Immediately following Jacob's death in Genesis 49:33, Joseph wept openly and fell on his father's body and kissed his face. His dad’s death hit him so hard. So Joseph ordered Jacob's body to be embalmed—likely meaning mummified—by the Egyptian doctors. Also, the state of Egypt observed an official 70–day period of mourning which was an extraordinary gesture towards a man unconnected to their culture. Then Joseph asked the Pharaoh for permission to leave the country to go and bury his dad.

Notice, that he does so through a messenger, possibly because those in mourning were not allowed to physically see the Pharaoh.

Not only did Pharaoh agree to allow Joseph and his brothers to leave for the burial, he sent a huge delegation of Egyptian servants and dignitaries along to honor Jacob. In addition, Pharaoh sent horsemen and chariots. Along the way, the massive funeral procession stopped at a field spending seven days in traditional ritual mourning rites. The event was so big that the Canaanites renamed that field. After these events, Joseph's brothers were overwhelmed with guilt and fear for they were concerned that Joseph was only holding back his rage against them for the sake of Jacob.

However, Joseph reassured them that he had no intention of seeking revenge.

Joseph lived long enough to see his great-great-grandchildren and died at the age of 110 years and the rest of Joseph's life story is summarized by a few verses explaining his good fortune.

As Jacob did, Joseph made his brothers swear to take his body from Egypt someday and fortunately, this was accomplished by Moses, centuries in the future in Exodus 13:19.When Joseph died, he was also embalmed and kept in a coffin in the possession of Israel. This ends the book of Genesis. The early verses of the book of Exodus explain how Israel grew and prospered. That process continued for centuries.

Unfortunately, a new regime came to power in Egypt, with no memory or love of Joseph. This dynasty brutally enslaved Jacob's descendants, setting up God's rescue and the establishment of Israel as a nation in Exodus 1:6–14.

The first three predictions from Jacob are harsh. He holds Reuben, Simeon, and Levi accountable for sins committed decades earlier. The tribes descended from them were less esteemed, as a result. Reuben was vilified for sleeping with his father's concubine (Genesis 35:22). This causes him to lose his esteemed position as the firstborn and his tribe is noted for indecisiveness.

Simeon and Levi were closely linked in their violent, vengeful personalities, for which both are condemned. The most notable evidence of this was their deceptive and sadistic response to the rape of their sister, Dinah in Genesis 34:1–2 & 13–15, 25–29. Neither tribe posed much of the Promised Land;

The tribe of Levi became priests with no established territory of contrast, Judah's tribe became great. This fourth son of Jacob will be the ancestor of most of Israel's kings and rulers. The kingship will remain with Judah forever. Much later in history, Jesus, the Messiah, descended from Judah and King David, will also be known as the Lion of Judah. Part of Jacob's prediction was a prophecy about Messiah and the everlasting nature of His rule (Genesis 49:8–12).

Brief mentions are made of the futures of the tribes of Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali. Zebulun was associated, in some way, with sea trading. Issachar was known for hard work and possibly enslavement. Dan was cryptically described as a lurking serpent, possibly a reference to military skill. The oracle about Gad uses rhyming Hebrew words to imply conflict. Asher's prediction involves food. Naphtali is associated with independence and beauty.

In the middle of these prophecies, Jacob exclaimed his desire to see God's salvation (Genesis 49:13–21). Jacob saved his greatest blessing for Joseph and the people to come from him. Having already given the family blessing to Joseph's two sons (Genesis 48:5–6), Jacob now includes Joseph specifically. His people will be fruitful and fight off their attackers in the strength of the Mighty One of Jacob.

Notable Old Testament warriors such as Joshua, Gideon, and Deborah will be from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. Further, all the material blessings of the earth will come to them (Genesis 49:22–26). The final prediction is for Jacob's youngest son, Benjamin. His people are compared to a voracious, vicious predator. The Benjaminites were known for their military accomplishments. They would also be associated with a horrific incident in Judges 19:25–27 which sparked a civil war in Judges 20. The first king of Israel, Saul, was from this tribe, and his rule was marked by a predatory, violent streak. After the extensive praise given to Joseph, this brief remark seems anticlimactic (Genesis 49:27).

In the moments before he died, Jacob urgently commanded his sons not to bury him in Egypt but rather, they were to take his remains to the family burial cave near Mamre which was purchased by Abraham. This cave is one of the few spots in Canaan owned outright by God's people. Buried there are Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob's first wife Leah. His sons must bury him there alongside them (Genesis 49:28–32). With his business finished, Jacob unfortunately in verse 33.

God appeared to Jacob as he was fleeing from Canaan to go live with his uncle Laban in Bethel and while in Bethel he vowed to make the Lord his God.

Now 30 years later after growing a family and leaving Laban, Jacob's family had an ugly incident where his daughter Dinah was raped in Genesis 34:1.Dinah’s brothers revenged and annihilated the entire town which lead Jacob to fear retaliation from the neighboring cities.

Now in this chapter, God tells Jacob it is time to fulfill his vows by building an altar at Bethel. Jacob begins by directing his large company to gather all their foreign gods or idols they’d stolen from Laban in Genesis 31:19 and to purify themselves, including putting on new, clean garments. Rather than destroy the idols or repurpose their metal, Jacob buried them under a tree which symbolized a complete and total rejection of those objects.

After the purification process was completed, they got on the road from Shechem to Bethel, the place of Jacob's first encounter with the Lord. Once they arrived at Bethel, Jacob obediently built an altar to the Lord and called it El- Bethel, meaning "God in Bethel."In verses 5–8, we will see a passing reference made to Deborah, the nurse of Jacob's mother, and her burial in this area.

Although it wasn’t clear if she has just died, or if this refers to some earlier event. God appeared to Jacob again here at Bethel affirming several things He had previously declared. He said again that Jacob's new name was Israel. (As was in Genesis 32:28)He reminded Israel that nations will come from him.That the land promised to Abraham and Isaac will belong to him and his descendants. Jacob worshiped God and: He built a stone pillar and poured over it both a drink offering and oil.

After all these events, Jacob and his company traveled toward Bethlehem in the region of Ephrath. Along the way unfortunately his most loved wife Rachel died giving birth to her second son Benjamin who now is the 12th son of Jacob. Jacob buried her and built another stone pillar over her tomb and this very spot became a landmark for future generations of Israelites.

While Jacob is still mourning his beloved wife, boom another scandal erupts in which his oldest son, Reuben, defiles the family by sleeping with Rachel's servant and Jacob's servant-wife, Bilhah. Scripture gives no details on why this happened, how, or to what extent Bilhah was cooperative.

However, in that culture, taking the wives or concubines of a leader was a sign of conquest, and as such Reuben's act is an attempted coup. Or, it could be an act of revenge against the father who failed to love his mother Leah.

Jacob strangely doesn’t do anything until many years later in Genesis 49:4 & 1 Chronicles 5:1 where it coasted Reuben the family birthright. Finally, this section of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob's father, Isaac. Isaac was 180 years old. And he was buried by both Jacob and Esau at the family burial cave in Mamre which their Grandfather Abraham purchased in verses 27–29.

Jacob and his family also known as Israelites settled within sight of the city of Shechem. They purchased the land they occupied outside of the city from the city's ruler, Hamor.

So one day Hamor's son, also called Shechem saw Jacob's daughter Dinah when she had come to the city to socialize with the women of Shechem. He grabbed her and raped her. Then, perversely, he decided he loved her and wanted her for his wife and he demanded that his father Hamor make that happen in verses 1–4. This however ignited a series of devastating events.

First, Jacob learned of the rape but took no immediate action. Instead, he waited for his now-grown sons to return from the fields where they were working. As soon as news reached them, Jacob's sons were very furious expressing that such a thing must not be done "in Israel."This is the first time that Jacob's new; God-given name is used about a group of people in verses 5–7.

Hamor and Shechem arrived and began to negotiate for Dinah’s bride price. It was not clear if Hamor and Shechem knew that Jacob and Dinah's brothers knew about the rape because they didn’t express any remorse. Rather, everything from these two men was framed in terms of material wealth. Hamor suggested Jacob's family and the people of the city intermarry making them a single prosperous people.

However, his son Shechem just wanted to focus on Dinah and so he told Jacob and his sons to name any bride price to allow him to marry her in verses 8–12.

We're told nothing of Jacob's response. Scripture records nothing from him until the aftermath had become bloody. Instead, his sons took over the negotiation, likely led by Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers by Leah. Their response clearly showed that they had learned from their father's example They hatch a deceitful scheme to take their revenge on Shechem in verse 13.

Jacob's sons deceitfully claimed Dinah may marry Shechem, and that all their family may intermarry with the people of the city. They established one condition, however: All the men of Shechem must be circumcised as themselves. Surprisingly, Hamor and Shechem immediately agreed to this condition.

In this era before modern pain management, adult circumcision was very painful. While the site was healing, a circumcised man could expect to be very sore and restricted in his movement. Jacob's sons counted on that when forming their revenge plot. While the men of the city are handicapped, Levi and Simeon lead an assault on the city, slaughtering all the adult males. They also retrieved Dinah and killed Hamor and Shechem.

Next, the rest of Jacob's sons entered the city and gathered up the Shechemites' livestock, money, possessions, wives, and children. When it was told Jacob he was very angry. But his response made no mention of Dinah's abuse or the brutal trickery of his sons. Rather, he condemned Levi and Simeon for ruining his reputation with the other Canaanite people.

However, Levi and Simeon answered with a pointed, accusing question: Should we have allowed our sister to be treated like a prostitute in verses 30–31?

