This podcast episode explores themes surrounding the formation of Israel as a nation through its patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. We look at questions about free will and predestination, examining whether these founding figures had a choice in their roles or if their paths were predetermined by God. As we conclude our study of Genesis, we reflect on how these historical narratives serve a larger purpose, emphasizing God's overarching plan for salvation and the responsibilities of His chosen people.

Takeaways:

1. In this episode, we explore the significance of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as foundational figures in the formation of Israel as a nation.
2. We discuss the dichotomy between God's sovereignty in His plan for salvation and human responsibility in fulfilling that plan.
3. The lessons from the lives of the patriarchs reveal the importance of individual choices while acknowledging God's overarching guidance.
4. Joseph's story illustrates how personal trials can ultimately contribute to a greater purpose in God's plan for humanity.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. www.bible805.com

Welcome to through the Bible in chronological order from Bible 805 and Yvonne Bryn. This podcast is a somewhat unique and I trust, a helpful historical and thematic commentary on the readings in the Bible.

It's not a verse by verse study, but one that I pray you'll find thoughtful and challenging. New episodes are released each Wednesday and Today our lesson is

From a person to a people, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

Our lesson today is about much more than history. As we finish up the book of Genesis, we're going to look at how the Jewish people became a nation.

Though the history is fascinating, there's much more going on than the history because the stories told in it raise these questions. First question, did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph have any say in being the founding fathers of a nation?

Or or were they predestined to do all they did? And what about us? What is God in control of and what are we responsible for?

Let's review and overview Genesis before we specifically answer these questions. The first part of Genesis we have four major events. They involved all of humanity.

These events are creation, the fall, the flood, and the division of the people at the Tower of Babel.

The second part of Genesis we have four major people that the stories told surrounding their lives and we see all of the lessons in that and this narrows the focus down to one family from all of humanity with the creation, flood, fall, etc.

Now we're narrowing it down to one family that will then become the nation of Israel. Here we have Abraham, Isaac, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

Now it's important to remember God's focus on Israel doesn't mean that he forgot all about the rest of humanity. The remainder of the Old Testament focuses on the nation of Israel, which we'll see formed in this lesson.

They're the descendants of Abraham through whom God said all the nations of the earth would be blessed. They would be blessed in the coming Savior, Jesus. Also they they were the ones entrusted with God's word.

But that does not mean God doesn't care about or is not working in the rest of the world. We saw how Job, who was not a Jew, was commended for his faith in God.

And we talked about how there'll be stories throughout the Old Testament about those outside the Jewish faith who come to know the true God. Romans 1 also reiterates that all people innately know about God and and are accountable to Him.

But to tell his story, God's story clearly to the world, God chose one people. And that's what we're going to focus on in this lesson. Now we'll also look at this story, the story, you might say, behind this story.

And that involves two separate plot lines that are very important to understand. Line number one, that's God's plan, which is ultimately salvation for all the Earth.

Think of that as a straight line with a clear beginning and end and this is God's plan for planet Earth.

But then line number two, the second plot line, are the human lives that carry out that plan. And they are anything but straightforward.

They go up, they go down, they go this way, they go that way. They're just kind of all over the place. That's humanity's part of the overall plan.

We can look at it in this way to figure out how they work together. Think of it like an ocean liner. The direction is certain, the route is set. There's a captain in charge. It's his ship, his word is law.

But within the ship, the passengers are given quite a bit of freedom. Individual actions do not affect the final destination. That's determined by the captain.

But individual decisions greatly affect the individual traveler's time on the ship. There is a crew with assigned tasks, and if they don't do them, things don't go well.

But also, each passenger is responsible for his or her actions, his or her attitudes. And based on that, what they get out of the trip or their position or whatever is determined.

There's individual freedom, whether they decide to become a helpful part of the crew, dead weight, a boar, or somebody that's thrown in the brig, or maybe they're part of the social committee and make life really good for other people. It's individual choice that determines those things.

Individuals again, can't change the destination of the ship, but their actions greatly affect their experience of the journey. Now, it's not a perfect analogy, but I think it is useful because God will work out his plan of salvation for the world.

That's the destination of the cruise ship, Earth. He chose a people, Israel. In the Old Testament, maybe you could think of them like the crew. And here's what their tasks were to be.

