Lesson 29 - The Family Says It All

Genealogy of Abraham

A dysfunctional family is a one where the relationships of the members are not healthy.

Jacob had a very dysfunctional family and had children with Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah.

He loved Rachel the most. "So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her." - Genesis 29:20

Jacob showed favoritism to Joseph and Benjamin because Rachel gave birth to them.

Q. What did Dinah’s brothers ultimately end up doing when they heard their sister had been violated? 
²⁴ All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised.
²⁵ Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. ²⁶They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where^[c] their sister had been defiled. ²⁸ They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. ²⁹ They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

Q. How and why did Judah want to punish Tamar? 
²⁴ About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”


Q. What lesson can we learn about God from the dysfunctional families and sinners in the Bible?
God's grace is sufficient even for the worst of sinners. He came through the bloodline of sinful people. His great great great great great grandmother is Tamar, the woman who pretended to be a prostitute and sleep with her father-in-law so she can have children.  God was willing to be born into a sinful world, through sinful people, from a dysfunctional family line of sinners because of His love and grace for us.