Genesis 28A (2011) Thrughut ur study f Isaac, Rebekah, Esau and Jacb, I ve remarked n the way Gd has maintained His svereign cntrl ver all events But at the same time, each persn has made sinful chices that rest entirely n their wn shulders Since sin has cnsequences, and Gd will bring thse cnsequences t each persn As chapter 27 ends and we mve int chapter 28, we re watching hw thse cnsequences play ut But Gd s svereignty never ends, s that even in the way the cnsequences f sin play ut, Gd is still bringing events t an appinted utcme We must remember Jacb has nt becme the hlder f the cvenant with Gd He hlds the prmises f Gd and the patriarchal authrity Hw des Gd remain faithful t His prmises even while He hlds Jacb accuntable fr his deceptin? Chapter 28 gives us thse answers Mre imprtantly, we begin a new phase in Jacb s life Jacb is a man wh has learned t deceive and scheme t get his way He has a lt f spiritual grwth ahead f him, a lt t learn abut the Gd f his fathers Gd is ging t use Jacb s sin and the sin f thers t mld him int a man wh trusts Gd beynd even his wn schemes First, we end chapter 27 witnessing the cnsequences f Jacb s deceptin 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 2 f 11 Gen. 27:41 S Esau bre a grudge against Jacb because f the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said t himself, The days f murning fr my father are near; then I will kill my brther Jacb. Gen. 27:42 Nw when the wrds f her elder sn Esau were reprted t Rebekah, she sent and called her yunger sn Jacb, and said t him, Behld yur brther Esau is cnsling himself cncerning yu by planning t kill yu. Gen. 27:43 Nw therefre, my sn, bey my vice, and arise, flee t Haran, t my brther Laban! Gen. 27:44 Stay with him a few days, until yur brther s fury subsides, Gen. 27:45 until yur brther s anger against yu subsides and he frgets what yu did t him. Then I will send and get yu frm there. Why shuld I be bereaved f yu bth in ne day? Gen. 27:46 Rebekah said t Isaac, I am tired f living because f the daughters f Heth; if Jacb takes a wife frm the daughters f Heth, like these, frm the daughters f the land, what gd will my life be t me? Fllwing the deceptin f Isaac in the tent, Esau bre a grudge against his brther The Hebrew wrd fr grudge is a curius ne It prvides yet anther fulfillment f Gd s eternal decrees The wrd literally mean hstility against smene r t persecute smene Remember we said that Esau is a picture f the unbeliever thrughut histry He represents the natural, sinful man wh is brn f the seed f the serpent, ungdly and wrldly He is excluded frm the blessings and prmises f Gd, because he despises the wrd f Gd He experiences wrldly srrw, but never knws the repentance that cmes frm Gd nly And he will persecute the children f Gd, because there will always be enmity between the seed f wman and the seed f the serpent S here we see that enmity and persecutin taking hld just as Gd prmised 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 3 f 11 Esau says t himself that he will kill Jacb nce his father Isaac has died Esau knew better than t kill his brther while Isaac was still alive If he cmmitted murder while Isaac was still the patriarch, he wuld have been put t death by Isaac s cmmand But if he waited until Isaac had died, then with Jacb dead as well, Esau wuld becme the family patriarch And as the male head f the clan, Esau culd avid death Remember we mentined a few lessns back that Isaac isn t as clse t death as everyne is assuming Isaac himself set that expectatins as an excuse t award the birthright secretively But we knw that Isaac lives anther 43 years after these events, s his death is nt imminent at all Esau has a very lng time t wait, but neither he nr anyne else is thinking that way at this pint Rebekah learns f Esau s plan smehw, perhaps thrugh a servant, and nce again she jumps int actin t prtect Jacb Isn t it interesting hw Rebekah cnsistently finds herself privy t helpful infrmatin n Jacb s behalf? It sure seems that Gd is speaking t Rebekah in rder t keep Jacb ne step ahead f his enemies I think I recgnize a pattern here that I ve seen in my wn life and in the lives f ther men When the man in the family isn t listening t Gd, He speaks t the wman wh des hear Him And the wman will find herself in the uncmfrtable psitin f knwing what shuld be dne while living with a man wh wn t d it r ignres it And she then bears the burden f making things right accrding t Gd s revelatin while cntending with a disbedient husband Here we see Rebekah standing in Isaac s place time and time again 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 4 f 11 She received Gd s revelatin cncerning the twins Then she was given the knwledge f Isaac s secret plans Nw she learns f Esau s cnspiracy Gd gives Rebekah these mments f insight because the same revelatin in Isaac s hands has lead nwhere, apparently Thrughut scripture, we will find this pattern repeated It started in the Garden, when Adam failed in the garden while wman did her best t defend Gd s wrd It repeats many times in Israel s histry, including with Nami in the stry f Ruth, with Debrah in the time f Judges and thers In every case, the need fr wmen t take the lead in pursuing righteusness in place f the men is prtrayed as shameful and a failure f headship Nt that wman can t lead r aren t permitted t pursue righteusness apart frm men Obviusly wmen can lead at times and wmen