The Family of Abraham: Part 26—Edom

Alastair Roberts

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The Family of Abraham: Part 26—Edom

April 17, 2019

Alastair Roberts

Today, I discuss Genesis 36 and Edom as Israel's twin.

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Transcript

Welcome back to this, the 26th in my series on the story of the family of Abraham. Today we're looking at chapter 36 of the book of Genesis, which is a complicated and a difficult passage. You've probably been tempted to skip over this passage completely.

It's filled with details of Horate and Edomite kings and chiefs, and of the genealogy of the house of Esau. And these genealogical details, the more closely you look at them, the more complicated they become. And there are odd bits here and there within the narrative that seem apropos of nothing in particular, and what we are to make of it all is not entirely clear.

There are also textual questions that we must ask. It seems that verses 9 to 43 are most naturally understood as a later insertion within the text. This doesn't mean that they're uninspired, it just means that they were added at a If you look at verses 1 to 8 and then compare those with the verses that begin chapter 37, it would be a very smooth transition.

You read about Esau separating, going into the land of Edom and dwelling in Mount Seir, and then you read of Jacob settling in the land of Canaan. It's a very natural connection, and yet you have verses 9 to 43. And verses 9 to 43 seem to repeat some of the material that we've had in verses 1 to 8. There's a number of areas of repetition.

For instance, we're told that Esau is Edom on five occasions, I think, in verses 1, 8, 9, 19, and 43. It seems a bit superfluous. And so there are questions about why these details are there.

The other thing that you might notice is that there are different names for the wives. If you look at the wives of Esau earlier on in the narrative, in verse 34 of chapter 26 and verse 9 of chapter 28, you'll see that there are three wives mentioned. The wives mentioned are Judith, meaning praise, daughter of Beri the Hittite, Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hittite, Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael.

So three wives, Judith, Basemath, and Mahalath. Now if you get to this passage, you'll see that there are three wives mentioned again, but they have different names. You have Hulabama, daughter of Anna the Hivite, Ada, daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Ishmael.

Now that's strange because Basemath in the first list is the daughter of Elon the Hittite, not the daughter of Ishmael. And the daughter of Elon the Hittite is called Basemath in the first list. Ada in the second.

In the second one, you have the daughter of Ishmael being called Basemath. And in the first one, you have Mahalath, the daughter of So maybe their names were changed. Maybe this was a name that was a name given as an affectionate name to a wife.

I don't know. I'm really not sure what to make of this. But one way or another, it seems that there are different traditions brought together.

It doesn't mean that they're in conflict. It just means that there are different traditions. Basemath means fragrance.

And could these people be the same people? If you think about Judith and Aholabama. Judith, daughter of Biri the Hittite, and Aholabama, daughter of Anna the Hivite. These figures, I mean, that wife seems to be the odd one out in both cases, the one that doesn't match so easily.

Judith means praise. Aholabama means tent of the high place. There's some connection there.

And she's the daughter of Anna the Hivite. Anna meaning singer. But later on in the passage, we read that Anna is the one who found water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father, Zibion.

Now, perhaps if, and he's the father of Aholabama, if he's that Anna, then he's the one that found a well. He's water in the wilderness, presumably made a well. And that would associate him with a well.

But Biri who's the father of Judith, Biri means my well. So maybe there's a connection there. I don't know.

I'm not sure what to make of those particular details, and nor are many of the other commentators. When we read this chapter, we'll also see there are a number of different lists that are given that seem to overlap in certain points that seem to contrast in various details. It's worth bearing in mind that these are probably different realms that the genealogies are given for.

So they relate to different things. And so they're not necessarily in conflict. They're given for different purposes.

So they function in different spheres. You have other things that you should notice about this. If you read through the text to this point, you'll see that this comes immediately after the death of Isaac.

Previously in the text, you've seen the death of Abraham, followed by the genealogy of Ishmael, then the genealogy of Isaac. And so it's a general pattern in the text. You have the death of the father, then the genealogy of the firstborn son who goes a different direction, and then the covenant heir who has the long list or the long textual treatment that follows.

And so there is a pattern there. Other things to notice that there are within verses 9 to 43, there are three lists of sons or kings. The last one is a list of kings followed by a list of chiefs.

