Category Archives: People of the Bible

Moabites and Ammonites: Family and Foe – Part 3

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https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-1

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/ishmael-and-es…and-foe-part-2/

I find it unsettling that four of Israel’s major enemies are “family.”  Now at times, they were civil towards one another and we have to remember that Ruth, David’s and Jesus’ grandmother, was a Moabitess.  But Edom, Moab, and Ammon are frequently mentioned together as joining forces to fight Israel and in many of the Prophetic Books, they are together when the Lord is handing out judgment.

It should also be noted that God warns Moses and the Israelites about fighting with them on the way back to the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 2:5,9,19 it is stated that each of them had been given that land by the Lord and Israel was not to start trouble.

Lot is the father of Moab and Ammon (see Timeline) by his daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:30 – 38). Now a question that has been asked is whether they should have ever been there, to begin with!  Abraham was to leave his country and family and go to the Promised Land but there is Lot with his uncle as he leaves the rest of the family.

Ishmael and Esau: Family and Foe – Part 2

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Esau (Edom) is also a shadowing of personal/family troubles but he is more complicated even than Ishmael.  When Jacob was sent off to find a wife Esau did something interesting, he went to Ishmael for a third wife.  At one time I thought that was to make Isaac and Rebekah mad but I now think it was just the opposite; in an attempt to please mom and dad he went back to “family” just like Jacob was doing (Genesis 28:6-9).  Esau married Mahalath, Ishmael’s daughter. So all of the types and shadows that may apply to Ishmael live on in Esau’s family. ( see Part 1 and Three Books)

Now the bad blood, remember it started in Rebekah’s womb (see Timeline), that had existed between Esau and Jacob (Genesis27: 41-45) seems to have been forgiven in the 20 years that they were separated (Genesis 33) but you have to wonder if Jacob’s mistrust was well-founded or did he create another offense when he did not travel back right away to the family area.

I am sure it was different then but he certainly had two interesting names, Esau means “hairy” and Edom means “red.”

Edom and Israel were always fighting in the Old Testament and all of the Major and Minor Prophets have sections that talk about the destruction and downfall of Edom. Since this area corresponds to modern-day Jordan you just know that this story is not over yet.

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/three-books-three-views/

Please see the above link for more about Edom.

References: NIV footnotes,

Josephus is a Jewish historian, his writings may seem a little frightening but I only read the section that corresponds to what I am reading in the Bible.  My copy is a Nelson’s Super Value Series book and it does a good job of describing what each section covers and the parts in the “books” are very well labeled.  It adds an interesting perspective to the Bible passages that I am studying.

Ishmael and Esau: Family and Foe – Part 1

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These are the first-born children of both Abraham and Isaac. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael but he was not considered the “promised child” and Esau (see Three Books and The Day) sold his birthright to Jacob. So neither of these men received the rights of the first-born; this is in agreement with the shadowing of Adam and Jesus. ( FYI Muslims say they are the spiritual children of Abraham through Ishmael.) You can read that both of these men maintained a relationship with their fathers because both of them showed up to help bury their fathers; Genesis 25:9 for Abraham and Genesis 35:29 for Isaac. Josephus, a Jewish historian, actually uses the death of Isaac as a dividing point for his history book The Antiquities of the Jews.

Ishmael is an interesting “type and shadow” he was born from an Egyptian and got an Egyptian wife; Egypt for Christians is associated with our bondages and addictions before we are saved.  So even though Egypt still holds that shadow Ishmael takes on an added shadowing because he is something personal/family in our lives.  One of the last mentions of him is in Genesis 25:18 which refers to the fact that his descendants lived in hostility (or to the east of) all of their brothers. According to Josephus Ishmael became the father of the Arabians. (see Part 2)

Now the Arabians do show up later in Scripture in some interesting places. In  2 Chronicles 17 Jehoshaphat has tribute brought to him by Arabs, Jehoram is attacked by them in chapter 21, and in chapter 26 Uzziah is beating them again with God’s help.  Nehemiah has trouble with them because of Geshem and they are mentioned in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel where they are condemned to the sword or are under God’s wrath.  But a scripture that ties all of this together is in Galatians 4:21 – 31. Hagar represents Mount Sinai (the Law) that is in Arabia and Paul links that to physical Jerusalem while the heavenly Jerusalem is linked to Sarah.

References:1.12.2 The Antiquities of the Jews, Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance

https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/patriarch-timeline/

Rock or chip off of the Block?

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Simon, son of John, we know him better as Peter (Cephas) and he is a favorite character in the Bible and one that shows “God-growth” from the beginning to the end of his story.  A meaning of Simon comes from the word for “hearing” and John means “Jehovah-favored” and this may all come from a word that means, “dove” and it is a possible form of Jonah (some Bible translations will use Jonah instead of John).  (Those “Jonah” people and fish, boats and water, sounds like another Bible study to me.) Cephas or Peter means a “piece of rock” or small pebble.

Matthew 16:18 is a verse that I think needs to be looked at a little different. Why would Jesus say that Peter, a “small piece of rock”, would have the church built on him when he used a term for a “large rock” in the same passage?  Lets try it this way; Jesus points at Peter and says he is a “part of the rock” and then gestures towards himself and says but on the “big rock (Jesus)” will the Church be built.

Resources: The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, my brother Luther

Jacob/Israel what really was his name?

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Names are always a great place to start when studying the Bible.  It could be the name of a person or a place but a quick look in your concordance will give you plenty of questions to start a Bible study off with.

One that I find interesting is when God changed the names of Abraham and Jacob.  Abraham who started out Abram and Jacob who went to Israel have provided plenty of study time for me.  It is this discrepancy of why when Abram went to Abraham he was never called Abram again in the Bible; Jacob on the other hand managed to be called both names through the rest of Scripture.  Once Abram became the “father of many nations” that title stuck and the name change/prophecy went into effect.

Jacob or “heal catcher” became Israel or “he will rule (as) God” when he ran away with his family back to the land of Canaan. As you read that part of Genesis it would seem like God made the name change twice (chapter 32 & 35).  But before you can get out of chapter 35 he is called Jacob again several times.  In many places in Psalms and the Prophets the names Jacob and Israel appear together in the same passage.

Questions that are still waiting an answer: Did “Jacob” ever really become “Israel?” Did Jacob block, stop, or limit the change?  Was this “limited” change on purpose; was the “perfect” will of God carried out?

Having asked those questions I will say this, it seems that the duel use of the names show a natural Jewish people and a spiritual Jewish people.  And when I read many of the passages with both names it is very clear that both are equally loved and treasured.