The Story of Israel’s Ancestors
Living Toward a Promise
by Mark E. Biddle
The Story of Israel’s Ancestors Teaching Guide
Paperback | 176 pages
Retail Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-1-64173-087-7
Paperback | 88 pages
Retail Price: $6.00
ISBN: 978-1-64173-088-4
Brief Description
The Story of Israel’s Ancestors: Living toward a Promise is a four-session Bible study for individuals and groups. Family stories are important in helping us know who we are. They affirm core values, honor family strengths, and reflect family pain; they help families and individual family members locate themselves in the world. They tell us where we came from and remind us of where we hope to go.
Genesis 12–36 contains a cycle of stories about the first three generations of Israel’s ancestors. They record not just the beginnings of a single family but the beginnings of whole nations, particularly Israel. For more than two thousand years, Jews, Christians, and Muslims all over the world have looked to Abraham’s example. In times of distress, they have taken comfort in God’s assurances to Hagar and Ishmael that God would not abandon them in the world. And, when finding themselves in a moment of struggle with their faith and their God, they have recalled Jacob’s contest with the mysterious figure on the banks of the Jabbok River.
About the Author
Mark E. Biddle, a native of Ft. Payne, Alabama, and educated in the public schools of Orange County, Florida, and Dekalb County, Alabama, holds degrees from Samford University, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Rueschlikon Baptist Theological Seminary, and the University of Zurich. In addition to editing the Reading the Old Testament series, he is the author of Deuteronomy in the Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary series, Reading Judges in the Reading the Old Testament series, and A Time to Laugh.
Annual Bible Study Resources
The Story of Israel’s Ancestors Teaching Guide
This Teaching Guide for the Smyth & Helwys Annual Bible Study of the ancestral narratives includes teaching options, suggested worship and sermon outlines, and approaches to leading discussions and group study. The study also includes relevant lesson plans for including children and youth in a congregational study.
The Story of Israel’s Ancestors Study Guide
This Study Guide for the Smyth & Helwys Annual Bible Study on the ancestral narratives serves three purposes: to educate the learner on major issues of appropriate interpretation, to offer an overview of theological themes, and to build the learner’s Bible study skills by reviewing significant interpretations.
Annual Bible Study Bundles
ABS The Story of Israel’s Ancestors Study Guide Bundle
Includes 10 copies of the The Story of Israel’s Ancestors ABS Study Guide
Retail Price: $60.00 • Online Price: $37.50
ABS The Story of Israel’s Ancestors Teacher’s Bundle
Includes (1) The Story of Israel’s Ancestors ABS Study Guide,
(1) The Story of Israel’s Ancestors ABS Teaching Guide,
(1) Reading Genesis by Julie Galambush
Retail Price: $52.00 • Online Price: $42.00
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
Family Stories
Session 1
The Ancestors Take a Detour and God Revises the Course (Genesis 17)
Session 2
A Well in the Wilderness—The Center of Contention, Covenant, and Blessing (Genesis 21)
Session 3
A New Generation, the Same Mistakes (Genesis 26)
Session 4
Jacob Confronts His Limits (Genesis 32:1–33:17)
Teaching Ancestral Narratives to Youth
Teaching Ancestral Narratives to Children
by Jessica Asbell
