Genesis 50:15-18 After Jacob's death, the brothers of Joseph fear that he harbors a grudge which he will now feel free to express. Why, after all that has happened and Joseph's care for the family for seventeen years, do the brothers have such fears? What had they left undone when they were first reconciled to Joseph that left room for such suspicions? Were the brothers telling the truth about what they said Jacob had said to them. What lessons are we to learn about experiencing God's forgiveness from this narrative? How were the brothers trying to leverage forgiveness from Joseph? What was wrong with this? Why did Joseph weep when he received the message from his brothers? What did Joseph mean by saying he was not in God's place? What is forgiveness? What is the relationship between forgiveness and retribution? (62 min)

Keywords Jacob, Joseph, Forgiveness, Sin

Genesis 50:1-14 In this study the narrator of Genesis tells us the striking story of the mourning and burial of Jacob. In all of Scripture there is no other account of someone's burial that goes into such detail. What important points is the Lord wanting to impress upon us with this account? What does God want to leave in our minds concerning the man Jacob? What is the importance of this story at the end of the patriarchal era? Why does a person of faith, like Joseph, grieve so much over the death of his beloved father? How is Joseph's arrival back in Mamre similar to his departure from Canaan as a slave many years before? What are we to learn from the fact that the family returned to Egypt following the burial of their father in their land of promise? (48 min)

Keywords Jacob, Death, Egypt, Joseph

Genesis 49:16-33 In this lesson we continue to consider the blessing Jacob pronounced on the descendants of his twelve sons. Who were the "peoples" who would give obedience to Shiloh? What was the true source of the blessings/prophecies which Jacob pronounced? How were these blessings a help to the tribes of Israel? How and when were these blessings realized? How can we be helped by thinking about Jacob blessing his descendants at this particular time in their history? In Jacob's charge to his sons concerning his burial, why does he repeatedly stipulate so precisely the exact place? Why is God so concerned about "place" in Genesis and throughout scripture? What comfort and encouragement can we draw from the narrator's description of Jacob's death? (46 min.)

Keywords Jacob, Blessing

Genesis 49:1-15 In this lesson we begin examining the third major faith event at the conclusion of Jacob's life, the blessing of his twelve sons. The passage is both prophetic and poetic. How should these aspects of the passage influence the way we understand the blessings? What caused Reuben to forfeit his preeminence in the family? Why did Jacob not want his family's glory to be associated with Simeon or Levi? In what way would the tribe of Issachar relinquish some of the blessings that were intended for it in the land of promise? How is that analogous to how we as Christians sometimes live? What animal is representative of the future of the tribe of Judah? Who or what is "Shiloh?" What does the reference to Judah tying his donkey to a grape vine represent? To what does all this talk about Judah ultimately point? (60 min)

Keywords Jacob, Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi