I love Beth Moore. Next to my own pastor, she is my favorite Bible teacher, hands down. I want to be able to study the Bible the way that she does. Every time I go through one of her studies, I see things in the sripture that I've never seen before. I'm so thankful that she was obedient to God to write these studies, because I know that thousands of women have been changed by looking at God's word through her eyes, and discovering His truth in a new way.

For instance, right now I'm doing her study on the Patriarchs. This one is right up my alley because it has a huge emphasis on history, and I'm a big geek. I love it. One of the neatest things I've learned so far is where the word Judaism comes from. That's just something I've never thought to think about before. The word wasn't born until way after the kingdom of Israel split into two, becoming the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The people became known as Judah-ites (later shortened to Jews) and their religion was Judah-ism. Hence, the word Judaism. Before this they were known simply as Hebrews and Israelites. Fascinating.

I also learned that the ancient enemy of the Israelites, the Philistines, who brought fear and trembling into their hearts (David and Goliath, anyone?) and was just a general thorn in their side all throughout the Old Testament, are now known by a slightly different derivation of the name, Palestinians. So this conflict that we see in the news today actually does go back to the beginning of time. Technically, the Palestianians were there first. Unfortunately for them, God owned the land and gave it to His chosen people. I'm thinking they're still not over it.

But today I learned something I've never ever seen or given one single thought to before. Genesis 25 tells us about the death of Abraham. Verse 8 tells us that "Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people." That part I had seen. The next verse just totally snuck up on me, though.

"And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah..." Whoa. I never knew that Ishmael came back to bury his father. This has sent my mind wandering all morning. Did Abraham send for him? Did Isaac send for him? The last recorded encounter between Isaac and Ishmael is when Sarah gets ticked at Ishmael for laughing at Isaac at his weaning party and convinces Abraham to send him away. He almost dies of heat exhaustion and starvation in the wilderness before God rescues him and Hagar. There had to be deep layers of resentment towards Isaac that Ishmael had carried pretty much since he found out Sarah was pregnant. I'm amazed that he even came to the burial, and then it makes me really sad for him. It makes me sad for Abraham, that he wouldn't have seen his firstborn son for all these years. No matter how he came into being, I know Abraham would have loved him and I'm sure he missed him. And here we see Ishmael, coming back for the funeral. What a stressful, awkward encounter this must have been for them all.

I've often wondered why God didn't allow Ishmael to die in the desert, knowing that his descendants would be at war with Isaac's until the end of time. I guess I'll never be able to understand the depth of His love and mercy. I'm just so grateful that it extends to me.