CHAPTER ONE

Contents: Original creation and the renovating of earth for habitation of man. Creation of animal and human life.

Characters: God, v. 1. Spirit, v. 2. Christ, v. 26 (See Col. 1:15-17; John 1:3) first man and woman.

Conclusion: An all-wise, all-powerful, loving God formed all things perfect in the beginning. He made man, the crown of His creation, perfect and capable of fellowship with Himself and able to enjoy and govern Eden.

Key Word: Beginnings, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 1, 27.

Striking Facts: v. 1. Be sure to compare John 1:1, 2, 3, 14. Not only was Jesus Christ present in creation, but creation was bound up with Him as its secret. Col. 1:15-17. See Heb. 1:3. Gen. 1 is not a history of the original creation, but of a reconstruction following a cataclysmic judgment which had befallen the original creation, v. 1 Original creation, v. 2 Its destruction, v. 3 and on, Reconstruction.

CHAPTER TWO

Contents: God's Sabbath rest. The creative act of Gen. 1:27 explained. The Edenic covenant.

Characters: God, Adam, Eve.

Conclusion: Man is a threefold being, body, soul and spirit. The real man is soul and spirit, conferred directly from God. The body, the outward casing, is dust and to dust it returns.

Key Word: Man, v. 7.

Strong Verses: 3, 7, 18, 24.

Striking Facts: Eve, a type of the Church, the Bride of Christ, was not formed of dust, but came from an opened side. The Church is a heavenly Body, born from the opened side of the Second Adam, God's Son.

CHAPTER THREE

Contents: Temptation of Eve and entrance of sin into the race. God's covenant with fallen man and the expulsion from Eden.

Characters: God, Satan, Adam, Eve.

Conclusion: Doubt lies at the root of all sin. Altering the Word, v. 1; adding to the Word, v. 3 or taking from the Word, v. 5, are dangerous acts.

Key Word: Serpent, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 9, 15, 19, 22, 23.

Striking Facts: Conscience, the realization of what man is, must be met by salvation, the revelation of what God is in Grace, before peace can be restored to man. Through woman sin entered and by her seed alone was salvation promised. Isa. 7:14; 9:6, 7.

CHAPTER FOUR

Contents: First sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Murder of Abel. First civilization. Birth of Seth.

Characters: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth.

Conclusion: Attainment can never take the place of Atonement. Without the recognition of Christ as our substitute and sacrifice there can be no approach to God.

Key Word: Offering, v. 4.

Strong Verses: 4, 26.

Striking Facts: There has been more persecution on religious grounds than on any other. The fruit of Cain's false worship was to avoid the presence of God and to lose himself in the world and its pursuits.

CHAPTER FIVE

Contents: Generations from Adam to Noah.

Characters: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuseleh, Lamech, Noah.

Conclusion: By man came death. In Adam all die. In Christ shall all who believe be made alive.

Key Word: Generations, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 24.

Striking Facts: Enoch, the seventh from Adam was translated and made the trophy of God's power over death.

CHAPTER SIX

Contents: Flood announced. Compromise of sons of God with daughters of men.

Characters: Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth.

Conclusion: The true believer can float in peace on the very waters by which the wicked world is judged.

Key Word: Flood, v. 17.

Strong Verses: 8, 9, 18, 22.

Striking Facts: The plan whereby Noah was saved was no invention of his own but one revealed by God, v. 13. Faith is governed by the pure Word of God. Heb. 11:7. The ark is a type of Christ as the refuge of His people from the judgment.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Contents: The flood comes. Noah and family preserved.

Characters: Noah, his sons, and their wives.

Conclusion: The blood of Christ keeps out the waters of judgment and makes the believers position "in Christ" a safe one. v. 16.

Key Word: Ark, v. 7.

Strong Verses: 16.

Striking Facts: The hand that made Noah secure within, shut the others out. There was a window in the top of the ark whereby they could look up in communion with God, knowing that no judgment remained for them. Heb. 12:1-2.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Contents: Waters receding, exit from the ark. Noah's altar.

