Gen 25 19+

19 This is the account of the family line of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the father of Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. 21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”

24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau's heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom. )

31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

33But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

Gen 26

1 Now there was a famine in the land—besides the previous famine in Abraham's time—and Isaac went to Abimelek king of the Philistines in Gerar. 2 The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. 3 Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. 4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions.”

6 So Isaac stayed in Gerar. 7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” because he was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “The men of this place might kill me on account of Rebekah, because she is beautiful.” 8 When Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines looked down from a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

9 So Abimelek summoned Isaac and said, “She is really your wife! Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?” Isaac answered him, “Because I thought I might lose my life on account of her.” 10 Then Abimelek said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the men might well have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelek gave orders to all the people: “Anyone who harms this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

12 Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the LORD blessed him. 13 The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy.

14 He had so many flocks and herds and servants that the Philistines envied him.

15 So all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the time of his father Abraham, the Philistines stopped up, filling them with earth. 16 Then Abimelek said to Isaac, “Move away from us; you have become too powerful for us.”

17 So Isaac moved away from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar, where he settled. 18 Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died, and he gave them the same names his father had given them.

19 Isaac's servants dug in the valley and discovered a well of fresh water there. 20 But the herders of Gerar quarreled with those of Isaac and said, “The water is ours!” So he named the well Esek, because they disputed with him. 21 Then they dug another well, but they quarreled over that one also; so he named it Sitnah.

22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and no one quarreled over it. He named it Rehoboth, saying, “Now the LORD has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 That night the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”

25 Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

26 Meanwhile, Abimelek had come to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath his personal adviser and Phicol the commander of his forces. 27 Isaac asked them, “Why have you come to me, since you were hostile to me and sent me away?”

28 They answered, “We saw clearly that the LORD was with you; so we said, 'There ought to be a sworn agreement between us'—between us and you. Let us make a treaty with you 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we did not harm you but always treated you well and sent you away peacefully. And now you are blessed by the LORD.”

30 Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. 31 Early the next morning the men swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac sent them on their way, and they went away peacefully. 32 That day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said, “We've found water!” 33 He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.

34 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.

35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

SS39 Red Necks

Gen 25:19-34 and Gen 26

Gen 25:19-34

Isaac and Rebekah are childless.  Rebekah has trouble having children and does not conceive for twenty years. There were so many great women in the Bible who struggled with fertility: Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mom, Hannah, and many more. Often these children became great men of faith. God’s timing (though inconvenient to the women in question) was for important purposes. This was a great comfort to me when I was struggling to get PG. 

Another stress situation that looks bad for the promise.  Isaac prays about it and God gives him twins.  Be careful what you ask for!  The babies fought in her womb and she prayed to God about that (probably worried she would lose the babies).  God told her that two nations were in her belly.  The older would one day serve the younger.  That is a turnabout from tradition.  God already knew their nature and the personalities of the men before they were even born (an anti-abortion verse for sure). Even before they are born, God chose Jacob as being the next generation of His promise. It was not traditional. It was not fair by human standards. But God already knew the men they would be. He could have reordered the births to make it more culturally acceptable. Instead, He does the unexpected as he paves the way for Christ. This reminds me of so many parts of the Christ story (like birth in a stable). God takes the road less traveled to show the inverted nature of His plan for salvation. He uses the weak to defeat the strong. The simple teach the wise. The servants lead. Christ creates life through death. And here the younger proceeds above the elder. 

The first baby was hairy and red.  Esau is named due to this, something like calling your kid “Hairy” today.  Jacob was grabbing his heel.  Esau was a manly man and a red neck (see what I did there?) who was dad’s favorite.  Jacob was a stay-at-home momma’s boy who liked to cook.  Each of the parents had favorites. Having favorites causes so many problems.

One day Esau came home hungry and wanted some of Jacob’s red stew.  It says (V20) that this is why he was called “Edom” -because he loved to “Eat em”.  OK, not really.  Edom means red and the stew was red.  Think that was an accident?  His red brother probably loved red stew.  OOOH, I just made up a new joke.  What is red and white and hairy all over? I guess you had to be here.   Esau was called hairy and red.  Poor guy, he is also short-sighted.  He is so hungry that he is willing to sell his birthright to his brother for some soup.   His short-term appetite robs him of his long-term rights.  

Sounds really stupid, but I know I Esau myself from time to time.  Is a donut worth heart disease?  Is a dumb show worth giving up prayer time?  Just call me big red!  Also, Jacob tries to force God’s plan into action here by tricking his brother. God does not need our manipulations. This does demonstrate Jacob’s character.  Jacob is a trickster though.  

Gen 26

We learn next that Isaac took a page from his father’s book of tricks.  He goes to another kingdom and pretends his hot wife is his sister.  He got caught in a snuggle and is confronted about the lie.  

Isaac planted crops and was super blessed.   He got to be so rich that the locals wanted him to leave.  He did.

I got tickled watching all of the well disputes-nobody can tell me God does not have a sense of irony and humor. God is blessing Isaac and he is digging great wells in the desert. Not easy. People start fighting over them. He digs another one and it is great. People fight over it. He digs another and it is great… It seems like Isaac is being blessed with water and it is driving the neighbors nuts. We know water is a metaphor for salvation and cleansing of the world of sin. 

Red neck Esau marries a gal named Beeri – Miller time!  He also marries Basemath which sounds like a new idea to replace common core math.  Esau is such a mess. He does not value his birthright and sells it for beans. Literally. He then marries two women and they are a lot of drama. They were foreigners.  

They were a headache to Isaac and Rebekah (V35).  I want to point out that having God in your corner does not exclude you from having a wacky family.  

God knew what He was doing by choosing Jacob. It is only odd by human standards that choosing based upon his life occurs before the life. God is outside of our timeline and this sometimes makes our story appear out of order to our eyes. I think it also makes us see large gaps in time between our prayers and the answers. God can start answering a prayer before the prayer or answer right away and it exists twenty years in the future in our timeline. He sees the entire situation and places the answer in the right place.