My husband and I got a chronological bible and are reading through it together. This isn’t a devotional or even a typical bible study. We’re just wrapping up the day by reading together, and we chat about it. This kind of relaxed approach has led to some strange discussions.
For example, on Abraham and Sarah, we concluded that Sarah must have been hot. It seemed like wherever they went, they had to lie about their marriage and some king took her into his household as a wife or concubine. This continued even past the age of ninety. In Genesis 17:17 Sarah is ninety years old. In Genesis 20 King Abimelech took Sarah.
We also wondered about the relationship between Lot and his daughters. To recap, the men of Sodom demanded Lot handed over his guests, and instead he offered the mob his virgin daughters. Can you imagine the expressions on the faces of his daughters when he made that offer? Did he do so because he already knew they were corrupt – as they later got their father drunk and slept with him – or did their behavior stem from the break in the relationship with their father? And did you catch the fact that their decendents were the Moabites and the Ammonites? Those two groups were later slaughtered by the Israelites – but in some ways had the last laugh as they corrupted the Israelites, who worshipped their gods. (Judges 10:6) So was all of that the fruit of Lot’s two daughter’s generational sin? Hmmm…
And knowing what a Jerk Rebekah’s brother Laban is later on, we’re seeing hints of money-grubbing already in Genesis 24:30. Is his unpleasantness part of why Rebekah was so pleased to leave the household where she grew up?
Again, this style of reading – treating it like a story and not really focusing on theology in any meaningful way – is something very different for us. It doesn’t replace those things, but it’s providing a focus on the lives, sins, and foibles of real people whom God has used to forward his plan.
