OVERCOMING THE DYSFUNCTIONS OF ISRAEL’S PATRIARCHS

XII. Avoiding Worldliness In Family Relationships

(Genesis 25:19-34)

I. Introduction

A. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Israel’s patriarchs and their respective wives and families, though blessed of God, were imperfect people who at times made huge mistakes that led to serious marital and family dysfunction.

B. Thankfully, Romans 15:4 states that we can learn from whatsoever things were written in the Old Testament for our edification, and that includes our learning how to overcome the dysfunctions of Israel’s patriarchs.

C. We view Genesis 25:19-34 on the need to avoid worldliness in family relationships for insight and application:

II. Avoiding Worldliness In Family Relationships, Genesis 25:19-34.

A. 1 John 2:15-16 teaches that we are not to love the world nor its lusts of the eyes, of the flesh and the pride of this “earthly life” (bios, J. H. Thayer, Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N.T., 1963, p. 102).

B. Failure to heed this directive may seem trivial at first, but applied to family relationships, it can have long-term, catastrophic results. Such was the case in the family of Isaac and Rebekkah in Genesis 25:19-34:

1. When Isaac married Rebekkah, she was initially barren like Isaac’s mother Sarah had been, Gen. 25:21a.

2. Isaac had learned from his parents’ history not to try to solve this problem by human effort such as taking Rebekkah’s maid like Abraham had taken Hagar to raise up a son by her, so Isaac prayed to the Lord, asking Him to make his wife Rebekkah able to bear a child, Genesis 25:21a.

3. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and his wife conceived, Genesis 25:21b.

4. However, Rebekkah noticed that there was a great amount of struggle in her womb, so she went to the Lord to ask why she was feeling so much struggling, Genesis 25:22.

5. God replied that she would bear twin sons who would sire two nations, Gen. 25:23a. One nation would be stronger than the other, and the nation of the elder would serve the nation of the younger, Gen. 25:23b.

6. The births of the boys set the stage for the kind of men they would become, Genesis 25:24-26:

a. The first boy that came out was red all over and hairy, Genesis 25:24-25. Red anticipates the “play on the meaning of Esau’s . . . name Edom, which means ‘red,’” Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Gen. 25:25. The hair is represented in the name of “Esau” since “hairy was a Hebrew pun on the name Esau,” Ibid.

b. The second boy then came out and grabbed Esau’s heel, so he was called “Jacob,” i. e., “‘heel catcher,’ ‘trickster,’ or ‘supplanter’ (cf. 27:36), what predicted Jacob’s character! (Ryrie, op. cit., ftn. to Gen. 25:26)

7. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter of the open country (Genesis 25:27a NIV) where Jacob was the opposite – what the Hebrew word tam pictured – “complete, perfect” in the sense of “adequately fulfilling the requirements of his calling, not roving about but ‘a man of peaceful habits.’” (Genesis 25:27b; H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, 1974, vol. II, p. 709)

8. However, Isaac favored Esau since he had a taste for wild game while Rebekkah favored Jacob for his cultured ways, Gen. 25:28. Both parents were thus worldly: Isaac favored Esau in his lust of the flesh in loving wild game, and Rebekkah favored Isaac for his cultured ways, what appealed to her pride of life!

9. In view of Rebekkah’s difficult pregnancy and God’s prediction about her sons, it was foolish for Isaac and Rebekkah to show favoritism toward one son over another, for that further inflamed God’s predicted strife between Esau and Jacob. Indeed, the parents’ favoritism helped enhance the discord, Gen. 25:29-34:

a. One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the country famished, and he told Jacob quickly to give him some of his red stew since he was so hungry, Genesis 25:29-30a. The red color of the stew was another reason why Esau was also later called Edom, Genesis 25:30b.

b. Jacob offered to give Esau some of his stew if he sold Jacob his birthright as the eldest son, Genesis 25:31. The fact that Jacob would dare to ask for such a valuable entity from his older brother indicated his lack of respect for Esau as his elder brother due to his mother Rebekkah’s favoritism of Jacob over Esau.

c. Esau was so hungry that he agreed to sell his birthright to Jacob for that stew, Genesis 25:32-34a.

d. Esau thus despised his birthright (Genesis 25:34b), and its loss to Jacob would later enhance the division between Esau and his people of Edom and Jacob and his people of Israel. (cf. Gen. 27:35-36; Obad. 1-18)

Lesson: When Isaac and Rebekkah in worldly lust each showed favoritism toward one son over another, instead of reducing the strife between their sons that God had predicted would arise, Isaac and Rebekkah only promoted it.

Application: To edify all involved, may we avoid worldly lusts and heed Scripture in our relationships in the home.