Characters: Noah and family.

Conclusion: When judgment days are past, the believer will find himself safely landed in a better world.

Key Word: Rest, v. 4.

Strong Verses: 1, 20.

Striking Facts: Superstition would have worshipped the ark as the means of salvation, but Noah looked to the God back of the means.

CHAPTER NINE

Contents: Noamic covenant. Noah's shame and Ham's sin.

Characters: Noah and family.

Conclusion: The believer is as secure as God's promises are true. No promise of God can fail.

Key Word: Covenant, v. 9.

Strong Verses: 9,13.

Striking Facts: The bow seen upon the storm clouds of judgment speaks of the cross where judgment never to be repeated has been visited upon the believer's sins.

CHAPTER TEN

Contents: Establishing of the nations.

Characters: Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, Nimrod, Canaan.

Conclusion: God made all nations of one blood and determined the bounds

of their habitations. Key Word: Nations, v. 31. Strong Verses: 32. Striking Facts: From the seven sons of Japheth, the Gentile nations are

descended.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Contents: Failure under Noamic covenant. Tower of Babel. Scattering of the people. Ancestry of Abram.

Characters: Shem, Terah, Abram, Lot, Sarai.

Conclusion: Man ever builds under the heavens, seeking a name and a portion in the earth. The believer builds on an imperishable foundation laid in heaven by God. Man's devices all fail.

Key Word: Confusion (Babel) v. 9.

Strong Verses: 5, 9.

Striking Facts: To exalt man without God in Christ is to elevate him to a dizzy height from which he is sure to fall into hopelessness.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Contents: Call of Abram. His worship and testing. The error in Egypt.

Characters: Abram, Sarai, Lot, Pharaoh.

Conclusion: The path into which God calls the believer may often be trying to the flesh, but this does not necessarily indicate that he is out of God's will.

Key Word: Sojourners, v. 10.

Strong Verses: 3, 8.

Striking Facts: God's biddings are His enablings. Better suffer in Canaan in God's path than live in luxury in Egypt in the devil's path. The altar marks Abraham as a worshipper. The tent marks him as a  pilgrim. These are distinguishing marks of the followers of Christ.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Contents: Abram's return to the land and the altar. Separation from Lot. Lots backsliding and choice of the land.

Characters: Abram, Lot.

Conclusion: Material blessings are often accompanied by moral blight. Let nature range where it will, it can never take faith's treasure.

Key Word: Separation, v. 9.

Strong Verses: 4, 17, 18.

Striking Facts: Lot pictures a professing Christian trying to make the best of both worlds, v. 12. He who puts God and Christ first will never be bereft of that which is best for him.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Contents: Abram delivers Lot. Abram's" refusal to compromise with the King of Sodom.

Characters: King of Sodom, Lot, Abram, Melchizedek.

Conclusion: Genuine faith never wraps itself in fleece while a brother shivers  in the cold. The farther a believer lives from the world, the greater power he will have over it.

Key Word: Deliverance, v. 20.

Strong Verses: 22, 23.

Striking Facts: The most effectual way to serve the world is to be separated from it. The first mention in the Bible of the kings, finds them fighting. The last of Revelation leaves them hard at it still.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Contents: Abrahamic covenant confirmed and spiritual seed promised. Characters: Abram, God.

Conclusion: The promises to faith are more certain than the conclusions of logic (v. 25). Faith is the key that unlocks the cabinet of promises.

Key Word: Seed, v. 5.

Strong Verses: 1, 6.

Striking Facts: v. 17. A smoking furnace suggests that the inheritance would be reached by passing through furnaces of trial. The bright lamp tells of God's relief which shines brighter as the road gets darker.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Contents: Birth of Ishmael.

Characters: Sarah, Abram, Hagar, Angel, Ishmael.

Conclusion: The moment the believer takes his eyes away from God's promises he is ready for mean devices of unbelief which bring him untold suffering.

Key Word: Despised, v. 4.

