Another Bible Commentary: Genesis

1:1 The first word in the Bible in Hebrew begins with “B”; starting with the second letter instead of the first is believed by some to mean that Scripture shows us what we need to know while reserving some knowledge for God alone. In the ancient worldview, water represents chaos. 

1:1-2 Later uses of water in the Bible sometimes refer back to Creation. Here, the Spirit hovers over the waters. A bird flies over water with Noah for a new beginning. The Red Sea and Jordan River crossings are new beginnings; water parts like “water breaking” in giving birth. The water/bird-Spirit combo points ahead to Jesus’s baptism. One unique God made everything, so don’t make idols or blaspheme. To imitate Him (which is to behave righteously per Ephesians 5:1) who brings order from chaos, leave things better than you found them.

1:3-4 God needs no sun for light. He can bring forth a baby from a virgin. He needs no source with which to bless you.

1:5 Hebrew time reckons the day beginning at sundown. Dark came before light.

1:6-8 Notice that God doesn’t call the sky “good”. (He only stamps new stuff with approval, not divisions like in Genesis 1:4.) This may have been partially influential in Satan being called the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians

2:2. Rather than merely “sky” between the water that rains down and the springs that well up, this could be the pocket our observable universe exists in amidst primordial chaos.

1:14-15 He fills what he separated on Day 1. The Hebrew for “sacred times” is also used for regular non-sacred “seasons”, so let context guide you. 

1:16-18 This is the source of “sun, moon, and stars” as a veiled reference to government in the prophets.

1:20 He fills what he separated on Day 2. I’m sensing a pattern. 

1:24 He fills what he made on Day 3. 

1:25 “own kinds” = From this, you can derive the prohibition of bestiality.

1:26 Plural “our” is a hint at the Trinity. The words “the Trinity” aren’t in the Bible, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are easy to find. The Trinity is our Christian understanding of a complex, multifaceted God who is both profoundly relational and infinitely mysterious – God is Love, so there are relationships to express Love. The Father is God, Jesus is God and the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but each Person has a different role. Humans were designed in the Image of God; you resemble Him somehow. We don’t make graven images to worship because we’d have to make a living human to even get close; Jesus Christ is our physical experience of divinity. Jesus said that it would have been better for Judas had he never been born, but don’t say that about yourself (Isaiah 45:9-12, 22). Also, several translations of Genesis 1:26 say we rule the Earth like Psalm 8:6 in addition to the creatures mentioned.

1:27 God, who made mankind in His own Image, is neither ugly nor a bad artist. He alone can judge His handiwork. This is why we love our neighbors as ourselves out of respect for our Maker. This verse summarizing the creation of men and women influenced the tales of Lilith (night demon sometimes thought to be Adam’s first wife) which can be seen in some translations’ handlings of Isaiah 34:14.

1:28, 31 Our default state, naked, was fine. Sin leads to shame. Some erroneously think the forbidden fruit was code for sex, but procreation is pre-Fall. If you’re ever tempted to think of God as uptight, hanging out in something like a nudist version of Disney’s Animal Kingdom was pretty much God’s original plan for humanity. Jesus and Paul did not multiply. We are not presently nude fruitarians; not every command in the Bible is for us.

1:29 Before the ground was cursed in the Fall, fruit was more nourishing. Now, even though God still sustains Creation it seems like life is powered by death: agriculture is work-intensive, plants live because the sun slowly dies, etc. Lambs had to die for Adam and Eve, and only the Lamb of God’s death restores our immortality.

1:30 We now live in a world warped by the Fall. The lions that may be hard to imagine as vegetarians used to be different.

2:2-3 Resting showed that God deemed His work good enough. The first thing humanity saw was a day off. Rest in Christ first. (There was no Sabbath for Israel until the manna stopped appearing daily. The first audience for this teaching had been told they were worth the bricks they could produce; now, they knew their worth came from being made in their Maker’s image.) The evening and morning of the seventh day were not mentioned; rest with God is eternal. Hebrew days start with evening; the first thing to do is rest.

2:5 refers to new plants; the first-generation plants were still there

2:7 See Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:45 – compare Adam with Christ. Both were born unusually, initially free of sin, capable of being tempted, had free will, and left a paradise to go to a bad world. Also, have you ever seen a leaf on the ground moved by the wind out of the corner of your eye and thought you saw a living thing? We are similarly animated by God’s breath.

2:8 Hebrew lacks the pluperfect tense, so Genesis 2 may contain an extended explanation of the sixth day of Creation – God “had” planted a garden, God “had” formed animals, etc. I was asked to explain this feature of English more fully, so the pluperfect tense (also known as the past perfect tense) is used to describe an action that was completed before another action or point in the past. For example, in the sentence "She had finished the report before the meeting started," "had finished" is in the pluperfect tense, indicating that the report was completed prior to the meeting. In contrast, the simple past tense describes an action that occurred and was completed at a specific time in the past, such as "She finished the report yesterday." Therefore, God made the animals in Genesis 1, and then, by Genesis 2, God had made the animals.

2:9 In the ancient worldview, trees connect Heaven, Earth, and the underworld.

2:10-14 The boundaries of Eden are the later Promised Land (the greater boundaries of an Israel extending to the Euphrates). Throughout, context tells you if the Bible means Cush as Ethiopia or Cush(an) (part of Midian).

2:15-17 The Tree of Life was okay to eat from until humanity lost immortality. God made us with free will (including freedom to misbehave) so our relationship with Him would mean something. (This is not to be confused with the “free will” of the philosophers; no one is free from influences, and everyone is either still a slave of sin or has become a slave of righteousness, but Romans 6 is a long way from here). God made the whole timeline when He made the world (Psalm 139:16-17); humanity ruined it (Psalm 115:16). The proverbial quarter was put into the arcade game, so the level plays out.

The “problem of evil” is only the problem of failing to see that God’s omnipotence is constrained by His character. For example, He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). He gave this world (as long as it exists) to humanity (Psalm 115:16; all generations that were “in” Adam). He is a Gentleman; He stands at the door and knocks, but doesn’t knock down the door. The existence of evil in a fallen world is no mystery, but the lingering good is the Creator’s fingerprints. We were made “good” but we tried to somehow improve on God’s work with “knowledge of good and evil” (morality and ethics, works-based religion, and experiencing bad things as well as the good things He intended for us). The knowledge amounts to Numbers 14:34b; choosing evil was to choose to suffer for sins and to know Him as an enemy. All the evil in the world that you see comes from Adam’s fall (and the fallen angels we’ll discuss later), but we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). If you were the only person on Earth, Christ would have had to die for you and He still would have. You are that important to Him. Humanity had one thing to get wrong (don’t eat from that tree); now, we have one thing to get right: believe in Jesus 

2:17 This plus Adam’s lifespan in Genesis 5:5 equals 2 Peter 3:8 saying that God’s days are like a thousand years.

2:18 The battle of the sexes intensified after the Fall, but we always had different roles.

2:19-20 Did the talking animals feel rejected as companions? Did they resent human mastery? Did Satan trick the snake first? Or, the Hebrew word for snake can be translated as Seraphim (a type of angel, “the burning ones”), and the crawling and dust-eating is a metaphor for Satan’s ejection from Heaven.

2:21-22 like Christ’s deep sleep in the tomb. His Bride, the Church, came into being after His death. Adam’s rib points to the water and blood from Christ’s side at the Crucifixion.

2:23 Adam naming the animals demonstrates his dominion over them. God renaming Abraham and Jesus renaming Peter represent their new missions.

2:24 To say he “leaves” says he is born from or proceeds from; “one flesh” is a whole person in the pre-Genesis 2:21 sense, a couple that can propagate God’s Image. Culturally, the woman moved in with her new husband at his family home which he took over at inheritance. Saying “his wife” leads to the derivation of the prohibition of adultery.

2:25 Again, there is nothing wrong with nudity. Sin leads to shame.

3:3 He didn’t say not to touch the fruit; that’s a Pharisee fence. The Pharisees invented extra rules around the real rules to avoid breaking them.

3:4 The snake lies. Don’t doubt God’s motives. He gives us wisdom (Ephesians 1:4-8), He makes us like Him (1 John 3:2), you don’t need fruit for that. There are rabbinic commentaries that say animals like this snake and Balaam’s ass can talk when God is nearby, but that discounts God’s omnipresence (Jeremiah 23:24).

3:5 Humans, rather than believing what God said (that we were good), opted to try to learn how to be more good and less evil. The first sin was self-improvement by choosing morality and ethics over trusting God and His grace.

3:6 Adam’s sin was against Matthew 22:37 (the greatest rule in the Law of Moses). The first sin was eating, so of course we eat Communion. Fruit was taken from the tree, so Christ was put on a tree. Fruit was taken with a hand, so the Hand of God was nailed to the tree. The cursed ground that makes thorns produced the crown of thorns. Also, if there ever truly was free will, that stops after this point in the story. Those born “in Adam” are slaves to sin, and those saved by Christ are slaves of righteousness (Romans 6:15-23). Read the failures of Old Testament people like Solomon kindly; they couldn’t help it. 

3:7 Ironically, their eyes were “opened” but they were really blinded to the truth (2 Corinthians 4:4). 

3:9 God knew where they were; He asked like a parent would: “Explain yourself.”

3:10 He made us, so He knows what we look like. Ironically, the only safe place is in His sight (Ezekiel 9:9-10). 

3:11 “What’s wrong with My Image?”

3:12 Adam indirectly blamed God for his sin.

3:13-14 He asked nothing of the snake, because there is no redemption plan for Satan. See the Genesis 2:19-20 note.

3:15 The Seed of the Woman was a hint at the Virgin Birth. This is the “protoevangelium” or the first prophecy about Jesus Christ. At the same cross where His feet were nailed, Jesus defeated Satan. Genesis 6:4 and Matthew 13:38-39 hint at the possibility of demonic offspring among us.

3:16 “Your desire will be for your husband” A woman is told about her singular husband, but there is no corresponding passage in his lecture. Marriage exists on Earth as an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the Church; a wife gives her fidelity and a husband provides things like food, clothing, and shelter. Jesus is in charge; we have a different role than Him as the Bride of Christ. He can always add more followers, but you cannot have Him and Baal. The aforementioned “desire” has led most women to want to be “the one” for some man (and also to want to control the entirety of his earning potential, etc.), and this has led to countless romantic songs, movies, etc., but we’ll see plenty of righteous polygamists on our trip through the Bible.

3:21 to imitate God, provide clothing for the less fortunate. The shame of nudity added to the agony of crucifixion. The garments in this verse are “belts”; other cultures have different standards of what “dressed” means. The paycheck for sin is death, but God loves us enough to substitute (Leviticus 1:4). Animals dying to cover humanity’s sins point ahead to Exodus 12, Leviticus 16, etc. There is an optimum size and proportion for a flock, so there is a killing season for lambs. The shepherd doesn’t like it, but his and his flock’s survival depends on these lambs’ substitute deaths. The “extra” sheep quietly submit to death; they came to Earth only to die. The time and energy a shepherd expends can be seen in the health of his sheep; his life is given for theirs. Our own works don’t work as a garment; be clothed in Christ (Isaiah 59:6, Isaiah 61:10, Isaiah 64:6, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 3:10, Revelation 19:8).

