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Sometimes Lot did the right thing and sometimes he did not.  Generally, he seems to have preferred the latter.  Let’s examine his career and make some observations concerning the impact he and his descendants had on biblical history. First of all, he was a nephew to Abram.  Scripture specifies two brothers of Abram by name: Haran and Nahor.  Further, it is specified that Lot was the son of Haran (Genesis 11:27-28).   As the patriarchal narrative begins, we are informed that Haran died in the land of their nativity (Ur of the Chaldeans).  We may infer two things about the relationship between Abram and Haran.  First, Haran was almost definitely older than Abram in spite of the apparent birth order in the passage.  Abram was surely born last, at the time Terah was about 165 years old.  Hence, in the event Haran was oldest of the three brothers, he was 95 years older than Abram.  In any event, he was probably considerably older than Abram anyway.  From that, we may deduce that Lot could well have been as old as or older than his uncle Abram.  This was probably not the case because he had minor daughters at the time of the final Sodom disaster, but it is possible. Terah, at some point in time after the death of Haran, [...]

The well was an important place in scripture.  The nomadic life of the herdsmen named Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob depended on their ability to find adequate supplies of water for their families, their servants, and the flocks and herds from which they made their living.  There were no public water systems in that time, so surface water and ground water were vital to the patriarchs.  Often, as they went about their business in Canaan, they would need to find new water supplies as existing supplies were depleted.  Sometimes new water would be found at the surface.  Over time, though, they would come to know where all the surface water in the country could be found.  They would also know whatever seasonality the various water sources showed.  The routes on which they took their herds and flocks were planned to avoid water shortage.  This meant they would use the more temporary water sources in the wetter seasons, and use the more permanent sources as the drier seasons came on. But, being so dependent on bounteous water supplies, the patriarchs would find themselves exploring for water from time to time.  They would always be on the lookout for places that offered the promise of water that could be coaxed from the ground – they would dig wells.  Sometimes this would require [...]

In Birth of The Holy Nation, volume 1, the idea that the Creation resides in the Eternal was presented.  In a previous blog, I stated that this positions us “in” the heart of God.  That means He is not only aware of us but is ever with us.  In this blog, I round out the work of the Holy Spirit in a complementary role for the believer. In Genesis 1:2, we see the inaugural work of the Holy Spirit of The Living God, insofar as scripture is concerned.  This Spirit hovered over the waters of the Creation.  This term, “waters,” seems to refer to something much more inclusive than rivers and lakes and oceans and such.  It implies the very matrix of that which was created – at least in its initial state.  Creation was a deliberate process from the mind and purposes of God that took six days to complete.  There are disputes even about the meaning of “six days,” but those disputes are not the subject of this work.  This work is to consider certain aspects of the work (and nature) of the Holy Spirit.  He is important enough that God gave over to Him the watching of that which was under way at the beginning of the existence of creation.  We have no evidence that He left [...]