Download Genesis and Exodus

The Bible
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The word bible means “books” The bible is a small library in one.
The bible is divided into two major parts-the Old Testament and the New
Testament. The Old is before Jesus’ existence and the New is after Jesus came
to Earth.
The Hebrew scripture makes up most of the Old Testament. It is a story of
God’s love for the Hebrew people (also known as Israelites or Jews)These
scriptures were written well over a 1000 years and are the basis of Jewish faith.
The Christian story of faith is rooted in stories that can be traced back 400
years.
The New Testament is the story of Jesus- his life, death, and resurrection. It is
also the story of the early followers of Jesus and how the church was formed.
The oldest book of the New Testament (1 Thessalonians) was written around the
year 51, about 21 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The bible is our story. It is about our relationship with God, and God’s
relationship with us, over time. It is the story of our creation, the story of our
re-creation in Jesus, when God “makes us new persons”, saving us from sins
and giving us new life in heaven.
The Bible is our “mentorship book.” It reminds us that we do belong, we do fit
into God’s plan, no matter which we are or what we have done. The Bible is our
love story because it is the story of God’s deep love for each and every one of us.
We share it and reflect upon it together, we become one community.
The Genesis Story
Creation of the World (Genesis 1-2:4)
God created the earth in seven days.
Day One- He created light and darkness
Day Two: He created a dome over the earth and called it sky.
Day Three: He created land and plants
Day Four: He created stars, planets, sun and the moon.
Day Five: He created animals in the water and the sky.
Day Six: He created human beings in his image , which he named Adam and Eve
Day Seven: He rested and blessed that day and called it the Sabbath.
Creation of Man & Woman (Genesis 2:4-3:24)
God created man (Adam) from dirt. He realized that Adam did not have a suitable
companion so he removed one of Adam’s ribs and created women(Eve). God created both
Adam and Eve naked and instructed them, not to eat from the knowledge tree. Adam and
Eve were told by a snake to disobey God and eat from the knowledge tree. The snake told
them they would gain great knowledge. Adam and Eve ate from the knowledge tree and
immediately realized that they were naked and embarrassed. God then cursed Adam and
explained that for the rest of time man would have difficulty farming and growing food
because they would have to deal with weeds. God also cursed women by causing women
to have complications with their pregnancies. God also cursed the snake, who would
forever live without legs and arm, and would always be forced to travel on its belly.
Because Adam and Eve were uncomfortable being naked the Lord made them clothes
from animal skins.
Cain & Abel (Genesis 4:1-4:26)
Adam and Eve had two babies. They were named Cain and Abel. Cain became a farmer
and Abel became a shepherd. As a gift to the Lord, Cain offered some of his harvest. Abel
sacrificed and offered the Lord his best lamb as a gift. The Lord accepted Abel’s gift but
rejected Cain’s. Cain become so jealous and brought his brother Abel to a deserted field
and killed him. The Lord put a curse on Cain as a punishment.
Cain had a son and named him Enoch. Cain later built a city and named it after his son.
Cain had many descendents. (ie Irad and Lamich)
Noah’s Ark (Genesis 5:1- 7:24; Genesis 8:1-9:17)
Mankind continued to grow, but God became angry with the people that he had created.
He found that they were fighting, and were full of greed. So he created a flood that would
wipe out all of the human race.
The Lord chose Noah to build an ark so that he and his family would be saved from the
great flood. The Lord chose Noah because he was a good and honorable man. Noah built
a very sturdy and safe ark, his wife, his three son (Shem , Ham, Japeth) and one male
and one female of every kind of living organism on earth. He did this so that after the
flood the animals could re-populate the earth. The Lord opened up the skies and flooded
the earth, killing everything that was living except for Noah, his family and the animals
that he has on the ark with him. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The great flood
lasted 150 days.
Noah sent out a dove to find if the flood waters has begun to slow down. This dove came
back with nothing, so seven days later he sent out another dove. This time the dove came
back with an olive branch. This illustrated to Noah that the flood waters must have been
disappearing. On the 27th day of the second month the earth was completely dry. Noah
as a gift to God sacrificed an animal and offered it to him. The rainbow that appeared
after the great flood represents the fact that God will never flood the earth and destroy
mankind again. Because of the great flood Noah’s three sons are the ancestors of
everyone.
