JOB AND ABRAHAM

THE PATRIARCHAL ERA

Readings for Session 6, From Creation to Captivity

After reading this material, you should be able to:

• Give the basic structure of the Book of Job
• Distinguish Job from other Old Testament books as far as dating and
language
• Compare and contrast Job’s reasoning with his three friends
• Explain God’s purposes for suffering and evil in the world
• Explain how Abraham is the father both of Israel and all the faithful
• List the elements of the Abrahamic Covenant and explain the impact of
each on our modern day
• Explain to a Jew how God was both in heaven and on the earth speaking
to Abraham
• List several problems Abraham had because he didn’t leave all of his
family in Ur
• Defend God’s judgment of the cities of the plains

Read the material below and the handout that we will review in class.
Memorise Job 1:21

THE STORY OF JOB – BOOK OF JOB

SLOWING DOWN
Remember that Genesis is a historical book that slows down twice:
1. The first section (chapters 1-11) is a Primeval History briefly
covering vignettes of people’s lives over long periods of time in the far
distant past.
2. The second section (chapters 12-38) is a Patriarchal Narrative in
which the plot slows down and focuses on episodes in the lives Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob.
3. The third section (chapters 37, 39-50) is a Personal Biography, in
which the plot slows down even more to discuss events in the life of Joseph.
In this session, we move into the Patriarchal Era and look at two men; one
from Uz and one from Ur.

We begin this session with perhaps the oldest book in the Bible, and the
first of the poetical books – the Book of Job. Job was a godly man but lost
his wealth, his family, and his health in an instant was told by his wife to
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 2

curse God and die, dialogued with three friends as to why such a thing
would happen, and then at the end received an answer from God, together
with more than he had at the beginning. The name Job likely comes from
the Arabic Iyyob, meaning “the repentant one.” According to Ezekiel 14:14,
20 and James 5:11, Job was a real person; this was not a mere parable.

Authorship: We can find virtually no internal or external evidence of who

the author of Job might be, but that won’t stop scholars from arguing their
theories – Job, his friend Elihu, Moses, Solomon, etc. The dialogue in the
book is so detailed, and grammar, vocabulary, and spelling so different
from normal Hebrew, that it begs for us to conclude that the original
scrivener either was Job, or someone who knew Job – like Elihu. Perhaps a
later author relied on these writings in crafting the finished piece. Such an
author was likely from Palestine in that Job is called a man of “the East” (Job
1:3). The most likely later authors of the book are:
• Moses (Jewish tradition), who spent 40 years as a shepherd in Midian,
just above Job’s home of Uz in northwest Arabia (see the map), and wrote it
sometime from 1485-1445 BC; but the Torah never mentions Job.
• Solomon, whose kingdom extended down to Uz (who knows, maybe
one of his 1,000 women was from there!), and who may have penned it in
950 BC together with Proverbs. The views of God, suffering, and the
coming judgment are similar to those of David and Solomon (see similarities
between Job 28 and Proverbs 8).
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 3

