Transferring the Promise

Josiah Ott

Big Picture • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Genesis 25:19–27:46

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10/16/24 -- Big Picture Pt. 9 “Transferring the Promise”

Recap: “Preliminary Fulfillment”

DEATH of SARAH

—> PURCHASE of CAVE of MACHPELAH

(Q) Why was this significant?

PARTIAL FULFILLMENT— ABRAHAM NOW OWNS PROPERTY in LAND of CANAAN!!

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NEXT: ISAAC & REBEKAH— MOVING CLOSER to PROMISED FULFILLMENT

REMEMBER: ISAAC NEEDS KIDS FOR PROMISE to BE FULFILLED...

ABRAHAM DIES — BATON is PASSED to ISAAC...

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Text Pt. 1: Genesis 25:19-34

READ: 19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

ISAAC = LINE of PROMISE

PROBLEM: REBEKAH = BARREN.... **DO YOU SEE the PROBLEM of BARRENNESS??

ISAAC PRAYS, REBEKAH CONCEIVES,, PREGNANCY = EXTRA MISERABLE…

GO to GOD in PRAYER...

READ: 23 And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger.”

VERY IMPORTANT.

ISRAEL = GOD’S PEOPLE… THIS is DECREED BEFORE JACOB WAS EVEN BORN!

WHY DID GOD CHOOSE ISRAEL/JACOB?

BECAUSE HE WANTED TO.

Deuteronomy 7:7–8 (ESV)

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,

8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

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TRACING LINE of PROMISE:

ABRAHAM’S CHILDREN:

ISHMAEL

6 FROM KETURAH

ISAAC (PROMISE)

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NOW:

ISAAC’S KIDS:

ESAU

JACOB (PROMISE)

READ: 24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

TODAY’S SETTING:

2 KIDS

ABRAHAM’S OFFSPRING = MULTIPLYING —FULFILLMENT!

ESAU (OLDER)

MAN of FIELD/HUNTER—BELOVED BY FATHER

JACOB (YOUNGER)

HOMEBODY/PROBABLY PASTORAL—BELOVED BY MOTHER

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FORESHADOWED:

JACOB = CHOSEN LINE

JACOB’S NAME = “HEELGRABBER” DECEIVER, CHEATER

QUARRELS BETWEEN BROTHERS & FAMILY —FAVORITES

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Esau Sells His Birthright

READ: 29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

JACOB’S NAME— HEEL-GRABBER,, BEGINS to BE FULFILLED...

ESAU = HUNGRY—SLAVE to APPETITE

JACOB = SCHEMER—EXPLOITING BROTHER’S WEAKNESS

**CLEARLY PREMEDITATED/CALCULATED**

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o Birthright background:

BIRTHRIGHT, ZIBBC: “The birthright consists of the material inheritance. The firstborn usually received a double share from the father because he was expected to become the paterfamilias, having ultimate responsibility for all of the members of the extended family (e.g., mother, unwed sisters) as well as for the continuing care of the deceased. With this greater responsibility came greater resources.”[2]

RED STEW ENDS UP MERELY BEING LENTILS!!

**NOTICE: JACOB’S PREMEDITATED, SELFISH ACT = UNFOLDING GOD’S PLAN: “OLDER SERVING YOUNGER”

NOW JACOB HAS BIRTHRIGHT—GREATER INHERITANCE

**NOTE HOW LITTLE ESAU CARED....

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Text Pt. 2: Genesis 26:1-34

READ: Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. 2 And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. 3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, 5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

FAMINE COMES— GOD’S MESSAGE: “DON’T LEAVE CANAAN”

(Q) Why do you think God wants Isaac to stay there?

THIS LAND was PROMISED—NOT EGYPT

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ISAAC REMAINS in GERAR & NOTE REITERATION of PROMISE:

MULTIPLIED OFFSPRING—STARS of HEAVEN

OFFSPRING WILL INHERIT the LAND

THROUGH OFFSPRING ALL NATIONS of EARTH = BLESSED.

SOUND FAMILIAR??

***SAME PROMISES to ABRAHAM

REMEMBER: PATRIARCHS—GOD’S PROMISE BECOMES a RELAY RACE—PASSING BATON of PROMISE!

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Isaac and Abimelech

READ: 6 So Isaac settled in Gerar. 7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

FAMILIAR SCENE

ISAAC SEEKS to SAVE HIS OWN SKIN W/ FULL-BLOWN LIE!

**ALL “HEROES” of FAITH HAVE THEIR FLAWS!

IN FAITH,, HE REMAINS in LAND of PROMISE

IN DOUBT,, HE RISKS HIS WIFE...