Abram & Sarai in Egypt (Genesis 12:1- 20)
God promised Abram He would bless and protect him. He asked Abram to leave his home
and move to a new land. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew, Lot, and all their
possessions and left Haran for Canaan. Abram built an altar to the Lord there. There was
a great famine in the new land, so Abram and Sarai went to Egypt to live illegally. He
knew the Egyptian Pharaoh would want Sarai as his wife and kill Abram, so Abram told
Sarai to say she was his sister so that his life would be spared. The Pharaoh took Sarai
into his house and treated Abram well. The Lord afflicted Pharaoh’s house with a plague
because he took Sarai. Pharaoh was angry and asked Abram why he lied to him. He then
kicked Abram and Sarai out of Egypt.
Abram, Sarai & Hagar (Genesis 15:1- 16:16)
Abram was promised many children by God, but still had none. He was frustrated
because he was worried his slaves would be his heir. God promised again that Abram
would have more descendents than stars in the sky. Abram kept his faith in God. Sarai
was still not pregnant, so she said for Abram to bear a child with her slave, Hagar.
Abram took Hagar as his wife and together, they had a child. Sarai became angry with
Hagar, dealt with her harshly so Hagar ran away. The Lord found her, told her to go back
and promised her children would be taken care of, Hagar gave birth to a boy named
Ishmael.
Isaac & Ishmael (Genesis 17:1-8 and 21: 1-21)
God asked Abram to change his name to Abraham because he was to be the ancestor of
many nations. God renewed his covenant/promises for many offspring. Sarai’s name
changed to Sarah. Sarah bore a child named Isaac. Sarah saw Isaac playing with
Ishmael and was angry, she didn’t want Ishmael to inherit anything from Abraham that
should go to Isaac. Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael away. Hagar was very upset and
worried about her son. God reassured her that Ishmael would have a great nation.
Exodus
The Exodus story reminds us that without God’s help, our lives would be miserable. We
should always praise and thank God for the many wonderful things God has done for us.
One prayer of praise and thanks would be the Eucharist and the sharing of the
Eucharist because of the Passover.
Exodus 1- 2 1-10
-The Egyptian king ordered all Hebrew’s Israelites into slavery because they were
consider to be over populating the earth
-The King ordered all young Hebrew bys to be executed
- One Hebrew women saved her son by outing him in a basket and letting him float down
the Nile river
-The king’s daughter found the baby along and adopted him. She later named him Moses
Exodus 2:11-25- 3: 1-22
-Moses killed an Egyptian because the Egyptian had killed a Hebrew man. The king of
the Egyptian tried to have Moses killed, but he fled to Midian
-Moses married Jethro’s daughter and had a son that he named Gershom
-Moses fled to Mount Sinai ( Holy Mountain) He met the angel of the Lord in a burning
bush. The Lord instructed Moses to go and lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. The Lord
assured Moses that he would be successful
Exodus 4: 1-31
-Moses was afraid that the Israelites wouldn’t listen to him. God instructed Moses that
he would help him perform miracles so that they would believe that he was sent by God.
- Moses went with his brother Aaron and together they gathered all the Israelite leaders
to inform them of God’s plan
Exodus 5:1-6:13
-Moses went to the king of Egypt and demanded that he set the Israelites free so that
they could have a festival in the desert and honor God
-The king refused and only made the Israelites work even harder.
- The Israelite slaves became frustrated with Moses and Aaron because they felt that the
king now had a reason to kill him.
- Moses then asked God why he mistreats his people. God responded, I will punish the
Egyptians for enslaving the Israelites and I will free the Israelites to the land that I
promised them.
Exodus 6:28-10:29
The Lord explained to Moses that he will punish the Egyptians by killing all of their first
born male children (both human and animal). He then tells Moses that after this takes
place, the Israelites will be let free.
Exodus 12:15-36
-The Lord instructed the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb or goat, and to wipe some of the
blood of these animals on the door of their house. The Lord instructed them to do this so
that he would know what houses to Passover when he came to kill the first born sons of
the Egyptians.
-The Lord killed the first born sons of the Egyptians and the king in turn allowed the
Israelites to leave Egypt.
-The Israelites celebrate the Passover Festival as they remember that the Lord had
spared them and killed the Egyptians. This is a festival in honor of God.
Exodus 13:17-14:31
-God led the Israelites into the dessert. He guided them during the day with a pillar of
cloud and at night with a pillar of fire.
-The king of Egypt and his soldiers when after the Israelites. The Israelites became
panicked and God instructed Moses to raise his hand over the Red Sea. The sea parted
and the Israelites safely passes through, When the Egyptians followed, Moses closed the
sea on them.
-At the sight of this miracle everyone knew God was all powerful.
Exodus 15:22- 16:36
-Moses led the Israelites away from the Red Sea and into the desert. It was here that they
had no food or water for three days. The Lord fed and watered the people by making it
rain loaves of bread. The Israelites built a community around a lake in Marah.