Author: Jefferson Vann

Genesis 15

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of Yahveh came to Abram in a vision, and this is what he said: “Do not fear the future, Abram, I am your present shield; your future wages will be very great.”

Genesis 15:2 But Abram said, “O Lord Yahveh, what will you give me, because I stay childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?”

Genesis 15:3 And Abram said, “Notice, you have given me no seed, and only a member of my household staff will be my heir.”

Genesis 15:4 And notice, the word of Yahveh came to him, and this is what he said: “This man will not be your heir; your very own son will be your heir.”

Genesis 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward the sky, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So will your seed be.”

Genesis 15:6 And he believed Yahveh, and Yahveh counted it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:7 And he said to him, “I am Yahveh who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

Genesis 15:8 But he said, “O Lord Yahveh, how am I to know that I will possess it?”

Genesis 15:9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

Genesis 15:10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.

Genesis 15:11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

Genesis 15:12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And notice, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.

Genesis 15:13 Then Yahveh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your seed will be foreign guests in a land that is not theirs and will be slaves there, and they will be oppressed for four hundred years.

Genesis 15:14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they are enslaved in, and after that they will come out with great property.

Genesis 15:15 As for yourself, you will go to where your fathers are in peace; you will be buried having a good grey head.

Genesis 15:16 And they will come back here in the fourth generation, because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

Genesis 15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, notice, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

Genesis 15:18 On that day Yahveh made a covenant with Abram, and this is what he said, “To your seed I promise this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,

Genesis 15:19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

Genesis 15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

Genesis 15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

Genesis 15 quotes:

“While the covenant of Genesis 15 focuses primarily on nationhood (land and descendants), the covenant in Genesis 17 highlights Abraham’s special status as regards the nations. Unfortunately, biblical scholars have tended to blur the differences between these two covenants, some viewing them as parallel accounts of the same covenant, preserved in different sources.”

Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land : An Introduction to the Pentateuch. 2nd ed., Paternoster Press ; Baker Academic, 2002. p. 86.

“Genesis 15 also includes the first Abrahamic covenant ceremony. “For the first time in the history of religions, God becomes the contracting party, promising a national territory to a people yet unborn. This pledge constitutes the main historic title of the Jewish people to its land, a title that is unconditional and irrevocable, secured by a divine covenant whose validity transcends space and time.” The promises made in previous chapters are here, in chapter 15, solidified. Literarily, the chapter as a whole constitutes “the ‘great reward’ promised to the patriarch.””

Tracy, Elizabeth B. See Me! Hear Me! : Divine. Peeters, 2015. p. 71.

“Since the reckoning in Genesis 15 and the obedient act of Abraham in Genesis 22 have long been read together, it is in the Jewish biblical tradition to see obedience as the ground of acceptance by God.”

Yeung, Maureen W. Faith in Jesus and Paul: A Comparison with Special Reference to “faith That Can Remove Mountains” and ’Your Faith Has Healed. Mohr Siebeck, 2002. p. 248.

Genesis 15 links:

Abram- dreadful and great darkness
Fear of the future
Planning for the future
the blessing of an unconscious death
The Gospel Preached to Abraham Gal. 3 1-9

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, January 8, 2021
Maranatha Daily Devotional – May 25, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, January 9, 2023

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 14

Genesis 14:1 During the reigns of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim,

Genesis 14:2 these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also known as Zoar).

Genesis 14:3 And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea).

Genesis 14:4 Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.

Genesis 14:5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim,

Genesis 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir as far as El-Paran on the border of the open country.[1]

Genesis 14:7 Then they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were dwelling in Hazazon -Tamar.

Genesis 14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (also known as Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim

Genesis 14:9 with Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

Genesis 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of asphalt pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into the pits, and the rest escaped to the hill country.

Genesis 14:11 So the enemy took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and left.

Genesis 14:12 They also abducted Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who was dwelling in Sodom, and his possessions, when they left.

Genesis 14:13 Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner. They were partners of Abram.

Genesis 14:14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led forth his army, born in his household, 318 of them, and went to find them as far as Dan.

