Bible Class – Study #9 (Gen 24-25) – Notes and Discussion questions<\/p>\n
Genesis Study #9: The foundation of Isaac\u2019s family
\nMain passage of study: Gen 24:1 – 25:34<\/p>\n
Related passages For:
\nPt A: Ge 15:2, 17:8, 21:5, 25:20, 26:34-5, 28:1, 47:29; Ex 23:20; Mt 22:2; 2Co 6:14; Eph 1:3
\nPt B: Ge 22:23; Ex 2:16; Jdg 18:5; Ru 4:14; 1Sa 9:11; Ps 118:25; Pro 3:6; Is 65:24; Jn 4:7
\nPt C: Ge 29:5, 31:24; Nu 10:30; Jn 14:26; 15:26, 16:13-14; 1Jn 4:2
\nPt D: Ge 16:14, 22:17; Ps 1:2, 45:10; Song 2:10; Mk 6:30; Jn 3:29; Re 21:9
\nPt E: Ge 17:20, 20:1, 37:27-8; Nu 31:8; Jdg 8:22-26; 1Ch 1:32; Is 21:11-14, 60:6-7; Jn 3:35; Ro 8:17; He 1:2
\nPt F: Ge 10:9, 36:31; 1Sa 1:27; 2Ki 8:20; Ho 12:3; Am 1:11; Mal 1:2-3; Ro 7:22-23, 9:10-13; He 11:9
\nPt G: Ge 27:36; Pro 13:25; 1Co 15:32; He 12:16<\/p>\n
Outline & Notes<\/p>\n
A.\tA servant\u2019s pledge \u2013 Genesis 24:1-9
\n a.\tAbraham\u2019s conditions \u2013 Genesis 24:1-4
\n b.\tThe servant\u2019s concerns \u2013 Genesis 24:5-6
\n c.\tAbraham\u2019s confidence \u2013 Genesis 24:7-8
\n d.\tThe servant\u2019s commitment \u2013 Genesis 24:9
\nB.\tA servant\u2019s prosperity \u2013 Genesis 24:10-27
\n a.\tThe safe arrival \u2013 Genesis 24:10-11
\n b.\tThe specific ask \u2013 Genesis 24:12-14
\n c.\tThe speedy answer \u2013 Genesis 24:15-20
\n d.\tThe subsequent assurance \u2013 Genesis 24:21-25
\n e.\tThe suitable acknowledgement \u2013 Genesis 24:26-27
\nC.\tA servant\u2019s plea \u2013 Genesis 24:28-58
\n a.\tThe introduction \u2013 Genesis 24:28-32
\n b.\tThe information \u2013 Genesis 24:33-49
\n c.\tThe interaction \u2013 Genesis 24:50-53
\n d.\tThe indecision \u2013 Genesis 24:54-55
\n e.\tThe insistence \u2013 Genesis 24:56-58
\nD.\tA servant\u2019s presentation \u2013 Genesis 24:59-67
\n a.\tA parting blessing \u2013 Genesis 24:59-61
\n b.\tA praying bridegroom \u2013 Genesis 24:62-63
\n c.\tA prepared bride \u2013 Genesis 24:64-65
\n d.\tA precious bond \u2013 Genesis 24:66-67
\nE.\tA final breath \u2013 Genesis 25:1-18
\n a.\tFor Abraham
\n i.\tAbraham\u2019s descendants \u2013 Genesis 25:1-4
\n ii.\tAbraham\u2019s distinction \u2013 Genesis 25:5-6
\n iii.\tAbraham\u2019s days \u2013 Genesis 25:7
\n iv.\tAbraham\u2019s death \u2013 Genesis 25:8
\n v.\tAbraham\u2019s deposition in Machpelah \u2013 Genesis 25:9-10
\n b.\tFor Ishmael
\n i.\tThe settling of Isaac \u2013 Genesis 25:11
\n ii.\tThe sons of Ishmael \u2013 Genesis 25:12-16
\n iii.\tThe last of Ishmael \u2013 Genesis 25:17
\n iv.\tThe lands of Ishmael \u2013 Genesis 25:18
\nF.\tA foreshadowing birth \u2013 Genesis 25:19-28
\n a.\tIsaac\u2019s supplication \u2013 Genesis 25:19-21
\n b.\tInternal struggle \u2013 Genesis 25:22-24
\n c.\tDistinction in personal identification \u2013 Genesis 25:25-26
\n d.\tDistinction in personal disposition \u2013 Genesis 25:27
\n e.\tDistinction in personal attention \u2013 Genesis 25:28
\nG.\tA forfeited blessing \u2013 Genesis 25:29-34
\n a.\tEsau\u2019s exhaustion \u2013 Genesis 25:29-30
\n b.\tJacob\u2019s exploitation \u2013 Genesis 25:31-32
\n c.\tEsau\u2019s exchange \u2013 Genesis 25:33-34<\/p>\n
Abraham\u2019s last great exercise before the end of his pilgrimage here below was to see his beloved Isaac united in marriage so that the Lord\u2019s promises to him might proceed to the next stage of fulfilment in the establishment of Isaac\u2019s family. The longest chapter in Genesis gives us this beautiful account, filled with pictures of God the Father\u2019s designs to secure a bride for His own beloved Son. Then in chapter 25, the narrative gives us a summary of Abraham\u2019s offspring by Keturah and then the earthly terminus of his remarkable journey of faith with the God who called him out of Ur. The descendants and death of Ishmael clears the stage for Isaac\u2019s family with contrasting twin boys whose rivalry will lead to the prominence of yet another younger son, and the man who will be established as Israel, a prince with God.<\/p>\n
Textual notes
\n\u25cf\tWe are told that Abraham is \u201cwell advanced in age\u201d in Genesis 24:1 but Genesis 25:20 tells us that Isaac was 40 when he took Rebekah as a wife, so Abraham must have been 140 years old.
