Esau moved to a land some distance from Jacob because the land could not support both of their livestocks. Esau settled in Seir.
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 5: Genesis 36
13) Esau intermarried with Canaanite women. God still blessed him as he had to move away from Jacob because their livestock were too great in number. Esau was the father of the Edomites.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 5: Genesis 36
Esau was important enough in God’s eyes to have all of his descendants listed in the Bible. He was loved despite his sins and blessed beyond what was deserved. God is faithful even when we aren’t! Can you imagine the blessings He has in store for those who are faithful?
End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 5: Genesis 36
Genesis lists the families not in the line of Messiah first. After this, we’ll hear no more of Esau and his line; it will be all about Jacob’s line.
Seir is the land south of the Dead Sea.
God blessed Esau because he was Abraham’s descendant and not for what he did. Again, God can do what He likes, even if we don’t agree with it. Kings came from Esau.
Fun Fact: Edom is mentioned more than 130 times in the Bible.
(Numbers 20:21). Edomites made Moses and the Israelites go around their land.
God told Jacob to settle in Bethel and build Him an altar there. So Jacob and his household prepared to move, ridding themselves of their idols, purifying themselves, and changing their clothes. Jacob buried the foreign gods and their rings under an oak at Shechem. God protected them as they went so they would not suffer repercussions from the slaughter of Shechem.
No one pursued Jacob and his family when they left Shechem for God sent a terror upon them. Jacob built an altar at Bethel as instructed by God. Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died. God appeared to Jacob again and re-named him Israel.
God repeats his covenant to Abraham and Isaac to Jacob, saying to be fruitful and multiply for a nation will come from your body and He will give this land to his descendants. God left and Jacob set up a stone pillar.
Rachel died after they left Bethel giving birth to Benjamin. She was buried along the route. Israel moved on and stayed for a bit near Migdal Eder. Here, Reuben slept with Bilhah.
Jacob’s 12 sons are: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
Jacob finally arrived home in Hebron to see Isaac who was still alive. Isaac died at age 180 and was buried by Jacob and Esau.
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 4: Genesis 35
9) God told Jacob to settle in Bethel and build Him an altar there. Bethel is the place where God appeared to Jacob in a dream, renewing His covenant with Jacob, promises to watch over him wherever he goes and bless the world through him.
10) He purged his household of idols and had everyone purify themselves. Then they set out to God’s command.
35:3: Answers in distress and is with you wherever you go.
35:9-10: God blesses and molds people
35:11-12: God keeps his promises and repeats them
b) God is with me. He leads. He helps in my distress. He blesses. He keeps His promises. He protects. He cares. He is my everything.
12) The repercussions of man’s first sin in the Garden: death of his loved ones: Rachel and Isaac. His son sleeping with his concubine.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 4: Genesis 35
Woah! Anyone else shocked that Jacob knew about foreign gods in his household and let them stay until God told him to move? Man, he is flawed, isn’t he? Yet, we see Jacob obey this time. He is growing with God.
A lot happens in this chapter that the Bible ploughs through.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 4: Genesis 35
Jacob Gets Right With God
Note how God is not mentioned once in Genesis 34. Yet, He reappears here, being mentioned over 10 times. God is with us, orchestrating, no matter what evil is going on in the world.
Jacob is in effect returning to God here. He is finally going to Bethel to be separate from others as he was supposed to do earlier. (Genesis 31:13). His whole family will benefit because of it.
Rachel probably still had the foreign gods she stole from her father, Laban. It appears more had foreign gods. Jacob gets right with God, all follow him.
Changing of the clothes signifies a return to God. Those earrings must have been pagan worship as well. Everything associated with pagans must go in a cleansing.
God ensured no one hurt them as revenge for Shechem Genesis 34:30.
Jacob obeyed God fully, building an altar. Nothing is more important than obedience to God’s call.
Deborah is mentioned for the first time. This is pretty cool. She was buried at Allon Bachuth or “oak of weeping.” I would have liked to have been mentioned. Note how Rebekah’s death was not recorded. Don’t confuse this Deborah for Deborah the judge in the book of Judges.
God appeared to Jacob again for the 4th time (apparently in bodily form i.e. Jesus) and reminded him of his new name, Israel. God wants to remind us of who we are to Him. Revelation 2:4-5 renewing his covenant.
Children are blessings, yet all Rachel saw was sorrow, naming her son, Ben-Oni, “son of my sorrow.” Jacob renamed him Benjamin “son of his right hand.”
