Tag: Ladies Bible Study

Women of Genesis Bible Study

The Women of Genesis: Lesson 24- Rachel and Leah

Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

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Read Genesis 30:25-31:55

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Questions to Consider

1. What are some things you remember about Jacob’s, Leah’s, and Rachel’s personalities and family dynamics that can give you some insight for today’s lesson? Briefly review lesson 23 (link above) or other previous lessons if necessary.

2. Carefully examine 30:25-34, and summarize the dialog and negotiation between Jacob and Laban in your own words. What does Jacob want to do? Why does he want to go? What does he initially ask for from Laban? Does Laban want him to go? Why or why not? What offers are made? What do they eventually settle on?

3. What does the name “Jacob” mean? (use your footnotes) In which incidents in today’s passage did Jacob live up to his name? In which incidents were the tables turned and Jacob became the deceived instead of the deceiver? (A little trivia for you: In Hebrew, Laban’s name means “white.” Is he wearing the good guy’s “white hat” in this passage?)

4. What’s this crazy stuff Jacob is doing with the sticks and breeding the sheep and goats (30:37-43)? Research time! Check out these links from the MacArthur Study Bible, CCEL Commentaries, and Bible Hub commentaries. How does Jacob’s success (30:43) demonstrate that God provides for His people’s needs?

5. Imagine that you are Rachel or Leah listening to what Jacob has to say in 31:4-13. How was it a show of respect and dignity to his wives that Jacob sat them down and explained all of this before uprooting them from the only home they had ever known? Were they hearing more about how Laban did Jacob wrong or how God did Jacob right? What was Jacob teaching them about God? Make a list of the attributes of God (ex: kindness, provider, etc.) that are showcased in this passage. After making this list, write down some ways you have seen each of these attributes of God in your own life.

6. How did Rachel and Leah respond to the news that they were moving? (31:14-16) What motivated this response – their desire to be godly, submissive wives, or another reason?

7. Considering Jacob’s and Laban’s words and actions in 31:17-43, how do you think Rachel and Leah felt about their father? What do you think would have happened if Laban had found the idols Rachel stole? (31:29,32) The passage doesn’t specifically say, but what are some of the reasons Rachel might have stolen the gods?

8. Carefully examine 31:44-54 in the context of all that has transpired between Jacob and Laban in this passage. Have you ever seen a set of Mizpah necklaces? They are usually shared by best friends, close loved ones, or boyfriends and girlfriends on the occasion of an impending temporary absence as a fond blessing that anticipates a happy reunion in the future. Knowing what you now know about the Mizpah (31:49) is this the correct usage and context of this verse? What is the correct understanding of this verse?

9. How does Jacob’s redeeming and rescuing of Rachel and Leah from Laban point to Christ as Redeemer and Rescuer? In what ways does it point further ahead to Christ taking Christians Home at the second coming?

Homework

Review the meaning of Jacob’s name from question 3. Write down your observations about the meaning of Jacob’s name as it compares to his statement in 30:33, and to Proverbs 22:1. Think about your own reputation – is it godly? Honest? Ethical? Why is it important for Christians to have an honest reputation? Examine 2 Corinthians 5:20, and consider how your reputation impacts your representation of Christ to others. What are some other New Testament Scriptures that address the importance of a godly reputation?

Suggested Memory Verse

Then the Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred, and I will be with you.” 
Genesis 31:3

Women of Genesis Bible Study

The Women of Genesis: Lesson 23- Rachel and Leah

Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

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Read Genesis 29:31-30:24

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Questions to Consider

1. Briefly review lesson 22 (link above), recalling the events that transpired to bring Jacob, Leah, and Rachel into this marriage. In what ways did this marriage start off on the wrong foot?

2. Read these passages. Did God design marriage to be polygamous or monogamous? What do these passages tell us are the theological reasons for this? What are the practical and interrelational problems with polygamy that Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel demonstrates in Genesis 29-30?

3. Compare Leah’s and Rachel’s experience with infertility, subsequent pregnancies, and use of surrogates with Sarah’s experience (see lesson 11, link above). How were their experiences similar? Different?

4. Consider how Abraham (see lesson 11, link above) and Jacob both responded to their wives’ giving their maidservants to them as surrogates. How could these men have responded to their wives in a godly way? How would this have been a good opportunity for Jacob to instruct Leah and Rachel in trusting the Lord, especially in light of 30:2? What are some examples of God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness in Jacob’s own life that he could have shared with his wives?

