The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 22
DISCOVER THE STORY
Patriarch Era
2166–1526 BC
TEN GEN ER ATI ONS A F TER TH E FLO O D, God speaks to a man named Abram.
Abram’s father, Terah, a descendant of Shem, was an idol worshiper (Joshua 24:2). God promises
Abram that He will bless him and make him into a great nation, although Abram is seventy-five
years old at the time and his wife, Sarai, is unable to have children. God also promises Abram that
He will give his descendants a special land—the land of Canaan (Genesis 15:13-16). These promises extend beyond Abram, however, as God declares that through this family all the nations of
the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:1-3).
God’s promises obligate His activity and demand faith from Abram. Abram believes God,
beginning his long journey of faith, and sets out for Canaan. God counts his faith as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Immediately after arriving in Canaan, Abram builds an altar to the Lord,
echoing the practices of Abel and Noah.
After ten years of waiting on God to fulfill His promise—including a detour to Egypt—Sarai
succumbs to unbelief and persuades Abram to sleep with Hagar, her Egyptian servant. Hagar
gives birth to a son, Ishmael, but he is not the child of the promise.
Even though Abram and Sarai attempt to rush God’s plan on their own, God renews His
covenant with them, illustrated through the changing of their names (to Abraham and Sarah).
Abraham and his male descendants would also bear a physical reminder of this covenant
through the sign of circumcision. Twenty-five years after the initial promise, God gives Abraham
a son through Sarah named Isaac. Years later, Abraham’s faith is tested when he is told to sacrifice Isaac, but God provides a substitute (a ram) in Isaac’s place—a picture of the means God
chooses to redeem His people.
God transfers the promises made to Abraham to succeeding generations. Isaac has two sons,
Jacob and Esau, and God promises that the older son will serve the younger. Isaac’s younger son,
Jacob, has twelve sons. The eleventh son, Joseph, who is favored by Jacob, receives two dreams
about the future but has to wait thirteen years for God to fulfill them. Jealous of Jacob’s love for
Joseph and angry at Joseph about the dreams, Joseph’s older brothers sell him into slavery in
Egypt. God shows favor to Joseph in Egypt, delivers him from his struggles, and raises him up to
become the most powerful person in Egypt besides Pharaoh. Through Joseph’s position in Egypt,
God rescues all of Jacob’s family during a famine and reunites them in Egypt. Before his death,
Jacob blesses all his sons. He promises his son Judah that from his descendants God would produce kings—and eventually the King, who would rule over all.
Knowing the promises of God sustains His people during challenging times and uncertainty.
Each of the patriarchs struggles at times to reconcile God’s promises with their experiences. But
God oversees the faith development of each of them and transforms them over time. He orchestrates the circumstances, teaches them to trust Him, and repeatedly demonstrates His covenant
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