Abraham the Hebrew

I decided last week that I need to stay in a bible study this summer. I've had some issues lately...I've been just angry...you name it, I was angry about it. Maybe I'm pre-menopausal...not sure, but I know I've been ridiculously irritated about so many things...family, relatives, house, friends, and then the biggest of course...myself b/c I know I shouldn't feel this way. And before you get worried...I'm better now :) Really. I just needed a couple of pity-party weeks apparently and a little talk w/God and w/T that helped. Just a lot of stuff that seemed to hit at once and I got tired of it all.

So, last Monday, while at church during VBS, I picked up Beth Moore's "The Patriarchs: Encountering the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" study out of the bible study closet. It's one that our church as DVD's for that we can take home to watch. I've done it before...well, let me re-word that...I've started it before :) Never finished. And I wanted one that had DVD's available (and an available workbook) to take home that I hadn't finished. So the Patriarch study won out! And as usual...God had that planned b/c it has hit on several things already I needed to hear. Of course.

One nice thing for me is the history. I know things the Bible says, I know some scripture, I know where the books are, but I don't always remember the history...where Abraham always fits in. I remember his wife and she was barren, you know...the big things. But never having been a big history person, I don't always know the order of things, so this is a great study for me.

Here's a bit of what I've learned during the first week, thought maybe some of you might want to learn a bit along the summer with me!

We start with Noah who had 3 sons...Shem, Ham and Japeth...(we are all a descendant of Noah).
Abram is a descendent of Shem. (Shem begat Arphaxad who begat Shelah and the line continues with Eber... Peleg... Reu... Serug... Nahor... Terah... Abram)
Abram (who is later named Abraham) had 2 sons...Ishmael and Isaac.
Isaac had 2 sons...Esau and Jacob (later named Israel).
Jacob then had 10 sons and 2 grandsons (which became the 12 tribes of Israel)...Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin and Judah.
Judah's line continued with King David...then Jesus.
Clear as mud? Ha!

Jews were not known by that name from the beginning. Abraham and his descendents were first called Hebrews (after the tower of Babel where God confused the languages and scattered the people all over the world).

Then after God renamed Jacob "Israel" (Jacob would be Abraham's grandson), they became known as the Israelites.

Then when the tribes were set up, Judah and Benjamin's groups lived in Judea. The people became known as Juda-ites (you may have heard the term Juda-ism before)

This was soon shortened to Jews.

Interesting, yes? I thought so. Just helps to have that logical background sometimes. And what's even cooler...God told the history of a nation through individuals and today He still seeks out individuals.

And check this out...nice thing in Beth Moore studies is you usually learn really neat original language meanings of names, places, words, etc... Shem means "Name" or "Renown" and Judah means "praise"...very cool seeing as how they are in the lineage of Jesus!

In Genesis 14 is also where we see God called "God Most High" for the first time. He is is the CEO of creation. And here's something Beth writes in the study that coincides with what I posted on Monday (about us not knowing everything, we can guess, but only God knows)..."I am convinced that the totality of everything God has told us about Himself in His Word and in nature is little more than a hint. He is the master of surprise who exults in unveiling revelations." He is a master storyteller, he weaves thousands of stories together in the 66 books of the Bible that cover centuries and they are true stories. There are good guys, bad guys, ridiculousness, seriousness. And He continues to weave today...