20250309_IWillNotLeaveThee

[0:00] Abraham has given gifts to his children. He married after the death of Sarah. He gave gifts to his kids and sent them away.

[0:14] Oh, was it? Okay, I'm sorry. I said Taylor. It was Cindy Valenzuela's dad. I got it switched around there.

[0:26] I'm sorry. Anyway, back to Abraham. So now it's time for Abraham to die. So, chapter 25, we started with verses 5 through 6 and did not quite finish.

[0:45] We're close. Actually, let's go on to verse 11 even. To refresh ourselves there.

[1:00] And beginning in verse 7, really, how long did Abraham live?

[1:16] 175 years. Now, that's a long time. That's almost as long as some of the people in the U.S. that are getting Social Security checks.

[1:33] But... Somebody's listening, right?

[1:48] Yeah. Anyway. But compared to Adam. How long did Adam live?

[2:04] 939 or 960? It was... It was a bunch. Clear down to Noah.

[2:16] And after the flood, remember, God said, okay, I'm going to start limiting the years of men's lives. Abraham lived a long time.

[2:28] In fact, it said he gave up the ghost and he died at a good old age. An old man and full of years. I can imagine he would.

[2:41] He was 100 years old when he went to battle the kings. Remember? The ones that raided, took Lot and his family.

[2:54] He was a vigorous old man. Okay. Now. Who buried him?

[3:10] Two of his sons are mentioned. I don't know if the others were there, but two are mentioned. Those would be Isaac and Ishmael.

[3:21] They buried him. Where'd they bury him? Why did he purchase that cave? Or that field, actually.

[3:34] He buried Sarah there. Now, if we remember, that cave is a little further north of where Isaac's living.

[3:46] But all the patriarchs are buried there, patriarchs and matriarchs, excepting one.

[4:01] And we'll get to that later. But there are five of them buried in that cave. That cave is in Jordan.

[4:16] Is that where that is now? In modern Jordan? Okay. Verses 12 through 18 tell us about Ishmael's descendants.

[4:34] We can read through that. But their names are given in verse 13.

[4:50] And, well, 13 and thereafter. Now, verse 16, you see, by the names of their towns or their dwellings, their villages.

[5:05] The centers where they camped. How many were there? Interesting.

[5:22] And then it gives the life of Ishmael. How long did Ishmael live? 137 years. And it tells where his descendants dwelt.

[5:38] Now we're ready to continue with Isaac. Because this is, after all, a history written specifically to whom?

[5:52] Israel. Israel. Israel. It's written specifically to Israel. And it's specific about Israel.

[6:04] All these others are mentioned. Some of them mentioned at some length. But the history is specifically to Israel.

[6:18] It's for all of us. It's to Israel. Now he gives the, in verse 19, you're in 19 through 23 approximately of chapter 25.

[6:38] In verse 19, it begins with, these are the generations of Isaac. Isaac. Isaac. Okay. What do you see there? Okay.

[6:53] Isaac is Abraham's son. It says how old he was when he married Rebecca. We were there last week, week before.

[7:09] 40 years old. Okay. He was 40 when he took Rebecca to wife. And why did Isaac pray for Rebecca?

[7:28] Okay. She had no children. What was the promise God had given? The seed would run through Isaac.

[7:40] That was, now, the promise was to Abraham originally, right? Through your flesh, this is going to happen.

[7:54] I'm going to choose out this people through you. What was Abraham and Sarah's problem? Same problem.

[8:06] Same problem. Same problem. And, now, here, Isaac prays for Rebecca. And we don't know if Isaac knows.

[8:22] We're not specifically told. At this point, he will later. But, at this point, we are not told that he knows of God's covenant with his father.

[8:36] I kind of assume he does, but we don't know that for sure. But, we do know that this is 19 years after Isaac and Rebecca married.

[8:55] If you would jump ahead to verse 26, you'll see why we know this. So, God answered him.

[9:12] God doesn't always answer. But, this time he does. And what happens? Okay.

[9:27] Sarah conceives. She has twins. Now, there's an interesting thing coming up here. Of Abraham's children, who did God say was the chosen one?

[9:49] Isaac. He's going to make another choice here, isn't he? Okay. Let's look at that a little bit. It says that Rebecca inquired of God.

[10:02] We don't know how that, how she went about that. But, we do know that God actually answered her. So, in verse 22, begin there.

[10:22] Why is she inquiring? It wasn't a natural pregnancy.

[10:37] At least, she didn't think so. So, there was a struggle going on. And, so what did God say to her?