So there's a list of sons, then a list of chiefs, a list of sons, a list of chiefs, and then a list of kings, a list of chiefs. And so there are patterns to observe. It is a literally structured text.

It's not just a whole mass of unordered material thrown in here in an irrelevant and unordered manner. If you look at this as well, it's probably added some time later in history, probably during, most likely during the reign of David or later. David conquers the land of Edom.

We see that at the end of 2 Samuel chapter 8. So maybe they got court records and other things like that and they included them within the narrative at this point. It's quite possible. Reading the first few verses, you'll also hopefully recognize some parallels with things that we've read before.

Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle, and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. Now if you look back a few chapters to chapter 31 verse 18, you read, then Jacob rose and set his sons and his wives on camels and he carried away all his livestock and all his possessions which he had gained, his acquired livestock which he had gained in Padamaram to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan. So there are similarities there.

In both cases you see that there's a departure from a land and a going into the land that they will ultimately inherit. The land now is going to be for Jacob. So the land of Canaan is left for Jacob and Edom or Esau goes towards the southeast down to the land of Seir.

Other things that you can see a connection with if you look in chapter 13 verse 6, Lot also who went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them that they might dwell together for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. And then in chapter 36 we read, for their possessions were too great for them to dwell together and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock.

So similarities again. There's a similarity with Jacob leaving the land of Laban where he had gained much wealth and then going towards the land of Canaan where he would ultimately inherit. And then Esau leaves the land of Canaan so that Jacob might settle there.

And it's a parallel also with Abram and Lot separating as Lot goes towards the east and so Lot goes his people go towards the east and the sons Edom and his sons Esau and his family go towards the southeast towards the land of Edom. So the parting of the ways. Esau acquires in the land of promise and then leaves.

Jacob acquires in a foreign land and then brings it into the promised land. So there's a parting of the ways much as Lot and Abram parted and then as Laban and Jacob parted. The relationship between Jacob and Esau is an important one to consider.

Edom or Esau is the twin rival and it's slightly different from Ammon the descendants of Lot. They are on the east and they have a sort of opposition to Israel at various points. But the relationship between Edom and Israel is closer.

At points they could be mistaken for each other and there are very similar story patterns that we see surrounding them at various points and we'll get to that in a moment. He lives in hill country. Perhaps this insinuates some sort of false religion.

Maybe, maybe not. The genealogy that is given in the verses that follow probably go quite far into the future and I've suggested it's likely that it comes from the time of David or just a bit later than that. The names that we see here are interesting names.

We have the sons of Eliphaz were Timon, Omar, Zepho, Gatham, Kenaz. You recognize some of those names. Eliphaz the Timonite that we find within the story of Job.

Job's story would seem to be established in that sort of region. Elsewhere in the book of Lamentations we see that the land of Uz is associated with the land of Edom. If you look in Lamentations chapter 4 verse 21.

Job lives in the land of Uz so presumably he's an Edomite and the people around him would suggest as much. Eliphaz the Timonite. Eliphaz is a name that comes from Esau's family and the Timonites are people associated with Esau's descendants.

So once again we're seeing something that gives us a context within which we might see Job having his place and we'll get into the character of Job a bit more as we go through this. Kenaz presumably the father of the Kenozites and we see the character of Caleb. Caleb the Kenozite who joins himself to Israel and we have a number of characters like that who are joined to Israel from other groups of people.

There is a mixed multitude and they are assimilated into the nation of Israel becoming part of its people. So Caleb becomes part of the tribe of Judah but originally presumably he's a descendant of Esau and his family. What we're seeing here then is a group of people that is being formed that has some familiarities.

We are to recognize a few of these names. There is another name that's very significant here which is introduced in verse 12. Now Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.

These were the sons of Eda, Esau's wife. Amalek is a character that we see a lot more in history. The grandson of Esau through his son Eliphaz and the concubine Timnah.

We'll get to the character of Timnah again in a moment. Timnah is not a full wife so maybe there's some sort of dissociation between a degree of distance between the characters here but Eliphaz and his son or the son Amalek is this great rival with Israel. The one that treats them really badly and then they're told to wipe out Amalek.

