concubines are not wives.

In all fairness, though, it should be pointed out that Biblical law doesn't have ex post facto jurisdiction (Gal 3:17) viz: it isn't retroactive; so married men who shacked up with concubines prior to Moses can't be prosecuted in heaven's court of law for adultery.

†. Rom 4:15 . .where no commandments exist; there is no transgression.

†. Rom 5:13 . . For until the commandments, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

The tenor of the story is that Sarai gave her maidservant to Abram as a wife, but not to actually marry him. Sarai's intention was that Hagar be a baby mill; nothing more. The 1985 JPS Tanakh's use of the word concubine, instead of the word "wife" found in some Gentile bibles, does a better job of conveying the meaning, because sans a possessive pronoun, a woman is assumed unattached. In point of fact, there is no specific Hebrew word for wife in the Old Testament. What makes a woman a wife is the male possessive pronoun "his" as in: his woman. Same for husbands; viz: her man.

Concubines aren't truly immoral. They have a much higher status than that. Webster's defines a concubine as: A woman with whom a man cohabits without being married. A woman having a recognized social status in a household below that of a wife.

Tiger Woods' girl friends don't count as concubines because they neither lived in his home nor were they accepted by his wife Elin. His case is clearly adultery because Tiger's conduct occurred after the installment of Moses' covenanted law; which means that God has no choice now but to proceed against Mr. Woods for breaking the seventh commandment.

Hagar wasn't a girl friend. She was just a slave legally forced into motherhood against her will. If she had truly been Abram's wife, then she would have enjoyed equality with Sarai as a sister-wife. But she didn't. Hagar continued to be a slave, and there is no record that she and Abram slept together more than once. She didn't take up a new life married to Abram; and Abram never once referred to her as his spouse. He always referred to Hagar as Sarai's slave.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 24, 2009

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. Gen 16:4 . . He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress became lower in her esteem.

It would seem that where before Hagar knew her place and was humble and self effacing around Sarai, she now regarded her mistress as somewhat less of a woman than herself. There's no record of Hagar gloating over Sarah, but sometimes women communicate just as effectively with "looks" as they do with words. Bearing children may not seem important to men, but for many women, it's just as important to their self esteem as it is for a man to be a good provider.

. Gen 16:5 . . And Sarai said to Abram: The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; and now that she sees that she is expecting, I am lowered in her esteem. The Lord decide between you and me!

(chuckle) Isn't' that just perfectly Eve-ish? Adam's wife blamed the Serpent for her husband's fall instead of taking full responsibility for her own actions (Gen 3:13). Sarai insinuated that letting Hagar sleep with Abram was somehow doing him a personal favor; when in reality, he hadn't even thought of it nor even seemed to wish it. It was all Sarai's idea from the get-go.

She as much as said to her husband: The Almighty is going to punish you for letting that woman gloat over me! That, of course, is a smoke screen hiding Sarai's true feelings. And it's pretty ridiculous to presume to inform an inspired man like Abram about the righteousness of God. If anybody would be privy to that kind of information, it would be Abram rather than Sarai. She's just angry because Abram isn't sticking up for her and she's cloaking her feelings with a feigned righteous indignation. Sarai's in a female vendetta with Hagar, simple as that; and trying to goad Abram into helping her win it. But Hagar is carrying Abram's child: how could he do anything to hurt her now?

Out ahead in Genesis, a scorned woman will goad her husband to imprison an innocent man by claiming he tried to abuse her. That man is Joseph, one of the most righteous heroes in the entire Bible. His situation parallels a case in Harper Lee's book To Kill A Mockingbird where a promiscuous woman accuses an innocent man of raping her in order to cover up her own indiscretions.

Scorned women can be very cruel. When I was a young good-looking guy, the wife (whom I was careful to avoid) of a good friend accused me to her husband of going off on her with abusive language in a tirade. To defend myself and expose his wife for the liar that she was, would have meant causing my friend deep humiliation; so I elected to keep silent and take the pain. Our friendship was of course ruined, and we parted. A few months later, I was told they divorced. Like that was any big surprise.

