Small Group or Personal Study Course

Introduction

This is a small group Bible study course to help you grow in your understanding of the book of Genesis. This study will be most effective as you get together with a small group to share the answers that each of you has written in your personal study. This can also be used as a personal study course to help you grow in your understanding of the book of Genesis. This course is designed to help you grow in three ways. Throughout the course you will read a paragraph to help you grow in your knowledge of the verses that you will be reading. After each paragraph you will usually have three questions. These three questions will focus on three things: Knowledge, Understanding and Application.

The first question will ask you to find the answer to some question in the verses that you are reading. This question is to help you pick out a key fact in those verses to help you grow in your knowledge of those verses. The answer to this question will usually be found in the verses as you read them.

The second question will ask you a question that will help you to think through the verses to understand the meaning of the group of verses being discussed. As you read this question, pray that the Lord will give you understanding of the passage as well as knowledge of the facts.

The third question will ask you a question that will help you to apply what you have learned from those verses both to your own and to your service for Christ. It is as we understand and apply the Scripture to our lives that the Lord really begins to change and transform our lives.

At the end of each lesson there will be an opportunity to write down something that you have learned for your own life through the study of those verses. Our prayer is that as you work through these lessons that three things will happen in your life:

1. First, you will grow in your knowledge of the Bible.

2. Second, you will grow in your understanding of the verses that you have studied.

3. Third, you will learn how to apply the Word of God to your life.

The basic material in each of these lessons was originally written in one of six Bible Survey texts written between 1969 and 1974 that covered the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. We are making this material available in this new form to help you grow in your knowledge, understanding and application of the Bible to your life. The Lord willing, we will continue to make other books available as we have time to prepare them in this new form.

May the Lord bless you as you learn His Word.

Table of Contents:

1. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 1:1-2:25

2. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 3:1-5:32

3. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 6:1-7:24

4. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 8:1-10:32

5. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 11:1-13:18

6. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 14:1-16:16

7. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 17:1-18:33

8. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 19:1-20:18

9. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 21:1-22:24

10. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 23:1-24:67

11. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 25:1-26:35

12. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 27:1-29:35

13. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 30:1-31:55

14. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 32:1-34:31

15. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 35:1-37:36

16. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 38:1-40:23

17. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 41:1-42:38

18. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 43:1-45:28

19. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 46:1-48:22

20. Survey of Genesis - Genesis 49:1-50:26

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 1

Genesis 1:1-2:25

Today we are beginning a study of the book of Genesis. This is the first of five books written by Moses known as the Law or the Pentateuch. The book of Genesis is the book of beginnings. In the book of Genesis we will be learning about the beginning of many things. Some of these things will be good and others will be evil or sinful. In our study in this lesson we will learn about the beginning of the creation. We will also learn about the beginning of the earth and everything on it. Then we will learn about the beginning of mankind. As a part of learning about the beginning of mankind, we will learn about the first marriage.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Tell about the creation of the universe and the earth.

Tell about the filling of the earth.

Explain how man was given life.

Explain what God says about marriage.

As we begin our study of Genesis, the first thing that we see is the fact that God was in the beginning. God created all things because God has always been in existence. That meant that He was here before anything was created. We read that when God first created the earth that the earth had no form. Sometimes people say that God created the earth, destroyed it and recreated it. This is the way that they try to explain any prehistoric animals that we do not have today. However, that would make God the author of death. We will see in our next lesson that death did not come on the earth until after man had sinned.

1. Read Genesis 1:1-19 and write what moved upon the face of the waters.

2. Explain why it is important that God has always been in existence and was here before anything was created.

3. Explain why it is important to you to know that God is the Creator of all things both in the heavens and on the earth.

We see in these verses that God is the One that brought the earth into existence. God is the One that caused the earth to become a place where mankind could live. We see that the very first thing that God created after He brought the earth into existence was light. God divided the light so that we have both day and night. We will see that God divided things on the first three days and then filled those things on days four through six. That first day and night together made the first day on the earth. We also see that the day began in the evening and not at midnight as our days do today.

4. Read Genesis 1:1-19 and write what God divided on the second day.

5. Explain why it was important that the first thing that God created on the first day was light.

6. Explain why you are thankful that God determined the order by which He would create the heavens and the earth.

As we come to the second day, we see that God separated the water above from the water on the earth. God placed some of the water in the clouds and left some of the water on the earth. This division of the water made it possible for God to later water the earth by sending the dew and the rain. On the third day God divided the dry land from the oceans and the seas. On this day God also caused plant life to begin to develop. It was on this day that the trees and the grass began to grow. Here we see the first things that received life were the things that grow in the ground.

7. Read Genesis 1:1-19 and write what God created to divide the day from the night on the fourth day.

8. Explain why it was important that God separated the water in the atmosphere from the water on the earth.

9. Explain why it is important for you to understand that God created the plant life before He created the sun.

Here we see one of the things that shows us that God created the earth in days that are the same length as our days. Notice that God created the plant life on the third day but He did not create the sun until the fourth day. Plant life cannot exist for very long without the sun. As a result, we see that God created the earth in days that were the same length as our days. We also see that God created the earth before He created the sun, moon and stars. This means that God put each star and planet into its own place and gave it the direction that it moves by His power. God created light on the first day and here we see He created the light bearers on the fourth day.

10. Read Genesis 1:1-19 and write what responsibility the sun and the moon were given.

11. Explain what you learn about the way that God created the creation from these verses.

12. Explain why you realize that the days of creation are 24 hour days and not longer periods of time.

We go on to read about God filling the earth that He had created. On the second day God had separated the water above from the water on the earth. Now on the fifth day God filled the sky and the water. It was on this day that God created the birds that fly in the sky. God also created the fish and all of the other animals that are in the oceans. God told these fish and birds to multiply and fill the earth. On the third day God separated the dry land from the sea. Here we see that on the sixth day God now filled the land. On the sixth day God created the animals that are on the land. Then God created man and gave him the responsibility to rule over all of the animals, the birds and the fish. Today the animals are still afraid of man.

13. Read Genesis 1:20-31 and write in whose image God created man

14. Explain why God chose to fill on days four, five and six the things that He had divided on days one, two and three.

15. Explain why you think that God gave man the responsibility to be over all of the animals, birds and fish.

When God created man He said, “Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness.” The Father was talking to Christ and the Holy Spirit and so God made us in His image with a body, a soul and a spirit. Here we see that we are made in the image of God. This is one reason why our lives should show that we are serving God and not the devil. We bring glory to God by honoring Him with our whole being. When God created mankind, He blessed man. Then God told mankind to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Mankind was also given certain responsibilities. God told man that he was to rule over everything that had life and moved on the earth. Here we see that even before sin came, man was given certain responsibilities.

16. Read Genesis 1:20-31 and write what God said about the things that He had made when He finished creating them.

17. Explain why it is important to understand that when God created man that He said, “Let us make man in our own image and after our likeness.”

18. Explain why it is important to you to bring glory to God with your whole being since you are created in the image of God.

At the end of each day we see that God said that the things that He had created were good. As God looked at the completed earth with all of the things that He had created, God saw that it was all very good. Here we see that everything that God does is good. It was the sin of man that brought evil on the earth. Since the things that God does are always good, this is the reason why we should be glad to yield the control of our lives to God. As long as we are yielding the control of our lives to God, He will give us the power to do the things that are good and right.

19. Read Genesis 1:20-31 and write how God created mankind when He created them.

20. Explain why God was able to say after He had completed all of the creation that it was all very good.

21. Explain why God is able to give you the power to do the things that are good and right as you yield to Him.

On the seventh day God rested. Here we see that God gives all of us an example for our own lives. All of us need one day each week when we can rest and worship God. Our bodies are made so that they need this day of rest each week. We also need to follow the example of God. We go on to read more details about the way that God formed the earth and man. Before the flood we see that there was no rain on the earth. Instead God caused a mist or dew to water the earth. In this way the whole earth was watered and there were no deserts before the flood.

22. Read Genesis 2:1-14 and write how God formed the first man.

23. Explain why God showed right from the time of creation that it was important for mankind to have a day to rest.

24. Explain how you have realized that your body feels refreshed and renewed when you have had a day of rest.

We see that God made man in a different way that He had made any of the animals. God took the dust from the earth that He had made and used that dust to form a man. Then God breathed His breath into the man. In this way man was given life directly from God. God is the one that gives life to mankind and He is the One that can take life away from mankind. When the breath of God came into man, we read that man became a living soul. It was now possible for man to communicate with God. This was something that no other creature on the earth could do.

25. Read Genesis 2:1-14 and write where God planted a garden.

26. Explain why it is important that the breath of life for man came from the very breath of God.

27. Explain why you are thankful that you are different than the animals because you can communicate with God.

Although the whole earth was very good when God created it, God created a special place for the first man and called that place the Garden of Eden. This place was a beautiful garden with every kind of fruit tree. In addition to all of the fruit trees, God placed two other trees in the garden. One was called the tree of life and the other was called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We also read that a river went out of the Garden of Eden. This river became four rivers.

28. Read Genesis 2:1-14 and write the name of the fourth river.

29. Explain what you learn about the creation of man from these verses that shows that man is different than any other created thing.

30. Explain why you think that God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden.

When God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, God gave him some instructions. God told Adam that he was to take charge of the garden. God also said that Adam could eat the fruit of all of the trees of the garden except for one tree. That was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here we see that God was testing mankind to see if man would be obedient to the only commandment that God gave mankind. God also warned Adam what would happen if he ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

31. Read Genesis 2:15-25 and write what God said would happen if man ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

32. Explain why God said that man would die the very day that he ate the fruit if he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

33. Explain why you think that God gave people the opportunity to make choices instead of totally controlling the behavior of mankind.

God created man so that He could have fellowship with man. However, God was also concerned that man knew that he needed fellowship with others. As a result, God created the animals and brought them to Adam so that he could name each of the animals. Then Adam gave each animal the name that he chose for that animal. Here we see that before sin came into the world, Adam had tremendous knowledge and wisdom so that he could quickly make up names for all of the different animals. Although Adam had all of the animals around him, he still could not have real fellowship with them because they had not received the kind of life that Adam had received. Then God made a person with whom Adam could have fellowship.

34. Read Genesis 2:15-25 and write what God used to make the woman.

35. Explain why the fact that Adam was able to name every one of the animals as the animals came to him shows the fact that man began life with tremendous knowledge.

36. Explain why you think that it was important for Adam to realize that he did not have a partner that was fit for him.

God put Adam to sleep. Then God performed the first operation. God took a rib out of Adam and then closed up the flesh. From this rib God made a woman. Then God brought the woman to the man. We learn something about the relationship of man and woman from the way that God created the woman. God did not take a piece from the foot of man. That would have man a dictator over woman. God did not take a piece from the head of man. That would have made the woman a dictator over man. Instead God took a rib from the side of man. God was showing us that man has a responsibility to love and care for his wife.

37. Read Genesis 2:15-25 and write what God said man is to do when he marries a wife.

38. Explain what relationship husbands and wives should have according to these verses.

39. Explain why you are thankful that God made woman from a rib that was taken from close to the heart of man.

We also see that marriage brings certain responsibilities. Sometimes there are people who fail to take their responsibilities in marriage. There are some men who run home to their parents every time they have problems. When this happens, the young couple never learns to sit down and discuss the problems. As a result, the problems keep increasing. Here we see that God says man is to leave his parents and cleave (be welded together) with his wife. This means that the decision making must move from the parents to the new couple so that they learn to handle problems together. We also see that some parents try to control their children after their children are married. This also leads to problems in the home of the young couple. Here we see that when a young couple gets married, their first responsibility is to the new home rather than to the home of the parents.

40. Read Genesis 2:15-25 and write what God says a couple becomes when they are married.

41. Explain why it is important to understand that God is the One that performed the first marriage.

42. Explain why you think that husbands and wives will only find real joy in life as they learn to work together as a team.

Now reread Genesis 1:1-2:25 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 2

Genesis 3:1-5:32

Today we will be learning how the first sin came into the world. In our last lesson we learned that God told Adam that he was not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was the only sin that Adam could commit. We will read that Adam and Eve did eat the fruit of that tree. As a result, death did come into the world. We also see that sin brought five other consequences to Adam and Eve. Sin brought separation from God. It brought fear, guilt and shame within. It caused them to blame others. These are still the five things that motivate the behavior of every person without Christ. Once sin came into the world, we see that murder soon followed. We also see a real picture of the fact that sin brings death.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain how sin came into the world.

Explain the results of sin.

Explain what we learn about the first murder.

Explain what we learn about death ruling in the world.

Satan had been a beautiful angel that chose to rebel against God before God ever created the earth. As a result, Satan lost his position as an angel of God, and became the enemy of God and also become known as the devil. Satan has been fighting against God ever since the time that he rebelled against God. As soon as God created man, Satan began looking for a way to lead man to sin against the commandment of God. One day Satan entered into a snake and went to tempt Eve. The snake was a very beautiful creature at that time. Satan came to Eve and began to tempt her by asking a question. His question actually questioned whether the Word of God is true. Satan often begins his attacks by leading people to question whether the Word of God is true.

1. Read Genesis 3:1-13 and write what Eve said would happen if they ate the fruit.

2. Explain why the first thing that Satan often tries to do is get people to question whether the Word of God is true.

3. Explain why the way that Satan tempted Eve makes it clear that Satan is very tricky in the way that he tempts all of us.

Here we see that Eve slightly changed the Word of God because she had not learned it exactly right. Satan saw his opportunity and immediately denied the Word of God by telling Eve that she would not surely die. Instead sin would make her smarter so that she would be like God. We see that Eve sinned because she was tempted in the same three ways that we are tempted – I John 2:15-17. She saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh). The fruit looked good to her eyes (lust of the eyes). It made her think that she could become like God (pride). As a result, Eve decided to satisfy herself instead of obeying God and so she ate the fruit.

4. Read Genesis 3:1-13 and write where these verses say that Adam was while Eve was being tempted by Satan.

5. Explain why Satan still tempts us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

6. Explain why you think that Eve chose to satisfy herself instead of obeying the one commandment that God had given.

We read that Adam was right there with her. We also see that we never like to sin alone. We always want others to join us in our sin. The first thing that Eve did after she sinned was offer the fruit to Adam who was with her. Eve had been deceived by the temptation of the devil. First, we see that Adam stood with Eve and did nothing to protect Eve from the temptations of Satan. Second, Adam chose to eat the fruit in open rebellion against the commandment that God had given him. As soon as they had eaten the fruit, Adam and Eve realized that they were naked. Their sin immediately caused them to have evil thoughts because they now had a sin nature. They tried to cover themselves with leaves from a fig tree. Sinful men are always looking for a way to cover their sins. God says that nothing will cover and take away our sins except the blood of Christ.

7. Read Genesis 3:1-13 and write what Adam and Eve did when they heard the voice of the Lord calling to them that evening.

8. Explain what you learn from these verses about the way that sin came into the world.

9. Explain why these verses help you to understand why Adam is the one that God held accountable for sin.

Each day God came to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the evening. That evening they were not anxious to see God. When God called to them, they went and hid. Here we see that sin had broken their relationship with God and they were now separated from God by sin. Adam said that they were afraid and hid themselves because they were naked. Here we see that fear, guilt and shame now controlled them within their lives. Adam immediately blamed Eve. Then Eve blamed the snake. These five things (separation from God; fear guilt and shame within, and blame of others) have controlled every person since that time. Today people still do not want to admit that they are responsible for their own sins. Here we see that we are judged for our own sins and not the sins of others.

10. Read Genesis 3:8-24 and write what Eve said about the snake.

11. Explain why separation from God; fear, guilt and shame within; and blame of others have controlled every person since the time of Adam and Eve.

12. Explain why you are thankful that God will begin to reverse the effects of original sin in your life as you learn to become obedient to Him.

God began by judging the snake. God said that the snake would crawl on its stomach and eat dust because Satan had used the snake to cause Adam and Eve to sin. Then God promised judgment for Satan. God said that One would come from the woman that would defeat Satan. Satan would bruise the heel of that One but his own head would be crushed. Satan thought the he had won the victory when Christ died on the cross. However, when Christ rose again, He made the eternal judgment of Satan certain. Satan only has a limited time now before he will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where he will burn forever.

13. Read Genesis 3:14-24 and write what God said about the relationship of man to woman because of the sin of Eve.

14. Explain why God gave hope even with judgment of the first sin when He promised that the head of Satan would be crushed.

15. Explain why you are thankful in your own life that you received hope for the future at the moment you placed your trust in Christ.

Here we see that women were judged in three ways because of the sin of Eve. First, she was promised great sorrow. Second, when a woman brings children into the world, she has great pain and suffering. Third, we see that man was given the leadership in the family. From that time it has been the plan of God that men should be the leader in the home. In most of the countries where people have not heard the Gospel, women are often little more than slaves. The Gospel has caused great improvement for women because Christian men have learned from Scripture that they are to love their wives as Christ loves the church. It is the plan of God that men learn to lead their wife and family with love.

16. Read Genesis 3:14-24 and write what God cursed because of the sin of Adam.

17. Explain why Christianity had greatly improved the situation for women as Christian men learn to lead their wives with love instead of drive them with fear.

18. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that the plan of God is for a man to lead his wife with love and not drive her with fear.

The sin of man also brought a curse on the ground. In order to live and eat, God said that men must now work for their living by the sweat of their brow. God also said that thorns and thistles would make the work of men harder. Then God showed His love and mercy by killing an animal to provide coats to provide a covering for Adam and Eve. God also showed His love by taking Adam and Eve out of the garden. If they would have remained in the garden, they might have eaten of the tree of life. Then they would have lived in their sin forever.

19. Read Genesis 3:14-24 and write how God protected them from accidentally eating from the tree of life and then living in sin and its consequences forever.

20. Explain what these verses teach about the consequences of sin for both men and women.

21. Explain why you are thankful that God chose to protect mankind from eating of the tree of life and living in sin forever.

We go on to read about the first two children that were born to Adam and Eve. Cain because a farmer and chose to till the ground and raise crops of food. Abel became a man that cared for the sheep. Because of sin, God said that people should bring a sacrifice to Him as a covering for sin until Christ would shed His blood to take away sin. We read that Cain and Abel both brought a sacrifice to God. However, Cain did not have his faith and trust in God and so he brought a sacrifice that was the result of his own efforts. Abel had his faith in God and brought a blood sacrifice. The Lord rejected the sacrifice of Cain and respected the sacrifice of Abel.

22. Read Genesis 4:1-26 and write what Cain became when God did not accept his sacrifice.

23. Explain why it was necessary to offer a blood sacrifice as a covering for sin in the Old Testament.

24. Explain why you are thankful that we no longer have to offer sacrifices since Christ died and rose again as our sacrifice.

When God saw the anger of Cain, God spoke to Cain and encouraged him to do what was good and right. God pointed out the fact that there was a sacrifice for sin right at the door of his tent if Cain was willing to offer that sacrifice. Here we see that God provided a way for sin to be covered. Cain was faced with a choice. He could accept the sacrifice God provided or rebel against God. Instead of doing what was right, Cain chose to kill his brother Abel. Here we see what happens when a person allows sin to remain in his heart.

25. Read Genesis 4:1-26 and write what the Lord asked Cain after he killed his brother.

26. Explain why Cain did not choose to offer the animal as a sacrifice that God says was lying right at the door of Cain’s tent.

27. Explain why this chapter shows us that we must also make choices and that we will reap the consequences of our choices.

Cain immediately tried to cover his sin by telling a lie. He said that he was not the one that was responsible for his brother. Cain thought that he could hide his sin from God. However, God said that the blood of Abel was crying to Him from the ground. God said that Cain would not have good crops because of his sin. He would become a wanderer that would be forced to go from place to place around the earth. Cain said that his punishment was greater than he could stand because someone would kill him if they found him. The God put a mark on Cain so that no one would kill him.

28. Read Genesis 4:1-26 and write where Cain went to live.

29. Explain what you learn from these verses about the first murder.

30. Explain why you think that Cain lied and tried to cover up the fact that he had killed his brother.

We go on to read about the family of Cain. We read that his family very quickly developed musical instruments. They also became very skillful in working with various kinds of metal. Here we see that early men were very intelligent. They could probably learn much more quickly than we can learn today. We also see that God gave Adam and Eve another son to take the place of Abel. They called him Seth which means that he was appointed. Seth was appointed to carry on the family line from which Christ eventually came.

31. Read Genesis 4:1-26 and write what men began to do beginning with the family of Seth.

32. Explain how the things that the family of Cain developed show that the early people were very intelligent.

33. Explain why you are thankful that God gave Adam and Eve another son and appointed him to take the place of Abel.

God always keeps at least a small group of people that call on His name. We see that this group that called on the name of the Lord came from the family of Seth. In addition to Cain, Abel and Seth, we read that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. However we do not read that any of these other families had those who placed their trust in the Lord. For this reason we are given the family line of Seth so that we can trace the family line from which Christ would come. From time to time throughout the Old Testament, we will see this line of Christ appearing again.

34. Read Genesis 5:1-32 and write what happened to Adam after he lived 930 years.

35. Explain why it is important to understand that the Lord gave Adam and Eve other sons and daughters in addition to the three that are named.

36. Explain why God has always kept at least a small group of people that serve Him even when many of the people of the world are in rebellion.

Throughout this chapter, we read that men died. There is only one person that did not die. That was a man by the name of Enoch. We read that Enoch was a man that really walked with God. As a result, he did not die. Instead God took him to heaven without dying. Enoch gives us an example of the kind of life that God wants us to live. We should have the desire to be walking with God continually. Our whole desire in life should be to please God. We should not allow anything to hinder or break our fellowship with God. Then we will have a life that has a purpose and it will be a life that is filled with joy and peace.

37. Read Genesis 5:1-32 and write the name of the man that lived the longest in this chapter.

38. Explain why the life of Enoch gives everyone a picture of the life that will bring peace and joy.

39. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the life of Enoch.

With the exception of Enoch, we see that all of these men had one thing in common. They all died. Here we see a real picture of the consequences of sin. God had warned Adam and Eve that they would die if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here we see that the sin of Adam and Eve brought death on every generation. This was due to the fact that every person was now born with a sin nature and had a desire to sin. In fact we see that people continued to become more and more sinful. Only a few people placed their faith and trust in the Lord. One of the few men that trusted the Lord and followed Him was Noah.

40. Read Genesis 3:1-5:32 and write down the names of the sons of Noah.

41. Explain why this chapter makes it very clear that one of the consequences of sin is death.

42. Explain why it is important for you to know that every person is born with a sin nature and that is why all people will sin without anyone showing them how to sin.

Now reread Genesis 3:1-5:32 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 3

Genesis 6:1-7:24

In our last lesson we learned how sin came into the world. We see that Adam and Eve sinned. Then we saw that their son Cain became a murderer. As time passed, people became more and more sinful. Finally people became so sinful that all they thought about was evil. Every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts was continually filled with evil. As a result, God decided to destroy the earth with a flood. There was only one family on the entire earth that was obedient to God. We will learn how God protected two of every kind of animal and also the family of Noah when He destroyed the rest of the people of the earth.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what the thoughts of people were like

Explain why Noah was commanded to build an ark.

Explain what animals went into the ark with Noah and his family.

Explain how much of the earth was covered by the flood.

We see one of the reasons why people turned away from God and became very evil. Those who had their trust in the Lord began to marry those who did not have any faith in God. We see that those who trusted in the Lord became more concerned about good looks and a beautiful appearance than they were about the spiritual condition of those that they were marrying. They chose whoever they wanted without ever asking God to lead them. Today we have many Christian young people that are doing exactly the same thing. They are not asking God for guidance to help them choose a godly person to marry so that they will have the same purpose in life.

1. Read Genesis 6:1-8 and write what there was on the earth in those days.

2. Explain why those who follow the Lord will always create problems for their lives if they choose a partner based on good looks or beautiful appearance rather than choosing a person that follows the Lord.

3. Explain why it is important to you in your life to be a godly partner and to choose a godly partner.

We read that great and mighty men came from the marriages of those who trusted in the Lord and those who did not trust in the Lord. They were great in the eyes of the people of the world but they did not have their trust in the Lord. Today when a Christian marries a person that is not a Christian, there is often much conflict in the home. As a result, the children do not know which parent to follow and so they follow the devil instead. They choose to act in rebellion against the rules given to them by either parent. In the eyes of the world they become great because of their sin. However, in the eyes of God their lives are very sinful.

4. Read Genesis 6:1-8 and write what God saw about the wickedness of mankind.

5. Explain why people in the world that become well known and important often become well known because of their sin.

6. Explain why you think that people that become known for their sin will always help to lead others astray.

Mankind became very sinful during the time of Noah. The thoughts and intents of their hearts were evil continually. All that those people could imagine was more evil. In Matthew chapter 24 we read that during the tribulation that people will be just like they were in the days of Noah. Already this is beginning to happen in the world. The desires of people are becoming more and more sinful. The thoughts of people are very evil. People spend their time thinking about evil instead of thinking about how to help each other. As we see these things happening, we realize that Christ will take the Christians to heaven very soon. Once the Christians are removed from the earth, there will be nothing to hold back the evil thoughts and actions of mankind. Then we read that the tribulation will immediately follow.

7. Read Genesis 6:1-8 and write what God said He would do to mankind because of the sinful condition of men.

8. Explain why men will become more and more sinful when the thoughts and intents of their hearts are evil.

9. Explain why the fact that people are thinking more and more about evil shows you that you need to be prepared for the Lord to come at any time.

As God saw the sinfulness of mankind, He was filled with great sadness. He was grieved from His very heart. Then God decided that He would destroy mankind and all of the animals that He had placed on the earth. God is a holy God and hates sin. He cannot look at sin with favor. However, there was one family that God found that was faithful. That family was Noah and his family. God always has a few people that are faithful to Him even though that number is sometimes very small. In the time of Noah, only he and his family trusted the Lord.

10. Read Genesis 6:1-8 and write to how many years God said He was going to cut the length of the life of men.

11. Explain what you learn about the sinfulness of mankind from what God says in these verses.

12. Explain why you think that the sinfulness of man caused God to be filled with great sadness and grieved Him from his very heart.

During the time of Noah, the people were filled with violence. There was much murder and other crime happening. Wars between groups of people were happening continually. Everyone was thinking and doing evil. People thought only of themselves and were willing to do anything to get what they wanted. They did not care if the things that they did hurt or destroyed other people as long as they got what they wanted. Today this is the way that people are becoming in our time. Most do not care what is right and pleasing to God. They only want to satisfy themselves. Soon God is going to bring judgment on this earth again. However, it will be a different kind of judgment than the judgment in the time of Noah.

13. Read Genesis 6:9-22 and write what Noah was told to make to prepare for the coming judgment of the earth.

14. Explain why when people only think about themselves and their own desires that it will cause them to do more and more evil to others.