The Date Of Job: While there is a question regarding authorship, and

thus, the date of the book’s writing, there is not much doubt about when
the events of Job took place. Although there are no references to
contemporary events (like “In the days of Abraham”), there are several
factors that place Job in the era of Genesis 11-12:
1. Job lived 140 years after the calamities that wrecked his life (Job
42:16), and we may assume he was at least 40-50 when those events took
place, so he lived almost 200 years. This life span indicates that he lived
just after the Flood when life spans were receding. He lived in the land of
Uz, who was a grandson of Shem (Genesis 10:23).
2. Job’s wealth is measured in terms of livestock (Job 1:3, 42:12) rather
than gold or silver.
3. The social unit in his day was the family-clan, not the city-state.
4. Like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Job functioned as the priest of his
family and offered sacrifices for them (Job 1:5).
5. The grammar, vocabulary and spelling in Job is almost Arabic in some
places, indicating that the Hebrew language was not well developed yet.
The book is filled with words used only in Job, and scholars have had to
consult other ancient Semitic literature (like Ugaritic poetry) to understand
their meanings.
6. Job uses the Patriarchal name for God (El Shaddai – translated as “the
Almighty” but literally meaning the breasted one, or the nourishing
sustainer) 31 times; this term is used only 17 other times in the Old
Testament.
7. The Sabeans and Chaldeans were still nomadic raiders; later they
became city-dwellers.
8. There are references to creatures like Behemoth and Leviathan that
may well have been post-Flood dinosaurs that were not yet extinct (Job 40-
41).
9. Job’s daughters were heirs of his estate as well as his sons, something
not common in Hebrew culture and not normally permitted under God’s Law
for ancient Israel (Job 42:15).
10. There are no references to Abraham, Israel, Moses, the Law or the
Tabernacle.

Overview and Structure of the Book: The book has wonderful A-B-A
symmetry where the beginning and ending are written in prose and involve
the crisis and resolution of the story based on someone challenging
someone else. The debates Job has with his three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad,
and Zophar, are in three cycles in the middle of the book, followed by
Elihu’s observations and suggestions. Then God himself speaks up from a
tornado and challenges Job with 76 questions about who created,
understands, and supervises all things! Job is left placing his hand over his
mouth and seeking forgiveness.

Focus Dilemma Debates of Job Deliverance

of Job of Job
Dialogue Satan First Cycle Second Third Final Solution of God
Challenges of Debate Cycle of Cycle of Defense of Elihu Challenges
God Debate Debate Job Job
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Passage 1-2 3-14 15-21 22-26 27-31 32-37 38-42

2 chapters 12 chapters 7 chapters 5 chapters 5 chapters 6 chapters 5 chapters
Topic Conflict Debate Repentance
Genre Prose Poetry Prose

Job Among World Literature: There are other books from the ancient
civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt that have a similar plot to Job –
where a man loses everything, and wonders with his friends why he is
suffering – but every one of them is polytheistic. As you might expect,
liberal scholars charge that the Book of Job is merely theologically correct
fiction borrowed from other ancient fables, and was written by several
authors over hundreds of years with pieces added here and there to suit
their times. They do this with Genesis, the Torah, Isaiah, and almost every
other book of the Bible.

Job is likely the original, and because it was so profound and well-written, its
fame spread and other traditions did their rip-off versions of it (just like
Babylon’s Epic of Gilgamesh did with Genesis 6-9). It has been heralded as
a masterpiece unequaled in all of literature. The original language of Job is
in a class by itself and really seals its identity as a Patriarchal Era document.
Later Hebrew writers would not have preserved the strange terms, almost
three dozen of which are found nowhere else in the Bible and are more
similar to Akkadian, Sumerian, Arabic, and Ugaritic words.

Job is unique in ancient writings as being monotheistic, and there may be no

book (in all of history?) dealing in such depth, beauty, symmetry, and
thoroughness with the relationship of human suffering to divine justice.
Equally amazing is the amount of knowledge they had about the character
and power of God in 2000 BC when, as yet, no Scripture had been written.
The characters also have an extensive knowledge of their world, the water
cycle, constellations, etc.

Lessons From Job:

1. Job has no idea of the dialogue in heaven between Satan and God, just
as we have no idea what is happening in the heavenly and spiritual realm,
nor how we are being watched by those in heaven and those from hell.
2. Satan obviously can go to heaven, converse with God about His
followers, and make accusations (see also Revelation 12:10; Satan is the
“accuser of the brethren”), but Satan cannot go into the “mountain of God”
– the Temple in heaven.
3. Satan is God’s errand boy. Although Satan is doing the afflictions, Job
relates them to God. Nothing can touch the believer except that which has
been filtered through the sieve of God’s love (Romans 8:28). “For it is
God who inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands
also heal” (Job 5:18).
4. Not understanding our suffering is a matter of having a very limited
perspective. God makes this clear to Job at the end of the book. Imagine a
park ranger trying to get a lion out of a trap; the lion’s understanding is very
small compared to the human, so he views the ranger as an attacker with
evil intentions. Job lists the amazing things God does and then adds
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 5

“Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, and how small a whisper we
hear of Him!” (Job 26:14). While Job is pondering his own suffering, God is
caring for the whole created order in ways that Job cannot begin to fathom.
5. Suffering makes our daily schedule and worry disappear, and forces a
godly person to think on the ultimate and important issues of life such as
our origin, our purpose in life, and our destiny when we are done. Job said
“Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The
LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the
LORD." Through all this, Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
6. The same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay. It is not
trials that make you grow, but your response to those trials. You
can become bitter or better.
7. At first, Job did well and suffered in silent thought and prayer. But as
the suffering went on week after week, and his friends irritatingly searched
to find his sin that caused this “punishment,” Job got worn out and started
to trumpet his own righteousness. Suffering long is the hardest type of
suffering; we can appropriate grace (God’s help) for a crisis, but a long and
bad illness or relationship is the hardest test.
8. Earth is the unbeliever’s only heaven; the believer’s only hell. The
wicked may flourish now, but they are as straw before the wind. Believers
need to keep an eternal perspective; our years of faithfulness and godly
suffering here lay up enormous treasure for us when we’re finished. Selfish
believers work hard to create their heaven here, and not being rich toward
God, they forfeit eternal treasures.
9. Wives and friends need to be encouraging and pray diligently for
God’s sustaining grace on behalf of the sufferer – and not jump to
conclusions! Job’s wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity?
Curse God and die!" But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish
women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept
adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (2:9-10).

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

If God is absolutely good, infinitely loving and all-powerful (omnipotent),
why do we, the products of His creative power and the focus of His infinite
love, suffer? God allows suffering because:
1. God’s wisdom is as great as His power and love and governs both.
The “greater good” that God is achieving is very often beyond our
understanding, and may not be answered in time … only in eternity.
2. God is establishing before spiritual and earthly observers that He can
sustain any living believer no matter what happens to them.
3. God is allowing sin to take its natural course. We groan under the
effects of sin and the fall (Romans 8) – disease, defects, death … And the
creation groans with earthquakes, storms, drought and diseases.
4. God is a hidden God, and He wants us to seek Him in order to find
Him and have a relationship with Him. He sends adversity to jolt our
attentions and affections away from life’s distractions. He tries to get us to
forsake this world, to not love it, but to long for a better place – a home
beyond.
5. God is committed to building virtue in us (Romans 5:3-4, James 1:2-
4) – we can’t have courage without a bad situation to overcome – we can’t
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 6

love selflessly unless there is a difficult person to love – we can’t persevere

without trials that last a long time. He is testing and proving our obedience.
6. God is refining us and freeing us from some vice (1 Peter 4:1-2 –
he who has suffered has ceased from sin) – like the lion in the trap.
7. God is preparing us to be a compassionate comfort to others (2
Cor. 1:3-4, Hebrews 2:10, 17-18) – “I’ve been there; I know.”
8. God is equipping us for greater service (2 Corinthians 12:10) –
Think of Joni Eriksson Tada (paralyzed from the neck down, and Ron
Hamilton who lost an eye to cancer and developed a ministry as “Patch, the
Pirate”
9. God is opening a door for us to share our faith – unbelievers see
us handling adversity well – auto accident, heart attack, community
opposition, etc. – and become curious about our faith (Philippians 1:12-14).
10. God privileging us to share in His sufferings if we suffer persecution
or mockery for our faith (Acts 5:41).

Was Leviathan Real?

