Genesis (Part 2)

I'll try to get through Genesis a little bit faster. It's just such a huge book of the Bible, with tons of stories in it- it's hard to condense to a two-part synopsis!

We left off after Noah. Next we read about the Tower of Babel, where God caused all the men working on it to speak in different languages so that they couldn't finish the building.

More geneologies.....which brings us to approximately 2,000 B.C.

Then we start reading about a man named Abram. He moves out of his dad's house (or should I say tent) and goes away to start his own house and wealth. He marries a beautiful young woman named Sarai. You may know that these two go on to become Abraham and Sarah. There are several stories about Abraham. He goes to war, he rescues his brother Lot, and for some reason (fear for his life) he is always telling rulers and kings that Sarah is his sister, not his wife. Anyways, Abram and Sarai don't have any children and they are getting really old. God makes a convenant with Abram and tells him that he will be the father of many nations (Genesis 15:5). This is when he changes Abram and Sarai's name to Abraham and Sarah.

Finally, after many years, Sarah has a baby boy and they name him Isaac. When Isaac is grown, Abraham sends a trusted servant to go back to the house of his father to get a wife for his son. God didn't want Abraham's family marrying into the unbelieving families in the area around them. This servant prays to God to be shown the woman who should be Isaac's wife by asking God that the woman should give water to him and also offer water to his camels. Rebekkah is the woman who does this, so the servant goes to talk to Rebekkah's father and then takes her back with him.

Issac and Rebekah have two sons, Jacob and Esau (twins, actually). The main story about these two boys is that Jacob (the younger) manages to get Esau to sell his birthright to him, and then gets Isaac's blessing that was supposed to be Esau's blessing. After this, Jacob is scared because he thinks Esau might harm him, so he runs away.

More geneologies.

Jacob roams on over to his mother's brother's family.

He agrees to work for his uncle Laban for 7 years in exchange for his uncle's daughter (yes, his cousin), Rachel. (my namesake, by the way)

After 7 years of work, on his wedding day, Jacob is dismayed (to put it lightly) to find that his uncle Laban has tricked him and given him Leah, Rachel's older sister, for his bride. Jacob doesn't find this out until after the wedding. So Jacob agrees to work 7 MORE years to finally get to marry Rachel.

After these 7 years, he finally gets his bride, and leaves his uncles house (I think of it more as a ranch or something like that). Oh yeah, and he becomes extremely wealthy with flocks of animals, then goes back home to find his brother Esau and make up with him.

Part 3 is next and that will finish out Genesis.