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READ: 12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him, 13 and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. 14 He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him. 15 (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.) 16 And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

GOD’S BLESSING RESTS UPON ISAAC—

BUT NOTE THE PROBLEM of LAND

LOTS of POSSESSIONS,, BUT NO PROPERTY

**ECHOED W/ PHILISTINES RUINING ABRAHAM’S WELLS!

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READ: 17 So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there. 18 And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. 19 But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, 20 the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. 21 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he called its name Sitnah. 22 And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”

**AGAIN MORE PROBLEMS W/ LACK of PROPERTY/LAND POSSESSION**

MOVING AROUND

FINALLY REHOBOTH--“LORD HAS MADE ROOM”

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READ: 23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

REITERATED PROMISE

CALL: FEAR NOT

HOW’S ISAAC RESPOND? —WORSHIP

**JUST AS ABRAHAM—EXEMPLARY FOR US**

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READ: 26 When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, 27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” 28 They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, 29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord.” 30 So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. 31 In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. 32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” 33 He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

GOD’S BLESSING is NOTICED

ABIMELECH—MAKES COVENANT W/ ISAAC

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READ: 34 When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite, 35 and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

FURTHER FAMILY PROBLEMS!

·ANOTHER SMALL EPISODE from ESAU’S LIFE—FURTHER PROVING HE’S NOT the CHOSEN LINE...

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Text Pt. 3: Genesis 27:1-46 “Isaac Blesses Jacob”

READ: 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, 4 and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul may bless you before I die.”

PROBLEMS:

GOD SAID ELDER SHALL SERVE YOUNGER

BIRTHRIGHT HAS BEEN SOLD

ESAU’S PROBLEMATIC MARRIAGE W/ WRONG PEOPLE GROUPS...

NORMALLY ALL SONS WOULD APPEAR TOGETHER....

ISAAC = SEEKING to GIVE BLESSING SOLELY to ESAU WITHOUT ANYONE ELSE EVEN KNOWING!

(Q) Remember who was the favorite? — ESAU

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BLESSING (BACKGROUND):

PRAYER to GOD—SIGNIFICANT/ALMOST PROPHETIC

BINDING EXERCISE of AUTHORITY

TRANSFERS LEADERSHIP of CLAN to NEXT GENERATION—APPOINTED SON as DESIGNATED ADMINISTRATOR of ESTATE...

ZIBBC: “If the inheritance remained undivided for some time (which was common), the privileged son (usually the firstborn) was designated the administrator of the estate. The administrator had significant control of the estate. His roles included presiding at sacrificial meals celebrated by the family, supervising burials and funerary rites, and serving as kinsman-redeemer”[3]

ESAU ISN’T GOD’S CHOICE

HE’S NOT REBEKAH’S CHOICE

ONLY ISAAC’S — ISAAC LOVES HIS FOOD...

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READ: 5 Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, 7 ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you. 9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. 10 And you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” 11 But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” 13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, bring them to me.”

**REBEKAH CONCOCTS PLAN...

PLAYING FAVORITES = BAD RESULTS...

JACOB—DESPITE BEING “DECEIVER” SEES POTENTIAL DOWNSIDES...

(T) Will Jacob listen to Mom & betray Dad’s trust??

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READ: 14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared delicious food, such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And the skins of the young goats she put on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 And she put the delicious food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. 18 So he went in to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” 19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me; now sit up and eat of my game, that your soul may bless me.” 20 But Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?” He answered, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” 21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near, that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.” 22 So Jacob went near to Isaac his father, who felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” 23 And he did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands. So he blessed him. 24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He answered, “I am.” 25 Then he said, “Bring it near to me, that I may eat of my son’s game and bless you.” So he brought it near to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

ISAAC’S FACULTIES ARE ABUSED—

SUSPICIOUS—WHY HOME SO QUICK?? —

(V20) LIES & BRINGS GOD INTO IT!!

HOW BAD IS THIS????

(V21-23) HE DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT (JACOB’S VOICE)—BUT HE FEELS RIGHT (FURRY HANDS)

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READ: 26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came near and kissed him. And Isaac smelled the smell of his garments and blessed him and said,

“See, the smell of my son

is as the smell of a field that the Lord has blessed!

28 May God give you of the dew of heaven

and of the fatness of the earth

and plenty of grain and wine.

29 Let peoples serve you,

and nations bow down to you.

Be lord over your brothers,

and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.

Cursed be everyone who curses you,

and blessed be everyone who blesses you!”

