GENESIS 21-40

It's Wednesday, and already half of the week is over.  1) MADE SURE- I'm in Genesis, and as I looked at chapter 23 I saw that Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah to bury his dead, and it struck me that in verse 20 it says: "the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth."  The phrase "made sure" tells me that the boundaries were made sure so that everyone would know who the owner was.  In the Gospels, we see that the cave in which Jesus was laid was commanded by Pilate to: "make it as sure as you can".  I wrote in my Bible margin.... Not Sure Enough!  For Jesus rose from the dead.  This verse was for those who stayed dead and Abraham made the cave sure.  2) TIMELINE- In Gen. 25, we see that Abraham took another wife, Keturah.  In chapter 24, we see that Isaac was married to Rebekah when he was 40 years old.  (That made Abraham 140)  Verse 67 of chapter 24 says "he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.  Now Sarah died at 127, which made Abraham 137, so he must have waited till after the marriage of Isaac when he was 140 years old, and Isaac was comforted three years later after his mother died.  After Isaac's marriage, Abraham married Keturah and had six more children.  This means that Abraham was probably 140 when he married again, and had children maybe one per year until he was 146 or so!  Keep in mind that Abraham died at 175, and his children now were all in their thirties, except for Isaac who was 75, and Ishmael who was 88.  This is the timeline! 3) RACHEL AND LEAH- Gen. 29:17 says: "Leah was tender eyed; but Rachel was beautiful and wellfavoured."  Verse 18, says: "And Jacob loved Rachel".  Verse 30 says:  "And he went int also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah".   Verse 31 says: "And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, "   Now, we all know this story.  Jacob loved Rachel, got tricked into marring Leah, and yet Leah had most of the chidren, and Rachel only had Joseph and Benjamin.  Now each of them had a hand maiden in which they used to also get children from their husband, Jacob.  Abraham had three wives, Isaac only one, and Jacob four!  Here is the thought, the fourth child that Leah bore to Jacob was called "praise", or "Judah".  Now Jesus came forth from the tribe of Judah!  Jesus is our reason to PRAISE!!  But it was lowly Leah that God used; not the beauty, but the tender eyed woman who bore children for her husband.  God used the lowly, not the lovely!  He can use us too!!!!!!! May God bless you!   Pastor Mike Mutchler