Genesis 25:1-27:45 Esau and Jacob September 2, Proverbs 27:7. He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

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1 Genesis 25:1-27:45 Esau and Jacob September 2, 2018 Next Lesson. September 16, 2018-Genesis 27:46-31 Proverbs 27:7. He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. Wesley's Questions for Class Meetings. #12. Do I disobey God in anything? What does the Bible Mean? Read. Genesis 25:1-11 Abraham marries Keturah. They have three sons. The only one of special note is Midian whose descendants are thought to be traders and include Ziporrah, the wife of Moses. Also, a Midianite caravan took Joseph to Egypt as a slave. Abraham breathed his last at a good old age (see God's promise to him in 15:16) of 175. He had lived in 100 years in Palestine. He was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael with Sarah in the cave in the field purchased by Abraham in Hebron. Isaac (Sarah's son) was Abraham's heir, but Abraham had given gifts to his other sons and to Hagar and Keturah, his concubines (secondary wives). After Abraham s death, Isaac settled in Beer Lahai Roi where he first settled with Rebekah and where God met with Hagar. Read. Genesis 25:12-18 The descendants of Ishmael. They are a tribal people who lived in the southern deserts toward Egypt and east of his brothers toward Assyria. They lived in hostility toward the descendants of Abraham and Sarah as predicted in (16:12). Ishmael lived 137 years. Read. Genesis 25:19-26 The text is about Jacob and Esau. Isaac is really a transition figure even though he is a patriarch of Israel. The early portion of Genesis is really about Abraham and later his two sons. Rebekah, Isaac's wife was barren. Isaac prayed to God for her. The Lord answered his prayer. Rebekah became pregnant with twins. During the pregnancy Jacob and Esau jostled. They struggled within Rebekah s womb so much that she complained to God. What is happening to me? God answers: Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided;

2 the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger. Ordinarily the younger serves the older. Here we see that God's people are not just the product of nature or the world. God intervenes in our affairs. The Israelites looked up to Jacob. Their forefather's greatness was not chance but was the purpose of God. When Rebekah gave birth, Esau came first. He was red and his whole body was hairy. Edomite comes from Esau as Edom means red. Jacob was born next and was holding onto Esau s heel. The name Jacob derives from heel or he deceives. Even at birth Jacob tried for advantage over his brother. Read. Genesis 25:17-34 Esau became a hunter and Jacob was a quiet man. Isaac loved Esau because of the game he brought in. Rebekah loved Jacob. One day Jacob was cooking stew. Esau returned from hunting and was very hungry. Esau asked Jacob for some of the red stew. Jacob replied, First sell me your birthright. Jacob was shrewd and left nothing to chance but the plan was God's. The birthright was the primary share of the family wealth, but only the father s recognition of the transfer could make it final. The present hunger deceived Esau to consider the stew more valuable than his birthright. The character of Esau is impulsive thoughtless of the future. So, Jacob fed him, but only after Esau swore an oath selling his birthright. Thus, Esau despised his birthright. This scene is the first bit of fulfillment of the oracle given to Rebekah. Read. Genesis 26:1-6 This is a third episode of jeopardy over deceit regarding the identity of a wife. First, Abraham and Sarah in Egypt. Then, Abraham and Sarah with Abimelech. Now it is Isaac and Rebekah. Again, there was famine in the land. Isaac goes to Gerar to King Abimelech (the son or grandson of the Abimelech who dealt with Abraham or even a dynastic title like Caesar of Pharaoh). The Lord warned Isaac against going to Egypt. Isaac was the only patriarch who spends no time outside Canaan. God promises to be with Isaac and his descendants to fulfill the oath promised to Abraham (that is descendants as numerous as stars in the sky, all these lands, and a blessing to the nations of the earth) because Abraham obeyed God s voice and kept God s commands. So, Isaac stayed in the land. He might have gone to Egypt. The land was in famine. Egypt had plenty, but Isaac followed God's directions. How many people are there who would have had better stories had they followed God's directions rather than their own? Read. Genesis 26:7-16 After Isaac settled, the men of the area asked about Rebekah. Isaac feared for his safety, so he said Rebekah was his sister a chip off the old block? In this episode no one takes the wife. She is just a subject of interest to the men.