JACOB RECEIVES the BLESSING

**IRONY— “BROTHERS/MOTHER’S SONS BOWING..” WAS SUPPOSED to BE FOR JACOB!

ISAAC UNKNOWINGLY TAKES the PROPHETIC UTTERANCE FURTHER!

REF: GEN. 25:23

Genesis 25:23 (ESV)

23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

ISAAC’S BLESSING WAS INTENDED to BE ANTITHETICAL to THIS…BUT HE HAD IT BACKWARDS!

>>> BACKWARDS THINGS = FULFILLING GOD’S PLANS

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READ: 30 As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, when Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting. 31 He also prepared delicious food and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” 32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He answered, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” 33 Then Isaac trembled very violently and said, “Who was it then that hunted game and brought it to me, and I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” 34 As soon as Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” 35 But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” 36 Esau said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” Then he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” 37 Isaac answered and said to Esau, “Behold, I have made him lord over you, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and with grain and wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” 38 Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” And Esau lifted up his voice and wept.

READ: 39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:

“Behold, away from the fatness of the earth shall your dwelling be,

and away from the dew of heaven on high.

40 By your sword you shall live,

and you shall serve your brother;

but when you grow restless

you shall break his yoke from your neck.”

PERFECTLY DESIGNED…JUST AS JACOB LEAVES—ESAU COMES.

BLESSING WAS STOLEN

ISAAC TREMBLED REALIZING HE COULDN’T UNDO IT.

THE TRICKERY BACKFIRED ON THEM...

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JACOB—TWO TIMES—HAS CHEATED HIS BROTHER....

TAKEN BIRTHRIGHT— THE INHERITANCE

TAKEN BLESSINGS—THE POSITION/LEADERSHIP

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ESAU BEGS for SOMETHING…

GET’S SMALLER BLESSING

(V40A) HE’LL SERVE HIS BROTHER

(V40B) BREAKING YOKE:— EDOM ENDS UP BEING DIFFERENT NATION OUTSIDE of PROMISED LAND...

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(T) PASSAGE CLOSES:

READ: 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.” 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. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice. Arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran 44 and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away— 45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women like these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

FIRST ESAU DESPISED HIS BIRTHRIGHT...

NOW HE DESPISES JACOB

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REBEKAH HEARS of IT—DETERMINES to SEND JACOB AWAY

**UNDER CLOAK of “NOT MARRYING a HITTITE WOMAN”**

REMEMBER: ESAU W/ HITTITE WOMEN = PROBLEM for FAMILY...

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Takeaways

I. TRANSFER of BLESSING & PROMISE

* FROM ABRAHAM

TO ISAAC

TO JACOB

**INSTRUMENTAL in SALVATION HISTORY—PASSING of BATON**

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II. IMPERFECTIONS of GOD’S SERVANTS

ISAAC —LARGELY PASSIVE

LIES CONCERNING HIS WIFE...

FAVORITISM AGAINST GOD’S PLAN

JACOB — “CHEATER/DECEIVER”

TWICE SELFISHLY TAKES THINGS FROM ESAU

BIRTHRIGHT

BLESSING

REMINDER: GOD DOESN’T WORK THROUGH PERFECT PEOPLE,, HE DOESN’T HAVE ANY TO USE!

**WHAT an ENCOURAGEMENT WE’RE NOT AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED…**

GOD is A GOD of GRACE—USING THOSE WHO DON’T DESERVE IT!!

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III. THE SURETY of GOD’S PLAN.

Genesis 25:23 (ESV)

23 And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

BEFORE THEIR BIRTHS,, GOD ESTABLISHED— JACOB = CHOSEN LINE of PROMISE...

TRANSFER of BLESSING & BIRTHRIGHT FULFILLED THIS...

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**BALANCE of DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY & HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY**

ISAAC’S FAVORITISM & BLESSING SOLELY ESAU WOULD’VE BEEN CONTRARY to GOD’S PLAN...

BUT ISAAC IS TRICKED OUT of IT...

DOESN’T JUSTIFY JACOB’S ACTIONS...

BUT IT DOES FULFILL GOD’S PLANS...

Acts 2:23 (ESV)

23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

GOD’S PLAN WON’T BE FOILED...

IN THAT WE CAN REJOICE, AMEN

Close in Prayer

o Gordon Wenham writes concerning the blessing, “Clearly, Genesis sees the deathbed blessing as more than a prayer for the future; it is a prophecy whose fulfillment is certain.”[4]

[1]Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2 of Word Biblical Commentary(Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1994), 178. [2]John H Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Old Testament): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 105. [3]John H Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Old Testament): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 105. [4]Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 16–50, vol. 2 of Word Biblical Commentary(Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1994), 216.

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