Summary

God told a man named Abram to leave his homeland and go to a land (Canaan) He would show Him. God told him He would make him into a great nation (Countless Generations/Children), and He would bless him, make his name great, and bless all families of the earth through him (through Christ).

Abram took some of his family and his belongings and set out for the "Promised Land". He eventually reached Canaan and pitched his tent near Shechem at the oak of Moreh. He had to venture down to Egypt for a time because of a famine in the land, but he returned to Canaan. He and his nephew Lot were so prosperous they had to slit up, and Lot chose to live down in the valley with the people of the land. Abram and God both had to rescue at different times.

After Abram rescued Lot, God repeated His promises to Abram and made a covenant, like a legal agreement, with him, and promised to take the punishment for a broken Covenant. He also tells him his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land for 400 years before they take possession of Canaan. (This happens when Jacob's families move to Egypt with Joseph and eventually become the slaves Moses leads out in the Exodus.)

Although God continued to promise Abram many offspring, Abram remained childless. His wife, Sarai, eventually used a custom of the time and used her slave to conceive a child with Abram who would be theirs although this child was not the one God promised and through whom the promises from God would pass.

At the age of 99, God once again appeared to Abram, changed his name to Abraham, Sarai's name to Sarah, reminded him of the promise for a child, and established circumcision as a sign of the Covenant. God later told him he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their sinful actions. At Abraham's request, God sends angels ahead of the destruction to remove Lot from Sodom, where he has settled, before the destruction. Lot leaves but does not flee to the mountains as told. Instead, he moves to another city in the valley, and eventually ends up in the mountains. His two unmarried daughters trick him into conceive children with them who become the fathers of the Moabites and Ammonites - enemies of the Israelites later in the Bible.

About one year later, when Abraham is 99 years old and Sarah is 90, she gives birth to their promised son and name him Isaac. Ishmael and his mother end up having to leave the family because Ishmael picks on Issac and upsets Sarah. Ironically, God tells Abraham to sacrifice Issac. Abraham obeys and gets to the point of binding Issac on the alter and raising his knife. God stops him, provides a ram in his place and repeats His Covenant with Abraham.

Sarah dies at the age of 127, and Abraham buys a cave and field in which to bury her. This is the only land he owns in the Promised Land at the time. Abraham, Rebekah and Joseph among others are later buried in the same cave.



The rest of Scripture follows the children of Abraham as they try to fulfill their part of the Covenant and God's Redemption when they fail as His son takes the punishment for a broken Convenant.

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The Facts

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Genesis 12-23 - ESV - KJV - NIV

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Important People

Abraham (Abram), Sarah (Sarai), Lot, Melchizedek, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac

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Major Events/Accounts

The Call of Abram, Lot Separates from Abram, God establishes a Covenant with Abram, Ishmael is born, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed, Issac is born, God tests Abraham, Sarah dies

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Key Words/Repeated Phrases

Covenant
Offspring
Several new names of God are used (see below)

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Names of God

El Elyon: God Most High
When Melchizedek blesses Abram, he calls God "God Most High".
Genesis 14:19-20 - 19. ...Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20. And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand...
* Two other places in Scripture where "God Most High" appears are in Job when satan went before the "Most High" and in Daniel 4:34-35 when Nebuchadnezzar blessed "The Most High."

Adonai: Lord & Master
Abram asks the Lord what He will give Abram when He says He will give Him a great reward.
Genesis 15:2 - And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless...

El Roi: The God who Sees
Hagar calls God "a God of seeing" when He sees her in the desert after she leaves Abram & Sarai, and He tells her to return.
Genesis 16:13 - And she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?

El Shaddai: The All-Sufficient One - "God Almighty"
God calls Himself "God Almighty" when He told Abraham, at 99 years old, to walk before blameless Him, and He would establish His Covenant with him and give him many offspring.
Genesis 17:1-8 - 1. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

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Hide the Word in Your Heart

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Verses from the Account

Genesis 12:1-3

1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

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Genesis 15:6

And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

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Genesis 18:14

Is any thing too hard for the Lord?...

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Genesis 22:8

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

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Verses to Share the Truths Taught through the Account

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

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Jesus in the Account

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David and the writer of Hebrews refer to Jesus a priest from "the order of Melchizedek".

Although Jesus was not a Levite, He acts as a priest and is our King - just as Melchizedek was a priest and king. Even King David, the greatest king of Israel, could not be a priest.

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God said He would take the punishment if His Covenant with Abraham were broken.

"And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces (Genesis 15:17).

God made a covenant, like a legal agreement, with Abraham. Covenants usually had a greater and lesser party with the greater party promising something (such as protection) to the lesser one in exchange for something (such as servitude or a tribute). The two parties ratified the covenant by cutting some animals in half, and the lesser party walked between the two pieces to symbolize "so be it done to me" (split in half) if I break this covenant. God, even though He was the greater party, walked between the pieces Abram split signifying He would take the punishment for a broken Covenant. He took that punishment when He sent His son to take our punishment and die for our sins.

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Jesus is the One promised to Abraham through which all nations will be blessed

Jesus in the One God meant when He said "in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" - Genesis 12:3

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Abraham's willing to sacrifice Issac foreshadows God sending His own son to die as a sacrifice for us.

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Issac's obedience to his father foreshadows Jesus's obedience to His Father - even to the cross.

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God provided a ram as a substitute sacrifice instead of Issac.

Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God slain in our place.

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Did You Know?

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Shechem appears many times in the Bible.

Abraham first pitched his tent in the Promised Land at Schechem near the oak of Morah.
Sarah, Abraham, and Joseph are buried near Schechem.
Jacob bought a field near Schechem when he returned to Canaan.
Levi and Simon kill the men of Schechem when one of the men rape their sister.
Jacob sends Joseph to look for his brothers at Shechem.
Joshua and the Israelites renew the Covenant near Schechem after Joshua divides up the Promised Land.
Abimelech, the man who who killed Gideon's 70 sons and whom a woman killed by dropping throwing a millstone on him from the city wall, was from Schechem.

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When ancient people ratified a covenant, they often split animals in two and the lesser of the two would walk between the halves signifying "so be it done to me" if I break this covenant.

God passed through the pieces when He ratified the Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15!

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Muslims trace their ancestry to Abraham through Ishmael.

Ishmael was the firstborn of Abraham.

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Sodom & Gomorrah

Archaeology proves a sudden, massive, fiery, and catastrophic end to the area of these two ancient cities. Some scientist say the destruction could have been from gases exploding after an earthquake while others say a massive meteor caused the destruction. Either way, archaeology shows widespread, fiery devastation to the area at the same time as the Biblical account such as buildings burned from the top down, incinerated bricks, crystal forming in pottery in one second, and more.

You can search for "evidence of Sodom and Gomorrah for more information.

The final chapters of the book of Judges show similar and even "worse" accounts than what happened in Sodom the night before God destroyed it to what was happening in Israel during the period of the judges

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Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah, the same area to which Abraham went to sacrifice Issac .

See Genesis 22:2 and 2 Chronicles 3:1.

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Discuss It

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1. What is the most interesting thing or something new you learned from reading and studying this account?
2. Summarize the account and its message in your own words.
3. What did you learn about God from reading and studying this account?
4. How does this account point to God's plan to redeem this world through the sacrifice and obedience of Jesus?
5. How can you apply the truth of what you learned from reading and studying this account in your own life?

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Teach It

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Coming in January!

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Share It

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Coming in January!

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Celebrate It

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Coming in January!

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