15. Explain why you think that we live in a world where many people show little or no concern for other people.

God said that He was going to send a great flood to destroy all of the evil people on the earth. As a result, God told Noah to build a large boat so that he and his family would be protected when the flood came. This ark would also provide protection for two of every kind of animal and seven of each of the clean animals. This boat was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. This ark was to be three stories high. It was to have a window one and a half feet high around the top of the ark. God said that He was going to destroy everything on the earth that had the breath of life except for the people and animals that were in the ark.

16. Read Genesis 6:9-22 and write what God promised to establish with Noah.

17. Explain why God chose to tell Noah and his family how to prepare for the flood that would come on the whole earth.

18. Explain why it is important to you to see that God was going to take Noah through the storm and protect he and his family from the flood.

God promised Noah that He would make a covenant with Noah. Then God said that He would protect Noah and his wife along with the sons of Noah and their wives. God also told Noah to bring two of each kind of animal into the ark so that every kind of animal would also remain alive. In addition, Noah was told to gather food for all of these animals so that they would have plenty to eat. There was lots of room in the ark. It was large enough to hold more than 500 train cars of animals and food. We read that Noah was obedient and did all that God had commanded him to do.

19. Read Genesis 6:9-22 and write what the two animals of each kind were to be.

20. Explain what these verses show about the grace of God and His desire to protect Noah and his family plus the animals.

21. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life about the grace of God from these verses.

Noah began to build that great boat. It took him one hundred years to build the ark. We do not read that God spoke to Noah again during that entire time. However, Noah was obedient and did exactly as God told him to do. In the New Testament we also read that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. For the entire one hundred years Noah warned the people to turn from their sins and place their faith in God. In spite of his faithful preaching, we see that no one listened to Noah except his own family. When Noah completed the ark, God spoke to him again.

22. Read Genesis 7:1-10 and write what God told Noah and his family to do.

23. Explain what Noah teaches us about the importance of obedience to God when He tells us to do something.

24. Explain how you think that Noah felt when he preached for one hundred years and not even one person outside his family believed.

Noah was told to bring his family into the ark because God had seen that Noah was righteous. Noah was not spared because of his own righteousness. Instead he was right with God because he trusted in God. Noah was told to take two of each unclean animal into the ark with him. He was told to take seven of each clean animal into the ark. The reason for the larger number of clean animals was to provide food and sacrifices for Noah and his family when they came out of the ark. God said that He was going to cause it to start to rain in seven days. Until that time it had never rained. As a result, Noah had to accept the words of God about rain in complete faith.

25. Read Genesis 7:1-10 and write what Noah did when God gave him these commands.

26. Explain why God declared Noah righteous because of the fact that Noah had his faith and trust in the Lord.

27. Explain the basis on which God declares each Christian righteous today even though every person has sinned.

Noah gives us a real example of obedience. He did whatever the Lord commanded him to do. Today God still wants our obedience. God is still looking for people that will obey His Word. Noah took the animals and his family into the ark exactly as God had commanded. Then God waited seven more days before He sent the flood on the earth. As we see how Noah did all of the things that God had commanded him, we realize that we should also be obedient to the commands of God and do all that He says and not just part of what He commands.

28. Read Genesis 7:1-10 and write what happened after seven days.

29. Explain why God gave the people on the earth one last opportunity to repent by waiting seven days after Noah entered the ark before sending the flood.

30. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life about obedience to God from the example of Noah.

After Noah was in the ark with his family and the animals, God waited seven more days before He sent the rain. Then God caused it to begin to rain. The rain really came down. In fact we read that God opened the windows of heaven. This rain continued without stopping for forty days and forty nights. God also caused the earth to open up and send out large amounts of water in addition to the rain. The judgment that had been held back for one hundred years finally came. God may wait a long time to bring judgment. However, when His judgment comes, it will be very complete.

31. Read Genesis 7:11-24 and write how many different kinds of animals Noah took with him into the ark.

32. Explain why the fact that God waited one hundred years to bring the judgment of the flood shows that God is very patient.

33. Explain why you realize that although God is very patient that He will also judge sin and that no one that rejects Christ will escape that judgment.

When Noah went into the ark, he took two of every kind of beast, bird, fowl, cattle and creeping thing except the clean animals. God had told him to take seven of each clean animal. He took everything that had the breath of life in it. He took a male and a female so that these animals could multiply when they came off of the ark. Here we see that God was very concerned for the animals as well as for the family of Adam. When God had made the original creation, He had looked at everything and said that it was good. Here God shows that His concern is unchangeable.

34. Read Genesis 7:11-24 and write who shut the door once everyone was inside.

35. Explain why God told Noah to take seven of each of the animals that were clean animals.

36. Explain why you are thankful that God wanted every animal to be on the ark so that it could multiply again after the flood.

The Lord had led Noah to build the ark. The Lord had caused the animals to come to the ark when it was complete. When everyone was inside the ark, the Lord shut the door of the ark. Then when everything was ready, God sent the flood to destroy the earth. This flood was a very great flood. It covered the entire earth. In fact the highest mountain on the earth was covered by more than twenty feet of water. God had promised a complete judgment. No one was able to escape that judgment except those who were in the safety of the ark.

37. Read Genesis 7:11-24 and write what was destroyed by the flood.

38. Explain what you learn about the way that God chose to judge the people of the earth by this flood.

39. Explain why you realize that God had to set a time when He would shut the door and there would be no more opportunity to repent.

All of the animals that were not in the ark were killed by the waters of the flood. None of the animals were able to escape. None of the people were able to escape. Every single thing that had the breath of live in it was killed. Not a single man, woman or child escaped. This is the way that it will be in the final judgment. At the time of the final judgment, the only ones that will escape that judgment and not receive eternal punishment will be those who have placed their faith and trust in Christ. All others will be destroyed. Here we see that only Noah, his family and the animals that were in the ark with him escaped judgment.

40. Read Genesis 7:1-24 and write how long the water stayed on the earth before it started to recede and go down.

41. Explain why the flood is a reminder that no person that rejects the salvation that God has provided will escape the final judgment.

42. Explain why you are thankful that you have placed your trust in Christ so that you do not need to fear the final judgment.

Now reread Genesis 6:1-7:24 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 4

Genesis 8:1-10:32

In our last lesson we learned how God brought judgment on evil and sin by bringing a flood that covered the entire earth. Today we will learn how God caused the waters of the flood to go down so that Noah, his family and the animals could again live on the earth. We will learn about the promise that God gave to Noah when Noah came out of the ark. In that promise God said that the earth would never be destroyed by a flood again. God also gave Noah and us a sign to remind us of His promise. Then we will learn what God taught Noah about murder.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what Noah did as soon as he got off of the ark.

Explain what God says about murder.

Explain the meaning of the rainbow.

Explain what we learn about the sin of Ham.

After the flood had covered the earth for 150 days, God caused the water on the earth to begin to go down. Since there was so much water on the earth, it took the water a long time to go down so that Noah and his family could live on the earth again. After the water began to recede, it took more than two and a half months before the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Then it was several more months before the water returned to a normal level. Finally after many months, Noah sent a bird out the window of the ark to see if the bird would find a place to rest.

1. Read Genesis 8:1-22 and write what kind of bird Noah sent out first.

2. Explain why it was necessary for Noah, his family and the animals to spend more than a year on the ark.

3. Explain why you think it was possible for the ark to rest on the mountains of Ararat long before Noah could leave the ark.

A raven has strong wings and so it continued to fly until enough water was gone for it to find a place to land. Noah also sent out a dove but the dove came back because it could not find a plane to rest. Noah sent the dove out again seven days later. This time the dove returned with an olive leaf in its mouth. The third time the dove went out it did not return because it found a place on the earth to rest. Then Noah waited for the earth to become dry. As a result, it was an entire year from the time that Noah entered the ark until the ground was dry again.

4. Read Genesis 8:1-22 and write what God spoke and told Noah to do at the end of that time.

5. Explain why Noah was willing to wait until the land was dry before leaving the ark with his family.

6. Explain how you think Noah felt when he saw the dove return with an olive leaf in its mouth.

Noah did not get in a rush and try to do things on his own. Instead Noah waited until God told him that it was time for Noah and his family to leave the ark and return to the dry land. God told Noah to take all of the animals out of the ark. These animals were the only animals that remained alive and so they had to go out and spread so that the earth would have animals on it again. God said that the animals would multiply abundantly and spread very quickly. It was the plan of God for both the animals and for mankind to spread out and fill the earth again.

7. Read Genesis 8:1-22 and write the first thing that Noah did after he came out of the ark.

8. Explain why God said that it was His plan for both man and animals to multiply and fill the earth.

9. Explain why you think that God said that He would multiply the animals abundantly after they came out of the ark.

Noah gives us a real example of what we should be like as Christians. The first thing that Noah did upon leaving the ark was to offer sacrifices to God and worship Him. Our first desire in life should also be to worship and serve the Lord. We see why Noah took seven of each of the clean animals when he went into the ark. Noah took and offered one of each kind of clean animal as a sacrifice. When God saw that Noah offered sacrifices as soon as he came out of the ark, He was very happy. God said that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again even though He knew that men would become very sinful. God said that He would cause the earth to have its regular seasons as long as the earth remains.

10. Read Genesis 8:1-22 and write what God said would not cease as long as the earth remained.

11. Explain what lessons we can learn from the fact that the first thing that Noah did after he came off of the ark was to offer sacrifices to God.

12. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to make it your first priority to worship and serve the Lord.

God gave Noah several promises after he came out of the ark. The very first thing that God told Noah was that he should be fruitful and go out and fill the earth. This was a promise from God that He would bless the family of Noah and cause it to multiply. We will also see that this is the very area where the descendents of Noah chose to show their rebellion against God. God also said that the animals would be afraid of man and that man would have control over the animals. Today the wild animals still show this fear of man in many ways. God also said that the animals were placed on the earth for the benefit of man.

13. Read Genesis 9:1-7 and write what animals God told Noah were given to mankind for food.

14. Explain why the first thing that God promised Noah after he came off the ark was that He would make His family fruitful and cause them to multiply.

15. Explain why you think that God said that the animals were placed on the earth for the benefit of man.

God gave people all of the living animals and the plants for food. God did say that men should not eat animals with the blood still in them. This was God’s way of protecting mankind from many terrible diseases. Most diseases are carried through the blood. If man ate animals with the blood still in them because they had not had the blood drained out properly, then mankind would catch many of these diseases. This is also the reason that instructions are given later in the Bible that mankind should not eat blood so we see that obedience to God provided protection from diseases.

16. Read Genesis 9:1-7 and write what God says will happen to those who shed the blood of another person.

17. Explain why God made it clear that man should not eat the animals while the blood was still in them.

18. Explain why you think that God chose to provide a way to help protect mankind from disease.

God gives us instructions here that anyone that is guilty of murder should be put to death. God created man in His own image. In fact when God created man, God said let us make man in our own image and after our likeness. Because we are made in the image of God, every single life is very valuable in the sight of God. This is why God warns us not to commit murder. God will judge all those who murder another person. Instead of destroying others through murder, the desire of God is for people to be fruitful. This gives our lives purpose because we can only be truly fruitful as we are obedient to the commands of God.

19. Read Genesis 9:1-7 and write how God told Noah to increase on the earth.

20. Explain what these verses teach about murder and its consequences to those who commit murder.

21. Explain why the fact that we are created in the image of God means that every one of us should place a very high value on every single person.

God then said that He would make a covenant with Noah. A covenant is an agreement that cannot be broken. God said that the covenant with Noah would also be with all of the people that would live after the time of Noah. That means that this covenant still applies to each of us today. God also said that He was making this covenant with all of the animals that would live on the earth. The covenant or promise that God made was a promise that He would never destroy all of the people and animals on the earth with a flood again.

22. Read Genesis 9:8-19 and write what sign God said He would give to show that He would never allow a flood to destroy the entire earth again.

23. Explain why the covenant that God made with Noah that He would never destroy the earth by a flood again is still important to each one of us.

24. Explain why you think that God gave this covenant to Noah right after he and his family came out of the ark.

Here we see that God promised that He would give a sign that would show that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again. God said that He would put His bow in the cloud to remind us of His promise never to destroy the earth with a flood again. Every time that we see a rainbow in the sky, we are being reminded of the fact that God has kept His promise. God has not allowed another flood to come and destroy the entire earth again. Since God will never break His Word, we know that we do not need to be concerned about another world flood.

25. Read Genesis 9:8-19 and write what God says He will do with His covenant.

26. Explain why the rainbow is a present reminder to us that God will always keep His promises to us.

27. Explain why you are thankful that God will always keep His word so that we do not need to live in fear today.

God never forgets anything that He has spoken. He will never forget the promise that He made that day to Noah. God said that His covenant with Noah is an everlasting covenant. It will last forever. Noah knew that there was no way that this covenant would be broken. We can have that same assurance today that any promise that God makes will be kept because He does not break His promises. This is the reason why we know that we have eternal life when we place our faith and trust in Christ. God has given us His Word. This is also the reason that we know that judgment will cone on those who reject Christ because God will keep His promise.

28. Read Genesis 9:8-19 and write how far the descendents of Noah went as they spread out across the earth after the flood.

29. Explain what these verses teach about the covenant that God made with Noah and with all mankind.

30. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that God will always keep His promises.

In the Bible we read about the sins of men as well as the things that they did that were right in the sight of God. God does this to show a true picture of man so that we will realize that God loves us even though we are sinful. We only deceive ourselves when we think that we do not sin any longer. God shows us what happened in the life of Noah after the flood. After Noah came out of the ark, he planted a field of grapes. When the grapes ripened, he made wine with them. Later, when Noah drank the wine, he became drunk

31. Read Genesis 9:20-29 and write what Noah did when he became drunk.

32. Explain why it is important for us to know that God still loves us even when we commit sins in our lives.

33. Explain why you are thankful that God did not try to hide the sins of Old Testament saints but recorded them so that we could understand God’s forgiveness.

Here we see that drunkenness can cause a person to lose control of himself. He often does things that he later regrets. In his drunken condition, Noah passed out and was lying naked in his tent. Then Ham came into the tent and saw the nakedness of his father. Instead of covering his father, Ham went out and told his brothers what had happened to their father. By doing this, Ham showed a lack of respect for his father. However, we see that the other two sons showed respect for their father. They went and covered the nakedness of their father without looking at him.

34. Read Genes 9:20-29 and write who Noah curses because of the sin of Ham.

35. Explain why the lack of respect by Ham brought a curse from Noah.

36. Explain how Shem and Japheth showed their respect for their father even when he passed out and was laying naked.

Canaan was one of the sons of Ham. It is possible that he was with his father when his father saw the nakedness of Noah. We also see that the curse of Noah was only on the family of Canaan and not on the families of the other descendents of Ham. We will see how sinful the family of Canaan was as we go through the Old Testament. It was the descendents of Canaan that encouraged the nation of Israel to join them in their sinful actions. Their sin was so great that God told Israel to completely destroy the Canaanites when they came into the land of Israel. Although Israel did not fully obey, God eventually destroyed the Canaanites. God also promised blessing to the families of Shem and Japheth because they did right and showed respect to their father.

37. Read Genesis 9:20-29 and write how long Noah lived before he died.

38. Explain what these verses teach us about the results of Noah becoming drunk and lying naked in his tent.

39. Explain why it is important to realize that our wrong choices can also have a harmful effect on our children just as the choice of Ham affected his son Canaan.

We go on to read about the families that came from the three sons of Noah. Those who came from the family of Japheth are mentioned first. They eventually moved to the area of Europe and western Asia. Ham is mentioned next. His family spread to the area where Israel is located and eventually to the continent of Africa. The family of Shem eventually settled in Asia and spread to the continents of Australia and North and South America. Here we see that the families of the three sons of Noah each went in different directions over time.

40. Read Genesis 10:1-32 and write what we read about the families of the sons of Noah and the nations that came from them.

41. Explain why the genealogies given in this chapter are useful even today in helping us to know how the population of the world spread.

42. Explain why you think that God led the descendents of the three sons of Noah to each move in a different direction as they spread out over the earth.

Now reread Genesis 8:1-10:32 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 5

Genesis 11:1-13:18

Today we will learn about God calling Abram (Abraham) to leave his family and to go out to start a new nation. This new nation was to be the chosen nation of God. It was chosen to be the nation from which Christ would come. We will also learn about the family from which Abraham came. At the time that Abraham was called by God, the book of Joshua says that his family worshiped idols. When God called Abraham, God gave Abraham several wonderful promises. We will learn that these promises still apply to the nation of Israel. We will also see that one of the promises given to Abraham also applies to us.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objective to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain why God changed the languages.

Explain what we learn about the family of Abraham.

Explain the promises that God made to Abraham.

Explain how Abraham failed God in Egypt.

Explain why Abraham separated himself from Lot.

When Noah and his family came out of the ark, God had told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. However, many of those who were born to the descendents of Noah did not obey the commandment of the God. Instead they stayed together because they spoke the same language. Finally they came to an area called Shinar. Then they began to talk about their own works. They said, “Let us make bricks.” They said, “Let us build us a city and a tower.” Sinful people always talk about the things that they can do instead of talking about the things that God has told them to do.

1. Read Genesis 11:1-9 and write why they wanted to build the city and the tower.

2. Explain why people in rebellion against God will always talk about the things that they are going to do in their own strength.

3. Explain why you think the fact that the people all spoke the same language made it easier for them to focus on their own plans and ideas.

Here we see that these people were filled with pride. They wanted to make a great name for themselves. They did not want to obey the commandment of God to scatter and fill the earth with people. Rebellion against the commandment of God was the main thing that caused these people to decide to build this tower. It is probable that these men were going to use this tower to study the stars so that they could prepare horoscopes because they wanted to know the future. A purposeful study of the stars to understand the glory of God is known as astronomy. A study of the stars to develop horoscopes that can lead to the practice of witchcraft is called astrology. Although the words are similar, they have totally different meanings.

4. Read Genesis 11:1-9 and write who came down to see the city and the tower.

5. Explain how the plan to build the Tower of Babel shows that the people had become controlled by pride.

6. Explain why it is important to you to understand the difference between astronomy and astrology.

When the Lord saw what the people were doing, He knew that He must stop the building of the tower or the people would not obey His commandment to scatter and fill the earth. As a result, God went down and caused the people to begin to speak different languages. When people could not understand each other, they became angry and moved away from each other. They were speaking in many different languages and the building of the city and the tower stopped. Here we see that God will complete His plan even when people are in rebellion against Him.

7. Read Genesis 11:1-9 and write what the people called the name of the place where they had been building the city.

8. Explain what you learn from these verses about the reason why God changed the languages so that we have many languages today.

9. Explain why you are thankful that God will complete His plan even when people are in rebellion against Him.

God had promised Adam that One would come from his descendents that would destroy the head of Satan. Now we come to the passage where we see that God chose to begin the nation from which that One would come that would destroy Satan. We will see that Christ came from the family of Shem. As we study the names of the family of Shem, we come to a man by the name of Terah. In Joshua 24 we will learn that Terah served other gods. We read that God chose one man from this family of idol worshipers to begin the nation from which Christ would one day come.

10. Read Genesis 11:10-32 and write what son of Terah went toward the land of Canaan but stopped in Haran.

11. Explain why it was necessary for God to choose a family from which Christ could eventually come.

12. Explain why the fact that Abraham came from a family of idol worshipers helps you to understand the grace of God.

We see why Abram (Abraham) had started toward the land of Canaan as we come to chapter twelve. God had spoken to Abraham and told him to leave his country, his clan and the family of his father and go to a land that God would show him. Abraham obeyed and left his country and his clan. However, he took his family along with him. As a result, they stopped in Haran and remained there until the death of Terah. God was looking for his complete obedience. God also wants our complete obedience so that nothing will hinder us from completing the will of God for our lives.

13. Read Genesis 12:1-3 and write the name of the land Abraham was told to go to when he left the house of his father.

13. Explain why Abraham gives us an example that we can be obedient to God and yet not completely obey what God has said.

15. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to make sure that you do all that God tells you to do.

God made a covenant with Abraham in which God promised Abraham several things. This covenant has become known as the Abrahamic Covenant. First, God promised that He would give Abraham the land that He would show to Abraham. Second, God promised that a great nation would come from Abraham. Actually there were many nations that came from Abraham. However, we will see that the nation that would carry out this promise would come through Isaac and later through Jacob (Israel). As a result, that nation of promise is the nation of Israel. It has been a great nation in the past but it will be a still greater nation in the future when Christ rules.

16. Read Genesis 12:1-3 and write what God promised Abraham about personal blessing.

17. Explain why the promise that God gave Abraham about the land belonging to his family is still important today.

18. Explain why you think that the promises of God to the descendents of Abraham mean that there is still a great future for the nation of Israel.

The personal blessing that God promised was that He would make the name of Abraham a great name. God also promised that Abraham would be a blessing to others. In addition, God promised to bless those who were kind to Abraham and the nation of Israel and curse those who did evil to Abraham or the nation of Israel. Finally God promised that all of the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. This is true because Christ came from the family of Abraham and has brought blessing to all of the nations on the earth.

19. Read Genesis 12:1-3 and write how many families God said would be blessed through Abraham.

20. Explain what you learn about the Abrahamic Covenant from these verses.

21. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that God promised that all of the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham.

Abraham obeyed God and left most of his family in Haran as he started toward the land that God promised him. He did have future problems because he took his nephew, Lot, with him. Lot caused many problems after Abraham reached the land that God had promised to him. As Abraham traveled with all of his earthly possessions, God met him at Shechem and promised the land to him again. Then Abraham built an altar and offered a sacrifice to the Lord. Whenever, Abraham was doing what God wanted him to do, he built an altar. Whenever Abraham was following his own plans, He did not build an altar to the Lord.

22. Read Genesis 12:4-20 and write to what place Abraham went where he did not build an altar to the Lord.

23. Explain why it is important that one of the first things that Abraham did when he came into the land was build an altar to the Lord.

24. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to put the Lord first in your heart and life.

We will see that Abraham depended on his own plans and failed several times. As Christians, we also fail when we depend on our own plans and we have to ask God to forgive us. Abraham failed to depend on the Lord to supply his needs when a famine came. As a result, he decided to go to Egypt. When Abraham went to Egypt, he was depending on himself instead of the Lord. That was the reason that he did not build an altar to the Lord in Egypt. We see another failure while in Egypt because Abraham told his wife to say that she was his sister. He failed to depend on the Lord to protect him and devised his own plan for protection but that plan placed his wife in danger. Today we will also fail when we fail to depend on the Lord. Because God made all things, we can depend on Him to supply what we need.

25. Read Genesis 12:4-20 and write why Abram wanted Sarai (Sarah) to say that she was his sister instead of his wife.

26. Explain why God records these failures of Abraham that show what happens when we depend on our own strength.

27. Explain why it is important to you to learn to trust the Lord in those situations where you are tempted to depend on your own strength.

Abraham failed because he was more concerned about protecting himself than he was about protecting his wife. Abraham was willing to put his wife in danger to protect himself. As a result, Sarah was taken into the house of Pharaoh. However, God sent great plagues on Pharaoh in order to protect Sarah. God did not fail even though Abraham failed. Then Pharaoh told Abraham to take his wife and leave the country of Egypt.

28. Read Genesis 12:4-20 and write what Pharaoh commanded all of his men.

29. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from these two failures of Abraham.

30. Explain what these verses show you about what happens when you are more concerned to protect yourself than to consider the needs of others.

Just as God shows when Abraham failed, God also shows us when Abraham took some steps of faith that caused him to grow stronger. When Abraham came out of Egypt, he was very rich. The first thing Abraham did when he left Egypt was to return to Bethel where he had built an altar to the Lord. There he worshiped the Lord. Here we see what we need to do when we realize that we have been depending on ourselves instead of trusting the Lord. We need to pray to the Lord and ask Him to forgive us. Then we can walk in fellowship with Him again.

31. Read Genesis 13:1-118 and write who started fighting with the servants of Abraham.

32. Explain what we learn about the spiritual growth of Abraham as we see him take some new steps of faith.

33. Explain how the Lord has helped you to learn to take steps of faith so that you grow in your own spiritual life.

Lot had also become very rich as he had lived with his uncle. He also had great flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. As a result, the servants of Abraham and Lot began fighting because they wanted to feed their sheep and cattle in the same fields. Abraham was concerned because he did not want to see fighting between the two groups of servants. We should also do everything possible to avoid fighting and conflict between ourselves and others. Abraham then suggested to Lot that they divide and go in different directions so that there would be no fighting.

34. Read Genesis 13:1-18 and write what Lot chose.

35. Explain why even though Abraham was the uncle and the leader that he allowed Lot to pick where he wanted to take his flocks and live.

36. Explain how Abraham gives you an example of the importance of letting the Lord guide you so that you learn to walk by faith in your own life.

Lot chose the plain of Jordan because it looked good to his eyes. It was well watered and had plenty of grass. It also had some very sinful cities including the city of Sodom. The men of Sodom were very evil. As soon as Lot left Abraham, Lot moved his tents toward the city of Sodom. Lot failed because he depended on himself instead of asking the Lord what direction he should go. He failed again when he moved close to the sinful city of Sodom. His goal was to satisfy himself rather than serve the Lord.

37. Read Genesis 13:1-18 and write what promise God gave to Abraham after he separated himself from Lot.

38. Explain what lessons we can learn from the choices and failures of Lot.

39. Explain why these verses illustrate to you that you need to learn to walk by faith and not by sight.

Because Abraham had shown his faith in God, God came to speak to him right after Lot left him. God told Abraham to look in all four directions. God promised to give all of the land that Abraham could see to the family of Abraham. God said that land would belong to them forever even though they did not live in that land at certain times. Then God told Abraham to get up and walk through the land so that he could see the land that the Lord promised to give to him. Again Abraham obeyed the Lord and traveled through the land until he came to Hebron.

40. Read Genesis 13:1-18 and write what Abraham did when he came to Hebron.

41. Explain why God reminded Abraham that all the land that he saw in each direction would belong to his family forever.

42. Explain some of the ways that the Lord has encouraged you when you have taken steps that help you to grow in faith.

Now reread Genesis 11:1-13:18 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 6

Genesis 14:1-16:16

In our last lesson we learned that God gave Abraham several promises about his personal future and the future for his descendants. The Lord also promised that all of the families of the earth would be blessed through Abraham. We saw that these promises are called the Abrahamic Covenant. Today we will learn what God did to show that He would never break that covenant that He made with Abraham. The promises that God made to Abraham still hold. This is why we see that the Jews are returning to the land of Israel today after most of them have been out of the land for about 2500 years.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what we learn about giving to God.

Explain what happened when Abraham believed the promises of God.

Explain how God showed that He would always keep His promises to Abraham.

Explain what Abraham did when he failed to trust the promises of God.

