Devotional Reading: Matthew 16:13-20
This fall quarter focuses on God’s World and God’s People. We are in Unit III “God Blesses and Re-creates Regardless” of the three units of the quarter. This is the first lesson of the four lesson study. It explores how God blessed humble Isaac in the enemy territory of Canaan with a wife and two sons. It explores the source of the conflict between the sons and the beginning of the rivalry. As one of our teachers always said, “God plans His works and He works His plans.” So I think it necessary to look at some biblical background to understand some of God’s plan to transfer the inheritance.
Inheritance is possible in the State of Missouri in many ways, but I want to keep this discussion very simple. If you do not have a will your closest relatives will be able to inherit pursuant to a schedule if you have not transferred to them otherwise, such as a living trust or life insurance.1 https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-missouri.html For example, a deceased can leave living children but no spouse. They will inherit everything equally. Or the deceased leaves a living spouse and descendants between them and not of someone else. The spouse will receive the first $20,000 and then the spouse will receive ½ of the balance and the children will receive the remainder equally. That is a sample of what is called Intestate Law in Missouri.
Inheritance and family law in ancient Israel was rather difficult, but the Hebrew Bible presents Scripture from different times that may be used to reconstruct the law. It is a little difficult to tell whether they all functioned simultaneously. Several texts suggest a man’s principal heirs were the sons born to him by his wife (or wives).2https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/inheritance-laws-in-ancient-israel Sons by other women (concubines, slaves, prostitutes) were not included (Judg 11:2). Daughters were provided a dowry in lieu of an inheritance share but could be granted possession of their father’s estate in the absence of sons. If they were, they were not allowed to marry outside their father’s clan or extended family (Num 27:5-11, Num 36:5-9), in order to keep all property within the clan. After daughters, according to Num 27:11, the next in line were the deceased’s brothers, followed by his paternal uncles, followed by “the nearest kinsman of his clan.”
Upon the father’s death, his heirs could divide the estate immediately, or they could keep it intact for a time, perhaps while waiting for a younger son to come of age. Special rules applied to brothers living on an undivided estate. For example, Deut 25:5-10 stipulates that if one brother married but died childless, another brother was to marry the widow and hope to impregnate her with a baby boy, who would then inherit the share that the deceased had been entitled to.
When it came time to divide, the father’s estate was apportioned into equal shares. Assigning specific shares to each heir was likely done by casting lots. Deut 21:17 suggests that typically the eldest son received two shares and other sons one each. A father could, by virtue of a testament, designate a younger son as the “firstborn” and reassign the right to a double share to him. He could not do so, however, if he was married to multiple women and had previously chosen to “Hate” (probably meaning “demote”) the mother of the biologically oldest son. In this case, the oldest retained the status of firstborn (Deut 21:15-17).
Starting in chapter 12 of Genesis, God intervened and changed the natural order of the inheritance laws through a spiritual birthright promise to Abraham and his descendants.3 http://www.bibletruthonline.com/birthrightpromisesABRAHAMtoEPHRAIM.htm. God chose Abraham to be the father of many nations, not tribes, and whom the world would be blessed. (Gen 12:1-3; 13:16; 15:3-5; 17:1-7; 22:17) The promises given to Abraham by God were: (1.) You will be a great nation, (2.) You will be a multitude of nations, (3.) Your name shall be great, (4.) You will be a blessing, (5.) Blessed be everyone who blesses you, (6.) Cursed be everyone who curses you, (7.) In you all families of the earth will be blessed, (8.) Your descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in heaven, (9.) Your descendants will be as numerous as the sand on the seashore, (10.) Kings will come from you (11.) You will be exceedingly fruitful.
Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was also promised spiritual blessings by God and so were her children (Gen 17:15-16). God promised (1.) She will be blessed, (2.) She will be a mother of many nations, and (3.) Kings of people will come from her.
What do we know of the son, Isaac, born between Abraham and Sarah? He was not born immediately after their marriage. (See Gen 11:30 and Gen 17:19) Sarah was so impatient that she gave her handmaiden to Abraham, despite God’s covenant promise she would bear Abraham a son. So we know Isaac has an older half-brother, Ishmael, by the handmaiden. (Gen 16:3-4; Gen 21:1-3) Even though Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son, he did not receive the birthright promises. He received his own promises from God. (Gen 16:10-12).
Upon Sarah’s death Abraham married a woman by the name of Keturah. So Scripture tells us that Isaac had six younger half-brothers. (Gen 25:1-2). However, only Isaac had been made the heir of promise by God. Abraham was …very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold (Gen 13:2 NKJV) when he inherited Canaan. Abraham ignored the natural law and gave all that he had to Isaac, the heir of promise. Isaac’s receipt of the birthright promises were later confirmed to him by God at Gen 26:3-5 after Abraham’s death.
Remember the incident when Isaac and father Abraham were going to worship God, Isaac was to be the sacrifice until the ram appeared in the bush? (Gen 22:13) We know that Isaac proved himself to be a very obedient and trusting son. He led a quiet, humble, obedient life, fully believing in the LORD. So Abraham had to be concerned when Isaac had not married by forty years of age. Their ancestors normally married at thirty or younger. Abraham did not want Isaac to marry God’s enemy, a Canaanite woman. Neither did he want either himself or Isaac to go to the land of his forefathers for the purpose of choosing a wife unless they be tempted to remain. (In fact, Isaac is the only patriarch who never left the Promised Land.) Abraham’s brethren worshiped the one true God. So Abraham trusted his oldest serving servant to take an oath to go to Haran to find Isaac a wife.