First of all, he entrusted them with his Word. It was spoken by his prophets and verified by signs and prophecies. They were to model his worship.

We'll see this formed in the next section of the Bible that we read. Exodus through Deuteronomy. And ultimately they were to be his witnesses. When they followed Him, they would be blessed.

When they failed, they would be disciplined. And all the world looked at them and knew that they served Jehovah, God. And so they could see God's actions through them.

Individual experiences and the different times that they lived that varied tremendously. But overall, these three things are what Israel was supposed to do. Keep his word, model his worship, be his witnesses.

Through these actions, all the earth is to be blessed through the coming Messiah. That was the plan, though his chosen people didn't always do their job.

And the rest of the Old Testament records the ups, downs, in betweens of it all. So let's look at how all this came about. First of all, a few maps for where our story takes place.

Here we have the Israel, and here you can see the entire Old Testament world. Where again you see Israel, or Canaan as it was called primarily back then.

You have Ur of the Chaldees that Abraham came out of Haran again down into Canaan. You have Assyria over here, and you have Egypt and down here, which will become very important in our story as we go along.

The term the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob identifies the founding fathers of the Jewish race and that we'll look at in our lesson. Joseph is also in the lesson as he is responsible for saving the nation from starvation and preserving his extended family to grow into the nation.

In review. It all begins with Abraham, who obeyed God, moved to Canaan, who ultimately trusted God for a son, though his wife Sarah was barren.

They had times of disbelief, but ultimately passed God's test to sacrifice Isaac. Sarah eventually dies. Abraham buys the cave of Machpelah for a burial place for her, and life goes on. Now, it's kind of interesting.

Let's talk for just a minute about Midian and how it comes into being. It is a nation that you will see again, again and again appearing in the Old Testament. But here's how it came about.

Abraham marries a second wife after Sarah dies. Her name was Keturah and she had a lot of kids and he had other sons by her. He gave them gifts and sent them away. And one of his sons was Midian.

This is the he settled in a land that was then named after him. And it's where Moses fled to when he fled from Egypt. He was actually fleeing not to total strangers, but to really some of his extended family.

Moses wife was from there. Her father Jethro was from there also. He was a priest of Midian, and he's also described as a Kenite. That was his particular clan within the group.

Now in Exodus 8, 9, it talks about it said and Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel and that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

And Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods. And Jethro, Moses, father in law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God.

He counsels Moses to train other leaders and apparently was a very wise man. His son Hobab serves as a guide through the wilderness for the people. Now, the Midianites in later history is kind of interesting.

There was a larger group of Midianites who merged with the Moabites, who were other extended relatives after the Exodus. And they turn on Israel and they hire Balaam, who remember the story of the talking donkey, to curse them and tempt them to commit immorality.

Now they, from there on out, they become Israel's enemies. They were. They later oppressed Israel when they could. And during the time of Judges, they were the people that Gideon defeated.

Now, a smaller portion of the people, the Kenites, were actually always friends with Israel, with the Jewish people. Jael killed Sisera. She was a lady who killed a general of the Midianites in the battle with Barak and Deborah.

And later, when God told Saul to destroy the Amalekites and along with them, the Midianites, it says the Kenites lived near them and they were told to move away, which they did, and they were spared. Application. Now, I know I went over that kind of quickly, but you can look up the different things and stories and all that.

When we don't pay attention to some of these smaller stories, we miss seeing God's care for many people through the ages. Jethro, a Kenite was good to Moses. Moses was good to him. And his descendants all throughout Old Testament history were protected.

And God did not forget the kindness of their ancestor. Now back to the main story. Abraham knew Isaac was the son of promise. He said, my covenant.

God said, I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you. So after, or in the midst of sending all these other sons away, his servant goes to get a wife for his son Isaac from Haran.

Now the servant asks for God's help. Rebekah appears and offers to water his camels.

Abraham's servant takes it as a sign that she's the one for Isaac goes to the family and asks for her hand in marriage to his master's son. Application here. Always do your best, even in the little things, because you never know who might be watching or what it might lead to.

Her act of Kindness gave her a future of wealth and a place in biblical history. Could have never imagined as just a little shepherd girl in out there in the desert.

Remember, her brother in law though was Laban, her son Jacob's future father in law. Her brother, not brother in law. Her brother was Laban, her son Jacob's future father in law. But just kind of hold him in your memory.