Rachel was buried where she died, some distance from Ephrath. Rachel has been remembered in Scripture for her weeping. Jeremiah described the mourning of Assyrian exiles as Rachel weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15) and Herod’s murder of Bethlehem’s boys as Rachel as well (Matthew 2:18).
Your right hand is typically your strong one if you are right-handed. Of course, Jesus sits at God’s right hand.(Colossians 3:1). We see the right hand elsewhere in the Bible too: Exodus 15:6: Psalm 16:8 (Psalm 63:8) (Psalm 138:7).
We see Rachel’s death as a fulfillment of Jacob’s curse (Genesis 31:32). and as Rachel herself wanted to die if she didn’t have kids Genesis 30:1,
Life still happens, as does death and sorrow from man’s first sin.
Reuben, Jacob’s first son and the one seemingly to carry forth the blessings, sleeps with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine, the mother of Reuben’s brothers dan and Naphtali. It’s Judah who will bring forth the Messiah. This was a power act and nothing more.
Jacob’s family is most definitely dysfunctional
Jacob does get to see Isaac again. What a blessing. We need to remember this since we never know when we’ll see someone in our lives for the last time. Isaac dies at 180 and Esau returns for the burial. It’s good to see even in such dysfunctional families, love still remains.
We never see Jacob and Esau together after this in Scripture.
Jacob’s sons propose the Shechemites be circumcised to have Dinah as Shechem’s wife. They agree, and they convince the townspeople to become circumcised as well with the idea that then everything Jacob owns (livestock and property) will be theirs. Two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, slaughter all of the men in the town when they are still recovering from circumcision and are weak. They kill Hamor and his son, Shechem. They take Dinah back, looted the city of its wealth, and took all of the women and children as plunder.
Jacob chastized his sons (not for killing, mind you), but for now making them a target for other groups of people who may be afraid of Jacob or who may enact revenge as well. The sons uphold that they could not let the crime against Dinah go unpunished.
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 3: Genesis 34:13-31
6a) Their motivation was revenge, plain and simple.
b) Obviously, innocent people were killed, lives were ruined, families were destroyed. Simeon and Levi have lost credibility as leaders with this action. Their tribes will be scattered. In fact, Simeon’s tribe ceases to exist, being absorbed completely in Judah. Levi’s tribe is scattered as well, but because of their faithfulness with the golden calf (Exodus 32:26-28), they would be a blessing to all of Israel.
7a) Negative ways are with violence against others, most of whom are innocent, by looting, pillaging, setting buildings on fire, etc. Positive ways are finding ways to change so it doesn’t happen again.
b) God is the one who will enact revenge for evil deeds, not you. Instead, overcome evil with good. Love your enemy and feed them. Live at peace with the enemy, and do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
c) You pray about it. You ask yourself if your actions are in accordance with what the Bible says. You ask yourself if you are responding out of love or hate. You find peace with your actions.
8 ) Listen to God and do what He says. Don’t enact your own revenge. Don’t let anger get the best of you. Do what is right.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 3: Genesis 34:13-31
Now, Jacob had impetus to do what God says and return to Bethel because now they can’t stay there. I also find it interesting that Levi does this. His line is the one chosen by God for the priesthood. Ironic, isn’t it? The sons has this all planned out. They weren’t going to let the marriage take place, so they tricked them into circumcision so they would be easier to kill. This I find to be the worst part.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 3: Genesis 34:13-31
There is a reason that circumcison is performed on babies: it’s infinitely easier to recover from when you are a baby than when you are an adult. The procedure is more complicated and the recovery time is much longer. The area may remain swollen afterwards for 2-3 weeks, and it can take up to six weeks for full recovery.
Jacob’s sons had this planned from the beginning. They used Dinah and God’s sacred sign of circumcision and defiled it to enact revenge and evil.
Obviously, wealth was the reason Shechem and Hamor agree, and they use wealth to convince the other men.
Circumcision is painful, especially in adulthood. Odds are, the men are all recovering in their homes, lying around, letting time do its thing, when they are attacked.
Simeon and Levi commit a worse crime than Shechem did. They kill all the men, plunder the city, and take the women and children. Pretty sure God is not happy right now.
Not Jacob is called Jacob here, not Israel. Jacob is only concerned with what will happen to him, not at all about what his sons did.
Tragic scene with no remorse shown for annihilated an entire culture. I wonder what Dinah thinks of all this? She was obviously used, and although the brothers use her reputation as a reason for all this, it’s obvious they don’t care about her feelings. Maybe she did like Shechem. Now he’s dead. She goes from being raped back to Shechem and now back to Jacob. Her life is pretty much ruined after all this. In these times, women were objects, and no one cared what they thought or how they were treated, as seen here. Although we see the women of the Bible as strong, they are still second to men, and sometimes, they are not seen at all, as Dinah is here.
