The Fruit of Favoritism...

Last week we looked at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Genesis and discovered that God’s promises overcome our attempts at favoritism or deception. Just as God overcame the favoritism and deception of Isaac and Rebekah to fulfill His promises and plan, God will and does overcome our attempts at favoritism and deception to accomplish His promises and plans.

We ended last week with Esau forming a plan that was fueled by a grudge against his brother Jacob that would enable him to regain the birthright and the blessing that had been deceitfully taken away from him by Jacob. However, after becoming aware of Esau’s plan, Rebekah came up with a plan of her own that involved sending Jacob on an out of town trip to stay with her brother Laban.

In the rest of Genesis chapter 27, we see Rebekah deceivingly convince her husband Isaac to go along with her plan to send Jacob on his out of town trip by pointing to Esau’s two marriages to women from the land of Canaan. In Genesis 26:35, we discover that Esau’s Canaanite wives brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Now the word grief here literally means bitterness of spirit. These women were far from God and reinforced Esau’s rebellion from God and from his family.

And as Isaac and Rebekah looked at the bitterness and the division that these Canaanite women that Esau married brought to their family, they did not want the same thing to happen to their other son Jacob.  So as we jump back into the book of Genesis, we see Isaac put Rebekah’s plan into action, beginning in Genesis 28:1. Let’s look at it together:

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. "Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother's brother. "May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. "May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham." Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

After witnessing the bitterness and division that Esau’s marriages brought to the family, and having been deceivingly convinced of the motives behind Rebekah’s plan, Isaac calls Jacob into his presence in order to put the plan in action. Isaac commanded Jacob not to marry a woman from the land of Canaan. Instead Jacob was to travel to the land of his mother Rebekah’s relatives, which was 400 miles away, and find his uncle Laban. Upon finding his uncle, Jacob was to then find a wife from one of Laban’s daughters.

In addition, Isaac prayed that God would bless Jacob with prosperity and with a family tree that would result in a multitude of peoples and nations. Isaac prayed that Jacob would experience the blessing of Abraham. When Isaac refers to the blessing of Abraham, he is asking that Jacob and his descendants would experience God’s promises that were made to Abraham, including the promise of possessing and living in the land that God had promised to Abraham.

Moses tells us that Jacob responded to his father’s command by leaving the land of Canaan to travel to a foreign land to find his uncle Laban. Rebekah’s deceptive plan worked. Jacob was able to flee in fear from his jealous and angry brother Esau, whom he had deceived, while still receiving the promises of the blessing and birthright from his father Isaac, whom he had also deceived. Moses then records for us how Esau responded to what had transpired in verse 6:

 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan," and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth.

When Esau heard that Jacob followed his father’s instructions to not marry a woman from the land of Canaan and to instead travel to find a wife from his mother’s relatives, Esau recognized that the lifestyle and morality of the Canaanites was displeasing to Isaac. Moses tells us that Esau responded to this reality by approaching Ishmael’s family to ask for permission to marry one of their relatives. As we discovered in the promise series, Ishmael was Isaac’s brother, who was a result of Abraham and Sarah’s impatient plans apart from God’s promises. At his point in God’s story, however, Ishmael had already died.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why would Esau ask Ishmael’s family to give one of their relatives to him in marriage? I mean, doesn’t he already have two wives?” The reason that Esau wanted to marry a relative of Ishmael is due to the fact that Esau hoped that the marriage would please his father. Esau, far too late in the game, recognized that he had displeased his father, who had always viewed him as his favorite son. And now after losing out on the birthright and his father’s blessing, Esau was trying to please his father by doing what he believed his father had originally wanted him to do.

Notice, however, that Rebekah is not mentioned here. You see, Esau did not care what his mom thought, because Jacob was mom’s favorite; Esau was only concerned about what his father thought and pleasing his father. And here we see the seeds of Isaac and Rebekah’s dysfunctional favoritism and deception in their relationships with their sons bear fruit in the relationship between Jacob and Esau.

Esau’s jealousy of Jacob and favored status with his father drove him to attempt to please his father by marrying someone he thought his father would approve of. However, Esau had already demonstrated, by his disregard of his birthright and blessings, that he was rebellious against God and God’s direction. And Jacob, who had favored status with his mother Rebekah, was now fleeing for his life from the land that God had promised him to a land and to relatives that he had never met.

Tomorrow, we will see what happens next as Jacob flees for his life in fear into the unknown…

God’s promises overcome our attempts at favoritism or deception....

