TPT The Book of Genesis—Part 2 E-Book

Brian Simmons

• Herausgeber: BroadStreet Publishing Group, LLC
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: The Passionate Life Bible Study Series
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 164

Beschreibung

The book of Genesis shares the origin of all things, including the cosmic order of the universe and the covenant relationship between God and his people. It showcases God's redemptive heart toward the world—a theme that can be traced throughout the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. This 12-lesson study guide on chapters 12 through 50 of Genesis provides a unique and welcoming opportunity to immerse yourself in God's precious Word as expressed in The Passion Translation®. Begin your journey with a thorough introduction that details the authorship of Genesis, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson then walks you through a portion from the book and includes features such as notable verses, historical and cultural background information, definitions of words and language, cross references to other books of the Bible, maps, and character portraits of figures from the Bible and church history.  Enrich your biblical understanding of the book of Genesis, experience God's love for you, and share his heart with others.  

Leseprobe

BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC

Savage, Minnesota, USA

BroadStreetPublishing.com

TPT: The Book of Genesis – Part 2: 12-Lesson Study Guide

Copyright © 2022 BroadStreet Publishing Group

978-1-4245-6411-8 (softcover)

978-1-4245-6412-5 (e-book)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Passion Translation®, copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Stock or custom editions of BroadStreet Publishing titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, ministry, fundraising, or sales promotional use. For information, please email [email protected].

General editor: Brian Simmons

Managing editor: William D. Watkins

Writer: William D. Watkins Design and typesetting | garborgdesign.com

Printed in the United States of America

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Contents

From God’s Heart to Yours

Why I Love the Patriarchs

Lesson 1Abram, Sarai, and Blessings for All

Lesson 2Rescue, Blessing, and Covenant

Lesson 3Revelation, Sign, and Judgment

Lesson 4Isaac, the Promised Son

Lesson 5Securing Isaac’s Future

Lesson 6Like Father, Like Son

Lesson 7Jacob, Esau, and the Stolen Blessing

Lesson 8Reconciliation, Revenge, and Renewal

Lesson 9Joseph, Betrayal, and Transformation

Lesson 10Joseph’s First Years in Egypt

Lesson 11Joseph, Provider to Nations

Lesson 12End of an Era

Appendix Pictures of Jesus in Joseph’s Life

Endnotes

From God’s Heart to Yours

“God is love,” says the apostle John, and “Everyone who loves is fathered by God and experiences an intimate knowledge of him” (1 John 4:7). The life of a Christ-follower is, at its core, a life of love—God’s love of us, our love of him, and our love of others and ourselves because of God’s love for us.

And this divine love is reliable, trustworthy, unconditional, other-centered, majestic, forgiving, redemptive, patient, kind, and more precious than anything else we can ever receive or give. It characterizes each person of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and so is as unlimited as they are. They love one another with this eternal love, and they reach beyond themselves to us, created in their image with this love.

How do we know such incredible truths? Through the primary source of all else we know about the one God—his Word, the Bible. Of course, God reveals who he is through other sources as well, such as the natural world, miracles, our inner life, our relationships (especially with him), those who minister on his behalf, and those who proclaim him to us and others. But the fullest and most comprehensive revelation we have of God and from him is what he has given us in the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) and the twenty-seven books of the Christian Scriptures (the New Testament). Together, these sixty-six books present a compelling and telling portrait of God and his dealings with us.

It is these Scriptures that The Passionate Life Bible Study Series is all about. Through these study guides, we—the editors and writers of this series—seek to provide you with a unique and welcoming opportunity to delve more deeply into God’s precious Word, encountering there his loving heart for you and all the others he loves. God wants you to know him more deeply, to love him more

devoutly, and to share his heart with others more frequently and freely. To accomplish this, we have based this study guide series on The Passion Translation of the Bible, which strives to “unlock the passion of [God’s] heart.” It is “a heart-level translation, from the passion of God’s heart to the passion of your heart,” created to “kindle in you a burning desire for him and his heart, while impacting the church for years to come.”1

In each study guide, you will find an introduction to the Bible book it covers. There you will gain information about that Bible book’s authorship, date of composition, first recipients, setting, purpose, central message, and key themes. Each lesson following the introduction will take a portion of that Bible book and walk you through it so you will learn its content better while experiencing and applying God’s heart for your own life and encountering ways you can share his heart with others. Along the way, you will come across a number of features we have created that provide opportunities for more life application and growth in biblical understanding:

Experience God’s Heart

This feature focuses questions on personal application. It will help you live out God’s Word, to bring the Bible into your world in fresh, exciting, and relevant ways.

Share God’s Heart

This feature will help you grow in your ability to share with other people what you learn and apply in a given lesson. It provides guidance on how the lesson relates to growing closer to others, to enriching your fellowship with others. It also points the way to enabling you to better listen to the stories of others so you can bridge the biblical story with their stories.