FUN FACTS ABOUT DINAH
Dinah is the only mentioned daughter of Jacob in the Bible
She only appears 3 times in the Bible (when she was born (Genesis 30:21,), here, and in Jacob’s genealogy (Genesis 46:15).
She never speaks in the Bible; her story is merely told
This is the last time we see Dinah. She disappears after this
Later in the Bible Deut 22:27-28, Exod 22:15; we’ll see that women had to marry the man who raped her
Dinah, daughter of Jacob, decided to go visit the women of the land (unsure why). Shechem, the son of the ruler of the area, Hamor, took her and raped her. He fell in love with her. Jacob and his sons were angry over this. Hamor asked Jacob for Dinah’s hand in marriage for his son, Shechem, and invited them to intermarry with them, trade, and own property in the land.
BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 2: Genesis 34:1-12
3) “They were filled with grief and fury.” Who wouldn’t be angry that their sister had been raped? Plus, Dinah would not be able to marry not being a virgin in that time.
4a) Shechem wanted to marry Dinah. Hamor offered Jacob and his family to settle among them, marry their daughters, live in the land, trade in it, and own property.
b) God’s people were called to not intermarry with the pagan cultures around them because then they will turn away from God to other gods.
5a) All cruelty bothers me.
b) Definitely pray about it. It can be overwhelming the sheer amount of evil in the world, but knowing God’s god it gives me peace. Help those I can.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 2: Genesis 34:1-12
Unsure why Dinah went to town in the first place, and it sounds like she went by herself so she violated that rule/culture at the time. Now, they had little choice but to let Dinah get married.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Genesis: Lesson 22, Day 2: Genesis 34:1-12
This story is used to prove the verity of the Bible. After all, who would record such evil deeds except God?
God had called Jacob to Bethel (Genesis 31:13), not Shechem. Inevitably, when you disobey God, bad things can happen.
It falls on Jacob for allowing Dinah to go unsupervised to the city. Yet, nothing is mentioned of that fact. In those times, it seems unsupervised women were raped. Dinah, as a teen, did rebellious things that have consequences as most teenagers do.
Was it love since Shechem raped Dinah? This was probably more a desire to have something more so than love.
Jacob’s sons are more angry than Jacob himself it seems. Jacob should have done something. Instead, the sons felt obligated to, and their choice was infinitely worse without guidance from the head of the family. In ancient times, however, the revenge of the brothers was commonplace.
The marriage proposal threatened God’s plan for all of humanity. God did not want intermarriage of his people, wanting them distinct from other cultures. The fix proposed by Shechem was not a fix at all. It would set a dangerous precedent.
They thought money could erase what happened. Imagine how Dinah felt. Being raped is one of the most vile crimes on this planet, leaving a lifetime full of sorrow and pain. Dinah probably wanted nothing to do with Shechem.
Summary of passage: So Jacob left Beersheba to Haran. He stopped along the way, put a stone under his head, and had a dream. In the dream he saw a stairway from heaven to earth on which the angels of God were going up and down. The Lord was there and He repeated His promise to Jacob (the covenant He gave to both Abraham and Isaac), saying He’ll give Jacob the promised land and his descendants will spread out. All people on earth will be blessed through him. God said He is with him and will watch out for him wherever he goes.
When Jacob woke, he took the stone he had been lying on and poured oil over it and called the place Bethel. Then Jacob vows that God will be his God and the stone will be God’s house and he will give God a tenth.
Questions:
12a) The stairway linking heaven and earth now reveals access to God.
b) Jesus is the stairway, the way to heaven. Jesus says the angels of God ascend and descend on the Son of Man. John 14:6 says he is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Hebrews says we will enter the Most Holy Place (heaven) “by the blood of Jesus.”
13a) “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.”
b) Same as a. “I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.”
c) “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.”
d) “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
14a) He had the fear of God now and realized God was with him and in this place. He took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil over it to make the place, which he named Bethel or house of God. He made a vow, saying if God does what He promises, then God will be my God, the pillar will be God’s house, and he will give God a tenth of all that God has given him.
b) Through the Holy Spirit, God is with us and watches over us wherever we go. He will not leave us until His work is done. (See Philippians 1:6 for a similar message). We return a tenth to God of what is His. He is our God and our pillar. Hopefully, we believe first and then receive without the same stipulations Jacob makes (see Conclusions below for elaboration).
Conclusions: Well, we moved on but I literally typed up most of the passage for my answers. It felt like a copy exercise I might give my kids for school. I did like saying specifically He is with us wherever we go and He will not leave us. Something I needed to hear today.
