Week 2
Day 1 Genesis 12-13
Day 2 Genesis 14-16
Day 3 Genesis 17-19
Day 4 Genesis 20-23
Day 5 Genesis 24-26
Day 6 Genesis 27-29
Some questions to consider while reading:
1. God chose Abram/Abraham to be the founder of the nation of Israel, through which He would bless the world. Abraham, however, was far from perfect. What do consider his strengths and weaknesses?
2. In Chapter 18, God appears to have limited knowledge of the situation at Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, "[20] Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, [21] I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.” Why wouldn't God already have full knowledge of this situation? Is this just a figure of speech?
3. Jacob, among other things, lied and cheated to get what he wanted. Why do you think God chose to do so many things through Jacob? Why not Esau? Does the fact that God uses (and loves) extremely flawed people to accomplish His purposes encourage you? Does it offend your sense of justice?
4. There are a number of parallels between the way that Isaac obtains his wife and the way that Jacob obtains his wives. What are the similarities and differences in their situations?
5. Walk a mile in Leah's shoes. She was the ugly duckling while her sister, Rachel was beautiful. She had "weak eyes" - probably poor vision or perhaps blindness. Worst of all, she never really seemed to be loved by Jacob in the way that he loved Rachel; Leah was always second fiddle. Have you ever felt this way? Note how God has compassion for the unloved.
We're waiting Kelly Facebook...
ReplyDeleteWe are waiting for the whole class! LOL
ReplyDeleteIt's lonely in here.
ReplyDeleteI will answer you great questions shortly. I wanted to comment on God's 7 promises to Abraham. He would make Abram a great nation; He would bless him; He would make his name great; Abram shall be a blessing; He will bless those who bless Abram; He will curse those who curse Abram; and in Abram all the families of the earth will be blessed. Great stuff! The blessings are from God, the blessing are to be shared, and the blessings are to be multiplied. Amazing chapter 12!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question 1: Strengths: unbelievable trust in God, his tremendous faith in God (he just packed up and left his clan the moment God called him), and his humble obedience to God's will (sacrificing Isaac). Weaknesses: impatience (impregnating Hagar), fear (of other nations in the area; when famine struck, he did not wait for God's provision but took off to Egypt - we know how that worked out!), and tendency to lie under pressure (Sarah is my sister).
ReplyDeleteI am proud of Abraham and we should strive to be more like him. After all, the death of Isaac would have contradicted every promise God had made to Abraham, so his willingness to perform the ultimate sacrifice of killing his son is probably the most strikingly dramatic example of faith and trust in God found in the entire Bible.
For question 1: One crucial lesson we can learn from Abraham is that God can and will use us in spite of our weaknesses. God will even stand by us and rescue us from our foolish mistakes. The Lord is greatly pleased by our faith and willingness to obey him.
ReplyDeleteLike most of us, Abraham came to the full realization of God's purpose and promise only over a long period of time and a process of revelation. So, we learn from Abraham that God's calling will usually come to us in stages.
Question two is a great question. Of course God knew Sodom and Gomorrah's depth of sin. He came down to Abraham to test his sense of justice and judgment.
ReplyDeleteGod wanted to hear from Abraham, to see if he would intercede on behalf of the city and his nephew's family.
One thing we have to remember about God: He does not enjoy judgment and it's simply NOT His favorite thing to do. Judgment is always performed on the behalf of the poor or the victim (Deuteronomy 16:19, Isaiah 1:15, Malachi 3:5 come to mind but there are many more) - the emphasis is always on the care of the victims and not on the punishment of the culprits.
I believe judgment is an alien task and something strange for God to do (Isaiah 28:21)
The Bible shows judgment brings personal sadness to God (2 Samuel 24:16, Ezekiel 18:32)
Judgment is something God always prefers to postpone and if possible, relent from doing (Jonah 4:2, 1Chr 21:15, 1Kings 21:29, just to name a few).
A couple more things about Sodom and Gomorrah: The two angels that showed up were apparently mistaken for humans. I wonder if that is still happening today?? What if that person you cut off in traffic or failed to buy a cup of coffee was an angel? Food for thought. The other thing that struck me was Lot's method of protecting his guests. Lot thought it would be okay to allow the men to gang rape his two daughters if that would stop them from doing it to his guests. What kind of father does this?Disgusting!
ReplyDeleteHey u guys! I`m not going to post any questions/comments right now since I`m supposed to be doing school work right now, but I just wanted to check out this section and see what it is all about! thanks for getting this set up!
ReplyDeleteAs for Lot offering his daughters to the Sodomites in exchange for sexually abusing his guests: the ancient customs indicate a man of the house was to protect his guests even if that meant to sacrifice his own family in the process. Sounds rough, but this was the custom of the time. Lot's reputation as a host, not to mention "man" of the house, would have been damaged.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to analyze this a bit further, Lot lived in Sodom for quite some time and if his daughters had not been taken sexually or raped by now, Lot may have thought the men who wanted his guests really would not want his daughters, even if he offered them up. He may have simply been bluffing them.
"Weak eyes" is a misconception by some. It does not indicate Leah was unattractive nor does it indicate poor vision or blindness. In the Hebrew the term "weak" indicates TENDER or DELICATE. Rachel had a fire in her eyes (indicating headstrong), which Jacob found attractive to him. Leah, on the other hand, had soft, tender, bedroom eyes. Leah had a softer personality than Rachel.
ReplyDelete