Inheriting Fear When Promise is the Plan

• Bible Project says that this section of Genesis has “a pattern… blessing and curse… and it focuses on God’s invitation to both experience real life and steward his blessing for the rest of creation.
• But when humans ignore and abuse God’s blessing, the bring about the curse, which refers to the negative consequences that come with opposing the blessing.
• Throughout this movement, we continually see how God is committed to fulfilling the promise he’s made to his stubborn people … even as his stubborn people make life harder and more embarrassing by ‘helping’.

Genesis 25
¹⁹ This is the account of the family of Isaac, the son of Abraham.
²⁰ When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
²¹ Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. ²² But the two children struggled with each other in her womb. So she went to ask the Lord about it. “Why is this happening to me?” she asked.
²³ And the Lord told her, “The sons in your womb will become two nations. From the very beginning, the two nations will be rivals. One nation will be stronger than the other; and your older son will serve your younger son.”
²⁴ And when the time came to give birth, Rebekah discovered that she did indeed have twins! ²⁵ The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau.
²⁶ Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.
²⁷ As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.
²⁸ Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

• What’s Up With Favoritism?
  It runs in families.

• In Genesis 21, we see Sarah outraged that Isaac’s much older half brother, Ishmael was mocking the little Isaac. She was so overly protective of her little prince that she was willing to send Hagar and Ishmael off to die.

• That’s nuts, folks. When she orders Abraham to send them away, she drops a “it’s them or me and my son” on Abe.

Genesis 21.10
“Get rid of that slave woman and her son. He is not going to share the inheritance with my son, Isaac. I won’t have it!”
When it comes time to get Isaac hitched, Look at the conflicting faith and fearfulness in Abraham’s words:

Genesis 24
⁴ Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
⁵ The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a young woman who is willing to travel so far from home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among your relatives in the land you came from?”
⁶ “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to take my son there.
⁷ For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.
⁸ If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there.”

• Abraham knows God’s promise is HUGE and that God has provided for him and blessed him abundantly (Gen. 24.1 says that the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way; there was no reason to harbor fear. God’s promise is met with his provision.
  So Abraham and Sarah were very likely helicopter or lawn mower parents - either hovering over all the proceedings or mowing down all obstacles. Even though God’s promises to Abraham are great, Abe always thought he was helping God out.

• So why does Isaac favor Esau? Because is Esau is willing to live the life of adventure that Isaac did not know. Isaac is living vicariously and actually admires (tragically) Esau’s character because Esau is untethered by responsibility. What looks super cool to boy in the bubble Isaac though makes him as a father overlook a deep character flaw that the Word of God plainly states to us.

• Jacob reminds Isaac too much of himself - the language indicates that Jacob is self contained, which in itself carries a brokenness of character that the Word will plainly point out for us, too.
• Because Isaac’s love for Esau is obvious, Jacob learns to calculate and carve out for himself love, belonging, and acceptance and those are found for him in security.
• Everyone plainly knew Mom Rebekah’s favorite and Dad Isaac’s favorite.

Genesis 25
²⁷ As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter. He was an outdoorsman, but Jacob had a quiet temperament, preferring to stay at home.
²⁸ Isaac loved Esau because he enjoyed eating the wild game Esau brought home, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
²⁹ One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry.
³⁰ Esau said to Jacob, “I’m starved! Give me some of that red stew!” (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means “red.”)
³¹ “All right,” Jacob replied, “but trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”
³² “Look, I’m dying of starvation!” said Esau. “What good is my birthright to me now?”
³³ But Jacob said, “First you must swear that your birthright is mine.”
So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob.
³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew.
Esau ate the meal, then got up and left.
He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.

• Isaac Deceives Abimelech (Just like dear, old, Dad: Genesis 12 (Pharaoh) and
  Genesis 20 (Abimelech).

