Tweets In Genesis

The powerful words of God said  to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 is the one thing that will keep fulfilling in the lives of people called out by Yahweh. It was true in the lives of our early fathers and mothers, our patriarchs and matriarchs. I took three popular tweets from their lives in a sequential order for my series on missionary spectacles! (caution: we need a missionary-spectacles to read the Scriptures)

Tweet 1: “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you” (26:28)

A similar episode of what happened in Abraham’s life recurred in the encounter of Isaac with the Philistine King, Abimelech (regarding Abimelech’s eyeing on Sarah and Rebekah in chapters 20 & 26) Many Biblical scholars agree that it is the same Abimelech in both episodes. In both occasions God protected these Yahweh-worshippers from hidden harm, though they were not fully correct either! But with Isaac the king could see a good aspect in his behaviour. Every time Isaac and his men dug, re-dug wells (originally dug by Abraham, later closed by the Philistines) they were being chased by Abimelech and his men. But Isaac kept moving away, not retaliating them. After all these giving-ups from Isaac’s side, when Abimelech saw that Isaac’s ways were prospering he tweeted, “We saw clearly that the Lord was with you!”I  consider it as a powerful tweet in any time in history. He and other influential leaders who accompanied him proceeded with a peace treaty with Isaac thereafter. Missions is primarily, our lives! Also it is not a surprise that God spoke to King Abimelech, earlier during the time of Abraham (20:3). We need to add his name to the few others who had this privilege in the genesis’ years. God speaks to the gentiles even today for His glory.

Tweet 2: “May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed” (27:29)

Isaac is keen in passing on the Abrahamic blessing to his son, Jacob. Not entering into a deep theology at this point, I can say that God was not partial in his behaviour to bless one son in a preferable measure than the other son, Esau. Both Esau and Jacob blundered, the older neglecting his blessing over a present need of having red stew, the younger one, plotting with his mom, cheating his dad over food for blessing. But the truth is: God blesses all (Psalm 115:13). To be faithful to his words to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), He chooses one over the other not based on a person’s merit, but for a broader reason that his glory would spread in specific ways. Getting back to the tweet of Isaac in blessing Jacob, parents and grandparents learn a lesson to bless the future generation, to be a blessing to the whole wide world.

Tweet 3: "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the people” (34:30)

Over and again we see how our patriarchs, the Yahweh-worshippers, erred but kept going because God was faithful to his words to Abraham. Now Dinah, a daughter of Jacob got trapped into the wicked schemes of Shechem, a man of other faith. Since she was raped by him, her brothers, Simeon and Levi took revenge on the whole clan of Shechem, every male, butchering all of them. Poor Jacob, unable to bear the stench of blood, lamented saying, "You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land.” Now this was not God’s plan for his people to be a stench to other people. He wants his people of all generations to be a fragrance and not a filthy group of people casting foul odour. But one thing I can say is that the people in those primitive days would have come to a conclusion that the God of Dinah and her family was a powerful God and that they cannot hamper with His people. (Read my earlier blog-entry on Dinah here: http://graceidarajan.blogspot.in/2011/01/do-i-smell-fragrant-or-foul.html )

God caused our patriarchs to encounter with many nations and people groups. He used their mundane lives as a means to spread His glory. Even today, He expects his faithful followers to be a testimony to people around. Many don’t get to read the four gospels of the Bible. But they read our lives. We are the fifth gospel.  What can people tweet about our lives today?