• The Bible leaves very little room for a hyperbole or
metaphor interpretation. Job 41:19-21 says of Leviathan
that, "Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of
fire leap out. Out of his nostrils goes smoke as out of a
seething pot or caldron. His breath kindles coals, and a
flame goes out of his mouth."
• Secondly there is the matter of historical evidence.
Multiple societies that were widely separated tell stories of
fire-breathing dragons, sea serpents, etc.
• Thirdly, even today we have a "fire-breathing" beetle
called the bombardier beetle. Hydrogen Peroxide and
Hydroquinone are contained in separate chambers in the
beetle’s abdomen, from where it can be ejected to
confront a predator with an explosive mixture reaching
more than 200º F! There is paleontological evidence that a skull
arrangement could have accommodated "fire-breathing." The hadrosaurs’
nasal cavities could easily have connected to chemical reserves in the
hollow, horny crest. Perhaps Leviathan used this ability as a defensive
weapon, just like the beetles.

ABRAHAM, FATHER OF THE FAITHFUL – GENESIS 12-25

We have already studied men of critical importance like Adam and Noah,
but now we come to arguably the most important man in the Old
Testament, and the entire Bible. Abram was an uncircumcised Gentile
whom God called out of an idolatrous culture to become the father of the
Jewish nation and the father of all those whom God declares righteous
because of their faith in Him. Abraham was a builder of altars, a great
worshipper of Jehovah.

Grace Expanding: In Genesis 3, we saw God extend His salvation to a

couple, Adam and Eve. At the end of Genesis 4, we saw that families were
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 7

calling on the Lord. Now we see God setting his hand upon one from whom
a whole nation would come; they would be considered “God’s Chosen
People.” We know from the New Testament that God eventually offered His
salvation to all peoples of the world.

The Dates of Abraham’s Life: Scholars believe Abram was born around
2166 B.C. He lived a total of 175 years (Genesis 25:7-8) and died in 1991
B.C. It is helpful to remember him living at 2000 B.C. After traveling
northwest from Ur to Haran, he went southwest and entered the land of
Canaan in about 2091 B.C. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years
old in 2066 BC.

Abraham’s Background: After the confusion at Babel, the Semitic people

became nomads in the northern Saudi desert but eventually returned to the
southern Euphrates River Valley and established Ur, a major city in Shinar
(later Chaldea, and now southern Iraq). Around 2100 B.C., southern
Mesopotamian cities came under the control of Ur-Nammu, ruler of the city
of Ur. In the tradition of earlier kings, Ur-Nammu built many temples,
including a ziggurat at Ur. Since 1923, various excavations of the city and
ziggurat have revealed much about the well-developed civilization at Ur.

Abram was born in Ur; he was one of three sons born to Terah. He married
Sarai, and they unsuccessfully tried to have children. Terah intended to
move his entire clan to Canaan for some unknown reason; the caravan
followed the Fertile Crescent routes up to Haran where Terah died at the
age of 205 (Genesis 11:31-32). It seems that Abram and other family
members thought of going back home to Ur, but God had other plans.
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 8

The Abrahamic Covenant:

God told Abraham to stay out of Ur, and go on to a land God would show
him. The Scriptures always speak of Abraham being called out of Ur
(Genesis 15:7, Nehemiah 9:7, Acts 7:2-3). Hebrews 11 tells that Abram had
no idea what God had in mind as far as land went, but was willing to be a
sojourner in a strange land (Hebrews 11:8-16).

Genesis 12:1-3 records that Jehovah spoke to Abram and established a

covenant with him. A covenant (Hebrew word b’rit) is derived from the word
for “fetter.” It is an agreement joining two parties in a relationship that can
only be broken by a higher authority. Marriage and adoption are the classic
examples of modern covenants – you can’t end a marriage or give your child
up for adoption without the involvement of a judge. Covenants are different
than contracts, which can be freely entered into by two or more parties and
can be dissolved at the will of those involved.

