Do You Help or Exploit? - Genesis 25 to 28

We are the only generation that can either brag or complain about living in the Electronic Age; I can remember well when the only phone in the community was made to ring by using a manual crank that was attached to the side of the wall-hung black metal phone. There are many of us that went through the very beginning of the computer age, [in Arkansas it was from about 1950 to 1970] when IBM required a huge room just to hold the mechanical devices that had to be maintained and operated in air-conditioned rooms because of the heat that was generated. Schools, colleges and businesses did not own the equipment—instead they bought the services. It was several years before the smaller computers became available that could be operated on site in schools and businesses, and then soon thereafter the home computers became available. “So, what does this have to do with this lesson?” you ask.

The age of the computer has introduced the greatest gangster like exploitation of the American public that has ever existed. Identity theft is a horror; and theft by computer from individuals, businesses, and even from banks causes constant worries. These are new to mankind, but not exploitation, it has always been here, even in the days of Abraham. Older people especially need to be aware that fraud is always a matter that they must guard against.

Be aware of the roofer that drives up, examines your roof without your permission and assures you that it must be replaced immediately. Be aware of the fly-by-night asphalt truck that drives by uninvited and offers to black-top your drive today—no waiting—and cheap. You can be assured that it will be a cheap job…never worth what you will pay. Don’t ever, I mean no never, pay anyone before the work is done and inspected. If there were shysters at work in Abraham’s day, just think how much practice they have had in learning new and better ways to exploit individuals and the public.

As we studied chapter twenty-four, the implications were that God’s covenant was transferred from Abraham to his son Isaac. The lesson today begins with some information about Abraham’s final days followed by the record of his death. He was 137 when Sarah died, and then he lived another thirty-eight years; was married to a second wife and they had children. Sometimes it is difficult to tell the whole truth about a Godly man without making it look like you are casting shadows on his character. This is true with Abraham. He was a man of faith! There is no doubt. His faith was counted as righteousness. There is no doubt. But he was a man that made some mistakes, one of which was his venture down into the land of Egypt when God had directed him to go into Canaan and claim the land as his which God gave him. His next major mistake was his lying to the King in Egypt in order to protect himself. He told the king that Sarah was his sister and it got both of them in trouble with God. His son Isaac was also a Godly man, but he had inherited some of his father’s sinful traits.

As a teacher of God’s word, please allow me to make an interjection at this point. God created man in his own image and even gave him the privilege of having a free will. To our chagrin, even a very personal embarrassment in some cases, Adam and Eve took advantage of the free will privilege and sinned against God. Every since that day, there has been absolutely no person that has lived a perfect life…all have sinned and come short…and that means that when we study some of the greatest characters that are held up to be Godly men and women, and men after God’s own heart, such as Moses, Abraham, David, Peter and the apostle Paul, somewhere in their lives…they have disappointed God. Therefore, when you and I sin, we must remember that God is a loving and forgiving Savior that will accept our true repentance and make us as though we had never sinned. Oh what a savior! It is so important that we remember that He is the only God worshipped by men that is alive today, interceding night and day on our behalf. Trust Him. Worship Him, and no other!

Chapter 25 is not easy reading, but it contains so many truths regarding the dynasty of Abraham that you must read it slowly and remember some of the pivotal points made there in. After Sarah died Abraham married Keturah and they had six children. Their family tree is listed in the first four verses. Although the sons and grandsons of Abraham and his second wife, Keturah received many gifts from their father, all of his property and God given authority went to his son Isaac who was his principal heir.

Beginning in verse 13, you will find the story regarding the family of Ishmael, his son born to his maid Hagar. Theirs is a history of hostility toward their half brother, Isaac. People, listen carefully, because this hostility represents the beginning of the divisions we are seeing today in the Islamic lands where there is so much hostility…not only against the Christian world, but in the turmoil that exists among the Islamic nations. They separately hate and destroy each other—and when the opportune time is right they join together and contrive to destroy the Jews and Christians.

Isaac inherited everything from his father Abraham, including God’s promise to make his descendents into a great nation. As a boy, Isaac did not resist even when his father was about to offer him as a human sacrifice on the sacred alter that was already ablaze with fire they had built. As a man he did not resist and accepted the wife that his father using his servants chose for him. Isaac may have made mistakes later in life, but in these two examples he showed us that we are to let God guide our life and place his will ahead of our own desires or fears. Isaac’s faith must have even exceeded the faith of his father Abraham. His faith abounded during those few last minutes while Abraham tied his hands and laid him on the alter that was already ablaze.