Jacob fearfully saw himself now exposed to an attack from the people of the land however as it turned out, the response of the surrounding people was not anger, but fear. At least from now until the time Jacob's family moved into Egypt, the Canaanites treated Israel with extreme caution.

Jacob made extensive preparations to meet his estranged brother, Esau, as recorded in the previous chapter. After all the waiting and wondering, the moment had finally arrived. Esau had come. Will he bring violence or peace?

Jacob made one last-minute strategic choice before approaching his brother. He arranged his family into at least three distinct groups with some space between them. He placed his two servant wives and their children at the front of the line, you know just in case. Next, he places Leah and her children. Finally, he places his beloved Rachel and Joseph.

Given that Jacob is going to approach Esau first, this is not a cowardly act, at all. It does, however, show Jacob's open favoritism, since Rachel and Joseph will have the easiest path of escape in case Esau becomes aggressive. Jacob then moved to the front of this procession and began heading toward Esau, but slowly. He stopped seven times to bow low to the ground on the way. Finally, the moment came.

Fortunately, Esau did not draw out his sword. Instead, he ran to Jacob, threw his arms around his brother, and kissed him. Both men reconciled and wept at this breathtaking reunion. Then Esau asked about Jacob's wives and children who came and bowed before him treating him as a prince or lord. Esau also asked Jacob about the massive gift of goats, sheep, camels, cows, and donkeys.

Jacob replied that these were given to find favor in his sight. However, Esau refused them, saying he had enough. Regardless, Jacob insisted that Esau take them as evidence that he truly favored him. Then Jacob asserted that seeing Esau's face was like seeing the face of God in verses 8–10. Finely Esau agreed and accepted Jacob’s gifts. He also invited Jacob to travel with him back to his home in Seir. Unfortunately, Jacob didn’t want to go that way and he didn’t say so. Instead, he told Esau that his children are frail and as such his company will travel slowly. He also refused a protection detail that his brother had offered.

Eventually, Esau left and headed to the south towards Seir and Jacob instead traveled in the opposite direction heading towards the north to Succoth. When he arrived in Succoth, he built permanent structures and then again moved west setting up camp outside of the city of Shechem.

Jacob purchased the land he camped on from the people of Shechem and built an altar to the Lord there, just as Abraham had done many years before. Unfortunately, Jacob's presence near Shechem was not peaceful as we shall see in the next Episode as it described a terrible story of violation and revenge, which shaped the destiny of the tribes of Israel.

Jacob resolves his conflict with Laban and now returns to the land of Canaan where he again faces another unresolved conflict. He must pass near the region where his twin brother Esau lives to return home. After being met by some angels of God and declaring that place "God's camp," Jacob began working on a strategy to know if he could make peace with Esau. Twenty years have passed since  Jacob cheated Esau out of the family blessing when he pretended to be Esau, fooling their blind father, Isaac. 

Esau became murderous in response and when their mother Rebekah learned of  Esau's plan to kill  Jacob,  he ran for his life to Laban's household in Paddan-Aram in Genesis 28:1–5. Now returning to his homeland,  Jacob could not know if Esau had forgiven him so he began sending messengers to  Esau to let him know he was back in the land,  that he was wealthy, and that he hoped to find favor in Esau's sight. He called Esau lord and himself Esau's servant in verses 1–5.

When  Jacob's servant returned from Esau,  he brought no message other than that Esau was coming with 400 men. Jacob couldn’t know but only presumed that Esau was coming to attack him. He grew greatly distressed and fearful—so terrified that he planned to potentially lose half of his people. Jacob's first response was to divide everything in his large company into two camps. 

If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other half of the company can survive. Though  Jacob seemed to plan for the worst possible outcome,  he prayed with great faith and humility addressed the God of Abraham and Isaac, and reminded God—and himself—that he was in this position because of God. He obeyed God's command to return, and trusting His promise to do good for Jacob. Jacob acknowledged that  God had shown his love and faithfulness far beyond what Jacob deserved. Jacob then clearly expressed his fear of Esau and asked God to deliver him, reminding God once more of His promise to make of Jacob a great nation in verses 9–12.

Next,  Jacob prepared an enormous gift,  sent ahead to his brother  Esau, in hopes of appeasing his presumed anger. The gift included five herds of animals: goats, sheep, camels, cows, and donkeys, some 550 animals in all. They are to reach  Esau,  one herd after the other,  each with a message to  "my lord  Esau" that his "servant Jacob" presents these gifts and follows behind in verses 13–20. Having sent the gift on its way, Jacob rose in the night packed up his family and all he owned, and crossed over the Jabbok River, only to return alone to the other side. There he is unexpectedly—and without any biblical explanation—engaged in a wrestling match, in the dark, with a mysterious stranger. Jacob and this unknown assailant appeared to be evenly matched in this physical combat, which continued nearly to dawn. 

Finally, the mysterious man attained a major advantage over Jacob, dislocating Jacob's hip in verses 21–25. Jacob, somehow realizing he has been wrestling God Himself, or perhaps an angel, refused to release his combatant without a blessing. In a deeply symbolic moment, the man insists that Jacob—infamous for his deception and trickery identifies himself. Jacob did, honestly, seem to admit not only his true self but his position of weakness. 

In response, the man, now revealed to be God, changed Jacob's name to Israel. Israel means "God fights." The man said that  Jacob had fought with God and with men,  and had prevailed in verses 26–30. The man blessed Jacob and Jacob renamed the place Peniel, meaning "face of God." Jacob declared he had seen God's face and been allowed to live. As the sun rises, he limps away to rejoin his family and meet his brother in verses 31–32. 

Genesis 31 is a long, eventful chapter that follows Jacob from his last days in a twenty-year career as Laban's servant. It ends with Jacob standing with his wives and children, as a free man, in the borderlands of the promised land of Canaan. This chapter begins with two revelations. 

First,  Jacob learned that Laban's sons were dangerously angry with him for taking such a large portion of Laban's profits and that he had also lost the favor of Laban himself. 

Second, God spoke to Jacob once more and commanded him to return to his people in Canaan and He also promised to be with him in verses 1–3. Jacob knew that he had to leave in as much as he was afraid that his wives,  Laban's daughters, wouldn’t want to go and afraid that Laban wouldn’t let him go. Regardless he immediately sent for his wives to see if they would support the move. And so he made his case: 

• Laban no longer favors him. 
• Even after twenty years of faithful service, Laban continually cheats him. 

For once Rachel and Leah agreed,  despite their longstanding rivalry, and described their decision bitterly, in financial terms. They won't get any inheritance from Laban, anyway and so they'll go with Jacob. Next, Jacob decided to skip any confrontation with Laban. In the past,  Laban had talked Jacob into seemingly terrible agreements,  though  God has blessed Jacob even in those circumstances.

 Worse,  Jacob is concerned that  Laban may forbid  Jacob to leave with all the people and property that he sees as ultimately belonging to him. Jacob doesn't give Laban the chance to object. He just packs and leaves in a hurry. Three days later, Laban heard that Jacob was gone. He saddles up with his kinsman and gives chase, catching up with Jacob's large company in the hill country of Gilead. Unexpectedly warned by  God not to  "say anything to  Jacob,  either good or bad,"  Laban moderated his words to Jacob. Instead of expressing his wrath, Laban sounded hurt. 

If Jacob had only told him he was leaving, Laban would have thrown him a party, or so he says. Laban spoke as if  Jacob tried to steal   Laban's chance to kiss his daughters and grandchildren goodbye. He understood that Jacob longed for his father's household, but why did Jacob steal Laban's house gods in verses 22–30? Jacob answered honestly. 

• He thought Laban would take his daughters, Jacob's wives, away by force. 
• He also insists he did not take Laban's idols, not knowing that Rachel did exactly that. 

Jacob puts his beloved wife's life at risk he foolishly promises that anyone found with the idols would die in verses 31–32. So Jacob allowed Laban to search the camp. However, due to Rachel's quick thinking, and deception, Laban found nothing. Feeling righteously indignant, Jacob finally expressed all of his fury to Laban, not just about the idol search, but also about twenty years of shabby treatment despite Jacob's faithful service. And that only God's protection and blessing had kept him from leaving empty-handed to return to his people in verses 33–42.

However, Laban disagreed and still believed his daughters and their children and all that Jacob possessed belonged to him. But because  Jacob's  God warned  Laban,  though,  Laban won't fight for them instead,  he offered an alternative both to protect himself in the future and to take control of the situation. He proposed a covenant that both men will swear never to cross over to the point where they stand to do the other harm in verses 43–50 to which Jacob agreed. The covenant was made and recognized with the building of a heap of stones,  a sacrifice upon an altar, and the sharing of a meal. Finally, Laban rides off and Jacob turns to face his homeland as a free man in verses 51–55.

Genesis  30  is characterized by sibling conflict between Jacob's wives,  the birth of many more children under the blessing of God, and Jacob eventually achieving great wealth after striking a deal with his father-in-law.

Chapter 29 describes the treacherous circumstances of Jacob's marriage to a pair of sisters: Leah and Rachel. Expecting to marry Rachel after seven years of free labor, Jacob was stunned to find that his father-in-law had switched sisters during the wedding night. The result of this ploy was Jacob being married to two women and with another seven years of labor ahead of him. 

In response to  Jacob's understandable resentment of  Leah,  God allowed her to conceive sons, while Rachel remained barren. This chapter begins with a despondent Rachel declaring to Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!" Not only is she desperate to become a mother, but she envies her sister Leah who has already born four sons to Jacob. Jacob loves Rachel more than Leah, but he rightly corrects her that God alone is the giver of children in verses 1–2. This will become a theme of the chapter; one explored both in human and animal examples.