The significance of this passage is that Jacob has finally realized God is everywhere and not just in certain places.
However, what BSF missed and what I find fascinating (of course we could see this next lesson if we repeat this passage again as seems to be the custom), is how Jacob responds to God’s promises. Jacob doesn’t quite believe God will do all of these things He promises. We see this in his response in verses 20-22: IF God will be with me and IF He will provide, THEN the Lord will be my God.”
Do you see it? He’s not quite sure if God will be with him and if God will provide. But only after Jacob sees all this, then will God be his God. Jacob is trying to make his own deal with God instead of humbly accepting God’s promise. However, in God’s grace, He punishes Jacob through Laban in order to gain Jacob’s whole heart.
End Note: Now God has personally appeared to all three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob.
Fun Fact: Bethel means “House of God” and is second only to Jerusalem to the number of times a town is mentioned in the Old Testament. God even refers to Himself as the “God of Bethel” in Genesis 31:13.
Summary of passage: Isaac kissed his son. He smelled Esau’s clothes and concluded this was Esau.
Isaac blessed Jacob, asking God to give him abundance and have the nations serve him and bow to him, have him be lord over his brothers and have those who curse him be cursed and those who bless him be blessed.
Esau returned from hunting and brought in the food to Isaac. Isaac realizes he had been tricked by Jacob. But it was too late. Isaac cannot bless both. He did not reserve another blessing. Esau wept and Isaac tells him he will serve his brother and he will live away from the earth’s riches but eventually he will throw off Jacob’s yoke.
Questions:
6a) God will grant riches of the earth and an abundance of grain and wine. Many nations will serve Jacob and people will bow down to him. He will reign over his brothers and mother’s sons. May those who curse him be cursed and those who bless him be blessed.
b) God will punish the nation that enslaves His people (Genesis 15:14) but afterwards they will come out with great possessions. Same as those who curse him be cursed. Repeated in Genesis 12:3 where God says “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse.”
7a) According to Webster’s dictionary, regret is “to mourn the loss or death of; to miss very much; to be sorry for.” Repentance is “the act or process of repenting (to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life; to feel regret) for misdeeds or moral shortcomings.”
As you can see, their meaning are the same in a way. Regret is more to feel sorry for what you did (or did not do). Repentance is to feel sorry for what you did but also to resolve to change and it’s emphasis is more on sin.
b) Esau is regretful. He’s sorry for himself that he did stupid things like sell his birthright for a meal and marry unbelievers. But he doesn’t change his ways. Immediately, he wants to kill his brother–for his mistakes (of selling the birthright) but also for God’s will as I’m sure they all knew the prophetic words revealed to Rebekah. His heart is not repentant at all.
Jacob is repentant. He realizes he tricked his father and lied to him and I think he’s truly sorry. God spoke to him afterwards and does not condemn his actions. For He doesn’t need to as Jacob has learned his lesson.
8a) It would have gone against God’s will as spoken to Rebekah (Genesis 25:23). Esau was flippant and despised his birthright as we see in Genesis 25:29-34 when he sold his birthright for a meal. Esau married Hittite women (Genesis 26:34) which would have jeopardized the raising of his sons in terms of faith in the Lord. Esau wants to kill his brother (Genesis 27:41)–a direct violation of God’s law of murder. He is vengeful and his heart is not God’s. Definitely not something God wants in the line to Jesus.
b) They doubt. They sin when they know it’s wrong. They have no desire to do God’s will here on earth. They are in the world instead of of the world.
c) He’s a provider. He brings home meat for the family.
d) Personal Question. My answer: I hope going in the right way. I’m trying every day to be more like Jesus. I’m trying to be in the Word as much as possible. I’m trying to follow God’s purpose for my life. I’m trying to raise my kids to know Him. I’m trying to be a good wife and spouse to my husband. We are at a turning point in our lives where we’re trying to plan for the future and put God at the center (both with our money and our hearts). My husband and I are finally on the same page about this. I pray I do His will every day.
9) Isaac’s prophecy is: Esau will dwell away from the earth’s riches. He will live by the sword and will serve his brother. But he will eventually throw off his brother’s yoke. During the Exodus, Moses asked to pass through Edom’s lands which they refused and so Israel turned from them (Numbers). David conquered the Edomites (2 Samuel 8:14).
Edom did rebel against Judah (Israel) in 2 Kings 8:20-22. Another war is depicted in 2 Kings 14:7 between Judah and Edom. Another time Edom attacked Judah in 2 Chronicles 28:17.
