Sermon Tone Analysis

Tuesday May 9, 2006

Genesis: Genesis 25:22-23-The Lord’s Prophecy of Rebekah’s Twins

Lesson # 141

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 25:19.

On Sunday morning we studied Genesis 25:19-21, which records the family history of Isaac and Rebekah’s problem with getting pregnant.

In this passage we see that Isaac, in response to this problem, prays to the Lord to resolve Rebekah’s problem of infertility.

The Lord fulfills Isaac’s prayer request twenty years later since Genesis 25:21 records Isaac as being forty when he married Rebekah and Genesis 25:26 records Isaac as being sixty when Rebekah had twins.

The fact that Isaac prayed for twenty years for his wife to get pregnant emphasizes that like his father Abraham, Isaac was a man of great faith and a powerful intercessor.

This evening we will study Genesis 25:22-23, which records Rebekah’s problems involved with her pregnancy and her inquiring of the Lord as to the meaning of it.

In this passage, the Lord responds to her inquiry by prophesying of the family history of the two children who were named, “Esau” and “Jacob.”

Genesis 25:19-20, “Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham became the father of 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.”

Genesis 25:21, “Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

Genesis 25:22, “But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’

So she went to inquire of the LORD.”

By indicating that there is to be more than one child, the narrator, Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit takes the reader into his confidence.

Of course, Rebekah at the time did not know that she was carrying twins and that they were struggling with each other in her womb.

“Struggle” is the verb ratsats (Jx^r*) (raw-tsats), which is in the rare hithpoel stem meaning “to crush each other.”

The verb ratsats implies an extraordinary violent struggle taking place in the womb of Rebekah, which she understood to be far greater than normal, and thus of great significance.

This struggle among the fetuses in Rebekah’s womb foreshadowed the relationship of the children and their descendants later on in history.

So Rebekah is experiencing an unusually difficult pregnancy and fears of miscarrying.

Rebekah thought she was simply carrying the next generation but little did she know that she was carrying twins.

The rivalry of Jacob and Esau begins in the womb of Rebekah and would progress from her womb to the troubled delivery of the twins (25:26), and to their differences in profession (25:27) as well as to the opposing preferences of the parents (25:28).

This struggle in the womb of Rebekah would also foreshadow Jacob’s struggle with the preincarnate Christ (32:22-32).

The struggle of the twins, Esau and Jacob foreshadows the struggles between Jacob and Esau in the following events: (1) Jacob secures the birthright (Genesis 25:27-34).

(2) Jacob steals Esau’s blessing (Genesis 27:1-40).

(3) Jacob prevails with Esau and secures his good will (Genesis 32:1-33:16).

The rivalry between Jacob and Esau spilled over into conflicts between their parents, Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 27:1-46) and it also effected Jacob and his wives as well as his wives with each other (Genesis 30:1-24) and Jacob and Laban (Genesis 29:14b-31:55).

So because of the violent and unusual way that the fetuses were struggling within her, Rebekah inquires of the Lord in prayer as to the meaning of it all.

The fact that Rebekah is recorded as having “went to inquire of the Lord” indicates that she sought out the Lord in prayer in order to ascertain the meaning of this struggle taking place in her womb.

Of course, Rebekah was unaware that she was carrying twins.

Genesis 25:22, “But the children struggled together within her; and she said, ‘If it is so, why then am I this way?’

So she went to inquire of the LORD.”

The question Rebekah asks is “elliptical” meaning that words such as copulas (“is”) are left out because of Rebekah’s anxiety and urgent desire to find relief from this problem pregnancy and to understand the significance of it.

“If” is the conditional particle `im (sa!) (eem), which introduces the protasis of a 1st class condition, which indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.

A conditional sentence has an “if” part and a “then” part.

The “if” introduces the “protasis” and “then” introduces the “apodasis.”

Often, the “protasis” often introduces the “cause” and the “apodasis” the “effect.”

In Genesis 25:22, the particle `im, “if” is introducing a protasis, which presents the “cause” of Rebekah’s pregnancy, which is of course, the sovereign will of God.

Now, remember the question of Rebekah’s is “elliptical” and so therefore, we can translate or paraphrase the interrogative particle as “if, it is Your will.”

Rebekah recognizes that children are a gift from the Lord.

Psalm 127:3, “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

The adverb ken (/K@) (kane), “so” introduces the apodasis, which presents the “effect” of her getting pregnant by the sovereign will of God.

“Why” is the interrogative particle lammah (hM*l*), which is a compound word composed of the preposition le (l+), “to me” and the adverb mah (hm*), “why” therefore, the word literally means, “why…to me.”

The preposition le is called a “lamed of disadvantage” meaning that Rebekah considers this unusual and difficult pregnancy to be to her disadvantage or uncomfortable.

Therefore, she is saying in effect, “Why am I having this happen to me, which is very uncomfortable.”

The demonstrative pronoun zeh (hz#), “this” is pointing to Rebekah’s unusual and difficult pregnancy.

The interrogative particle lammah becomes emphatic when it is used with the demonstrative pronoun zeh (hz#), “this.”

The demonstrative pronoun zeh, “this” when attached to the interrogative pronoun lammah strengthens the meaning of the interrogative, adding directness and force and emphasizing the close personal involvement of the speaker.

“I” is the pronoun `anokhi (yk!n)a*) (aw-no-kee), which refers to Rebekah of course.

Again, the question is “elliptical” so we could translate this expression, “why am I having this happen to me, which is very uncomfortable?”

Therefore, Rebekah is saying in effect to the Lord in prayer, “If this is Your will that I get pregnant, then why am I having this struggle take place in my womb, which is very uncomfortable?”

Rebekah asks this question because she fears that she might be miscarrying and doesn’t understand why the Lord would permit her to get pregnant but then lose the children through a miscarriage.