5. In Rachel’s and Leah’s culture, the main way women achieved status, and were viewed as blessed and successful by society, was by bearing children, particularly sons. How does this piece of cultural information help you understand the competitive attitude between Rachel and Leah and the emotional pressure of the situation? How would understanding God’s sovereignty over conception have helped both Rachel and Leah to be at peace in their hearts, with each other, and with Jacob?

6. Make a list of Leah’s comments after the birth of each of her sons, then make the same list of Rachel’s comments. What can we learn about the desires of their hearts from these comments? What can we learn about their relationships with each other, with Jacob, and with God? In what ways might each of them have been tempted to sin in their hearts (ex: coveting)? What Scriptures can you think of that address these sins?

7. Imagine that you’re working on a degree in biblical counseling and you’re assigned Jacob’s, Leah’s, and Rachel’s situation as a case study. Using what Scripture says about marriage, children, sin, the fruit of the Spirit, God’s attributes, etc., pinpoint at least two issues in this family that need biblical correction.

8. Now imagine you’ve graduated and are working as a biblical counselor. Jacob, Leah, and Rachel come to you for help in making their family more godly and getting along better. How do you advise each of them individually and/or as a family unit about the two issues you’ve pinpointed? What are some Scriptures that tell them what they should not be doing or believing? What are some Scriptures that tell them what they should be doing or believing?

9. Rachel and Leah were focused only on their own family and their personal desire to bear children, but what was God’s larger purpose for their sons? How does today’s passage demonstrate that God’s plans cannot be thwarted by the actions of man?

Homework

Go back to the lists you made for question 6. Do you have a heart attitude about something that’s similar to one Rachel or Leah had? For example: Are you coveting something? Envious of someone? Willing to use ungodly methods to get what you want? Resentful? Prideful? Unable to be peaceful and content where God has placed you? Write out some specific Scriptures that address this sin of the heart – both why you should not sin this way, and the godly action you should take or attitude you should have instead. Be sure to spend some time in prayer asking God to forgive you and to help you do what is right.

Suggested Memory Verse

Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
Genesis 30:22

Women of Genesis Bible Study

The Women of Genesis: Lesson 22- Rachel and Leah

Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

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Read Genesis 29:1-30

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Questions to Consider

1. Briefly review lesson 18 (link above). Compare the account of Abraham’s servant finding a wife (Rebekah) for Isaac to Jacob finding Rachel in today’s passage. What are some similarities? Differences? Compare both of these accounts to the story of Jesus meeting the woman at the well. How do Abraham (via his servant) and Jacob point ahead to Christ through these incidents? How do Rebekah and Rachel point ahead to the woman seeking the Living Water?

2. God doesn’t put extraneous information in Scripture; everything was written for a purpose. Why do you think God explains so much detail about shepherding practices in the first part of chapter 29?

3. Jacob has traveled several hundred miles to arrive at this destination. Compare verses 4-5 with Genesis 27:43-44. How is this the first confirmation of the fulfillment of the journey his parents had sent him on? Compare verses 6 and 10 with Genesis 28:2. Who had Isaac told Jacob to marry? How was this the second confirmation of the fulfillment of his journey? How were both of these meetings and the subsequent events part of God keeping his promises to Jacob? Do these confirmations of God’s leading and work in his life help shed some light on Jacob’s emotional reaction in 9-12?

4. Try to picture Jacob’s interaction with the shepherds in verses 4-8. What is Jacob’s immediate reaction (7) to seeing Rachel coming? Is it just me or is he trying to get those guys to vamoose so he can spend some time with Rachel? :0) Do they leave? (8)

5. What can we infer from verse 15 that Jacob had been doing for the month (14) he had been staying with Laban’s family?

6. Write character sketches of Rachel and of Leah based on the information in this passage. What were some temptations each of them may have faced? Knowing what you know about Rachel and Leah and their relationship, how might Leah have felt about Jacob asking for Rachel’s hand, offering to work seven years for her, and observing Jacob’s love for Rachel? (15-20)

7. Look closely at verse 21. Notice that the phrase is worded: “go in to her”, not “go into her.” The phrase “go in to her” means that the husband would enter the bed chamber where the wife was waiting for him (for consummation of the marriage). (Judges 15:1 makes this clearer.) I recently spoke with a young lady who had read this phrase as “go into her” all her life and thought the Bible was referring crassly to intercourse. Just wanted to bring a little clarity for anyone else who might have been stumped by that phrase.