Genesis 26
A severe famine now struck the land, as had happened before in Abraham’s time. So Isaac moved to Gerar, where Abimelech, king of the Philistines, lived.
² The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt, but do as I tell you.
³ Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.
⁴ I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
⁵ I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, decrees, and instructions.”
⁶ So Isaac stayed in Gerar.
⁷ When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife.” He thought, “They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful.”
⁸ But some time later, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out his window and saw Isaac caressing Rebekah.
⁹ Immediately, Abimelech called for Isaac and exclaimed, “She is obviously your wife! Why did you say, ‘She is my sister’?”
“Because I was afraid someone would kill me to get her from me,” Isaac replied.
¹⁰ “How could you do this to us?” Abimelech exclaimed. “One of my people might easily have taken your wife and slept with her, and you would have made us guilty of great sin.”
¹¹ Then Abimelech issued a public proclamation: “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will be put to death!”

Conflict over Water Rights
¹² When Isaac planted his crops that year, he harvested a hundred times more grain than he planted, for the Lord blessed him.
¹³ He became a very rich man, and his wealth continued to grow.
¹⁴ He acquired so many flocks of sheep and goats, herds of cattle, and servants that the Philistines became jealous of him.
¹⁵ So the Philistines filled up all of Isaac’s wells with dirt. These were the wells that had been dug by the servants of his father, Abraham.
¹⁶ Finally, Abimelech ordered Isaac to leave the country. “Go somewhere else,” he said, “for you have become too powerful for us.”
¹⁷ So Isaac moved away to the Gerar Valley, where he set up their tents and settled down.
¹⁸ He reopened the wells his father had dug, which the Philistines had filled in after Abraham’s death. Isaac also restored the names Abraham had given them.

¹⁹ Isaac’s servants also dug in the Gerar Valley and discovered a well of fresh water.
²⁰ But then the shepherds from Gerar came and claimed the spring. “This is our water,” they said, and they argued over it with Isaac’s herdsmen. So Isaac named the well Esek (which means “argument”).
²¹ Isaac’s men then dug another well, but again there was a dispute over it. So Isaac named it Sitnah (which means “hostility”).
²² Abandoning that one, Isaac moved on and dug another well. This time there was no dispute over it, so Isaac named the place Rehoboth (which means “open space”), for he said, “At last the Lord has created enough space for us to prosper in this land.”
²³ From there Isaac moved to Beersheba,
²⁴ where the Lord appeared to him on the night of his arrival. “I am the God of your father, Abraham,” he said. “Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you. I will multiply your descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will do this because of my promise to Abraham, my servant.”
²⁵ Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the Lord. He set up his camp at that place, and his servants dug another well.

Isaac’s Covenant with Abimelech
²⁶ One day King Abimelech came from Gerar with his adviser, Ahuzzath, and also Phicol, his army commander.
²⁷ “Why have you come here?” Isaac asked. “You obviously hate me, since you kicked me off your land.”
²⁸ They replied, “We can plainly see that the Lord is with you. So we want to enter into a sworn treaty with you. Let’s make a covenant.
²⁹ Swear that you will not harm us, just as we have never troubled you. We have always treated you well, and we sent you away from us in peace. And now look how the Lord has blessed you!”
³⁰ So Isaac prepared a covenant feast to celebrate the treaty, and they ate and drank together.
³¹ Early the next morning, they each took a solemn oath not to interfere with each other. Then Isaac sent them home again, and they left him in peace.
³² That very day Isaac’s servants came and told him about a new well they had dug. “We’ve found water!” they exclaimed.
³³ So Isaac named the well Shibah (which means “oath”). And to this day the town that grew up there is called Beersheba (which means “well of the oath”).
³⁴ At the age of forty, Esau married two Hittite wives: Judith, the daughter of Beeri, and Basemath, the daughter of Elon.
³⁵ But Esau’s wives made life miserable for Isaac and Rebekah.

• What Do We Do?
  Live In Acceptance in Jesus

1 John 4.16
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
¹⁸ Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

• Love and Faith

• For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin– Romans 14:23 (ESV)

• For we live by believing and not by seeing– 2 Corinthians 5.7

Galatians 2.20-21
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless.

1 Corinthians 15.58
So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.

Ephesians 4 (NIV)
¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
¹⁸ They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
¹⁹ Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.