Abraham-Joseph

Abraham

Throughout the rest of Genesis we will narrow our focus as does God on Abraham and his descendents

Genesis 12:1

God calls Abram to leave the comforts the builders of Babel sought to shore up

Genesis 11:4

Think about getting the call that Abram was given.

Think about what all you had to leave when Jesus called you to follow him and bring you into the same relationship he called Abraham into here.

Ask why would God do this? Why would he choose Abraham? Why did he choose to narrow his focus on one group of people?

God granted freely to Abraham what the people of Babel tried to gain themselves. Genesis 1:2-3

God promises to make Abraham into a great nation

God promises to bless him

God promises to make his name great

God promises to make him a blessing

God promises to bless those who bless him and curse (judge those who judge him

God promises to bless all the peoples of earth through him

We have seen what has gone wrong with God’s creation and from here we will see God selects and builds his nation with a people he chooses.

God selected Israel and the line of Abraham to bring a blessing to other nations and people

Let’s look at this word “Bless”

The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story The Abrahamic Covenant: Blessed to Be a Blessing

The dynamic word bless expresses God’s purpose to give his creatures all they need to fulfill their lives in his creation as he intends for them. The word curse, by contrast, expresses God’s awful judgment on his creatures when they rebel against his purposes for them.

Look at Genesis 12:1-3 as well as Genesis 1:2 and let’s think about the way Abraham is a 2nd Adam

The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story The Abrahamic Covenant: Blessed to Be a Blessing

The promises to Abraham renew the vision for humanity set out in

God gives Abraham a covenant and promise Genesis 17:9-19

Convenant- Circumsicion

Promise- A personal relationship, the growth of a family, and land (Cannon)

God Promised to be the King (Genesis 17:7)

God’s promises have 3 main elements

Personal relationship

Growth of family into a nation

Land

Persistant faith

Abraham told he won’t inherit the promised land 15:15

No children and does his own thing Genesis 16

Blessed with Isaac Genesis 21:5

Faith tested to kill Isaac Genesis 22

Isaac, Jacob, Joseph

3 Elements to observe in this story

God’s promises to make Israel into a great nation are affirmed.

Theme of bitter breakdown in relationships

God’s providential care of his people in the face of many obstacles

Isaac

The promise to Abraham is repeated to him in Genesis 26:23-25

However Isaac is tempted, fails, and relationships breakdown

Jacob tricks Esau, Jacob then flees to