Chronological Bible Study – Jan 24

What I Noticed Today (Genesis 35-37)

Genesis 35

In verses 1-15, Jacob completes the journey to Bethel:

• God told Jacob to get up, go to Bethel, and settle there. Once there, he was to build an altar to God who appeared when he fled from Esau.

• Jacob commanded everyone with him to get rid of their foreign gods and purify themselves.
• Jacob told them they would journey to Bethel where he would build an altar to the God who answered his prayers when he was in distress, and with him wherever he went.
• Jacob hid all their foreign gods under a tree in Shechem.
• When they set out, God protected them, so no one came out against them.
• Jacob arrived in Bethel (also known as Luz) and built an altar to God there because it was there that God revealed himself to Jacob when Jacob was fleeing from Esau.
• Deborah, the woman who nursed Rebekah and cared for her, died and was buried. Jacob named the place where she was buried the “Oak of Weeping” (Allon Bacuth).
• God appeared to Jacob again after he arrived in Bethel. God confirmed Jacob’s name will now be Israel. God told him to be fruitful and multiply. God promised an assembly of nations would come from him, and kings would descend from him. Finally, God promised to give him the land he had promised to Abraham and Isaac.

• Jacob set up a marker at the place where God spoke to him, poured out a drink offering, and anointed the marker with oil. Jacob named the place Bethel.

In verses 16-20, Rachel dies:                                                                                                              

• On the way to Ephrath, Rachel goes into labor and delivers another son whom she named “Ben-oni” (Son of My Sorrow). Then she died. Jacob changed the boy’s name to “Benjamin” (Right-hand Son).
• Rachel died on the way to Ephrath (Bethlehem).

In verses 21-26, Israel journeys beyond the Tower of Edar:

• While they were living in this region, Reuben went in and slept with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, who was the mother to his brothers Dan and Naphtali.
• The 12 sons of Jacob are listed, not according to birth order but according to the order of Jacob’s relationship with their mothers: Leah, Rachel, Bilhah, and Zilpah.

In verses 27-29, Isaac dies:

• Jacob came to his father Isaac in Mamre in Kiriath-arba (Hebron).
• Isaac was 180 years old, and he died.
• His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Genesis 36

Chapter 36 includes the family records of Esau (Edom).

In verses 1-8, are the family records of Esau:

• Esau had three wives: Adah, Oholibamah, and Basemath.
• Esau had five sons, all of whom were born to him in the land of Canaan.
• Esau gathered up his family and possessions and moved to Seir away from his brother Jacob because the land could not support them both.

In verses 9-43, the family records of Esau are detailed in five major sections:

• Section 1. Verses 10-14. This section expands verses 4-5: six sons were born to Adah’s son Eliphaz, and four sons were born to Basemath’s son Ruel.
• Section 2. Verses 15-19. This section lists the chiefs of Esau’s sons, and grandsons, but adds the seventh son of Eliphaz named Korah.
• Section 3. Verses 20-30. This section lists the sons and chiefs of Seir the Horite, the father of Eliphaz’s concubine, Timna.
• Section 4. Verses 31-39. This section lists the eight kings who ruled consecutively in the land of Edom prior to King Saul.
• Section 5. Verses 40-43. This section lists eleven of Esau’s chiefs who ruled over portions of Edom (see also 1 Chronicles 1:51-54 for a similar list).

Some thoughts for additional consideration: 

• The rape of Dinah brings out the worst in Jacob and his sons.
• They have attempted to do what God wants but in an unholy way, with bad motives. Lies and deceit abound as Jacob and his family act more like Gentiles than children of God.
• How often do we do that today? We try to help God out, do what God wants, but we do it with impure motives, in an unholy way. No wonder the unbelieving world looks at Christians and questions our beliefs.

Genesis 37:2-50:26

The remainder of the book of Genesis covers the story of Joseph, his life as a shepherd in Canaan, being sold into slavery by his brothers and concluding with his time spent in Egypt.

Genesis 37

In verses 2-11, Joseph’s youth and his dreams:

• At 17 years old, Joseph was a shepherd working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives.
• Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. His brothers were envious of the preferential treatment Joseph received from Isaac.

• Joseph had a dream about sheaves of grain in the field. His brother’s sheaves of grain were bowing down to his. The suggestion that they would bow down to him made his brothers hate him even more.
• Joseph had another dream in which the sun, moon, and 11 stars were bowing down to him. Even his father rebuked him at the suggestion that he and his mother and brothers would all bow down to him.

In verses 12-28, Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery:

• Joseph’s brothers were out tending the sheep in Shechem. Israel called to Josephs and told him to get ready; he was sending him to his brothers to see how the flocks were doing.
• Joseph went to Shechem and learned his brothers had moved the flocks to Dothan.

• His brothers saw Joseph in the distance and devised a plan to kill him and throw him into a pit.
• Reuben convinced his brothers not to kill Joseph, but to throw him into a pit (a dry cistern) hoping to rescue Joseph later and return him to Israel.
• When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe of many colors, and threw him into the pit, intending for him to die there.
• As the brothers sat down to eat, a trading caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead on their way to Egypt appeared.
• Judah suggested they sell Joseph into slavery rather than kill him, so they agreed to sell Joseph to the Midianites (another name for Ishmaelites) for 20 pieces of silver.

In verses 29-36, Israel’s son deceives him by telling him Joseph is dead:

• Reuben returned and found Joseph gone and tore his clothes (a sign of grief).
• The brothers took Joseph’s coat, killed a goat, and covered the coat with blood.
• They sent the coat to their father, asking if this was his son’s coat.
• Jacob (Israel) recognized the coat and assumed an animal had killed Joseph.
• Jacob tore his clothes and mourned for Joseph, inconsolably.
• Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard in Egypt.

What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.

Tomorrow: Day 25, Genesis 38-40