Preaching the Word
Preaching the Word
Gen 27:41-28:9 - Sibling Strife and Sacred Promises - The Mysteries of God's Word
What happens when intense sibling rivalry meets divine promises? Explore the fierce hatred Esau harbors after Jacob receives their father Isaac's blessing, and witness Rebekah's desperate measures to protect both her sons by urging Jacob to flee to her brother Laban in Haran. We delve into the layers of Rebekah's motives, not just to save Jacob but also to ensure he marries within their lineage, contrasting sharply with Esau's ill-fated choice of Hittite wives.
In the second part of our discussion, we examine the diverging destinies of Jacob and Esau. Jacob's life emerges as one of faith and obedience, honoring his father's wishes to preserve family purity and continuing the line of the Messiah. On the flip side, Esau's life is marked by immorality and poor choices, notably his marriages to pagan women, which underscore his disregard for family values. As we prepare to explore Jacob's dream in our next episode, we invite you to reflect on the profound moral and spiritual lessons from this episode. May God bless you this week.
Email: nathan@nathandietsche.com
Welcome again to the Mysteries of God's Word. Today we're at the end of Genesis, chapter 27, and we're examining the relationship between Esau and Jacob after Isaac blessed Jacob, starting at verse 41,. Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself the days of mourning for my father are approaching. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. Here we see in verse 41 that Esau had taken Isaac's words to heart about his coming death and he believed that his father was going to die soon. We had read earlier, in verses 2 through 4, that Isaac had said he was getting old and he didn't know the day of his death and that he wanted to bless Esau before he died. So Esau believed his father was going to die soon and, out of a misguided sense of respect perhaps for his father, esau was going to wait until his father Isaac was buried and in the ground before killing his brother Jacob. But holding such hatred towards his own family and planning the murder of his brother continues to reveal Esau's heart. And planning the murder of his brother continues to reveal Esau's heart. It shows to us that he doesn't desire to lead his family in the ways of God, nor does he have any genuine respect for his father's family.
Speaker 1:Picking up in verse 42,. But the words of Esau, her older son, were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob, her younger son, and said to him Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by planning to kill you. Now, therefore, my son, obey my voice, arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran and stay with him a while until your brother's fury turns away, until your brother's anger turns away from you and he forgets what you've done to him. Then I'll send and I'll bring you from there. Why should I bereft of both of you in one day?
Speaker 1:From these four verses we see that someone came and told Rebekah about Esau's plans to kill his brother. It implies that Esau was telling people about his plans. Perhaps Esau was telling the servants that he would one day kill his brother. Maybe he was using it as a means to usurp authority or even bully the servants around. We don't know for certain. But Esau's plans to kill his brother eventually came to his mother's attention and Rebekah sent and called for Jacob. And Rebekah tells Jacob that Esau is comforting himself with plans of killing him. We see here that Rebekah believes that the thought of murder is a way that Esau is emotionally coping with losing the blessing of the firstborn, and she has thoughts that perhaps after a long period of time, esau will cool off, maybe he'll forget about these plans of murder. So she tells Jacob obey my voice, ar, arise and flee to Laban.
Speaker 1:Rebecca commands Jacob, who is now a 77 year old man, to flee from Esau and go to her brother Laban, who's in the town of Haran, which is about 500 miles away, and she says why should I bereft of both of you? Rebecca knew that if Esau murdered his brother Jacob, that the God of Isaac demanded that Esau's life would be taken. She knew the command from back at the time of Noah, when God said whoever sheds the blood of man by man, shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image, and tradition at this point held that the next nearest relative would track down and execute Esau, known as the Avenger of Blood. Therefore, rebekah's desire is to try and save both of them from death. However, that's not Rebekah's only desire. In verse 46, we read Then Rebekah said to Isaac I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of these Hittite women like these one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me? Certainly, rebekah here is referring to the wives of Esau. However, her statement is also general in nature. She doesn't want Jacob to marry any of these Hittite women either.
