BibleProject - Trees of Testing and Blessing – Genesis E4

Episode Date: January 24, 2022

The family of Abraham is chosen by God. But despite God’s promises to them, they continually act out of greed, division, fear, deception, and lack of trust in Yahweh. How does God respond to this? What will he do to make sure his blessing comes to all nations? Join Tim, Jon, and Carissa as they continue tracing the theme of the tree of life in the second movement of Genesis.View full show notes from this episode →Timestamps Part one (00:00-13:50)Part two (13:50-27:45)Part three (27:45-36:30)Part four (36:30-53:45)Part five (53:45-1:05:28)Referenced ResourcesInterested in more? Check out Tim’s library here.Show Music “Defender (Instrumental)” by TENTS“We Must Believe in Spring” by Psalm Trees & Guillaume MuschalleShow produced by Cooper Peltz. Edited by Dan Gummel and Zach McKinley. Show notes by Lindsey Ponder. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

One of the first stories in the Bible is of Adam and Eve at the tree of knowing good and bad. And God says, do not touch it, or you will surely die. Eve is tempted by a snake to desire the fruit of the tree and she takes it. Now keep in mind this story, and those details when we read another story about Abraham meeting King of Bimlek. In this story, Abraham starts telling everyone that his wife is his sister. And so King of Bimlek. In this story Abraham starts telling everyone that his wife is his sister. And so King of Bimlek takes her. What's interesting is God appears to this king in a dream. It says, hey, this guy lied to you. And don't touch that woman or else you will surely die.

Abraham's wife is the tree that is not to be touched or eaten from, less you die. This king becomes the Adam figure, and Abraham plays the role of the snake, the lying, treacherous snake in the story. Today on the podcast, we are in the second movement of the Genesis scroll. These are the stories of Abraham. And in this movement, we're tracing the theme of trees.

In Hebrew, it's the word AIDS. AIDS can refer to any wooded object, a tree, a bush, or log. And when we see Aits, we sometimes find moments of temptation. But we also find moments of deliverance. Like when Hagar is wandering in the wilderness with her son about to die, and she puts her son under an aits. You have a woman who's about to die, and her child

about to die in the desert with no water. By a bush. That's the word used to describe the bushes in the eaten story. And then her eyes are open and what she sees is water. God provides water in the wilderness and gives them life and says, I'm going to make you into a great nation. In these chapters, we also get the climactic story where God asks Abraham to surrender everything.

And he does it at the top of a mountain on an altar of eight. Here God asks them to completely surrender the future blessing of their family over to God in the form of a sacrifice, only to receive it back by God's grace with not just a promise of blessing but a covenant oath of blessing. I'm John Collins and you're listening to Bible Project Podcast. Today Tim Mackey, Chris Aquinn and I trace the theme of eights through the second half of the Abraham stories where we find temptation, deliverance and blessing. Thanks for joining us. Here we go. All right, we're back at it. We are moving through the Bible, movement by movement. And we are currently in movement two of the scroll of Genesis, which is the first scroll in the Bible.

Oh, and Chris, hi. Hi. And Tim, hello. Hello. Three of us are working through this, and we're looking at the theme of trees in the Abraham stories. And so we just looked at how the theme of trees begins in the Garden of Eden. Well, actually it begins in the creation narrative.

Yeah, yeah. In Genesis 1, where God gives seed bearing trees, fruit bearing trees as his gift of life. It's a good thing for humans. And then in the second creation story, there's a really extra special tree, the tree of life. And it's in the center of the garden, which is in the center of the garden, which is in the center of the land,

which is this hot spot where heaven and earth are connected. And so trees in the Bible, this theme is already really connected to this idea of being in the place where God and humans work together as one, Eden. And tree in Hebrew can refer to what we think of as a tree. Yes. Like an oak tree, but I can also refer to what we would call bush or a vine, a wooded kind of plant. Yeah, that's right. So what it means is as you go on in the biblical story,

the tree imagery of Eden can be activated, not just by the same word tree, but also by the appearance of other bushes or plants or low-lying shrubs. But if they play the same role in the story as the Garden of Eden tree, then you know you're in the presence of a repeated theme. And it can also be activated not by tree imagery, but by that same word, et, being translated in English as wood. So I think we see that come up in this movement later.

Genesis 22. Yeah, the examples we're gonna look at today show the creativity that later biblical stories can use to activate the Garden of Eden tree. So the second time a tree shows up then is when Noah, who is kind of this new Adam character, who walks with God, he goes through the chaos waters, God does a new creation, and he up on a mountain.

But he survives because of a boat. Made of wood. Oh yeah, that's right, of ants. Okay, we can talk about the tree, the means by which it got to be. The little micro-edin. And then he goes onto a mountain and he plants a vineyard, which is a tree. And there again, we have this idea of garden humans together on the island.

That's right. Yeah. And the tree also becomes his downfall, sadly. Which is like in the garden. Yeah. And the tree also becomes his downfall. Hmm, sadly. Just like in the garden. Yeah. Yes. And the garden, there were two trees. And one became the downfall.

So when we got into the Abraham narratives, Tim, you kind of showed us how Abraham, or Abram, has used first called, he is a new Adam again. A new Noah, a new opportunity. God pulling one person out of the many to give them blessing and try to restart this project of partnering with humanity to bless the world.

So you showed us how there's stories of Abram and he's hanging out at a tree. This is random details like, oh, he's at the Oak of Mory. And we pitched a tent and built an altar and Yahweh appeared to him. Yeah, you know. Suddenly you realize, oh, this is Eden's stuff. We're in Eden territory. So we looked at a number of those. In fact, this whole block of Abraham stories

ended with him again at a tree on a mountain. And then God actually comes to visit. Yeah. And they have a feast. Yeah. on a mountain. And then God actually comes to visit, and they have a feast in a garden. Yep, feasting on food that's described using the exact vocabulary of the food offerings from the book of Leviticus. Yeah, yeah, it's like enhancing that image of approaching God and connecting with him.

