What is Genesis 2

Review Genesis 1-11 Primeval History (All people)

Genesis 1: Macro view of the Creation of the universe- God’s good creation

Genesis 2-3: Micro view of the creation of humanity including sin and the fall and the beginning of God’s grand plan for salvation.

Genesis 4: Cain & Abel

Genesis 5: Genealogies

Genesis 6-9: Noah. Sin, judgement & salvation.

Genesis 10-11: Tower of Babel

The Beginning of Israel - The Patriarchs (One family)

Yay, they are in alphabetical order!!!

Abraham Genesis 11-25:11

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Introduction

Abraham holds a key place in the unfolding narrative of the Bible and the history of Israel. With Abraham, God narrows his plan for the world to a specific family. This plan will lead to blessing for all people through Abraham (Gen 12:1–3). God is often referred to as “the God of Abraham,” and the promise to Abraham in Gen 12 and its reiterations in Gen 15 and Gen 17 provide the basis for understanding circumcision, the promised land, the work of Christ, and faith in the Gospel.

Key Facts About Abraham

Original name: Abram. Changed to Abraham in Genesis 17.

Wife: Sarah.

Original name: Sarai. Changed to Sarah in Genesis 17.

Sons: Isaac (with Sarah) and Ishmael (with servant Hagar)

Cousin: Lot

Moved from his homeland to the land God promised, Canaan which would later be called Israel

God’s Covenant with Abraham. The beginnings of the Jewish people.

Read Genesis 12:2-3

Genesis 12:2–3 ESV

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Abraham in the New Testament

The Lexham Bible Dictionary The New Testament

The New Testament

The promises to Abraham and his response of faith are foundational to both the Old and New Testaments. Abraham is important in the New Testament first as an ancestor in Jesus’ lineage (Matt 1:1, 2, 17; Luke 3:34), but also as one to whom God’s promises were given and who responded to those promises in faith (Rom 4; Gal 3; Heb 11:8–19). Those who respond to the gospel with a faith like Abraham’s become Abraham’s children and heirs to the Abrahamic promise (Gal 3:26–29; Rom 4:11–12, 23–25). In the New Testament, God’s promise to Abraham is expanded to include the entire world (Rom 4:13).

Hebrews 11:7–9 ESV

7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. 8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Isaac Genesis 21-26:35

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Birth of Isaac

Isaac was born into a family feud. Abram accepted Hagar’s son Ishmael as the child of promise, pleading with God on Ishmael’s behalf and laughing at God’s promise of a son in his old age (Gen 17:17–18). This gave rise to the son’s name, Isaac, which means, “he laughs” (Gen 17:17). Hearing the promise later, Sarah also laughed at the impossibility—she was 90 and Abraham was 100 years old (Gen 18:9–15). The divine announcement of Isaac’s birth also introduced the covenant of circumcision and the change of names from Abram to Abraham and from Sarai to Sarah. God fulfilled his promise of a son the next year (Gen 21:2), and Abraham obediently circumcised him (Gen 21:4). The covenant marked Isaac as the bearer of the promises to Abraham (Gen 17:21). Now Sarah saw that God had given her and her friends reason to laugh in joy (Gen 21:6).

Key Facts about Isaac

Wife: Rebecca

Abraham’s servants got her as a wife from relatives rather than marrying a Canaanite woman.

Sons: Jacob & Esau

Followed the sins of his father by pretending his wife was his sister for fear of the Philistine king killing him to take her.

No name change (unlike his father and son).

God Renews His Covenant with Isaac

Genesis 26:24–25 ESV

24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

Isaac in the New Testament - Child of Promise

The most common reference to Isaac is in the expression God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Galatians 4 Paul makes a complicated analogy with Isaac to help the church in Galatia understand the gospel and salvation contrasting works with faith.

Galatians 4:28 ESV

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

The big point is that just as God promised Isaac in advance and it was God’s at work, so too had he promised to bring the gospel to all people and this too was God’s choice and not brought about by legalism. When Jewish Christians insist on following the law they are like Abraham having a child with his servants. Ignoring God’s promise and substituting human effort. So like Abraham and Isaac the proper response is to see God’s promise for Good News to all people and accept this with faith.

