*********************************************************************************
Eve
Read Genesis 2:18-25
What was the woman’s name?
What bone did God take from Adam to create Eve? (Discuss)
·
Taken from side:
o
Not foot, so he could walk on her.
o
Not head, so she would be above him.
o
Side: so they could walk side by side. Not built separately (would constantly be in
competition)
Read Genesis 3
How easily do you think that the serpent deceived Eve? Did she fall for it the first time? Or did he wear her down over time? (vs. 1-5)
Why did she eat the fruit? (vs. 6)
Eve rationalizes her sin, even though she knew it was
wrong. She uses 3 excuses for doing what
she did. What sorts of reasons do you
come up with to rationalize your sin?
Adam and Eve create a classic scene of “passing the blame”:
Adam passes blame to Eve, Eve passes the blame to the serpent. Is anyone here more or less to blame?
What do the curses God pronounces tell you about who is “at
fault” (vs. 14-19)?
What is the first thing God does for Adam and Eve after He
declares what their punishment will be (vs. 20-24)?
What does God’s act tell you about Him? / What do you think
He is willing to do for you after you have sinned and repented?
Read Genesis 4:1-2
Imagine being the first woman ever to have a baby. (No
books, no advice, punished by God, etc.)
Whom does Eve acknowledge as the source of life? (vs. 1)
[Crazy faith]
Eve now has two sons.
Cain’s name is Hebrew for “brought forth,” while Abel’s name means
“breath” or “temporary” or “meaningless.”
It is the same Hebrew word used in Ecclesiastes 1:2. Certainly, Abel’s life was not meaningless,
but it was short, and his name suggests what was to come. Compare Abel’s name here and the verse in
Ecclesiastes. What connections can you
see between the two?
*********************************************************************************
Sarah
Key Scriptures—Genesis 11:29-30; 12: 1-20; 16: 1-8; 17:
1-22; 18: 1-15; 21: 1-13; Galatians 4:22-31
Talk about Abram’s call.
Read Genesis 12:10-20
Point out that Sarai must have been very beautiful for the
king of the most powerful country in the world to take an interest in her. AND pay Abram off. But also point out that her husband (and brother)
just passed her off as basically a prostitute to save his own life and make
money off of it. (Not cool, didn’t trust
God and His promise.)
How do you think you’d feel about that?
Talk about:
·
Nearly every story about Abram/Abraham includes
his wife (Sarai/Sarah)
·
Hagar (briefly) – having no children and what
that meant in the ancient world
·
Renaming Abram and Sarai
Read Genesis 18: 1-15
Do you think you would have laughed? Why?
Read Genesis 20
Abraham did it again!
(And apparently, Sarah is still pretty hot!)
Read Genesis 21: 1-7
God fulfilled his promise to Abraham and Sarah in His
time. How did they feel about his
timing?
Have you ever waited for God to fulfill a promise? How did you feel? What did you do?
Read Galatians 4:
22-31
But remember, God
told Abraham that all nations would be saved through him!
*********************************************************************************
*********************************************************************************
Hagar
Name means: “fugitive” or “immigrant”
Key Scriptures—Genesis 16; 21:8-21; Galatians 4:22-31
Remind of the promise God had made to Abraham that he would
be the father of a nation.
Remind of the episode in Egypt (where Abraham told everyone
that Sarah was his sister, not his wife).
At the end of it all, Abraham left with money, animals, and
servants. Hagar was probably one of the
servants. (At the time, they were still Abram and Sarai.)
Read Genesis 16
- · Hagar was probably a teenager when she had to sleep with this 85 year old man.
- · Probably not consulted.
- · Any child she had would count as Sarah’s.
- · In that culture, it would have been a big step up for her socially: no longer a slave, but more a concubine or second wife. Just because she became the mother of the son of the leader of the tribe.
- What do you think Hagar’s reaction to this situation would be?
- · After Hagar became pregnant, she started looking down on Sarah. And Sarah started resenting that Hagar could conceive when she couldn’t.
- · Sarah yelled at Abraham about it until he pointed out that he had no power in the matter (Sarah was in charge of the women in the tribe). Then Sarah “humbled” Hagar (like the Egyptians would “humble” the Israelites when they were slaves in Moses’ time).
- · Hagar ran away, and almost made it all the way back to Egypt before she stopped for water and God sent an angel to her, telling her to go back because her son would become very important.
The area to which Hagar ran away was probably barren and
sparsely populated. How desperate do you
think Hagar must have been to run away from a difficult but safe situation to
the “desert”?
Have you ever been that desperate?
What kind of man do you think Ishmael was, given the
prophetic description of who he would become?
Do you have family members who, like Ishmael, “live in
hostility”? How do you respond to them?
What can you do to improve your relationship with them?
Read Genesis 21
- · 14 years later, Sarah had a son, Isaac, with Abraham. And the problems between the two women started back up again. Up to that point, Ishmael was Abraham’s only son and heir. Since he was the oldest, he should have gotten everything. BUT, he wasn’t the son of the leader’s wife. He was the son of a slave girl, so now that Isaac was born, he probably wasn’t going to get anything.
- · Sarah had Hagar and Ishmael thrown out, just to be sure that her son got everything.
- · Abraham didn’t want to throw her and Ishmael out because they would die from the heat and exposure, but that’s how much power Sarah had over Abraham. He gave her bread and water as symbols of life and protection, so that none of Sarah’s servants would try killing them, even though they weren’t part of the tribe anymore.
Even though Hagar and
Ishmael were outcasts and alone, God lovingly cared for them. Describe how you think Hagar felt when she
laid Ishmael down and went away because she “could not watch the boy die.” How did God meet her needs?
In what ways has God met
your needs when you were despairing and alone?
Summary
Hagar was never fully accepted into the
Hebrew group despite being the mother of Abraham's child. In the end she was
rejected completely, and expelled. But she was protected by God against the
hatred of Sarah, and in the end lived as a free woman, no longer a slave. And remember that even when Hagar was ready
to die, God opened her eyes to see a well that provided her and her son
sustenance and life, and he can do the same for you.
***********************************************************
No comments:
Post a Comment
Remember what your mother taught you: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.