God’s covenant with Abraham was unconditional and unilateral (I will … with
no “ifs”). In fact, when God made the covenant, Abram was still an
unbeliever! It is the first of the “theocratic covenants” having to do with the
rule of God over a nation and all peoples of the earth. It involved:
• Commands: Leave your country, your people, & your father’s
household; go to a land I will show you. Did Abram obey? Genesis 12:4,
Hebrews 11:8
• Blessings:
o National – I will make of you a great nation (12:2)
o Personal – I will bless you and you will be a blessing (personal
honor and reputation)
o Universal – I will bless them that bless you, curse them that curse
you, bless all of the families of the earth through you (in the Messiah)

Reaffirming The Covenant: Given initially in chapter 12, God’s covenant

with Abraham was subsequently reaffirmed and expanded three times (just
remember the odd chapters of 13, 15 and 17):
1. Genesis 13:14-17 – Abram was on a mountain ridge in Palestine and
was told to look as far as he could in every direction. That land was given to
him and his descendants forever. His descendants would be in number like
the dust of the earth.

2. Genesis 15:1-21 – Abram complained that he still had no children.

God showed him the stars and said that his descendants from his own body
would be in number as the stars. Abram believed this in his heart – it was
THEN that God declared Abram righteous. Because of the personal trust he
had in God’s integrity and power, God – in an instant – credited Abram with
righteousness. Despite the sins that Abram committed and would commit in
the future, God wiped those sins away and declared him to be righteous –
one of God’s own! The word “accounted” or “credited” is of critical
importance. It means “to assign value as a gift.” Abram DID NOT EARN his
righteousness in God’s eyes by doing good deeds like rescuing Lot, or by
religious deeds like building altars to God.
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 9

In the Paul’s letter to the Roman’s, he spends a long time talking

about Abram because many Jews believed that they were justified
(declared by God to be righteous) through just being Jewish
(circumcised), and through obeying the Law of Moses. This would
exclude any Gentile from being made righteous by God. Read
Romans 4:1-25. Did God say that Abram was righteous before of after
his circumcision? Before or after the Law of Moses?

When Abram asked about the land, God told him to cut several
animals down the middle and lay them out. God made several
prophecies about the Hebrews going to another country and then
coming back to punish the pagans of Canaan, and then in the
darkness moved as a flaming oven between the pieces of meat, the
idea being that whoever would break the covenant should be cut up
as those animals. God then gave Abraham the borders – the Promised
Land was from the River of Egypt (the wadi, not the Nile) to the River
Euphrates.

A couple of obvious things arise

from this promise. It has caused
big contention in the Middle East
for millennia, and Israel has not
yet possessed this land. The
closest was during Solomon’s
reign but that was 1/5th of what
you see on the map. Israel would
have to take over Lebanon,
Jordan, Syria, northern Saudi Arabia and portions of Iraq.

3. Genesis 17:1-8 – Almost 14 years later, Abram is age 99 and still

without the promised son, and God again confirms His covenant with him as
though nothing is wrong, saying He will multiply Abram’s descendants
exceedingly. God changes Abram’s name to Abraham (father of a
multitude).

The Lord guided Abraham, his caravan and livestock south through the land
of the Canaanites (descendants of the cursed grandson of Noah), and when
he reached Shechem (see map), the Lord appeared to him and announced
that this was the land. Abram built an altar there (Genesis 12:7), and going
further south to a mountain just east of Bethel, he built another altar (12:8).
Abraham is known for his altars and Isaac for his wells.

“She Is My Sister!” Abram was a

wealthy shepherd (Genesis 13:2), and
the drought conditions plaguing Canaan
at the time could destroy his wealth, so
he kept heading south across the Negev
Desert to Egypt, the other great
civilization on earth. Problem - A
beautiful wife leads to a dead husband
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 10

so the killer can have his wife! Abram’s plan? Lie about it (or tell a half-
truth anyway)! Sure enough, Pharaoh sent for Sarai, and God then sent
plagues through his household. After Sarai confessed who she was, Pharaoh
gave Abram an earful, and his army escorted them out of Egypt back toward
Canaan (Genesis 12:10-20).