Genesis 14:15 And he strategically arranged his forces against them by night, he and his slaves, and defeated them and chased them to Hobah, north of Damascus.

Genesis 14:16 Then he brought back all the property, and also brought back his relative Lot with his property, and the women and the other people.

Genesis 14:17 After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (also known as the King’s Valley).

Genesis 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)

Genesis 14:19 And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, owner of sky and land;

Genesis 14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 14:21 And the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the throats, but take the property for yourself.”

Genesis 14:22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted my hand to Yahveh, God Most High, owner of sky and land,

Genesis 14:23 promising that I would not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you should not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

Genesis 14:24 I will take nothing but what the young men have already eaten, and the share of the men who went with me. Let Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre take their share.”

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[1]מִדְבָּר = open country. Genesis 14:6; 16:7; 21:14, 20-21; 36:24; 37:22.

Genesis 14 quotes:

“Who was this first king of Jerusalem? Who was Melchizedek, through whom God stated His thoughts of election and redemption for Israel? He steps directly out of eternity into time. His name, his words and his actions, as well as the man he approaches and gives bread and wine, provide us with clues about the purpose of his appearance.”

Malgo, Wim. There Shall Be Signs in Heaven and on Earth 1948-1982. Midnight Call, 1980. p. 16.

“In Genesis 14, we are introduced to the first war ever recorded in Scripture. It is a stirring account, vividly contrasting the noisy, vaunted armies of earth against the quiet but invincible power of faith.”

Stedman, Ray C. Friend of God: The Legacy of Abraham, Man of Faith. Discovery House, 2010. p. 50.

“While the Bible does not profess to give us an ancient history complete in all details, nor even a broad outline of such, Scripture is historically accurate when it does touch on contemporary events. In Genesis 14, for instance, we encounter the names of nearly forty people, places, and nationalities—all testify to the veracity of the account.”

Flint, V. Paul. Strangers & Pilgrims : A Study of Genesis. 1st ed., Loizeaux Bros, 1988. p. 114.

Genesis 14 links:

Abram- rescue
God Most High
soul searching

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, January 6, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – May 24, 2015

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 13

Genesis 13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negev.

Genesis 13:2 Abram had become very heavy in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

Genesis 13:3 And he journeyed on from the Negev as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,

Genesis 13:4 to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of Yahveh.

Genesis 13:5 And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents,

Genesis 13:6 so that the land could not support both of them living together; because their possessions were so great that they could not live together,

Genesis 13:7 and there was conflict between the tenders of Abram’s livestock and the tenders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.

Genesis 13:8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no conflict between you and me, and between your tenders and my tenders, because we are kinsmen.

Genesis 13:9 Is not the whole land before you? detach yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

Genesis 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of Yahveh, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before Yahveh had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 13:11 So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot traveled east. So, they detached themselves from each other.

Genesis 13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

Genesis 13:13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked, greatly failing Yahveh.

Genesis 13:14 Yahveh said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, to the north and south and east and west,

Genesis 13:15 because all the land that you now see I am promising to you and to your seed permanently.

Genesis 13:16 I will make your seed like the dust of the land, so that if one can calculate the amount of dust there is in the land, your seed also can be calculated.

Genesis 13:17 Get up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, because I am promising it to you.”

Genesis 13:18 So Abram moved his tent and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron, and there he built an altar to worship Yahveh.

Genesis 13 quotes:

“When Abram prospered, Lot benefited as well: “Lot, who was traveling with Abram, had also become very wealthy with flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and many tents” (Genesis 13:5). Don’t overlook the specific mention of his many tents. This will be a significant detail later in the story. But prosperity brought its own challenges. Expanding flocks and herds require increasing amounts of food and water. The land may not have fully recovered from the earlier famine, so available resources could not sustain both men’s livestock. Besides that, they had to contend with the existing inhabitants, the Canaanites and the Perizzites.”

Swindoll, Charles R. Abraham : One Nomad’s Amazing Journey of Faith. Tyndale House Publishers, 2014. p. 30.

