Lot's choice

Genesis 13;1-18
From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.
The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.  Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
Increasing flocks and herds precipitate the last break in family ties. Lot, generously given the choice by his uncle, selects the fertile pasture of the Jordan Valley.
Why?
Abram came to Bethel and built an altar to the Lord, where is the place of blessing from the Lord.
God said once more to Abram God's promise, means it is never changed.
Quarrel will be a problem in a small area even in a family so they decide to separate and Abram let his Lot chose first, and Lot chose the looked nice place in the whole plain of the Jordan.
Abram is more generously and trusts in the Lord's word.
去埃及一趟收穫更多，但是叔姪關係反而不好。羅得離開亞伯蘭，就離開了神的祝福。雖然得到財產，卻失去關係。財務常常讓人起紛爭，在教會也一樣。財富不一定是祝福，必須學會如何處豐富與處貧賤。不要相爭，不一定要分開。分開是減少紛爭最簡單的方式。
羅得挑選的地方繁華且罪大惡極，繁華的背後多有敗壞。這個地方像埃及地，憑他的經驗，往這個地方去最好。同樣我們往工作機會多的地方去，去容易賺錢的地方。問題是只顧自己的需要，不顧亞伯蘭的需要及神的心意。後來甚至於挪移到所多瑪。如果神賜福，我們不需要爭，相信神的應許必定實現。抓住應許，應許不會跑掉，而是要抓住自己的心。亞伯蘭沒有爭，卻兩次告訴亞伯蘭應許之約。他以感恩、敬拜來回應神。這是我們該行的回應。
How?
People see the situation now but God's blessing is not clear and will become true.

To your offspring I will give this land.

Genesis 12:6-20
At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Now there was a famine in the land, he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!”  Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
Hunger drives Abram into Egypt. Under the stress of fear and insecurity, this man of faith defends himself with a dangerous half-truth which puts God's whole plan at risk. God intervenes with plagues, Sarai is saved and Abram is ignominiously deported.
Why?
Abram here lost his faith to the Lord and went to Egypt, and lied to Pharaoh, but God rescued Abram for God's plan has risk.
Abram has faith in the Lord for hunger drives him to go to Egypt. God saved Abram for God loves him.
1. 亞伯蘭對神有信心
神說要把這地賜給我們，我們可能開始編織美夢。然而當地已經有人住，怎麼得？還不知道。牛羊也還沒得到就先獻祭給神。愈看應該愈沒可能，但是他看到的是這地這麽大，他築壇因為他相信。我們如果看到的是障礙困難，就會失去信心。還沒得到就感恩，奉獻。
2.去埃及亞伯蘭沒有信心
原來的信心是是否能得到土地。這次是是否能活命？這地有飢荒，這不是神賜的地嗎？他自己判斷而去埃及，事關生死比較難過。人真的很難過關。不要去笑彼得，多馬，亞伯蘭。亞伯蘭因軟弱，靠妻子得福。但是法老卻得災難。這不是神的3祝福。但是神為了應許可實現，雖然亞伯蘭犯錯，神出手了。神的信實何廣大。
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How?
A man obeys the command of the Lord, even under fear or rick God will save us. For God loves us.