[10:55] Okay. That's part of it. That's the beginning. There are two separate peoples in you.

[11:07] Two different nations. One's going to be stronger than the other. And, the elder shall serve the younger.

[11:21] Exactly opposite to what tradition would say. Why did God do that?

[11:41] Are we told why he did that? No. Not really. Really. So, I'm pretty much left with God did it because he decided to do it.

[11:56] Now, there is going to be a big character difference. But, are either of these two boys going to exhibit the kind of character that you would hope to exhibit?

[12:16] They exhibit different characters, but neither one would be one that you'd hold up for. This is the model.

[12:29] Son, if you want to know. Well, we're in Proverbs. So, son. If you want to know how to live, look at this one. By the way, in our society, too many people are looking at the wrong image to emulate.

[12:48] And, it's being told in our society, isn't it?

[13:00] Some of the emulation is about all the wrong stuff. So, anyway, God answers her. He says, two nations.

[13:11] You're going to give birth to two manner of people. They're going to be quite different. The older is going to wind up serving the younger.

[13:24] That is, the younger is going to emerge preeminently. Which generation is Isaac as far as the promise is concerned?

[13:37] Which generation is Isaac as far as the promise of, to your seed, I will give this land in you, will all the nations of the earth be blessed?

[13:56] That's the promise. He's the second generation. Abraham would be the first. It was given to Abraham. Isaac's the second.

[14:09] We're looking at the third. This, by the way, this younger child, will be the final of what we call the patriarchs.

[14:26] Unless you count the patrons of the 12 tribes. But apart from that, these are the first.

[14:38] These are the three preeminent. By the way, Abraham is also considered the patriarch. Who else claims Abraham?

[14:51] What people group? The Muslim. They claim Abraham. In fact, their name means, what is it?

[15:07] God's server or basically subservient to God. So, now we're in Isaac.

[15:27] Rebecca is going to give birth to two nations. Now, did Rebecca share this with Isaac?

[15:39] I have a reason to ask that. I'm sorry?

[15:51] Why not? Sherry says it doesn't appear that she did. Why? Okay, it's not mentioned. Women were subservient to their husbands.

[16:08] Yeah. I'm not sure that way. They did have input. Sarah had quite a bit of input. Well, we don't really know.

[16:26] But there might, but it's going to become kind of interesting in just a little bit. Just keep that in mind. I wonder if she did. Yes.

[16:39] Would you read that verse to us?

[16:57] Yeah. It's Romans 9 and verse 6 through 13. Romans 9, verse 6.

[17:08] Yeah, I'm going to verse 10. I'm going to start verse 10. Okay. Because he talks about, you know, Sarah first, you know, and through the Isaac. Well, in the first verses, Abraham's descendants, but through Isaac, God says, through Isaac, you're a descendant.

[17:24] Right. There's a reason for this. Verse 10. And not only this, Isaac. But there was Rebecca also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac.

[17:36] For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose, according to his choice, might stand. Not because of work, but because of him who called.

[17:51] It was said to her, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob, I love that he saw. Okay. Okay. You jumped ahead, but that's okay.

[18:04] No, no. That's good. Thank you. See, the point of it is, God said, I chose. Why is that important to us who live in the great parenthesis, the age of grace?

[18:22] Because here in Romans chapter 9, the apostle Paul makes it clear, God makes it clear through the apostle Paul. I don't want to be construed to mean that Paul made something up.

[18:36] He didn't. This is revelation from God. It's all red letter. It's all the word of God, not just part of it.

[18:50] So, he makes it clear, look, you are secure in your salvation, and it's not of works. It's not by what you did. It's by what God did, and it's God's choice.

[19:06] We are secure. Through Christ. And we read this, and he tells us, look.

[19:18] Look at history. Read your history, Paul says. This is how it worked out. So, thank you.

[19:28] So, God chose so that, by the way, salvation will be for his glory.

[19:42] Because he's the one that did the work. And he makes it clear that we're saved. See what you've done. He makes it clear. We're saved by grace through faith.

[19:54] Why? So that no man can boast. The glory belongs to him. Christ did everything.

[20:07] Christ did everything. So that God will be what only God could be, both just and the justifier of them that believe.

[20:21] Okay. Okay. Back to Genesis chapter 25, starting at verses 24, especially for those four or five verses there.

[20:34] Tell me about the delivery, not explicitly, just what's here.

[20:45] How'd that happen? Come on. Let's get a little detail.

