Genesis 25:19-34

IX. THE GENERATIONS OF ISAAC

CHAPTER 25:19-34 Esau and Jacob

1. Rebekah barren and the answered prayer (Genesis 25:19)

2. The birth of Esau and Jacob (Genesis 25:23)

3. The growth of the boys (Genesis 25:27)

4. Esau sells his birthright (Genesis 25:29)

It was 25 years after Abraham entered Canaan before Isaac was born. It was 20 years after Isaac's marriage before the birth of Esau and Jacob. The barren condition of Rebekah led Isaac to exercise faith and to cast himself upon the Lord for help. And He answered him. God delights to take up what is weak and barren and manifest His power in answer to prayer. Before the children were born the Lord had declared, “the elder shall serve the younger.” The struggle in Rebekah's womb reminds us of the struggle between the two seeds (Ishmael and Isaac) in Abraham's household. God's sovereignty is here solemnly made known. He knew them before they were born and He made His choice according to His own sovereign will and purpose. “And not only this; but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac (for the children being not yet born, neither having done good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him that calleth), it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated” (Romans 9:11). That this does not refer to any unconditional and eternal condemnation is clear. It must be noticed that the statement “Esau have I hated” does not appear in Genesis, but in the last book of the Old Testament. Then the character and defiance of Edom had become fully established. In Genesis the Lord speaks only of having chosen Jacob and what creature of the dust can challenge His right to do so.

Then Esau sold his birthright. It fully brought out the defiance of his wicked heart (Hebrews 12:16). The blessings of the birthright he sold consisted in three things: 1. The father's blessing and the place of head of the family; 2. The honor of being in the direct line of the promised One--Shem-Abraham-Isaac; 3. The exercise of the domestic priesthood. All this Esau despised for a carnal gratification. How numerous are his followers in our days who might have greater blessings, but they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.