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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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Volume 2, Number 3 -- August 1994 A CASE FOR "THE BEGATS" May I start with a confession? I am finishing a study of the book of Genesis. When I came to chapter 36, the lineage of Esau, I was so excited that I skipped it and went on to chapter 37. That tells you how excited I get about doing chapters with "the begats." This is to remind you of just how human I can be. When I went back to do chapter 36, I learned something very exciting. When we think carefully about "the begats" - those passages which are made up mostly of a list of people and the children that they had - we must remember that it is a part of the inspired word of God. By this fact alone, we are reminded that these verses of Scripture are important whether we can discover that importance or not. Our task is to find the significance God has there for us rather than to ignore the passage; not always easy. Let me share with you some of the pieces of information I discovered when I took the time to study chapter 36 very carefully. First, God is not mentioned in the chapter at all. In the 43 verses of the chapter, 35 verses deal with lists of people and/or "begats." Esau had three wives. Now others had more than one wife, but in most instances there was a difference. His brother, Jacob, had two wives, but it was because He and Laban had tried to trick each other. In the Old Testament, most of the time when a man had more than one wife, or had concubines, it was because his wife could not bear children. This was the reason that Sarah gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham to bear children for her. Esau married three Gentile wives. Genesis 26:34 tells us he married Adah and Oholibamah to spite and crush his parents. He succeeded. Esau's third wife was Basemath; the daughter of Ishmael. Abraham sent the family of Ishmael off to the east so that his family and that of Isaac would not be in conflict. Though it appears that the marriage with Basemath was arranged to keep the clan of Esau and that of Seir from having trouble with each other, still it was contrary to the will of God. It appears that some of the people in the lineage of Esau and Seir were the product of adulterous and/or incestuous relationships. This gives you an impression of the kinds of families that we are dealing with in this chapter. Eliphaz, Esau's son, had a concubine. Now, he was not the first to do this. Abraham had one and Jacob had two. In both instances, it grew out of the fact that their wives were unable to bear children. That was not the case with the wife of Eliphaz. Still he had a concubine. It appears that Korah, Genesis 36:16, was an illegitimate son of Oholibamah, by Esau, before the two were married. Esau married Oholibamah, the grand-daughter of Zibeon, of the lineage of Seir, ruler of the land. It appears that this was a marriage of convenience so that the two families would not fight each other. Esau's sons and grandsons (most of them) were tribal chiefs. Jacob's were not. This suggests several pieces of information: Jacob had twelve sons; Esau had five. Jacob's sons did not divide into tribes/clans. Jacob's family was able to live together and defend each other quite successfully. Esau's children and grand-children were unable to do this, so they could not depend on each other for defense and strength. In 36:31-39, there are eight kings of Seir who reigned in three different royal cities. This suggests great instability in the country. In Genesis 36:40-43, the author lists at least nine, if not eleven of Esau's chieftains. Each of these reigned over a separate area (province) of the land of Seir. This is a great contrast with the family of Jacob. He had only the one clan and they lived together without too much strife. Esau's family divided into at least ten clans which lived separately from each other. Prior to this study, I knew Esau left the land, but knew little else about it. This made a big difference in my understanding. As you can see, there was a lot of information hidden away among "the begats." Hopefully I will be able to remember this when I come to another list of people and their children who followed them. Also, I hope that this will encourage you to view "the begats" as a vital part of God's revelation to our hearts. Only then will we be able comprehend the message God would have us find in "the begats." Happy studying!! Closing observation: Jacob had a deep personal relationship with God and his family relationship was sound. Esau was distant from God and his family relationship was poor. Our relationship with God has a telling effect on our family relationships. Bill Cooper YE OLDE EDITORS Thank you to those who submitted names for this newsletter. The Board will make a selection soon--probably at the October Board Meeting. The names submitted all spoke to the message the earlier newsletters offered to the person who submitted the name. This letter will retain the old name until the board meets and selects the new name. Recently, I spent some time in the Bible Superstore in Fort Collins, Co. One of the topics that seems to be popular is one that I could not find on the shelves a few years ago. It is the idea of names of God. None of the books carried a current copyright date -- some even going back into the late 1800's. I know of only one book that carries a copyright in the 90's and that is Dr. Cooper's Behold the Brightness. It is not available in any bookstore currently and can be purchased only through Logos Ministries. It is the first of what he hopes will be a series. Dr. Cooper is currently teaching in the Course of Study School at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary in Evanston, IL. Many of you who read this newsletter have been students of his over the past 15 years. He will return from there with about two weeks to get ready to leave for Zurich and the Ukraine where he will be teaching. Some of you have helped Logos Ministries to help finance these trips. All expenses for the trip are met by Logos Ministries or Dr. Cooper. Each time he takes supplies for either the students or the seminary. In April, he took books to start a library for the seminary. Logos Ministries provided those books. This time he will be taking additional books that have been provided through Denver Seminary, but Logos Ministries will need to pay the shipping expenses. It is our hope that many of you and/or your churches will see this as a mission project in which you would like to share. Please consider prayerfully what gift you can share during the month of August to help finance this trip. At this point, we have only a small portion of the necessary $3000. Many of you are using computers as a part of your study. LOGOS RESEARCH SYSTEMS Of Oak Harbor, Washington produces some excellent Bible studies software. They are working with Dr. Cooper to make their software available in the Ukraine. This fall they plan to have most of their materials available on a CD ROM as well as the current software. If you are interested in such software for yourself, contact them directly at 1-800-87 LOGOS After October 1, contact Dr. Cooper for a favorable price. HERMENEUTIKA of Seattle, Washington also produces some excellent materials. They can be reached at (206) 824-WORD. These are only two of many companies. but worth checking before making a purchase. A BIT ABOUT LOGOS MINISTRIES. We are a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Colorado. The IRS has given us a provisional non-profit status that is currently being reviewed by them. So far, we have submitted two reports to IRS relative to the past five years. The first report was one in which we submitted a record of the sources of all income. They did not ask about the use of that income in that report. The second report was a narrative report that they call "A Facts and Circumstances Test" These were questions about the Board and about how we sought funding. We do seek funding even as we also sell books written by Dr. Cooper. Some of the seminars that Dr. Cooper teaches include the sale of some additional books. Dr. Cooper copyrights his books in the name of Logos Ministries and thus receives no royalty from the sales. No Board member receives any funds from Logos. Profits from the books sold allows us to give books to missionaries and to prisons. We have had funds to help provide for Dr. Cooper's teaching mission to the Ukraine, but he has had to pay part of it himself. Know that every book you buy is a source of mission work. Logos Ministries has a Board of five members currently. The by-laws provide for five to nine. The Board members are from three states and represent four different professions. They meet twice a year to conduct the business. Our president, Dr. Cooper consults with us between meetings by telephone or in person. One of the dreams that Dr. Cooper has asked the Board to dream about, pray about, and work toward is that of providing the equipment for a Dental office at the seminary in Donestk. A room has been set aside for it, but securing the equipment and getting it shipped there is a challenge. We know that it will happen, but we do not know when. Do you have any ideas that will help this to become a reality? Introduction From Behold the Brightness God, as an act of loving fellowship, has revealed Himself to humanity in a variety of ways which we can grasp with our minds and hearts. This self-revelation is presented in such a manner that we can only grasp it as we are enabled by the Holy Spirit. Our inability to discern the person of God cannot be attributed to Him. He is not reluctant to be discovered. Our inability to grasp is rather an outgrowth of our casual search, our human limitations, a fear that we could not comprehend His nature at all or a fear of what we would learn that might confront us to live differently. We might not want to change that much. This often leads people to abandon the search. |
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