Genesis 6/17/17

GENESIS

June 17, 2017

By Pastor Kim Hickcox

 

(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)

 

As we pick up on Genesis chapter 25, Abraham is dead and his full personal lineage has been noted as well as Ishmaels’. We are starting today at Genesis 25:19, which is entitled Toldot, referring to a specific [weekly] reading from the Torah that continues to 28:9. Toldot means result, consequence, birth, offspring, descendants; and starts with the descendants of Isaac, the son of the promise, as we can read in Galatians 4:21-24.

 

“And these are the descendants of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begot Isaac: ²⁰And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebeccah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. ²¹And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren, and the LORD was entreated by him and Rebeccah his wife conceived. ²²And the children struggled together within her and she said, ‘If it is so, why am I like this?’ And she went to inquire of the LORD. ²³And the LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb and two kinds of people will be separated from your body, the one people will be stronger than the other people and the elder will serve the younger.’ (25:19-23)

 

Verse 21 is the first time we read of a husband praying for his wife. But after 20 years of marriage, Isaac and Rebeccah were still childless. And talk about results! Although Rebeccah only had two children physically, her twin sons grew up to father the Hebrews (Jacob) and the Edomites (Esau). We need to remember that the world was still pretty young at this time. Isaac was born only 2120 years after creation and there had been a worldwide flood around 1600 years after creation, so the population was still pretty sparse, which is why, I believe, they had soooo many more children as a general rule then than we do today. (And also why I wasn’t born back then, thank you very much.)

 

“And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵And the first came out, red all over like a hairy garment and the called his name Esau (Esav). ²⁶And after his brother came out and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel, and his name was called Jacob (Yaakov) and Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. ²⁷And the boys grew and Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a plain man, living in tents. ²⁸And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his venison, but Rebeccah loved Jacob.” (25:24-28, the spellings in parentheses are Hebrew and in the ONM)

 

Many people translate the name Jacob to mean supplanter, meaning someone devious. And although Jacob wasn’t necessarily always on the up-and-up, I believe his name means at the heel. Considering it was given to him at birth, and references his zeal to be first – both at birth and later in life toward the things of God.

 

In this last passage of chapter 25, we will learn that Esau wasn’t so excited about the big picture of life. He was consumed with what was in-the-moment. Now to be sure, we should be able to concentrate and focus on our day-to-day projects and duties, but not to the point to where we are all but blind to the future and the real important things of this life, which are not temporal, but eternal.

 

As Y’shua told us in Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not gather treasures on the Earth for yourselves, where moth and rust are destroying and where thieves break in and steal:²⁰but build up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and do not steal: ²¹for where your treasure is there also will your heart be.”

 

Esau was the poster child for this warning! “And Jacob made a stew and Esau came from the field and he was weary. ³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, ‘Feed me, I pray you, with that same red stew, for I am weary.’ Therefore his name was called Edom, Red. ³¹And Jacob said, ‘Sell me your birthright this day.’ ³²And Esau said, ‘Look, I am at the point of death, so what good will this birthright be to me?’ ³³And Jacob said, ‘Swear to me this day.’ And he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank, then he got up and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.” (25:29-34)

 

Esau, being the firstborn would have inherited two-thirds of his father’s estate AND would have been the official head of the family socially, spiritually and authoritatively. Now don’t get me wrong, I really like lentil stew and make it every winter. However, it is not worth the fortune and position that Esau gave for it. But he was within his rights. The firstborn, the father or God the Father were the only ones who could alter the inheritance of the firstborn.

 

God did this in Numbers when He assigned Levi and his heirs to be the Priests of the Hebrew nation instead of Reuben, who was the firstborn of Jacob/Israel. “And I have taken the Levites instead of all of the firstborn of the children of Israel. ¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so there will be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come near the Sanctuary.” (8:18-19)

 

Israel also reversed the birth order when he was declaring his blessings over Joseph’s two sons at his death, (we assume under the Lord’s guidance). “And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.’ ¹⁹And his father refused and said, ‘I know it, my son, I know it. He also will become a people and he also will be great, but truly his younger brother will be greater than he and his seed will become the fullness of the nations.’” (Genesis 48:17-19)

 

So this was a very big deal and Esau sloughed it off for dinner. And somehow I doubt that he was near death as he claimed, as he came in under his own power and carried on quite the conversation. He was just consumed with his own body and needs and could have cared less about anyone else’s feelings or about anything long-term.

 

We, as God’s children, should be concerning ourselves with the big picture on a continual basis. That picture of course, being the Kingdom of God and our individual place and responsibilities in it. 

 

I would suggest spending time every morning with your Creator before you start your day going out into the world that buffets you around as much as possible. Try putting on some praise music, or just reading your Bible with the focus on what He wants to tell you and how you can allow Him to change you. You may even want to start each day with communion too. It will make you look forward to waking up I promise you.

 

You may have to adjust your schedule, but isn’t making quality time for the One Who gives you every heartbeat, every breathe, every new day, eternal life and works every single circumstance you have for your good (Romans 8:28)  worth it?

 

I have to tell you that I am NOT a morning person! And I was relatively sure that God wired me that way. Then several months ago, I started waking up early – pre-alarm and sometimes even pre-dawn! Well it just irritated the stuffing out of me as I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep with no avail. So I would pray in my head until the alarm went off and I HAD to get up.

 

It took quite a while, but at some point I figured out that it was the Lord waking me up to spend time with Him. I’m far from the sharpest knife in the drawer you know, so when this brainstorm finally came – I stopped waking up early! Well then I was devastated and begged Him to give me another chance promising to be obedient and not stupid! Well, He did and so did I! So if I can do it – you can too! And it does wonders for your day, for your attitude, for your peace and for the most important relationship you have! Give it a try, you’ll like it, I promise! So does He.

 

SHALOM!

AND HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL THE DADS OUT THERE!!