Daily Scripture Reading Genesis 25:27 - 26:11

Most Christians grasp the concept that we should obey God, but the motivation to obey is often based on the desire to receive benefits for ourselves. The benefits we seek might be earthly benefits or heavenly rewards.

Today we will read a passage that proves that obedience by one man can yield benefits for his descendants. This means that perhaps we should obey in order to motivate God to do good things for our children or grandchildren.

Isaac took Rebekah as his wife when he was forty. Two decades later, Rebekah was still barren. Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of Rebekah, Yahweh was moved by the entreaty, Rebekah conceived, and she gave birth to twins: Esau and Jacob.

Gen. 25:27 ¶ And the boys grew up; Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

Gen. 25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he had an appetite for hunted game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Gen. 25:29 ¶ And Jacob had cooked stew. And Esau came in from the field, and he was famished.

Gen. 25:30 Then Esau said to Jacob, “Please give me a swallow from the red stuff—this red stuff, for I am famished.” Therefore his name was called Edom.

The Hebrew name “Edom” is a variation of the Hebrew word for “red”. In other words, Esau asked for some of the red stuff, so they began calling him “Red”.

Gen. 25:31 But Jacob said, “First sell me your birthright.”

Asking for the birthright in exchange for one meal is a bold, audacious request.

Gen. 25:32 And Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?”

Esau was probably exaggerating. I doubt he was that close to death.

Gen. 25:33 And Jacob said, “First swear to me”; so he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

Notice the words “swear” and “swore”. In our culture, we make agreements legally binding by signing them and getting them notarized. In their culture, they made agreements legally binding by swearing oaths. Jacob required Esau to legally transfer his birthright before he gave him some stew.

Gen. 25:34 So Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank and rose and went away. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Take note of the word “despised”. A birthright is worth much more than one meal, but Esau sold his birthright for one meal, revealing the extent to which he did not value his birthright.

Gen. 26:1 ¶ 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.

Gerar was close to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

Gen. 26:2 And Yahweh appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.

Gen. 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham.

Gen. 26:4 And I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give your seed all these lands; and by your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;

There were multiple times in the life of Abraham when Yahweh promised Abraham land and descendants. Yahweh passed those promises on to Isaac.

Gen. 26:5 because Abraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

Look at the word “because”. Abraham’s obedience and loyalty to Yahweh was the reason Isaac received these promises. In other words, Abraham’s obedience yielded benefits for his descendants.

Most Christians grasp the concept that we should obey God, but the motivation to obey is often to receive benefits for ourselves. Perhaps we should be motivated to obey God because obeying God will result in God doing good things for our children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren.

Gen. 26:6 ¶ So Isaac lived in Gerar.

Gen. 26:7 Then the men of the place asked about his wife. And he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful in appearance.”

Isaac did the same thing Abraham did, he claimed his wife was his sister.

Gen. 26:8 Now it happened, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window and saw, and behold, Isaac was caressing his wife Rebekah.

Look at the words “had been there a long time”. When Isaac said that Rebekah was his sister, he and Rebekah were allowed to live in Gerar as brother and sister for a long time. No one came and took Rebekah from Isaac.

I believe this is what Abraham expected would happen when he said Sarah was his sister. Abraham is often criticized for letting Sarah be taken by another man in order to protect himself, but I don’t think Abraham expected anyone to take Sarah. He thought he and Sarah would be allowed to live as brother and sister, just as Isaac and Rebekah lived a long time in Gerar as brother and sister.

Gen. 26:9 Then Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, surely she is your wife! How then did you say, ‘She is my sister’?” And Isaac said to him, “Because I said, ‘Lest I die on account of her.’”

Gen. 26:10 And Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”

Gen. 26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

Most Christians grasp the concept that we should obey God, but the motivation to obey is often based on the desire to receive benefits for ourselves. The benefits we pursue might be earthly benefits or heavenly rewards.

We saw in today’s passage that when Abraham obeyed God, he influenced Yahweh to give promises to his son Isaac. This means that perhaps we should obey God with the mindset that doing so will bring blessings upon our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

What do you believe are the benefits of obeying God?

How might your obedience bring God’s favor upon your descendants?

How should today’s passage change how you look at God’s laws and commandments?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”