Genesis 25
Peace be with you, listening
friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who wants everyone
to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established,
and have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today
to present your program The Way of Righteousness.
In our last program, we looked into the story of Abraham's
sacrifice {"Id
al-Adha"}.
The Gospel {Injil} gives us an interesting summary of this
important story when it says:
"By faith Abraham,
when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the
promise was about to sacrifice his one and only son {who was born according
to God's promise}, even though God had said to him, 'It is
through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.' Abraham reasoned that God
could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from
death." (Heb. 11:17-19)
Our last five lessons have been taken up with stories
from the life of the prophet Abraham. There are many more stories in the Torah
about Abraham which we have not explored. Unfortunately, we do not have time to
read them all. However, before we leave Abraham and go on to the stories of his
descendants, there is something that God said to Abraham that we should know
about. One day, God told Abraham what would happen to his offspring. He said,
"Know for certain
that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own,
and they will be enslaved and ill-treated four hundred years. But I
will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterwards they
will come out with great possessions." (Gen. 15:13,14)
With those words, God was announcing that the
descendants of Abraham would become slaves in the land of Egypt. God also
promised that after four hundred years He would deliver them from the dominion
of the people of Egypt. Four lessons from now, in the will of God, we will
begin to see how these precise prophecies were fulfilled, just as God told
Abraham.
Then, in chapter twenty-five, the Scriptures say:
"Abraham left
everything he owned to Isaac. Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and
seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age,
an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac
and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of
Ephron…the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried
with his wife Sarah." (Gen. 25:5,7-10)
Thus, Abraham, the
friend of God, entered the presence of the Lord, whom he knew and loved.
How can we conclude and summarize our lesson
concerning the prophet of God, Abraham? Perhaps with two questions and their
answers. The first question is: Why did God ask Abraham to move
and go to another country? Answer: Because God planned to make of
Abraham a new nation through which the Redeemer would come into the world. The
second question is: Why did God judge Abraham as one
who is righteous and accept him into His holy presence forever? Answer: Because Abraham
believed what God said even if it was not easy. Abraham was saved by faith in
God's promises and not by his own works. This is what the Scriptures declare
when they say: "Abraham believed
God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God's
friend." (Jam.
2:23)
In chapter twenty-five in the book of Genesis, the
Scriptures continue with the history of Abraham's descendants. Let us now
continue in the Torah and learn the story of Isaac and his
twin sons.
The Scripture says:
(Gen. 25) 19This
is the account of Abraham's son Isaac. Abraham became the
father of Isaac, 20and Isaac was forty years
old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean
from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.21Isaac prayed to
the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his
prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. 22The babies
jostled each other within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to
me?" So she went to enquire of the Lord. 23The 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."
24When
the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in
her womb. 25The first to come out was red, and his whole body
was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26After
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. 27The
boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country,
while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents.
Thus, we see that Isaac and Rebecca had twins, whom
they named Esau and Jacob {Ya'qub in Arabic}. They were
twins, but that doesn't mean they were the same! As Esau grew up, he set his
affections only on the things of the world which are temporary, but
Jacob valued the things of God which last forever. Esau
did not care about the promises that God had made to Abraham, his grandfather,
and to Isaac, his father, concerning the new nation which would arise from
them. However, Jacob did care about God's promises.
Esau was the firstborn. Therefore, humanly speaking,
he was the one who should have received the inheritance of the firstborn and
become the father of the great nation which God had promised to his
grandfather, Abraham, and to his father, Isaac. However, even before the twins
were born, God told Rebecca, their mother, "the older
will serve the younger." (Gen. 25:23) God, in His foreknowledge,
was announcing that the inheritance of the firstborn and the descendants of the
new nation would come through Jacob and not through Esau. As
for Jacob, he should have waited for God, leaving all in the hands of the One
who had the power to give him the inheritance in His appointed time. However, Jacob
did not wait for God.
Let us read on now to see how Jacob acted in order to take the inheritance from
Esau, his older brother.