We'll talk about him more a little bit later. Next comes a focus on Isaac. We know the least about him of any of the patriarchs now.

Remember, his father almost sacrificed him, but God called it off at the last minute. I sometimes wonder about, you know, talk about childhood trauma. But anyway, he, he seemed to grow up just fine.

He got married when he was 40, but for 20 years he had no children. Now, to their credit, Isaac and Rebecca did not attempt the solution of Hagar. Although this wasn't forgotten.

They that was still Remember there were still relatives around. This was always available to them, but they stayed true to one another.

Finally though, Rebecca does become pregnant and it says the babies jostled each other in her womb. And the Lord said to her, now this is really important. When God speaks, we need to listen.

He said, two nations are in your womb and two people from you will be divided. The one will be stronger than the other. The older will serve the younger. That's what God says.

And when he says something, when he makes a prophecy like that on people's lives, he does not change his mind. They were very different children. Esau was hairy, loved the outdoors, hunting. He was his father's favorite. Jacob was obviously his mother's favorite.

He liked to cook, stay around the tents, etc. One day Esau comes home hungry, sells his birthright for some stew. The Bible says Esau despised his birthright.

Esau is an example of a really bad decision because sometimes really critical things cannot be undone. They can be so quick and easy to do, but they can't be undone. Yet Jacob didn't need on Jacob's side though, okay, Esau shouldn't have sold it.

But Jacob didn't need to try to scheme to get it because God had promised him he would be first. Both responded badly to temptation.

We forget we don't have to give in or manipulate or scheme or whatever our way into something that God has promised us. We have a much more encouraging example of how to handle temptation. In Matthew 4.

It tells us then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was Hungry.

And the tempter came to him and said, if you're the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. But he answered, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. A little note here.

I read this a while back and oh, anyway, the expert at that time said, when you are starving, which Jesus was, you can feel your body consuming itself. Jesus was at that point, and still he didn't give in.

CS Lewis talks about the limits of temptation are only felt really by those who have resisted temptation. When you give in right away, you don't even know what temptation is about. Application.

Don't just focus on your hunger, whatever it might be, but on God's word as applied to your situation. Isaac and God's Covenant his father apparently told him about God's promise because he didn't get it personally for a long time.

God's promise to Isaac didn't come until a time of testing where it says now, there was a famine in the land besides the former famine. That was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines.

The Lord appeared to him and said, do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you for you and your offspring.

I will give these lands and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham, your father.

I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws.

But then he sins, and he tells the king that they were staying with it. Rebecca was his sister. Sins of his father, had the faith of his father. And yet he still sinned. But God kept his covenant with him.

And Isaac goes on to live a relatively uneventful life. He digs a well, he gets chased from it. He does it again, he gets chased from it. This happens several times.

He just makes peace every time, though his son Esau marries two pagan women and that does not go well. It says that they were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebecca. It's time to bless Esau, time for him to take his inheritance.

And Isaac asks Esau to bring meat so he can do the blessing of a first son to him. But God had told him that Jacob was to be the preeminent son. And he ignored God. Now Jacob, with his mother's help, steals this blessing also.

And here is the blessing that he gives to Jacob. May nations serve you, and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.

May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed. Esau hears that he's done this and he vows to kill him. Rebekah sends him to her brother Laban to get a wife. And she never sees her son again.

The history now just a little bit about Esau, or Edom, as it be comes to be called. Here's his father's blessing to him.

After realizing that Jacob had stolen his primary blessing, his father Isaac answered him and said, your dwelling will be away from the earth's richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword and you will serve your brother. But when you become restless, you will throw off his yoke from your neck.

And that's what happened. We'll talk more about blessings later, but just a little bit now about the history of Edom and Esau.

Esau seemed to reconcile with his brother when he returned to Canaan. And throughout their life they bury their father together. It seemed to be rather peaceful. But that peace between the two groups didn't last.

Esau moved south and established the kingdom of Edom. As time progressed, there were really bad relationships with Israel. They refused Israel passage into the land after the Exodus.

They were defeated by Saul and David. And they were judged with their for their retaliation.

And we're not really sure when this happened, but judgment is decreed upon them in Obadiah, where it says, "You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction. No boast so much in the day of their trouble as you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom of will be the Lord's."

