Exodus - Part 1

We have worked out the logistics for getting Stan's notes online, and are feverishly working to get them caught up. In the mean time, feel free to download the audio from each week.

This week, Stan starts the book of Exodus.

The audio is available here.

Genesis - Part 3

The final part of Genesis is now available online.

You can download the audio file here.

Genesis - Part 2 (Updated with Notes)

Part Two of the Walk through the Bible Series. This week is a continuation of the book of Genesis.

The audio recording for this week, August 19th, 2009 is available here.

Lesson Notes

A Walk Through the Bible

Genesis, Part 2
Stan Mitchell

We begin where we left off last week. We are now in the 13^th chapter of Genesis. Abram (Abraham) is leaving Egypt after his half-truth regarding Sarai (Sarah) was revealed to Pharaoh.

Lot and Abraham set up their tents. They both prosper but find that cohabitation is difficult. Quarrels and disputes break out among their people. Abraham and Lot decide to part ways. Abraham asks Lot to choose any part of the land and Abraham would go in the opposite direction. Keep in mind, all of the land had been promised to Abraham and his descendents. He didn’t have to offer Lot a choice. However, Abraham trusted that no matter where he went, God would provide.

Lot chose the entire Jordan Valley (to the east). This was a large trading area and a thoroughfare. Interesting note: The land that Lot chose was outside of the land promised to Abraham.

War breaks out among the kings. Amraphel, the king of Babylonia, Arioch, the king of Ellaser, Kedorlaomer, the king of Elam, and Tidal, the king of Goiim make up one side of the war. Bera, the king of Sodom, Birsha, the king of Gomorrah, Shirab, the king of Adma, Shemeber, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (Zoar) make up the rebel kings. Kedorlaomer’s side wins and takes Lot captive and confiscates all of Lot’s possessions. A servant of Lot’s escapes and gets to Abraham with the information. Abraham immediately mobilized 318 trained men from his household and they follow Kedorlaomer’s war party. When they catch up to the invaders, Abraham divides his men and they attack during the night. They bring back Lot and all of the possessions along with some captives.

After Abraham’s victory, he meets Melchizedek, a Priest of the Most High God and King of Salem. Melchizedek blesses Abraham and this is where tithe is first established in the bible. Some people state that tithe isn’t in the New Testament. However, tithe was established before Moses, before the law. It was established with Abraham. Therefore, this was not a part of the law that Jesus’ death and resurrection nullified.

Chapter 15 describes the covenant God makes with Abraham. He promises him descendants and land. This land today would be central Iraq up to Turkey.

Ten years pass between Chapters 15 and 16 – nothing much happens. Abraham is now 85 and Sarah is now 75. There have been no children born to Abraham and Sarah. Sarah, thinking God needed help, offers her servant, Hagar to Abraham. Hagar becomes contemptuous toward Sarah. Sarah complains to Abraham. Abraham tells Sarah to take care of it. Hagar runs away from Sarah’s harsh treatment. An angel appears to Hagar and tells her to name her son Ishmael, meaning “God hears,” as God heard her distress. He tells her to go back to Sarah and submit to her. He also tells her that her son will be a wild man. He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. Abraham and Hagar have a son named Ishmael.

We all have Ishmaels...they are the messes we create when we don’t wait on God.

Chapter 17 tells of circumcision. This is a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. All male children were to be circumcised 8 days after their birth. The promise of a son and descendants becoming a great nation is also renewed in this chapter.

Chapter 18 – God visits Abraham. Three men are walking along the road and Abraham sees them. He asks them to stop, rest, and eat. The Lord says to Abraham that in one year He will return and Sarah will have a baby. Sarah is listening and she laughs to herself. The Lord asks why Sarah laughed. Sarah denies it and is rebuked. God then tells Abraham that He is planning to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham barters with God. God agrees that if 10 righteous people are found He won’t destroy the cities.

Chapter 19 - The depravity is so great that not even 10 righteous could be found to stop destruction. Two angels go to Lot and tell him to leave the city. People hear there are new people in town and they attack Lot’s house wanting the 2 angels released to them for sex. Lot instead offers his two virgin daughters.

Four people leave Sodom and Gomorrah before the attack. Lot, his wife, and two of his daughters. They are escorted from the city by the angels and told to flee and not to look back. Lot’s wife, looks back and is turned to a pillar of salt. The two daughters have to be encouraged to leave their mother.

Lot and his daughters flee to the mountains. Lot’s daughters realize they are childless and there are no men around. They devise a plan. They get their father drunk and one of the girls sleeps with him. They do the same thing another night and the other daughter sleeps with her father. They each get pregnant and each have a son. Moab (Father of the Moabites) and Ben-ammi (Father of the Ammonites).

