Note: I will not be able to attend class on 11-13-14. Roxie will be taking notes, and I will post them here, but its always good to have at least two versions of the notes as people sometimes here things differently, and none of us catch it all. If anyone else has notes that they type up, email them to me at sargevining@yahoo.com and I will post them.
Roxie got done with her notes before I did this time. I'll post mine as soon as I can finish them.
11-6-14
Isaac is to the Ram as Humanity is to Christ.
(See Isaac and Rebekah slide)
-Terah’s family was still in Northwest Mesopotamia in a place called
Paddan-Aram. Abraham’s brother, Nahor, was living there. Abraham tells his servant to go to his relatives and find a wife for his son, Isaac. All this time, God has been directing Abraham’s path. Remember in chapter 12, God tells Abraham to leave his people but Abraham is not listening. He’s being disobedient. However, in a polytheistic culture, they are seeing the Power of Abraham’s God and they don’t want to cross Abraham in any way. BUT the people who live in Mesopotamia haven’t seen any of that.
-Abraham’s servant prays at the well and God answers prayer with Rebekah.
-Rebekah is from Abraham’s family. She returns with the servant and marries Isaac. (see printout of Terah’s Family Tree). She is barren. Isaac prays and God opens her womb. She has twins: Esau and Jacob. Esau was also called Edom because of his skin color. Isaac loves Esau and Rebekah loves Jacob.
-Esau was a hunter. He sold his birthright to his brother. He is the ancestor of the Edomites.
-Jacob was a shepherd. He was a conniver and trickster. He was the ancestor of the Israelites. (God later changes his name to Israel).
-Isaac has his first encounter with God. God tells Isaac not to go to Egypt when Isaac is worried about the famine. Isaac is now getting old and he tells Esau he wants to bless him. Rebekah overhears this and so she devises a plan to steal the birthright from Esau. After all, Esau was at fault for giving up his birthright for a plate of stew.
Jacob
Isaac admonishes and blesses Jacob
-Esau overhears the blessing and gets so mad at his brother he wants to kill him. We can contrast his actions to that of Cain’s. Esau tries to be obedient. He knew his parents weren’t happy that he was marrying Canaanite women so he tries to marry someone in his family. Later in life, the brothers unite and Esau hugs Jacob and cries. You see here that Esau took a different path then Cain.
-On Jacob’s way to Haran, he put his head on a rock and fell into a deep sleep. He dreamed there was a ladder with Angels ascending and descending on it going between Earth and Heaven. This was Jacob’s first encounter with God. God tells him that “others will be blessed through you. I will send you to Haran and Mesopotamia and guide you.”
-When Jacob wakes up, he’s terrified and names that place Bethel for surly God is here.
Bethel
-Means the “House of God”.
-Jacob had a conditional response to God. Remember he was a trickster. He basically said if You provide me with food and clothes and get me to and from there safely and if my mission is successful, THEN I will call You my God and give you 1/10th of my earnings.
The Trickster “tricked” by Laban
-Jacob is asking if his grandfather, Bethuel, is okay. Laban tells him yes and there is Rachel. Jacob loves Rachel and wants to marry her. Laban tells Jacob that if he works for him for 7 years, he can have her. After 7 years, Laban ends up giving him Leah instead. Laban then makes Jacob another deal. If he works another 7 years, he can marry Rachel. So he does. Jacob loves Rachel.
Jacob’s wives
-Leah: She has Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah.
-Rachel is barren so she tells Jacob to sleep with her maidservant Bilhah.
-Bilhah has Dan and Naphtali.
-Leah then tells Jacob to sleep with her maidservant Zilpah.
-Zilpah has Gad and Asher.
Jacob’s children
-Leah has two more sons after Rachel and she agree over fruit: Issachar, Zebulun and a daughter, Dinah.
-Rachel gives birth to Joseph so now Jacob wants to leave.
-Jacob tells Laban he wants to go back to the land of his father, Canaan. Leban says what do I have to pay you to get you to stay? Jacob is a trickster so he tells Laban that he’ll take all the speckled and striped sheep/flock and leave the nicest ones for Laban. Laban tries to then trick Jacob by telling his sons to take all the speckled and striped sheep/flock a whole 3 days journey away from Jacob. Jacob realizes that Laban has done something since all the sheep left are perfect so he devises a plan. Jacob starts mixing breads to create a superior species. One that is speckled, striped and strong, leaving the weak ones for Laban. Laban soon realizes that his herd is smaller than Jacob’s and he’s mad.