“Then there came the strife between their respective herdsmen, leading Abraham to offer Lot his freedom and the choice of the whole land before them. How magnanimous it was of Abraham to give Lot the first pick, which, by right of seniority, should have been his! (See Genesis 13:7—9.) Greedily, Lot chose the well-watered plain before him, where Sodom was situated; and in so doing, he separated himself from his revered relative and friend, whose assistance he was yet to need. “

Lockyer, Herbert. Lives of Fame & Shame : Fascinating Figures in Bible History : Enoch, Lot, Rachel, Elijah, Saul, David and Jonathan, Asa, Herod, Barnabas, Timothy. Whitaker House, 2014. p. 29.

“Lot followed his selfish, ambitious desires. He lived for a while on the plain but then moved into the city, where he became wealthy and respected. Lot became a man of great political influence in Sodomite society.”

Stedman, Ray C. Friend of God : The Legacy of Abraham, Man of Faith. Discovery House, 2010. p. 148.

Genesis 13 links:

Abram- competition
like Abram
The important questions
The promise of permanence

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – May 23, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, January 7, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, January 7, 2021
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, January 24, 2018

GENESIS in Jeff’s library

Genesis 12

Genesis 12:1 Then Yahveh said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kin and your father’s household to the land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:2 And I will make of you an influential nation, and I will bless you and make your name important and be a blessing.

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the land will be blessed.”

Genesis 12:4 So Abram went, as Yahveh had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Genesis 12:5 So Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had accumulated, and the throats that they had made in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Genesis 12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were still occupying the land.

Genesis 12:7 Then Yahveh appeared to Abram and said, “To your seed I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to worship Yahveh, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 12:8 From there he traveled to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Yahveh and called upon the name of Yahveh.

Genesis 12:9 And Abram journeyed on, setting out toward the Negev.

Genesis 12:10 But there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to stay there as a guest, because the famine in the land was heavy.[1]

Genesis 12:11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Notice, I know that you are a woman who looks beautiful,

Genesis 12:12 so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.

Genesis 12:13 Say you are my sister, that things may go well with me because of you, and that my throat may be kept alive for your sake.”

Genesis 12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.

Genesis 12:15 And when the princes of Pharaoh saw her, they bragged about her to Pharaoh. So, the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.

Genesis 12:16 And for her sake he dealt well with Abram; and he was given sheep, oxen, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves,[2] female donkeys, and camels.

Genesis 12:17 But Yahveh cursed Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of the presence of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

Genesis 12:18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

Genesis 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, notice your wife; take her, and go.”

Genesis 12:20 And Pharaoh gave men orders concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

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[1] כָּבֵד = heavy. Genesis 12:10; 13:2; 41:31; 43:1; 47:4, 13; 50:9, 10, 11.

[2] שִׁפְחָה = female slave. Genesis 12:16; 16:1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8; 20:14; 24:35; 25:12; 29:24, 29; 30:4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 18, 43; 32:5, 22; 33:1, 2, 6; 35:25, 26.

Genesis 12 quotes:

“Thus in Abraham the failure of Adam is partially reversed, and through his seed God promises to bless all humanity again. In Genesis 12:1-3 God promises Abram three things: nationhood (see 12:1-2), a dynastic kingdom (see 12:2, “a great name”) and a worldwide family (see 12:3).”

Hahn, Kimberly, and Michael Barber. Genesis to Jesus : Studying Scripture from the Heart of the Church. St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2007. p. 94.

“Yahweh now seems to center his attention on one man—from the men of one family, from among all the families on earth—to set him apart and interact with him for what will be an extended period of time and a significant block of our narrative (Gen. 12:1-25:10). We note that in what is said by the narrator about Abram, and in what Yahweh says to him in what follows, we learn nothing about this man that specifically motivates or justifies Yahweh’s particular attention. Unlike Noah, he is not described in moral or ethical terms. Nor is he said to have “walked with God.” He is not depicted as having done anything especially to attract Yahweh’s attention. In fact, if God is concerned with the generation of life, as he is in Genesis, for example, Abram is an unlikely choice for special attention. Genesis 12 opens with a remarkably unmotivated and thereby all the more remarkable speech by Yahweh.”