This week, we have been looking at a story that is recorded in the book of Genesis. Wednesday, we looked on as a mother and a son came up with a deceptive plan to counteract a plan of deception by a father and a son. Today, we see mother and son put the plan into action in verse 14:

 So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob. Then he came to his father and said, "My father." And he said, "Here I am. Who are you, my son?" Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me." Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?" And he said, "Because the LORD your God caused it to happen to me." Then Isaac said to Jacob, "Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not." So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, "The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau." He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him. And he said, "Are you really my son Esau?" And he said, "I am." So he said, "Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son's game, that I may bless you." And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, "Please come close and kiss me, my son."

So Jacob basically lies to his father by claiming to be his older brother Esau and that he had hunted down the game and made the meal that they were about to share. And if that is not bad enough, when questioned about how he was able to be back so quickly from the hunt with the prepared meal, Jacob lies again by saying that God caused it to happen. Jacob uses God as a means to cover up his deception.

However, while Isaac has issues with his vision, he does not have issues with his hearing. Isaac recognizes that the voice is that of Jacob, and questions his true identity. Isaac, confused and conflicted between his lack of sight and what he was hearing and feeling, attempts to use the only other sense to determine who the person who was in front of him really was. Isaac calls his son to come close to him, in order to smell him.

Now imagine yourself as Jacob. Place yourself in his shoes. Would you be nervous? Would you be worried that you would be exposed as you drew close to your father? We see what happens next in verse 27:

 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, "See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed; Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you."

The scent of Esau’s clothes on Jacob’s body provided the deception necessary to convince Isaac that he was speaking to Esau, instead of Jacob. And as the deceptive plan came to completion, Isaac responded by pronouncing a blessing on Jacob. The blessing that Isaac pronounced upon Jacob was comprehensive in both nature and scope.

Isaac prayed that God would bless Jacob with prosperity and with a position of preeminence and prominence over his relatives and over nations, along with protection against those who would insult or oppose him. Instead of bypassing God’s prediction and promises, Isaac had unknowingly fulfilled the prediction and promises that God had proclaimed to Rebekah concerning Jacob and Esau. We see Isaac himself become aware of this reality in the verses that follow, beginning in verse 30:

 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, "Let my father arise and eat of his son's game, that you may bless me." Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" And he said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau." Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, "Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed."

When Moses tells us that Isaac trembled violently, this phrase means that Isaac trembled from panic. You see, Isaac now recognized that he had been deceived. Isaac recognized that he and Esau’s plans had been overcome by an even more deceitful plan. And as a result, even though Jacob had deceived Isaac into giving his blessing to him, Isaac proclaimed that his blessing on Jacob was irrevocable. Isaac had one blessing to give and that blessing had been given.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why was the blessing irrevocable? Why couldn’t Isaac change his mind?” We discover the answer to this question, and see how Esau, who was his father’s favorite, responded to his father’s proclamation, in verse 34:

 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, even me also, O my father!" And he said, "Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing." Then he said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing." And he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"

Imagine yourself as Esau. Place yourself in his shoes. When Moses says that Esau cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, he is revealing that Esau was screaming out to his father in desperate despair. You see Esau recognized that his brother had passed him up a second time by deceit. And now Esau was left with no birthright or blessing. Esau was left with nothing. And Esau, who had always been daddy’s favorite, cried out to his father "Bless me, even me also, O my father! Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" We see his father’s response in verse 37:

But Isaac replied to Esau, "Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?" Esau said to his father, "Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father." So Esau lifted his voice and wept.

You see, Isaac had deceitfully planned to give his favorite son Esau a blessing that included everything and leave nothing for Jacob. But now, having been deceived himself, Isaac had nothing left for Esau after he had given everything to Jacob. Isaac had actually prayed for God to bless Jacob with the blessing that God had predicted and promised to Rebekah when she was pregnant with the twins.  And Esau, recognizing that his father had nothing left for him, is left to weep with sobs of despair.

You see, a parents blessing is powerful, isn’t it? Parents, our words and our attitudes toward our children weigh a thousand pounds. Parents our words and our attitudes profoundly shape our children. Parents, our children long for our blessing, affirmation, and attention, just as deep down we long for our parents blessing, affirmation, and approval. And parents, when we play favorites when it comes to our children, that favoritism will eats away at our ability to provide a blessing to all of our children. We see this reality revealed for us in verse 39:

 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, "Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. ⁴⁰ "By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck."

