Grandchildren of Abraham Genesis 25

Sermon Nuggets Mon Aug 20, Grandchildren

Gen 25: 1-5 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. ² She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.³ Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites.⁴ The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.

   ⁵ Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac. ⁶ But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

Grandkids, the next Generation                                            

            One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes. She noticed several strands of white hair sticking out from her dark hair. She asked, “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?” She replied, “Well every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.” The little girl thought about this for a while and said, “Momma, how come all of grandma’s hairs are white?”    

As most of you know Judi and I are grandparents and have the delight to regularly have Madelyn overnight. She is under a year so it is a treat to have her want to climb on our laps and give hugs. There is a special bond between many grandparents and grandkids.  Many grandparents will say “If I knew that having grandkids was so much fun I would have had them first.’ Someone told me why grandparents and grandkids tend to get along so well. They have a common enemy.

            Even though we are looking at the life of the patriarchs now in our series on Genesis, we come now to the death of Abraham and the stories of his son Isaac and grandson,  Jacob.

            Remember the main promise God gave to Abraham  Gen 18:17-19? All children are blessings from God to parents, but more so a blessing to Abraham because the promise of descendents was given to Abraham and Sarah. We saw the anguish of Sarah when she was childless. We saw how desperate Abraham and Sarah were to fulfill the promise of having kids by using Hagar the slave woman to give birth to a son. But when the Isaac, promised son finally came to them, they rejoiced with laughter in their old age. 

            Notice at the end of Abraham’s life there are two sons representing two nationalities as we see the Old Testament unfold- the Arabs and the Jews. However you might be surprised to find Abraham had others sons. As we look at the passage we see that God gave more children to Abraham than just the two. Those who are mentioned here would have had to have been born to a man at least 140 years old if Abraham married Keturah after Sarah died and Isaac was married to Rebekah. These children listed in verse 3 would have been more of a miracle than Isaac.

            Some people wonder why she is referred to as a wife in verse 1 and apparently a concubine in verse 6.  I Chron 1:32 also identifies his concubine as Katurah. A concubine held a position somewhat above that of a slave, yet she was not free, nor did she have the status or rights of a wife.

            Now different people will speculate. One says Abraham had a concubine on the side during all this time and now she and the children are mentioned at they end of his life. Hardly seems to fit the context when Ishmael was born and God sternly rebuked their lack of faith and renounced their sin and disobedience. Ishmael, the first born of Abraham was his delight. And afterwards this couple waited for the promised one. 

            Another side of the argument asks the obvious. Why would the Bible make such a point of  Isaac being born long after reproduction was dead in the body. Paul referred to Abraham as being “as good as dead” (Romans 4:19) so far as bearing children was concerned. Wouldn’t it be more so if Abraham was not only 100 but 140 years old when he started having another family with another wife?

            Some speculate that God preformed more miracles by letting Abraham have children up to his death of 175 years old with his a slave woman that he treated as his wife, though she was a concubine, or mistress. That’s possible, but it seems odd that Abraham is applauded more for his faith in later years than early ones and completely ignore God’s desire for purity.

I agree with those who suggest was probably the slave that took Hagar’s place, but as a foreigner she was not from the heritage of Ur like Rebekah and Sarah were. Therefore Katurah and her sons were not looked upon as proper heirs- so even though she was legally Abraham wife, in a sense they were illegitimate, not in the sexual sense, but in the divine line for they were of a different race. 

            However you want to interpret these verses the fact remains that the prophecy of God came true that as you look at those lists other nations came about in his descendents.

Ishmael the father of Arab nations; Esau the Edomites, Jacob the father of the Jews, or Israelites, And these grandkids were identified as beginning Midianites, and Letushites, and Asshurites. Indeed, Abraham was the father of many nations. Thus the promise to Abraham in Genesis 17:4 was fulfilled: “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.”

After a rich and full life Abraham died at the age of 175. This, too, was in fulfillment of the word of God to Abraham: “And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age” (Genesis 15:15).

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Tues Aug 21 Physical Blessing

Gen 25: ⁷ Altogether, Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. ⁸ Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. ⁹ His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelahnear Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, ¹⁰ the field Abraham had bought from the Hittites. There Abraham was buried with his wife Sarah. ¹¹ After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

          ¹² This is the account of Abraham’s son Ishmael, whom Sarah’s maidservant, Hagar the Egyptian, bore to Abraham. ¹³ These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, ¹⁴ Mishma, Dumah, Massa, ¹⁵ Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. ¹⁶ These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.

            17 Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. 18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Egypt, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.