The Backstory

This feature provides ancient historical and cultural background that illuminates Bible passages and teachings. It deals with then-pertinent religious groups, communities, leaders, disputes, business trades, travel routes, customs, nations, political factions, ancient measurements and currency…in short, anything historical or cultural that will help you better understand what Scripture says and means. You may also find maps and charts that will help you reimagine these groups, places, and activities. Finally, in this feature you will find references to additional Bible texts that will further illuminate the Scripture you are studying.

Word Wealth

This feature provides definitions and other illuminating information about key terms, names, and concepts, and how different ancient languages have influenced the biblical text. It also provides insight into the different literary forms in the Bible, such as prophecy, poetry, narrative history, parables, and letters, and how knowing the form of a text can help you better interpret and apply it. Finally, this feature highlights the most significant passages in a Bible book. You may be encouraged to memorize these verses or keep them before you in some way so you can actively hide God’s Word in your heart.

Digging Deeper

This feature explains the theological significance of a text or the controversial issues that arise and mentions resources you can use to help you arrive at your own conclusions. Another way to dig deeper into the Word is by looking into the life of a biblical character or another person from church history, showing how that man or woman incarnated a biblical truth or passage. For instance, Jonathan Edwards was well known for his missions work among native American Indians and for his intellectual prowess in articulating the Christian faith; Florence Nightingale for the reforms she brought about in healthcare; Irenaeus for his fight against heresy; Billy Graham for his work in evangelism; Moses for the strength God gave him to lead the Hebrews and receive and communicate the law; Deborah for her work as a judge in Israel. This feature introduces to you figures from the past who model what it looks like to experience God’s heart and share his heart with others.

The Extra Mile

While The Passion Translation’s notes are extensive, sometimes students of Scripture like to explore more on their own. In this feature, we provide you with opportunities to glean more information from a Bible dictionary, a Bible encyclopedia, a reliable Bible online tool, another ancient text, and the like. Here you will learn how you can go the extra mile on a Bible lesson. And not just in study either. Reflection, prayer, discussion, and applying a passage in new ways provide even more opportunities to go the extra mile. Here you will find questions to answer and applications to make that will require more time and energy from you—if and when you have them to give.

As you can see above, each of these features has a corresponding icon so you can quickly and easily identify them.

You will find other helps and guidance through the lessons of these study guides, including thoughtful questions, application suggestions, and spaces for you to record your own reflections, answers, and action steps. Of course, you can also write in your own journal, notebook, computer, or other resource, but we have provided you with space for your convenience.

Also, each lesson will direct you into the introductory material and numerous notes provided in The Passion Translation. There each Bible book contains a number of aids supplied to help you better grasp God’s words and his incredible love, power, knowledge, plans, and so much more. We want you to get the most out of your Bible study, especially using it to draw you closer to the One who loves you most.

Finally, at the end of each lesson you’ll find a section called “Talking It Out.” This contains questions and exercises for application that you can share, answer, and apply with your spouse, a friend, a coworker, a Bible study group, or any other individuals or groups who would like to walk with you through this material. As Christians, we gather together to serve, study, worship, sing, evangelize, and a host of other activities. We grow together, not just on our own. This section will give you ample opportunities to engage others with the content of each lesson so you can work it out in community.

We offer all of this to support you in becoming an even more faithful and loving disciple of Jesus Christ. A disciple in the ancient world was a student of her teacher, a follower of his master. Students study and followers follow. Jesus’ disciples are to sit at his feet and listen and learn and then do what he tells them and shows them to do. We have created The Passionate Life Bible Study Series to help you do what a disciple of Jesus is called to do.

So go.

Read God’s words.

Hear what he has to say in them and through them. Meditate on them.

Hide them in your heart.

Display their truths in your life.

Share their truths with others.

Let them ignite Jesus’ passion and light in all you say and do.

Use them to help you fulfill what Jesus called his disciples to do: “Now wherever you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And teach them to faithfully follow all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age” (Matthew 28:19–20).

And through all of this, let Jesus’ love nourish your heart and allow that love to overflow into your relationships with others (John 15:9–13). For it was for love that Jesus came, served, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. This love he gives us. And this love he wants us to pass along to others.

Why I Love the Patriarchs

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. The true stories of these four men captivate and fascinate me. There’s something about real-life stories that hold our attention. They have the starring roles in the dramatic history of Israel. God’s gracious blessing flowing through them now comes to every believer today. Let’s look at these four champions of faith.

To me, the life of Abraham is a beautiful picture of the life of faith. He left everything behind to follow the divine voice. He and his barren wife, Sarah, were blessed with a miracle child. That tells me that faith is what births a miracle. Abraham was an intercessor, one who fought for his family. He ultimately made his beloved son an offering to God, believing that God would raise his son from the dead (Hebrews 11:19). The life-lesson of Abraham was to live by faith. I love the story of Abraham because he is the father of faith, the father of my faith.