-God tells Jacob to go back to Canaan so he leaves with his family and livestock at night. Laban chases him down and catches up to him about 3 days later. God tells Laban to do no harm to Jacob. Jacob and Laban reach to an agreement to not harm one another. Laban then asks Jacob why he took his idols. Jacob didn’t know that Rachel stole them so he tells Laban to search for them and kill whoever took them. Rachel is sitting on them in her tent so Laban never finds them.
-After Laban leaves, Jacob is now concerned with how his brother, Esau, will receive him after all these years. He strategizes on how to please him while protecting his own family. Jacob and a man wrestle all night and when the man realizes that Jacob won’t let up, he strikes Jacob in the hip. Jacob now walks with a limp. It is believed that Jacob struggled with God:
-Hosea 12:2-4 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. 3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—
Peniel
-He asks God to bless him once he gave up the fight. Jacob names the place where he wrestled with God, Peniel.
-Jacob’s name becomes “Israel”, He who prevails with God.
-Jacob shortly after meets with Esau. Esau runs to him, hugs him and cries. Jacob offers to give Esau a bunch of provisions but Esau says he has enough of his own already.
Shechemites
-Dinah went to visit some of the Canaanite women and when Shechem, the chief of the region, saw her, he took her and raped her. The Shechemites tell Jacob that their families should marry into each other’s family. The brothers are so upset and thus devise a plan. Since Shechem loves Dinah, he says he’ll do whatever needs to be done so that there could be intermarriage between the families. Dinah’s brothers reply and tell them they must be circumcised. Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, wait three days when they know the men will be the most sore and unable to move. They then kill all the men. Jacob was furious. He later curses them for what they have done.
God blesses Jacob at Bethel
-God tells Jacob to go to the city called Luz, now known as Bethel, in the land of Canaan and build an altar to the God who appeared to him as he was running from Esau. In Genesis 35:11-12 we read: And God said to him, “I am Almighty God. Have many children. Nations will be descended from you and you will be the ancestor of kings. 12 I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, and I will also give it to your descendants after you.”
Death of Rachel
-Rachel dies during birth of Benjamin and is buried in Bethlehem.
-The sons of Rachel all together were two: Joseph and Benjamin. This is why we later see that they are Jacob’s favorite. Remember: Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah.
Finally got my notes done:
11-6-14
Regarding the diagram on the Power Point slide "Abraham & Sarai" from last week: it shows the similarities of Isaac & Christ. The ram is to isaac what Christ is to humanity.
Issac and Rebekah
Chapter 24 opens with Abraham talking to his most trusted servant:
24 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites,among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?”
6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring[a] I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
It is important to note that we learned in Chapter 12 that God told Abraham (at that time his name was Abram) to "leave your people"
12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
We learned that Abram disobeyed the Lord when he brought Lot and other family members with him out of Ur, and now we see him being disobedient again by sending his servant to go and bring on of "his people"back to him.
We learned that when Abraham was in Egypt he deceived Pharaoh, but God blessed him with riches and we learned that the same thing happened with Abimelik. We see where he was blessed by God through Melchizidek after the war he fought to release Lot from captivity.
Throughout Abraham;s story thus far, the pagans in the lands through which he traveled and where he lived have witnessed the power of God through Abraham, just as non-believers can see the power and Glory of God through us when the see us being blessed and blessing others as we live a Christian life, modeling Christ.
The people living in Paddan-Aran (Haran) in Northwest Mesopotamia were polytheistic idol worshipers. They had never experienced the power of God as those who had seen it through Abraham. These were the people that Abraham sent his servant to in order to find a wife for his son Issac. The story about how Rebekah comes to marry Issac is a beautiful one, but it is spoiled somewhat by Abraham's disobedience.
We have here an illustration of the concepts of "God's permissive will" versus "God's Perfect will"
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Can you help me understand God's perfect will versus His...
The "perfect will" of God is what you find in Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so ...
