Summary Of ' Jacob Struggles With God '

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew by a series of many authors around the time of 1450-1410 BC (Holy Bible, Scofield). Moses who wrote Genesis, supposedly received direct information from God himself about how the world and man were created. This is the first point of interpretation because there is a need to have blind faith in Moses. There are many stories in Genesis that seem absurd and hard to believe really happened, unless you are someone who believes in the power of God and has this blind faith. For example, God gives Adam and Eve a garden and says not to take the fruit from one tree and when they eat the fruit from that tree, God punishes them, “Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (1:17, Gen). From a figurative standpoint we can

To study Genesis in terms of its literary and historical content is not to say that we are in any way being irreverent in our reading of this part of the Old Testament. In other words, it is possible to read Genesis in both a spirit of appreciation for its position as the opening exegetical narrative of the Bible and as a document that reflects literary and historical realities and influences during the time when it was being written down. This paper examines some of the contemporary sources that influenced the two sets of writers who recorded the events of Genesis.

Genesis, the first book of the Christian Old Testament in the Bible, was written around the 5th century B.C. Genesis is also a creation story featuring God and his creation of Adam and Eve. The title Genesis means “beginning” in the Hebrew language.

When Jacob and Esau were born, they were extremely different despite being twins. Esau was robust and red headed while Jacob was meek and small. “When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob,” (Genesis 25:19-34). Jacob was a trickster. He covered himself with the hide of a lamb to mimic his brothers appearance and take his blessing as the first born. “So Jacob went out and got the young goats for his mother. Rebekah took them and prepared a delicious meal, just the way Isaac liked it. Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes,

There are thousands of stories in the Bible, but one stands out in particular; the story of Joseph. The Hebrew meaning of the name Joseph is “may Jehovah add, give increase.”1 Through the life of Joseph we see God add meaning and purpose to his life, just as God adds meaning and purpose to all our lives. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”2 Joseph obediently followed God’s plans through trials and tribulations whereas many other figures in the Old Testament faltered in their faith. Joseph, son of Jacob, is the single most important human being in the Old Testament because of his impeccable faith to the one true God and his story of forgiveness that set the stage for God’s chosen people.

Properly dating the book of Genesis would allow us to build a timeline of creation which we can be used to trace back to day one of creation. However, this is extremely difficult to determine for two fundamental reasons: (1) the Bible provides no controllable statis- tical data that apply to the problem of absolute chronology; (2) most of the events took place in the preliterate period for which we have no extrabiblical written documents. (Ch. 1 Pg. 28)

When one approaches the biblical text, it is important to explore the cultural context in which the text occurs. With regard to the Book of Genesis, it is important to examine the writing with other contemporary works of similar geography and topics. The people of ancient Mesopotamia, where the oldest civilizations originated, produced a number of stories of creation and natural occurrences. It is important to note that many of the stories of the Sumerians, Akkadians and Hebrews began as oral traditions as the events they depict predate writing, so it is difficult to date these works on the basis of when these prehistoric myths were initiated. Comparison to writings contemporary to the people of Israel, can offer a deeper understanding of

named Seth to replace Abel. Genesis 5 outlines the genealogy of Adam's family. While Genesis 6 describes the evilness in the

In Genesis, the first book of The Bible the Christian and Jewish creation story is told. God spoke and his Word was done. He made the heavens and the earth. He made light and drove away the dark. On the earth he created the waters and lands and man and beast.

Defending Jacob is a courtroom drama that also examines the family dynamic and how it can shift or crack under pressure. It’s ending stirred up a lot of mixed feelings. The trial concludes with a suicide note written by Patz confessing to the murder of Ben Rifkin, causing Jacob to be acquitted. After the trial, the Barbers decide to go on vacation, so that they can get the feeling back of being a “normal” family. They are having an ideal vacation, until Hope, Jacob’s “girlfriend” that he met on the holiday, goes missing. Her body washes up on the beach several weeks after her disappearance, and while many believe that there were signs that pointed to her windpipe being crushed, her death is ultimately ruled an accident because of the body deterioration in the water.