Because Isaac had nothing left for Esau after he had given everything to Jacob, all Isaac could offer Esau was a life devoid of blessing. I mean how can you give something that you had already given away to someone else? Isaac proclaims to Esau that he and his descendants would live as wanderers. In addition Esau and his descendants would be a militant people who would oppose Jacob and his descendant throughout history. Isaac also proclaims to Esau that there would be a day in the future when his descendants would gain independence from Jacob and his descendants.

You see, that’s what happens when there is favoritism. When there is favoritism, the favorite tends to get everything, while everyone else tends to get nothing. Favoritism results in a disproportionate amount of provision, protection, and prosperity for the favorite. And because time and treasure are finite, the result is a lack of provision, protection, and prosperity for everyone else. And where there is favoritism, the result is division and dissension. The division and dissension that destroys families. We see the wake of division and dissension that favoritism leaves in this family as the story concludes:

 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob." Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, "Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. "Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! "Stay with him a few days, until your brother's fury subsides, until your brother's anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?"

As a result of the favoritism and deception of this dysfunctional family, Moses tells us that Esau bore a grudge towards Jacob. And from the animosity that Esau harbored toward Jacob, a plan was formed that would enable Esau to regain the birthright and the blessing that had been deceitfully taken away from him by killing Jacob. Fortunately for Jacob, Rebekah became aware of the plan and responded by sending Jacob on an out of town trip to stay with her brother Laban.

And it would be this out of town trip that would set the stage for the next chapter in God’s story. starting next week, we will spend our time leading up to Christmas looking at how this trip would impact the next chapter of God’s story and human history. In the meantime, it is in this strange story of a very dysfunctional family that we see God reveal for us a timeless truth about God and God’s promises. And that timeless truth is this: God’s promises overcome our attempts at favoritism or deception. Just as it was for Isaac and Rebekah; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; God’s promises overcome our attempts at favoritism or deception. Just as God overcame the favoritism and deception of Isaac and Rebekah to fulfill His promises and plan, God will and does overcome our attempts at favoritism and deception to accomplish His promises and plans.

So here are some questions to consider: Are you attempting to bypass God’s promises and plans by deceptively coming up with your own plan? Are you trying to deceive God or others in a way that ignores God and His promises or plans? Parents, are you playing favorites? Are you playing favorites with your children instead of embracing and celebrating the differences of your children? Are you playing favorites with your children that divide your family instead of finding common ground and cultivating relationships that unite your family?

The Favoritism that Leads to Deception...

This week, we are looking at the story of an incredible dysfunctional family from the book of Genesis. Yesterday, we looked on as Rebekah and Isaac played favorites when it came to their two children. Instead of finding common ground and cultivating relationships that united them as a family; instead of embracing and celebrating the differences of their two children, Rebekah and Isaac focused on the differences of their children in a way that divided the family.

Today, we will see how this favoritism and subsequent division that Rebekah and Isaac fostered in their children that set the stage for what would happen throughout their life, beginning in verse 29:

 When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished; and Esau said to Jacob, "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." Therefore his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright." Esau said, "Behold, I am about to die; so of what use then is the birthright to me?" And Jacob said, "First swear to me"; so he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; and he ate and drank, and rose and went on his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Moses tells us that one day, Esau returned from a failed hunting trip weary and hungry. And in his exhausted hunger, Esau asks Jacob to "Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished." What is so interesting here is that the word swallow here literally means to eat greedily. So Esau basically asked Jacob “hey give me all of that stew that you have cooked, because I am starving”.

However, while Esau emotionally and greedily asked for a meal, Jacob responded in a way that was cold and calculating. “First, sell me your birthright”. This was not a request; this was a demand. Now to understand the significance of Jacob’s demand here, we first need to understand what the word birthright refers to. In the Bible, the word birthright refers to the rights and rank that one had as a result of being the firstborn in a family. In Jewish culture, the father was obligated to acknowledge the firstborn as the principle heir and to grant to him as an inheritance twice as much as he gave to any other son.

So Jacob is basically demanding that Esau give up the rights and rank, along with the large inheritance that came with being the firstborn. Jacob saw an opportunity and took advantage of that opportunity by making Esau take an oath to surrender the rights of the firstborn for a bowl of stew.

