The Patriarchs (part 2)

ABRAHAM’S SEED

Isaac was Abraham’s son to whom God’s promises would be repeated. The story of the way Abraham provided a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24) is fascinating and exciting. The account contains numerous lessons in the way God guided Abraham’s servant through prayer. Finally he was able to take Rebekah back to the land of patriarchal promise to be Isaac’s wife.

The Scriptures tell us little about him. His life was uneventful in comparison to that of his father and his sons. He lived most of his life in southern Canaan in the vicinity of Gerar, Rehoboth, and Beersheba. Isaac was a necessary link in the process of fulfilling God’s promises to Abraham. From the record (27:27–33) we recognize him as a man of faith who invoked future blessings upon his sons (cf. Heb. 11:20).

The family of Isaac

Genesis 25:18–34

Rebekah—the mother of twins

25:18–26

Esau and Jacob exchange birthrights

25:27–34

Isaac established in Canaan

26:1–33

The covenant confirmed to Isaac

26:1–5

Troubles with Abimelech

26:6–22

God’s blessing in Isaac

26:23–33

The patriarchal blessing

26:34–28:9

Isaac favors Esau

26:34–27:4

Blessing stolen—immediate consequences

27:5–28:9

Abraham had other sons. The best known of these were Ishmael, the father of the Arabs, and Midian, the father of the Midianites. To each of these other sons Abraham gave gifts as they went out from Canaan, leaving the territory to Isaac, the heir of all of Abraham’s possessions.

TWIN BROTHERS

A study of the lives of Isaac’s two sons, Esau and Jacob, is both intriguing and disappointing. Jacob took advantage of Esau in buying the birthright—the right of the firstborn to preeminence in the tribe—and connived with his mother Rebekah to deceive Isaac and steal the blessing. On the other hand, Esau lacked faith in God, a true sense of values, and appreciation for his birthright (25:29–34). Later he disregarded the ideals of his parents and married a Hittite woman (26:34). The author of Hebrews calls him “profane” or “irreligious.” The history of Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, deserves separate study.

Jacob’s adventure with Laban Genesis 28:10–32:2

The dream at Bethel

28:10–22

Family and wealth

29:1–30:43

Parting with Laban

31:1–32:2

Jacob returns to Canaan

32:3–35:21

Esau and Jacob reconciled

32:3–33:17

Troubles at Shechem

33:18–34:31

Worship at Bethel

35:1–15

Rachel buried at Bethlehem

35:16–21

Descendants of Isaac

35:22–36:43

The sons of Jacob

35:22–26

Burial of Isaac

35:27–29

Esau and his claim in Edom

36:1–43

Jacob’s adventures

Although Jacob left Canaan with his father’s blessing, he passed through many hard experiences before he became a man of faith. He was afraid that Esau would seek revenge. His parents, hoping to keep him from marrying a Hittite woman, sent him to Mesopotamia. On the way, while he slept at Bethel, Jacob had a dream and responded to God with a tentative commitment. Jacob prospered greatly while he worked for Laban, acquiring not only a large family, but great wealth in flocks.

Back to Canaan

Conscious now of God’s direction, Jacob made plans to return to Canaan. A strained relationship had developed between Jacob and Laban, and Jacob took the opportunity to depart while Laban was on a sheep-shearing mission. Laban pursued him quickly, but since Jacob had a three-day advantage, he reached the hill country of Gilead before Laban overtook him.

Laban claimed that his household gods had been taken. The teraphim, which Rachel hid beneath her skirts, undoubtedly had more than mere religious significance for Laban. According to Nuzu law, a son-in-law who possessed the household gods might claim the family inheritance in court. Though Laban could not find the idol, he nullified any advantage that might accrue to Jacob by means of a covenant between Jacob and himself, barring Jacob from the land.

At the Jabbok River Jacob learned that Esau was coming against him with 400 men. In order to appease Esau, he sent his possessions and family, with gifts for his brother, ahead of him. Through the night he wrestled with an assailant whom he sensed to be God Himself. In that encounter his name was changed from “Jacob” to “Israel,” meaning “he who strives with God.” The blessing implied in the new name expressed a new relationship. Hereafter Jacob would not be the deceiver; instead, he would have victory with God.