Strong Verses: 13.

Striking Facts: God promises faith believes hope anticipates patience waits. Heb. 6: 12. The heart prefers anything to the attitude of waiting.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Contents: The revelation of God. Abram's name changed. Covenant confirmed. Circumcision established. Promise of Isaac.

Characters: God, Abram, Isaac, Sarah, Ishmael.

Conclusion: When man is in the dust God can talk to him in grace. In spite of the believer's mistakes, God is faithful.

Key Word: Covenant, v. 2.

Strong Verses: 1,2,19.

Striking Facts: Abram means "father of altitude." Abraham means "father of breadth." The perpendicular of justice is transversed by the horizontal beam of embracing love. In the two names we see a picture of the cross.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Contents: Abraham, the friend of God. Promise of the seed renewed. The plea of Sodom.

Characters: God, Sarah, Abraham.

Conclusion: The closer the believer walks with God, the more he will know of God's mind about everything. The secrets of the Lord are with those who fear Him.

Key Word: Communion, v. 33.

Strong Verses: 17, 18.

Striking Facts: The way to know the divine purpose about the world is not to be mixed up with its schemes and speculations but walking in communion with Christ.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Contents: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot's backsliding and escape.

Characters: Angels, Lot and family, Abraham, Moab, Benammi.

Conclusion: No Christian can find his pleasure and profit in the world and at the same time bear effectual testimony against the world.

Key Word: Destruction, v. 13.

Strong Verses: 27, 29.

Striking Facts: In gaining great worldly influence, Lot had lost all influence and spiritual power, even over his own family, v. 14. Choose between the Word and the world. No heart can mature two crops.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Contents: Abraham's lapse at Gerar. Lying to Abimelech about his wife.

Characters: Abraham, Sarah, Abimelech.

Conclusion: Sin has many tools but a lie is a handle that fits them all. If the truth is stretched, expect it eventually to fly back and sting you.

Key Word: Sin, v. 9.

Strong Verses: 6, 17.

Striking Facts: One is often struck with the amazing difference between what God's people in Christ are in His view and what they are in the world's view. God sees His own through Christ, although in themselves, they are often feeble and inconsistent.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Contents: Birth of Isaac. Bondwoman and her son cast out. Abraham at Beersheba.

Characters: Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Hagar, Ishmael, Abimelech.

Conclusion: Behind every promise of God is the purpose and power of God, therefore faith should know that God's bonds are as good as ready money "at the set time."

Key Word: Isaac, v. 3.

Strong Verses: 1.

Striking Facts: It often involves a struggle to cast the bondwoman and her son out. Gal. 5:1; Col. 3:9. Human religion would keep them in the house.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Contents: Offering of Isaac. Abrahamic covenant again confirmed.

Characters: God, Abraham, Isaac, angel.

Conclusion: The man of faith must keep his eye on God, looking not at circumstances, nor pondering the results of what God asks of him. The trial of faith is precious.

Key Word: Worship, v. 5.

Strong Verses: 15, 16, 17, 18.

Striking Facts: Isaac is a type of Christ "obedient unto death." Abraham illustrates the Father who "spared not His own Son." The resurrectionis illustrated in the deliverance of Isaac.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Contents: Death of Sarah. Burial in cave of Machpelah.

Characters: Sarah, Abraham, sons of Heth, Ephron.

Conclusion: Although the man of faith knows that in the resurrection glory he shall be heir to the land, until that time he will be no debtor to those in temporary possession, (vv. 15, 16.)

Key Word: Burial, v. 4.

Strong Verses : 19.

Striking Facts: One of the most zealously guarded places in the world is a rectangular building in Palestine, beneath which the cave of Machpelah is supposed to be, and in which are the remains of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God has never let it come into the hands of those who were disposed to disturb it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Contents: Bride of Isaac secured by Abraham's servant.

Characters: Abraham, servant, Bethuel, Laban, Sarah, Isaac.