stand as equals with men in pursuing the righteusness thrugh Christ But when a man and wman f faith are united in marriage, the rle fr leading spiritually falls t the husband And if the man stumbles in that rle, the wman is there t help pick him up and encurage him frward But in times when the man abdicates his leadership rle r, he leaves Gd n chice smetimes but t speak thrugh his wife The man is still accuntable t Gd, but the Lrd may use the wife t reveal the man s sin I ve seen this pattern in my wn life, and ften my wife will hear the Lrd s vice clearly when I ve stpped listening And the Lrd will use my wife t break thrugh my stubbrnness 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 5 f 11 Earlier in my marriage, when Gd wuld prepare us t mve t new places, I ften wuldn t be listening S He tld my wife t start packing... Nw when I see bxes, I start listening mre clsely Rebekah ges t Jacb and warns him f the Esau s plans She says that Esau is cnsling himself by planning t kill yu Esau can t act yet, but he feels better cntemplating killing Jacb And Rebekah desn t want t take the chance that Esau will get tired f waiting fr Isaac t die and attack Jacb Her plan is t send Jacb away temprarily But where can she send him? She must send him t a family member, therwise Jacb wuld be at risk as a wanderer The nearest relatives are 450 miles away in Haran Rebekah has a brther Laban living in Haran, s she tells Jacb this is far enugh away t ensure safety Rebekah tells Jacb that the separatin will nly be a few days, but we need t understand times references frm their cultural perspective It wuld several weeks just t travel t Haran and then several weeks t return Plus, she culdn t have expected Esau s desire t kill Jacb t disappear in a week r tw S when she says Jacb will g there fr a few days, she means mnths She says she will call fr him when Esau s anger blws ver Rebekah s expectatins were decidedly ptimistic First, ntice hw she avids any reference t her wn culpability in this situatin She paints the entire episde as Jacb s fault, Jacb s deceptin 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 6 f 11 And then she suggests that the hle she dug by her scheming can be easily filled in with a little time and distance In reality, Rebekah s suggestin is exactly what Gd desires fr reasns f His wn But the plan will als serve t chastise Rebekah fr her part in this family tragedy Ntice in v.45 Rebekah asks why shuld she be bereaved f bth her sns in a day? She is referring t her fear that Esau wuld kill Jacb and then Isaac wuld have Esau put t death fr the murder S in her mind, she is saving bth bys Then ntice in v.46 she plants the idea in Isaac t send Jacb t Laban s t find a wife She expects Isaac t agree and slve her prblem As it turns ut, there is great irny in these statements Rebekah expected her plan wuld ensure she kept Jacb by her side But by her plan, she lses her favred sn, Jacb He wn t be in Haran fr a few days...he ll be there fr 20 years And Rebekah will die while he s gne And Rebekah s excuse t send Jacb away actually becmes the real reasn Gd sent Jacb t Haran Gd uses Jacb s time in Haran t give him a family But Gd als uses Rebekah s excuse as the mechanism t discipline her fr her sin Jacb s pursuit f a wife becmes the reasn Jacb can t return in time t see Rebekah again His cmmitment t his future wife prevents him frm leaving 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 7 f 11 Gen. 28:1 S Isaac called Jacb and blessed him and charged him, and said t him, Yu shall nt take a wife frm the daughters f Canaan. Gen. 28:2 Arise, g t Paddan-aram, t the huse f Bethuel yur mther s father; and frm there take t yurself a wife frm the daughters f Laban yur mther s brther. Gen. 28:3 May Gd Almighty bless yu and make yu fruitful and multiply yu, that yu may becme a cmpany f peples. Gen. 28:4 May He als give yu the blessing f Abraham, t yu and t yur descendants with yu, that yu may pssess the land f yur sjurnings, which Gd gave t Abraham. Gen. 28:5 Then Isaac sent Jacb away, and he went t Paddan-aram t Laban, sn f Bethuel the Aramean, the brther f Rebekah, the mther f Jacb and Esau. Rebekah s suggestin t Isaac wrked as expected, and he cmmands Jacb t g t Haran Isaac sends Jacb away with a cmmand Like Isaac s father Abraham did befre him, Isaac charges Jacb with nt taking a wife frm amng the Canaanites This stipulatin cmes frm Gd s wn cmmand t Abraham riginally nt take intermarry with the peple in the land Abraham and the peple under Gd s cvenant were t remain separate frm the peple f the land And if they intermarried, Gd said it wuld result in the crruptin f Abraham s peple S Jacb is sent back t his wife s family t find a wife And Jacb receives anther blessing as well In keeping with the Abrahamic, Isaac blesses Jacb with the fruitfulness that Gd prmised t Abraham and Isaac But nw the blessing has changed Jacb was t becme a cmpany f peples Abraham and Isaac never receive such a prmise They were prmised t have many descendants 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 8 f 11 But they themselves had small families with nly ne sn t carry the prmise Nw Isaac declares that Jacb is blessed t have a large family f his wn Furthermre, Isaac cnfirms that Jacb carries the prmises f Gd, t inherit this land Nt nly wuld Jacb inherit the land persnally, but s wuld his descendants Thse wh are included in the prmise f Gd