Genesis 25
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We are half-way through our journey through the book of Genesis.
It’s been good though. I’ve enjoyed it at least!
But we have made it to the chapter when Abraham will be laid to rest.
But before that, verses 1-6 give us some important information.
Look beginning in verse 1.
Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country.
The Bible says here that Abraham marries Keturah and has more children.
Now, scholars raise questions here about the timeline and whether or not this is chronological.
Some argue that marriage would’ve had to have happened before the birth of Isaac.
Basically saying that Abraham would have married Keturah prior to Sarah’s death.
We don’t know that.
Many do not believe that it is chronological, but some believe that it is chronological and that Abraham took this wife at a really old age, and had these children.
Regardless, we aren’t told when it happens. We are told that it happens.
We also know that this isn’t outside the character of Abraham to do.
He did the same thing with Hagar.
All of that said though— We understand from Scripture the constant witness that marriage should be between one man and one woman.
Many things that we find in scripture are descriptive, not prescriptive.
That said— The point of this chapter is not to get caught up in Abraham’s marital life.
The point really is how everything now shifts from the focus on Abraham to where now everything will be focused upon Isaac.
Even though Abraham had many other children it seems from Ishmael to these children of the concubines.
The text goes out of it way to tell us— Isaac will receive everything.
Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.
That is the point here.
These other children receive gifts, but Isaac receives the inheritance (v. 5).
Isaac will receive the blessings. He will receive all of what Abraham has.
He is the promised seed.
And here I think it is an important reminder for us—
God’s promises are passed through His chosen line, not just biology.
Being God’s people is about faith. Not bloodline.
Paul tells us his—
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
What that means is not everyone who descended from Abraham was necessarily God’s people.
You see that distinction made. Though it seems Abraham had many children, one child will recieve the inhertiance.
Juts because some one had Abraham as father, does not guarantee they are the people of God.
This isn’t just applicable to Israel, though.
It’s also applicable to us.
Every single parent in the room desires that our children would be faithful.
We desire that they would put their faith and trust in Christ and that they would follow him with their lives.
And I do believe that there are some blessed promises in scripture
There are some general truths that I believe.
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
That is a general truth. It’s not a guarantee.
Just because I am a Christian does not mean my girls will be.
Just because I have received salvation from God’s gracious hand does not necessarily mean that they will.
I know that’s hard to hear and it’s even hard for me to say thinking about my three little girls.
And you better believe I’m gonna do everything as a parent to point them toward their purpose in life being found in God and in him alone.
I’m going to preach to them and tell them the good news of the gospel constantly.
I’m going to rejoice if they do, indeed make a profession of faith in Christ.
I will do my best to nurture that through the word of God and through having them involved in church.
But I can’t guarantee any of that.
Salvation isn’t passed from mom and dad to children like some sort of biological trait.
Salvation is a miracle.
It comes by virtue of God‘s work in the life of an individual to bring them to an acknowledgment of their sin, and an acknowledgment of Christ as their only hope.
And so we want and desire that for them.
But bloodline does not equal salvation.
That’s really important.
B. The death and burial of Abraham (vv. 7–11)
7 These are the days of the years of Abraham’s life, 175 years. 8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. 9 Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, east of Mamre, 10 the field that Abraham purchased from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried, with Sarah his wife. 11 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.
Abraham dies at 175 years old, “full of years.”
He is buried by Isaac and Ishmael— that is kind of odd seeing as how Ishmael was sent away, but it is encouraging to see that both Isaac and Ishmael are together in a moment of unity, burying the father that they loved.
It’s important to note that Abraham is buried in the same place Sarah was buried.
In the promised land.
And so we come to the end of Abraham’s life and I think the point is that God has been faithful.
Abraham has had his ups and downs, sure, but God has sustained his life. He has had delivered on his promises.
And so Abraham dies in faith.
And don’t miss the hope there in verse 8.
Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
There is hope here.
This isn’t a hopeless death.
This is celebration.
This is how faithful Christians die.
Not that we all live long and full lives. There are times when our years are shorter.
But when Christians die, we die in faith and we die in hope.
And what is a blessing is that though we may die, God is not done being faithful.
His promises continue.
There in verse 11, you see that that faithfulness continues on with Abraham son Isaac.
God blesses him.
The text goes out of his way to make us see that the transition of blessing and prospering of this nation is going to come through Isaac.
God is faithful to Abraham even after Abraham is in glory.
Now, there is a paranthesis here where chapter 25 is also going to close the book on Ishmael as far as his life and his descendants.
Look beginning in verse 12.
II. The Generations of Ishmael (Gen. 25:12–18)
12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.
A. God keeps His word about Ishmael.
You will remember, God had promised to make Ishmael a large nation as well. (Gen. 16:10–12)
And so that is what happens. God blesses him with a large family.
Twelve princes come from him, and he becomes a great nation.
B. His story ends in separation and distance (v. 18)
He goes opposite of Egypt in the direction of Assyria.
And verse 18 says— He settled over against all his kinsmen.
You will remember that God said that he would be a “wild donkey of a man.”
Everything said about him comes true.
And what we see is that even outside the covenant line, God is sovereign over all nations.
He blesses and gives children. He raises them up, and he takes them down.
And so you Ishmael’s line and the record of his life.
And no we pick up with Isaac’s line—
Look beginning in verse 19–
A. A barren wife and a faithful God (vv. 19–21)
These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 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. And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
Isn’t it interesting that we hear of how God blessed Ishmael with all these children and then we get verse 19 and we hear again that the wife of the patriarch Isaac is barren? Again, no children.
You have here an echo of what happened with Sarah.
Isaac and Rebekah have to wait for God to bless them.