Application here. Never gloat over God's judgment of others. They were judged. They were destroyed as a nation.

They never, never really lived on. Although some scattered remnants did that I'll talk about in just a minute. Their traditional lands are the same area as Petra today.

They are the beautiful ruins that you may have remember seeing in the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and some of those movies.

The Maccabees controlled the area after Alexander the Great's time. And they forced the conversion of the inhabitants there to Judaism. They'd gotten away from it, but they were forced to convert.

It was also called Idumea. And it was. It's very interesting how it comes back into the Bible story early on in the New Testaments, because it's the home of Herod the Great.

He wasn't considered fully Jewish. And the whole area of people there, the Idumeans, it's kind of similar to the Samaritans. They were really hated.

And he did have this mixed Edomite ancestry, but he always wanted the Jewish people to approve of him. Kind of an interesting little historical tidbit here. He knew Marc Anthony and Cleopatra and for a time he had a joint business venture with Cleopatra.

Of course their lives did not end well, but he did want desperately to be accepted by the Jewish people.

He renovated the temple in Jerusalem, spent huge amounts of money on it, made it this incredible place, but it didn't work. He was hated because of massive taxes and cruelty. He is the one who killed the infants at the time of Christ's birth.

He undertook many massive building projects, including Masada. He is the one who built the fortress there on the top of the mount.

He died with a horrible, painful illness.

And when he was dying, he feared that no one would mourn him.

So he had a large group of important people imprisoned with the orders that they were to be killed when he died, so that some mourning would take place. Fortunately, those orders were not carried out. Now back to Jacob. He flees to his uncle Laban, Rebecca's brother, after the stolen blessing.

He stops on the way and has a most unusual dream of angels ascending and descending to heaven.

And then Rachel and it's a another story, the same old story of a barren wife. Leah has four sons. Rachel's barren. Rachel gives Jacob her maidservant Bilhah. Leah gives him Zilpah. Finally Rachel has Joseph.

It isn't a happy family though. But finally he returns to Canaan.

But before he arrives, another extraordinary encounter takes place where he's wrestling with God and he's given a new name at that time, Israel or prince of God. Now, after settling, Joseph becomes the favored son of Jacob.

Joseph apparently had a special calling from God, even when he was really young to be a leader. But instead of reacting with humility, he brags about it. And predictably, his brothers hate him. Now let's go quickly through his life.

They sell him as a slave to the Ishmaelites who take him to Egypt. He was 16 or 17 when he was sold into Egypt. First he goes to Potiphar's house, then he's put into prison.

He grows into a man of deep faith who gives glory to God in his reactions to the dreams of the cupbearer and the baker. But he must wait two more years imprisoned before he turns around 30. And at that time he explains Pharaoh's dream of the coming famine.

And he is made a ruler in Egypt when he was 39, approximately, we don't know exactly the dates his brothers first come to Egypt. It was the second year of the famine, or nine years after being made ruler. So maybe he was probably 41, 42 when his brothers came a second time.

And Jacob comes to Egypt. He puts his brothers through various tests for them to deal with and confess their sins.

In the new international version, though, finally, after all is said and done, they realize who he is. Everything that's happened here is how he sums it up.

He says, you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

I want to repeat this because it's so good and it's so wonderful for us to remember when difficult things come, and sometimes things even that take a very long time to unravel. Where it says you and that could be people, that could be the enemy, that could be life, whatever intended to harm me.

But God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. Now, application little question.

You might be wondering now, why was it okay for Israel to go to Egypt? Remember just a few years earlier, God had said to Isaac, do not go to Egypt.

They weren't supposed to go there before, but remember, God told Abraham that this would happen.

Now what was interesting and why God put them there, they were very isolated. They did not intermarry, they did not serve the Egyptian gods. Intermarriage was always a temptation for them.

And it wasn't wrong for racial reasons, but religious ones application in all this always, always listen for current directions. Sometimes God puts us in isolation. With Noah, it says God shut him in. Joseph was in prison for many years. Moses was in Midian for 40 years.

All as times of preparation and growth. But sometimes we need to get moving. Abraham had to leave Haran. Sometimes people have to move in maybe a completely different and new place.

You won't know whether to go or stay unless you're always carefully listening to your God. Now one other kind of interesting little tidbit here. Before the end of Genesis, Jacob's blessing is given to his sons.

