Reading the Bible in 90 days, day 2

Today's reading was Genesis 17-28 (it was just supposed to be through 28:19, but as there were only 5 more verses I finished the chapter). 

I'm gonna be a little shorter w/my recap of this one, but first I wanted to mention what we went over in church last night.  The sermon was on Acts 15:1-31, a discussion of the new Gentiles being converted to Christianity, and how the Jewish Christians wanted to require for them to become circumcised as well.  The apostles discussed and determined that it was unnecessary for their salvation and would just make it harder for the Gentiles by adding something else to what thye had to do, and being circumcised was not required for them to be saved, as God had already marked them with the Holy Spirit.  The sermon centered on the idea that we tend to add requiremetns to God's commands and make salvation very legalistic.  It just stuck out to me after reviewing Gen. 2:17  3:3--since the Garden of Eden/the Fall we have been trying to add to God's commands which only makes it harder on ourselves!

And now back to Genesis 17-28.  In this section we hit a lot of the main OT narratives:

• Abrahams covenant with God (signified in the act of circumcision).  Abraham immediately obeys God's command/requirement and circumcises all the men in his camp.
• both Abraham & Sarah laughing at the idea of having a child so late in age (Sarah was scolded, but not Abraham...not really sure why, the Hebrew word is exactly the same in both cases)
• the story of Lot & the angels in Sodom & the subsequent destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah (this whole thing is disturbing--Lot offers up his virgin daughters to be raped by the townsmen instead of the visiting men (aka angels) and then he ends up unknowingly impregnating his daughters after the destruction of their home...just yuck)
• Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt (fun fact, this pillar of salt was referred to in the later writings of the Jewish historians Josephus, Clement, Iraneus, & Benjamin--it was standing accoring to their records about a thousand years later!
• Once again, Abraham misleads a foreigner (this time Abimelech) that Sarah is his sister instead of wife--goes on to rationalize it saying that she really is his half-sister and later comes into a covenant agreement with Abimelech
• Isaac is finally born to Abraham & Sarah in accordance with God's promise.  His name means laughter as they both laughed at the idea of having a child at such advanced age--now it is referred to as laughter in joy that it came to pass.
• Sarah turns against Hagar & Ishmael and drives them away--her plan ended up causing her pain--if only she had just waited for God's timing instead of trying to take matters into her own hands!  Yet God still provides of Hagar & Ishmael
• The Lord tests Abraham and commands him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  Abraham immediately obeys and does not question that God will provide. 
• Sarah dies & is buried.  Abraham decides to find a bride for Isaac and sends his servant to his relatives to find a person.
• The servant asks God to provide a clear sign--the chosen bride will not only give him water at the well, but will water all his camels as well.  Rebekah meets these requirements and is chosen as the bride for Isaac.  They get married and he is comforted after his mother's death.
• Abraham dies and is buried.
• It turns out that Rebekah is also barren!  God has chosen barren women to carry out the promise of a great nation through Abraham's descendants--shows His power.  
• God intervenes and Rebekah conceives and gives birth to twins, Jacob & Esau.  She is partial to Jacob, Isaac is partial to Esau.  
• Jacob is tricky, tricks Esau out of his birthright in exchange for some "red stuff" (aka lentil stew).
• Isaac moves to Gerar due to a famine...and guess what?  He also lies to Abimelech and says that Rebeckah is his sister, not his wife!  This is a weird custom if I do say so myself.  the truth is found out and Isaac also makes a covenant with Abimelech.
• Jacob is encouraged by Rebekah to trick Isaac into giving him Esau's blessing.  He disguises himself and tricks his blinding father.  This causes a grudge between the twin brothers and Jacob is sent away by his parents in another trick by Rebekah in order to save his life from Esau.
• While fleeing, Jacob has a dream in which the Lord speaks to him and promises to multiply his descendants and to give them the land.  Jacob promises to make the Lord his God and to offer a tenth of everything God gives him, as long as he protects him on the journey and gets him home safely.  

So, that's a lot of content!  I guess the biggest lessons for me in this passage are about those if immediate obedience to the Lord and trusting in His timing.  In two instances we see Abraham immediately follow the Lord's instructions: in circumcising the men in his camp and in sacrificing Isaac.  In doing these things, Abraham is showing that he completely trusts the Lord to uphold his part of the covenant and bless and mulitply his descendents.  Also, we see the consequences of Sarah trying to take God's plan into her own hands by giving Hagar to Abraham to have a child.  She becomes angry and bitter towards her handmaid and the fact that Ishmael is mocking Isaac.