January 11, 2022: Day 8 – Genesis 25-28 and John 14-16
January 11, 2022You’ll notice as we go through Genesis that it is a following of descendants of Abraham. We went from looking at Abraham and his journey under God’s covenant with him, to Isaac and his journey in finding his wife and living his life under God’s covenant. And now we find ourselves with Jacob and Esau and all the beautiful, and tragic, stories that accompany those characters. As we make our way through Genesis it is a retelling of God’s people as they live out their lives under God’s command and under God’s covenant.
The story of Esau of Jacob begins once again the story of the eldest serving the youngest. You’ll see that theme carried our in pretty much all of the families of God in the Old Testament. Already we have seen Isaac is over Ishmael. In these chapters we see Jacob over Esau, even if it was by hook or by crook. Isn’t Rebekah something else as she consistently deceives her husband so that her “favorite” son would get what was not supposed to be his? That is also something else that we see in Scripture where the protagonists don’t always follow the rules and yet God’s purposes are somehow carried out. This is certainly not something to emulate.
We then find ourselves in the New Testament in John in what I see as probably the most important Scripture in the entire canon. Look at John 14:6, there is no other more important verse in the Bible than this one. Jesus says that he is the way and the life and that no one gets to the Father except through Jesus. This is the most exclusive claim in all of Scripture. I have always said that our faith is the most inclusive, it embraces all men and women from all walks of life. Anyone can be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Anyone and everyone. This is the inclusivity of the Gospel.
But the exclusivity of the Gospel is that it is only through Jesus that we find salvation. We do not all worship the same God, Jesus is the unique, singular, distinct God that must be worshipped. No other gods will do. This is an exclusive claim, but one that is open to all, which makes it inclusive. I hope you are following me.
Isaac’s lie about Rebekah, saying she is his sister and not his wife is a repeat of Abram’s lie: that Sarai was his sister and not his wife. Their situation and reasons were the same:
• they were in a new, “foreign”, land
• their wives were so beautiful the men living there would want them and would kill Abram and Isaac if they knew they were their wives
Isaac and Abram both lied in order to save their own skin.
Jacob’s lie, that he is Esau, is self serving just as are those of Abram and Isaac.
Gen 28:20-21 Jacob sets conditions which determine whether he will accept the Lord as his God. This is something new. Previously, God made the covenants.
I am so distracted by the unethical dealing of Abrama and Jacob it disturbs my thoughts , why did God allow this as i always thought God hated liars.
It is disturbing. It is always disturbing why God chooses people who are sinners to do his work. Unfortunately that is all that God has to work with, a bunch of sinners, and liars, and greedy folks, and gluttons, and well, just sinners in general. That is who we are, but you are absolutely right, it is discouraging to see people that we are supposed to emulate be so full of what God obviously doesn’t want us to do.
Not a reply, this is an addition about Jacob. Please bear with me. There are two messages in Gen 28:20-21, a LITERAL message and a METAMESSAGE. Jacob is LITERALLY saying what he will do if God “will be with me…give me food….(etc.)”. He is saying, “God if you do ‘such and such’, I will do ‘such and such’.” A statement to an OTHER includes a message about the nature of the relationship the sender recognizes between himself and the OTHER. This is the METAMESSAGE. The metamessage in a statement is usually more important than the literal message and it is important that it be responded to. So, what is Jacob saying about his relationship to God? He is setting the terms. That is usually done by the person who is in control and who has power or authority over the other. Who does Jacob think he is? What a character! Given Rebekah’s favoritism of Jacob, I suspect he was raised by her to feel in charge and entitled to have what he wants. In his vow he is only a little shy of being demanding.