• : Genesis Chapters
• 21:
• 1-4
• , 22:
• 1-19
• , 25:
• 7-11,
• 21-34
• , 27
• God tests Abraham
• Esau, Jacob, & Birthright
• Jacob deceives Isaac and receives his blessing
• God’s
• promise continued through Isaac & Jacob
• Key Verses and Themes
• Genesis 21:1-4

— Isaac, Abraham’s child with Sarah, born in their old age, is circumcised on the 8th day, according to the sign of the covenant that God gave Abraham in

Gen 17.

• Genesis 22:1-19
• Faith in Action

— Abraham goes to sacrifice Isaac according to God’s command (His will).

• Lord swears by Himself:

Gen 22:16

— God, wanting to assure Abraham of the certainty of the blessings he would receive, swears by Himself, as there is none greater than God. We will see this mentioned in our NT references.

• Sacrifice of beloved son:

Gen 22:12-16

— Abraham was about to sacrifice his beloved son before God stopped him; do we know of a sacrifice of another beloved Son?

• Genesis 25:7-11, 21-34

Birthright

— A birthright, which belonged to the firstborn, was of massive significance in the world at this time, and especially in the Middle East. They were to be highly respected by their siblings, almost to the level of their parents. Also, they would receive the inheritance from their father, and in this case, Esau was to receive the blessing from Isaac, as he was the firstborn.

— God blesses Isaac after Abraham’s death, “remembering” the covenant He made to Abraham.

• Genesis 27

Abrahamic Blessing succession to Jacob- (Issac to Jacob)

Gen 27:23-28

— Isaac passes on the blessing he received from God to his son Jacob. Abraham’s blessing has now spanned 3 generations already.

References to the New Testament & our Church practices

• Circumcised on 8th Day

Infants Signed (r’sheema) on the 8th day

Just as circumcision served as a sign of the Old Covenant, an infant is/can be signed (r’sheema) on the 8th day, preparing them for their baptism (which can be given on the 40th day).

• Faith in Action
• Hebrews 11:1-20

James 2:14-24

We have read about characters up to verse 20 so far. In Hebrews, St. Paul is writing to the Jews, preaching and trying to convince them that Jesus is the Messiah, through using their very own Old Testament scriptures.

What do you notice in these verse… all these people St. Paul is talking about put their faith into action! So we learn from this that we too need to put our faith into action. When we practice our faith, we naturally produce “works”, and we show our faith through our works. St. James speaks about this in

James 2:14-24

, even using Abraham as an example! Thus, when we show our faith through our works, we also fulfill Christ’s command in

Matthew 5:16.

• Lord swears by Himself
• Hebrews 6:13

Paul, again using the OT when speaking to the Jews, references what we read in

Gen 22:16.

• Abrahamic Blessing & Apostolic

Succession Parallel

We again looked at Abraham’s blessings and covenant continuing down generations, with the “current” holder of the blessing passing it down to the “next” holder. What we mean by this is that Isaac physically blessed Jacob to take his place as the inheritor of Abraham’s blessing, and that’s why we see God speaking to Abraham, Isaac, and in the next weeks, Jacob, as if they are the “main characters”. So too, we again related this back to how our church functions; the blessings and authority that the apostles received directly from Christ while He was on this earth in the flesh, have been physically passed down all the way to this current day, so that we can trace His Holiness Mar Awa III’s ordination line back to the original 12 disciples of Christ. What we mean by “physically” passed down is like how Jacob was in Isaac’s presence and received the formal spoken blessing from Isaac. We will continue to see this theme in our readings, with the laying on of hands being introduced soon.

Discussion Questions

Why does God say in Genesis 22:12, after stopping Abraham from sacrificing Isaac, that “

for now I

know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Did He not know before?

As we have discussed, God is omniscient, so rather (as many church fathers commentate) this was a trial that God allowed Abraham to go through in order for Abrhama to perfect his faith, and to prove it publicly/to others, and to prefigure the sacrifice of God “By this act, Abraham was also being conformed to the likeness of God, who would give His own Son for the salvation of many.” — Irenaeus of Lyons

St. Ephrem the Syrian adds that Abraham had such great faith, that he was convinced Isaac would resurrect after this, because he remembered and believed God’s promise that “through Isaac shall your descendants be named” in

Genesis 21:12

Additionally, this sort of proto-type of Jesus’s sacrifice could have been God’s way of showing the way salvation would come to the world to Abrhama, who God loved and confessed about regarding his faith. As St. John Chrysostom commentates, this is why Christ says in

John 8:56

“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” to the Pharisees, because Abraham saw it “in type, in shadow”.

What can the “ ram caught in a thicket by its horns” allude to/ be a foreshadowing of?

A ram, a male sheep, was caught in the thicket of the horns, and sacrificed instead of Isaac by his father. Christ, who worn the crown of thorns, was sacrificed instead of humanity by The Father (i.e., John 3:16, God did not sacrifice his Own Son in that human way of thinking).

What do we learn about Esau selling his birthright for lentils?

Gluttony is a vice (not just overeating, but over consumption). This vice of gluttony was at play when Adam ate from the tree, and the fleshly pleasures that were drowning people in sin during the time of Noah brought about the flood. Now, this same vice led to Esau being deprived of his birthright, (think all the blessings that Isaac would have passed on to him).

Learning to control these excess desires of the body, and the discipline and temperance that arises from fasting teaches us to be more attentive to the voice of God (His commands and will).

Also, as the Jews who first received the law and covenant, but who later gave way to the gentiles (non-jews) to receive Christ and the new covenant, so too did Esau, the first-born, give way to Jacob because of his lack of respect for the honor and place that God had given him! This is a lesson to us to hold fast to the faith that we have, and have the zeal and passion of Jacob, who wrestled with an angel and would not let him go until he blessed him, despite his hip being dislocated. It’s a lesson to use AND increase the talents/gold (

• Matthew 25:14-30

) given to us by the Lord, and not bury them as the wicked servant did.

Why did Esau cry out when he realized Jacob had received his blessing? Didn’t he sell his birthright for some lentils?

Mar Aprim Rabba writes “And Esau cried out and wailed bitterly, not because he lost his spiritual blessings but because he was now deprived of the bountiful produce of the blessed earth [Esau wept] not because he was no longer able to be righteous but because he would not be able to make his brother his servant; not because he would not inherit eternal life but because the land of the Canaanites would not be his portion. Since Esau had such spite for his brother that he wished to kill him, Rebekah persuaded Jacob to go to the house of Laban lest they kill each other in their strife, and she became bereft of both of them at the same time."

Why didn’t Isaac just take away Jacob’s blessing and give it to Esau?

God’s divine plan was already set in order, and this is what He willed, as we saw in the prophecy in

Genesis 25:23

“Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.”

Also, divine blessings cannot be revoked, and Isaac knew and believed that the blessing he gave was of God. So, knowing that the blessing was sealed by divine authority, it was not his own to give or take back. So Esau received the blessing that God has pre-appointed for him; it’s not as if Jacob “stole” the blessing, God willed it that way.

• This Week's Study

—Update the "Group Bible study Form" sent out on remind

—Read all the verses and chapters of Genesis we skipped, and ask questions on the form under the "Contact Us" page

Make sure to read the verses listed for "Faith in Action" under the NT references. Note how important practicing our faith is!