3:22-23 Fallen humanity plus immortality sounds a lot like Hell. Banishment was for our own good.

4:1 Raising children or crops is partnering with God in Creation.

4:2-4 Abel or “Hevel” means ephemeral, a breath; life is short, and all is vanity. The themes of Abel’s name are explored in Ecclesiastes. Cain is a farmer like Adam. Abel’s choice animal offering by faith (Hebrews 11:4) according to the example of Genesis 3:21 is like the Levitical offering for atonement. Cain’s leftover crops would be a thanksgiving offering (if they were the good stuff), but Cain (like everyone) needed atonement first. Humans were still vegetarians at this point, so Abel’s whole job was to raise offerings. We need our Brother to save us (Hebrews 2:11). 

4:5-6 As a farmer, Cain was downcast that without God’s favor, Genesis 4:12 would happen.

4:7 “Sin” here is a noun. It’s basically Satan. Paul explains in Romans that Sin is a parasite, and it wants things that you don’t want. Make of the similarity to Genesis 3:16 what you will.

4:8 Abel was killed for righteousness, like Christ was. Cain, instead of partnering with God in creation, did the opposite. Since Cain was exiled like in Numbers 35:22-25, Abel’s death was more like manslaughter than premeditated murder; after all, no one had died yet. Cain’s sin was against Matthew 22:39 (the second greatest rule in the Law of Moses).

4:9 Our Brother keeps us (Hebrews 2:11).

4:10 This concept comes up repeatedly, culminating in the seven bowls of wrath in Revelation to avenge Christians.

4:11-12 See Genesis 3:17-19,23 and Ecclesiastes 12:7. Cain was distanced from both “parents” (God, who gave us breath and Earth from which we were made); it was even harder to farm now than Adam had it. Like Adam, Cain was exiled. Cain was no longer a partner with God in Creation. Instead of foraging or begging for charity, Cain built the world system to exploit others in verse 17. As a wee lad, I would refuse help by saying, “I do it by itself!” and that’s been humanity’s problem all along. The goats in Leviticus 16 remind me of Abel and Cain; one dies, and one is sent away.

4:13 “punishment is more than I can bear” Punishment/guilt/iniquity/sin the same word as in Genesis 15:16. This is an early clue that Jesus was to bear it for us (Isaiah 53:6).

4:14-15 God had already punished Cain for manslaughter, and He has sovereignty over revenge (Deuteronomy 32:35). The mark is a preview of similar protections in Ezekiel 9:4 and Revelation 7:3; sevenfold escalation by God in the face of disobedience comes around again and again in the Bible and is perhaps seen most clearly several times in Leviticus 26. Adam and Eve had other children, accounting for the people Cain was worried about (Genesis 5:4).

4:17 Cain’s wife can be found in Genesis 5:4. Incest was not prohibited yet. With the entirety of human genetic diversity Adam came equipped with, it wasn’t a problem. After the Flood, there have been limits to near-kin relationships that are codified in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 (that even the Canaanites not under the Law of Moses got punished for violating).

4:19 God’s standards of human sexuality, other than the incest prohibition that happened later, are consistent in the Bible. Polygamists like Abraham (Genesis 26:5) and David (2 Samuel 12:8, 1 Kings 15:5) are not a problem.

4:24 Some Gospel manuscripts say Jesus said to forgive 77 times; that is, to be as forgiving as Lamech was vengeful. 

Genesis 5 – There are similar names in the genealogies. Cain’s Enoch and Lamech are different from Seth’s. Ezra 7 and Matthew 1 skip generations (focusing on plot-relevant names or significant family tree branches), so don’t try to use genealogies to guess the true age of the Earth (1 Timothy 1:4). The significance of this genealogy is that God is very patient with humanity.

5:3-4 There were already other people for Cain to run from and/or marry (Genesis 4:14,17); Seth was notable as a replacement for Abel.

5:24 reminds me of 2 Kings 2:11.

6:2 Angels were created to serve; humans were created in God’s Image for Him to love. Angels are spirits (Hebrews 1:14) that can be invisible (2 Kings 6:17) or physical (Genesis 18 and Genesis 19 include angels eating and sleeping; see also Hebrews 13:2). They were present at the creation of our world (Job 38:7). They have minds (2 Samuel 14:20), wills (Revelation 22:8-9, Genesis 6, Satan’s fall, etc.), and emotions (Hebrews 12:22). They may have been made from fire (Psalm 104:4) as we were from dirt. That would make the Hell prepared for rebellious angels (Matthew 25:41) like “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” for us. Just because Matthew 22:30 says the angels in heaven do not wed does not mean that they are not capable. The Book of Enoch (quoted by Jude and considered canonical in the Ethiopian Church) says the fallen angels or Watchers impregnated humans and taught humanity skills like making weapons, cosmetics, written communication, meteorology, astrology, etc. Angels taking human wives would be considered like bestiality, “strange flesh”, etc. Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4 may refer to this incident since the sex crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned in the same breath. Jude says these angels went straight to imprisonment for their crimes. Satan and his fallen angels are still at work among us, as we will discuss later, in part because the Accuser can be argued to have a role as long as human evil persists. Think about a possible post-Fall changing of the guard in Genesis 3:24 in light of Hebrews 2:14 and who you think Ezekiel 28:14’s “anointed cherub who covers” or defender of holiness is. 

6:4 Rather than denying the existence of the gods, heroes, and monsters of pagan myths, they are identified as Nephilim, the spawn of fallen angels. Saying “and also afterward” allows for some Goliaths here and there, for example. There is no reason, other than the remaining angels having learned their lesson, why such things aren’t going on today. Jesus calling his opponents sons of the devil (John 8:44) is not without precedent. In the apocryphal Book of Enoch, the flood-drowned half-angel souls have no proper place to go, so they become the possessing demons seen in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Acts.

6:5-6 God’s not surprised. Jeremiah 18:5-10 is a principle that keeps coming up. Somewhere between Judaism and Greek philosophy arose the notion of the yetzer hara or “evil impulse”, the drive to create that runs wild and leads to sin. They say no man would build a business or get married without it. This line of thinking lumps sinful behavior in with mere appetite. Colossians 2:11-12 says Christ removed your sinful nature at salvation.  Believer, your innards are “heaven-ready”.

6:7 Because Earth was given to humanity, our Fall warped all of Creation including the animals and the ground (Romans 8:19-22, Genesis 3:17). Because of the sin at work in our bodies (Romans 7:20), it is no wonder that when we commit to a purely empirical worldview we see a universe in which every part expands away from every other part until a final triumph of entropy.

6:8-9 “perfect in his generation” has been taken by some to mean that he had no fallen angel blood in him, like a purebred puppy among wolves. We don’t know the ancestry of the wives on the boat, so we may all have a pinch of Cain left in us.

6:13 All of that accumulated screaming blood (Genesis 4:10) must have been maddening. 

6:20 Humans saw pairs of animals arriving (Imagine a wooden boat with two termites, two woodpeckers, etc.) and predators and prey coexisting (Genesis 7:8-9), but still didn’t listen to Noah who had been preaching righteousness (2 Peter 2:5) for years. Humanity has dominion over animals, so of course they had to ride the Ark with us. The interior of the Ark with righteous people and well-behaved animals is like a seed of the World to Come. There is one door that God controls, no steering, it is noisy/smelly inside but there is death outside, there’s one family separate from the world, and they are heirs of a new world: the Ark can symbolize the Church.

7:2-3 Humans since Abel have sacrificed animals. The Fall warped some animals more than others (Romans 8:19-21). God would spell out for Israel what types of food to share with Him later (Leviticus 11, for example) but Noah knows the distinction here. For example, humanity has dominion over animals and predators don’t, so they’re unclean. Death is the result of sin, so scavengers are unclean. Look back to the Creation account: Flying birds were pronounced good, swarming fish tend to be scaled, etc. Light was called good, so nocturnal animals are disorderly and therefore unclean. Crawling on the belly and eating dust were not spoken well of, so those are out. Insects without association with feces or dead things are clean unless they undergo metamorphosis (and therefore do not reproduce according to their own “kind” in a straightforward fashion). The clean/unclean animal distinction isn't part of the New Covenant (Acts 10:9-16), so feel free to enjoy shrimp while reading this.

7:4 Deleted scene: “What’s rain?” See Genesis 2:5-6.

7:10 Recurring theme: The righteous are the salt of the Earth; bad stuff happens when you remove them. Things would be much worse without your presence, Believer. You are a preservative.

7:11 I see this as more than physical water, that’s chaos re-entering the universe. This is a re-shaking of the Cosmic Etch-A-Sketch. We’ll see hints at a new creation in Noah’s story. God made a beautiful world, and we (with help from fallen angels) ruined it. It’s like we were living in the Louvre and we started marking our territory like feral animals, so we were stuffed into a janitor’s closet long enough to get the paintings out. For example, the world Noah inherits lacks talking animals (with few exceptions like in Balaam’s story in Numbers 22) so the rules on their edibility are relaxed. I mention talking animals because no one reacted to the talking snake in the Garden as anything unusual; you can disregard it if the snake/seraphim equivalence ends up being what happened. Back to the idea that Noah entered a fundamentally different reality after the flood: Remember when Marty McFly returned to 1985 in Back to the Future only to find it was vastly different from the reality he grew up in? I think Noah had a similar experience arriving in our world (that has an appearance of age) at what we would call the dawn of human behavioral modernity. The world looks like evolutionary struggle and death because that’s what the devil’s world looks like (2 Corinthians 4:4, 1 John 5:19).

7:23 Being saved from evil through water? Sounds like the Red Sea or baptism to me.

8:1-12 Water, wind, and bird: Creation (Genesis 1:1-2), Jesus’ baptism (Matthew 3:16), etc. This signifies a new beginning.

8:5 Dry land is another hint at the Creation story (Genesis 1:9-10). 

8:6 Picture an open window in the Ark, a new light entering a dark space (Genesis 1).

8:13-14 We still have rivers, seas, etc., so saying that the water had dried up supports my assertion about Genesis 7:11. 

8:20 A purification offering to inaugurate the new world, like in 2 Chronicles 29:21. 

8:21 plus Genesis 6:6 means that God chose to suffer for us all the time instead of deservedly ending humanity. God is Love (1 John 4:8,16), which is to say, self-sacrificing. Now, He remembers Christians’ sins no more thanks to the finished work of Christ (Hebrews 8:12). The notion (opposed by Genesis 8:21 and Jeremiah 17:9) that we aren’t complete trash before salvation and that sinless perfection is attainable with human effort is a heresy known as Pelagianism. Somewhere between Judaism and Greek philosophy arose the notion of the yetzer hara or “evil impulse”, the drive to create that runs wild and leads to sin. It’s not the natural drive itself that’s the problem, but the misuse of it. God promised to stop cursing the ground, but humanity is still capable of it (Leviticus 18:25).

