In this week’s class presentation we are continuing with our survey format for studying the books of the Bible by covering Genesis chapters 12-36. In this class we are working on ways that will encourage us to studying the Bible on our own, and gain insight by reading and researching for ourselves. This survey practice will also complement our video lectures from Greg Koukl’s “Bible Fast Forward” series that can be found at str.org.
Watch the class presentation on this topic:
Presentation Notes
2024 A Case for the Bible: The Bible Fast Forward
Session Four: A Survey of Genesis, Part 2
Chapters 12-36
Prayer cards: Take a minute and write your name on the index card provided, and add any special prayer request you might have. Exchange cards at the end of the class this evening.
At your table groups, answer the following:
1. Discuss: Did you have any #8 Shelf questions from Genesis 1-11 in last week’s study?
2. Recite the Memory Verse:
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
THE BIBLE FAST FORWARD – VIDEO LECTURE
Review and Reflection: Discuss the presentation with your group, and go over any questions you might have on the topics Greg Koukl presented.
BIBLE STUDY
Survey of the Bible – Format
We are using the following format each week to survey the books of the Bible. We have completed #1, #2, #3 and chapters 1-11 for #4 so far.
Old Testament
Category: Torah
Book: Genesis
| 1. Author: Who wrote the book and when? |
| 2. Audience: Who was it written to? |
| 3. Purpose: Why was it written? |
| 4. Content: Outline form – What are the major themes? (Chapter by chapter) |
| 5. Going Deeper: What are the major Covenants found in this book? |
| 6. Finding Jesus: Where is Jesus – appearances, foreshadows or prophecies? |
| 7. Application: How can this book and its teachings apply to us today? |
| 8. The Shelf: What questions or comments do you have about this book? |
FORMAT ANSWERS…
Last week we left off at #4 Content, after finishing Genesis chapters 1-11…
4. Content: Outline form – What are the major themes? (Chapter by chapter)
The Period of the Patriarchs
Chapter 12: The call of Abram; God’s Covenant Promise to Abram (Abraham); Abram journeys to Egypt
Chapter 13: Abram and Lot; God reinforces the Covenant
Chapter 14: The war of the Kings; Introduction to Melchizedek
Chapter 15: God promises a son to Abram
Chapter 16: Sarai and Hagar – Ishmael is conceived; God meets with Hagar
Chapter 17: The Covenant of Circumcision; God renames Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah
Chapter 18: God appears to Abraham and reinforces the promise of a son; God tells Abraham about Sodom
Chapter 19: The doom of Sodom and Gomorrah; Lot and his daughters
Chapter 20: Abraham and Abimelech king of Gerar
Chapter 21: Isaac is born – the promised son; Hagar and Ishmael are sent away
Chapter 22: The offering and near sacrifice of Isaac
Chapter 23: Death and burial of Sarah
Chapter 24: A bride for Isaac – Rebekah is chosen
Chapter 25: Abraham takes another wife and has more children; Abraham dies; Jacob and Esau are born to Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob steals the birthright
Chapter 26: God gives the Covenant Promise to Isaac; A new Abimelech deception; Isaac settles in Gerar
Chapter 27: Jacob’s deception – Jacob gets Isaac’s blessing; Esau threatens to kill Jacob
Chapter 28: Jacob is sent away; Jacob’s dream of a ladder and the Covenant confirmed
Chapter 29: Jacob meets Rachel; Laban’s deception with Leah; the beginning of Jacob’s family
Chapter 30: The sons of Jacob; Jacob’s prosperity and desire to return home
Chapter 31: Jacob leaves for Canaan; Laban pursues Jacob; Jacob and Laban’s covenant
Chapter 32: Jacob fears meeting Esau; Jacob wrestles with God
Chapter 33: Jacob reunites with Esau and settles in Shechem
Chapter 34: The treachery of Jacob’s sons over Dinah
Chapter 35: Jacob moves to Bethel; God names Jacob – Israel; Rachel’s death; The twelve sons of Israel and the beginning of a nation; Isaac’s death
Chapter 36: Esau’s descendants
my personal notes for Genesis 12-36
CHAPTER NOTES:
I’M MODELING HOW YOU MIGHT DO LEVEL 4 BY SHARING SOME NOTES I TOOK FOR EACH OF THESE…
12. 12:1 “Now the LORD said to Abram, ”Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land land which I will show you; God calls Abram (God changes his name later to Abraham) and Abram responds in complete faith. In the NT book of Hebrews, 11:8 we are told “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.” (Read Hebrews 11:8-19 on the rest of Abraham’s life of faith. In this chapter God also gives Abram the Covenant promise (a people, land, and blessing). After Abram went out there was a famine in the land and he down (down is always a negative reference Scripture). This is where they lied about being husband and wife, and said they were brother and sister (they were half siblings – remember there was still no law about close relatives marrying as of yet). When the ruler of Egypt, the Pharaoh, found out they kicked them out, but Abram left with many riches (and most Bible scholars believe this is where Hagar came from as a maid-servant to Sarai)
13. In this chapter Abram and Lot split up: Abram in the land of Canaan and Lot ended up in Sodom. God, in 13:14-16 tells Abram, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward, and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.”