[21:03] I suspect this is the genesis of a common idiom that we use. Yeah.

[21:22] What's the, you mentioned it. What's the common idiom we use when you're deceiving someone? You're pulling my leg.

[21:33] I'm pretty sure this is where it came from. Okay. Okay.

[21:51] So, there were twins. The first one came out, and he was red. Hence the name Edom, which means red. And he will be the father of the Edomites.

[22:07] Now, let's get in our time machine and go forward a little bit. When Israel's coming out of Egypt, and they're to go into Canaan, God forbade them to enter the land of the Edomites.

[22:30] You shall not disturb them. Why? Because I've given Seir to Esau and his descendants, and you're not going to get it.

[22:45] Now, Edom will later on bring destruction upon themselves because they oppress. Hence, hence what God told Rebecca.

[22:58] The elder will wind up serving the younger. Okay. Now, he took hold of Esau's heel.

[23:12] That is, Jacob did. The boys grew. Verse 27. Describe them. Esau was a hunter.

[23:27] A skilled hunter. A man of the field. Jacob was... Okay.

[23:39] King James says plain. Is it KJV or is it New American that says peaceful? Peaceful. Hmm.

[23:51] Literally, the footnote in the NASB for peaceful also says literally complete. Right. Literally, it's complete or perfect.

[24:13] Yeah. Same word. A complete man or a perfect man. The idea being he, at least at this point, he is a plain man or a perfect man.

[24:35] It doesn't mean that he's just not warlike. It has to do with him being a complete man.

[24:47] Okay. Okay. So. But Esau... Esau and his descendants are going to be somewhat nomadic, are they not?

[25:10] Or it's Jacob. Jacob was the one dwelling in tents, right? Right? Okay. Okay. Now. Verse 28.

[25:22] There's some family division. Mom liked Jacob.

[25:37] Dad liked Esau. Esau. Esau. Esau. Esau. And I think that's fine.

[25:48] Is this a good thing? No favorites. Right. Right. Right. Right. And I think that's fine. But it is common, isn't it?

[25:59] And I saw a little blurb. It was hilarious. It was supposed, supposedly it was a pre-flight instruction where the stewardess gets up there and tells you where the oxygen mask is and everything.

[26:19] And she said, if you have more than one child, choose now who's your favorite. You know you have one. I'm not going to say that.

[26:57] I'm thankful that I'm going to heaven in spite of myself. Well, not in spite of myself, but regardless. It is amazing grace that God looks upon me and sees Jesus Christ.

[27:13] That is amazing. Because when I look in the mirror, that's not what I see, is it? Okay.

[27:24] Okay. So, by the way, it tells something about why Isaac liked Esau so much.

[27:35] Or at least part of the perks of liking Esau. He likes the food.

[27:46] He had a taste for the venison, for the wild game. And so, Esau supplied the game. Isaac supplied the love.

[28:01] Okay. Now. Regardless of the reasons, though, or the possible reasons for the division and the favoritism, God had told Rebekah what?

[28:27] The elder would serve the younger. That was before they were born. That was while they were developing.

[28:42] So, it's already God's choice as to who's going to be taught. Now, how they get there doesn't look good to me.

[28:55] But it is God's choice. We're going to see a couple of things and get a couple of lessons in that on the way, I think.

[29:06] So, keep going there with verses 29 on through, especially through 34 right now. Now, the men are grown.

[29:22] They're not little boys. Where's Esau been? He's been out hunting.

[29:38] And what's Jacob doing? Jacob is cooking.

[29:51] So, it's the time of day for, he's saying, I'm a little hungry. I'm going to make a pot of soup. Esau comes in, doesn't he?

[30:05] Yes or no? I just wasn't sure. What does Esau say?

[30:23] He's hungry. Now, I've said this before too. I admit. I'm starving. Now, I've never been starving.

[30:35] I just pretended I was. Esau comes in. He said, I'm famished.

[30:46] He says more than that. He says, give me some of your soup. What? If I don't get something to eat now, what?

[30:57] I'm going to die. If I don't get it now, I'm going to die. Okay.

[31:09] Keep that in mind. Now, what does Jacob say? Okay. Okay.

[31:23] Say it again. Sell me your birthright. What's birthright? Okay. What is, what went with the birthright?

[31:35] In this case, in this case, it would be two-thirds of the estate.

[31:49] There are two children. The birthright gave you twice as much as anyone else in the inheritance.

[31:59] So, the older son had a big stake. His dad's a wealthy man. Okay.

