Today’s passage: Genesis 24:29-51

Helpful thoughts:

• Rebekah is the daughter of Bethuel.  Laban is her brother.  It appears (Perhaps due to Bethuel’s old age) that Laban is increasingly becoming the leader of the family.
  • Laban goes out and meets Abraham’s servant and officially invites him to receive the hospitality of their household.  Bethuel becomes involved once everyone enters the house.
• There is a possibility of foreshadowing here where Laban sees the ring and the gold bracelets and embraces the idea quickly of welcoming this visitor into their home.  Rebekah’s son (Jacob) would later experience Laban’s greed.
• Once Bethuel and Laban hear the account of the servant’s mission, they will not deny it is best for Rebekah to go and be married to Isaac.  They believe it is the Lord’s decreed will.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way did Abraham’s servant continue to show faithfulness to Abraham and the Lord through this mission?  How did he show this was his primary concern?
2. How did the servant convey what he believed to be true of Rebekah in verse 49?  What was his proposal there and what was he going to do if they rejected it?
3. Why couldn’t Bethuel and Laban speak “either bad or good” when it came to being aware of what God was doing?  In what ways do we sometimes get caught up in rating God’s actions (As if we were responsible to approve or disapprove of them)?  What is the right thing to do when we see what God is doing?

Today’s passage: Genesis 24:1-28

Helpful thoughts:

• The servant’s journey would have taken about three weeks (And three additional weeks to return).  This was quite a task!
• When the servant put his hand under Abraham’s thigh, he was committing his submission to Abraham’s wishes.  He was making an oath to follow through with the plan as long as the Lord would provide the right woman.
• The way Abraham’s servant discerned whether the Lord would help him find a wife for Isaac is descriptive rather than prescriptive.  We should not read this passage and then set up similar tests to go find spouses for our children!  The completed scriptures give us everything we need to know to follow the Lord obediently (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:3).
  • God wanted Abraham’s descendants to marry others who would also worship the Lord.  To marry someone who worships other gods (Or worships no god at all) would draw them away from Him (Deuteronomy 7:3-4, 2 Corinthians 6:14, The end of 1 Corinthians 7:39).

Questions to consider:

1. Why would this servant have been so compelled to ask God for these conditions in his prayer?  Did he know the area or the people among whom he was looking?  Did he know what/who he was looking for?  Even though we wouldn’t encourage this kind of searching for God’s will today, why can we empathize with the servant’s prayer?  What did God graciously do with it?
2. It’s really hard to imagine this kind of thing happening in our culture in the 21st century!  But, how would you have felt if you were Rebekah in this moment?  What did she know so far?  Why do you think she ran to tell her family?
3. How can Abraham’s willingness to go to such lengths to find the right kind of wife for Isaac encourage a person hoping to find a spouse today?  How important is it to have a spouse who loves the Lord and follows Christ the same way you do?

Today’s passage: Genesis 23:1-20

Helpful thoughts:

• Two major events occur in this chapter:
  • First, the death of Sarah at the age of 127.
  • Second, the first piece of land that is officially owned by Abraham.  Abraham and his descendants now have a claim to a piece of land in Canaan.
• Abraham made the purchase at the city gate before the elders as was the custom for official business.
  • Abraham asked all the elders first before addressing Ephron.  This gave the leadership of the area the ability to show their approval of the idea of Abraham (A foreigner) to become a land own among them.
  • Ephron and Abraham exchanged great pleasantries, but they were doing business as usual.  Ephron, in offering to give the land to Abraham, also informed Abraham what the lands value was before the elders.  He named his price and Abraham paid it.t
  • Had Abraham accepted the land as a gift, his claim to the land could have been in question.  The purchase made it incontrovertible.

Questions to consider:

1. What seemed to be Abraham’s reputation among the people of Hebron?  What did they call this nomadic wealthy man who often camped near their city?
2. Why might these details be given in the book of Genesis?  Why is it important that Abraham made a legal purchase of land?  Through this purchase, what process has begun?
3. In what way was God beginning to fulfill His promises?  How would this cave continue to be a picture of what Israel would one day become to those who believed the promises of God (Genesis 49:28-33)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 22:1-24

Helpful thoughts:

• At this point in his life, Abraham’s faith is ready to be tested.  This passage is the climax of Abraham’s journey of faith.
  • Abraham’s journey takes him and Isaac to the place where Solomon’s Temple would later be built, Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem (“The mount of the Lord” – Verse 14).
• God provided a substitute for this offering and sacrifice.  Our God is the Lord who provides.
  • Jesus Christ was provided as our substitute, dying on the cross and taking the wrath we deserve for our own sins on Himself.
• The minor genealogy at the end of the chapter indicates Abraham’s narrative is coming to a close.  It also gives the reader insight into what is coming next (Isaac and Rebekah).

Questions to consider:

1. Earlier in Abraham’s life, God knew of his faith and counted righteousness to him.  Now Abraham has shown his faith by his works/obedience.  How does James 2:21-23 use this passage to illustrate the way our actions demonstrate our faith?
2. God’s promises to Abraham had been unconditional (Chapter 15), but in verses 15-19 it sounds like God is crediting Abraham for bringing the blessings of God on his own life.  How might Ephesians 2:8-10 speak to this idea?  When we are rewarded in heaven, to whom will all the praise belong?
3. In what way can Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son picture God the Father?  In what way does the ram caught in the thicket picture Jesus Christ?

