Two Peoples Will Come from You (Genesis 25-28)

Starter Questions:

What is something you hope to inherit one day?

How would you feel if this was given to someone else instead?

What do you hope to pass on to your children or family member?

Main Point

Jealousy and Pride Lead Us to Make Selfish Decisions.

Jealousy Leads to Sin (Genesis 25:19–26).

“These are the family records of Isaac son of Abraham. Abraham fathered Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless. The Lord was receptive to his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived. But the children inside her struggled with each other, and she said, “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; two peoples will come from you and be separated. One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger. When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb. The first one came out red-looking, covered with hair like a fur coat, and they named him Esau. After this, his brother came out grasping Esau’s heel with his hand. So he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.”

2. Sin Leads Us to Deceive Others (Gen 25:27-34; 27:6-19).

Genesis 25:27–34 “When the boys grew up, Esau became an expert hunter, an outdoorsman, but Jacob was a quiet man who stayed at home. Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for wild game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Once when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the field exhausted. He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stuff, because I’m exhausted.” That is why he was also named Edom. Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look,” said Esau, “I’m about to die, so what good is a birthright to me?” Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore to Jacob and sold his birthright to him. Then Jacob gave bread and lentil stew to Esau; he ate, drank, got up, and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.”

In ancient Hebrew culture, like the other ANE cultures, the birthright was reserved for the firstborn son in each family.

This birthright secured many privileges. Head of the household (after the father died), inheritance of the estate, and a double portion of everything passed down.

Esau, the older son, should have received this blessing. But it was prophesied to Rebekah that the second son, Jacob, would rule over his older brother.

In other words, God had a different plan for his people. God often counters our cultural understanding. He works differently than we would expect.

This set up a situation for immediate fighting between the brothers, and it even caused both parents to choose favorites. (Share an example of how being the favorite is dangerous).

The blessing, which Isaac thoughtfully crafted, could be given to any son, regardless of birth order. It usually revealed the father’s last will, but it also was a means of revealing God’s will for that child.

Genesis 27:6–19 “Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Listen! I heard your father talking with your brother Esau. He said, ‘Bring me game and make a delicious meal for me to eat so that I can bless you in the Lord’s presence before I die.’ Now, my son, listen to me and do what I tell you. Go to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, and I will make them into a delicious meal for your father—the kind he loves. Then take it to your father to eat so that he may bless you before he dies.” Jacob answered Rebekah his mother, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a man with smooth skin. Suppose my father touches me. Then I will be revealed to him as a deceiver and bring a curse rather than a blessing on myself.” His mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey me and go get them for me.” So he went and got the goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made the delicious food his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which were in the house, and had her younger son Jacob wear them. She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and the smooth part of his neck. Then she handed the delicious food and the bread she had made to her son Jacob. When he came to his father, he said, “My father.” And he answered, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” Jacob replied to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game so that you may bless me.””

What is deception?

Basically, it’s lack of faith. You don’t trust God to work out your situation. Whatever it is. So, you take the matter into your hands.

On the surface, it appeared Rebekah and Jacob won. They got what they went after. The blessing. But they gained nothing from it that God would not have given them anyway. Instead, they lost a good deal in the way that they went about things. Jacob would have to flee for his life from the land he thought he had won, and Rebekah would never see her favorite son again.

This makes all 4 participants in the story almost equally at fault.

Isaac, whether he knew of the sale or not, knew what God said in v23 (that the older would serve the younger), yet he set himself to use God’s power to thwart it. He thought he was blessing Esau when he said:

Gen 27:29 “May peoples serve you and nations bow in worship to you. Be master over your relatives; may your mother’s sons bow in worship to you. Those who curse you will be cursed, and those who bless you will be blessed.”

Esau broke his own oath by selling his birthright to Jacob (Gen 25:33).

Rebekah chose Jacob as her favorite son and used deception.

Jacob went along with his mother’s plan.

Neither Rebekah nor Jacob appealed to God or man for help. Not a single gesture of faith or love and reaped the appropriate fruit of hatred.

Christ Connection

Isaac and his family proved themselves to be sinners by their selfish and self-centered actions. This is the natural way of humanity. But God was sovereignly orchestrating (do y’all know what sovereign means?) events and redeeming this family’s sin to fulfill His promise to Abraham.

God would still make Abraham into a great nation through Isaac and Jacob, which would ultimately lead to Jesus, who fulfilled humanity’s need for salvation from sin.

Theology Connection

One way to understand sin is to define sin as “selfishness.” That’s not all sin is, but that’s one way to define or describe it.

When we sin, we are acting out of a selfish attitude and mindset that assumes our action will lead us to more happiness than if we were to obey God. Because sin is manifested in our tendency to be “curved inward” toward self, it is the opposite of love.

Love looks outward. Love says, “I will put others before myself.”

Paul says in Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.”

That’s love.

Where sin selfishly seeks personal gratification and happiness, love works for the joy of others in the hopes of making others happy in God.