May 1 - May 4 - Covenants, and family relationships

• The word ברך (bah-rach) means "Bless", and also has reference to the word "Kneel". 
• Abraham's name is known by 3 major religions (Christian, Islam, Judaism) 4,000 years later. That is significant!! Who else is so well known after that much time? Why? Because of his faithfulness. Because he was great.
• Genesis 12: 3 says those who Bless and make Abraham's name great will become great! Those who curse Abraham will be cursed. DO WE BLESS ABRAHAM? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints blesses Abraham, but it's members may or may not bless Abraham. Those who do are blessed!

• Marriage covenants in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have very specific reference to Abraham. Do members know what that significance is? Are they trying to understand? Do they find Abraham significant? Do they bless his name? Do they think he is great? Do they kneel to him (respect, honor, etc. NOT Worship)? If they do, the blessings of Abraham are theirs.

May 4

• Scriptures often introduce the main characters at the beginning of the narrative. Abraham chapters 12-22+ are a story of two outcomes for two different people, both of which are immediately introduced in Genesis 12 - Abraham, and Lot. The author clearly intended to highlight these two outcomes for the readers sake.
• FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS in Hebrew culture: There are no words for most family relationships we have today, such as Cousin, Nephew (Brother's son), Grandfather (Father's father). I Find this fascinating. At first I thought this was a limitation of Hebrew compared to English, but I see differently now. Imagine the intimate closeness of calling your grandpa "Father", and him calling you "My Son" (or "My Daughter"). 
• The head of a household often had many wives and concubines. There would be a house (tent) for each wife (And her servants, even if her servants bore children to the head of household). All combined would be considered a "Clan", but each wife's family would be considered a 'house". The picture above shows a Clan consisting of two wives, and therefore, two houses.