will share in these blessings Let s reflect a little n Jacb s life fr a mment He was appinted by Gd befre his birth t be the child f the prmise, the hlder f the birthright that cntained Gd s cvenant Like Abraham and Isaac befre him, Jacb alne wuld carry this special set f prmises frm Gd Jacb wuld have the blessing f Gd s prtectin and prmises f eternal inheritance and earthly blessing Thrugh a twisted set f circumstances, the birthright came t Jacb, and nw here he stands ready t leave hme under difficult circumstances t seek a wife We have n recrd f Jacb ever encuntering Gd persnally We knw he has a faithful testimny, but we have t wnder what did Jacb really understand abut this special set f prmises? In fact, he might cnclude that up t this pint, they have been nthing but truble thugh he had faith in them Jacb is abut t start dwn a path f spiritual maturity, ne in which he learns what it means t be in cvenant with the living Gd Yet Jacb will frever be a sinful man with many flaws and weaknesses Befre we mve int that jurney f spiritual grwth, Mses gives us anther glimpse f Esau and his heart 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 9 f 11 Nw that Jacb has been sent away, Esau sees anther pprtunity t gain dad s favr Gen. 28:6 Nw Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacb and sent him away t Paddan-aram t take t himself a wife frm there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, Yu shall nt take a wife frm the daughters f Canaan, Gen. 28:7 and that Jacb had beyed his father and his mther and had gne t Paddanaram. Gen. 28:8 S Esau saw that the daughters f Canaan displeased his father Isaac; Gen. 28:9 and Esau went t Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter f Ishmael, Abraham s sn, the sister f Nebaith. Esau watched as Isaac gave Jacb yet anther blessing as Jacb departed fr Haran We remember that Esau s anger at his brther was a result f his frustratin ver nt having an inheritance f his father s blessing Esau witnesses this mment when Isaac blesses Jacb again, and the wheels start t turn in Esau s head Esau knws that mm and dad have never been pleased by his decisin t take wives frm amng the Canaanites And he assumes that Isaac must be blessing Jacb here because Jacb beyed Isaac s request t seek a wife frm Rebekah s family S Esau cncludes that if he were t d the same thing, he culd impress his father and gain sme measure f blessing as well Since Esau didn t want t travel 450 miles t Haran (and Jacb was already wrking that pprtunity anyway), s Esau des the next best thing He ges t the nly ther family he has: Ishmael s relatives At this time, Ishmael lived suth f Isaac s family in the Sinai peninsula S Esau travels suth and returns with his cusin, Ishmael s daughter The text desn t tell us what Isaac and Rebekah thugh f this tactic, but we can certainly make a safe assumptin 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 10 f 11 Esau s misguided plan nly amplified the family s misery An relative f Ishmael was n better than a daughter f the Canaanites fr all the same reasns These were peple frsaken by the Lrd and utside His blessings We learn smething very imprtant frm watching Esau striving t btain the impssible The unbelieving wrld is frever cunterfeiting the relatinships that cme nly by the grace f Gd Jacb was a man chsen by Gd, rdained t receive the blessings f Gd thrugh faith in the prmises f Gd Gd brught this abut by wrking thrugh a father, Isaac, t deliver thse prmises t the chsen sn And Gd cntinued wrking thrughut bth their lives t fulfill His prmises, including ensuring they btained the right wives frm the right families at the right time The basis fr all their blessings was a relatinship with Gd n thrugh a cvenant received in faith All that fllwed in Isaac and Jacb s lives was built n that fundatin f faith and relatinship Under the svereign cntrl f Gd s hand Nw Esau envied these blessings and desired them fr himself But Esau lacked the fundatin, the faith in Gd and His prmises Like all unbelievers, Esau had n ability t understand spiritual truths s he culd nly make sense f his life circumstances frm a fleshly, wrldly perspective S Esau studied the behavirs f Jacb and the wrds f Isaac and assumed he culd gain the same benefits by mimicking thse wrds and actins But it desn t wrk that way 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 28A 11 f 11 The wrks in Jacb s life and the blessings that fllwed were the result f a relatinship with Gd frmed by and thrugh Gd s wrd Jacb s wrks didn t create the relatinship, the relatinship created the wrks Likewise, the wrks that Esau is nw pursuing can t substitute fr a relatinship with Gd And they can t prduce the blessings that nly relatinship can prduce This is the pattern f every unbeliever wh seeks fr what Gd ffers t His children They mimic wrds and actins, striving in vain t prduce by their wrks smething that nly cmes by faith in Gd s prmises T be saved is t rest in the prmises f Gd And t have a relatinship with the lving Gd by ur faith T be hear Him and t fllw Him and t see Him wrking in ur lives But unbelievers we always assume that we d what we d in rder t bring Gd int ur lives And sme may try t mimic ur relatinship like Esau did in the text here When we sense that dynamic at wrk, we need t interrupt their mimicry and in lve explain the Gspel t them 2012 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.