There is a Physical Blessing

I am seen many pictures where grandma and grandpa are sittingin the middle of a group of people comprised of their adult children, their spouses, and dozens of kids who are their grandchildren and great grandchildren. The comment is often made that from those two came generations of people. With a glow people not only point out how they are related but the blessing of family.

Families tend to gather for weddings, funerals, and family reunions. Ishmael did return to bury his father in cooperation with Isaac. They buried him in the cave of Machpelah in the field that Abraham had purchased for Sarah, himself, and their descendants.

           

Now the point of this passage is the result of physical blessings promised by God. Having kids and grandkids is a gift from God. The Bible tells us no one is an accident. No one is a mistake. Each birth is a creation of God, but to Abraham this blessing is especially meaningful because he is not only way to old for having children, but when most are dying Abraham is demonstrating the promise of God in personally beginning the descendents of the nations.

Ishmael was the father of twelve princes who settled vast territories and founded cities. He lived in defiance of his relatives, refusing to be put down, despite his impoverish beginnings. Abraham had always had a special place in his heart for his first son Ishmael. Only with reluctance and under great pressure did Abraham send this son away. Abraham would have been content for God’s purposes and promises to have been fulfilled in Ishmael. He petitioned God to look with favor upon this boy. God refused to substitute this child of self-effort for the child of promise, but He did promise to make him a great nation. And this passage shows the physical blessing.

In this verse one more promise is shown to be fulfilled, the promise God made to Hagar years before: “And he will be a wild donkey of a man, His hand will be against everyone, And everyone’s hand will be against him; And he will live to the east of all his brothers.” So this foreknowledge of God was demonstrated as it came about. They fought and rebelled and did not get along.

           

Now the Bible talks about physical blessings we receive from the hand of God. Children are a physical blessing, grandchildren are a physical blessing. The food we eat the air we breathe, the work of our hands, the houses and clothes, and wives and husbands, the lands we own and the inheritances we accumulate are all referred to in Scriptures as good things. But for some people then and now the physical blessings is all the want. They do not want God. As long as they are having pleasures, and families, and money and jobs they have not need for God being first place in their lives. Most of the world experiences the physical blessings of God to various degrees, but there is something more than God wants to tell the world and chooses to do so through the testimony of his personal relationship with the Israelite people. They are to be his people and He is to be their God with no other gods before Him.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Weds August 22 Spiritual Blessing

Verses: Gen 25: ¹⁹ This is the account of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

  2 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord  answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. ²² The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the Lord.

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

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵ The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

 There is a Spiritual Blessing

The Spiritual blessing came to Isaac. God said he would have the line of Jesus Christ coming through the lineage of Isaac, but also they would on again and off again worship and obey God.

            God chose Isaac. He married the woman God intended for him. He knew that God’s promise and blessing was to him. So when Rebekah was unable to conceive, Isaac prayed that God would open Rebekah's womb.

            I suspect there were lots of questions from well meaning family members. "Don't you think it's about time to start raising a family?" They probably got more advice than they desired. But God had promised that he would bless the descendants of Abraham and Isaac was the legal heir and his wife was from the race God wanted to use as his illustration of blessing and faith. So faith was demonstrated when Isaac interceded with God on Rebekah’s behalf, and she became pregnant in answer to his prayers.

            During her pregnancy Rebekah was perplexed by the intense struggle that took place within her womb, so she inquired of God to determine the reason. And the Lord informed her she was to give birth to twins. Each of the children would be the father of a nation of people. Of these two nations, one would prevail over the other. Normally, the first-born son would have been the heir through whom the covenant blessings would have passed. While the father could designate a younger son to be the owner of the birthright, this was the exception, not the rule.

Here again we find similarities between this couple's story and that of Isaac's parents. The grandkids of Abraham was more than a physical blessing this was a spiritual blessing. Jacob and Esau would be 15 years old before grandpa would have died. He would have seen them and held them in his arms. He would have offered sacrifices of thanks to God who keeps his promises. These twins were a delight to Grandpa because of what God was doing through Sarah’s son.

Esau was born first, and he came from the womb red and hairy. The Hebrew word to describe the color of Esau sounded similar to Edom and may have prepared the way for his nickname as it was decided in verse 30. The name Esau somewhat resembles the sound of the word meaning ‘hairy.’

           

Jacob came forth from the womb grasping the heel of his brother Esau. Jacob’s name was suggested by the Hebrew word for ‘heel.’ Later events, such as the barter of the birthright in verses 27-34, indicate that the name, taken in its negative sense, referred to Jacob’s grasping and conniving nature.