One thing we do see differently with Isaac then we saw with Abraham is that Isaac does not make the same mistake Abraham made.
Abraham tried to take care of things for God by having a son with Hagar.
He tries to accomplish God’s will through human ingenuity.
Verse 21 tells us that instead of that, Isaac prays to God.
He prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, and God granted his prayer.
This is the ordinary means that God gives us.
This is why it is important for us not to neglect prayer.
The Lord grants his prayer.
This is one of those situations where we know that Isaac understood God’s promise.
He knew that he was going to be a great nation as well.
And so he prays that God would accomplish that.
Here is a principle.
If we know, God‘s will, then we ought to pray for God‘s will to be done.
I’ve had to learn this over time, but it’s clear, God works through prayer and dependence, not human strength.
But Eventually, Rebekah becomes pregnant, and she is pregnant with twins.
Pick up with me in verse 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. 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.”
Rebekah’s twins struggle within her.
The language here is like they are fighting with each other in her womb.
It must have been a painful thing.
She goes to the Lord. Why is this happening to me?
And the Lord tells here this is going to be how it is.
There are two sons.
They will be divided.
One will be stronger than the other.
But the older will serve the younger.
Paul in Romans 9, explains that this is based upon God’s sovereign choice.
It precedes birth or works. It is all based upon God’s choice.
Paul in Romans 9 says this
…When Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
And so, we say why Jacob and not Esau?
Why Isaac? And not Ishmael or one of the other sons?
You can do this throughout Scripture?
Why Abel and not Cain?
Why Israel and not all the other nations?
Why David and not Eliab, the first born of Jesse?
Why Peter and not Judas?
Ultimately.
God’s choice.
God’s purposes.
James Boice says this— “God continued the line of Abraham through Isaac by grace according to the promise. And when a choice was made between the twin sons of Rebekah, again it was of grace (and not of works) that Jacob was chosen. We say it again: All is of grace. All that you are, all that you will become, all that you have, all that you will ever attain—all is due to God’s grace. Above all, salvation is due entirely to God’s grace, so that it depends on nothing in human beings.”
And so Jacob, not Esau will be the son of the chosen line.
The younger. Which again goes against the culture even of that day.
The oldest son was supposed to receive the inheritance.
But here, God says, no, I’ll take the younger.
And the whole course of history is determined by this sovereign choice.
Jacob will be renamed Israel.
Israel will have sons, that will form the nation of Israel, and from that nation, Christ will come.
And all of this, set in motion and determined by God.
Look at verse 24 and following.
When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 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.
So the two are born.
Esau is red and hairy. And so they call him Hairy— or Esau.
Jacob grabs his heel, and so they call him JACOB heel grabber or trickster.
And you see ven from that event and what happens at the birth what kind of man Jacob will be.
Why do you the Bible emphasizes Jacob grabbing his heel?
Now, obviously, I don’t think he had the cognitive functionality to understand how the birthright worked, but it seems from the beginning was trying to prevent Esau from the birthright.
Basically the idea is, hey I want to come out first so that I am the one who receives the birth right.
Both of their names reflect their character and really who they will be.
Both will live up to their names.
Look beginning in verse 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. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau sells his birthright for a meal.
Esau chooses short-term appetite over long-term blessing.
Genesis 25
We’ve all heard the story I’m sure.
The story fast forward pretty significant time.
Both of these boys are older.
Esau has been out hunting and he comes back and he’s famished.
Jacob was conveniently cooking soup.
And he offers food to Esau and exchange for Esau’s birthright.
Now I know we don’t typically do things like this any longer. But in this day and time the birthright was physical and spiritual blessings.
It was owed in this culture to the oldest child.
The lion share of the inheritance always went to the oldest. There was no arguing over this. This was just how it was.
And so the birthright rightfully belongs to Esau.
Jacob has no right to claim that birthright.
But Esau can give that away.
The text makes it clear that this was an immoral thing.
When you would expect that the text would highlight Jacob’s action of tricking him out of the birthright as the highlighted wrongdoing here.
But actually, the text more so focused on the fact that Esau despised his birthright.
He saw trades something that last beyond himself for a meal that would pass through his body in just a few hours.
He trades away the eternal for the temporary.
Esau in his actions here is representative of what an ungodly world does
One of the things that I like to do in public is just people watch.
One of the things that I found to be the cases that many people just look absolutely miserable.
If you go and just sit in a public place for any amount of time, you will find that people look absolutely miserable.
There’s no joy on their face.
They wear the face of sorrow and sadness.
Some are angry.
Why is that.
I believe that’s the case because they are trying to find their hope and joy in this world. And the temporary pleasures of this life. Where they can’t be found.
How many churches do we have in this area where pews sit empty?
How many people drive past our church on Sunday morning on their way to fill their lives with empty pleasures.
How many people drive by the place that could actually offer them Hope on their way to the river to the ocean to the mall to buy more useless things.
And the promise is if they just get this one thing, nothing else will really matter.
But in that you hear the echo of Esau.
They traded the temporary for the eternal.
But we as Christians do it as well.
Those of us whi call ourselves believers. How often do we turn to the things of this world rather than the things of God to fulfill us?
How often do our Bible sit unopened while our phone batteries are drained every day from constant scrolling or other meaningless things that we do
I want us to see the night that that is trading the eternal for the temporary
The Lord has given us his word.
Lord has given us eternal blessings right here in Christ through his word.
Let’s take a lesson from Esau to not trade the eternal for the temporary.
Closing Applications:
1. God’s faithfulness spans generations. Trust Him in seasons of transition.
2. God chooses by grace, not human merit. Respond in humility and worship.
3. Despising spiritual privileges leads to ruin. Cherish what God offers in Christ.