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In Chapter 25 we learn that Rebekah is barren until Isaac prays to God and He "opens up her womb". She becomes pregnant and gives birth to two sons, Esau and Jacob
21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The Lordanswered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
23 The Lord said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.”
24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau.[d] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[e] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country,while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country,famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.[f])
31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”
32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”
33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthrightto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
The prophesy in verse 23 is important as is Esau's selling of his birthright in 29-34.
In Chapter 26, Issac has his first encounter with God. There is a famine in the land just as there was with Abraham and God makes Isaac essentially the same promise He made to Abraham.
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In chapter 27, we see Isaac getting old, "his eyes so weak he could no longer see". There is tension in the family: Isaac loves Esau, Rebekah loves Jacob. Although Esau has sold his birthright, Isaac still wants to give hi his blessing, and thus his birthright. He calls Esau to let him know this is his plan and tells him:
"Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like and bring it to me to eat, so that I may give you my blessing before I die." Rebekah overhears this and comes up with a plan to preserve the birthright for Jacob, as it has been prophesied to her by God. She deceives the blind Isaac into giving his blessing to Jacob, and now "the older will serve the younger.”
At first it appears to us that Jacob and Rebekah are culpable in a possibly immoral deception of the old man, and the theft of a birthright that belongs to Esau. But when we consider that Esau thought so little of his birthright that he sold it to Jacob for some food, and that God had prophesied to Rebekah that "the older will serve the younger.” we see that Abraham is attempting to thwart the will of God, and that Rebekah has been used by God to carry out His plan.
Esau gets angry at Jacob, to the point of threatening murder as Cain did to Able. Rebekah fears for Jacob and sends him to Paddan-Aram (Haran) to live with her brother Laban until Esau's anger subsides. She also wished him to find a wife among those people as she:
"If Jacob takes a wife from among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be worth living.”
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 27 - New International Ve...
When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called for Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” he answered. Isaa...
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In Chapter 28, we see that Isaac agrees with Rebekah, blesses Jacob and his journey, and instructs him not to marry a Canaanite woman, but to find a wife in Paddan-Aram. Esau overhears this and now knowing he has hurt his father by marrying a Canaanite woman, he marries a daughter of Ishmael
On his way to Paddan-Aram, Jacob stops at Luz, falls into a deep sleep and dreams of a ladder extending from earth to heaven. This is his first encounter with God. God gives Jacob essentially the same promise that He made to Abraham and Isaac, and once again says that "others will be blessed through you."
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How God Confirmed His Covenant Through Jacob's Ladder
Jacob's ladder was a vision of angels going up and down a stairway between heaven and earth. Learn the real meaning of this well-known Bible story.
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16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
He consecrates the stone he had used for a pillow, sets it up as an altar, and renames the place "Bethel", which means "House of the Lord".
Ever the trickster and negotiator, however, Jacob makes his response to this revelation conditional:
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear 21 so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord[f] will be my God 22 and[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 28 - New International Ve...
So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him. Then he commanded him: “Do not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your mother’s fath...
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In Chapter 29, we see the trickster himself being tricked by Laban. Jacob sees his daughter, Rachel, and falls immediately in love. He enters into an agreement with Laban whereby he will work for Laban for 7 years and then he can marry his daughter. After 7 years passes, Laban tells him the daughter he must marry is Leah, as she is older than Rachel and it is the custom of his people that the younger daughter cannot marry until after the older one has. Laban tells him he can still marry Rachel as well, but he must work another 7 years. Jacob agrees and marries the both.
Leah starts having babies right away: sons Reuben, Simeon, Levi, & Judah.
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 29 - New International Ve...
Jacob Arrives in Paddan Aram - Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. There he saw a well in the open country, with three ...
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In Chapter 30, Rachel is barren. As Sarah did, she tells Jacob to sleep with her servant (Bilhah) so that she will bear a son. Bilhah has 2 sons: Dan & Naphtali.
Leah notices that she herself has stopped bearing children, and not to be outdone by Rachel, gives her servant Zilpah to Jacob, and she bears him two more sons: Gad and Asher.
During the wheat harvest, Reuben finds some mandrakes and gives them to his mother Leah. Rachel wants them and trades Leah the right to sleep with Jacob that night for some of them. He does and Leah bears him another son Issachar, then conceives again and has another named Zebulun. After bearing Jacob 6 sons, she bears him a daughter: Dinah.
The God listens to Rachel and she becomes pregnant and bears Jacob a son: Joseph.