Jacob Genesis 25:19-35:29

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Introduction

Jacob is the grandson of Abraham and the inheritor of the patriarchal promises to Abraham concerning possession of the land of Canaan (Gen 28:3–4, 13; compare Gen 12:7), abundant descendants, and blessing to all humanity (Gen 28:14–15; compare Gen 12:2–3). He is the third and last of the major patriarchs whose experiences with God form the basis for Yahweh’s later identification of Himself as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (see Exod 3:6, 15; 4:5; see also 1 Kgs 18:36; 1 Chr 29:18, as “Israel”).

Key Facts about Jacob

Original name Jacob, but had name changed to Israel.

Second born of twins with his brother Esau.

His mother Rebekah favored him, and his father Jacob favored Esau.

With this help of his mother he stole his father’s blessing and birthright

Wives: Leah and Rachael

After stealing his brothers birthright he fled for fear of being killed.

He made an agreement with his uncle Laban to marry his younger daughter Rachel after working for him 7 years

Laban tricked him into marrying Leah instead and got another 7 years out of him to marry Rachel

Had twelve sons

1st Wife Leah: Reuben (1), Simeon (2), Levi (3), Judah (4), Issachar (9), Zebulun (10)

Concubine Zilpah: Gad(7), Asher (8)

2nd Wife Rachel: Joseph (11), Benjamin (12)

Jacob’s 12 sons are the original 12 “tribes” of Israel although things are complicated in a few ways resulting in 20 different lists such as Genesis 29-30 (actual sons), Numbers 1 (how the land was divided), Deuteronomy 33, Ezekiel 48, and Revelation 7.

Name Change to Israel

Genesis 32:28 CSB

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” he said. “It will be Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”

This is a difficult passage to interpret because there is ambiguity in what is described.

Who did Jacob wrestle with? There are suggestions in scripture that it was a man, God, or an angel of God, some suggest Jesus himself. The Hebrew language is a little unclear here since there is more fluidity between these terms (man, God, and angel) which in English we very clearly separate.

Why did they wrestle?

Why was Jacob renamed.

What is clear is that this event is a picture of Jacob’s life, wresting with others and even God, and that in in the midst of that God wrestling God chooses him and blesses him.

Jacob in the New Testament - Grace vs. Law

Paul is trying to make clear how God is offering salvation to all people by grace through faith and not by works. To illustrate this he reminds his Jewish leaders of God’s choosing Jacob. Not because he was next in line or because he earned it.

Romans 9:13 CSB

13 As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

He elaborates on this analogy, but explains it in verse 30.

Romans 9:30–32 ESV

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,

Some Christian Jews wanted to focus on following the law and saw it as the path to salvation. Instead Paul reminded them that even in the Old Testament God chose his family and salvation came through faith not works. Choosing the Law and rejecting Jesus’ saving work for the world was rejecting God’s choice. The Gentile believers are just like Jacob. They have been chosen by God and are His people.

Joseph Genesis 37:1-50:26

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Joseph, Son of Jacob

The first son of Rachel (Gen 30:22–24); he was set apart among the sons of Jacob—favored by his father and despised by his brothers (Gen 37:2–4). Joseph is one of the central figures in the narrative of Jacob’s family contained in the final chapters of Genesis (Gen 37–50).

Key Facts about Joseph

As the son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel, Jacob loved Joseph more than this brothers

Life was marked by a series of ups and downs

God at Work Through Evil Choices

Genesis 50:20 CSB

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

We see two themes are work here.

God’s sovereignty and ability to use bad circumstances to bring about good.

Salvation.

What connections do you see between God’s salvation of Joseph’s family to his future salvation of the world in Jesus?

Joseph in the New Testament - Resisting the Spirit

In his speech to the Sanhedrin for which he was stoned Stephen referenced Joseph to describe the Jew’s rejection of Christ.

Acts 7:9 ESV

9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him

Acts 7:51–52 ESV

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,