Correct. So the tree that was the downfall of Adam and Eve, now Abraham's hanging out at the tree inviting God in and it's a success. It's like a reverse of the fall. And then this is where then God promises Abram that he's going to give him a son, which is crazy because Abram's really old and his wife is really old. You're late 90s. Yeah, but that's that famous story. And this is a really high moment for the life of Abraham and for the whole story of the

Bible so far. Yeah, totally. So, that's where we left it at the beginning of chapter 18. So what's going to come next is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah and how God invites Abraham into his divine council to determine the fate of the nations. And it turns out that he always really eager to show mercy. He'll spare the many, many wicked if there's just a few righteous. But that's a whole story, but I don't have time to get into.

No trees in that story? No trees, but other cool stuff, more flood narrative stuff happening in that story. So after the Sodom and Gomorrah story, yeah, we move into the second part of the story of Abraham. It's makes up what we call chapters 20 through most of chapter 22. There's four narratives that are arranged here. They're really tightly organized through repeated words and images. So the four stories go like this, right? After the Sodom and Gomorrah event, Abraham goes down to the south-south western coast of the land, which is where the Philistines will later live, and he goes there to a city, and he lies about the

identity of his wife in the city. This has happened before. A second time. Yeah, totally. And that's actually part of how you know it's the beginning of a new part, is in the first part of Abraham's story right after he was given the blessing. He lied about the identity of his wife and put her in jeopardy for her safety in jeopardy. That was the first thing he did. Now Abram just received another Promise of blessing and a son and the next narrative about him that kicks off the next part is

Him replaying his failure. So What's interesting is God appears to this King in a dream and says hey this guy lied to you and to this king in a dream and says, hey, this guy lied to you. And don't touch that woman or else you will surely die. She is the tree. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So this king becomes the Adam figure. Abraham's wife is the tree that is not to be touched or eaten from, less you die. And Abraham plays the role of the snake, the lying treacherous snake in the story. Yeah, that's crazy. It's a really critical portrait of Abraham. And the king passes the test.

And the king's like, hey, listen, man, I haven't touched her and listen, are you the kind of God that's in the business of killing righteous people? Because... Does that have done anything wrong yet? Yeah, I haven't done anything wrong. And God says, yeah, I know. That's why I'm telling you and just wanted to.

Anyway, it's a fascinating story. So it's this whole story of conflict of lying and treachery. Is that going to count as a tree hit, even though the tree isn't explicit that she's kind of like the tree? Oh, God, it's definitely a eaten replay, but the tree doesn't appear in the story. So it doesn't have the same connotation that these other hits have with the tree being on a

high mountain and meeting God there. Then you get a story about how Isaac is born. Finally, Abraham and Sarah son is born. But there's a division with his brother. There's a division among the mothers, Sarah and Isaac are in tension with Hegar and Ishmael. And so there's a division among the brothers and the unchosen mother and son are exiled from the land. This is replaying the cane, the naval tension and the exiled and the nonchosen from the land. It's very interesting. And so you get a whole

story of Abraham and Ishmael, then right after that story, you have another narrative about Abraham and that king, the king that he had conflict with. And now it's a story about how that king wants to make a covenant with Abraham, because he sees, hey God is with you. And I noticed that, you know, even though you're kind of a champ, your God like has your back and things go pretty good for you. So let's be friends. Let's be friends. Maybe I can get some of that, some of that Eden blessing. So they make a covenant by tree.

And then after that story, you get the famous story of Abraham and the binding and the near sacrifice of Isaac, 22. So it's kind of a story about Abraham and this king, Abraham and the nonchosen son, Shmael, then a story about Abraham and that king again, and then a story about Abraham and the chosen son. So it follows a neat symmetrical pattern and there's lots of hyperlinks and connections between the stories. But it's all about, remember, the whole thing is that nations are going to be blessed through

you and your seed. And that's exactly what these four stories are exploring and meditating on. How the nations get in on the promise, but what if the promise is put into the hands of a guy who's a blind treacherous snake, whose family is dividing. Which is what this is about. Yeah, and so it only happens when instead of lying that Abraham and the nations find a way to make peace through covenant together. And then what does that mean for the future of the family? Well, it's going to mean the singling out of the nonchosen, and God's

going to take care of them, though it's sad that there has to be a division of the brothers in the first place. And then what we're going to see is God is even going to ask for a division between father and son. Abraham is going to be asked to give up the son on whom the promise hangs, which brings the whole story to a crisis, because it's like the whole thing depends on this. So that's the arc of this section of the Abraham story. So lo and behold, trees play a role in Genesis 21, the story of Abraham and Schmell, Genesis

21, the story of Abraham and Abilek, and the story of Abraham and Isaac. All three have eaten tree moments that really pop with cool significance. You say it's right here. You've got is this Hebrew transliterated Yitzek? Oh, yes. That's Isaac. Yeah. I'm trying to spell the names the way more the way they sound in Hebrew.

Oh, okay. So Avraham. Is Ishmael. Yeah. Avraham is, how you say, Avraham, Abraham. Yep. And Avi Melik is the name of the king. So, should we just kind of dive in?

Yeah. So these stories here 21, right after Isaac is born, so Abraham and Sarah finally have that promised child. And they make a big feast, they have a big party. Hooray! In Genesis 21, verse 9, Storgo's and Sarah, she looked at the sun of Hegar, the Egyptian, the one she had born for Abraham, making laughter, causing laughter. She saw the sun and she laughed.

Hmm, she saw the sun, and that sun was causing laughter, or making laughter. Oh, the sun was laughing. Yeah, most of the English translations say playing. Yeah, playing or mocking. Yes, the sun was laughing. Yeah, most of the English translations say play. Yeah, playing or mocking. Yes, yeah, yeah. But, you know, just a few verses prior, right? Sarah had said, anyone who sees that God has blessed me like this will laugh.

They'll laugh with me and it seems like a positive thing there. Yeah, so Isaac's name means laughter because both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they first heard they were going to have their kid. So they name him laughter. And then you're right, just sentence is before the she said, everyone who hears of my son that I had a son will laugh with me. So it seems yeah, seems positive.

Yeah, laugh with me. Yeah, laugh with me. So laughter is born, but then she sees that other son from that other wife, and he is causing laughter. Mitzachek. So interestingly, I think because our English translations see some sort of negative connotation here, what she doesn't like what she sees. So NIV translates it mocking.

ESV says laughing. NIV is supposed to be full on, like doesn't interpretive move. Playing with Isaac. Yeah, okay. It doesn't say that in the text. They're just inferring that from the story. So it's not the normal word for laughter. It's a causative verb, like causing laughter.