The Amalekites are a particular people that cause trouble at key moments and so we'll see war against the Amalekites at key stages in Israel's history and failure or success. The story of Saul. Saul fails to wipe out the Amalekites.

He does not kill Agag. Later on we'll see the Amalekites appearing again perhaps in the character of Haman the Agagite, a descendant presumably of Agag, the descendant of Amalek. So these families are familiar families.

These families help us to see rivalries that exist. Elsewhere in scripture we'll see other important characters from Edom. The Idumeans.

Someone like Herod comes from that region. He's an Idumean and the rivalries that we have, the oppositions that we have are very much the oppositions that go back all the way back to Esau and Jacob and that rivalry is resolved but some fragment of it remains and that fragment erupts at certain points in history and it's particularly associated with this one grandson. It's not the whole family, it's just the one particular character within Esau's family that particularly upholds and continues this rivalry.

There are 13 clans of Edom mentioned in these verses from nine following but these clans when you see the chiefs in the verses that follow there are 14. Korah the son of Eliphaz is added in the second list, possibly a grandson. What we see is a mixture of the grandsons through Ada and Eliphaz and Basimath and the sons through Aholobama.

So these are two a group of people that are not all of the same generation. There are some grandsons and then there are also some sons and these become the chiefs, the main families of the Edomites. The chiefs that are mentioned also suggest some sort of political organisation that's more advanced than that of Israel.

That they have a higher form of political organisation so they have tribal chiefs. Israel hasn't yet quite reached that point. They have heads of household perhaps and the families of Jacob, they're all representing the head of a household but there's something they haven't yet attained to the level of some sort of chiefdom.

Whereas Esau's descendants have and this is something I think you see more generally within this chapter that Esau attains to a level of rule and authority, a political organisation in advance of his brother Jacob. Before his brother Jacob he has advanced to some sort of political status, to having a land of his own, to having rule. There is a connection perhaps with the number of the tribes of Israel.

When you think about Manasseh divides into two tribes, one on the Transjordan and then the other on the other side of the Jordan and then you have Ephraim as well. So Joseph is divided into three perhaps so maybe you have 14 maybe that's a connection with Edom. I'm not sure perhaps.

Esau conquers the land of Seir and he intermarries with the Horites. So you have a list of the sons of Seir here and this list of the sons of Seir suggests this merging of two peoples. You have the Horites and the sons of Seir and you have the Edomites from Esau.

So these two peoples intermarry and this is something that was already a cause of grief to the parents of Esau, to Isaac and Rebekah who were distressed by his Canaanite wives and now you see him marrying more fully into the Canaanite line and this people, the Seirites or the people of Seir, the Horites become one sort of people with the Edomites in time. Note the presence of Anna and Zibion, fathers of the two Canaanite wives of Esau. These are significant figures that are mentioned at this point and they fit into a larger group of people that Esau has dealings with and then finally would seem to have conquered.

You read the character of Timnah. Timnah is the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son but Timnah here is mentioned as the sister of Lotan who's an important inhabitant of the land. Now for her to become a concubine would suggest that they've been conquered, they've been subdued and so she's reduced in status and Esau's son Eliphaz takes one of the former ruling family of that region as a concubine.

Again that suggests that there is some lowering of the status that Esau has conquered the land of Seir while Jacob is in the land of Padam-Aram. There's another Anna mentioned, the sons of Zibion finds water in the wilderness while he's searching for his father's donkeys. Again this is an odd detail to mention.

Finding water in the wilderness, I've already suggested is there possibly a connection with the character and Birri, Mywell and that Anna is the same person as Birri perhaps, maybe, maybe not. And while searching for his father's donkeys that's just an odd detail and it may make us think about the story of Saul who that whole story of the kingdom begins with Saul searching for his father's donkeys. There is something that is an interesting connection there and bear that in mind because as we read on there are other things about Saul that might come to our attention.

In verse 31 onwards we read a list of kings and this list of kings is almost certainly added later, refers to a later period of time and the important thing that's mentioned is they reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel. That Edom is already a kingdom but Edom's kingdom seems to be one based upon appointed kings, not necessarily a dynastic kingdom. You read here of people who are kings who are associated with cities or places, you don't read about fathers and sons so it's not a dynastic line of kings, it's a line of kings that is associated with appointment.