Conclusion: God leads in every detail of our lives. The marriage which is not according to His will as shown by His Word and the leading of His Servant, The Holy Spirit, will not be blessed of Him.

Key Word: Wife, v. 4.

Strong Verses: 27, 40.

Striking Facts: Abraham stands for the Father (Matt. 22:2). The servant stands for the Holy Spirit (John 16:13, 14; 1 Cor. 12:7-11). Rebekah stands for the Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:25-32). Isaac stands for the Bridegroom who is coming to receive His Bride (1 Thess. 4:14-16).

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Contents: Abraham weds Keturah. Isaac becomes Abraham's heir. Death of Abraham. Generations of Ishmael and Isaac. Birth of Esau and Jacob and the sale of the birthright.

Characters: Abraham, Keturah, Zimram, Jokshau, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, Isaac, Ishmael, Esau, Jacob, Rebekah.

Conclusion: The natural man values only what he can see and puts no value on the things of God. Many despise their birthright as sons of God because it is a spiritual thing, of value only as there is faith to apprehend it.

Key Word: Birthright, v. 31.

Strong Verses: 23.

Striking Facts: Esau is a type of the man of the earth, Heb. 12:16, 17. In many respects a nobler man than Jacob, yet the fact that he was destitute of faith caused him to despise his birthright. God's choice of His children does not depend on their character, but their faith.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Contents: Covenant confirmed to Isaac. Isaac's lapse at Gerar, Isaac as a well digger.

Characters: Isaac, Rebekah, Abimelech, Ahuzzath, Phichol, Esau, Judith.

Conclusion: It is peculiarly comforting to see that God has ever been dealing with men of like passions as we are and patiently bearing with the same failures. When the believer falls, God is still with him.

Key Word: Blessed, v. 12.

Strong Verses: 2, 24, 25, 28.

Striking Facts: There is a great difference between God's blessing through Christ and His presence. One cannot always judge of a believer's spiritual condition by their circumstances, but God has a purpose in all His dealings. Before the chapter closes, we see Isaac coming into God's presence as well as His blessing, v. 24.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Contents: Fraudulent methods of Jacob in getting Isaac's blessing. Remorse of Esau.

Characters: Isaac, Esau, Jacob, Rebekah.

Conclusion: Human nature in prone to scheme to bring about what God would do without any scheming. He does not need our cunning or deceit to accomplish His purpose. Seek spiritual blessings in the right way or get with them years of sorrow afterward.

Key Word: Supplanter, v. 36.

Strong Verses: 28, 29, 33.

Striking Facts: One only needs to read the history of Jacob to learn that it does not pay to take things into one's own hands. The more pressing the temptation to take things out of His hands, the richer will be the blessing of remaining in His hands and awaiting His time.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Contents: Jacob at Bethel and the Abrahamic covenant confirmed to him in a dream.

Characters: Isaac, Jacob, Laban, Esau, Ishmael, Mahalath, angels.

Conclusion: The believer should realize that he is ever in God's presence. However no heart can feel at home in His presence until emptied of self and broken.

Key Word: Bethel (house of God), v. 19.

Strong Verses: 12, 15, 22.

Striking Facts: Bethel, to the Christian, stands for a realization, although often imperfect, of the presence of God through Christ, and the spiritual contents of faith.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Contents: Jacob and Laban, two bargain makers, meet.

Characters: Jacob, Laban, Rachael, Leah, Reuben, Levi, Judah.

Conclusion: The believer who has erred may not be forsaken of God, but he is permitted to reap the shame and sorrow of his self-chosen way. Matt. 7:2.

Key Word: Beguiled, v. 25.

Strong Verses: 20.

Striking Facts: Jacob at Haran, pictures the nation descended from him at the present time. He was away from the place of blessing, without an altar, but yet under the covenant care of Jehovah and eventually to be brought back.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Contents: Jacob's posterity in Padan-aram. Another bargain between Jacob and Laban.

Characters: Rachael, Jacob, Laban, Leah, Joseph.

