Day 9. Genesis 25-27

Genesis 25-27

Genesis 25

¹Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah.

Keturah was the mother of Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. So, in addition to Ishmael and Isaac, Abraham wound up having a lot of kids. This is all after Sarah is dead, and Abraham is well into his 100's.

⁵And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

Well, he had already given a bottle of water to Ishmael, what more did he have to give away?

⁶But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

Will Isaac wind up having similar family values as Abraham?

⁷And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years.

⁸Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people.

Abraham lived 175 years. Good old age, an old man, full of years... don't those all mean the same thing? Why the repetition?

⁹And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;

¹⁰The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

Nice of Ishmael to come back for the burial. No one is sure where he grew up, the Quran claims that Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaaba in Mecca, so it was around there. Abraham then moved to Israel, near the area where he bought the grave. So, from the time Abraham died, someone got word to Ishmael in (probably) what is now Saudi Arabia, and he got back in time to bury his father.

¹¹And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi.

God wound up blessing most of Abraham's children. Two of them (in theory) still have people who trace their lineage back to Abraham. The sons of Keturah didn't fare so well (except for one).

Verses 12-16 are the children of Ishmael. None of them really stand out.

¹⁷And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, an hundred and thirty and seven years: and he gave up the ghost and died; and was gathered unto his people.

Oh... just found some interesting stuff, about Hagar. Apparently, some Jewish tradition holds that the real name of Hagar is actually Keturah. This tradition says that after the death of Sarah, Abraham looked for her, and found her, that would explain why Ishmael was able to make it back so quickly for Abraham's burial. The muslim Hajj is based on Hagar's search for water for Ishmael.

So, if Ishmael was gathered to his people, his people would be Abraham and Hagar. If he's out roaming the desert in Saudi Arabia, what people would he be gathered to?

¹⁹And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham begat Isaac:

²⁰And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Isaac was forty when he married Rebekah. That's the same time when Sarah died. Remember, in Gen. 24:67 she became his wife, and comforted him at his mothers passing. He was 40 when he got married, and got over his mothers death. He doesn't seem like a mature 40 year old.

²¹And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Well, she was Sarah's great niece, so being barren (and hot) was probably a family trait.

²²And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

²³And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Not only was she pregnant, it was twins.

²⁵And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

They had a red hairy baby.... eeew. Esau, in Hebrew, means "hairy". So, as is custom with biblical originality, they named their hairy child, Harry.

²⁶And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

The second child was named Jacob. Here we have the brothers, Jacob and Esau. Isaac was 60 when they were born. Abraham was 100 when Isaac was born; he would have been 160 when the fraternal twins were born. He didn't die until they were 15. Why there is no interaction listed between Abraham and them is unknown.

²⁷And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Dwelling in his momma's tents. Esau was a man's man. Jacob was a momma's boy.

²⁸And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Dad loves his masculine son, mom loves her little helper.

²⁹And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

Edom, that will be an area named after Esau. There will also be the Edomites, who are of his lineage. Edom means "red". So his full name is probably Edom-Esau; red and hairy. The red pottage is red lentil stew.

³¹And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

Apparently Isaac was going to follow tradition and give everything to the firstborn. Wait, what tradition? Isaac got everything from Abraham and he was the second born. Ishmael should have gotten the birthright. This birthright concept has to have been added later. There is no mention of a birthright in the bible before this point. There have been a series of brothers, but not once has their been any talk of the firstborn receiving a larger inheritance, if anything, they've gotten the shaft.

³²And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

Esau must have known that uncle Ishmael didn't get the bigger share, of grandpa Abraham's wealth. He also saw his other uncles having great riches. He's a man of the field. He's a hunter. He would have no use for many tents, and riches. It would do him no good. (he's probably only 15 now too.)

³³And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

³⁴Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Jacob was the original soup nazi. You want soup, ONE BIRTHRIGHT!!!

Genesis 26

¹And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar.

