I thought we’d never get here! Genesis is a long, long book. But, oh what a journey it has been! I pray that you’ve learned and enjoyed yourself as you've gone along with us. This is our last lesson and this lesson is going to open up many passages in Scripture related to the 12 tribes of Israel that might have been difficult for you to understand. Read Gen. 47:1-19. How many of his brothers did Joseph take to present to Pharoah?

In our last lesson, 1st born, Rueben was trying to convince his father, Jacob/Israel, to allow him to take Benjamin down to Egypt in order to purchase some more grain. Jacob refused to allow Rueben to do this. I wonder if Rueben felt guilty for all the sorrow he’d brought to his father? He even said that Jacob could put both of his sons to death if he did not return with Benjamin! That sounds pretty serious! Read Gen. 43:1-15. What does verse 1 say?

Last week, we discovered that smack dab in the middle of the compelling story of Joseph, an interesting story about the indiscretions of his brother, Judah, appears. Friends, ya can’t make these kinds of stories up and I’m so glad that God allows us to view how others messed up and He still redeemed their lives. This week, we’ll pick up where we left off with the Joseph story. Read Gen. 39. Where was Joseph taken and what was his job?

This week’s lesson begins on a sad note, the death of Rachel. In order to keep us from getting confused,  I’ll be referring to Israel as Jacob. Read Gen. 35:16-29. We last saw Jacob and his crew in Bethel. Now,  they’re leaving Bethel and they get as far as Ephrath and Rachel goes into hard labor. I don’t think  anyone ever told that generation that bouncing around on a donkey or a camel was something that a  woman who was pregnant should avoid. Ephrath is used interchangeably with Bethlehem which means  house of bread. Rachel knew that she was dying. She also knew that she was giving birth to a son.  What did she want to name him and what did Jacob name him?

Read Genesis 32:1 and then look at this picture. This picture makes me smile. I seriously doubt the  situation in v.1 looked like this but who knows! We weren’t there to know exactly how those angels  looked. We only know that Jacob knew right away that they were angels. Go ahead and read Genesis 32. Because the angels were in this place, Jacob stopped to camp for the night. What did Jacob do in  regards to sending out messengers in v. 3-5?

This week, we are going to cover a few chapters. Jacob will be the primary star of these chapters and  after we finish our study about him, his son, Joseph, will be the one who will be the focus until the end  of the chapter. Throughout the book of Genesis, one old saying remains true, ‘like father, like son’. We  often speak of generational curses as though the younger generation had no free will to make such  decisions like their father. Yet, we see over and over again, that the sin nature is alive and well within  mankind and what is not fixed in one generation is passed onto the next.

In our last session, we learned that the first of our great patriarchs, Abraham, is gone. Read Gen. 25:9- 34. The last time we saw Isaac and Ishmael together was back in Chapter 21 when Ishmael was making fun of Isaac and Sarah had Ismael and his mother, Hagar sent away. Now, these brothers are reunited to bury their father. We don’t know how they got along with one another, only that they buried Abraham in the same cave that Sarah was buried in. What cave was that?

Let’s go back and review a few things. Read Genesis 22:1. What did God do with Abraham?

Is there a difference between testing and tempting?

We are on a journey of faith, just like Abraham. And just like Abraham, we are going to make some mistakes along the way. Sometimes, I know I am more teachable and coachable than at other times. Those other times are generally when pride steps in the way and knocks me off the path. Abraham is getting ready to make the same mistake twice! I know that none of us have ever done that! Yeah, right! If I’d been Sarah, I believe I would have knocked him in the head with a frying pan! Read Gen. 20.

The book of Genesis has 50 chapters. We begin Chapter 16 this week and from here on, we’ll be covering more territory per lesson because the stories all start flowing together. I’ll bet you thought we were going to be in Genesis til the rapture! Well…..who knows, we might be! Here’s what we know so far:

Have you ever had that kid who managed to get into something or get filthy wherever he/she went? Have you ever said or thought to yourself, ‘I can’t take him anywhere!’. I kind of imagine that Abram thought this about Lot. Seems like it was always something! Go ahead and read Genesis 14.

The first 11 chapters of Genesis are different from the rest of the book. These chapters lay a foundation for the rest of Genesis and the Old Testament. From chapter 12 til the end of the book, it reads like a narrative of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We are going to learn much more about these patriarchs than we learned about the individuals in chapters 1-11. Do you feel like you know Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and his family? I don’t. Very little is written in Scripture about these individuals. By the end of Genesis, you are going to feel as if you know the people on the pages of Scripture. In Gen. 11:27-32, list everything you learn about Abram and Sarai.

From Ham, Shem, and Japeth came 70 families or nations. We are going to see many of these names as we move on through the Old Testament. There will be times that these names will not be for the name of a person, but for the name of a place. All the peoples of the earth came from the 3 sons of Noah. I want to give credit to Enduring Word Ministries for the following breakdown of nations:

Isn’t this picture so incredible! I love it so much! There are some stunning pictures that have been painted of the story we will be studying about this week. I’m not sure how we ended up being in Chapter 9 as well as Lesson 9, but that all worked out pretty well. Read Genesis 9:1-17. It is of no surprise that the earth was (had to be) repopulated from those 8 people who were on the boat. Many things are going to be different now. Here’s a partial list: ...

How many times have we sung this song?! There are many more verses than just this one. There are also a lot of misconceptions about this story of the flood. Before we get into our questions, please read over Genesis 6-8.

Before we get into the flood of Noah, we need to discuss the days of Noah. Jesus spoke of the days of Noah being like the end of time in the New Testament. If the days of Noah are going to be repeated in the last days, it behooves us to know what those days were like and exactly what was going on during this time period. I’ll have to be honest with you that I am enthralled with studying about this time period. Some of the information I’m going to share with you this week might seem completely outrageous! But stay with me, it is captivating information that all believers need to know.
Noah lived for 950 years, 600 prior to the flood and 350 years after the flood. The days of Noah encompassed many years. We’re going to spend a couple of weeks on Genesis 6.
In the space below, record Matthew 24:37.

When I was a little girl, about 7 years old, my brother, Steve, was 11 months younger. He was as mean as a snake and I was an angel. At least, that’s the way I remember it. Steve and I fought like wild cats every single day.

Have you ever thought about how Satan works? He almost never works in ways that are general. It’s always specific and it’s always personal. It always hurts you and it hurts others in the long run. Several years ago, a dear pastor friend did a sermon on recognizing the voice of Satan and the voice of God. I can’t remember everything he said in that sermon, but some things did stick.

We’ve now gone through the first 6 days of creation. We know that Moses is credited with the authorship of this book. We know that angels were there at creation singing God’s praises, so they were there before the beginning. We know that Satan was in the Garden of Eden. What we don’t know is exactly when Satan fell from grace. Chapters 1 & 2 of Genesis are confusing for some people because it almost looks as if there are 2 creation accounts.

Let’s see, where are we? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God took space time and formed the earth out of matter. If we follow the genealogies in the Bible, then we find that by taking Scripture literally, the heavens and the earth were created in 6 24-hour days. Okay, that’s where we stopped on our last lesson. There is so much more to learn this week. Dear ones, I feel I need to say this today before we get into our lesson. God is so precise.