Conclusion: The toiling and scheming of men is the result of ignorance of God's Grace, and inability to put implicit confidence in God's promises.

Key Word: Blessed, v. 27.

Strong Verses: 27.

Striking Facts: The success of Jacob's policy was not sufficient to justify it, had it been unjust toward the shrewd Laban, but evidently it was not unjust, for see 31:12.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Contents: Jacob's resolution to return. Laban's hot pursuit; their quarrel and final agreement.

Characters: Laban, Jacob, Rachael, Leah.

Conclusion: The safety of believers under trying circumstances is much due to the hold God has on the consciences of bad men. In the path of obedience, we may count on God's care.

Key Word: Plight, v. 21.

Strong Verses: 49.

Striking Facts: The settlement of a quarrel is a jewel so precious, one can scarcely buy it too dearly. While the believer may resent injuries, he is not to avenge them but remember that God is the avenger.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Contents: Jacob becomes Israel. Preparation for meeting Esau. Wrestling against the angel.

Characters: Jacob, Esau, angel.

Conclusion: Either we lean on God or on our own plans. The arrangements of unbelief and impatience prevent God acting for us and He must bring us to the end of our own strength.

Key Word: Afraid, v. 7.

Strong Verses: 24, 30.

Striking Facts: To be alone with Christ is the only way to arrive at a knowledge of ourselves and our ways. Jacob was a wrestled-with man, and until the seat of his own strength was touched, he did not reach the place of blessing.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Contents: Jacob meets Esau. Settles in Canaan.

Characters: Jacob, Esau, Leah, Rachael, Joseph.

Conclusion: How groundless are all the Christian's fears and how useless all his self-devised plans. "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him."

Key Word: Meeting, v. 4.

Strong Verses: 11.

Striking Facts: "Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace." Failure in this, causes one, on every fresh occasion, to doubt and hesitate notwithstanding the evidence of God's faithfulness through Christ.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Contents: Harvest of evil years comes on Jacob and family. Dinah defiled and the bloody revenge.

Characters: Dinah, Jacob, Hamor, sons of Jacob, Simeon, Levi.

Conclusion: Untaught maidens who go out to "gad" with the daughters of the land fall into a snare and involve their relatives in great trouble.

Key Word: Defiled, v. 2.

Strong Verses: 19.

Striking Facts: God had directed Jacob to Bethel. He settled at Shechem. Partial obedience to Christ is responsible for much trouble which befalls Christian families.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Contents: Jacob's return to Bethel and renewed communion. Death of Rachael. Birth of Benjamin. Death of Isaac.

Characters: Jacob, Deborah, Rebekah, Rachael, Benjamin, Reuben, Bilhah, Isaac, Esau.

Conclusion: There is no perfect communion with God until all idols are put away and we come into His presence as He directs.

Key Word: Altar, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 3, 7.

Striking Facts: "Arise and go to Bethel." God is ever calling the soul back to Himself. Christ says, "Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent and do thy first works."

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Contents: Generations of Esau and their settlements.

Characters: Esau, Jacob.

Conclusion: Though one have not a spiritual right by promise, they may still have, in the mercy of God, temporary rights to rich estates in this world. "But what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"

Key Word: Generations, v. 1.

Strong Verses: 6, 7.

Striking Facts: Edom, a name by which the foolish bargain was perpetuated, means "red pottage." If men sell their birthright in Christ for a mess of pottage, they must thank themselves when afterwards, it is remembered against them to their reproach.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Contents: Generations of Joseph. Joseph hated and rejected by his brothers. Cast into pit. Carried away by Gentiles.

Characters: Jacob, Joseph, Reuben, Judah, Potiphar.

Conclusion: Envy is a canker to the soul and hates those excellencies it cannot reach. "Hatred stirreth up strife" and left to itself, only stops at murder.

Key Word: Envied, v. 11.

Strong Verses: 4.

Striking Facts: Joseph, a marvelous type of Christ. Rejected because of his testimony to his brethren, sent by the Father on a mission of love, cast into a pit, sold to Gentiles, the Gentiles blessed through him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Contents: Shame of Judah and his sons.