There's a lot of famine in this area. As a child I always wondered about the terrain. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Sure we had snow, and cold, but we had four seasons. I've never heard of a famine in Wisconsin. I always figured that places like Germany and France, in Europe; would have a similar climate to Wisconsin. Then you look at pictures of Israel. It looks like a desert. There's rocks and caves and sand. It doesn't look like a great place to live. Now, there's a famine. When there's a famine, where do the people run to? Egypt. Why Egypt? Egypt does have the Nile, it floods every year and creates a fertile area to plant crops. But other than that, the place is a desert. Why didn't they ever run north? Why was it always south? If they are going to go on a 400 mile walk for food, why don't they go up to Germany?

²And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:

³Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

This time, god said, don't run to Egypt. Stick out this famine.

⁴And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

Stars, sand, innumerable, dust, it's another seed promise. Behold, I will make over population on the earth of thee.

⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:

Isaac stayed put.

⁷And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

You are kidding me, right? Isaac did the same "she's my sister" thing that his dad did. I wonder how this turns out.

⁸And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.

⁹And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife; and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her.

Abimelech? The same Abimelech? Probably not, most likely it's the son of Abimelech, "Benmelech" he might have changed his name when his dad died and he became king.

¹⁰And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.

¹¹And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

Once again, we see after the "she's my sister" story, that the person who tells it profits greatly. Remember that the next time you are out with your wife. If you are in a new country, just say she's your sister and see if they give you half the kingdom.

¹³And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

¹⁴For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

Everyone envies a rich man.

¹⁶And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.

¹⁷And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.

We see Isaac, who only had the two sons, had enough men that he could have taken over parts of Palestine. This is the area that's promised to them, why didn't they just take it?

Isaac's servants then dig some wells, get into fights, dig more wells, and move some more.

²³And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

Maybe...

²⁴And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.

Isaac got blessed, not for what he did, but for what Abraham did.

²⁵And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.

Again, I wonder, why would you live in a place where you have to keep digging wells, why not move to a place with running water, that gets rain?

²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army.

Abimelech asks for a peace treaty. They all agree, have a feast and leave the next day.

³²And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.

There's plenty of water up north. In fact, there's no history of people living in Germania for another couple hundred years.

³³And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.

Wait a second, in verse 23 it says he went to Beersheba. Now it says that he called it Shebah. Shouldn't verse 23 say, "he went to the place that was unnamed and later would be called beersheba".

³⁴And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:

Esau was 40, like his dad was, when he took a wife. In fact, he took two wives. This must have called for lots of celebration from the Isaac clan.

³⁵Which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

Nope, there was no celebration for Isaac and Rebekah. Why? Esau married daughters of the Hittites. The Hittites are of Heth (remember, Abraham bought the cave from the people of Heth). Heth was the second son of Canaan. The Canaanites are/were black, the Hittites would have also been black. Isaac and Rebekah were just as racist as Abraham, when he said his son wouldn't marry no N-word.

Genesis 27

¹And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.

Eyes were dim means he couldn't see very well. Esau was still his favorite son. Jacob was the mama's boy, and even though Isaac was a momma's boy too, he liked his masculine hairy son Esau better.

³Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;

⁴And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

Interesting, the old man couldn't see very well, but he still had his appetite. Oddly, he must have still had his teeth because he wanted some wild venison. Which is usually somewhat chewy. I find it hard to believe that during this time period, people who lived to be in their 100's still had their teeth. But they probably didn't eat much sugar, so it is possible.

⁵And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.

⁶And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,

Rebekah still loved Jacob (the sissy) better than Esau (the hairy hunter). They are probably in their 40's (as Esau married the ni.... hittites).

⁹Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

Rebekah knows that her little pusillanimous son won't be able to make the savoury meat. All he's good at is making lentil soup.

¹⁰And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.

Rebekah wants her favorite mama's boy son to get the blessing instead of the one who actually deserves it.

¹¹And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:

¹²My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

Esau is hairy... hairy is hairy. How hairy is he?

