THIS WEEK’S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR STUDY AND DISCUSSION:
Parashat Chayei Sarah — Genesis 23:1 – 25:18
Haftarah — I Kings 1:1 – 1:31
Prophets — Judges 5:1 – 10:18
Writings — Psalms 28:1 – 34:22
Testimony — Matthew 18:21 – 21:46
Most of this week’s blog discussion points will be on these passages. If you have general comments or questions on the weekly Scripture readings not addressed in a blog post, here’s a place for you to post those. Just use the “leave a reply” link below.
The full “Read Through The Scriptures In A Year” schedule, broken down by each day, can be found on the right sidebar under “Helpful Links.” There are 4 sections of scripture to read each day. One each from the Torah, the Prophets, the Writings, and from the Testimony of Yeshua. Each week, the Torah and haftarah readings will follow the traditional one-year reading cycle.
Weekly Blog Scripture Readings for 11/1 through 11/7/15.
Thinking about Parashat Chayei Sarah. It seems heartless for Abraham to marry again at 145, have 6 more children and grandchildren through Keturah and then send them all away along with the sons of his concubines. What then would have happened to Keturah and the concubines?
Ancient customs and cultures seems strange and foreign to us, even as ours would doubtless seem strange to the ancients. We can only speculate as to Abraham’s intent, I that’s something I prefer not to do too much.
This I can say, the Bible paints Abraham as a righteous man who was faithful YHVH’s word including the Torah. He was also a very loving, hospitable and generous man. From this, I think we can safely say that whatever he did, it wasn’t evil, but was gracious, generous and was for the benefit of all parties involved.
It is true that Abraham got in the flesh and made some mistakes along the way like taking Hagar. Taking on an extra wives and concubines was probably not the wisest thing he did. The Bible in numerous places paints in graphic details the numerous family conflicts that arise when a man takes on extra wives and concubines. Perhaps Abraham, to keep peace in his family, had to send these concubines and their children away in order to avoid conflict between them. This is what he had to do with Hagar on account of Sarah’s jealously.
This verse does state that Abraham blessed his other sons generously. It also appears that he sent them away to protect Isaac — the promised seed through whom all YHVH’s covenantal blessings were to come. This, again, was likely to protect the future Israelites from unnecessary conflicts with potentially jealous family members. As it was, the children of Israel had on-going conflicts with the descendants of Ishmael, Esau or Edom as well as with Moab and Ammon, who were Lot’s children. To wit, the modern day Arab-Israeli conflict can trace much of its origins back to these ancient family feuds.