Day 8 · Part 2: Abraham’s Family
Jacob and Esau
In the Story
In context
Isaac and Rebekah wait twenty years for children: Isaac is 40 when they marry and 60 when the twins are born (Genesis 25:20, 26). Before the birth the Lord tells Rebekah, “The elder will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Esau is also called Edom, which the WEB’s note says means “red”; his descendants are the Edomites (Genesis 25:30; 36:9).
The birthright was the oldest son’s right, including a double share of what his father left (Deuteronomy 21:17), and Esau sold his for bread and lentil stew (Genesis 25:33–34). The father’s blessing was a separate thing. When Isaac learned he had blessed the wrong son, he said, “Yes, he will be blessed” (Genesis 27:33).
In between, Isaac lives through a famine in Gerar and digs wells, and the WEB’s notes give their names’ meanings: Esek, “contention”; Sitnah, “hostility”; and Rehoboth, “broad places,” where he says, “Yahweh has made room for us” (Genesis 26:20–22). Genesis 27 is a hard family story: Jacob, at his mother’s urging, deceives his blind father, and Esau plans to kill him. Rebekah sends Jacob away to her brother Laban in Haran (Genesis 27:41–43).
Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
Isaiah 41:10 · At Beersheba God tells Isaac, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you”; Isaiah gives much the same words to Israel, “the offspring of Abraham” (Isaiah 41:8).
For families
Esau and Jacob were twins but very different: Esau a skillful hunter, Jacob a quiet man who stayed among the tents. Isaac loved Esau, “because he ate his venison,” and “Rebekah loved Jacob” (Genesis 25:27–28). When Jacob took the blessing, Esau cried to his father, “Bless me, even me also, my father” (Genesis 27:34).
Esau and Jacob were twins but not alike at all. How are the brothers and sisters in your family different from each other?
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
Genesis 25:19–34
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Genesis 26
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Genesis 27
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Genesis 28:1–9
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A hymn for today
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing · words by Robert Robinson
- Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;Streams of mercy, never ceasing,Call for songs of loudest praise.Teach me some melodious sonnet,Sung by flaming tongues above;Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,Mount of Thy redeeming love.
- Here I raise mine Ebenezer;Hither by Thy help I'm come;And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,Safely to arrive at home.Jesus sought me when a stranger,Wandering from the fold of God;He, to rescue me from danger,Interposed His precious blood.
- O to grace how great a debtorDaily I'm constrained to be!Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,Bind my wandering heart to Thee.Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,Prone to leave the God I love;Here's my heart, O take and seal it,Seal it for Thy courts above.