Today’s passage: Genesis 21:22-34

Helpful thoughts:

• After Abimelech had some time to think about what transpired in chapter 20, he decided to get things further settled with Abraham.
  • The men made a covenant to deal kindly with each other (And posterity) and to be honest.
• The name Beersheba means either “Well of the seven” or “Well of the covenant.”  Both names would make sense given the content of this passage.
• The Philistines had not become established in the region at the time of this event.  The book of Genesis was written in such a way for the original readers to understand where Abimelech had gone.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did Abimelech want to make Abraham swear to not deal falsely with him?  What did Abraham do that brought that about?  What can we learn about the consequences of our actions (And how God can graciously use things for good) through this account?
2. To whom did Abimelech attribute Abraham’s success?  How did Abimelech know this?  Why is it right for all of us to be praising the Lord for the good things we have?
3. What did Abraham call God in verse 33?  How would this name have been an encouragement to him at that time?  How does this attribute of God encourage us still today (And forever!)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 21:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• The son who was promised finally came.  Way later than expected from Abraham’s and Sarah’s perspectives.  Right on time from God’s.
  • Abraham was 100 years old.  Sarah was 90.  Isaac was born 25 years after God had first promised his arrival.
• Isaac’s name means, laughter.  Sarah and Abraham laughed at the idea of bearing a child in their old age.  Now Ishmael laughs in mockery (Galatians 4:29).
  • Before Abraham sent Hagar and teenage Ishmael away, God promised he would bless them.
  • When Hagar felt she had been abandoned and left for dead, God began to fulfill his promise to her and Ishmael.
• The account of these two mothers and sons is used to illustrate the Old and New Covenants in Galatians 4:21-31.

Questions to consider:

1. For a passage that contains such a grand answer to prayer and the fulfilment of a promise, it also contains much strife, jealousy, and controversy.  Who provided the strife?  Who fulfilled the promise?  How does this reminds us of God’s grace to work His will in the midst of this world (Including our own sin)?
2. What are the reasons Abraham would have been very displeased?  In what way did he give evidence to his faith in God in today’s passage, though it went against his desire?
3. In Paul’s illustration in Galatians 4, who represents the Old Covenant and Israel?  Who represents the New Covenant and the Church?  Why might this be hard to understand (A stumbling block) for the Jewish people who did not believe in Jesus?

Today’s passage: Genesis 20:1-18

Helpful thoughts:

• For a second time, Abraham fears a king and claims Sarah as a sister instead of his wife in hopes of saving his own skin.
  • God had promised Abraham and Sarah a son together.  From man’s perspective, this action put that at great risk.
  • From God’s perspective, His promise was at no risk at all.  But, Abimelech wasn’t going to enjoy all that came next.
• God chose to fulfill His promises to Abraham by His grace and unconditionally.  Abraham was the one who sinned in today’s passage, but he was still God’s prophet and he would still be the father of this great nation.
  • God is the hero of Abraham’s story…and ours.
• Abimelech’s generosity toward Abraham and Sarah served as a testimony of his and Sarah’s innocence.  It needed to be known, if Sarah were to bear any children, they were not his!
  • This will be critical knowledge in the next chapter.

Questions to consider:

1. What is the irony of Abraham’s reason for concern in this region?  Who feared (obeyed) God in this chapter?  Who feared man more than God?
2. Of what do these accounts of Abraham’s sin remind us?  Was he perfect in righteousness?  Did he win a spirituality contest to become the father of God’s chosen people?  Where does every good gift come from (James 1:17)?  Why can we have assurance of our eternal life and home with Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:6)?
3. How does God display His power as the giver of life in today’s passage?  If life is formed and forming in the womb, who put it there (Psalm 139:13-14)?

Today’s passage: Genesis 19:23-38

Helpful thoughts:

• God did what He said He was going to do.  God is true, righteous, and faithful.
• The angels had specifically warned Lot and his family about stopping and looking back.  Lot’s wife (Like her daughter’s fiancés) didn’t take the warning seriously.  Her heart had become fixated on what God declared worthy of judgment.  Therefore, she was included in Sodom’s judgment.
•  Lot pleaded with the angels not to go to the hills but to Zoar instead.  He ended up in the hills.
• It’s hard to fathom exactly how Lot’s daughters came to the conclusion and they did and acted upon it.  But, here were some of their influences:
  • They grew up in and near Sodom.
  • Their city and the region had just gone up in flames.  They were in distress.
  • They had been betrothed to marry Sodomites and both of those men had just died.
  • Their mother loved Sodom more than the Lord.
  • Their father had just fled to a cave in fear.
    • The story of the conception of Moab and Ben-ammi is the fruit of all the compromises and decisions made before.

Questions to consider:

1. In what way is God’s view of rebellion and sin put on display in this passage?  In what way should this account produce in the reader a healthy fear of the righteous wrath of God?  Why is it so wrong to be flippant about sin?
2. Where must this fear of a holy and just God draw us?  What is the solution to our great need (Romans 5:6-11)?  How can this help us to understand better what Christ endured on the cross for our sins?
3. In what ways can our sinful choices bear consequences far beyond our expectations and our control?  In what ways can our right choices bear consequences far beyond our expectations and outside our control for good?