So it's a little unclear. Maybe it's like, you know, Isaac is meant to cause laughter when Sarah has him. I know she sees Ishmael causing laughter. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He's on the turf of the seed. Yeah. For sure, it's a wordplay on her own son's name. So she gave birth to laughter, but then there's this other Sun who thinks you can laugh. You can do it. So the narrative doesn't nail down for you what he was doing, but you can tell from her reaction that she interprets it really negatively. It's just like the division of Canaan Abel, the narrative doesn't say why one offering was better than the other. Or, or is it was? That's exactly right.

That's actually great. That's a great observation. The division of the brothers in Canaanable's story, there's some ambiguities and why God did what he did. And there's going to be that same ambiguity, what God is about to do here, but also in what Sarah's response is. So what she says, we know what she's feeling, because what she says in verse 10 is, banish the slave and her son. He will not inherit the son of the slave woman along with my son,

along with laughter, you talk. So she wants to separate the two sons. Now this matter was bad in the eyes of Abraham on account of his son. He's bombed. Yeah, this is real bombed for him. And on account of his son, is that referring to Ishmael? Mm-hmm. Yeah, there's so much sun language in the story. Yeah, I think it's about his first born son. Ishmael. Ishmael. Yeah. You said back in chapter 17, God said, hey, listen, the sun that came from when you guys took advantage of Hegar, that's not the promised sun. Yeah, it's just interesting paired with that line right above, Sarah saying he won't inherit this along with my son, and then Abraham is bummed on account of his son. His son. Yeah, because Abraham said a couple chapters ago, like, hey, what about Yashmale? Like, make him the chosen one.

So the reason Yashmale exists is because of Abraham and Sarah's lack of faith. And so it's not because Hegar and Yashmale are bad. It's that Yashmale is a son that results from their scheming and their plan. And the whole point is for God to show them that this blessing will only come as a gift by his new creation power. And also there is a theme of the second born being chosen over the first born, which is a whole other thing. That's right.

And I think that's what's being highlighted here. This was bad in the eyes of Abraham because he's this, I already have a first born son. Like he's born first, that's how we do it. Yeah. In the East here, we raise up the firstborn. And even if it's not from your, and I know how this works, but your primary, you pride. Why? Yeah, yeah, right. It doesn't matter.

Totally. The first born is the first born. Yep. I mean, this little tension is going to be full on developed in the story of Jacob to follow with his many wives, who's the favorite sons and they're all jockeying for position and so on. So Elohim says to Abraham, listen, don't let it be bad in your eyes. I've already told you that Isaac is going to be the one to inherit the blessing. So don't let it be evil about the boy and the slave woman. Listen, what Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. It is by Isaac that your seed will be called. And the son of the slave woman, I'm going to make him into a nation because he is your seed.

I'll bless those associated with you. Yeah, I'm going to bless those who bless you. So Ishmael is going to have the Eden blessing going on and go his way, but that doesn't mean he's the chosen one. So it's interesting. The chosen and the non-chosen can have God's blessing. But what the promise is, it kind of traces the lineage that leads to the seat of the woman crushing the head of the snake. And the promise is looking for the human who will not fail the test will crush evil. Yeah. So Abraham is asked to give up his first born son right here. And he's going to be asked to give up his second born son in another chapter in the parallel story.

Yeah. So these are both stories about God promising the whole story after now has been, I'm going to give you a great family. And then now Abraham finally has two sons. And he's God's saying you have to give him both back or give them away. Give one away. Yeah. Send one one and give me back the other. Yep. It's a real crisis in the narrative here. So Abraham rose early in the morning. He took bread and like essentially like a Nalgene water bottle. Like

if you know. So he gives a loaf of bread and a water bottle and he gives this to Hegar placing upon her shoulder and also the child and he sends her away. And they're in the desert. And they're in the desert. That's rough. Yeah. So here she is.

She wanders into the wilderness of Be'er Shava. The name Be'er Shava. The name Be'er Shava means well of seven, like spring or well of seven. And all of a sudden, the water was finished from the water bottle. And what can she do? She's in a land with no water. And so she puts her child under a bush. And she goes away, sitting at distance away, you know, it's about

as far as you can shoot a bow. And she said, I can't see the death of this child. And so she sat at distance away, lifted up her voice and wept. That's powerful. Yeah. So just real quick here, she's in a desert Where there's no water? Desert with no water. Yeah, yeah, okay Genesis 1 verse 2 the land was wild and waste But remember how the Garden of Eden narrative began. Yeah with There were no bushes in the land. Oh actually. This is a good one. Yeah, word for bush here in Genesis 2 Genesis 21 oh Verse 15 is the bush that she puts.

Yep. Fish meal under. She puts them under. Yep. The only two times that that word, unique word, bush is used is right here and that the very beginning of the Garden of Eden story. When it says, there were no, even no bushes in the land. Yeah. But God caused a stream to rise up out of the ground, to water the surface, and he makes life out of non-life here. So now we have a woman who's just run out of water in the wilderness, and she puts her child under a bush. But we know the name of this place is called the well of seven. Yeah. Elohim heard the voice of the boy and the messenger of Elohim called to Hegar from the skies and said, what are you concerned about? Hegar, don't be afraid. Elohim heard the voice of the boy.

Get up. Take him with your hand. I'm going to make him a great nation. And Elohim opened her eyes and she saw a seven well. The well of seven. That she saw is like more way the tree of more. Yes. Oh, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's right. And also actually this opening of the eyes, do you remember that when the woman went out of an evil at the tree and Snake says, oh, you're not going to die.

The day you eat of the tree, your eyes will be opened. And you'll know. Yeah. You'll know good and evil and be like God. Exactly. Here, you have a woman who's about to die and her child about to die in the desert with no water by a bush. That's the word used to describe the bushes in the Eaton story. And then her eyes are opened and what she sees is water. God provides water in the wilderness and gives them life and says, I'm going to make you into a great nation blessing. Yeah, that's almost verbatim, the covenant promise giving to Abraham and Isaac. So the reason why we're tying it into the tree of life is because of this word, bush. The reason why we're retying it's this into the tree of life is because of this word bush.

And then all of the imagery of the desert, no water, but then God provides water and gives blessing of future seed. And that's not the word ate. Nope, it's the word bush. It's a different word for a bush. That's right. But it's the same word in Genesis 2. It's connected to the soul thing.

