Bible In A Year: Genesis (Chapters 10 -14)

Genesis is not a collection of moral stories, but a unified narrative revealing God’s redemptive plan. In Genesis 10–12, the scattering at Babel shows humanity’s attempt to make its own name great, while God sovereignly chooses Abram and promises to make his name great for the blessing of all nations. Though Abram stumbles in fear, God remains faithful. This covenant does not depend on human perfection, but on God’s promises—promises that extend to all who live by faith.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Scene And Audience
• 1:39 Nations After The Flood
• 5:24 Genealogies Of Japheth And Ham
• 8:02 Shem, Eber, And The Hebrews
• 9:54 Babel As Flashback To Nations
• 14:42 Calling Of Abram And The Promise
• 18:36 Walking By The Word, Not Sight
• 22:04 Egypt, Sarai, And God’s Protection
• 25:24 Lot Separates And Is Rescued
• 28:00 Melchizedek’s Blessing And The Tithe
• 31:10 Trusting God Over Spoils
• 34:05 Why Israel Needed These Stories

Transcript

Phil Porter: 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachme the Bible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Well, hey everybody. Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Phil Porter. I'm alongside David Klingler, and we are gonna be picking up in Genesis chapter 10 today with Shem. We have kind of tracked all the way up to the flood by now. So if you um are skipping a couple episodes ahead or whatever else, please do not do that. Go back, understand the story because the story's continuing. Um we it is not based off of chapters. We're not trying to track as if, okay, this chapter's done, this chapter's done, this chapter's done. Um we're actually tracking the story. And so when you see, you say this all the time, David, when you see uh normally, you know, in a normal book in life, you get to a chapter and you stop because the the point's over. Um this is not like that. That the it continues. And so you have to see it as a continual story. So as you're going through the episodes and as you're reading through uh your Bible, uh don't stop at the chapters. Um find find a uh a place that makes sense to stop for you.