The life of Isaac is a great example to me of living in the inheritance of God. Isaac is marked by the blessings of his father. He inherited that immense blessing of God as a son of favor. Isaac dug wells and uncovered the wells of his father. In a sense, Isaac’s story is our story, for we, too, have inherited all things as a son or daughter of God (1 Corinthians 3:21). I love the story of Isaac because he is the patriarch of my inheritance in Christ.

The life of Jacob—a riveting story of how God grips the heart of a trickster and transforms him into a prince. Jacob received the coveted blessing, or shall we say, Jacob stole that blessing from his brother. Yet God favored Jacob throughout his life. He wrestled with his brother, he wrestled with Laban, and he wrestled with God. There is hope for me and for you, even if, for a season, we fall into personal struggles with our destiny. I love the story of Jacob because he became Israel, God’s prince.

The life of Joseph is a story of going from riches to rags to riches. The up-and-down path of Joseph’s life is a wonderful picture of how God works through everything in our life to bring us to the place of honor. Joseph is an example to me of how important forgiveness is; he forgave the ones who hurt him most. Joseph realized that it was his brothers’ betrayal that led him to the throne. Joseph was a dreamer and a prophet. His excellent character survived the pit and the prison until the day came when he was promoted to the palace. I love the story of Joseph because I see in his life the lessons I need to live a pure and holy life before God.

Because Genesis is so foundational to the rest of history, we decided to cover it in two study guides. The first one (Part 1) covers the first eleven chapters of Genesis, from creation to the confusion of human languages during the construction of the tower of Babel. The second study guide (Part 2), which is this one, works through the rest of Genesis, from God’s choice of Abraham to the last days of Jacob and Joseph—the era of the patriarchs. I hope you will take the next several weeks to pour through the pages of this second part of the Genesis Bible study guides. I know you’ll love reading through these lessons. Let God speak to you and reveal to you the life-lessons of the patriarchs!

Brian Simmons

General Editor

LESSON 1

Abram, Sarai, and Blessings for All

(11:10–13:18)

The human race starts with a human pair. They have children, their adult children have children, and on the process goes until divine judgment must fall on the corruption that has overtaken the race. Through the global judgment of floodwaters, one man’s family is saved. Through them, the repopulation of the earth begins and flourishes until their descendants plan to steal dominion from God and advance their own plans and glory. This, too, brings judgment. Human language is confused and divided, and the peoples disperse across the earth, finally in (reluctant?) obedience to God.

All the while, God is at work, fulfilling a prophecy he directed to Satan in Eden: “I will place great hostility between you and the woman, and between her seed and yours. He will crush your head as you crush his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Eve’s progenies have so far survived, even if barely through the flood. After the flood, they have finally dispersed throughout Europe, northern and eastern Africa, Russia, Assyria, Persia, and Arabia. They are filling the earth, subduing it, and flourishing in it. But what about the seed to come? Through whom will this predicted seed be realized?

The latter part of Genesis 11 and the opening of chapter 12 provide the answer. God’s plan will not be stopped. He will ensure that the seed comes through another couple. Just as the human race began with one married pair, so the redeemed among the human race will also start with one human pair.

The Line of Shem

Just as we choose according to our will, God chooses according to his. And among Noah’s three sons, God chose Shem’s line through which to bring the one who would conquer Satan and establish salvation for all who would put their trust in him (Luke 3:23, 36; 10:17–20; Colossians 2:13–16).

Genesis 11:10–26 is Book 5, the start of which contains the fifth use of the toledot formula in Genesis: “These are the descendants [toledot] of Shem.” (The previous four books are 2:4–4:26, 5:1–6:8, 6:9–9:29, and 10:1–11:9, each a family history.2) In this list, some persons in Shem’s line are repeated from Genesis 10 while others appear for the first time. The repeated names are Arphaxad (11:10; 10:22), Shelah (11:12; 10:24), Eber (11:14; 10:21, 24–25), and Peleg (11:16; 10:25–26). But even with these names, new information is supplied. The new names on the list are Reu (11:18), Serug (11:20), Nahor (Abram’s grandfather, v. 22), Terah (v. 24), Abram (v. 26), Nahor (Abram’s brother, v. 26), and Haran (v. 26).

•For each of the following individuals, record what the text says about their age when they had one of their sons, then how much longer they lived afterward, and then add the figures together to learn how long each one lived.

Shem (10:10–11): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Arphaxad (vv. 12–13): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Shelah (vv. 14–15): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Eber (vv. 16–17): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Peleg (vv. 18–19): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Reu (vv. 20–21): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Serug (vv. 22–23): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Nahor (vv. 24–25): Age when son was born ______ ; number of years lived afterward ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

Terah (vv. 26, 32): Three sons at age ______ ; total number of years lived ______ .

•What did you notice about the lifespans of these individuals? How do their lifespans differ from those human beings who lived before the great flood (see Genesis 5)? How does the lifespan of the post-flood individuals differ from Noah’s (9:29)?

•Relate your above answers to what God said he would do in 6:3. Did he work toward his intended age-restraint goal for humanity? Why do you suppose God took several generations to work out his plan?

•