3 After a long time, the king saw Isaac caressing Rebekah. Abimelech accused Isaac of deceit and putting his men in jeopardy if they were to have lain with her. The king then warned his people to not even touch Rebekah upon penalty of death. The scripture tells that Isaac planted crops. He owned flocks and farmed. Water was scarce and important. Isaac prospered so that the Philistines envied him. The wells that Abraham's men had dug were filled up. Isaac had become too powerful. There are many stories like this. God's people prosper while the godless people do not, and they become jealous. Abimelech asked Isaac to move away. The dispute is similar to that between Abraham and Abimelech over a well in the same land. Read. Genesis 26:17-33 Isaac moved on to the Valley of Gerar. He reopened wells from the days of Abraham. But, the men of Gerar quarreled over the water they claimed as their own. Isaac's men dug another with the same result. He moved again and found water, but no one complained. He called this Rehoboth. Rehoboth means open spaces. The location is SW of Beersheba on the southern desert. At Rehoboth Isaac declared that the Lord had made room for his people and that they would become fruitful. Then Isaac went north to Beersheba (residence of the patriarchs). God appeared that night and identified himself as the father of Abraham and that he would bless Isaac and make his offspring numerous for Abraham s sake. So, Isaac built an altar and pitched a tent and his servants dug a well. Abimelech came again with his commander and advisor. Isaac asked why they have come since they were hostile and had sent him away. They said that they could see that the Lord was with Isaac, so they asked for an oath and a covenant that they had not brought harm on Isaac and that Isaac would agree to bring no harm on them. They had a feast which was a common way to ratify a treaty and Abimelech and his men departed in peace. That day the men dug a well and found water and they named it Shibah (meaning overflow abundance). Since then the town has been called Beersheba (well of the oath or seven wells). Read. Genesis 26:33-34 When he was 40, Esau married Hittite wives Judith and Basemath. We are told that the marriages were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah because Esau married outside the clan. Read. Genesis 27:1-26 Now we come to the drama of how Jacob, the younger son receives the required blessing from his father and becomes Isaac s primary heir and Israel's third great patriarch. We also see how the Israelites become preeminent over the Edomites. The story is troubling because Jacob gains his blessing through deception.

4 Isaac was old, and he could not see. He felt he was near death. He told Esau to go and hunt game and to prepare food as he liked it. Then Isaac would bless Esau before he, Isaac, died. The blessing before God could not be altered. The outcome was assured. Rebekah overheard the conversation between Isaac and Esau. She told Jacob what she had heard and told him to get two choice kids from the flock, so she could prepare stew that Isaac liked. Jacob (the weaker twin) protests. Esau was hairy, and he was smooth skinned. Isaac would notice and bring a curse on Jacob. The calculating one feared that possibility. Rebekah told him to go ahead and do as she instructed. Let the curse be on her if necessary. Jacob got the kids and Rebekah made the stew. She dressed Jacob in Esau s clothes and covered his hands and neck with goat skins. Then she gave him the stew and bread she had prepared. Jacob went to Isaac and identified himself as Esau. He asked Isaac to eat the meal. How could Esau return so quickly, and Jacob didn't sound like Esau. But, Isaac was convinced by the smell of the clothes and the hairy arms and neck. Read. Genesis 27:27-40 Jacob kissed Isaac. Isaac smelled Esau's clothes and was satisfied, and he blessed Jacob. Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed. May God give you of heaven s dew and of earth s richness an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed. The blessing calls for agricultural success, political success and family prominence. Immediately Esau returned with his savory stew. Isaac asked who he is. He trembled and asked who it was that he blessed but blessed he would remain. Jacob s deception had taken the blessing. Esau burst out with a bitter cry. Bless me too. But Isaac answered that Jacob came deceitfully and took the blessing. Esau reflected that Jacob was properly named - he deceived. He had lost his birthright and now his blessing. Esau probably had not even imagined that selling his birthright to satisfy a present need would result in his losing the blessing. But Isaac had already made Jacob Esau's lord.

5 Esau asks if there were not one blessing remaining for him? Isaac asked what can he do now? Esau asks, Bless me too. and Isaac answers him, Your dwelling will be away from the earth s richness, away from the dew of heaven above. You will live by the sword And you will serve your brother. But when you grow restless, you will throw his yoke from off your neck. The whole deception was conceived and designed by Rebekah even if she is cursed because of it. So, the ancestry of Israel is determined by Rebekah a woman. Women had no social or political status. They lacked authority, but they had power. They could work within and around the systems in order to achieve their goals. The scripture does not condemn Rebekah. She and Jacob s action might be understandable for disadvantaged women and second sons. Is this a human attempt to achieve what God has determined before the twin s births? Or was Rebekah just acting with God s design? Read. Genesis 27:41-45 Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing. He planned to kill Jacob. Rebekah was told of the plan and counseled Jacob to flee to her brother Laban and stay with him until Esau s anger is forgotten. Then Rebekah would send for him. She didn't want to lose two sons in one day. What does the Bible mean to me? In your relationship with your parents did you feel favored?.overlooked? Do you feel overlooked in your relationship with God? Isaac repeated Abraham's behavior. Are we chips off the old block? Don't we all sometimes wish quarreling would stop and reconciliation begin? God's covenant is perpetual. Does that give us comfort? Is God's covenant dependent on human customs or behavior? Do we seek blessing from others? Whose? When we read this story, do we question, Why did God choose me?