Genesis Chapter 24 Questions

Why was Abraham insistent that his oldest servant “will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites” and that he shall instead “go to my country and to my kindred” to “take a wife for my son Isaac”? (Genesis 24.3-24.4).

Who or what was “the LORD God of heaven” and the “angel” Abraham refers to when he tells his servant the following: “Beware that you do not take my son back there. The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred, and who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your descendants I give this land,’ He will send His angel before you, and you shall take a wife for my son from there”? (Genesis 24.24.6-24.7).

Who or what was “the LORD” who Abraham’s servant “worshipped” by “bowing himself to the earth” and who “prospered” Abraham’s servant’s “way” as he sought to return to Abraham? (Genesis 24.52; 24.56).

What motivated Abraham to have “sent” his other children “away from Isaac his son”? (Genesis25.6).

Who or what was the “God” who “blessed his son Isaac”? (Genesis 25.11).

Who or what was “the LORD” who Isaac “pleaded to”? (Genesis 25.21).

How did “the LORD” know in advance that “the older shall serve the younger”? (Genesis 25.23).

What is the significance of noting that “Isaac loved Esau…but Rebekah loved Jacob”? (Genesis25.28).

How significant was Esau’s act of having “despised his birthright” and what does this act suggest about Esau’s character? (Genesis 25.34).

Who or what was “the LORD” who appeared to Isaac? (Genesis 26.2).

What does Isaac’s feeling “afraid” suggest about his understanding of how protected he was within the land of Canaan? (Genesis 26.7).

What is the irony of Abimelech’s words to Isaac: “One of the people might soon have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt on us”? (Genesis 26.10).

Who or what was “the LORD” who told Isaac, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you.  I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake” (Genesis 26.24).

Who or what was “the name of the LORD” who Isaac “called on” when he built an altar, pitched his tent, and had his servants dig a well creating his own domain within the land of Canaan? (Genesis 26.25).

The Story of Jacob and Esau: Isaac asked Esau to hunt and make him food so “that my soul may bless you” (Genesis 27.4). What does it mean to have Isaac’s “soul…bless” Esau?

What interest did Rebekah have in ensuring that Jacob received his father’s blessing, as she said, “for me”? (Genesis 27.27.13).

While placing food in front of Isaac, Jacob told his father that “the LORD your God brought it to me.” Who or what was Jacob referring to? (Genesis 27.20).

What is the significance of Isaac’s act of blessing Jacob and not Jacob’s elder twin brother, Esau? (Genesis 27.27).

Who or what was the “God” who Isaac asked “may…give [Jacob] of the dew of heaven, of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and wine”? (Genesis 27.28).

What do Isaac’s words of consolation mean to Esau? (Genesis 27.40).

What interest did Rebekah have in telling Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran? (Genesis 27.43).

Who or what was Isaac referring to when he told Jacob, “May God Almighty bless you”? (Genesis 28.3).

Who or what was “the LORD” who Jacob awoke to find was “in this place”? (Genesis 28.16).

Why did Jacob awaken from his dream “afraid”? (Genesis 28.17).

What was Jacob referring to when he proclaimed, “This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”? (Genesis 28.17).

What prevented Jacob from seeing what Laban and Leah were doing to him? (Genesis 29.23).

Who was Laban referring to when he told Jacob: “we will give you” Rachel “for the service which you will serve”? (Genesis 29.27).

Who or what was “the LORD” who “saw that Leah was unloved” and who “opened her womb”? (Genesis 29.31).

When Jacob asked Rachel, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”, who or what was the “God” who Jacob was referring to? (Genesis30.2).

Who was the “God” who “listened to Leah” and “remembered Rachel”? (Genesis 30.17; 30.22).

Who or what was “the LORD” who Laban said “has blessed” him for Jacob’s sake since Jacob’s arrival? (Genesis 30.27).

Who or what was “the LORD” who “said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred and I will be with you’”? (Genesis 31.3).

Who or what was “the God of [Jacob’s] father” who Jacob had told Leah and Rachel had been with him? (Genesis 31.5).

Who or what was the “God” who “had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night” who Laban later identified as “the God of [Jacob’s] father”? (Genesis 31.24; 31.29).

Jacob told Laban the following: “Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night” (Genesis 31.42).  Who was “the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac” that Jacob referred to? 

Who or what were “the angels of God” who met Jacob after he parted from Laban and traveled towards Canaan? (Genesis 32.1).

Who was the “Man” with whom Jacob wrestled? (Genesis 32.24).

Why was Jacob unwilling to “let” the Man “go” until Jacob received a blessing? (Genesis32.26).

The narration states the following: “And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel (footnote: Literally: Prince with God), for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed'”(Genesis 32.28). Why was Jacob renamed “Israel (‘Prince with God’)”?

When being given the name Israel, “the Man” told Jacob, “for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” What moments in Jacob’s life mirror this description? 

The narration states the following: “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (footnote: Literally: Face of God): ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved'” (Genesis 32.30). Who or what was the “God” who Jacob had previously “seen…face to face” and had his life “preserved”? (Genesis 32.30).

What may the consequences be to Jacob’s act of having “divided the children” and making it known that Joseph was his most favored son? (Genesis 33.1).

Who or what was the “God” who had “graciously given” Jacob his children? (Genesis 33.5).

Why did Jacob refer to Esau as “my lord” and himself as “his servant”? (Genesis 33.8; 33.14).

What is the significance of Jacob arriving safely in Shechem, the same location where “the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land’”? (Genesis 12.7; 33.18).

Who or what did Jacob consider “El Elohe Israel (‘God, the God of Israel’)” to be? (Genesis 33.20).

What happened between Shechem and Dinah? (Genesis 34.1-34.5).

Previously, the narration stated the following: “Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. and the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ And there he built and altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him” (Genesis 12.6-12.7). What is the irony of Hamor – whose root is “Ham” – and his son – whose name is Shechem – telling Jacob – who was a descendant of Noah’s son Shem – to “give according to what you say to me” as Jacob settled in the land of Canaan? (Genesis 34.6; see Genesis 9.22-9.27).

What opportunity did Jacob’s sons’ union with the circumcised men of Shechem offer Jacob and his family as they began their settlement in the land of Canaan?

What does Dinah’s inability to speak about her relationship with Shechem suggest about her brothers’ motivation in murdering Shechem, his father, and all the men of the city? (Genesis 34.26).

Who or what was the “God” who told Jacob to “Arise” and “go up to Bethel” and to whom Jacob was told to make an altar? (Genesis 35.1).

Who or what was “the terror of God” who was “upon the cities that were all around them”? (Genesis 35.5).

Who or what was the “God” who “appeared to Jacob again,” “blessed him,” and renamed him “Israel”? (Genesis 35.9-35.10).

“God” told Jacob to “Be fruitful and multiply,” echoing what was told to “male and female” and to Noah and his sons as well (Genesis 35.11; 1.28; 9.1). How are the situations of male and female, Noah and his sons, and Israel similar?

What is the significance of Esau and Jacob coming together to bury their father Isaac? (Genesis 35.29).

The entirety of chapter 36 is focused upon Jacob’s elder twin brother, Esau. Throughout the first seventy chapters of the Bible narrative, no one chapter is entirely focused upon one particular character in such a way.  What does the focus upon Esau suggest about his importance to the story of Israel?