Genesis
- Get your group together and play Joimme’s rapid fire game.
Read Genesis 1 and make a list of everything that God made. Each person takes a turn to choose something on the list. For example, “the sky.” That person names everything they can think of that’s found in the sky. They have one minute to do this. Choose someone to be the timekeeper and another to count the number of things mentioned. Write down the number next to the person’s name. Work your way through the list of things that were written down.
Pray together and thank the Lord for the wonderful world he made.
1:1
To create something means to make something new. It means to make something that didn’t exist before. That is exactly what God did when he created the heavens and the earth. Genesis teaches us that God created everything in the universe. The Bible doesn’t tell us how God created everything. We learn that part in science class! The Bible teaches us the most important thing about the universe: that God made it.
2:7
Adam’s name is first used in Genesis 4. Before that he is just called “the man.” Adam’s name is like the Hebrew word for dirt, adamah. It reminds us that Adam was made from soil.
At first Eve is called “the woman.” Later Adam gave her a name. Read Genesis 3:20. He called her Eve. Eve means life or life giving.
2:8-15
Where was the garden in which Adam and Eve lived? Nobody knows! We know that it was in the east. It had a river that separated into four other rivers. Two of the rivers were called the Tigris and the Euphrates. Many people think the garden was near the rivers that were later known by these names. Today these two rivers flow through Iraq.
3:6
The Bible doesn’t tell us what kind of fruit Adam and Eve ate. It’s not really important. The important part of this story is that God gave Adam and Eve clear instructions. They had to decide whether to obey him or not. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God.
3:8-10 (Hearty)
Hearty has a question for you. Why did Adam hide from God?
Draw a face to show how Adam might have felt. Then choose a color from Hearty’s color chart on page 19 that matches the way Adam felt. Use that color to decorate the page with your drawing of Adam’s face.
Have you ever done something that makes you want to hide from God? But then you remembered to ask God to forgive you. God will forgive your sin if you ask him to. Then you don’t need to be afraid and hide from him.
5
In Genesis 5, we read about people who lived to be very, very old. We don’t know if they really became hundreds of years old. Maybe their ages are symbolic numbers. It’s like when we say there were “millions of people” at the meeting. We say this when we want to say that there were a great many people. Maybe, in those times, they figured out their ages differently from the way we do it now. We just don’t know.
6:5–8
Have you ever wondered why the story of Noah and the ark is in the Bible?
Thinky thinks that she knows why. The story is there because God wants us to know something important. The evil things that people do make him sad. In the end, he punishes those who do evil. But the story doesn’t end there. The good news is that God protects his children. He is there when it looks as if evil and sin are taking control in the world.
6:9–16, 7:6–10
Noah worked on the ark for a long time. We don’t know how old he was when the Lord told him to build the ark. But when he finished building it, he was 600 years old. Then Noah, his family and all the animals entered the ark. When they were safely inside the ark, the Lord sent the flood.
7:2-3 All the animals didn’t go into the ark in pairs. Noah took seven pairs of each of the clean animals. These were the animals he could sacrifice to the Lord. There were also seven pairs of each of the birds. The other animals all went into the ark in pairs.
7:12, 17, 24, 8:3-14
It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The water flooded the earth for 150 days. You can read about it in verses 12 and 17. Then the water started to go down. After another 150 days, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. Even then, Noah couldn’t leave the ark. They had to wait for more than 50 days for the earth to dry out. Then at last, they could leave the ark. Noah, his family and the animals stayed in the ark for more than a year.
12:1–7
When reading these verses, Inny understood that they are very important. This is where the story of God’s people, the Israelites, begins.
The Lord told Abram to leave his country and his father’s family. The Lord didn’t tell him where to go. But Abram obeyed the Lord. He took his own family and his possessions and went.
Wow! Abram really trusted the Lord! Do you trust God? You show him that you trust him by obeying him.