Yep, that's right. Because when it said there were no bushes in the land, and then the responses, but God planted a garden, and made trees to sprout there. Yeah, and the other big hit here is water. Yeah, right. Because in the garden story, you showed us, it was originally missed, but you called it a spring.

Oh, a spring. A stream comes up. And that's, is that the one that turns into the four rivers? Yeah, the mist comes up and waters the ground, making mud. So that's when God forms the human, plants the garden, and then there's a river flowing out. It's river flowing, yeah. The river blessing. And so here you've got a land with no water, and they're going to die from a lack of water. Yeah. And then God provides water. Yeah.

But there is a little detail here of the bush, you wanna point out. Yeah, totally. Yeah. Yeah. So this is how biblical authors work. They'll use unique vocabulary often. And you'll be like, why are we using that word?

Why not just use another word for bush, a more normal word, but it echoes something important from earlier. Yeah. I think when you're reading along and you read, she casts the child under one of the bushes. It kind of makes you think, okay, where have I read BUSH before? That's not a very common word. I haven't seen that come up a lot.

And then yeah, if you search for it. Is that true in English though? Yeah. Is far. Yeah. I think so far in an English translation, I don't think you would come across Bush yet, except for Genesis 2, 5. Okay. Because it would just be there. And then even then I don't think it's translated Bush. It's translated shrub. Shrub of the ground or shrub of the field. Yeah. Yeah. That would actually make it stand out more to me if it was called a shrub. Under the shrub. Yeah. Yeah the Field. Yeah, yeah. That would actually make it stand out more to me if it was called a shrub. Under the shrub, yeah, totally.

It was translated the same. The shrub is a very English. Yeah, Genesis 2 Word. Yep. So, tuck all these little details away because the story of Abraham and Isaac is gonna be employing a lot of this vocabulary. Especially, ooh, like the Hebrew word for under

is the same Hebrew word in the place of, it's the Hebrew word, tachhat. And that's gonna be, to be in the place of the bush, it's gonna be important in the Abraham and Isaac's work. Under the bush. Yeah, so this story also is important because this is an Eden blessing with the bush and the water in the desert for the nonchosen seed.

Nonchosen, exactly. Kind of like with the kings who were with Abraham. Yeah, in this way, so Ishmael is different than Cain, and able, even though Cain was not chosen for blessing, but then God said, hey, listen, like you have a choice. However, how this could go, if you do good, there will be exaltation for you too. But he didn't do good.

You just murder. Here, you have the non-chosen brother, and they don't do evil instead, they're banished. And so what they get is the promise of blessing. Yeah, he's exiled, and in that place of exile, there's a mini-edin and a blessing for him. That's right. It's a little Eden not here in the desert for Hegar Nishmale. Yeah.

Okay. There's that story. Genesis 21. Let's move on to the next appearance of trees, which is in the very next story that takes place in the same place at the well of sound. So we're moving on to this next story here, Avi Mellick, the king who he deceived back here in chapter 20, now comes up to him, Abram, and here's the story. It came about at that time that, you know, Avi Mellick said, also Fikoal, the captain of his army was there, and he also said to Abraham, so you have a king and an army captain.

You're like, okay, that's intimidating. Fiko is kind of an unfortunate name. Fiko, yeah, it means fee is the word mouth and Cole is the word everything. It's kind of a scary name for an army captain, right? Yeah. Yeah. Mouth of everything. The mouth. Oh, I was thinking like I eat everything. Oh, oh, oh, I think I love it. Yeah, everything of the mouth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Fee cool.

Anyway, I'm sure it was a great name back then. Yeah. So here you have the nations, both kings and warriors coming and saying, Elohim is with you in everything that you're doing. So how about a swear note together? It's a swear note to me by all of him. Look, if you deal falsely with me or with my descendants, according to the loyal love I've done to you, so you will deal with me and with the land that you're migrating within. So when he says, basically don't deal falsely with me, you know, like you did last week.

And what did I do to you? I showed you loyalty. Yeah. You came to my city, you lied to me, put my whole city in danger, but I did right by you. So you do the same to me. So Elohim is with you. Do you remember the dream? He has a dream, it's on. Yeah. So, Avarhams said, yeah, all right, deal. Let's be buddies. Let's, you know, let's go in on this contract together. So, they make a contract together. Now, what's interesting is Abraham just happened to remember something at that moment that he had a dispute with now his covenant partner on a count of a well of water because the servants of Avime Melach had stolen a well from him. So it's sort of like, okay, we're covenant partners now. Yeah, what about this well that you guys took today?

What this really is is like a conflict of interest between two business partners. Mm-hmm. And it's like how are we gonna get along, especially when we're not blood relatives, all that's binding us together as this contract? Remember the other cana nights we were in a covenant with Abram up chilling by the trees?

Yeah. And that was rad. They were like, you know, they'll go into battle together. But now we're exploring the opposite portrait. What if there's a conflict between the chosen one and the nations? How are they going to sort this out? Well, Avi Mellick said, I don't know who did this. And beside you waited till now to bring this up.

You didn't report it to me in the past. I haven't heard of this until right now today. So Abraham took sheep and oxen. He gave them to Avi Mellick and they cut a covenant. Abraham set up seven lambs. What is that, cut a covenant? What's these sheep and oxen? Oh, got it.

Well, to cut a covenant, it's the most common term to use it about the making of a covenant together Okay, so sometimes it would mean a sacrificial ritual of the animals like what happened in earlier in the Abraham story when God makes a Covenant they ran many cut the animals in half Here they're gonna cut a covenant, but then what we're about to learn what's gonna happen exactly? Yeah, that's right. So Abram gets seven And what? We're about to learn what's going to happen. Exactly. Yeah, that's right.