Speaker 1:While Rebekah has genuine concerns for both of her sons' lives, she's we see her still scheming to make things happen, and Rebekah has motivations to make sure that Jacob finds a suitable wife. Esau's threats of murder provide the perfect opportunity for her to send Jacob to her own family and have him find a proper wife, starting in verse 1 of chapter 28. There, one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you that you may become a company of peoples. May he give you the blessing of Abraham and to you and your offspring with you, that you may take possession of the land of your sojournings that God gave to Abraham. Thus, isaac sent Jacob away and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Armenian, the brother of Rebekah, jacob's and Esau's mother.
Speaker 1:Here in these first five verses of chapter 28,. We see that some point verses of chapter 28,. We see that some point shortly after Rebecca tells Jacob that he needs to go to Laban for his own safety, away from Esau. He agreed and now Isaac is informed of Jacob's decision. And Isaac now calls Jacob in to bless him before he goes on this long journey. Prior to giving his blessing, isaac gives specific instructions to Jacob. He says you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women, but rather he must take a wife from one of the daughters of Laban. It's interesting to note here that Isaac's instructions say take one of the daughters of Laban, but Jacob ends up marrying two of them. Then Isaac continues to bless Jacob. Through this blessing we see the mindset of Isaac at this time. He clearly believes the promise of Abraham will come through Jacob, but we also see that he believed it to be more of a promise of a physical kingdom that would come through Jacob rather than the eternal kingdom that was going to come through Christ.
Speaker 1:Just to fill in a little bit of the background here, the place where Isaac is asking Jacob to go, paddan Aram, is an area that's part of a larger area known as Aram. The language here was Aramaic, the population was Armenian, the village of Haran was in Paddan Aram, and this area of Paddan Aram is where Abraham's servant found Rebekah, and it is now where Jacob is going to find Laban Again. Laban is Rebekah's brother. Both Rebekah and Laban are children of Bethuel, who is the child of Nahor, and Nahor was the brother of Abraham of Nahor, and Nahor was the brother of Abraham. So Isaac blesses Jacob with the Abrahamic covenant and sends him Paddan Aram to meet Laban, the brother of Rebekah, picking up in verse 6 of chapter 28,.
Speaker 1:Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and and sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife from there, and that as he blessed him, he directed him you must not take a wife from the Canaanite women that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and gone to Paddan Aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his mother and gone to Paddan Aram. So when Esau saw that the Canaanite women did not please Isaac, his father, esau went to Ishmael and took as his wife, besides the wives he had, mahalat, the daughter of Ishmael, abraham's son, the sister of Nebaiot. In our last two verses for today, esau saw four things. He saw that Isaac blessed Jacob once again. He saw that Jacob left for a distant country. He saw that Jacob was instructed not to take a Canaanite woman. And finally, that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother. That Jacob obeyed his father and his mother when Esau saw his father's disapproval of the two Canaanite wives that he had taken.
Speaker 1:And now that Jacob had obeyed his father by going to take a wife from the area of Paddan Aram, and the line of Abraham, esau becomes even further embittered. Perhaps out of a misguided thinking that he could please his father, esau takes a wife from the daughters of Ishmael. But this really highlights Esau's spiritual blindness to the things of God and how his bitterness is ruling his mind. God, and how his bitterness is ruling his mind In his rebellion against the things of God. Esau goes to Abraham's unbelieving firstborn son, ishmael. It's important to remember that Ishmael had been removed from Abraham's camp for mocking Esau's father Isaac, esau's father, isaac. It's also significant that Esau can now somehow relate to Ishmael, because Ishmael didn't receive the blessing of the firstborn from Abraham either. Rather than repenting of his rebellion against God, esau literally makes his bed out of bitterness by taking yet another pagan wife.
Speaker 1:The narrative of Jacob's deception that we spoke on last week is framed by how Esau lived his life in immorality with pagan women. It shows that, despite Jacob receiving Isaac's blessing by deception, it shows that, despite Jacob receiving Isaac's blessing by deception, jacob's faith brought about an obedience in how he lived out his life with his family. Jacob followed his father's advice not to take pagan wives and maintain purity in his life, and the line of the Messiah, his life and the line of the Messiah Esau, to the contrary, lived in immorality and was unwilling to maintain purity in his life. We're going to pause here this week, and next week we'll be examining Jacob's dream. Join me then, and God bless you this week.