Genesis 25: Esau and Jacob

Yay, y’all get a brief one.

Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 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.

Only the offspring of Sarah received THE blessing of God, despite Abraham having two other wives (Hagar and Keturah). His other sons were still blessed, and Ishmael was indeed the father of twelve tribes as God had promised, but they were not the offspring of God’s choice: Isaac was.

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…

The two sons did come together to bury their father.

 After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac settled at Beer-lahai-roi.

Once again, Isaac, the chosen son, is connected with the site where God promised Hagar that Ishmael would do quite well himself. I’m sure there is a reason for this, though I’m not sure what it is; since God has a hand in all things, could God have been subtly reaffirming His choice of Isaac as the one from whom the Saviour would come, from whom a great and chosen nation would be born?

And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 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.

Isaac and Rebekah were barren for twenty years—they’d wed when he was forty, and Esau and Jacob were born when Isaac was sixty. Understandably, Isaac, knowing of the promise, acknowledged God’s hand in all things, including the birth of a child, and went to the Lord about it, seeking a child. When this prayer was granted twice over (they surely had no idea Rebekah was pregnant with twins!), and Rebekah did not understand the difficult nature of her pregnancy, she followed the example of her husband—she prayed.

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.

Isn’t this curious? Esau seems to have been a man’s man: rugged, adventurous, practical, not afraid of unpredictability or danger. Jacob, on the other hand…well, he liked hanging out at home, where it was comfortable, secure, and predictable. I hate to say it, but…he sounds like a mama’s boy, and possibly not in a good way. Moreover, to continue in the same ugly vein, by hanging out at home instead of the wilderness, Isaac was around women a lot, and probably picked up some of our bad habits—namely, devious and manipulative conniving. That comes into play in the last part of this chapter, where a starving, exhausted Esau swaps his birthright for a bowl of Jacob’s lentil stew (it wasn’t even rabbit or deer or something, yeesh). By rights, Jacob should have just given his hungry brother some stew, because that’s simply the right thing to do; he didn’t. But Esau, as we read, “despised his birthright”. These character traits will continue to crop up in the story of Jacob.

 

Genesis 24

And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh,  that I may make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell,  but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.”  …So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter. Genesis 24:1-4, 9

The servant in question here is almost undoubtedly Eliezer, to whom Abraham had intended to give all of his wealth had Isaac not been born. Yet we see that Eliezer held no grudge or bitterness against Abraham or the son who had usurped him; indeed, Eliezer faithfully served them both, and very well at that. We don’t know much more about the man, really, than what we read of him here and there, but I think just what we read in this chapter shows us that Eliezer, too, is an example we can happily follow—an example of a faithful servant. Well before the warnings God would later give, Abraham did not want his son to marry a Canaanite. Now, if I recall correctly, Abraham came from a family of pagans, but perhaps he felt his own people would be more amenable to serving God than Canaanites (of course, he’d also lived among the latter for many years, and Heaven only knows what things he saw and came to understand about them). There was also the tradition of that part of the world at the time—which I believe is still in practice today in some parts—of marrying one’s own kin, usually a first cousin!  At any rate, Abraham did not wish his son to marry one of the local girls. Knowing what we do about the Canaanites, I’m not sure I blame him. His insistence was justified, of course, both in Isaac’s marriage to Rebekah and later in the Bible.

You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods.Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.    Deuteronomy 7:3-4 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?    2 Corinthians 6:14 For if you turn back and cling to the remnant of these nations remaining among you and make marriages with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.    Joshua 23:12-13

There are a bunch of similar warnings, and I doubt you need to be told how this applies to us today. In verses 12-14, it seems that Eliezer, too, had come to some sort of faith in God, whom his master served. Through the years, Eliezer had seen much, not the least of these miracles and blessings from God being the birth of Isaac to his master and mistress in old age; he saw Sarah twice saved from powerful kings despite Abraham’s silliness; he saw his master tremendously blessed and respected, even as a stranger in a strange land. This surely had an effect upon him, and as he arrived in the land of Abraham’s kinsmen, he prayed to this God, asking for favour not for himself (though I’m certain he wanted to bring home a fine bride for Isaac!), but that God instead continue to bless Abraham. 

