Lesson 23 Gen 15-16

Lesson 23: Genesis 15–16

I. Genesis 15:1–8; Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 15:9–12 (in the Bible appendix)
Abram asks how the Lord will be able to fulfill His promises

---Have you ever been promised something but had to wait a long time before the promise was fulfilled?
---What thoughts went through your mind as time passed?
---Why is waiting sometimes difficult?

---Earlier in Abram’s life, the Lord had promised him that his posterity would be as numerous as the “dust of the earth” (Genesis 13:16). Abram had waited for many years and still did not have any children.
---Scan Genesis 15:1 and notice who spoke to Abram in a vision.
---Who spoke to Abram? What might you have asked the Lord if you had been in Abram’s position?

---(2 students front of the class) read Genesis 15:1–6 aloud. Lord: (Genesis 15:1, 4–5), Abraham: (Genesis 15:2–3, 6).
---half the class to listen for Abram’s concern and the other half to listen for the Lord’s response
---What was Abram’s concern?
---explain that Eliezer was the man in charge of Abram’s house and that Abram wondered if Eliezer would become his heir if needed
---What was the Lord’s response?
---Why do you think Abram was able to believe the Lord despite his circumstances?

---Abram also had a concern about the land that the Lord had promised to him and his posterity. The Joseph Smith Translation adds four verses to this account that show how the Lord addressed this concern.
---JST Genesis 15:9–12 looking for what Abram learned. (“Son of Man” is a title for Jesus Christ.)
---According to this passage, the Lord told Abram that even if he were to die, God would be able to keep His promise. According to verse 11, why is this so?
---Abram was reminded that he would live again after his mortal life was completed because of the Savior’s Atonement and Resurrection. He was also reminded that God is able to keep His promises, whether in mortality or in the postmortal life.
---According to Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 15:12, what was Abram’s reaction when he understood this explanation and saw “the days of the Son of Man”? (“He believed in the Lord” and “was glad, and his soul found rest,” or peace.)
---Write a principle in your scriptures based on Abram’s experience. (When we believe that the Lord will fulfill His promises to us, whether in mortality or eternity, our souls can find peace.)
---Think of any concerns or worries that they may have about their futures. Share if you feel comfortable. (Will I find the right person to marry? Will I have children? Will I be able to serve a mission? What should I choose for my career?)
---Ponder how the principle you have identified can help you have gladness and peace like Abram did.

II. Genesis 15:9–21
God covenants with Abram that His words will be fulfilled

---There are many ways by which people certify or show that they will keep a promise.
---(Invite two students to the front of the class) Demonstrate how you might show that you would keep a promise with each other (for example, they could shake hands, sign their name to an agreement or contract, or do something similar).

---Abram asked the Lord how he would receive a land of inheritance. Genesis 15:9–18 contains the account of the Lord certifying in a unique way that He would keep His promises to Abram. God commanded Abram to take various animals, cut their carcasses into two pieces, and set them apart from each other. A “smoking furnace, and a burning lamp” representing the Lord’s presence then “passed between those pieces” (see verse 17). In ancient times, when such a covenant was made, the individual passing between the carcasses was essentially saying, “May I also be cut in two if I do not keep my part of this covenant.”

---Genesis 15:18 looking for what the Lord promised Abram.
---What did the Lord promise Abram?
---Although Abram was assured that the Lord would fulfill His promises to him, what did Abram still not know? (He did not know how the promises of the Lord would be fulfilled.)
   
---What lesson can we learn from Abram’s experience? (We can trust that the Lord will fulfill His promises even if we do not know how He will do so. )

---Elder Richard G. Scott : “This life is an experience in profound trust. … To trust means to obey willingly without knowing the end from the beginning (see Prov. 3:5–7). …

“To exercise faith is to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing with you and that He can accomplish it for your eternal good even though you cannot understand how He can possibly do it” (“Trust in the Lord,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 17).
---According to Elder Scott, how can we show the Lord that we trust Him?

---Think about promises that the Lord has made to you (through patriarchal and other blessings, ordinances and covenants, the words of living prophets, or the scriptures).
---Ponder the importance of obeying God’s commandments while you wait for the Lord’s promises to be fulfilled in their lives.