Lot had chosen the best land when Abraham had given him a choice. Then he moved his tents toward the city of Sodom. As we come to our study today, we see that Lot had moved into the city of Sodom. We see that one wrong action leads to another when a person is out of fellowship with God. In fact we would even wonder if Lot was a true follower of God except for the fact that II Peter 2 says that he was righteous. One day an enemy came against the city of Sodom and captured the city. Since Lot was living in Sodom, he and his family were taken as captives by the enemy. When Abraham heard that Lot had been captured, he took his trained servants and went to free Lot from those enemies.

1. Read Genesis 14:1-24 and write how many servants Abraham had with him when he went to free Lot.

2. Explain how the choices of Lot as he made choices based on what he saw led him farther and farther away from the Lord

3. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to realize that your choices will either lead your closer to God or lead you away from God.

Although Abraham had a very small army, God gave him victory over the army that had captured the people of Sodom. Here we see that nothing is impossible if we depend on the strength that God gives instead of depending on our own strength. Abraham also captured all of the people and possessions of Sodom that had been captured by the enemy. God gave him a complete victory that day. God will always give us victory when we give Him control of our lives because He will give us inner peace regardless of what happens. On the way home from the battle with the army that had captured Sodom, Abraham met the king of Salem

4. Read Genesis 14:1-24 and write the name of the king of Salem.

5. Explain why Abraham was able to defeat the people that had captured the city of Sodom even though Abraham had a very small army.

6. Explain why this passage shows you that the Lord can work through just a small group of people to complete His will.

The king of Salem was also a priest of God. When Melchizedek heard how the Lord had given Abraham a great victory, he blessed Abraham. Then Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe of everything that he had. A tithe is one-tenth of the total of anything. Although we are not commanded to give tithes as Christians, we should want to give at least a tenth of what God gives us to thank Him for all that He has done for us. We realize that God is the One that has given us everything that we have. In thanks to God we may even choose to give Him much more than a tenth of what He gives us. Abraham gave a tenth to God even though God had not commanded him to do so.

7. Read Genesis 14:1-24 and write what the king of Sodom told Abraham when he returned after this victory.

8. Explain how the decision of Abraham to give a tithe to Melchizedek gives us an example for giving to the Lord.

9. Explain how you have seen the Lord work in your own life when you have trusted the Lord and given to Him.

The king of Sodom told Abraham to keep the goods for himself. In these verses we see that Abraham refused to take anything from the king of Sodom. He did not want the king of Sodom to say that he was the one that had made Abraham rich. In contrast, today many churches try to get money from those who are not Christians. They do not depend on the Lord to supply their needs. However, the work of the Lord should be supported by the people who serve the Lord. No church should depend on people that are not Christians to support the work of the church.

10. Read Genesis 14:1-24 and write to whom Abraham said the king of Sodom could give some of his goods.

11. Explain what we learn about giving to the Lord from our study of the king of Salem and the king of Sodom.

12. Explain why Abraham gives us an example of the fact that we can trust the Lord to supply our needs instead of depending on the ways of the world.

Abraham had just taken two great steps of faith. He had given a tithe of all that he had to the Lord. Then he had refused to take the riches of the world. Immediately the Lord came to Abraham with some wonderful promises. Here we see that the Lord was encouraging Abraham as he was learning to walk in faith. First, God promised to protect Abraham. Second, God promised to be a great reward to Abraham. Third, God promised to give Abraham a son. Here we see that the Lord does not forget us when we take a step of faith as we learn to trust Him in our lives. Instead God gives us encouragement and blessing.

13. Read Genesis 15:1-6 and write what God told Abraham as they looked at the stars together.

14. Explain how the promises that God gave to Abraham illustrate the fact that God honors Christians that take new steps of faith.

15. Explain how the Lord has worked in your own life and then through your life as you have taken steps of faith.

God promised Abraham that he would have children like the stars. This is a wonderful promise about the great nations that would come from the descendents of Abraham. Today people have great telescopes which they use to try and count the stars in the heavens. Every time they think that they are beginning to think that they have counted the starts, they suddenly discover that there are millions of other stars out beyond the reach of their telescopes. In the same way, no one can count the number of descendents that came from Abraham.

16. Read Genesis 15:1-6 and write what God did because Abraham believed the Lord.

17. Explain what God meant when He told Abraham that He would bless and multiply Abraham so that his children were like the stars.

18. Explain how the Lord is able to bless and multiply your ministry for the Lord as you are faithful in your service for Him.

Many people think that Abraham was saved by his works. Here we see that Abraham was saved by faith just as we are saved by faith. Because Abraham believed the promises of God and had his faith in God, God said that Abraham was right with Him. We have seen that Abraham failed many times just as we often fail. That was the reason why it was necessary for him to be saved by faith just as we are saved by faith when we place our trust in Christ.

19. Read Genesis 15:1-21 and write what Abraham wanted to know about the promise that God had given him.

20. Explain why it is important that Abraham was saved by faith in the promises of God and not by his own works.

21. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord saved you when you placed your faith and trust in Christ and that your salvation did not depend on your works.

Abraham wanted to know that God would cause him to inherit the land that God had promised to him. Then God told Abraham to prepare animals for a blood covenant. In that day there were three types of covenants. A salt covenant was an agreement between two men that lasted as long as they lived. A shoe covenant was an agreement that lasted as long as their families continued to exist. A blood covenant was an agreement that will last forever. We see that God told Abraham to lay out the animals so that He could make a blood covenant with Abraham.

22. Read Genesis 15:7-21 and write what happened to Abraham as the sun was going down.

23. Explain why it is important to understand that this covenant that God made with Abraham was a blood covenant.

24. Explain why you are thankful for the fact that because Christ shed His blood to pay the penalty for your sins that you know that His covenant is a blood covenant.

When men made a blood covenant, both of them made certain promises. Then they walked together between the animals that they had laid out to show that they and their families would keep those promises forever. Here we see that God promised to bless the nation that would carry on the promises that God had given Abraham and his family forever. However, God put Abraham to sleep when it came time to confirm the covenant. Since Abraham was asleep, he did not make any promises at all. God promised Abraham and his family that the land would belong to his descendants forever. Since Abraham did not walk between the animals, there was nothing that the family of Abraham could do to break that promise.

25. Read Genesis 15:7-21 and write what went between the animals of the blood covenant as the son was going down.

26. Explain why God chose to put Abraham to sleep so that they were nothing that the family of Abraham could do to break this covenant.

27. Explain why it is important to you to know that Christ said that His blood was the blood of a New Covenant.

God went between the animals of the blood covenant by Himself. This means that God chose to keep His promises to Abraham forever even though the family of Abraham does many things that are sin. Nothing can break the promises of God. Today we see that the Jews are beginning to go back to the land that God promised to give to Abraham and his descendants. Even though they have been out of their land for hundreds of years because of their sin, God says that the land still belongs to them because God gave it to them.

28. Read Genesis 15:7-21 and write what rivers would be the boundaries of the land that God promised to Abraham.

29. Explain why the descendants of Abraham cannot break the covenant that God made with Abraham even when they sin.

30. Explain why it is important for you to know that even though you sin Christ has promised you that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

We go on to read about another failure in the life of Abraham. The wife of Abraham was seventy-five years old and past the time when she was physically able to have children. As a result, Sarah suggested that Abraham take her servant and have a child by her servant. Instead of remembering the promise of God, Abraham listened to his wife. He took Hagar, the servant, as a second wife. We will see that this choice by Abraham would have a continuing impact on the family of Abraham from that time right down to the present.

31. Read Genesis 16:1-16 and write how Hagar felt toward Sarah as soon as Hagar knew that she was going to have a child.

32. Explain why Abraham and Sarah let their advanced age cause them to try and help God fulfill His promise by having a child through Hagar.

33. Explain why you realize that when you try to work out the plan of God in your own way that you usually succeed in creating additional problems.

Several things happened as soon as Abraham started doing things in his own way instead of listening to God. First, there was a loss of respect for Sarah. Sarah was the woman that God planned to use to complete His plan. However, Hagar lost her respect for Sarah even though Sarah was her master. These choices immediately led to angry words and conflict between Sarah and Hagar. Sarah did evil to Hagar because of what had happened. When we choose to do things our own way instead of listening to God, we will experience failure in our lives. This is one reason why it is so important to listen to God and be obedient to Him all of the time and not just part of the time.

34. Read Genesis 16:1-16 and write what Hagar did when Sarah did evil to her.

35. Explain how the suggestion of Sarah to Abraham eventually caused Hagar to lose respect for Sarah.

36. Explain why you think that the conflict between Sarah and Hagar was really the result of Sarah trying to solve a problem in her own way instead of trusting the Lord.

Hagar was forced to flee out into the desert to escape the anger of Sarah. There God came to Hagar and gave her a promise. God said that Hagar would have a son. From her son would come a great nation of people that could not be counted. Hagar was to call the name of her son Ishmael. Here we see that God did not forget Hagar and Ishmael even though Abraham and Sarah had failed. God still shows His kindness and mercy in spite of our failures.

37. Read Genesis 16:1-16 and write what kind of a man God said that Ishmael would become.

38. Explain what lessons can be learned from Abraham and Sarah in this chapter about the consequences of trying to do things in our own way.

39. Explain why the kindness of God to Hagar shows you that God will complete His work even when you fail.

God told Hagar that Ishmael would be a very wild man. He would also be against his brother. Throughout history there have been many people that have tried to destroy the Jews. Mohammed, the founder of the Moslem religion, came from the family of Ishmael. Today the Arabs who are fighting against the nation of Israel would also have Ishmael as one of their ancestors. Here we see that God said that he would not forget Ishmael even though God knew that descendants of Ishmael would be against Israel. We see that the failure of Abraham and Sarah affected the entire history of the nation of Israel.

40. Read Genesis 16:16 and write how old Abraham was when Ishmael was born.

41. Explain how the choice of Abraham and Sarah has produced much conflict between the family of Ishmael and the family of Isaac.

42. Explain why you are thankful that God has a great concern for the descendants of Ishmael (the Arabs) just as He has a concern for every group of people on the earth.

Now reread Genesis 14:1-16:16 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 7

Genesis 17:1-18:33

Today we will be studying some of the great events that caused the faith of Abraham to grow and become stronger. We learned in our last lesson that Abraham failed to believe the promise that God would give him a son through Sarah. As a result, he conceived a child by Hagar. As we saw in our last lesson, that has had a major impact on the history of the nation of Israel. However, God will always fulfill His promises and complete His purpose. Today we will learn about God renewing the promise to Abraham that Sarah would have a son. We will also learn about the concern of Abraham for his nephew and the people of Sodom.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain the meaning of circumcision.

Explain what God said about Ishmael.

Tell about the visit of Christ to Abraham.

Explain what you learn about the concern of Abraham for Lot.

When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, God spoke to him again. God told Abraham that He is the Almighty God. God reminded Abraham to walk to please Him. Then God reminded Abraham of the covenant that He had made with Abraham many years earlier. In that covenant God had promised that He would greatly multiply the family of Abraham so that his family would become a great people. God also said that Abraham would be the father of many nations.

1. Read Genesis 17:1-14 and write what God said about the name of Abraham.

2. Explain why God reminded Abraham when Abraham was ninety-nine years old that He is the Almighty God.

3. Explain why the Lord also wants you to walk to please Him just as He wanted Abraham to walk to please Him.

Abram meant the exalted father. However, Abraham means the father of a multitude. By this name change God was showing Abraham that he would become the father of many nations. God promised to bless Abraham with great blessings. God said that nations and kings would come from Abraham. God even reminded Abraham that the covenant that He had made with Abraham was an everlasting covenant. Here we see that God was reminding Abraham that He will never break His promises. Instead we can know that God will always keep His promises.

4. Read Genesis 17:1-14 and write what the land of Canaan would be to Abraham and to his family.

5. Explain how the fact that God changed the name of Abram to Abraham shows us that God was reminding Abraham that He would greatly bless him.

6. Explain why you are thankful that God also reminds us that our salvation was provided by an everlasting covenant.

We will see many times in the Old Testament that God reminds the family of Abraham that He has given them the land forever. Even though they were removed from the land because of their sin, the land still belongs to the family of Abraham because God promised it to them. God also gave Abraham and his family a sign to remind him and his family of the promise that God had made to them. Here we see that God did not want His people to forget the promises that He made to them. In the same way, God does not want us to forget the promises that He has made to us.

7. Read Genesis 17:1-14 and write what God said that Abraham and all of his descendents were to do with their male children.

8. Explain why it is important that the land of Israel was promised to the family to Abraham forever even though there have been long periods when they did not live in the land.

9. Explain why you think that the fact that God said that the land would always belong to the family of Abraham is still in effect.

God did not want the descendents of Abraham to forget the covenant that He had made with Abraham and his descendents. Every male child was to be circumcised when he was eight days old to remind the people of the covenant that God had made with them. The servants were to be circumcised as well as the children. If any of the male children were not circumcised, they were to be cut off from the people and no longer be allowed to be a part of the nation of promise because they had broken this covenant that God was making with Abraham.

10. Read Genesis 17:1-14 and write what God said about the length of this covenant that God was giving to Abraham.

11. Explain what these verses teach is the meaning of circumcision to the Jews because of what God said here.

12. Explain why you think that God gave Abraham and his descendents circumcision as a sign and reminder of His promises to them.

God also changed the name of Sarai to Sarah. The name Sarah means princess. Here we see that God said that He was going to bless Sarah and give her a son even though she was almost ninety years old. God said that Sarah would be a mother of nations. Kings would come from her family. This was hard for Abraham to believe. In fact he fell on his face as he laughed because it was so hard for him to believe the promise that God had just spoken. Here we see that when we look at things from a human viewpoint that the things that the Lord says sound impossible. However, when we trust in the Lord, we do not need to look at things from a human viewpoint.

13. Read Genesis 17:15-27 and write what Abraham said about Ishmael when God said that Sarah would have a son.

14. Explain why Abraham and Sarah laughed when God told them that they were going to have a son in their old age.

15. Explain why the promise of a son to Sarah reminds you that nothing is impossible for God.

God went on to promise that Ishmael would also become a great nation. In fact twelve princes would come from him. However, the everlasting covenant that God had made with Abraham would be passed on to Isaac and not to the descendents of Ishmael. God told Abraham that Isaac was to be the son of promise. The covenant that God had made with Abraham would be passed down to the family of Isaac because he was the son of promise. God said that this covenant would continue to be passed on down through the family of Isaac forever.

16. Read Genesis 17:15-27 and write when God said that Isaac would be born.

17. Explain why God made it clear that His everlasting covenant would be passed on to Isaac and that he would be the son of promise.

18. Explain why you think that God made it clear that He would also bless Ishmael even though Ishmael did not receive the everlasting covenant.

After God had finished speaking to Abraham, we read that Abraham did exactly as God had told him to do. Abraham had all of the boys and men circumcised. This included all of the servants as well as Abraham and Ishmael. We read that Abraham did this the very same day that God spoke to him. Here we see a real example of obedience. Many times we are tempted to wait and put things off when the Lord tells us to do something. However, Abraham gives us an example of what we should do when the Lord leads us to do something. We need to have this same attitude that will cause us to be obedient to the Lord immediately.

19. Read Genesis 17:15-27 and write how many were circumcised with Abraham that day in obedience to God.

20. Explain what this passage teaches us is the meaning of circumcision to the descendents of Abraham.

21. Explain how the obedience of Abraham on that very day gives you an example of the importance of being obedient to God as quickly as possible.

One day as Abraham was sitting near the entrance to his tent, the Lord came to visit him. Abraham was sitting in the entrance to his tent. He saw that three men were coming toward him. Although Abraham did not know it then, two of those men were angels and the third was Christ. As they were coming, Abraham ran out to meet them. Then he invited them to sit down while he prepared a little food for them. Abraham also said that he would get some water to wash their feet. The men said that they would stay to eat so Abraham quickly went to get some food ready for them.

22. Read Genesis 18:1-15 and write what Abraham got from the herd to feed the three visitors.

23. Explain why Christ and two angels looked like ordinary men when they came to visit with Abraham.

24. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the hospitality that Abraham showed to these strangers.

Abraham prepared a meal for the three visitors as quickly as possible. Then he stood and talked with the visitors while they ate. While they were eating, the Lord spoke and said that Sarah was going to have a son. Remember that Abraham and Sarah were very old. Abraham was almost one hundred years old and Sarah was nearly ninety years old. Sarah was past the time when women are able to have children. This was a promise that sounded impossible. Yet the Lord was promising that Sarah would have a son and become a mother.

25. Read Genesis 18:1-15 and write what Sarah did when she heard that she would have a son even though she was almost ninety years old.

26. Explain why this promise must have sounded impossible to Abraham and Sarah when they heard it.

27. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the fact that some of the things that God says He is going to do sound impossible.

The Lord heard Sarah laugh and asked her why she had laughed. Sarah denied that she had laughed because she was afraid. However, the Lord asked a very important question that is still important to us today. The Lord said, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” As Christians we need to realize that there is nothing that is too hard for the Lord. He is able to do all things. It is our lack of faith that keeps Him from showing His power. Just like Sarah, we need to realize that there is nothing that is too hard for the Lord.

28. Read Genesis 18:1-15 and write at what time the Lord said that Abraham and Sarah would give birth to a child.

29. Explain why it is important for every Christians to realize that nothing is too hard for the Lord.

30. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that the Lord is able to do all that He has said He will do.

After the three visitors had eaten, they started on their way again. Abraham walked with them as they started on their way. Then the Lord spoke and said that He was going to tell Abraham what He planned to do to the city of Sodom. The Lord felt that He could tell Abraham because the Lord knew that Abraham would raise his family the right way. Here we see that the Lord chose to reveal to Abraham what was going to happen because of the way that he would raise his own son. The Lord knew that Abraham would want to know what was going to happen to Sodom because of the fact that his nephew Lot lived in Sodom.

31. Read Genesis 18:16-33 and write what the Lord said about the sin of Sodom.

32. Explain why God felt that He could tell Abraham what He was going to do to the city of Sodom.

33. Explain why it is important to you to follow the example of Abraham and raise your family the right way so that they will want to love and serve the Lord.

The Lord told Abraham that they were going to see the city of Sodom because the Lord said that the report about the city was very evil. The Lord and the two angels were going to see exactly how sinful the city was. As Abraham talked with the Lord, the two angels left them and began walking toward the city of Sodom. After the angels left the Lord and Abraham, the Lord and Abraham began to talk about the people of the city of Sodom. Abraham was concerned because Lot was living in Sodom. Abraham knew that the city was very sinful. He probably even realized that the city needed to be destroyed. Although Abraham knew all of these things, he was still concerned about Lot because of the great love that he had for Lot.

34. Read Genesis 18:16-33 and write what Abraham asked about the righteous.

35. Explain what Abraham shows us about the concern that we should have for our families whether or not they are walking with the Lord.

36. Explain why you think that Abraham had developed this concern for the people of Sodom even though Abraham knew the city was very evil.

Abraham began by asking if the Lord would spare the city if there were fifty people that were righteous. Then Abraham kept reducing that number until he asked if God would spare the city if there were ten righteous found in the city. Each time God agreed to spare the city if there were as many righteous as Abraham mentioned. This gives us a real picture of the mercy of God. God would not have destroyed the city even if there were only a very small group within the city that trusted in Him. God would have saved the entire city for the sake of those few people.

37. Read Genesis 18:16-33 and write what the Lord did after Abraham had finished talking with Him.

38. Explain what these verses teach us about the concern of Abraham for Lot and for the wicked people of the city of Sodom.

39. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to have a concern for the people in the cities near where you live.

Abraham thought that there would certainly be a small group of righteous people in the city of Sodom. Lot and his wife had two unmarried daughters. They also had at least two married daughters. Abraham must have thought that certainly Lot would have helped the husbands of his married daughters learn about the Lord so that they put their trust in Him. Just those families would have made eight righteous people. In addition, Abraham thought that the witness of Lot would have led a few others to put their faith and trust in the Lord. However, the next chapter will show that it is impossible to be an effective witness for the Lord when we are living in sin. Our actions speak so loudly that people will not listen to what we say.

40. Read Genesis 18:16-33 and write the number of righteous people that were needed in order for God to spare he city.

41. Explain why Abraham thought that there would be at least ten righteous people in the city of Sodom.

42. Explain why you realize that it is difficult for a person to be an effective witness for Christ when they are living in sin.

Now reread Genesis 17:1-18:33 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 8

Genesis 19:1-20:18

We have already seen several failures in the life of Lot because of his desire to please himself instead of choosing to serve the Lord. Many times people do not realize that their choices affect both them and their families. Lot did not think about the way that his choices were affecting his family. Today we will see the terrible results of putting ourselves and our desires in the center of our lives. Such choices can only lead to judgment. Because of the sin and compromise of Lot, his family also became involved in the sins of Sodom. In the last part of our lesson we will also see another failure in the life of Abraham because of his concern about protecting himself.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what we learn about the sins of Sodom.

Explain what we learn about the judgment of Sodom.

Explain what happened to the family of Lot because of his disobedience.

Explain how Abraham failed at Gerar.

In our last lesson we learned that the Lord had come with two angels to visit Abraham. The Lord continued to talk with Abraham while the two angels began walking toward Sodom. Abraham had prayed that the Lord would spare the city of Sodom if there were ten righteous in the city. The Lord agreed that He would spare the city if they found ten righteous in the city. In this lesson we see that the two angels went to the city to find out if there were ten righteous people in the city of Sodom. When the angels came to Sodom, the first person that they met was Lot.

1. Read Genesis 19:1-14 and write where Lot was sitting.

2. Explain why these two angels went to the city of Sodom when they left Abraham and the Lord.

3. Explain why you think that the angels were to check and see if there were ten righteous in the city of Sodom.

The gate of the city was the place where the leaders of the city sat in that day. Here we see that Lot had become a leader in the city of Sodom. When men begin to compromise and live in sin, they often become a part of the group and may even become part of the leadership. That was what had happened with Lot so he was sitting with the leaders. Lot invited the two angels that looked like men to come and spend the night at his house. When the two men arrived at his house, Lot prepared a feast for his two visitors and they ate with him. After they had finished eating, a large crowd of men from the city of Sodom came and gathered around the house of Lot.

4. Read Genesis 19:1-14 and write what the men of Sodom asked Lot to do with his two visitors.

5. Explain why Lot was not able to have any influence for good among the people of Sodom even though he had become a leader there.

6. Explain how you think Lot felt when this large group of men from Sodom gathered around the door.

Here we see that the men of Sodom wanted to have sexual relationships with the visitors of Lot. This gives us a little picture of the sins of the people of Sodom. This was the reason why God said that it was necessary to destroy the city of Sodom. Lot tried to compromise with the men of Sodom by offering to allow the men to have sexual relationships with his two unmarried daughters rather than his two visitors. The men of Sodom would not accept the compromise that Lot offered. Instead the men decided to use Lot for their sinful actions. As the men of Sodom came after Lot, the two angels that were inside his house protected Lot.

7. Read Genesis 19:1-14 and write what the two angels did to protect Lot from the men near the door of the house of Lot.

8. Explain why the earlier choices of Lot now placed him in a situation that was in danger of destroying both Lot and his family.

9. Explain why you think that Lot was ready to allow his own daughters to be misused for his own protection.

The angels protected Lot by causing the men of Sodom to become blind. Then the angels told Lot to speak to his older daughters and their husbands and warn them to leave the city because God was going to destroy the city. When Lot spoke to his son-in-laws, they just laughed at him. Because Lot had failed to teach and train his daughters to follow the Lord, they had married men that had no respect for the Word of God. This is a real warning to parents of the importance of teaching and training their children by example when the children are young so that the children will learn to make right choices and decisions as they become adults.

10. Read Genesis 19:1-14 and write how the son-in-laws felt about the warning that Lot gave them.

11. Explain what you learn from these verses about the sins of the people of the city of Sodom.

12. Explain why these verses show the importance of teaching your children and training them by your example to follow the Lord.

Early the next morning, the two angels told Lot to take his wife and their two youngest daughters and escape because God was going to destroy the city of Sodom. Instead of leaving immediately, Lot and his family continued to linger in the city of Sodom. Finally, the two angels took the hands of Lot, his, wife and their two unmarried daughters and pulled them out of the city. They angels did this because of the mercy of the Lord. Then the angels told Lot to run to the mountains with his wife and daughters so that they would not be destroyed.

13. Read Genesis 19:15-29 and write where Lot asked if they could go instead of fleeing to the mountains.

14. Explain why Lot continued to linger in the city of Sodom even though the angels had told him that God was going to destroy the city.

15. Explain why you think some Christians still want to continue to compromise even when they know that sinful compromises can bring judgment.

The angels agreed to allow Lot to go the city of Zoar. The angels said that God would protect the city of Zoar for the sake of Lot and his wife and daughters. When Lot reached the city of Zoar, God rained fire and brimstone (melted rocks that are so hot that the rocks have melted and flow like water) on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and also on all of the surrounding villages and plains. All of these cities were completely destroyed. All of the people in these cities were also destroyed along with all of their possessions and other things.

16. Read Genesis 19:15-29 and write what happened to the wife of Lot when she disobeyed the commandment of the angels and looked back to see the destruction of Sodom.

17. Explain why a judgment of fire and brimstone is a judgment that is a very complete judgment.

18. Explain why you think that God was willing to spare the city of Zoar for the sake of Lot and his family.

Here we see that the wife of Lot had also been so influenced by the city of Sodom that she still had her focus on the city instead of obeying what the Lord had told her through the angels. Because Abraham knew that God was going to destroy Sodom if there were not ten righteous, Abraham got up early in the morning so that he could see what would happen to Sodom. When Abraham looked toward the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, all that he could see was a heavy cloud of smoke. It looked just like a great furnace. However, we see that God remembered Abraham. It was for the sake of Abraham that God had taken Lot out of the city of Sodom.

19. Read Genesis 19:15-29 and write what God had done to the cities in the plain.

20. Explain how this passage shows the terrible consequences for the family of Lot because of his choices.

21. Explain what you learn from this chapter about the judgment of the city of Sodom.

When Lot saw the destruction of Sodom, he left the city of Zoar. He took his two daughters and went to live in a cave in the mountains. In that cave we see another failure of Lot. His daughters had lived in Sodom long enough that they had learned to follow the sinful ways of the people of Sodom instead of following the Lord. Lot had not provided an example for his own family of godly living. As a result, their focus was not on godly living. When Christians choose to live in sin today, their children will be influenced by that sin. The daughters of Lot did not have husbands and so they decided to get pregnant in a different way.

22. Read Genesis 19:30-38 and write what the daughters of Lot decided to do.

23. Explain why the choice of Lot to live in the city of Sodom had caused the daughters to begin thinking like the people of Sodom.

24. Explain why this passage shows that people can easily have their actions conform to the world when they spend their time thinking like the world.

The night the daughters of Lot got him drinking until he was drunk. Then his older daughter went into him and had relationships with him while he was drunk. As a result, she became pregnant by her father. The next night the daughters did the same thing and got him drunk again. That night the younger daughter went in and had relationships with him. The younger daughters also became pregnant by her father. The daughters both had sons. Each of these sons developed and became a nation of people. These two nations fought against the nation of Israel many times. The son of the first daughter became the father of the nation of Moab.

25. Read Genesis 19:30-38 and write the name of the nation that came from the son of the younger daughter.

26. Explain how the actions of the daughters of Lot show that Lot had not helped his family to get to know the Lord.

27. Explain why you think that the nations that came from the daughters of Lot would create problems for the nation of Israel later.

We have seen a list of the different ways that Lot failed in his life. Here we see that the consequences of his combined failures had a great effect on the nation of Israel. We saw that he failed when he chose where he wanted to live because he chose the area that looked like it would have much food for his flocks. Then he pitched his tent toward Sodom. The next mention of Lot he was living in the city of Sodom. Finally he became a ruler in the city of Sodom. At the same time he was failing to teach his daughters to love and serve God. As a result, his older daughters married men that made fun of the Word of God. The younger daughters were no better. They followed the sinful ways of the people of Sodom. They had no personal moral values. Finally Lot ended up not even knowing what was happening because he was drunk.

28. Read Genesis 19:30-38 and write what the younger daughter named her son.

29. Explain how the failures in the life of Lot show the danger of putting worldly success ahead of obedience to the Lord.

30. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the failures in the life and family of Lot.

We also read about one more failure in the life of Abraham. Abraham moved to the area of Gerar. There he again said that Sarah was his sister. As a result, the king of Gerar took Sarah into his palace because she was very beautiful even though she was ninety years old. However, the Lord again protected Sarah. God showed Abimelech, the king of Gerar, that Sarah was the wife of Abraham. God warned Abimelech that he would be a dead man if he touched Sarah. Abimelech replied that he did not know that Sarah was the wife of Abraham because of the fact that Abraham had told him a lie and said that Sarah was his sister.

31. Read Genesis 20:1-18 and write what Abraham had told Sarah to say about her relationship to Abraham.

32. Explain why the Lord chose to protect Sarah even though Abraham had lied to Abimelech about her.

33. Explain why this helps you to understand that God is a God of mercy even when we fail and sin.

God said that He knew that Abraham and Sarah had lied. That was the reason why God spoke to Abimelech before he had touched Sarah. Then God told Abimelech to return Sarah to Abraham the next day or Abimelech would die. Early the next morning Abimelech called his servants and told them what he had learned during the night. The servants were filled with fear when they learned that Sarah was actually the wife of Abraham and not his sister.

34. Read Genesis 20:1-18 and write the first question that Abimelech asked Abraham.

35. Explain why the choice of Abraham meant that he placed himself in a situation where an ungodly king had to confront him with his sin.

36. Explain why you realize that those who are not Christians are watching our lives and may confront us about our sin even if they are committing the same sins.

Suddenly Abraham was faced with his sin. As a result, Abraham was forced to admit that he had placed Sarah in danger in order to protect himself. This is what happens when we consider ourselves more important than others. We will do things that are sin in order to get what we want if we are thinking about ourselves instead of thinking about others. Abraham placed Sarah in a dangerous position in order to protect himself. When we allow Christ to have control of our lives, we will focus on His plan for our lives and that will cause us to become concerned about others.

37. Read Genesis 20:1-18 and write where Abimelech told Abraham that he could live.

38. Explain why the things that we choose to do to put ourselves first can have a very negative effect on others.

39. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the failure and sin of Abraham in this situation.

We see that God mentions the sins and failures of men as well as the things that they do that are right. God does this for several reasons. First, God wants to show us that all people are sinners. Then God shows us that He chooses us even though we are sinners. God also shows us that when we depend on our own strength and our own plans that we will fail and sin. However, that does not change the love of God toward us. Even when we fail, we see that God will use our failures to teach us and to help us grow and become more like Christ.

40. Read Genesis 20:1-18 and write what Abraham was told to do for Abimelech.

41. Explain why God chose to show the sins and failures of Abraham as well as the victories when he trusted the Lord.

42. Explain why you are thankful that God loves us and chooses us even though we often sin in our lives.

Now reread Genesis 19:1-20:18 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 9

Genesis 21:1-22:24

God had promised Abraham that he and Sarah would have a son. Today we will learn about the birth of that son. Then we will learn about the greatest test that Abraham faced in his entire life. God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. Abraham had waited for this promised son for a long time. He had shown much love to Isaac as Isaac grew and became a man. We will learn what Abraham did when God asked him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to God. This was a real test of the faith of Abraham. We need to realize that God will also test our faith to help us continue to grow spiritually.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain why Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away.

Explain the agreement that Abraham made with Abimelech.

Explain what Abraham did when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac.

Explain how God provided another sacrifice for Abraham.

God had promised Abraham that Sarah would have a son. God had even set the time when Isaac would be born. At the exact time that God had planned, we read that Isaac was born. Here we see that God has a perfect time and plan for each of the things that He does. Sometimes we try to do things in our own strength and we do things according to our plan instead of seeking the plan of God. God had a purpose for waiting until Abraham was one hundred years old to give him the son that God had promised to him many years earlier. God wanted to develop the faith of Abraham so that his faith would be an example for others.

1. Read Genesis 21:1-21 and write what Abraham did on the day that Isaac was weaned.

2. Explain why it is important to understand that God has His perfect timing for the things that He does.

3. Explain why you think God waits at times to answer your prayers so that they will be answered according to His perfect timing.

On the day that Isaac was weaned, Abraham made a great feast for Isaac. During that day of celebration, Sarah saw Ishmael, the son of Hagar. By that time the son of the Egyptian woman was fourteen years old. Instead of being happy and sharing in the joy of this special day, Ishmael was mocking and making fun of Isaac. This mocking made Sarah very angry. She did not like to see Ishmael making fun of her son. Then she went to Abraham and told Abraham what Ishmael was doing. She told Abraham that she did not want Ishmael to share in the inheritance with her son. The next thing she said forced Abraham to make a choice.

4. Read Genesis 21:1-21 and write what Sarah told Abraham to do with Hagar and Ishmael.

5. Explain why the mocking of Isaac by Ishmael made Sarah very angry and upset even though it was a special day for her son.

6. Explain why you think that many people experience anger and upset on days that should be special family events.

Abraham did not want to send Ishmael away. He had grown to love Ishmael during the previous fourteen years. That meant that Abraham was being asked to make a very difficult choice. Then God spoke to Abraham and told him to send Ishmael away because the promises that were given to Abraham were to be passed on to Isaac and not to Ishmael. Then God showed great kindness to Abraham by promising that the family of Ishmael would also become a nation. God showed kindness in spite of the failures of Abraham. Ishmael shows us a picture of our own works. We cannot depend on our own works for salvation. Instead, we must trust the promise of the Lord and allow Him to work in and through our lives.

7. Read Genesis 21:1-21 and write when Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away.

8. Explain why the demand of Sarah to send Ishmael away was a very hard thing for Abraham to do.

9. Explain why this helps you to understand the fact that when we try to solve problems in our own strength we often create bigger problems.

Abraham was obedient to the Lord and sent Hagar and Ishmael away the next morning. As Hagar and Ishmael traveled, they eventually ran out of water. Soon the lack of water and the heat caused Ishmael to faint. Then Hagar placed Ishmael in the shade of a bush and went away from him because she did not want to see her son die. God knew what was happening and spoke to Hagar. God gave Hagar a promise that a great nation would come from Ishmael. Then God opened the eyes of Hagar and showed her a well of water. She immediately gave water to Ishmael and he received strength from the Lord and revived.

10. Read Genesis 21:1-21 and write from where Hagar got a wife for Ishmael.

11. Explain why it was necessary for Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away from his family.

12. Explain why the way that God provided for Hagar and Ishmael shows us that God is a God of grace.

Abraham traveled again to the area where the Philistines lived. There he met Abimelech again. Abimelech had heard about the way that the Lord had been blessing Abraham. Abimelech realized that it must be the Lord that was giving these blessings to Abraham. Here we see that when we are following the Lord that others realize that the Lord is working in and through our lives. They realize that our trust is in the Lord. As a result, Abimelech wanted to make an agreement with Abraham that they and their two families would show kindness to each other and not evil.

13. Read Genesis 21:22-34 and write what the servants of Abimelech had taken away from Abraham’s servants.

14. Explain why even though Abraham had sinned earlier in his relationship with Abimelech that Abimelech now realized that God was with Abraham.

15. Explain how this passage shows you that even though you may have failed in the past that God may still give you an opportunity to be a faithful witness to people that do not know God.

In that land there were many places where there was not very much water. That was very important if a person had large flocks of cattle or sheep. If the person had no water to give to the sheep and other animals, it would be necessary to move the flocks to another place. Abraham told Abimelech that the servants of Abimelech were refusing to allow the servants of Abraham to water their flocks at a well that Abraham had dug. Abimelech said that he had not heard about the well before Abraham spoke to him about the well. Then Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant and Abraham gave Abimelech seven lambs.

16. Read Genesis 21:22-34 and write why Abraham had set the seven lambs by themselves.

17. Explain why Abimelech was ready to make a covenant with Abraham and recognize that the well belonged to Abraham.

18. Explain why you think that the Lord gives us the opportunity to build good relationships even with those that do not know the Lord.

Abraham and Abimelech realized that they should not fight against each other. Since the Lord was blessing Abraham, Abimelech decided to make a covenant so that there would be peace between their two families. Today there are some Christians that do not even have peace with other Christians. This makes it impossible for such people to enjoy fellowship together. Such Christians need to ask the Lord to give them His strength so that they can let go of their differences so that they will be able to have fellowship together.

19. Read Genesis 21:22-34 and write the name of the place where Abraham and
Abimelech made this covenant.

20. Explain why it was important for Abraham and Abimelech to make this covenant between their families.

21. Explain why you think that it is important for you in your life to forgive others and let go of the things that they have done to you in the past.

One day God brought a great test to the life of Abraham to show how great the faith of Abraham had become. Abraham was an old man probably close to 135 years of age. Isaac was a young man. Since he was 100 years younger than his father, that would have made him abut 35. God spoke to Abraham and told him to take Isaac and offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that God would show to him. This was a great test because God had promised that Isaac would become a great nation. Abraham also had a great love for Isaac.

22. Read Genesis 22:1-14 and write how soon Abraham obeyed God and left with Isaac to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

23. Explain why God asked Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice when God had promised to bring great blessing through Isaac.

24. Explain why you think that God tests and strengthens your faith at times by asking you to do things that may seem very difficult to you at first.

We see that Abraham did not waste any time. His faith in the promises of God had grown very strong over the years. As a result, he obeyed God immediately. When they had traveled for three days, they came to the mountain where God said that Abraham was to offer Isaac. Then Abraham and Isaac left the servants with their animals and they walked on alone to the place where Abraham was to offer the sacrifice. Isaac carried the wood and Abraham carried the fire and the knife. As they were walking, Isaac asked Abraham what they were going to use for a sacrifice. Here we see that Isaac asked a good question. He could see that they had everything for offering a sacrifice except the sacrifice.

25. Read Genesis 22:1-14 and write what Abraham answered when Isaac asked him about a sacrifice.

26. Explain why the question that Isaac asked Abraham must have been a very hard question for Abraham to answer.

27. Explain why you think that Abraham was willing to obey God even when God asked him to make a difficult choice.

Abraham knew that he could depend on the Lord to work in the way that the Lord chose. We also see the obedience of Isaac. As a young man, Isaac was much stronger than his father. He could have fought his father and refused to allow his father to tie him up and lay him on the altar. However, Isaac was willing to be offered as a sacrifice. Abraham realized that God could raise Isaac back to life if Abraham was obedient and offered him as a sacrifice. Abraham and Isaac both give us great examples of trust in the Lord and obedience to Him.

28. Read Genesis 22:1-14 and write what the Lord told Abraham when he was ready to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.

29. Explain what the choices of both Abraham and Isaac teach us about the fact that we can trust the Lord.

30. Explain why the willingness of Isaac to be offered as a sacrifice gives you the courage to present your own body as a living sacrifice to God as we are told to do in Romans 12:1-2.

When we are obedient, we see that the Lord provides. As soon as Abraham raised his knife to kill Isaac, God told him not to touch his son. Abraham had met and passed the test because he was not afraid to offer his son as a sacrifice. Then God opened the eyes of Abraham. He saw a ram caught in a bush nearby. God told Abraham to offer the ram as a sacrifice instead of offering Isaac. Here we see the way that God chose to provide a sacrifice. The willingness of Abraham to offer Isaac gives us an example of the way that God the Father offered His Only Son to be our sacrifice and pay the penalty for our sins on the cross.

31. Read Genesis 22:15-24 and write who called to Abraham from heaven.

32. Explain why God waited until Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into Isaac before God stopped Abraham.

33. Explain why you think that God sometimes waits until the very last possible moment to answer your prayers.

Whenever we read about the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, we are actually reading about an Old Testament appearance of Christ. In addition to providing a sacrifice for Abraham, Christ also reminded Abraham of some of the promises that He had given to Abraham. Christ promised that Abraham would receive great blessings. His family would be blessed so that they would become like the stars in the heavens or like the sand by the seashore. God also promised that the day would come when the family of Abraham would have complete victory over all of its enemies.

34. Read Genesis 22:15-24 and write how the family of Abraham would affect all of the nations of the earth.

35. Explain why it is important to understand that Christ is the One that is called the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament.

36. Explain why knowing that the Old Testament appearances of Christ as the angel of the Lord can help you to explain to others the fact that Christ has always existed.

This promise is actually a wonderful promise about Christ. Through Christ blessing and eternal life are available to people of all nations. People of every tribe and nation can have peace with God because of the death and resurrection of Christ. Because Abraham was obedient, he received all of these promises about blessing. God also wants us to be obedient to Him. As we are obedient, we can expect that God will bring great blessings into our lives as well. The Lord will also work through our lives to make us a blessing to others.

37. Read Genesis 22:15-24 and write who Abraham heard had received children from the Lord in another land.

38. Explain why God said that all of the families of the earth would be blessed through the family of Abraham.

39. Explain why you are thankful that God can work through your life to be a blessing to others.

Suddenly we turn from the family of Abraham to the family of his brother, Nahor. We see that between his wife and his concubine that Nahor had twelve children. The name of the daughter of one of these children is also given. This daughter is important and we will learn many things about this daughter because she will become the wife of Isaac. The brother of Abraham and his family are mentioned here to introduce the future wife of Isaac.

40. Read Genesis 22:15-24 and write the name of the young woman that would become the wife of Isaac.

41. Explain why it was important for the Lord to reintroduce the family of Nahor in this chapter.

42. Explain why the fact that God provided a ram as a sacrifice in place of Isaac is a reminder that God provided Christ as a sacrifice in your place and for your sin.

Now reread Genesis 21:1-22:24 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 10

Genesis 23:1-24:67

Today we will learn how God guided the servant of Abraham when Abraham sent the servant to get a wife for Isaac. This is a reminder to us that God still leads people when they are looking for a husband or a wife if they will ask the Lord to lead them to a godly partner. The important thing that we will learn is that God will lead us if we will let him lead instead of making our own plans. Even though Isaac had never met his wife until she had already been chosen, we will see that his love for Rebekah grew and became a great love.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what we learn about the death of Sarah.

Explain the instructions that Abraham gave his servant about finding a wife for Isaac.

Explain how God answered the prayer of the servant.

Explain how God provided a wife for Isaac.

As we start our study today, the first thing that we read about is the death of Sarah. We also read the age of Sarah at her death. This is the only place in the entire Bible where the age of a woman is given. When Sarah died, Abraham wanted a place to bury her. Abraham went to the sons of Heth and asked it he could buy some land from them so that he would have a place to bury Sarah. The sons of Heth agreed to sell Abraham any piece of land that he desired. That was what Abraham wanted to hear as he had already chosen a cave where he wanted to bury Sarah.

1. Read Genesis 23:1-20 and write what cave Abraham wanted to buy.

2. Explain why it was important when Sarah died for Abraham to make the decision of where he wanted to bury Sarah.

3. Explain why you think that Sarah is the only woman whose age is mentioned in the Bible.

A man by the name of Ephron owned the cave of Machpelah. Ephron said that he would be glad to sell the cave along with the field in front of it to Abraham so that Abraham would have a place to bury Sarah. When we first read this passage, it sounds as though Ephron offered to give the field to Abraham. However, that is actually the way that the Canaanites bargained when they were selling a piece of land. They would offer the land and then set a very high price for the land. Then they expected the person to offer them a very low price. After that the two people would continue to bargain until they agreed on a final price.

4. Read Genesis 23:1-20 and write how much Ephron said that his field was worth.

5. Explain why Ephron told Abraham that he would be glad to let him have the cave of Machpelah as a place to bury Sarah.

6. Explain why you think that Ephron probably asked for much more money than the field and cave were actually worth.

Instead of trying to bargain with Ephron, Abraham quickly paid the four hundred shekels of silver even though the land and the cave were probably worth much less money. Ephron just took advantage of Abraham because he knew that Abraham was in sorrow because of the death of Sarah. Today that type of thing still happens. People that are not Christians may try to take advantage of us. However, we should not try to fight or argue with them. Even if they cheat us, we should not get upset because we know that the Lord will take care of us. God knows our needs and He will provide what we need if others cheat us. Then Abraham buried Sarah in the cave.

7. Read Genesis 23:1-20 and write the name of the place that was close to the cave where Abraham buried Sarah.

8. Explain why Christians do not need to be fearful even when those who are not Christians cheat them.

9. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the way that Abraham reached this agreement with Ephron.

When Isaac was forty years old and Abraham was one hundred and forty years old, Abraham decided that it was time to get a wife for Isaac. However, Abraham did not want Isaac to take a wife from the women of Canaan. Instead Abraham asked his oldest servant to go to the land of his fathers and get a wife for Isaac from the family of his brother. Abraham wanted to make certain that Isaac got a wife that had at least some knowledge about God. Since Abraham had lived near his brother for ten years after God first called him, he knew that his brother knew certain things about God. The servant wanted to know if he should take Isaac with him to the land of his fathers if the woman would not come with him.

10. Read Genesis 24:1-14 and write what Abraham told the servant not to do.

11. Explain why Abraham wanted to make sure that Isaac got a wife from his extended family instead of marrying one of the women of Canaan.

12. Explain why you think that it was important for Isaac to get a wife from a family that knew about God.

Abraham knew that it is very easy for people to lose sight of their God inspired goals in life if they begin looking at the things around them instead of keeping their eyes on the Lord. Abraham did not want that to happen to Isaac. Abraham told the servant that he did not need to worry about the woman refusing to come because God would go before him. Abraham had learned to believe the promises of God. He knew that he could trust the Lord to guide and direct the servant as he went to find a wife for Isaac. Then the servant took ten camels and traveled to the city of Nahor.

13. Read Genesis 24:1-14 and write what time the servant arrived at the well that supplied the water for the city of Nahor.

14. Explain why Abraham did not want the servant to take Isaac with him when the servant went to get a wife for Isaac.

15. Explain why Abraham knew that the Lord would guide the servant to the right woman to be a wife for Isaac.

When the servant came to the well, he prayed that God would bless his trip and lead him to the right woman. Then he asked the Lord to cause the one that the Lord had chosen for Isaac to offer to water his camels when he asked for a drink of water. The one that offered to water the camels was to be the one that God had chosen as a bride for Isaac. As we see the prayer of the servant, we realize that Abraham must have spent much time teaching those who worked for him about God. That gives us a good example for our lives today. We also have a great responsibility to those who work for us to teach them about the way that the Lord can work in their lives.

16. Read Genesis 24:1-14 and write what the servant said that he would know if the Lord answered his prayer.

17. Explain what lessons this servant teaches about prayer from the example of his own life and prayer.

18. Explain why the prayer of the servant shows you that Abraham had been faithful in teaching all of his servants about God.

While the servant was still praying God was already bringing the answer to his prayers to the well. A very beautiful virgin by the name of Rebekah came to get a pitcher of water. When Rebekah came up from the well with her pitcher of water, the servant ran to her and asked her for a drink of water. Rebekah immediately gave the servant a drink of water. Then she offered to water his camels as well. Ten camels that have been traveling across the desert can drink a lot of water. However, we see a little of the character of Rebekah because she offered to water them for the servant. The servant stood and watched her water the camels without saying a word.

19. Read Genesis 24:15-33 and write what the servant was watching to see.

20. Explain why God was already answering this prayer of the servant even before the servant had finished praying.

21. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life about the fact that God will also answer your prayers.

After Rebekah had finished watering the camels, the servant gave her a gold ring and two gold bracelets. Then the servant asked Rebekah about her family. He also asked if her father had a place where he could stay. Rebekah replied that she came from the family of Nahor. She said that she was sure that her father had a place where the servant could stay. God had answered the prayer of the servant in a wonderful way. God had led the servant to a granddaughter of Nahor.

22. Read Genesis 24:15-33 and write what the servant did when he realized how the Lord had answered his prayers.

23. Explain what these verses teach about the fact that God answers prayer as we seek His guidance for our lives.

24. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to know that God will lead and guide you as you pray for guidance.

In the prayer, the servant said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, the Lord has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives.” Here we learn an important lesson about the way that Christ guides us as Christians. We can expect the Lord to guide us as we are in the place where God can lead us. That happens as we are in action for the Lord. As we are moving, we must be praying and asking for the Lord to guide us. As we pray, we take the opportunities that the Lord brings to us. In this way the Lord leads us step by step. We should also pray and thank Him for the way that He is leading us. Here we see that the Lord even provided the servant with a place to stay as he asked the Lord to lead him.

25. Read Genesis 24:15-33 and write the name of the brother of Rebekah.

26. Explain what you learn about the way that the Lord leads and guides us from the example of the way that the Lord led the servant of Abraham.

27. Explain why it is important to know that the Lord leads us a step at a time even though we do not know all that is ahead in our future.

When the servant sat down with the family to eat, he said that he wanted to tell them why he had come before he ate. Then he told the family how the Lord had blessed Abraham and had given him great riches. He also told them about the instructions that Abraham had given to him instructing him to find a wife for Isaac. The servant went on to tell how the Lord had answered his prayer at the well by leading Rebekah to water his camels. The servant even told them how he had thanked the Lord for answering his prayers by bringing him to the kindred of Abraham.

28. Read Genesis 24:34-56 and write what Laban and Bethuel answered the servant of Abraham.

29. Explain why the servant wanted to tell the family immediately why he had come to them from Abraham.

30. Explain why you think that it was important for the servant to tell the family of Rebekah how God had answered his prayer.

It is interesting to notice that the brother spoke before the father. Later we read that the brother and the mother spoke. Part of the people of that area had a matriarchal society in which the mother and the brother both had more influence than the father. Yet we see that Isaac was the leader in his home. We will see that this causes some future conflict. God established the leadership of the man in the home from the time of Adam. Today when a man takes his place as the spiritual leader of his home, that home will be blessed by the Lord. Rebekah learned to let Isaac lead even though it is possible that she came from a home where the mother and brother led.

31. Read Genesis 24:34-56 and write what the servant said the next morning.

32. Explain why it is important to quickly recognize the structure of the culture if we are taking the Gospel to people of other cultures.

33. Explain why it is important to you to know that it is the plan of God for the husband to lead his family.

Laban and the mother were not anxious to see Rebekah leave their family right away. They wanted to wait at least ten days before Rebekah would leave them. However, the servant wanted to return immediately to Abraham. He did not want anything to hinder the plan of the Lord. Many times when the Lord tells us to do something, we want to delay for a period of time. We feel that we can obey the Lord later. Here we see that when the Lord leads us to do something, we should do it right away so that nothing will hinder us from completing the work that the Lord has given us.

34. Read Genesis 24:34-56 and write what the servant had given to Rebekah.

35. Explain why it is important for Christians to obey the Lord and not put off the things that the Lord asks them to do.

36. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the example of the servant in this passage.

When the servant wanted to leave immediately, the brother and the mother decided to let Rebekah make the decision. She said that she would go. Here we see that the Lord had been preparing Rebekah as well as guiding the servant. If we will pray that the Lord will guide us as we speak to others about Christ, we can trust that the Lord will also prepare their hearts so that the Word of God will speak to them. Then Rebekah and the servants who attended her got on the camels and followed the servant of Abraham as he returned to Abraham and Isaac.

37. Read Genesis 24:57-67 and write what Isaac did just as the camels were returning to the tents of Abraham.

38. Explain how the words of Rebekah show that the Lord had been working in her heart to prepare her for the coming of this servant.

39. Explain why it is important for you to know that the Lord is preparing the hearts of others before you even share the Gospel with them.

When Rebekah saw Isaac walking in the field, she asked the servant who the man was that was walking toward them. The servant told her that it was Isaac, the son of Abraham. Rebekah put a veil over her face and got off of the camel. Then the servant told Isaac all of the things that had happened as he went to get Rebekah as a wife for Isaac. In this way Isaac learned about the way that the Lord had led by providing a wife for him.

40. Read Genesis 24:57-67 and write what Isaac did after the servant told Isaac about the way that the Lord had led him.

41. Explain why it is important that the servant told Isaac all that had happened as he went to get a bride for Isaac.

42. Explain why you think that it is important to share with others how the Lord works in answer to prayer.

Now reread Genesis 23:1-24:67 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 11

Genesis 25:1-26:35

We have seen that the Lord wonderfully provided a wife for Isaac. In our lesson today we will be learning about the sons that the Lord gave to Isaac and Rebekah. The Lord will also teach us about the failures of Isaac. We will see that Isaac failed in some of the same ways that Abraham had failed. We will be studying about one of these failures in our lesson today. As we see the failure of Isaac, we realize again why it is so important for us to trust in the Lord at all times. When we trust in our own strength, we also fail and sin. The Lord wants to give us victory but that victory will only happen as we trust the Lord instead of our own strength.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what Abraham did during the final years of his life.

Explain what we learn about Esau and Jacob.

Explain what we learn from the failure of Isaac.

Explain what we learn from the fact that Isaac dug several wells.

After the death of Sarah, Abraham married a woman by the name of Keturah. Although Abraham was already almost 140 years old, God gave Abraham six more sons by Keturah. Even though Abraham had a total of eight sons, he did not forget that God had said that Isaac was the one that was to receive all of the promises that the Lord had given to Abraham. As a result, Abraham gave gifts to his other sons and sent them away to the land of the east while he was still alive.

1. Read Genesis 25:1-18 and write what Abraham gave to his son Isaac.

2. Explain why you think that Abraham sent away the sons of Keturah while he was still alive.

3. Explain why it is important for you to understand that the promises that God had given to Abraham were to be passed on only to Isaac.