8. Read 21-30 imagining you’re Leah. How do you react to your father’s attitude that the only way he’ll ever marry you off is to trick some poor guy who doesn’t want you? How would your new husband Jacob’s anger have made you feel, as well as the fact that once he married Rachel, he loved her more than you? Now imagine you’re Rachel. How do you react to your father giving your sister to the man you love and have waited seven years for? How did this wedding start out as Rachel’s big day and ended up as Leah’s big day?

9. One of the questions that always comes up about verses 21-30 is, “How did Jacob not know it was Leah?”. Let’s look at some of the factors at play:

a) How was the wedding celebrated? (22) What type of beverage is typically consumed freely at such events?

b) What time of day was the marriage consummated? (23) What impact would this have had on visibility? Remember, “he went in to her”. Leah was already in the (probably dark) bedchamber waiting for Jacob.

c) Think about the way women of that time period dressed. How might Leah’s clothing have hidden her identity?

d) Think about the structures people lived in and the proximity to others, since family tended to stay close together, and since many of the wedding guests may have been spending the night. Being quiet and whispering during marital relations might have been a normal way to protect a couple’s privacy from eavesdroppers, and thus, could have kept Jacob from recognizing Leah’s voice.

e) The Holy Spirit has been known to prevent people from seeing things He doesn’t want them to see.

Can you see how some or all these factors may have worked together to keep Jacob from recognizing Leah?

10. Make a list of all of the cultural and hospitality customs this passage teaches us.

Homework

God leading Jacob to men from Haran and then to Rachel was part of God keeping his promises to Jacob. God’s promises to Christians are written down in the New Testament. Think about some ways God has fulfilled His promises in your life. Write down the verse(s) that contain that promise along with the way God fulfilled that promise in your life. Take some time in prayer to thank Him for keeping His promises.

Suggested Memory Verse

So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Genesis 29:20

Women of Genesis Bible Study

The Women of Genesis: Lesson 21- Rebekah, Judith, Basemath, and Mahalath

Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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Read Genesis 26:34-35, 27:41-28:22

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Questions to Consider

1. Briefly review lesson 20 (link above). What events led to the events of today’s passage?

2. Review question #2 from lesson 18 (link above), and compare Abraham’s instructions to his servant about finding Isaac a wife in 24:1-9 to Isaac’s and Rebekah’s concerns and instructions about Jacob’s and Esau’s wives in 26:34-35 and 27:46-28:9. What were some similarities between the two situations? The differences? Look especially at a) the people groups the parent(s) did and did not want the wives to come from and b) whether or not the parent(s) wanted the son to travel to the desired people group. What were the reasons neither Abraham nor Isaac and Rebekah wanted their sons to marry a Canaanite? Why did they want their sons to marry within their own family? Why did Abraham prohibit Isaac from traveling back to Haran, but Isaac and Rebekah pushed Jacob to go to Haran? What did the Abrahamic Covenant and physically inhabiting the Promised Land have to do with all of this?

3. Examine Rebekah’s words and actions in 27:41-28:5. What does it seem were Rebekah’s primary and secondary reasons for sending Jacob to Haran to find a wife?

4. In 28:2, Isaac refers to Bethuel as Rebekah’s father. Besides the fact that Bethuel was Isaac’s father-in-law, what was Isaac’s biological kinship with Bethuel? How did Isaac know whether or not Laban had any daughters for Jacob to marry?

5. What were the names of Esau’s wives, and what were their national or familial backgrounds? (26:34, 28:9) Considering the Abrahamic Covenant, why would a wife from Abraham’s brother’s line have been seen as preferable for Isaac and Jacob, but a wife from Abraham’s son’s line (28:9) was seen as less desirable for Esau? How was Esau’s split from the Covenant lineage and alignment with the non-Covenant lineage through his marriages a fulfillment of God’s word to Rebekah in 25:23: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided;”?

6. What nation/people did Jacob become? What nation/people did Esau become? From which of these nations and lineages did Christ eventually come, fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant?

