Abram and the Lord?

[rylee]

i am starting at the beginning of the bible again because now that i have found this wonderful forum i feel i'll finally get some answers to all these questions i have. you all have so much knowledge and insight i'm so excited to learn. hopefully by learning these things it will have a big impact on my mom whom i have asked prayers for. thank you all. you have been extremely helpful and kind!

first one is about Genesis 15: 13-16

so far Abram has been favored by God but i don't understand what happened. the lord tells abram he's going to have a good life but then solemnly promises that his descendants for the next 400 years will not. then punishes the people that treat abrams people badly.

the people that treated abrams people badly weren't sinful in the beginning but took 4 years to get that sinful. why didn't God speak to them so they would repent. they were punished for treating abrams people badly?

what does this all mean? what did Abrams people do to deserve to be enslaved and abused.

[Paidfor]

Hi rylee, welcome to Rapture Ready

Gen 15:13 God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.
Gen 15:14 "But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.
Gen 15:15 "As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
Gen 15:16 "Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete."

The Israelites were not sent to Egypt as punishment. If they were, then my question would be why are we being punished in the same way. We live here in spiritual Egypt. We are strangers in a land that is not ours. (Our home and our citizenship is Heaven.) Our righteous souls are tormented by the world around us. But God is not punishing us by placing us here. We are being refined and our faith is being tested just as Israel was refined in Egypt.

Exo 1:11 So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.
Exo 1:12 But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

So as you can see, Israel grew in the affliction of Egypt and became so strong that the Egyptians were afraid of them.


During the plagues of Egypt, the Bible explicitly says what the purpose for the plagues was. It was so that the Egyptians would know that the God of Israel is God. The plagues were to show the power of God over what was worshipped by the Egyptians. For instance the Egyptians worshipped the sun. God caused darkness to be in Egypt for three days.


As for the Amorites, the Bible says that their iniquity was not complete in Abram’s day so God was not yet willing to judge them. We know from the story of Jonah that God did send prophets to the Gentiles to warn them of impending judgment and give them a chance to repent. But the Bible doesn’t say anything about God’s dealings with the Amorites. I think that we need to trust in the nature of God that He was just in his dealings with them.

[bookworm1711]

Dear Rylee,

Welcome, indeed, to Rapture Ready! I'm new myself.

Just lately, in answer to prayer, I have been asked to lead a home Bible study some distance from my own home once a week on Monday night.

We, just this past Monday, spent time in the book of Genesis.

The very portion you mention touches upon the marvelous provisions God made in his promises to Abraham, promises which collectively are called the Abrahamic Covenant.

As you read further in the book of Genesis you will find more passages that expand upon the Abrahamic Covenant. Altogether (so far) in my study I've noted about 14 provisions specified in the covenant. It is perhaps the very most important covenant in Scripture, upon which the rest of the Bible comments, expands, demonstrates fulfillment in part. We know it is not completely fulfilled because Stephen in Acts 7:5 expressly declares it has not yet been fulfilled.

Later in the narrative or story in Genesis you will read about Joseph. God used Joseph to save his own people by miraculously or providentially placing him in position of highest authority in Egypt at the time of a great famine. Joseph was able to have his family come to live in Egypt in the land of Goshen, and there this family grew to the nation of Israel. So, really, though the Israelites were indeed slaves for 400 years, God delivered them at the hand of Moses in the Exodus from Egypt.

[rylee]

thank you both i get the refining part. i have 4 different bibles and i read the verses from each one and try to figure it out thru that. they are each a little different. i was looking at a bible my aunt had recieved from her son's funeral and psalm 23 is missing, i mean psalm 23 is there but it says something completely different it's not even the same subject. how is that so?

[Paidfor]

thank you both i get the refining part. i have 4 different bibles and i read the verses from each one and try to figure it out thru that. they are each a little different. i was looking at a bible my aunt had recieved from her son's funeral and psalm 23 is missing, i mean psalm 23 is there but it says something completely different it's not even the same subject. how is that so?

There are many English translations of the Bible. Most of them are good. A few of them are not. I think this is a wise way to judge a translation. Take a familiar passage and see how it reads. If the meaning is not what you are expecting - avoid that translation.

[bookworm1711]

Dear Rylee,

Some Bible's have a different chapter numbering for the Psalms. Just look a chapter either way, and you'll probably see the familiar Psalm you are looking for. Psalm 23 will be numbered Psalm 22, for example. This is true in my Roman Catholic edition of the Bible.

The different numbering will also be found in English translations of the Greek Septuagint.

[Paidfor]

Dear Rylee,

Some Bible's have a different chapter numbering for the Psalms. Just look a chapter either way, and you'll probably see the familiar Psalm you are looking for. Psalm 23 will be numbered Psalm 22, for example. This is true in my Roman Catholic edition of the Bible.

The different numbering will also be found in English translations of the Greek Septuagint.

Thanks bookworm. I didn't know that.:hat

[rylee]

thank you bookworm i didn't know that either. that's what my aunt's bible is roman catholic.

i'm learning so much here.

thank you

[christine21]

thank you bookworm i didn't know that either. that's what my aunt's bible is roman catholic.

i'm learning so much here.

thank you

heheeh i learned so much reading this bulletin right now as well :D I love this place :):thumb