“And as constant.”  (Me)

I will not be posting my answers to Lesson 32 as they are all personal in nature.

Genesis shows us how God had everything planned from Chapter One Verse One.  How God would deal with sin once it entered the world.  How Jesus would come as our Savior. How He would choose His people for all of eternity.

How man falls.  Always.  And how God loves us anyways and in His grace offers us salvation.

People are not perfect.  We were not created to be such.  Otherwise, we’d be God.

Embrace our faults.  Love ourselves and one another.  Repent our sins.  Strive to do God’s will.

And our purpose in this world will unfold as it is supposed to.

That’s all God ever asks of us.

So will you choose to do so?

My New Pup!

Questions:

11)  God will aid them and take them up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

12a)  To have his bones moved to the land God promised.  This encouraged the Israelites in their faith in God as they trusted in God’s plan to return them to the Promised Land.

b) Exodus 13:19:  ”Moses took the bones of Joseph with him.”

Joshua 24:32:  ”And Joseph’s bones which the Israelites had brought up from Egypt were buried at Shechem in the tract of land that Jacob bought for a 100 pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.”

13) Personal Question.  My answer:  From this passage:  ”God will surely come to your aid and take [your loved one] up out of this land to the land He promised (heaven).”

Other passages are better:  Genesis 50:19-21:  ”Don’t be afraid…God intends it for good…He will provide for you and your children.”

Conclusions:  Disappointment reigns.  I think Lesson 30 & 31 should have been combined.

Did you catch the fact that Joseph was never buried?  (I didn’t until I read commentary on this passage.  I had assumed he was buried and then would be dug up for the trip to the Promised Land).  Scholars suggest his bones were left out as a visual reminder to the Israelites that one day Joseph would be buried in the Promised Land.

Joseph’s request was showing great faith in God’s promises.

And so ends the Book of Genesis with God’s chosen people looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Joseph told them to not be afraid for God intended good out of the evil they did–to save lives.

Questions:

8a)  They were afraid Joseph would enact revenge and justice upon them now that Jacob was dead.  So they lied that Jacob told him to forgive them.

b)  He spoke kindly to them, telling them God has worked good out of their evil.

c)  Personal Question:  That God has a plan that we cannot see.  Things happen for reasons we cannot know.  We must trust in Him always and learn and grow in our walk of faith no matter the hardships.  For good is right around the corner.  All things work together for my good.

We must also keep in mind that the evils that befall us are not from God; they are from man.  Man enacts evil upon us, not God.  But God will work it for good in our lives.  All for His glory.

9a) He forgives us; He loves us; He protects us; He provides for us; He showers us with grace when we are in no way worthy.

Psalm 103:  ”The Lord forgives all your sins…redeems your life…compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love…He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities…for so great is his love for those who fear him.”

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Eternal gratitude.

c)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Could be better.  Need to be more God-like.

10a)  ”To accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”.  To save the seed of the Savior and God’s people.

b)  Matthew 28:18-20:  ”Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey”

1 Peter 2:9:  ”You are a chosen people…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Acts 1:8:  ”You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and all the ends of the earth.”

Conclusions:  Was convicted with 9c.  I need to treat my family better than I do strangers.  I think a lot of struggle with that.  It’s so easy to take them for granted when we cannot.  For God didn’t take us for granted.  For He knows everything about us.

Why did Joseph weep upon hearing this concocted story of forgiveness?  Scholars think probably because his brothers doubted him, his forgiveness, and his character.  That the brothers thought so little of him.

Joseph trusted in who God is and trusted God in His promises.  We have a problem in doing the same.  Trust first in Him.  Then love, forgiveness, and comfort naturally flow outwards.

Questions:

6)  High.  He sent practically all the nobles with Joseph to bury Jacob as well as chariots and horsemen to escort and protect them.

7a)  The mourning at the threshing floor of Atad.

b)  They mourned 7 days for him and buried him in the Promised Land.

c)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Not a lot.  Comfort is not the word.  Encouragement, yes.  Comfort, no.

Conclusions:  Overarching theme:  Jacob was greatly revered in Egypt.  7c was out of place.  Again, stretching this lesson.  One question would have been sufficient for this passage.

Fun Fact:  No other burial is recorded in Scripture with such pomp, detail, and honor.

Email me (atozmom.wordpress@gmail.com) or leave a comment for prayer requests.

This will be the last of the year!

Thanks and God bless!

Questions:

3a)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Hebrews of course says Jacob had faith.  No.  There is no indication in this passage of fear.

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  That God is the God of the living, not the dead.  So this infers Jacob knew he would live again with God.

4a)  Personal Question.  My answers, which I already knew and didn’t “learn” here:

Hebrews 9:27:  Man is destined to die and face judgement.

Romans 3:23; 6:23:  All have sinned and fell short of the glory of God.  Wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 5:24:  Whoever hears Jesus’ words and believes in God has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

John 8:24:  You will die in your sins if you do not believe in Jesus.

John 11:26:  Whoever lives and believes in Jesus will never die.

