Skip to main content

Bible Study: As It Was In The Beginning - Genesis - Chapter 18


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.

Stacey


Take a few minutes to savor Genesis Chapters 18 & 19. Then return here and ponder the thoughts, answer the questions, and be sure to leave comments about your own revelations…



18:1 – the Lord appeared to Abraham. He was one of the three men in verse 2.

18:2 – “three men standing nearby” – they just appeared – this is a supernatural meeting.

18:9 – many clues to the travelers’ uncommon nature: the Lord and His messengers knew where Sarah was; they knew the custom that women weren’t welcome in men’s company; they spoke her name and asked about her.

18:10 – Did God show up to tell Sarah personally? He was speaking to Abraham, but knew she would hear Him. Her reaction in 18:12 would suggest the visitor caught her off-guard with the news, so Abraham probably hadn’t shared with her the conversation he had with God in chapter 17. But he had to have shared some of the conversation since she now had a new name!

18:10-15 – “Let’s show more than a little respect.” See Galatians 6:7. (Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible – Higgs)

18:12 – pleasure – “sexual pleasure” (Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible – Higgs – Alter, “Genesis: Translation and Commentary”, 79)

18:14 – “too hard” – pala - .

God calls Sarah by name without referring to her as Abraham’s wife. She is a full participant in this.

18:15 – Why was she afraid? Had she just realized Who was speaking?

18:17-19 – to whom was the Lord speaking? The other two men?

18:20 – Abraham is about to encounter God’s judgment nature.

18:22-32 – “Scripture teaches us to pray by God’s will, which means to ask according to God’s character, attributes, purpose, and providence, while believing that our prayer fits His nature and intent.” (Explore the Bible, Winter 2007-2008, Genesis 1-27) See 1 Corinthians 1:4-7; Ephesians 3:14-19; Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; Philemon 4-7.

18:22 – the two men are the two angels in 19:1.

18:22-23 – Abraham’s “badgering” is allowing him to reestablish relationship with God after learning of this new character trait of the Lord’s.

18:23-25 – Judge – Abraham pleads with God based on His justice.

18:24-32 – Abraham is persistently interceding for the people of Sodom. (Explore the Bible, Winter 2007-2008, Genesis 1-27)

18:32-33 – After agreeing to spare the city for 10 people, the Lord leaves. Did He want Abraham to stop asking for concessions? As a parent, the time came to put His foot down and say, “enough is enough.”



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