So you have Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom and the name of his king was Dinhevar and then you have Jobab son of Zerub, Basra reigning in his place etc. These are lists of kings that suggest that it's a different sort of kingdom than Israel will finally become. Israel will become a dynastic kingdom although Edom seems to have dynastic features later on where you see Hadad is the son of the king of Edom and that suggests that there is some sort of dynasty at least developing if not underneath the surface.

Bela the son of Beor, some have speculated that this might be the same person as the son of Belum, the son of Beor. These are perhaps the same people and that would place that at the time of the exodus that they have kings at this point and there is the character of Belum or Bela is introduced. Maybe, maybe not.

Jobab has often been identified with Job and as we read the story of Job, I've already mentioned that it's within the land of which seems to be the land of Edom. You have names that are familiar names Eliphaz the Temanite. Again this places him within that context within that particular world.

Job also seems to be a king. When you read the story of Job he's chief among the men of the east, he's someone who has a great amount of wealth around him, he's someone who has friends who gather around him who seem to be ruling figures as well. He's not just this small guy with his own family, he's someone who's a big head honcho of this large group of people and so what happens to Job is a crisis, a political crisis for the entire people.

You need to remember that many of the people we're reading about in these stories are not just one small family, nuclear family going around in tents moving from place to place in an itinerant fashion. They are huge companies of people. We've read about the story of Abraham when he has 318 fighting men.

It's a huge quantity of people. Esau comes with 400 men. Now presumably that's not all the men that he has.

Presumably he has a larger company of men back in Seir. So these are powerful groups of people, many thousands involved and you read the fact that Esau and Jacob had to part ways because the land just wasn't sufficient to support them both. Large companies of people, a lot of power associated with these figures and so they're not just individuals who have their own family domestic dealings, they are leaders of nations and so when you're reading the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, bear this in mind.

It's focusing upon the key family at the heart of this group of people but there is a large company of people gathered around them, many thousands. Probably by this point you're talking upwards of 5,000 people gathered in this group of people over time that they become very powerful. Within the land of Uz then you might suggest that this Jobab is the king Job.

You have Husham of the land of the Temanites and then a number of other people listed. Until Samla dies and Saul of Rehoboth by the river reigns in his place. When Saul died, Baal-Hanan the son of Akbor reigned in his place and when Baal-Hanan the son of Akbor died, Hedar reigned in his place and the name of his city was Pow and his wife's name was Mehattabel, the daughter of Matred and the daughter of Mezahab.

A few things to notice about that and some very interesting details. First of all you have a within the land of Edom as a king and the fact that this Saul occurs when he does suggests that maybe there was a Saul over the land of Edom at the same time as there was a Saul as king over the land of Israel. If you look through First Chronicles you'll see in First Chronicles chapter chapter 1 it says that Baal-Hanan died, Hedar reigned in his place and goes on describes him.

So Hedar and Hedar seem to be the same person. Elsewhere in First Kings chapter 11 we read about this character of Hedar. Now the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hedar the Edomite.

He was a descendant of the king in Edom for it happened when David was in Edom and Joab the commander of the army had gone up to bury the slain after he had killed every male in Edom because for six months Joab remained there with all Israel until he had cut down every male in Edom that Hedar fled to go to Egypt he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him. Hedar was still a little child. Then they arose from Midian and came to Paran and they took men with them from Paran and came to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt who gave him a house, a portion food for him and gave him land and Hedar found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife and you read on.

But that would suggest that this Hedar exists at the same time as Solomon. Step back a generation Baal-Hanan seems to be the one who is defeated by David in 2nd Samuel chapter 8 which would leave Saul as the king of Edom at the same time as Saul the king of Israel if this is in fact the same person. The other thing to notice about Hedar or Hedar as he's called within Genesis chapter 36 is that he undergoes a very similar set of experiences to that of Israel that he has to there's an attempt to kill all the baby boys the young males and then he has to flee he flees to Egypt and then eventually when the people who sought his life have died he returns.

