|
October 7, 2007 "Esau and Jacob as
Rivals" |
Welcome to the St. Martin's Prime Timers Adult Bible Fellowship!
We meet in the Payne Education Center, rooms 207-209, after the 9am Sunday Service, from 10:10 to 10:50am. We are studying the Book of Genesis for the next couple months, and you are invited to explore with us.
The St. Martin's Adult Bible Fellowships (ABF's) are following a course of study based on the work of the Committee on the Uniform Series, also known as the International Lessons. Bible students around the world are using this same framework.
Prime Timers Good News
At the beginning of our class we devote time to hear our members Good News. Presenting your news requires a $1 donation to our Good News chicken, Henny Penny.
Today Carol celebrated her birthday! She was happy to have made it to another one. Donn gave thanks that his wife, and the dog, are back from Maine.
Isaac and Rebekah
Ben Welmaker continued our journey through the Book of Genesis with the story of Isaac and Rebekah. This story takes place late in Abraham's life, when he wants his son Isaac to have a wife from the country where Abraham came from, and not from among the Canaanites, where he lived now. Abraham wants the servant to swear an oath that he will do this, an indication that Abraham believed he might be dead before the servant returned.
The servant is reluctant to swear the oath, but Abraham, confident that the Lord will provide a wife, releases the servant from the oath (Genesis 24:8) "If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there." So the servant takes ten camels and all kinds of good things to give to the prospective bride and her family.
The servant goes to Nahor and and waits by the well outside of town, reasoning that the women of the town would be sent to draw water from the well. It is here he encounters Rebekah, a beautiful virgin, who not only gives him a drink of water, but provides water for the ten camels as well. The servant bows down and worships the Lord that such a perfect woman for Isaac should be at the well.
At this point Ben suggested that there are two lessons to learn from Abraham's life, 1.) Living by faith: the importance of trusting God's plan for our lives, and 2.) Knowing God's will for our lives through prayer, reading the Bible and attending Church. You may not have a "Saul on the road to Damascus" experience, but is this a reason not to trust God?
Ben also suggested that God works through beautiful people, although sometimes beauty can be skin deep.
We left the servant and Rebekah at the well, and now we get to her home, where the servant is brought food and fodder for the camels. The servant, however, wants to tell the family of Rebekah the story of Abraham's mission for the servant. This is the reading for our lesson. The servant recounts the story and asks Rebekah's brother Laban and father Bethuel what they would do. They answer that this match is from the Lord, so how could they object!
Rebekah returns with the servant and marries Isaac and while this is an arranged marriage it quickly becomes one of the heart as well, a true "match made in heaven!" Isaac is referred to as "my master" (Genesis 24:65) by the servant, an indication that Abraham had passed away and that Isaac was now the head of the household.
Ben remarked that the appeal of this story is the same reason why we cry at weddings, that here are two people embarking on a journey, neither knowing how it will turn out.
Ben ended class with a short prayer.
Prime Timers Contact names and numbers
Mentor
Rev. B. Massey Gentry
mgentry@stmartinsepiscopal.org
Leaders
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net
Max Kech
713/802-0690 H
maxkech2003@yahoo.com
Marty Smith
713/464-6737 H
martys47@comcast.net
Teachers
Richard Cruse
Pete Seale
Ben Welmaker
bhwjr@flash.net
Outreach (inviting and welcoming new members)
Anne Berry
832/251-8868 H
anne.berry@comcast.net
Elizabeth Sleeper
jsleeperjr@houston.rr.com
Abraham and Sarah, from Clerestory window 5b, St. Martin's new church.
The Lesson for Sunday, October 7th is titled "Esau and Jacob as Rivals"
Key Verse: Genesis 25:23
Focus of the Lesson: Siblings have clashed since the days of Cain and Abel. What are the roots of family conflict, especially hostility between brothers or sisters? The story of Jacob and Esau reveals that a rivalry begun at birth continued into their adult years as Jacob persuaded Esau to sell his birthright.
The reading is Genesis 25:19-34. This text is from the New International Version. (NIV)
19This is the account of Abraham's son Isaac.
Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.
21Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" So she went to inquire of the LORD.
23The LORD said to her,
"Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will
be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger."
24When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.
27The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30He said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!" (That is why he was also called Edom.)
31Jacob replied, "First sell me your birthright."
32"Look, I am about to die," Esau said. "What good is the birthright to me?"
33But Jacob said, "Swear to me first." So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.
34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.
So Esau despised his birthright.
NIV
717 Sage Road | Houston, Texas 77056-2199 | (713) 621-3040 | (713) 622-5701 Fax