When you are looking for spiritual blessing faith is involved in believing God and waiting for Him to accomplish what he wants in you life. A personal relationship with God is what he desires and that is only possible by putting your faith in Jesus Christ, the promised one all these stories point to. He is the one who died for your sins. He is the one who went without physical blessings so that you and I might have spiritual blessings, eternal blessings. God provides for us a gift, not based on our goodness, but on his.

           

Spiritual blessings continue to come after salvation as we exercise our faith by trusting God for the direction of our lives. When we turn to God for help we must trust His timing as well as His ability. Twenty years is a long time to wait to have kids after marriage, but that was what Isaac did and God proved faithful to his promise. He does not promise all couples they will have kids, but that was Isaac’s promise.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Thurs Aug 23 Prophetic Blessing

Verses Gen 25: 23-28  The Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb,
    and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other,  and the older will serve the younger. ”

²⁴ When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. ²⁵ The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. ²⁶ After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel;so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

²⁷ The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. ²⁸ Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

There is a Prophetic  Blessing

The prophecy in vs. 23 begins to be carried out in the rest of the chapter. It speaks of divine election. Before the birth of the children God determined that it would be the younger child who would possess the birthright and thus be the heir of Isaac so far as the covenant promises were concerned. The older, Esau, would serve the younger, Jacob. Now this had nothing to do with works. This was spoken when the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad. God wanted to use their lives and births to teach us all lessons about God. It is a prophetic blessing.

Indeed Jacob connived to take the birthright away from his older brother, but God wanted to show in lots of ways in the Bible that the first plan doesn’t work. God has a second plan up his sleeve which is better. We see that in the stories of Cain and Able, Ishmael and Isaac, law and grace, Esau and Jacob. Adam and Jesus Christ.

While we must acknowledge that God in His omniscience knew all of the deeds of both these sons from eternity past, Paul says in Romans 9 that this was God’s will.

            In addition to the election and even the circumstance surrounding the birth of the twins, three factors played heavily in the relationship of the two boys which involved some of the choices that they made as well as their differences. Esau seems to have been a masculine, outdoor-type man who loved to do the things a father could take pride in. He was a skillful hunter, and he knew how to handle himself in the outdoors. In our culture I believe Esau would have been a football hero in high school and college. He was a real macho man, the kind of son a father would swell with pride to talk about among his friends. Whereas Jacob was entirely different.

While Esau seems to have been aggressive, daring, and flamboyant, Jacob appears to be just the opposite: quiet, pensive, more interested in staying at home than in venturing out and making great physical conquests. Not that he had no ambition to get ahead, quite the contrary; but Jacob couldn’t see the sense in tracking about the wilderness just to bag some game. In the solitude of his tent Jacob could mentally reason out how to get ahead without getting his hands dirty and without taking dangerous risks.

The second factor which tended to separate the two sons was the divided loyalty between their parents. Isaac seems to have been the outdoor-type himself; at least he had an appetite for the wild game that Esau brought home. Esau was the kind of son that Isaac could proudly take with him wherever he went. Rebekah, on the other hand, favored Jacob. She probably thought Esau was crude and uncultured. Jacob was a much more refined person, gentle and kind, the type of son a mother would be proud of. Besides, Jacob probably spent more time at home than Esau did. Each parent seems to have identified too much with a particular son, thus creating divisions which would be devastating. This favoritism also brought about disharmony between Isaac and his wife in their later years. Favoritism as parents is not good.

The third factor was the underhanded means by which Jacob wrested the birthright from his brother. While Esau had been out in the field, Jacob had been at home preparing a stew. Weary and famished, though hardly at death’s door, Esau was enticed by the fragrant aroma of the meal. Esau greedily pled for some of “that red stuff.” Rather than showing kindness to his brother, Jacob saw this as an opportunity to gain the advantage. Here Jacob’s greedy, grasping disposition rose to the forefront. Without a hint of shame Jacob bartered, “… First sell me your birthright”. With this Esau’s carnal nature emerged, “… Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?” Now I don’t think Esau was starving to death on his death bed. He was impulsive wanting what he wanted now and not wait to cook up something himself because he was hungry and willing to exchange his destiny for a dinner.

Jacob made him swear a solemn oath declaring the sale of the birthright. This done, the meal was served, and Esau went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright” So it is that the writer to the Hebrews can speak of Esau as a man who has no appreciation whatsoever for spiritual and eternal things.

Pastor Dale

Sermon Nuggets Fri Aug 24 Birthright Blessing

Verses: Gen 25: ²⁹ Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. ³⁰ He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

³¹ Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright. ”

³² “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?”