Abraham gave gifts to the sons of Keturah and sent them away. After they were gone we see that the time for the death of Abraham came. Abraham was 175 years old at the time of his death. We see that the Lord had given Abraham a long and wonderful life because he was obedient to the Lord. God still gives a wonderful life to those who put their trust in Him. When Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah that Abraham had bought as a burying place at the time of the death of Sarah. As we have studied the life of Abraham, we have been reminded many times of the importance of putting the Lord first in our lives at all times. We have seen that the failures that came in the life of Abraham happened when he was trusting in his own strength. We have also seen the blessings that he received when he was obedient.

4. Read Genesis 25:1-18 and write what God did for Isaac after the death of Abraham.

5. Explain why the example of Abraham shows that the Lord will bless our lives as we commit ourselves to follow Him throughout our lives.

6. Explain how your own life has been influenced by studying about the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis.

God had said that Isaac would be the son that would carry on the blessings that God had promised to Abraham. Here we see the beginning of those blessings. However, God had not forgotten his promise to Abraham about Ishmael. God had said that Ishmael would become a great nation. Here we read that God blessed Ishmael with twelve sons. Each one of those twelve sons became a prince. They were traders and so they lived and traveled from the area of Assyria to the nation of Egypt.

7. Read Genesis 25:1-18 and write how long Ishmael lived before he died.

8. Explain why it is important to recognize that God had not forgotten Ishmael even though the blessing would be carried on through Isaac.

9. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to know that we are to share the Gospel with the descendents of Ishmael as well as the descendents of Isaac.

We go on to read about the sons of Isaac. As you remember, Isaac married Rebekah when he was forty years old. However, they did not have any children. Finally Isaac prayed and asked God to give them children. Here we see the right way to solve a problem. Instead of trying to solve the problem in our own way, we need to pray to the Lord and ask Him to solve our problem. The Lord is anxious to hear and answer our prayers as we seek His will instead of our own desires. We read that God did answer the prayer of Isaac. In fact God gave Isaac and Rebekah twins.

10. Read Genesis 25:19-34 and write what God said that the older son would do for the younger son.

11. Explain why Christian couples can ask the Lord to provide children when they do not have children.

12. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that the Lord does hear and answer your prayers.

According to the customs of that time, the oldest son was always the one that had the leadership in the family. However, here we see that God said that the younger son would rule over the older son. This is a reminder that God does not always choose the way that man chooses. When Esau was born, he was very red and he had hair all over him. In addition, Jacob was holding onto the heel of Esau when he came out of the womb. The name Jacob means supplanter (one who takes the place of another). Even though Jacob was not the oldest son, he was to take the place of his brother and receive the blessing which meant he would carry on the promises given to Abraham and Isaac.

13. Read Genesis 25:19-34 and write what Esau became when he grew up.

14. Explain why these two sons illustrate the fact that God may make choices in a different way than people make choices.

15. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to pray and ask the Lord to give you the wisdom to make wise choices.

The two boys were very different from each other. Esau was a very skillful hunter and a man who enjoyed being out in the field. In contrast, as Jacob grew up, he was the one that helped in the tent. As a result, Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. This is a very dangerous situation when parents love one of their children more than their other children. This situation is compounded when one parent loves one child and the other parent loves a different child. We will see that there were many problems in this family because each of the parents loved one boy more than the other. One day after Jacob and Esau had grown up, Esau came in from the field and he was very hungry. Jacob had a pot of food that looked very good. Esau asked for some of that food.

16. Read Genesis 25:19-34 and write what Jacob wanted before he would give Esau any food.

17. Explain why parents can create real conflicts between their children when the parents favor one child over another.

18. Explain why you think that it is important for parents to help their children know that each of them is greatly loved by the parents.

The birthright had three parts. The one who had the birthright was the one that was to be the spiritual leader of the family. He was also the one that carried the promise that God would use his family to destroy the head of Satan. Third, the one that had the birthright was the one that carried the promise given to Abraham that all of the world would be blessed through him. This was the promise that Christ would come from his family. Here we see that Esau chose to satisfy himself with a bowl of stew rather than be the one to be the spiritual leader and carry on the promises of God.

19. Read Genesis 25:19-34 and write the attitude that Esau had toward the birthright and the spiritual leadership and promises that went with it.

20. Explain why the spiritual leadership in a family is a very great privilege for any member of a family.

21. Explain why you think that a bowl of stew was more important to Esau than the spiritual leadership in the family.

Sometime later there was a famine in the land and there was a shortage of food. Then God appeared to Isaac and told him not to go down into Egypt. Instead Isaac was told to remain in the land that God had promised to him. God was going to be the One that would supply his needs. Then God reminded Isaac of the way that Abraham had obeyed the commandments of the Lord. Here we see that God was reminding Isaac that He would bring great blessings to the family of Isaac.

22. Read Genesis 26:1-16 and write where Isaac stayed instead of going to the land of Egypt.

23. Explain why God appeared to Isaac and told him to remain in the land rather than going down to Egypt.

24. Explain why you know that you can trust the Lord to guide you and lead you as you are obedient to Him.

Although Isaac trusted God and stayed in Gerar instead of going to the land of Egypt, we read that Isaac experienced a failure in his life at Gerar. He said that Rebekah was his sister instead of his wife. Here we see that Isaac failed in the same way that Abraham had failed. One day Abimelech looked out the window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Then Abimelech spoke to Isaac and said that Isaac was wrong to do what he had done and lie about his wife. In the same way, when Christians sin, those who are not Christians are very quick to point out the sins of the Christians. This is the reason why our lives must be examples for Christ.

25. Read Genesis 26:1-16 and write what happened when Isaac planted crops that year.

26. Explain how the choice of Isaac to protect himself by putting his wife in danger showed a self-centered attitude.

27. Explain why you think that it is important for a Christian husband to learn to protect his wife.

Once Isaac confessed his sin, the Lord blessed him in a wonderful way. The fields that he planted grew and produced a great crop. The Lord also caused Isaac to grow and become a great leader. His sheep and his cattle increased in number. He also had a large number of servants that worked for him. As a result, the people that lived around him grew jealous and did not like him living with them any more. They began to want the things that the Lord had given to Isaac. They eventually asked Isaac to leave and go to another place.

28. Read Genesis 26:1-16 and write what the people of the land did to the wells that Abraham had dug.

29. Explain why jealousy is one of the most destructive things that can happen in the life of any person.

30. Explain why you think that many people become jealous when they see that others have more than they have.

When the Philistines asked Isaac to leave, he moved his tent to the valley of Gerar. One of the things that Isaac needed when he arrived in that valley was water to water his flocks. Abraham had dug several wells when he had lived in this area. However, the Philistines had filled those wells with dirt. As a result, the first thing that Isaac did when he came to this valley was to dig the dirt out of those wells so that his flocks would have water.

31. Read Genesis 16:17-35 and write what the servants of Isaac found when they dug in that valley.

32. Explain why wells that produce good water are very important in an area that often has famines.

33. Explain why you think that the people had filled the wells that Abraham had dug when water was such a great need.

The servants of Isaac found water. However, the men that cared for the flocks of Gerar claimed that the water belonged to them. Instead of fighting, Isaac had his servants dig another well. Again they found water. Then the men who cared for the flocks of Gerar came and claimed that well also. Again, Isaac refused to fight. He had his servants go to another place and dig a third well. This time no one tried to take the well away from them. Here is an example of the fact that the Lord will supply our needs in His own way if we will trust in Him instead of fighting for our rights. God caused the servants of Gerar to leave Isaac alone when he found water in this third well.

34. Read Genesis 26:17-35 and write what Isaac called this third well.

35. Explain why Isaac chose to trust the Lord to supply his needs instead of fighting for his rights.

36. Explain why you think that Isaac chose to continue to dig new wells instead of fighting for the wells that he had dug.

Rehoboth means the place of enlargement. Isaac gave the well this name because he had found a place where the Lord could bless him, and the neighbors would not fight him. Because Isaac had placed his trust in the Lord instead of fighting to protect the wells that he had dug, the Lord visited Isaac one night when he was at Beersheba. There the Lord reminded Isaac again of all of the promises that He had made to Abraham. Here we see another example of the fact that God does not forget us when we do what is right instead of trying to please ourselves. God remembers when we do what is right.

37. Read Genesis 26:17-35 write who came to Isaac at Gerar and wanted to make a covenant with him.

38. Explain why the Lord chose to speak to Isaac at Beersheba and remind him of the promises that He had made to Abraham

39. Explain why you think that Isaac was learning to make wise choices and trust the Lord to work when people opposed him.

The Philistines had also noticed that Isaac did not fight to protect the wells that belonged to him. When we are obedient to the Lord and do what He wants us to do, the people around us will realize that we are different because we have the Lord in our lives. The Philistines asked Isaac to make a covenant of peace with them. Here we see that God caused the enemies to make peace because Isaac did what was right and did not fight with the Philistines.

40. Read Genesis 26:17-35 and write what the servants of Isaac who were digging a well came and told Isaac that same day.

41. Explain why the Philistines wanted to make a covenant of peace with Isaac even though they had earlier taken his wells.

42. Explain how your obedience to the Lord will cause those that know you to realize that the Lord is working in your life.

Now reread Genesis 25:1-26:35 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 12

Genesis 27:1-29:35

We learned in our last lesson that Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. Today we will see that the fact that each parent had a favorite child led to conflict in the family and eventually caused all of them to sin. God had told Isaac that Jacob was the one that would carry on the blessing. However, because of his love for Esau, Isaac decided to give the blessing to Esau. Rebekah wanted Jacob to be the one that received the blessing. This caused Rebekah and Jacob to develop a plan to deceive Isaac. As a result, we will see that Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau all disobeyed God.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain how Rebekah and Jacob tricked Isaac.

Explain what you learn from the hate that Esau developed toward Jacob.

Explain what happened to Jacob at Bethel.

Explain how the Lord blessed Jacob in Haran.

One day Isaac called Esau and told Esau that he was getting old. In fact, Isaac had already reached the point where he could not see any longer. Isaac told Esau to go and kill a deer and make that delicious venison stew that Isaac like so well. Isaac said that after he ate the stew that he would give the family blessing to Esau. Here we see that Isaac was making his own choice instead of doing what God had told him to do. Rebekah had heard Isaac talk to Esau and so she thought of a way to trick Isaac so that Jacob would receive the blessing instead of Esau. Here we see that Rebekah also sinned because she was determined to help her favorite son get the blessing.

1. Read Genesis 27:1-29 and write what Rebekah told Jacob to go and get from the flock of sheep.

2. Explain why Isaac chose to give the blessing to Esau even though God had told him many years earlier that Jacob was the one to receive the promises.

3. Explain why you think that Rebekah was willing to deceive her husband in order to get the blessing for her favorite son.

At first Jacob refused to go and get the two young goats from the flock. He was sure that his father would recognize him and curse him instead of giving him a blessing. Rebekah said that she would take the curse on her if Isaac gave a curse instead of a blessing to Jacob. Then Jacob obeyed his mother and went and got two young goats. Rebekah used those goats to make a delicious stew that tasted like venison stew. When everything was ready, she had Jacob put on some of the clothes of Esau so that he would smell like Esau. Rebekah was planning to do everything possible to keep Isaac from recognizing that it was Jacob instead of Esau.

4. Read Genesis 27:1-29 and write what Rebekah put on the arms and neck of Jacob so that he would feel like Esau.

5. Explain why Rebekah said that she was willing to be cursed if necessary, so that Jacob could receive the blessing.

6. Explain why you think that Rebekah and Jacob were willing to plot together to get what they wanted instead of trusting the Lord.

We see that one sin quickly leads to another sin. When Jacob came to his father, he had to tell several lies in order to keep Isaac from finding out who he really was. Even though Isaac said that the voice sounded like Jacob, he decided that it must be Esau that was talking to him after he had felt and smelled him. Then Isaac ate the stew that Rebekah had prepared. Since Isaac was old, he did not realize that the stew was made from the meat of a goat instead of a deer. Then Isaac asked Jacob to come and kiss him.

7. Read Genesis 27:1-29 and write what Isaac said Jacob smelled like.

8. Explain why a choice to commit one sin will always make it necessary to commit other sins to cover the first sin.

9. Explain how you think that Jacob felt when he was made the choice to tell lies to cover the fact that he was trying to deceive his father.

As Isaac gave the blessing to Jacob, he said that Jacob would receive the blessing of the Lord. He would have wonderful crops. Isaac also said that other nations would serve Jacob. Then Isaac said that Jacob would rule over his brother. This was the part of the blessing that Esau really wanted. He wanted to have the rule over his brother Jacob. However, Jacob also wanted to rule over Esau. This was the reason that Jacob was willing to trick his father. Isaac also said that those who blessed Jacob would be blessed. Those who cursed him would be cursed.

10. Read Genesis 27:1-29 and write what Rebekah used to make the hands and arms of Jacob feel hairy.

11. Explain why you think that both Jacob and Esau wanted to be the ruler over their brother.

12. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the failures of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau.

Jacob had just been blessed by his father when Esau came back from his hunting. He had been able to find a deer and kill it. Esau quickly made the delicious stew that his father liked so well. Then he took the stew and brought it to Isaac. Suddenly Isaac realized that he had blessed Jacob instead of Esau. Then he remembered that God had told him that Jacob would rule over Esau. Isaac realized that he had been wrong to try and give that blessing to Esau. Then Isaac said that he had given the blessing to Jacob and that Jacob would be blessed.

13. Read Genesis 27:30-46 and write what Esau cried to his father when he heard that his brother had received the blessing.

14. Explain why Isaac realized that he had been wrong when he had tried to bless his favorite son instead of giving the blessing to Jacob.

15. Explain how you think Isaac felt when he realized that he had been deceived by Jacob so that he gave the blessing to Jacob instead of Esau.

Esau said that Jacob had cheated him two times. He said that Jacob had stolen his birthright and now Jacob had stolen his blessing. Here we see that people try to blame others for their own sin. Esau had made the choice to sell his birthright to Jacob because he did not want the spiritual leadership. Here we see that now he was trying to blame Jacob for stealing that birthright. Then Esau asked his father to give him some kind of a blessing. Isaac again said that Jacob would rule over Esau. Esau would be a servant until he became strong and broke the yoke of his brother.

16. Read Genesis 27:30-46 and write how Esau felt toward Jacob after he heard the words of his father.

17. Explain why Esau said that Jacob had stolen his birthright when he had actually chosen to sell it to Jacob for a bowl of stew.

18. Explain why you think that Isaac told Esau that he would serve Jacob until he became strong enough to break the yoke of his brother.

Because of the hatred in his heart for Jacob, Esau decided to kill Jacob as soon as his father died. Here we see that hatred is a very dangerous thing. It will cause people to do anything to get even with the person that they hate. Rebekah heard that Esau planned to kill Jacob. She told Jacob to go to her brother Laban and live with him until Esau forgot his hatred. Then Rebekah told Isaac that she was very unhappy with the women of that land that Esau had married. She suggested that Isaac send Jacob to her family to find a wife so that he would not marry one of the women of the land.

19. Read Genesis 27:30-46 and write what Rebekah said that she would do once Esau got over his anger toward Jacob.

20. Explain what these verses teach about the fact that hatred can have life changing effects on a person.

21. Explain why you think that Rebekah gave one reason to Jacob to go to her brother and another reason to Isaac to get him to send Jacob to her brother.

When Isaac heard that Rebekah did not want Jacob to marry one of the women of Canaan, Isaac called Jacob and told him to go the house of Laban to get a wife. As the same time, Isaac also told Jacob that God would be with him and would cause him to become a great nation in the future. Esau heard Isaac bless Jacob and tell Jacob not to marry a wife from the land of Canaan. Esau was still filled with anger because he had not received the blessing.

22. Read Genesis 28:1-22 and write what Esau did when he realized that his father did not like the women of Canaan.

23. Explain why it was important to both Isaac and Rebekah for Jacob to get a wife from the family of Laban.

24. Explain why you think that Isaac reminded Jacob that he would become a great nation at the time that he sent him away to Laban.

Here we see that Esau now tried to please his father by marrying a wife from Ishmael since Ishmael was a descendent of Abraham. Jacob started on his way to go and visit Laban. That night Jacob went to sleep on the ground with some stones for a pillow. As Jacob was sleeping, God gave him a wonderful dream. In this dream Jacob saw a ladder stretching from earth to heaven. Angels were going up and coming down this ladder. The Lord stood at the top of this ladder. Then the Lord spoke to Jacob and told Jacob that he would receive all of the blessings that had been promised to Abraham and Isaac. This promise included the land, the promise that he would be the father of a great nation and the promise that all of the nations would be blessed through Jacob.

25. Read Genesis 28:1-22 and write what Jacob said when he woke up.

26. Explain why it was important for the Lord to reveal to Jacob directly that he would be the one that carried on the promises given to Abraham.

27. Explain why you think that Esau thought that maybe he could please his father by taking a wife that was a descendent of Abraham.

After God gave Jacob this wonderful promise, we would think that Jacob would have been eager to do whatever the Lord told him to do. Instead Jacob answered the Lord in the way that we often answer the Lord. He said that he would serve the Lord and give a tenth to God if God would go with him and keep him. Jacob also said that the Lord must bless him, supply his needs and bring him back into the land if the Lord wanted Jacob to serve Him. When we give conditions to the Lord, we will have a weak faith. We will see throughout the rest of the book of Genesis how this weak faith hindered Jacob.

28. Read Genesis 28:1-22 and write what Jacob called the name of the place where God had given him this dream.

29. Explain why a lack of faith will limit the work of the Lord in our own lives.

30. Explain why you think that Jacob gave several conditions to the Lord instead of thanking the Lord for the promises that the Lord had given him.

After Jacob had this wonderful dream, he traveled on to the city of Haran. When Jacob arrived at the well near the city, he saw several shepherds with their sheep gather around the well. Jacob asked these shepherds about Laban. The men said that Laban was in good health and that the daughter of Laban was just coming to the well with the sheep that belonged to Laban. Then Jacob moved the stone that covered the well so that water could be given to the sheep of Laban.

31. Read Genesis 29:1-35 and write what Jacob did for the sheep of Laban.

32. Explain how the Lord helped Jacob to realize that he had come to the right place to find the family of Laban.

33. Explain why you think that the Lord arranged for Rachel to come to the well with the sheep just at the time that Jacob was asking his question.

Jacob told Rachel that he was the son of Rebekah, the sister of her father. Rachel immediately ran to tell Laban that Jacob had come to visit them. Then Laban ran to the well to meet Jacob and invited him to come to his house. Laban had not forgotten all of the riches that the servant had brought when he came to get Rebekah. Possibly he thought that he could get some of the riches of Isaac if he was kind to Jacob. Jacob immediately began working for his uncle. After a month Laban asked Jacob what kind of wages he wanted for working. Jacob had become interested in Rachel, the younger daughter of Laban.

34. Read Genesis 29:1-35 and write how long Jacob said he would work in order to get Rachel as his wife.

35. Explain why Laban seemed so eager to have Jacob work for him and help care for his flocks.

36. Explain why you think that Laban was more interested in what he could get for himself than for the opportunity to help his nephew.

Laban thought that it would be wonderful if Jacob would work seven years in order to marry Rachel. The seven years seemed like only a few days to Jacob because of his great love for Rachel. At the end of seven years, the day came for the wedding. In their weddings, the bride always covered her face so that the man could not see the face of his bride the night of the wedding. The next morning Jacob discovered that Laban had tricked him and given him Leah instead of Rachel as his wife. Jacob had tricked and cheated his brother in order to get the birthright and the blessing. Now the same thing had happened to him.

37. Read Genesis 29:1-35 and write how many more years Jacob said he would work in order to get to marry Rachel.

38. Explain how this chapter shows that we will reap what we sow especially if we sow to our own fleshly desires.

39. Explain why you think that the Lord allowed Laban to trick Jacob and give him Leah instead of Rachel as his wife.

After Jacob agreed to work for seven more years, for Rachel, Laban then gave Rachel to Jacob also. However, the Lord also had some other lessons to teach Jacob. Since Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, God caused Leah to have children but Rachel had no children. In that time the greatest desire of every woman was to have children. Here we see that the Lord shows love and kindness to those who are hated and forgotten. God gave Leah the desire of her heart since Jacob was not showing the true love that he should have been showing to her as her husband.

40. Read Genesis 29:1-35 and write how many children were born to Leah in this chapter.

41. Explain how this passage shows that there will always be conflict when a husband has more than one wife.

42. Explain why you think that the Lord showed kindness to Leah and gave her children but did not give children to Rachel.

Now reread Genesis 27:1-29:35 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 13

Genesis 30:1-31:55

Today we will learn about the way that God blessed Jacob while he was in the land of Haran. Even though Jacob had been forced to flee from his brother, God had not forgotten Jacob. We will read how God blessed the family of Jacob. Then we will read how God blessed the flocks of Jacob. As a result of the way that God blessed Jacob, his father-in-law was filled with envy. Laban felt that he should have the things that the Lord had given to Jacob. Jacob realized that his father-in-law was no longer happy to have him there. As a result, God used the attitude of Laban to show Jacob that it was time to return to his own land.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain how the Lord blessed the family of Jacob in Haran.

Explain how the Lord blessed the flocks of Jacob in Haran.

Explain why Jacob left Laban without telling him that he was leaving.

Explain the covenant that Jacob made with Laban.

In our last lesson we learned that God had given children to Leah but not to Rachel. As a result, Rachel was filled with envy. Then she blamed Jacob for her failure to have children. Rachel also made the same suggestion that Sarah had made to Abraham. Rachel suggested that Jacob have children by the maid of Rachel. Any children born to the maid would be considered the children of Rachel. When the maid of Rachel had two children, Leah decided to give her maid to Jacob since she was not having any more children.

1. Read Genesis 30:1-24 and write how many children were born to Jacob through these two maids.

2. Explain why Rachel made the same choice that Sarah had earlier made in an effort to get children.

3. Explain why you think that Rachel chose to blame Jacob for the fact that she had not conceived any children.

During the period when Jacob lived, the people thought that mandrakes (a fruit similar to a yellow plum) would help to cause pregnancy. One day Reuben brought some mandrakes home that he had found in the field and gave them to his mother. Rachel was still very anxious to have children of her own and so she asked Leah to give the mandrakes to her. Leah was unwilling to give the mandrakes to Rachel until Rachel agreed to allow Jacob to spend the night with Leah. As a result of that night, a fifth son was born to Leah. Later a sixth son and a daughter were also born to Leah.

4. Read Genesis 30:1-24 and write the name of the daughter that was born to Jacob and Leah.

5. Explain how the lack of children caused Rachel to make an agreement with Leah in order to try and have children.

6. Explain how you think that Jacob felt when he realized that Rachel and Leah were making deals and bargaining to each get what they wanted.

This chapter certainly shows the conflict that develops when a man has more than one wife. We also see that the plan of Rachel did not produce a son for her. God is the One who is in control of all things. He is the One that makes it possible to conceive. Finally Rachel prayed to God instead of trying to get pregnant through her own plans. We read that God listened to the prayer of Rachel and gave her a son. When we trust the Lord instead of trying to do things by our own efforts, we can trust the Lord to answer our prayers.

7. Read Genesis30:1-24 and write and write what Rachel named her first son.

8. Explain why it is important to depend on the Lord to give us children instead of trying to solve our problems in our own way.

9. Explain why you think that God did not give a son to Rachel until Rachel finally prayed and asked God to give her a son.

After Jacob had worked for Laban for fourteen years for his two wives, Laban asked Jacob to continue to work for him. Laban realized that he had been blessed by the Lord from the time that Jacob had begun to work for him. When Jacob had originally started to work for Laban, Laban only had a small flock of sheep. However, once Jacob started to work for him, the Lord had multiplied his flock and he had become wealthy. That was why Laban wanted Jacob to continue to work for him. Jacob agreed to work for Laban in exchange for all of the off color sheep and goats. Laban thought that he was getting a good deal because it was quite uncommon to have very many sheep or goats that had a different color. As a result, Laban thought that he could not lose. Laban did not realize that God is the One that has power over all things.

10. Read Genesis 30:25-43 and write who Laban had take care of the spotted sheep.

11. Explain why Laban wanted Jacob to continue to work for him even after he had worked fourteen years for his two daughters.

12. Explain why you think that Laban shows the attitude of the world because his greed caused him to try and continue to use Jacob to increase his wealth.

Laban did not trust Jacob even though Jacob had been a faithful worker. Laban had his own sons feed the sheep that belonged to Jacob so that it would be impossible for Jacob to add any more sheep to the flock that belonged to him. In addition, Laban separated the flocks so that they were three days apart. Laban was a man that had spent his life tricking and deceiving other people. As a result, he did not trust anyone else. Because of his own sin, Laban did not trust Jacob. When we do not trust someone, we need to examine our own lives to make certain that we are not guilty of the same sin. It is very easy to notice the sin of another person when we are guilty of committing that same sin ourselves. That was the reason that Laban did not trust Jacob.

13. Read Genesis 30:25-43 and write how the Lord blessed Jacob.

14. Explain why these verses show that a person will not trust others when that person is continually deceiving others.

15. Explain why it is important to examine our own lives when we have a lack of trust for other people.

Jacob tried his own plan to get the flocks to have spotted and speckled sheep. Jacob still had some lessons to learn in his life as well. Here we see that Jacob was depending on himself instead of the Lord. However, the Lord did bless Jacob in spite of the fact that Jacob was working in his own way to increase his flocks. God had made a promise to Jacob and now God was keeping His promise to Jacob even though Jacob was showing a lack of faith. We need to realize that we can always depend on the Lord to keep His promises. God will keep those promises even though we may fail.

16. Read Genesis 30:25-43 and write who God caused to receive the stronger cattle and sheep.

17. Explain why Jacob also had to have the Lord teach him some lessons so that he would stop trying to deceive others.

18. Explain why you are thankful that you know that God will always keep His promises.

One day Jacob heard the sons of Laban as they were talking. They said that Jacob had taken everything that had belonged to their father. Then Jacob realized that Laban was no longer happy to have Jacob working for him. At the same time the Lord spoke to Jacob and told him to return to the land of his father. Then Jacob called Leah and Rachel and told them to come to him in the field. There Jacob told his wives that he realized that Laban was no longer happy to have Jacob working for him. In fact Laban had tricked Jacob and had changed his wages several times.

19. Read Genesis 31:1-24 and write how many times Laban had changed the wages of Jacob.

20. Explain why the sons of Laban felt that Jacob had taken everything that belonged to their father even though their father had very little when Jacob first came.

21. Explain why you think that the Lord used both the words of the sons of Laban and also spoke to Jacob directly in order to get him to return to the land of his father.

Laban had tried to cheat Jacob many times. Every time Laban tried to cheat Jacob, the Lord blessed Jacob instead. Jacob told Leah and Rachel about the way that God had worked even though Laban had tried to cheat him. Then Jacob also told his wives that God had given him a dream. In the dream an angel had reminded Jacob of the vow that he had made at Bethel. The angel told him that the time had come for him to return to the land of his father.

