Today I am giving you a list of passages. You may look at them and say, "So what?" It may look like a bunch of useless information to you. But first, should we automatically discard anything in the Bible and label it useless? And second, wait till you see what I can do with these.
All of these passages are in the book of Genesis:
11:26 Terah was 70 when he had his first son.
11:32 Terah died at 205.
12:4 Abram was 75 when Terah died and he left Haran.
16:16 Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born.
17:1ff Abraham was 99 when circumcision was instituted and his name was changed.
17:17; 21:5 Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born.
23:1 Sarah was 127 when she died.
25:7 Abraham was 175 when he died.
25:20 Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah.
25:26 Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born.
26:34,35 Esau was 40 when he married to the two Hittite women.
30:25,26 Joseph was born at the end of Jacob's 14 years of labor.
31:41 Jacob was in Haran 20 years altogether.
35:16 Benjamin was born on Jacob's trip home.
35:28 Isaac was 180 when he died.
37:2 Joseph was 17 when his brothers sold him.
41:46 Joseph was 30 when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream.
45:6 Joseph was 39 when the family moved to Egypt.
47:9 Jacob was 130 when the family moved to Egypt.
47:28 Jacob died at 147.
50:26 Joseph died at 110.
So what is the point? I imagine that you are just like me and have mental pictures of the stories in Genesis because of the way they were told to you as a child. Some of those mental pictures are completely wrong. Here are just a few things you can figure out using the list above.
Abraham could not possibly have been the eldest son and if Haran, who died in Ur, was the oldest, then nephew Lot, Haran's son, could have been older than Uncle Abraham!
When Pharaoh thought Sarah was so beautiful that he whisked her into his harem, she was 65 years old!
When Isaac said, "I am old," in 27:2, he was indeed 137, but was certainly not on his deathbed because he lived another 43 years.
Jacob was 77 when he fled to Haran and 84 when he married Leah and Rachel. He had been in Haran a month before he fell for Rachel and bargained his labor to marry her. So much for sweet young "love at first sight."
Jacob and Esau were 15 when their grandfather Abraham died. That means they had plenty of time to hear the old stories, including how their grandfather had felt so strongly about finding the woman who became their mother that he wouldn't even let Isaac leave the land. Yet, Esau still married Hittite women, a tribe of Canaanite, whom they should also have known were cursed since the flood.
Isaac was alive when Joseph "disappeared," but died 12 years before he was found in Egypt.
Joseph was 56 when Jacob died.
Depending upon how much time you want to put into it, you can figure out a lot of other things too. In fact, you should probably print this list out and then keep it tucked into your Bible in the book of Genesis. It will not only give you a more accurate picture of these events, but it might help you see them as real people, people you can learn from in far more ways than you ever thought possible.
These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come 1Cor10:11.
Dene Ward
All of these passages are in the book of Genesis:
11:26 Terah was 70 when he had his first son.
11:32 Terah died at 205.
12:4 Abram was 75 when Terah died and he left Haran.
16:16 Abram was 86 when Ishmael was born.
17:1ff Abraham was 99 when circumcision was instituted and his name was changed.
17:17; 21:5 Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90 when Isaac was born.
23:1 Sarah was 127 when she died.
25:7 Abraham was 175 when he died.
25:20 Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah.
25:26 Isaac was 60 when Jacob and Esau were born.
26:34,35 Esau was 40 when he married to the two Hittite women.
30:25,26 Joseph was born at the end of Jacob's 14 years of labor.
31:41 Jacob was in Haran 20 years altogether.
35:16 Benjamin was born on Jacob's trip home.
35:28 Isaac was 180 when he died.
37:2 Joseph was 17 when his brothers sold him.
41:46 Joseph was 30 when he interpreted Pharaoh's dream.
45:6 Joseph was 39 when the family moved to Egypt.
47:9 Jacob was 130 when the family moved to Egypt.
47:28 Jacob died at 147.
50:26 Joseph died at 110.
So what is the point? I imagine that you are just like me and have mental pictures of the stories in Genesis because of the way they were told to you as a child. Some of those mental pictures are completely wrong. Here are just a few things you can figure out using the list above.
Abraham could not possibly have been the eldest son and if Haran, who died in Ur, was the oldest, then nephew Lot, Haran's son, could have been older than Uncle Abraham!
When Pharaoh thought Sarah was so beautiful that he whisked her into his harem, she was 65 years old!
When Isaac said, "I am old," in 27:2, he was indeed 137, but was certainly not on his deathbed because he lived another 43 years.
Jacob was 77 when he fled to Haran and 84 when he married Leah and Rachel. He had been in Haran a month before he fell for Rachel and bargained his labor to marry her. So much for sweet young "love at first sight."
Jacob and Esau were 15 when their grandfather Abraham died. That means they had plenty of time to hear the old stories, including how their grandfather had felt so strongly about finding the woman who became their mother that he wouldn't even let Isaac leave the land. Yet, Esau still married Hittite women, a tribe of Canaanite, whom they should also have known were cursed since the flood.
Isaac was alive when Joseph "disappeared," but died 12 years before he was found in Egypt.
Joseph was 56 when Jacob died.
Depending upon how much time you want to put into it, you can figure out a lot of other things too. In fact, you should probably print this list out and then keep it tucked into your Bible in the book of Genesis. It will not only give you a more accurate picture of these events, but it might help you see them as real people, people you can learn from in far more ways than you ever thought possible.
These things happened to them as examples and were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come 1Cor10:11.
Dene Ward
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