Dr. David Klingler: 1:28

Yeah, think of it as a scene, right? A movie, a scene in a movie you you watch, and if you if you gotta stop, uh stop at the end of a scene, right? That that type of thing. Remember also that um the the this the audience, the the the person or the people watching the movie, uh, this is are there this is Israel. Um Moses is the storyteller, Israel is the audience, uh, and they're about to take the land, right? They're they're they've they've come out of the Exodus, they've uh the first generation, they've lived a lot of this. Um that we're gonna read in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Uh they're they're about to take the land. And so Moses is retelling uh this to the to this nation that's about to take the land. They need to know who they are, why they are, why they exist as a nation. Um particularly in relation to the to the the fall to the to the messiah, where they're going, they're going to the promised land. Who is the land promised to? Oh, it was promised to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Who are they? Okay, we gotta go back and tell you that story. Um, and they gotta know what they're supposed to do when they get there, right? So who they are, why they are, where they're going, why are they going there, and what are they supposed to do when they get there, all those things are pretty important. And so Moses is telling this story to Israel because they're going to go, they're a nation. Say, well, nation, where'd the nations come from? Well, let me tell you where the nations came from. They uh they they came from the Tower of Babel and God confused the tongues and created the nations. You're going, whoa, wait, what? Okay, let me tell you the story, right? So so there's a logical progression to get that Moses is telling Israel to get them so that they can go take the land. Um they need to know about creation. This is the creator God. Uh, this is their God, the God of Israel is the creator God. Uh the the the fall, what happened to creation? Why did it why we have this train wreck that's going on now that is uh that is humanity and the world and the fall and evil and sin and sickness and strife between uh peoples, and uh well it's because of the the fall, there's two teams, there's a genealogy, and we've been tracking this genealogy that's leading to this patriarch Abram, and uh the Lord's gonna tell Abram, I will make you a great nation. Well out of one person, God will make them a nation. But the nations were already created, and this is the section that we're in here. And so coming out of the flood, you know, getting on going going on to the to the boat, uh uh there were uh you got uh uh all kinds of evil, wickness, wickedness, God judges coming out of the boat, then uh you've uh you've got uh eight people, uh, and there the the bad guys show right back up, Satan's team shows right back up, uh, and the nations are populated. And so now Satan is running the nations. In fact, running all the nations. Everyone is going to be doing, just as everyone was multiplying wives and killing people, which led to the flood. Now everyone is building a city, make their name great, uh, and the Lord's going to confuse their languages. And so uh you're going to have people scattered all over the earth, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. That part of it is going to be uh fulfilled, so to speak, so to speak. You're you're seeing people begin to multiply over the face of the earth, but they're not multiplying what God cares about, what's good and right in the eyes of the Lord. They're doing what's good and right in their own eyes, and that's going to be the result of chapter uh chapters 10 and 11. And so um so we're we're in chapter 10, we're being introduced to uh these are the records, or these are the Toledot of uh Shem and Ham and Japheth. This is who came out of the the sons, the sons of Noah, uh that were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer and Magog and Medai, and you're going, oh man, there's a lot of names here. Well, pay attention to these names, because as we've said, many of them are going to show back up. Uh Tarshish uh will uh will show back up, Kidam and uh Donanim, uh, and the coastlands uh the separated the lands of everyone according to their language and according to their families to their nations. And the sons of Ham were Cush and Mitzraim. Mitzreim is Egypt. Uh does NIV translate is Mitzraim or Egypt? Egypt. Egypt, good. Uh New American Standard is Mitzraim. That's just a transliteration, but Mitzraim is Egypt. And put and Canaan and the sons of Cush. Uh you've got the sons of Cush there. And Cush became the father of Nimrod, a mighty one on the earth, mighty hunter. Um, and um uh and his uh the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erik and Ahad. Uh this is where we get the Akkadians and Babel, Babylonians, and all of this built the city of Nineveh, um, the great uh city um um um of uh Kalad. This was a great city in verse 12, and Mithraim became the father of Lodim, and so you you're getting this whole side multiplying, and and Canaan became the father of Sidon, and the Jebusites and the Amorites and the Gergeshites, the Hivites. Now we're starting to get