It’s time to reflect on the first week of our Chosen: 30 Days with the Patriarchs Scripture Plan. The readings, which covered Genesis 12-17 give three of God’s promises to Abraham and I have decided to focus on these for our study today. I’m using one of my favourite Bible Study Methods: compare and contrast. Read on to find our what we learn from God’s promises to Abraham, and how you are going to love the compare and contrast Bible Study method too!
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God’s Promises to Abraham
In Week 1 of Chosen:30 Days with the Patriarchs we covered Genesis 12-17. In this time we see God speaking to Abraham (Abram) on a number of occasions.
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A compare and contrast study of God’s Promises to Abraham
The Compare and contrast Bible study Method
So, what is the Compare and Contrast method and why do I love it so much?
There are many passages or verses in the Bible that are repeated, with some subtle differences. By looking at these differences we can often learn something about God, the events or the characters.
The main reason I love this method is because it is so simple and doesn’t require any previous Bible knowledge or any extra resources like commentaries. It’s easy for anyone who’s new to Bible Study, but can also be very revealing.
All you need is your Bible (an online version like BibleGateway.com is very useful), some paper and coloured pens.
Simply find the Bible verses online and copy and paste them into tables in a Word document, placing the different verses you want to compare in different columns.
Then print out your verses and highlight or underline any similarities or differences. As you prayerfully study your findings you will learn from the differences you have highlighted.
For example, if the verses you are studying tell of someone being given instructions by God and then carrying them out, you will be able to see how obedient they were in their actions. If the passage is someone retelling events you will be able to tell how accurate they have been in their retelling – have they added anything or left something out?
Below you can see my compare and contrast of God’s promises to Abraham.
Contrasting God’s Promises to Abraham
In Genesis 12-17, the Scripture readings for Week 1 of Chosen: 30 Days with the Patriarchs, God made a number of promises to Abraham: Gen 12:1-7; Gen 15: 1-21 and Gen 17:1-27. By using the Compare and Contrast method we can see any differences or progressions in the promises.
Here I’ve copied the verses from BibleGateway.com and pasted them into tables in a word document. (I had to get the text pretty small to fit it all in!) I then underlined using these fabulous erasable Frixion markers using different colours for different promises – Blue: offspring/descendants; Green: land; Purple: Blessings to all people; Pink: promises to Sarah. I can’t remember what I had the orange out for, but I didn’t use it anyway!!
Through this exercise I saw the progression of the promises and the different details that were included. Here’s my findings – since you can’t read the tiny text above! 🙂
- God tells Abram to travel to a ‘land he will show him’. (v1)
- God promises to make him into a great nation. (v2)
- God tells Abram all peoples on earth will be blessed through him. (v6) This particular promise is not mentioned specifically in the other two passages.
- When Abram has obeyed God and arrived at the land, God tells him this land will be given to his offspring. (v7) This is the first direct mention of offspring, and the first time God identifies the land to Abram.
- Abram’s heir will be his own flesh and blood. (v4)
- His offspring will be too numerous to count. (v5)
- God has given him this land to take possession of. (v7)
- God tells Abram that his descendants will be slaves in a foreign land before returning to this land. (v13-17)
- God specifies which land will be given to Abram’s descendants. (v18-21)
- God will greatly increase Abram’s numbers. (v2)
- Abram will be the father of many nations (v4-6)
- Kings will come from him. (v6)
- The whole land of Canaan will be an everlasting possession of Abraham’s descendants for generations to come. (v7-8)
- The promised child will come from Sarah, who is also blessed. She will be the mother of many nations and kings will come from her. (v16, 19, 21)
- The son will be called Isaac. The everlasting covenant will be established through his descendants. (v19, 21)
- Ishmael, Abraham’s other son, would also be blessed with many descendants and will become a great nation. (v20)
What do I learn from comparing God’s promises to Abraham?
God does not reveal all of his plans at once
As we look through the different promises made to Abraham we see that more detail is given every time. From being told to go to ‘the land I will show you’ and that he will be a ‘great nation’ he is eventually told specifically which land his descendants will possess and what will happen to his descendants.
We need to step out in obedience before all the plans are revealed
I have certainly learnt this lesson as I have journeyed with this website. When I first began it was simply with a desire to write Bible Studies for women. I didn’t really know exactly how it was going to look until I started. And then, as I continued along this journey I discovered that I wanted to focus on helping people to know how to study the Bible. The journey is still continuing, so I carry on, one step at a time, trusting that God will lead me.
Are you stepping out in faith, not knowing where God is leading you?
We often need reminding of God’s promises
As well as containing new information, God’s promises to Abraham also contain promises that are repeated. Abraham is told several times that he will have many descendants and that the land of Canaan will be theirs.
Sometimes we need reminding of God’s promises because we doubt God or feel insecure in ourselves.
One final lesson from God’s promises to Abraham
In the time frame that we have focused on today, none of the promises made to Abraham has been fulfilled. In fact, many are not fulfilled in Abraham’s lifetime. But, we do know from the rest of Scripture that all of God’s promises to Abraham have been fulfilled.
Through Abraham’s descendant, Jesus, all people have been blessed and his promises are everlasting.
Get the Bible Study Guide and Workbook
I have also written a Bible Study Guide and Workbook to go with the Chosen: 30 Days with the Patriarchs Scripture Plan. Here you will find a page for each day of the study. The daily worksheets use my 5L Bible Study Method: Letter, Look, Learn, Live, Love which encourages and guides us to look deeper into the text we are reading.
You can also find the other posts about this Scripture Plan here:
Introduction: Patriarchs Scripture Plan
Week 1: God’s promises to Abraham
Week 2: How to Trust God in times of doubt, sorrow and testing
Week 3: How to respond to God’s Promises: Lessons from Isaac and Rebekah
Week 4: What does it mean to be chosen by God?
How is God speaking to you through studying God’s promises to Abraham?
God’s promises to Abraham show us what a loving and faithful father he is. I really like your method of compare and contrast! It struck me as true when you stated that we need to step out in obedience even when we’re in the dark about all of God’s plans.
Thanks, Summer. Yes, we often want all the answers before we step out, but that is not God’s way. That would mean we were trusting in the plan and not putting our faith in God. Thanks for reading and commenting!