The One Year Chronological Bible - Week 3 Reflection Questions

Week 3 (Jan 12-18): Genesis 32:1-50:26 & I Chronicles 1:35-2:8

As you read through these passages of the Bible, reflect upon these questions individually, through journaling, in pairs, or in small groups...

1. As Jacob returned home, he sent messengers ahead of him, sent gifts, and divided what he had into two groups.  As he approached, Esau ran to meet him and embraced him.  Jacob said, "to see you is like seeing the face of God, now that you have received me favorably."  Have you had similar experiences of the power of reconciliation?  Do you have relationships in need of reconciliation?
2. Before reuniting with Esau, Jacob spent the night wrestling with "a man" until daybreak.  From this Jacob received the name Israel and a blessing.  Are there times that you have wrestled with God?  What was the reason for wrestling and what was the outcome (ie. a new name, a blessing)?
3.  Shechem wronged Dinah and her brothers were rightly outraged.  They set up Hamor, Shechem, and the men of their city.  Simeon and Levi then went in and killed every male and looted the city.  How do we reconcile these actions with our understanding of God's perspectives on justice and revenge?
4. Jacob favored Joseph and made this apparent.  How did this shape their family dynamics?  What positive and negative influences are present within your own family of origin?  How do you work with these?
5. Joseph's brothers plotted to kill him, but Reuben spoke up and saved his life.  Unfortunately, he wasn't able to rescue him from the pit as planned.  When have you spoken up on someone's behalf?  When have you not spoken up but wished you had?  How have you worked through times in which your plans for someone's good did not come to fruition?
6. After Tamar's husband died, Judah did not follow through on his responsibility/promise to her.  Tamar took matters into her own hands with some questionable tactics.  When Judah first learned of this, he was quick to judge her until he learned of his role in it.  At that point he said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't give her to my son Shelah."  What does this say to us about "righteousness?"  How can this story speak to our ongoing tendency to judge the sin in the other while overlooking our own sinfulness?
7. After arriving in Egypt, Joseph became the servant of Potiphar.  He served his master well and gained status in that household.  It was only after he was falsely accused that he was sent to prison.  He had done the best that he could with his circumstances yet "bad things" continued to happen to him.  What can this story say to those who wonder, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"
8. While in prison, Joseph interpreted dreams for Pharoah's servants.  Eventually, this led to him interpreting dreams for Pharaoh.  Does God still speak through dreams?  If so, how do we gain understanding about the message that God is sending through the dream?
9. Joseph rose to power in Egypt after interpreting the Pharoah's dreams.  When the famine came and his brothers came to Egypt for food, we read, "so when Joseph's brother's arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground."  This fulfilled the dreams of Joseph's youth.  Through this we come to understand that God was in control through all of the ups and downs that Joseph underwent.  What are ways that you have been able to see after the fact that God was in control in the midst of difficult circumstances that you went through?
10. After Joseph threatened to keep his full brother, Benjamin; Judah spoke on behalf of his brothers and offered himself in Benjamin's place.  Reflect on the growth that has taken place in Judah since selling off Joseph to the merchants.  What other examples of this type of sacrifice do we see in the whole of scripture?
11. Joseph provided leadership in Egypt during the famine.  In the process and over the course of several years, he acquired for Pharaoh all of their money, all of their livestock, and eventually the land and the people.  "Joseph reduced the people to servitude."  Later, it was the Hebrews who became the servants/slaves of the Egyptians.  These are a significant turn of events.  What does this teach us about those in power and how we look at the bigger picture of society?
12. After Jacob's death, Joseph's brothers feared that Joseph would take revenge against them for all that they had done.  They delivered a message that Jacob had asked Joseph to forgive them.  Joseph wept and then reassured them that he would care for them.  This is an example of tremendous grace and forgiveness.  What are modern examples of similar efforts of reconciliation?


 May the Lord bless and shape us through our individual reading and corporate study of His word this year.