19 This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham begot Isaac.
“This is the genealogy of” tells us
we’re opening a new scroll. This is the ninth of the eleven scrolls that made
up the original manuscript of Genesis.
We’ll be in this scroll for over ten
chapters; to Genesis 35:29.
20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah
as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban
the Syrian.
Rebekah’s dad, Bethuel, is Abraham’s nephew.
His brother Nahor’s son.
So, Bethuel is Isaac’s cousin.
So, Isaac married his cousin’s daughter.
That means he married his cousin, once
removed.
God is creating a new nation, from Abraham,
so to do so, the bloodline must start with family.
Remember, Isaac got married at 40.
21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was
barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Just like, Sarah, Rebekah, was barren.
Just like, Sarah, Rebekah was chosen by
God to birth the one who’d carry the seed, that would lead to the Seed (Jesus);
the One who’d bless all nations of the earth.
Just like, God, to look for the least
likely to succeed, and say, “There, that’s the one I’ll use. Then, everybody
will know, it was Me, not them.”
Unlike Sarah, Rebekah did not try to help God
out with an alternate plan. She did not tell Isaac to get the maid pregnant.
Isaac, pleaded with the Lord
because she was barren.
Isaac did not say, “Oh well whatever will
be will be; whatever’s meant to happen, will happen.”
God had made it perfectly clear that it was
His will for Rebekah to conceive.
Isaac knew the will of the Lord.
Was probably told his whole life about the miracle of his birth and God’s plan
for his life.
Yet, Isaac did not say, “Oh well, you know
God told dad (that’s Abraham), “In Isaac (that’s me) your seed shall be
called, Genesis 21:12. So we’re good to go, just sit back, relax, eat drink
and be merry.
No, he became actively, engaged with
God in the fulfillment of the promise.
James 5:16b, The effectual, fervent,
prayer of the righteous avails much.
James
5:17-18
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would
not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And
he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
When it comes to prayer, the power of
prayer and the results of prayer, and how to pray, God compares us to Elijah; a
man with like passions, with a nature, like ours. A guy like us. And he prayed,
and stuff happened.
You know the story in 1st Kings
17-18.
God lets Elijah know He’s going to stop
the rain. Elijah tells awful Ahab, the king of Israel, that there’ll be no more
rain, until I say so. 1 Kings 17:1.
Bam. Heaven’s spigot was shut.
Three and a half years later, God told
Elijah, He’d open the spigot again. 1 Kings 18:1.
Elijah told evil Ahab, eat and drink, for
I hear the sound of an abundance of rain. 1 Kings 18:41.
At the time, there wasn’t a cloud in the
sky.
So, Ahab went to eat and drink, but Elijah
went to pray. 1 Kings 18:42.
That’s how it goes. The worldly go to
play. The Godly go to pray.
Elijah prayed, and prayed, and prayed… six
times he sent his servant, to look for evidence of rain. Six times the servant
returned saying something like: blue skies, smilin’ at me, nothin’ but blue
skies, do I see. 1 Kings 18:43.
Elijah kept praying. And sending. And the
seventh time he sent the servant came back saying there wasn’t much, but there’s
a cloud, a little cloud, only about the size of a man’s hand. 1 Kings 18:44.
That’s all it took. Elijah told the
servant to run and tell, eating Ahab to get home or he’ll get caught in the
rain.
And the sky went black, the wind blew, God
opened the spigot and there came a gully washing, frog floating, downpour.
That’s the story, but this is the point.
Elijah knew God’s will, yet,
he prayed, fervently, earnestly for it to be fulfilled.
The cloud, the sound, and the abundance of
rain, followed the effectual fervent prayer, not
the halfhearted, que sera, sera, lackadaisical, toss a penny in the wishing
well prayer.
Jesus disciples in the upper room knew
His will.
Yet, the sound of a rushing mighty wind, tongues
of fire, and the Holy Spirit filling each of them, followed ten days of waiting,
praying, supplicating.
Isaac knew the will of the Lord.
Yet, he pleaded with the Lord… What
we don’t see until five verses later, is that he must’ve pleaded for about twenty
years, and then, the Lord granted his plea. Isaac was 60; Genesis 25:26.
Isaac knew. Elijah knew. The disciples in
the upper room knew.
Knowing His will, is what fuels effectual, fervent, prayers that avail much.
What do you know,
is God’s will for you?
That son, that daughter, that one, won to
Jesus.
Fervent first Love for the Lord, restored.
Hunger for His Word, revived.
Lukewarm apathy, removed.
Freed from those evil thoughts. Nightmares.
Those fears. That drama. That addiction. That bad habit…
Yes. We can know His will in all those things,
and more, and all, that pertains to Life and Godliness.
The question is: will we pray them through
to be fulfilled?
Write
it down.
Make it plain.
Pray it through.
Do not consider calendar or clock.
Settle it here and now.
God will come through.
22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said,
“If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.
It’s okay to ask. If all is well, why?
I
believe God. I trust God…but something’s just not right.
We don’t have to pretend, “all’s well…”
when we’re feeling like crap.
We can say, “If all is well…”
That is acknowledging our belief and trust
in God. But also, being honest enough to admit, I’m not perfect and right now,
I’m feeling really wonky.
"Why am I like this?”
Sometimes we don’t know what’s wrong or even
what to stand in faith and pray for.
So, we do what Rebekah did.
She had a question. Something didn’t feel
right in her womb.
So she inquired, of doctor Google.
No.
