January 7, 2022: Day 5 – Genesis 12-16 and John 8-9

Let’s make our way through our reading beginning in chapter 12 which is really the beginning of the creation of the people of God through Father Abraham, who had many sons.  Actually, he only had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, but in these Scriptures for today we only see Ishmael.  In chapter 12 we have God promising Abram that he will be the father of a great nation, they flee to Egypt because of a famine in the land, Abram lies about Sarai and as a result leaves Egypt a very wealthy man with is nephew Lot.  

In 13 we find Lot and Abram separate and God promises Abram the land as far as his eyes can see.  In 14 we see a battle of the local kings where Lot, Abram’s nephew, gets swept up and Abram comes to his rescue and is showered with praise by the King Melchizedek.  Keep this name in mind when we get to the New Testament in Hebrews 7 as Jesus is equated with him as the high priest.

In 15 we see the vision of God which comes to Abram and as a result we see a new covenant that God makes with Abram.  Look at vs.18 where we read that on that day God made a covenant with Abram promising the land that was before him.  This is the second covenant that God makes with humankind, the first was the one with Noah which we saw earlier.  In 16 we see the birth of Ishmael as a result of Abram and Sarai’s impatience.  Be careful about pursuing the promises of God on your own time frame and not on the time frame that the Lord dictates.  It will lead to rash decisions that will affect the rest of your life.

We then get to John.  Notice that pretty much all of this takes place within the temple.  One thing that I noted about the story of the adulterous woman was that she was they were in the temple, specifically in the area of the treasury where the people would have given their offerings, where Jesus at another time points out the widow and her mite.  While they are there the woman is standing the whole time.  I had always envisioned in my mind that they would have brought the woman to Jesus and thrown her down on the ground and the discourse would have taken place with her on the ground at Jesus’ feet.  Not so fast!  The Scripture repeats that she is standing and Jesus himself straightens himself up to talk to her.