. Gen 16:6a . . Abram said to Sarai: Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.

Abram should never have given Sarai carte blanche to do as she pleased with Hagar. In her mood, it would surely get out of hand and go too far. But he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Abram had to live with Sarai. He could get by without Hagar's good will; so hers was sacrificed to keep peace in the home. Most men would do the very same thing in his place because it isn't easy for a man to live with an indignant woman. In point of fact, I would put an indignant woman even higher on the list of difficulty than a weeping woman.

. Pro 21:9 . . Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.

. Pro 21:19 . . Better to live in the wild than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

. Pro 27:15-16 . . A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

Note that Abram didn't refer to Hagar as "my wife"; nor even as "my concubine". He referred to her as "your maid". Abram didn't even use Hagar's name even though the man had only recently slept with her and she was now carrying his child.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 25, 2009

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. Gen 16:6b-7 . .Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she [Hagar] ran away from her. An angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur,

For the very first time in the Bible, the word angel appears. The Hebrew word is mal'ak (mal-awk') which corresponds to the New Testament word aggelos (ang'-el-os) which mean: a dispatched deputy; a messenger; specifically, of God, viz: an angel, a prophet, priest, or teacher.

Mal'ak has pretty wide latitude. It can be a for-real angel, or even something as simple as the White House press secretary either a celestial being or a human being. The first three chapters in the book of Revelation are comprised of letters written to the angels of specific churches that existed in the first century. The "angels" no doubt being church officers like pastors and deacons; which means a man of God is supposed to speak for God.

. 1Pet 4:11 . . If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God

A mal'ak can even be God Himself as a human being. Just exactly how God does that is a complete mystery. Maybe His human appearances are like some sort of solid-matter paranormal super-hyper hologram. Who really knows for sure? But one thing is very certain. Divine angels were just about as close to the True God as anybody could get back then and still live to tell about it.

There are a fair number of angel sightings recorded in the Old Testament. One celestial being in particular (called Metatron in sacred Jewish literature) appears to be so high ranking, and so holy, that it is authorized to go by God's name and to be treated, regarded, received, and worshipped, as Yhvh. Just exactly what the story is on that angel is hard to know for sure; but in the Scripture texts it is clear that the demarcation between God and the angel (whose name is his Master's) is so blurred that the two often appear to be one and the same person.

Divine angels are quite necessary because it is impossible for the True God to either communicate, or associate, with Man directly. He is just too holy far beyond the dignity of any royalty anybody could possibly imagine. Any attempt by Man, with his puny mortal mind, to fully comprehend the untouchable person of God, would be about equal to a gnat trying to drink the ocean. It's a basic belief in Judaism that no one has seen God at any time.

. Ex 33:18-23 . . He (Moses) said: Oh, let me behold Your Presence! And He answered: I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim before you the name Yhvh, and the grace that I grant and the compassion that I show. But; He said; you cannot see My face, for man may not see Me and live. And the Lord said: See, there is a place near Me. Station yourself on the rock and, as My Presence passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and shield you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.

The same belief is held in Christianity.

. John 1:18 . . No man has seen God at any time

. John 5:37 . .You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

Moses didn't actually see God's physical back. He saw the wake left by God's kabowd The Glory called The Shekinah in modern Judaism and here said to be "My Presence." God identifies with The Shekinah as Himself.

Though it is a well established Bible fact that no human being can look upon the True God in person; yet the Old Testament clearly says that on at least one occasion, Moses and Israel's leaders were apparently permitted to see Him for themselves.

. Ex 24:1-11 . . Then He said to Moses: Come up to Yhvh, with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him . . . Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel ascended; and they saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity. Yet He did not raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.

That is one of the most astonishing passages in the Bible. Try as anyone might to spiritualize the meaning of that passage, it is so clearly evident that Moses and his friends saw a real live sentient being standing before them whom the author of Exodus said was God, a.k.a. Yhvh.