Chapter 20 – Abraham moves to Gerar and while living there meets Abimelech, the king of Gerar. Abimelech takes a liking to Sarah and again, Abraham lies, stating that Sarah is his sister. She moves into the Palace but before Abimelech sleeps with her, God appears to him in a dream and tells him that Sarah is Abraham’s wife. Abimelech confronts Abraham and everything is sorted out.

Chapter 21 – Isaac is born to Sarah and Abraham. Isaac means laughter. Sarah laughed when God told her she was going to have a baby and she laughed again when he was born. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90. Sarah demands that Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away. He does so and watches them depart heartbroken. God saves Hagar and Ishmael from dying in the desert. Ishmael grows up to be an archer and marries an Egyptian girl.

God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. He obeys. Isaac is spared and a ram is slain in Isaac’s place. Around this time other religions also make a shift from human sacrifices to animal sacrifices

Chapter 23 – Sarah dies at the age of 127. Abraham buys Machpelah (land that was already his per God).

Chapter 24 – We meet Rebekah, Isaac’s 2^nd cousin. She is the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milkah. Nahor, as previously mentioned is Abraham’s brother. She travels back to Abraham and marries Isaac, sight unseen.

Chapter 25 – Years pass in this chapter…Abraham marries Keturah. They have several children. Abraham dies when he is 175 years old. Ishmael’s descendants are named and he dies at 137 years of age. Jacob and Esau are born to Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob and Esau are twins. Esau is the firstborn. Jacob is 60 when his sons are born. Jacob loves Esau and Rebekah loves Jacob. Esau is an outdoorsman and hunter while Jacob prefers to stay at home. Esau comes home from hunting and is hungry. He sells his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of beans. The birthright goes to the firstborn son and simply means he receives a double portion of the inheritance. The bible states that he sold his birthright because he was a profane man. Profane in this instance means someone who twiddles away the eternal for the temporal.

Chapter 26 – Famine strikes the land where Isaac and Rebekah are living. They move to Gerar and Isaac meets Abimelech. Following in his father’s footsteps, he lies and says that Rebekah is his sister. Abimelech finds out the truth and announces that anyone that lays a hand on Isaac or Rebekah will be put to death. Isaac leaves Gerar after the Philestines become jealous as he has become rich and prosperous living in their land. He reopens and restores the wells that Abraham had dug. Abimelech asks for a peace treaty and they agree to leave each other alone. Esau marries two Hittite women, Judith and Basemath. The two women make life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27 – Isaac is going blind and he calls Esau in and tells him to go hunt and prepare a meal so that he can eat and then he will bless Esau. Rebekah overhears and calls Jacob, she has a plan. She prepares a meal and covers Jacob’s arms and neck in goat skin. He goes into Isaac and tells him that he is Esau. Isaac questions him but is finally convinced. He blesses Jacob. Almost immediately after Jacob’s blessing, Esau returns and brings the meal that Isaac requested. Isaac is shocked and upset and both he and Esau are sad. Esau begins to scheme to kill Jacob. Rebekah hears of this and tells Jacob. She tells Isaac that she doesn’t want Jacob to marry any of the local Hittite women.

Chapter 28 – Isaac blesses Jacob and sends him to Haran where Rebekah’s brother, Laban lives. Isaac tells Jacob to marry one of Laban’s daughters. Esau knows that Isaac told Jacob not to marry a local Canaanite woman. Esau marries Mahaleth, the daughter of his uncle, Ishmael. Jacob heads to Laban’s. He stops to rest and has a dream. There is a stairway with angels going up and down between earth and heaven. God speaks to Jacob and renews the promise made to both Abraham and Isaac. Jacob awakes and again, tithe is established.

Chapter 29 – Jacob arrives at a well outside the city where Laban lives. He meets Rachel, his cousin, Laban’s daughter. He is immediately taken into Laban’s household. He begins to work for his uncle. Laban wants to pay him so Jacob asks to marry Rachel. It is agreed that Jacob will work for seven years and then will be able to marry her. The time flies for Jacob. At the end of the seven years, a marriage feast is prepared and the bridal week begins. The next morning Jacob awakes to find that he has married Leah, Rachel’s older sister. He demands to know why Laban tricked him and finds that local custom deems that the oldest daughter should marry first. Laban says that he can marry Rachel after the bridal week if he agrees to work for another seven years. Jacob agrees. Leah is given Zilpah as her handmaid (servant) and Rachel is given Bilhah. Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah. God sees that Leah is unloved so he allowed her to become pregnant but Rachel was barren. Leah has 4 sons:

• Reuben (verse 32): Leah says, “The Lord has noticed my misery and now my husband will love me.” Reuben means, “Look, a son.” Reuben also sounds like the Hebrew for “He has seen my misery.”
• Simeon (verse 33): Leah says, “The Lord heard that I was unloved and has given me another son.” Simeon probably means “The one who hears.”
• Levi (verse 34): Leah says, “Surely this time my husband will feel affection for me.” Levi sounds like the Hebrew term for “being attached,” or “feeling affection for.”
• Judah (verse 35): Leah says, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Judah sounds like the Hebrew term for “Praise.”