Characters: Judah, Hirah, Er, Onen, Tamar.

Conclusion: The sins which dishonor and defile the body are evidences of vile affection and are very displeasing to God, often visited with quick punishment.

Key Word: Shamed, v. 23.

Strong Verses: 10, 26.

Striking Facts: It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah. Heb. 7:14. Divine grace is seen rising above man's sin to bring about His purpose. The Spirit is conducting us by this chapter, along the line through which, on the flesh side, our Lord came. Man would never have devised such a genealogy.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Contents: Joseph tested in Egypt in the house of Potiphar.

Characters: Joseph, Potiphar, Potiphar's wife, prison keeper.

Conclusion: Loyalty to God may bring a believer into serious testings but the almighty grace of God will enable him to overcome the enemy'sassaults. Though stripped of possessions, we need not be stripped of virtue.

Key Word: Goodly, v. 6.

Strong Verses: 2, 3, 21.

Striking Facts: The one taken from the pit, into which he came through rejection, is coming to the place of ruler, the channel of blessing to the Gentiles, sustainer of life to the brethren. (Christ).

CHAPTER FORTY

Contents: Joseph in prison in Egypt. Interprets dreams.

Characters: Butler, baker, captain of guard, Joseph, Potiphar.

Conclusion: Whatever our lot in God's providence, we may ever be a blessing to companions in tribulation by showing a concern in their troubles and doing our best, by God's help, to lift their burdens.

Key Word: Interpretation, v. 8.

Strong Verses: 8.

Striking Facts: Bad dreams cannot be given a good interpretation. If a minister of Christ deals faithfully with God's message and it proves unpleasant, it is not his fault.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Contents: Pharaoh's dream. Joseph's exaltation in Egypt and his Gentile bride.

Characters: Pharaoh, Joseph, butler, Asenath, Manasseh, Ephriam.

Conclusion: The faithful believer will be abundantly recompensed for the disgrace he has patiently suffered and his righteousness will shine forth so all will know that God is with him.

Key Word: Exalted (set over), v. 41.

Strong Verses: 38, 39.

Striking Facts: As Joseph solved Pharaoh's vexing problems, so Jesus relieves the heart of its burdens. Rejected, exalted, Jesus is now taking a Gentile Bride to be with Him when the "Time of Jacob's trouble" comes upon the earth.

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Contents: Joseph preserves his brethren from the famine.

Characters: Jacob, Joseph, brothers.

Conclusion: Times of testing await those who are guilty and often prove the effectual, means of awakening conscience and bringing sin to remembrance.

Keyword: Proved (tested), v. 15.

Strong Verses: 8,23,24.

Striking Facts: While Jesus is unrecognized by His brethren, the Jews, they are passing through deep troubles, but a tribulation awaits them which will bring them to the feet of Him Whom they crucified.

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Contents: Second visit of Joseph's brethren to Egypt in their necessity.

Characters: Jacob, Benjamin, Joseph, Simeon, Judah, steward.

Conclusion: The way to find mercy with men is to seek it of God Who has all hearts in His hand and who works in strange ways for His children, when they know it not.

Key Word: Mercy, v. 14.

Strong Verses: 14, 23, 29.

Striking Facts: Before Him, who in their blindness they do not know, the Jews will plead for their Benjamin who has been lost to them, and in the agony of the hour, the opened heavens will reveal the Christ they crucified, as their Deliverer. The sufferer and the conqueror are one.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Contents: Joseph's brethren further tested. Arrest on charge of taking a cup.

Characters: Joseph, Judah, Benjamin, steward. Conclusion: Even in afflictions wherein the believer thinks himself wronged by men, he must own that God has a righteous purpose and possibly it is to make him confess his sin and develope his better nature.

Key Word: Sorrow, v. 31.

Strong Verses: 16, 33.