12:2
The Lord gave Abram two promises. Here is the first one. The Lord promised to make Abram into a great nation. There was one problem. Abram and his wife were old and they didn’t have children. How could they become a great nation? Abram didn’t know. He decided to trust and obey the Lord. That is because Abram knew that the Lord is faithful to his promises.
12:3
The Lord promised that all the nations on earth would be blessed because of Abram. Abram didn’t know what that promise meant. But we know. Many hundreds of years later, Jesus was born from Abram’s family. Jesus came to earth to bless all the people on earth. Everyone who believes Jesus becomes his child. They belong to his family forever. One day we will live with him in heaven.
15:5–6 (Arty)
Arty loves to look up at the stars. Draw a picture of Abram looking at the stars. Color the picture in. Then write the words of Genesis 15:5–6 on your picture.
You can use it as a bookmark. Or put your picture somewhere you will often see it. It will remind you that God keeps his promises.
15:1–7
Abram had been living in Canaan for a long time. But he still didn’t have a child. Maybe the Lord had forgotten his promise?
No, the Lord doesn’t forget. One day he told Abram that his children will be as many as the stars in the sky. Abram believed the Lord. Then the Lord gave his second promise. He was going to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s family forever.
16:1–2
In those times, men sometimes had more than one wife. If a wife didn’t have children, she sometimes gave her slave to her husband as a wife. The slave’s children became the husband and wife’s children. Sarai did this when she thought that she wouldn’t ever have children of her own.
Inny knows that it’s often difficult to wait for something. Do you find it difficult to wait for the things you want? What about waiting for the holidays or your birthday?
Have you ever had to wait a long time for the answer to a prayer? Just like Sarai, you may find it hard to wait patiently until God answers your prayers. God always hears and answers prayers. But sometimes his answers aren’t what we expect.
17:1–8
In Bible times, a covenant was a binding agreement or contract between two people or countries. Both parties agreed to do certain things. God made a covenant with Abram. He promised that he would be Abram’s God and also his children’s God. Abram would be the father of many nations and would have many family members. God promised to give Canaan to Abram’s family. In return, Abram promised to serve the Lord faithfully.
17:4–5, 15
When God made the covenant with Abram, he gave him and his wife new names. Abram became Abraham, the father of many nations. Sarai became Sarah, the mother of nations.
God sometimes changed people’s names. He did this when he gave them a special task or a new identity.
Abraham believed that God would keep his promise. So he waited patiently. He never saw his descendants become as many as the stars in the sky. But until the day he died, Abraham believed that God would fulfill his promise. God kept his promise. He gave Abram so many descendants that they couldn’t be counted.
19:23–26
We think Sodom and Gomorrah were near the south of the Dead Sea. At that time it was a green, fertile area. But after the cities were destroyed, it became a dry, empty place.
Today salt lakes or salt mines, especially potash, form near the area. There are also salt plains, where salt is taken out from the water of the Dead Sea.
21:1–5
Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 years old when Isaac was born. (Read Genesis 17:17.)
24
Abraham sent his servant to the country where his relatives lived to find Isaac a wife. Abraham and the servant trusted God. They trusted God to lead the servant to the right woman. She would be the one the Lord had chosen for Isaac to marry.
Design a wedding invitation for Isaac and Rebekah. Write the words of Psalm 37:5 on the outside of the invitation. Arty knows that you can trust the Lord. He will help you when you have to make important decisions.
27:4
In Bible times, the father’s blessing was very important. It was like his last will. His blessing couldn’t be taken away. The children believed that the things the father said about them would really happen. The oldest son was always given a very special blessing that the others didn’t get. He also got the double share of his father’s possessions. That is why Jacob wanted his older brother’s blessing.
28:10–22
When Esau discovered that Jacob had cheated him, he was very angry. Jacob had to run for his life. It looked as if Jacob wasn’t going to get any of the things he had wanted so badly. Until one night when Jacob was all alone and trying to sleep under the stars. That night, he discovered that God was still with him. God encouraged him. He promised to stay with Jacob wherever he went. Over the years, God taught Jacob to trust in him and not in his own strength.