Because I need him

Over the weekend, a family thing came up. Originally, my husband was to go back home with me and hang out with Dad, my grandfather, uncles, and brother-in-law as a lady event occurred.

Unfortunately, a big huge deadline was moved up at work, so my husband could not go to Detroit with me (there was a pseudo-hostage exchange with Dad in a parking lot midway between the cities, because I am simply not well enough right now to make the trip alone—but Dad and I had a great time talking about everything from cars, RVs and hockey—of course—to Detroit’s city council to Dean Martin, Allan Bloom, and Robert Bork on the way up!).

And as that realization set in—that my husband would not at least be in the vicinity with me—it was struck home to me how very much I depend upon him, in this case, to protect me.

You, see, I have a family member who…well, they’re difficult to be around. For one thing, this person has physically harmed me as well as come very close to doing so on multiple occasions, twice so that I was actually in fear for my life. More recently this person tried to harm our pets—and yes, they’re just animals, but they’re our animals, and we love them and do not want to see them harmed.

Genesis 23

In Genesis 23, Sarah passes away. Abraham asks the Hittites if he may buy property on which to bury his wife.

The Hittites answered Abraham, “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.”

Once again, we see that Abraham’s reputation precedes him (he was considered as “a mighty prince”, elohiym nasiy’ among the people—but then, God had promised to make his name great!), and he is much respected by the people among whom he lives, despite his status as a wanderer without roots—so much so that they were willing to actually give him the land necessary, even the best land, to bury his wife. As Christians, we, too, are a little like Abraham—merely visiting, passing through this world, for it is not our home (if it is, we are in trouble). I think that we should, like Abraham, live well, kindly, justly, honestly and in a godly fashion in every way so that even our pagan neighbors will respect us.

Happily, and in keeping with his character, Abraham doesn’t respond poorly.

 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,  that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

Surely this is the sort of thing for which Abraham had already earned the respect of the Hittites: though they offered him whatever he wished at no cost, he insisted upon honourably paying for the cave he desired. I appreciate what Matthew Henry has to say about this, too, for it points out how we also should behave.

He returns them his thanks for their kind offer with all possible decency and respect; though a great man, an old man, and now a mourner, yet he stands up, and bows himself humbly before them, Gen. 23:7. Note, Religion teaches good manners; and those abuse it that place it in rudeness and clownishness.

I’ll bet about half of you know exactly what else I’m thinking, but we’ll leave that for today.

There is some disagreement over Ephron offering Abraham not just the cave, but the land in which it rested as a gift. Some say Ephron was simply being kind and good and responding to Abraham’s own character, but others note that passing of land from one to another in this fashion also left the man newly in possession with the responsibility of the taxes and duties levied upon the property! I’m not sure, so am going to leave that alone. Regardless, Abraham pays a full and fair price to Ephron for the property before the Hittites. This is actually quite significant:

So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

At last, the wanderer and sojourner owned a piece of land, a piece amidst that which God had promised him; and though it had been promised to him by its Creator, Abraham paid for it without complaint—indeed, he insisted upon paying for it properly instead of demanding it as his right, even when it was freely offered to him.

This was the only property Abraham ever owned, and it was meant and used as a burial ground for his family: he, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob would all be buried here. There has to be something here for us! Perhaps it is that just as we are sojourners here as Abraham was in Canaan, in the end all we will really hold is the small bit of ground in which we repose until the resurrection. This is not a warning against owning property (as I discussed during my study of the book of Acts—and at any rate, again, Abraham paid for the field without kvetching about “the man” or some such thing), but just a reminder, I think.