Skip to main content

Bible Study: As It Was In The Beginning - Genesis - Chapter 17


Please forgive this rough draft format, as these are my raw study notes on the book of Genesis. I felt a great sense of urgency to publish them rather than waiting until I had the time to pretty them up. Thank you and I pray that God blesses you through this material. Much of what I learned for chapters 16 and 17 came from Liz Curtis Higgs' "Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible". I highly recommend it!

Stacey


Take a few minutes to savor Genesis Chapter 17. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations…




17:1-8 – The Lord appears to Abram, establishes a Suzerain-Vassal Covenant and changes his name to Abraham. NOW Abraham is ready to have the child that God promised him in 15:4. (LFL – wait on God or you may birth a new war-making people, like Ishmael’s descendants, the Iraqis.)

17:1 – God Almighty – El Shaddai.

17:5, 15 – God gives each a new name. Is this a fresh start apart from their sin?

17:5 – the addition of “ha” to Abram’s name represents Jehovah.

17:12 – eight days old – “The Arabs, who consider themselves to be descendants of Ishmael, are circumcised at the age of 13 (see v.25).” (NIVSB)

17:15 – the addition of only an “h” to Sarai’s name made it “sacramental, covenantal.” (Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible – Higgs)

17:16 – God specifically includes Sarah in His promise to Abraham.

17:17 – Abraham laughs at the thought of becoming a father. Was this joyful, hopeful laughter?

17:19 – “call him Isaac” – Isaac means “laughter”. Was he so named because his parents laughed when they learned of is impending arrival? Or because he would bring such joy to their family? Isaac never really measures up in Abraham’s eyes, though. Did the patriarch love Ishmael more (because he was firstborn)?

17:20 – God assures Abraham that Ishmael will be prolific, responding to Abraham’s statement in 17:18. Abraham may have thought Ishmael would be done away with. Here, God assures Abraham that the boy won’t be harmed, but will have many children.

17:21 – “at this time next year” – this detail is almost added as an afterthought.


What attributes of God have you observed in your study today? How will this change your relationship with Him?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Homiletics Training: Content

Homiletics .   By definition, “homiletic” is the art of preaching or writing sermons.   I think we would all agree that our pastors study the Bible thoroughly to deliver sermons every Sunday to their congregations.   The beautiful news is that every child of God can use this discipline to study the Bible for themselves. As a member of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) Leadership, part of my required preparation each week is to prepare homiletics for the passage we are studying.   BSF offers an engaging seminar on how to use this method to study the Scriptures.   I’ve taken the seminar several times under two different leaders and I’ve learned something new every time I’ve attended.   I’ve also been doing the process of homiletics for over ten years and I can say that there is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit in this process!   So keep practicing.   Keep sharing and discussing.   I’ve been posting my homiletics on this blog for quite a while, now.   And I would like to share wit

Homiletics: John 7

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture ):   Where?                                                                 Who? 1 1-2 After, J went Gal, not Judea bec Jew ldrs look to kill; Jew fest of tabernacles near 2 3-5 J bros: go Judea so disc see works, show self to world; bros not believe 3 6-8 J: my time not here; world h8 me bec I testify works evil; you go festival, my time not cm 4 9-10 He stay Gal; bros left for fest, He went in secret 5 11-12 @ fest, Jew ldrs watch 4 J: where He?   Widespr whisp: He good man/He deceives ppl 6 13-14 No one say publicly for fear of ldrs; not till ½ way thru fest did J beg to teach 7 15-16 Jews amazed: how man get learning w/o been taught; J: my teaching cm frm who sent 8 17-18 Who choose do will of G find

Homiletics: John 10

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture ): 1 1-2 VT ITY Phar, any1 enter shp pn by gate=thief/robbr; 1 enters by gate=shepherd 2 3-4 Gatekpr opns gate 4 hm/shp listn/he calls shp by name/leads out/shp follo bec kno voce 3 5-6 They nvr follo stranger, run away bec recog voce; J used fig o spch, Phar understd 4 7-8 Thrfr J: VT ITY I gate 4 shp; all who cm b4 me=thievs/robbrs, shp listn them 5 9-10a I gate, whoevr entr thru me savd/they cm/go/find pasture; thief cm only steal/kill/destry 6 10b-12 I gd shepd, lay dn life 4 shp; Hird hd shepd/own shp, see wolf/abandn shp/wlf attck/scattr 7 13-15a Man run bec care nthg 4 sheep; I gd shep; kno sheep/sheep kno me as Fr kno me/I kno Fr 8 15b-16 I lay dn life 4 sheep; have othr sheep of this pen