9:4 see Leviticus 17:11 and Acts 15:20.

9:5-6 is about murder and not all slaying of humans, since lawful killing by humans is the punishment. The need for a court system is derived from the need to distinguish just punishment for murder and revenge killings. Historically, killing to stop a murder is accepted because you’d have to execute the perpetrator anyway. Exodus 22:2 clarifies that fear/confusion is enough to justify self-defense (because there would be no exception for inadequate lighting if it weren’t). Even under the New Covenant, use of the death penalty by governments is not ruled out (Romans 13:4). On an interpersonal level, we don’t seek revenge because God owns that (Deuteronomy 32:35, Leviticus 19:18) and because we’re lawbreakers too (John 8:7). Jesus paid the wages of sin for the believer, so there’s the question of double jeopardy in making someone pay for sins that are already recompensed. There is also inconsistent application of some Noahide death penalty offenses and not others in our society, but again, that’s coming from the governments that God did not disarm, not from God.

9:7 Jesus and Paul never did this, so don’t feel pressured to have kids just to check this box. This instruction for people receiving a new or Flood-remodeled world was not repeated at Sinai, and we’re not even under the Law of Moses (Romans 6:14, Romans 7:4, Romans 10:4).

9:11 Next time, it’s fire (2 Peter 3:10). God’s enemies now drown one at a time at baptism and are raised to newness of life. Well, actually we were crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 6), but you get the idea.

9:12-13 Think of the shape of the rainbow: God put down His weapon, pointed at Himself. Seven colors of the rainbow for the Seven Laws of Noah aka Noahide Laws aka What God Expected From Righteous Gentiles Before Christ. 

a) Don’t curse God, including swearing falsely by His Name; Leviticus 24:15’s use of “ish ish” or the redundant “man man” for “anyone” is inclusive of Gentiles. Blasphemy never ended well (2 Kings 19:6), even for outsiders. 

b) Don’t worship idols. When the Bible says that “the LORD God commanded” man in Genesis 2:16, His singularity and authority are established. Plus don’t be like Egypt since it didn’t end well for them. Also, don’t do the occult stuff from Deuteronomy 18:9-13 for which “the nations” were condemned. 

c) Don’t eat blood, flesh ripped from living animals, etc., as in Genesis 9:4. 

d) Establish/support legitimate government (including respecting your betters and your parents) to enforce: 

e) No murder (Genesis 9:5-6, and the existence of respect for authorities keeps the enforcement of this from being another murder). 

f) No theft or kidnapping (Abe appealed to this law in Genesis 21:25; he also rescued Lot from kidnappers).

g) No sexual immorality – see Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 for the off-limits behaviors even Canaanites without the Law of Moses got punished for doing. The details are also in the stories we are reading: Genesis 2:24 rules out parents, others’ wives, other dudes, animals, etc., as partners for men. Isaac and Rebekah were cousins (fine), Nahor and Milcah were uncle/niece (fine), Reuben with his father’s concubine was wrong, etc. 

Acts 15, Acts 21, and the behavioral instructions of the New Testament indicate that some baseline expectations are still in effect for Christians. Other behaviors that receive warnings in the New Testament can be linked to this list, proper respect for God, and/or love for others. For example, drinking to the point of experiencing blackouts is a willingness to forget whether you made vows in God’s name that need keeping, a willingness to sire your own grandchild, etc. 

9:14-16 “everlasting” The things God disapproved of in pre-Sinai Gentiles are likely still not what He wants to see from His children.

9:20-21 New beginning: farming, nudity, and shame like in Adam’s story. As new creations, we wear Christ (Galatians 3:27).

9:22 Drinking and nudity are not always sinful, but disrespecting parents or your betters is a sin (even before Exodus 20:12). Ham may have been inviting everyone to the show, like in Habakkuk 2:16. Titus 3:2 prohibits slander, Proverbs 11:13 prohibits betrayal of confidences. Moses is not liable for truthfully speaking ill of sinners in the historical portions of the Torah, but even Miriam experienced consequences for bad-mouthing Moses with true statements; the intent to harm matters.

9:25 like Balaam in Numbers 22:12, you cannot curse whom God has blessed (Genesis 9:1). Some speculate that based on the “uncovering the nakedness” niceties of Leviticus, Ham may have cuckolded Noah. In their view, this is why Canaan (the offspring) got cursed. However, if they were right, would what Shem and Japheth did in this scenario make sense?

10:2 Names worth noticing before we get to the prophets. 

10:3 A modern people group, the Ashkenazi Jews, was named for the region of Ashkenaz in the Middle Ages. 

10:5 The next chapter explains how this happened. 

10:8-12 Nimrod ruled Babylon (Babel sounds like Hebrew for confused), a place of hubris, confusion, and transgression (Tower of Babel in Genesis 11) that destroyed the Temple in 586 BC. Christians are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit, so our killers are “Babylon” in Revelation. Nimrod also built Nineveh, the capital of Assyria which destroyed Israel in 722 BC. Bugs Bunny mockingly called Elmer Fudd a nimrod in reference to the hunter, and it has meant an idiot ever since at the time of this writing. Calah (later called Nimrud) (or the greater metropolitan area of the cities listed near it) being the “great city” signifies it functioned as Nimrod’s capital at the time.

10:13-14 The Greek DNA of the Philistines is explained by migration/intermarriage during the Late Bronze Age Collapse (around the days of Exodus. There was also a volcanic eruption with widespread effects, mysterious marauding “Sea Peoples”, maybe the Trojan War, etc.). 

10:21 The Hebrews’ name may be derived from their ancestor Eber. Other scholars propose a derivation from the term “Apiru” or “landless”.

11:2 You may know Shinar as Sumer. See Genesis 10:8-12.

11:4 Building a ziggurat to get to Heaven (or for God to climb down to visit) as a monument to your own greatness sounds like works-based salvation to me. See 1 Corinthians 4:7.

11:6 In the context of Genesis 6:5 and Genesis 8:21, their plans were terrible.

11:7 God deemed the wars resulting from dividing us a better alternative to a democidal one world government. Democide refers to the intentional killing of people by their own government; it covers scenarios for which the word genocide would be too restrictive. There was a lot of democide in the twentieth century.

11:8 See Acts 17:26-28. He split us up so someone would find Him. Otherwise, all humanity was doomed to proceed down the path of Romans 1:18-32. We were divided into 70 “nations” or people-groups with ancestors listed in Genesis 10 under the watchful gaze of angels (Deuteronomy 32:8’s “sons of God” in some translations), elsewhere called Watchers. (The non-canonical Book of Jubilees proposes that they are the ten percent of fallen angels left under Satan’s command after the rest were imprisoned in response to a prayer by Noah.) It was partly on their account that the Law of Moses was given (Acts 7:53 and Galatians 3:19 derived from Deuteronomy 33:2) so they’d have grounds to demand smiting (Galatians 4:1-9). You can see evidence of the ensuing jurisdictional squabbling in Daniel 10:13. These Watchers are the focus of Ephesians 3:10-11 and Ephesians 6:12. The confusion of tongues is reversed for evangelism at Pentecost. The scattering is reversed for judgment later (Revelation 16, Revelation 19). After splitting up humanity, God’s next item on His to-do list is picking Abraham (to implement a plan culminating in Romans 3:19) to establish the family from whom Christ would enter our world. I just described the angelic “government” to make a few odd verses later make sense; Christ is above all of that (Colossians 1:16-17, Matthew 28:18).

11:9 The Tower of Babel was called that because of wordplay (a similarity to the Hebrew word for confusion), but we’re talking about the alleged “gate of the gods” Babylon either way. 

11:28 Abe’s family were subjects of Nimrod. Like the rest of humanity, they were idolaters (Joshua 24:2).

11:29 Such a marriage is in the spirit of taking care of the fatherless, which was repeatedly encouraged in the Law. Marrying nieces or cousins is not prohibited in the Leviticus 18 scheme.

11:31 Their route follows the water. Notice, it seems like Terah was already headed to Canaan before Abe’s calling. Did he have a vision, and/or quit God’s trip first? God put His people in Canaan for their mission to demonstrate Him because it was the crossroads of the known world.

11:32 Based on Genesis 11:26 and Genesis 12:4, Abe left for his journey when Terah was 145 years old. Terah’s not involved in the story, so his death is related here. I mention this to say that events are not always related in sequence in the Bible, which is perfectly fine to convey the intended meaning.

12:1 Christ left Heaven to come to a strange land for people as an inheritance. Humanity left the Garden of Eden; Abe left the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Hebrews 11:13-16 explains this call to quit a pagan civilization to experience life as the sort of stranger Deuteronomy said to take care of. Like Elisha’s calling in 1 Kings 19:19-21, Abe leaving might have meant quitting a family business unless they were already herdsmen. A similar number of generations between Adam and Noah have passed between Noah and Abe, so instead of another flood we see a new plan. Abe got picked because God knew he’d do the job (Genesis 18:18-19). Rabbis picked disciples they saw as capable of becoming like them: Abe and some of his relatives we see in the Bible also gave with the “good eye” like God does. Abe was willing to give flour generously, offer his son, etc. To have a “good eye” is a Hebrew expression meaning generosity. Generous people trust God to provide more. People with an “evil eye” begrudge others and cling to what they have, not seeing more coming from Father.

12:2-3 see Galatians 3:8-9

12:4 Lot would have been the heir at this point.

12:5 Being wealthy is okay.

12:6 Shechem is the setting for many Bible stories. The promise to Abe is renewed here. Jacob’s Well (Genesis 33:18-20) revered by the Samaritan woman of John 4, the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34), Joseph’s tomb, Joshua’s “as for me and my house” speech (Joshua 24), several burials of idols as recommitment to God (Genesis 35:4 for starters), and the idolatry at the end of Gideon’s rule (Judges 8:27) and immediately afterward were all in or near Shechem. It became the first capital of Judah-less Israel (1 Kings 12:25). It sits between the mountains of blessing and cursing from Deuteronomy 27:12-13. Also, the Samaritans built their Temple on nearby Mt. Gerizim.

12:8 This altar at “Bethel” or “House of God” is the setting for many Bible stories: Genesis 28:10-22, Genesis 35:1-15, Judges 4:4-5, Judges 20:18,26, 2 Kings 2:1-3,23-24, etc. It is later called “Beth Aven” or “House of Wickedness” by prophets like Hosea; it had become a center for idolatry (1 Kings 12, 1 Kings 13). 

12:10 compare this story with Genesis 20, Genesis 26, and Genesis 43:1.

12:11 She was 65 years old during this incident.

