“Now these are the generations of Terah” (11:27, KJV)

Terah (Abram’s father)

11:27-32 *

• Terah’s family
• Abram marries Sarai [his half-sister, see 20:12] who is barren [but see 21:1-3]
• Terah begins a journey from Ur to Canaan but only gets as far as Harran
• Death of Terah

God blesses Abram [a.k.a. Abraham]

12:1-9

• God had already told Abram to leave home & go to another land [cf. Acts 7:2-4, Heb 11:8-10];
• v2-3, God promises to bless Abram
• Abram & Sarai go to Canaan (accompanied by Lot their nephew)
• v7, God promises that Abram’s descendants will receive the Land [fulfilled in Josh 21:43-45]

12:10-20

• Abram visits Egypt
• Pharaoh^A takes Sarai into his household (unaware she is Abram’s wife) so God sends plagues on him until he returns her to Abram

ch. 13

• In Canaan: Abram & Lot separate; Lot takes the fertile land
• v14-15, God promises to give Abram all of the Land;
• v16, God promises to give Abram many descendants
• Abram must walk throughout the Land [as symbolic of claiming the ground, cf. Josh 1:3]

ch. 14

• War breaks out; Lot is captured; Abram rescues Lot
• Melchizedek the priest blesses Abram

[Melchizedek is symbolic of Jesus, see Ps 110:4 and Heb 5:5-10, ch. 7]

15:1-6

• God promises Abram many descendants; Abram believes and is credited with righteousness

15:7-21

• God covenants the Land to Abram; it will happen after 400 years of slavery [cf. Ex 12:40-41]

[During this covenant process, Abram cuts various animals in half. The reason for this is to cause the one making the covenant to have to say: 'If I break this covenant, may I end up like these animals' (see example in Jer 34:18-20). God tells Abram to prepare this type of covenant so that Abram can be assured that God will keep the promise]

ch. 16*

• Hagar (Sarai’s slave-girl) becomes Abram’s wife [or concubine, see 25:5-6]
• The pregnant Hagar hates Sarai; Sarai mistreats her; Hagar runs away; God sends her back
• Ishmael is born

ch. 17

• God covenants to give Abram many descendants;
• God covenants to be Abram's God;
• God covenants to give Abram the Land.
• God renames them Abraham & Sarah
• Abraham must be circumcised [as a sign of the covenant]
• God promises that Isaac will be born
• Abraham gets circumcised

18:1-15

• God visits Abraham & promises that barren Sarah will have a son; Sarah laughs at this

Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed

18:16-33

• God plans to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah; Abraham asks God not to destroy the righteous

19:1-23

• Angels visit Sodom, experience the city’s wickedness [cf. Ezek 16:49-50] and send Lot away

19:24-26 *

• God rains fire & sulphur on the cities

This destruction is used in the New Testament as an example to demonstrate how it will be when Jesus returns on the Day of Judgement, see Lk 17:28-33 and 2 Pet 2:6-9]

• Lot’s wife dies by being turned into a pillar of salt [for disobeying the command of 19:17]

[The land near Sodom & Gomorrah became known as a place of salt pits (see Zeph 2:9); it is probable that the destruction of the city would cause a dangerous cloud of burning salt to be blasted out of the area. Lot and his daughters were protected from this dangerous phenomenon by angelic protection and refuge within a small city (see 19:20-22), however it appears that when Lot arrived there and the destruction began, Lot's wife had lingered behind by turning back for some reason, thus she experienced the full blast outside the protection of the city walls. This verse probably describes her condition after being caked with molten salt and perhaps there are some similarities between her final condition and the people who died at Pompeii from the pyroclastic flow (the cloud of ash) when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD]

19:27-29

• Abraham views the smoking remains
• Lot had been rescued by God on Abraham’s behalf

19:30-38*

• Lot's daughters decide that Lot should have sons, so they get him drunk and sleep with him
• His daughters have sons: Moab & Ben-Ammi (forefathers of the Moabites & Ammonites)

[God made it abundantly clear to Moses that such incest was sinful (see Lev 18:6-18 where the phrase 'uncovering nakedness' implies sexual relations). God also told Moses that all these actions were committed by the inhabitants of the land of Canaan (see Lev 18:3 & v24-28; the Canaanites had a fertility religion). Having learnt of the fertility religion while spending time in Sodom, it is likely that Lot's daughters, instead of bringing the situation to God, chose the practices of the fertility religion of Canaan as their way of ensuring that Lot would have more children]

Abraham & Sarah / Isaac & Rebekah

ch. 20

• Abimelech^A king of Gerar takes Sarah (unaware she is Abraham’s wife) so God rebukes him

21:1-7*

• Sarah gives birth to Isaac

[cf. Heb 11:11. “Isaac” means “he laughs”, cf. Gen 17:17-19, 18:10-15]

21:8-13

• Sarah doesn’t want Ishmael to share in Isaac’s inheritance; God agrees with Sarah

21:14-19

• Abraham sends Hagar & Ishmael away
• In the desert, God shows Hagar a well of water

21:20-21*

• God stays with Ishmael
• Ishmael marries an Egyptian woman

21:22-34

• Abraham and Abimelech^A make a treaty to deal with each other in kindness; it is agreed that Abraham dug the well at Beersheba [and that Abraham has legal rights to the well. ‘Beersheba’ means ‘Well-of-the-oath’]

22:1-19

• God tests Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac
• Abraham is obedient [cf. Heb 11:17-19] but God stops him, provides a sacrificial ram instead
• God promises a blessing (cf. Gen 12:2-3)

22:20-24*

• List: The sons of Nahor (Abraham’s brother); Nahor’s granddaughter is Rebekah

ch. 23*

• Sarah dies; Abraham buys a burial plot

[the only land in Canaan he buys & owns; cf. Heb 11:13-16]

ch. 24*

• Abraham sends his servant back home to find a wife for Isaac
• [In Mesopotamia:] the servant prays for a sign & Rebekah gives water to his camels
• [In Canaan:] Isaac weds Rebekah

25:1-11*

• Abraham marries Keturah and has sons;
• Because Abraham's inheritance will go to Isaac, the sons of Abraham's concubines [Hagar & Keturah] were sent away with gifts
• Abraham dies
• Isaac is blessed

GEN / Ex / Lev / Num / Deut