WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.950 Malcom: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:03.083 --> 00:00:03.883 Day 87 00:00:04.382 --> 00:00:09.932 Sometime later, the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, do not 00:00:09.932 --> 00:00:15.062 be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you and your reward will be great. 00:00:16.112 --> 00:00:21.092 But Abram replied, oh, sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings 00:00:21.092 --> 00:00:22.592 when I don't even have a son? 00:00:23.582 --> 00:00:28.472 Since you've given me no children, ezer of Damascus, a servant in my 00:00:28.472 --> 00:00:30.932 household will inherit all my wealth. 00:00:31.832 --> 00:00:35.402 You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my 00:00:35.402 --> 00:00:37.052 servants will be my heir. 00:00:37.952 --> 00:00:43.112 Then the Lord said to him, no, your servant will not be your heir for 00:00:43.112 --> 00:00:44.612 you will have a son of your own. 00:00:44.612 --> 00:00:45.662 Who will be your heir? 00:00:46.622 --> 00:00:50.417 Then the Lord took Abraham outside and said to him, Look up into the 00:00:50.417 --> 00:00:53.147 sky and count the stars if you can. 00:00:53.837 --> 00:00:56.147 That's how many descendants you will have. 00:00:57.077 --> 00:00:58.937 And Abraham believed the Lord. 00:00:59.387 --> 00:01:02.567 Now, the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith. 00:01:03.587 --> 00:01:08.567 Then the Lord told him, I am the Lord who brought you out of earth of the Chaldeans 00:01:08.837 --> 00:01:10.877 to give you this land as your possession. 00:01:11.867 --> 00:01:15.887 But Abram replied, oh, sovereign Lord, how can I be sure that 00:01:15.887 --> 00:01:17.207 I will actually possess it? 00:01:18.227 --> 00:01:22.697 The Lord told him, bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old 00:01:22.697 --> 00:01:27.827 female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. 00:01:28.877 --> 00:01:31.997 So Abram presented all these to him and killed them. 00:01:32.627 --> 00:01:36.767 Then he cut each animal down the middle and laid the halves side by side. 00:01:37.127 --> 00:01:39.377 He did not, however, cut the birds in half. 00:01:39.977 --> 00:01:44.537 Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away. 00:01:45.617 --> 00:01:50.837 As the sun was going down, Abram fell into a deep sleep and a terrifying 00:01:50.837 --> 00:01:52.487 darkness came down over him. 00:01:53.297 --> 00:01:57.467 Then the Lord said to Abram, you can be sure that your descendants will be 00:01:57.467 --> 00:02:02.417 strangers in a foreign land where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 00:02:02.417 --> 00:02:07.157 years, but I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end 00:02:07.517 --> 00:02:09.317 they will come away with great wealth. 00:02:10.007 --> 00:02:15.167 As for you, you will die in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 00:02:15.977 --> 00:02:20.087 After four generations, your descendants will return here to this land. 00:02:20.537 --> 00:02:24.287 For the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction. 00:02:25.427 --> 00:02:29.927 After the sun went down and darkness fell, Abrams saw a smoking fire 00:02:29.927 --> 00:02:33.797 pot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the carcasses. 00:02:34.577 --> 00:02:38.942 So the Lord made a covenant with Abram that day and said, I have 00:02:38.942 --> 00:02:42.842 given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of 00:02:42.842 --> 00:02:45.122 Egypt to the great Euphrates River. 00:02:46.052 --> 00:02:51.512 The land now occupied by the Kennis Kenna cites Caite, Hittites 00:02:51.872 --> 00:02:58.472 parasites, rites, Amorites, Canaanites, Gsites, and Jabu sites. 00:03:00.632 --> 00:03:04.772 Now, Sarah Abram's wife had not been able to bear children for him. 00:03:05.657 --> 00:03:08.417 But she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. 00:03:09.017 --> 00:03:12.887 So Sarah, I said to Abram, the Lord has prevented me from having 00:03:12.892 --> 00:03:15.617 children go and sleep with my servant. 00:03:16.037 --> 00:03:18.227 Perhaps I can have children through her. 00:03:19.127 --> 00:03:21.347 And Abram agreed with Sarah's proposal. 00:03:22.037 --> 00:03:26.327 So Sarah, I, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian servant and 00:03:26.327 --> 00:03:28.187 gave her to Abram as a wife. 00:03:28.877 --> 00:03:32.117 This happened 10 years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan. 00:03:33.347 --> 00:03:37.547 So Abram had sexual relations with Hagar and she became pregnant. 00:03:38.477 --> 00:03:41.747 But when Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to treat her mistress. 00:03:41.807 --> 00:03:43.097 Sarah, I with contempt. 00:03:43.817 --> 00:03:47.177 Then Sarah, I said to Abram, this is all your fault. 00:03:47.597 --> 00:03:49.517 I put my servant into your arms. 00:03:49.757 --> 00:03:52.907 But now that she's pregnant, she treats me with contempt. 