Transcript for Introduction to the Patriarchs (with Jeff Cavins) - 2023

Oh, thanks for allowing me to come and go for the ride. This is exciting. You know, just came through the early world and and that is turquoise and now we're going to enter a burgundy period and burgundy is a reminds us of a blood blood covenant big thing that's going to happen in this in this period. You know, as I've been listening to you, or the last number of days, I'm just reminded of the encouragement of the Word of God. And just want to extend encouragement to everybody that this is a story that you can get. And we're here to help you to navigate some of the time periods where it could be a little confusing. You know, if you don't have somebody guiding you, so that's good. And it's good to have someone that can kind of help you. And this is chapter 12 of Genesis all the way to chapter 50. And we just came off of 11 chapters that really established kind of the early world. Now we're looking at the history that we're really familiar with, you know?

Right. Yeah. And God has a plan to redeem mankind, which we saw the fall in original sin. They lost original justice back in the garden. And what we're going to pick up on now in this period, which you're going to be going through, I think it's even the day after Christmas. You're going to be reading quite a bit. Yeah. Take junk. Yeah. During this patriarchal period, which is going to cover Abraham Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. You're really going to get a look at how God works with mankind. And Abraham is going to become very important to us because how God deals with Abraham is going to come into Paul's explanation in the New Testament, for example, in Galatians, dealing with faith and what it means to believe. And so we pick up in chapter 12 with God speaking to a man by the name of Abraham, as you said, his name is going to get changed. And he is in modern day Iraq. And he is in er of the Caldians. And God calls him and he might notice in chapter 11, you get this so and so begot. So and so begot. So and so which is a lot of people's favorite part of them.

Well, you know what it's called actually. It's called a Hebrew tool called a Toledot. A Toledot is a literary tool that takes you from the wide angle down to narrow. In other words, the writer is forcing you to go from all of mankind to one guy. And that's Abram. And Abram is going to be key because he's going to walk with God and God is going to make God is going to make a people of Abram. And so you pick up in chapter 12 and there are three key promises that God makes to Abram, which are going to be very important, three promises that are going to be very important in your reading plan. And I'm sure you'll bring them up when we reach that point. We start off in chapter 12. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country, enter Kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and him who curses you. I will curse and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. And so you have three promises to Abram at the beginning of this period. And that is land, a royal dynasty going to make, make his name great, and worldwide blessing. Three major promises. But we have a major problem. And that is Abram doesn't have any kids. He doesn't have any kids. And in this just beautiful, how God deals with this problem and gives him a son Isaac. And people are going to be reading that with you. And he ends up with Isaac as a son. But it's so interesting in chapter 15, which you're going to be coming upon pretty quick in your reading. Pretty quick. Yeah. In chapter 15, we're going to see that Abram struggles with God. How do I know that you're going to give me these things? How I don't even have a son and God is going to make a covenant. with Abram. You're going to read about it in chapter 15. I won't read it now, but this is a beautiful, beautiful situation where God makes a covenant with Abram. And as a result of that, we're going to have Isaac, and then Isaac in his wife, Rebecca, have Jacob and Esau, or I should say, Esau and Jacob. Right. And then after that, we're going to have through Jacob, the 12th tribes of Israel through four different ladies. It's going to be Leah and Rachel true, but it's also going to be their handmaids, Bill Ha and Zilpa, and you're going to end up with all of the tribes of Israel, the sons of Jacob, which eventually is going to lead them into Egypt, where things again go south. And they come, they become the really servants of the Egyptians and it doesn't end well for them.

Well, I think people are to little alarms sometimes when they're reading the Bible and they hear these wild stories that people get into and they take offense like, oh, I shouldn't be in the Bible or I didn't expect that from the Bible. Well, just turn the Bible around and look at it like a mirror. I didn't expect that in your life either. And you didn't expect that in your life either. You didn't think you'd think like you're thinking. And so it really does paint a picture of the brokenness of humanity and its peaks of the great patience and the loving kindness that God demonstrates in bringing us all back together into His family, which is going to culminate in Jesus. I would not be alarmed at all of these stories in the Bible. I think anytime you read about sin, sure, it's alarming, but it really does echo where mankind is at today. And also the love of God and the great links he goes to save us and to bring us to himself. This period of the patriarchs is so rich. in the stories about God's faithfulness, about our brokenness. When you get to go from Abraham and Sarah, and then you get into Isaac and Rebecca, you will see Rebecca working with her son Jacob to try to write wrongs. And then Jacob fooling his brother And we wonder if when he fools his brother, Esau, and he gets from him the blessing, but also the birthright. Have also the birthright, yeah. When he gets that, you're thinking, now this isn't right. There's gotta be consequences to it, right? And there are consequences. Keep reading. Yeah, keep reading. Right. Yeah. And in Hebrew writing, Father, it's really interesting because in Hebrew writing, we want the story to be Jacob fooled Esau. We want punishment in the next chapter. Right. But right. The Hebrew writers don't do that. They don't tell you the results. They show you. They show you. And that's why you got to read it carefully and start seeing patterns. develop. But the whole book or the whole period in Genesis ends with Jacob giving blessings to all of his sons and one tribe is going to rise above all of them as a tribe to pay attention to for the rest of the story.