After being reconciled with his brother, Jacob moved southward to Shechem. There Levi and Simeon aroused the enmity of the community through scandal and treachery (34:1–31). As Jacob separated to move to Bethel, where he had previously made a commitment to God, he removed the remaining idolatry from his household. At Bethel he built an altar, and in response God renewed His covenant, assuring him that a company of nations and kings should emanate from Israel (35:9–15).

Eventually Jacob settled in Hebron, the home of his father Isaac. While they were on the way, Rachel died and was buried in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Later when Isaac died, Esau came from Seir where he had settled, to accompany his brother Jacob at the burial of their father.

THE LIFE OF JOSEPH

Joseph, Rachel’s older son, was Jacob’s pride and joy. Jacob made him a full-length tunic which, according to the Septuagint and the Targum Jonathan, was “a coat of many colors.” It seems that such a coat was the distinctive mark of a tribal chief. Josepholder brothers already hated him because he reported their evil conduct to Jacob. Now they hated him all the more. And when Joseph’s dreams indicated that he would be exalted over them, they sold him to Ishmaelite and Midianite traders who were passing by their camp at Dothan. When Joseph was taken into Egypt, his brothers never expected to see him again. They led Jacob to believe that Joseph had been torn to pieces by wild animals.

Joseph, the favorite son

Genesis 37

Hated by his brothers

37:1–24

Sold to Egypt

37:25–36

Judah and Tamar

38

Joseph—a slave and a ruler

39–41

Joseph demoted to prison

39:1–20

Interpreting dreams

39:21–41:36

Ruler next to pharaoh

41:37–57

Joseph and his brothers

42–45

First trip—Simeon kept as hostage

42:1–38

Second trip includes Benjamin—

Joseph identifies himself

43:1–45:28

Joseph’s family established in Egypt

46–50

Goshen allotted to the Israelites

46:1–47:28

The patriarchal blessings

47:29–49:27

Jacob’s burial in Canaan

49:28–50:14

Joseph’s hope for Israel

50:15–26

A Slave in Egypt

Whether in adversity and suffering or success, over the years that Joseph spent in Egypt, he continually honored God. Because he did not want to sin against God nor against his master, he would not yield to the temptation put before him by Potiphar’s wife (39:9). When he was asked to interpret dreams, Joseph gave God the credit for the ability to do so (40:8). He also acknowledged God before pharaoh, boldly asserting that, through pharaoh’s dream, God was revealing that a specific number of years of plenty and famine were to follow (41:14–36). In naming his son Manasseh (which means “forgetting,” 41:51), he testified that God had helped him to forget his sorrow. When he revealed his identity to his brothers, he acknowledged that God had brought him to Egypt. After Jacob’s death Joseph reassured them that God had ordered the events of history for the good of all and that they should not fear him as though he were in God’s place (50:15–21).

Savior of His Family

Joseph’s recognition of God and his trust in Him through many difficulties was rewarded by his promotion. In Potiphar’s house he was so trustworthy that he was made the overseer. Later, though imprisoned on false charges, he soon became the warden and was able to use his position to help his fellow prisoners. A butler, who for two years had forgotten Joseph’s help, suddenly remembered and arranged to have Joseph brought before pharaoh to interpret his dreams. This was an opportune moment—pharaoh needed the help of a man of wisdom such as Joseph. Now as chief administrator for pharaoh, Joseph guided Egypt through the crucial years of plenty and famine and incidentally saved his own family from starvation. His position of power enabled him to allot the broad pasturelands of Goshen to the Israelites when they migrated to Egypt. There they were able to tend their flocks and those of pharaoh as well.

Jacob’s words of blessing provide a fitting conclusion to the patriarchal age. We may regard his deathbed pronouncements as his last will and testament. Though he was in Egypt, his oral blessing would be legal and binding. And in keeping with God’s promises, Jacob’s blessing was also prophetic.

Before Joseph died in Egypt, he voiced his confidence in the covenant that God had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The promises had been faithfully conveyed to each generation, and Joseph believed that God would fulfill them in bringing the Israelites back to the land that had been promised to them (cf. Gen. 15:1–21; 50:24–26).