¹³And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

How much did she have to hate Esau to go to all this trouble to steal a blessing? Did his marriage to the hittites really piss her off that much? Was she thinking "i don't want to be the grandmother to any half hittite baby!"

Jacob goes and gets the goats, and Rebekah prepares the meats. Then she takes some of Esau's clothes and puts them on Jacob.

¹⁶And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:

Esau is so hairy, that her mother believes that goat skins will fool her husband who is going blind.

¹⁸And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?

¹⁹And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy first born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.

Jacob lies. Granted, this blessing was part of the birthright (possibly). Is a family blessing an actual piece of inheritance that can be transferred?

²⁰And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the LORD thy God brought it to me.

Isaac is thinking that something is going on, he just doesn't know exactly what it is yet.

²¹And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.

²²And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

Hmmm, you got the meat really fast, you sound like Jacob, but feel like Esau.

²³And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.

...

²⁵And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine and he drank.

Now we've got the food test, which Jacob passed.

²⁶And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.

²⁷And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the LORD hath blessed:

Finally, he passed the smell test.

²⁸Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:

²⁹Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

So, Isaac blessed Jacob instead of Esau. This whole dilemma could have been overcame if there would have been a comma after the word "therefore" and another word and a comma inserted before "God". All he had to say was... "Therefore, Esau, God..."But the blessing was to whoever was standing there. It just so happens to be the wrong person. But it can be fixed... right?

³⁰And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

Esau shows up mere seconds after Jacob leaves. That means that he did get the hunting done quickly.

Isaac asks, who was there. Esau says it's him, Esau.

³³And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? yea, and he shall be blessed.

So it's not a blessing for whoever was in the room, it was for whoever brought him venison first.

³⁴And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.

Surely there's some blessing left for Esau?

³⁷And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

³⁸And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.

Apparently, there's no blessing left. But wait, Isaac seems to want to bless Esau. This means that Isaac was able to forgive Esau for marrying the Hittite. Wait... hold on a second. Why would Esau have to be forgiven for marrying someone he loves?

³⁹And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;

⁴⁰And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

This is the blessing that Esau gets. How is it a problem? It's pretty much what he does. He isn't a farmer, a shepherd or a rancher; he's a hunter. He doesn't eat sheep, he eats deer. Every so often, he doesn't get a deer and has to sell his birthright for lentil soup. But that's because he exaggerates how hungry he is. This blessing isn't really a problem.

⁴¹And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Esau plans to kill Jacob. He'll do it after Isaac dies and the appropriate mourning time is over.

Rebekah hears about Esau's plans, so she doesn't try to calm him down (he'd probably want to kill her too, since she's the one who pretty much orchestrated the whole incident) she thinks it's best to have Jacob run away, which will also help remove suspicion from her.

⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;

⁴⁴And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother's fury turn away;

⁴⁵Until thy brother's anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be deprived also of you both in one day?

"of you both" doesn't mean Jacob and Esau, it means Isaac and Jacob. Since Esau was going to kill Jacob after Isaac dies.

The racist Rebekah goes and talks to Isaac.

⁴⁶And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?

She's was angry about Esau marrying a hittite. There's no way she's going to let he little boy Jacob marry a hittie.

Points to ponder for today:

1. Is marrying your cousin better than marrying a hittite?

2. Why is there only one blessing?

3. Why stay in Israel? There's a whole world out there. Why run to Egypt when there's trouble? How come the rest of the world isn't ever explored.

4. So far, the main biblical patriarchs have been: Adam; Noah; Abraham; Isaac; and now Jacob.

Adam, the person who ate the fruit that brought sin into the world.

Noah, the guy who got so drunk he was raped by his son.

Abraham, the guy who abandoned his first son and routinely lies about his wife so that he won't get injured.

Isaac, also lied about his marital status; doesn't want his sons to marry a hittite (black person).

Jacob, tricks his brother out of his birthright, tricks his father out of the blessing for the person who really deserves it.

These are the main people who are chosen by god.