Genesis 13

As time goes by, God has blessed Abram and Lot with more and more livestock and wealth (V 1-5).

With the stress of land and space limitation, conflict arose between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock ( V 6-7).

What would they do? Would Abram act selfishly again like he did towards his wife Sarai in Egypt to protect his own personal life first even to the detriment of his own wife and his believer's testimony? No, this time, Abram would exhibit most beautifully that he had learned his "Egypt" lesson. He would act selflessly towards his nephew Lot. He spoke respectfully and kindly to Lot offering him the first choice of land after he had proposed to part company for the good of one and all (V 8-9).

So Lot chose the best land and cities and resources for himself while his uncle settled in the land of Canaan. Lot moved even as far as Sodom (V 10-12).

Unfortunately, the people of Sodom were wicked, ungodly, and sinful! (V 13).

Abram was blessed again with God's presence and promise of great blessings upon him even unto a far future and future generations of descendants. Abram was so touched that he could not but worship and adore the Lord (V 14-18). 

When we obey and honor God like Abraham did, God will honor and bless us too.

Genesis 12

God picked and chose Abram and called him to become the blessed father of believers in the True God (V 1-3).

Abram responded positively to God's call and journeyed in faith unto God. Besides his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, whose father Haran had passed away, followed him too in this journey of faith (V 4-9).

Abram's faith would be tested through a famine in the land he dwelt in. He would demonstrate some weakness in his faith when he went down to Egypt to escape the famine. He acted selfishly trying to protect his own personal life even at the cost of his total integrity and risking the very life of his beautiful wife (V 10-16). Note that Sarah was very beautiful at sixty-five years old! What a divine blessing upon her!


But God the Sovereign One who knows every motive of each heart and soul intervened to protect Sarai (and the promised seed of the Messiah Jesus Christ!) through whom would be born miraculously the baby Isaac later... Through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... would the Messiah be born eventually in due and perfect timing of God  (V 17-20).

How gracious is Our God to watch and protect us when we make mistakes like Abram did in Egypt. What a spiritual lesson to Abram and to us too!

Genesis 10-11

Genesis 10-11

Through Genesis 10, we see that we all descend from Noah and his sons. The last verse (V 32) of Chapter 10 states it explicitly.

Chapter 11 began by telling us that all human beings at that time used the same one language. Pridefulness and arrogance in Man developed to the point of wanting to build a city and tower whose top would reach into Heaven. What presumptuousness! This sinful spirit certainly displeased God and He stopped the project by confusing the human language so that they could not understand one another (hence, the origin of such a multitude of existing languages nowadays). Thus, the people got scattered all over the world.  (V 1-9)

Then, the records of the generations of Shem, the blessed son of Noah are listed down to Abram, the son of Terah (V 10-26). 

Abram was married to his half-sister Sarai (Same father but different mother (Ref. Gen 20:12)). Abram and his wife Sarai, Abram's father Terah, and Abram's nephew Lot (his father Haran has already died) went out towards the land of Canaan. They reached as far as Haran and settled there until the father Terah died (V 27-32)

Genesis 9

Genesis 9

God gives Mankind a new opportunity to begin again through Noah and his family. He issued the same commandment that He issued after His creation in Genesis 1: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…” (V 1, 7)

God reminded Noah and his family that humankind has been set above the rest of His creation. (V 2)

Man would now be allowed to eat animal flesh but not its blood. No more strictly vegetarian diet! (V 3-4)

Man is also warned not to shed his fellow human being’s blood, for we are created in God’s Image! (V 5-6) 

God made a covenant with Noah and his sons and us, Noah’s descendants: Never again will there be a universal flood killing all mankind. The beautiful seven-colored rainbow is the sign of this solemn covenant. (V 8-17)

We are all the descendants of the sons of Noah. (V 18-19)

Unfortunately, Noah would one day get drunk and his youngest son Ham would dishonor Noah, whilst his two elder brothers would not. (V 20-23)

Noah would curse Ham and his descendants and bless Shem and Japheth and their descendants. (V 24-27)

Noah would live three hundred and fifty years after the flood before he died at nine hundred and fifty years old. (V 28)