Yeah, and another thing to pay attention to is how the church reads scripture. You know, we know that there are there are three different levels that we need to pay attention to when you're reading it. Number one is you need to read this all of this. The patriarchs in Genesis knowing that Christ fulfills all of this. He fulfills all of it in from time to time that will become evident. But second of all, We need to read it in light of what does this mean to me? Do I see myself in this story? Am I Jacob? Right. Or am I Esau? Am I the deceiver? Yeah. Yeah. And so you read it, you know, knowing that this relates to my life as well. And the third is the future heaven. How does this find fulfillment eventually in heaven? And those are the three things that we pay attention to, you know, as Catholics when we read the Bible. But it is, um, it is a love letter written to you where God is revealing his heart in his plan to you. And don't be discouraged if you don't get it all right now. You know, there was a very famous word from one of the saints who said that reading the Bible is like drinking from a drinking fountain.

Yeah. Yeah. You don't go to a drinking fountain to start cranking. Look at all of the went on the ground. be happy with what you got.

Well, this period is going to be an exciting period. I know that it's going to be fun to go through it with you. It's really the story of Abraham. And now we are following the seed line all the way from Eve. We're going to follow that line all the way to Jesus. And so one of the ways we navigate through this complex Bible is we stay on task. We are following the seed line that was introduced with Adam and Eve. And you can read about these genealogies in Matthew and Luke. And so it's not just Willie Nilly, there's actually a prescribed way of telling this entire story. So we've got Abram and that great covenant that God makes with Abram is going to be a bedrock for the rest of the entire Bible. We're going to be looking for when do they get land? When do they win? Is there a royal kingdom established? When is worldwide blessing available to the world? And so that acts as a foundation for us to read going forward. But then who can forget the great stories of Isaac? and Jacob, and then the longest portion of Genesis goes to a Joseph. And just a key, when you get to that point, remember, it's not just about interesting. There's one other character that you're gonna be getting into. I won't let the cat out of me. Spoiler. You're gonna be talking about that, and it's going to end with all the blessings to these sons, which are really, really important. And they end in Egypt. And then there's going to be a 400 year break after that. And then you're going to be picking up with Exodus and moving on. So we're right on schedule here.

Yeah, I think it's faith, you know, and what is faith and trusting in God? This idea of faith is not simply beliefism. God did not say to Abram, do you just believe what I'm telling you? Right. But faith, you know, to quote Pope Benedict, faith is really divided into two things. One is a mental acknowledgment. Abraham says, yes, I believe that God is calling me to leave this land and go to a new land of promise land. That's why we called the promise land. It was promised to Abraham in his descendants. But the second aspect of that, the first is mental ascent. Yes, I can occur. I believe the second is a personal entrusting of yourself to God. Now as we continue to read in the patriarchs and beyond, you're going to encounter people who made mental ascent, but they never entrusted themselves. Yeah. And that's where the story gets really interesting. But what we see in Abram is he not only believed God, But it was counted for him as righteousness because he stepped out and he walked in it. He showed that he trusted God. And so there's a remarkable demonstration here of what it means to walk with God with Abram. And you can kind of measure Isaac and Jacob and beyond with the walk that Abraham had with God.

Well, I'm finding it so exciting so far, just to listen. Yes. And to Scriptures as faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Yes. And as you're reading Scripture, Father, and I'm listening, that word is going deep into my heart. And God is having His way with my heart via his word and so you're a gift and that you're lending your voice to God, to speak, but then we also get some great commentary. So I appreciate it. It's just a wonderful opportunity.