The Bible Year

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 13, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 3.

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Third Week

JANUARY 16. Genesis 16 to 19. Ishmael; the covenant of circumcision; intercession for Sodom; Lot delivered.

JANUARY 17. Genesis 20 to 23. Birth of Isaac; Abraham's faith tested; death of Sarah.

JANUARY 18. Genesis 24, 25. Rebekah; Jacob and Esau.

JANUARY 19. Genesis 26 to 28. God's covenant renewed; deception of Isaac; flight of Jacob; the vision of angels.

JANUARY 20. Genesis 29 to 31. The deceiver deceived; Jacob sets his face homeward.

JANUARY 21. Genesis 32 to 35. Met by angels; a changed heart and a changed name; the reconciliation; death of Rachel.

JANUARY 22. Genesis 36 to 39. Joseph—beloved of Jacob, hated by his brothers, sold into bondage, a slave in Egypt, cast into prison.

To Think About as You Read

JANUARY 16: Is my face set steadfastly toward the better country, or does my heart turn back to the treasures of this world?

JANUARY 17: How am I meeting God's tests?

JANUARY 18: How highly do I prize my heavenly birthright?

JANUARY 19: Constancy of angel guardianship.

JANUARY 20: Am I always ready to obey God's leading?

JANUARY 21: Is the spirit of forgiveness in my heart?

JANUARY 22: The fruit of envy.

To Every Tongue and People

“The Bible belts the globe. The whole or parts of it may be read in three hundred and eighty different languages and dialects, and one hundred twenty of these were but spoken tongues until the Bible came, in the vanguard of civilization, to call into existence an alphabet and a literature.”—James McConaughy.

The Bible First

“I should like to see a huge pile of all the books, good and bad, that were ever written, prayer books and sermons and hymn books and all, smoking like Sodom of old, if the reading of these books keeps you away from the reading of the Bible; for a ton weight of human literature is not worth an ounce of Scripture.

One single drop of the essential tincture of the Word of God is better than a sea full of our commentings and sermonizings and the like.”—Spurgeon.

The Book of Genesis

NAME.—By the Hebrews this book was called by its first word, which means “In the beginning.” The name “Genesis” signifies creation, origin, beginning. Genesis is the Book of Beginnings. It tells of “the origin, (1) of the universe, including the earth and the human race; (2) of the fundamental human institutions, including the family, church, and government; (3) of human history, including sin and redemption; and (4) of the nations, including the chosen family and race.” The book of Genesis “may therefore be considered as the historical foundation, without which the subsequent history of the covenant people would be incomplete and unintelligible.”

PLAN.—One of the simplest plans for outlining the book of Genesis is the following:—

Chapters I to II: 26—Primeval History.
Chapters II: 27 to 50—Patriarchal History.

“The plan of the writer was, evidently, to connect the history of Israel with the larger history of mankind, and the method followed was that of continually passing from a wider to a narrower field, until at last the history of Jacob-Israel was reached. Thus he passed from the universe (chapter I) to mankind (Adam); from mankind to the line of Noah; from the sons of Noah to one line, Shem; from all the Shemites to the line of Terah-Abraham; from all of Abraham's line to that of Isaac; and from the story of Jacob and Esau (the line of Isaac) to that of Jacob alone, for Israel and Jacob were equivalent terms.”

PURPOSE.—The book of Genesis has one supreme purpose,—to reveal God as the Creator and his Son as the Saviour of mankind.