12:12-13 Abe wanted to be treated well as the gift-receiving paterfamilias receiving potential suitors rather than be murdered, but he wasn’t able to string Pharaoh along. The principle of pikuach nefesh can be summarized as “save lives”, and therefore “lives are greater than laws” (with a few exceptions that cause death or national exile—murder, idolatry, and sexual immorality) – lying to potential killers is a recurring theme. Leviticus 18:5 states “Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them.” The religious leaders reasoned that if the point of keeping the Law was to live, then laws could safely (or even had to) be broken if lives were in jeopardy. Sarai obeyed Abram per Ephesians 5:24 and trusted God to intervene. No one but Jesus ever kept the Law of Moses. Some of the 613 commands contradicted each other at times. There was much discussion of which commandments "weighed" more than others, or how to prioritize what to obey when. It’s less about picking which command to break than upholding the Law by picking the right command to keep. You can see this in Jesus' discussion of priests circumcising on the Sabbath, in His mention of David and his men eating the showbread, Jesus admonishing the tithing Pharisees about neglecting the weightier matters (justice, mercy, and faithfulness), and in the questions of which commands were the greatest (Love of God and neighbor). You can see traces of pikuach nefesh in passages like Ezekiel 33:26 "Murderers! Idolaters! Adulterers! Should the land belong to you?" This is why the God who says that liars go in the fire rewards Rahab, the midwives who didn’t kill Hebrew boys, etc., for their falsehoods.

12:16-20 Egypt, plague, getting rich, and leaving is a preview of things to come. This attempt at helping God fulfill His promise also led to the acquisition of Hagar, by whom another attempt happened. Notice that before Sinai and before the covenant of circumcision, even Pharaoh (and the Pharaohs were bad at this later) knew that a woman is not a sister and a wife at the same time. See Genesis 9:12-13 note. Also, people will tell you camels were not domesticated in Canaan yet when this story is set, but a) they were in use in the part of Mesopotamia where Abram is from and b) Abe’s camels were from Egypt. Regarding tricks like that, Jesus warned us we would be opposed. Think of how much money, time, and effort is spent fighting Christianity from governments and the political/educational/entertainment complex right down to violence in rural villages in much of the world. It’s expensive to arrest and imprison Christians. Behind these efforts are the spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12). We are collectively the Body of Christ, so even if you think you aren’t personally experiencing persecution, you are.

13:2 Being wealthy is okay (Deuteronomy 8:18).

13:3-4 Another restart.

13:10-13 Sodom’s poor hospitality was not born of lack. Again, wealth itself was not the problem (Genesis 12:5, Genesis 13:2, etc.).

13:15 Jubilee (Leviticus 25) is to keep this promise to Abe’s offspring.

13:16 See Galatians 3:7-9 and Revelation 7:9-10.

13:18 Hebron is a notable setting. It became the location of the Tomb of the Patriarchs (beginning in Genesis 23) and later became the capital city before David moved to Jerusalem.

Genesis 14 – Abram defeated a king strong enough to exact tribute from 5 cities for 12 years and that had reconquered them recently. The tithe of the spoils is used as a godly example in Hebrews 7:4-10, so righteous Abe’s rescue mission proves that “just wars” exist and that defense of self and of others is justified.

14:7 Amalek isn’t born yet at this point in the Bible. This is a place identifier, like if you were to refer to Julius Caesar’s adventures in France. “Amorites” means “westerners”.

14:13 The sins of the Amorites are not complete yet in the story (Genesis 15:16), so Abe’s allies aren’t a problem.

14:14-16 Abe’s response was appropriate (Genesis 26:5).

14:18 Melchizedek “My King is Righteousness” is king of Salem (therefore King of “Peace”). We have bread and wine in remembrance of the death (and also victory) of the Prince of Peace, who is also our High Priest (Hebrews 4:14), whenever we celebrate Communion in a traditional manner. The existence of Melchizedek and the citizens of Salem who worshiped God Most High at the time demonstrate that even in the Old Testament time, righteous Gentiles existed. We can also see that God has holiness and access to Him available outside of the Levitical priestly system, a theme that is thoroughly explored in the Letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament.

14:20 Abram donated ten percent of the loot taken from bandits he killed one time. “Tithing” was part of a covenant you’re not under (Hebrews 8:13). 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9 describe how Christians give from the heart out of their abundance.

15:1 Jesus is God’s Word (John 1:1). In Luke 24, Jesus points Himself out throughout the Old Testament to those walking to Emmaus (and John 5:39 agrees). If the “Angel/Messenger of the LORD” accepts worship or promises/does things created angels cannot promise/do, I think it’s an appearance by the pre-Incarnate Christ. It’s a solution to the alleged contradiction of verses saying no one has seen God and the many times people see Him, speak face-to-face, etc. See John 14:7-10.  Many verses should be printed in red ink. Clue words are Angel, Word, Power, Name, Wisdom, Face, Glory, Arm, Shepherd, etc. I won’t always point these Old Testament appearances out, so be on the lookout. Also, the God who shielded Abe in Genesis 14 says He is Abe’s reward in this verse. Remember, God will share everything He has with us; schemes about plural “rewards” sound like hustling for gift certificates in Heaven’s Gift Shop. Jesus is our reward in Heaven. Only He ever earned anything. He’s gracious enough to share with us.

15:2-3 Abram’s heirless because Lot left. The inheritance is Abe’s concern, not a hypothetically sinful lack of procreation.

15:4 Jesus is God’s Word (John 1:1).

15:5 Paul reads the various references to Abram’s “Seed” as pertaining to Christ.  See Galatians 3:16, Galatians 3:26, and John 8:56.  The great number of stars point to us being children of Abe by faith (Genesis 12:3, Galatians 3:7-9, Revelation 7:9-10).

15:6 Abram was not declared righteous for leaving home, obeying God for 10 years, leaving his wealth (he didn’t), tithing once, Melchizedek’s blessing, or trying to sacrifice Isaac yet. This bit of faith right here before he was even circumcised is how Abram was declared to be in right standing with God. Psalm 32:1-2 describes this state. Galatians 3 in its entirety explains what Genesis 15:4-6 means for us in Christ. There are so many passages about our salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone that we will read, but for now I will limit myself to Ephesians 2:4-9 and John 3:16. Other teachers will try to convince you that “faith” means living faithfully to a covenant/lawfully/faithful in producing works, but Genesis 15:6 makes it clear that it is mere belief.

15:8 Faith can have doubts. See Mark 9:24.

15:9-21 The meaning of this behavior is explained in Jeremiah 34:18-21. The same animals for the Old Covenant sacrificial system were used for Abe’s blood path in Genesis 15, and it all points ahead to the Cross. Only God passed through the pieces. We sin, and He died. Hebrews 10 explains that law-based living and the sacrificial system was only a shadow of the reality of life in Christ. He keeps His promises, so we’re heirs of a deal we cannot mess up. See also Acts 13:39 and Colossians 2:17.

15:12-15 The dreadful darkness of the vision of the future is needed because humanity was already enslaved to Sin with Hell awaiting. A kingdom of priests commissioned to teach the world about God had to make bricks without straw to understand the impossible standard of a Law-based relationship with a perfectly holy God. We wanted knowledge of good and evil, after all. We were kicked out of the Garden for disobeying one order, and Israel was exiled for breaking 613. It all points to Jesus. We may toil here, but we are rich in Heaven.

15:13 “strangers” See Hebrews 11:13-16.  

15:16 These sins are violations of God’s expectations for all of humanity, as discussed in the note for Genesis 9:12-13. Examples are Deuteronomy 18:9-14 and the portions of Leviticus 17 through 24 that are said to apply to Gentiles or are reasons for Canaanite extermination.

15:17 A cloud and fire representing God’s presence on the move becomes a theme later during the wandering wilderness years (Exodus 13:21-22).

15:18 comparing the rivers to Genesis 2, the Promised Land is the fallen and post-Flood location of where the old Garden of Eden was before it was repossessed back to Paradise, like how Spirit Halloween stores open seasonally in defunct businesses. There are other hints at that, like Isaiah 51:3.

16:1-3 Many misunderstandings can be avoided (and modern translations are usually not much help with this) by remembering that concubines are slaves, not wives. Isaac was the only free-born son of Abe. 

16:5 Sarai, remember what you said in verse 2.

16:6 If Hagar were a wife, this would be up to Abe. Sarai being mean to a slave fleeing to Egypt is like a reverse Exodus.

16:9 Based on verses 10 and 13, this seems like Christ.

17:1 A “yes” to faith is a “no” to blame. See Genesis 15:6.

17:4-6 See Galatians 3:7-9. The name change is a change of status and mission, like Peter’s (John 1:42). The “kings” are Christians; we reign with Christ (1 Corinthians 6:3, Ephesians 2:6, Revelation 20:4-6).

17:7-8 Still talking about the Seed, Christ. We’re co-heirs of everything with Christ (Romans 8:17). Jubilee (Leviticus 25) was intended to maintain the land promised to future generations.

17:9-11 On this side of the Cross, read Galatians before you think of cutting yourself or others. We’re one in Christ (Galatians 3:28), so it’s His fulfillment of circumcision that matters, not ours (Galatians 5:6, Galatians 6:15).

17:12 The mother was present, per Leviticus 12:2-3.  

17:14 Acts 21:20-25 shows the distinction between the Jewish Christians still zealous for the Law of Moses and the Gentile Christians Paul talked out of getting circumcised in Galatians.  Law, part of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, says man is born wrong. The New Covenant circumcises the heart. Believe and love (1 John 3:23). See Galatians 5:6. Circumcision is also a reminder of Genesis 15:10: “Covenant-breakers get divided; we already threw part of you away. Try to help God keep His promise with human effort/Hagar? Then try on some Law for size…” See Galatians 4:21-31 and Galatians 5. Humanity’s first sin was trying to add “knowledge of good and evil” aka morality/ethics/Law instead of trusting the God who pronounced them good. This is also seen in Isaiah 28:12-13 which is behind Romans 5:20. The Law is eternal to drive humanity to Christ for His grace, but Christians are dead to the Law (Romans 7:4). Service to it is still an option for Jewish Christians who take the words “eternal covenant” seriously (though it is set aside per Hebrews 8:13, and we are dead to it per Romans 7:4) and think the “show the world how set-apart God is” mission was not set aside with the Old Covenant (and I agree with Paul in Colossians 2:16 so I support you either way), but it does not save and efforts to keep it can end up increasing sin (Romans 7:8). The New (actually older) Covenant of grace is the way to go.

17:15-16 The name change is a change of status and mission, like Peter’s (John 1:42).

17:17 Abe laughed before Sarah did in the more-often-referenced Genesis 18:12.

17:19 Both Isaac and Christ were prophesied to be birthed by supernatural means.  

18:1 God is righteous, and the righteous act like God (Ephesians 5:1-2). Since Abraham was freshly circumcised, imitators of God visit the sick.

18:2 Abe didn’t let feeling poorly change his behavior. This is admirable; it’s an example that is very hard to consistently emulate.

