Questions on Genesis 26 to 50
1.Why did God bless Isaac (Genesis 26)? Answer
2. How old was Esau when he first married (Genesis 26)? Answer
3. How old was Isaac when he said to Esau, "Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death." (Genesis 27:2)? Answer
4. What was Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12 - 15)? Answer
5. Who offered the first vow found in the Bible (Genesis 28)? Answer
6. How old was Jacob when he married and had children (Genesis 29 - 30)? Answer
7. How long did Jacob end up working for Laban (Genesis 31)? Answer
8. Why was Jacob, in spite of his wealth and large family, afraid of meeting Esau (Genesis 32)? Answer
9. Who wrestled with Jacob all night long? Was it an angel (Genesis 32)? Answer
10. Why did Jacob insist Esau take his gifts (Genesis 33)? Answer
11. Why did God have to specially protect Jacob and his family (Genesis 34 - 35)? Answer
12. What did Joseph's "coat of many colors," given him by his father, symbolize (Genesis 37)? Answer
13. Why did Tamar feel she had to pretend to be a whore to Judah (Genesis 38)? Answer
14. What got Joseph tossed into Egypt's prison (Genesis 39)? Answer
15. What was the purpose of Pharaoh's dream of fat and lean cows as well as healthy and unhealthy corn (Genesis 41)? Answer
16. How powerful did Joseph become in Egypt after interpreting Pharaoh's dream (Genesis 41)? Answer
17. Why was Jacob's last son Benjamin important to Joseph (Genesis 42)? Answer
18. Why didn't the Egyptians eat at the same table as Joseph's family who came from Canaan (Genesis 43:32)? Answer
19. Why did Joseph warn his brothers, on their way back to Canaan, to "see that ye fall not out by the way" (Genesis 45:24)? Answer
20. Why did God encourage Jacob to migrate to Egypt (Genesis 46:1 - 4)? Answer
21. How many people migrated to Egypt due to famine (Genesis 46)? Answer
22. How old was Jacob when he was introduced to Pharoah by Joseph (Genesis 47)? Answer
23. Where was Rachel, Jacob's beloved wife, buried (Genesis 48)? Answer
24. Jacob requested being buried near Mamre (Hebron). Who else is buried there (Genesis 49)? Answer
25. How does the book of Genesis end (Genesis 50)? Answer
Answers on Genesis
1. Isaac was blessed by God because his father Abraham, "obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:5).
[Are the Commandments Still Relevant?]
2. Esau was forty years old when he married two women at the same time (Genesis 26:34)!
3. Isaac was sixty years old when he had Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:24 - 26). His two sons were 77 years old, making him 137, when Jacob fled Esau due to stealing his birthright (chapter 27). Isaac would astonishingly live another 43 years until his death at the age of 180 (Genesis 35:28 - 29).
4. Jacob, in a dream, saw a spiritual ladder that joined heaven to earth. He also witnessed angels ascending and descending the ladder which had God standing above it.
God confirmed to Jacob the promise made to Abraham and Isaac that their descendants would inherit the land of Canaan. He also promised the patriarch that he would watch over him and never leave him (Genesis 28:13 - 15).
5. The first vow in Scripture is Jacob's promise to give God a tenth of what he produced (Genesis 28:20 - 22).
6. Jacob was 77 years old when he stole Esau's birthright and had to flee to Laban. He then worked seven years, until he was 84, before he was allowed to marry both Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29:20 - 30).
[How Old Was Jacob When He Married?]
Between the ages of 84 and 91 he produced eleven of his twelve sons and his only daughter (Genesis 29:32 - 30:25).
7. Jacob had to work 14 years for the right to marry his beloved Rachel. He then worked 6 years to build up his wealth. He left Laban after working for him for 20 years (Genesis 31:38).
8. Jacob was afraid of Esau because, twenty years prior, he stole his birthright blessing by pretending to be him to their near-blind father Isaac (Genesis 27). Esau, at the time, swore in his wrath that he would murder Jacob (27:41).
9. Jacob was about 97 years old when "a man" (Genesis 32:24) began a wrestling match with him that lasted all night! Even after Jacob's hip was miraculously thrown out of joint by the man he would not give up. The man ultimately changed Jacob's name to Israel and blessed him.
The person Jacob wrestled was the member of the Godhead known as Jesus Christ who had manifested himself in the flesh! Jacob had no doubt who it was he wrestled as he named where the match took place Peniel which means "facing God."
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel (Penuel): for I have seen God FACE TO FACE, and my life is preserved (Genesis 32:30, KJV).