There is a connection with Midian here as well it connects with the story of Moses the deliverer of his people and this story of Egypt spending a time in Egypt spending a time in Midian of trying to be killed as a baby boy all these things connect us with that story. So there are twins Edom and Israel are twins and their stories have surprising resemblances and the way that they play off against each other we're supposed to see a twin rivalry and things that happen to one can happen to the other in a way that provides an illuminating mirror to help us to read that history. I mentioned the character of Saul if there is a Saul in Edom at the same time as there is a Saul in Israel maybe we need to think a bit more about the connections there.

We've already mentioned that there is a character who in the line of Edom finds water in the wilderness while searching for his father's donkeys. Of course Saul the son of Kish becomes king in a story that begins with him searching for his father's donkeys. What else is going on with this context? At the very beginning of this before this story begins we have the story of the birth of Benjamin and before the birth of Benjamin we have the promise that there will be kings arising from Jacob.

So there's that promise then there is the birth of Benjamin who is the source of the first king, King Saul. Then you have the story of the Edomites and the fact that they had kings before Israel and then you have details in that story that remind you of Saul. So maybe when we're reading about the people's calling for a king like the nations round about them the fact that they get a king called Saul who has many resemblances with characters from the Edomites maybe that helps us to read the character of Saul and indeed as we read through the story what we'll see is his failures are very much associated with the Edomites.

He's someone who fails to root out the Amalekites. Again it's a sin with the Edomites. He's someone who is characterized by Esau's futile remorse for what he has done.

He gives up his birthright and he's someone who plays out the story of Esau and Jacob and Isaac on a few occasions. So for instance he plays out the character of Isaac, is that your voice David my son in the and then the answer of David and he lifts up his voice and weeps. That's what Esau does when he loses his blessing.

So maybe we're supposed to see Saul as an Edomite type figure. Esau perhaps that this resemblance between him and the Edomites is within that context something that we're supposed to notice. The story of Edom comes immediately after the story of Benjamin and the story of Benjamin is a tragic one in many ways but it's the source of the first king and so the story of the kings being read alongside the story of Edom and its kings is illuminating.

Peter Lightheart has talked about the way that Israel occasionally has a mirror of itself and Christendom often had that within, he talks about Islam as a mirror of Christendom. As Christendom looked at Islam it would learn things about itself. It would see itself reflected in distorted and in ways that revealed its own sin, its own problems but also see ways in which its own failings were exposed by what the other party did.

Perhaps Edom is supposed to be read in a similar way. I've suggested as much in the context of the story of Hadad in 1st Kings chapter 11 but reading this story here in Genesis you see these resemblances, you see these certain points and well what do you know? Edom is our twin and in this twin we can see ourselves. We can see things about ourselves that are maybe not too flattering.

We can see ways in which we need to improve, ways in which we've followed this particular party and become more like Edom than we've become like the god we're supposed to image within the world. Maybe these are things we're supposed to see. The wife of Hadad is mentioned.

We don't usually have, early on in this narrative, we don't have the wives of the kings mentioned. We have their cities mentioned but not their wives. The mention of wives maybe suggests a movement toward more dynastic kingdom.

It also maybe suggests the maturing of that kingdom in the same way as we see the wives of the kings of Judah really. We'll often see them mentioned. Maybe that's something there.

The fact that in verse 39 we have the reign of Hadar or Hadad, maybe this is supposed to alert the reader to the fulfilment, some initial fulfilment of chapter 27 verse 40. The fact that Esau is under the yoke of Israel but strives to throw it off and eventually will be free. In 2 Kings chapter 8 we see that during the reign of King Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat in Judah, Edom rebels against Judah and has been in rebellion against Judah ever since.

This would seem to be the fulfilment of chapter 27 verse 40 where Isaac declares over Esau that he will in time throw off the yoke of Jacob. So he will serve Jacob at a certain point, particularly after the reign of King David, but that yoke will be thrown off. We see an initial hint of that in Hadad who rebels against Solomon but that's fulfilled later on in the reign of King Jehoram.

What can we learn from this passage? It's a difficult passage, it's a confusing passage and there are a number of details within it that seem strange. I think there are a number of things that we can learn though. As we look through the story of Genesis what we'll notice is often the people that have not been chosen come to blessings before Israel does, before the chosen people does.