Striking Facts: As Joseph laid a plan to bring about full confession from his brethren that they might come into fellowship with him, so Christ will deal with the Jews, culminating in a great day of confession and mourning.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Contents: Joseph reveals himself to his brethren whom he blesses and sends back to Egypt.

Characters: Joseph, brothers, Pharaoh, Jacob.

Conclusion: "He worketh all things together for good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose." He can work wonders for His own, when He has surrendered men through whom to work.

Key Word: Revealed (made known), v. 1.

Strong Verses: 5, 7, 8.

Striking Facts: A sacred scene is coming for Israel (Ezek. 22:19) when Christ shall be revealed. As they stand self-condemned before Him, He will pour balm into their hearts (Zech. 13:1; 12:9) and will show all to have been decreed for their blessing (Rom. 11:11-12).

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Contents: Jacob's journey to Egypt and meeting with Joseph.

Characters: Jacob, Joseph, brothers, their families, Pharaoh.

Conclusion: A glorious meeting day is coming after the trials and mistakes of earth. Jesus prepares a place for the believer and comes again to receive him unto Himself, that where He is, there they may be also.

Key Word: Meeting, v. 29.

Strong Verses: 1, 3, 4.

Striking Facts: The absolute will of God for Israel was in Canaan, not Egypt (26:1-5). His permissive will allows them to settle in Goshen and as far as possible He blesses them there. The Jews sidestepped God's absolute will by rejecting the Messiah, but a day of mingled joy and mourning awaits those living at His second advent.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Contents: Jacob and descendants exalted in Goshen.

Characters: Pharaoh, Joseph, brothers, Jacob.

Conclusion: Notwithstanding former unkindnesses received, the believer who is prospered in this world, must not overlook nor despise his poor relatives in their need. The measure of a truly great man is the way he treats men who in themselves have been small.

Key Word: Nourished, v. 12.

Strong Verses: 12, 29, 30.

Striking Facts: Christ will, at His second advent, present His brethren, the Jews, in the court of heaven, restoring them to the place of blessing in the earth. As Jacob here blesses King Pharaoh, so Israel's portion in the Millenium will be that of blessing the kings of the earth.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Contents: Jacob on his death bed blesses Joseph's sons.

Characters: Jacob, Joseph, Ephriam, Manasseh, Reuben, Simeon, Rachael.

Conclusion: God in His grace, does not always observe the order of nature in bestowing His blessings, nor prefer those whom we think fittest to be preferred, but as it pleases Him, He chooses the weak to confound the mighty, thus His grace becomes more illustrious.

Key Word: Blessed, v. 15.

Strong Verses: 21.

Striking Facts: v. 17. When the tribes were mustered in the wilderness, Ephriam was more numerous than Manasseh (Num. 1:32-35; 2:18-20) and is named first (Psa. 80:2).

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Contents: Jacob's dying blessing, prophetic of the tribes of Israel. Characters: Jacob, twelve sons.

Conclusion: It is a great blessing to attend upon Godly parents in their last hours that we might learn how to die as well as live, and profit by their reproofs, counsels, and comforts. Though they cannot prophecy, they can tell us from God's Word what will befall us in the last day if we do not do the will of the Father.

Key Word: Prophecy (shall befall), v. 1.

Strong Verses: 10.

Striking Facts: The cunning, shifting and often faithless Jacob, the supplanter, bargain maker, comes forth in the calm elevation of faith to bestow blessings and impart dignities. This will be Israel's part in the last great dispensation of earth, after Christ has returned.

CHAPTER FIFTY

Contents: Jacob's burial. Joseph's death.

Characters: Jacob, Joseph, brothers.

Conclusion: As it is an honor to die lamented, so it is a duty to honor the dead who have been useful in the Lord. Sincere and humble lament over Godly men is proper, for their death is a great loss to any place.

Key Word: Mourning, v. 10.

Strong Verses: 17, 19, 20, 21.

Striking Facts: Finding man in a beautiful Eden, Genesis 1, we leave him in chapter 50 in a coffin in Egypt.