The Problems With Lot

First, it must be noted that Abram made a bad choice - he disobeyed God
and brought along Lot to Canaan. Although Lot was a believer (2 Peter 2:6-
8), he caused many big problems for Abraham.
• The Preferred Land (Genesis 13): Abram’s and Lot’s flocks were both
so large that their herdsmen started to fight. Abraham took the “others
first, me last” attitude and gave Lot the pick of the land. From Bethel, Lot
looked southeast at the Jordan River valley which flowed south onto a green,
lush, irrigated plain (Valley of Siddim) like the Garden of Eden and the Nile
Delta (it is now the Dead Sea around which nothing grows – it looks like the
moon!). Lot moved his tents toward the business centers at the southern
end of this plain – Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim.
• Getting Captured By Invaders (Genesis 14): About this time, the kings
of Shinar (some think the “Amraphel” of Genesis 14:1 is Hammurabi) and
Persia conquered the area, and Chedorlaomer ruled it for 12 years; then, the
locals rebelled and in the battle, Lot was captured. Abram took his 318
trained servants and pursued the returning army all the way to Damascus
(same city as today – Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city on
earth) and made night raids, recapturing Lot, the captives of the cities, and
all their captured goods.

Meeting the Prince of Peace (Genesis 14): On the way back from
rescuing Lot and a couple of cities’ worth of people and goods, Abram gave
a tithe (a tenth) of his gain to Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem (peace),
who had no known ancestry (see Hebrews 6:20 - 7:4). There is nothing in
the Bible about Adam or Seth or Noah tithing. Abram gives a tenth here in a
“one-off” because he had apparently never met anyone else who
acknowledged the one, true Creator-God. We have no explanation for why
he gave a tenth.

The king of Sodom gave Abram permission to keep the captured goods if he
would return the captives, but Abram had sworn to the Lord that he would
not keep the goods lest it could be said that the ungodly made him rich.

The Sodom and Gomorrah Saga (Genesis 18-19): The Angel of the
Lord (perhaps a “theophany,” an appearance of God the Father in human
form, or a “Christophany,” a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ) and two
other angels came to assure Abraham of his coming child (18:1) and test
Abraham concerning the terrible sin of Sodom (18:16-33). When God
revealed His intent to destroy the cities of the plain, dear Abraham
interceded on behalf of the righteous in the city – first, that God, as the
“righteous Judge of all the earth,” would spare the city if there were 50
righteous in it, then 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. God agreed to
spare it if there were only 10 (18:32). There weren’t 10.
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 11

The other two angels came to Sodom, and found Lot who compelled them to
come to his house so they wouldn’t be attacked by the homosexuals at
night. Still, the men of the city came to Lot’s house demanding to have sex
with the two men. Lot offered his daughters instead!! Cultural custom of
the times was to sacrifice the lives of you and your family to protect guests.
When the men tried to break down the door, the angels blinded them all
(19:11). The angels then warned Lot to get his family out of the city by
morning, but Lot’s children thought he was playing a joke and wouldn’t
listen.

Lot barely escaped with his wife and two unmarried daughters. They
entered Zoar as the sun rose; then fire and brimstone rained down on the
cities. As with the ark, the righteous were removed before God’s judgment
came. Although Lot’s wife had left Sodom, Sodom had not left the heart of
Lot’s wife; she longingly looked back, and God turned her into a pillar of salt
(19:26). She became in death what she failed to be in life - salt (Matthew
5:13).

Finding Sodom & Gomorrah: Of course,

archaeologists started out by saying that there
were no such cities. Through the 1920’s, then the
1960s and 70s, evidence began to mount. Finally
in 1987, University of Rome excavators at the
ancient site of Ebla discovered “trade list” tablets
that recorded all five cities of the plain, even
spelled the same as they are in Scripture! This
was the first record of these cities mentioned
outside of the Bible.

