The Patriarchs God Chooses a People Chapter 5

The Patriarchs: God Chooses a People Chapter 5

The patriarchs are our ancestors in faith. The Age of the Patriarchs (last 6 verses of Chapter 11 in Genesis) the stage during which God formed a people for himself. A patriarch is a father, or founder, of a clan, a group of related families. The four Old Testament patriarchs are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Through these patriarchs God chose a special family for himself.

Important women in God’s Family Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah were matriarchs.

Canaan was in western Palestine that included most of present day Israel. Canaan was made up of small independent city-states. The patriarchs and families lived in tents, raised flocks, and roamed through Canaan. They grew food crops and traded with others.

God chose Abraham to be the father of His people God called Abram to go with Sarai, their family and their property to a Canaan. Abram started out in Haran and took the long and sometimes hard journey to Canaan. Abram was an unlikely choice because he was 75 years old and Sarai could not have children. Abram had great faith. He did not argue with God. He completely trusted God’s will.

Abram to Abraham God changed Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah to symbolize that they were beginning a new life.

Abraham’s Journey The long and sometimes difficult journey tested Abraham’s faith. This journey symbolizes our own faith journey. God made a covenant (agreement) with Abraham.

God’s Covenant with Abraham and his descendents would follow God and his ways, and God would give him a son and make his people a “great nation”.

Abraham is tested again Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son showed his great faith in God, and God blessed him. This story teaches that God loves his people and wants them to trust him. This story is parallel to the story in the New Testament where God the Father offered his only Son, Jesus Christ, to save us.

Isaac Abraham died and Isaac inherited the role of patriarch. Isaac married Rebekah and had twin sons, Esau, the elder, and Jacob, the younger. Esau should be the one to inherit Isaac’s role, but God told Rebekah that Jacob was to inherit Isaac’s role.

Jacob tricks Esau into selling him his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup. Later Rebekah helps Jacob trick Isaac, a now blind man, into giving Jacob the blessing that Esau had the right to. Isaac found out. He along with Esau were angry. Esau wanted to kill his brother Jacob. Rebekah told Jacob to flee to Haran.

Jacob’s Dream On his way to Haran, Jacob had a dream in which he saw a long staircase to Heaven. In the dream God told Jacob that he would inherit Canaan and that God would always protect him. God renewed the covenant and changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob could live out the covenant because of his determination and persistence.

The Story of Jacob We learn to follow God’s will, not man’s and to trust in God’s promises.

Joseph is the last of the Old Testament patriarchs. He is the son of Jacob (Israel) and Rachel. He is the 11 th of 12 sons. His brothers hated him because they were jealous that their father loved Joseph so much. He was sold into slavery by his brothers to the chief steward of the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

In Egypt Joseph always had strange dreams. He was thrown in jail on false charges. While in prison he was able to interpret a dream of the pharaoh. The dream meant there would be a period of abundance and then a period of famine. The pharaoh was so grateful to Joseph that he put him in charge of management of the kingdom. Joseph prepared for the famine.

Joseph’s Family When the famine arrived, Joseph’s family in Canaan suffered and they came to Egypt looking for help not recognizing Joseph helped them. Joseph’s dream that he would have authority over his family came true. The fulfillment of dreams symbolized providence. Providence is God’s plan for and protection of all creation.