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  1. Chapter 24
    1. Abraham asks his oldest servant to go back to the land in which he came and find a wife for Isaac.  He tells him not to take for Isaac a wife from the Canaanites (v. 3).
      v. 10 he goes to Nahor in Mesopotamia.
      b. The Servant finds Rebekah the granddaughter of Abrahams brother (v. 15).
      She becomes Isaac’s wife.
  1. Chapter 25
    1. Abraham takes another wife and has many children (v. 1-11).
    1. Generations of Isaac (v. 19-28).
      1. Two Nations are born.
      1. The older shall serve the younger.
        1. This is before either are born.
    1. Birthright (v. 29-34).
      1. Jacob is making a red stew, Hebrew word haadom means red. It reads in the Hebrew, He is making red red.  Esau becomes the Edomites, the meaning of Edom is red.
        1. He was born red in color and sells his birthright for red stew.
        1. It would be like us calling a red head Red as a nickname.
          1. What do the scriptures say we should be hungry for?
            1. How long was Jesus without food and water?
              1. What was the temptation of Satan with the stones?  How did Jesus respond?
              1. John 6 – I am the bread of life.
    1. Esau comes in from hunting and is starving, Jacob is cooking stew and we get the conversation that took place.
      1. The birthright was Esau’s by way of being born first but it was Jacob’s by way of promise (Gen 25:23).  Jacob is looking to gain the birthright and does so by deceitful ways which goes along with his name.  Esau was quick to sell his birthright to fill his belly.  It seems that Jacob had a desire for this birth right and Esau had little appreciation for it.
        1. Hebrews 12:15-17 – See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
          1. What was the sexual immorality, see Genesis 26:34-35.
          1. What do the scriptures teach we should be hungry for?
            1. How long was Jesus without food and water?
              1. What was the temptation of Satan with the stones?  How did Jesus respond?
              1. John 6 – I am the bread of life.

Job 23:12 – I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
    I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

Ps 119:103 – How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Isaiah 55:1-3 – “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money,
 come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live.

  • We see Esau was in error, he quickly would give his birth right to ease the pains of hunger, giving into the flesh.  The Bible is clear from these few passages that we are to feast on Christ and His words.  Recall He said Heaven and Earth shall pass away but My words never will (Mt 13:31).
  1. Chapter 27
    1. Read verses 1-13.
      1. We see in Rebekah where Jacob gets his ways.
      1. What are we teaching those who look to us.  What have we taught our children?
    1. Read verses 14-29.
      1. The importance of this chapter is manifest.  Just as in Abraham’s life the decision had to be made which of the two sons to bless, so here again is the same Divine Election process; but while Abraham obeyed, though with a heavy heart (Gen 21:11), Isaac even struggled against Gods will, and his assent was obtained by human craft working tortuously to effect that which God would have wrought in His own better way.[1]

See Romans 9:10-18.

If you do not like the words of Paul, see the words of Jesus.

John 6:37,39,40,44,65; 15:16

John 10:14-18

Matthew 22:1-14

Additional Verses that support election: Ephesian 1:4, 2:8-9; Acts 13:48; I Peter 1:1-2, 20; Romans 8: 29-30,33; l Titus 1:1; Colossians 3:12; 2 Thess 2:13; Deuteronomy 7:6.

Depravity of Man

Romans 3:11-12 – “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good,
    not even one.”

Rom 3:23 – All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

I Cor 2:14 – The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Ephesians 2:1-2 – And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesian 2:4-5 – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved

Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

John 3:3 – unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.

What is being taught is that man is Spiritually dead.  We have free will when it comes to choosing cars, food etc.…  Since the fall, the Bible is clear that man is Spiritually deceased and has no desire for God shown in the preceeding verses.  The Bible shows us that it is God that works faith in us giving us eyes to see, ears to hear and we do make a real decision that is ours.  But it is God who acts first.

“We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us.” R.C. Sproul 

“Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it. To me, it is one of the sweetest and most blessed truths in the whole of revelation, and those who are afraid of it are so because they do not understand it. If they could but know that the Lord had chosen them, it would make their hearts dance for joy.” – Charles Spurgeon

“Christians, you who are vessels of election – were by nature as wicked as others – but God had compassion on you and plucked you as brands out of the fire! He stopped you in your course of sinning – when you were marching to hell! He turned you back to Him by sincere repentance. Oh, here is the banner of love displayed over you!” – Thomas Watson

“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” – Charles Spurgeon

“Free-will doctrine-what does it? It magnifies man into God. It declares God’s purposes a nullity, since they cannot be carried out unless men are willing. It makes God’s will a waiting servant to the will of man, and the whole covenant of grace dependent on human action. Denying election on the ground of injustice, it holds God to be a debtor to sinners.” Charles Spurgeon

“It is sometimes said that the doctrine of predestination exposes God to the charge of injustice. But this is hardly correct. We could speak of injustice only if man had a claim on God, and God owed man eternal salvation. But the situation is entirely different if all men have forfeited the blessings of God, as they have. No one has the right to call God to account for electing some and rejecting others. He would have been perfectly just, if He had not saved any, Matt. 20:14, 15; Rom. 9:14, 15.” Louis Berkhof

“[The elect] are gathered into Christ’s flock by a call not immediately at birth, and not all at the same time, but according as it pleases God to dispense His grace to them. But before they are gathered unto that supreme Shepherd, they wander scattered in the wilderness common to all; and they do not differ at all from others except that they are protected by God’s special mercy from rushing headlong into the final ruin of death.” John Calvin

“God preordained, for his own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation.” John Calvin

“Reformed theology does NOT teach that God brings the ELECT kicking and screaming, against their will, into His kingdom. It teaches that God so-works in the hearts of the Elect as to make them willing and pleased to come to Christ. They come to Christ because they want to. They want to because God has created in their hearts a desire for Christ.” R. C. Sproul

“Election is the root of all blessings, the spring of every mercy that the soul receives. If election be taken away, everything is taken away.” Arthur W. Pink

Closing

In all this we see the deception that took place and the hesitancy of Isaac to bless Jacob as the Lord commanded at their birth.  We see at the close of Chapter 27 that Rebekah hated that Esau had taken a Hittite woman.  Instead of sending and finding a wife as Abraham did for him, Isaac failed to follow his fathers lead in this instance and by doing so failed his son Esau.  Jacob will be given direction in Gen 28:1-2 concerning a wife. 

Remember it is God that is building His kingdom or church (Mt 16:18).  We see from the call of Abraham to choosing Jacob over and above Esau, it is God who is doing this.  We are obligated as subjects of the King to obey and do what He has asked us to do.  We are required to believe what the Scriptures tell us, not pick and choose what we like in the Scripture.  Once you reject one part of the Word of God, you reject it all!  We are called of God for His purpose and His names sake.

[1]Ellicot Commentary