³³ But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left.

So Esau despised his birthright.

There is a Birthright Blessing

Now here is a prophetic blessing to Jacob through the Birthright. To understand the significance of this bargain you need to know what a "birthright" meant. You would receive double the inheritance of all others. You would be the leader of the family. You would be the one through whom the promises of God would pass. Esau has a choice: should he take the food and give up the birthright, or should he hold on to this most valuable possession and go and try to find food somewhere else? Esau chooses to live for the moment and swears that the birthright now belongs to Jacob. Esau gives up all these benefits for a bowl of stew! Haven't we been known to do the same things?

Some choose the pleasures of passion over the purity of marriage. Some choose the applause of our friends rather than stand true for the Lord. Some choose what is easy over what is right. Some indulge their appetite for more stuff over the wisdom of financial responsibility. Some choose to fill their minds with garbage rather than devote their minds to the Lord. Some choose to hoard what they have rather than to reach out to the needy.

Esau had to choose between living for the moment and living for eternity. That same choice faces each of us. Every day we must choose between temporary pleasures and holiness before the Lord. Esau reminds us to keep our focus.

 The word shows us the foreknowledge, election and choice all in this one statement. Esau sold his birthright because Esau “despised his birthright”. Like Isaac, the world in which we live prefers the Esaus and dislikes the Jacobs. We are going to find later what a stinker Jacob is also. He is a sinner, selfish, conniver. But he wanted what God was offering, which was grace. Esau didn’t. I think this is also a type of embracing the birthright we have explained in the New Testament. John 1: 11-13  “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

As we witnessed awesome accomplishment by athletes of the world competing in the Olympics some were asked, “If you were offered a banned performance-enhancing substance, with two guarantees- you will not be caught, and you will win would you take it?” 195 said yes, 3 said no. Then asked,  “if you are offered a drug knowing you will not be caught and you will win every competition you enter for the next 5 years then you will die form the side effects would you take it?” More than half said yes. The desire for the immediate pleasure, fame and goal to which they all had been working is like selling your birthright for a pot of portage.

Yet sports, movies, sex, drinking, drugs, pleasures are so attractive to our society and the things of God have no draw. In spite of your sins will you give it up and go with God? Most say no. God uses this to teach us lessons. What does it profit you if you gain the whole world, gain all the gold medals, make your business flourish, become the riches person in your school, have the most popular boy or girl friend, or car whatever and lose you birthright to heaven?

I believe that just as Abraham attempted to convince God to choose Ishmael for the heir of promise, Isaac hoped that God would change His mind concerning Esau. He struggled at this point with God’s will, but don’t we all in some areas of our lives too?

Now you may not agree with me on this, but hear me out. God’s blessing to the one son still left the other to make choices for or against God. We cannot condone Jacob’s sins just because God chose to favor him. He still was wrong in some of the things he did. But he did want the gift of God and Esau didn’t. And it was a gift not based on works but based on God’s will.

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We dare not discriminate against any nation, Jewish or Gentile. We should bless the Jews and the nation Israel, but this does not necessitate our condoning that which is clearly sin. Let us remember that at this time in Israel’s history as a nation they are rejecting God and Christ, Jesus the Messiah. As a whole the Arab nations have rejected the God of the Bible for a moon god redefined by Mohammed. Many Jews and many Arab folks embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. The witness to the people of all nations is in our hands.

While we may commend the bravery of the Jews and their intestinal fortitude, let us not call evil good, or inadvertently discriminate against the Arab peoples. Some will blindly endorse every action of the nation of Israel which must be always first be questioned on biblical grounds. Without getting political there is no other country in the Middle East that honors freedom and democracy. We value that highly and there are also other reasons to make alliances.

Finally as Christians do not use shrewdness, but that is only a euphemism for unethical practices. Jacob had good ends, but did not use good means. As a believer in Christ be a person of integrity and not follow Jacobs example here. Ends do not justify the means. Jacob was one who valued the birthright. Some believers are so committed to causes they can kill abortion doctors for instance, or lie to cult members, or launder money to Christian ministries because the goal is so important. The goal is never more important than godliness  (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 4:15). Jacob was to learn that blessing resulted from prevailing with God, not prevailing over men.

We have a wonderful birthright granted to us by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is not by works we are saved. Even when we fall short, God keeps his promises. We do not lose our salvation. But seek to live up to the calling. Honor him with our hearts as well as with our minds, hands, and feet. As children of God we have a birthright. We have a blessing that never ends.

Pastor Dale