According to a story in the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 38b) a man identified as a schismatic a Jewish follower of Jesus was talking to a rabbi about Exodus 24:1. The Jewish believer was trying to argue that it seemed odd that God would say to Moses; "Come up to Yhvh" instead of saying; "Come up to Me." Wouldn't that imply that there is more than one divine Person?

The rabbi answered that God wasn't talking about Himself but rather about the angel Metatron, the most powerful angel in rabbinical literature, whose name is his Master's. In other words, when God said "Come up to Yhvh", He didn't actually mean "Come up to Me." He meant "Come up to Metatron, whose name is Yhvh." So according to rabbinical interpretation, when people meet Metatron, they are meeting with God.

The road to Shur went south from Abram's camp; so possibly Hagar's intent was to return home to Egypt. At this point, she was a runaway slave and must have been feeling very lonely, very unimportant, and very unsure of her future. No one cared for her soul, whether she lived or died and, where was she to go? Maybe her parents would take her back in when she got home. But how was she to explain the baby?

Genesis doesn't say, but Hagar could have hitch-hiked a ride with a caravan. It's hard to believe a woman in that day would dare attempt a journey that far on foot, and all by herself.

Shur is the name of a desert region east of the Suez Canal and extending down along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez. Shur means wall and may refer to the mountain wall of the Tih plateau as visible from the shore plains. The position of Shur is defined as being "opposite Egypt on the way to Assyria" (Gen 25:18). After crossing the Red Sea, the people of Israel entered the desert of Shur (Ex 15:22) which extended southward a distance of three days' journey. The region is referred as being close, or adjacent, to Egypt. (1Sam 15:7 and 1Sam 27:8)

C.L.I.F.F.
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Citizen of the Kingdom · Dec 26, 2009

Merry Christmas blessings!

Webers_Home · Dec 26, 2009

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†. Gen 16:8a . . the angel said: Hagar, slave of Sarai,

It should be pointed out that the angel didn't refer to Hagar as Abram's wife; but as Sarai's slave— additional clues that Hagar and Abram were never married otherwise her status would be that of Abram's wife rather than Sarai's slave.

This meeting is strikingly similar to the New Testament's encounter between Jesus and a female inhabitant of Samaria in the Gospel of John. In both cases, the women were lone, unmarried Gentile women, both cases took place at a source of water, both occurred along a major north/south road through Palestine; and both meetings were private and the topic intimate.

This is the very first instance in the Bible record where somebody addressed Hagar by name. What I like best is that although her human masters aren't recorded calling her by name, The Almighty Supreme God, who is higher than either Abram and Sarai, did call her by own name. I like Abram's god, don't you? He seems okay; and doesn't let rank go to His head either.

†. Gen 16:8b . . where have you come from, and where are you going?

Didn't Yhvh's angel know of her situation? Yes. But God is often very accommodating; and seems not much different than any other friendly stranger you might meet in your travels. The small-talk chit chat would just naturally take on a casual tone like this: "Hello, so nice to meet you. Where are you from? We're from Oregon ourselves and headed down to tan our hides at the beach in Tel Aviv. Where are you guys going? Will you be in Israel long? We're going to Masada tomorrow and ride the new cable car and then maybe go dancing later at The Underground in Jerusalem. Have you been there? We hear it's fun."

There's nothing surreal or mystical about the angel's greeting. He's just another friendly traveler. But there was something very unusual about this mysterious stranger. He knew Hagar's name, and he knew she was a slave; and he knew her mistress' name too. That had to shake Hagar up a little; don't you think?

†. Gen 16:8c . . And she said: I am running away from my mistress Sarai.

Somehow the angel won her confidence, and she was comfortable talking about herself. There's a very real possibility that the angel was the first person to take a genuine interest in Hagar's feelings for a long, long time.

In my almost 66-years journey through this life, I've discovered there are lots of people out there aching for someone to take them seriously. They don't like being marginalized; they don't like being made to feel unimportant, inferior, unnecessary, expendable, mediocre, and stupid— they want to count; they want to matter. I've no doubt that is the very reason behind the success of internet sites like MySpace, et al. Ironically, one of the four common characteristics of seemingly level-headed Muslim men who become suicide bombers is the wish to devote themselves to a cause higher than themselves; viz: the desire to make their lives count for something noble and significant.

