BSF Study Questions Genesis Lesson 25, Day 3: Genesis 34:13-31

Summary of passage:  Jacob’s sons told Shechem and his father Hamor that they would only give them Dinah if they and all the males became circumcised.  Only then would they agree to give them their daughters and settle among them and become one people. Otherwise, they will leave.

Hamor and Shechem readily agreed, saying once all are circumcised then their livestock, property, and all their animals will become their (so greed is the real reason, not love).

All became circumcised.

However, while all the men were still recovering, Simeon and Levi killed every male in the city, including Hamor and Shechem, and looted the city.  They seized all their livestock, wealth, and women and children.

Jacob chastized them (a bit), saying now they may attack them but the sons defended themselves, asking how they could stand by and have their sister treated like a prostitute.

Questions:

6a)  They made the family “a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites”, who now may retaliate and destroy their entire household.

b)  Circumcision was the covenant given to Abraham by God showing an outward sign of their difference, their special place in this world as God’s chosen people (Genesis 17:9-14).  It is a sacred act, given by God himself to His people.  Hence, the deception is a slap in the face to God.  It is a desecration, a sacrilege against God.  They do not revere God or what is His and really don’t care.

c)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Revenge, plain and simple.  No, not really.  I do hold grudges and contempt for people but I pray through that.

d)  ”Do not repay evil for evil.  Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody….live at peace with everyone…do not take revenge..but leave room for God’s wrath.”  Feed your enemy instead and allow good to overcome evil.

7a)  They will be scattered in Jacob (Israel or the Promised Land) and not listened to.  Cursed be their anger.

b)  Basically saying should they have stood by and allowed their sister to be treated like a prostitute.  Something had to be done.

8 )  Personal Question.  My answer:  Revenge is God’s to take, not ours.  Revenge only magnifies the wrong and creates more woe and sorrow.  Give it to God and allow Him and His forgiveness to heal your heart.

Conclusions:  No question Simeon and Levi went overboard on the revenge, killing innocent people who had nothing to do with the crime.  Their actions did not fit the crime in any way.  And to top it off they committed sacrilege to accomplish the devil’s work. Pretty sure God wasn’t too happy about that!

It is interesting that greed, NOT love, is the motivating factor as it seems to be throughout history when atrocities are committed.  Again, the use of women to accomplish this goal is very sad and unfortunate.

Notice that Jacob is NOT called Israel here.  Why?  Because his actions are deplorable. Jacob showed no recorded outrage at what happened to Dinah.  Instead, he deferred to his sons.  And when he heard about the murders?  A slight chiding was all Simeon and Levi got.  ”Now, now, kids, you shouldn’t have done that.  We’re gonna have to move again.”  Seriously?  That was it??  That was the punishment a father gave his sons???

Jacob’s prophecy does come true:  both tribes are scattered over the Promise Land. However, it is God’s punishment, not Jacob’s.  He is only the messenger here.  Note also we don’t hear much about the Simeonites throughout OT history but we know the Levites were the ones chosen as priests over God’s people.  They stood firm during the Golden Calf debacle (Exodus 32:26-28) and did repent and chose God.  God’s saving grace.

Notes on circumcision:  Circumcision has been around before God gave the covenant to His people.  The Ancient Egyptians practiced circumcision where the earliest recorded use is found.

Interestingly, the highest occurrence of circumcision is amongst Muslims (I didn’t know this) and it’s probably the most common surgical procedure performed today. Approximately one-third of males worldwide are circumcised and the rate stands at 75% in the United States (of the population.  Newborn circumcision rates are only around 55%).  Summarized from Wikipedia.

Like any operation, babies heal faster than adults.  It’s just the way God made us as humans.  Besides the Bible requiring infant circumcision, the health risks are less and it is less painful when performed as an infant.  Babies don’t think about the pain because pain has yet to develop meaning to them.  They inherently recover quickly because they are relatively immobile during the recovery stage.

BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 25, Day 3: Ephesians 6:14-18

Summary of passage:  Paul says to stand firm with the belt of truth around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place, and your feet ready from the gospel of peace.  Use the shield of faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Use the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (word of God) in battle.  Pray on all occasions and be alert always.