After Joseph's birth, Jacob decides to take his family and return to his home. He negotiates terms with Laban regarding how much of the flock he can take with him. Laban agrees to let Jacob have
"every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb and every spotted or speckled goat", then Laban attempts to cheat Jacob by removing ".....all the male goats that were streaked or spotted, and all the speckled or spotted female goats (all that had white on them) and all the dark-colored lambs, and he placed them in the care of his sons. 36 Then he put a three-day journey between himself and Jacob, while Jacob continued to tend the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Jacob, by now a wizard at animal husbandry, figures out a way to have all of the sheep left to him bear offspring that are streaked, speckled and spotted "43 In this way the man grew exceedingly prosperous and came to own large flocks, and female and male servants, and camels and donkeys."
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 30 - New International Ve...
When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” Jacob became a...
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In Chapter 31, the Lord tells Jacob
" 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
Jacob is concerned about Laban's reaction to his leaving and how he might feel about the increase in his flock, so he leaves without telling him. Rachel steals Laban's idols without Jacob's knowledge. Jacob gets a three day head start on Laban, who pursues him. As he pursues, the Lord appears to Laban:
"24 Then God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”
Laban catches up to Jacob in Gilead. There is no fight, just questions from Laban to Jacob as to why he was leaving without letting him kizss his grandchildren and daughters and asking him why he stole the idols. Jacob, not knowing Rachel has stolen them, tells Laban to search all of his tents and if the idol is found, Jacob will kill the person who has them. Rachel has hidden them in her camel's saddle and sits on it while Laban searches the tent, telling him she cannot get up from it because she has her period.
After Laban fails to find the idols, he and Jacob make a covenant and build a heap of stones, each agreeing to stay on his side of the heap.
In chapter 32, Jacob starts worrying about meeting with Esau. After all, Jacob fled because Esau had threatened to kill him. He makes preparations for travel and arrival, as well as gifts for Esau.
While in camp that night, Jacob wrestles all night long with a man. The man ends up touching Jacob's hip and Jacob comes up lame, but he tells the man he will not let him go without a blessing. After he receives it, Jacob names the place Peniel.
"30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
~Scholars say that the man Jacob wrestled with is God
~Some say that the man is a pre-figuring of Christ
When the man blesses Jacob, he also tells him his name is changed to Israel "He who wrestles with God." Jacob becomes the Father of Israelites.
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 32 - New International Ve...
Jacob Prepares to Meet Esau - Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that...
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In Chapter 33, Jacob meets with Esau. He is scared to death and has plans to appease his brother. But Esau has forgiven him and refuses the gifts. Jacob insists, Esau relents and accepts the gifts.
Here we see a contrast between Esau and Cain. Although the situations are nearly identical, Esau chooses a different path than Cain did, one of forgiveness rather than retribution.
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 33 - New International Ve...
Jacob Meets Esau - Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two f...
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In Chapter 34, we have the story of Dinah and the Sechemites.
Dinah, sister of Levi and Simeon and daughter of Leah and Jacob, is raped by the Prince Sechem. Her brothers become angry ans say that the Prince has shamed her. King Hamor, Sechem's father says:
8 But Hamor said to them, “My son Shechem has his heart set on your daughter. Please give her to him as his wife. 9 Intermarry with us; give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in it, trade[b] in it, and acquire property in it.”
11 Then Shechem said to Dinah’s father and brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes,and I will give you whatever you ask. 12 Make the price for the bride and the gift I am to bring as great as you like, and I’ll pay whatever you ask me. Only give me the young woman as my wife.”
Dinah's brothers, still angry see a way to exact retribution on the Sechemites and reply deceitfully. The say that they will agree, but only if they Sechemite men all get circumcised. Sechem agrees and all males get circumcised on the same day. Three days later, while they are all debilitated from the pain of circumcision Levi and Simeon kill them all.
26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where[c] their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.
Jacob becomes enraged.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me obnoxious to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
The action has ended up costing Levi and Simeon as Jacob has cursed them.
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Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 34 - New International Ve...
Dinah and the Shechemites - Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hiv...
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In Chapter 35, Rachel dies in childbirth. She gives a son she names Ben-Oni, but Jacob names him Benjamin. She is buried near Bethlehem, not in the cave at Machpelah.
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