Do you ever experience I-never-noticed-that-before moments when simply reading through the Bible? I must only have half of my brain engaged the majority of the time because I sure do miss a lot! Here are some details I noticed anew this time through the first half of Genesis:
-Cain's punishment from God was that he should be a fugitive and wander the earth. I never noticed until this reading of Genesis that Cain didn't accept his punishment. "Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch." (Genesis 4:17) Instead of living the life of a nomad, utterly dependent on God, Cain went right out and built a city! It appears that this was the first city. This is what the Reformation study Bible footnote says: "In seeking the security of a city, it appears that sinful Cain both defied the divine judgment that he should be a vagabond (v.12) and showed his lack of faith in the protection provided by God's mark (v.15). The earthly city provides both civilization and protection, but culminates in the building of a city that challenges God's supremecy (11:4). The faithful by contrast look for a heavenly city (Phil 3:20, Col 3:1-4, Heb 11:10, 16, 12:22, 13:14)." Interesting.
-Noah was 500 when he fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32) And I thought I got a late start having kids!
-Noah gathered every kind of food into the ark! I always thought in terms of gathering the food for the purpose of feeding the animals and his own family, but hadn't realized that they had to go out and gather EVERY sort of food that is eaten (Genesis 6:21). No wonder it took so long!
-Ishmael was there at Abraham's funeral- he buried his dad along with Isaac. For some reason that little detail has escaped me until now. I thought he just disappeared out of Isaac's life at the end of chapter 21 when the Lord tells Hagar that Ishmael will become a great nation, too and they resettle in the wilderness of Paran. But check this out: "Abraham breathed his last and died in good old age, and old man full of years, and was gathered to his people, Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre." Genesis 25:8-9 I like to think they made up. That makes sense because Esau went to Ishmael for a wife when he realized Isaac and Rebekah disapproved of his Canaanite wives. I guess he wouldn't have done that if Isaac was still at odds with his brother.
-And a few miscellaneous little observations:
Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah and prayed that the Lord would open her womb. He was 60 when she had Jacob and Esau. They had to wait 20 years for children!
God tells the animals to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth before telling man both immediately after creation and post-flood.
After Abimelech discovers that Sarah is Abraham's wife, he still refers to Abraham as "your brother." I wonder why he doesn't say "your husband".
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I hope you don't think I'm a complete dingbat right now. What have you recently noticed in the Bible that you never noticed before? Please tell me I'm not the only one that misses a lot.
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- Celee
- I'm an on-the-run mom to 6 kids who studied and taught exercise science in a previous life. I love all things running, nutrition, and health-related. I usually run at zero dark thirty in the morning and am often quite hungry before, during, and after my run, but I live a rich, full, blessed life with my children, family, and friends. My faith in God is my anchor, and looking to Him and His promises allows me to live fully even when life circumstances are difficult. While running gives me an appetite, my desire is to hunger and thirst for righteousness more than for physical food.
I don't think you're a dingbat. I'm a big picture person myself and often overlook the details like that. Like you said in another post (and this is my paraphrase bc I'm a big picture person and can't remember exact quotes lol), we need to read and reread the Word of God. There is always something new.
ReplyDeleteGlad Calvin is okay and won't need surgery! Praise the Lord!