The Scriptures say:
(Gen. 25) 29Once
when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30He
said to Jacob, "Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I'm
famished!"… 31Jacob 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. 34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and
some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised
his birthright.
Do you understand what Esau did? He exchanged his
inheritance as the firstborn son for a little bit of food! Imagine a very rich
man who has two sons. The man has fields and houses, and riches and lots of
money. The firstborn is the one who should inherit most of his wealth. However
one day, the elder comes in from the bush, and sees his younger brother cooking
fish and rice {Senegal's national dish} beside the path. The firstborn says to
his younger brother. "I am starved, give me some of that rice to
eat!" However, the brother replies, "I will not give it to you, but I
will sell it to you." The elder asks, "How much will you sell it to
me for?" The younger brother says, "Your rights of inheritance as the
firstborn." The elder replies, "Sold! I am hungry enough to die. Of
what use is my birthright to me?" So the elder swears to hand over to his
younger brother his whole inheritance! Then the firstborn sits down, eats and
drinks, gets up and goes on his way.
What can we say about this firstborn who exchanged
fields and houses, and riches and authority for one bowl of rice and fish? We
can say just one thing: "How stupid!" Just as this
firstborn despised the blessings of his father and the riches of the world, in
the same way Esau despised the blessings of
God and the riches of Eternity. The things that Esau despised were
infinitely more valuable than the riches of the world, because that which Esau
despised was the right to be a part of the new nation through which the Savior
of the world would come.
What does God want to teach us today through the story
of Esau and Jacob? God wants to warn us not to follow in the footsteps of Esau
by trading the riches of Eternity for the pleasures of the world which are
passing away. Listen to what the Word of the Lord declares about this. It says:
"What good will it
be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or
what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt 16:26) "See
to it that no one misses the grace of God…or is godless like Esau, who
for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son." (Heb. 12:15,16)
Esau missed out on the grace of God, because he did
not value the things of God. Thus, God is warning us, saying: Do not walk in
the footsteps of Esau! Do not despise the blessings I want to give to you!
How about you? Do you want God's blessings? God loves
you and wants to bless you greatly, but you must give Him first place in your
life. You must value the Word of God more than food and money. Then you will
begin to understand what the Scriptures mean when they say: "No
eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for
those who love him." (1 Cor. 2:9) God wants to bless us
greatly. He wants to forgive all our sins, change our wicked hearts, purify us
and fill us with His love, joy, peace and assurance. And these blessings are
only part of the inheritance which God wants to give to every descendant of
Adam! However, you must seek the things of Eternity with
all of your heart.
He who does not desperately want God's eternal blessings will never receive
them. As we sometimes hear, "Whoever wants honey must brave the
bees."{Wolof proverb}
Do you want to receive God's blessings? Then you must
seek to understand what God has promised in His Word. Do you know His wonderful
promises, which are so great that they surpass human understanding? Do you
cherish them? Or are you merely seeking after the things of the world? The Word
of God shows us that there are only two kinds of people in the world: Those who value
the world and
seek after the things of the earth, and those who value
eternity and
seek after things which are above. Which kind of person are you?
Listen to what is written in the Psalms, in the first
chapter:
(Psa. 1) 1Blessed
is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in
the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he
meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams
of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers. 4Not so the wicked! They are
like chaff that the wind blows away. 5Therefore the wicked will
not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6For
the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will
perish!
How about you? In which way are you walking? Are you
walking in the way of those who treasure God's promises? Or are you like Esau
who traded the promises of God for the passing things
of the world? The Word of God warns us, saying:
"What good will it
be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?
Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26) "Do
not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to
eternal life, which the [Redeemer] will give you. On him God…has placed his
seal of approval." (John 6:27) "See
to it that no one misses the grace of God…or is godless like Esau, who for a
single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son." (Heb. 12:15,16)
Fellow listeners, this is where we must stop today.
Next time, in the will of God, we will continue in the Torah with the story of
Jacob….
God bless you as you carefully consider this warning
from His Word:
"See to it that no
one misses the grace of God…like Esau, who for a single meal sold his
inheritance rights as the oldest son." (Heb. 12:15,16)
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