In response to her infertility,   Rachel follows the unfortunate example of   Jacob's grandmother Sarah (Genesis 16:1–4). She gives her own servant woman to Jacob as a wife. By customs of the time,  any children borne to that servant would have been considered those of the wife. Bilhah soon bears Jacob's two sons, Rachel's sons by proxy. Rachel named the boys for her circumstances and feelings at the time they were born in verses 3–8.

At the same time,   Leah had stopped becoming pregnant,   perhaps because   Rachel's influence is keeping Jacob from sleeping with her in verse 15. She now followed Rachel's example and gave her servant woman to Jacob as a wife. Zilpah, in her turn, gives birth to two sons. These belong to Leah by proxy, and she gives them happy names in verses 9–13.

None of these births, though, ended the rivalry between Rachel and Leah. Both know that Rachel remains barren and that Leah remains unloved by Jacob. Their conflict flares to the surface when  Leah's son  Reuben brings home some rare mandrake plants he found. Mandrakes were thought to help with arousal and infertility. When  Rachel asks Leah for the plants,  likely hoping they will help her to get pregnant, Leah lashes out that  Rachel has taken her husband and now wants to take her mandrake plants. Rachel, apparently desperate, offers to give Leah one night to sleep with Jacob in exchange for the plants. 

Rachel held great power over  Jacob in the family dynamic in verses  14–16. Leah began to bear children again, having another two boys and a girl, naming them all for God's provision in her life. Rachel, too, finally bears her first son, Joseph. Her name for him amounts to a prayer for another son to follow in verses 17–24.

The narrative then shifts to inform us that Jacob's 14 years of service to Laban in exchange for his two wives has come to an end. He demanded that his father-in-law send him away so he could return home to his people. It's possible Laban retained some legal right to not release Jacob. In any case,  Laban said plainly that he had become wealthy because of the  Lord's blessing Jacob. He asked Jacob to name new wages to continue to work for him verses 25–28. Instead of Jacob asking for a flat wage or even a percentage of  Laban's flocks, he asked to keep any newly born goats or lambs that were off-color. Most of the sheep in Laban's flock are white, and most of the goats are black.

A small percentage of the goats were speckled,  striped,  or spotted,  and some sheep were black. After agreeing to Jacob's deal, Laban immediately removed all of the off-color animals from the flock three journeys away from the main group. It looks like Jacob's deal will go bust in verses 29–3.Instead,  the  Lord supernaturally blessed Jacob's unconventional efforts to cause white sheep to produce black lambs and black goats to produce mixed-color offspring. While we aren't told,  yet,  Jacob had been informed in another dream that  God intended to correct Laban's cheating of Jacobin Genesis 31:7–12. So, while this chapter only mentions Jacob's use of striped poles, there is no confusion that God, and not the poles, causes the change in the animals' color. 6

In addition,  Jacob breeds the flock to produce strong,  off-color animals for him and weak, solid-colored animals for Laban in verses 37–42. Jacob grew enormously wealthy. With the Lord's blessing, he overcame Laban's scheme to keep him poor and dependent on his father-in-law in verse 43.

Genesis 28 is the story of Jacob fleeing from his home to Mesopotamia because his brother Esau wanted to kill him for cheating him out of their father’s blessing in Genesis 27:41.

Since Rebekah had appealed to Isaac to send him away in Genesis 27:46, it's possible that Jacob needed more convincing, not yet understanding just how angry his brother Esau was. So Isaac called him and commanded him to go to Rebekah's brother's household in Paddan-Aram to find a wife.

Before he left, Isaac blessed him again, this time giving to him the full blessing of Abraham including a version of God's promises to Abraham in verses 3–5. It was told to Esau that Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman which brought him to a realization that his parents weren’t pleased with his two Canaanite wives. Possibly in an attempt to regain some of his father's approval, Esau took a third wife, one of the daughters of Isaac's half-brother Ishmael in verses 6–9.

Finally, Jacob made a vow that if God would be with him and provide for his needs and bring him back to his father's household in peace, he would make the Lord his God. He will worship him at this place, and he will give to the Lord 10% of all God gives to him.f all God gives to him.

• He will give to Jacob and his descendants the very ground he is sleeping on.
• That He will make Jacob's offspring as the dust of the earth spreads.
• That all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through his offspring in verses 10–14.
• More immediately, that the Lord will be with him wherever he went, to keep him safe, and to bring him back to the land of the promise in verse 15.

Jacob woke up overwhelmed by awe and fear and as such he called this place Bethel, which means "house of God" and set up a stone pillar to commemorate this spot in 16–19. Finally, Jacob made a vow that if God would be with him and provide for his needs and bring him back to his father's household in peace, he would make the Lord his God. He will worship him at this place, and he will give to the Lord 10% of all God gives to him.

By the end of  Genesis  27,  Isaac unintentionally handed the family blessing down to his second-born, Jacob, something that was unusual, since Esau is technically the oldest and is entitled to that inheritance. Isaac was old, blind, and believed himself to be near the end of his life, and as such the time had come to pass the blessing on in verses 1–4. Isaac told Esau to go out into the field to hunt fresh game and to prepare for him a delicious meal such that he could eat the meal and give him the blessing. 

Isaac's wife Rebekah overheard the exchange between Isaac and Esau in verses 27:5. Unfortunately Rebekah loved Jacob more than Esau, and as such she wanted him to receive this blessing. Before the twins were even born,  Rebekah received an oracle from the  Lord prophesying that the younger would one day rule over the older in Genesis 25:23. 

• So Rebekah decided to step in to help that prophecy along as was the case with  Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar, trying to "help" God's plans in Genesis 16:1–5 & Genesis 21:9–12. Rebekah compelled Jacob to participate in a scheme to deceive  Isaac into giving him the blessing by pretending to be Esau. 
• She prepared the meal Isaac was expecting from Esau. 
• She dressed Jacob in Esau's clothes to make him smell like his brother. 
• She covered his smooth hands, arms, and neck with goat's skin to make him feel to the touch like hairy Esau. 

Jacob however offered one objection to the plan: 

• What if his father caught him and cursed him instead of giving him the blessing? 

It's worth noting that Jacob's concern here is not about whether or not this action is moral; rather, his concern is only about what will happen if he is caught in the lie. Rebekah assured Jacob the curse would fall on her if he was caught and as such she commanded him to obey and do what she said.

When Jacob went to his blind father with the meal,  it seemed like the plan was doomed from the start. Isaac knew it was too soon for Esau to have returned, and the voice of this man claiming to be Esau sounded like Jacob. But Jacob lied to Isaac’s face that he was Esau. Jacob’s deception about his identity is something  God turned to later in his life in Genesis 29:21–26& Genesis 32:24–28. Isaac was finally convinced by  Jacob's disguised hairy hands and the smell of the fields on his clothes in verses 14–25.

• So he prayed for great wealth in grain and the fat of the land. 
• He also prayed for the one before him to be lord over his brothers and other nations. 

Finally,  Isaac passed on the promise that all who bless or curse this one will receive the same in return in verses 26–29. Moments after Jacob left with these blessings from Isaac, Esau returned with his meal. Shocked and shaking with anger, Isaac realized he had been duped by Jacob. Esau was distraught and he recalled the time Jacob "cheated" him out of the birthright for a bowl of stew and mocked the meaning of Jacob's name.

Ya'aqobwhich means "heel grabber" "usurper" "he lies" or "cheater" 

This is somewhat an ironic moment Because the oath to sell the birthright should have meant allowing Jacob to take the blessing in the first place. Anyways,  Esau begged his father for some kind of a blessing of his own in verses 36–38 which he received though sounded more like a curse. 

• Esau and his descendants will be wanderers,  living away from moisture and the fat of the land. 
• They will live by the sword and only at some point in the future break free from the rule of his brother in verses 39–40. 

The sad end of this family strife lived out through the nations of Israel and  Edom,  is summarized in the book of Obadiah. Esau,  heartbroken and bitter, falls into a dark rage,  committing himself to murder  Jacob after Isaac dies. Rebekah learned of his plan and urged Jacob to go away to go and live with her brother Laban in Mesopotamia. This will be the last time Rebekah will ever see Jacob again.

Genesis 26 focuses on the Lord reassuring Isaac. God stated that His relationship with Abraham, and its blessings, are for Isaac, as well.

God appeared to Isaac twice in this chapter. In both cases, the Lord restated and emphasized the covenant promises He had made to Abraham, and is now making to Isaac.

For the majority of this passage, no mention is made of Jacob and Esau, and Rebekah's marital status is obscured. Most of this chapter is likely set back before Jacob and Esau were born. Isaac and Rebekah were childless for 20 years, leaving plenty of time for these events to occur in Genesis 25:20–26. A season of famine fell on the land. It is a different famine than the one that drove Abraham to move to Egypt in Genesis 12.

The Lord appeared to Isaac and commanded him not to move to Egypt, but to settle instead in Gerar, the region of the Philistines ruled by King Abimelech in Genesis 26:1–5. When some locals asked about Isaac's beautiful wife Rebekah, he immediately followed in his father's footsteps and told them she was his sister. He was afraid they would kill him to take her from him. The same failure Abraham made—twice—Isaac now makes in his own life.

The lie is revealed when King Abimelech himself catches the couple being intimate. He is furious because Isaac's lie could have brought guilt about the kingdom, just as Abraham's had done.