I will bless those who bless you

Genesis 12:1-5
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
God's command and promise to on man, Abram, and his obedient response. Yet the consequences of this simple act were to spread like ripples on a pond, leading to the birth of a new nation and in course of time benefits for the whole world.
Why?
How blessings to a man God will bless those who bless you.
People usually like to stay in prosper place instead go to an unknown place. But Abram listen to the word of God and left his home in Harran with all his family and property.
This is the faith in the Lord.
Faith does not know what is before but we have hope and trust in the promise.
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亞伯蘭在哈蘭有好生活，是富有人。如果人為了這個眼前的財富、就不往前走了。例如以色列人進迦南時看到河東之地的美好，就是想要河東之地。
要得到更大的祝福前，要放下眼前的好處。神事前不說，為什麼?讓人判斷好不好，不是真順服。由神來判斷，相信讓神帶一定好，這個才是真正的順服。人很想知道，知道以後就會自己去判斷。判斷後決定不是順服，是順服我們自己的判斷了。神只說下一步，要我們順服。
為什麼神不直接在哈蘭賜福給亞伯蘭?因為神要入離開自己的環境，舒適、習慣……。舊事已過都是新的了，我們要先脫下舊人成為新人。否則人常常新舊拉扯。神才能給人新的。
神賜福亞伯蘭成為大國。造城想要成為自己的統治區，造塔傳揚人的名。神給的方法是放下自己。放下土地，完全聽神的話，即完全讓神來安排，這大國不是一座城，而是全世界。
笥二個他蒙福祝福
第三個亞伯蘭蒙祝福是成為別人的祝福
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How?
Abram has faith in God's command.

What is our rule to decide the target of our life

Genesis 11:10-32
From Shen to Abram
After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

This is the account of Terah’s family line.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.  While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.  Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah.  Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

Here again, the list of names is selective, probably abbreviation the total length of time involved. Noah's ancestors were considered longer-lived than Terah's and the age of parenthood is now much younger.

When Terah's name is reached the list becomes more detailed. This is the family we are to concentrate on. Terah's three sons are named, and their home-town gave as Ur of the Chaldeans. After the death of Haran. Terah sets out for Canaan with his grandson Lot. Abram and Sarai. The journey takes them 900km north-west - like Ur. a centre of moon-worship. Here they settle Terah dies,, and the stage is set for the story of Abraham, who according to Acts 7:2-4 had heard God's call before they set out. His new name records God's promise to make this man the father of many nations.

Why?

There are ten generations from Adan to Noah, and ten generations from Noah to Abram. So the record of Descendents is relative to Jesus Christ.

閃的後代：
人的壽命不斷的減少。巴別塔之後人生活更辛苦，壽命減少至少200年，拿鶴是第一個活不到200歲。
他拉的後代：走到哈蘭
亞伯蘭出哈蘭時75歲，他拉130歲生亞伯蘭，所以亞伯蘭不是長子。亞伯蘭是神揀選的。每個基督徒都是蒙神揀選的。出來是為了生活，但是到了哈蘭生活不錯了，就停下來。人都是為了富裕的生活，原來的目標已經不重要了。他拉原來的目標是迦南，後來在哈蘭生活好了後，就放棄了目標。我們決定目標的想法是什麼?求主幫助我們決定事情的原則是什麼。應該是神的心意。

比較10章的家譜：10章只是交代，閃族是神的祝福。塞特的家譜，活到幾歲就死了。死了在當時是非常態。後來死成為常態，提祝福生兒養女。

閃族家譜強調生兒養女卻指出撒萊不生育，似乎是審判臨到，其實是神預備更大的祝福。我們很容易在前面就是以為神不祝福。

How?

God's word is worthy and let people know the way on the world.

Because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world

Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused.
Here is another ancient story, accounting for the way things are. Why are we divided? Why are there so many different languages? The tale of humanity's downfall does not tell it all. This story attempts an explanation.
In Shinar kingdom of Nimrod the hunter, people get together on a great building project - a city and a tower with its tip in the heavens. God looks down at this cooperative effort and sees it as the beginning of the worse rebellion against him. So he divides people by language and scatters them abroad - the very thing they were trying to insure against. The great tower remains forever unfinished.
The tower of Babel (Babylon) was in all likelihood a multi-storeyed temple - tower, or ziggurat, similar to those developed in Babylonia in the 3rd millennium BC.
Why?
People wanted to do something like God made men.
They wanted not to be scattered over the face of the whole earth, which was against the command of the Lord.
Babylonia has the best Astronomy but when it was distorted into astrology.
Chapter 9 talk about the language of three descendants of Noah.
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巴別塔的時代，法勒是分開的意思，即洪水之後101年，當時挪亞還在，但是人心裏仍然剛硬。科技與研究、政治與社會。人有智慧聰明，顯明在科技上。建塔時的組織，商議就是政治與社會的特質。人有智慧能力，向神求智慧能力，沒有拿來用於榮耀神，豈是為人利己效力呢?彰顯自己的能力，還是拿來幫助人。榮耀神呢?人想要通天，想要留名，想要存到永久。人卻不願遵循神的途徑。造城造塔與道德沒有關係。但是喜歡留名。人要真正留名只有透過耶穌基督，通到天到天上。無論人塔造多麼高，離神還是很遠。人可以為自己的前途奮鬥，只有透過基督才能永遠存在。