14. In this chapter there is a war between kings, and in the war Lot and his possession were taken, so Abram and 318 of his men went out and pursued and rescued Lot and defeat those kings and returned all to Sodom. At this point we meet a character named Melchizedek who was king of Salem (later Jerusalem) and he was also a priest of God Most High. He blessed Abram (some scholars say this is a Christophany, but we read that Jesus was a high priest in the order of Melchizedek – read Hebrews 6:20 through 7:3).
15. The emphasis in this chapter is God’s unconditional covenant promise of a son for Abram. This is where God puts Abram in a sleep, and cuts the covenant between the animals to signify His promise, swearing only on Himself giving surety of this promise. Then God gives a prophecy in v. 16 that will be fulfilled in Moses’ time say “Then in the fourth generation they will return here…” This is referencing the time between Joseph and Moses.
16. At this point in time, Sarai and Abram decided to help God out by using Hagar and having her bear a son for Abram, but that was not God’s will. This not only caused problems for this family, but for generations to come (even still today). Here God meets Hagar after she ran away, and promises to multiply her descendants (through Ismael) as well. This is the first “Christophany” as Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her (El Roi) ”You are the God who sees” for she said, “Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?”
17. This is the chapter on circumcision – it was to be a sign for the generations to come of the Covenant between God and Abraham. In this chapter, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham (father of a multitude), and Sarai’s name to Sarah (princess or noblewoman). Both had the breath of God added to their names (ah) from the Hebrew word ruach meaning breath.
18. In this chapter God meets with Abraham – 2nd Christophany. There are three men that first meet with Abraham and reinforce the promise of a son (and Sarah gets busted for laughing); two of the men go down to Sodom, the other one, which is God Himself, stays behind and talks with Abraham about His plans to destroy the wicked Sodom and Gomorrah.
19. In this chapter we get one of the most well known stories in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their ”great and exceedingly grave sin” – we read about Lot’s reluctance to leave and the Angels that basically drag him, his wife and 2 daughters out. His wife dies looking back, and later Lot’s 2 daughters sleep with their father to ensure their family line would continue. Both of the offspring would produce nations that would battle Israel in the years to come: Moabite and Amorites. (But, Ruth is a Moabite and becomes part of the Seed line to Jesus)
20. In this chapter Abraham and Sarah again use the lie that they are siblings not husband and wife and get in trouble with Abimelech, but again the LORD protects them and they leave with riches of the land.
21. Isaac is finally born! Because of the rivalry that would surely ensue, Sarah has Abraham send Hagar and Ishmael away (God agrees and tells Abraham to do so). Again God meets with Hagar and protects her and the boy – they ultimately end of in Egypt, which is most likely where Hagar had originally come from (chapter 12).
22. This chapter gives us one of the most important foreshadows, or pictures of Jesus and His ultimate ministry and sacrifice on Golgatha (which is Mt. Moriah where this event occurs). We will look more closely at this in #6.