Still, the king decreed that anyone who harmed Isaac or Rebekah would be killed. God demonstrated that He will protect Isaac as He did Abraham, fearful and faithless or not in Genesis 26:6–11. The Lord then blessed Isaac by giving a hundredfold return on his crops in a season of famine.

Isaac became so rich and powerful that old disputes about water rights cropped up. Abimelech sent Isaac away for being "much mightier" than the Philistines in Genesis 26:12– 16. Resettled in a different part of Gerar, Isaac continued to have disputes with the locals about the wells he is digging to water his herds and flocks. Eventually, Isaac traveled to Beersheba, given its name in Genesis 21 by Abraham himself.

In Beersheba, the Lord again appeared to Isaac, commanded him not to be afraid, and renewed His promises to be with Isaac and bless him and multiply his offspring for Abraham's sake in Genesis 26:17–24. Isaac responded with worship, building an altar, and calling the Lord's name. He also pitched his tent and commanded his servants to begin digging a well in Genesis 26:25.Abimelech arrived to visit Isaac.

Though suspicious at first, Isaac agreed to the king's proposal of a peace treaty between them. To honor the treaty, Isaac named the well his servants had dug after the word for "oath" in Genesis 26:26–33. Finally, the story jumped well into the future. Esau married 2 Canaanite women, Hittites. Those marriages made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah, perhaps because Esau did not marry from among Abraham's people in Genesis 26:34–35.

Genesis 25 records the deaths of Abraham and Ishmael, as well as the births of Jacob and Esau, and the purchase of the most expensive bowl of stew in history.

First, though, we learn about Abraham's "other wife" Keturah. Scholars are divided about whether Abraham married Keturah before or after Sarah's death because she is listed elsewhere in the Bible as a concubine. When Sarah died, at the age of 127 in Genesis 23:1, Abraham was about 140 years old in Genesis 17:17.It would seem more likely, then, that Abraham took Keturah as a wife well before Sarah's death.

Still, Abraham had six sons with Keturah, including Midian, who became the father of the Midianites. And though Abraham gave gifts to the "sons of his concubines," Genesis is quick to tell us that he gave all he had to Isaac, his sole true heir in Genesis 25:1–6. Abraham died at the age of 175, an old man and full of years Isaac and Ishmael reunited to bury Abraham at the cave of Machpelah in Genesis 23:17–20 where Sarah had been buried nearly 40 years earlier in Genesis 25:10.

Next, the chapter lists the 12 sons of Ishmael by birth order. The names of these "princes" became the names of the villages and encampments of the tribes that were their descendants. These dozen groups settled to the east of what became Israel. Ishmael himself lived a good long time, to the age of 137 in Genesis 25:12–18. Finally, Genesis 25 turns its attention to Isaac, now the patriarch. As was the case with his mother Sarah, his wife Rebekah does not become pregnant. In fact, 20 or so childless years passed.

At some point, Isaac prayed to the LORD and the LORD heard and answered his prayers and Rebekah became pregnant in Genesis 25:19–21. Her pregnancy was so difficult that Rebekah approached the Lord to ask Him why. She received a prophecy about the "two nations" in her womb that will be divided. The older will serve the younger. This prophecy made more sense to her when she delivered twins. The firstborn was red and hairy, and they named him Esau.

The second was called "heel grabber," Jacob, because he emerged with Esau's heel in his hand in Genesis 25:22–26. These two grew into very different sorts of men.Esau, the outdoorsman and hunter was loved by his father for bringing home the meat. Jacob, a quiet, stay-at-home fellow was loved by his mother in Genesis 25:27–28.

This was more than a simple preference. Later passages showed that each parent blatantly favored one child over the other, leading to further strife and rivalry. The chapter ends with a scene between Jacob and Esau that flatters neither. Esau returned from the fields exhausted and asked for a bowl of Jacob's red stew. Jacob demanded Esau's birthright in exchange for the stew. Esau foolishly agreed, swearing an oath to seal the deal. Jacob gladly accepts the payment and shares what turns out to be lentil soup.

Genesis 24 describes in great detail how Rebekah came to be the wife of Abraham's son Isaac.

The story begins with what sounds like a deathbed scene, though Abraham will live another 35 years. Abraham summoned his oldest and most trusted servant and commissioned the man with a specific mission: He must find for Isaac a wife from among Abraham's people back in Mesopotamia. Abraham was so urgent that he required the servant to swear an oath binding himself to completing this task.

• More specifically, the servant must not allow Isaac to marry a Canaanite woman
• Plus Isaac must not leave Canaan to marry a Mesopotamian woman in Genesis 24:1–4.

The servant received a caveat from Abraham: If he cannot find a woman willing to return to Canaan to marry Isaac, then the servant will be released from his oath. Abraham however is very confident that God will make this happen, even sending an angel to guarantee his success in Genesis 24:5–9.

The servant arrived in Mesopotamia at the town of Nahor, which shares the name of Abraham's brother. Eager not to fail in his mission, the servant prayed to Abraham's God and asked that if any of the young women coming to draw water at the town well offered to water his ten camels, she would be the one God had appointed for Isaac in Genesis 24:10–14.

Before the servant finished his prayer, Rebekah entered the scene and did exactly as the servant had asked. He immediately gave expensive jewelry to Rebekah. He asked if her family had room to accommodate a visit from himself and his company, including their camels. He also asked who her father was in Genesis 24:15–23. When Rebekah named her father, the servant knew exactly who she was. She is the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nahor. This was better even than the servant had hoped.

He knows now that the Lord has led him to the exact young ladyHe also asked who her father was in Genesis 24:15–23. Abraham had requested, that he had found Abraham's kinsmen and identified a bride for Isaac. He immediately worshiped the Lord right in front of Rebekah in Genesis 24:24–27. Rebekah hurried home and soon her brother Laban rushed to the well to welcome this servant of their family member Abraham.

Invited into the home of Rebekah's father Bethuel, the servant presented his mission, telling in great detail how the Lord led him to Rebekah. Finally, he asked if they would give Rebekah in marriage to his master Abraham's son Isaac. They agreed, stating that they could do nothing else given what the servant had told them in Genesis 24:28–51.

After a brief negotiation the next morning, Rebekah agreed to leave that very day to travel with the servant to the land of Canaan. At the end of the journey, she met Isaac, now 40, for the first time in Genesis 25:20.He allowed her to live in the tent of his late mother Sarah, and soon they were happily wedded in Genesis 24:52–67.

We see in the Old Testament, types of Shadows that would be fulfilled in the New Testament.

When you begin to study, the Old Testament, about the Tabernacle, different sacrifices, and the various feast days; you will find that they were all types of things to come in the New Testament. The Passover Feast was the foreshadowing of the death of Jesus Christ and so it was significant that He died on the day of the Passover. The Feast of Pentecost foreshadowed the birth of the “church,” and so, the pouring out of the Spirit and the first fruits of the harvest among the Gentiles were fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost.

In the History of Abraham, we have a type of God, the Father, and his son Isaac as a type of Jesus Christ. Sarah, the wife of Abraham would be a type of Israel, who was the wife of God. God called Israel to be His bride and espoused her to Himself. God spoke of Israel as His wife and her turning away from Him as an adulteress wife.

So, in the story of Abraham, being called upon by God to take his son, his only son Isaac, and offer him for a sacrifice on a mountain that God would show him; you have a foreshadowing of the event that would take place some two thousand years later on the same mount Moriah in Jerusalem. God gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sins. It is significant in the story that once Isaac was offered, God provided the substitute. Abraham prophesied,“…God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering” and “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.“

We do not read of Isaac again until we get to the 24th chapter of Genesis and we do not see Isaac, in the picture again, until the “bride” for Isaac has been brought from a far land and he rises to meet the bride. Once Jesus died and was our sacrifice, He was received up into heaven and did not appear on the scene again until the Holy Spirit, of which the servant of Abraham is a type, brought his “bride” to Him and He rose to meet His “bride.”

As we look at chapters 22, 23, and 24 in sequence, we find that chapter 22 tells of the sacrifice of Isaac; chapter 23 tells of the death of Sarah; and in chapter 24, we find the gathering of a bride for the son by the servant, Eliezer. Upon the death of Jesus Christ and the rejection of Him as the Messiah by the Jews, Israel, the wife of God, is set aside. And so we read that Sarah died. The Holy Spirit is dispatched to get a bride for the son, not from the land where they were dwelling; but, to go back to the nation of Abraham and to his family to get the bride for his son.

As we begin chapter 23, we read of the death of Sarah or the setting aside of the nation of Israel so that God may get from among the Gentiles, a “bride” for His Son. Now Sarah has died at the age of 127 years old. That would make Abraham 137 years old and Isaac about 37 years old (Genesis 17:17). We find them living in Hebron, near the familiar area of Mamre, about 20 miles south of what would become Jerusalem in Genesis 23:1–2.

After Abraham mourns for his wife, he approaches the Hittite people of the area with a request. These Hittites would be the descendants of Noah's grandson Canaan, making them part of the original Canaanites. Abraham comes before an assembled group of Hittite landowners or elders, perhaps at the city gate of Hebron. Abraham presented himself to them as a foreigner and a sojourner. He requests that they give him a piece of property to use as a burial place. Their response is gracious. They know Abraham well. They call him "a prince of God among [them]."

Abraham was a foreigner, but he was also quite wealthy and blessed by God in all he did. The Hittites of the area seem to have regarded him as a friend in Genesis 23:3–6. The Hittites offer Abraham the choice of any of their tombs to bury his dead. Abraham, however, wants something more specific. He wants to establish a permanent family burial place of his own in the land of Canaan. He wants to acquire a piece of property that will belong to him and him alone.

