Oct. 05, 2025

Saints & Sinners – Israel

Primary Text: Genesis 32:24-30                       

1)  Bethel

Genesis 28:10-22:  Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Haran….  He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.  There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.  I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.  Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.  All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.  I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.”  He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”…  He called that place Bethel, though the city used to be called Luz.  Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.” 

Genesis 31:11-13:  “The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob.’  I answered, ‘Here I am.’ And he said, ‘Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.  I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me.  Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.’”  

DQ 1) What does the name Bethel mean?  Why is it important?

_______________________________________________________________

2)  A New Name

Genesis 32:24-30:  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.  Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”  But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” The man asked him, “What is your name?”  “Jacob,” he answered.  Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”  Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”  But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?”  Then he blessed him there.  So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”  

DQ 2) Does every person in essence have a wrestling match with God?  In what way?

_______________________________________________________________

3)  A Family Reunion

Genesis 32:9-12:  Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant.  I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two groups.  Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.  But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’” 

Genesis 33:1-5:  Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.  He put the maidservants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear.  He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.  But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.  And they wept.  Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children.  “Who are these with you?” he asked.  Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.” 

DQ 3) Why was Esau’s response to Jacob surprising?  What did it reveal about Esau?

_______________________________________________________________

4)  Blessing Confirmed

Genesis 35:1-12:  Then God said to Jacob, “Go up to Bethel and settle there, and build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you were fleeing from your brother Esau.”  So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.”…  There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother….  After Jacob returned from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.  God said to him, “Your name is Jacob, but you will no longer be called Jacob; your name will be Israel.”  So he named him Israel.  And God said to him, “I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number.  A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body.  The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”  

DQ 4) Identify blessings that God promises to every genuine follower of Christ.

______________________________________________________________________

5)  Final Days

Genesis 49: 28-33:  All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.  Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people.  Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field….”  When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people. 

Genesis 50:1:  Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him.  

DQ 5) How could Jacob’s life be summarized in three phases?

______________________________________________________________________