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How?\
God's punishment sometimes is good to human beings.

Noah's descandants

Genesis 10:1-32
This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
The nations of the Bible world are all traced back to Noah's three sons. Shem, Ham and Japheth. The family tree is arranged in the following pattern:
Heading
Japheth's descendants
Extra detail on Javan
Summary
Ham's descendants
Extra detail on Nimrod and Canaan
Summary
Shem's descendants
Extra detail on Shem and Joktan
Summary
Summary to the whole list
Shem's family comes last: these are the nations around which the next stage of the narrative develops. "Eber is the same as the name 'Hebrew'
Why?
This is the history and descendants of Noah's sons.
For each life is important to the Lord, so each tribe of God's people will be recorded.
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先記載小的亞弗、含，最後講閃，主要要引出其後代，亞伯拉罕的後代，
亞弗住海島，即歐洲人，按土地、方言、宗族立國。住那裏就是那國人
含的後代向東擴展是埃及、非洲人，以宗族、方言、地土
閃的後代是亞洲人，以宗族、方言、地土分為邦國
第十章遍滿全地是祝福。
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How?
The history and descendants are important in the Bible.

Noah cursed his grandson Canaan

Genesis 9:18-29
The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.
Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father naked and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father’s naked body. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father naked.
When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, he said, Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.
Noah's story ends on a low note. Noah gets drunk. Han dishonors his father, and the old man curses Canaan, Ham's younger son. Did Canaan in some way compound the disrespect? we do not know. But the Canaanites later became subject to Shem's descendants, the Israelites.
Flood stories have been banded down in many languages from most parts of the world. The Babylonian particularly Akkadian accounts have considerable similarities with the story recorded here. This is not surprising if both reflect memories of an actual event in the same general area. There is no need to assume the writer of Genesis must have drawn on the Babylonian stories for his information. Indeed, the crudeness of these makes it unlikely. The Genesis story may have been women together from more than one source into its present unity.
Why?
Our word is with power, so do not curse anyone but honor others for we have an image of the Lord.
Noah's word comes truth the Canaanites later became subject to Shem's descendants, the Israelites..
God blessed Noah so what he said to make it the truth. Noah would not drunk naked.
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神已經賜福人，人要如何面對自己的罪時?
挪亞的問題：
含是迦南的父親，此說法是否很奇怪。重點在迦南。
第一次出現酒的記載，喝酒和裸露身體，顯出自己的罪，羞恥了。用酒來助興，就會帶來羞恥、為奴。以裸露來看是一種羞恥的狀況，含看見父親赤身有如此嚴重嗎？是醜態盡出。人犯罪後何等脆弱的一面，遮羞人身體是本能，所以此事讓挪亞顏面盡失，失去尊嚴，或說他毀了父親的名譽。且還告訴其他人，相當於現代傳裸照。顯然含是故意的，表示含對於罪不在意，對於性關係也不在意。願意為善的心就是閃、和雅弗。同樣迦南人，以後在性方面對於性很隨便。含一邊以高姿勢指責別人的罪惡。神以耶穌基督來遮蓋我們的罪，如同閃、和雅弗用衣服遮蓋他父親的罪。神私下說。我們同樣希望私下告訴別人的罪，告訴他們耶穌公義的外袍，而非指責別人。
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How?
God has his plan to everyone on the earth. Obey God's word and follow God's command is the blessing to us.