Lectionary Study Guide - Genesis

Question 1

Genesis 1:1-2:4a
What phrases are repeated on each day?

Answer 1

“Let there be” …
“saw that the ________ was good”
“And it was so”

Question 2

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Does this text say the serpent is Satan?

Answer 2

no

Question 3

Genesis 2:18-24
What does the man say about the woman?

Answer 3

“This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.”

Question 4

Genesis 3:8-15
What’s the first question God asks of the man after the first act of disobedience?

Answer 4

“Where are you?”

Question 5

Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19
How does the introduction describe the earth that will be flooded?

Answer 5

the earth was corrupt and filled with violence

Question 6

Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13
What is the sign of the covenant? Who makes it?

Answer 6

Rainbow, God

Question 7

Genesis 11:1-9
Why would this reading be coupled with Acts 2:1-21?

Answer 7

Tower of Babel, everyone scattered and forced to speak different languages.
Pentecost, everyone able to understand in their own languages, an undoing of Babel

Question 8

Genesis 12:1-4a
What does God promise Abraham?

Answer 8

I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Question 9

Genesis 15:1-6
How does Abraham respond to God’s promise to make his descendants like the stars?

Answer 9

he believed the LORD

Question 10

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
What happens after Abraham falls asleep? How does the covenant take place?

Answer 10

Darkness descends, a smoking fire and a flaming torch pass between the pieces of the animals.

Question 11

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Abraham will become “the ancestor of _________.”

Answer 11

a multitude of nations

Question 12

Genesis 18:1-10a
When God appears to Abraham as three men, how does Abraham respond?

Answer 12

Hospitality: washed feet, brought water, rest beneath a tree, bread for refreshment, Sarah makes cakes, butchered a calf and prepares it, got curds and milk

Question 13

Genesis 18:20-32
How does Abraham argue with God in 18:25?

Answer 13

So God can’t do such a thing as destroy Sodom, to slay the righteous with the wicked, asking God “shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Question 14

Genesis 22:1-14
What’s repeated in verses 2 and 12?

Answer 14

Your son, your only son

Question 15

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
How does Abraham’s servant determine whom Isaac should marry?

Answer 15

He will ask a woman at the well for a drink of water, and if she says “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also”, she is the winner (Rachel)

Question 16

Genesis 25:19-34
What does Esau say when Jacob demands his birthright?

Answer 16

“I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”

Question 17

Genesis 28:10-19a
What does Jacob say after waking up? (vv. 16-17)

Answer 17

“Surely the LORD is in this place–and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

Question 18

Genesis 29:15-28
Know the main events of the story.

Answer 18

Jacob wanted to marry Rachel.
Laban asked what he was going to pay in order to marry Rachel.
Jacob offers to serve him for 7 years
Laban accepts, and Jacob serves for 7 years
Jacob asks for his wife, Laban gathers everyone for a feast
On the wedding night, Laban instead gave him his older daughter Leah, and Jacob and her had sex
Jacob wakes up, realizing he was tricked. Asks Laban why he deceived him. Laban says it isn’t right to marry off the younger daughter first.
Laban tells him to work another 7 years in order to marry Rachel.
He does, then gets to marry Rachel

Question 19

Genesis 32:22-31
Why does “the man” rename Jacob Israel?

Answer 19

“You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”

Question 20

Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
How does Joseph end up in Egypt?

Answer 20

Joseph was Jacob’s favorite, he gives him a long robe, bros get jealous. He goes out to find them in a field, but they are conspiring to kill him. They want to throw him in a put and let wild animals kill him. Reuben insists they shouldn’t kill him. They ripped off his robe and threw Joseph into the pit to die. They then saw a caravan of people on their way to Egypt and decided instead to sell him into slavery.

Question 21

Genesis 45:1-15
Be able to explain in one sentence why Joseph’s brothers are now in his presence at the outset of this story.

Answer 21

Joseph’s brothers migrated to Egypt during the famine, and didn’t recognize Joseph, as he now had high position in the Egyptian government, and, as he kept Simeon captive, they returned to Egypt to buy more food, with Benjamin in tow.

Question 22

Genesis 50:15-21
Know 50:19-20: why Joseph doesn’t see it as his place to punish his brothers.

Answer 22

“Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.