Genesis 27:41 - 30:24

A TON of ground to cover this week as we follow Jacob in the aftermath of his successful schemes to take Esau's birthright and blessing. Esau is so enraged that he is actually able to comfort himself with thoughts of eventually murdering Jacob, but he intends to wait to carry out his revenge until after his father Isaac has died. Meanwhile, Rebekah decides now might be an opportune time to send Jacob far away to look for a bride. God speaks to Jacob in a dream as he begins his journey and changes Jacob's perspective for the better.

And that is when things start getting strange. Lots of fascinating things happen in this week's lesson, including some that might make you laugh out loud. For a look at this week's lesson notes, you can download them here. I'm posting (above) a very basic outline of the developing family tree, up through Jacob's children. I think that can be helpful as the names and lists get a little confusing. God bless you and I hope to see you today in class.

Matt

Genesis 27:1-40

This week we'll stop short of completing chapter 27 of Genesis, because verses 41-46 are really more closely connected with next week's text in chapter 28, than they are connected to this week's lesson in chapter 27. 

This week's lesson is a case study in family dysfunction. Four characters, four scenes, many many character flaws. Yet still, God's sovereign will is done - in spite of (and in some cases, actually using) human failures everywhere. To see this week's lesson notes, click here.

Genesis 25:19 - 26:35

This week, we begin our study of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. Lesson 10 in our study guide should take us two weeks. In this week's "part one" of Lesson 10, we'll focus on stories that emphasize some very important and applicable lessons for modern-day believers:

• As heirs, test the habits of our parents against scripture. Keep the good, throw out the bad.
• As parents, avoid favoritism in all its forms.
• As believers, avoid the temptation to “force” a promise of God through our own scheming.
• As believers, don’t expect fulfilled promises from God to always be affirmed by being “easy.” Even when God is fulfilling promises, it can be amid serious struggles and challenges along the way.

To read this week's lesson notes, click here.

Lesson 9 (Genesis 23:1 - 25:18)

Better late than never! It took us three weeks to get through Lesson 9 in our study guide, and I have the lesson notes for those three weeks all consolidated into one document. If you've missed some and would like to catch up, you can review those notes by clicking here. If you looked at the notes from week one of Lesson 9 (the last post before this one), the first part of these notes are the same. Keep reading to get the additional content in the latter part of these notes.