There has been a lot of speculation and

excavation around the Dead Sea to find the
remains of these cities. Theories abound. Most
have now ruled out that they are under the
southern end of the Dead Sea. Josephus, a Jewish
historian of the first century, said, "The traces or
shadows of the five cities are still to be seen."
The water level of the Dead Sea has fallen since
the time of Josephus, so the areas Josephus saw
should still be visible today.

Excavations on the banks of the Dead Sea have

unearthed several cities with ziggurats and
sphinxes (see the photos) spread out over 80
kilometers from the north to the south end of the
Dead Sea that were destroyed by fire and sulfur
suddenly. Excavating is really impossible
because the walls are white ash and fall apart in
your hand when you examine them. It seems
that the plains underwent a massive volcanic
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 12

upheaval along the fault line in the area. Brimstone is bitumen and sulfur
rock, and there is an abundance of such rock lying around the sites with
glass crystal coatings and burn marks indicating that they were burning at
one point. The rocks are embedded in a meter of ash.

There are digs at Bab edh-Dhra, believed to be Sodom. The 7 meter wide
city wall enclosed 9-10 acres with gates located at the west and the
northeast. The northeast gate had two flanking towers with massive stone
and timber foundations. Estimated population at the time of the destruction
was between 600-1200, but this doesn’t seem big enough for Sodom, which
was known in other ancient literature as a center of learning, a city perhaps
exceeding 50,000 people. Paleo-botany investigations indicated that a rich
diversity of crops were grown in the area including barley, wheat, grapes,
figs, lintels, flax, chickpeas, peas, broad beans, dates, and olives.

So, like Noah’s Ark, the location of these cities has eluded certainty, and as
with so many places in the Middle East, much more archaeology is needed.

Lot’s Sin With His Daughters (Genesis 19:30-38): This is the third
mention of alcohol in the Bible – not a good track record so far. Lot ended
up leaving Zoar and going into the mountains with his two daughters. To
preserve the family line, the daughters made him drunk twice, had sex with
him, and gave birth to Moab and Ben-Ammi, fathers of the Moabites and
Ammonites who gave Israel repeated trouble over the years. God gave
some of Abraham’s land to them (Deuteronomy 2:9, 19).

“She Is My Sister!” – The Sequel (Genesis 20): Abraham took his herds
south past Beersheba into the wilderness near Gerar, the same place Moses
would later lead wandering Israel for 40 years. King Abimelech spotted
Sarah, and took “Abraham’s sister” into his house – wow, she must have
been QUITE a beauty since she was almost 90! God told Abimelech that he
was a dead man if he did anything to her. Abimelech scolded Abraham for
calling her his sister, but in fact, she was a half-sister (vv.11-13), and then
he gave them money, animals, and servants as an apology. Abraham
prayed for the king and his family and they were healed.

The Birth of Laughter (Genesis 21): From the time God promised to
bring a great nation from Abram to the time when Abraham had his first son
was 25 years! Abram believed that God could and would perform his
promises, even though it was against the odds and would take place many
years in the future. But the road of waiting had a few bumps in it:
1. Helping Out God (Genesis 16): Sarai was a wonderful woman who
believed God would keep His promise. But time went by, and she got older.
She apparently started thinking that God must not have meant that she
would have Abram’s child. So she came up with a plan! According to
Genesis 16:1-3, she gave Abraham her Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, to be his
second wife (something very common in those days). Hagar immediately
fell pregnant, and the predictable jealousy followed.
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 13

Hagar ran away into the desert (on her way back to Egypt?). Though
she was not Abram’s proper wife, God obviously had compassion for
her. The Angel of the LORD came to her by an oasis – this is the
first use of this term in the Bible, and we will see Him repeatedly
throughout the Old Testament. What does Exodus 3:2 tell us about
the Angel of the Lord? Whereas normal angels will not receive
worship (Revelation 22:8-9), the Angel of the LORD will because He is
not really an angel at all.