So, she rushed to the Emergency room?
No.
So, she inquired of the Lord.
Yes!
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with
going to the doc or checking Web MD.
But we need seek first, must trust most, the
Great Physician.
The important thing to see here is they
both prayed.
Isaac prayed.
Rebekah prayed.
Do you pray?
All believers, all disciples are required
to pray.
No relationship survives without
communication. Two-way communication. Giving and receiving. Speaking and listening.
She inquired of the Lord, and…
23 And the Lord said to her:
“Two nations are in your womb,
And Rebekah fainted (just kidding, maybe?)
Two peoples shall be separated from your body;
One people shall be stronger than the other,
And the older shall serve the younger.”
Two nations? Two peoples? I just thought the baby had hiccups. No
wonder it feels like a war down there.
God’s the Ultimate Ultrasound Technician.
He knows, not only what’s in there, but what kind of people they’ll be when
they grow up.
Two nations, two peoples,
not fetuses.
God sees a forest in a seed, a nation in a
baby.
Believe it or not:
God saw amazing Divine Eternal Purpose and
powerful potential, the moment of…
your
conception.
He saw a multitude of souls He could
reach, through you.
He still wants to.
Will you, let Him?
24 So when her days were
fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.
Of course, it happened just as God had said.
Twins in her womb—so they were womb
mates.
By the way, this is first mention
of twins in Bible.
25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all
over; so, they called his name Esau.
So, they called him Elmo, like Sesame
Street. No, they called him, Orangutang.
Actually, they called him Hairy.
That’s what Esau means. Hairy.
26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of
Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old
when she bore them.
So, they called his name, Heel grabber;
Trickster, Supplanter, that’s what Jacob means; one who grabs your heel,
trips you up.
Hairy and Heel Grabber.
Isaac was the golden child, the child of
promise, for twenty-five years God talked about him.
So, now you’d think his life would be perfect,
his children golden… not hairy red monsters and shysters.
It was understandable with Abe and Sarah
(and Hagar); they sowed to the flesh and reaped the wild child; Ishmael.
But…
Isaac and Rebekah did everything right.
They prayed, they waited, they didn’t have
another child outside their marriage. Yet, they still have another child, that follows
the path of Ishmael, his descendants known as enemies of Israel.
It rains on the just and unjust, the Godly
and ungodly.
Even Christian homes, actually, especially
Christian homes, have issues. They have another layer of spiritual warfare not
applied to the ungodly.
Thus underlines the importance, the
necessity, of prayer.
People, all of them, are wonky. But
they’re worthwhile. God loves them. That’s good because we’re one of the wonky
ones.
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.
Esau was an outdoorsman.
Jacob was mild. That doesn’t mean
wimpy, or feminine.
God uses that same word to describe Job,
saying, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth
like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns
evil.” Job 1-2.
The
word for mild in Hebrew is, tam (tawm) and means: complete, whole
as in wholesome, moral integrity.
So don’t think Esau was a man’s man and
Jacob was a girly mama’s boy. As a matter of fact before we end this scroll,
when God changes Jacob’s name to Israel, it’s because, he wrested with God and
man and won. Genesis 32:28.
28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah
loved Jacob.
Favoritism happens; is never good.
They say the way to a man’s heart is
through his belly.
Isaac favors one son over another by his
belly.
At the food court a couple days ago, a man
told me, “I’d marry the cook if she wasn’t already married.” Then, he shook his
head and said, “Actually, she’s such a good cook, I’d marry her even if she was
married.”
Isaac’s poor judgement in being led by his belly, is reflected in
Esau’s poor judgement, in the next few verses.
29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and
he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red
stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
Hairy’s hungry.
So hungry that after this he gets nicknamed,
Red (Edom means, red).
31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
Heel Grabber tells Hairy, sure thing—but it’ll
cost ya. A bowl of pleasure today, for a blessing in the future.
The birthright was material and spiritual. The son of the birthright received a double portion of the inheritance, he became head of household and spiritual leader upon passing of the father. Deuteronomy 21:17, 1 Chronicles 5:1-2.
32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so, what is this
birthright to me?”
Esau, born looking like a hairy animal, now
acts like one by being only concerned with momentary pleasure, feeding the
flesh.
Someone said men spend more time shaving
than on their souls; and multitudes of women give more minutes to their makeup
than preparing for Eternal Life.
Many still sell their birthright, their eternal
soul, for a moment of temporary pleasure.
33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”
So, he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.
Jacob, supplanter, the schemer, the
trickster, the heel grabber, grabs his brother’s heel again, while he’s hungry.
He knew what was really important, but
went about getting it the wrong way—tried to make it happen on his own.
The thing is, he didn’t need to.
God already said, “the older shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23.
34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate
and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Of course, God already knew Esau would
choose temporary earthly pleasure over Godly heavenly treasure.
Esau is remembered as a fornicator and profane
person (according to Hebrews 12:16).
Hebrews
12:14-17
Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one
will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short
of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest
there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who
for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that
afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he
found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Same family, same upbringing, one went on
to birth God’s chosen, and bless all nations of the earth.
The other, sold his soul for earth’s pleasure,
and to this day, finds no place of repentance.
Let’s pray.
Lord, teach us to pray.
Cause our lives to be a prayer to you; not
seeking to move Your hand, but asking You to move our heart, to Yours; so, we
can hear Your heartbeat, and repeat, what we hear.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
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Genesis 25:19-34
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Genesis 25:19-34
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s
Seed for you to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
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