Page 31 - Advanced OT Survey Student Textbook

Chapters 12-50 focus on four key characters; - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

When God destroyed the earth with a flood, he made a covenant with Noah (check Noahic Covenant in
the introduction). This time God was going to make another covenant with a man named Abraham.
NOTE; Covenants were a way God related with mankind. Also, a covenant was something that people
in the middle-eastern culture understood well. It was way making an agreement under oath. God made
a three-part promise to Abraham.

 To make him a great man and bless him.
 Create a great nation out of him (these words sound very ironic in the instance when they are
spoken because Abraham and his wife were past bearing age) and give them a land (Canaan)
forever.
 Bring blessing to all peoples through his descendants.
29

Abraham was promised a seed not seeds, meaning one. The idea of “the Seed” is further explained by
the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3-4 and it was point to Christ as the ultimate. Isaac is the promised son but
not the ultimate seed. God fulfilled his promise by giving Sarah and Abraham (in their old age) a son,
Isaac. Isaac begot twins, Esau and Jacob. It is also important to understand that God confirmed his
covenant with Abraham to Isaac. Of his two sons, God chose Jacob. As it is written, “Jacob have I love
and Esau I hated. (Esau is the descendant of the Edomites.)

God changed Jacob’s name, whose name also means trickery or supplanted, to Israel (one who struggled
with God). The idea that God chose Jacob over Esau simply means that he would extend his covenant
with Abraham to Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons (twelve tribes of Israel) but he loved Joseph (the eleventh
son) more than the rest. He gave Joseph a special coat which increased jealousy among his siblings.
Joseph was later sold into slavery by his brothers because of their hatred for Jacob. All this happened
under God’s sovereign control. Joseph is a picture of Christ in the New Testament. Joseph was betrayed
by his own brothers but his betrayal turned into providence for God’s people. In a time when there was
famine Joseph’s interpretation of the Pharaoh’s (in Egypt) dream saved the entire Middle East. Joseph
became second in command to the Pharaoh. His entire family including Jacob came to Egypt and settled
there. Genesis ends with Jacob and his family in Egypt. Jacob blesses his children and died. Note, the
blessing of his twelve sons had a prophetic link to their character and future. Also, because of Joseph’s
character, Jacob added his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim as a part of the twelve sons of Israel. i

Family Leadership and the Household Gods
30

One of the most curious stories of the patriarchal accounts is the theft of Laban’s gods by his daughter
Rachel (Gen. 31:19). Did not Rachel and Jacob put their trust in Yahweh? Why would Rachel steal
Laban’s clay household gods? Laban came to Jacob and claimed that all that Jacob had taken was his.
But Jacob disagreed, claiming that God alone who had provided him his wealth. Laban disputed this
claim and suggested that all that Jacob possessed, including his wives and children were Laban’s. They
certainly did not agree on who owned what!

Conciliation was reached by making a covenant and establishing a boundary between Laban and Jacob
(31:44-52). They even built a pillar of stones as a protective barrier. Why this barrier?

29 Ibid, Denis J. Mock. P. 36
30 So That’s Why Bible, Thomas Nelson Bible, p. 53.
30