Now a natural question that arises here is “why would Esau give up the rights and rank that comes with being the firstborn?” Moses provides the answer for us by explaining that Esau despised his birthright. Now this word despises literally means to think lightly of. You see, Esau did not think that being the firstborn was important. And Esau was not dying of starvation and exhaustion. Esau was simply tired after a long day of hunting and needed refreshment and rest.

And because Esau despised, or thought lightly of the rank and rights that had been given to him as the firstborn; and because Esau was emotionally self-centered, Esau was easily manipulated by Jacob into handing over his birthright and the larger inheritance that the birthright represented. Esau allowed Jacob to catch up and pass him up by selling his birthright for a bowl of stew.

God’s prediction and promises were coming to fruition. Esau and Jacob were still at war with one another. And as a result of Jacob’s selfish deception and Esau selfishly despising and taking lightly the rank and rights that he had been given as the firstborn, Jacob was now in a position to be stronger and rule over Esau. Nothing like a little sibling rivalry, huh?

Now, if you think that is bad, a chapter later in God’s story, we see how the favoritism and division that Isaac and Rebekah fostered with their two children impacted this family and how they responded to God’s promises. So let’s look at what happens next, beginning in Genesis 27:1:

Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, "My son." And he said to him, "Here I am." Isaac said, "Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. "Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die."

In these verses, as Isaac nears the end of his life, we see the dysfunction of this family revealed for all to see. Moses reveals for us that as Isaac sensed that the end of his life was near, he called his favorite son Esau into his presence. Isaac then asked Esau to hunt him up his favorite meal, so that they could have a final meal together. And as part of that final meal, Isaac would pronounce a blessing upon Esau. As we have seen throughout this series, this word blessing means to declare a person to be endowed with power for success, prosperity, and fertility.

To understand the significance of what Isaac is doing, we first need to understand two things. First, just as it is in our culture today, normally, when a person is nearing death, the family of the person who is dying gathers together to say their final goodbyes. Notice, however, that Isaac was not calling for the entire family to gather to his side. Instead, he was only calling for his favorite son Esau.          

Second, remember that God’s prediction and promise to Rebekah was that the older son would serve the younger. God’s prediction and promise was that Jacob would be stronger than Esau. Now, here is a question to consider: do you really think that Isaac was unaware of God’s prediction and promise? Do you think that after the Lord proclaimed His prediction and promises to Rebekah after twenty years of infertility, that she kept that information to herself, especially after Isaac had been praying for her to become pregnant? You see Isaac knew about God’s prediction and promises.

But Esau, not Jacob, was Isaac’s favorite, so Isaac here is ignoring and attempting to bypass God’s promises and prediction to Rebekah about Jacob and Esau by blessing Esau. And Esau, who, as a result of his selfishness, had already been deceived into giving up his birthright for a bowl of stew, was attempting to break the oath that he previously made to Jacob regarding the birthright by receiving the blessing of Isaac. So Isaac and Esau had a plan that was driven by favoritism and fueled by deception, to bypass God’s promises. However, someone else was listening to this conversation, as we see in verse 5:

 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, Rebekah said to her son Jacob, "Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 'Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.'  "Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. "Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. "Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death."

Rebekah, upon overhearing Isaac and Esau’s plan of deception, comes up with her own deceptive plan. Rebekah’s plan is to deceive Isaac by dressing up Jacob in Esau’s clothing so as to steal that blessing the he was going to give Esau. You see, because Isaac was nearly blind, and because Isaac’s health had so deteriorated, Rebekah believed that he could be easily deceived. Instead of placing her confident trust in God’s prediction and promises, Rebekah decided to come up with her own plan to achieve God’s promises. And that plan involved deception. While Rebekah was confident about her plan, Jacob had some concerns, which we see in verse 11:

 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, "Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. "Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing." But his mother said to him, "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."

Upon hearing his mother’s plan, Jacob expressed his concern that the plan would not work, which would result in him being exposed and cursed as a deceiver who mocked and made fun of his old and dying father. Notice, however, that his concerns are not about whether or not the plan was right in God’s sight. Instead Jacob was concerned about the possible consequences that would come if he got caught. However, after Rebekah agreed that she would take responsibility and the consequences if the plan went awry, Jacob agrees to the plan.

Friday, we will see mother and son put this plan into action…

Sowing the Seeds of Favoritism...

