Posts in Bible study
Story 44 Isaac and Abraham, Cut from the Same Cloth

In the early days of Isaac and Rebekah’s marriage, long before they had their twin boys, they went through many trials and struggles.  At one point, a great famine came upon the land.  It grew more and more difficult to find enough to eat.

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Story 45 The Trials of Isaac

Isaac and Rebekah lived in Abimelech’s land for quite some time, and everyone believed that they were sister and brother.  It was quite a charade.  But then one day, King Abimelech looked out a window of his royal palace, and he saw Isaac caressing Rebekah with the kind of tender affection that belongs only between a husband and wife!

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Story 46 The Blessing

Isaac was getting older.   His eyes were becoming so weak that he was almost blind.  He was a hundred, and his aging heart and limbs could not move about as they used to.  He feared that the time of his death was coming.  Before he was gone, he was determined to speak a blessing to Esau, his firstborn son. 

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Story 47 The Cost of Deception

What a sad and distorted picture of a family.  Isaac, Esau, Rebekah, and Jacob each worked out of their own selfish ambition, competing over the powerful and potent blessing of the firstborn son.  What great blessings and harmony they could have shared together if they had all submitted to the will of their faithful God.

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Story 48 Jacob’s Flight

Esau was a bitter man.  He had been foolish enough to let his brother trick him out of his birthright, and now Jacob had taken his father’s blessing, too.  In his seething anger, he began to plot and scheme.  As soon as Isaac died, he would get his revenge. 

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Story 49 Jacob Arrives at Uncle Laban’s Estate

Jacob continued on his journey.  His trek led him away from the Land of Promise where his family faithfully waited on the LORD.  He was heading back to the region that Abraham, his great and honorable grandfather, had left over a hundred years before when he was called by God into the wilderness.

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Story 50 The God Who Sees

The LORD looked on Leah and saw that she was not loved by her husband.  To make things even worse, she had to watch his tender ways with her sister.  How his eyes lit up whenever Rachel came near!  How he treated her with the deference of masculine passion!

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Story 56 Using the Things of God for Ungodly Things

Shechem had grown up in the brutal town that shared his name.  It was a world where manipulation and corruption were the name of the game.  And when it came to how a man should treat a woman, it was even more brutal still.

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Story 57 The Altars of God: Jacob Returns to Bethel

The children of Abraham had earned a new kind of reputation.  Abraham was a man of peace, venturing into war only to protect and defend.  His military might had restored his neighbors from slavery and abject poverty.

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Story 58 Jacob’s Favored Son

In all those years of Jacob’s travels, Esau had grown to a man of vast fortunes.  The customs of his family had also changed.  Esau did not marry women from Abraham’s heritage.  His marriages to Canaanite women deeply connected his life and children to the Canaanite nations around him.

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Story 59 Joseph is Sold

Joseph, the beloved son of Rachel and Jacob, grew up quite alone in the household of his father.  The sons of Leah and the maidservants were very jealous of this boy who was so clearly the favorite of their father.  He wore the lavish coat that their father had made just for him, and he told them of dreams where they would bow down at his feet.

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Story 60 Judah

The family of Jacob became more distant and broken.  Judah moved away from the clan and married a Canaanite woman.  Their first two sons were so wicked that God shortened their lives so they could sin no more.  Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, and now she was left alone and vulnerable. 

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Story 61 Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

Joseph was living in Egypt as a slave in the house of Potiphar.  The Bible says that God was with Joseph, which means he was present with him to bless him.  Even though he was a slave and far from the Land of Promise, God’s protection and care had not changed. 

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Story 62 The Cupbearer and the Baker

Joseph spent year after year in the prison dungeon, humbled to one of the lowest positions in life.  Yet he continued to faithfully and loyally serve God.  His God was with him in the middle of his suffering, and he trusted that his Lord had a purpose in it.

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Story 63 Joseph before the Pharaoh

Joseph worked away as a faithful servant in the prison of the Egyptian king.  At one point, he even interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker.  His interpretations came true with stunning accuracy! 

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Story 64 Joseph’s Life in Egypt

The Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of the entire land of Egypt.  He took off his own signet ring and put it on Joseph’s finger.  The ring was a seal that would be pressed into melted wax.  Any letter or scroll that had an impression from that ring had the same authority as a command from the Pharaoh himself!  Joseph was the most powerful decision maker in the land! 

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Story 65 Joseph’s Clever Love

The last time Joseph saw his brothers, they were angry and cruel.  Though he pleaded with them for his life, they viciously sold him to slave traders.  Now as they stood before him in Egypt, they were dusty and weary from their week long journey from Canaan. 

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Story 66 The Dreaded Journey Back to Egypt

Joseph’s brothers left for the long trek home.  When they arrived at the place where they would stop for the night, one of them opened a bag of grain.  He saw a bunch of silver coins resting there on the top.  It was the money they were supposed to pay to the Egyptians!  Suddenly, he felt very, very afraid. 

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Story 67 In the Home of Joseph

As soon as they arrived at Joseph’s house, they saw his steward, the main servant of the household. He was standing at the entrance of Joseph’s beautiful and elegant home, a palace fit for the most powerful ruler serving the king.

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Story 68 A Silver Cup in a Sack of Grain

After years of separation, Joseph’s brothers were sitting in his own home in Egypt.  How strange and wonderful it must have seemed.  When he saw Benjamin, he was filled with great sobs of tears.  He had to leave the room to pull himself together again. 

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