Genesis 24:1-28:2

24:24-49 Rebekah was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor and Milcah.

The servant worshiped the Lord because He had led him directly to Abraham's relatives. Rebekah ran home and told her family what happened at the well. Her brother Laban came out and invited the servant to the house. They unloaded the camels and food was brought before the men but the servant would not eat until he told them why he was there. He told the family the whole story of his oath, his prayer, the sign he'd asked for, the way Rebekah responded to his request for a drink, and his gratitude to the Lord for making his journey a success. Now he simply needed to know if Rebekah would return with him.

v. 50-61 Laban (her brother) and Bethuel (her father) consented because they saw that this was from the Lord. The servant worshiped and gave costly gifts to Rebekah and her family. He ate and drank and spent the night. The next morning he was ready to leave but the family wanted Rebekah to stay 10 days. The man insisted that they leave immediately. Rebekah agreed to go with him. She and her female attendants mounted their camels and left with the family's blessing.

v. 62-67 Isaac was living in the Negev. He went out in the evening to pray, saw them in the distance and went out to meet them. The servant told him everything. Isaac brought Rebekah into Sarah's tent and married her. He loved her and was comforted after his mother's death.

25:1-11 Abraham took another wife named Ketura and had six sons. While he was still living he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away to live in the east so they would not pose a threat to Isaac. Abraham lived 175 years and was buried with Sarah by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. God greatly blessed Isaac.

v. 12-18 Ishmael had 12 sons who became tribal rulers according to the word given to his mother Hagar when she ran away from Sarah. Ishmael died at the age of 137 and his descendants lived in hostility with all their brothers.

v. 19-28 Isaac was 40 when he married Rebekah. She was barren so he prayed for her. She became pregnant with twins. When they "jostled" each other in the womb she inquired of the Lord and was told that there were two nations in her womb that would be separated. The older will serve the younger. Rebekah gave birth to Esau (red) and Jacob (the deceiver) when Isaac was 60 years old. Esau became a hunter and Jacob stayed among the tents. The parents had favorites: Isaac loved Esau but Rebekah loved Jacob.

v. 29-34 Jacob was cooking lentil stew one day when Esau came in from hunting. He hadn't caught anything and was so hungry that he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew. A birthright includes all the rights of a firstborn son. From now on it would be as though Jacob was the firstborn. Jacob was thinking about the future value of the birthright but Esau was thinking primarily about his present hunger.

26:1-6 There was a famine in the land and Isaac went to Abimelech in Gerar because the Lord told him not to go to Egypt. The Lord promised to be with him in the land that had been promised to him. He repeated His promise that Isaac's descendants would be numerous and would possess this land because Abraham had obeyed all the Lord told him to do. So Isaac stayed in Gerar.

v. 7-18 Rebekah was a beautiful woman, so like his father, Isaac lied and said she was his sister. He was afraid the men of the land would kill him. One day Abimelech saw him caressing her and demanded to know why he had lied. Abimelech ordered all his people to leave them alone. Isaac planted crops and became so rich that the Philistines envied him. They closed up his wells and Abimelech told him to leave.

v. 19-35 Isaac moved around and dug wells until he found a place where no one disputed his water rights. The Lord appeared to him promising to bless him for the sake of Abraham. Isaac built an altar there. Abimelech and his commander came and made a treaty with Isaac. The men agreed they would not harm each other. That day Isaac's men found water and named the place Beersheba, meaning "well of the oath." When his son Esau was 40 he married two Hittite women named Judith and Basemath. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah.

 27:1-29 When Isaac was very old and blind, he told Esau to hunt some game and cook a tasty meal for him. Then he would give him his blessing. Rebekah heard what he said and as soon as Esau left she told Jacob how he could trick his father and receive Esau's blessing. Jacob went along with it. He killed two goats which Rebekah cooked up the way Isaac liked. She covered Jacob's hands and neck with goatskins so he would feel hairy like his brother. She put Esau's clothes on him and sent him to Isaac with the food. Jacob deceived his father and received a blessing that made him lord over all his relatives and sustained him with plenty of food and wine.

v. 30-40 Soon after Jacob left the tent Esau returned from hunting and brought food to his father. Isaac "trembled violently" when he realized he had blessed the younger son. Esau wept bitterly and begged his father for a blessing. But Isaac told Esau he would live away from the earth's riches, live by the sword and serve his brother-- which is what Rebekah was told when she was pregnant. But Isaac also said that Esau would one day throw Jacob's yoke off his neck.

v. 41-28:2 Esau was so angry with Jacob that he decided to kill him as soon as his father died. Rebekah heard about this and warned Jacob. She told him to go to her brother Laban's household until Esau calmed down. Then she would send for him. Rebekah did not tell Isaac all that was going on. Instead she complained to him about Esau's Hittite wives saying that if Jacob takes such a woman to be his wife then her "life will not be worth living." So Isaac sent him back to Rebekah's hometown to find a wife among Laban's daughters.

Much more next time.

--Sandy Blank