Sunday, February 20, 2022

Sunday School Lesson Notes – Genesis 18-23

Lisa and I taught Sunday School this morning.  I was the lead so I'm going to post my notes for you and the handout I made.  The first part of the lesson was about Abraham and Sarah been blessed with Isaac at such an old age.  Then it was about Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham's nephew, Lot and his wife and family fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah.  Then the last part of the lesson was about Abraham being asked to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac.

Lisa found some fruit roll ups by the foot which we incorporated into the handout.  I will post at the end of the lesson.

So my notes are a little disjointed – and I added a lot of my own thoughts, as did Lisa.  But you'll get the idea.

Sunday school lesson Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and Isaac Genesis 18-23

 

Genesis 17:4, 15-22

As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

 

Abrahamic covenant: God promises –power, ordinances, priesthood, exaltation.  We promise – baptism, keep the commandments, follow covenant path, share the gospel, become a disciple of Christ.

 

15 ¶ And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

 

What was Abraham’s reaction?

17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!

 

What was God’s response?

19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

What was Sarah’s reaction?

 Genesis 18:11-12

11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

 What was the Lord’s response?

Genesis 18:14

14 Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

 

What do you find in these verses that builds your faith? What other experiences—in your life or someone else’s—have strengthened your faith that the Lord will fulfill His promises to you in His own time and way?

Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his wife and family

Genesis 18

20 And the Lord said, Because the acry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their bsin is very grievous;

50 righteous?  45, 40, 30, 20, 10 righteous?  Lord will spare Sodom and Gomorrah if 10 righteous can be found.  10 righteous are not found and Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed with fire and brimstone.

The Lord commands Lot and his family to leave, lest they be destroyed.

 Genesis 19:12-17

12 ¶ And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:

13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.

15 ¶ And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city.

16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.

17 ¶ And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.

 Ezekiel 16:49–50

 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodompride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

Jude 1:7–8

Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

 

The Lord commands us to flee wickedness.

What lessons do you learn about fleeing wickedness as you read about Lot and his family? For example, what impresses you about what the angels said and did to help Lot and his family escape destruction? (see Genesis 19:12–17). How does the Lord help you and your family flee or find protection from evil influences in the world?

Genesis 19:26

26 ¶ But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

 

What did Lot’s wife do wrong?

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:

“Apparently, what was wrong with Lot’s wife was that she wasn’t just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back. It would appear that even before she was past the city limits, she was already missing what Sodom and Gomorrah had offered her. … She did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. …

“To all [people] of every generation, I call out, ‘Remember Lot’s wife’ [Luke 17:32]. (second shortest Scripture after “Jesus wept”)

Boyd K Packer, “defend the faith”, March 2004, J Reuben Clark law school at BYU

"These are days of great spiritual danger for this people."

"Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now.

"Satan uses every intrigue to disrupt the family. The sacred relationship between man and woman, husband and wife, through which mortal bodies are conceived and life is passed from one generation to the next generation, is being showered with filth.

"Profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and pornography are broadcast into the homes and minds of the innocent. Unspeakable wickedness, perversion, and abuse — not even exempting little children — once hidden in dark places, now seeks protection from courts and judges."

"The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were localized. They are now spread across the world, wherever the Church is. The first line of defense — the home — is crumbling. Surely you can see what the adversary is about."

"We may one day stand alone, but we will not change or lower our standards or change our course."

2 Timothy 3:1-5

This know also, that in the alast days perilous btimes shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, acovetous, boasters, bproud, blasphemers, cdisobedient to parents, dunthankful, unholy,

Without anatural baffectionctrucebreakersdfalse accuserseincontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

aTraitorsbheadychighminded, lovers of dpleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a aform of godliness, but bdenying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac is a similitude of God and His Son.

We don’t know all the reasons God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice; we do know it was a test of his faith in God (see Genesis 22:12–19). As you read Genesis 22:1–19, what do you learn from Abraham’s experience?

Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son was “a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son” (Jacob 4:5). As you ponder the similarities between Abraham’s test and God the Father’s offering of His Son as a sacrifice for us, what do you feel for your Heavenly Father?

There are also similarities between Isaac and the Savior.

Genesis 22 1-19

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

 *Tempt means test or try.

 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

¶ And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

*Isaac was old enough to carry the word upon his back.  Isaac was most likely a teenager or young adult.

 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

*Isaac willingly laid on the altar to be sacrificed.  He could have easily overpowered is 100+-year-old father.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

*God wanted to test Abraham to see if he was willing to sacrifice his beloved son.  This is in similitude of God offering his beloved son as a sacrifice for us.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

15 ¶ And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

Because Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, he was blessed.  Abrahamic covenant.  3P’s– priesthood, posterity, prosperity (property).

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