22. Read Genesis 31:1-24 and write what Leah and Rachel told Jacob about the things that God had said to him.

23. Explain why Jacob felt it was necessary to explain to Leah and Rachel how their father had cheated him.

24. Explain why you think that people often want to tell others when they feel that they have been cheated.

In addition to cheating Jacob, Laban had also cheated his daughters. Jacob had worked for fourteen years in order to marry Leah and Rachel. It was the responsibility of a father to give a daughter the things needed to set up a home when the husband had paid the price to marry the daughter. Laban had not done this for his daughters. Instead Laban had treated his daughters like slaves and had given them nothing. Now Leah and Rachel were ready to go wherever Jacob chose to go.

25. Read Genesis 31:1-24 and write what Rachel stole when Jacob and his family left the house of Laban.

26. Explain why Laban had even cheated his own daughters by failing to give them the things needed to set up a home.

27. Explain why you think that Laban was so selfish that it even caused him to cheat his own daughters.

In the land where Laban lived, the one that had the family idols was the one that was entitled to the family inheritance. Rachel thought that she would gain the inheritance of her father by stealing the idols. Laban had gone to shear the wool of his sheep when Jacob decided to leave. As a result, Laban did not find out that Jacob had gone until the third day. Then Laban gathered a group of men to go with him and stop Jacob. Laban probably wanted to try and take the flocks of Jacob. However, an angel warned Laban not to touch Jacob.

28. Read Genesis 31:1-24 and write where Laban overtook Jacob and his family.

29. Explain what these verses teach us about the character of Laban.

30. Explain why you think that Rachel made the decision to steal the family idols from her father.

Laban finally caught up with Jacob at Mount Gilead. There Laban immediately accused Jacob of stealing his gods and not giving him the opportunity to kiss his daughters and their children before Jacob left to return to his father. Laban said that he had the power to do evil to Jacob but that an angel had warned him not to touch Jacob. Then Jacob told Laban that he had left secretly in order to prevent Laban from trying to take his daughters and keep them.

31. Read Genesis 31:25-55 and write what Jacob said should happen to the person that had stolen the gods of Laban.

32. Explain why Laban told Jacob that he had the power to do evil to Jacob but would not harm him because an angel had warned him not to touch Jacob.

33. Explain why you think that everyone involved in this entire situation was acting out of fear instead of trusting the Lord to work.

Jacob did not know that Rachel was the one that had stolen the idols of Laban. Laban immediately began searching all of the tents for his idols. After Laban had searched all of the other tents, he came to the tent of Rachel in his search. Rachel had placed the idols in the saddle of a camel. Then she sat on the camel’s saddle when Laban came to search her tent. After Laban had searched the entire tent of Rachel, she apologized and said that she was sorry that she could not stand up. However, it was the time of the month when the custom of women was upon her.

34. Read Genesis 31:25-55 and write what happened even though Laban had searched the entire tent.

35. Explain why Laban showed a real lack of respect for his daughters by searching their tents for his idols.

36. Explain why you think that Rachel chose to lie and deceive her father so that he would not find the idols.

Jacob became very angry at the way that Laban had searched through all of his possessions. Jacob reminded Laban that he had never cheated Laban once during the entire twenty years that he had worked for Laban. He reminded Laban that Laban had cheated him many times and had even changed his wages ten times. Jacob said that the only thing that had kept him from being sent away empty was his trust in God. God had not forgotten Jacob. Instead God had showed kindness to Jacob when he had suffered at the hands of Laban.

37. Read Genesis 31:25-55 and write who Jacob said had helped him even though Laban was continually cheating him.

38. Explain why Christians can also know that the Lord will be with them and help them when they suffer.

39. Explain why you think that Jacob became so angry with Laban after Laban had searched through all of the tents.

Laban then claimed that everything that Jacob had accumulated actually belonged to Laban. Then Laban suggested that they make a covenant in which both agreed not to harm the other. Then Jacob set up a pile of stones and called the pile of stones Galeed. Galeed means the heap of witness or the stones of witness. Both men agreed not to go past these stones to harm each other. Then Jacob offered a sacrifice. In this way Jacob was actually making this promise to God as well as to Laban.

40. Read Genesis 31:25-55 and write what Laban did the next morning after he had kissed his daughters and their sons.

41. Explain how even the answer of Laban to Jacob shows that Laban had no respect for the twenty years of work that Jacob had done for Laban.

42. Explain why you think that Jacob and Laban set up the pile of stones as a boundary between them.

Now reread Genesis 30:1-31:55 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 14

Genesis 32:1-34:31

Today we will learn about Jacob returning to the land of Canaan and meeting his brother, Esau. As you remember Esau had planned to kill his brother and that was the reason why Jacob had fled to Haran twenty years earlier. Jacob was filled with fear as he came close to the place where he would meet his brother. Jacob had not forgotten that Esau planned to kill him. However, the night before Jacob meet Esau, the Lord came and met with him. This was actually an Old Testament appearance of Christ. That meeting with the Lord had a great effect on the life of Jacob. The Lord caused Jacob to limp for the rest of his life so that Jacob would not forget that meeting.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain why Jacob was afraid when he heard that Esau was coming to meet him.

Explain what happened when Jacob met the Lord.

Explain when happened when Jacob met Esau.

Explain what kind of sin happened in the family of Jacob.

Jacob had been obedient to the Lord when he had left Laban and began to return to the land of his father. However, he probably also had some real concerns because Jacob did not know how Esau would feel toward him. However God sent some angels to encourage Jacob and prepare him to meet his brother. Then Jacob sent word to Esau that he was returning from the land of Haran. After Jacob had met the angels of the Lord, Jacob told the messengers to tell Esau how the Lord had blessed Jacob. As soon as Esau heard that Jacob was returning, Esau started toward Jacob to meet him.

1. Read Genesis 32:1-12 and write who these verses said was coming with Esau as he came to meet Jacob.

2. Explain why the Lord chose to send some angels to encourage Jacob as he returned to the land of his father.

3. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord encourages you at the times when you are experiencing fear in your own life.

When the messengers of Jacob told Jacob that Esau was coming to meet him and that Esau was bringing four hundred men with him, Jacob was filled with fear. He was afraid that Esau was bringing a small army to destroy him. At first Jacob tried to think of his own plan to escape. He divided his family and flocks into two groups so that one group could escape if Esau made an attack on the other group. Here we see the way that we think when we are depending on our own strength. Suddenly Jacob realized that he did not need to depend on his own strength. He knew that there was someone to help him as he prepared to meet Esau.

4. Read Genesis 32:1-12 and write who Jacob asked to help him.

5. Explain why the words of the messengers that Esau was bringing four hundred men with him caused immediate fear in the life of Jacob.

6. Explain why you think that Jacob did not act on the promises of God but instead began planning how to defend himself and his possessions.

As we read the prayer of Jacob, we see that he is reminding God of all of the promises that God had made to Jacob. Of course God had not forgotten those promises. Jacob also admitted that he was afraid of his brother and asked God to protect him from Esau. Here we learn an important lesson for our own lives. We need to admit our fears to the Lord and then ask Him to give us victory over those fears. God already knows when we are afraid, and He will give us His strength if we will ask Him for strength. Since we cannot hide our fears from God, we should be anxious to admit those fears to God so that He will give us His strength. We are only deceiving ourselves when we fail to admit those fears to God.

7. Read Genesis 32:1-12 and write what Jacob reminded God that God had promised him about his descendants.

8. Explain why it is important for Christians to pray and admit their fears to the Lord instead of trying to handle those fears themselves.

9. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord understands and accepts you when you admit your fears to Him.

Jacob also decided to send a present to his brother. This present was a rather large present. It included 440 sheep and goats. In addition, it included 140 larger animals. Jacob sent each group of animals by themselves so that there would be many groups of animals meeting Esau as he came. The servants that were caring for each group of animals were to tell Esau that the animals were a present from Jacob to Esau. After Jacob had sent these presents to Esau, he had his family cross a large stream at a place called Jabbok. However, Jacob reminded on the other side of the stream for a while. While he was there alone, a very unusual thing happened to Jacob.

10. Read Genesis 32; 13-32 and write what happened to Jacob after his family had crossed the stream.

11. Explain why Jacob chose to send a very large gift of cattle and sheep to Esau so that Esau would already have the gifts before he met Jacob.

12. Explain why this shows us that we may at times still depend on our own strength even after we have prayed and asked the Lord to help us.

Before Jacob met Esau, the Lord met Jacob first. Even though Jacob had prayed to God, Jacob was still depending on himself for strength. God had to show Jacob that he must depend on the Lord for strength. The Lord wrestled with Jacob throughout the night. When Jacob still did not realize that he should depend on the Lord for strength, the Lord touched the hip of Jacob and made the hip go out of joint so that Jacob had to limp for the rest of his life. In this way Jacob was constantly reminded of the fact that he must depend on the Lord for his strength at all times.

13. Read Genesis 32:13-32 and write what Jacob asked God to do before he would let the Lord go.

14. Explain why the Lord chose to wrestle with Jacob throughout the night prior to the meeting of Jacob and Esau.

15. Explain why you think that the Lord chose to put the hip of Jacob out of joint before he met Esau.

God also changed the name of Jacob to show the blessing that God gave to him that night. The name of Jacob was changed to Israel which means, “God rules”. Throughout the rest of the book of Genesis we will see that both names are used. Those times where we see the name Israel used show us the times when Jacob was allowing the Lord to lead and rule his life. Sometimes we will see the name Jacob used and we will see that in those situations that Jacob is doing things his own way instead of letting God rule. Today we also need to let God rule in our lives. At the times when we take control, we are just like Jacob when he was trying to run his own life.

16. Read Genesis 32:13-32 and write what Jacob said had been preserved even though he had seen God face to face.

17. Explain why the change in the name of Jacob to Israel would be very important in the life of Jacob for the rest of his life.

18. Explain why you think that God chose to give Jacob a name that would show what he would become instead of showing what he was at that moment.

After Jacob had met God and realized that he must depend on God for strength instead of depending on himself, Jacob was ready to meet his brother, Esau. Since Rachel was the favorite wife of Jacob, he had Rachel and Joseph come last in line so that Esau would meet the rest of his family first. As Jacob came toward Esau, Jacob bowed himself to the ground seven times. However, Esau came running. Esau threw his arms around Jacob and kissed him. Here we see that Esau had forgiven Jacob during the twenty years that they had been separated.

19. Read Genesis 33:1-20 and write the first question that Esau asked Jacob.

20. Explain how the way that Esau greeted Jacob showed that Esau had forgiven Jacob during the time that they were apart from one another.

21. Explain how you think that fear of Jacob had affected him throughout the twenty years that he was away from the land of his father.

By that time the family of Jacob was beginning to reach the place where Jacob and Esau had met. Then Jacob began introducing his family to Esau. After Esau had met the family of Jacob, Esau asked about the meaning of all of the flocks that he had met. Jacob said that those flocks were a present for Esau. Esau said that he had plenty of flocks and did not need any more. However, Jacob urged him and so he took the gift. By taking the gift that Jacob offered him, Esau was showing that he had truly forgiven his brother. Then Esau said that he would travel with Jacob back to the place where Esau lived.

22. Read Genesis 33:1-20 and write why Jacob said that he must travel slowly.

23. Explain why Esau decided to take the flocks that Jacob had given him even though he said that he had plenty of flocks.

24. Explain what lessons you learn for your own life from the fact that forgiveness is really needed when there have been family conflicts.

Here we see the difference between one who leads and one who drives. Esau was in a hurry to get home. He would have driven the flocks instead of leading them and the result would have been that it would have killed the flocks. Jacob said that he would travel slowly at a pace that the flocks and the children could handle. Many leaders are like Esau and drive people until they can get out of the way. In contrast Christ said that He leads His flock instead of driving them. To lead a flock, the flock must know that the shepherd loves them and then they will follow him. Esau agreed to the request of Jacob and returned to his home in Seir.

25. Read Genesis 33:1-20 and write the name of the city where Jacob set up his tent as he traveled.

26. Explain why godly leadership follows the example of Christ and leads people instead of following the example of Esau and driving people.

27. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to learn how to lead people to seek godly goals rather than drive them to try and reach your goals.

The Lord had told Jacob to return to Bethel, the place where the Lord had promised blessing to Jacob. Jacob was being obedient, but he stopped in Succoth and then in Shechem instead of going straight to Bethel. We are going to see that this caused sin and other problems in the family of Jacob. This sin happened even though Jacob built an altar in Shechem. Here we see that obedience must come before worship. If we are not completely obedient to the Lord, it will hinder our worship of the Lord.

28. Read Genesis 33:1-20 and write what Jacob called the name of the altar that he built in Shechem.

29. Explain why obedience to the Lord is so important in the life of every person that puts their trust in Christ.

30. Explain why this passage shows that it is easy for us to be obedient and even do good things that cause us to neglect what God has called us to do.

Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, went to visit the young women of Shechem. While Dinah was visiting the city, she met a young man by the name of Shechem. Shechem immediately took advantage of Dinah and raped her. Then Shechem decided that he wanted Dinah to be his wife. The father of Shechem asked Jacob for permission for Dinah to marry his son. When the sons of Jacob heard what Shechem had done to their sister, they were filled with anger and wanted to get even.

31. Read Genesis 34:1-31 and write what Hamor said he would give Jacob so that Shechem could marry Dinah.

32. Explain how the sin of Shechem caused the sons of Jacob to become angry so that they wanted to get even with Shechem and the other men of the city.

33. Explain why this event shows that parents must teach their children about the sinful nature of people.

Hamor was willing to pay any price in order for his son to marry Dinah. The sons of Jacob said that they could not allow their sister to be married to a man that was uncircumcised. We also read that Shechem was more honorable than the rest of the men of his city even though he had raped Dinah. This shows us the terrible sinful condition of the city of Shechem. At the request of Hamor, all of the men of the city of Shechem agreed to be circumcised so that Shechem could marry Dinah. They thought that would be a good way to eventually get the riches of Jacob.

34. Read Genesis 34:1-31 and write who went to the city of Shechem three days after the men of Shechem were circumcised.

35. Explain what these verses teach about the men of Shechem when it says that Shechem was more honorable than the rest of the men of the city.

36. Explain why you think that Hamor was able to convince the men of the city to be circumcised by telling them that would be a good way to eventually get the riches of Jacob.

Simeon and Levi were filled with hate because of what Shechem had done to Dinah. This hate led to murder. Simeon and Levi went and killed all of the men of the city of Shechem while they were unable to protect themselves because they had been circumcised. Then Simeon and Levi took Dinah out of the house of Shechem. They also took all of the cattle and all of the possessions of the city. The women and children were also taken as captives. Here we see the terrible results of the lack of complete obedience in the life of Jacob. The lack of obedience led to hate and murder in the family of Jacob.

37. Read Genesis 34:1-31 and write what Jacob said when he heard what Simeon and Levi had done.

38. Explain what these verses teach about the fact that hatred in the heart can easily lead to murder.

39. Explain why this shows you the importance of forgiving others quickly before your anger turns to hatred.

When Jacob heard what his sons had done to the men of Shechem, Jacob was very angry. However, he was not angry because of the sins of his sons. Instead Jacob was angry because he was afraid that the people of the surrounding villages might destroy him and his entire family because of what Simeon and Levi had done to the men of Shechem. This is a good example of what happens when Christians are not in fellowship with the Lord because of a lack of complete obedience. They will become controlled by fear instead of having a love for others.

40. Read Genesis 34:1-31 and write what question Simeon and Levi asked Jacob when he said that the people in the surrounding towns might destroy them.

41. Explain why the anger of Jacob was directed toward the people of the surrounding area rather than at the sins of his sons.

42. Explain why it is possible for us to become angry at others when we are controlled by fear instead of love.

Now reread Genesis 32:1-34:31 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 15

Genesis 35:1-37:36

Jacob had returned to the land of his father. However, he had not returned to the place where he had enjoyed real fellowship with the Lord. Today we will learn about Jacob returning to Bethel. Before Jacob went to Bethel, he had his family give him all of their idols. Then Jacob took those idols and buried them under a tree. Jacob finally realized that he could not serve God and continue to have those idols at the same time. As a result of the obedience of Jacob, God came to him at Bethel and gave Jacob a wonderful promise.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what happened when Jacob got rid of the idols that his family had.

Explain the promise that God gave to Jacob.

Explain why Joseph was hated by his brothers.

Explain what the brothers of Joseph did to him.

One day God spoke to Jacob and told him again to return to Bethel. God wanted Jacob to go back to Bethel and build an altar at the place where the Lord had appeared to him when he had fled from Esau. This time Jacob obeyed the Lord completely. He was growing in his relationship with God and was beginning to realize that he always failed when he did not obey the Lord completely. The first thing that Jacob did was tell his family to get rid of their foreign gods. Jacob was finally realizing that he must lead his family in the worship of God or the family would soon become involved in even greater sin. He decided to get rid of the idols just before he moved so that no one would be tempted to return to the idols later.

1. Read Genesis 35:1-8 and write where Jacob told his family that they were going.

2. Explain what you learn from these verses about the progress of Jacob in his spiritual growth and development.

3. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to continue to grow and develop in your spiritual life.

Jacob had told his family that Bethel was the place where God had appeared to him when he was in great need. It was also the place where Jacob realized that the Lord was with him wherever he went even though there were many times when he was not following the Lord as he should. When Jacob told his family why they were going to Bethel, his family gave him their foreign gods and he buried them under a tree in Shechem. God also protected Jacob as he left Shechem. Even though his sons had killed the men of Shechem, no one tried to stop Jacob as he traveled toward Bethel because the Lord was watching over him.

4. Read Genesis 35:1-8 and write the first thing that Jacob did when he arrived at Bethel with his family.

5. Explain why it was important for Jacob to begin telling his family about some of the history of his spiritual development.

6. Explain why it important in your own life to share with your family how the Lord has worked in your life in the past.

Jacob built at altar at Bethel. Then the Lord appeared to him. As Christians we are often like Jacob. We have forgotten about the great changes that the Lord made in our lives when we first placed our trust in Him. Often this causes us to lose our great desire to be obedient to the Lord and tell others about Him. We need to go back to that first love that we had for the Lord. We need to let Christ speak to us. We need to get any unconfessed sin out of our lives so that we can serve the Lord effectively again. Just like Jacob, we need to get back to the place in our lives and attitudes that we had when we first committed our lives to the Lord.

7. Read Genesis 35:1-8 and write who died while they were at Bethel.

8. Explain why there are many Christians who forget the commitments and promises that they have made to the Lord in the past.

9. Explain why you have found in your own life that Christ is able to work both in your life and through your life when you keep your promises to Him.

God appeared to Jacob when Jacob reached Bethel. There God reminded Jacob again that his name had been changed to Israel. Here we see that God was reminding him what he would become as he yielded his life to the Lord. Then God gave Jacob several wonderful promises. God promised that a company of nations and many kings would come from the family of Jacob. Then God said that all of the land that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac would belong to Jacob and his family. Here we see that God was telling Jacob that the promise of God would come to him rather than to Esau. Here we see that God was showing very carefully the family line through which His promises would be carried.

10. Read Genesis 35:9-28 and write what Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke to him.

11. Explain why the first thing that the Lord said when He appeared to Jacob was to remind him that the Lord had changed his name to Israel.

12. Explain how it helps you in your own life when you keep your thoughts on what the Lord wants you to become instead of the failures of the past.

Bethel was the place where Jacob enjoyed real fellowship with the Lord. Today we need to be enjoying true fellowship with the Lord at all times. We also read that a final son was born to Jacob. This son was born to Jacob and Rachel. However, Rachel died at the birth of this son because she had very hard labor. Rachel wanted to name this son Benomi which means son of my sorrow. However, Jacob chose another name. He named this son Benjamin which means son of my right hand. Here we see that Jacob looked forward to the blessing that the Lord would give him through this son also as this son grew.

13. Read Genesis 35:9-028 and write which son of Jacob committed adultery with the concubine of his father.

14. Explain why it was important to Jacob to learn to fellowship more and more with the Lord in order for him to see the impact of the new name that the Lord gave him.

15. Explain how the Lord has been changing your life as you have grown in your fellowship with Him.

Because of this sin of Reuben, he did not have the privilege of having Christ come from his family even though he was the oldest of the twelve sons of Jacob. Simeon and Levi also missed that blessing because of their sin and hatred at Shechem. Here we see again that sin can cause us to miss part of the blessings of the Lord. We also read that Jacob had one other great blessing in these verses. The Lord kept his father, Isaac, alive until Jacob returned to the land and had the privilege of seeing his father again. In fact Isaac lived to the age of 180 years. Today many people do not have the privilege of seeing their parents when their parents become old. They do not have the joy of learning from their parents in their old age.

16. Read Genesis 35:9-28 and write who buried Isaac when he died.

17. Explain why it is a great privilege to see our parents and learn from them in their old age.

18. Explain why you are thankful that you can learn from the lifetime of wisdom and experience of older people.

We also read about the family of Esau. Although Jacob was the son that God blessed, God did not forget Esau because Esau was also a son of Isaac. We read that Esau had a total of twelve sons. After Jacob returned to the land of Canaan, Esau left that land and moved to another place. Esau knew that the land belonged to Jacob because his father had given Jacob the blessing. Jacob and Esau were both very rich and so it was impossible for the land to hold both of them. Both of them had large herds of cattle and large flocks of sheep.

19. Read Genesis 36:1-43 and write of what nation Esau became the father.

20. Explain why it is important to realize that God did not forget Esau even though he was not the son that carried on the blessing.

21. Explain why you are thankful that God chose to bless the descendents of Abraham including those that were not in the family line of God’s promises.

Joseph was the first son of Rachel. As a result, he became the favorite of his father. Jacob had not recognized that problems had happened in his own life because his parents had each had a favorite son. Joseph also became very close to Jacob. He told his father when his brothers did evil. In order to show his love for Joseph, Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors. The brothers began to hate Joseph when they saw that their father loved Joseph more than he loved them. This is a real warning to parents. If we love one child more than the other children, we may cause hatred to develop between the children as they grow.

22. Read Genesis 37:1-19 and write what happened because the brothers hated Joseph.

23. Explain why the choice of Jacob to show special love to Joseph caused hatred to develop in the lives of his brothers.

24. Explain why you think that it is important for parents to show their love equally to all of their children.

Then Joseph dreamed two dreams that caused the brothers to hate him even more. In the first dream, the sheaves (bundles of tied grain) of his brothers bowed down to his sheaf. In the second dream, eleven stars, the sun and the moon all bowed down to Joseph. These dreams filled the brothers with an even greater hatred. His brothers felt that Joseph was boasting. When we speak to others, we need to have a humble attitude and be careful to make certain that it does not sound like we are boasting. Otherwise we will cause people to hate the message of life that we are offering them through Christ.

25. Read Genesis 37:1-19 and write what Jacob thought about the words that Joseph spoke about his dreams.

26. Explain why the dreams of Joseph caused the brothers of Joseph to hate him even more than they had hated him.

27. Explain why the attitude of the brothers of Joseph toward him shows why it is so important to have a humble attitude in your own life.

One day the brothers of Joseph had gone to feed the sheep in the fields near Shechem. Jacob decided to send Joseph to Shechem to see how the brothers were getting along. Joseph could not find his brothers at Shechem. Then a man told Joseph that his brothers had taken their flocks to Dothan. Joseph immediately started on his way to Dothan. His brothers saw Joseph coming while he was still a long distance from them. Then they talked together and decided to kill Joseph. Here we see the results of hatred. That hatred had now turned to talk of murder.

28. Read Genesis 37:1-19 and write what the brothers called Joseph when they saw him coming.

29. Explain the reasons why the brothers of Joseph hated him so much that they wanted to kill him.

30. Explain what you learn about the connection between hatred and murder from the words and actions of the brothers of Joseph.

There was one brother that had some concern for Joseph. That was his brother Reuben. He suggested that the brothers throw Joseph into a pit instead of killing him. Then Reuben was going to help Joseph get out of the pit after his brothers had taken the flocks to another place. As soon as Joseph reached his brothers, they grabbed him and took off his coat of many colors. Then they threw him into an empty pit. Reuben then left for a while as his brothers were eating their lunch. While the brothers were eating their lunch, they decided to do something else with Joseph.

31. Read Genesis 37:20-36 and write what Judah suggested that they do with Joseph.

32. Explain why even one person showing concern and compassion can have a great impact for good in the life of another person.

33. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to show concern and compassion for others.

The Ishmaelites came from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. They had apparently intermarried with the Midianites so that there were some men from each group in the group of traders that was traveling by the place where the brothers of Joseph were caring for their flocks. One of these Ishmaelites agreed to pay twenty pieces of silver for Joseph. That was the regular price for a slave that was still a boy. Thirty pieces of silver was the price for a slave that was already a man. As a result, Joseph gives us a picture of Christ who was betrayed for the price of a slave. Men in the time of Christ had no more respect for Christ than the brothers of Joseph had for Joseph.

34. Read Genesis 37:20-36 and write where the traders took Joseph.

35. Explain why the brothers of Joseph decided to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites instead of killing him.

36. Explain why the fact that the brothers of Joseph were willing to sell their brother as a slave shows you that they have not developed a healthy concern for other members of their own family.

Meanwhile the brothers of Joseph were also thinking of a way to cover their sin. Their consciences were convicting them because they knew that they had done wrong. When we sin, our consciences also remind us of our sins. The brothers of Joseph decided to kill a goat and use the blood to cover the coat of Joseph so that it would look like a wild animal had killed Joseph. People will try to cover their sins in many ways. However, people can never cover their sins by their own efforts. Only the blood of Christ can truly cover and remove the sins of men.

37. Read Genesis 37:20-36 and write what Jacob did when he saw the blood soaked coat of Joseph.

38. Explain why many people try to cover their sins by their own efforts instead of asking Christ to forgive their sins.

39. Explain why you are thankful that Christ chose to die to take away your sin and the Father showed that He was satisfied with the payment by raising Christ from the dead.

The brothers of Joseph took the coat of Joseph that was covered with blood home to Jacob. As soon as Jacob saw the coat, he recognized it. Immediately Jacob thought that a wild animal had killed Joseph. That was exactly what the brothers had wanted Jacob to think. The sons and daughters of Jacob tried to comfort them in his sorrow but he refused to be comforted. Instead Jacob said that he would have sorrow for Joseph until the day that he died. Meanwhile Joseph had been taken to Egypt. There Joseph had been sold as a slave by the Midianites.

40. Read Genesis 37:20-36 and write to whom Joseph was sold.

41. Explain why the choice of the brothers to mistreat Joseph brought many years of sorrow to his father.

42. Explain why these verses show you that many people will purposely try to deceive others to try to cover their own sins.

