The Caldwell Commentaries Podcast

Genesis 37:36-41:13 In this second part of our look at the life of the patriarch Joseph, we find another 13 ways his life prophetically portrayed the life of the Saviour, Jesus Christ.  With this lesson, Joseph's years of toil and affliction come to an end as he is finally lifted from the pit of prison to the palace of Pharoah!

Genesis 33:-37:45 The next four lessons, which are on the life of Joseph, come from the Caldwell Commentary study entitled "CHRIST in GENESIS". Joseph, the last of seven prominent men in the Book of Genesis, has more space devoted to him than any of the others (Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).  This is likely because almost everything in Joseph's life prophetically typified the Lord J...

Genesis 35:1-29 Jacob's family had sunk to the level of the immoral and sordid society around them; rather than lifting the Canaanites from the idolatry in which they were deeply entrenched, Jacob had permitted those false "gods" to penetrate his own camp.  Rather than being a blessing to the lost people of the land who desperately needed to see Jacob and his family as holy and pure so they would...

Genesis 33 and 34 These two chapters of "the book of beginnings" do not star Clint Eastwood; rather, the main characters of the first "act" of this narrative are Jacob and Esau, whose reconciliation after 20 years turned out to be relatively "good".  The main characters of the second "act" are Jacob's daughter Dinah and two of his sons, Simeon and Levi.  Dinah was raped by the Hivite prince of She...

Genesis chapters 32 and 33 This lesson is from our study on "CHRIST in GENESIS".  It is the about the wrestling match between the pre-incarnate Christ and Jacob and contains some extra information from that presented in Lesson 76.

Genesis 32:22-32 One thing to realize as you listen to this lesson on the famous wrestling match of Jesus and Jacob is that it was the pre-incarnate Lord Who wrestled all night with Jacob to get something from him - and what He wanted was Jacob's absolute surrender!  At the end of the "match, there was something Jacob wanted, but he did not wrestle the Lord all night to get it.  It wasn't until th...

Genesis 32:1-21 "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city" (Proverbs 18:19)!  Genesis chapters 32 and 33 center of the meeting of Jacob and Esau (twins) after having been separated for 20 years - because Jacob deceived and lied to get the patriarchal firstborn blessing and Esau wanted to murder him.  In this lesson, "Oh, Brother!" we primarily discuss the preparation for that meet...

Genesis 31:36-55 Jacob's 20-year experience in "The Laban School of Hardknocks" had come to an end.  Jacob learned many much needed lessons about reaping and sowing, about the Lord God, and about humility.  He had not learned everything, but God was ready for him to "graduate" and move on.  In this lesson, he makes his permanent break from Laban, who had angrily chased him until he overtook him in...

Genesis 31:17-35 God had spoken to Jacob in a dream, telling him that, after 20 years of patiently submitting to his devious, selfish, and conniving father-in-law, Laban, it was time to return to the land of his father (Isaac).  Thus, with his focus back on the Lord and the land the Lord promised him and his descendants, Jacob began his return trip to Canaan.  In this lesson, "Stealing Away," we d...

Genesis 31:1-16 In this lesson, "Parting Prompting," we look at the two primary circumstances that prompted Jacob's decision to finally, after 20 years, separate himself from Laban and head back to his true home.  We also discuss his persuasive conversation with his two wives regarding his need to depart and their consent to depart with him and leave their father (Laban).  Fortunately, Rachel and...

Jacob out-smarts his devious, deceptive father-in-law, Uncle Laban!

A very interesting lesson and an interesting "swap" between sisters: mandrakes for the man!  Do you even know what a mandrake is and what is was believed to do?  

This lesson demonstrates why God ordained marriage to be one man with one woman!  

Oh me!  Can you imagine waking up in the morning after your wedding night and finding you married the wrong bride - especially after working labor free for 7 years to "earn" her?  Quite a story, but it is exactly what happened to "the deceiver" Jacob, who got a taste of his own medicine!  In his Uncle Laban, Jacob found his match!  What did he do when he found Leah, not Rachel, in his bed?  Did he...

Jacob and Laban; reaping and sowing!  Oh my.

Jacob will meet his match in Haran with his mother's brother, Laban.  He will also meet "the love of his life"!  

Genesis 28:16-22 Jacob's life was a picture of the spiritual man struggling against his flesh (see Galatians 5:17).  His primary struggle was not about his love of the world, but it was about his own self-sufficiency - which, of course, boils down to a pride issue.  Time after time, Jacob took matters into his own hands without relying on God, in Whom he did believe.   When we left Jacob in Lesson...

Genesis 28:10-15 This is one of the major turning point in Jacob's life!  At a place Jacob named "Bethel," where he stopped to spend one of his many nights while en route to his mother's former home in Haran of Padan-aram, Jacob had his first personal encounter with the Lord.  This is the famous dream about the ladder from earth to Heaven, which Jesus later (to Nathanael) equated with Himself!  We...

Genesis 28:1-9  With this lesson, we embark upon a study of the life of Jacob, the third patriarch of Genesis.  The next 20 years of his life would be spent in God's "School of Faith" (in Jacob's case, it was more like "The School of Hard Knocks").  He had to leave home to save himself from Esau's rage and desire to kill him.  Jacob would never again see his beloved mother, though he did not know...

This is the continuation of a two-part series on the division that developed (really over years) in Isaac's family after he tried to give the covenant blessing (to carry on the Messianic line) to Esau.  Not only had Esau disqualified himself from receiving it, but the Lord had told Rebekah when the twins were in her womb that the blessing would go to the younger son (Genesis 25:23).  Isaac deliber...

In this two-part study on Genesis chapter 27, we peer into the contents of a believer's home and are warned of what can happen to even the godliest of homes when one or more family members try to take matters into their own hands and do things their way rather than rely on God and do things His way!  We will learn about the domino effect of sin!  Isaac's sin led to Rebekah's sin; Rebekah's sin led...

Genesis 26:19-35 In the one chapter in Genesis that focuses of Isaac as the main character, we find him going through a series of testings, all intended by the Lord to refine him spiritually.  In Lesson 59, we looked at the first half of this two-part study on "The Testings of Isaac" (his famine, falsehood, and fruitfulness tests).  With this study, we will look at four more tests presented to Isa...

Genesis 26:1-18  The life of Isaac is always connected, in one aspect or another, to the life of someone else, such as his dynamic father Abraham, his elder brother Ishmael, his strong-willed wife Rebekah, or his high profile son Jacob.  There is only one chapter in Genesis in which Isaac is the central figure, and that is chapter 26.  After coming down from Mount Moriah, where his life reached it...

Genesis 25:29-34  This is about a swap between twin brothers; one in which  Esau, the elder twin, foolishly chose to trade the temporary and perishing (a bowl of "beans") for the eternal and lasting (the Messianic birthright).  Jacob's method of obtaining his brother's firstborn birthright may not have been good (he struggled his whole life with doing things "his way" instead of waiting on God), b...

Genesis 25:19-28  In this lesson, we find that as God took care of gaining a wife for Isaac, so  He took care of giving him offspring (even though Rebekah was barren).  The Lord would be faithful to His Messianic-lineage promise, even though Isaac and Rebekah were married 20 years before He finally opened her womb.  THEN the real troubles began!  "Twin Troubles" started in the womb and continue to...