Throughout the summer we have been looking in a letter in our Bible called the book of Genesis at how a man named Abraham responded to God and God’s promises. This week, as we jump back into the book of Genesis, we are going to discover another timeless truth regarding God and God’s promises. So let’s discover this truth together, in Genesis 25:19:

Now these are the records of the generations of Isaac, Abraham's son: Abraham became the father of Isaac; and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger."

Moses brings us into this section of the book of Genesis by providing for us the context and characters of the story. After Abraham’s death, we see the focus of God’s story shift to Abraham’s son Isaac and his wife Rebekah, who we met two weeks ago. Moses tells us that while Isaac and Rebekah attempted to have children, there was a problem. And that problem was that Rebekah was barren. Rebekah was unable to get pregnant. And after twenty years of infertility, Isaac approaches the Lord in prayer, pleading that his wife would be able to have children. Moses tells us that God answered Isaac’s request by enabling Rebekah to become pregnant with twins.

However, there was a problem with the pregnancy, which we see in verse 22: “But the children struggled together within her”. Now this phrase literally means that the children were abusing and crushing one another. Rebekah’s womb had become an octagon where some MMA ground and pound was taking place. The twins in Rebekah’s womb were at war with one another from conception. And as a result, Moses tells us that Rebekah came to the Lord with a question: "If it is so, why then am I this way?"

Now this question, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “if this pregnancy is like this, then why am I here”? You see, Rebekah was in so much despair over the painful pregnancy that she was experiencing as a result of the battle that was occurring within her that she wanted to die. So she asked God “why? Why is this happening to me”? We see the Lord answer Rebekah’s question in verse 23:

The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger."

Here we see the Lord proclaim to Rebekah that the descendants of her two children would come to represent two nations. And just like the children, their descendants who would form these two nations would be in battle with one another. And just like her two children, one child would be stronger than the other and the older child would end up serving the younger child. After God proclaimed His prediction and promise to Rebekah, Moses gives us a glimpse into the birth and early life of these two children in verse 24:

When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. Now Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Moses tells us that these two children fought all the way into their entry into the world. The firstborn twin, named Esau, escaped the womb with his twin brother holding on to his heel in hot pursuit to get a few more punches in before being separated. And as the joyful parents watched in amazement the birth of their twin sons, they decided to name the second son Jacob, which literally means one who takes by the heel or supplants. The name Jacob conveys the sense of having a desire to catch up and pass up someone, in this case his older brother Esau.

Moses then gives us a glimpse of the differences between Esau and Jacob. First, Esau and Jacob were different in terms of their disposition and occupations. Esau was a man’s man who was a hunter. Esau loved to kill stuff and drag it back to his tent.  Jacob, on the other hand, is described as being a peaceful man. This phrase conveys the sense that Jacob was an introverted, stay at home kind of guy. Jacob had a quiet and detached personality that was perfectly content in solitude.

Second, we see that Esau and Jacob were different when it came to their relationship with their parents. Moses tells us that Isaac loved Esau, because he had a taste for game. You see, Esau was dad’s favorite. Esau and Isaac went hunting together and enjoyed the chase and the kill. Esau and Isaac were two peas in a pod; they had a bro-mance going on. Jacob, on the other hand, was mom’s favorite.  Jacob was a momma’s boy, who loved the peace and quiet that came from a conversation over coffee at the kitchen table.

Instead of embracing and celebrating the differences of their two children, Rebekah and Isaac played favorites when it came to their two children. Instead of finding common ground and cultivating relationships that united them as a family, Rebekah and Isaac focused on the differences of their children in a way that divided the family.

Tomorrow, we will see how this favoritism and subsequent division that Rebekah and Isaac fostered in their children set that stage for what would happen throughout their life…

“Where Did Evil Come From?”

One of the common questions and objections to the idea of the existence of God is summarized by the question “Where Did Evil Come From?” While the Bible says that the original creation was very good, yet today the world is permeated with evil. So where did evil come from if God did not create it?

However, before we can answer the question “Where did evil come from?” we first need to answer the question “What is evil?”. Evil is not something that has an existence all its own; you cannot go down to the local Wal-Mart and buy some evil. Instead, evil is a corruption of that which already exists. Evil is the absence or privation of something good. For example, tooth decay can exist only as long as the tooth exists.

While some will attempt to point to the existence of evil to prove that there is no God, the exact opposite is true. The reality is that it is impossible to distinguish evil from good unless one has an infinite reference point that is absolutely good. The infinite reference point for distinguishing good from evil can only be found in God, for God alone can exhaust the definition of “absolute good”. If God does not exist there are no moral absolutes by which one has the right to judge someone or something as being evil. Thus evil actually proves the existence of God.