00:03:53.417 --> 00:03:56.687 The Lord will show who's wrong, you or me? 00:03:57.617 --> 00:04:02.387 Abram replied, look, she is your servant, so deal with her as you see fit. 00:04:03.197 --> 00:04:07.397 Then Sarah, I treated Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away. 00:04:08.447 --> 00:04:11.597 The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the 00:04:11.602 --> 00:04:13.967 wilderness along the road to shore. 00:04:14.777 --> 00:04:19.577 The angel said to her, Hagar, I servant, where have you come 00:04:19.577 --> 00:04:21.317 from and where are you going? 00:04:22.217 --> 00:04:24.377 I'm running away from my mistress, Sarah. 00:04:24.377 --> 00:04:25.607 I, she replied. 00:04:26.312 --> 00:04:30.512 The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress 00:04:30.752 --> 00:04:32.282 and submit to her authority. 00:04:32.702 --> 00:04:36.992 Then he added, I will give you more descendants than you can count. 00:04:37.802 --> 00:04:42.422 And the angel also said, you are now pregnant and will give birth to his son. 00:04:42.992 --> 00:04:48.092 You are to name him Ishmael, which means God hears for the Lord 00:04:48.092 --> 00:04:50.042 has heard your cry of distress. 00:04:50.717 --> 00:04:55.397 This son of yours will be a wild man as untamed as a wild donkey. 00:04:55.937 --> 00:05:00.107 He will raise his fist against everyone and everyone will be against him. 00:05:00.797 --> 00:05:04.967 Yes, he will live in open hostility against all his relatives. 00:05:06.167 --> 00:05:10.937 Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord who had spoken to her. 00:05:11.447 --> 00:05:14.507 She said, you are the God who sees me. 00:05:15.197 --> 00:05:18.807 She also said, have I truly seen the one who sees me? 00:05:20.012 --> 00:05:24.662 So that well was named Beer Leroy, which means well, of the living 00:05:24.662 --> 00:05:28.982 one who sees me, it can still be found between Kadish and Beed. 00:05:30.482 --> 00:05:35.102 So Hagar gave Abram a son and Abram named him Ishmael. 00:05:35.822 --> 00:05:38.912 Abram was 86 years old when Ishmael was born. 00:05:41.057 --> 00:05:46.907 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am lha. 00:05:46.967 --> 00:05:52.217 I God almighty, serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. 00:05:52.817 --> 00:05:55.757 I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to 00:05:55.762 --> 00:05:57.437 give you countless descendants. 00:05:58.307 --> 00:06:00.857 At this Abram fell face down on the ground. 00:06:01.547 --> 00:06:05.207 Then God said to him, this is my covenant with you. 00:06:05.927 --> 00:06:08.627 I will make you the father of a multitude of nations. 00:06:09.467 --> 00:06:11.897 What's more, I am changing your name. 00:06:12.407 --> 00:06:14.177 It will no longer be Abram. 00:06:14.837 --> 00:06:17.627 Instead, you will be called Abraham. 00:06:18.257 --> 00:06:20.327 For you will be the father of many nations. 00:06:20.867 --> 00:06:22.787 I will make you extremely fruitful. 00:06:23.237 --> 00:06:27.197 Your descendants will become many nations and kings will be among them. 00:06:28.067 --> 00:06:31.427 I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after 00:06:31.427 --> 00:06:33.977 you from generation to generation. 00:06:34.757 --> 00:06:37.007 This is the everlasting covenant. 00:06:37.682 --> 00:06:41.882 I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you 00:06:42.692 --> 00:06:46.682 and I will give the entire land of Canaan where you now live as a 00:06:46.682 --> 00:06:48.872 foreigner to you and your descendants. 00:06:49.682 --> 00:06:54.062 It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God. 00:06:55.532 --> 00:06:59.702 Then God said to Abraham, your responsibility is to obey 00:06:59.702 --> 00:07:01.022 the terms of the covenant. 00:07:01.532 --> 00:07:05.042 You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 00:07:06.062 --> 00:07:09.032 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep. 00:07:09.842 --> 00:07:12.782 Each male among you must be circumcised. 00:07:13.562 --> 00:07:17.672 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between 00:07:17.672 --> 00:07:21.362 me and you from generation to generation. 00:07:21.752 --> 00:07:25.772 Every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. 00:07:26.822 --> 00:07:30.692 This applies not only to members of your family, but also to the servants 00:07:30.692 --> 00:07:34.802 born in your household and the foreign born servants whom you have purchased. 00:07:35.492 --> 00:07:37.502 All must be circumcised. 00:07:38.222 --> 00:07:41.282 Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 00:07:42.032 --> 00:07:45.992 Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant 00:07:45.992 --> 00:07:47.972 family for breaking the covenant. 00:07:48.932 --> 00:07:53.462 Then God said to Abraham regarding Sarah, your wife, her name will 00:07:53.522 --> 00:07:55.982 no longer be Sarah from now on. 00:07:56.192 --> 00:08:00.842 Her name will be Sarah and I will bless her and give you a son from her. 00:08:01.802 --> 00:08:06.752 Yes, I will bless her richly and she will become the mother of many nations. 