Overview: Patriarchal Period (Genesis 12-50; Job)
2022-11-29
Abram
Many generations after the Tower of Babel, the Bible begins to focus on a single man, Abram. He was a man from Ur in Mesopotamia, who moved with his extended family to Haran in Syria. He was an idol worshipper (Joshua 24:2), but God appeared to him and told him to leave his country and family and way of life.
God made a covenant with Abram, making several promises to him. He promised him land, to have a multitude of descendants, and that God would bless him, and he would be a blessing to the whole world. We can see that the promised Savior of Genesis 3:15 would come from this man.
Abram, who had no children, left Haran with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot. He was 75 years old, and his wife was 65. Lot eventually separated from his uncle and lived in the wicked city of Sodom. Abram later miraculously delivered Lot from invading armies with only a few hundred men. Afterward, Abram met with the priest-king of Jerusalem, Melchizedek, who blessed him.
Abram still had no children years later, but the Lord God promised him that he would have his own son, and a multitude of descendants. When God reaffirmed His promise, we are told, “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). This oft-quoted verse in the New Testament affirms that people can be righteous by trusting God and His promises. God swore an oath to Abram that He would accomplish it. Abram’s descendants would be in Egypt about 400 years before they came and possessed the promised land.
Abram took matters into his own hands, having a son with another woman, Hagar, but this son was not the son of promise the Lord spoke of.
At 99 years old, the Lord came to Abram again, reaffirming His promise. Abram would have his son within a year. God changed Abram’s and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah and gave him the covenant of circumcision. His son Isaac was born as promised.
An unexpected twist came when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac to Him. When Abraham obeyed, taking his son to Moriah, he was about to slay his son when God intervened. A ram was provided in place of Isaac to sacrifice, foreshadowing that Christ would be a substitute sacrifice for guilty sinners, nearly 2000 years later near the same location.
Isaac
Abraham sent his servant to get a wife for Isaac from his kindred in Syria. After praying for 20 years, Isaac’s wife Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn, but he sold his birthright for stew when famished after working in the field. Later, when Isaac was blind with age, Jacob dressed as Esau and fooled his father into blessing him instead of his brother. Jacob went on the run from his brother’s anger because of the incident, and Jacob went away for about 20 years.
Jacob
Jacob began his journey to his uncle Laban in Syria. While at Luz, he had a dream where he saw angels descending and ascending a ladder reaching into heaven. God reaffirmed His promise to Jacob as He did to his father and grandfather, that Jacob would have the land and the multitude of descendants. Jacob called that land Bethel, calling it the house of God.
Jacob went to Laban. He married his two daughters Leah and Rachel. He worked for his uncle 14 years for them, and another six years for cattle. While there, Jacob had 11 sons and at least one daughter. He later had another son, Benjamin. These twelve sons became the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel.
He eventually left Laban to return to his own land. He reconciled with his brother Esau after a fashion.
Jacob met with an angel of the Lord, wrestling with Him until dawn. Though he was permanently injured in the thigh, the Lord blessed him, renaming him Israel. He eventually put away all foreign gods from his family and returned to Bethel. “Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments: And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went” (Genesis 35:2-3).
Joseph
One of Jacob’s sons was Joseph, who was the favored son. Because of this, his brothers were envious of him. Joseph had dreams that showed his brothers and father and mother bowing to him, which enraged them further. His brothers sold him into slavery, and Joseph found himself in Egypt as a servant to Potiphar, the king of Egypt’s captain of the guard. God was with Joseph and made him prosper in his state in life at the time. Being falsely accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph was sent to prison.
While there, God made him prosperous again, where the keeper of the prison entrusted him with the other prisoners.
Joseph met two prisoners there, who were former servants of the king. After correctly interpreting their prophetic dreams, two years later, he was brought forth from prison to interpret Pharaoh the king’s dream. After warning of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, Joseph was appointed the king’s second-in-command to prepare for the upcoming famine.
When the famine came, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt (without their brother Benjamin), since Egypt alone had been prepared for the famine. The brothers bowed to Joseph, just as Joseph dreamed years before. Joseph, speaking to them through an interpreter, knew his brothers, but they did not know him. He provided for them but kept Simeon their brother until they returned with their brother Benjamin.
They eventually returned with Benjamin, though Jacob was reluctant to allow it because he was another favored son. When they arrived in Egypt the second time, Joseph released Simeon, but framed Benjamin for stealing. Their brother Judah implored to be imprisoned in his stead. Seeing a change in his brothers, Joseph revealed himself to them.
The entire family of Joseph came down from Canaan, where they had lived, to Goshen in Egypt. A great family reunion took place between Jacob and Joseph, for Jacob thought his son was dead all those years. About 70 people or so went down to Egypt. They all died there in the land of Egypt.
Stephen, a deacon in the Jerusalem church, later recalled the story of Joseph, showing the pattern of Christ’s life in Joseph’s life. Joseph was rejected by his brothers, but later became their savior. The Lord Jesus Christ was the same among His brothers in His day, being rejected of them, but to return later to redeem them.
Job
Job was a contemporary of Abraham, though there is no reason to believe that the two knew each other. Job was a wealthy but godly man with ten children. God proved Job by taking away his earthly possessions, family, and health. He long wrestled with the physical and mental anguish because of his losses. His friends insisted that he had some manner of sin that caused his calamity, but Job insisted he did not sin. He wanted to appeal in the presence of God. God did appear to Him in a whirlwind, asking a series of rhetorical questions, demonstrating that Job did not know all the Lord’s reason for his calamity. We can discern that everything he went through tried his faith, as he came out stronger on the other side of his troubles.