23. This is a transitional chapter (before getting into the life of Isaac) where we read about the death, and burial, of Sarah. This is the first ownership of Abraham’s in the land when he purchases a burial plot in Machpelah facing Mamre (later known as Hebron) and later Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Leah will be buried there.
24. In this chapter we find Abraham sending his servant (most believe is Eliezer of Damascus – see 15:2) out to his family back in Mesopotamia to get a wife for Isaac. God is with the servant and guides him right to Rebekah who eagerly accepts the invitation and returns to marry Isaac. We also see a picture here of the Holy Spirit coming for the bride of Christ.
25. In this chapter Abraham remarries and has 6 more sons and later dies at the ripe old age of 175 and is laid to rest with Sarah – he gives all that he has to Isaac (and the other sons he gave gifts, but not the inheritance, nor promise of God). Isaac is the Seed line. This chapter also gives us the beginning of the story of Jacob and Esau – it is here that Rebekah inquires of God, and God tells her that she has two nations in her womb and that the older shall serve the younger (therefore Rebekah knows later on that this was God’s promise, but again she, like Sarah, will try to help God out by betraying her husband and Esau). We also read in this chapter about the first deceitfulness of Jacob towards Esau in that he made Esau promise to give him his birthright (which was usually for the firstborn) in exchange for food (stew), thus it says that “Esau despised his birthright” (later Jacob will also steal the firstborns blessing).
26. In verses 2-6, and again in 23 we find God passing the Covenant Promise now to Isaac (two time emphasizes the truth of this event), and Isaac stays in Gerar, but we also find a story that mirrors Abraham’s mistake in lying about Sarah as his sister, and not his wife. Isaac does the same thing with a different Abimelech (slightly different in that they did not take Rebekah, but Isaac was rebuked by Abimelech in that one of their men could have taken her), yet Isaac is still honored by Abimelech who warns his people to leave them alone. Isaac eventually digs a well where he establishes himself and his family in that land. At the end of this chapter we find Esau taking wives from the Canaanites in the land, and it grieves his parents.
27. In this chapter Isaac thinks he is dying (he actually doesn’t die til years later), and since he favors Esau he wants to give him the blessing (the right to the double portion of the inheritance and rulership of the family), but Rebekah (knowing God’s plan) decides to “help” God by setting up a deception by Jacob to dress up as Esau (since Isaac was apparently almost blind). While Esau is out hunting food, Jacob goes in and deceives Isaac, and Isaac gives him the blessing leaving nothing for Esau who comes in later. Now Esau wants to kill Jacob for sure. The consequence of this: Rebekah thinks they will send Jacob away for a few days, but in reality it will be over 20 years (and most scholars believe she died before he came back home – her presence then is never mentioned, only Isaac’s).
28. Isaac and Rebekah send Jacob to Haran (where Rebekah’s family lived), and Isaac blesses him with the blessing of Abraham (vs. 3-4). Esau saw that his Canaanite wives displeased his parents, so he took two more wives from the family of Ishmael (thus the roots of the Arab nation today) In the second half of this chapter Jacob has his first encounter with the LORD. He sees a ladder in a vision where the angels of God were ascending and descending, and the LORD confirms the passing of the Abrahamic Covenant Promise to him. We see this same vision of the ladder to heaven affirmed by Jesus in John 1:51 = JESUS IS THE LADDER!!! 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” John 1:50-51 (NASB)
29. In this chapter we come to the real beginning of Jacob’s life story as makes to Haran and he meets, and falls in love with Rachel. He also meets her father (his mother’s brother) Laban, and now he has meet a formattable match in the art of deception. Jacob agreed to serve Laban 7 years in order to marry Rachel, but on the wedding night Laban sends the older sister Leah into Jacob’s tent (as it was dark and Jacob most likely was drunk from the wedding festivities) and now Jacob will have two wives, along with two concubines that each daughter had as maidservants. These narratives of multiple wives in Scripture teach us that God’s original plan is best (1-1), because we always see major sufferings and horrible situational outcomes in these type of polygamous marriages. Interestingly enough, it is Leah that will bear Jacob the majority of his children (in this chapter we get the first four sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah: ”Praise the Lord” – we will keep an eye on Judah…
30. In this chapter we get a continuation of the bearing of children, and the competition between Leah and Rachel to do so as they even use their maidservants, giving them to Jacob, in order to bear even more children. Rachel, unable to bear children to this point, finally conceives and bears Joseph (she will later bear Benjamin and die in the process). We also find in this chapter, Jacob desiring to return home and making a deal with Laban to only keep the spotted and speckled flock – and God prospers him greatly so that he has more than enough to now leave Laban.