Obadiah is where God has had enough of the Edomites and their sins against the Israelites. God tells Israel to not abhor Edom for Edom is their brother (Deuteronomy 23:7) but when the Edomites cheer the fall of Jerusalem during the Babylonian invasion and help plunder the city and prey on fleeing Israelites God says through Obadiah “There will be no survivors from the house of Esau” (verse 18).
God says “As you have done, it will be done to you” (verse 15). Like I said BEFORE, the Edomites were obliterated from history when Rome conquered Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Conclusions: Question 9 is almost the exact same as Question 4 on Lesson 21 except here they give us the passages and last week they did not.
I’m really struggling here. I’m floundering to be precise. So I’m praying through this. This repetition and re-wording of the questions with virtually the same concept is driving me mad to be honest with you.
I GET it! I do. Part of me feels like BSF doesn’t trust me to get it. So I’m being bombarded with the same passages (which in my view is not really all that hard when compared to say Isaiah for instance). So I’m spending 3 lessons on the same thing (and tomorrow is Hebrews!).
I’m no Biblical scholar by any stretch of the imagination. But I understand right and wrong and why Jacob was the chosen one (simple–cause God chose him and God can do whatever He wants) and why Esau wasn’t worthy, etc, etc, etc.
Instead of growing I feel stuck. I’m at the point of skipping some classes to be honest with you. The last two weeks have been difficult. My group has fallen to half its normal size from September. So has my kids’ classes.
I can’t remember ever feeling like this with BSF before. So I’m praying. That’s all I can do really.
Summary of passage: Isaac, now old and blind, asks Esau to hunt him some wild game and prepare him a meal at which he will give him his blessing. Rebekah overheard Isaac tell Esau this so she told Jacob to go and bring her some young goats to prepare for him so that Jacob can go and receive Isaac’s blessing. Jacob wonders though if Isaac touches him what to do because Esau is hairy and he is not. His mother said not to worry.
Rebekah prepared the food and then dressed up Jacob in Esau’s clothes. She covered his hands and neck with goatskins and sent him in to Isaac. Jacob says he is Esau and bids his father to eat. Isaac wonders how he found the game so quickly. Jacob says the Lord granted him success.
Isaac suspects a trick and asks to touch Jacob. He knows Jacob’s voice but falls for the goatskin trick. Isaac blessed Jacob but is still unsure if he is Esau or not. Jacob lies again, saying he is. Isaac ate of the game.
Questions:
3) Isaac planned to bless Esau and give him the birthright, which defied God’s plan which He revealed to Rebekah before Esau was even born (Genesis 25:23). God intended Joseph to have the “older serve the younger.”
4a) In this passage only, Jacob and Rebekah conspire to gain the blessing by having Jacob pretend to be Esau. Jacob dressed up in goatskin to simulate Esau’s hair. He wore Esau’s clothes. Rebekah cooked a meal for Isaac. Jacob lied to Isaac about his identity.
b) Personal Question. My answer: Don’t lie or deceive or white lie. Numerous times I have posted about not lying to your kids so they will trust you in the big things. HERE and HERE if interested. Have an open relationship. Have God at the center. For if God is the center, love and honesty reign.
5a) She did everything in her power to have Jacob receive the blessing as God intended. And it worked.
b) They were deceptive and involved lies and tricks. Rebekah would have been better served if she had confronted Isaac about his intentions and told him to pray to God to ask for the truth.
c) Same as above. White lies. Or lies. Cheating people. Deceiving people.
Conclusions: Not happy AT ALL about this filler lesson. I thought we had milked this passage already and here it shows up again? Seriously? Enough with the review. In my opinion, nothing is learned in this lesson we didn’t already know. We knew God’s plan. We knew the deceptions Jacob and Rebekah do. And we know the deceptions Christians (as all people-not just Christians) do today. Wasted lesson in my opinion.
My time is valuable. There’s so much in this world I don’t have time for. And redundant study of a passage is something I don’t have patience for. A year-long bible study in this society is a huge commitment. And if indeed this lesson is just to stretch it out I have qualms with that. I’d rather end a week earlier. I have no problems being done in April.
In my class, you can tell people are dropping out. Not as many women are coming nor kids. This happens every year at the end of the study from my observations. And maybe lessons like this is part of the reason why. Something BSF should consider as they are analyzing attendance and growth numbers.
Note how God is not mentioned once in Genesis 34. Yet, He reappears here, being mentioned over 10 times. God is with us, orchestrating, no matter what evil is going on in the world.
This story is used to prove the verity of the Bible. After all, who would record such evil deeds except God?