Once the Hittites state that they are willing for Abraham to bury his dead in their region, Abraham reveals he has a specific property in mind. He singles out Ephron, son of Zohar, and asks to purchase a cave of his east of Mamre at Machpelah. A negotiation of sorts takes place, couched in the tradition and customs of Middle Eastern bargaining.

Ephron offers to give the cave to Abraham, along with the field attached to it. Abraham insists on paying for it so there can be no future dispute about who owns it. Ephron dismissively mentions a price of 400 shekels of silver for the cave and field. Abraham immediately agrees, paying out the price on the spot and in full view of the assembled Hittites. Very quickly, the transaction is concluded and signed off by the Hittite elders in Genesis 23:7–18. Finally, Abraham buries Sarah in the cave he now owns in the promised land of Canaan.

Later, Abraham himself will be buried there, then Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah. Without a battle of any kind, the people of God have begun their occupation of the land God has promised to give to Abraham's offspring in Genesis 23:19–20.

Genesis 22 contains one of the most iconic stories in all of literature: Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son, Isaac. It's a troubling story for many, mostly because it is so often misunderstood.

When read as part of the long, detailed story of Abraham, this is an event that reveals the depth of Abraham's trust in God, one of the qualities God values most in His people. Sometime after the birth of Isaac, while Abraham is still living in Beersheba, God speaks to him again. This time, God comes to test Abraham's faithfulness and obedience with a very specific command.

Abraham is to take Isaac to the land of Moriah. There, he is to offer him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains in Genesis 22:1–2. God makes the command especially poignant by acknowledging up front that Abraham loves Isaac, his only son. Most criticisms of this story start and end here: with the idea that Abraham would never obey such a command from God. It's important to realize, however, that this is not the first time Abraham has heard from God. Nor is it the first time Abraham has been presented with a situation he does not fully understand.

However, God faithfully provided a son to Abraham, even though Abraham could not see how it was possible in Genesis 17:17 & Genesis 21:1–2.

God was righteous in His destruction of Sodom, saving Lot, even though Abraham didn't understand how this could happen in Genesis 18:22–23 & Genesis 19:15–16. Now, Abraham has to decide if he trusts God enough to obey a seemingly impossible command, even when he does not fully understand how God plans to make things right. Abraham doesn't hesitate in that he gets up early, summons two of his servants, along with Isaac, collects enough wood for a burnt offering, and loads up the donkey.

We don't know exactly how old Isaac is at this point, but he is capable of traveling without his mother in Genesis 22:3–4, asking intelligent questions in Genesis 22:7, and carrying wood for his father in Genesis 22:6.Most likely, Isaac is a teenager. The small group immediately heads out on the three-day trip to Moriah.

Once there, Abraham leaves the servants and donkey behind and heads up into the hills with Isaac and the wood in Genesis 22:3–6. Does Abraham expect God to stop him before he kills Isaac? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Hebrews 11:19 gives us a clue: "Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead."

In any case, Abraham doesn't slow down even when Isaac asks where the lamb is. Abraham simply replies that God will provide himself with the lamb. Isaac, for his part, seems willing to cooperate with his father in Genesis 22:6–8. After building the altar, Abraham binds Isaac and lays him on it. Before he can kill his son, though, the Lord's voice rings out from heaven commanding Abraham not to harm Isaac.

The test is over and Abraham has passed:"'…now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me'" in Genesis 22:12.

A substitute sacrifice is provided in the form of a ram caught in a thicket right behind Abraham. The ram is offered, and Abraham names the mountain "The Lord will provide."Then the Lord renews and emphasizes His promises to Abraham once more, swearing by Himself. Because of Abraham's obedience, the Lord promises to bless Abraham, to multiply his offspring exponentially, and to give Abraham's offspring victory over their enemies in Genesis 22:15–17. The Lord adds another promise: All the nations of the earth will be blessed through Abraham's offspring, something that happens unequivocally when Abraham's descendant, Jesus, becomes how all may come into God's blessing of grace through faith in Genesis 22:18–19.

Genesis 22 ends with a list of the 12 children of Abraham's brother Nahor. One of those children, Bethuel, will become the father of Rebekah. Abraham's son Isaac will eventually marry Rebekah in Genesis 24, and they will father Jacob, whose children will form the tribes of God's chosen people, Israel.

Genesis 21 begins with the long-awaited birth of the son, God had promised to Abraham and Sarah. This is the child through whom God would make Abraham a great nation in Genesis 17:6–7. God said the name of their son would be Isaac, which means laughter in Genesis 17:19 because they both laughed in Genesis 17:17 & Genesis 18:12.

Now the time has come. Jesus visits Sarah. She and Abraham conceive, just as God said, just as He promised in Genesis 18:14. At the ages of 100 and 90 respectively, Abraham and Sarah become parents. Sarah bears Abraham a son, full of joy at the laughter He has brought to her as we will see in Genesis 21:1–7. That joy sours, though, after Isaac is weaned. Sarah sees Abraham's son through Hagar, Ishmael, laughing. She seems to think this is directed at little Isaac.

Now though, Sarah furiously demands that Abraham cast Hagar and Ishmael out into the wilderness to eliminate any possibility that Hagar's son will share the inheritance with her Isaac in Genesis 21:8–10. Abraham gets greatly displeased at Sarah's demand since he is attached to Ishmael. The LORD, however, speaks to Abraham and assures him that He will still make a great nation of Ishmael, and so tells him to do what Sarah has asked in Genesis 21:11–13.

Abraham obeyed and sent his slave wife and son into the wilderness with some bread and water. They soon run out of water, and Hagar puts her son under the shade of a bush to die. An angel calls to her from heaven and says that God has heard Ishmael's voice, and He will still make Ishmael a great nation. Water is provided; Hagar and Ishmael survive.

Ishmael grows up in the wilderness, becoming a great archer, and eventually marrying an Egyptian woman in Genesis 21:14–21. Abimelech, king of Gerar, approaches Abraham. Even though Abraham's deception about Sarah being his wife nearly led to Abimelech's death, the king has noticed that God is with Abraham.

Previously Abimelech has given to Abraham animals, servants, silver, and the land Abraham has been occupying. Now Abimelech would like to formalize their relationship, giving Abraham a permanent home in his region and becoming official allies in Genesis 21:22–24. Abraham agreed to Abimelech's request to swear not to deceive him or his offspring ever again, and to deal kindly with him and his people. Abraham insisted on including in their agreement the resolution of the ownership of a disputed well, one Abraham himself had dug.

After they both swear their oaths to bind the agreement, the place where they meet is called Beersheba, which means "well of seven" or "well of the oath."It became an important place in Israel's history in Genesis 21:31–34.

As Genesis 21 concludes, Isaac has been born and Abraham owns a well in Canaan. The promises of God to make him a great nation and to give him possession of the entire land have begun to come true.

Genesis chapter 20 is familiar to Genesis chapter 12. In the prior account, Abraham and his household moved to Egypt to escape a devastating famine in Genesis 12:10.Worried that the people would see how beautiful his wife was and kill him to get her, Abraham asked her to lie and say she was his sister in Genesis 12:13. This was a half-truth: they shared the same father, but different mothers in Genesis 20:12.

Perhaps Abraham imagined that, as her brother, any proposals would be brought to him and he could simply refuse them. That didn't work. A Pharaoh in Egypt took Sarah for one of his wives in Genesis 12:15. In that first series of incidents, God intervened. Sarah was returned in Genesis 12:19. Abraham and his household left Egypt with far more than they had brought in. God blessed Abraham despite his fear and faithlessness in Genesis 12:16 and Genesis 12:20.

Here in chapter 20, a similar pattern emerges. Abraham and company pull up stakes at Mamre and move to a place called Gerar, south of Gaza. Once again, Abraham and Sarah lie: claiming they are brother and sister in Genesis 20:13. The intent is to disguise the fact that they are married. Again, the most powerful man in the region, King Abimelech, takes this supposedly unattached woman for one of his wives in Genesis 20:2. God afflicts Abimelech with an illness and "closes the wombs" of all the women in his household in Genesis 20:18.

Then God appears to Abimelech in a dream, announcing that Abimelech will die for taking a married woman as his wife in Genesis 20:3. Abimelech responds truthfully that he has not yet approached Sarah and that he acted with full integrity, believing her to be Abraham's sister in Genesis 20:4–5. The Lord agrees. If Abimelech returns to Sarah, Abraham will pray for them, and Abimelech and all of his household will live. If not, they will all die in Genesis 20:7.Abimelech confronts Abraham about his lie and demands to know why he did it in Genesis 20:9.Abraham's excuse is his fear of being killed by someone who would take Sarah as a wife. He explains that she is, in fact, his half-sister, though also his wife in Genesis 20:12.

The answer reveals, once more, Abraham's lack of confidence in God to protect him and Sarah, despite all of the ways God has shown Himself faithful. Abimelech returns Sarah, along with gifts of animals, servants, choice land, and a large sum of silver to show Sarah's innocence and protect her reputation in Genesis 20:14–16. Abraham prays to God. Abimelech is healed. His wife and the women of his household are once again able to bear children.

Chapter 19 is one of the most dramatic and shocking chapters in Genesis.

• The events recorded here reveal the utter wickedness of the people of Sodom.
• They display God's grace to Abraham in rescuing Lot and his family.
• They show God's readiness and ability to judge the sins of humanity.
• And, these verses display the lasting consequences of sin in the hearts of Lot and his daughters.

In this chapter, two angels come to Sodom to destroy the city. Lot greets them at the gates to the city and insists they stay in his house for the night. The men of the city surround Lot's house and demand the "men" be sent out so the mob can homosexually rape these two strangers.