---Genesis 15:9–21. How to maintain faith in the face of challenges

After sharing the account of a father who brought his afflicted son to the Savior for healing (see Mark 9:14–29), Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles encouraged us to maintain our faith when we encounter doubt:

“In moments of fear or doubt or troubling times, hold the ground you have already won, even if that ground is limited. In the growth we all have to experience in mortality, the spiritual equivalent of this boy’s affliction or this parent’s desperation is going to come to all of us. When those moments come and issues surface, the resolution of which is not immediately forthcoming, hold fast to what you already know and stand strong until additional knowledge comes. … Jesus said, ‘If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you” [Matthew 17:20]. The size of your faith or the degree of your knowledge is not the issue—it is the integrity you demonstrate toward the faith you do have and the truth you already know” (“Lord, I Believe,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2013, 93–94).

III. Genesis 16:1–16
Sarai gives Hagar to Abram as his wife, and Hagar bears a son

---Write in notebooks about a challenge they or their families have experienced.
---Share?

---As you study Genesis 16, look for a principle that can help you when you face challenges in the future.

---Summary Genesis 16:1–3: Sarai could not have any children, so she gave her handmaid Hagar to Abram as a plural wife. From latter-day revelation we understand that this was a commandment from God that Abram and Sarai obeyed (see D&C 132:34). In this way, Sarai could obtain children by her servant Hagar, thus fulfilling the Lord’s promise that Abram would have children.  At certain times in the history of the world, the Lord has commanded His people to practice plural marriage. Plural marriage was practiced by Abram and Sarai and by their grandson Jacob, and it was practiced for a time during the early days of the restored Church, beginning with Joseph Smith.

---Genesis 16:3. How plural marriage in the Old Testament connects to plural marriage in the last dispensation

“While working on the translation of the Bible in the early 1830s, the Prophet Joseph Smith became troubled by the fact that Abraham, Jacob, David, and other Old Testament leaders had more than one wife. The Prophet prayed for understanding and learned that at certain times, for specific purposes, following divinely given laws, plural marriage was approved and directed by God. Joseph Smith also learned that with divine approval, some Latter-day Saints would soon be chosen by priesthood authority to marry more than one wife. A number of Latter-day Saints practiced plural marriage in Nauvoo, but a public announcement of this doctrine and practice was not made until the August 1852 general conference in Salt Lake City. At that conference, Elder Orson Pratt, as directed by President Brigham Young, announced that the practice of a man having more than one wife was part of the Lord’s restitution of all things (see Acts 3:19–21)” (Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints [1996], 97; see also Jacob 2:27–30).


---We read in Genesis 16:4–6 that Hagar conceived a child but began to feel jealousy and bitterness toward Sarai. Sarai responded by dealing “hardly” with Hagar, who fled into the wilderness.
---How would you feel if you had been in Sarai’s position? How would you feel if you had been in Hagar’s position?

---While Hagar was in the wilderness, an angel appeared to her.
---Genesis 16:7–10 aloud  looking for what the angel told Hagar.
---What instructions did the angel give Hagar?
---According to Genesis 16:10, what promise did Hagar receive?

---In the scriptures the names of people and places often have symbolic meanings.
---Half read Genesis 16:11–12
---Other half read Genesis 16:13–14
---Read your assigned verses and find the names contained in them and report what you found--use footnotes to find meanings
---Hagar and her son Ishmael are revered in the Islamic faith as ancestors of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Muslims [followers of Islam] also honor Abraham as a prophet.
---What can Hagar’s experience and the meanings of these names teach us about the Lord?

---The Lord hears and sees us in our trials and can help us through them. (on board)

---President Dieter F. Uchtdorf : “You are not alone on this journey. Your Heavenly Father knows you. Even when no one else hears you, He hears you. When you rejoice in righteousness, He rejoices with you. When you are beset with trial, He grieves with you” (“Your Wonderful Journey Home,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2013, 127–28).
---How can knowing that Heavenly Father really does see and hear you help you deal with the challenges you face?

---Consider inviting students to share their testimonies.