Humphreys, W. Lee. The Character of God in the Book of Genesis : A Narrative Appraisal. 1st ed., Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. p.82.

“Despite this repeated offer in the past, beginning with the word to Adam and Eve where he blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28), humanity insisted on seeking meaning on its own terms by questing for a “name.” That is why the bold announcement in Genesis 12:2, where God declared that he would freely give a “name” to Abram, was so unexpected. Rather than it being a human achievement that came by means of Abram’s own works, it would come as a gift from God’s free grace.”

Kaiser, Walter C. Mission in the Old Testament: Israel As a Light to the Nations. 2nd ed., Baker Academic, 2012. p. 9.

Genesis 12 links:

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, January 23, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Genesis 11

Genesis 11:1 Now the whole land had one language and used the same words.

Genesis 11:2 And as people set out from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Genesis 11:3 And they said every man to his friend, “Come, let us make bricks, and bake them completely.” So, they had brick for stone, and asphalt for mortar.

Genesis 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”

Genesis 11:5 And Yahveh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam had built.

Genesis 11:6 And Yahveh said, “Notice, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Genesis 11:7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

Genesis 11:8 So Yahveh scattered them from there over the face of all the land, and they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:9 That is why its name was called Babel, because there Yahveh confused the language of all the land. And from there Yahveh scattered them over the face of all the land.

Genesis 11:10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old (two years after the flood) he fathered Arpachshad.

Genesis 11:11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah.

Genesis 11:13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:14 After Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.

Genesis 11:15 then Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:16 After Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg.

Genesis 11:17 then Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:18 After Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.

Genesis 11:19 then Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:20 After Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.

Genesis 11:21 then Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:22 After Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.

Genesis 11:23 then Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:24 After Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.

Genesis 11:25 Then Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Genesis 11:27 Here are the generations from Terah: Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.

Genesis 11:28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

Genesis 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 11:30 But Sarai was without offspring; she had no child.

Genesis 11:31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans purposing to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

Genesis 11:32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 11 quotes:

“There are, of course, various lines of evidence in the Bible itself which militate against the strict-chronology interpretation of the genealogy of Genesis 11:10-26.’ But although the Biblical text does not appear to speak unequivocally as to the date of the Flood, it does give strong witness that this date is on the order of magnitude of only some several thousands of years ago.”

Whitcomb, John C. The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications. Presbyterian and Reformed Pub, 1964. p. 391.

“They had a particular goal in mind. “Come, let’s build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves so that we won’t be dispersed over all the earth” (Genesis 11:4). A fascinating kind of isolationism was at work. They had no way of knowing if there were other humans in other places, and they didn’t want to know. They saw themselves as the earth’s only occupants. They had no idea what lay beyond the farther reach of hills, and they didn’t care to find out. Perhaps they were haunted by the memory of a tradition, that their human assignment was to “fill the earth and master it” (1:28), and they really didn’t care to get involved with all of the earth. Or, on the other hand, perhaps they had a mythic memory of an Eden from which their ancestors had been expelled, and they didn’t intend to suffer that kind of fate again.”

Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Genesis. Abingdon Press, 2011. p. 42.

“The uniqueness of the genealogies in Genesis 5 and Genesis 11 lies in the fact that they include a complete list of each person’s birth, age at procreation, and life span even though they lived four thousand to six thousand years ago. The completeness of the genealogies affirms that God’s redemptive work did not cease in any generation, but continued throughout history.”

Park, Abraham. Genesis Genealogies: God’s Administration in the History of Redemption (Book 1). Periplus Editions, 2016. p. 38.

Genesis 11 links:

ACST 28. Sin- The War
Faith, obedience and worship
first look at the nation God chose
let us build a city
Only one Abram
The language barrier

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, January 4, 2019
Maranatha Daily Devotional – May 21, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – May 22, 2015
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, January 22, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, January 5, 2023

GENESIS in Jeff’s library