By this time, Hagar surely perceived this was not your everyday stranger. He knew her far too well; just like Jesus knew the woman of Samaria.

†. John 4:16-29 . . He told her: Go, call your husband and come back. I have no husband; she replied. Jesus said to her: You are correct when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people: Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?

Indeed he was.

†. John 4:25-26 . .The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things. Jesus said to her: I who speak to you am he.

Jesus had a way with people, just like Hagar's angel friend did. People were inclined to warm up to him easily; just as if they had known him all their lives. And no wonder: the full power of God's spirit rests upon Messiah. He is indeed a very special kind of man.

†. Isa 11:1-2 . . But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him: a spirit of wisdom and insight, a spirit of counsel and valor, a spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.

†. Heb 4:14-16 . .Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are— yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Some of the elements of grace tempered the meetings with Hagar and the promiscuous woman.

Webster's defines graciousness as: kind, courteous, inclined to good will, generous, charitable, merciful, altruistic, compassionate, thoughtful, cordial, affable, genial, sociable, cheerful, warm, sensitive, considerate, and tactful.

Cordial stresses warmth and heartiness

Affable implies easy approachability and readiness to respond pleasantly to conversation or requests or proposals

Genial stresses cheerfulness and even joviality

Sociable suggests a genuine liking for the companionship of others

Generous is characterized by a noble or forbearing spirit; viz: magnanimous, kindly, and liberal in giving

Charitable means full of love for, and goodwill toward, others; viz: benevolent, tolerant, and lenient.

Altruistic means unselfish regard for, or devotion to, the welfare of others; viz: a desire to be of service to others for no other reason than it's the right thing to do.

Tactful indicates a keen sense of what to do, or say, in order to maintain good relations with others in order to resolve and/or avoid unnecessary conflict.

Christians really ought to be the most gracious people on earth since they certainly have nothing to lose by it. When you know you have God's kingdom in the bag, it's much easier to be nice. When I see Christians with bad attitudes, I really have to wonder if they're for real.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may be truly reverent in order to serve God agreeably. (Heb 12:28-29)

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 27, 2009

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†. Gen 16:9 . . And the angel of the Lord said to her: Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.

He can't be serious! Hagar can't go back there! Those people are mean to her. Wouldn't it be best to return to Egypt; back to her family and friends? Why on earth would God recommend such a thing for Hagar and the baby? And what the heck does an angel of Yhvh care about one insignificant slave girl anyway?

But God took an interest in Hagar's life, and in spite of her circumstances, she could be useful to God— with the right attitude.

†. 1Cor 7:21-24 . .Were you a slave when you were called? Don't let it trouble you— although if you can gain your freedom, do so. For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men. Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to.

†. Eph 6:5-8 . . Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.

†. Gen 16:10-11 . . And the angel of The Lord said to her: I will greatly increase your offspring, and they shall be too many to count. The angel of Yhvh said to her further: Behold, you are with child and shall bear a son; you shall call him Ishmael, for Yhvh has paid heed to your suffering.

I don't think any of us can possibly imagine just how incredulous Hagar must have been at the angel's words. He as much as assured her that the pregnancy would go well and she would deliver safely. He even suggested a name for her baby; which the angel predicted would be a boy. His name, by the way, would be Yishma` e'l (yish-maw-ale') which means God will hear or just simply: God hears— a name that reflects the value of Hagar's prayer life; because the angel said: For Yhvh has paid heed to your suffering.

According to Jesus' own personal testimony at John 3:16, God loves the world; but does that mean He actually likes the world? I don't think so. However, it does mean that God at least pities the world because according to 1Cor 13:4-8a, love is compassionate; which Webster's defines as: a sympathetic awareness of others' distress; together with a desire to alleviate it.

