DAY 23 (Genesis 36-38): Jacob and his twelve sons finally settle in Canaan, and his second youngest, Joseph, experiences prophetic dreams which mystify him while his brothers have no trouble at all with their interpretation. In fact, Joseph's brothers find the dreams so disturbing that they take immediate action to prevent them from coming true.

DAY 22 (Genesis 32-35): Jacob's impending reunion with his estranged brother Esau understandably makes him nervous, because Esau had vowed to murder Jacob upon the death of their father Isaac. Yahweh had promised to bless Jacob even as far back as the womb, but Jacob still wrestles with his faith -- quite literally -- even to the point of physically assaulting God Himself. Yes, you heard me correctly.

DAY 21 (Genesis 29-31): Alone and destitute, Jacob seeks his fortune among his kindred in Paddan Aram in upper Mesopotamia. Once there, he discovers a different kind of fortune: love. The children begotten of Jacob will have very important names echoing through history.

DAY 20 (Genesis 26-28): Previously, Jacob convinced his brother Esau to sell his birthright for a bowl of red pottage. Esau figured that a divine promise about distant descendants wasn't worth very much, because he would be long dead before it would ever matter. Jacob reasoned differently, perhaps because he had a vague awareness of his past lives as Adam, Noah and Melchizidek, and dimly understood that he would still be around to see the fulfillment of Yahweh's promises.

DAY 19 (Genesis 24-25): What follows in this chapter is the marriage of Isaac to a Semite woman named Rebekah. If you listen carefully, you will find the tone strikingly different from previous chapters, with tremendous attention paid to small details in the environment. Moses is now working with a new source. This is the testimony of Rebekah, as recorded by her second son Jacob.

DAY 18 (Genesis 21-23): After a decades-long wait, Abraham and Sarah were finally prepared for the miracle of their lives, the birth of Isaac. However, it would not be long before Yahweh asks Abraham to sacrifice his only legitimate son. What does this heartrending test reveal about Abraham's God?

DAY 17 (Genesis 18-20): After meeting with Hagar and then Abraham, the Angel of Yahweh leaves and then returns with two other men of His own kind, and Abraham invites Yahweh and His two companions to stay with him and enjoy a meal together. We then learn about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, a story both incredible and bizarre, but which warns us of God's wrath against sinners.

DAY 16 (Genesis 13-17): Abram and Sarai's sojourn in Egypt proved to be fraught with peril, but they left better off than they came, and were quite wealthy when they returned to settle in Canaan. Abram then finds himself drawn into armed conflict against a confederacy of kings from the east, and celebrates his victory with a priest-king named Melchizidek. Yahweh then ratifies his covenant with Abram, promising to bless his seed throughout the generations. However, Abram and Sarai grow impatient and take matters into their own hands.

DAY 15 (Genesis 9-12): After the Great Flood, God promised Noah, "never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done." He established a new covenant with Noah and his descendants, expecting them to reestablish civilization upon principles of justice. However, wayward Mankind quickly falls back into rebellion and attempts to build a great tower in Babylon which would reach the heavens, and Yahweh must plan yet another reset for mankind, this time through the great patriarch Abram, who would later become Abraham.

DAY 14 (Genesis 5-8): In composing Genesis, Moses edited together text from multiple written sources. One way to differentiate these sources from each other is to pay careful attention to which words were used to describe God, since not all sources knew of God's personal covenant name "Yahweh". However, when we reach this account of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood, Moses begins to weave together these different accounts with greater intricacy. Because many details of the story are mentioned multiple times, it quickly takes on a disorienting, dream-like quality.