Devotional Short Note to Genesis 25
The chapter starts with a list of
nearly all Abraham’s wives and children. An extended family that almost compare
to African traditional cultural habits of multiple wives and also in Islam
religion. Polygamy they call it. Polygamy was not the Garden of Eden ideal.
Abraham sinned by having multiple wives because God does not change His ideal. The reality on the ground was mixed
sinfulness with a Sin-deceiver of God’s Word lurking around every corner with
everyone who wants to open the doors of their heart and passions to him
[Lucifer the fallen angel]. Abraham had concubines “But unto the sons of the
concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from
Isaac his son” = וְלִבְנֵי הַפִּילַגְשִׁים אֲשֶׁר לְאַבְרָהָם נָתַן אַבְרָהָם מַתָּנֹת וַיְשַׁלְּחֵם
מֵעַל יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ (Genesis 25:5). Abraham started looking for a
companion after Sarah’s death and that was not unlawful: “And Abraham took
another wife” = וַיֹּסֶף אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקַּח אִשָּׁה (Genesis
25:1). Taking another wife after Sarah’s death is not a problem and not against
the Word of God. But his concubines were. This is not an achievement but a
deterioration as far as the Word of God is concerned. There are even Christian cults that teach their members
that to increase the “remnant” they need to have multiple wives to help God
grow the remnant on earth. Fallacy and deception by the Deceiver. No prophet, no person, no Patriarch can go against the
Word of God explicitly giving the ideal as was done in Genesis 2 and 3 repeated
and upheld in the New Testament by Jesus and Paul and the others. A word by
Jesus is a Word of God for Jesus was God becoming man, the Son of Man. But Abraham fell short of the glory of God and his wives
are listed. Moses wrote this because he wanted to
come to God’s plan through all this: the sons of the concubines or sinful acts
of Abraham was not to inherit Abraham’s main capital at all. Only Isaac was
selected (Genesis 25:6). Abraham sent all the others away with
gifts and not empty-handed. That is what he did with Ishmael. Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
This is because as a prophet receiving the Word of God with the promise of the
great nation in announcing the birth of Isaac, this direct revelation by God
only came to him with the birth of Isaac, not with these other children. So,
although legal children were in a second marriage, they were not to inherit
with the “promised child” Isaac. God had to choose a birthline for the birth
of the Messiah. This is what was at stake here. Jesus was to be born form
Isaac, the Son of God, God Himself. It was the plan of God in the long-run that
was prepared early enough. Moses counted Abraham’s years and
concluded that he died in a good age full of years, 175 years old in 2065 BCE. “100
year, and 70 year, and 5 years” = מְאַת שָׁנָה וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה וְחָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים. The reason Moses used singular after 100
is because he is talking about the column for hundreds followed by the column
for the tens and after 5 does not follow any line-divider vertically for
addition but just the total beneath and this total is indicated by the plural “years”.
When the readers sees “year” he was to draw a mental line vertically after that
and move to the next space to the left which is the area for the “tens” and
mentally draw another vertical line when he sees the singular “year” and then
write the number below ten without another “year” for now the plural “years”
asks the reader to add up the sum = 175 years. Moses is using the decimal system
of counting here. It may be that the original source from the Book of
Patriarchs that Moses was excerpting from, used a decimal system in the days of
Abraham in 2065 BCE already. In Middle Egyptian numerals as
Gardiner explains in his Egyptian Grammar of the 3rd edition
1988, paragraph §261 where the example is given: twenty years but it is written
in the signs: year (singular) 20 = rnpt 20. They worked with a decimal system
in Egypt of Moses’ days. The number is plural but the year is
singular. The Egyptians will make the sign for 100 first, move right and
provide all the tens and then move further right and give the numbers 1-9. (see
the example of 75 with Gardener here). ∩∩∩∩∩∩∩|||||. Moses knew Egyptian
fluently since he grew up with it. The Sumerian language in the days of
Abraham in 2065 BCE had a sexagesimal (6 counting) system in which numeration occurred
in alternating steps of 10 and 6: 1-10, 10-60, 60-600, 600-3600 etc. (see Otto Edzard,
Sumerian Grammar chapter 10, also online available). The word ĝeš was 60
and u was 10. Thus ĝeš-u meant “sixty ten” = 600. One get’s a feeling for the
biblical numbers knowing these facts. From Genesis 25:8-10 follows a Moses
summation of past actions in previous chapters. It is like the typical
journalist last paragraphs in an article putting the reader into the picture of
what is happening. Then Moses wanted to speak about Isaac
after the death of Abraham in verse 11 and Ishmael in verse 12. Ishmael died in
2017 BCE since he was born in 2154 BCE when Abraham was 86. Urnammu of Ur III died in 2095 BCE and
his son Shulgi took over until 2047. He praised himself a lot and deified
himself while he was still alive. It is a good thing Abraham’s family was no
longer in Ur. The ruler cult was a persecution for dissidents in Ur at this
time. The other sons of Urnammu ruled
afterwards Amar-sin, Shu-sin and Ibbi-sin and it was during Ibbi-sin’s reign
that Ishmael died. Even though it was a Sumerian society, the names of the
rulers showed semitic elements and influence. Moses then skipped a lot of
information in the Book of the Patriarchs and moved on to a paragraph that he
cited about Isaac and his wedding life in Genesis 25:19-26. He further skipped information and
excerpted an incident of the birthright that was forfeited by Esau to Jacob
over a meal (Genesis 25:27-34). Isaac was 60 when they were born,
these twins in 2080 BCE because Isaac was born in 2140 BCE. Shulgi ruled until
2047 BCE so it was in his reign that they were born. It was terrible times at
Ur but also terrible among the remnant of God. The birthright stolen situation
was wrong. One cannot make a right by a wrong deed. God would have taken care
of it by Himself, he did not have to steal his future blessings from his older
brother.
Dear God We always want to take things in our
own hands. Help us to patiently wait and pray for answers to our prayers. In
Jesus Name. Amen.