So Abraham gets seven lambs and Avymelik said, what's up with these seven lambs? And Abraham said, well, you're going to take these seven lambs from my hand and these seven lambs will be a witness on my behalf that I dug this well. Basically, he's paying for the well. Even though it's not Avymelik's well. Abraham's well. He dug it. But he's going to pay for it anyway. So like a super generous move. Yeah. He's like, yeah, what do you answer? But also shrewd. Yeah. It's generous if he really did dig it. Yeah. Right. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. All we know actually did he say that he dug it? Oh, no, he says I dug this

well in verse 30. For this reason, this is why people call it the Well of Seven. Because the two of them swore a Shavuah there, and they coven it at the Well of Shava. There's many word plays crashing together. Shava is the Hebrew word for the number seven, but it's spelled with the same letters as the Hebrew word Shavua, which means oath, which is a synonym for covenant. So, also, at the well of seven, think of the previous story. Yeah. This is exactly where Hegar found water that provided life for her. So these two stories are next to each other about the way God provided life out of death at the well of seven in the desert. And then here at the well of seven,

instead of brothers dividing, you have the families of the nations coming together in peace, but it requires Abraham to give this costly act of generosity. And so the nations make peace. They make a covenant with God's chosen line. The story says, obviously, it got up and fee coal, the captain of his army, they returned. And so you know what Abraham did? He planted a tree, a Tamrisk tree at the well of seven. And he called on the name of Yahwehweh who is the eternal God. So what's great is the whole story builds up the Eden imagery, or rather it waits till the end to place all of this whole scene at the well of seven by a tree where he's going to meet with and worship and call on the name of Yahweh. So when the nations make peace with the chosen one, when the chosen one will sacrifice and

give seven to enter into a covenant, then there's peace in the land at a Eden tree. I think that's how the images work here. Yeah, because the idea is if the nations are going to be blessed through Abraham, what does that practically look like? Because life is messy. Totally be blessed through Abraham. Yeah, what does that practically look like? Because life is messy. Totally. People steal stuff. Even unintentionally, like this is a story of a guy.

And I even realized he had done something wrong by Abraham. Yeah. So you're saying this story, Abraham giving seven lambs is the symbol of like going above and beyond to make this relationship right. And so we get this cool picture of that. And then at the very end of the story we're told that, or we're shown that this is like an Eden picture

as Abraham plants a tree. Yeah, peace among the nations so that God's chosen ones can really be that blessing to the nations, but it's costly. It requires sacrifice, it requires generosity, and the binding together of people at odds in the making of a covenant. And then the last little note is, by the way, you know, this is an Eden-like place because of what happened here. So it's another reversal of Eden, but it's almost reversing both the failure of Adam and Eve, but it's reversing the division of the brothers. The story that just happened was about the division of two wives and two brothers.

At the same place as the division of two nations. Which is the division of the nations. Right next to it is a story about the reunion of the nations. At the same place, bear Shava. So when there's jealousy and strife like what Sarah you know drives out the nations through Ishmael so to speak and then that's kind of a sad portrait but God brings life. Here there's division among the nations but Abraham gives a costly gift and they make a covenant and then you have peace among the brothers. So there's two contrasting portraits that are riffing off the ideas of the Cain-enable story about the division of the brothers. It's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So Eden is defined as peace between nations and the tree is

signifying that or drawing it into that, marking it. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. So there you go. We had two mothers and two brothers at odds that result in division. Now we had two tribal chieftains at odds and they make peace together. We're going to revisit, now the next story, the climactic story about how God is going to cause a division between Father and Son, paradoxically, in order to redeem both. Genesis 22, the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac. This is a troubling story in the Bible. The God even asks for a sacrifice. Yeah, the God would ask somebody to sacrifice their child. And that the right thing to do would be to say, okay, go do it.

Yeah, yeah, it's a surprising story. Yeah. Yeah, when you get to like Jeremiah and Ezekiel the later prophets, you know, in those books, God speaks through those prophets about child sacrifice, that's something God says in Jeremiah, it's something that never even entered my mind. It's so distraught from anything I would ever ask from somebody. But, and so, you know, you just have to sit and go, but wait, what about this story? Yeah, because you kinda did ask for it.

You did ask for it once. So, this story begins by telling you, it came about after all these things, Elohim tested Abraham. So, that does put into the reader's mind already. Like, whatever is about to happen, it is a test. Yeah. But that could mean multiple things.

You don't know quite what it's going to mean. What kind of test? Because it could be a test of your loyalty to me by giving up your son, by actually sacrificing him. That could be what it means. But it could also mean that it's a test, meaning I'm going to tell you to sacrifice him, but I really have another plan of how this is going to work out.

But the narrative doesn't close down either possibility, you just have to keep reading. And it's also maybe important to keep in mind that not only is this a sacrifice of a human your child, which I mean, yeah, nuts. But this is also a sacrifice of the whole game for Abraham. It's exactly like the whole blessing is. That's right. Yes. That God had promised of becoming a great family,

inheriting this land, and being the one that restores the Eden blessing to the whole world. Correct. That's all in the balance. That's right. And that doesn't have the same angst for me, the reader, but actually has a ton of gravity in the narrative.

Yeah. And God has already said that that blessing would come through Isaac. So Abraham's heard that promise from God. Yeah, that's great. Exactly. Yeah. No, this is super important. I think it's a challenging and intense narrative, but we have to read it. This is a culmination of the story so far. And so you have to read it in light of that. God has made very clear promises of things that he's gonna do that this request contradicts. God said he's gonna bless the nations through your son. But what?

So the narrative is highlighting this contradiction. God seems to be going against God's own will. Right. It's almost like God is testing God. In terms of, on the narrative surface, it seems like God's going back. It's almost like God is testing God. In terms of on the narrative surface, it seems like God's going back. So what's going to happen? And there's nothing for it, you just have to let the tension drive you. One other piece too is, you know, the whole story has been about a promise of a son. They got their first son by abusing a slave and then by

They got their first son by abusing a slave and then by further abusing a slave by banishing that slave out into the desert. Yeah, so Abraham and Sarah have hurt two people Really badly in their quest for a son. Yeah, they've both tried to make it come about through Hagar and Ishmael, but then also even when they Had Isaac they tried to make that promise come about through Isaac by banishing hay, thorn, and males. So it's like they're trying with both sons to do it their own way. That's right.

And so it seems to me that is an important part of the reason why God is dealing severely here is because they've been very severe. So Abraham might be thinking this point like, okay, I blew it. I deserve this kind of thing. Well, I don't know if that's what he's thinking, but you the reader know that they've been so terrible to these Egyptians that you can begin to understand why God would deal severely

with his chosen one for their evil. So we're just at the first sentence, you know, but those are some factors that are important here. So I'll just kind of summarize. God tells Abraham to take your son, your only one, just kind of odd, because he has two sons, but it's the only son through Sarah, the son that you love, Yitzhak, and get yourself going to the land of Moria. No, that's interesting. Do you remember where Abraham visited when he first went into the land?