Isaac married Rebekah who was from the land that Abraham had left behind…she was from a family that had worshipped the Holy God. Just as Sarah, she too could not bear children, and Isaac went to God in prayer regarding this problem. God answered his prayer and she bore twins, two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was marked as the one with hair on his body as animals have. He became the hunter, the outdoorsman, that brought home the wild game which his father loved to eat—and he became his father’s favorite son. Jacob became the home lover, stayed with and supported his mother and became her favorite son. Esau was born first, probably with some difficulty because Jacob was holding him back by holding on to his heal. This was not written about because it was a weird circumstance, but because it was a symbol or warning that there would be a tug-of-war going on between them in real life. Esau’s offspring became the majority of the Moslem nations that are still tugging at the heals of Christian people that they call infidels.

It was the custom for the elder son to be the one to inherit first place in the family. In this case that inheritance was of monumental concern because it would include all the animals, power, and wealth that Abraham owned—plus the fact that he would become the father of the millions of people yet not born, according to the promise God had made. Esau was the eldest of the two-twin sons and in line to inherit his father’s position in life.

I suppose we can correctly assume that Jacob was the first crooked roofer, the first shyster that ever offered to pave a drive way at an inflated cost, or the first car salesman who forgot to tell the customer that the auto was from the Katrina flood lands of Louisiana. Just give Jacob one mark of excellence; he was a good cook. Before I go further allow me to warn all parents!!
The most important fact in this lesson regarding parenthood is found in verse number 28. It reads, “Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Any time parents show partiality toward their children—there will be problems. Even when parents try hard not to show any partiality—if their siblings sense that partiality is present there is a problem.

Jacob was a home boy, and had learned to cook very well, was at home this day rested and at ease because his chore was not as physically exhausting as that of a hunter. His brother Esau had been in the woods and fields walking, stalking animals all day and he returned home exhausted. I have been there, and done that! And I can tell you that when you have been duck, or squirrel hunting from daylight until dark without food, you are exhausted and hungry. On just such an occasion, Esau returned home tired and starving and when he saw a pot of hot “red” stew—he just couldn’t wait because he was so hungry; he said, “I am famished!” And he requested a bowl of the red stew.

Jacob, the shyster, took advantage of his hungry brother and talked Esau into selling Jacob his birthright for a pot of hot stew. It is really hard to know which one was most at fault. Was it Jacob because he took advantage of his brother’s hunger? Or, was it the fault of Esau for failing to realize that the price he would pay over the ages was far too much just to quince his hunger when he could have prepared his own food within an hour or so and saved his birthright? One had greed. One had too little judgment. If you have trouble deciding the answer to this question, go to chapter 27 and study the entire chapter.

The main idea in this chapter is that the influence of parents on young children lasts for as long as they live. In scheming families, someone always gets hurt for life, and only God is able to the family mistakes into anything that works out for their own good. Isaac was blind and must have been very ill because he leaves the impression that he was at death’s door, even though we know that he lived another forty years. Isaac was forty years older than his twin sons; he was 137 years old and Jacob and Esau were seventy-seven, when he called Esau in and asked him to go into the forest and kill a wild animal and prepare it for him to eat. For this he promised to bless his son.

This family had problems communicating because during this entire episode at no time does the family get together and discuss the matter of the blessing that would have come to both of the boys. Rebecca overheard the conversation that Isaac had with Esau and told Jacob what was said. She told Esau to go quickly and kill two goats which she would prepare for Isaac, and that he was to take the food to his father, pretending that he was Esau, so that Jacob would receive his father’s blessing. In order to deceive Isaac, Jacob covered his face and hands with the skins from the goats and wore some of Esau’s hunting clothes—so he would feel and smell like his brother. The scheme worked—Isaac ate the food prepared by his wife, and gave the blessing to Jacob. When Esau returned from the open fields with the game he went to kill, his father told him that he had already eaten and blessed Jacob, thinking it was Esau.

Esau was very angry, and recalled that this was the second time Jacob had cheated him, first out of his birthright and now out of the blessing of his father. He let it be known that he intended to kill Jacob, and Rebecca sent him away—separating the men to prevent loosing both the same day. We live in a horrible time when shysters take advantage of the elderly and cheat them out of their savings. Could it be that at least some of them had parents that taught them the art of cheating and stealing?