\n\u25cf\tThe \u201cputting the hand under the thigh\u201d (Genesis 24:2) was a way to make a binding and solemn oath.
\n\u25cf\tIn Genesis 24:33, the servant says, \u201cI will not eat until I have told about my errand.\u201d It would have been customary to first share a meal with a visitor so this insistence by the servant indicates the importance of his business.
\n\u25cf\tIn Genesis 24:50, when it says that Laban and Bethuel answered, the verb is in the singular, which would seem to indicate that Laban answered for both himself and his father. In Genesis 24:53, the servant gives gifts to Rebekah, to Laban and her mother but no mention is made of her father. So based on this, some think that Bethuel had already died or that he was absent at the time.
\n\u25cf\tBeer-lahai-roi (Genesis 24:62) is the well where the angel of the LORD met Hagar when she fled in Genesis 16:14. As we saw, the name means \u201cwell of the living one who sees\u201d. It is the place that we are told Isaac settled in Genesis 25:11.
\n\u25cf\tIn Genesis 25:1, we read that Abraham took a wife named Keturah. 1Ch 1:32 calls her a concubine. So she may well have been what has been termed a secondary wife who would not have had the household status that Sarah had, with her own servants and resources. The word for \u2018wife\u2019, incidentally, as throughout the OT, is just the normal word for \u2018woman\u2019.
\n\u25cf\tThe name Esau means \u2018hairy\u2019, whereas Jacob means \u2018supplanter\u2019 or \u2018heel catcher\u2019.<\/p>\n
Discussion questions<\/p>\n
1. Why do you think that Abraham did not want his servant to take Isaac with him to find a bride? Would that not have been much simpler?
\n2. What is significant about the servant\u2019s prayer when he arrives at the well in Genesis 24:12-14?<\/p>\n
3. Does the servant\u2019s prayer in Genesis 24:12-14 represent a model for us to follow? Should we test God in this way? How should we determine the will of God in specific situations?<\/p>\n
4. Abraham\u2019s servant is a beautiful type of the Spirit of God in Gen 24. Which details in the chapter allow us to appreciate this?<\/p>\n
5. Which characteristics of the servant, evident in the chapter, have something to teach us about winning souls?<\/p>\n
6. What lessons can we learn from the meeting between Isaac and Rebekah at the end of the chapter?<\/p>\n
7. What can we learn from the distinction that Abraham made between Isaac and his other sons?<\/p>\n
8. Note that in Genesis 25:8, the words \u2018of years\u2019 are not in the original text. So we could read it \u201cAbraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full\u201d. In what ways could we say that Abraham died as a \u201cfull\u201d old man?<\/p>\n
9. God had made and kept the promise to Abraham regarding his seed but we have not yet read of God making this promise to Isaac directly. Why then do you think that Rebekah had 20 years of barrenness? What were Isaac & Rebekah to learn from this?<\/p>\n
10. How are the twins within the womb of Rebekah a picture of the two natures within the believer?<\/p>\n
11. Esau was clearly a man controlled by his physical appetites. What does the New Testament have to say about controlling our physical appetites rather than the other way around?<\/p>\n
12. Who is morally to blame in the account of Esau selling his birthright, as God\u2019s will for Jacob to receive the greater blessing in the end would be realised?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bible Class – Study #9 (Gen 24-25) – Notes and Discussion questions Genesis Study #9: The foundation of Isaac\u2019s family Main passage of study: Gen 24:1 – 25:34 Related passages For: Pt A: Ge 15:2, 17:8, 21:5, 25:20, 26:34-5, 28:1, 47:29; Ex 23:20; Mt 22:2; 2Co 6:14; Eph 1:3 Pt B: Ge 22:23; Ex 2:16; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12503","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n