Lot pleads with them. He offers them his virgin daughters instead. The angels intervene and physically remove Lot and his family from the city. They give clear instructions to run for the hills and not look back. Lot says no, and they allow him to go to Zoar instead. Then God's judgment falls in the form of sulfur and fire. God destroys Sodom, Gomorrah, the region around it, all the people, and all the vegetation. Lot's wife disobeys, looks back, and is turned into a pillar of salt. 

Lot and his two daughters have been spared, but they have lost everything. The following morning, Abraham sees the smoke rising from all the land of the valley as from a furnace. Everything has been utterly destroyed. Though they are safe in Zoar, Lot is afraid to stay there. He takes his daughters and runs for the hills, settling in a cave. It's unclear why Lot didn't run to the household of his uncle Abraham.

In one of Scripture's most tragic embarrassments, Lot's daughters decide they have lost all hope of ever being married or having children. They take matters into their own hands. Reflecting the all-but-nonexistent morality of the Sodomite culture in which they were raised, they get their father blindly drunk on two consecutive nights, each having sex with him in his stupor.

Both daughters become pregnant, and the resulting sons become the fathers of the Moabite and Ammonite peoples, respectively. Lot's story, so far as the Bible is concerned, ends here, in ruin, shame, and humiliation.

While Abraham was seated outside his tent by the oaks of Mamre, three men suddenly approached. Abraham ran and bowed to them, urging the men to stop and refresh themselves. When the men agreed, Abraham told Sarah to prepare cakes and have a calf slaughtered for them to eat as they would rest in the heat of the day.

When the meal was over, Jesus fully revealed Himself, in a conversation He conducted with Sarah through Abraham while she remained hidden and listening in the tent.

First, Jesus asks where Sarah is and then reveals to her what He had said to Abraham in the previous chapter 16: by this time a year from now, she will have a son. Sarah's response is much the same as Abraham's in the previous chapter 16: she laughs to herself. Not only was she around 90 years old, the "way of women" had ceased for her. Sarah is literally "beyond" a woman's normal ability to conceive and pass menopause. She describes herself as worn out and her husband as old. She cannot imagine having the "pleasure" of a new birth in their season of life.

Jesus knew that Sarah laughed and what she thought about His revelation. He asked Abraham why she laughed. Jesus asked, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?"Sarah, likely realizing that this is God, becomes afraid. She lies and says that she did not laugh. The LORD corrected her, but He did not punish her.

The three men then set out on their journey, walking from Abraham's home near Hebron toward the city of Sodom. Abraham walked with them for a time, until they arrived at a high point from which they could look across and see Sodom. From there, Jesus revealed to Abraham His plan regarding the grave sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. As the two angels walk toward the city, Abraham begins a kind of negotiation with Jesus for his nephew Lot and his family who lived in Sodom.

Abraham boldly challenged Jesus: Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Abraham insisted that such an action would not be consistent with the LORD's character. Will you destroy the city if you find 50 righteous people there?Jesus agrees that He will not. Abraham keeps asking though, lowering the number at which Jesus would willingly destroy righteous people to judge the wicked. 45? 40? 30? 20? 

Finally, Abraham asks, with a request that the LORD not be angry, if He would spare the city for the sake of 10 righteous people. Once more, the Lord agrees that He would do so if He finds that many. With that, the LORD heads toward the city, and Abraham walks back home.

One of the most influential names in human history is the name of Abraham a man whom Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all claim as a patriarch.

In this chapter, God changes Abram's name to Abraham and establishes circumcision as a symbol of their covenant. Right now Abram is 99 years old and Sarai is 89 years old. Twenty-three years have passed since God first promised to make him a great nation and to give to him and to his descendants the land of Canaan. During that time, Abram grew wealthy, and God appeared to him several times to restate and expand on the initial covenant promises. Still, Abram has only one son Ishmael who is now 13, born to him by his wife's servant Hagar.

At this point, they likely assumed that God's promises and blessing to Abram would pass through Ishmael. After all, at 99 and 89, they were well past the window for conceiving or bearing children. God appeared to Abram again and commanded him to walk with Him and to be blameless. That he would be the father of nations and that kings would come from him. To confirm that fact, God changed Abram's name to Abraham.

• Abram means exalted father
• Abraham means father of a multitude.

As a sign of keeping this covenant he and every male of his household, born or bought, and every male in every generation to come, must be circumcised. This is the ritual removal of the foreskin. Those who were not circumcised would not be included in this covenant between God and Abraham's people. God again surprised Abraham by telling him that Sarai's name must also be changed to Sarah, and she and Abraham would have a son.

In reverence, or gratitude, or pure surprise, or perhaps all three, Abraham fell facedown and laughed. He was shocked at the mere suggestion of Sarah conceiving and bearing a child. Then Abraham got another thought: What about Ishmael? God again promised to bless Ishmael abundantly. God tells Abraham that Isaac the promised son will be born in 1 year. That very day, Abraham went home and circumcised himself, Ishmael, and the hundreds of other males in his large company.

Hagar one of Sarai’s Egyptian maid-servants whom the king of Egypt bestowed upon Abram in chapter 12:16 is the person mostly concerned in the story of this chapter 15. We have about four things in this chapter concerning Hagar:

1. Her marriage to Abram her master (v. 1-3).

2. Her misbehaviour towards Sarai her mistress (v. 4-6).

3. Her discourse with an angel that met her on her flight (v. 7-14).

4. Her delivery of a son (v. 15, 16).

Now you need to understand that for very many years, Abram resisted following the normal practices of his day. Abram and Sarai were wealthy. They had many servants. Abram could have taken many wives if he so desired.Instead, he chose to wait for God to fulfill the promise of children through his barren wife Sarai.

Right now Abram is in his mid-80s, Sarai has become tired of waiting and as such she activates plan B which is giving her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abram, to finally obtain a child.If a wife was unable to bear children, it was considered appropriate for her to give a servant to her husband, as another wife, with the understanding that any children born to that servant would rightfully become the children of the original wife.

• Of course, Abram agreed to Sarai’s plan B and Hagar quickly became pregnant.

Hagar now elevated from slave to wife begins to treat her mistress Sarai with contempt. Perhaps Hagar resented the idea that her child would belong to Sarai. Sarai's feelings about her plan changed and she makes it clear to Abram that she holds him responsible for this conflict! And, she demands that he make clear that Sarai remains in authority over Hagar.

Again, Abram agrees. With that approval, Sarai deals harshly with Hagar, so harshly that Hagar runs off into the wilderness alone, maybe fearful for her life. Jesus finds Hagar resting at a spring along a road leading back to her homeland of Egypt. First, the angel of the Lord tells Hagar to return and submit to Sarai. Then He reveals that she will bear a son, Ishmael and that his offspring will become so numerous as to be uncountable.

However, he will be a "wild donkey" of a man, and his life—and the lives of his descendants—will be marked by conflict with everyone. Hagar returns to Abram and Sarai, and Ishmael is born

Genesis 15 consists of an extended encounter between Jesus and Abram and concludes with God’s promise to Abram to give him and his descendants the land of Canaan. Also, the chapter begins with the "word of the Lord" coming to Abram in a vision. Abram takes the opportunity of this visitation from Jesus to ask some hard questions.

First, addressing the promise that God will make of him a great nation, Abram respectfully points out that his current heir is a servant, not a son. He has no children. And, at this point, Abram is well over 80 years old. God responds by showing Abram the stars. Using this as an analogy, God repeats His promise that Abram's descendants will be as numerous as to be uncountable.

Genesis 15:6 (which reads “Abram believed God”), is one of the key verses in the entire Bible. Abram's belief in God is credited to him as righteousness. In the New Testament, both Paul and James quote this verse (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23), making it a cornerstone of the Christian teaching that God's acceptance of us comes by His grace and through our faith. Even though Abram has faith, he respectfully asked Jesus one more question, in response to the repeated promise regarding the land of Canaan:"How am I to know?" God doesn't reject Abram's request for reassurance. Instead, He instructs Abram to gather five specific animals, to cut some in half, and to arrange them in a specific way.

Then Jesus causes a deep sleep to fall on Abram and reveals to Abram a prophecy about the future of his descendants. They will live as captives for 400 years in another country, serving that nation. When the time comes, they will be released with abundant possessions and return to execute God's judgment on the Amorites and other inhabitants) of the land of Canaan. Abram learns that he will live to a good, old age.

Finally, God dramatically completes the covenant ritual. Abram witnesses a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass through the pieces of the animals, a sight he would likely long remember as evidence of God's covenant promises. God completes the covenant by describing both the southern and northern borders of the Promised Land, as well as identifying the peoples who would have previously occupied the various regions of the land when Abram's descendants would receive it as their own.

Genesis 14 is an action-packed story of war between ancient city-states with a surprising conclusion.

For 12 years, the four kings of an eastern group of city-states—Elam, Shinar, Ellasar, and Goiim—had ruled over the city-states in and around Canaan. Finally, the kings of five cities grouped around the south end of the Dead Sea rebelled. A year later, the four kings arrived in the region to reestablish their rule. Following a southerly route along a line east of the Jordan River, the four kings defeat every city, king, and people group in their path to the edge of Canaan's southern wilderness. Then they turn back north, eventually arriving at the Valley of Siddim near the Dead Sea. There the five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Zoar gathered their forces to take their stand against the eastern kings.