Questions:

6a)  Belt of truth; Breastplate of righteousness; feet of readiness; shield of faith; helmet of salvation; sword of the Spirit.

Purely from the battle standpoint:  a belt holds the armor in place and most likely holds the scabbard of the sword or perhaps a knife.  It contains the tools needed in order to fight the enemy.  The breastplate protects the vital organs:  heart, lungs, stomach:  everything you need to survive day-to-day.  A soldier is mostly on his feet (unless he’s calvary which not many were in Ancient Rome).  It was important to protect your feet so you can maneuver, march, and face the enemy in battle.

The shield was used mainly in hand-to-hand combat to fend off the enemy’s sword, arrows, etc.  It was another form of protection against the enemy.  The helmet protected the head, the brain if you will, another vital organ necessary for survival.  The sword was perhaps the most important piece in a soldier’s retinue.  For without it, how else would he kill the enemy?  The rest were for defense.  This was his offensive weapon.

If you read about other cultures, some carried nothing more than their sword.  The Ancient Celts for example would fight naked with only a sword and sometimes a shield.  They were so confident in their abilities that they didn’t need protection.  It was also used as a battle tactic to unnerve the enemy and they also didn’t have enough armor for everyone.

This is what we must be.  So confident in God that the rest, while serving a purpose in their own right, is superfluous when compared to God, His word, and His powers.

b)  Belt of truth:  use God’s truths as weapons.  If you know God’s truths, you cannot be deceived by the devil’s lies.

Breastplate of righteousness:  if  you’ve accepted Jesus into your life, you are righteous before God.  We can now stand with God and are not separate.  We can use God’s power in our lives against the devil.

Feet of readiness:  by knowing and studying God’s word and praying and drawing closer to God we can be ready for any attack by the devil.  Isaiah tells us to use our feet to spread the Good News to others so that they too can be ready.

Shield of faith:  if we have absolute faith in God, He will protect us from any attack.  Like Paul said, God always offers us a way out when faced with sin (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Helmet of salvation:  God has granted us salvation.  We do not have to work for it or sell our soul to receive it.  We can not believe the lie the devil tells us such as we are not good enough to enter the kingdom of Heaven for we know we are.

Sword of the Spirit: Paul tells us this is the word of God.  We can use God’s words like Jesus did in Matthew 4 to defeat the devil.  He is powerless against God’s truths.  His lies fall away before it.

I like the picture of wrapping ourselves in a cloak.  I picture this as a form of protection for the whole body, a way to bring warmth into our bodies, a shield of sorts that completely blocks out everything else around you.  Also, I tend to think of cloaking as hiding.  Paul mentions that we must stand firm but if we are not ready I see hiding as an acceptable alternative.  We can take a “break” from this world, from whatever temptation we are failing, and face it again at another time when we are stronger.  This doesn’t apply to every situation but retreating from the brokenness of this world is a viable alternative.  Taking a step back to grow with God so we are stronger the next time around.

Paul mentions love and hope in 1 Thessalonians.  The devil hates love.  We can defeat him by loving others and our enemies.  Love will defeat hate.  Hope is key too.  For we will fail in some of these trials.  But if we have hope we can believe that the next battle we will win and then next one after that and so on and so forth until the day comes we can win all of our battles.

7a)  Stand your ground (verse 13), flaming arrows (verse 16), praying (verse 18).  3 methods:  standing your ground, defending against arrows, and praying (non-violence)

b)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Not give into temptations by standing firm in our faith.  Shielding ourselves against attacks by being prepared for it.  Be active in our faith not passive.  And pray.  Pray for God’s power to come and use God’s words to defeat the enemy.  Give God the control.

Conclusions:  I’ll be the first to admit:  I completely forgot about beautiful feet in Isaiah and we just read it last year!  Amazing how we have to keep revisiting God’s words so it is sown into our hearts and never leaves.

As a history buff, I loved this armor analogy.  Since the Fall man has been in constant strife and it’s interesting to see how man has devised ways to fight the enemy.  Even us civilians can use armor in our daily battles.