Nahor and Ishmael have 12 sons descending from them before Jacob and his 12 sons. So they become a mature family far quicker, a clan, whereas Israel's still hanging around at the starting line with just a few children. You just have Isaac alone, the one promised child, and then you have two children with Esau and Jacob and only after that do you have the 12 tribes born.

So it seems that they're at a very arrested stage of their development as a people, they're not really moving forward, whereas all these surrounding and related people are moving forward at a fair clip and they're developing these political structures, they're getting kings before Israel. It's particularly noticeable, it's something that is highlighted for us, that Edom has kings before Israel has any kings. And so Israel could look at Edom and say, there are twins and look they're so much more advanced than us as a society.

They have kings, they have a settled structure of rule and we're just dealing with tribal judges and being ravished by these surrounding nations, the Philistines, the Midianites and other people. And so it would seem that God's people come to everything second or some way down the line. If we read through the story of Genesis earlier on we see this too, the line of Cain develops all these technological things and the line of Seth doesn't seem to be as advanced.

The Hamites, the ones and the ones descended from Canaan have all these great technological and civilizational gains. We see the development of Babel and Nimrod and his empire that he establishes and all these things that he's doing and this development of brick making and all these different arts and technologies. And Israel is just a wandering nomadic group of people under Abram.

It would seem that God's people are some way behind in the civilizational race but yet God calls them to be patient and to wait for his good time. And this is maybe a lesson that we can learn from that we may not be as advanced in many different respects but if we are faithful we will be blessed in the long run. Other things to notice here.

I've already mentioned that Israel has a mirror. Israel is related to these surrounding nations. We've seen nations that are alluded to in various ways.

The Laban the Syrian or Laban perhaps associated with Lebanon. We see the Moabites and the Ammonites, these people towards the east. We see other nations that are associated with Keturah, the Midianites.

We see characters like the descendants of Ishmael. All these different groups of people that are part of the larger family of Abraham and Terah ultimately. And these peoples have significant relationships with Israel and Israel can see some resemblances, some ways in which they are connected.

But Edom has the closest relationship of all. Edom is their twin and as we look at the history of Edom we'll see that in many periods in Israel's history that twinning relationship is one that reveals some ugly truths about Israel. Israel should be able to see themselves in their twin and learn things about themselves, learn ways in which they have failed, ways in which their unfaithfulness is exposed by their twin.

So I gave the example of Hadad. Hadad who flees from Edom and spends time in Midian and then goes to Egypt and then eventually comes back from Egypt when the people who seek his life are dead. That reminds you very closely of the story of Moses and of the Exodus.

These characters are characters that are twins and as they look in these characters they will see things that they recognise, resemblances that teach them things about themselves and about their own failures, about their own sins. And in that case they see that the house of David has become pharaonic. It's become like the oppressive Egyptians and now you have a person who takes on the characteristics of Moses.

Now in many respects he is not a positive character but Israel should be able to recognise the resemblance and see its sin. The character of Edom then is a mirror, the nation of Edom then is a mirror for Israel and we see this maybe especially within the reign of Saul. Saul has all these Edomite features.

He's the one who discovers the kingdom, who comes to the kingdom when he's looking for his father's donkeys and that's associated with this encounter at the well. That's where he first goes to, the women bringing water or getting water from the well. Other things about him that are significant.

His failure to wipe out the Amalekites, the fact that he's the one characterised by this futile remorse. He's the one who gives up the birthright much as Esau does. And his juxtaposition with David who's constantly or very often represented as a Jacob character again would highlight that.

That here we're playing out Israel's identity and it's constant wrestling with this twin and how will it relate to its twin? Will it become like its twin in its negative respects? Will it gain the strengths of its twin and grow into maturity? And so reading this passage immediately after the birth of Benjamin, immediately after the declaration that Israel will have kings coming from his body and in the context of a chapter that has all these allusions to Saul and seeming connections with Saul, maybe there's something we can learn from that. I don't know. There's a lot of things going on in this passage that I just don't understand and conundrums that I haven't solved.

But if you have any thoughts I'd love to hear them in the comments. Thank you very much for listening. Lord willing, I'll be back again tomorrow.

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Thank you very much for listening. God bless.