Genesis: The Global Study Pastor Dale Critchley

http://shepherdoftheridge.org/genesis_the_global_study/event/bible_study/genesis_39_40

Read Genesis 39 (Potiphar and Wife)

Joseph, based on his dreams, expected great things in his life. How did this event look in comparison?

Have you ever expected great things to happen and see events crumble around you? How did you respond?

Why do you think God allowed these trials to happen to Joseph?

What methods does Potiphar's wife use to attempt to seduce Joseph? (39:7,10,12)

How does he counter each one?

Does Potiphar believe his wife? What clues in the text help answer that question?

Where do you see Jesus in this narrative?

Read Genesis 40 (Dreams: The Cupbearer and the Baker)

Why do you think Joseph asked to interpret their dreams? (40:8)

How do you understand the cupbearer forgetting Joseph? (40:23)

What significance do you give to dreams?

Where do you see Jesus in this narrative?

http://shepherdoftheridge.org/genesis_the_global_study/event/bible_study/genesis_32_33

Read Genesis 32-33 (Jacob meets Esau and wrestles with God)

Genesis 32:1-21

Have you ever had a meeting you dreaded going to?

Has anyone ever tried to buy your forgiveness? How did that go?

Why did Esau bring 400 men with him? (32:6)

How do you think Jacob felt about this meeting? (32:7-8)

What does Jacob's prayer tell you about what's going through Jacob's mind as he prepares? (32:9-12)

Genesis 31:22-32

Why does the struggle between God and Jacob occur at this particular point in Jacob's life? (32:22-31)

Have you ever wrestled with God?

Why does God wrestle all night? Is He that weak?

Who wins? How? What does this mean?

What does Jacob's new name, "Israel," mean?

Genesis 33

Have you had a dreaded meeting go better than expected?

How is this story like the reunion of the prodigal in Luke 15?

What is Jacob trying to do in 33:8-11? Was it necessary?

Why did Jacob decline Esau's offer to travel with him? (33:12-14)

Why did Jacob go to Succoth instead of Seir? (33:16-17)

How does 33:20 show Jacob's spiritual growth?

http://shepherdoftheridge.org/genesis_the_global_study/event/bible_study/genesis_29_14_30

Read Genesis 29:14-30 (Jacob marries Leah & Rachel)

Has anyone ever played a mean trick on you? You on someone else?

How did Laban manipulate Jacob's words in 29:21?

How could Jacob have not realized with whom he was sleeping? (29:22) (Compare 24:65 and note that this night was preceded by a week-long feast)

How is Jacob's being deceived in 29:25 ironic?

What would you have been willing to do to marry your spouse? 14 years as an agricultural slave?

Would you be willing to work that hard to keep your spouse once you're married?

Why did Jacob keep Leah as a wife?

How do you think Leah might have felt here?

Does God condone polygamy? How did it work out for Jacob? (Remember Sarah and Hagar?)

From whom does Jesus descend? (29:35)

How do we see the love of Jesus in the actions of Jacob?

Read Genesis 28:10-22 (Jacob's Dream)

What was the situation in Jacob's life at this point? Have you ever felt like that?

Note: this probably appeared as a stairway or ziggurat, which were common in Mesopotamia, where the top would represent the place of a deity's presence or a worship connection with that deity.

What does this "stairway to heaven" represent? (John 1:51)

Why does God make this offer to Jacob?

What did this dream mean to Jacob?

What does this dream mean to you?

Why was it significant that God would go with Jacob? (28:15)

What is Jacob's reaction? (28:18-22) What does this tell us about Jacob?

Jacob had used the stone for his head, then raises and anoints it. What's going on here?

What made the place special? What is the significance for Christians? For churches?

What is Jacob's motivation for the tithe in 28:22?

http://shepherdoftheridge.org/genesis_the_global_study/event/bible_study/genesis_27_1_40

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Read Genesis 27:1-40 (Isaac’s Blessing)
Have you ever misrepresented yourself? (pretended to be someone else, a different age, embellishing a resumé, etc.) What was the result to you or anyone else?
Why was getting this deathbed blessing so important?
What did Jacob hope to get out of this blessing?
In 27:20, why does Jacob say, "your God" instead of "our God"? What is Jacob's relationship with the Lord like at this point?
Do you think Isaac could take back his blessing? God fulfilled this stolen blessing. What does this tell us about God?
Compare 27:27 with Luke 22:48.
How does 27:29 fulfill God's promise in Genesis 25:23? Isn't this Rebekah forcing God's promise?
Why do you think Isaac fell for this trick?
Compare Jacob's and Esau's blessings.
If God's plans depended on our virtue and faithfulness, how would that change things?
Would God's plan have been fulfilled if Jacob hadn't been so deceptive?
If this story took place today, what might Jacob try to steal?
How do we see God's plan for salvation in Jesus Christ working through this narrative?
 

http://shepherdoftheridge.org/genesis_the_global_study/event/bible_study/genesis_25_19_34

Read Genesis 25:19-34 (Jacob & Esau)

Did you ever get the feeling that you or a sibling were a parent's 'favorite'?

Have you ever made a bad swap with someone? What motivated you?

What English idiom do we get from 25:26?

Based on this passage, which of these, Jacob or Esau, would you rather have as a brother?

Which of these men did God choose? Why? (cf. Romans 9:10-16)

What was the 'birthright' Esau gave up? (25:31) (cf. Hebrews 12:15-17)

What was so important about the birthright?

How are these brothers like the first brothers? (Genesis 4)

What was the result of this conflict? (Numbers 20:14-21; Obadiah 1:9-10)

Which of these brothers do you respect more?

Which of these brothers do you think our society would respect more?

How is the exchange between Jacob and Esau like our relationship with Jesus? What's the difference?