1.11 Genesis IV: Trouble in the Family

History in the Bible

Garry Stevens

History, Christianity, Judaism, Bible, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 693 Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2015

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Abraham swindles the Philistine king Abimelech just as he did Pharoah, and almost kills his son Isaac, following God's commands. At the very last minute, God says it's all been a test. Was this a remnant of ancient Israelite child sacrifice? After a perfunctory chapter or two on Isaac, Genesis forgets about him to talk about the Bible's greatest and least repentant con-man: Jacob, later known as Israel. We meet yet another scheming wife, Rebekah.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, I'm Gary Stevens, and welcome to the History in the Bible podcast.
0:24.8	All the history, in all the books, in all the Bibles.
0:45.0	Thank you. Episode 1.11, Trouble in the Family.
0:56.2	Welcome back to the History in the Bible podcast. In the last episode, I left Abraham entertaining three divine emissaries, who have reaffirmed God's promise of a son.
1:02.6	Abraham's three mysterious guests start packing their bags for Sodom, Sedom.
1:07.1	The city to which his uncle lot has moved to enjoy a nice, happy retirement.
1:13.0	God drops in like the crazy cat lady next door to tell Abraham of his latest scheme.
1:23.5	Quote, Genesis 1817. Now Yave had said to himself, shall I cover up from Abraham what I am about to do?
1:29.9	Indeed, I have known him in order that he may charge his sons and his household after him, that they shall keep the way of Yave, to do what is right and just, in order that Yave may
1:37.9	bring upon Abraham what he spoke concerning him. So Yave said, the outcry in Sodom and Gomorrah, how great it is,
1:47.8	and their sin, how exceedingly heavy it weighs. So let me go down and see, if they have done
1:55.2	according to the cry that has come to me, destruction. But Abraham stood in the presence of Yave. Abraham came close and said,
2:04.9	Will you sweep away the innocent, along with the guilty? End quote. In his first really moral moment,
2:12.4	Abraham please with God to spare the cities if he can just find ten innocents. God agrees and a relieved Abraham
2:20.6	retires for the duration. The idea that just a few righteous individuals can deliver an entire
2:27.3	community from God's wrath resurfaced in later Judaism. It is particularly prominent in the more
2:34.0	mystical corners of rabbinic literature.
2:37.0	This holds that there are 36 especially holy people in the world, and that if it were not for them,
2:44.1	all of them, the world would come to an end. But the story, of course, doesn't end there.
2:53.6	Two messengers arrive at Lott's home in Sodom. Presumably, these are the same who visited Abraham.
2:57.6	Which makes one wonder what happened to messenger number three.
3:00.6	Perhaps his camel ran out of water.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Garry Stevens, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Garry Stevens and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.