As with Adam and Cain, God began with a question. The Lord told
Hagar to return to Abraham and Sarah. She should call her son
Ishmael (God hears), but he would be a wild man – he would be
against everyone and vice versa, but he wouldn’t leave. He would
stay right where he was and let the trouble fly. Ishmael became the
father of the Arab peoples. Any surprise? Genesis 25:13-18 contains
a list of Ishmael’s descendants.

2. A Laugh of Lost Hope (Genesis 18:9-15): Jehovah comes in human

form (with two others) to Abraham as he is sitting in the shade. Abraham
shows hospitality, and the Lord again says that Sarah will have a baby.
Overhearing this, Sarah laughed within herself wondering how she could
ever have a child. God then asked why she had laughed, and she denied
that she had laughed … ah, but the Lord knew she had given up hope. “Is
anything too hard for the LORD?” came the question. The answer is, “Of
course not!”

In Genesis 21, mixing pediatrics and geriatrics, God is true to His promise,
and allows Sarah to conceive and give birth to a boy. They named him
Isaac, which means “laughter.” Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was
90. Ishmael was 14 when Isaac was born.

Parties And Partings (Genesis 21): When Isaac was weaned (in ancient
culture, at age two or three), Abraham threw a big party in his honor.
Ishmael got jealous and taunted Isaac, and Sarah demanded that Hagar and
Ishmael be thrown out. God approved of this (but not of Sarah’s attitude)
because He had other plans for Ishmael. God brought Hagar and her 17
year old son to their extremity without water in the
desert, and then appeared to them, showing them an
oasis. Ishmael became an archer and lived in Paran on
the east side of the Sinai Peninsula.

Abraham’s Huge Test (Genesis 22): Genesis 22

records one of the greatest acts of obedience in history.
There is a silent time jump of about 20 years here. God
tells Abraham to take Isaac, go to Mount Moriah (now the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem on which the Temple used to
sit, and on which the Islamic Dome of the Rock now sits –
see photo) and offer him to God as a burnt offering!
Silently, Abraham was up early the next day and traveled with Isaac and
several servants about 100 kilometers north on foot to a hill just outside the
From Creation To Captivity, Session 6 – CMI Student Reading 14

city of Jebus (now Jerusalem). He and Isaac left the servants and proceeded
up the hill, where he tied up Isaac, laid him on the altar, and raised his knife.

Human sacrifice was done by the pagan Canaanites! What was God doing?
Why didn’t Abraham argue? Abraham knew that Isaac was The One from
whom a nation would come. So, trusting in God’s character and promises,
he must have concluded that when he killed Isaac, God would resurrect him.
See Genesis 22:5 and Hebrews 11:17-19. He knew God would somehow
bring Isaac back.

At the very last second, the Angel of the Lord called out and halted Abraham
as the knife was raised. “Now I know that you fear me,” God said, because
you gave up your most cherished possession.

Why the test? Abraham embraced whole-hearted obedience even though it

might cost him dearly, even though it was against common sense, and even
though it was against what he knew of God’s character. We learn much
about faith from studying the story, and we learn about our God who at
times asks us to kiss good-bye
something or someone we love, only to
give it back to us. God wanted to see if
Abraham’s love for Isaac exceeded his
love for God (loving the gift more than
the Giver).

There is also obvious symbolism in the

story.
• God offered His only Son for us
(John 3:16)
• Mount Moriah eventually became the Temple Mount for sacrifices
• The one intended to die was spared by a substitute sacrifice

So, as with all Bible characters, Abraham was far from perfect, but in
embracing monotheism, leaving his home to follow this nameless God,
trusting in God’s provision of a son, and then later giving up his promised
son, Abraham was a remarkable man of faith.