What do we know about Rebekah? The faithful servant asked for the guidance of God and was led directly to Rebekah, a relative of Abraham. She, too, received more promises at Gen 24:60: (1.) Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies and (2) You will be the mother of thousands of ten thousands. So she went to Canaan with the servant and married Isaac.
As our lesson opens Isaac and Rebekah are now married. Just like Isaac’s parents they have a godly marriage, but they remain childless twenty years into the marriage. Gen 25:19-21 indicates This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham’s son, Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (NKJV) Here we have parents, one chosen to inherit the spiritual birthright and the other carefully chosen as his bride, who are continuously praying for a divine intervention to open Rebekah’s womb. Though God’s promise is sure, sometimes it is too slow for us. However unlike Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah do not take matters into their own hands. They patiently wait on God. Time is not of our creation but is always God’s to do as He wills. And they did not stop praying. Man ought always to pray and not lose heart. (Luke 18:1) In this case God listened to their persistent prayers for twenty years before intervening and granting their plea. Rebekah is no longer barren.
Isaac and Rebekah had long prayed, and I am sure they were most excited. Although the pregnancy was an answer to their prayer, Rebekah was suffering because it was a difficult pregnancy. She had a sense there is a problem, a struggle that made her feel uneasy. There was a war in her belly and she knew something was wrong. So once again she did what a godly woman would do. Gen 25:22-23 indicates But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the LORD. And the LORD said to her: Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger” (NKJV)
Rebekah consulted God for wisdom and understanding. It is a great thing to go to the LORD in prayer when you have a problem, when you are in need of wisdom and understanding, when you simply need to talk to a friend. He revealed that she would not only have twins, but they would not be alike. They would both be rulers of separate nations. However, their nations would continue to struggle and clash. The younger child and his nation shall rule over the elder child and his nation. The struggle within Rebekah was similar to the struggle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of satan in both the struggle in the world and the struggle in the hearts of the believers.
Rebekah never forgot that God had divinely declared the promised line would belong to the younger son instead of the older son. Knowing God had gone against the assumed grain of inheritance, Rebekah had to have noted unusual circumstances when they occurred. Gen 25:24-26 indicates, So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. (NKJV)
As foretold to Rebekah, the appearance and the attitude of the twins were dramatically different. The firstborn was rough and reddish with an unusual quantity of hair all over his body, as if he was a grown man already. This earned him the name of Esau which was indicative of his sensual nature and wildness. He was expected to have a strong constitution, be very active, robust, and daring. The latter twin was born with his hand outstretched and holding on to the heel of Esau. He was named Jacob, or heel grabber, as he struggled to get the best starting position. He was smooth and tender as other children. In time Jacob’s name would come to mean assailant, over-reacher, or deceiver. Isaac was sixty years of age when the twins were born. He had remained faithful to God and Rebekah when he was blessed with their birth.
Even though Isaac was the promised seed and Rebekah was carefully chosen for him as a wife to love and procreate, they each had formed a separate alliance with a different twin. This proved destructive and dysfunctional instead of strengthening their family. Gen 25:27-28 states, So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. (NKJV) Esau and Jacob grew to be very different in their temperament. That type thing never mattered to my parents. My siblings and I were raised to believe there was no difference between us. The greatest mistake Isaac and Rebekah made was to make a difference between Esau and Jacob. Isaac loved Esau, the outdoorsy son. Rebekah loved the son preferred by God, Jacob. Children can feel when the slightest of differences have been made, and they play on those emotions between the parents.
Why did God grant Jacob’s descendants (the Israelites) priority over the descendants of Esau (Edomites)? Because it seemed good in His eyes and it is not for us to question God’s sovereign reasons. Perhaps it was because He knew Esau did not have as great a respect for the birthright as Jacob. God had a spiritual plan in the works. It did not include someone willing to sell their birthright for physical (sensual) satisfaction. Gen 25:29-34 indicates, Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. (NKJV)
As the firstborn, Esau was entitled to a double portion of his father’s possessions by natural order. In other words he would receive twice as much of the physical as any son of Isaac. More importantly though, he would have been set up, as the firstborn, to be included as an ancestor of Jesus Christ if God had not intervened and changed things for the younger son, Jacob, by divine election before their birth. Obviously both sons were wrong in this historical transaction as they made a way for God’s Will in the birthright promise to be fulfilled. Esau either did not treasure the birthright, or he simply was not a bright thinker. He preferred to be gratified by eating the stew. Jacob had to have been told about the birthright in order to swindle his brother out of such a valuable and honorable position that had been guaranteed him by God anyway – all for a bowl of red stew of lentils.
The descendants of Esau were the Edomites, known as such because Esau was nicknamed “Red” (meaning Edom). We shall continue this story in our next lesson, but for now let it simply be said there was much conflict between the descendants of Jacob (the Israelites) and the descendants of Jacob (the Edomites) because of God’s divine election. The final doom of the Edomites was pronounced in Obadiah 1:9b-10 stating, To the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau May be cut off by slaughter. “For violence against your brother Jacob, Shame shall cover you, And you shall be cut off forever. (NKJV)
1https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-missouri.html
2https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/inheritance-laws-in-ancient-israel
3http://www.bibletruthonline.com/birthrightpromisesABRAHAMtoEOHRAIM.htm
Deborah C. Davis
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