The passage in Genesis 49 can be a little bit confusing because it doesn't really sound like blessings, the different things that he says. But what you need to understand is these are more of a prophecy than what we think of, like, like, you know, wishing people a good day.

Basically it says, and it tells us right there in the passage what it is where Jacob called unto his sons and he said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days. He pretty much tells us what it's all about. Here are some of the examples. For Reuben, he says, you're unstable as water. You shall not excel.

He forfeited his primary place as a firstborn by sleeping with his stepmother. The rights and privileges of primogeniture, as they're known as his posterity never had a judge, a prophet, a ruler, anyone of any standing.

Then Jacob says, Simeon and Levi are brothers, instruments of cruelty. I will scatter them in Israel. And that happened. Simeon was a very small tribe scattered throughout Judah. Levi, though, was later faithful in trials.

And because of that he became a tribe of priests. But they were scattered throughout Israel. But this time, for blessings,

Dan shall judge his people. Samson, a judge, came from the tribe of Dan.

Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. This was a tribe with a reputation for fierceness. Ehud was a judge, Saul was a king. Paul were all from Benjamin.

Then there were some very unique comments about Judah. Now, Judah in his life didn't seem particularly well qualified for various things what we know of him.

But remember, God's calling often isn't about us, it's about him accomplishing his plans. And here is what Jacob said about Judy. He said, you are he whom your brother shall praise as a lion.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet. To him shall be the obedience of the people Until Shiloh comes.

Now, David Gazak has some really interesting commentary on this blessing or prophecy about Judah. Now it's a little bit long and complex, but listen carefully because it's really interesting and I think worth it.

Where he says from David until the Herods, a prince of Judah was head over Israel.

Even during the captivity, the promise was that Israel would keep this scepter until Shiloh comes, even under foreign masters during this period, Israel had a limited right to self rule until AD 7. At that time, under Herod and the Romans, their right to capital punishment, a small but remaining element of their self governance, was taken away.

At the time, the rabbis considered it a disaster of unfulfilled scripture. Seemingly the last visage of the Scepter had passed from Judah and they didn't see the Messiah.

Reportedly the rabbis walked the streets of Jerusalem and said, woe to us, for the scepter has been taken away from Judah and Shiloh has not come. In other the Savior the Messiah But God's Word had not been broken because Jesus was alive then.

This may have even been the very year when he was 12 years old and discussed God's Word in the temple with the scholars of his day. Perhaps he impressed them with his understanding of this very issue.

Application--we must be very careful when we think God has not fulfilled or done something that we think he prophesied. It's usually simply our misunderstanding that's the problem here. This understanding of blessings can help us understand the Beatitudes.

It can be confusing when we read in Jesus Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. We don't see too many meek people in places of power.

But when this and the other Beatitudes are seen in the light of the Old Testament uses of blessings, when we see them in terms of prophecy, they make much more sense.

And as the blessings of the patriarchs came true for their descendants, so too we can trust the truth of the coming reality to us as we work to incorporate these characteristics into our lives. Read the Beatitudes and think of them this way, in the way of Jesus saying this blessing over you, his prophecy of your future.

Now listen to me, reading them with that in mind. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you have hope. The blessings here may not be your present reality, but they will come.

Jesus blessing his prophecy on your life as his child can be trusted and so the ship of God's plan has completed one part of the journey from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The family has become a nation. Sometimes they did great things, sometimes very bad things, tested, blessed, suffered and rejoiced.

They only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on Earth. No one of them could see the whole plan, but they trusted God and His will was accomplished.

I hope their story has given us some insight into the balance of God's sovereignty and our responsibility. The patriarchs are men we honor, but God is the captain of the ship and the hero of this story and every story in their lives and ours.

The journey may toss us around and the waves may terrify us, but our captain can be trusted and we will make it safely home. That's all for now.

For notes from this lesson, related resources and links to teaching materials, go to www.bible805.com in closing, I'm Yvon Prehn, your fellow pilgrim, writer and teacher for Jesus, and I'd like to close with this benediction.

May you know the invitation of God to move from confusion to clarity, from wandering to rest, from loneliness to knowing you are loved, from turmoil to peace, from wherever you are on your spiritual journey to a growing knowledge of God, Word and in your personal relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.