18:3-8 Abe saw Jesus in Genesis 15:1. Recognizing Him, Abe served Him extravagantly despite not feeling well. Nicodemus similarly provides service fit for a King in John 19:39. Abe would have wanted such a welcome on his trip in Genesis 12:3-20. This behavior, consistent with the desert culture’s extreme hospitality, is Godlike (Isaiah 25:4). It’s not like God needs the help or had even asked for it from the recently circumcised Abe, but He let Abraham serve Him because of the way verse 3 is phrased. Abe had definitely found favor with God; God wasn’t about to deny it.

18:9 God asks so my Bible has exposition; He knows.

18:12 This is often cited, so remember that Abe laughed first (Genesis 17:17).

18:17 Based on Ezekiel 22:30, I think God tells Abraham about Sodom’s impending doom so Abraham will have a chance to talk Him out of it. This will be a recurring theme.

18:18-19 Abe was picked because God knew he would get the job done. Even deeper, God knew Abe would “surely” bless everyone, etc., because He chose Abe (the “for” is a clue”), and the two instances of “so that” which follow flow from God’s decision. You are not where you are by accident. You are a child of the promise to Abe about his descendants (Genesis 22:17); Paul says so in Galatians 4:28.

18:20 The outcry may be from Lot (2 Peter 2:7-8) and the Accuser (Job 1:7). See Genesis 13:10,13. Ezekiel 16:49-50 says they were prideful, unhelpful perverts.  A similar bunch of inhospitable rapists is found in Judges 19. The “zeaqah”/“cry for justice” may have come from other doomed travelers who left bad reviews before this. While the wrath of God is mentioned in Revelation 16, sometimes we see people turn away from God, and He lets them have it their way (Deuteronomy 31:16-17) long enough for Satan (Hebrews 2:14) to do what he’d been dying to do the whole time that he was held back by God’s mercy. Old Testament believers’ view of God’s sovereignty had them considering Satan to be on God’s side as a prosecuting attorney. They had trouble distinguishing between Satan and God’s angry voice (2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1 are about the same incident). While all Creation is accountable to God, Jesus made it clear to us that Satan is an enemy. Jesus came to destroy the devil and his works (1 John 3:8). God’s not up there smiting Earth now. The Cross worked. There are still natural consequences for sin (like in the note on Genesis 7:10), other people can still make bad choices, our world is still fallen, and our enemies are hard at work, so bad things still happen. There will be a time, however, when it is too late to take the deal (John 3:36).

18:23 Righteous Abe intercedes for people he doesn’t know who abuse people that they don’t know.

18:24-25 There are none righteous (Mark 10:18), so arguing with God on the basis of His own great mercy would have been a better strategy.

18:26-31 The cities in question were on land that would become occupied by Edom. I think that Job might have been an Edomite (as we’ll discuss in his book) and couldn’t get away with this kind of haggling. You can talk with God at length for clarity. See Isaiah 1:18 and James 1:5.

18:32 God wants to save the whole world for 1 righteous Jesus. See 1 Timothy 2:4.

19:1 Two witnesses were required (Deuteronomy 19:15).

19:2-3 Abe and Lot were both hospitable. Hospitality is of utmost importance in a desert culture and the safety of visitors is sacrosanct. Abe and Lot were both wealthy; again, not a problem.

19:4 Note “all”.  

19:5-9 Offering the wife would be adultery; it would mean trading one Noahide offense (Leviticus 18:22,24-28) for another (Leviticus 18:20,24-28). Sexual immorality is an exception to pikuach nefesh, meaning that dying is preferable to committing these sins. This is way past gay. This attempted homosexual gang rape (in the style of the “fresh meat scene” from many films about prison) is evidence that Romans 1:18-32 has all happened already. Imagine a society in which Maynard and Zed, the serial rapists from Pulp Fiction, are the pillars of the community instead of viewed as abnormal. Abe’s monotheism is new, so their behavior is the end result of idolatry.

19:11 Even when blinded by a divine curse, they still seek the handle in order to rape and kill.  

19:14 Since verse 4 accounts for “all” and Lot “went out”, the suitors may be in the blind pervert crowd. I make this joke to point out that sometimes, “all” can have exceptions, remnants, etc. For example, when God says He will destroy all life on Earth in Zephaniah 1, He does not contradict Himself by talking about saving a remnant. Hezekiah was told that he would surely die, but God saw fit to grant him fifteen more years (2 Kings 20, Isaiah 38). God really does want to save everyone (John 3:16-17, 1 Timothy 2:4, Ezekiel 18:23), so those exceptions to saying “all” are in the mercy column.

19:15-16 There are “get away so you don’t get punished with them” verses to encourage upright living and separation from wickedness elsewhere in the Bible too, but verse 16 and verses 21-22 make it clear that the righteous are the salt of the earth.

19:18-20 Lot’s haggling like Abe. He’s righteous (2 Peter 2:7), and the prayers of the righteous accomplish much (James 5:16). Are you righteous? Yes, if you believe in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).

19:24 See also Psalm 11:6, Proverbs 25:22, Luke 9:54, Revelation 8:5, and Revelation 20:9.

19:32 Like in Noah’s story, drunken sex crimes happen after a cataclysm.  They were offered for gang rape in Genesis 19:8, so Lot gets “roofied” for incest time (Leviticus 18:6,17,24-28).

19:33-35 When the New Testament warns against drunkenness, it means don’t get “so hammered you don’t remember fathering your own grandchildren”-level drunk. As long as you can still distinguish what sinful behavior is and the “wine god” isn’t possessing you in a blackout, you’re still in Psalm 104:15 territory. A good test is whether you can still provide a clear witness for Jesus Christ. Some of the best witnessing has happened over a few pints; it gets the pseudo-intellectual walls down for some atheists.

19:36-38 The shameful origins of nearby related rival nations was the point of this interlude.

20:2 Abimelech means “my father is king” and is a common name for biblical rulers. Abe’s lying to killers again (Genesis 12).

20:3 Adultery is wrong for everyone per Leviticus 18:20,24-28.

20:6 is a tactful reference to impotence. 

20:7 Even for Gentiles apart from the Law of Moses, taking another man’s wife is a sin.

20:12 A common explanation in commentaries is that Leviticus 18 hasn’t made this type of incest illegal yet in Abe’s day. However, isn’t it curious that people who simultaneously believe that Abe was morally exemplary (Genesis 26:5), that the Canaanites were purged for sins like this (Leviticus 18: 3,9, 24-30), and that God is very forgiving of people who lie to killers (the Hebrew midwives in Exodus, Rahab in Joshua, etc.) take Abe’s statement here at face value, especially after being caught in a lie already? Plus, since Abe’s nephew Lot was a “brother” in Hebrew in Genesis 13:8, Genesis 14:14, and Genesis 14:16, this could be another colloquialism. The non-canonical Book of Jasher and midrash suggest Sarai is a niece, a descendant of Abe’s father in the same sense that Lot was a “brother”. Interlinear translations are helpful for identifying and resolving questions.

21:1 Scoffers would question Isaac’s parentage as they did Christ’s.

21:3 “Isaac” means “he laughs”.

21:9 Regarding “mocking”, the same word in Genesis 26:8 means that molestation is a translation option here. The Hebrew language has relatively few words, so words with many meanings are common.  

21:10 See Galatians 4:21-31.

21:14 Time to repeat Genesis 16.  

21:15 Ishmael was 13 years old in Genesis 17:25.

21:17-18 The Angel “will make him into a great nation”, so this sounds like Christ.

21:22 like Genesis 26:28. 

21:23 like in Genesis 20. 

21:31 “Beersheba” was at the south end of the land settled by the Hebrews, so the expression “from Dan to Beersheba” meant all of Israel and Judah.

21:32 “the land of Philistines” is a location identifier for the audience, not an anachronism. 

21:33 I would suspect the tree of being a sacred pole elsewhere in the historical books, but righteous Abe planted a slow-growing tree as a reminder of the deal. That’s the sort of tree one plants for the grandchildren to enjoy. Isaac returns here in Genesis 26:23-24. 

Genesis 22 – Isaac, almost another Sacrificed Son, didn’t resist his father either (John 10:18).  Haggling with God over morality like in Genesis 18 doesn’t happen here. God had Abraham publicly refute the local custom of human sacrifice (Ezekiel 20:26) by continuing to bless Abraham after this episode. Deuteronomy 12:26-32 is about the Temple offerings on the same mountain and confirms God’s opinion of child sacrifice. Abe came down the mountain with what he went up with. While all we have is from God (1 Corinthians 4:7), He is not served by human hands (Acts 17:25); the only thing Abe offered was faith.

22:2 The other heirs have been sent away, making Isaac the “only”. This episode is less like sermons about Matthew 10:37 from modern preachers telling you that your kids are idols distracting you from God and more a John 8:56-like preview of Christ. The mountain is where the Temple was eventually built (2 Chron 3:1, Ezra 3:3).

22:5 Abe said “we” will come back; he has faith that Isaac will be resurrected (Hebrews 11:19).

22:6 Christ carried His cross.

22:8 See John 8:56.

22:11-12 The Angel (Christ) says “God” and “Me”. Some Jews call the Angel of the Lord (the pre-Incarnate Christ) “Metatron” “The One Next to the Throne”.

22:13 More substitutionary atonement (Leviticus 1:4). Jesus died for us.

22:14 Jehovah Jireh, or “the LORD will provide” is one of many names for the true God based on His attributes. Jehovah Rapha, or “the LORD Who heals” (Exodus 15:26), Jehovah Shalom, or “the LORD our Peace” (Judges 6:24), Jehovah Tsidkenu, or “the LORD our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6), Jehovah Shammah, or “the LORD is present” (Ezekiel 48:35), Jehovah Nissi, or “the LORD our Banner” (Exodus 17:8-15), Jehovah Ra’ah, or “the LORD our Shepherd” (Psalm 23:1), etc.

Genesis 23 – This is the only land in Canaan Abe officially owned in human eyes. Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob’s tombs were here. This reminds me of Hebrews 11:39-40. No matter how good an Old Testament believer’s relationship with God was, believers in Jesus Christ have something way better in the New Covenant.

Genesis 24 – The Bride of Christ aka the Church was sought for after His sacrifice.      

24:2 The servant had to swear by the Name of God upon the circumcision and the source of the promised progeny so that the oath would outlive Abe. Be thankful we now just put our hands on Bibles to swear, if at all (Matthew 5:34-37).      

24:3-4 This is an ethnic issue (Canaan’s lineage was cursed) rather than religious, because the girls Abraham is requesting would have still been polytheists.      

24:5 Rebekah left home and family to move to Canaan on a promise like Abe did. As the daughter of Bethuel (ergo, the granddaughter of Abe’s brother Nahor), Rebekah is Isaac’s first cousin once removed (marriageable under the Noahide Laws). 

24:12 The servant asked in Abraham’s name based on God’s promises to Abraham. See John 16:23-27.   

24:13 Unmarried women were hard to meet back then, but they came to wells (Genesis 29:1-14, Exodus 2:15-22). Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, too (John 4).   

24:16 It’s a good thing for Moses (who is credited with writing Genesis down) that many modern believers’ notion of “eyeball adultery” is based on a mistranslation of Matthew 5:28; otherwise the many verses like this one would seem suspect.    