31. In this chapter God speaks to Jacob and tells him that He will be with him, so Jacob secretly takes all his possessions and family and sneaks off to return to Canaan. Laban does pursue him, but God intervenes and speaks to Laban telling him to not harm Jacob at all. When Laban catches up to them, instead of harming them he backs off and makes a covenant with Jacob that neither of them would go beyond that place to harm the other (we also see that Rachel stole her father’s idol and almost gets caught which could have resulted in her death).
32. Jacob is now free to return home, but he fears reuniting with his brother Esau (right so as he had vowed to kill him). So Jacob sends messengers and gifts ahead to Esau, and we finally see a change in Jacob’s behavior as he calls on God in prayer to help him. This is also a point where we can cite another Christophany in which we are told that Jacob wrestles with a man, but we know it is God because he says in v. 30: “”I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
33. Here we see the beginning of the favoritism play out in the way Jacob sends out his family with Rachel and Joseph last and the others in front, as they head toward Esau and his large company of people. Surprisingly Esau runs to meet Jacob and they embraced and wept with all seeming to be forgiven. However, Jacob does not take Esau’s invitation to follow him home, but instead goes and settles in Shechem with his large family.
34. In this chapter we get a side story of the rape of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, and the revenge taken on the whole community of Shechem by the leading of Simeon and Levi who killed all the men in deception. This will come back on them later in several ways (Jacob’s blessing and Joseph’s captivity). Because of this event, Jacob and his family had to move again.
NOTE: WE CONTINUALLY SEE ATTEMPTS TO STOP THE NATION OF ISREAL FROM FORMING SUCH AS INTERMARRIAGE; COMBINING COMMUNITIES WITH PAGAN CULTURE AND EVEN THE DEATH/DESTRUCTION OF JACOB AND HIS FAMILY
35. God tells Jacob to move his family to Bethel and to put away the foreign gods and to purify themselves; God renames Jacob and gives him the name Israel (to struggle with God) and He reaffirms the Covenant Promise again with him that He swore to Abraham and Isaac. It is after this that Rachel dies giving birth to Jacob’s final son, Benjamin, and he buries her on the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem). At the end of the chapter we get a recording of the sons of Israel who will make up the 12 tribes of Israel, and the death of Isaac is recorded at 180 years old, and his sons Jacob and Esau bury him.
36. In this chapter we get a genealogy of Esau who’s line is intertwined with Ishmael’s and Canaanites.
AND HERE WE WILL GET A TURNING OF THE STORYLINE THAT WILL BEGIN WITH A FOCUS ON THE PERSON OF JOSEPH (WHO GIVES US ANOTHER PICTURE OR FORESHADOW OF JESUS)
We will pick up next week with the story of Joseph and God’s unfolding Promise…
Join us next week as we continue our “Case for the Bible, The Bible Fast Forward!”
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You will not find this material in the public school curriculum even though it is based on solid evidence and grounded in research. It is ironic that following the evidence to where it leads stops at the door of our public schools as they will not let a “Divine footprint” in! Join us as we examine evidence for Christianity and learn how to become a thoughtful defender and ambassador of your faith.
Click into the resource page of this website to view many of the top Christian thinkers and apologists along with some of their work; connecting to these types of resources is essential in your Christian growth.
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Teri Dugan
TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com
1 Peter 3:15
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