BIBLE FOR YOU!--No.35! --Genesis Chapters 15 & 16!       DFO 2802         21/11/90
--Bible Classtime with Grandpa!

         1. (David: Thank You Jesus for this time that we can read Genesis 15. We pray, Lord, that You'll help us to learn a lot from it. Thank You for how these classes have been such a blessing, & for how we've been learning so much about the Bible from them. Please help tonight's class to be really good & interesting too, Jesus. We pray for Mommy too, that You'll bless her as she takes care of other work tonight. Please help her & give her the strength that she needs for her job, in Jesus' name, amen!) Amen! Praise the Lord!
         2. What we're really studying now is ancient history, true ancient history!--Not a lot of gobbledy-gook like you hear from the so-called scientists. And tonight we're going to study Chapter 15 of the Book of Beginnings--Genesis!

GENESIS CHAPTER 15

         3. (Verse 1:) "After these things the Word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, & thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, & the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?" (Techi: What does that mean?) Eliezer was Abram's chief steward, like the boss of all of his goods & servants, etc. (Techi: But why he is complaining about him?) Because since he had no children, the only one he could leave his inheritance to was his steward. (Maria: Was that like his housekeeper or his servant?) Not a housekeeper, but the head man who managed everything for Abram.
         4. (Verse 3:) "And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: &, lo, one born in my house is mine heir." In other words, Eliezer's children will be his heirs. Maybe even Eliezer was born in his house.
         5. (Verse 4:) "And, behold, the Word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, & said, Look now toward heaven, & tell the stars, if thou be able to number them."--In other words, count the stars. "And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; & He counted it to him for righteousness." Here you have Salvation by faith. Abraham believed in the Lord, so He "counted it to him for righteousness." (Maria: That's a definition of righteousness then--faith in the Lord!) Yes, faith!--Not your own righteousness, because we're all sinners & we make mistakes & we're all bad, but your faith in the Lord is going to bring you righteousness!
         6. (Verse: 7:) "And He said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" He's questioning God here. He wanted a little proof. "Give me a sample!"
         7. (Verse 9:) "And He said unto him, Take Me an heifer of three years old, & a she goat of three years old, & a ram of three years old, & a turtledove, & a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, & divided them in the midst, & laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." (Techi: Why?) It was like he was having a nightmare.
         8. (Verse 13:) "And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, & shall serve them; & they shall afflict them four hundred years." What do you guess that was? (David: When Pharaoh had them.) Yes, in Egypt. "And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: & afterwards shall they come out with great substance." They spoiled the Egyptians, didn't they?--Exo.12:36. (Kids: Yes.) "And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full." Who are the Amorites? (Techi: Their enemies.) Yes, but of what descent? (Techi: Hamites?) Yes, the Amorites were the Canaanites.
         9. (Verse 17:) "And it came to pass that when the sun went down, & it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, & a burning lamp that passed between those pieces."--The pieces of the sacrifices on the altar. (Techi: What does that mean?) Well, it was like a sign or a demo, because what did Abram ask for? (Techi: A son.) Yes, but most of all he asked for proof of God's promises. So Abraham made sacrifices, & then the Lord sent down His Own fire to consume them!--Which was always a definite, miraculous, supernatural sign that God had received the sacrifice!
         10. Abraham wanted proof or some kind of a symbol or sign that what God was saying was true. Just think, even Abraham didn't have complete faith--he had to have a little proof. And did God give it to him? (Kids: Yes!) (Techi: But why did God want the three-year-old heifer & she goat?) We don't know, Honey. It's just the sacrifice that God required, that's all. Those were pretty good animals, weren't they?--A she goat, a heifer, a ram, a turtle dove & a pigeon. It was the common practice in those days to offer animal sacrifices to your God.--Even the heathen did it.
         11. And then, of course, do you know what they did with the sacrifices? (Techi: They ate'm!) Yes, having cooked them, then they ate'm! They had a barbecue! They had a lot of people, you know, a lot of servants. The 318 soldiers Abram took to war with him could eat all of that in no time!

The Promised Land!

