Healing Fractured Relationships

We’re told nothing of Jacob’s 400 mile journey from Bethel to Haran
– only, that when he reached destination, he “looked and behold a well”
• we get excited when storyteller says this, because we know what’s coming next
• it’s the familiar introduction to “boy meets girl” scene
– Jacob made a quick assessment of what he saw:
• the well was covered by a stone – a large stone
• three flocks of sheep were just waiting by well
• there was plenty of daylight to continue grazing
– he got information from the shepherds regarding his uncle Laban
• they pointed out, at that moment Rachel was coming
• they also explained why they had not yet watered their sheep

When Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, Jacob went up and rolled the stone from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his mother’s brother. (v. 10)

The storyteller won’t let us forget, Laban was Jacob’s “mother’s brother”
– the family resemblance will emerge not in their appearance, but their conniving nature
– Jacob moved stone, watered Rachel’s flock, greeted Rachel with a kiss, and introduced himself
• like her aunt Rebekah who years earlier met a stranger at a well, Rachel ran home
○ her father, Laban, as he had done years earlier, ran to the well to meet Jacob

Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh” (v. 14)

– after Laban put Jacob up for a month, offered to pay him for his labor
• this is when we learn Laban had two daughters Continue reading →

Genesis 27

INTRO: The story in this chapter is told mostly through dialogues with little narration

It jumps quickly from one conversation to another conversation
– Isaac with Esau, Rebekah with Jacob, Jacob with Isaac, etc.
(By the way, this is not the family we would recruit if Time magazine wanted a photo for an article on “The Model Believers and Their Children”)

This week I wrote out the story in my own words to cover all of it while hopefully highlighting important details

 The Story

If we look for a family resemblance between the twins and the parents, we won’t find it in Esau–he’s nothing like his father or mother. Jacob, however, looks a little like both parents. He was a homebody like his father. But he got his conniving and grasping at things that didn’t belong to him from his mother and her side of the family.

Isaac had grown old and as often happens, his eyesight became progressively weaker until he was nearly blind. As the light dimmed, he sensed the approach of death and began wondering what would happen after he was gone. What had he done that would survive him?

In Isaac’s time, immortality was achieved through a man’s children, his children’s children, and so on for a thousand generations. Of all his children, the firstborn son received the greater share of the father’s vital energy. Isaac was pleased with this thought, because he favored his older son, Esau. The tough and outdoorsy twin was a perfect specimen of manliness. Unfortunately, Esau had frittered away his birthright. So Isaac came up with a plan to do something else for his favorite son that would give him an unique advantage.

Esau heard his father’s quavering voice call his name. He entered Isaac’s tent and announced his presence, “Here I am.” Isaac began, “Look at me, I am old and don’t know how much longer I’ll last. Take your bow, go into the field, and bag a deer or mountain goat. You know how to prepare meat the way I love it. When I’m finished eating, I’ll pronounce my soul’s blessing over you before I die.” Continue reading →

Finding Inner Peace

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the previous famine that had occurred in the days of Abraham. So Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, stay in the land of which I shall tell you.” Genesis 26:1-2

INTRO: You would have to be a very creative writer to build a novel around Isaac

The storyteller doesn’t give us enough information to form interesting character
• he’s an average person sandwiched between an extraordinary father and extraordinary son
– as for Isaac, nothing he did stands out as unique or special
• he retraced father’s footsteps, relived father’s adventures, and even repeated one of his father’s mistakes
• when Isaac was blessed, it was for his father’s sake (vv. 5, 24)
– if we don’t find Isaac’s life interesting or exciting, it’s probably because it’s too much like our own

As soon as plot begins to take shape, we recognize it

We may even think, “Not again?!” — because already we have been through this twice with Abraham
– yet the storyteller is careful not to let us confuse this story with the others
• for example, Isaac was stopped from going to Egypt as his father had done

Gerar must not have been a large, built-up city
– after Genesis, it’s mentioned only one other time
• not enough of it survived to even know where it was located
– Isaac arrived there and took up farming
• his entourage would have looked really imposing
○ immediately, his was one of the largest and wealthiest families
• but if intimidating to the locals, he was also intimidated by them
○ so when they asked him about his wife, he said she was his sister Continue reading →

Learn to Read

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within in her; and she said, “If it is so, why then am I this way?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 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.”
Genesis 25:21-23

INTRO: We’ve jumped into a story already in progress

The chapter began by wrapping up Abraham’s story
– he had married a second wife and had more children
• his wisdom is revealed in the way he provided his sons enough for a good start in accumulating their own wealth
• then sent them away in the opposite direction of Isaac
– after that last piece of business, Abraham died content with his many years

Abraham’s two sons who have been featured in his story tended to his burial
– I’m curious as to when Isaac (and, perhaps, Abraham) reconnected with Ishmael
• was it after Sara died?
• had Isaac always kept in touch? or did he locate and notify Ishmael only after Abraham died?
○ at any rate, it is beautiful he could see past his mother’s hard feelings
– afterward, it was Isaac in particular that God blessed (v. 11)

Ishmael’s presence at Abraham’s burial makes for a smooth transition
– his genealogy wraps up his story
– his descendants form twelve tribes – which now seems to be a pattern
• Abraham’s brother (Ge. 22:20-24)
○ we are being prepared to see Jacob’s twelve sons as a normative development
– Ishmael’s death

This brings us to Isaac, whose account begins the same way as Ishmael’s
– therefore, what we expect is another genealogy
– but instead, we’re in for a surprise
• Isaac’s genealogy is not a list of names, but a story that begins with his prayer for his wife
• Rebekah goes from infertility to a difficult pregnancy

So the chapter begins with final days and death of Abraham, Isaac’s father and ends with the birth of his twin sons
– this is the rhythm of an individual life — birth and death, death and birth . . .
– years ago, after visiting someone in a hospital in Long Beach, I stepped into an elevator on my way out
• a woman also entered the elevator and asked, “Do you know what floor is the maternity ward?”
○ She went on, “I just watched a friend die and now I want to see new life”
– eventually, we each discover rhythm of our own lives
• and each life’s rhythm carries forward the work of God
• so in the great chain of human lives (genealogies), there is progress
○ God is moving history forward to its goal Continue reading →