The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis describe many significant events that happened. Warren W. Wiersbe describes these chapters as the one that “deal the humanity in general” (Wiersbe, 2007, p.12). Genesis starts with the creation, the fall, the great flood and when the languages were confused at Babel. These are the four most important parts found within the first eleven chapters of Genesis.

While Jacob is on his way to Haran, God finally decides that it is time to introduce Himself to Jacob. He speaks to Jacob for the first time in a dream, during which God tells Jacob that, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done [the promises] of which I have spoken to you” (Gen 28:15). Interacting with Jacob in such a way, and telling him that God will keep him instills within Jacob a sense of security. Jacob can continue on his journey without worry as, even though Jacob has yet to receive other aspects from the blessings, God is with him and God will keep him. Following the dream, when Jacob wakes up, he makes a vow where he says that, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go...then the Lord shall be my God…”(Gen28:20-21). Jacob’s vow [FINISH THIS].

The book of Genesis is often referred to as the book of beginnings. Genesis is the first book that begins the Old Testament, it is also the first book of the entire Bible. The Lord also began the world in the book of Genesis, He made the heavens and the earth, man and woman. In Genesis chapters one through eleven, the Bible teaches us stories that most of us have grown up hearing in Sunday School such as the creation account, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood and the tower of Babel. In this book of beginnings, we are shown some of Gods characteristics; we see that God is love and He showed His love by creating us and the world, on the other extreme, we also see the wrath of God. Through these teachings, we are able to see that God ultimately in control and holds everything in His balance. The stories of Genesis aren’t just stories; they are real life accounts that can help build and shape a worldview on things regarding the natural world, human identity, human relationships and civilization.

While Jacob makes his way to Haran, God finally decides to introduce Himself to Jacob. God speaks to Jacob for the first time in a dream, during which He tells Jacob that, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac...I am with you and will keep you wherever you go...I will not leave you until I have done [the promises] of which I have spoken to you” (Gen 28:15). Interacting with Jacob through a dream and telling him that God will keep him instills within Jacob a sense of security. Jacob can continue on his journey without worry, although he has yet to receive other aspects from the blessings, God stays with him and God will keep him. This security becomes clearer when Jacob wakes up and makes a vow saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go...then the Lord shall be my God…”(Gen 28:20-21). Jacob’s vow not only shares an interesting imitative similarity to the promise made by God in the dream, but more importantly, Jacob refers to God in a possessive way. By referring to God possessively, as “my God”, it might suggest that Jacob has had a sudden insight, and now sees God differently. In other words, Jacob has experienced God, the same God as his ancestors, and perhaps now realizes that even in what seems like an ordinary place where one might just lay down to rest, God’s presence has stayed and will continue to stay with

Genesis starts off with creation. God spoke into nothing and said, “ Let there be light” and there was light. God then created the sky, land, nature, animals, and humans. It was good until sin entered the world and corrupted it. Adam and Eve sinned against God and here was the start of man’s sinful downfall. Adam and Eve had two sons Cain and Abel. Cain was jealous of God’s favor towards Abel’s sacrifice, and so he killed Abel. Cain’s ungodliness leads to a flood that was supposed to destroy man kind except for one family. God chose Noah and faithful righteous man to build an ark big enough for his family and a pair of every kind of animal to survive. God continues his plan of salvation with Noah’s family and decedents. Noah’s son Ham lead to the start of another sinful downfall. The time of the Tower of Babel came along, and a group of men wanted to build a tower tall enough to reach the heavens. God was angry, so sent confusion to the men by giving them different languages causing them to separate. God begins once again with a chosen man named Abraham. God told him to be faithful, and that he would be blessed with many descendants. Abraham wasn't patient with God and wanted to do things his own way. He went ahead and made a child with his wife’s maid