Well hey there, friends,
Congrats! It’s the end of the week and you’ve made it through (or you are close to making it through)!
If you’re new and you didn’t see what the reading was for this week, you can click the button at the bottom of this email that says Previous Content. It will take you to our last post From Adam to Abraham - Week 1.
I’m sure you feel like you’ve read a ton, but maybe you haven’t retained as much as you hoped. This is where the power of reflection comes in. If you have been able to read everyday this week, you can use your grace days to go back through and reflect on what you’ve read this week. It will help you remember more information, for sure. It is also a great time to go back through and try to find answers to any questions that you had while you were reading.
I want to be clear, I’m not suggesting that you reread your entire week’s readings. But I am suggesting that you skim through and try to remember some of the things that stuck out to you the first time, and get some clarity on the passages. It is also a great time to look back through the resources that I attached in the first newsletter.
Questions and Comments from Week 1
You all asked some good questions this week! Here are a few that came up frequently:
Who is Cain’s Wife?
A question from Misty and Angie. This is a common question. The good news is, you’ve already read the answer. Scripture is clear that Adam and Eve were the only two people that God created, but he gave them a command to be fruitful and multiply. Look at Genesis 5:3-4
“Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth. Adam lived 800 years after he fathered Seth, and he fathered other sons and daughters.” - Genesis 5:3-4 (CSB), My emphasis added
This passage of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters. In his 930 years of life, Adam would have been able to have many sons and daughters. Cain’s wife was one of the daughters that Adam had. I know it sounds gross, but it’s not as gross as you may think. You can read this helpful article that Answers in Genesis put out to get some clarity! Thanks, you two!
Who are the Nephilim?
In Genesis 6, we hear of the “sons of God” and the “Nephilim”. Several of you have asked who these people are. There are two main theories:
- The sons of God are fallen angels that have had children with humans. These were mighty men that were called Nephilim. The fallen anngels are referenced in Jude 6. This would have resulted in giant people - much like Goliath, who we will see later in 1 Samuel.
- The sons of God and Nephilim were children with one parent from the line of Seth and the other from the line of Cain. God has called Seth to be the line of God’s promises and Cain has been disgraced. The two intermarrying was sinful according to this view.
My personal belief is that the sons of God are fallen angels. With that said, I’m not going to be mad at you if you believe differently. It is easy to get lost in little arguments like this, but the important thing to understand coming out of it is that God saw this sexual sin as such an abomination that he intervened with the flood.
Here are two links, one from each view. They are pretty dense but this is a very dense topic. If you’re interested in learning more about the views, I suggest you start here.
Bibleproject Book Resource
A comment from Lindsey. Many of you loved the Bible project videos that I linked. Bibleproject recently came out with a hard copy book that has all of their overviews of the books and chapter introductions. I’m definitely picking one up, I think you should take a look and see if it’s something that you can use in your study! Thanks Lindsey!
Click here to see the product!
Good work everyone! Keep it up!
If you could do me one more favor too..
Could you give me feedback? I want to make this the best Bible Reading Newsletter that it can be. That starts with making sure that I’m adding value to your studying time and your knowledge of Scripture. So help me understand what’s missing in these emails. Help me understand what you all need to be successful. That’s what I will focus on delivering to you. As a great mentor of mine, Dr. Lanny Faulkner says, I can do a lot, but I can’t read your mind!
Glad to serve you all, thanks for joining me,
-Woody
Check out what you may have missed!
1 comment
it's good to start the year with a more disciplined approach to reading.