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Not sure what this has to do with Jacob’s death.  We have read about dozens of people dying in Genesis:  Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Sarah, Rebekah’s nurse, etc.  Why ask this now?

My answer:  I’m not because I firmly believe I have not accomplished God’s work for me yet here on earth so I enjoy living each and every day and not thinking or dwelling on death.  For in the end all we have is this day for we do not know.

And if I die, I’m as “prepared” as we all are.  There’s nothing I can do about it.  So why even worry about it?  That’s God’s job, not mine.

5)  He fulfilled Jacob’s last request by burying him in Canaan.

Conclusions:  I’m assuming the answer to my question of why BSF is asking the death question now is because they have run out of questions to ask.

Question 5 was just dumb.  This is a “duh”.  We all know Joseph is trustworthy from reading Genesis.  That is his character.  So why wouldn’t he be now?

I’m just getting frustrated here with the personal questions.  It’s an indication of stretching out the lesson.  In my opinion, we could have ended this study a few weeks ago instead of answering “filler” and “duh” questions.

This is the second time I’ve noticed recently of being given only one verse that even isn’t a complete sentence to go off of (It was last week DAY 5).  If BSF is going to give us reference passages to look up, let it be the whole passage so we can understand.  Reading a sentence fragment 1) goes against all of my writing background and irks me 2) never gives us the full story.  Please assign more than this.

In this instance, Hebrews 11:28 is so much more richer.  It says just as we are meant to die, “so Christ was..to bring salvation”…  Anytime I am like Christ, I rejoice.  Plus, salvation is near!  Hence, we should in death as well.  I believe this is the more important point.

Sorry to all who believe I have been critical of BSF lately (yes, I’ve noticed it myself) as I’m sure you’ll all comment on it. But I am frustrated and when I am, I will say so.  I cannot change my feelings over the matter.  I just feel like a bunch of this could have been cut out.  Either that or I’m missing the point entirely.

I try to keep in perspective that BSF is also for those who don’t know Jesus and are seeking him and so they write questions to that effect, which is great.  However, it is monotonous to us believers (or maybe just me) and I can’t help but say so.

End Note:  Jacob was mourned just 2 days less than a pharaoh would have been mourned.  This shows us just how revered he was in Egypt.

“Would you please consider posting your answers AFTER the lesson is over?  Then others couldn’t copy or couldn’t read your commentary until afterwards like BSF suggests.”

Here’s the crux of the problem:

When is AFTER?

Despite BSF’s efforts to have everyone on the same lesson, this is not the case.  The main culprit is Spring Break and the second one is the start date.  Most start after Labor Day. Here in the US at least.

But did you all think of the rest of the world?  Odds are those who complain about this have not.

They start SOONER than we do because Labor Day is not a holiday for them.

And then we have some of my favorite people around here:  The Aussies, The New Zealanders and those in Singapore, Malaysia, and the rest of Asia.

They start AFTER us.  Way after us.  Right now, they are on about lesson 9.  Should I wait on them to post excluding you all?

So, to all those who suggest I hold my answers back:  should I work around YOUR schedule then?  When it’s convenient for YOU?  And forget EVERYONE ELSE?  I think we know what Jesus would say to that one.

One woman recently commented that I am forcing you to read my answers, comparing you to children who are forced to eat dessert before the main meal and hence you all were “spiritually unhealthy”.  Seriously?  As if you couldn’t say “NO” to dessert.

Again, personal responsibility.  You either read them before, after, or not at all.  It’s your choice.  And praise God for that choice called Free Will.  You are in charge.  Not me.  I put my answers out there.  And you are free to click on this BEFORE, AFTER, OR NEVER AT ALL in accordance with your beliefs, your values, your goals, etc.

Please don’t put this on me.  I am here to help.  And I do it my way.  I appreciate feedback, praises, and disagreements but I do take offense when things are said on my site that are just fallacious and in total disregard for the will (and frankly intelligence) of others.

And occasionally, I feel the need to respond-AGAIN-to such critics as I did in this case.  To set the record straight.  And to emphasize-AGAIN-the importance of choice.

Questions:

13)  He requests to be buried in the Promised Land where God brought him and his people.

14)  Acts 20:35:  Through hard work and helping the weak and giving you will be blessed.

Romans 4:7-8:  Must have faith in Jesus Christ to be blessed and have all sins forgiven and not counted against him.

Ephesians 1:3: Believe in Christ and you will be blessed with every spiritual blessing

Titus 2:13:  If we say not to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives and wait on Jesus then we will be redeemed from all wickedness and purified.  [Please read the entire sentence and not just the middle as suggested by BSF--verses 12-14 for a deeper meaning].

James 1:12:  ”Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he had stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.”

1 Peter 3:9:  ”Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”

Revelation 1:3:  ”Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”  I would expand this to say blessed are those who live by God’s word and instill it in your heart for all time.

Conclusions:  Not sure why this passage is singled out as significant except for maybe question 13 which to me is intuitive.  Will continue to believe this lesson was too drawn out as exhibited by question 14, which had nothing to do with Jacob’s death.

James 1:12 is a great memory verse.  My goal for the week!