into the Yites. Now we're getting into some names that we uh recognize a little bit uh better. We're introduced to Sodom and Gomorrah uh down in verse 19, and these are the generations of Ham according to their families, uh, in verse 21. And also to Shem was the father of the children of Eber. Eber, this is probably where we get the word Hebrews from. It's from this name Eber, uh Hebrews, the older brother of Japheth. Uh children were born, the sons of Shem, and we've got uh go down through the sons of Shem, through Shela, through Heber, uh, through uh uh Paleg, all the way down uh to um to some names that we're that we're going to uh uh gonna know pretty well, right? Uh and so these are the families of the sons of Noah, their generations, their genealogies. Uh and so you got these the the peoples are are being developed, the nations are being developed. Um now chapter 11 uh is a now the whole earth used one language and uh the same words. Well, how do we get the uh chapter 11? The whole uh they're all using the same uh language, but in chapter 10 they weren't. Well, chapter 11 is saying, okay, now let me tell you how we got here, right? In other words, chapter 11 is a flashback. This is what happened. Uh everyone was using the same language, uh, and they all journeyed east, and they came to the land of Shinar, uh, and they said, Come let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly, and they used bricks, and they let us build a city for ourselves and make it go up to heaven and make our name great. And this is goes back to the uh to chapter four uh with uh with um Cain and Enoch. Enoch uh Cain had a son named Enoch, build a city to make his name great. And so uh remember we talked about in these two these two uh contrasts in the genealogies between chapter four and chapter five, Enoch Lammock, Enoch, Lammoc, build a city, make his name great, multiply wives and killing people. The multiplying wives and killing people lead you into the flood, and now uh you're getting the uh everyone was uh building a city to make their name great. Um you've got uh you've got uh how did we get nations? Okay, and so uh this story is pretty familiar to us. Um, but at the end of this story, the Lord came down to see the city that uh and the uh the tower uh that the sons of man had made. So apparently this the tower wasn't big enough to go up to God until he comes down, and and so he confuses their language uh so that they couldn't understand their speech. And so the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore the name of the place was called Babel, because um uh there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth, and the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth. So chapter 11 is a flashback to explain how we got chapter 10, the all of these nations, right? And these are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem one lived 100 uh years, and he became the father, had other sons and daughters, and other sons and daughters. We're going right back to this uh to this same uh you know kind of construction that we saw of the genealogy in chapter uh chapter five. Uh and uh uh Nahor, we're introduced to Nahor in chapter uh 11, verse 20 uh 24. Uh and Nahor lived 29 years, became the father of Terah. Uh and Nahor lived uh 119 years and became the father of Terah, uh, and he had other sons and daughters, and Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, and Nahor and Haran. Uh and now pay attention to these names, because these are the names that we're going to keep coming back to throughout this story. Uh and so these are the uh records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot. There's a name we're going to be introduced to. Haran died in the presence of the father of Terah in the land of his birth. Uh and Abram and Nahor took wives to themselves. So Abram, Nahor, pay attention to Nahor. Um, and the name of Abram's uh father, uh I'm sorry, Na Abram's wife was Sarah, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milkah, and Milkah, uh the daughter of Haran, the father of Milkah and Iscah. Pay attention to that because we're going to go back to this family to get uh to get uh wives for uh um uh for Abraham's sons and descendants. Uh and Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, the grandson of uh and Sarah, the daughter-in-law, uh and his uh uh his son, uh Abram's wife, and they went together from Ur of the Chaldees in order to enter the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran and settled there, uh, and the Lord's going to appear. So so the whole stage is now set for the Lord to say to Abram, I will make you a great nation. Go forth, uh, leave your country, leave your relatives, leave your father's house to a land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. So we have all these other nations, um, all unbelievers, uh, but you've got this one person that the Lord has chosen from the genealogy that has been spelled out through chapter 5, through chapter 11. And the Lord says to him, I will make you a great nation. Now Israel is this great nation that will be produced. And so Israel needed to know this because this is the promise. This is this is where this whole thing started, right? I will