7. Even though Judith, Basemath, and Mahalath were not in the Covenant lineage and likely weren’t worshipers of God, how might marrying into, and living in close proximity to, a family who worshiped the one true God have impacted their spiritual lives? Consider the idea behind 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 as you answer.

8. What was Rebekah’s attitude toward her daughters-in-law? (26:34-35, 27:46) Was her attitude focused on herself and how these women were affecting her, or was it focused on them and how she could help them, love them, and be a godly influence on them? How might Rebekah’s attitude have prevented her from introducing them to the one true God and discipling them in the spirit of Titus 2:3-5?

9. How was Jacob’s experience at Bethel (28:10-22) a turning point or a fresh start in his relationship with God? What did God promise Jacob? (28:12-15) What did Jacob promise God? (28:20-22) How would God’s promises to Jacob and Jacob’s promises to God have set the foundation and tone for Jacob’s relationship with his soon to be family and his relationship with his family of origin (when he later returned to them)? How could Jacob’s vow to God be seen as the earliest “mission statement”, if you will, of the future nation of Israel?

Homework

Do you have a Judith, Basemath, or Mahalath in your life- a woman who’s a hard-to-love unbeliever? What is your attitude toward her? Is it focused on yourself and how she affects you, or is it focused on her and how you could help her, love her, and share the gospel with her? Write down three practical ways you could be a godly influence on her this week.

Suggested Memory Verse

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God,
Genesis 28:20-21

Women of Genesis Bible Study

The Women of Genesis: Lesson 20- Rebekah

Michelle Lesley

Previous Lessons: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

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Read Genesis 26-27

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Questions to Consider

1. In 26:3-4, what promise is God reiterating to Isaac? Why did God repeat the Abrahamic Covenant so many times?

2. Examine 26:2-5. Did Isaac have a legitimate reason to fear for his life? (26:7) Consider Who made these promises to Isaac and what the promises were. Was Isaac acting out of trust in God or fear of man when he lied?

3. In lesson 19 (link above) we looked at four commonalities between Sarah’s life and Rebekah’s life. What were those four commonalities? In today’s lesson, we’ve got another déjà vu moment. Compare 26:1-11 with Genesis 12:10-20, 20:1-18. List the similarities and differences between Sarah’s experiences and Rebekah’s. What were some ways Rebekah would have had to trust and obey God? How might Rebekah’s relationship with God have grown through this experience?

4. Who was Abimelech? In what way did Abimelech (26:9-11) demonstrate more belief in God’s Word than Isaac (26:7) did?

5. What was the significance of all the well digging (26:12-33), and the fact that Isaac gave the wells the same names Abraham had given them (26:18)? Consider this establishment of claim to the land by Isaac in light of God’s promise about the land in 26:3-4.

6. Summarize Rebekah’s role in the story of the stolen blessing in chapter 27. Did Rebekah do anything that was sinful? Did she do anything that was righteous? What were the consequences of her actions? How do her words and actions in this chapter set a good or bad example for Christian women today? How did God use her actions as part of His overall plan?

7. Briefly review lessons 18 and 19 (links above), examining Rebekah’s character and personality, and especially Genesis 25:23,27. Chapter 27 tells us what Rebekah did, but doesn’t really explain why she did it. Knowing what you know about Rebekah from previous passages about her, what are some possible motives – good or bad – that may have led her to act the way she did? Is it always possible to determine someone’s motives merely by observing her outward behavior?

8. Think about the effect Rebekah’s actions had on Isaac, Esau, and Jacob respectively. How might her behavior have impacted her relationship with her husband and each of her sons? Think about your own behavior. How does it impact your relationship with your husband, children, family members, co-workers, or fellow church members?

Homework

How often do you consider your motives for saying or doing various things? Do you act out of selfish ambition and conceit or humility? Do you look out for number one or act in the best interests of others? Are your actions motivated by trust in God or fear of man, as Isaac was? Over the course of the next week, take some time at the end of each day to think back over your words and actions. Evaluate your motives. Were they godly or ungodly? Repent where you need to repent and ask God to make your motives more godly.

Suggested Memory Verse

May God give you of the dew of heaven
    and of the fatness of the earth
    and plenty of grain and wine.
Let peoples serve you,
    and nations bow down to you.
Be lord over your brothers,
    and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be everyone who curses you,
    and blessed be everyone who blesses you!
Genesis 27:28-29