Genesis - Part 1

The audio from August 12th is now available here.

Lesson Notes:

A Basic Overview of the Biblical Text – Genesis through Revelation
Overview of the Study
August 12, 2009
Stan Mitchell

This study will showcase the basic building blocks of scripture

• Names
• Places
• Dates

Not a lot of why’s or how’s…just when’s, where’s, and who’s.

• Where was it written?
• Who wrote it?
• What was happening at the time of the writing?

This will be simply a study of foundational facts and truths. There won’t be a lot of time spent on interpretation or application of scripture.

This study will focus on the ABC’s of biblical theology

• Facts
• Places
• Stories
• Dates

Hopefully, when walking away from this study we will have a working, fundamental knowledge of the Bible. A timeline of sorts.

Most of our view of God is derived from scripture. When asked what our life is based on, many would reply, “God.” Where do we obtain this knowledge? How do we know who God is? Most would say that they know and understand God by knowing and understanding Jesus. We understand Jesus by reading scripture.

What can we relate to others about this scripture? Where did it come from? How did it come to us? Is scripture THE Word of God or A Word of God? How did the writing move from a letter or book to canonization? Who decided and upon what factors were the decisions based to make the writing eligible to be canonized?

Current Biblical translators use 5500-6000 manuscripts for modern biblical translations. These manuscripts are copies of copies. We have no autobiographical texts (written by the author). Of these manuscripts we have about 20-24 of them that are THOUGHT to be first generation manuscripts (transcribed from the autobiographical texts). In these 5500-6000 first generation manuscripts, there are 400,000 discrepancies. The King James version only accessed about 20 manuscripts. These manuscripts are now considered by modern scholars to be the worst of the manuscripts.

The modern church has taken the stance that “…the original writings were inerrant.” Translations have produced error…Our scripture is as close to inerrant as possible…we can’t, however, state with “beyond-a-doubt certainty,” that our translations are error-free.

A couple of discrepancies within scripture:

• Revelation 22:19

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things written in this book.”

The above passage exists nowhere in the early manuscripts. It appears to have been added several centuries after John died.

• Book of Mark

The end of the book of Mark was added about 3000 years after it had been written.

Hermaneutics – the interpretation of a theory…or in this case, the interpretation of scripture.

How do we interpret scripture?

• Exogeting – getting out of scripture what is there.
• Isogeting – putting into scripture what isn’t there.

How is scripture to be read? Historically or factually? Figuratively, literally, or a mix of the two? What is the role of scripture? What authority does scripture have in our lives?

Luther and the Reformers said, in terms of authority, “Sola Scriptura,” or “Only Scripture.”

Tradition, intuition, experience, creation, nature – these things have no authority in our lives when it comes to understanding God and developing theology. Only scripture should speak to these issues.

The Evangelical church has softened their stance in recent years. The Anglican church has softened to such an extent that they said, the authority of God in our life is a 3-pronged stool.

• Scripture
• Tradition
• Experience/Intuition

They do point out that the longest leg is the leg of scripture.

How was scripture inspired?

• Word for Word Inspiration - God literally wrote each word using a man’s hand?
• Concept for Concept Inspiration – God inspired man regarding a certain topic but gave man the freedom to choose the wording.
• Trust-Inspired – God trusted man. He moved upon a man regarding a situation or idea and simply trusted him to write about it.

Read 1 Corinthians 7:1-40

It seems in several areas that Paul isn’t even sure that what he is saying is from God. It’s simply a letter to the church in Corinth regarding issues they are facing. Paul states that he THINKS he has the mind of God in these areas. However, just because Paul didn’t know he was inspired doesn’t mean he wasn’t.

This particular passage wasn’t canonized until the Council of Trent in the mid-16th Century. The Catholic Church agreed to canonize this text simply because Martin Luther came by, looked at the accepted text and stated that some of the books should not be canonized.

The 27 New Testament books were canonized as they were the 27 most historically credited books. They were written by people nearest to Jesus’ time and nearest to Jesus himself. They were also the most commonly effective in the lives of the people following Jesus.

A Special Wendesday Massage from Pastor Stan

On August 5th, Stan introduced the upcoming sessions, and the series on Walking Through the Bible.

The recording of the class is available here for download.

Don't forget that you can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes by searching for "GracePointe" and choosing the Wednesday podcast.