God Calls the Early Leaders of Israel
The story of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and
Joseph, and Moses
Look up to the sky
and count the stars,
if you can. Just so
… shall you
descendants be”
Genesis 15:5
“
Abraham and Sarah
• Book of Genesis tells us that despite humanity’s sin, God chose to stay in a
relationship with man, he chose the Hebrew people to call his own.
• In Genesis Chapter 12, God calls Abram to serve him. Abram and Sarai are semitic
nomads wondering the Near East.
Genesis 12:1-8
Covenant – is a
solemn
agreement
between human
beings or God
and a human
being in which
mutual
commitments
are made
•God asks Abram to leave everything behind; what does God
promise to Abram?
•“ I will make you a great nation and I will bless you…”
Genesis 12:2
•Abram takes Sarai, Lot (his nephew) and all their possessions
and move to Canaan.
•How would you describe this decision?
•Sarai and Abram find their faith tested and strengthened.
•How does Hagar’s pregnancy and Ishmael birth
show Sarai and Abram’s faith being tested?
•God speaks to a 99 year old Abram, and establishes his
covenant with him and his descendants
Genesis 17:3-7
 Sarai becomes known as Sarah and Abram
becomes known as Abraham
 Sarah gives birth to a son Isaac
 Through Abraham God chooses to make
his covenant, that he later reveals his
law to his people through Moses
 God commands that Abraham sacrifice his
son Isaac, another test.
Genesis 22:1-19
 How would you feel if you
were Abraham?
 If you were Isaac?
 Because of his faithfulness
and complete trust in God,
Abraham and Sarah are
blessed with countless
descendants.
Article 34: Isaac,
Jacob and Joseph
Patriarch
 Isaac was the son of Abraham and Sarah
•the father or leader of a
tribe, clan, or tradition.  His father almost sacrificed him, God saved him at
the last minute
•Abraham, Isaac and
 Isaac’s wife Rebecca gave birth to twins
Jacob were the
patriarchs of the
 Esau – first born
Israelite people.
 Jacob – tricked his brother into giving up his birthright
•In Christian tradition,
and received their father’s blessing
the Twelve Apostles, the
Church Fathers, and
certain bishops of the
Eastern Catholic
Churches are considered
patriarchs.
Genesis 25:19-34 & 27:1-45
 Genesis 25:19-34 – Rebekah gave birth to
twin boys –
 Esau was a born first, he was a hunter and
sold his birthright to Jacob
 Jacob was a quiet and peaceful, tricked his
brother out of his birthright for a bowl of
soup
 Genesis 27:1-45 – Jacob tricked Isaac into
giving him Esau’s blessing – making Esau
his servant
 Jacob left because Esau threatened to kill
him
Jacob’s Dream Genesis 28:10-22
 The Lord promises to give the land he is sleeping on to him and
his descendants – making them “like dust of the earth” spreading
to the “east and west, north and south” and in you and your
descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed
Jacob, Rachel and Leah: Article 34
Renewed Covenant with God
 Esau symbolizes Abraham’s descendants who will not live directly
under God’s Covenant
 Jacob represents God’s plan of a people more numerous than
the stars
 Jacob becomes a patriarch upon Isaac’s death
 Proves to be repentant and successful
 Marries Rachel and Leah, has 12 sons through his 2 wives and their
maidservants
 In 2 dreams God renews his covenant and renames Jacob
Israel – making 12 sons and descendants Israelites – Jacob’s
large family becomes a large tribe and will become 12 even
larger tribes.
Joseph; son, slave and patriarch
 Jacob’s favorite son
 He could interpret dreams
 sold as a slave by his brothers
 Egypt he becomes second in
command to Pharaoh
 bothers come to Egypt looking for
food
 Test his brothers & forgives
 His family moves to Egypt, and this
is how the Pharaoh enslaves the
Israelites
What makes a good patriarch?
 They obeyed God
 Heard God’s word and followed it – aligned with God
 They knew God wanted his people to treat all people with justice
 Justice =righteousness
 All humans have dignity and worth, all God’s children
 They lived good, moral lives
 Committed to ethical responsibility
 They understood that God wanted his People to come back to him with
their whole selves
 God wanted a “full return of his People” – body, mind, spirit
 Leaders were men and women committed to a relationship with God
 Spoke on his behalf
Sacrifice – to make
holy, a rite offered to
God on behalf of the
people, presided over by
a priest who leads and
represents the
community in
adoration, repentance,
gratitude, and honor.
Was needed for
atonement, as a healing
rite to restore holiness,
cleanse the people from
infractions against the
Law
 At this time (The Sinai Covenant – not entered
into) the early patriarchs believed in a specific
ethical standard complete devotion and sacrifice to
God
 God invited men and women to share his will
 The invitation or “calling” can be seen in nearly all
biblical stories about the early leaders of JudeoChristian people
Directions for start of class
 Check for papers in
file crates
 Turn in “God’s not
Dead” movie questions
 Student note packets
due Friday
 Test next Tuesday
 Our Father, Who art in Heaven,
hallowed be Thy name; Thy
Kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread; and
forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against
us; and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from
evil. Amen.
Moses and the Exodus
“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have
heard their cry…I know well what they are suffering” Exodus
3:7
Moses’ Early Life
Article 35
 Joseph and family – the “sons of





Israel” are in Egypt
Pharaoh Ramses II, 1290-1224 BC –
feels threatened by Israelite
Enslaves them – then orders all
Israelite baby boys killed
Moses’ sister Miriam floats him
down river, where is raised as a
Prince of Egypt
He has sympathy for the Israelites,
tries to help
Runs from his family, meets Reuel,
priest of Midian and marries his
daughter
God Call
Moses
 Theophany – God’s
manifestation of himself in
a visible form to enrich
human understanding of
him
 Genesis 3:4-17 – Burning Bush
The way God reveled himself to Moses
How does Moses’ encounter begin to change
his community’s understanding of God?
 God promises to deliver them from their
situation and take them to a “land flowing
with milk and honey”
 God identifies himself as “I am who am” –
calls Moses to be his voice of truth and
arm of justice
 Through Moses, God unleashes 10 plagues
on Pharaoh and Egypt
Passover: Exodus 12
 What is Passover?
 The Lord passes over all houses
marked with the blood of the
sacrificial lamb, but enters the
unmarked homes and kills all
first born children and animals
 Pharaoh lets the Israelites go, but
changes his mind and chases them
to the shores of the Red Sea
where God defeats the Egyptians
40 Year Journey to the
Promise Land
Article 37:Building Trust in God
 Traveled cross vast wilderness
 Forgot how God saved them
and promised to protect
 Disgruntled by conditions in
desert and questioned Moses
leadership
 God provided manna and
water when they were hungry
and thirsty
Manna – little flakes that people collected,
boiled or baked into bread like substance;
from God
Covenant at Sinai & the Ten Commandments
 Exodus 20
 On Mount Sinai is the
sacred ground where God
forms a Covenant with his
Chosen People
 The Ten Commandments
are the laws and obligations;
will govern the people
religiously, morally and
civically
 Moses takes these back to
the people – God declares
himself “to be their God, a
God of fidelity, love and
justice”.
I am the Lord your God: you shall not have
strange Gods before me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your
God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
Honor your father and mother.
You shall not kill
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.