Yeah, he said, I'm sure you have. And he met with God there. Yeah, the land of Moria. Oh, Moria. Moria. So it's one letter different. Okay.

But both Moria and this land Moria are both built off of the Hebrew verb to see. Okay. And make him go up there as a going up offering on one of the mountains that I will say to you. What's it going up offering? Oh, it's usually translated burnt offering, but it's called olah, and it literally means the offering that goes up. Oh, because of the smoke going up. Going up. And it's like the whole offering, not just a part of it. Yep.

So he is to go to the mountains in the land of Moria, just like he went into the mountains by the tree of Moria at the beginning. So as if we're wrapping the whole story up here, we're coming to a climax here. So there's no narrative of the internal dialogue. He's just, we see Abraham Roser early in the morning, bound his donkey, took two young men, and Yitzhak, and he split the wood. And the word wood, there's the word eights. It's the tree. He

split the tree for the going up offering. And he arose and went to his place. So I think maybe in the video, oh, about the tree of life, we talked at length about the story. Yeah. This is Abraham's tree of testing. The wood represents the choice that he's making. Yeah, because at trees are moments of testing. Not only do trees kind of mark this is an Eden place,

but it also is a place to mark that there's an opportunity to Yeah, choice to be made and you can make a good choice and you can make a bad choice. Yeah, that's right And he is making the choice to okay, you know it seems to go against It's gonna sacrifice the whole game. Yep. That's right because God's asking me to Which sounds like a contradiction. Yeah, but there you go. For any point, you'd be like, I think I don't want to follow this God anymore. This would probably be the place. You know what's interesting, and we also know that Abraham is not afraid to stick up, to stand up, and speak as my God, when God said, I'm going to

just start to sound like, more, and he's like, wait, I'm in it. You know, there's righteous people there. And he doesn't do that here. Wait a minute, you're not the kind of God who. Yeah, it's very useful for the life of kids. This narrative is so puzzling in so many ways. Yeah. So they go traveling and on the third day,

this is the first time that that little formula appears in the Bible on the third day, this is the first time that that little formula appears in the Bible on the third day. And it's associated with a testing narrative that it's all going to be about what happens on this wood on the aides. Abram Lyft is his eyes. He saw the place from a distance and he tells the young man, hey, stay here. Me and the young boy, we will go there, we will worship, we will return."

Yeah, it's interesting. And you could be just giving them the slip, like, don't worry, nothing weird's going to happen. We will return to you, or maybe he believes that there's no way God's actually going to make me do this. I wonder which one will prove to be true. So Abraham took the word, that phrase right there, taking from the tree. It's the same word, take the eggs. He put it on Yitzhak's son, then he took in his hand the fire.

Oh yeah, this is good. And the mahalet. It's the word food. Or eating. And it's a very odd way to describe a knife. The eater. In Hebrew, if you describe a sword with two edges, there's a two mouth sword. Okay. Because it eats flesh. Two ways. Yeah. So you could call a knife a eater, but also he takes from the tree, the wood he takes the eating in Hebrew. It's activating the vocabulary of the tree. What's the word in Hebrew? It's from the

root eat and when the woman sees that the tree is good for eating and she took from the tree, that's the vocabulary being activated right here. So, do we know yet if we're supposed to be seeing this as a negative eat-in moment, if he's taking an eating. Ah, I see. Yeah, well. Because sometimes it's inverted, so maybe we don't. That's right. Yeah. I mean, he's doing what God said, and we do. So God said to Adam and Eve, don't take from the tree

and don't eat from it. Yeah. Here, he told him, take your son and offer him a sacrifice. So he takes from the tree wood and he takes the eater knife. So he's obeying the word of God. And the two of them went together as one. The two are one. That's a very interesting, eating moment. Adam and Eve.

It's ox said to Abraham, hey dad. Oh, yeah son, I'm right here. Hey look, you know, here's and Eve. It's ox said to Abraham, hey dad. Oh yeah son, I'm right here. Hey look, here's the fire, here's the tree wood. Where's the sheep for the offering? Elohim will see to it. There's that word see again. That's the same root letters that appear

in the word more ya, the mountains of more ya. Elohim will see to it, that is the sheep for the going up offering and the two went as one. So they went to the place. Abraham built an altar. Do you remember what he did when he first went into the land? He built lots of altars. He arranged the wood. He bound up. It's out his son. In Jewish tradition, this story is called the Achaida. The Piding. That's the noun that comes from this Hebrew verb to bind. Actually, it gets better than the sacrifice of Isaac, because Isaac isn't sacrifice, but

he is bound. He bound up, he'd talk his son, he placed him on the wood, he sent out his hand, he took the eater, that is the knife, to slay his son. Notice how the narrative's really slowing down, showing you each step here. Yeah, also, I'm noticing, since we're reading through Leviticus on our own, Leviticus goes to these great lengths to say there's the altar and then put the wood on the altar and then put the sacrifice on the wood on the altar. Correct.

And it's almost exact. That's right. You know what I was saying is this vocabulary is drawing or the same vocabulary that you find in the sacrificial descriptions. Yeah. In Leviticus. Which gives it maybe just another lens to view this as a... Prisly moment. Yeah, a prisly moment and a sacrifice of something.

Yeah, it truly is a sacrifice. And at the moment, he's holding the eater, his hand is holding the food. Again, the word knife here is spelled with the same letters as the word food from the tree in Genesis 3. That's exactly the moment. The messenger of Yahweh called from the sky saying, Abraham, Abraham, look, it's me. Don't send out your hand. Don't do anything. Now I know that you fear Elohim. Remember what Adam and Eve? They feared Elohim. Yeah, but too late. Or they didn't fear Elohim. At the right time.