What a great day for Hagar! She actually met a divine being who cared about her state of affairs and was favorably inclined to do something about it. And every time she called out little Ishmael's name, it would remind her to pray and share her feelings with the god she met on the road to Shur. The angel would make it possible for her to endure Sarai's harsh treatment; so He sent her straight back to it. (cf. Gen 24:40, Gen 48:16)

And besides; though the circumstances weren't perfect, little Ishmael would fare better under his father Abram's kindly mentoring than among the irreverent polytheists down in Egypt. Abram was also very wealthy, so that Ishmael lacked nothing during the approximately 17 years of his life in Abram's home.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 28, 2009

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†. Gen 16:12a . . He shall be a wild ass of a man;

Some people just can't be tamed— right fresh out of the womb, they're mustang-defiant to the bone. Poor Hagar. Her boy was going to be difficult.

My wife is a kindergarten teacher and every so often she gets kids in her class— just little five year olds, and almost always boys —that cannot be controlled. Their parents fear them, and they frighten the other kids. They're demon seeds— stubborn, strong willed, totally self centered, self absorbed and see no sense in doing as their told. They are dangerous, and thank God my wife gets them while they're small. Heaven help the teachers who cope with them in the upper grades.

†. Gen 16:12b . . his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him;

Definitely not a team player by nature. This is the kind of guy that foremen and office managers dread. They're defensive, assertive, confrontational; and don't do well in groups— always generating friction and discontent. It's either their own way, or the highway; and they do not like to be told what to do.

That's not always a bad thing if people like that are channeled into occupations that require rugged individualism. Nowadays these people can be enrolled in sensitivity classes and taught how to be civil. And there are seminars available for those who have to work with difficult people. Unfortunately, most of the problem is hereditary so it's not an easy thing to make go away. However, it's not impossible for these strong-willed, toxic types to learn a measure of self discipline when they put their minds to it.

Ishmael's personality— which was engendered by one of the most holy men who ever lived; not by some evil minded career criminal —must have passed along to his posterity because the Arab world has never been famous for uniting and getting along amongst themselves. No one would ever dream of criticizing Abram's parenting skills, but here is a difficult child that came from the old boy's own genes; thus demonstrating again that otherwise good parents can produce a demon seed and shouldn't be blamed for the way the seed ultimately turns out.

†. Gen 16:12c . . He shall dwell alongside of all his kinsmen.

Ishmael is well known as the father of the Arab world. But does that mean each individual Arab is like Ishmael? No, of course not. Stereotyping is a very bad thing because it's an oversimplified opinion, and fails to take into account individual qualities. The Arab people as a whole could safely be characterized as Ishmaelish, but certainly not each and every one.

Ishmael would dwell alongside his brethren, but not necessarily amongst them. This was no doubt a portent of the difficulty of uniting Arabs.

The United Arab Republic is a misnomer. It consisted of only Egypt, North Yemen, and Syria, and even that only for a little while between 1958 and 1961 when Syria seceded from the union. Egypt continued to identify itself as the United Arab Republic until 1971.

The Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan was a short-lived country that was formed in 1958 from the union of Iraq and Jordan. Although the name implies a federal structure, it was de facto a confederation.

A Federation of Arab Republics was attempted between 1972 and 1977 consisting of Libya, Egypt, and Syria; but it fizzled.

The Arab Islamic Republic was a proposed unification of Tunisia and Libya in 1974; but the proposal was never implemented.

The United Arab Emirates, consisting of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah has proven the most durable of the unions; lasting from about 1971 till present day.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Anwar Sadat effected the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, which was an act enormously unpopular amongst Egyptians and other Arabs, and resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League. The peace treaty was the primary reason given by Khalid Islambouli (an Arab) — one of Sadat's assassins— for his opposition to Sadat.

Probably the religion of Islam has done more to unite Arabs than any political arrangement of the past has managed to do. Unfortunately, Muslims themselves can't even get along all that well and their religious differences have become a major impediment to peace in the Mideast.

In a song titled Imagine (1971) John Lennon expresses a longing for a world without religion.

Imagine there's no countries,
It isn't hard to do;
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too.
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace.