[32:14] So, what does Esau respond? Yes. Yes. Okay. In tradition, Isaac would say, Isaac's will would say, Esau gets two-thirds and Jacob gets one-third.

[32:51] That would have been the traditional way. Isaac said, sell me your birthright. So, basically, Esau would have sold him half of what he would have gotten, and that went to Jacob.

[33:08] So, now, Jacob's going to get two-thirds, and Esau gets one-third. So, that's where the birthright is a third? I mean, in that case. In the case of two children, in the case of three children, it's half, and each of them gets fourth.

[33:26] That kind of thing. Yes. And I see it as the right to that inheritance. The right to the inheritance. He sold the right.

[33:37] Or, that's what the offer is. What does Esau say to it? He says, I'm at the point of death. If I don't eat now, I'm going to die.

[33:50] What use will it be if I die? Well, now, that part's right, isn't it? What use will it be if you die? What was it the one guy said?

[34:06] You don't see any U-Hauls behind the hearse? What use is it to him? The point is, was he going to die?

[34:19] He's spoken of in Hebrews, by the way. I'm going to give a hint as to where we're going with this. But, he says, take it.

[34:34] And so, Jacob gave him the food. He ate. And what is the, here's the key.

[34:47] Verse 34. What does God say about this? What does it mean by despise?

[34:58] We need to define, because our culture, and I know words migrate a little bit, but we seem to be in 1984 with the destruction of words is a great thing.

[35:15] You see it all the time now, don't you? What does justice mean now? Get the hint? So, what does despise mean literally?

[35:30] It means not to place adequate weight upon it. So, a person, you hear people now say, you disrespect me, or dis, you disrespect me.

[35:50] That's what despise means. It's, you despise me. Now, we've kind of brought the connotation to mean it's something that's really loathsome.

[36:02] But, that's not what it means. It means Esau did not regard the birthright like he should have. Now, what's it say in Hebrews about Esau?

[36:15] 12 verse 16. 12 verse 16. Right. Now, this is talking about the church.

[36:40] And I know it's in Hebrews, but he's telling, the writer of Hebrews is telling him, Judaism's done. Get out of the camp. But, what he's saying is, look, don't let anybody dwell among you.

[36:56] And he's talking about the church. And he's not talking about weeding them out. He's talking about me personally. He's saying, don't be this kind of person. Don't be like Esau.

[37:09] What did Esau see? Well, me, me, me. Now, now, now. We never see anything like that, do we?

[37:23] Well, seriously. What Esau did was he said, I want immediate gratification. I will not put it off to get the greater good.

[37:38] What, what are the advertisers saying? You deserve it now. And here's how you can get it. You can go into debt. You can go into big debt.

[37:52] We'll help you. We'll give you, what is it, a five or a six year loan on a very expensive car, but you can make the payment.

[38:05] Now, yeah, by the time the car's paid for, it's not going to be worth anything and you're going to be out three times the money, but that's okay. You'll have it. You'll have it now.

[38:22] Now, that's a frivolous illustration. God's saying that's a spiritual illustration. That's a moral failing, he said. It's not exactly the same thing, but it's related to the two thieves on either side of Christ when he's on the cross.

[38:47] Okay, that's my alarm. I'm quitting, Terry. The two thieves on either side of Christ, one of them said, if you be the Christ, what?

[39:02] Save us and yourself. What'd the other one say? We deserve this. Remember me when you come into your kingdom.

[39:17] One thief was angry about his present situation even though he had gotten himself into it and he wanted relief from the results of his decision making.

[39:33] The other thief realized he was wrong and wanted grace. Yes? Yes? Well, Isaac?

[39:54] Well, we're going to get there, but it's going to be next week.

[40:09] Lord willing. So, let, the lesson that we're finishing with is with Esau, how he despised his birthright.

[40:23] He would not, he did not see that the end result was worth the waiting. He wanted immediate gratification, gratification, short term, and took no thought of what the future would hold.

[40:47] And God knew that? God? help me, God, not to take that kind of a view of life.

[41:03] Because there are some things that tempt us for immediate gratification with little thought.

[41:16] Since we're in Proverbs, I'm going to launch it with that, with little thought of what's going to come later. And we live in a society that's paying a dear price for forgetting some of these lessons.

[41:30] we think there is no consequence societally so much of the time. Or there ought not be. And if there is, it's your fault.

[41:44] It's your fault. You know, the idea that somehow if you're doing better than me, it's because you've done something wrong.

[41:55] God bless you. Have a great week.