Examples of Grace
God's grace around the world
Jerusalem Lutheran Church Bible Study 2011 Outline of Bible Study
Part I:
Jacob's Background • Jacob at home (Genesis 25:19-27) • Jacob away from home (Genesis 28-30) • Jacob back at home (Genesis 31-35)
What does this have to do with you?
Part II:
Laos Background
Pastor Souksamy Phetsanghane's Background
What does this have to do with you?
Examples of Grace: 1 Jacob's Background
Introduction
Outline of Genesis: • Creation (1:1-2:3) • Heaven and Earth (2:4-4:26) • Adam (5:1-6:8) • Noah (6:9-9:29) Jacob at home (25-27) • Sons of Noah (10:1-11:9) Jacob away from home (28-30) • Shem (11:10-11:26) Jacob back at home (31-35) • Terah (11:27-25:11) • Ishmael (25:12-18) • Isaac (25:19-35:29) • Esau (36:1-37:1) • Jacob (37:2-50:26)
Life of Jacob
Jacob at home (25:19-27) 25:19-26 Review how Isaac and Rebekah met and got married.
It was twenty years from the time of their marriage to when the twins were born. How is that a time of testing their faith? Remember the promise to Abraham!
Summarize the LORD's prophecy in v.23.
Fraternal, not identical twins.
Jacob = “heel grasper.” How is that an appropriate name for him?
Examples of Grace: 2 25:27-34 v.27-28. How is favoritism played out in these verses? How would this have affected how the twins were raised and grew up?
v. 31. What was the birthright and why would Jacob want it? cf. Genesis 27:27- 29; Genesis 28:4; Deuteronomy 21:17.
v.34. How did Esau despise his birthright? cf. Hebrews 12:16.
Chapter 26 Like father, like son: Isaac falls into the same sin as Abraham. cf. Genesis 12:10- 20; 20:1-18
27:1-4 Jacob's favoritism on display!
27:5-17 Rebekah's favoritism on display! v.13. She is trying to make the Lord's promise to her happen on her own timeframe.
27:18-29 Describe Jacob's character as he went along with his mother's plan.
27:30-40 Compare the blessings to the twins with Hebrews 11:20 “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.”
27:41-46 Why was Esau upset and planning to kill Isaac? cf. Hebrews 12:17
Examples of Grace: 3 Wrap Up Who was at fault in how Jacob got the blessing and birthright? Jacob, Esau, Rebekah, or Isaac?
Why would the LORD let his prophecy to Rebekah happen in this way?
Examples of Grace: 4 Jacob away from home (28-30)
Jacob's itinerary:
• Beersheba (28:10) • Bethel (28:19) • Haran (29:14) • Ramath Gilead (31:23) • Mahanaim (32:2) • Penuel (32:31) • Shechem (33:18)
28:1-5 Was this the same blessing Isaac gave to Jacob before? Why or why not?
28:6-9 How did Esau try to get into his parents' good graces again?
Why now?
28:10-22 v.13-14. This blessing is similar to the one the LORD gave to Isaac (Genesis 26:3-5) and to Abraham (Genesis 12:2-3).
v.20. Is Jacob making a deal with LORD? Why or why not?
v.20-22. What is changing in Jacob's character?
29:1-14a cf. Genesis 28:20 “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking …” Jacob makes it to his uncle, Laban's house.
v.10. Jacob's courtship of Rachel.
Examples of Grace: 5 29:14b-30 How is Laban's dealings with Jacob ironic?
What is the LORD doing for Jacob in his dealings with Laban?
29:31-30-24 With what problem is Jacob's house dealing? (It's still a problem today.)
30:25-43 What did Jacob want to do?
What did Laban want Jacob to do?
v.37-39. Does this actually work? cf. Genesis 31:9.
v.37-43. How is this still the same Jacob who left his home?
Wrap Up How is Jacob's character changing?
How is it still the same?
How does this reflect a believer's life today? Why or why not?
Examples of Grace: 6 Jacob back at home (31-35) 31:1-21 Any specific examples of how life in Laban's house was like?
v.20. Same old Jacob …
31:22-35 v.26-27. Who is deceiving whom?
v.27-28. Was Laban being honest?
v.31. Was Jacob's fear well-grounded? Why or why not?
v.34-35. Is Rachel taking after her husband or father?
31:36-42 v.38-41. A description of Jacob's service to Laban.
v.42. What is “the Fear of Isaac”?
v.42. What is Jacob realizing about his situation?
31:43-55 v.49, 50-52. Mizpah Coin.
v.53. “Fear of his father Isaac.”
Examples of Grace: 7 32:1-12 Mahanaim means “two camps.” About what two camps is Jacob talking?
What was Jacob trying to do?
How did Esau respond? How did Jacob then react?
v.10. Think back over Jacob's life, what things made him “unworthy”?
Why did the LORD still show him kindness and faithfulness?
v.9-12 A model pray: • Jacob refers back the LORD's command to him • He admits his unworthiness • He asks the LORD to help and save him • He holds the LORD to his promises.
32:13-21 Jacob prays, but still makes a plan. Is he trusting in the LORD to save him or not?
32:22-32 With whom did Jacob wrestle? cf. v.28, 30.
v.28. “Israel” = “he struggles with God.” Is this a good name for Jacob, for the nation of Israel, for a Christian?
v.32. The sciatic nerve and its adjoining blood vessels may not be eaten. The process of removing this nerve is time consuming and not cost-effective, so most American slaughterers simply sell the hind quarters to non-kosher butchers. - (http://www.bje.org.au/learning/judaism/kashrut/index.html and http://meat.tamu.edu/kosher.html)
Examples of Grace: 8 Chapter 33 It had been twenty years since the twin brothers last saw each other. Note the change in both of them since the last time they met. Jacob is humble before his older brother and God. Esau has forgiven his younger brother and is no longer angry. Esau is actually content with what he does have. The Lord during this time apart has blessed both of them with physical blessings!
Chapter 34 Dinah, daughter of Jacob and Leah, was raped by Shechem. Shechem fell in love and wanted to marry her. Jacob's sons said they, Shechem and the other townsmen, had to be circumcised first. While the men were still recovering from this, Simeon and Levi, two actual brothers of Dinah, killed all the men of Shechem. Deception: Like father, like sons.
Chapter 35 Jacob returns to Bethel. Rachel, Jacob's favorite wife, dies in giving birth to Benjamin. She is buried “on the way to Ephrath (that is, Benjamin).” (v.19) Jacob sees his father one last time before Isaac dies. “And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.” (v.29)
Examples of Grace: 9 What does this have to do with you?
How is Jacob at home a reflection of life today?
How is Jacob away from home a reflection of life today?
How is Jacob back at home a reflection of life today?
What does a quick review of Jacob's life teach us about our own lives?
Examples of Grace: 10 Laos Background
Pastor Souksamay Phetsanghane's Background
What does this have to do with you?
Examples of Grace: 11