Day 7 Genesis 22-24

God had finally given Abraham and Sarah the son He’d been promising for decades. Abraham obviously loved Isaac very much, even more probably since Ishmael was now gone. Now his free ride is over though. Since the beginning God has been heaping blessings upon Abraham and his household and he hasn’t really had to do anything in return. Abraham believes what God says sometimes and it’s considered righteousness when he does, but then when he lies about Sarah not being his wife because he doesn’t have faith that God will protect him, God doesn’t hold it against him either.

Now, God tells Abraham that he has to sacrifice Isaac to Him. Abraham does it, or is about to do it when God stops him anyway. Once he proves his obedience to God, God tells him to kill a ram in stead.

Sarah died and Abraham bought some land to bury her. That made him decide to get a wife for Isaac, so he sent a servant to Padam Aran, which is in Mesopotamia, where Abraham was from, to collect someone from the family for Isaac to marry. The servant finds Rebekah, who is Nahor’s granddaughter. Nahor was Abraham’s brother, which means Rebekah is Isaac’s niece? I think that’s right, his father’s brother is his uncle. His son would be Isaac’s cousin, so his daughter would be his niece. Maybe his niece once removed.

There’s an ancient Sumerian tradition that a true heir to a priestly or royal line can’t just be a son of the father, a mother of the same family is required too. Siblings can’t just start breeding with each other, but half-siblings can, and often had to in order to preserve the family line. I’ve heard it theorized that Abraham actually came from a Sumerian line of priests because he was so familiar with spiritual rituals and performing sacrifices and stuff. That’s why he insists Isaac get a wife from among his own family back in Padam Aran and why Sarah is Abraham’s wife and his half sister, the daughter of the same father but a different mother. That’s why Isaac gets the birthright in stead of Ishmael, because Ishmael only has half the family line; he was born to a woman outside Abraham’s family. According to some Bible Scholars.

To recap, Sarah’s gone, but Isaac’s married so it’s now Abraham, Isaac and Isaac’s wife Rebekah.