The battle doesn't last long. The five kings are defeated, and their forces flee, some falling into the tar pits in the region. Others escape into the hills. The enemy raiders descend on Sodom and loot all of their possessions, provisions, and many of their people. Now Abram's nephew Lot was living in Sodom at the time, after separating from Abram to prevent their growing families from competing for resources (Genesis 13:8–9). As a part of this new war, the kings of the east captured Lot and all of his possessions before heading back toward their homeland.

A survivor of the carnage comes and tells Abram what has happened. Without hesitation, Abram—who is more than 80 years old—gathers 318 servants trained for battle, along with three Amorite brothers who were his allies. Together they chase down the eastern armies, finally catching up to them in Dan at the far northern edge of Canaan. What could Abram's small army do against this force that had conquered all in their path without a loss? With God's help, they could win. They do so in one night, using clever tactics as part of their rescue. Abram's forces chase down the enemy farther to the north and retrieve Lot, all of his possessions, and everything else the eastern kings had plundered along the way.

As Abram returns home, two kings come out to meet him. One is the king of Sodom (Genesis 13:13), who survived the battle. The other is a mysterious figure identified as Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of God Most High. His name means "King of Righteousness."Melchizedek brings Abram bread and wine and a blessing from God. Abram immediately responds by giving ten percent of all the plunder to God's priest. This encounter is later used, in part, to explain the priesthood of Jesus Christ by writers of the New Testament (Hebrews 7:1–4).

The king of Sodom is less gracious. He curtly demands that Abram return his people and keep the rest for himself. As the victor, Abram likely could have claimed the right to all of it, but he refuses to keep even a thread of Sodom's plunder. Abram seems to have the same attitude towards Sodom which God will express to Israel many centuries later: some cultures are so depraved that even their material possessions should be shunned.

Abram also doesn't want Sodom's king to believe his wealth in any way comes from Sodom. Abram won't stop his allies from keeping their portion, however. Thus the clash between the Canaanites (descendants of Ham) and Shemites fulfills Noah’s curse that Ham would be enslaved by his brothers. The Shemite kings crush the Canaanites and capture Abram’s nephew, whose family lives among them. Abram is himself a descendant of Shem and therefore blessed by God in his pursuit and rescue of Lot.

Genesis 12 is marked as the beginning of Genesis’s “patriarchal history,” which tells the story of Israel’s earliest ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jacob’s sons.

Before this chapter, we have all the familiar stories that makeup what we call the “primeval history” that is Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood. Beginning with this chapter the focus narrows down to Abram, Sarai, and their family. God tells Abram whose name will later be renamed to Abraham to resume the journey his father Terah began, to Canaan. Possibly to depart from the paganism worship during the dispersal of the languages at the tower of Babel.

In calling Abram to do this, God also states his plan to make a great nation, a people that were His own through whom he would bring his son who would bring salvation to the world. He is 75 years old when he leaves Haran (Latter-day Assyria) for the land of Canaan. When they enter Canaan, a land that was occupied by Canaanites the LORD appears to Abram and tells him that he will give this land to Abram’s offspring. In response, Abram builds an altar to the LORD. He then gradually journeys toward the Negeb.

When a famine hits the land, Abram and Sarai go to Egypt. Before they enter Egypt, Abram tells Sarai that because she is beautiful, the Egyptians may kill him and take her for themselves. Instead of asking for the LORD’s help, Abram makes up a scheme: He and Sarai would say she was his sister. It was a half-truth; they did share the same father. But it was also a full lie, in that it was meant to hide the fact they were married.

Abram hoped that as Sarai's "brother," he would be able to refuse any marriage proposals or, at least, to remove the motivation for rivals to kill him to have access to Sarai. Therefore, the officials of Pharaoh’s household take Sarai for Pharaoh and give Abram lots of livestock and slaves. But the LORD sends plagues into Pharaoh’s house, which leads Pharaoh to discover that Sarai is Abram’s wife. He sends Abram and his household on their way.

It’s about 4 generations after the flood and the population of the earth was still small. The building of the Tower of Babel is just a little over 100 years after the flood.

Genesis 11 contains 3 sections:

1. The Story of the Tower of Babel
2. The genealogy from Shem to Abram, and
3. A description of the life of Terah, Abram's father.

As the families of Noah's children Shem, Ham, and Japheth grew, they continued to live together as a community with one language and one culture.

Eventually, they moved to the area known as Shinar and began to build a massive city Babel, later to be called Babylon (Later, when the Israelites came into conflict with the powerful Babylonians, the name of this city was a reminder that God's power was far greater than the plans and might of mere human beings) with a huge tower that would always direct them back to the city so as not to get scattered or lost upon the face of the earth. In doing this the people disobeyed God's command to "fill the earth".

Some scholars believe the building of the tower was an attempt to evade a future flood from God, or possibly as a symbol of man's power. God acknowledged that nothing would be impossible if they continued to operate as one people with one language. This comment has been interpreted in various ways, but seems to follow the same line of thought God used prior to the flood:

Left alone, mankind can find a way to commit any act of evil imaginable.

To prevent this, God confused and dispersed the people. (The engineers, foremen and builders could no longer understand each other). The second section of the chapter provides a simple genealogy from Noah's son Shem to Abram, showing specifically how God's people descended in a direct line from one to the other. This genealogy also shows that the lifespans of men quickly decreased after the flood, from nearly a thousand years, to several centuries, to roughly a century by the time of Abram.

The final section of the chapter sketches out the life of Abram's father Terah and his family, including Abram's two brothers, his wife, and his nephew. Together, the family moved from Ur, in what is now southern Iraq, some 600 miles closer to Canaan, settling in Haran.

As we get into Chapter (10), this chapter is commonly known as the “Table of Nations”.

We see how the three sons of Noah, that’s Shem, Ham, and Japheth became the progenitors of the various nations of people and the regions in which they settled after the Tower of Babel. The first section lists the sons and descendants of Japheth. Japheth's people settled mostly in the lands to the north of the region that would become the Promised Land of Israel.

The second section details the line of Noah's son Ham. The people and nations that come from Ham will become central to Israel's story, as told in the rest of the Bible. Ham's descendants include the peoples who will eventually become Egypt, the great nation that will play a pivotal and ongoing role in Israel's history. Ham's grandson Nimrod (through Cush) will establish the powerful kingdoms of Babylon and Assyria, who will both become enemies of Israel. And the descendants of Ham's son Canaan will eventually be (mostly) driven from the Promised Land by the Israelites.

The final section of the Table of Nations in chapter 10 describes the descendants of Shem. It is Shem's line that will lead to Abraham and the nation of Israel. The dispersal of the peoples into separate nations, languages, and tribes will happen after the events surrounding the tower of Babel as described in Genesis 11.

In Chapter (8), we find that Noah emerged out of the ark. God gave him the promise that as long as the earth remained,

• It would remain in its orbit
• It would continue to spin upon its axis
• There would be summer and winter
• Seedtime and harvest
• Day and night; there would be cold and heat

Genesis 9 describes God's dealings with Noah and his sons in a world remade by the flood. It can be divided into three sections.

First, God gives blessings and commands to Noah and his sons which very closely echo His words to Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:28), but with significant differences. God once again blesses mankind with both the ability and responsibility to reproduce and fill the earth. This time, however, God's instruction to subdue the earth includes the fact that all animals would be fearful of humanity.

In Eden, God explicitly gave plants as a food source (Genesis 1:29–30). Now, after the flood, in addition to plants, humanity is given overt permission to eat animals. However, they are not permitted to eat the blood of those animals. In addition, if a person kills another person—or an animal kills a person—God will now require the killer's life to be taken, as well, as a protection against the kind of violence that raged on the earth before the flood (Genesis 9:3–6).

In the second section, God expands on His promise from chapter 8: to never again kill every creature on the earth with a flood. God establishes a universal covenant with humanity and the animals, and declares that He will make a sign of this covenant; He will set His bow in the clouds. God will cause the rainbow that appears in conjunction with a storm to remind Him of this promise. It serves as a reminder of God's grace and mercy to humanity, as well (Genesis 9:7–17). The final section of chapter 9 tells an awkward story.

Noah gets drunk on the wine from a new vineyard & passes out naked in his tent. One of these three sons, Ham, walks into Noah's tent, sees his father naked, leaves the tent, and tells his brothers what He has seen. Noah's other two sons go to great lengths to cover their father's nakedness without looking at him. While vague on details, this passage makes it explicitly clear that Ham has somehow dishonored his father (Genesis 9:24-25). This story also demonstrates a common theme of Scripture: that all people, even those used by God, are fallible and prone to making mistakes.

When Noah wakes up, he curses Ham's son, Canaan, declaring that Ham's descendants will be subservient to the descendants of his brothers Shem and Japheth. Noah's curse on Canaan includes blessings on both Shem and Japheth with the first hint that the line of Shem will lead to the creation of God's chosen people: Israel (Genesis 9:18– 29).

Chapter 9 ends with a simple report: Noah lived 350 years after the start of the flood for a total lifespan of 950 years. He will be the last of the patriarchs of Genesis to live nearly a millennia. The genealogies of Genesis 11 show a rapidly decreasing maximum to the duration of human life.

After the global devastation caused by the flood as described in chapter 7, Genesis 8 opens with quietness, waiting for the floodwaters to recede. This passage begins with a comforting idea: God remembered Noah (Genesis 8:1). God also remembered the animals. He would fulfill His promise to keep them safe and begin creation over again, in a sense, on a world made new by the flood.

God turns off the water, both from below and from above. He sends a great wind to begin to evaporate the water and dry out the earth. After 150 days, the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4). Modern maps may know the area as eastern Turkey and its surroundings, but no specific location is given.