make your great nation, I will bless you, and I will make your name great. You don't make your name great, I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you, I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so uh you can't uh separate this passage from the from the the fall, right? Uh the curses were placed on creation. Uh, you're looking for the restoration, uh, the removal of the curses, the restoration of the blessing, the restoration of eternal life. Uh, and so uh it's going to come through this promised seed. Uh, and so Abram is now the carrier of this seed. You're looking for this one who's going to come forth. But now we've learned more. It's not just this one that's going to come forth from Abram, but a nation is going to come forth from Abram, and out of that nation will come this one. And so uh chapter four, uh chapter twelve, verse four. Excuse me. Uh uh chapter twelve, verse four, uh, at least in the New American Standard, translates it this way. So Abram went forth as the Lord had spoken to him. Um the uh Abram walked according to the word of the Lord, and Lot walked with him. Now that's literal reading, and that makes a whole lot that walking with God from Enoch walked with God, uh, Noah walked with God. Now Abram walked according to the word of the Lord, and Lot walked with him. And Abram was seventy-five years, and he departed from from uh Haran, and uh and so off he goes. Uh and uh it says uh he came, uh he passed through the land as far as Shechem, starting to be introduced to these names that we're gonna hear over and over the oaks of Moray, and the Canaanites were in the land. And the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your seed I will give this land. So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him, and he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched a tent with Bethel on his west and I on his east, and there he built an altar to the Lord, and he called upon the name of the Lord, right? And so he's walking according to the word of the Lord, he's calling upon the name of the Lord. And so we're gonna uh walk with Abram. Now, um here's the promises, right? The Lord says, I will make you great nation, I will bless you, and you all the families of earth will be blessed. Um, this promise is going to be repeated several times to Abram in this story, and we're gonna watch Abram become Abraham. Abram means exalted father. Abraham means the father of many peoples, right? Um, we don't know yet what that means. As the story progresses, we know exactly what that means. In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Um uh that nations will turn to Christ, people from every nation, tribe, tongue, they will all be children of Abraham, they will be sons of Abraham by faith. And this is what Paul's going to pick up in the New Testament. We don't know that yet, uh, as we're watching the story or reading the story, but as the story progresses, as we watch the movie, we realize the huge significance that the Lord has uh has spoken to uh to Abram here in uh in chapter 12. And we're gonna walk with Abram. Abram is going to, I mean, uh immediately he journeys south. He uh sells off his wife as his sister, he fears the wrong people. I mean, he's doing everything uh wrong, and so not everything, but almost everything. Uh and so we're gonna walk with Abram. Now, why did Israel need to hear these stories? Boy, that's a pretty important question. Uh they needed to, as they watched the patriarchs, as they watched Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and they watched Abraham and Isaac and Jacob learn to represent the Lord, to uh be a mediator to the nations, right? To not fear the nations, but to fear the Lord, uh, and to walk according to the word of the Lord and walk according to the promise. Um, Israel also is learning to walk according to the same word of the Lord and the same promises, because a promise to Abraham is a promise to Isaac, a promise to Isaac is a promise to Jacob, a promise to Jacob is the promise to the nation Israel. Out of you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so uh Israel needs to learn how to operate and not operate. Uh and so when they watch uh Abraham, they learn what to do sometimes, and they learn what not to do. Even more, right? Uh and so when uh when Israel does the great uh you know the the right thing, when uh when Jacob does the right thing, when Isaac or or Abram does the right thing, uh then Israel is to follow in those actions by faith. Uh when Abram offers um a tithe to Melchizedek, Israel is to continue to do that same thing. When uh in chapter uh we get over here in uh in chapter 18, uh when uh when Abraham uh offers a um they call it a fine flour, uh breadcakes, he offers breadcakes. Well that's going to be a uh uh that it's the same word that's going to be uh used in uh in Leviticus, um uh but uh but it's not translated as breadcakes or flour cakes or anything like that. It's a meal offering, right? Uh and so a grain offering, a mirror offering. So whatever uh Israel does by faith, um, what Abraham does by faith, what Jacob does by faith, Israel's to do by faith as well, and to continue uh on in those uh uh in that same way. Does that make sense? It does.