With that in mind, we can then answer the question “where did evil come from”? Evil came about at the moment that Adam and Eve used their God-given free will to choose to disobey God in Genesis 3:1:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

You see, for humans to be truly human requires the ability to choose and to freely love. By very definition, love is voluntary and must be freely expressed. Norman Geisler summarized this principle best when he said “forced love is rape and God is not a rapist”.

Freedom of choice, however, leaves the possibility of wrong choice. Evil is inherent in the risky gift of free choice. While God’s plan had the potential for evil when he gave humans the freedom of choice, the actual origin or evil came from man who directed his heart away from God and toward his own selfish desires. Thus, whereas God created the fact of freedom, man created the act of evil.

Ever since Adam and Eve made evil actual by their selfish rebellion, a sin nature has been passed on to all of humanity. And it is out of that sin nature that we continue to use our free choice to make evil actual. Even natural evil- earthquakes, Tsunamis, tornadoes etc. - is rooted in our wrong use of free choice, as we see in Romans 8:20-22:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

God responded to the evil that separates us from God by sending His Son Jesus to rescue us from the selfish and rebellious choices that separate us from God so that we can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for. 

So with that in mind, here is a question to consider: How does that fact that God created freedom and man created the act of evil impact your responsibility for the choices that you make?

Jesus and Treasure...

During our Sunday evenings together at the church where I serve, we have been looking at several demands that Jesus calls His followers to as they live a life that follows Him. This past Sunday, we looked at three specific passages that reveal a timeless truth about that Jesus demands. The first passage is found in Matthew 6:19-24:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; ²¹ for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. ²²  "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. ²³ "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! ²⁴  "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

In another account of Jesus life, we see Jesus say the following in Luke 16:10-12:

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. ¹¹ "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? ¹² "And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

Then, a few chapters later, Jesus makes a startling comment after having a conversation with a rich young man in Luke 18:24-25:

And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ "For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

In these verses, we see Jesus repeatedly command His followers to store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven. Now a natural question that arises here is “why would Jesus demand that His follower’s store up treasure in Heaven?

Jesus gives us three reasons in these verses as to why we are to store up treasure in Heaven. First, in Matthew 6:22-23, we discover that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we follow what we are focused on.

Then in Matthew 6:24, we see that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we cannot serve two masters. We will either serve money by attempting to use Jesus or we will serve Jesus with our money

Third, in Luke 18: 24-25, we discover that Jesus demands that we store up treasure in Heaven because we are tempted to worship money as our God instead of worshipping God with our money.

Now another question that arises here is “How are we supposed to do that? How should we store up treasure in Heaven?”

In Jesus life, He provides three specific instructions on how we are we to store up treasure in Heaven? In Mark 10:21, Jesus reveals for us the reality that we store up treasure in Heaven when we give generously. A second way that we store up treasure in Heaven is when we give sacrificially, which Jesus unpacks for us in Luke 12:32-34. Then, in Luke 16:10-12, Jesus reveals for us that the issue with money is faithfulness and that we store up treasure in Heaven when we are good stewards, or managers of what He gives us.

So are you following Jesus demands to store up treasure in Heaven by giving generously and sacrificially as we are faithful with all that God has given us?

Water pots, lunches, and stones...

In an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John we discover three specific situations where Jesus engaged a need. In John 2, we see Jesus confronted with a need that arose after a lack of preparation for a wedding reception:

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; and both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." Now there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him. When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom, and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

 In John 6, we see Jesus confronted with a need that arose after a long day of teaching and preaching:

After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A large crowd followed Him, because they saw the signs which He was performing on those who were sick. Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little." One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. When they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost." So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

 And in John 11, we see Jesus confronted with a need that arose after the death of a close friend:

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. "I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me." When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth." The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.

In each case we see Jesus invite individuals to meet a need that seemed beyond their ability to meet. And in each case Jesus asked them to do what they are able to do so that He could enter in the situation to do what only He could do. However, we often fail to respond to Jesus invitation to be a part of what He is doing in the world because we are expecting Jesus to ask us to do something extraordinary. However, just like these three situations, Jesus often asks us to do the ordinary so that He can enter in and do the extraordinary.

So, how are you responding to Jesus invitation to do what you are able to do to meet a need so that Jesus can enter in to do what only He can do?