         12. (Verse 18:) "In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, & the Kenizzites, & the Kadmonites, & the Hittites, & the Perizzites, & the Rephaims, & the Amorites, & the Canaanites, & the Girgashites, & the Jebusites." He's telling him that in spite of all of those people, "I'm going to give you the land, Abram." Isn't that terrific? PTL!
         13. Abraham was to have the land from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates! Do you want to look that up on your maps? I told you about the River of Egypt before in one of our earlier classes. (Techi: Is that the Jordan River?) No, the River of Egypt runs down from the Mediterranean across the Sinai Peninsula towards the Wilderness of Sin, which is a part of Egypt. It was where Egypt was divided from the rest of Asia. It's South of Israel right near the Red Sea. So He gave him the land all the way from there to the Euphrates. How about that? (Techi: So where is the Euphrates?) It's up there in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. Can you find it? Here's the River of Egypt right down here near the Red Sea, & the Euphrates is way up here. So that'll give Israel half of Iraq eventually!
         14. (Techi: So Israel was all of this area?) Well, it went almost that far under David & Solomon. (Techi: But that's really small.) Oh, Honey, this is thousands of square miles! It's from the River of Egypt clear to the River Euphrates. That's around 800 miles long, & many miles wide! That's a big place!
         15. OK! Are you satisfied? (Techi: Yes.) Any more questions? (Kids: No.) All right! I wonder if we've got time to read one more Chapter. Do you like reading a couple of short Chapters & then having a test on both Chapters? (David: Yes, I like that.)

GENESIS CHAPTER 16!

         16. (Verse 1:) "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: & she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar." (Techi: So in those days the Egyptians were all completely black, right?) Yes. I think you've seen my picture of the handmaid Hagar out in the desert. She was quite beautiful.
         17. (Verse 2:) "And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai." (Techi: So the wife got the maid's children?) Well, apparently that was the way it would be. Like Abram said, "Somebody born in my house is going to inherit everything." Well, this didn't work out anyhow.
         18. (Verse 3:) "And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, & gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar." I guess you understand what that means. "And she conceived: & when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes."--Because she had a child now & Sarai didn't.
         19. (Verse 5:) "And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; & when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me & thee." (Techi: What does that mean?) She's confessing she made a mistake. "But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face." Sarai was mean to Hagar, right? (Kids: Yes.)

The Angel of the Lord Speaks to Hagar in the Wilderness!

         20. (Verse 7:) "And the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur." This always touched my heart that the Lord was so merciful to her. And after all, it wasn't her fault, she hadn't done anything wrong. Of course, she shouldn't have despised Sarai & looked down on Sarai with contempt. She was probably throwing it up to Sarai all the time & Sarai got tired of it.
         21. So "the Angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness." (Techi: I thought the Angel made the fountain.) Well, that's later in Genesis 21 when she & Ishmael are in the desert, that God shows her the well. But this time it just says that he found her by a fountain of water. (Verse 8:) "And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? And whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai. And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Return to thy mistress, & submit thyself under her hands." Apparently she had been getting pretty uppity! She probably wouldn't obey or anything because she had a baby & Sarai didn't.
         22. (Verse 10:) "And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude." Who were her seed?--Who are they still to this day? (Techi: The Arabs.) Right! (Techi: They sort of whitened up through the years.) Yes, through thousands of years of mixture no doubt. Some were very dark & some were quite light.
         23. (Verse 11:) "And the Angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, & shalt bear a son, & shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, & every man's hand against him; & he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." Were the Arabs pretty wild? (Kids: Yes!) Yes, they sure have been. Many live out in the desert, like the Bedouins, in tents. Of course, some of them are quite civilised now, but that was thousands of years ago.
         24. (Verse 13:) "And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me." In other words, "You've seen my plight & You had mercy on me." "For she said, Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me?" She's questioning whether she had loved the Lord & had faith enough in Him & obeyed Him, when now she has found out He is so good to her. And what do you think her answer was?--Probably no, she hadn't. "I failed, Lord, to look after You." In other words, to obey Him & to follow Him.
         25. (Verse 14:) "Wherefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh & Bered." (Techi: In my Bible it says "Beerlahairoi" means "the well of Him that liveth & seeth me.") That's sweet! That's good. Whenever you see something like that explained in your Bible, will you please tell us? I used to have a Bible that had all of that, but it's long gone, God knows where it is now!
         26. (Verse 15:) "And Hagar bare Abram a son: & Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael. And Abram was fourscore & six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram." How much is fourscore & six? (David: 86.) Yes.

Closing & Prayer!

         27. OK! Shall we pray? That was just right! (Techi: So we'll have a test on both of those Chapters tomorrow?) Yes, just the most important things.--And I always try to help you all I can, so don't worry about it. But do study it! That's your homework, to study both Chapters. OK? (Kids: Yes! OK!) So does somebody want to pray?
         28. (Techi: Amen! Thank You Jesus for this good class that we had with Grandpa! Thank You for how we're learning so much, Lord. Please bless & help us to be good students & to study. And please bless the rest of this night & all we do, in Jesus' name, amen!) Amen! Praise the Lord! You are good students, & we're really going fast!--A couple of Chapters a night! That's pretty good!