Day 11: Trials, Covenant, and God's Faithfulness

Welcome to The Glory Team Bible Reading plan. In Chapters 34-36 Jacob’s family faces trials, including Dinah’s defilement. Despite challenges, God reaffirms His covenant. Esau’s descendants are listed, emphasizing God’s faithfulness to all.

Genesis 34: The story centers around the tragic event of Dinah, Jacob's daughter, being defiled by Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite. Shechem desires to marry Dinah, but her brothers, Simeon and Levi, respond with anger and deceit, devising a plan to avenge her dishonor. They trick the men of Shechem into circumcising themselves under the promise of a marriage agreement, and on the third day after the procedure, Simeon and Levi attack the city, killing the men and taking the women and children captive. Jacob rebukes them for their actions, fearing retaliation from surrounding nations. The chapter highlights the consequences of unbridled anger, dishonor, and the complexities of family dynamics.

Genesis 35: God commands Jacob to go to Bethel and build an altar, reaffirming His covenant with him. Jacob leads his family to cleanse themselves of idols, and they journey to Bethel, where God appears to Jacob once again, blessing him and renaming him Israel. God promises that his descendants will become a great nation. The chapter also recounts the death of Rachel while giving birth to Benjamin and the death of Isaac, marking the end of an era for Jacob. Despite the sorrow and loss, God's faithfulness and covenant promises remain central, as He continues to guide and bless Jacob’s family.

Genesis 36: Provides a detailed genealogy of Esau, the brother of Jacob, and the ancestors of the Edomites. It outlines Esau’s marriages to Canaanite women and his descendants, highlighting the various clans and kings that came from him. The chapter emphasizes God's faithfulness to Esau’s lineage, showing how Esau's descendants flourished in the land of Seir, which later became known as Edom. This genealogy serves to highlight God's continued providence and blessings on both Jacob and Esau’s descendants, even as they follow different paths.

Trials, Covenant, and God's Faithfulness

The purpose of the book of Genesis are to record God's creation of the world and His desire to have a people set apart to worship Him. The author of the Book of Genesis is Moses. There is plenty of evidence that leads to this conclusion:

• The Talmud (The Hebrew Bible, the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology.) attributes this book to Moses.

• Citations from Genesis show that the Old Testament is part of the Law of Moses (Deuteronomy 1:8; 2 Kings 13:23; 1 Chronicles 1:1)

• Jesus and the New Testament writers attribute Moses as the author of as an essential part of Scripture (Matthew 19:8; Luke 16:29; 24:27)

The original audience of the book of Genesis are the people of Israel and it was written in the wilderness during Israel's wanderings. The setting is primarily the region presently known as the Middle East.

The Key People we will learn about are Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Joseph.

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Reference Guides:

Life Application Study Guide

A Popular Survey of the Old Testament by Norman L. Geisler

The Power of God's Names by Tony Evans