God’s Timeline – Part 32 Jacob and Esau

 God’s Timeline – Part 32

Jacob and Esau

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

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SERMON INTRODUCTION (2021 A.D. = 5781 Jewish Calendar Year)

 -         Creation Week (Approximately 4000 B.C.)

o   Adam, Eve, and the Fall

-         Cain and Abel

o   Evil Fills the World

-         Noah Did All God Commanded Him

o   The Flood 2400 – 2300 B.C.)

o   God’s Covenant with Noah

-         Noah’s Sons and Ham’s Sin

-         Nations of Noah’s Sons

-         Tower of Babel

-         God calls Abram (2112 B.C.)

o   Abram and Lot part ways

o   Rescue of Lot

-         The Lord’s Covenant with Abram for Isaac

o   Hagar and Ishmael Born (2101 B.C.) Abram 86 years old

o   Sarai and Isaac

-         The Three Visitors

-         Abraham Pleads for Sodom

-         Birth of Isaac (2088 B.C. Abraham 99 years old Sarah 90-Hagar and Ishmael sent away)

-         The Lord tests Abraham (2070-2068 B.C. Isaac 18-20 years old)

-         Sarah Dies 127 years old (2051 B.C. Abraham is 136)

-         A Wife for Isaac (2048 B.C. Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah)

-         Jacob and Esau are born (2028 B.C. Isaac was 60 Abraham 159)

o   Abraham dies at 175 (2012 B.C. Isaac was 82)

-           

SCRIPTURE READING

Genesis 25:19-34

“This is the account of the family line 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[c] and sister of Laban the Aramean.

 

21 Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. 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.[d] 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[e] 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 content to stay at home among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

 

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.”

       I.         THE PROMISE OF THE LORD CONTINUES ON

a.      Isaac and Rebekah

                                     i.      Isaac marries Rebekah when he is 40 years old 2054 B.C.

                                  ii.      This is three years after his mother Sarah dies

 

b.     Abraham Dies

                                     i.      Abraham did eventually take another wife and had concubines as well

                                  ii.      We know this from Genesis 25

                               iii.      Abraham dies at 175 years old (2012 B.C.) when Isaac is 82 years old

                                iv.      Chapter 25 tells us of Abrahams death before Jacob and Esau, though Abraham was alive when they were born

                                   v.      Genesis 25:5 tells us Abraham left everything he owned to Isaac

                                vi.      Vs 6 tells us Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away to the east

1.      Abraham thinking this would allow Isaac, the Promise of the Lord, to fulfill his duty without opposition

                             vii.      Abraham was buried in the place he purchased from the Hittites, with his wife Sarah

                           viii.      In Genesis 25:11 we read that after Abraham’s death, God blessed Isaac

 

c.      Ishmael and the consequence of not trusting the Lord

                                     i.      We also read in Genesis 25 about Ishmael being there to bury his father Abraham

                                  ii.      Ishmael was a consequence of Abraham and Sarah not trusting in the Lord, and their lack of Faith allowed them to take matters into their own hands, resulting in Ishmael

                               iii.      By the time Ishmael dies at 137 years old (1964 B.C.) there are twelve tribes from his bloodline

                                iv.      We are told they settled in the eastern part of Egypt, and they “lived in hostility toward all the tribes related to them”

                                   v.      4,000 years later, there is still hostility between the children of Ishmael and the children of Isaac

                                vi.      All because Abraham lacked trust and faith in the Lord, though he “believed”

                             vii.      Our works have consequences, sometimes, everlasting

 

ILLUSTRATION:

I heard a man speak about being an alcoholic and drug user. He partied all the time, and though he believed there was a God, he did not live for him.

 One night, while drunk and high, he wrecked his car resulting in the loss of his arm.

 That trauma caused him to rethink his life, he submitted to the Lord and became a follower of Christ. Though he confessed his sin, though he repented, though he was forgiven, the consequence of his actions and sin would not be reversed, and he would never have his arm back.

 Sometimes the consequences of our actions cannot be reversed.

 Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.”

 This man could look at the loss as a blessing. Losing his arm in the accident caused him to turn to the Lord and receive salvation. His arm was lost, yet he gained so much more!

   II.         ISAAC AND REBEKAH

a.      Rebekah was childless

                                     i.      Rebekah and Isaac were married when he was 40

                                  ii.      We read that she remained childless for 20 years

                               iii.      Isaac prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered his prayers

                                iv.      She became pregnant with twins, and they fought within her

 

b.     The Lord speaks to Rebekah

                                     i.      Two nations are in your womb, the two peoples will be separated

                                  ii.      One people will be stronger than the other

                               iii.      The older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob)

 

c.      The twins are born

                                     i.      Esau was born first, Esau means hairy

                                  ii.      Jacob was born second, holding Esau’s heel

1.      Jacob means grasping the heel, which is an old Hebrew idiom for he deceives

                               iii.      Which is fitting considering Jacob cheats Esau, first out of his birthright as firstborn, then out of his blessing from Isaac

                                iv.      Esau was what one would call a manly-man

1.      Big, brawny, hairy skillful huntsman, man of the open country

                                   v.      Jacob was content to stay at home among the tents

1.      Perhaps, more of a domestic man

 

III.         JACOB AND ESAU

a.      They were loved Genesis 25:28

                                     i.      Isaac, who loved the taste of wild game, loved Esau

                                  ii.      Rebekah loved Jacob

 

b.     Two different men

                                     i.      Though twins, two different men in looks, behavior, and each a favorite of a particular parent

                                  ii.      Before their birth, God determined Jacob as the chosen of the two

                               iii.      Why?

1.      This is where we see the Edomites, and the Israelites born

2.      Two nations, as different from one another as day and night

3.      Edomites representing unbelief, and the Israelites representing belief

4.      Unbelief was “born first” but overtaken and ruled by “belief”

5.      What we can learn from this is there are two paths, we are born first into unbelief, but the Lord is greater, as we can be born second, or “reborn”, taken what was stolen from us, our birthright, and our blessings.

 

c.      The birthright was taken

                                     i.      God wants us to understand that what He decrees, is

                                  ii.      He alone is God

                               iii.      If He says Jacob will rule, then that is who will rule

                                iv.      Isaac was the promise of God, not the firstborn Ishmael

                                   v.      And now Jacob will have the birthright and blessing and rule over Esau, not the firstborn

 

 CONCLUSION –

 

Genesis 26:34-35 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. 35 They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

 

God knew before Esau was ever conceived, he would marry a Hittite, and they would foster the unbelieving Edomites, who are from Edom, and symbolically represent any nation who is against Israel.

 

Therefore, the Lord shows us that His plan to bring the savior into the world through Abraham-Isaac- would continue through Jacob, not Esau.

 

So, for this to happen, the birthright as well as the blessings had to be given to Jacob.

 

 

Next week we will learn about Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

 

 

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