For me, it comes down to preparing ourselves for every attack (which is daily) that comes against us.  And when the attack comes fight back and stand firm.  We cannot become complacent for then the devil will seize that moment and we will be defeated.  We must always be ready to fight (like a soldier is) and enter the battle with full faith we will win (faith and trust in God).

BSF Study Questions Isaiah Lesson 25, Day 3 Isaiah 55

Summary of passage:  Come, all who are thirsty.  You will need no money just come, buy, and eat!  There is no cost.  Why waste money and labor on what does not satisfy?  Listen and eat of what is good and your soul will delight in the richest of fares.  Listen and come so your soul may live.  God will make an everlasting covenant with you just like He did with David who was a witness, leader, and commander of peoples.  God has endowed you with splendor so surely nations will come and hasten to you just like for King David.

Seek the Lord and call on Him while you can (before it’s too late).  Turn from your wicked ways towards the Lord who will have mercy on you and will forgive you.  God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways.  His are as far away as the heavens are from the Earth.

God’s word will accomplish what He desires and achieve His purposes as surely as the rain and snow water the earth and make it flourish.  You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace as the mountains sing before you–all because you listened to His word.  An everlasting sign for God’s renown will be the flourishing of the pine tree instead of the thornbush and the myrtle instead of the briers (His restoration of the earth and ultimately us).

Questions:

6a)  Personal Question.  My answer:  Through faith, God will fill up every hole inside of you.  You will never thirst nor hunger again.  Living waters will flow through you and your soul will live if you will but come, listen, eat, and be satisfied.  You will find rest in God’s everlasting covenant with you.

b)  God promises He will keep giving gifts of leaders and commanders to the people like David was.  Nations will flock to David/Israel/leaders because the Lord has endowed you (David/Israel/leaders) with splendor.

7a)  Seek the Lord while He may be found (now.  When our hearts yearn for Him) and call on Him while He is near (ask to receive Jesus and God into your hearts to receive His blessings now-death could be tomorrow).  Repent, turn to the Lord, and receive His forgiveness.

b)  God’s thoughts and ways are higher over our thoughts as ways as the heavens is from the Earth.  God does not think nor act like us.  He is pure.  We simply aren’t.  This should keep us humble and challenge us to be as Christ-like as possible.  To seek Him.

c)  Isaiah 53:5  Jesus’s punishment has brought us peace and His wounds have healed us.  Isaiah 49:6  Be a light for Israel and the Gentiles and bring salvation to all nations on earth.  Isaiah 42:1-4  He will bring justice to the nations and everyone will hope in Him.

d)  Personal Question.  My answer:  I now have the utmost confidence Jesus is the only way to God, Heaven and eternal life.  Otherwise, the alternative is Hell.  I knew this before but it wasn’t firmly in my heart.  Jesus was but the conviction of Hell wasn’t.  So now I am more determined to spread the Good News before it’s too late to those around me or whom I come in contact with.

Conclusions:  Another great passage.  Packed full of nuggets we all need to remember.  So uplifting and demonstrative of God’s love.  When people say God is judgmental or exclusive or what have you, this is the passage to point them to.  God is for everyone if you will but drink.  Does it get any more simpler?

My favorite verse is verse 2:  ”Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”  I apply this literally in my life.  It reminds me of what is important.  We all have limited resources and I’d rather spend mine on God’s work and what He wants me to spend money on and not on things that ultimately does not satisfy–things void of any worth.

I also like Verse 8:  ”For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways.”  I always try to remember this when bad things occur in my life.

I wish BSF would have done a question on Verses 10-13 which are so beautiful and shows the power of God’s word.  God’s words are never empty and He achieves His set purposes even though we don’t know what that is.  ”You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace” and the mountains and hills will sing before you when you turn to God, His word, and His purpose for your life.

A recurring theme this year for me is the importance of God’s word.

The everlasting sign, His renown will be through His restoration (here of the pine tree and myrtle) but I see this as our restoration as well through Jesus.