Christopher Hitchens, in his book god is not Great, makes a good case for insisting that "relgion poisons everything"

I can't lay all the blame for the world's conflict at the door of Arabs; but of one thing I am totally convinced: there is never going to be peace in the Mideast until 1) the religion of Islam is eradicated; and 2) the Arab world's "wild ass of a man" attitude is neutralized.

C.L.I.F.F.
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Webers_Home · Dec 29, 2009

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†. Gen 16:13a . . And she called the Lord who spoke to her: "You Are El-roi"

She actually called Him: 'Ataah 'Eel R'iy which means: "You are the god who sees me"

Hagar, familiar with many gods in the Egyptian world, was unsure of the identity of this particular divine being speaking with her so she gave it a pet name of her own. I like it because her god is a personal god, one that meant something to her— rather than some scary alien way out in space who doesn't care one whit about individuals. Hagar's god knew about the baby and gave the little guy a name. That is a very personal thing to do and must have been very comforting to a girl at the end of her rope.

What took place between these two travelers is very precious. They met as strangers, but before they parted, one named the other's baby and became godfather to a runaway slave's child. The other gave her new god a pet name to remember him by. Hagar's experience was very wonderful.

†. Gen 16:13b . . by which she meant: "Have I not gone on seeing after He saw me!"

The rendering of 16:13b is more or less an educated guess because the Hebrew in that verse is very difficult. She could have said: "Have I here seen him who sees me?" In other words; The god who knows me is in this place? I can appreciate her surprise. You might expect to find God in a grand cathedral, but certainly not along a road in the middle of nowhere. And you might also expect a divine being to speak with a world leader or a Pope, but not to an insignificant nobody who means very little to anybody.

†. Gen 16:14 . .Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Beer-lahai-roi is another Hebraic toughie. It could mean: "The well of him who knows me"

Kadesh is located nearby El Quseima Egypt about 15 miles south of the border town of Nizzana. Just northeast of there is the wilderness of Shur; a region adjoining the Mediterranean to the north and the Suez canal to the west. Shur extends somewhat south along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez.

But the well wasn't there. It was between Kadesh and Bered. The Onkelos Targum renders Bered; Chaghra', which is the usual equivalent of Shur, while the Jerusalem Targum renders it Chalutsah, which is also Shur (Ex 15:22). So precisely where Hagar's well was located is totally unknown so far. It was just somewhere between Kadesh and Shur.

†. Gen 16:15 . . Hagar bore a son to Abram, and Abram gave the son that Hagar bore him the name Ishmael.

Hagar must have told her master about the experience and darned if the old man didn't believe her story and comply with God's choice of name for the boy. Taking part in naming a boy was serious business in those days. In doing so, Abram officially and publicly accepted Ishmael as his legal son. The boy was supposed to be Sarai's son too, but there's no record she ever really accepted him.

†. Gen 16:16 . . Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

That was about 14 years before Isaac's birth (Gen 21:5). Abram was about 37 years old reckoned in modern longevity. Both of Ishmael's parents were Gentiles. Hagar was an Egyptian and Abram was a Babylonian.

According to ancient Judaism, the angel who spoke with Hagar was God's word— The Memra' of sacred Jewish literature.

T. And she gave thanks before the Lord whose Word spake to her, and thus said, Thou art He who livest and art eternal; who seest, but art not seen! (Targum Jonathan)

T. And Hagar gave thanks, and prayed in the Name of the Word of the Lord, who had been manifested to her, saying; "Blessed be You, Eloha, the Living One of all Ages, who has looked upon my affliction." For she said; "Behold, You are manifested also to me, even as You were manifested to Sara my mistress." Wherefore she called the well: The Well at which the Living and Eternal One was revealed. And, behold, it is situate between Rekam and Chalutsa. (Jerusalem Targum)

So then, it's pretty well established in the Old Testament book of Genesis, in the New Testament book of John, and in the Targums, that God's mysterious Word is actually the Yhvh of the Old Testament.

†. John 1:1-3 . . In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

C.L.I.F.F.
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