Jim Parker
Member
Bible 101 Class 4C
A recurring theme: the barrenness of a woman corrected after the LORD hears their prayer. (Vs. 19-21)
Gen 25:22-34: The story of Isaac’s two sons, Jacob and Esau, and their sibling rivalry.
Gen 25:27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
Isaac preferred Esau over Jacob and Rebecca preferred Jacob to Esau.
Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Technically, Esau is the elder of the twins and would get the greater part of the inheritance as his birthright. But Esau was focused on his desire of the moment rather than future blessings. This is what Paul referred to as the “desires of the flesh”. (Eph 2:1-3)
Jacob takes advantage of that character flaw and induces Esau, who was very hungry, to sell him his birthright for a bowl of stew. (Gen 25:29-34)
Gen 26: some repeated themes.
Vs. 1-2: Famine in the land but God tells Isaac to not go to Egypt.
Vs. 3-6: God promises to bestow the blessings of Abraham on Isaac: to have innumerable descendants “as the stars of heaven” and God will give his descendants the land where the dwell for a possession.
Vs. 7-14: “She is my sister” again. Isaac does the same thing that his father, Abraham did, by telling the people of the land that his wife was his sister so that no one would kill him and take Rebecca. But the king happens upon Isaac and Rebecca “making whoopee” and rebukes Isaac for the pretense which might have caused one of his people to sin. (Just like your old man!) The king, Abimelech, didn’t want any trouble from Isaac’s God so he commanded his men to leave Rebecca alone or die.
Then Isaac, like Abraham before him, prospers greatly in the land.
Gen 26:15-25
Isaac and his people have to keep moving until they find a place where they are not in competition with others for the resources of the land. (Pasture and water.) They end up at a place where they can fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.
Gen 26:22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Gen 26:26-31 Recurring theme: Abimelech came with the commander of his army to make a treaty with Isaac just as he had done with Isaac’s father, Abraham. Abimelech saw that God’s hand was upon Isaac as it was upon Abraham and doesn’t want any problems with God.
Meanwhile, Esau picks wives which are displeasing to Isaac and Rebecca.
Gen 26:34-35 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.
These women are pagans who worship idols and who do not have the covenant of circumcision so they cannot be part of God’s blessing to possess the land and have descendants as numerous as the stars. There are no Hittites today. But there are many Jews.
We see here one more reason for God choosing the descendants of Isaac over those of Esau.
Gen 27:1-40 Jacob steals Esau’s blessing.
Rebecca helps Jacob deceive Isaac, her husband. Vs. 5-17
Jacob takes advantage of his father’s blindness to steal Esau’s blessing. Vs. 18-29
Jacob lies to his father saying he is Esau (vs.19 and 24) and that the food is game which God provided. (v.20)
Isaac, being deceived by his son, blesses Jacob with the blessing he had intended for Esau. (vs. 26-29)
Esau is so angry that he decides to kill his brother when his father dies. Rebecca, their mother, hears of it and sends Jacob away to her brother, Laban to stay there until Esau cools off. Then she gives Jacob an excuse to flee by saying to here husband Isaac: “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (Gen 27:46 )
So that’s her excuse for sending Jacob away to protect him from Esau. Getting a decent wife from one of her own family. (Clan, tribe…)
Gen 28:1-5 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
(Isaac’s blessing of Jacob)
May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
And that is how God used the personalities of Isaac, Rebecca, Esau, and Jacob to cause the result he wanted to come to pass, His will being that, from Jacob, the tribes of Israel will come. They did what was according to their personalities and wills but God used their free will actions to bring about His purpose.
Notice that the promise, which God gave to Abraham and then to Isaac, has now been given to Jacob by Isaac when he blessed Jacob and sent him off to Padam Aram.
A recurring theme: the barrenness of a woman corrected after the LORD hears their prayer. (Vs. 19-21)
Gen 25:22-34: The story of Isaac’s two sons, Jacob and Esau, and their sibling rivalry.
Gen 25:27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents.
Isaac preferred Esau over Jacob and Rebecca preferred Jacob to Esau.
Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Technically, Esau is the elder of the twins and would get the greater part of the inheritance as his birthright. But Esau was focused on his desire of the moment rather than future blessings. This is what Paul referred to as the “desires of the flesh”. (Eph 2:1-3)
Jacob takes advantage of that character flaw and induces Esau, who was very hungry, to sell him his birthright for a bowl of stew. (Gen 25:29-34)
Gen 26: some repeated themes.
Vs. 1-2: Famine in the land but God tells Isaac to not go to Egypt.
Vs. 3-6: God promises to bestow the blessings of Abraham on Isaac: to have innumerable descendants “as the stars of heaven” and God will give his descendants the land where the dwell for a possession.
Vs. 7-14: “She is my sister” again. Isaac does the same thing that his father, Abraham did, by telling the people of the land that his wife was his sister so that no one would kill him and take Rebecca. But the king happens upon Isaac and Rebecca “making whoopee” and rebukes Isaac for the pretense which might have caused one of his people to sin. (Just like your old man!) The king, Abimelech, didn’t want any trouble from Isaac’s God so he commanded his men to leave Rebecca alone or die.
Then Isaac, like Abraham before him, prospers greatly in the land.
Gen 26:15-25
Isaac and his people have to keep moving until they find a place where they are not in competition with others for the resources of the land. (Pasture and water.) They end up at a place where they can fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and multiply.
Gen 26:22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, because he said, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Gen 26:26-31 Recurring theme: Abimelech came with the commander of his army to make a treaty with Isaac just as he had done with Isaac’s father, Abraham. Abimelech saw that God’s hand was upon Isaac as it was upon Abraham and doesn’t want any problems with God.
Meanwhile, Esau picks wives which are displeasing to Isaac and Rebecca.
Gen 26:34-35 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah.
These women are pagans who worship idols and who do not have the covenant of circumcision so they cannot be part of God’s blessing to possess the land and have descendants as numerous as the stars. There are no Hittites today. But there are many Jews.
We see here one more reason for God choosing the descendants of Isaac over those of Esau.
Gen 27:1-40 Jacob steals Esau’s blessing.
Rebecca helps Jacob deceive Isaac, her husband. Vs. 5-17
Jacob takes advantage of his father’s blindness to steal Esau’s blessing. Vs. 18-29
Jacob lies to his father saying he is Esau (vs.19 and 24) and that the food is game which God provided. (v.20)
Isaac, being deceived by his son, blesses Jacob with the blessing he had intended for Esau. (vs. 26-29)
Esau is so angry that he decides to kill his brother when his father dies. Rebecca, their mother, hears of it and sends Jacob away to her brother, Laban to stay there until Esau cools off. Then she gives Jacob an excuse to flee by saying to here husband Isaac: “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” (Gen 27:46 )
So that’s her excuse for sending Jacob away to protect him from Esau. Getting a decent wife from one of her own family. (Clan, tribe…)
Gen 28:1-5 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
(Isaac’s blessing of Jacob)
May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham.”
So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
And that is how God used the personalities of Isaac, Rebecca, Esau, and Jacob to cause the result he wanted to come to pass, His will being that, from Jacob, the tribes of Israel will come. They did what was according to their personalities and wills but God used their free will actions to bring about His purpose.
Notice that the promise, which God gave to Abraham and then to Isaac, has now been given to Jacob by Isaac when he blessed Jacob and sent him off to Padam Aram.