Week 9: Genesis 11:27–12:18

This week we transitioned to a new section of the Genesis narrative. Now we're making our way through the life of Abraham. Specifically, this week we looked at his call out of Haran to Canaan and then his travels to Egypt (Gen. 12). We ended by considering how God worked to grow Abraham's faith even though it was imperfect and flawed, often like our own.

Skills:

• Introduction to literary genres of the Bible

• Brief consideration of the genre of Genesis

Activation:

• Pre-understandings of Genesis 12

• Questions related to Genesis 12

• What do we know about Abram?

• Ancient land grant treaties  

At-Home Skills Practice:

• Step 1: We are working our way through the second major section of the book of Genesis. Specifically, we are focusing on Genesis 11:27–25:18. This is basically the account of Abraham. We want to continue reading this entire section at least two times this week. You can use an audio Bible to help you.

Our in-class discussion next week will focus on Genesis 13–14. We are continuing to go back and review some of our basic skills that we worked on in the beginning of the class.

• Step 2: Write out 15 questions that you have about Genesis 13–14. Remember, there are three broad categories of questions that you can choose from.

• History/culture/language/word study/background
• Theology
• Application

• Step 3: Compare and contrast Abram and Lot as they are presented in Genesis 13–14. How does the author present each of them?

• Step 4: How do the stories of Abram/Lot in Genesis 13–14 push the story of redemption forward?

 
Digging Deeper:

• Read: If you haven’t already done so, take the time to get caught up in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. You should have chapters 1–5 read by now.