00:08:07.472 --> 00:08:10.352 Kings of nations will be among her descendants. 00:08:11.252 --> 00:08:16.322 Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. 00:08:17.312 --> 00:08:20.222 How could I become a father at the age of 100? 00:08:20.402 --> 00:08:25.112 He thought, and how can Sarah have a baby when she is 90 years old? 00:08:26.162 --> 00:08:30.752 So Abraham said to God, may Ishmael live under your special blessing. 00:08:31.637 --> 00:08:37.577 But God replied, no, Sarah, your wife will give birth to a son for you. 00:08:38.327 --> 00:08:42.617 You will name him Isaac and I will confirm my covenant with him and his 00:08:42.617 --> 00:08:45.257 descendants as an everlasting covenant. 00:08:46.037 --> 00:08:48.047 As for Ishmael, I will bless him. 00:08:48.047 --> 00:08:52.367 Also, just as you have asked, I will make him extremely fruitful 00:08:52.547 --> 00:08:54.257 and multiply his descendants. 00:08:54.767 --> 00:08:59.417 He will become the father of 12 princes and I will make him a great nation. 00:09:00.392 --> 00:09:04.352 But my covenant will be confirmed with Isaac, who will be born to you 00:09:04.352 --> 00:09:07.052 and Sarah about this time next year. 00:09:08.342 --> 00:09:13.262 When God had finished speaking, he left Abraham on that very day. 00:09:13.592 --> 00:09:18.182 Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those 00:09:18.182 --> 00:09:19.772 born there and those he had bought. 00:09:20.552 --> 00:09:24.992 Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins just as God had told him. 00:09:25.787 --> 00:09:31.097 Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised, and Ishmael, his son was 13. 00:09:32.027 --> 00:09:36.047 Both Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on that same 00:09:36.047 --> 00:09:39.497 day, along with all the other men and boys of the household. 00:09:39.947 --> 00:09:44.927 Whether they were born there or bought as servants, all were circumcised with him. 00:09:46.577 --> 00:09:50.597 The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the Oak Grove, belonging to mammary. 00:09:51.542 --> 00:09:54.242 One day, Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during 00:09:54.242 --> 00:09:55.532 the hottest part of the day. 00:09:56.222 --> 00:09:59.072 He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. 00:09:59.672 --> 00:10:02.282 When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them. 00:10:02.582 --> 00:10:05.462 Bowing low to the ground, my Lord. 00:10:05.467 --> 00:10:08.492 He said, if it pleases you, stop here for a while. 00:10:08.972 --> 00:10:12.572 Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet. 00:10:13.232 --> 00:10:16.232 And since you've honored your servant with this visit, let me 00:10:16.232 --> 00:10:19.562 prepare some food to refresh you before you continue on your journey. 00:10:20.447 --> 00:10:20.867 All right. 00:10:21.077 --> 00:10:26.987 They said, do as you have said, so Abraham ran back to the tent and 00:10:26.987 --> 00:10:31.007 said to Sarah, hurry, get three large measures of your best flour. 00:10:31.367 --> 00:10:33.287 Needed him to dough and baked some bread. 00:10:34.067 --> 00:10:37.937 Then Abraham ran out to the herd and chose a tender calf and gave it to 00:10:37.967 --> 00:10:39.887 his servant who quickly prepared it. 00:10:40.787 --> 00:10:44.687 When the food was ready, Abraham took some yogurt and milk and the roasted 00:10:44.692 --> 00:10:46.697 meat, and he served it to the men. 00:10:47.447 --> 00:10:51.077 As they ate, Abraham waited on them in the shade of the trees. 00:10:52.067 --> 00:10:53.807 Where is Sarah, your wife? 00:10:53.867 --> 00:10:54.827 The visitors asked. 00:10:55.457 --> 00:10:56.657 She's inside the tent. 00:10:57.017 --> 00:10:58.097 Abraham replied. 00:10:58.727 --> 00:11:02.897 Then one of them said, I will return to you about this time next year, 00:11:03.347 --> 00:11:05.567 and your wife Sarah, will have a son. 00:11:06.617 --> 00:11:09.107 Sarah was listening to this conversation from the tent. 00:11:09.707 --> 00:11:14.117 Abraham and Sarah were both very old by this time, and Sarah was long 00:11:14.117 --> 00:11:15.767 past the age of having children. 00:11:16.667 --> 00:11:21.737 So she laughed silently to herself and said, how could a worn out woman like 00:11:21.737 --> 00:11:27.887 me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master, my husband, is also so old. 00:11:28.667 --> 00:11:32.567 Then the Lord said to Abraham, why did Sarah laugh? 00:11:33.077 --> 00:11:36.467 Why did she say, can an old woman like me have a baby? 00:11:37.007 --> 00:11:39.167 Is anything too hard for the Lord? 00:11:39.887 --> 00:11:44.147 I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. 00:11:45.257 --> 00:11:49.877 Sarah was afraid, so she denied it, saying, I didn't laugh, but 00:11:49.877 --> 00:11:53.507 the Lord said, no, you did laugh. 00:11:54.917 --> 00:11:57.767 This concludes today's Immer reading experience. 00:11:57.887 --> 00:11:58.877 Thank you for joining us.