The Lord’s response to Rebekah’s question appears in Genesis 25:23.

Genesis 25:23, “The LORD said to her, ‘Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger.’”

The Lord’s statement to Rebekah that “two nations are in your womb” implies that she is pregnant with twins and refers to the fact that these twins are twin progenitors of two nations.

The oldest son “Esau” would be the progenitor of the Edomites (See Genesis 36:1-43) whereas the younger son “Jacob” would be the progenitor of the Israelites.

Jacob would father twelve sons who were heads of the twelve tribes of Israel (1 Chronicles 1:34; 2:1-2; Acts 7:8) and through the nation of Israel would come the Savior of the world (John 4:22; Romans 9:3-5).

To the nation of Israel would be given the Old Testament Scriptures, the adoption as sons, the Mosaic Law, the Shekinah Glory, the promises and the unconditional covenants (Davidic, Palestinian, New and Abrahamic) (see Romans 9:1-5).

The Edomites and the Israelites fought continuously.

From Rebekah’s womb, Jacob and Esau would be at odds with each other.

The Lord’s prediction that “two peoples will be separated from your (Rebekah’s) body” indicates that Jacob and Esau would be separated, divided and hostile towards one another and would have nothing in common.

The Lord’s prediction that “one people shall be stronger than the other” refers to the fact that the Israelites would prevail over the Edomites in history.

Also this prophecy indicates that Jacob and not Esau would be in the Messianic line and would inherit the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Normally, the oldest would receive the father’s inheritance and estate but the Lord does not always subscribe to this.

In Genesis 25:23, the Lord declares that the “older shall serve the younger” indicating that the younger son, Jacob would receive the inheritance and not Esau who was older.

Esau, the older, did not actually serve Jacob, his younger twin but rather Esau’s descendants did (see 1 Samuel 14:47; 2 Samuel 8:14; 1 Kings 11:15-16; 22:47; 2 Kings 14:7).

This prophecy that “one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger” indicates that the sovereign will of God has ordained the following: (1) Jacob to be in the Messianic line and not Esau.

(2) Jacob would be the beneficiary of the divine promises enumerated in the Abrahamic Covenant and not Esau.

(3) Jacob would receive his father’s estate and not Esau.

Just as the Lord had chosen Isaac who was younger over Ishmael to receive Abraham’s inheritance so the Lord had chosen Jacob who was younger than Esau.

In the Messianic line, Seth, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and David were not first-born sons.

Therefore, we see the Lord is expressing His sovereign will for Rebekah’s twin sons, Esau and Jacob and that He has ordained from eternity past, that Jacob would be in the line of Christ and not Esau.

Jacob did “not” merit this privilege, nor did Esau do anything to “not” merit it but rather, it was all based upon God’s grace and mercy and sovereign will.

The prophet Malachi cites evidence of this conflict between Esau and Jacob in Israel’s experience.

Malachi 1:2-3, “I have loved you, says the LORD.

But you say, ‘How have You loved us?’ ‘Was not Esau Jacob's brother?’ declares the LORD.

‘Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.’”

The terms “love” and “hate” are “anthropopathisms,” meaning that the writer is ascribing the human emotion of personal love and hate to God, which He does “not” possess in order to explain God’s choice of entering into a covenant relationship with Jacob rather than Esau and does “not” indicate one is saved and the other is not.

The verbs in the Hebrew translated “I have loved” and “I have hated” are in the perfect tense and therefore, express not only God’s past relationship with Israel and Edom but also His historical and present dealings (in Malachi’s day) with these peoples.

Both Israel and Edom received judgment from God at the hands of the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C. (Jer.

27:2-8).

However, God promised to restore Israel over and over again because of His covenant promises (Deut.

4:29-31; 30:1-10) but He condemned Edom to complete destruction, never to be restored (Jer.

49:7-22; Ezek.

35).

In Romans 9:13, Paul quotes Malachi 1:3 to demonstrate that God elected Jacob’s descendants, the nation of Israel as His covenant people and He rejected the Edomites as His covenant people who were descendants of Esau.

Romans 9:10, “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.”

Romans 9:11-12, “for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’”

Romans 9:13, “Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’”

In Romans 9-11, the apostle Paul discusses the future of the nation of Israel and teaches that God has temporarily set aside the nation at this time in history and will restore her in the future because she was elected by Him to be His covenant people.

Therefore, when we see the statement “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” we must understand that Paul is not referring to individuals but rather to the nations which descended from Jacob (Israelites) and Esau (Edomites).

Therefore, the statement “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated” does “not” refer to the fact that Esau was not saved and Jacob was since that would imply that God hates sinners and elects some people to be saved and others to eternal condemnation, which contradicts the teaching of Scripture that God’s will is for all men to be saved (See 1 Timothy 2:4, 4:10, 2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16-18, 1 John 2:2).

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3:17, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”

1 Timothy 2:4, “(God) desires all men to be saved.”

1 Timothy 4:10, “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.”

The statement “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated” is “not” a reference to Jacob and Esau as individuals but rather it is a reference to the nations, which descended from them, namely, the Israelites from Jacob and the Edomites from Esau.

Therefore, the statement refers to the “national” election of Israel as God’s covenant people who are descendants of Jacob and the rejection of the Edomites as His covenant people who were descendants of Esau.

The rejection of Esau’s descendants as His covenant people does “not” mean that God elected the Edomites and the Gentiles to eternal condemnation and the Israelites to salvation since that would contradict the biblical doctrine of the unlimited atonement, which states that God desires all men to be saved.

The election of the nation of Israel, like the choice of Jacob over Esau was “non-meritorious” meaning that there was nothing that the nation of Israel and Jacob did that secured God choosing them since many times both sinned and failed to obey God.