The floodwaters continued to recede. The tops of the mountains became visible. Noah sent out birds as a test to see if any dry land was nearby (Genesis 8:6–7). If the birds returned, the assumption would be that they found no place to land and/or make a home. After trying a raven, Noah turned to doves. First, one returns empty handed. Next, one returns with a freshly plucked olive leaf. The third dove doesn't return, at all. Noah removed the covering of the ark and confirmed that the land was, indeed, dry (Genesis 8:14).

Still, Noah waited to hear from God that it was time to leave the ark. Nearly two months later, God gave Noah the command to leave, along with his family and every living thing aboard. After a full year on the ark of their salvation, the remnants of life disembarked to begin again (Genesis 8:16–17).

Noah's first action after leaving the ark is to build an altar to God. This is the first recorded altar in Scripture. Noah used it to offer sacrifices to God from the clean animals. Apparently, this was the purpose God had in mind for Noah to take extra pairs of the clean animals (Genesis 7:2). Using a common metaphor, this passage says that God "smells" the aroma of the offering, and He is pleased. He makes a commitment to never again curse the earth through a flood (Genesis 8:21). He also commits to never wipe out all the living creatures on the planet again, though He recognizes that humanity will continue to carry evil intentions in their heart.

Though human nature has not changed, God shows a measure of common grace and mercy on all life on the planet. God commits to continuing the cycles of life according to His original design. Day will follow night, one season will follow another, as long as the earth remains (Genesis 8:22).

God saw that the wickedness of the earth was great; the imaginations of man’s heart were continuously evil.

Men were involved in Satanism; unnatural sex; violence; and corruption, and so God decided to bring an end to that scene of iniquity.God destroyed the earth, at that time, with a flood of waters. God saw Noah, who was a righteous man and commanded him to build an ark. The dimensions of the ark, 450 feet long and 75 feet wide, would equal those of the Titanic.

Noah followed the instructions of the LORD: to bring into the ark the various animals, two of each species, except those animals that were considered clean; there were to be seven each of those. God shuts Noah his family and the animals in, and it begins to rain. Water pours from above and bursts forth from below with incredible intensity.

This outpouring of water lasts for 40 days and covers the surface of the earth for another 110 days. The ark floats, rises, and moves across the surface of the water. Outside of it, every land-dwelling, air-breathing thing dies. God wipes it all out, including every human being other than Noah and his family.

And it came to pass , when men began to multiply on the face of the earth...

The time of Noah was the time of a population explosion. You have to have above zero population or the earth is going to be extinct of man. The population growth factor has been about 1.5, from the time of Noah up to the present time. 

Prior to the flood,  if we assume that the average generation was 94years;  the average family size was 8 children;  the average age was 500years  old;  (though those that are listed here in Genesis average out at 912) at that rate, at the time of Noah’s flood,  there were 137 billion people living on the earth.

There are some very interesting discoveries, especially, in the area of the Andes and of Lake Titicaca in Peru, which is the highest large body of water in the world. There is evidence in these high Andean peaks that at one time,  on the shores of  Lake Titicaca, there was a huge metropolis. The mountains around this lake are terraced for farming high above where you can farm today. 

Above  the  tree  level,  there  are  still  terraces  that  were  once  farms.  They  go  up  into  the glacial ice and even under it, which leads to the conclusion, by those studying the geological structures,  that  once,  and  not  too  long  ago,  the  Andean  Mountains  and  Lake  Titicaca  were once at sea level. 

They were thrust upward in a gigantic earth movement. It is interesting that they date the time of this upheaval as being some 5,000 years ago.

Now,  if  indeed,  the  population  of  the  earth  had  expanded;  men  began  to multiply  on  the face  of  the  earth.  Men  had  expanded  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  by  that  time  and surely  there  is  evidence  that  men  lived  before  the  flood  age,  in  great  numbers,  down  in South America. It is also possible that the continental shift took place sometimelater. 

Originally the earth was all one land mass so that these areas and the things that puzzle us, from a geological standpoint, have resulted from the flood. 

We  do  have  evidence  of  vast  civilizations  of  people,  who  lived  on  a  very  high  level  of civilization, existing in varied parts of the world. In the book “Earths In Upheaval,” there is a short segment on the mysteries that surround Lake Titicaca and the large population that once existed there in the Peruvian Andes.

This is the book of the generations...” (genealogies) “...of Adam. (It  is  interesting  that  this  verse  begins  much  like  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  except  that Matthew begins, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ...” It’s the same idea of tracing the lineage of Christ, who  is the second  Adam  (1 Corinthians  15:47)in  the  Gospel,  back  to  Abraham  to  show  that  He  was  the promised “seed” of Abraham.) 

In  the  day  that  God  created (bara) man(A reference to the creation of man’s spirit),  in  the likeness of God made (asah)he him(A reference to the molding of the body); ( In Isaiah 43:7we find the usage of all the 3 descriptions of God’s creation: 

“Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him(spirit) for my glory, I have formed him(body); yea, I have made him(referenceJohn 1:12in which Jesusgaveusthe right to become children ofGod)”)male and female created He them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam(ISH)...” (mankind) “...in the day when they were created. Now we come to the generations of Adam. 

As we deal with the genealogies of the Bible,  we find many interesting things. It is important to note that the Bible is only interested,  at this time,  in tracing the line from Adam to Noah. Later, on it will trace the line from Noah to Abraham from Abraham to David, and then from David to Jesus Christ. We are only interested in one family and that is the one that will lead us to Jesus Christ.

In some places of the Bible it branches off into certain generations but then is cut off.  In chapter four, we just finished reading about seven generations of Cain’s descendants and then it was cut off because we are not interested in Cain’s descendants. We are only interested in the line that brings us to  Jesus  Christ,  thus here in the fifth chapter other sons and daughters are not named. 

To assume that one named is the firstborn son is not necessarily so. It is the one that will bring us to Noah and that’s the line we’re interested in, here in the fifth chapter of Genesis. When it says Seth lived a hundred and five years and begat Enos; it doesn’t mean he didn’t beg at other children in this time,  but only that  Enos is the line to Noah and the one the Bible is interested in following. In verse three, the Bible begins to trace Adam’s lineage down through Noah.

We are dealing in Genesis with the beginning of:

The universe, life forms & man

In chapter two, more details are revealed on the beginning of man, and in chapter three we will read of the beginning of sin, towards the end of the chapter we will read of redemption. 

As  we  move  along  we  begin  to  follow  a  family  line that will  ultimately  bring  us  to  the Messiah

The first chapter of Genesis describes the most extraordinary event in the history of the universe: its creation. Given what this moment represents, and what we know of science and nature, this is often referred to as the greatest of all possible miracles. The opening verses of the book of Genesis are nothing less than an account of how God, with full purpose and intention, made everything that exists.

What this account of creation tells us about God, and His role in our origins, is certainly interesting. What's equally fascinating about these opening verses is what details they do not provide. This, of course, is the reason for the controversy often surrounding Genesis 1. While other events in the Bible may be given many thousands of words, and minute details, the entire subject of creation is handled only briefly in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Even among those who hold the Bible to be authoritative, inspired, and inerrant, this leaves ample room for disagreement about how these verses are to be read in the present day.

Questions inspired by this chapter have become long-running debates. Was the universe created in six literal 24-hour days, or some longer period of time? Is the text meant to explain a literal process, or symbolically represent the work of God? Is this the account of the absolute beginning moments of earth's existence or had God created something earlier, with events occurring between verses 1 and 2?

All of those questions have various answers; those answers have varied levels of support, and their own unique implications. And yet, despite what some well-meaning believers (and non-believers) might think, most of those varied options don't conflict with the key theological truths of Scripture. As a result, we won't spend a large amount of time or space discussing those specifics in this particular commentary. The bottom line, meeting the purpose of this ministry, is that Genesis chapters 1 and 2 explicitly state several key ideas which are—for those who take the Bible to be the word of God—simply beyond debate. While Bible-believing scholars may disagree on how God created and when God created, one thing is undeniable: Genesis chapter 1 chapter insists that God created.

In other words, no person who claims to believe the Bible is truth can also reject a belief in God as the Creator. If the Scriptures are God's Word—and they are—then God intends to be known as the Creator of all things.

More than likely, this text was originally written by Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Moses, thanks to his upbringing (Exodus 2:1–10), was very familiar with pagan religious views. During the time in which Genesis was written, many cultures engaged in the worship of sun, moon, stars, seas, sea creatures, and other natural wonders. Genesis 1 counters that culture, as well as the naturalism of our modern day, by claiming that none of those things are gods. Rather, they are merely things created by the one, true God. He alone is worthy of worship because He alone is the Maker. In the following chapters, we will come to know Him as the God of Israel.

Genesis chapter 1 unfolds a story using repetition and rhythm. This passage was originally composed in the Hebrew language, under an often-rigid structure. These verses describe God's decrees of creation through the context of six individual days.

Many patterns are built into the text of this opening chapter. For example, one recurrence is God preparing the world to sustain something, such as life, before creating that very thing in the same general order. So, on day one, God creates light; on day four, He creates the sun, moon, and stars to distribute that light. On day two, God separates the waters, creating the oceans; on day five, He populates the oceans with sea creatures of every kind. On day three, He creates dry land and fills it with vegetation; on day 6, He creates animal and human life ready to consume the fruit and plants that existed.

Genesis 1 is a rich, detailed chapter. This text is only the beginning of a fascinating, essential book for all who would know and understand God. Readers are strongly encouraged to take their time in reading and understanding these words, and to enjoy the time spent gaining insight into the handiwork of God (Psalm 19:1).