Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 21 This chapter is based on Genesis 41:54-56; 42 to 50. At the very opening of the fruitful years began the preparation for the approaching famine. Under the direction of Joseph, immense storehouses were erected in all the principal places throughout the land of Egypt, and ample arrangements were made for preserving…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 20 This chapter is based on Genesis 39 to 41. Meanwhile, Joseph with his captors was on the way to Egypt. As the caravan journeyed southward toward the borders of Canaan, the boy could discern in the distance the hills among which lay his father’s tents. Bitterly he wept at thought of…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 19 This chapter is based on Genesis 34; 35; 37. Crossing the Jordan, “Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 33:18, R.V. Thus the patriarch’s prayer at Bethel, that God would bring him again in peace to his own land, had been…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 18 This chapter is based on Genesis 32 and 33. Though Jacob had left Padan-aram in obedience to the divine direction, it was not without many misgivings that he retraced the road which he had trodden as a fugitive twenty years before. His sin in the deception of his father was ever…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 17 This chapter is based on Genesis 28 to 31. Threatened with death by the wrath of Esau, Jacob went out from his father’s home a fugitive; but he carried with him the father’s blessing; Isaac had renewed to him the covenant promise, and had bidden him, as its inheritor, to seek…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 16 This chapter is based on Genesis 25:19-24; 27. Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, present a striking contrast, both in character and in life. This unlikeness was foretold by the angel of God before their birth. When in answer to Rebekah’s troubled prayer he declared that two sons would…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 15 This chapter is based on Genesis 24. Abraham had become an old man, and expected soon to die; yet one act remained for him to do in securing the fulfillment of the promise to his posterity. Isaac was the one divinely appointed to succeed him as the keeper of the law…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 14 This chapter is based on Genesis 19. Fairest among the cities of the Jordan Valley was Sodom, set in a plain which was “as the garden of the Lord” in its fertility and beauty. Here the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics flourished. Here was the home of the palm tree, the…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 13 This chapter is based on Genesis 16; 17:18-20; 21:1-14; 22:1-19. Abraham had accepted without question the promise of a son, but he did not wait for God to fulfill His word in His own time and way. A delay was permitted, to test his faith in the power of God; but…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 12 This chapter is based on Genesis 13; to 15;; 17: 1-16; 18. Abraham returned to Canaan “very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.” Lot was still with him, and again they came to Bethel, and pitched their tents by the altar which they had before erected. They soon found…