Phil Porter: 18:55

Yeah. Because there's a lot of chapters that were.

Dr. David Klingler: 18:57

Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna summarize a lot a lot of chapters, but just to set that that template and understand that uh uh that that this story was written for Israel so that they knew what to do, what not to do, who they were, why they are, where they're going, why they're going there, what to do when they get there. All of that has to be accounted for. Now, the problem that we run into is 21st century, you know, Christian, you know, readers is to go, yeah, who cares? I mean, um we aren't Israel. We aren't being asked to do what they did. We're not being asked to go take the land, wipe out the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Jebusites, you know, the termites, if it's an I kill it. Yeah. Um we're we're not um you know, offering up um, you know, burnt offerings. We're not doing all of the Levitical stuff that uh that they're doing uh throughout uh this old testament story. And and so Uh it it becomes a struggle for us to try to figure out how does this quote apply to us. And in some ways, it doesn't. Think about how story works, right? Um it sounds like heresy. Well, are you saying that this this doesn't apply to us? Well, uh, the story is is the story. Uh in the overall story applies, but each scene may not apply in the same way. Now, each scene applied to Israel, no question about that. There was what there was, they needed to know this. Um, for us, it's helped for us to know the background, the history, the story, but we aren't Israel. We aren't in the Old Testament, we're not about to take the land. Uh, we are in the New Testament church, but it is important that we know how we got here, right? Uh, and so sometimes when we try to force application for ourselves, um, we're we're gonna get into some uh some trouble. So we don't uh we don't want to uh to to make application where there where there really isn't uh isn't much going on for us, uh, but there certainly was application for Israel. So anyway, so in chapter 12, uh you you um the Lord promises to to uh Abram and immediately, I mean immediately, he disappears, right? Uh um a famine shows up in the land, and Abram leaves the land and he goes down to Egypt because the famine was severe, right? So, in other words, uh I'll make you a great nation, I will bless you, I'm gonna give you this land, you know. Here's your promises in the land. Famine comes, I'm out of here. It's like the next verse, right? And it uh and it came about that when he came near to Egypt, uh he said to Sarah's wife, see, uh I I know that you're a beautiful woman, and and it will come about when the Egyptians see you. They'll say, This is uh his wife, and they'll kill me, uh and uh they'll let you live. So please say that you are my sister. This is great, uh great storytelling here, so that it may go toe with me on account of you, so that I may live on your account. I mean, that's just right. Everything about that statement is absolutely wrong, right? Um first of all, he uh she is not your sister. I mean, he's getting off on a technical. No, she he's your she's your 224 wife, one man, one woman, one flesh. And a promise to Abram is a promise to Sarah. So you you touch Abram, you touch the promise. You touch Sarah, you touch the promise, right? So there's nothing to fear here. If the Lord is on your side, the other side's in big trouble. Okay. Um and so it has already been determined by the Lord that it will go tove for him on account of the Lord. It will not go tove or well for him. The word good, you know, do what's good in the eyes of the Lord, Tove is the word. Um it will not go good for him on account of Sarai acting as his sister. That's not the way that it's going to go well for him. It's gonna go well for him because the promised one's gonna come for him. Uh, that I I may live on account of you. Well, the the story here is not about living temporally, uh, it's about living eternally, getting back to the uh to the tree of life. And so everything about this statement is absolutely wrong. Everything about this statement is wrong. And of course, um the Lord steps in, you know, he uh Pharaoh's gonna take uh take Sarai, and the Lord steps in, and uh the Lord strikes Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarah's wife. Then Pharaoh called Abram and said, What is this you've done to me? And why did you tell me she was your wife? And why did you say she is my sister? So that I took her for my wife. Now then here's your wife, take her and go. And so Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him and escorted him away with his wife and all that belonged to him. And so this is the first time actually that um Israel comes out of uh you know, Abram comes out of Egypt with a bunch of stuff, okay. Um but we're gonna watch Abram learn from this, okay. By the time we get to chapter 14, uh Abram is not going to rely on the stuff, he's going to go into battle. Uh in chapter 13, Lot's gonna get himself in trouble. Abram's got to go uh deliver Lot. Actually, Lot separates from Abram. Um probably not the smartest thing for Lot to separate. You know, if if you got this one saying this is the the hope of the whole world is right here with this one person, what do you do? I I I I think I would uh Ruth has not lived yet, but I'd I'd come up with some Ruth words. Where you go, I go, your people, my people, your God, my God, and where you die, I die. You're not getting rid of me. I'm staying where you are. Yeah. Uh but he separates. He lifted up his eyes, saw the water, saw the land, he separates, um, gets himself in trouble immediately. Lot goes and rescues him. Uh, and uh this is when Lot uh when uh uh Abram goes and rescues Lot. Uh and this is when Abram offers a sacrifice or offers the uh the tithe to Melchizedek. And um, and then he uh says uh uh to the king of Sodom, the single king of Sodom comes to Abram and says, Keep all the stuff, and and he says, No, no. Um I have sworn to the Lord God most high, possessor of the heaven and the earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours, lest you say I have made Abram rich. Now, this is important because um when Israel comes out of the land, uh let's fast forward to the Exodus, right? They're gonna come out with a bunch of Egypt's stuff, but when they go take the land, they're not to take any of the stuff of the people in the land, right? Um and so why is that? Well, because we're gonna do exactly what Abram did in this story. Uh and Abram, uh, lest you say, uh, you know, I've made Abram rich. Uh and so uh you were watching Abram uh gradually trust in the Lord, um, and uh and this this story is developing. So so uh next time we'll pick it up in chapter 15, pretty important chapter, and we're gonna start to pick up the pace a little bit just so that we see generally speaking what's going on in the story, and uh and then at some point in the future we'll do a study of Genesis because um uh yeah this this uh 50 weeks maybe we could do a year study in Genesis and still not cover it all because there's so much great uh great detail here. But but if we can just get the the contours, the outline of the story, um I I think that uh that that will be good enough. Uh if we remember that Moses is telling Israel this story so that Israel knows why they're doing what they're doing, what they're supposed to do in the land, and why they're supposed to do it in the land, and why they matter. Uh you know, so so all this is is very important to uh to Israel uh and uh and very important to the Exodus. And so uh the book of Genesis is setting the stage for the Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and the whole history of the Old Testament. Uh, if we want to understand the Bible, we've got to understand Genesis.