24:19 Drawing enough water from a well for the camels would have been so much work.  Seekers of signs from God picked unusual behavior to look for to avoid false positives.      

24:30 This is a character-establishing introduction for greedy Laban.

24:35 There is nothing wrong with being wealthy (Deuteronomy 8:18).

24:45 “in my heart” Silent prayer is fine.

24:53 The family gets a bride price, and the bride gets a dowry intended to support her in case of widowhood.

24:57 Again, Rebekah left home and family to move to Canaan on a promise like Abe did.

24:65 Married women veiled in public advertise that a husband has called dibs and has the duty to provide for her. Unveiling in private symbolizes the new intimate relationship. Harlots were typically unveiled. The issues in 1 Corinthians 11 surrounding unveiled wives in home churches (simultaneously their private space but temporarily a public building) giving the church a reputation for temple prostitution make more sense in light of the old ways. 

24:67 The main function of an ordained minister regulated by the government in the country in which this commentary is being written is performing marriages. Interestingly, this is not a biblical function of ordained ministers. Rebekah has customarily promised sexual fidelity to Isaac in exchange for his provision and protection. In the old days, a marriage was promised before God without a mediator and “taking her into the tent” sealed the deal. Standing up in front of others and reciting a bunch of stuff has its roots in other religions.      

25:1-6 Keturah is another concubine per 1 Chronicles 1:32. Isaac is the only free-born son of Abraham.      

25:11 To imitate God, comfort mourners. Be compassionate and patient. Jewish tradition includes sitting with them and not speaking unless spoken to; simply being present and acknowledging their pain can make a big difference. Begin by offering a listening ear, allowing them to express their grief without judgment or unsolicited advice; you want them to know they are not alone without making it about yourself or pressuring them to feel or act in ways that suit you. They may want to talk about it, they may want to talk about anything else, they may want quiet, or they may want normalcy. Practical help, such as preparing meals, managing daily tasks, or assisting with funeral arrangements, can also be incredibly valuable, but don’t forget to listen. For example, if they say they have enough food, don’t force more on them just to try to score points with God. Respect their grieving process, which may include silence, sadness, anger, etc. Check in with them regularly without being overt; being snatched out of a state of being relatively okay by a well-meaning person jabbing a golf tee into your grief hole by reminding you is not pleasant.

25:18 Genesis 16:12 was fulfilled.

25:21 Another miracle baby for a barren wife.      

25:23 Believers are Abe’s true descendants (Galatians 3:29, Galatians 6:16). The recurring theme of the younger besting the elder (Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, David, etc.) is a hint that Gentiles would accept Christ before most of “firstborn” Israel (Exodus 4:22).

25:26 Jacob was a “heel” for “pulling the leg” of Esau.

25:31-34 The birthright was the role of the “firstborn”. If a man had two sons, the inheritance would be divided into thirds, with the firstborn getting a double portion of the inheritance but also the responsibility of taking care of his widowed mother and other head-of-the-family obligations. Esau is traditionally seen as more culpable for treating this role frivolously even compared to Jacob taking advantage of him here.

Genesis 26 reminds me of Genesis 12 and Genesis 20. Abimelech is a common name for kings.      

26:2 Going to Egypt for a famine would have been on his mind (Genesis 12:10). 

26:5 Some rabbis skipped “of him” and thought Abe kept the whole Mosaic Law ahead of time, which would therefore allow him to boast of works righteousness (Sirach 44:19-21). Paul emphasized Abe’s righteousness came from faith (Romans 4:2, Genesis 15:6). God did not hesitate to deal with bad behavior in the Old Testament (as we’ll see with Moses, David, etc.), so this is still a strong endorsement of Abe’s choices in the days when only the Noahide Laws, God’s direct orders, etc., were in effect.

26:7 Like father, like son. She is colloquially his “sister” to the same extent that Abraham and Lot were “brothers” (in Hebrew) in Genesis 13:8 and Genesis 14:16.

26:8 Private sex (well, private anything) is a somewhat recent innovation.

26:9-10 Notice that a Gentile king without the Law of Moses knew that certain sexual behaviors (in this case, incest and adultery) are off-limits. The lying is covered by pikuach nefesh.      

26:11 Instead of killing them for causing trouble, Abimelech blessed them. God is at work.

26:12-14 Being wealthy is okay.

26:15-22 Getting ripped off repeatedly sure looks like refusing to operate from fear/insecurity, leaving the case to God who avenges/repays/blesses, turning the other cheek, and being a blessing to the nations.

26:28-29 like Genesis 21:22.      

26:34-35 Hittites were part of the cursed lineage of Canaan. 

27:4 reminds me of Genesis 25:28,31 about selling a blessing for food.    

27:8 Rebekah is trying to manifest God’s promise like Sarah tried to with Hagar and Ishmael. Capable people like the camel-waterer (Genesis 24:19) face special temptation to trust their own work instead of God.

27:19 Domestic animals are swapped for game animals; the domestic son is swapped for the outdoorsman.

27:28-29 The blessing is for the descendants (including Christians, when Christ returns) because Jacob had to work a lot and eventually called Esau “lord”.  A second purposeful blessing comes true for Jacob within his lifetime.      

27:34 This expression for crying bitterly is used again in Esther 4:1 when Mordecai learns that a descendant of Esau intends to exterminate them. The author of Hebrews 12:17 also references Esau’s cry.

27:36 Again, the birthright was the role of the “firstborn” with the associated financial inheritance and leadership responsibilities. The blessing was a father’s ability to speak goodness into the future of his offspring analogous to God creating through the Word. The birthright concerned the property and people that Jacob could see now, and the blessing was a promise of future money and power.

27:40 is fulfilled in 2 Kings 8:20-22.

27:43 Haran (or Harran, curiously, in the NIV) is back to the beginning, to Abe’s father Terah’s home.

27:45 She would have lost both sons because murder carries a death penalty.

27:46 A legitimate concern, but also a pretense to send Jacob away.      

28:12 God blesses Jacob in a dream to keep him from wheeling/dealing/cheating/etc. He meets us where we are. This “stairway” is like a ziggurat, and it is identified as Christ in John 1:51.  He is the narrow way to Heaven. 

28:15 The ancients thought their gods were bound to certain lands (like the “sons of God” or angels of Deuteronomy 32:8 in some translations). God working everywhere is remarkable.

28:19 Jacob did so again in Genesis 35:15.

28:20-22 It seems like Jacob is trying to get God to give him more so He will get more back on a percentage basis. God owns everything, and He does not require human assistance (Psalm 50:10-12, Acts 17:25).

29:1 Jacob’s wilderness experience prefigures the Hebrews’

29:10 reminds me of a young lad carrying more church youth group folding chairs at once than he should to impress a girl. 

29:11 There are behaviors that modern evangelicals condemn as illicit or extramarital sex that are a) not wrong and/or b) not sex. Kissing is a greeting in that culture. Some Christians now wait until marriage to kiss. “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may shake hands and exchange business cards.” The Pharisees made up overly restrictive extra rules (Matthew 23:4) under the influence of their father, the Accuser (John 8:44). Other instances in which I think the Accuser has tricked us into overly restrictive standards will be annotated when I get to the relevant Scriptures.

29:16 Has anyone out there felt like you and your spouse were made for each other? If everyone had done what their traditional role demanded, Leah would have been Esau’s wife, and Rachel would have been Jacob’s wife.

29:17 There Moses (the traditionally attributed scribe for Genesis) goes looking at women again.     

29:18 Women typically married as post-pubescents (Song of Songs/Solomon 8:8-12). Men married later because of the time needed to accumulate a bride price, especially if they had a widowed mother to care for, etc. That delay was not a cause of religious anxiety because "be fruitful and multiply" was for earlier generations and was not repeated at Sinai. Serious Torah students would also delay marriage (and put their occupations on hold) to follow rabbis; Jesus and Paul's singleness was not unusual.

29:23-25 Jacob couldn't see, like Isaac. His deception got paid back.   

29:26 Remember Esau.      

29:31 Another barren wife. 

29:32-35 The tribes were named by women.      

30:1 For people that didn't know about Heaven yet, "immortality" was being remembered by descendants, having your grave cared for, etc.      

30:3 A reminder that concubines are slaves, not wives.      

30:14 Mandrake was thought to be an aphrodisiac and promoter of fertility (Song of Songs/Solomon 7:13), but there may be another explanation, too. Rabbi David Fohrman explained that Rachel and Leah each feel (Genesis 3:16) like the other had stolen or was still stealing Jacob. These flowers might be the first gift for Mom. Rachel might not have wanted to resent every milestone of her "not-kids", so Fohrman says she sold back the "stolen" wedding night for "some" of the flowers, allowing everyone to move on. He said that Rachel's forgiveness makes her mother to all Israel in Jeremiah 31.  

30:15-16 Yes, that was sex as a transaction without condemnation in the Bible. 

30:21 Jacob ends up with 12 sons and a daughter like Ishmael.

30:22 The seven years for Rachel's bride price are complete, whatever that means for her finally conceiving.

30:35-36 Tricky Jacob gets scammed by tricky Laban.

30:37-43 Jacob’s still tricky. Since this breeding method doesn't work ordinarily, it's still God's blessing on Abe's family at work.

31:3 This tale is like a preview of Exodus.      

31:14-16 Marital wealth transfers were in part to protect women in case of widowhood.

31:19 is in response to Genesis 31:14-16. Abraham ("Hey mister, she's my sister!"), Sarah (same), Isaac (same), Rebekah (same, and upped the ante with the Esau/Jacob Switcheroo), Jacob, and now Rachel are all tricky.

31:20-22 You can learn about later Aram/Israel relations in 2 Kings 6-13.

31:23 like Pharaoh.    

31:24 disobeyed in Genesis 31:26.

31:32 That curse came true when Rachel died in childbirth (Genesis 35:19). Watch your mouth. At least undeserved curses don’t land (Proverbs 26:2).     

31:34-35 Laban has a pre-Leviticus 15 notion of clean/unclean, but idols are unclean anyway.      

31:42,53 Based on Genesis 22, I can see why God is called "the Fear of Isaac". The fear of God is talked about often in the Old Testament. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament, he used the word "worship" instead of "fear". It's being in awe of His greatness and other-ness. His perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18), so in Christ you can approach Him boldly. He's happy to see you (Ephesians 3:12).      

31:50 Laban's concern is likely reduction of spousal support by adding wives, or "besides" is "instead of/against". The traditional limit of wives for a king (Deuteronomy 17:17) was 18, but the problem with Solomon's hundreds was the resulting idolatry.  Commoners could have as many wives/concubines as they could financially support.

31:55 Peace with Laban foreshadows peace with Esau.      

32:5 Jacob moves back to Canaan rich like the Hebrews post-Egypt.      

32:13-15 These ratios would set Esau up for exponential growth.      

32:18 Jacob calls Esau "lord", as mentioned in the Genesis 27:28-29 note.      