29:16–30
It was customary, in those times, for a man to give his bride’s father a present. Jacob didn’t have anything to give, so he agreed to work for his father-in-law. And then Jacob learnt what it felt like to be cheated. First Laban gave him the wrong girl in marriage. Then he made Jacob work much longer than the time they had agreed upon.
31:1–7
Jacob had 13 children and became a rich man while he lived with Laban. Laban and his sons began to envy Jacob. Jacob also learnt an important lesson. He discovered that he didn’t do well because of his own plans. He became rich because the Lord was blessing him. God was always with him. The Lord taught Jacob to trust in him.
35:1, 13–15 (Talky)
Jacob went back to Bethel. Bethel was the place where God had spoken to him when he was running away from Esau. Bethel means “the house of God.” Have you ever been in a place where you’ve felt the Lord is there? Arty would like you to draw a picture of that place. Keep it in your Bible to remind you that God is always with you and that he will always show you what to do.
35:9–11
Talky read about how Jacob experienced God’s mercy at Bethel. He deserved to be punished when he deceived his brother. But God was merciful. He forgave Jacob. He promised that Jacob’s family line would become a great nation and that they would live in the land that God had given Abraham and Isaac.
Talk to a friend about God’s mercy. Tell each other what God’s mercy means. You could use a dictionary to help you. Is he still merciful today? Does God only do this once?
37:1–11
Joseph was the second youngest child. He was his father’s favorite child. Joseph’s brothers didn’t like him.
Get your group together. Discuss the reasons why Joseph’s brothers disliked him so much. Joimme says that you will find the reasons in verses 1–11. If you had a brother like Joseph, how do you think you would feel? Would you feel like his brothers did?
37:18–35
The day came when Joseph’s brothers had a chance to pay him back. They did something that was very mean. His brothers threw him into the empty well. Then they sold him as a slave.
Hearty would like to ask you some questions. How do you think Joseph felt about the things his brothers did to him? How did he feel when he discovered that he was on his way to Egypt?
How did his brothers feel when they saw that their father was heartbroken? Read verses 34–35 to find out.
40:8–19
Dreams were very important to the people of the Old Testament. We often read that God spoke to people through dreams. The Egyptians believed that their gods sent them their dreams. But Joseph knew that it was God who had sent Pharaoh’s dreams. God also showed Joseph what the dreams meant.
44
Why did Joseph put his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack? Joseph wanted to see whether his brothers had changed their ways. Years ago, they had sold him as a slave. Would they just leave Benjamin when he was put in prison and go back home? Or would they return and try to help him?
45:4–9 (Thinky)
Thinky has an idea. Think about Joseph’s life. Then make a list of the most important events in his life. Write all the bad things that happened to Joseph in red. Then write all the good things that happened to him in blue.
Can you see the plan that God had for Joseph’s life? What did God do so that Joseph could end up in the Pharaoh’s house? God did this so that Joseph could save many people from the famine. Joseph was also able to save his family. Who was in charge of Joseph’s life?
46:1–7
Why did Jacob and his family leave Canaan to go to Egypt? There were wars and famine in Canaan. In Egypt, they could live in a safe, fertile area.
When Jacob went to Egypt, there were 70 people in the group. They lived there for 430 years. When Moses was born, there were many, many Israelites. There were so many that Pharaoh was scared that they would take over Egypt.
49:8–12
When Jacob blessed his sons, he told them what was going to happen to their families. Judah’s blessing was the most important of them all. He was going to be the leader of the brothers. King David was also going to be one of Judah’s descendants. And hundreds of years in the future, Jesus would be born in Judah’s family. Jacob’s words are about the coming of Jesus. Jesus is the king whom all nations will obey. Read verse 10.
50:19–21
Talky read about how Joseph experienced God’s mercy again at the end of Genesis. Joseph forgave his brothers and told them not to be afraid. He saw how Go Moses and the people were on their way to a place they had never been to. Moses asked the Lord to go with them. Read verses 8–9. Why do you think he asked God to go with them? How do you think Moses felt when the Lord promised to go with them?