Genesis Chapter 13

Union Church Bible Study

Israel: God’s Timepiece

1900 Years

Exiled A.D. 70 The Return 1948

18 Centuries of Prophetic Hibernation

• Not every generation saw prophecy fulfilled• From the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, to the re-birth of Israel in 1948, no prophetic event occurred• Why has the church missed it?

• 17th Century Church adopted “Replacement Theology”• Concluded Israel was Not going to return• Had been misreading prophecies• Israel was symbolic of the Church• New Israel was not Jewish… It was Gentile!• Promises given to Abraham transferred to the church• All curses of the Law of Moses placed upon the Jews

Calendar Reconciliation 2520360 = 907,200 days

Leap Years: 2483 / 4 = 621 (3 excess ea. 4 centuries: 18 excess)Julian year = 11m 10.46 sec > mean solar year

Gregorian Reform: 11 days removed

621 - (18-11) = 614 days

2483 years x 365 = 906,295

9 months = 270

21 days = 21 907,200 days

2520360 = 2483365 + 9 mos + 21 days

“Servitude of the Nation”• 70 years

360 = 25,200 days = 69 years

365

(less 2 days)

• 606 BC + 69 years = 537 BC• If July 23, 537 BC was their release:

-537y 7m 23d

+1 (no “year 0”)

2483y 9m 21d

1948 5 14

• On May 14, 1948, the nation of Israel was restored.

“Desolations of Jerusalem”

• 70 years360

= 25,200 days = 69 years365

(less 2 days)

• 587 BC + 69 years = 518 BC • If August 16, 518 BC was the completion of the walls:

-518y 8m 16d

+1 (no “year 0”)

2483y 9m 21d

1967 6 7

• On June 7, 1967, the Biblical city of Jerusalem was restored to the nation.

Ezekiel36 & 37

The Valley of Dry Bones

The Reuniting of the Nation

14For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the LORD: 15And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made. 16And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 11:14-16

Genesis 13:1-2

1And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Genesis 13:3-4

3And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; 4Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:5-6

5And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. 6And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.

Genesis 13:7-8

7And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. 8And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.

Chrysostom: Notice how the abundance of their possessions proved to be a major cause for their separation, creating a division, sundering their harmony and undoing the bond of kinship. “Trouble developed between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. Now the Canaanites and the Pherezites inhabited the land at that time.” Notice how the relatives are responsible for the first signs separation. Invariably this is the source from which springs all sorts of problems – discord among the brethren. The next says remember “Trouble developed between the herdsmen.” They are the ones who provide the occasion for separation, who sunder the harmony, who give evidence of bad feeling.

Genesis 13:9

Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

Genesis 13:10

And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

Genesis 13:11

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.

Genesis 13:12-13

12Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. 13But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

Genesis 13:14-15

14And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

Ramath-Hazor

• Ramath = “high place”

• Abraham stood on a peak 3300 ft. high

• God gave him the land unconditionally

• Covenant is still in effect!

• Vs. 17: walk length and breadth of the land

• Called Chazakah

Genesis 13:16

And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

Genesis 13:17-18

17Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Abraham walks the Land

• “Chazakah” a widespread legal custom of that era

• New owner of Property required to walk the perimeter as symbolic of “marking his territory”

• Some cultures required this to be done occasionally to re-establish authority.

• Without doing this act, neither Abraham nor others would have seen anything legal about this land transfer

2 Peter 2:7-9

7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

Instead of remaining in the land and trusting the Lord to help him, Abraham went “down into Egypt” (Gen. 12:10). In the Bible, Egypt is a symbol of the world system and its bondage, while the land of Israel is a picture of the inheritance of blessing God has for you (Deut. 11:10–12). When people went to Jerusalem, they went up; but when they went to Egypt, they went down. Spiritually speaking, “going down to Egypt” means doubting God’s promises and running to the world for help.

God alone is in control of circumstances.

You are safer in a famine in His will than in a palace out of His will.

It has well been said,

“The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot keep you.”

Abraham failed the test of circumstances and turned from the will of God.

Life can be difficult,” wrote Amy Carmichael, missionary to India.

“Sometimes the enemy comes in like a flood. But then is the time to prove our faith and live our songs”

(Candles in the Dark, p. 51).

A faith that can’t be tested can’t be trusted.

Genesis

EndGenesis

Chapter 13

Union Church Bible Study