32:24-25 Based on Genesis 32:28-30, it looks like Jacob wrestled the pre-Incarnate Christ. If this were a fight, God would have been able to destroy Jacob immediately. This is a wrestling match with rules. Christ is honorable and Jacob is known for cheating. The hip injury takes the option of running from Esau off the table, and may also cause sympathy in their meeting, answering the prayer in verse 11.

32:26 Jacob’s grabbing the heel again.

32:27-28 see also Genesis 35:10. Wrestling with the text is good for you.

32:28-30 This seems like the pre-Incarnate Christ.

32:32 “tendon” can be “tendon/vein/nerve” so kosher-keepers generally avoid the back half of the animal because of the sciatic nerve and the visceral fat (Leviticus 3:15).

33:1-2 You can see Jacob’s favoritism in the marching order.

33:3 This is the opposite of Genesis 27:29.

33:4 God’s been working on Esau in the meantime, too.

33:9 Jacob’s trying to give back the stolen blessing.

33:10 Not getting killed reminds Jacob of Genesis 32:30.

33:13-17 Jacob’s still tricky in case Esau changes his mind.

33:18 Shechem is the setting for many Bible stories. The promise to Abe was renewed here.  Jacob’s Well (Genesis 33:18-20) revered by the Samaritan woman of John 4, the rape of Dinah (Genesis 34), Joseph’s tomb, Joshua’s “as for me and my house” speech (Joshua 24), several burials of idols as recommitment to God (Genesis 35:4 for starters), and the idolatry at the end of Gideon’s rule (Judges 8:27) and immediately afterward were all in or near Shechem. It became the first capital of Judah-less Israel (1 Kings 12:25). It sits between the mountains of blessing and cursing from Deuteronomy 27:12-13. Also, the Samaritans built their Temple on nearby Mt. Gerizim.

34:2 Hivites are part of the cursed lineage of Canaan. The prohibitions of Exodus 23:32 and Deuteronomy 7:1-3 haven’t been given yet, but you’ve seen how intermarriage with them has been looked down upon throughout Genesis so far. Deuteronomy 22:28-29 has been portrayed as an obligation to marry one’s rapist, but the “seize” of Deuteronomy 22:28 is different from the “force” of Deuteronomy 22:25, and another war is fought over a rape in the ending of Judges. Exodus 22:16-17 about seducing a virgin says the same thing about paying the bride price to the father. Whether the Dinah incident was a seduction or a rape, she’s been sweet-talked in verse 3 and she’s still at the man’s house in verse 26.

34:7 If this was a seduction instead of a rape and kidnapping, the offense was not asking Jacob first.

34:13 They’re tricky, too.

34:25-30 This is past simple vengeance and beyond what the law later allows for this. The tribe of Simeon was later absorbed by Judah, and the Levites ended up with basically no property.

34:31 Regular non-temple non-stoned-to-death prostitutes exist in the Bible.

35:4 Earrings were a religious item back then. They were a reminder to listen to a particular deity and a symbol of devotion analogous to the awl ceremony (in Exodus 21:6 and Deuteronomy 15:17) by which a servant pledges the rest of their life.

35:10 “Wrestles With God” already got renamed in Genesis 32:28, but sometimes we need reminding that we are now different than we were. Believers in Christ are saints: holy and righteous (Ephesians 4:24), and it is easy to forget that. I recommend that you frequently remind yourself who you are because of what Christ has done for you.

35:14 As God receives food and drink offerings, how was Matthew 11:19 a surprise? 

35:16 This area is near Bethlehem.

35:18 Our Father renames us in Revelation 2:17.

35:19 See Genesis 31:32.

35:22 Reuben was “firstborn”, but we’ve already seen that honor can be given to another. He disqualified himself.

35:23-24 Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are out of the running for their actions in these last two chapters. Judah is the new “firstborn”. Joseph is the first son born of the wife that Jacob intended to marry, so expect to see special treatment for him.

Genesis 36 – A big genealogy of Abraham’s descendants that were not in the line leading to Jesus and that don’t seem to be “plot-relevant” still points to God’s faithfulness to His promise from Genesis 15:5. When God promises something, look for it to happen. Later in the Bible, God’s promises through His prophets about the fate of national Israel, Judah, etc., came true, too. Jesus fulfilled/fulfills the promises regarding the Messiah. 

36:2 “Oholibamah” means “tent of high place”. High places were sites of unauthorized worship, often pagan. Esau’s Canaanite wives seem to have started a trend analogous to Nehemiah 13:26 resulting in many biological descendents of Abraham (Edomites, Amalekites, etc.) becoming enemies of God’s people. See Romans 9:8.

36:12,16 The Amalekites (Israel’s enemies) come from Esau’s grandson. Repeatedly, it seems that they all got killed but then they somehow respawn later. I propose that this is Genesis 15:5 still in effect; the descendants of Abraham are innumerable. Israel’s assignment to exterminate them is another part of the Law-based game they cannot win.      

36:31 “Before any Israelite king reigned” is proof this sentence was written down after Moses or that he saw the future. Later references to works we don’t have like the Book of Jasher (Joshua 10:13) mean redactors can be inspired, too. Luke admits to using other sources to prepare his account. Moses wrote most of the first five books of the Bible (except maybe his epitaph), and inspired editors like Ezra put in a few notes and updated place names to keep it understandable for a later audience. A Bible in English has passed through a few hands on its way to you.  After the debates about whether the Septuagint (The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was used commonly in the apostles’ time. It is frequently quoted in the New Testament letters. Jesus preferred its rendition of Psalm 8:2 in Matthew 21:16.) is based on older manuscripts than the Masoretic text, the use of variant readings from marginal notations, questions of where to divide consonants (since the old written language lacks vowels, so much is up to the interpreter), and translators consulting the Dead Sea scrolls and the Samaritan Pentateuch, my suggested text changes are mild compared to what the translation teams have already done to the Bible.     

Genesis 37 – The enslaved Israelites must have loved this story about rising from slavery to rule the known world. Christians will rule this world with Christ for a thousand years (Revelation 20) even before our happy eternity.      

37:3 The first son born of the wife Jacob had intended to marry couldn’t work in a coat like that; it’s a symbol of favor and rest. Royals are said to dress similarly in 2 Samuel 13:18-19. Like Jacob, Joseph is a younger brother with a bright future who was exiled because of conflict with his brothers, reconciled with them, died in Egypt, and was buried in Canaan. Joseph is similar to Christ as well: Joseph was thought to be dead and later found to be alive, sold for silver, a victim of false witness, rose from humble beginnings to rule, and saved Gentiles, too. Joseph was also a beloved son who left a position of authority and became a slave, his clothes were taken, he was sold by Judah (Judas), put into a pit (grave), overcame temptation, began his mission at age 30, and fed many people. Neither Joseph’s nor Christ’s brothers believed in them at first, but bowed down later. Gentiles were the first to accept them. Joseph chose family over Pharaoh like Moses did.

37:10,14 This may have seemed like a setup upon further reflection by Joseph.

37:21 Reuben might be trying to make up for Genesis 35:22. See also Genesis 42:37.

37:26 For Judah’s redemption, see Genesis 44:18-34.

37:27-30 This is a puzzling section. Genesis 25:2 says Midianites are not Ishmaelites. See also Genesis 37:36, Genesis 39:1, and Genesis 45:4-5. When did Reuben leave? Many scenarios have been offered to explain away the difficulties and/or partially exonerate the tribal leaders such as them having lunch out of earshot of Joseph’s screams (despite Genesis 42:21) so the Midianites got there first (and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites who for some reason sold him to different Midianites), etc. It’s fun to investigate stuff like this sometimes, just don’t get bogged down in it (1 Timothy 1:4). “Ishmaelite” may have become a colloquialism for non-Jewish descendants of Abraham, like how some verses refer to the “land of the Philistines” before they moved there as a location identifier familiar to the audience of Ezra’s redacted Old Testament. (Ezra 7:14 shows that Ezra compiled the Law; the Persian business model of encouraging local religion and government in the service of their empire would have required such an official document.) Back to how the colloquialism happened: In Judges 8:24, the same difficulty occurs. However, In Judges 7:1,12 we see that in that case Midian was leading several other people groups including the Ishmaelites against Israel. It’s like how Americans are sometimes called “Yankees” by non-Americans, but American Southerners will tell you the Yankees are the Northerners.

37:29 Tearing clothes is a tradition of mourners; its origin is debated. Is it a replacement for the skin cutting and shaving the pagans did for grief? A hole to let the pain out through? Was it always a reminder that even if the outer shell is ruined, the soul underneath is still eternal even before Judeo-Platonism?

37:31-35 Jacob once fooled his father with a dead goat and his brother’s clothes.  As with the Day of Atonement, there’s a dead goat and a scapegoat sent away.

Genesis 38 may seem like a random story inserted into the Joseph section, but it shows how Judah developed empathy for Jacob.

38:2,6 While it seems that Shua was ultimately not Jesus’ ancestor, it is unclear whether Tamar was a Canaanite. Now, every tribe, tongue, and nation is welcome in Christ.

38:7 For a (not exhaustive) list of behaviors Er might have been killed for, see Ezekiel 18:10-13 if you’d like more than the Noahide Laws.      

38:8 Levirate marriage (from the Latin for brother-in-law) was a way to give a dead man a son after the fact to continue his name and inheritance. See Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Note the difficulties following this command would cause for people that insist that God’s standard is somehow monogamy; these rules were not affected by the living brother’s marital status.

38:9 The sin in question was not “coitus interruptus”. (If seed waste were a problem, all these “blameless” patriarchs with old or barren wives would have been told to knock it off. Bragging about never masturbating is from the Egyptian Book of the Dead (Colossians 2:8); present objectors to masturbation such as the fascists are influenced by Greco-Roman philosophical worldview.) By scheming to not give Tamar a son, Onan would have been the one to inherit his brother’s share. The scoundrel could have kept using her and left her destitute.

38:10 The God who protects widows (Psalm 68:5) protected a widow.      

38:11-12 Ordinarily, a dowry would have prevented moving back home. Judah didn’t want to lose the youngest treasured son of his dead wife. Later, when Jacob was faced with losing Benjamin, Judah stepped up.

38:14-15 You read that right. She took off her clothes and put on a veil to avoid recognition. Sitting by the road like that made Judah think she was a hooker (Jeremiah 3:2).

38:18 She may as well have asked for his Social Security card or driver’s license. This form of Levirate marriage would be prohibited in the Law of Moses later, but father-in-law/daughter-in-law was how it worked among the Hittites.

38:21 Some translations muddle the issue by saying “shrine” prostitute, but this wasn’t temple prostitution. The King James Version, New King James Version, American Standard Version, Aramaic Targum, Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures that the early church in the New Testament had, which may have been based on even earlier Hebrew manuscripts than the Masoretic text depending on whom is asked), Contemporary English Version, Douay-Rheims, and the Tanakh all lack “shrine” and just say prostitute. God slew Er and Onan for wickedness, but did not involve Himself in Judah hiring a hooker.

