Week 2, January 5–11: Genesis 17–36

• Sun      Jan 5   Gen. 12–14
• Mon     Jan 6   Gen. 15–17
• Tue      Jan 7   Gen. 18–20
• Wed     Jan 8   Gen. 21–23
• Thu      Jan 9   Gen. 24–26
• Fri        Jan 10 Gen. 27–29
• Sat       Jan 11 Gen. 30–32

This week we continue reading in Genesis. After the early chapters of Genesis, the focus of the story narrows, moving from a broad perspective of all creation to the story of Abraham and his family. In the chapters we are covering this week, we read of God’s faithfulness to his promises to bless Abraham and to bless all humanity through Abraham and his offspring, or seed (remember Gen 3:15). The story focuses on Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob, because it is through this lineage that the promised seed will come.

We read Genesis as the first book of the Bible, but in one sense, Genesis is just part one of the first book of the Bible. We could say the first book of the Bible is really the five-part book of Moses, the Pentateuch, or the Torah—Genesis through Deuteronomy. The is what the early readers thought of as the first book of the Bible, and it’s how the rest of the Bible refers to the opening part of Scripture (e.g. Josh. 23:6; Neh. 8:1).

It is helpful to consider the broader context of the Pentateuch as we read through Genesis. The first readers Moses had in mind when writing Genesis were the Israelites getting ready to cross the Jordan river and go into the promised Land. Deuteronomy and the rest of the Pentateuch were originally addressed to this same generation. When they read these stories in Genesis—stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their travels and trials in Canaan and outside the Promised Land—they would be reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness to the promises he had made generations earlier. In a similar way, we too can be strengthened in our trust of God’s steadfast love and the certainty of his promises.

As we keep working through the Pentateuch in our reading, we will come back again to this idea that Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are best read together as one book.

Some of you will find time in the morning to start your day with Bible reading. For some, it works better to do it later in the day. Whenever you do it, it’s a habit worth practicing. Over the next couple weeks these write-ups will cover different aspects of what we are doing when we open Scripture each day, and why it is valuable to do so. But for now, let me just suggest you get in the habit of praying briefly before starting your reading. Simply pray and ask God to open your eyes to see and your ears to hear what he has said through his word. Ask him to help you understand what you are reading and to help you know him and love him more through your reading. Ask him to reveal areas of sin in your life or ways to put into action what his word says.

Here are a few verses from Psalms you could use to help guide these pre-reading prayers:

Psalm 25:4–5

Make me to know your ways, O LORD;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, O LORD,

that I may walk in your truth;

unite my heart to fear your name.

Ps 143:8–10

Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,

for in you I trust.

Make me know the way I should go,

for to you I lift up my soul.

 

Teach me to do your will,

for you are my God!

Let your good Spirit lead me

on level ground!