At the right time. Yeah, at the test, the moment of the test, they didn't fear Elohim. They desired to be Elohim. And here Abraham is fearing Elohim. Yeah, do you think this, now I know, the word no here is also a plan, the tree of knowledge that the humans were trying to gain totally and now it's a God that yeah God that has the knowledge is saying he's gaining knowledge. Yep. Yeah, the humans gained knowledge by eating from the tree

But now the focus is on God's knowledge of Abraham's character because he took the tree and the food that is the knife. And how do I know you fear lohim? You didn't withhold your son, your only son. So this is what's interesting. Abram lifted his eyes and he saw, to remove what he said, God will see to it that there's a sheep for the offering. That's what he said. Abram lifted his eyes and he saw and look a ram caught in a ramble, a ramble bush. Haven't seen this for a while. By the horns. And so he went and took the ram and made it go up as it going up offering in the place of his son.

Do you remember in the story with Haggar Nishmell, she puts her son Tachhat, the bush. Under the bush. And then his life is saved by the water. Here Abraham looks and he sees an animal caught in a bush and he takes the ram and puts it Tachat in the place of his son. And so, Abraham called the name of that place, Yahweh will see or see to it.

So this is the mountain of Moriah, the mountain of seeing, where Yahweh saw to it and Yahweh will see or see to it. So this is the mountain of Moriah, the mountain of seeing, where Yahweh saw to it and Yahweh will see. And hey, dear reader, you know, still in Jerusalem today, we say, on the mountain of Yahweh, it will be seen or it will be seen too. So this whole story is being told from the perspective of an Israelite way later in their history as a foreshadowing. Israelite who lives at a time where the Tabernacle or the temple is on the mountain of Yahweh, which is Jerusalem. Mount of Yahweh means Jerusalem.

Yes. So, yeah, man. Why is this often translated as provided in English translations? Well, that's what it means. It will be. It will be seen oh, it will be seen too. It will be taking care of provided. When Isaac asks, where's the sheep for the offering? Abraham says, Elohim will see.

He'll see to it. Which is the Hebrew idiom that we have in idiom in English. I'll see to it. That's why I use the C to it. Oh, okay. Literally, it's just C. it. Yeah, yeah. Literally just C. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Which is really interesting.

There are so many parallels here to Hegar. Yeah. Like Hegar saying naming God the God who sees. Yep. That's right. And Hegar lifting her eyes and seeing, just like Abraham lifted his eyes and saw. Yeah, it's all over. Yeah. These narratives. Yep.

And the bush. Bramble. So you remember what happened after God spared the life of Ishmael when he was Tachhat in the place of the bush. He provided water and then said, I'm going to make him a great nation. Blessing. So here God provides a substitute for the chosen sun in the bush. And then that unlocks the blessing again. The messenger of Yahweh called the Abram a second time saying, I swear an oath. Remember how you and Avymelek just sworn us to each other?

Now Yahweh says, I swear an oath, because you did this thing. You didn't withhold your sun. I will bless you. I'll multiply your seed like the stars of the skies, like the sand on the sea. Your seed will inherit the gates of their enemies and all the nations of the land will find blessing in your seed. So here the chosen son receives the blessing again, but it was all hinging on Abraham's obedience at the tree, at the bush. Abraham's obedience at the tree, at the bush. At the wood of tree at this time was the altar.

Totally, yeah, the tree imagery is going all kinds of directions now. And so they get up, they leave, and they go to the well, back to the well of Saturn. Wow. So the main point here is Abraham, this is the full inversion of the Eden failure, all the language of the tree of testing here gets reversed. And when you have someone who will be willing to give up the life of their future family or their own life, I mean, it's his own future. It's own life that's there. Stay here. You're saying give up clinging to making the promise happen on your own. Yeah. Yeah, it's giving up the life of your family. That could sound really scary.

Oh, I understand. Yes. But letting go of controlling the blessing on your own. That's good. Abraham and Sarah were willing to sacrifice the safety and well-being of Haggar and Ishmael, abusing them to get the blessing on their own term. Here God asks them to completely surrender the future blessing of their family over to

God in the form of a sacrifice, only to receive it back by God's grace, not just a promise of blessing, but a covenant oath of blessing. And so it creates this pattern at work that because humans are so screwed up and they hurt each other so much, it seems like the only way forward now is when God's chosen ones are willing to surrender everything over to God

and that those are the moments when God's Eden blessing can break out over to the nations. Yeah, it's a powerful story. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

The last time the Tree of Life imagery appears is actually in a story about death. The last part of the Abraham story is a really interesting little section. There's a short narrative about the birth of Abraham's niece back in the land that he left a long time ago. Then there's contrast to the story of his niece's birth, is the story of his wife's death. Yeah, that's Rebecca and then Sarah. That's right. Rebecca is born, but then Sarah dies in the next chapter. And so he buys a cave in a field with all kinds of trees.

We'll talk about that. But after that story, we go back to Rebecca. And she makes a journey just like Abraham did. She leaves her family and her land to go to the land of Canaan and she receives blessing. Oh, her name sounds like the word blessing. And so there's that whole story. And then the next story is Abraham marries again and then he dies and he's buried in the same cave. So this is all about birth and death, the passing of one generation, the birth and marrying of the next generation. So this is all about birth and death, the passing of one generation, the birth and marrying of the next generation. So definitely death is both signaled here in this double death of

Sarah the Abraham, but then also the new life and blessing is signaled by the birth and marrying of Rebecca and Isaac. It opens up the door to the next generation. So that's kind of this last section here. But this cave, dude, this cave, the cave in Makpeila. Okay, this is a long story. We don't have time to go through the whole story, but you're given a short notice of Sarah's death. And then there is a long story about Abraham. Negotiating the rights of this cave.

Yeah. This is long, like back and forth forth like, hmm, how about 400? No, no, just take it. No, please, this. Please, my lord, listen to me. No, no, listen to me. Yeah. It's like listening to hagglers that are marked

with something. Yeah, and we're not going to go to it. We're not going to go to it. But the whole thing is Abraham legitimately, the nations want to give this. Yeah, and he wants to buy it. And he says, no, I'm not going to take it. I'm going to buy it fair and square.

And this is the first and only piece of land in Canaan that Abraham ever purchases. Oh, yeah, I'm purchases. It's so bittersweet because it's for death. It's a place of death. Yeah. Exactly. But it's that paradox that it's where he and Sarah die and are buried.

But it's the first that it's where he and Sarah die and are buried, but it's the first down payment of the promise that the nations will find blessing when your seed is in this land. Yeah, and they'll be buried there forever, as they feel. Totally. You can go to the city of Hebron today in the West Bank, and there's a mosque that commemorates this spot, and then there are some centuries-old like buildings and tombs that marks a traditional spot of the burial. So you can go there, and it's really, really cool.

