4B21
© Jeff Stacey | Last updated: 1 June 2016
4B21. How God communicated with Abraham, Sarah, some of their chosen descendants, and others:
God appeared to and/or spoke to them either directly,
or indirectly by angels, visions or dreams
4B21(title) How God communicated with Abraham, Sarah, some of their chosen descendants, and others
God communicated frequently with Abraham (10 times), Jacob (9 times) and briefly with Sarah (once) and Isaac (twice), as well as with several other people (6 times).
4B21(sub-title) God appeared to and/or spoke to them either directly, or indirectly by angels, visions or dreams
God appeared to and/or spoke to them either directly or indirectly, even in dialogues (8 times), as follows.
| WHO GOD SPOKE TO (number of times) | GOD APPEARED TO AND/OR SPOKE DIRECTLY TO THEM | GOD SPOKE | INDIRECTLY | TO THEM |
| BY ANGEL(S) | BY DREAMS | BY VISIONS | ||
| Verse | references | in | Genesis | |
| ABRAHAM (10) | Gen 12:1,2-3 Gen 12:7a Gen 13:14-17 Gen 17:1-22 (dialogue) Gen 18:1-14 (dialogue) Gen 18:16-33 (dialogue) Gen 21:12-13 Gen 22:1-2 | Gen 22:11-12 | Gen 15:1-21 (dialogue) | |
| HAGAR (2) | Gen 16:7-12 (dialogue) Gen 21:17-18 | |||
| SARAH (1) | Gen 18:13,15b | |||
| LOT (1) | Gen 19:1-22 (dialogue) | |||
| ABIMELECH (1) | Gen 20:3-7 (dialogue) | |||
| REBEKAH (1) | Gen 25:23 | |||
| ISAAC (2) | Gen 26:2-5 Gen 26:24 | |||
| LABAN (1) | Gen 31:24,29b | |||
| JACOB/ISRAEL (9) | Gen 31:3 Gen 32:24-30 (dialogue) Gen 35:1 Gen 35:9-13 | Gen 32:1-2 | Gen 28:12-17 Gen 31:10-13 | Gen 46:2-4 |
| TOTALS (27) | 16 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
A striking fact is that in the long narrative about Joseph (Gen 37 – 50) there are no specific examples of God speaking to him (even though one of God’s direct communications with Jacob was recorded within this overall narrative Gen 46:2-3,4).
Yet Joseph obviously had a strong sense that God was directing his life Gen 45:5-6,7-8. Even as a youth he had dreams that he would rule over his father, step-mother and brothers and that they would bow down to him Gen 37:5-11. These were later completely fulfilled Gen 42:6, 43:26,28, 44:14-34, 45:3. He also acknowledged that his capability to interpret the dreams of others was entirely given to him by God Gen 40:8, 41:15-16. So it is implied that he had specific communications from God.
Arrow 4B20 -> 4B21
This arrow indicates that God had effectively communicated His instructions and specific directions to Abraham and some of his chosen descendants and others. So they could not claim to be ignorant of these instructions and were responsible to heed and apply them personally.