Phil Porter: 27:41

Yeah, it's it's very clear. Um that that is absolutely clear. In fact, I mean I'm looking through what you had talked about a lot of today, and there are just some key people that entered the story and started some things started happening, especially with Abram, and uh we haven't even got to where he's Abraham. Yeah, no, I mean we're not even there yet. Yeah, um and now just real quick, this tithe was the tithe given to Melchizedek because of Lot? Or was it just so normally, you know, you had sacrifices and you were sacrificing things. This is where it introduces the giving to Melchizedek.

Dr. David Klingler: 28:24

I I can't remember if you went over why that was or Yeah, so so uh chapter 14, um there was uh there were this there's a recounting of this battle, right? There's this battle between these kings, and and Lot kind of gets caught in the crossfires, so to speak. And uh and so uh they uh all the valley of Siddham was full of tar pits, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they uh this is in verse 10, uh, and they fell into them, and those who survived fled into the hill country, and they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all of the food supply and departed. And they also took Lot, Abram's nephew, and all his possessions, and departed, for he was living in Sodom. Then a fugitive came and told Abram, the Hebrew, who was living in the Oaks of Man, he said, Hey, they've got your, you know, they they've got your lot, your nephew. And so um Dr. One of my old professors used to show us a video of uh old movie. I don't remember which one it was, but it was a John Wayne movie, right? You know, John Wayne's kind of sitting there. And I I I I don't remember exactly I don't I don't remember the name of the movie. I remember the scene though, and there was this scene where this you know this uh there's this son and this man um that are down there interacting with this other guy, and this other guy is kind of being rough uh to the man, and John Wayne's kind of watching this from afar, and he says, you know, this really isn't my concern, not my issue. And uh, as I recall, I think the the man strikes the son, strikes the little kid. And John Wayne says, now how do you have to why do you have to go and do that for? Right. Now it's become my issue, right? Yeah, now I'm involved. Why did they have to mess with Lot? Right. Yeah, uh, and so now he's gonna go down there, he rescues Lot. And so uh he goes down there and he brought back all the book uh goods, all the stuff, and brought back Lot. Then after his return, uh from the defeat of the uh of these kings, uh this king, this Melchizedek, the king of Salem, uh brought out wine uh and bread. And uh he was a priest of God most high. Now, the name Melchizedek, uh Melchizedek, uh we're this is extra, right? So you asked, so we're we're flowing a little bit extra here. Um uh uh Melech is king. Zedek, that last part of his name, is righteousness. So it's the king of righteousness, the king of Salem, um king of peace. Uh this we know this town. This uh this town later is going to be contended for uh to contend as uh Yaru, Yarushalem, Jerusalem. This is the king of Jerusalem, this is the king priest, uh king of righteousness, priest of God most high, who's the king of uh Salem, Jerusalem, the town we're going to know, and he's going to bless Abram. Blessed be Abram of God most high, possessor of the heaven and earth, blessed be God most high, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he, Abram, gave him Melchizedek, a tenth of all. Uh, and and so he kind of walks in, and this is the scene, and then he walks out. He, you know, it's his entrance and gone. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, who is that guy, right? Yeah, I will bless you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. And this is where Abram was blessed. He was blessed by the king priests of the Lord. Uh, the this uh this blessing was given to him. And now we're gonna track the blessing and the birthright from Abram to Isaac to Jacob all the way down into the nation. So so as you can see, at every point in this story, the details are so important. But what we didn't tend to do is read the story for for relevance for ourselves or application for ourselves. No, no, no. Read the story, watch the movie, you know. Um, when you're watching, I don't know, we've we've kind of been kicking around. My wife and I've been kicking down around the idea of Lord of the Rings. We've never really sat down and watched any of the Lord of the Rings stuff. We've watched parts of it, you know, because it's on all the time. Use flip channels, it's on all the time. Uh, but we need to sit down and actually watch it so we can track the plot, yeah. Track the plot development. So every scene matters. I'm I'm assuming every scene matters, every scene develops, and uh, and that's how it is with the Bible, but that's not how we read the Bible. Uh, we read it as if it's just kind of looking for little principles to apply to our life. I'm saying, no, it's a whole lot more than that. It's a very detailed story that's intricately uh developed, uh woven together so that you will see the full import of why the Lord is saying this to Israel. Uh, and if we want to know what God's been up to and why he's been up to it and what he's doing even today, we got to know his story. And uh and so the details matter.

Phil Porter: 33:19

Yeah, that's what I've been doing uh while we've been going through this this whole time. It's just continuing with what scene we're in and remembering, oh, okay, this was before, now it's tracked to here, and it's um I'm really interested at the end of it to have a complete story. I mean, just to be able to go, wow, um, I can track with this. And um, and for me, uh just personally, and probably many of our listeners as well, it just is so it cements our faith. Yeah, like it just it's like, man, I I've gone many people, and this is the sad truth, many people go their whole lives and sit in church and can never tell you the story of the Bible. Yeah. And I mean, I just think without with knowing this, it it brings so much more belief, conviction, yep, yep, uh to my faith. And without knowing it, um, you just start to realize it's you just it feels like you've been cheated a little bit. You know, like it's just you just you're hearing all these things to do or not to do, or sermons that are based off of topics, and and again, those bring people to Christ, but the the the story of God is incredible.

Dr. David Klingler: 34:42

It is. It is amazingly detailed, his interaction through history to bring about this present day uh where we are, and it's not by shock or surprise, uh, and it's going to continue along just as planned uh to its end. And so uh there is no reason for us to be concerned at all. We've read the story, we know where this thing's headed, uh, and it's a great uh a great comfort uh to know that.

Phil Porter: 35:11

All right. Well, next week we're gonna pick up starting in uh Genesis uh chapter 15. Any anything else before we go? That's it. Okay, we'll see y'all next time. For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.