But what I just want to focus on is the paragraph at the end of chapter 23. And what's interesting is that it talks about, oh, okay, so first of all, so the cave of Machpila, the word cave, it's the Hebrew word met-Ara, that comes from the Hebrew word exposure or nakedness. Oh, really? Yes. Like Arum. Oh, it's both a word play on a room spelled with the same letters. Yeah. But it is actually a spelled with the root letters of the word expose. Even though a cave is the opposite of an exposure, it's an enclosure. It's an enclosure, but it's the words.

In Hebrew, sound like an exposure. In Hebrew, sound like the word exposure or nakedness. The word Machpela means doubling or pair. So it's the nakedness, the exposure of the pair. It's the name of this place. Naked pair. The naked pair, come on. What is this about?

What do you mean? Can I think of another pair in the book of Genesis where they were exposed, their nakedness was exposed. It's the cave of nakedness. And remember, their nakedness was a sign of their disobedience that led to death. This is a burial cave named the nakedness of the pear. Oh, come on.

This is so good, man. It just doesn't get any better. So Abraham bought this, this is for 17. It was transferred, this field that belonged as Ephraim the Canaanite, the field that was in pear, which was facing Mamre. Oh, remember, that's where the tree was. The trees of Mamre, yeah.

The field and the cave that's in it. And all the trees, so many trees around the nakedness of the pair that are on the surrounding border who was all transferred to Abraham as a possession in the eyes of the sons of hit along with those entering the gate of his city. After this Abraham buried his wife in the nakedness of the field of the pair which was facing Mamrae, that is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And so it was transferred the field and the cave that was in it to Abraham as a burial plot possession from the sons of Hitt. You know, hebron also, oh yes.

The root of hebron is united, or to unite. Yeah, unity, totally. So there's this whole paragraph that's designed in this really unnecessarily wordy way. Right. That's my point. When usually when that happens,

it's because there's a literary design, a symmetry happening. It's a feature that's trying to draw your attention to something. And clearly, the emphasis by repetition is associating the nakedness of the pair. That's what the phrase cave of Mark Pela means. Associating it with a field full of trees

and it's right next to Mamray. Well, what do I know about Mamray? It's a whole story. Oh, man. That's the place, this is Eden Place. It's the Eden spot. Yeah. So essentially Abram is now owning,

not just putting up his tent, yet, but now owns and possesses a little Eden. But it's a place of death. Yeah, he's bearing his wife there. Mm-hmm. Eden is where there's just to be eternal life. Exactly. Yes.

But it's a possession. Mm. It's like a down payment. Yeah. And the possession is a down payment of, and the way God wants to restore the blessing. Mm. So what a like optimistic place to bury. Yeah.

Yeah. The loved one. Totally. In the place where eternal life is supposed to take root. Yeah. It's sort of like, think of somebody who buys the plot of land, cultivates it, gives it over to all of his grandchildren, and then is buried there. But precisely so that it can be where the next generation is going to flourish.

So it's a place of death, but also a place for life and promise. And that's the image. Yeah, especially if it's a plot of land associated with the promise of life. Yeah, that's right. Which is what the story has been about. So you're saying that the cave being next to the field with the trees and all this repetition of that. And next to Momrae. Next to Momrae, which is the place where Abraham met with God.

Yeah, under the tree. Under the tree had the feast. This mega high point of Eden moment, but it's all bringing that together. Yeah. Not only that, but the nations coming to an agreement. Yeah, that's right. And a moment of Abraham actually inheriting the land

in a very tangible way. Yeah, he didn't steal it. Yeah. He didn't fight for it. Yeah. It was like a peaceful negotiation. Yeah. This is the last This is how the Abraham story ends

Oh, excuse me. Even though it's death. Oh, yeah, Abraham still dies. Yeah, he dies a couple chapters later But it ends with him buried in this cave Mm-hmm. That's the last of Abraham story is him dying and then him being buried in this spot Mm-hmm in all the same language. Yeah, yeah him being buried in this spot in all the same language. Yeah. Yeah. So even his death has all these little hints of the promise of Eden life through whatever God's

going to do in the next generations. And these stories are so amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you've got a couple Hebrew scholars tagging along with you, I mean, I've read these stories before and it can become mind-numbing. All these random people and random places and then repetition of random details and you just go, yeah, like, I'm lost, I'm a little bored and I'm confused and I know this is

supposed to make sense. It's supposed to make sense. It's supposed to be God's word to me. I'm supposed to have this devotional moment. But yeah, this, yeah. Reading Bible and community. That's right. In community over and over.

And that's why we're on this journey together. That's what we're doing. That's why we started the Bible project. Now, is there one more hit then with, that's it. That's it. Yeah. Abraham's dead. Abraham and Sarah, they're gone.

They're buried in the cave of the naked pair. So that wraps up movement too. Yeah. Of the Genesis scroll. Trees in the story of Abraham. Yeah, so we'll move to movement, move to the movement. Three of Genesis, which is a story of Isaac and Jacob.

Yeah. Mostly about Jacob. Yeah. And we're going to be tracing a new theme through that movement. which is the story of Isaac and Jacob, mostly about Jacob, and we're gonna be tracing a new theme through that movement, and we'll introduce that theme in that movement. When we get there. All right, yeah.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Bible Project Podcast. Next week, we begin the third movement of the Genesis scroll. In this section, we follow the complicated journey of Jacob, and we trace the theme of blessing and curse. And then, as we're going to see, there's three moments in page one of Genesis where God blesses. God blesses three times, and in each time it is an effective blessing, or it brings into reality the thing that God is saying, and so it's performative speech. And there's traces of that when we say bless you after you

sneeze. At least there's a hope that my word will bring about the health to you instead of the cold. The biblical meaning of blessing is it's performative speech, and when God speaks it, it brings it about. And then when we speak it, what we are meaning is that we pray that God will bring a blessing to you. Today's show is produced by Cooper Peltz, edited by Dan Gummel and Zach McKinley. The show notes are by Lindsay Ponder. Bible project as a crowd-funded nonprofit, we exist to experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. The Bible is beautifully designed literary arts. exist to experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. The Bible is beautifully designed literary arts, and we're learning to read it through

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