Genesis 14-23

Genesis 14: Much war in Canaan, resulting in the eventual captivity of Lot, and the looting of Sodom and Gomorrah by the victors. Abram is notified of this error, and travels north of Damascus to remedy this situation. Melchizedek, King of Salem issues a blessing of Abram for much smiting.

Genesis 15: Jehovah comes in a vision to Abram, and Abram notes during their discourse that he can’t seem to get Sarai pregnant. Abram is told of many future happenings involving great smiting, four hundred years of drifting, and finally Jehovah’s concession that someday, all the lands from the Nile to the Euphrates were to be Abrams’ seed’s stead.

Genesis 16: Despite Jehovah’s covenant with Abram, Sarai remains sterile. (It should be noted that God doesn’t make any sort of promise about Sarai’s fertility. Maybe this is implied to eventuate.) But, Sarai has a handmade, Hagar. So Abram grinds her gears, getting Hagar knockered. Now Sarai becomes jealous of Hagar’s warm pregnantic glow, so Hagar flees. An angel of Jehovah appears to her by a fountain, promising more sex in her future if she returns. The angel instructs her pending son’s name should be Ishmael (God heareth). At a youthful 86, Abram is just getting started on a siring spree.

Genesis 17: At a frisky 99, Abram again sees Jehovah. Jehovah again promises fruitfulness, but this time has a plan of action. First, Abram is instructed to rename himself Abraham (Father of a multitude). All Abraham has to do is circumcise himself and every male over the age of eight days. Jehovah further instructs that Sarai has a new name: Sarah (Princess). Jehovah tells Abraham not to worry, that Sarah would deliver Abraham a son, which Jehovah pre-names Isaac. (To laugh!) And Jehovah promises Isaac will the the father of twelve princes, and that Sarah would deliver a year from this covenant. After this meeting, Abraham sharpens his knife, and gets to work.

Genesis 18: By the Oaks (terebinths) of Mamre, three angels appear to Abraham. I think the angels are there to convince Abraham that sex with Sarah would not be unproductive. Jehovah makes what I read as a statement addressed to all, but maybe no one. It reads as if God is either speaking to the three wise men/angels (It reads both ways) or He is simply speaking aloud, concerned about the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. Okay, I guess the three and Abraham are now being addressed, or God has first addressed the three and then addresses Abraham separately, but Abraham has become a defender of faith in Sodom. Abraham repeatedly asks Jehovah about stumbling upon fifty righteous (then forty, etc.) in Sodom: Can this save the city? Jehovah concedes he will spare cities containing ten righteous, after much negotiation with Abraham.

Genesis 19: Two angels visit Lot at the gates of Sodom. (Maybe the third travelled to Gomorrah. Not noted here about the third angel, or if these are two of the three from Gen. 18) The wicked want to know what these guys are up to, and Lot offers his two virgin daughters to the angry mob to ensure the angels’ protection. The angels defend Lot when the unsatisfied mob still charges his home. The angels deliver much blindness to those who attempt to enter Lot’s home, and Lot goes into the city to gather his family. The cities of the plain are destroyed with much fire and brimstone by Jehovah, and despite being warned not to look back, Lot’s wife does so, leading to an unsustainable spike in her sodium content. Lot is delivered to Zoar, but he heads for the mountains in a cave with his daughters and some wine. The oldest daughter, perhaps remembering that Lot had offered the two to an angry mob to protect those guys they’d never met, decides to get Lot drunk, and have some incest with him. She does this and recommends this to the younger daughter. The older daughter has a son, Moab, father of the Moabites. The younger has a son, Benammi, father of the Ammonites. (Lot was Abraham’s brother’s son. I guess he is the new lineage of the cities of the plain, since those cities were destroyed.)

Genesis 20: Hasn’t this happened before? Abraham is travelling in a foreign land, and claims Sarah is his sister. She must have aged well, because Abimelech King of Gerar sent out for Sarah when they were in his territory. An angel visits Abimelech in a dream, stating Abimelech’s doom because Sarah is married. Abimelech notes that he never even touched Sarah (yet), and he returns Sarah to Abraham the next day. Abimelech wonders why Abraham would tell such a tall tale of his “sister”. Abraham responds by saying he thought it was a godless place. Abimeclech provides Abraham with a place to live, livestock, and a blessing to dwell. Abraham then prayed to God, who heals Abimelech, his wife, and maid-servants, and they bared him children. Then, God seals up the wombs of Abimelech’s people because of the complicit kidnapping via fraud of Sarah.

Genesis 21: Sarah conceives and delivers Isaac. Laughs abound. When Ishmael mocks, things aren’t so good for Sarah. She orders Hagar and Ishmael to be exiled, which upsets Abraham. God consoles Abraham, promising that Hagar’s line will greatly multiply in any event. I don’t understand how Ishmael was mocking anything, because he was young enough to still be abandoned by Hagar when they ran out of water. God intervenes, promising Hagar fruitfulness, starting with a fresh well of water. Ishmael grows to become an archer. Meanwhile, water rights issues were boiling up between Abraham’s tribe and Abimelech. God recommends Abraham to peacefully address this issue, though Abraham thought that Abimelech’s servants had destroyed a previous well. Abraham constructs a new well, meets up with Abimelech and offers some livestock to him. A covenant was made at this place, Beersheba, and Abraham planted a tamarisk tree there, living peacefully among the Philistines for some time.

Genesis 22: God tests Abraham, instructing him to make an offering out of Isaac. When God sees Abraham is actually going to cut up his son for the offering, He instructs Abraham to stop. I don’t know if it was luck or not, but a ram was caught in a thicket there, and the ram takes the place of Isaac at the altar. Jehovah is impressed and pleased, and receives God’s blessing. Abraham’s brother’s generations.

Genesis 23: Sarah lived 127 years, breaking God’s limitation on aging, but I think she had some special favor in His eyes. She died in Kiriatharba, and he then addresses the children of Heth. After lengthy negotiation to find a proper burial plot for Sarah, 400 sheckels of silver changes hands from Abraham to Ephron the Hittite. The field of Machpelah is thus purchased, and Abraham chooses to bury Sarah in a cave of the field of Machpelah.