Now reread Genesis 35:1-37:36 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 16

Genesis 38:1-40:23

Today we will se another picture of the sinful condition of the land of Canaan. Because Jacob had waited so long before he had his family put away their false gods, we see that his children had become involved in the sins of the land. This is the reason why we must begin to teach our children to love and serve the Lord while they are still babies. In contrast to most of the sons of Jacob, we do see that there was one son that did stand for the Lord. Joseph was unjustly accused of sin in Egypt. He even spent two years in prison because he refused to do evil.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what we learn about the sin of Judah.

Explain how Joseph was faithful to God when he was tempted to sin.

Explain how Joseph served the Lord even when he was put in prison.

One day Judah went and found a Canaanite woman to be his wife name Shua. Judah and Shua had three sons. They named their sons Er, Onan and Shelah. When Ur became an adult, he married a woman by the name of Tamar. However, Er was a very evil man. In fact Er was so sinful that God killed Er because of his sin. Then Judah told Onan to marry Tamar and in this way they could have a child for Er so that the family line of Er would continue. This was the custom in that land in that day. Onan went into Tamar and practiced withdrawal so that Tamar would not become pregnant because he did not want to raise up children for his brother.

1. Read Genesis 38:1-23 and write what the Lord did to Onan because he refused to produce a child for his brother.

2. Explain what these verses teach about the fact that the two older sons of Judah were very evil men.

3. Explain why the fact that these sons became very evil shows the importance of beginning to teach your children from the time that they are born.

Time after time in the Old Testament we see the judgment of God for sin. This is a reminder of the fact that the penalty for sin is death. Judah told Tamar that he would give her his third son as her husband when Shelah became a man. As time went on Shelah became a man but Judah forgot all about his promise. Soon after the death of the wife of Judah, Tamar heard that Judah was going to shear his sheep. She decided to take matters into her own hands. Tamar dressed as a prostitute and covered her face. Then she sat along the road that Judah had to take to go and shear his sheep. We see that Judah had no moral standards. When Judah saw Tamar, he immediately began bargaining to spend the night with her.

4. Read Genesis 38:1-23 and write what Judah offered to give Tamar in order to spend the night with her.

5. Explain why the fact that Judah forgot the promise that he had made to Tamar shows that his promise was not very important to him.

6. Explain why these verses help you to understand what happens when a person had not developed personal moral values in his or her own life.

In order to show that he would keep his promise to Tamar, Judah left his ring, his bracelets and his walking stick with Tamar. That day Tamar became pregnant because of Judah. Later Judah asked his friend to take a young goat back to the prostitute. The friend could not find the prostitute. In fact the men of the village said that they did not have a prostitute in their village. In this chapter we see a picture of the terrible moral condition in the land of Canaan. In addition, most of the sons of Jacob had become just like the people that lived around them.

7. Read Genesis 28:1-23 and write the name of the friend that Judah had sent to take the young goat to the prostitute.

8. Explain what these verses show about the sinful condition of the land and at least part of the sons of Jacob.

9. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to pray regularly that the Lord will give you daily strength to live a life of high moral character.

We go on to read that Judah knew what was right and wrong even though he was living in sin. About three months later Judah heard that Tamar had acted as a prostitute and was going to have a child. Immediately Judah said that she must be judged. He ordered others at the house of her father to bring her out so that she could be burned. Here we see something that many people do. They accuse others of doing evil when they are living in sin at the same time. They think that no one will know that they are living in sin if they point their fingers at others and condemn them. We cannot escape our own guilt by pointing our finger at someone else. God knows when we have done wrong even if no other person knows. God will judge us if we do wrong.

10. Read Genesis 38:24-30 and write by who Tamar said that she was with child.

11. Explain why Judah said that Tamar must be judged for her sin when he was guilty of the same sin himself.

12. Explain why you think that those who are practicing sin are quick to condemn others for sin.

Suddenly Judah was faced with the fact that he was the one that had made Tamar pregnant. His sin which he thought was hidden was suddenly revealed to everyone. He could not say that he was innocent. Tamar had his rings and his bracelet to show that Judah was the guilty person. Then Judah admitted that he was guilty. He said that he was worse than Tamar because he had not kept his promise to have his youngest son marry Tamar. This is a perfect example of the fact that we cannot hide our sins. Judah knew that he was guilty and had to admit it.

13. Read Genesis 38:24-30 and write what Tamar found out when the time of her birth came.

14. Explain why these verses show that even when people try to hide their sins that the Lord knows how to show that they are guilty.

15. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to confess you sin quickly instead of trying to hide your sin.

Two sons were born to Tamar. It was from one of these two sons that the family line traveled through which Christ would later come. This gives us a real picture of the love and forgiveness of God. Even though this son was born as the result of sin on the part of both the mother and the father, God included them in the family of Christ. Christ showed this same great love to us when He saved us. Because we are sinners, we do not have any right to eternal life. However, when we placed our trust in Christ, He forgave us and took away our sins because of His love for us. Christ also chose to include us in His family throughout eternity.

16. Read Genesis 38:24-30 and write the names of the two sons that came from the choices of Judah and Tamar.

17. Explain why the fact that Judah and Tamar are included in the family line of Christ shows that God is a God of great mercy.

18. Explain why you think that God chose to include Tamar in the family line of Christ in spite of her sin and the sin of Judah.

We also learn that Joseph faced similar temptations. However, we will see that Joseph made the choice to honor the Lord and the Lord gave Joseph victory over temptation because Joseph depended on the Lord for his strength. When Joseph arrived in Egypt, he was sold to a man by the name of Potiphar. Potiphar was the captain of the guard for the ruler of Egypt. When Potiphar saw the way that the Lord was blessing Joseph, Potiphar placed Joseph in charge of his house and all of his possessions. Potiphar realized that he could trust Joseph.

19. Read Genesis 39:1-23 and write what the Lord did for Potiphar because of his kindness to Joseph.

20. Explain why Potiphar quickly realized that he could trust Joseph and placed him in charge of all of his possessions and household.

21. Explain why it is important to put the Lord first in your life so that others will recognize the godly character in your life.

Joseph was a very handsome man. The wife of his master began to look at Joseph with lust in her heart. One day she spoke to Joseph and asked him to have sexual relationships with her. Joseph refused and said that he could not do such an evil thing when his master trusted him. In addition, he could not do such evil because it would be a sin against God. She continued to ask Joseph to lie with her every day but Joseph continued to refuse. One day when no one was in the house, she grabbed the robe that Joseph was wearing and begged him again to have sexual relationships with her.

22. Read Genesis 39:1-23 and write what Joseph did.

23. Explain why this passage shows that lust in the heart is often stirred up by what people see with their eyes.

24. Explain why it is important for you to understand the fact that Joseph realized that the real sin would be sin against God.

Here we see the way to have victory over temptation. We must flee from those temptations. If we continue to stay in the place where we are being tempted, we may fall and sin. However, the Lord will give us victory over temptation if we will flee from it. The woman put the robe of Joseph in a place where she could show it to her husband when he came home. When Potiphar came home, his wife said that Joseph had come into the house and had tried to rape her. She said that the only reason that she had escaped was because she had called with a loud voice.

25. Read Genesis 39:1-23 and write what Potiphar did with Joseph after he heard the lies of his wife.

26. Explain why it is important to flee from temptation instead of spending time thinking about the temporary pleasure that the temptation might provide.

27. Explain why the wife of Potiphar accused Joseph falsely as a way to try and cover her own sin.

Here we see that Joseph was falsely accused and was put in prison for doing what was right. However, his master must not have believed the story of his wife completely. Otherwise Potiphar would have had Joseph killed. The Lord also showed kindness to Joseph in prison. The man in charge of the prison realized that Joseph was a good man. As a result, Joseph was placed in charge of all of the prisoners in the prison. The Lord also blessed everything that Joseph did in prison.

28. Read Genesis 39:1-23 and write why Joseph was placed in charge of all of the prisoners in the prison.

29. Explain how the Lord was working in the life of Joseph even when he was accused falsely and put in prison.

30. Explain how the Lord can work through difficult circumstances in your own life to bring blessing to your life.

One day while Joseph was in prison, two other men were thrown into the prison and Joseph was placed in charge of them. One man was the butler of the Pharaoh. He was the man in charge of serving the table of Pharaoh. The second man was the head baker of the Pharaoh. They had been sent to prison because the king was unhappy with them. After they had been in prison for a period of time, they each had a dream one night. The next morning they were both very sad because they could not understand their dreams. Joseph asked them why they were so sad.

31. Read Genesis 40:1-23 and write who Joseph said could interpret dreams.

32. Explain how Joseph showed his concern for both the butler and the baker when he saw the sadness in their faces.

33. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to reach out and show compassion to others in their pain.

Here we see why it is so important to pray to the Lord when we do not understand something. God knows all things and He can give us understanding. Then the butler told his dream to Joseph first. He said that he dreamed that he saw a grape vine with three branches. These branches produced good fruit. Then the butler dreamed that he took the grapes and squeezed them into the cup of Pharaoh. In his dream he then served the cup to Pharaoh. Joseph said that this dream meant that the butler would be freed from prison and would again serve Pharaoh. Of course this was a message of good news when the butler heard that he would be restored.

34. Read Genesis 40:1-23 and write how long Joseph said it would be before the butler would begin serving Pharaoh again.

35. Explain why it is important to pray and ask the Lord to give us wisdom and understanding when we do not understand something.

36. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord has given you the Holy Spirit to help guide you and give you understanding.

When the baker heard the meaning of the dream of the butler, the baker decided to have Joseph explain the meaning of his dream also. The baker had dreamed that he had three loaves of bread in a basket on his head. Then the birds came and ate the bread out of the basket that was on the head of the baker. Joseph explained that this dream meant that the baker would be hung on a tree in three days and then the birds would come and eat his flesh. Three days later both of the dreams were fulfilled. They were fulfilled exactly as Joseph had said things would happen.

37. Read Genesis 40:1-23 and write what Joseph asked the butler to do when he was restored to his position of serving Pharaoh.

38. Explain why God chose to tell these two men what was going to happen in their lives through the dreams that Joseph interpreted.

39. Explain why you think that the Lord gave Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams of the two men.

Three days later was the birthday of Pharaoh. On that day Pharaoh made a great feast. That day Pharaoh had the butler taken out of jail so that he could begin to serve him again. Pharaoh also ordered the death of the baker exactly as Joseph had said. Before the butler left the prison, Joseph asked the butler to say a good word for Joseph to Pharaoh. Joseph knew that he was innocent and that he should not be in prison. That was why he asked the butler to speak to Pharaoh for him.

40. Read Genesis 40:1-23 and write whether the butler remembered to speak a good word for Joseph to Pharaoh.

41. Explain why Joseph asked the butler to speak for him once the butler was restored to his position as butler.

42. Explain why you think that the Lord chose to work through Joseph to help others even while he was in prison.

Now reread Genesis 38:1-40:23 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 17

Genesis 41:1-42:38

In our last lesson we learned that Joseph was falsely accused by the wife of Potiphar. He was placed in prison even though he had done what was right and provided us an example of godly character. Today we will learn that God had a reason for allowing Joseph to be in an Egyptian prison. That reason was to protect the entire nation of Egypt as well as his own family. Because Joseph had interpreted the dream of the butler in prison, God gave him the opportunity to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. In addition to interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, Joseph also told Pharaoh how to protect the people of his nation from starvation.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain the meaning of the dreams of Pharaoh.

Explain what Joseph suggested to Pharaoh to protect Egypt.

Explain why the brothers of Joseph came to Egypt.

Explain why Simeon was kept in Egypt.

One day after Joseph had been in prison for two full years, Pharaoh had two dreams. In the first dream Pharaoh dreamed that he saw seven fat cows eaten by seven thin cows. In the second dream he saw seven fat heads of grain eaten by seven thin heads of grain. The next morning Pharaoh was very upset because he could not understand the meaning of his dreams. He called for all of his magicians and wise men to come and explain the meaning of the dreams to him. Here we see that God chose to use dreams to speak to Pharaoh even though Pharaoh had little or no knowledge of God. However, God still had a concern for the people of Egypt.

1. Read Genesis 41:1-32 and write whether any of those men could interpret the dreams of Pharaoh.

2. Explain why God chose to speak to Pharaoh through dreams even though Pharaoh knew nothing about God.

3. Explain why you think that the Lord allowed Joseph to stay in prison for two full years even though he was innocent of any sin.

The magicians and wise men of Pharaoh all failed him because none of them had any idea what the dreams meant. Suddenly the butler of Pharaoh remembered how Joseph had interpreted his dream and the dream of the baker in prison. The butler told Pharaoh about their dreams and said that both dreams had come true exactly as Joseph had interpreted them. Then Pharaoh sent a messenger to bring Joseph out of prison. Joseph was given new clothes so that he could come before the king. When Joseph was standing before the king, the king said that he had heard that Joseph was a man that knew how to interpret dreams.

4. Read Genesis 41:1-32 and write who Joseph said would interpret the dreams.

5. Explain why the butler had forgotten his promise to Joseph even though Joseph had been such an encouragement to him when he was in prison.

6. Explain why it is important for you to give thanks to the Lord for all things even when it seems like you are being unjustly treated.

Here we learn an important lesson from the example of Joseph. He gave all of the credit to God. In the same way, we should give all credit to the Lord instead of boasting about the things that we can do. Then Pharaoh told his dreams about the cows and the grain to Joseph. When Pharaoh had completed his explanation of the two dreams, Joseph told Pharaoh that both dreams meant the same thing. God was showing Pharaoh what He was soon going to do in the land of Egypt. The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain pictured the fact that Egypt was going to have wonderful crops for the next seven years.

7. Read Genesis 41:1-32 and write what the seven thin cows and seven bad heads of grain meant.

8. Explain why the fact that Joseph gave all credit to the Lord also helps us to understand more about the godly character of Joseph.

9. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to realize that the Lord deserves all credit for whatever things he allows you to do through your life.

Then Joseph told Pharaoh why he had received the two dreams instead of only one dream. The reason for the two dreams was to show Pharaoh that the things that God had shown him in the dreams would soon come to pass. The seven years of plenty would be wonderful. However, the seven years of famine would be so great that the people would forget all about the seven good years that they had experienced before the seven years of famine. Here we see that God is the One that controls the weather and causes things to happen according to His plan.

10. Read Genesis 41:1-32 and write what Joseph told Pharaoh that God would surely do.

11. Explain why it was important for Pharaoh to realize that these dreams would be fulfilled immediately and not many years later.

12. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord can work through your life to help others know more about God’s plans for the future.

Joseph told the king what his dream meant. However, Joseph did not stop with just interpreting the dream. Joseph went on to make a suggestion to the king. Joseph made this suggestion so that the people of Egypt would not die of starvation. Joseph suggested that the king choose a wise man to gather one-fifth of the food during the seven years when they had abundant crops. Joseph said that this food would then be available for the people during the seven years of famine. Pharaoh thought that this was a very good idea because it would save the people.

13. Read Genesis 41:33-57 and write who Pharaoh chose to gather the food during the seven years of plenty.

14. Explain why Joseph gave a suggestion to the king about what to do as well as interpreting his dreams for him.

15. Explain why it is important to know that the Lord will give you the wisdom to know what to do in various situations as you ask him for wisdom.

Pharaoh chose Joseph to be in charge of preparing for the famine because he realized that Joseph had the Spirit of God in him. Then Pharaoh took the ring off of his finger and put it on the finger of Joseph. The ring was used to sign all letters and laws that Pharaoh wrote or sent. In this way Pharaoh was showing that Joseph was next to Pharaoh in power. Joseph was now given the power to make and sign laws and decrees. Then Pharaoh dressed Joseph in fine clothes and made him ride in the second chariot. The one that rode in the second chariot was the one that was next to Pharaoh in importance. Pharaoh also gave Joseph a wife.

16. Read Genesis 41:33-56 and write down the name of the wife of Joseph.

17. Explain why the Lord gave Joseph two years to exercise leadership in prison in order to prepare him to exercise leadership for the entire country.

18. Explain why you think that Pharaoh was so quick to put Joseph into a position of leadership even though he had been in prison.

Joseph was thirty years old when he became the leader in Egypt. That meant that he had been a slave in Egypt for thirteen years. During the next seven years Joseph gathered one-fifth of the food that was grown in the land of Egypt. This food was stored in the cities. By the end of the seven years there was so much grain stored that it was impossible to know how much grain was stored. During this time two sons were born to Joseph. Suddenly the seven years of plenty came to an end. Then the seven years of famine began. People began to come from many countries to buy grain in Egypt because they were also experiencing the famine.

19. Read Genesis 41:33-57 and what Pharaoh told the people to do when they cried out to him because of their hunger.

20. Explain how the Lord chose to bless Joseph because he had been faithful to the Lord even while serving as a slave.

21. Explain why it is important to be faithful in your service for the Lord whether it is in a place where you are unknown or in an important position.

The famine also affected the land of Canaan where the family of Jacob lived. Then Jacob heard that there was food in the land of Egypt. Jacob decided to send his ten sons to Egypt to buy grain so that his family would not starve. However, Jacob would not let Benjamin go because Benjamin was his youngest son and Jacob did not want anything to happen to Benjamin. When the brothers of Joseph reached Egypt, they came and bowed down to Joseph and asked to buy food. Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him because he was dressed like an Egyptian.

22. Read Genesis 42:1-20 and write what Joseph told his brothers that they must do to prove that they were not spies.

23. Explain how God was fulfilling the dreams that Joseph had received when he was just a teenager.

24. Explain why you think that the Lord chose to give those dreams to Joseph many years earlier even though they were not fulfilled for many years.

Joseph wanted to find out if his brothers were sorry for their sins. To do this Joseph accused his brothers of being spies. Immediately the brothers told Joseph that they had only come to buy food and were not spies. Then they said that they were all from the same family and could not be spies. They even mentioned the fact that they had a younger brother that had stayed with their father. This was good news to Joseph because it meant that his father was still alive.

25. Read Genesis 42:1-20 and write what Joseph told his brothers they must do to prove that they were not spies.

26. Explain why Joseph chose to accuse his brothers of being spies as a way to test them to see if they were sorry for their sins.

27. Explain how the Lord used the words of his brothers to encourage Joseph about his family without them even realizing that they had encouraged him.

Joseph told his brothers to choose one brother to go back to Canaan and get their youngest brother. Joseph then put them in prison for three days to give them time to think. After they had been in prison for three days, Joseph brought them out and told them that they could return to their own land because He trusted in God. However, Joseph told his brothers that they could not buy any more food unless they brought their youngest brother with them the next time that they came to Egypt to buy food.

28. Read Genesis 42:1-20 and write what Joseph said he would do with one of their brothers while he let them go back to the land of Canaan.

29. Explain why Joseph explained to his brothers that he was going to let them go back to their land because he trusted God.

30. Explain why you think that Joseph said that the only way that they could buy more food was to bring their younger brother with them.

The brothers did not realize that Joseph could understand and speak their language because he had been speaking to them through an interpreter. As soon as Joseph said that they must bring their youngest brother the next time that they came to Egypt, the brothers began talking among themselves. They immediately began talking about the evil way that they had treated Joseph. Here is a beautiful picture of the way that the conscience convicts men when they do wrong. The brothers had not seen Joseph for over twenty years. However, their consciences still bothered them and they could think of nothing else when Joseph treated them as spies.

31, Read Genesis 42:21-38 and write what Joseph did to Simeon.

32. Explain how the Lord used the conversation of the brothers to show Joseph that He was continuing to convict the brothers for their sins.

33. Explain why it is important for you to understand that your conscience will also convict you when you sin.

Joseph was making certain that his brothers would come back to Egypt to buy more food. They would have to come back to Egypt in order to free Simeon from the prison. When Joseph loaded their sacks with grain, he also put their money back in their sacks. Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way. That night when they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack and discovered his money. When the brothers saw the money in the sack, they were filled with fear.

34. Read Genesis 42:21-38 and write what the brothers said to one another because of their fear.

35. Explain why Joseph chose to put the money of the brothers back into their sacks with their grain.

36. Explain why you think that the money in their bags caused fear instead of joy to the brothers.

Joseph had returned the money to his brothers to remind them that they had actually sinned against God. Here we see that their consciences were bothering them again. When we have unconfessed sin in our lives, we know that our consciences will continue to convict us until we confess those sins to the Lord. If these sins were against another person, we must also confess out sin to that person and ask for forgiveness in order to have real peace in our hearts.

37. Read Genesis 42:21-38 and write what the brothers told Jacob about their trip to Egypt.

38. Explain what these verses teach us about the way that our consciences convict us of unconfessed sin even of sins that may have been committed many years ago.

39. Explain why it is important for you to respond to the conviction of your conscience by confessing your sin to the Lord.

When the brothers reached home, they told Jacob how they had been treated in Egypt. They said that the ruler had spoken to them roughly and had accused them of being spies. Then the rest of the brothers opened their sacks. They discovered that all of them had their money in their sacks. Again their hearts were filled with fear. The brothers also told Jacob that Benjamin must go with them the next time they went to Egypt or they would not be able to buy any more food. Jacob said that he would never let Benjamin go with them to Egypt.

40. Read Genesis 42:21-38 and write what Reuben promised Jacob could do if they did not bring Benjamin back safely.

41. Explain why Jacob said that he would never let Benjamin go with his brothers to Egypt.

42. Explain how you think the brothers felt because of being treated roughly and being accused of being spies.

Now reread Genesis 41:1-42:38 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 18

Genesis 43:1-45:28

We saw that Joseph had told Pharaoh that the famine would last for seven years. Joseph knew that his brothers would have to come again to buy food. As a result, the day came when the brothers of Joseph went to Egypt for a second time to buy food for their families. This time Benjamin came to Egypt with his brothers. In order to see whether his brothers were sorry for what they had done to Joseph, he ordered his servant to make the necessary arrangements so that Benjamin could be sent to jail. Through this test, Joseph found out several things about his brothers. Then Joseph told his brothers that he was Joseph.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what happened when Joseph invited his brothers to dinner.

Explain how Joseph used Benjamin to test his brothers.

Explain why Judah spoke for Benjamin.

Explain what happened when Joseph told his brothers who he was.

In our last lesson we learned that Jacob said that he would never allow Benjamin to go down to Egypt. However, the famine continued and the food that they had bought in Egypt was being used up quickly. Then Jacob told his sons to go to Egypt and buy some more food. They reminded Jacob that they could not go unless they took Benjamin with them. Judah spoke and said that he would take the responsibility to make certain that Benjamin returned safely. Here we see that the brothers were in a situation where they realized that they had no choice but to take Benjamin with them. Their father was very concerned not to let Benjamin go to Egypt.

1. Read Genesis 43:1-34 and write what Judah said that he would bear if Benjamin did not return safely.

2. Explain why the brothers told Jacob that they could not go back to Egypt to get more food unless they took Benjamin with them.

3. Explain why you think that Judah was willing to take the responsibility to make certain that Benjamin returned safely.

Finally Jacob agreed to let the brothers take Benjamin with them. He realized that they would soon starve if they did not get more food from Egypt. Then Jacob told his sons to take a present to the ruler in Egypt. He also told them to take double money so that they could pay for the grain that they had received the first time. Then the brothers traveled to Egypt and took Benjamin with them. When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he immediately ordered a servant to prepare dinner for them at his house. The servant went and killed an animal and prepared the dinner.

4. Read Genesis 43:1-34 and write how the brothers felt when they heard that they were going to eat dinner with the ruler.

5. Explain why Jacob and the brothers did everything that they could think of doing to try and make sure that they would be treated kindly.

6. Explain how you think that Joseph felt when he saw that his brother Benjamin had come with them.

The men were filled with fear because they were taken to the house of Joseph for a meal. They thought that Joseph might be planning to make slaves of them. They immediately told the steward (treasurer) for Joseph that they had brought the money that was returned to them in their sacks. Then the steward told them that God had given them their money back. The steward said that he had their money. The steward also brought Simeon out to his brothers. When Joseph arrived, the brothers came and bowed before him and offered their present that their father had told them to bring to the ruler.

7. Read Genesis 43:1-34 and write the first question that Joseph asked his brothers.

8. Explain how you think the brothers felt when the steward brought Simeon out to have dinner with them.

9. Explain why you think that the brothers still continued to be fearful especially when they were invited to the house of Joseph for a meal.

Joseph was filled with joy when he saw Benjamin and heard that his father was alive and well. In fact he was so joyful that he could not control himself. Since he could not control himself, he went to his room so that he could cry without his brothers seeing him cry. After Joseph washed his face, he returned to his brothers. Then he had them sit down and eat. He arranged them at the table according to their ages. Again the brothers were surprised to realize that this man knew so much about them.

10. Read Genesis 43:1-34 and write how much food Joseph had his servants bring to Benjamin.

11. Explain why the brothers were first filled with fear and then with surprise at the things that Joseph did.

12. Explain why you think that Joseph seated the brothers according to their ages at the table.

Joseph told his steward to fill the sacks of his brothers with food. He also had the steward put their money in the mouths of their sacks. In order to test his brothers, Joseph also had the steward put his silver cup in the bag of Benjamin. Early the next morning the brothers of Joseph started on their way back to the land of Canaan. Joseph waited until they had gone out of the city. Once his brothers were out of the city, Joseph sent his steward after them. The steward quickly caught up with the brothers. Then the steward followed the instructions of Joseph and questioned them.

13. Read Genesis 44:1-13 and write the first question that the steward was told to ask the brothers of Joseph.

14. Explain why Joseph had developed the plan to have the steward put his silver cup in the bag of Benjamin.

15. Explain how you think the brothers felt when the steward caught up with them and accused them of stealing the silver cup of the ruler.

When the steward of Joseph caught up with the brothers, he asked them why they had done evil by stealing the silver cup of Joseph. Of course the brothers were shocked when they heard the words of the steward. They knew that they were innocent. Then they reminded the steward of the fact that they had returned with the money that they had found in their sacks. Since the brothers knew that they were innocent, that thought that it was impossible for one of them to have the silver cup of Joseph. They knew that none of them would take that cup.

16. Read Genesis 44:1-13 and write what they said should happen to the one that had the silver cup.

17. Explain why the brothers were all so certain that they were innocent and had not stolen the silver cup of the ruler.

18. Explain how you feel when someone accuses you falsely of doing something that you know you did not do.

The brothers were very certain that the steward would not find the silver cup in any of their sacks. They quickly took down their sacks so that the steward could search them. The steward began checking the bag of the oldest brother. He searched each of the sacks until he came to the sack of Benjamin. Of course the steward found the cup exactly where he had hidden it in the sack of Benjamin. Then all of the brothers returned to speak to Joseph.

19. Read Genesis 44:1-13 and write what they did to their clothes.

20. Explain why Joseph wanted to test his brothers by making Benjamin look like he was the one that was guilty of stealing the silver cup.

21. Explain how you think the brothers felt when the silver cup was found in the bag of Benjamin.

As soon as the brothers reached the house of Joseph, he began to accuse them of doing evil. Then Judah began to speak. However, he said something different than the brothers had told the steward before the steward found the cup. The brothers had told the steward that the one that had the cup should die. Now Judah said that they would all be servants. Joseph replied that he did not want all of them to be servants. He said that the one that had stolen the cup should be a servant and the rest could return to their father. This made it so that the brothers were either forced to show their love for Benjamin or else show their lack of concern for him.