10. Jacob insisted that Esau take his gifts as he was overenjoyed he was able to have a peaceful reunion with him.
Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him (Esau), and he took it (Genesis 33:11).
11. A man named Shechem raped Jacob's only daughter Dinah (Genesis 34:1 - 2) then afterward sought to marry her. Jacob's sons, angered at the rape, devised a plan to get revenge on the man and the city he lived in.
Jacob's sons promised to let their sister marry Shechem if he and the men of his village were first circumcised. Simeon and Levi then entered the village while the men were still sore from their circumcisions and killed them all. They and the rest of the brothers then plundered all those who died (Genesis 34:24 - 29). Jacob, when he learned what his sons had done, greatly fear retribution.
God then had Jacob move his family to Bethel. While they traveled the Lord protected them from experiencing the revenge of the surrounding cities for their mass murder.
"and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob." (Genesis 35:5).
12. Jacob's gift of the special coat was meant to show he wanted Joseph to help supervise and oversee his wealth with him. It also hinted at the elevated status Joseph would achieve thirteen years later when he would become the second most powerful person in the Egyptian Empire (Genesis 37:5 - 11, 41:39 - 46).
[Joseph's Coat of Many Colors]
13. Tamar was initially married to Judah's son Er (Genesis 38:6). Er, when God killed him for his wickedness, left Tamar a widow without any children. Judah then promised Tamar she could marry his son Shelah when he was old enough.
When Shelah was old enough to marry, however, Judah did not give him to marry Tamar. Her response was to feign being a whore to Judah so that he could give her children (Genesis 38:18, 27 - 30). Tamar produced twin sons named Pharez and Zarah. Pharez would ultimately be in the physical genealogy of Jesus.
14. The wife of the man Joseph worked for wanted him to have sex with her. Joseph's refusal to sin only spurred the woman to continue pestering him. Then, one day, she grabbed his robe and attempted to seduce him yet again, only to have him run away naked.
The woman, angered her advances were unsuccessful, lies to her husband about Joseph who then has him thrown in prison (Genesis 39:12 - 20).
15. One purpose of Pharaoh's dream was to warn of seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine (Genesis 41:25 - 31). A more subtle purpose was to set the stage for fulfilling the prophecy given to Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land (Genesis 15:13 - 14).
16. Joseph was made the most powerful person in Egypt second only to Pharaoh. His title meant that everyone short of Pharaoh would be required to bow to him. His position also meant that no one could oppose his orders and that all that occurred in the kingdom had to have his approval (Genesis 41:39 - 44).
This elevation in status also set up the prophetic fulfillment of Joseph's dream that revealed his entire family, including Jacob, would be made to bow to him (Genesis 37:5 - 11).
17. Joseph and Benjamin were the only two sons Jacob produced through his beloved wife Rachel. When Joseph was sold into slavery his younger brother Benjamin was only a baby. Joseph no doubt longed to see his biological brother who was now roughly 21 to 22 years old when his older brothers came to buy food.
18. Biblical commentaries vary regarding the reasons why the Egyptians did not eat at the same table as the Hebrews. One possible reason is that the Hebrews ate certain animals that the Egyptians worshipped and considered sacred.
Another possible reason for the Egyptians refusing to eat with the Hebrews is, "for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." (Genesis 46:34).
19. Joseph knew his brothers well. He did not want them quarreling amongst themselves over their bad attitudes toward him or to accuse each other over their roles in selling him into slavery.
20. One reason for God encouraging Jacob is due to his justifiable reluctance to believe his sons were telling him the truth. Another is that God wanted to reiterate his love for Jacob in spite of all of his problems.
21. Genesis 46 reveals the names of 66 people who were direct descendants of Israel (Jacob) who migrated to Egypt. If we include Joseph and his two sons already in Egypt, plus Jacob himself in Canaan, this number rises to 70.
[What Does Number 70 Symbolize?]
22. Jacob was 130 years old when he met Pharaoh (Genesis 47:8 - 9). He would ultimately live in Egypt for 17 years and die at 147. His father Isaac lived to 180 and grandfather Abraham lived to 175.
23. Rachel was buried on the outskirts of Bethlehem after she died giving birth to Benjamin.
[Rachel, Ramah and Jesus' Birth]
24. Jacob requested to be buried in the same place as Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah and his first wife Leah (Genesis 49:30 - 31).
25. The book of Genesis ends with a prophecy. Joseph, who is near death, predicts God would someday lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back to their homeland of Canaan. Joseph was so confident of this prophecy that he had the Israelites promise, when this event finally occurred, to retrieve his body and bury it in Canaan (Genesis 50:24 - 25).