38:24 She was still betrothed to Shelah, and betrothed was as good as married when it came to being executed for adultery. There are plenty of not-executed prostitutes in the Bible, including two that openly visit Solomon’s court to have a dispute settled, so mere prostitution was not punished in this manner.

38:25 seems like a callback to Genesis 37:32.

38:26 Judah may fear death as in verse 11 just based on percentages. Just kidding, it would have been a known Noahide infraction (Leviticus 18:15,24-28). It all ended happily, but we’re in which-law-to-keep territory.

38:27 seems like a callback to Genesis 25:24-27.

38:30 Red like Esau loses again. The last will be first; the Gentiles got into Heaven before the  “firstborn” Israelites (Exodus 4:22, Romans 9 through Romans 11).     

39:1 Bad stuff can still happen to the righteous. God will never forsake you. Don’t overthink car trouble (Psalm 34:19).      

39:5 like Laban with Jacob (Genesis 30:27).

39:6 Cultural attitudes (Genesis 43:32) may explain the food exception, but later Joseph ruled all the food in Egypt.

39:7-10 Joseph understands that violating the sanctity of his master’s marriage is not just a matter between consenting adults but would wrong his human master and God. He’s in a Garden talking to a forbidden tree. Surely, the story elements of nudity and having to leave for worse living conditions can’t be far away now.    

39:11-12 When Paul said to flee from sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18), he may have remembered this.

39:13-18 The nudity and lying about lost garments are Genesis 37:23 and Genesis 37:32 all over again.      

39:19-23 Perhaps Potiphar burned with anger at her. An attempted rapist/adulterous slave would have been killed immediately. Genesis 40:3-4 says the prison is in the house of the captain of the guard, which Genesis 39:1 identifies as Potiphar. Joseph seems to have been reassigned from a cushier house slave assignment to running the business side of Potiphar’s life as a slave in less hospitable conditions reminiscent of the cistern his brothers put him in. Some people eventually believed in two Messiahs: 1) a suffering Son of Joseph like Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53, and 2) a reigning Son of David like Isaiah 11. The King is coming back, and if you’ve met Jesus already (Matthew 7:22), then you are ready.      

40:1-5 These men are supposed to prevent assassination, and it seems Pharaoh has gotten sick from a meal.

40:6-7 Joseph had empathy for others instead of just fixating on his own problems.

40:15 like still being in the cistern.

40:23 After seeing verse 22, it seems the cupbearer was reluctant to stick his neck out on another’s behalf.      

41:14 Pharaoh can be seen as a contrasting father figure for Joseph in this story (Genesis 37:14). Clothing changes mark the transitions from son to slave, house to prison, and prisoner to vizier.

41:32 This principle of prophetic repetition will be useful later in books like Daniel and Revelation. 

41:34-35 Collecting and storing “all” the food here is keeping the “fifth of the harvest” earmarked for hard times. Although, taking everything and then feeding you at McDonald’s like a local pimp treats his stable does sound like some governments.

41:40-41 If Egypt were a household, Joseph had the responsibilities of Pharaoh’s adopted firstborn.  Joseph is next to power like Nehemiah, Daniel, and Mordecai. He is a Hebrew yet he is Egyptian royalty like Moses.     

41:42 reminds me of Genesis 37:3.

41:45 Giving Joseph a nice outfit, the family business, and arranging a marriage is all “Dad” stuff. Jesus is the Bread of Life and we’re His (mostly) Gentile bride. Heliopolis, or “On”, is the city of the Ra cult where the phoenix was said to be reborn, symbolic of Joseph’s comeback. The land of Ephraim/Israel/the North becoming idol worshipers is foreshadowed by their mother being the daughter of a pagan priest.

41:46 Age 30 is a familiar starting point (2 Samuel 5:4, Luke 3:23).

41:48 “all” See Genesis 41:34-35 note.

41:51 With a name like that, it’s no wonder that Jacob ended up blessing the other one in Genesis 48. Well, that and the continuing younger-over-older plot.

41:56 Hey, kids, it’s time for a Civics lesson! Joseph’s Egyptian government forcibly confiscated the Egyptians’ grain to prepare for hard times. When hard times came, did he give it back? No. He sold their own grain back to them. Know when you’re being bribed with your own money. The kingdoms the devil offered to Jesus in Matthew 4 were already to be rightfully His as Messiah. Also, if you receive something from a government that you did not work for, look for someone else who worked for it but did not receive it. Finally, if you’re really committed to a particular “wing” and opposing another one, check to see if both wings are flapping on Satan’s back..

42:1-2 like Genesis 12:10.

42:4 Benjamin was the youngest son, and he was also the last child of the dear departed Rachel.

42:6,10 “bowed…lord” Remember Joseph’s dream. 

42:9-13 Spying was risky business.  A family team of spies was unlikely in a culture that abhorred the possibility of having no one left to remember you. 

42:17 like Genesis 37:24. Jesus also spent three days in a dark place for us.

42:24 Reuben the eldest speaks aptly in verse 22, so Simeon’s next in line. 

42:27-28 “You liked silver enough to sell your brother Joe into slavery? Here, have some, and some threats of slavery, too.”

42:37 “Noble” acts like this (I wonder how noble Reubens’s sons thought the proposition was?) were expected from the firstborn, but especially from one trying to regain favor after being caught with his father’s concubine.

43:7 Joseph’s testing them. Will they return for Simeon? Will they envy Benjamin’s bigger portion? Will they defend a son of Rachel? 

43:8 Judah learned empathy for Jacob’s plight in Genesis 38.

43:11 like the merchant caravan Genesis 37:25. See Proverbs 17:8.

43:14 feels like a father sacrificing a son (Genesis 22, John 19). 

43:18 “He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” Putting a less-dire occurrence at the end of a list is a bit of comedy referred to by some writers as “Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking”; this type of humor is used elsewhere in the Scriptures, too. 

44:5 “divination” is how they assume the placecards at the banquet were placed in birth order.

44:28 Joseph now knows Jacob wasn’t involved in the plan to sell him into slavery.

44:33-34 Once, Judah did not care for his father’s or brother’s feelings or well-being (Genesis 37:26-27). His change of heart and willingness to be punished in another’s place make him a fine ancestor for Jesus (Genesis 49:8-12).

45:5-8 Joseph magnanimously looks for the greater good at the end of his misadventure. Paul gives us a subtler view of how this works in Romans 8:28-30 by emphasizing the “in” in “in all things”. God’s not sending calamities at you to improve you. The fallen world, demonic opposition, misguided other people, etc., are coming at you, but in the midst of all of that God is making believers Christlike. Setbacks can be setups for future greatness. God is known for paying double for trouble (Isaiah 61:7, the ending of Job).

45:7 sounds like Jesus.

45:16 See Genesis 43:32. This was either during the reign of the Semitic Hyksos pharaohs, or Egypt deemed them “some of the good ones”.

45:20 Kind of like, “You can’t take it with you, but Heaven is better.” 

45:24 is because of Genesis 45:22. “Don’t quarrel on the way” is good life advice. 

46:10 The genealogy is slightly different in Numbers 26:12-13 and 1 Chronicles 4:24, but Ohad may not have left descendants for a clan or there may be different names for the same people like in the lists of apostles.

46:27 The Septuagint and Acts 7:14 say seventy-five. Many modern translations use the Masoretic text, so New Testament references to the Old Testament are sometimes muddled. 

47:6 Joseph’s a great example of Proverbs 22:29, and even this job offer for a family member reiterates the principle. 

47:11 Rameses means “Son of Ra”, which Pharaohs claimed to be. A later Pharaoh going by this name is not a problem. Also, this may be an editor like Ezra (Ezra 7:14) using a later place name to keep the meaning clear to the audience.

47:14-24 The people lose their gold, their livestock, their land, and their freedom. Letting them off with a 20% tax rate is kinder than Joseph could have been, but know that the ancient Egyptians, seeing us being paid with paper promises and our various types of taxation today, would consider us closer to slaves than to owners. Their government bought them with their own money (Genesis 41:48).

47:29 A handshake will suffice, Jake (Genesis 24:2 note). 

48:5-6 This means Joseph is two tribes; he got the firstborn double portion. 

48:7 The whole Bible points to Jesus.

48:10-14 In a callback to Isaac, the blind father tricks the son this time. Younger > elder again.

48:19 A dark foreshadowing of the forced exile/interbreeding of Israel/Samaria by the Assyrians.     

48:22 Shechem.  

49:3-4 See Genesis 35:22 and Deuteronomy 33:6.

49:5-6 as in Genesis 34.

49:7 See the relatively small census number in Numbers 26:14; the tribe of Simeon is later absorbed by Judah. The Levites ended up with basically no property (Joshua 13:33) and lived in cities scattered among the tribes (Joshua 21).

49:10-12 When Herod the Great, an Edomite, sat on the throne (and at the same time the Jewish leadership could no longer exercise the death penalty, another clue the scepter had passed) Christ came. Earlier Judahite kings even under the thumbs of various empires count, and the Exile was a Sabbath for the land so the pause doesn’t count. A vine would have to be thick and healthy to tether a donkey. Judah’s promised so much wine his eyes will be stained by it and so much milk his teeth will get whiter. This level of prosperity and leadership sounds like the blessing Jacob stole from Esau.

49:13 This would be Sidon of the Phoenicians, the leftover Canaanites that went on to produce Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31). 

49:14-15 This prophecy of servitude is also a sex joke based on Issachar’s origin Genesis 30:16-18.    

49:16-17 Dan (whose name refers to “justice”) produced the judge Samson but also became a site for golden calf worship. 

49:19 Gad sounds like Hebrew for “attack” and “band of raiders”, which could be Moab and Ammon.

49:20 This would be the Baal-worshiping King of Tyre and Sidon (Ezekiel 28).

49:22-26 The Northern kingdom of Israel was also nicknamed Ephraim. 

49:27 may reference the last three chapters of Judges, another site for golden calf worship, or both.

50:2-3 Jacob’s a mummy. The national mourning is a nice touch given their usual attitude in Genesis 43:32. 

50:4-5 This next bit foreshadows Exodus. “Short trip, I swear!”

50:6-9 Instead of trying to keep them or chasing them. 

50:10 They traveled the same route as in Exodus. 

50:11 The new places of mourning would be empty cradles and the Red Sea. 

50:17 “Forgive your brothers” is a very Christian sentiment.

50:19 “Am I in the place of God (to judge)?”  No, and we aren’t either (Deuteronomy 32:35, Leviticus 19:18).

50:20 See Genesis 45:5,8 note.

50:24 Hearing about the Promised Land in stories like this also motivated the citizens of the kingdom of Judah under King Josiah to reclaim all the old territory when Assyria left.

50:25 This assurance that they would enter the Promised Land and bury him placed Joseph into the Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11:22. The patriarchs’ faith in their return to Canaan was inspirational to people who needed faith in the return from Exile, which is analogous to our faith in our own future resurrection (of which Christ is the firstfruit).

50:26 Joseph’s a mummy, too.  

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