22. Read Genesis 44:14-34 and write who came close to Joseph to speak for Benjamin.

23. Explain why Judah changed the words that the brothers had spoken earlier and now said that they would all be servants.

24. Explain how you think the brothers felt when Joseph said that only the one that had stolen the silver cup would remain as a servant.

Judah quickly told Joseph more about the love of the father for Benjamin. He told how the father loved the two sons of Rachel and about the great sorrow of Jacob because he thought that Joseph was dead. Judah explained that this love was the thing that kept the father from sending Benjamin with the brothers the first time that they had come to Egypt for food. Then Judah reminded Joseph of the fact that he had said that they could buy no more food unless Benjamin came to Egypt with the other brothers the next time that they came to Egypt for food.

25. Read Genesis 44:14-34 and write what Jacob had said would happen to him if some mischief happened to Benjamin.

26. Explain why Judah began his answer to Joseph by reviewing the background that had led to Benjamin coming to Egypt.

27. Explain how you think Judah felt as he tried to convince Joseph to allow Benjamin to return to their father.

Here we see that Judah was saying that it would kill Jacob if anything happened to Benjamin. Judah also said that he and his family would bear the blame forever if something happened to Benjamin and this caused the death of his father. Finally Judah asked Joseph to keep him as a slave instead of Benjamin so that Benjamin could go home to his father. Judah wanted to suffer the penalty in the place of Benjamin. That is exactly what Christ did for us. He suffered and died to pay the penalty for our sins by His death on the cross.

28. Read Genesis 44:13-34 and write what Jacob felt about the life of Benjamin.

29. Explain how these verses give us an example of the fact that Christ took our penalty and paid for our sin.

30. Explain why you are thankful that Christ was willing to take you place and pay the penalty for your sin by His death on the cross.

When Joseph heard Judah say that he was willing to suffer the penalty that belonged to Benjamin, Joseph could control himself no longer. He had found out that at least one brother was more concerned about others than he was about himself. He saw that Judah had a very different attitude than the brothers had showed when they had sold Joseph as a slave. Then Joseph told everyone except his brothers to leave the house. Joseph was crying so loud that the Egyptians outside of his house could hear him. Then Joseph told his brothers that he was Joseph.

31. Read Genesis 45:1-28 and write what the brothers of Joseph could not speak when Joseph told them who he was.

32. Explain what you think went through the minds of the brothers when they learned that they were talking to Joseph.

33. Explain why you think that Joseph was very thankful to see the attitude that Judah had just showed him by his words.

The brothers had been afraid of Joseph before he told them that he was Joseph. Now his brothers were filled with a much greater fear because they remembered all of the evil things that they had done to Joseph. They realized that Joseph could kill them immediately if he decided that he wanted to get even with them. Then Joseph called his brothers close and told them not to be angry with themselves. God had sent Joseph to Egypt to protect their lives because the famine was going to last for five more years. Joseph told his brothers to return to Canaan and tell Jacob that Joseph was alive and wanted Jacob to come and live in Egypt.

34. Read Genesis 45:1-28 and write where Joseph said that they could live when they came to the land of Egypt.

35. Explain why Joseph told the brothers that God was the One that had sent him to Egypt so that he could protect their lives.

36. Explain how the answer of Joseph gives you an example for your own life to understand that God will work even through difficult events.

The land of Goshen was the best land in the entire country of Egypt. When Pharaoh heard that the brothers of Joseph had come, he also encouraged them to come to the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said that he would send wagons with them to haul their possessions to Egypt. Pharaoh told them to leave their furniture in Canaan because he would supply them with new furniture. Joseph also showed his love for his brothers by giving each of them a new set of clothes. Joseph chose to show his love for his brothers in spite of what they had done because he trusted the Lord.

37. Read Genesis 45:1-28 and write what Joseph sent to his father as a present to him from Joseph.

38. Explain what these verses teach us about forgiveness and love from the love of Joseph for his brothers.

39. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to show the love of Christ to others even when they have done evil things to you.

After Joseph had spoken with his brothers, he sent a present for his father and wagons to carry the possessions of his brothers and their families. As soon as the brothers reached home, they told Jacob that Joseph was alive and that he was the ruler of Egypt. Jacob was so shocked that he did not even believe his sons. Then the brothers told Jacob all of the things that Joseph had said to them. When Jacob saw the wagons that Joseph had sent, he finally believed the things that his sons were telling him about Joseph. He realized that Joseph was alive and was the ruler in Egypt.

40. Read Genesis 45:1-28 and write what Jacob said that he would do before he died.

41. Explain how you think Jacob felt when he was told that his son Joseph was alive and was the ruler in Egypt.

42. Explain how the Lord has worked in your own life to take difficult events and turn them around for good.

Now reread Genesis 43:1-45:28 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 19

Genesis 46:1-48:22

We learned in our last lesson that Joseph had sent his brothers back to Canaan to get their father and to bring him down to Egypt. We saw that God had sent Joseph to Egypt earlier to protect the family of Jacob as well as the nation of Egypt. Jacob found it hard to believe when his sons told him that Joseph was alive. Then Jacob decided to go down to Egypt when he heard that Joseph was alive and well in Egypt. We will read how the Lord blessed the family of Jacob while they were in Egypt. We will also read about the things that Jacob said when he blessed both of the sons of Joseph.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what happened when the family of Jacob went to Egypt.

Explain what happened with the family of Jacob met Pharaoh.

Explain how the lack of food was causing great suffering among many people.

Explain why Jacob blessed both of the sons of Joseph.

Once Jacob realized that Joseph was alive in Egypt, Jacob immediately began to make preparations to move to the country of Egypt. However, Jacob did something that was very important before he left the land of Canaan because it showed that his faith had been growing during the years that Joseph was in Egypt. At Beersheba Jacob prayed and offered sacrifices to God. Jacob wanted to make certain that it was the will of God for him to go to Egypt instead of just acting in his own strength. That night God spoke to Jacob. God told Jacob not to be afraid to go to Egypt. God said that He would make the family of Jacob a great nation while they were in the land of Egypt.

1. Read Genesis 46:1-34 and write the other great promise that God gave to Jacob at Beersheba.

2. Explain why it is important that Jacob wanted to offer sacrifices to the Lord before he left Canaan for Egypt.

3. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to pray and make sure that the Lord is leading you instead of just following your own desires.

The Lord gave Jacob a wonderful promise as he prepared to go to Egypt. The Lord also gives us this same wonderful promise today. God said that He would go with Jacob as he went down into Egypt. God never sends any of us anywhere alone. Wherever we go, we know that the Lord always goes with us. He will be with us so we do not need to be afraid. This is the reason why we can serve the Lord without fear. As we serve Christ, we know that He is watching over us. After God had spoken to Jacob, then Jacob started on his way to Egypt. He took his family along with him and all of their possessions and cattle as they went to Egypt.

4. Read Genesis 46:1-35 and write how much of the family of Jacob went with him to the land of Egypt.

5. Explain why it was important for Jacob to know that the Lord would go with him as he went down into the land of Egypt.

6. Explain why you are thankful for the fact that you know that the Lord will go with you wherever you go.

Here we see that all of the family of Jacob went with him. None of the family remained in the land of Canaan. This is the way that we should desire to go to heaven. If we are faithful in praying for our families and teaching the Word of God to our families from the time that they are born, we can expect the Lord to work in their lives as we practice what we teach. They will see that our example agrees with what we teach and the Lord will use our example to draw our family to Himself in answer to our prayers. We read that the entire family of Jacob included seventy persons when they went to Egypt. Already the Lord was blessing the family of Jacob and it was growing.

7. Read Genesis 46:1-34 and write what Joseph did when he saw his father.

8. Explain why it was important for the whole family of Jacob to go together to Egypt in order to be preserved from the famine.

9. Explain why it is very important for our example to agree with what we teach if we want to see our entire family place their trust in Christ.

Jacob and Joseph were both filled with joy when they saw each other. It had been more than twenty years since they had last seen each other. Then Jacob said that he would now be happy when it came time to die because he had seen Joseph again. Joseph said that he would go and tell Pharaoh that his family had arrived in Egypt. He also instructed his brothers to tell Pharaoh that they were shepherds. The Egyptians did not want anyone around them that had cattle or sheep. As a result, Joseph knew that Pharaoh would tell the family to live in Goshen because it was the best land for cattle and sheep.

10. Read Genesis 46:1-34 and write what every shepherd was to the Egyptians.

11. Explain how the opportunity to see that his son Joseph was alive and talk with him filled Jacob with joy

12. Explain why you are thankful for the opportunity to talk with your family and see how the Lord is working in your lives as a family.

When Joseph told Pharaoh that his family had arrived in Egypt, Joseph said that they were in the land of Goshen. He also took five of his brothers with him so that Pharaoh could meet them. When Pharaoh met the brothers of Joseph, he asked them what their occupation was that earned them their living. They told Pharaoh that they were shepherds. They also told Pharaoh that they had brought their flocks to Egypt because there was no food for their flocks in the land of Canaan. Then the brothers asked Pharaoh for permission to live in the land of Goshen.

13. Read Genesis 47:1-12 and write where Pharaoh said that the family of Jacob could live.

14. Explain what Joseph did to help build a good relationship between his family and Pharaoh.

15. Explain why it is important for you in your own life to build good relationships between followers of Christ and those who do not yet know Christ.

Pharaoh was very willing to give the family of Jacob the best of the land because he realized that very few of the Egyptians would have even survived the famine if it had not been for Joseph interpreting his dreams and preparing for the famine during the seven years of plenty. Pharaoh also asked if some of the brothers of Joseph could take charge of his cattle. Then Joseph brought his father to meet Pharaoh. As Jacob stood before Pharaoh, Jacob blessed Pharaoh. Pharaoh realized that Jacob was a very old man and so he asked Jacob his age.

16. Read Genesis 47:1-12 and write how old Jacob said that he was at the time that he came to visit Pharaoh.

17. Explain how the respect that Pharaoh had for Joseph carried over to produce respect for his entire family.

18. Explain why you think that Jacob chose to bless Pharaoh when he was introduced to Pharaoh.

God had given Jacob a long and fruitful life because Jacob had served Him. God gave this long life to Jacob even though Jacob had failed many times during that life. However, we have seen that when Jacob failed that he asked God to forgive him. Here we see the secret to a happy and joyful life. The Lord wants to bless us as we yield the control of our lives to Him. When we yield the control of our lives to Christ, He will bless us and cause us to be filled with joy. Even when evil things happen to us, we will be filled with joy because we know that the Lord is with us and will give us His peace because we are trusting in Him.

19. Read Genesis 47:1-12 and write the other name that is given for the land of Goshen where Jacob and his family settled.

20. Explain why Jacob was able to tell Pharaoh that he had experienced a long and joyful life.

21. Explain why you know that the Lord will also make your life a fruitful life as you learn to yield your life to Christ moment by moment.

Because the Lord had prepared the way many years before, Joseph was able to care for the needs of his family. We see the terrible conditions in Egypt as we read through the rest of the chapter. The famine was very terrible in Egypt as well as in the land of Canaan. All of the people of Egypt soon used up their food. They had not prepared for the famine during the years of plenty. Then the people came to Joseph to buy food from him. However, one day the people began to run out of money and had no more money to buy food. Next they brought their cattle and their horses to pay for their food. Finally the people had no more cattle left to bring.

22. Read Genesis 47:13-31 and write what the people asked Joseph to buy so that they could have food.

23. Explain how this famine was affecting all of the people of Egypt as well as the people of the surrounding countries.

24. Explain what lessons you learn from the fact that the Lord used Joseph to preserve an entire nation from starvation.

The people of Egypt were willing to become servants of Pharaoh in order to receive enough food to survive until the end of the famine. They would have all died if the Lord would not have sent Joseph ahead to prepare the land of Egypt for the famine. Here we see that there was nothing that the people could do to supply their own needs. They had to depend on someone else to supply them and they realized that they must depend on Pharaoh in order to survive. Today we see are in the same situation. We must depend on the Lord to supply our needs. If we depend on our own efforts, we will see that that our own efforts may supply the physical needs that we have but they will not supply our spiritual needs.

25. Read Genesis 47:13-31 and write how much the people agreed to give back to Pharaoh if he would supply them with food so that they could live instead of starve.

26. Explain why we must look to the Lord to supply both our physical and spiritual needs instead of depending on our own efforts.

27. Explain why it is important to you in your own life to know that you can trust the Lord to supply your needs.

After Jacob came to Egypt, he lived for seventeen more years in Egypt. When Jacob knew that it would not be very long before he died, he called for Joseph to come and see him. Then he made Joseph promise that he would not bury his body in Egypt. Jacob knew that God had promised that the land of Canaan would belong to his family in the future. As a result, Jacob wanted his body to be buried in the land that God had promised to him and his family.

28. Read Genesis 47:13-31 and write what Jacob made Joseph promise that he would do when Jacob died.

29. Explain why the request that Jacob made of Joseph showed that he believed the promises that God had made to him.

30. Explain why you are thankful that you can also look forward to the fact that Christ is preparing a place for your future.

One day Joseph heard that his father was sick. He took his two sons with him and went to visit his father. When Jacob heard that Joseph was coming, he sat up in bed. Then Jacob reminded Joseph of the promises that God had given to their family. God had said that He would make a great nation from the family of Jacob. God had also said that He would give the land of Canaan to the family of Jacob as an everlasting possession. That promise that God had made to Jacob is still in effect today. That is the reason that we see that the Jews are returning to the land that God promised to Jacob. Many Jews have returned to the land of Israel in the past few years even though there have been many people that have tried to stop them.

31. Read Genesis 48:1-22 and write to whom Jacob said that the two sons of Joseph belonged.

32. Explain why it was important for Jacob to remind Joseph of the promises that the Lord had made to their family.

33. Explain why you know that you also need to be reminded at times of the promises that Christ has made for you in your life.

Here we see that Jacob was giving the blessing to Joseph. As the one that received the blessing, Joseph was entitled to a double inheritance. As we study the later history of the nation of Israel, we will see that two of the tribes of the nation of Israel came from Joseph. Jacob also saw that Joseph was not alone as he visited him. Then Jacob asked Joseph who was with him. Joseph replied that he had brought his two sons with him when he came to visit Jacob.

34. Read Genesis 48:1-22 and write why Jacob then asked Joseph to bring his two sons close to Jacob.

35. Explain why Jacob gave the blessing to Joseph even though Joseph was one of his youngest sons.

36. Explain why it is important to you to know that the Lord has promised blessing to you in your life.

When Joseph brought his sons to Jacob to be blessed by him, Joseph tried to guide the two sons so that Jacob would put his right hand on Manasseh and his left hand on Ephraim. Joseph did this because his father could no longer see. However, Jacob crossed his hands so that his right hand rested on Ephraim. Here we see that Jacob was giving the greater blessing to the younger son. This shows us that our age and background are not important in the sight of God. He will bless us regardless of our background when we place our trust in Him.

37. Read Genesis 48:1-22 and write how Joseph reacted when he saw that his father was blessing the younger son.

38. Explain how the actions of Jacob show that our background is not important in the sight of God.

39. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord does not consider our background when he promises blessings to us in our lives.

Joseph was not happy when his father started to give the greater blessing to the younger son. Joseph tried to switch the hands of his father but Jacob refused to allow his hands to be changed. Here we see that Joseph did something that we often try to do as Christians. We try to work things out in our own way instead of doing what the Lord wants us to do. If we do things in our own way instead of letting the Lord lead us, we will only cause problems. When we depend on the Lord to lead and guide us, He will work out what is best for us in our lives.

40. Read Genesis 48:1-22 and write what Jacob said that God would do for his family after Jacob died.

41. Explain why it was important to Jacob to give the greater blessing to the younger son of Joseph.

42. Explain why you are thankful that the Lord does not favor either the older child or the younger child in a family when He blesses them.

Now reread Genesis 46:1-48:22 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.

Survey of Genesis

Lesson 20

Genesis 49:1-50:26

As we come to the final lesson in our study of Genesis, we read about the blessings that Jacob spoke about each of his sons. Here we see that Jacob had a blessing for every son and not just one son. Many wonderful promises about Christ and the family from which Christ would come are included in these blessings. These prophecies about Christ were completed exactly as Jacob spoke them. As a result, we will be learning several things about Christ in this final lesson on Genesis. In our lesson we will also learn about the deaths of Jacob and Joseph.

As you study this lesson, you should use the following objectives to guide you in your study. By the time you complete this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain what promises are made about Christ.

Tell about the death of Jacob.

Tell about the burial of Jacob.

Tell about the death of Joseph.

When Jacob realized that he would soon die, he called all of his sons together to speak to them. As Jacob spoke to his sons, he told them what would happen to their families in the future. Jacob spoke about each of his sons. He began with the oldest and continued in order down to the youngest. As a result, he started with Reuben since he was the oldest son. Usually the oldest son was promised certain things more than the other sons. However, Jacob reminded Reuben that Reuben had committed adultery with one of the wives of Jacob. As a result, Reuben was not promised many blessings. Here we are reminded that sins have consequences.

1. Read Genesis 49:1-21 and write what sons are mentioned next.

2. Explain why it was important to Jacob to tell each of his sons about their futures before he died.

3. Explain why you think that it was important to Jacob to remind his son Reuben that sin has consequences.

Simeon and Levi were also reminded of their sins. As you remember, in their hatred they had destroyed the men of the city where Hamor had raped their sister, Dinah. Jacob said that they had shown great anger and cruelty. As a result, Jacob said that they would be scattered among the other tribes. This happened after they returned to the land of Canaan. Since the first three sons did not receive special blessings because of their sins, Judah received part of these special blessings instead. Jacob said that the families of the other sons would bow down to some of those who came from the family of Judah. David and all of his descendents that became kings were from the family of Judah. Some of the promises to Judah were also completed by Christ.

4. Read Genesis 49:1-21 and write what animal God said through Judah that the family of Judah would be like.

5. Explain why the choices of Simeon and Levi resulted in the scattering of their descendents among the other tribes of Israel.

6. Explain why the blessing given to Judah looked to the future and what the Lord was going to do through his descendents.

We find in the Bible that Christ is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah because Christ came from the family of Judah. We also read that there would come One from the family of Judah that would continue to rule. Of course we know that Christ is the One that will rule forever. This passage also speaks of the young colt of an ass. Christ is the only recorded king from Judah’s family that ever rode such an animal at the time that people were saying that He was the One that was coming as king. Of course that statement was made about Christ as he rode into Jerusalem just a few days before He was crucified.

7. Read Genesis 49:1-21 and write for what Jacob said that he had waited.

8. Explain what these verses promised abut Christ nearly 1800 years before Christ came to the earth.

9. Explain why you think that the prophecy of Jacob even looked forward to the time when Christ would be crucified.

We go on to read about several of the other sons of Jacob. Jacob said that Zebulon would live by the sea and the ships of trade would come and visit the cities near the sea. Issachar would serve other nations much of the time. The family of Dan would become the judges for the other tribes. Gad was promised victory in the future after many defeats. Asher was promised royal food. Jacob said that the descendents of Naphtali would speak beautiful words. Each of these prophecies was later completed exactly as they had been spoken by Jacob. Here we see that God chose to show Jacob what would happen to his sons and their families in the future.

10. Read Genesis 49:22-33 and write what Joseph is called by Jacob in these verses.

11. Explain why the Lord helped Jacob to know and understand what would happen to each of his sons in the future.

12. Explain why you are thankful that once you placed your trust in Christ that you could also know about the plans that the Lord has for your eternal future.

Jacob said that the family of Joseph would receive great blessings from the Lord. Two of the tribes of the nation of Israel came from the family of Joseph. In the later history of the nation of Israel, we see that one of the tribes that came from Joseph became the leader of the northern ten tribes. Jacob also said that the Lord would bring personal blessings to the family of Joseph. Here we are reminded again that blessing comes from the Lord and not from our own efforts. Joseph had been faithful to the Lord and now the Lord said that He would bless the family of Joseph.

13. Read Genesis 49:22-33 and write the name of the final son that is mentioned.

14. Explain why Jacob gave Joseph the double blessing that meant that two tribes would come from his family.

15. Explain why it is important to know that the Lord recognized the faithfulness of Joseph by blessing him with a special blessing.

Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob. We read that he is promised victory over those nations or peoples that might come against him. In this passage we see that Jacob had certain promises and blessings for each of his twelve sons. Jacob was careful to say something about every son. None of the sons were left out when Jacob spoke about them. However, some received greater blessings than others. Part of these extra blessing were the result of faithful service to the Lord. The Lord also promises us great blessings if we are faithful to Him.

16. Read Genesis 49:22-33 and write where Jacob asked his sons to bury his body since he knew that he would soon die.

17. Explain why it was important for Jacob to say something about every one of his sons and not leave any of them out as he gave his final words.

18. Explain why it is important for you to know that the thing that the Lord really wants in your life is faithfulness.

Even though Jacob was in a foreign land, he had not forgotten the promises that God had made to his father and had also spoken to him. As a result, Jacob wanted to be buried in the country that God had promised would one day belong to his family. He looked to the future because of the promises that the Lord had made to him. Today all Christians are also promised a future home in heaven. Just like Jacob, we can focus our thoughts on the promises that the Lord has given to us so that we do not get confused by the things that are going on in the world around us. When we have our eyes focused on where we are going, it helps us to better understand the things that are happening right now because we realize that the people around us do not know where they are going in the future.

19. Read Genesis 49:22-33 and write what Jacob did when he had finished telling his sons about the future.

20. Explain why it is important for Christians to remember what the Lord has promised for the future when they are going through difficult times.

21. Explain why you think that Jacob wanted to be buried in the land of Canaan instead of the land of Egypt.

After Jacob had spoken all of these words to his sons, he put his feet back in the bed and he died. Here we see that he had no fear of the future after death because he knew that the Lord would keep His promises to him. After Joseph had kissed his father, he called for the doctors of Egypt to come and embalm Jacob. In the time of Joseph it took forty days to embalm a body so a body was only embalmed when the person was an important or well known person. However, the Egyptians knew how to do an excellent job of embalming because some of the bodies that they embalmed are still preserved today even though we are living several thousand years later.

22. Read Genesis 50:1-14 and write how long the Egyptians mourned for Jacob.

23. Explain why Jacob could die once he had finished speaking all of these words to his sons.

24. Explain why you know that the Lord will give you the time to complete what He has called you to do before He takes you to heaven.

When the days of mourning for Jacob had been completed, Joseph went to Pharaoh and asked Pharaoh for permission to return to the land of Canaan to bury Jacob. Joseph said that he had made a promise to his father to bury him in the land of Canaan. Then Pharaoh gave Joseph permission to go. All of the brothers of Joseph also went with him. In addition, a large group of the leaders of Egypt also went with Joseph to bury his father in Canaan. As a result, it was a very large group of people that traveled from Egypt to Canaan to bury Jacob.

25. Read Genesis 50:1-14 and write where this large group mourned for Jacob for seven days.

26. Explain why it was important for Joseph to get the permission of Pharaoh before he took his father back to Canaan to bury him.

27. Explain why you think that many of the Egyptians also wanted to go with Joseph to bury his father.

The people of Canaan could see that there was great sadness among the Egyptians because of the death of Jacob. Then the people of Canaan gave the place a name that means the mourning of the Egyptians. We also read that the sons of Jacob were obedient and did exactly what their father had commanded them to do. Today as Christians, we also need to be obedient to the Lord in all things. We need to obedient instead of following our own desires. As we are obedient, we will be blessed by the Lord.

28. Read Genesis 50:1-14 and write what Joseph and his brothers did after they had buried Jacob.

29. Explain why it is important to be obedient to the Lord and do what He tells us to do as we serve Him.

30. Explain how you think the sadness of the Egyptians at the death of Jacob caused the people of Canaan to realize the great respect that they had for both Jacob and Joseph.

After the sons of Jacob had buried him, they all returned to Egypt. There the brothers of Joseph began talking to each other. They were afraid because their consciences were still bothering them due to the things that they had done to Joseph. When people do evil, they know that they deserve to have evil done to them. The brothers thought that it was possible that Joseph had just been waiting until their father died to get even with them. Then the brothers decided to send a messenger to go and talk to Joseph for them because of their fear.

31. Read Genesis 50:15-26 and write what the messenger was told to ask Joseph to forgive.

32. Explain what these verses teach us about the fact that people can be bothered by their consciences for many years even when they have been forgiven.

33. Explain why this helps you to understand why a guilty conscience will always produce fear in the life of any person.

Joseph had a wonderful answer for his brothers. He told them that they had tried to do evil to him. However, it was impossible for anyone to do evil to him because he trusted the Lord. Everything that had happened to him was a part of the perfect plan of the Lord for his life. God had used the evil actions of his brothers to save the lives of many people. Instead of speaking with hate to his brothers, Joseph spoke with love and kindness. He told them that they did not need to be afraid. He even told the brothers what he would do for them.

34. Read Genesis 50:15-26 and write what Joseph promised to do for his brothers and their children.

35. Explain what made it possible for Joseph to view the evil actions of his brothers from the viewpoint of God’s plan instead of the viewpoint of his own suffering.

36. Explain why it is important for you in your life to learn to view things from the viewpoint of God.

Here we see that Joseph gives us an example of true forgiveness. Many people say that they are willing to forgive but they cannot forget what someone has done to them. They continue to hold those things against that person. Actually there is not true forgiveness in their lives if they are unwilling to let go of the past. In contrast, Joseph shows us a very different attitude. Joseph did more than forgive his brothers. He showed true love and concern for the needs of his brothers. He thanked the Lord for using his brothers to bring him to the place where he could be used to save the lives of others. His whole desire was to help and encourage his brothers.

37. Read Genesis 50:15-26 and write how long Joseph lived during his life.

38. Explain what we learn about the meaning of true forgiveness from the life of Joseph and his forgiveness of his brothers.

39. Explain what lessons you have learned for your own life about forgiveness from the example of Joseph.

The Lord gave Joseph a long life in the land of Egypt. He had the privilege of seeing three generations of children. Then it came time for Joseph to die. However, even at the time of his death he still had his focus on what the Lord had done. Joseph remembered the promises that the Lord had given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He told his family that the day would come when God would visit his people and bring them out of the land of Egypt and take them back to the land of Canaan. In fact even in his death he was looking forward to that day.

40. Read Genesis 50:15-26 and write what Joseph asked his family to do when his bones when God visited them.

41. Explain why Joseph gave his family an example of the importance of remembering the promises of God.

42. Explain why you think that Joseph used the time of his death to again focus on the promise of God to bring their descendants back to the land of Canaan.

Now reread Genesis 49:1-50:26 and write down the three most important lessons that you learned from these chapters.